#a good rule of thumb is that if it's going to come into direct contact w ingredients you don't eat you should have a dedicated item for it

[kon-konk]

I was watching a video about making your own solid perfume, and I am just kinda baffled by some of the things said and done in this.

Now I’ve never made solid perfume before, but I have made candles and lip balm

She said that if the MELTED beeswax/jojoba oil blend was “too soupy” you can add more beeswax to “thicken it up”.  Wha?  Bitch, it’s gonna be “soupy,” it’s completely melted?  Adding more beeswax is just going to give you a more waxy end product, not “thicken” the melted mixture?

Then she used a dropper. to fill. an Altoids tin.  “If using a dropper gets to be too tedious, just use a spoon!”

What.

Just have a dedicated heat-safe glass measuring cup with a pour spout to use for that kind of thing.  You’ll never have to spend the next 36 years droppering very quickly solidifying perfume into a fuckin’ Altoids tin.

[brokenmenswhore]

Hi! I see you wrote that you’re going to start writing for Marauders? I was wondering if maybe you could write a fic where the reader is dating one of the boys and they keep doing stuff in front of the others, and the others are all frustrated and horny? You can decline if you want!

don’t look | poly!marauders

pairing: poly!marauders x fem!reader, remus lupin x fem!reader

warnings: smut (MDNI 18+), voyeurism, language

part 2

────── ☾ ──────

Remus was never shy around his friends, but he wasn’t decent, either. He didn’t understand what the big deal was about fucking you when they were around. He wanted what he wanted, when he wanted it, and he didn’t care if James or Sirius heard you, as long as they didn’t look.

He started touching you when they were around, causing you to blush and push him off of you.

“Relax, Y/N, they don’t care,” he said.

“I care,” you retorted, “you aren’t gonna rub me off in front of everyone in this dorm room.”

“Why not?” he pouted, continuing his actions no matter what. It felt too good to stop him, and besides, what did you have to be ashamed of? You always spoke of sex positivity, and it isn’t anything the other boys haven’t heard before.

When Sirius and James started to hear your whimpers, they looked over at you from their beds, and Remus glared at them.

“What the fuck are you two looking at?” he asked, slowly inserting a finger into your hole.

“Fuck do you mean?” James asked, “you’re fucking her in front of us.”

“Doesn’t mean you’re allowed to see her like this,” Remus replied, and that was enough to make it clear to the boys that they were not to look at you when they heard Remus work you up.

But there you were, spread eagle on the couch, Remus’s tongue inside of you while his thumb circled and flicked at your bud.

You couldn’t stop the moans that poured out of your lips, your hands pulling at Remus’ hair, causing him to moan into your hole.

“Shit, Rem,” you sighed out, whines and whimpers filling up the room.

Sirius was sat across from you, trying his hardest to keep his attention on the books in his lap.

You let out a particularly filthy moan, and Sirius couldn’t help but sneak a peek. You threw your head back, your chest rising and falling rapidly. He thought you looked so pretty.

Remus had his back turned to Sirius since he was kneeling on the floor in front of you, so Sirius saw no issue in keeping his gaze on you.

Remus ate you like a man starved, gripping your thighs to keep them open as you pushed his head closer to your cunt.

Your moans were growling louder, and you were completely unashamed of it. “Rem!” you squealed as the feeling grew and grew.

You tilted your head down to watch Remus eat you, and your eyes caught Sirius’ on the way down. He was looking straight at you. You thought about maybe signaling to Remus, but you honestly didn’t care. “Don’t look” was Remus’ rule, not yours, and besides, Sirius was hot.

You whined as you stared Sirius, Remus’s fingers moving faster and faster as you began to clench around his tongue. Your high hit you like a train, and you fought to keep your eyes open and trained on Sirius.

Sirius shifted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable in his pants, as he watched you come and then come down from your high. Your breathing started to still and Remus looked up at you, noticing you staring forward. He whipped his head around, making direct eye contact with Sirius.

“Sirius!” he screamed.

Sirius shot up and leaped over the couch, running out of the room as Remus chased him.

[eyelessfaces]

coming home

miguel o'hara x reader

summary: miguel comes back home from a long day and wakes you up by sticking his dick inside of you<3

warnings: smut, porn without plot literally, unprotected piv sex, creampie, consensual somnophilia (prior consent established), sleepy sex

tags: f!reader, fluff

word count: 2k

masterlist | taglist | ao3

The idea had come to his mind way long before he created the portal that would bring him back home.

In fact, the thought had stuck and hadn’t left his mind since the day that you talked about it, but tonight just happened to seem like the right moment.

He desperately, so desperately needed to blow off some steam, to think about something else than the fact that the future of every universe was relying on him.

He slowly pushed your shared bedroom door open, trying his best not to make a sound so you wouldn’t wake up from your deep sleep.

He quietly joined the bed, tiptoeing around, carefully avoiding the squeaky area of the floorboards before his suit disappeared from his body, leaving him bare.

You were laying on your side, the thin sheet brought up to your shoulders, the slight chill of the night forming goosebumps over your exposed skin.

Miguel slides under the sheets, the mattress dipping under his weight, and presses his body flush against yours, his chest facing your back.

He is so warm compared to you, his hand sliding under your shirt and resting over your bare stomach, rubbing his thumb over your cold skin as he nuzzles the back of your head, leaving kisses at the juncture between your neck and shoulder.

Your scent soothes him, he finally feels like he's home, the tension weighing on him finally feels a bit lighter.

Slowly, his hand slides up under your shirt to cup your breast, his thumb tracing back and forth over your hard nipple perked from the cold, eliciting a soft sigh from you and making you stir in your sleep.

Your reaction makes him chuckle softly, still careful not to wake you up. He keeps on toying with you, caressing over your nub as he kisses under your ear, his broad hand then trailing down your stomach, burying into your underwear to cup your mound.

His breath catches in his throat when he realizes how ready you already are for him; his fingertips barely graze against your slit and feel the wetness pooling there, the thin material of your underwear all soaked.

He can feel his erection twitch against the back of your leg when he realizes how aroused you already are, a surprise for him that thought that he would have to tease you and work you up a bit to get you wet and ready to take him.

It's a blessing that you're making it easier for him, it comforts him in the fact that he's allowed to do this; even though you have thoroughly talked about this before and established prior consent and rules, Miguel always feared that you might not be in the mood when the moment comes or that he could scare you; hurting you was the very last thing he wanted, and he knew he would feel extremely guilty if all of this ended up going wrong.

It is with affirmed confidence that he slides your ruined underwear down your ass, a part of him wanting to make his claw go through it so he could tear it off to get it out of the way for good.

He makes sure the piece of cloth reaches your knees before he presses himself closer to you, the contact against the bare cheek of your ass already driving him crazy.

He takes his shaft in hand, pumping it slowly, smearing the trail of precum drooling from the head along the length before directing the tip towards your entrance. He doesn’t even want to tease you, to try to get a reaction out of you before he goes in; he needs to be inside of you, he needs to fuck the stress out of him, he needs to feel you constricted around him.

Miguel slowly, so slowly and carefully pushes into your heat, inch by inch. His forehead presses against your shoulder as he gradually eases himself inside you, the delicious first contact against your velvety walls making him bite hard on his bottom lip, accompanied by a muffled grunt escaping from his gritted teeth when a small whimper leaves your mouth, your hand clutching the bedsheet in your sleep.

It is always a stretch when you take him, the size of him always requiring him to go slow for you to take him fully.

He has to press his mouth against your skin to prevent any sound from coming out of his mouth as he pushes deeper into you, progressively easing himself in, stretching you out little by little.

You sleepily hum at the sweet feeling of the gradual intrusion, softly squirming in place, a wrecked moan leaving Miguel's mouth when you shift in your sleep and unexpectedly impale yourself further onto his length, his cock now filling you to the hilt.

He wraps an arm around your waist as he whispers profanities under his breath, his face burying into your neck, breathing you in as he starts to grind into you, small thrusts to make sure you're accommodating to his size.

He's holding you tight, his arm firmly wrapped around your sleeping figure, his mouth falling agape at the feeling of your cunt swallowing him whole; it's all he needed right now, to be home with you, to hold you tight and to be buried deep inside of you.

His thrusts are slow, languid and gentle at first, letting you get used to the stretch, until he starts to grow needier, hungrier, the way your cunt flutters around him only spurring him to grow bolder.

His grip around your waist loosens up, his hand shifting to rest against your hip when he pulls almost all the way out, only leaving the tip inside before pushing into you until his hips are flush against your ass, the soft stroke against your walls making him mutter curses in his mother language.

He repeats his movements over and over again, going a bit faster each time, bucking into you at a steady rhythm and your body reacts at once; you writhe in your sleep, soft sounds and small moans leaving your mouth as Miguel whispers words of praise into your ear though they're most likely unheard and therefore useless; he can't help himself, not when you're taking him so well, not when you feel the way you feel around him.

His hand grabs at the inside of your thigh to hold it up, offering him a new angle allowing him to go deeper, the snapping sounds of skin on skin resonating inside the dark bedroom as he gradually pounds deeper and faster into you.

Your small and drowsy sounds slowly start to grow more affirmed and more present; Miguel is far too gone to register that fact, his face buried in the crook of your neck, and he doesn't notice your breath faltering, growing faster and sharper, until–

"Fuck, Miguel" your voice is gravely with sleep, a bit rough, his hips involuntarily snapping sharply against your rear when he realizes that you're awake, the sudden movement eliciting a choked sound from you.

A raspy groan resonates against your shoulder, his warm breath and the hot feeling of his chest pressed flush against your back greatly contrasting with the freezing temperature that was hanging in the atmosphere when you went to bed.

His hand leaves your thigh to cup your jaw, angling your face towards him so he can capture your lips in a kiss, his tongue slipping into your mouth, making him hum in contentment at the familiar taste and feeling of your tongue against his while your hand buries and fists into his hair.

"Feels okay?" he asks as he pulls away from your mouth, his thumb stroking your cheek, his red eyes boring into yours as his hips continue snapping up into you, sharp thrusts that knock the air out of your lungs.

"Better than okay" you reassure him, another choked moan leaving your mouth and making you tug hard on his hair when he unexpectedly hits just the right spot deep inside of you. "F-Fuck" you hiss through your teeth, your hand shifting from his hair to grasp his wrist as his hand rests over your neck, not applying any pressure there. "Right there" you mutter out of breath, your grip tightening around his wrist.

"I know baby, I know" he kisses your cheek, biting down on his lip as he watches how you squirm under him. "Look at you" he whispers into your ear, his voice dropping to an octave. "Thought about this all day long" he sighs as he rams into your sweet spot repeatedly while you whimper his name over and over again, your face burying into the pillow, his burying into your neck again.

His rhythm doesn't falter, doesn't slow down as his movements repeat themselves; you wonder how he still has all that energy left when you know the kind of days he’s used to – not one minute to settle down, not one second to breathe even – but you're way too far gone to really think about it in depth; not when it feels that good.

"Miguel– I'm close" the words struggle to come out of your mouth because by the time you say them out loud you're almost already there – you can feel the searing feeling starting to build inside your lower stomach, all of your nerves endings setting on fire, and finally you snap; it comes in waves and it washes out over you, the blinding feeling taking over your whole body; you can hear Miguel talking but you can’t figure out what he’s saying, you can only feel the floaty feeling being prolonged as he continues to grind into you with the same pace.

Miguel grunts loudly, relishing in the feeling of your walls clenching and contracting around him, your orgasm squeezing him tight and drawing a choked sound out of him.

His hips stutter and press as deep inside of you as possible as he throbs and spills himself into you, rope after rope of his warm spent filling you to the brim, a mess of spanish profanities whimpered into the shell of your ear.

He remains inside of you until you both come back to your senses, nuzzling the crook of your neck as he catches his breath, the back of his hand wiping away the thin layer of sweat having built over his forehead. He lets out a soft sigh as he slowly eases his softening cock out of you, his hand guiding your face towards his again so he could slot his lips against yours in a gentle kiss.

"Rough day?" you ask once you pull away, only the faint light of the streetlamp outside your window allowing you to see the side of his face hovering over you, conveniently hiding the small cut over his cheek at the opposite side. You know his heightened senses allow him to see you as clear as daylight, and you know that unlike you, he can see every littlest expression over your face.

"Yeah. Rough day. I'm glad I'm home" he declares with a coy smile, the tip of his fingers pushing the hair out of your face.

You smile back at him before pulling him down into a kiss again, and you smile against his lips when he softly hums into your mouth.

"Was that okay?" he asks, still remaining close to your face, his nose brushing against yours.

"What? Waking up with you inside of me? Does it look like I didn't enjoy it?" you ask rhetorically, which earns a small chuckle from him.

He lays back down onto the mattress with a small grunt, humming in contentment when you turn to him so you can wrap your arms around his waist and lay your head against his chest as he wraps his arm around your shoulders.

"Maybe I'll be the one to wake you up next time" you teasingly coo looking up at him, biting back a smile when you see the way his eyebrows rise.

"I better fall asleep soon then" he grins, his expression softening but getting cockier.

"Mhm," you hum in agreement, feeling your eyes getting heavy with sleep.

—

please give me feedback if you liked this, I appreciate every single comment and they motivate me to keep going!!

masterlist | taglist | ao3

spiderman 2099 taglist: @bubuslutty @my-secret-shame-but-fanfiction @mintgreen24 @dameronshandholder @spider-starry @jakecockley @midnight-the-shadow-wolf @cocodiem @pedropascalsidechick @spxctorsslxt @roxannarichie @vicolangelo @amb3rrz @inluvvwithme @friedwings @chaotic-neon-sign @foxglove-grove @ilovemiguelohara @pandq707 @gobblegluckgluckgod @weasleybuns @I-like-eating-leaves @doudou00125 @luxisluxurious @himesuedi

[madeintheniamh]

broken ankle, karma rules

stmf one shot #9.

a/n: long time no see! i missed writing for you all so much

warnings: fluff & surgery

song: little freak- harry styles

“And next on the beam, please give a round of applause for Matilda Styles!”

Harry was stood next to you, cheering your eldest daughter on so loudly that it was starting to give you a headache. Nothing had beaten the look on Tilly’s face when she was told by her head coach that she had qualified for nationals, and you had followed her all the way up north to the arena where the competition was due to take place. You felt nervous just watching her, wondering how your 10-year-old daughter could stomach so many people staring at her, judging her every move. But then again, that was what her Dad did most nights whilst he was on tour. The Styles were performers, and loved having all eyes pointed in their direction, and Tilly was no exception to this rule.

You looked down, to see Lottie sucking on her thumb, her chewed up bunny hanging by the ear in her other fist. Harry could tell she was starting to doze off, having woken up at 5am for the car journey up here. He reached down before scooping her up in his arms and placing her on his shoulders, pointing in Tilly’s direction.

“Look at your big sister over there, sweet pea! Are you going to give her a cheer, I bet she can hear you,”

“Good luck, Tilly!” she shouted, her little voice echoing across the hall. Tilly, now stood up on top of a wooden beam, turned around to wave in her direction, smiling widely in her black and blue glittery long-sleeved leotard, emblazoned with jewels, a ribbon perched upon the tight bun you had tied her hair into. The routine started, and Harry gawked as she marched across the narrow piece of wood, flipping upside down and in all different directions, landing perfectly on her feet each time.

“That’s my girl!” he bellowed, reaching over the seats in front to get a closer look at her. The routine was coming to the finale, and this was the part she needed to stick- if the landing went just as well as the rest of it, she would be coming out with a very high score.

You watched her taking a deep breath, inhaling the stale, sweaty air of the arena, before beginning to run towards the end of the beam, her arms reaching out in front of her.

“Go on, Styles!” The girls in her team watching from the side-lines chanted, as her dainty hands made contact with the beam, before she flipped up and backwards, back down onto her feet again, and backwards, her knees tucked into her chest, getting closer to the floor, closer and closer before-

The snap was so loud, that you felt it echo across the entire arena. You felt as though things were going in slow motion, and you were helpless, watching all the way from the viewing platform, your daughter’s screams shrilling through your ears.

“Oh my god!” Harry yelled, moving Lottie from off of his shoulders and resting her on his hip.

She was laid out on the mat just off of the beam, one hand on her forehead, the other reaching down trying to grab her ankle. You rushed down the stairs, Harry’s free hand intertwined in yours, and pushed your way through the crowd that had congregated near her.

“Let them through, those are her parents!” the head coach screamed, putting her hands out to part the sea of people gawking over Tilly. Harry placed Lottie back on the ground before you both kneeled over next to her.

“Mummy, Daddy, I’m scared,” A stream of tears rolled down her face. “It hurts, it really hurts,”

Harry brushed a loose strand of hair from her forehead and tucked it behind her ear, before wiping the tears from her cheek with the back of his hand.

“I know baby,” you sighed, locking eyes with Harry. “But you’re going to be alright,”

“Can someone get some ice? And a blanket, she’s really cold,” Harry shouted across the floor, before one of the girls came running back with them.

“Thank you sweet,” he smiled at the teenage girl wearing a leotard and track jacket, before wrapping the blanket around Tilly’s shoulders.

She sat up suddenly, and her green eyes widened in shock at the state of her foot.

“Oh no,” she cried, “I feel sick,”

Harry pressed the ice pack over her ankle before covering it up with the blanket. The sight of her mangled, twisted ankle, bleeding with a bone sticking out of it, was enough to make you and him feel queasy.

“You don’t need to see it, baby,” he whispered, rubbing her shoulders to try and warm her up. “Daddy’s going to lift you up now, okay? And we’re going to take you to the hospital, where they can fix it,”

She hissed as he hooked his arm under her knee to try and lift her.

“Don’t touch it!” she screamed, reaching out to throw his arm off of her. His hands flew up in apology.

“I’m tyring not to, Til,” He kissed her forehead, his voice beginning to break. “But I need to lift you up so I can get you to the car, okay?”

She sighed before wrapping her hands around his neck and he picked her up from the mat, cradling her in his arms like he used to when she was tiny.

“Mummy, is Tilly going to be okay?” Lottie whispered sweetly, her tiny hand now in yours.

“Yeah baby, you don’t need to worry,” you sighed, your heart breaking at the panic in her little voice. “We’re going to go to the hospital where the doctors can help her, okay?”

You watched Harry running out to the car as you followed closely behind him, as he sat in the back with Tilly for the entire car journey to the hospital.

---

“It’s a nasty break, that’s for sure,” The radiologist explained, as you noticed Harry’s face turning a shade of green as he looked at the X-Rays held out in front of him. It showed her bone as broken clean in half, bits managing to peek through her skin. “We will have to put her to sleep, and then put some pins in to hold it back in place,”

“Oh my,” Harry whimpered. “Surgery! But she’s so little,”

“I know it’s a lot to take in, Mr Styles. But this is the best way of fixing it,”

He sighed, frantically running a hand through his hair.

“One of the nurses is bandaging it up temporarily whilst we speak, so she’s comfortable for now. Someone should be up in an hour or so to take her up to theatre,”

You both thanked him and Harry shook his hand before he left.

“I’ll tell her, you don’t have to,” you offered, as he sighed, now tapping his foot repeatedly on the floor.

“It’s making me feel sick thinking about it, her up on the table, and she’s so, so little, what if she doesn’t wake up, and-”

“Harry,” you warned him. “I feel the exact same as you, but if she sees how worried you are, it’s going to make her panic, and that’s not good for her right now,”

“I know, I know,” he said quickly. “I just wish it was me instead of her,”

You took his hand in yours, rubbing circles around his knuckles, before opening the door, your woozy daughter now sat up in the bed with a dazed expression on her face.

“My gorgeous girl,” Harry tried to smile, but it didn’t quite meet his eyes. He kissed her forehead.  “Are you feeling any better?”

She yawned slightly. “I’m tired, Daddy,”

You were relieved that painkillers coming through the IV on her arm were working. You knew it was bad when she hadn’t flinched as the nurse put the needle into her hand, because Tilly was normally never keen on needles.

“You sleep then, babygirl,” He said, now sitting on the end of the bed facing her, tucking in the blankets around her. Within under a minute, she was already fast asleep.

You and Harry had decided that it would be better to not tell her, because you knew she wouldn’t have slept, and also because you knew it would have hurt him too much to see her reaction. Harry had spent that entire hour pacing around the room, his green eyes darting back and forth between his daughter asleep in bed and the clock in the corner of the room.

He almost jumped when he heard the knock on the door, which also startled Tilly awake, as she bolted upright in bed.

“Hi darling, we’re going to take you upstairs now, okay?”

“Why,” Tilly muttered, her voice tainted with grogginess. “I want to stay here,”

“You’re going to have a nice sleep whilst we fix your ankle, okay? And then you’ll wake up and it won’t be hurting anymore,”

 Tilly looked over at her dad, whose gaze was focused on a pot of flowers on the bedside table to avoid meeting her eyes, because he knew that if he looked at her, he would burst into tears.

“I thought… I thought we were going home,” she blubbered. “I thought we were going to get Lottie from Nanny Anne’s,”

“Nanny is going to come and see you later, okay?” you whispered, trying to keep your tone as light as possible. “But they need to fix your ankle first,”

She reached up to grab Harry’s tattooed arm, watery tears now beginning to stream down her face.

“You need to pick either Mummy or Daddy to take with you when we put you to sleep, darling,” the nurse smiled. “I’m sorry it can’t be both,”

Harry didn’t expect her answer to be him.

---

“I’m sorry baby, I know it’s horrible,” Harry sighed, stroking the back of her free hand as he watched a vial of liquid being squirted into the cannula on the other. Her hands were so tiny, that they had barely been able to get it in in the first place, and Harry had felt sick watching her cry as they struggled to find her vein.

“Am I going to wake up, Daddy?” Tilly whispered, her green eyes wide as she stared up in him. He felt another knot forming in his stomach, and could feel the sick beginning to travel up his throat.

“Of course you are, sweetheart,” He traced his fingertips across her pale cheeks. “The doctors are going to take very good care of you, you don’t need to worry,” He tried to make himself sound as certain as possible, but deep down he was more scared than she was. If he could have been lying on that bed instead of her at that moment, he would have been.

Her eyes began to flutter closed, as she tried to stare back up at him, fighting to keep them open.

“I love y-” She tried to say, but she was asleep before she could finish the sentence.

You saw him rush back out through the doors, as he collapsed down into your arms, no longer able to hold back his tears.

You didn’t need to say anything. You just held him there as the minutes slowly ticked by, listening to his quiet sobs as you felt your t-shirt beginning to become damp, running your hands through his soft brown hair.

---

“Mr and Mrs Styles,”

Harry immediately jumped up at those words.

“Is she okay?” He gasped, his voice trembling slightly.

“Yeah, she’s fine,” The nurse chuckled to herself, taking in the shocked look on Harry’s face. “She’s still coming round, so she’s a bit woozy, but she’s fine,”

“Thank god,” Harry muttered as he followed her back down the long, whitewashed hallway and into a small room where Tilly was tilted upright in a hospital bed, snuggled under crisp white sheets.

He moved a chair over and sat down beside her, running his thumb over her cheek before planting a kiss to her forehead. Her lips turned upwards into a smile, despite still having her eyes closed.

“Hi baby, did you have a nice dream?” Harry whispered, placing his hand over hers, grimacing slightly at the cannula in the back of it, which looked harsh and sterile imbedded in her soft pale skin. She giggled slightly, before slowly opening her eyes, her long eyelashes fluttering up at him.

“Mmmhmm,” she muttered, her eyes dropping closed again. “M’still tired, though,”

“You sleep then baby, hmm?” He breathed. “It’s okay. Daddy can wait. I’ll always wait for you,”

-----

poor tilly! i'm sure harry will be the best daddy and make sure she is well looked after for the next few weeks :/

the link to my other dadrry one shots if you enjoyed this one:

[endcrman]

Allostasis

(Chapter 1)

As a general rule of thumb, Grian doesn't do public servers for a multitude of reasons. This one hadn't even made it onto the list.

TW for physical/emotional abuse, implied sexual assault, PTSD symptoms

-

Mumbo was so lucky that Grian liked him as much as he did.

The hustle and bustle of the public server did not do good things to Grian's nerves, too many near brushes with strangers left him pulled in on himself, feathers bristling as he stepped closer and closer to Scar.

And thank the void for Scar.

He'd asked to come along without prompting, something neither Grian nor Mumbo could deny, and now that Mumbo had run off in his excitement to talk with other redstoners, Grian was just glad for the familiar company.

"It really is quite busy here isn't it?" Scar's voice broke through the commotion, relaxing Grian at least a little.

Grian tried to shake the tension from his wings. "I feel like there's not even any breathing room," he joked lightly, hesitating for a moment before gesturing at Scar's chair slightly. "Do you mind if— is it alright if I hold on? Just so we don't get separated."

"You could just hold my hand you know," Scar teased almost instantly.

Grian felt his cheeks starting to turn pink. "Scar, we both know you need your hand to move around, unless you want us stuck going in circles."

"Maybe I want to go in circles, you don't know that."

That made the avian laugh, rolling his eyes a little. "Alright, well, if you really want, we can go in circles. We might get a couple of odd looks though."

He may have actually entertained the other were it not so crowded already, instead opting to hold on to the handle; he allowed Scar to lead the way, vaguely directed by the tugging force of his chair.

"So I heard there were some people here working with practical decor and decorational redstone." Grian could barely hear Scar over the sound of everything else. "I think maybe we could get a kick out of that? Or at least occupy ourselves…"

–

Scar was definitely occupied at the very least, weaving deeper into the crowd to try and get a better look at the display. Grian could only stick around for a couple of minutes before it started getting to him; people bumping into him, elbows in his side, everything just too close.

“Scar, I'm taking a breather,” he warned the other, hopefully calling loudly enough. He waited for a nod from him before letting go, trying to make his way back out to an area just a little emptier.

He was on the outskirts of the crowd when he heard it.

"Gree-on—"

Grian inhaled sharply, suddenly feeling sick to his stomach. The mispronunciation of his name was all too familiar, it had been… a long time since someone had gotten it wrong quite like that. Grian was feeling all too anxious again. He turned, trying to give a polite smile— eyes closed, no need to make eye contact, just apologize and leave.

"Sorry, I think you're mistaking me for someone else," he lied, before quickly turning on his heel to disappear back into the crowd.

Or at least that was what he intended to do, not anticipating the harsh grip on his arm pulling him just around the corner. He yelped, only to quickly be cut off by a hand slapped over his mouth, gaze finally landing on a face that had him shriveling up inside.

"Is that any way to say hi to an old friend?" He spoke far too lightly, tone airy and light. His hand had let go again, seemingly confident that Grian wouldn't throw a fit now that he recognized him.

He was right.

"Sam," Grian breathed, disbelief coursing through him, heart pounding in his chest. He was really regretting stepping away from Scar for even a moment now.

"You're so funny, pretending to be someone else," Sam snickered, shaking his head. "Like everyone doesn't recognize you from that MCC crap now, you're like some kind of micro celebrity."

He swallowed thickly, letting out a half-hearted laugh. "Ha, yeah. Guess I kind of am, I'm not really used to the attention."

Sam only hummed, reaching up and squeezing Grian's cheeks a little, making him wince. "Look at that, you've got a jawline now, looking like a real man after all these years."

Grian grimaced a little, not saying anything in return. Unfortunately, Sam noticed.

"Oh- Come on, Grian, I didn't mean it like that. It was a compliment. You're all grown up now, can't I give my high school sweetheart a compliment?"

A bitter laugh escaped his throat before he could stop it. "High school sweetheart? That's what you're calling it? After everything you put me through? Everything you put us all through?" He still had nightmares about their time together. And the time after too.

Sam's face hardened, and Grian's stomach churned.

"You're always so argumentative," Sam growled, shoving at Grian's shoulders just hard enough for him to jostle against the wall behind him. "Can't you just be thankful for once? I'm trying to catch up with you here, and you're being a real piece of work."

Grian swallowed back the automatic apology, gritting his teeth a little, almost baring them like a dog. "Oh yeah, because you're definitely somebody I need to catch up with."

"You're such a brat, some things never change, I thought you would have grown up by now," Sam scoffed, "you're lucky I even want to get back in touch with you, I kind of forgot how annoying you are."

"Then don't," Grian's feathers ruffled, his wings puffing up, an instinctual intimidation act. "If I'm so difficult, then leave."

Suddenly, Sam's eyes were sparkling, and a cold wave of dread ran through Grian.

"Wait— Those are real?" There was a touch of wonder in his voice. "I thought you were just like, trying to look special or some shit. Where the hell did you get those?"

"None of your business," Grian hissed.

"Let me see them." Sam's hand was grabbing at the feathers before the words even came out of his mouth. "Holy shit."

Grian yelped, pulling his wing out of Sam's grasp immediately. "Don't fucking touch the-" He was quickly cut off by a sudden pounding pain, head throbbing. 

"Don't tell me what to do," Sam growled, pushing on Grian's left shoulder to turn him, pressing his front against the wall. "I want to see them."

Grian gasped as he was moved, feeling lightheaded. His left eye was throbbing. Sam had hit him. 

Sinking against the wall, he felt like he was seventeen again. He couldn't help but tense up once more as the hands returned to his wings. 

"This is so cool, they're beautiful, really. I'd love to look at them all day." Sam's fingers raked through his feathers, causing him to wince in discomfort with every movement. 

"You need to stop being such a baby, you know that? It's not like you haven't touched my ears before," Sam grunted, laughing a little when Grian winced again.

"Grian!"

Grian inhaled sharply, tensing up. He recognized that voice.

It seemed to distract Sam for a moment, loosening his grip ever so slightly. "What the hell?" He mumbled softly.

"Grian!" The voice was louder, closer, looking for him.

"Is that one of your dumb hermit friends?" Sam teased, snickering. "Well he sure did a good job keeping an eye on you."

"Grian, come on! Where'd you go?"

Scar. It was Scar. Grian panicked. He couldn't be seen like this, not in such a vulnerable position, not so easily used.

Sam was distracted enough, Grian could use it to his advantage. He quickly turned, wincing as he felt some feathers plucked from their follicles, but wasted no time in immediately stomping on Sam's toes.

He yelped, pulling away from Grian, feathers scattered between them. Just in time as Scar rounded the corner, Sam was cutting his losses and scampering away, leaving Grian leaning against the wall, breathing a bit heavier than usual.

"Grian?" Scar's voice so close so suddenly made Grian startle, even though he had known the other was coming.

"Scar," Grian croaked, clearing his throat before it came out normally again. "Hey, sorry, didn't mean to lose you like that."

"Are you okay?" One of those questions Grian grew up dreading to hear, for multiple reasons.

"Yeah- yeah, just had to get out of the crowd for a moment," he lied, "all the people were starting to stress me out."

It was scary, how easy it was to lie to his friend, especially with those bright green eyes staring back at him.

"I see," Scar clearly didn't believe him, but he wasn't pushing it either. Maybe he hadn't even seen Sam in the end, Grian could only hope. "Well, Mumbo got what he needed, and we were thinking about heading back, are you ready to go?"

"Yes." The answer was instant. "Yes. Let's go home."

Grian's answer must have been too sure, because even without prompting, Scar gestured for the other to grab hold of his chair. "Let's go then, Mumbo's waiting by the portal," he gave the avian a little smile, "try not to get lost this time?"

It was a joke. Teasing him. Grian's knuckles were turning white from how hard he was holding on, not that Scar could see from this angle. "I'll try not to," he replied as casually as he could.

Carefully weaving through the server, Grian learned to keep his eyes down the third time he thought he saw tall white ears among the crowd, trusting Scar to lead them out. Scar seemed to sense his nervousness, glancing back at him every once in a while to make sure he was still there.

Soon enough, they made it to the world portal, Mumbo grinning and waving them down, one of his arms overflowing with what seemed to be blueprints (redprints?) for new redstone contraptions. Grian almost didn't have to force a smile when he saw the other's excitement, though it quickly turned to shock.

"Grian!" Mumbo gasped softly. "What happened to your eye?"

Scar turned to look as well, pulling his chair out of Grian's light grasp. "Oh void, Grian."

He hesitated before reaching up to touch the skin around his eye and— yeah. Tender to the touch, definitely having turned purple by the others' reactions. It had been a while since he'd been injured like this.

"I tripped," he excused quickly, the memory of a lie easily falling out of his mouth, "I'll be alright."

They were doubting him, he could see it in their eyes.

Mumbo cleared his throat, looking away. "Well, let's get you home. I'm sure we have some healing potions laying around somewhere."

"I'm not—" Grian quickly bit his tongue. He wasn't dying, he didn't need a potion. It'd just be a waste of resources. The voice in the back of his head sounded suspiciously familiar. "It's not that bad," he corrected. It sounded much better than saying he wasn't allowed, especially considering he was allowed, he had been for a while now.

Mumbo and Scar shared an unreadable look between the two of them, and it only made Grian feel even worse.

"Come on— let's go," Grian insisted, suddenly pushing past them towards the portal, determined to just be home already.

–

Grian did not hesitate upon the return to Hermitcraft, world travel sickness be damned. Pluto and cOW were waiting on the other side of the portal, right where they'd been left. Seeing Mumbo struggling with the prints he'd brought back, Grian offered him Pluto's lead, just for now. As soon as he was content that Scar and Mumbo could handle themselves, Grian was off, easily disappearing as the two worked on saddling up.

He didn't trust himself to fly, not with the churning of his stomach, and his feathers didn't feel quite right either, crooked and uncomfortable. So instead he walked. He'd had worse walks before, and so long as he ignored his concerned friends' attempts at checking in on him, he could pretend it was just another day on the server.

Mumbo and Scar wouldn't understand anyways.

His feet hurt by the time he got home, walking around the expo earlier certainly hadn't helped the situation either. His stomach flipped at the thought of the expo again, he never could have anticipated what unfolded there.

The climb up to his base was a bit more of a workout, but Grian couldn't bring himself to straighten out his feathers enough yet to do anything else. Besides, the ache of his muscles was a welcome distraction.

He ignored his comm as it buzzed for the time being, tossing it aside without even looking at it. He just needed some peace and quiet, if anybody truly needed anything from him they could come and get him, otherwise he was going to sit and relax and think about anything except for Sam.

Fuck.

Grian felt dirty. His eye throbbed, he could feel the phantom touch of a hand on his jaw, squeezing too tightly. Trying not to think about it only made it worse, made his head spin as he took a shuddering breath. At least he was wearing his sweater, that meant Sam hadn't actually touched anything but his face, and then his wings of course.

His sweater. His breath caught as he moved to tear it off himself, wincing as it caught on his wings, but not caring enough to stop until it was thrown halfway across the room, away from him. His arm still itched where Sam had grabbed him earlier, but it was better now that the offending fabric was removed, dulled, even if he felt more exposed than before. At least he was alone.

Grian's wings still ached where healthy feathers had been prematurely ripped from their follicles, even more so when he tried to stretch them out, making him inhale sharply from the pain. He'd put off preening until the pain had dulled then, that was the sensible thing to do.

He took a deep breath, moving to his room and closing the curtains before laying down. Everything hurt. He raised a hand to gently press at the new bruise around his eye, startled when his fingers came away wet.

“Oh.” His voice cracked, and then he began to sob.

–

It was dark out when Grian finally felt as though he'd calmed down enough. He sniffled softly, forcing himself out of bed. He at least wanted to wash off his face, and maybe have a cup of tea too.

Grian wet a cloth as the water boiled, careful not to press too hard around his left eye as he wiped away dried tears. He'd have to come up with a better story than what he'd told the others earlier, if he wanted to go out and about on the server before it healed. Something that lined up with what he said already, of course, but more detail.

He was startled out of thought as the kettle began to whistle, and he dropped the cloth in favor of pouring the water into the mug he had prepared. Grian swallowed thickly, watching as it steeped. He hadn't realized just how quickly he had fallen back into old habits, planning out his lies and excuses, coming up with stories for the sake of not only his own image. He felt sick.

Grian didn't bother adding anything else to the tea, grabbing his communicator in his other hand on the way back to his room. He should probably catch up on the server at least, make sure there weren't any emergencies or weird situations that needed his attention.

Grian snorted softly at the thought of an emergency on the server, taking a sip of tea as he began looking over the messages.

There were messages from both Mumbo and Scar, identical in tone, checking in on him throughout the day. Grian's heart squeezed painfully as he read through them. Between the two of them, he'd received plenty of questions about his well being, as well as the usual casual chatting when he hadn't responded right away; Mumbo sharing his new redstone plans and how he was planning to implement them, as well as mentioning he'd brought Pluto home; Scar sending not only photos of the build he was working on but also little jokes here and there. It was comforting, to have just that little sense of normalcy. Grian was sure his own responses were stilted, but he knew that was at least better than ignoring them, especially when they were worried like this.

There were a few messages from other hermits asking if he was available, hours ago of course, and it seemed from his radio silence that they assumed him busy, judging by the lack of pushing at least. Good.

Global chat was normal too, nothing crazy, which was good, Grian wasn't really feeling up to crazy today. He chuckled softly at the thought, it wasn't every day he could say that.

The last thing that caught his eye was a notification from somebody off server. It wasn't unheard of, obviously, Grian had friends on other servers. Lizzie, Martyn, and Scott to name a few. He wasn't ever surprised to hear from any of them.

Grian couldn't have expected this, though.

samgladiator: heyyyyyyyy griannn

samgladiator: it was good seeing you! we should hang out again soon

samgladiator: srry for all the teasing lol u know i was just goofing!

Swallowing thickly, Grian turned off the comm. He set it aside, along with the half drunk mug, feeling numb. Laying down, he stared up at the ceiling until he must have eventually fallen asleep.

[jawritter]

If It’s Meant to Be

Pt. 7

Summary: Bad things happen to good people, that’s just the rule of thumb. But sometimes, things happen for a reason, and that reason is so you can find the person you’re meant to be with…

Pairing: Alpha!Beau Arlen x Omega!Reader

Warnings: 18 + ONLY!!! ANGST!!! Injury, (a gun shot), problems that typically come with ABO Dynamics and Omega rights. 

Word Count: 2040

A/N: This fic is completely unbeta’d, so all mistakes are mine! Please do not copy my work! Enjoy!

My Masterlist          Series Masterlist

Y/N gripped her purse strap tighter as she made her way down the hallway, towards the room that the nurse had directed her when she came into the hospital and asked where they were keeping Beau Arlen. 

She was surprised to find out that they were just willing to tell her exactly what room and on what floor he was. She had thought, surely, seeing as he was the sheriff, there would be some sort of security. Apparently they didn’t feel the need, or someone had told them she was coming, likely Jenny, seeing as Connie said she was the one who gave her the contact information. 

Jenny’s devotion to push Beau and Y/N together was something of an enigma to her. She never talked to the Alpha woman before, and honestly, she didn’t exactly see them becoming 'bestie’s'. It wasn’t like they had a whole lot in common. Still, over and over again, she seemed determined to put her in the way of Beau when he needed help. 

She really didn’t have time to think about all of that. Right then, at that moment, all she really could think about as she passed the hallway full of faceless, nameless people on her route to Beau’s room, was simply this… Was she making the right choice? Should she even be here? 

Beau clearly didn’t want her as a mate, as much as Jenny wanted her to be his mate. He’d rejected her in the coldest way possible. He’d made it very clear, abundantly so, that she wasn’t what he wanted as an Omega. So should she even be here? Why the hell did Jenny even call her? What was going to be Beau’s reaction when she walked into his room? And lastly, but definitely not the smallest of those questions, would she be able to handle his second rejection? 

She stopped dead in the middle of the hallway, her heart pounding and her breathing coming out in quick, short bursts as she shut her eyes tight at that last thought. The answer was no, no she wouldn't be able to survive it. The Omega inside of her wouldn’t survive it. It had made up its mind, Beau was her Alpha, and if Beau really didn’t want her, then there was no point in going on at all. 

She was broken. Adding this specific insult to injury was suicide, and she knew it. Which is why she turned around, just four doors away from Beau’s and started to make her way back towards the elevator she’d come out of just moments before on shaky legs. It was a last ditch effort to self preservation. All the good it did her, because she’d taken no more than two steps back towards the elevator, when Jenny’s voice caught her attention and made her blood run cold. There was no running from this apparently, man, the universe was cruel when it wanted to be. 

“Y/N! Wait!” Jenny called as she jogged after her. 

Y/N closed her eyes and tried counting backwards from ten in her head to claim herself down. It didn’t work. 

“Hey,” Jenny said, coming to a halt behind her and placing her hand on Y/N’s shoulders so that she would turn around to face her, which Y/N did reluctantly. 

Y/N’s face must have shown what she was feeling on the inside, because Jenny took a step back, giving her an apologetic smile. “Thanks for coming,” she offered, and Y/N cleared her throat to remove the lump that had formed there, which didn’t work. 

“Yeah, how is he?” she questioned, shoving down all the feelings that suddenly wanted to work their way through her eyes and down her cheeks to add to the building pressure in her chest. She didn’t want to cry in front of the woman that was standing in front of her. She didn’t know why, but it was a weakness that at that moment, she didn’t want to show. 

“He’s okay,” she said with a sigh. “The bullet went through his right shoulder, front to back. The guy that shot him is in custody. He’s going to be fine.” 

Y/N looked at her, confusion clearly plastered on her face. 

“Well, then why am I here?” Y/N questioned. “I can assure you, he doesn’t want to see me.”

Jenny’s lips formed a thin line as she shifted her weight on her feet, and looked around the now empty hallway in order to focus on something other than the Omega that was standing in front of her, and if it was possible, she could have sworn what little fragment of her heart that still existed fell to her feet. She had a feeling that she was going to get the short end of the stick. 

“Because, when Beau came in, and they treated him, there were still a lot of the rut hormones present in his system in all of his labs. By law, they can’t release him at his age from the hospital unless they release him to his Omega. Mostly because there’s a possibility that he could go back into rut. If he goes into rut at his age unmated, and can't come out of it… Well, I think we all know what happens then.

Tears started to sting Y/N’s eyes to the point that she couldn’t stop them from slipping down her face. She couldn’t go through another rut with Beau, just to have him bring her another Plan B and send her away, she just couldn’t. 

Jenny place what was supposed to be a comforting hand on her shoulder, and Y/N took a step back away from her before whipping her face with the sleeve of her jacket and looking the Alpha woman in the eye, trying to get a read on why the hell she felt the need to do this to her; to torcher her so. 

“Jenny, I can’t do that again. He doesn’t want me. I can’t face him. I can’t live with that kinda rejection a second time. I just can’t. He can stay here in the hospital until his rut passes. I don’t want to be used as his rut bunny, and then kicked to the curb like some used piece of trash. I can't do that.”

“Y/N, I know Beau is an idiot, and I know what he did. It’s a small town, when an Alpha comes into a pharmacy to purchase a Plan B, people tend to talk. But he is the way he is not because he doesn’t want you, or wanted to reject you. He is the way he is because he’s been hurt alot himself. You were the one person he was asking for when they loaded him in the back of the ambulance before he even got here. Just— just talk to him. You might be surprised what you find behind that door.”

Y/N stood there for a moment, looking between the woman standing in front of her and the closed door just down the hall; caught in between the urge to tell Jenny to fuck off, and walk away with what little bit of sanity she MIGHT have had left… 

Or to walk through that door like her wounded, limping, and longing Omega wanted her too. 

Honestly, it would have been easier to go through with walking the green mile to the electric chair. That might hurt less than what Beau had already done to her, not to mention what he could do to her. 

“What did he want in the ambulance? What did he want from me?” Y/N questioned, and Jenny sighed deeply as she turned around to look back towards the door herself. 

“I think it’s best you talk to him when he’s ready to talk about it,” she answered after a while. “I’ve been in his business enough. I don’t want to ruin what friendship we had developed. But he needs you, Y/N. He might not want to admit it right now, but he does. Just go in there with him, take him home. Don’t let his brooding scare you. TALK to each other. I promise you, you will regret it if you abandon him now.”

With that, the blonde turned on her heels and walked off towards the elevators, leaving Y/N alone standing in the hallway. Her heart was beating so hard that she could feel it in her ear drums, and her feet and legs felt as if they weighed a thousand pounds, rooting her to the spot, not letting her leave or go forward one way or another. But in her defense, it was really hard to think when all she could see was the deep wound in her chest that Beau had caused. 

“Miss Y/L/N?” A voice called from to her left, and she jumped as she turned to find a man standing next to her in a long white lab coat, clearly a doctor. Apparently fate was deciding for her once again. If the universe wanted to kill, couldn’t it have just dropped a house on her for fucks sake!

“Yes,” she answered, clearing her throat to hide the overwhelming emotions that were working their way from her gut to her throat. 

“I was just about to call you again,” the tall man answered, placing a hand on her back, and guiding her towards the room that Beau was in. “My name is Dr. John Clark, and I was the attending that stitched up Beau’s shoulder. While the wound isn’t necessarily a LARGE one, it IS a deep one. Clean through his shoulder. To keep from tearing his stitcher, he needs to limit mobility, no holding his arm over his head, and keep his arm in the sling while he’s awake, and no strenuous activity if he can help it until after he’s seen for a follow up in two weeks to make sure that everything’s healing properly.”

The pair came to a stop in front of the door, and Dr. Clark turned to face her as he placed a steady hand on the doorknob. 

“I’ve explained to him why we had to call you. I’m the one that read the test results to him. He knows that he’s only being released on the premise that he stays with you in case he relapses into his rut.  If for some reason he does go into rut, don’t let him hurt himself. It’s hard for an Alpha to let an Omega do most of the work, it just goes against the natural order of things so to speak, but he needs to stay in that sling and not tear those stitches if at all possible. If you guys need something, Beau has my personal number.”

“Thanks,” Y/N mumbled as Dr. Clark opened the door to reveal a disheveled, somewhat pale, and wounded Beau sitting already dressed on the edge of the bed with his jacket seated loosely over his bad shoulder, and his arm tucked into a blue sling. 

He looked weak, almost pathetic. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, it made her heart ache for him.

Dr. Clark handed Y/N a pile of paperwork and instructed her to sign them where he’d pointed with his finger while Beau’s eyes looked over her as if he’d seen a ghost, but he’d kept his jaw shut tight. The look on his face as he looked down at his lap when she’d made eye contact with him was almost submissive, and it was strange to say the least. 

Still, it gave her an idea. If she was going to have to keep him while he recovered, then HE was going to do this on her terms. She could give a fuck who the Alpha was in the terms of biology, he wasn’t just gonna be able to go off and hurt her, get forgiven, and walk back into her life to hurt her again. Nope, he was gonna have to earn it. 

“Alright Beau, everything seems to be in order, you’re free to go, and remember what I told you, don’t use that arm.”

Beau nodded as he got to his feet, and Y/N turned on the spot and started to make her way towards the elevator fast enough to make him half to catch up to her, which he did without complaint. 

Maybe this was her way of getting some sort of payback for the pain he’d caused her, but she didn’t think so. Really, she thought it was just good sense to guard her heart. He hadn’t exactly proven himself a worthy mate for her. Why should she put herself out there just to get destroyed once again? No matter how much she was attracted to him, or not matter how much the Omega inside wanted to baby him, and take him in. Nope. She wasn’t going to bend, not that easy. 

Beau followed her without a word to the parking lot, staying close enough, but also keeping his distance until they go to her car, at which point he cleared his throat as he placed a good hand on passenger door of the car, the sound made her look up to find a pair of tired, somewhat dimmer green pair of orbs staring at her than what she remember. 

“How—how do you wanna do this? Do you wanna go back to my place or—”

“No,” she answered him sternly. “You can have Jenny go and collect your things that you will need, and you will be allowed to sleep on my couch until the time comes, and you can go back to your life. Seeing as you made it very clear that I’m not welcome in yours.”

“Y/N—”

“I’m not in the mood to discuss things right now Beau,” she cut him off again, and he looked down at the ground much like a kicked puppy. 

Good. 

“I’m tired, and I’ve got to go to work in the morning, so you can either get in the fucking car, or you can walk back in there and check yourself in until you’re fully out of rut. Your choice.”

Beau said nothing, just slowly climbed into the car, and closed the passenger door softly, leaving Y/N standing alone outside of the car where she closed her eyes and counted to ten before climbing in and starting the car. 

“My terms. This is going to be on my terms,” she told herself as she pulled out of the parking lot, and onto the main road. “He can’t hurt you if you don’t let him…. Or can he?”

Forever:

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[welcometotheinvertedworld]

𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝔸𝕣𝕖 𝕄𝕪 𝕆𝕟𝕝𝕪 ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕪~

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟞

My heart, it's pounding so hard against the floor that I felt as if the core of the Earth could break. We weren't on Earth, though we were in the Soul Society. A place most would consider calling Heaven. I was in his arms, and within seconds, I'm hopelessly defenseless. My back against the floor, my chest ventilating erotically, completely submitted to the situation at hand.

"Do I say something? Or do I make eye contact, no.."

I couldn't look at him. My hands were pinned against my will, and all I could think about was how guilty I looked right now.

"Well, should I?"

I flinched in his direct line of sight, but only for a moment. His voice was so deeply seductive that it made it even harder to make full eye contact. I couldn't catch my breath, trying to spill the words I wanted to make out.

"Sh- should you...wha-what?"

"Oh, don't play dumb with me, doll~. You know exactly what I mean~"

His left hand removed itself from my right wrist, lurking close by my face. His palm slowly made contact with my neck, fingers tracing sensations up to my chin. His thumb caressing my lower lip, rubbing softly in all directions.

"So?"

Shinji's head tilted to the side playfully, asking the question. His hair like a waterfall, turbulating next to me, while he closed in.

"Be a good girl, and tell me what I should do~"

All I could hear was the sound of my own heartbeat blasting through my eardrums, pounding much louder than ever before, blocking out his words. I did understand him, but with how hopelessly lost I was in this state, I couldn't give him a response. I felt my face heat up, knowing the end of what was to come is near.

"If I don't respond, most likely he'd kiss me, or maybe more then just that?"

"Awe~ I can see tha-"

"I-"

That hand of his, that was making sweet circling motions around my lips, lunged at my chin to make me face him. He pressed his lips roughly against mine, slowly forcing his tongue past the gates of my mouth. I gave him full entry, of course, with the hope of being swept away even more by the overly loving feeling of bliss. All I could think about was what Lisa had said, how she was assuming such things in the terms of sex. I could feel the heat in the atmosphere as our breaths collided in order to gasp for air, trails of saliva slipped from our mouths, and made a mess of ourselves. That same hand that was keeping my chin locked in place wiped the clear liquid from off my lips.

"So messy~"

I tried to pull myself up in order to steal another kiss, to only have Shinji pull away. Desperation was clingged to my soul, and my ragged breathing was enough to give him an idea of what I was wanting. Our eyes locked, and for only a moment, I had a sense of hesitation hit me.

"Do I really want this? Does he.. want this?"

That sense of hesitation was just enough to peer into Shinji's mind, and his right hand gently landed upon my cheek, leaning in and giving me a swift kiss.

"That's enough for tonight."

My heart sunk, coming down from the adrenaline rushing through my veins. I wondered if that moment of indecisiveness was the cause for him to stop. I breathed in deeply and tried to steady my staggered breathing. Shinji lifted me up off of the floor back into his arms and carried me off to bed. He placed me down, onto the clustered sheets scattered across the mattress.

"Go on, get dressed for bed. I'll join you in a bit."

The wooden framing of the door gently made a hollow noise as it collided against the wall. It was silent, and I could still feel my body being all hot and bothered.

"Did I do something wrong?"

I changed shorty after contemplating the thoughts inside my head, as I began to shuffle under the sheets I could hear Shinji outside the door.

"You done?"

"Yeah.."

He made his way in wearing the same old Yukata as usually. Everyone had to wear them to bed, it was kind of like our nighttime uniforms..

"Old man Yami's really gotta change the rules around here... Seeing as how everyone from the world of the living can wear whatever they want to bed."

Shinji snuggled on up to me, and gripped my waist pretty tightly, my breathing was still speratic even though minutes had past. I took a deep breath in, trying to gain up the courage to engage in a conversation but the small mumbles I could get out were interrupted.

"You didn't do anything wrong...For a spilt second I could see in your eyes there was uncertainty. I'm not going to make that decision for you, and neither should you force it. Who knows, maybe we should just wait until we get married~ It'd make it a lot more fun~"

My heart stopped, my ears turned red, my whole face, in fact turned red. He had said those words so nonchalantly, right into the outer shell of my ear. His cool demeanor, just putting that bluntly out into the open, was overwhelmingly scary, yet comforting. My body gravitated towards him all on its own, as I hid within the safety of the sheets, trying my hardiest not to crack or show how intimidatingly excited I was to hear that.

"Did he really just say that?"

I didn't say a word, and was in clear shock by that bold statement he cared to make. I'm sure he was enjoying his victory, pleased with pleasantly overshadowing my doubts about tonight with a future thought.

"Night doll~"

𝟫 𝓎𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓈 𝓁𝒶𝓉𝑒𝓇, 𝒾𝓃𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒻𝓊𝓉𝓊𝓇𝑒

On this night, the sky had been splattered with a tint of red, the moon creating a blood mist to go with it. The atmosphere was toxic, filled with souls infesting the air as they escaped from the husks of bodies no longer existing within this plain.

White clay like flesh scattered upon a paper umbrella as a man choked, clawing at his neck, almost desperate enough to tear his own throat open to breath. It was unbearable, the pain of not being able to speak, and slowly vanish away into thin air.

A smile shed light on the situation, lowering the umbrella to unveil a disturbing satisfaction of how this all played out. Good men dying, choking on gooey white material spewing out their mouths, while one man admired their generous "sacrifice."

If only anyone knew how disgustingly "sweet" this man was.

𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝓃𝑒𝓍𝓉 𝓂𝑜𝓇𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔

As we all walked down the dusty path of this quaint little town, the clacking of Shinji's geta drew so much attention to us. Soul reapers left and right, almost looked surprised to see a captain and his lieutenants walking around in these parts.

"Jeez, we're just passing by..."

We made a left turn, and as I was too busy paying attention to the people around us, I didn't realize that Shinji had stopped. My whole body clashed into him from behind, and as I tried to compose myself, I noticed why he halted. He looked behind me, signaling an apology to me through his eyes, that he had stopped so abruptly.

"Ah~ Good morning Kisuke."

"Hey~ And a good morning to you too, captain Hirako."

"I told you before, just call me Shinji. Such a pain sometimes."

Kisuke laughed at the gesture, almost as if he said it on purpose just to annoy Shinji right off the bat. But Kisuke didn't captivate me for very long, as I looked to the right of him and noticed a very unusual individual. I clinged to Shinji's cloak. Something about that man really made me nervous, and as much as I wanted to not be afraid, my body just took control.

Pushing me back with his arm, as if Shinji was telling me to get behind him, I didn't hesitate to take that offer. His hand gripped my clothes too, and he was making the gesture to let me know that it was okay to hold his hand.

"Just breath..."

Shinji said, whispering to me under his breath as they approached closer to us.

"Good morning...Mayuri~"

. . .

"How many times have I told you to address me by my last name. Kurotsuchi isn't hard."

Making it obvious that he was clearly irritated now by how squad twelve relentlessly stuck to proper terminology, Shinji scoffed and tried to ignore both of their existences. Until Mayuri spoke again.

"Who's the girl?"

"Why do you ask?"

My grip tighted, and I sunk further into the safety of his sleeve. Shinji curved his arm now, releasing his hand and griping my waist as he tried to put himself more forward to direct the attention onto him and not me.

"Her spiritual pressure fascinates me. It sparkles and glimmers like some sort of mythical creature. You must let me study... her."

"Over my dead body, Kurotsuchi.."

The look on Shinji's face was fearsome, I had never seen him more serious in my life. It was as if he was ready to kill his colleague at any minute without a moments notice.

"And what did he mean by study? I sparkle and glimmer? What is he even talking about?"

"Oh, now you address me by my last name? Did I pitch a nerve, captain Hirako?"

"Well... The fact that you want to "study" or more like poke and prod at my girlfriend is very unsettling to me. So, saying that you've pitched a nerve is quite the understatement."

With what I had just heard and put everything together, it was clear that the definition of "study" was not to observe me. At this point, I was fully hiding behind Captain Hirako. Considering that I'm supposed to be a lieutenant, well... an undercover lieutenant, I was starting to have my doubts again on weather or not I'm even cut out for this job in the first place.

The way that Kurotsuchi's eyes moved in opposite directions like a lizard, the fingernails that twitched with anticipation, but still having the demeanor of patience became more and more disturbing. He took a step closer as if he were entranced by me. Shinji kept still, but his guard was on a higher alert now. At any moment, I felt as if someone or "something" was about to lose a hand.

"That's enough, Kurotsuchi."

Kisuke intervened, stepping between the two groups gently raising his hands midway in a hope to calm everybody down.

"Just because you are out and about now, as a 3rd seat of squad twelve, and my partner of the department of research and development doesn't make you invincible. I got you this far, and I can put you right back from where you started... My apologies, Captain Hirako...(y/n)."

"Well, if you ever get board of her, I'd be happy enough to take her off your hands. There's something about that spiritual pressure that I must gain information on."

Shinji's jaw began to grind at the fact that Kurotsuchi just had to make one last remark, but he dotted a bit off to the side as if nothing happened. Both of our attention landed back onto Kisuke as he bowed, apologizing once again. Shinji tilted his head, directing his gaze to the side, with irritation written all over his face, and the waters of the situation had calmed after a few minutes of silence.

"You all are a pain.... Oh, by the way, have you heard the latest news yet, Kisuke?"

"No, I haven't. What happened?"

Finally, I was able to catch my breath, placing a hand on my chest exhaling out all of the stress. After feeling like I was about to be some scientists' experiment. Not that, that would ever happen if course! But that lieutenant really gave me the creeps... and while I was wondering through my thoughts, my eyes landed on Hiyori. She was walking slowly away from Kisuke, and in a flash, she was gone.

"What the?"

"HeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeYAH!"

"UUUUUUGHHHA!"

She was so fast, that I didn't even have a moment to react, or even catch her before she kicked Shinji from behind.

"HEY! What's the big Idea kicking me like that, Hiyori!"

"You said good morning to everyone but me!"

I watched as her brows began to twitch aggressively, I could sense that she was about to pop at any giving chance and jump him even if he has just moved a single muscle. Hiyori pounced as I had expected, like a small dog trying to take on a big one. she began yanking his long locks, and pulling small punches that were not effective at all.

"WHAT! I'm not good enough to say good morning to you anymore!"

"If I said good morning, you'd kick me for saying good morning."

"We are way past that! Get off of him snaggle tooth!"

I pulled on her waist, trying to get this rabid dog off of him. She resisted by using the force of her fingers that where inside of Shinji's mouth to stay latched onto him like some sort of leech. Shinji retaliated by pinching her right cheek and as I was struggling to get this little brat to budge they rotated, making me fall backwards on to the ground.

"Is this the mouth? You say good morning with."

It was as if I didn't existed to this girl, and for as tiny as she is I was baffled at the fact of how strong she had gotten...and fast. As I sat there on the ground, watching these two just go at it, I just started questioning my abilities as a soul reaper. I didn't understand why I was so weak... I was training just as hard as anybody else... While these thoughts ran through me, Hiyori glanced up as she laid flat on the ground, sticking her togue out and pulling the skin down from under one of her eyes.

"Hey (y/n)? Are you gonna kiss his mouth after I just shoved my fingers in it?"

I just sat there and scuffed, turning my head the other way trying to ignore the taunt. She was really pissing me off, but there was nothing I could do about...

"Hey princess?! I'm talking to you!"

"Oh no you don't!"

Shinji pulled Hiyori back by the pigtails, as she was trying to advance on to me now.

"Good luck with that snaggles...Ha, he's not gonna let you lay a finger on me because you're right. I am a princess, his princess, so get over it!"

As all the commotion was going on between the three of us, I could hear the others start to chat. Kisuke and Sosuke seemed to have started finishing from where Shinji had left off.

"Hehehe...he."

"By the way? I was wondering? Have you heard the latest news yet."

"Nooo~ I still haven't."

"You don't know about the violent deaths in Rukon district?"

"HOLD IT! I was just about to tell him. Way to bring it all back full circle!"

Shinji gathered himself together, wiping off the dust and fixing his posture but still remaining seated on the floor. I made my way to stand by his side as Kisuke began to speak gaining our attention.

"Violent deaths?"

"Yeah...In the past month or so there've been a series of residents disappearing in the Rukon district. The reason is unknown..."

"Disappearing? As in they went somewhere and never came back?"

"You dumbass. That's not disappearing, that's called running away, and if they just ran away, than nobody would care about them. No one would go looking. Not this, this is different."

"They literally disappear, gone without a trace, leaving only their clothes behind. If they died and became reishi the clothes they where wearing would disappear as well. They didn't die, they vanished alive, unable to retain human form. That's the only explanation I can think of."

"Alive, but unable to retain human form, huh?"

Shinji stood up and began to walk past Kisuke while continuing to inform him with this very important information. I myself was beginning to worry. People just disappearing, poof! Right into thin air? I didn't know something like this could ever happen, especially around here...

"I wasn't there mind you. I'm just telling you exactly what I heard from captain Unohana. Now you know what I know. Well at any rate squad nine has already arrived on the scene, to investigate~. Anyways~ We need to get going, so if you'll excuse us."

"Oh, yes! Of course! See you later Captain Hirako."

"What have I told you before, just call me Shinji....You ALL are such a pain..."

As we began to walk away from squad twelve, I felt pretty shaken up by literally everything that had just happened. That was a lot to digest, on top of that with Kurotsuchi wanting to make me into a science project, and Hiyori just being Hiyori...I'm pretty burnt out at this point.

"Sosuke?"

"Uh, yes, sir?"

"Go get those paper reports about this incident that's been going on. I wanna check on something."

"Yes, sir.."

And in a flashstep, Azin was gone.

"So.. sorry about all of that (y/n). You okay?"

"Yeah? Sorta.."

"You'll have to get used to it at some point. It's been 9 years since we talked about you becoming my lieutenant. What is going on?"

Shinji turned around and faced me, waiting for my explanation. This made me nervous, extremely nervous. Because this wasn't a boyfriend girlfriend talk, this was a Captain to lieutenant talk. I tilted my head at a low angle to the side, avoiding his gaze.

"I'm not sure why I can't get it together, I've trained, and I've studied. I've even picked up the slack on behalf of Sosuke, not doing exactly what Shinji's needed of him. But... I'm not as fast as Hiyori or as strong in a matter of fact. Everybody's spiritual pressure is intimidating, and I feel as if I just don't fit in..."

"Shinji, I'm not sure if I should be suited for this position, everyone is just..." "Is just what?" He crossed his arms, patiently waiting for me to answer, and it didn't help that we where right in the middle of the street with people watching while passing by.

"Everyone's just better then me, and it's clear that I am not qualified enough. I train, and what makes this ironic is that I get special treatment by training with you while everyone else is in a class! How is it that if I'm training with you, and you never take it easy on me, that Hiyori! Hiyori of all people is faster, and stronger then me? And when we have those meetings, its like everyone's standing off, and the spiritual pressure is through the roof! It makes me sick almost... You won't tell me anything about Sosuke an-" All of a sudden I was thrown over Shinji's shoulder, and with in seconds we where in the gardens of our barracks. "How the hell does he do that?" "That's enough..." Shinji released me and took ahold of my hands. He looked me dead in the eyes with a sympathetic expression, but it was stern too. "You are qualified, so you can cut the bullshit. If you'd stop doubting yourself, and comparing yourself to others, you'd see that. You don't have to be stronger or faster, to be a lieutenant. There are different qualities in every individual that matters, and what you don't see is that you're smart. When we train, you are getting stronger every time, because you keep finding ways to out smart me... it kinda pisses me off...hehe." Shinji pulled me in close, and as I was chest to chest with him he leaned in a good inches away from my face. "Do you remember what Mayuri said? He's definitely right about your spiritual pressure. Something about it shimmers... I think we just need to release your Shikai, and maybe...Just maybe it'll get you on everyone else's level. So don't say you can't fulfill this position. You have potential, we just need to reach it." "So... Do I glow or something?" Shinji released my hands and backed up, baffled and shaking his head in disbelief.

"What?! You're asking me if you glow? That wasn't the point I was trying to make about that whole conversation." "I know. I just wanted to ask anyways." I giggled but tried to cover my mouth in order to be polite, but my small snickers seemed to seep through the crack between my finger tips, as Shinji became more unhinged. "Uh, Well... I don't know? Sometime when we train, that's mostly when I see it. When you're using your spiritual pressure is when I see it the most. I didn't see it when Mayuri saw it thought... Strange?"

"Why can't I... See it...." I looked down, at every part of me and I questioned everything. I was sad, but I felt special in a way. If I have some sort of weird spiritual pressure, then what could that mean?" "I'm not sure... But we'll figure it out, and I want you to talk to your Zanpakuto. Go and meditate, merge as one and really know who they are and what they have to offer. I've gotta go find Sosuke now, he's taking way to long... Give me a break already...." Shinji took his hand and placed it onto my head. He was very gentle and sweet, pushing my forehead into the proximity of his lips

"Love you sweetheart~" He kissed my forehead, for more than a few seconds, and his fingers lanced around the strands of my hair that framed my face. As the palm of his hand caressed me cheek, the point of his fingers danced on the edge of my chin until he nudge it forward to pull me in for one last kiss. "Also Doll~ I want you to meet me in the woods later tonight, where I asked you out. The moon is supposed to be interesting tonight~" He let me go, and off he went to find Sosuke..

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕖𝕣 𝟟

[trainerspiral]

"No!" I blurt out.

"Drr-drrr," the V4ST agrees.

"Those are the rules!" my bespectacled assailant declares, striking some kind of superhero pose with a Pokeball clenched in his right hand. "I, Winston of the South Mauville Pokemon Collector's Club, have issued a challenge!"

He can't be older than fourteen--stocky and round-faced, with a shaggy mop of orange hair that I think is supposed to make him look like a J-pop idol or something. He is wearing a purple jersey bomber jacket with a stylized Mawile head and the letters "SMPCC" embroidered over the left breast and a bunch of miscellaneous pins on the right.

"Look kid, I'm just not in a position to battle right now. I don't have my full team, and the Pokemon I'm training are--"

"Article 10 section five of the Hoenn Trainer's Conduct Guide!"

"Article...huh?"

"While traveling a zone defined as a Wild Pokemon Capture and Battle Arena in Article 2 sections one through six--"

"I thought they amended that in--"

"--any licensed Pokemon trainer, upon making direct eye contact with another licensed Pokemon trainer, has the right to issue a battle challenge provided both trainers are carrying at least one registered Pokemon!"

"I don't--"

"Should the challengee refuse the engagement, the challengee must award the challenger a forfeiture payment equaling 72.9% of the challengee's calculated battle loss penalty!"

"I'm--"

"So choose your Pokemon, or forfeit your money and honor!" he shouts, thrusting the Pokeball out in front of him for emphasis.

"Look, kid! I'm sure you're a big shot in your little collector's club, but us grown-ups don't have time to go around battling everybody we look at! If that stupid rule is still on the books--"

"It is! Look it up!"

"If it IS still on the books, nobody takes it seriously and nobody cares! So if you don't mind, I will keep my money and be on my way!"

"Coward! Welcher! You have no honor as a trainer!" Winston shouts as I withdraw my Pokemon and pick up my bag and bike.

"Yeah, yeah. Smell ya later, kid," I mutter, but just as I'm about to mount up and leave him in the dust, two more teenage boys come crashing out of the brush beneath the overpass. One is tall and one is short, and both are wearing the same stupid jacket as Winston.

"What's going on, Winston?" shouts the first, a gangly Black kid with a magenta fade.

Winston points at me. "This craven excuse for a trainer is refusing my lawful challenge!"

"What?!" squawks the second crony, a short kid with a gel-hardened aqua pompadour. "But Article 10 section five of the--"

"Nobody cares!" I shout. "Now are you kids gonna get out of my way, or am I--"

A gust of wind snatches my hat. I grab it out of the air before it escapes and smash it back on my head, but it's too late.

"It's Kalos Champion Spiral!" hollers Magenta Fade.

"The former Champion is refusing a fair challenge!" shrieks Aqua Pompadour.

"It's not a fair challenge!" I protest.

"So what, you assume you'll crush us just 'cause we're not Champions?" snaps Magenta Fade.

"You're insulting the honor of the South Mauville Pokemon Collectors' Club!" roars Aqua Pompadour.

Two purple Roto-phones, unnoticed until this moment, rise up and tilt their faces down at me, and I feel my fists clench as I realize they've been recording me.

A tongue clucks behind me. I turn slowly to face Winston's smug face. "What a shame. I might expect a regular trainer to welch on a challenge, but Champions are supposed to be the best of the best!" He rests his chin in the crook of his thumb and forefinger, mocking up a thoughtful expression. "Are you afraid you'll lose? Or are you just cheap?"

I let the Roto-bike drop into the weeds. I shrug off my bag and let it fall. I meet Winston's gaze from beneath the brim of my hat, and I hold up one finger.

"One on one," I say, my voice low and cold. "No items."

If my change of tone makes him think twice, he doesn't show it. "Agreed!"

There's a very good possibility I'm screwed. I only have two usable Pokemon, and if I stick to my guns about not using Coba against a trainer until I'm sure he's safe, I really only have one. And the thought of losing to Winston on camera makes me want to hurl myself into the sea.

But I'm banking on one thing. Winston was watching me before he issued his challenge. He's already seen my Pokemon. He'll expect me to use the strongest one.

And if he makes his choice based on that, I think I have a shot.

I snap out the Ultra Ball, using my signature backspin by force of habit. "Let's go, Bluk!"

"Juggernaut! I--choose--you!" cries Winston, punctuating the word with sentai-inspired arm gestures.

I can not lose to this kid.

Bluk appears on the ground in front of me, facing a shiny Makuhita. It's bigger than average and spoiling for a fight, smacking its glovelike hands together and stomping.

Winston's expression grows stormy; he did just as I thought he would, and this is not the matchup he hoped for. "You'll regret not using your full strength against me!" he snaps.

"Let's just get this over with," I say. "Poison Gas!"

"Fakeout!"

Despite her inexperience, Bluk's response time is pretty good, and for once I have no reservations about the fight. Unfortunately, Juggernaut the Makuhita is practiced and light on his feet. Before she can open her mouth he feigns a blow with his right fist and slaps her across the face with his left. She screws up her eyes and flinches back, startled.

"Excellent!" crows Winston. "Now use Arm Thrust!"

But Juggernaut staggers away from Bluk instead, his hands going up to cover his face. He may have got a free hit, but her overpowering stench keeps him from gaining tempo.

"Poison gas," I repeat.

"Arm Thrust! Arm Thrust! Arm Thrust!" howls Winston.

Juggernaut screws up his face and throws himself back into the fight, but he Arm Thrusts himself straight into the filthy cloud that comes billowing out of Bluk's gaping mouth. He connects two hits and then staggers back, purple-faced and gagging. The volume of stink in the area doubles in magnitude. Winston jumps back a foot, his hand flying over his nose, and I hear groans of disgust from the two goons behind me.

My eyes are watering, too, but I force myself to stay composed. It's time to execute my strategy.

Before leaving the hotel this morning, I spent a little time studying the Kanto Grimer's moveset. It's not much of a heavy hitter; I can't rely on Bluk to simply slug it out. And I have no doubt that Juggernaut is the stronger, faster, more experienced Pokemon.

But there are ways to make that matter a lot less.

"Minimize," I say.

"Force Palm!" yells Winston.

As Juggernaut surges forward, Bluk shrinks. The edges of her sludgy form squeeze inward, and Juggernaut's blow swings past her.

Winston stares at me, red and goggling with disbelief and rage. "That's a cheap trick!" he shouts.

"Yep," I say. "Mud Bomb!"

"Arm Thrust!!"

Bluk horks a fountain of brown gunk into Juggernaut's eyes. Blinded, all but one of his hits goes wild. Winston's face turns from red to purple.

I smile. "Minimize."

"Force Palm!!"

"Mud Bomb."

"Arm Thrust!!"

"Minimize."

"Force Palm!!"

"Mud Bomb."

"ARM THRUST!!!"

On it goes. Bluk is now down to about a third of her original size, making her eyes appear comically large. Juggernaut is filthy, gagging, weak with poison, and getting further and further off the mark.

"Forfeit," I say. "It'll cost you less."

"Never!" snarls Winston.

"Your Pokemon is suffering," My voice sharpens.

"A real trainer never surrenders!"

"Come on, Winston! Don't let her throw you off!" shouts Magenta Fade.

"Yeah! It's vital that you win this match!" yells Aqua Pompadour.

"No coaching!" I snap, but Winston's eyes have already lit up.

"Vital Throw!" he crows.

Juggernaut's chest swells; he squeezes his narrow eyes shut and begins to weave in the air with his hands. As soon as Bluk moves, he'll sense where she is and grab her.

But she'll get to move first, and his Pokemon must be down to its last reserves of strength. Juggernaut's movements are stilted and painful. I bet a full-force Sludge attack will--

Will what?

What am I doing?

ASH's Metagross--Fission--appears in my mind the way it has for years of sleepless nights, eternally exploding. And the others, one after another. His Porygon-Z. His Lucario. His Rosearade.

I hold up my Ultra Ball. "Return."

Bluk vanishes from the field.

"What are you doing?" shouts Winston.

"Forfeiting," I say.

"Why?!"

"Because you're not smart enough to do it."

"I'm a Pokemon trainer! I'm not some little kid!" His voice is brazen, but there are tears in his eyes. "I want a real fight!"

"You got your fight, kid." I walk closer and look him in the eyes. "But I'd rather pay the loser's penalty than pay for your mistakes."

He looks away. I mount my bike and pull out my Roto-phone, preparing to transfer the funds.

"Keep your money," he snarls in a wobbly voice. "It wasn't a fair fight."

"It was fair enough," I say. "Go buy yourself some Antidotes."

I ride away, careful to keep my eyes on the road.

@novelistash

[niuniente]

All right. Asking for some advice here. If you can help, great, if not, that's fine too. At least I asked. So, I'm schizo, so I don't always trust my instincts. I'm also autistic, so I don't trust myself often. But, as an empath, I've been able to feel and see things, but I'm not sure how true it is. This is my dilemma. I often rely on my dreams for contacting certain things. But when it comes to answers, I don't know if it's real or not. Sometimes, I don't contact them. They contact me. As a child, it was more obvious. But now, it's gotten harder without thinking, "Oh, you're just hallucinating." Luckily, I'm on meds and in therapy for it, but it's still hard. Anyways, what I'm trying to get at is... How is one able to tell a difference between what's true and what isn't? Sorry if this comes off offensive or bad. I tried to put it together as best as I could.

Same anon as earlier, but I also been thinking something's trying to contact me, but I'm not sure to believe it. Plus, I don't trust the answer or feeling. I guess now I just kinda think it's only in my head. How do I get rid of that mindset?

----

I'm not in any way specialized in mental health disorders, so I can speak only from the spiritual perspective as the general guidance which we all have. Take what resonates with you and ignore the rest as we all have our own individual journeys, and what might work for me might not work for you, and what might resonate with me might be off putting to you. This is the first step with the connection to your intuition; always trust your gut feelings and how something makes you feel. Not as a strong emotion, but typically as this small "knowing".

It's not easy to trust your gut feelings or the messages you get. You're not the only one with the struggle. A good rule of thumb is that if it makes you feel uncomfortable, then it doesn't come from a good source or from an intuition but might be just your own thinking, fears etc. Even if the message was hard to digest, it should still feel liberating or give you an AHA-moments. That's how I go. Or then the message, the thing, etc. is not for you but it's for someone else.

The Spiritual side and all the helpers there will guide and help you, whether you are aware of them or in a direct connection to them or not. You're always guided, in a way or another. Kind of the same way as when a child is playing, immersed in their own play, and aren't aware that the parent is keeping an eye on them at the same time. My favorite analogue is the small story of a dog, who wanted to have chocolate from her owner, and when she didn't get any, she went to mope under a table. She also was watched over by her guardian, this time the owner, even when it felt unfair for the dog not to get the treat she so much wanted.

I would recommend reading or listening to spiritual books, if possible. Youtube has pick a card channels which might also deliver you the messages you need. And of course, there's always an option to have a personal reading done, where you can get a better answer, just for you, for example from me via my Etsy.

And hey, if you do not want to believe, create an intentional connection, deal with your intuition etc. you don't have to. It's not mandatory.

Do what feels the best to you. Always.

[whitesuited]

the steady sound of the house music slowly creeps into the elevator the closer they get to the ground floor ------------- and she’s already dreading the amount of ‘ wub wub wub ’ garbage background sound she’s going to have to mentally block out so she can keep in contact with him once those elevator doors open and they’re meant to go take their respective positions on opposite ends of the building.

which of course means she’s going to make a point to enjoy what little quiet time they’re going to get for the next few hours ( if you could really call it that ---- a couple floors below their feet the bass had just apparently dropped to everyone else’s excitement ); and somewhere between checking the load out on her FNX for no less than the fifth time since they’d left and checking where they are on the floor countdown by way of the bright red LED lights above the doors the tip of her pinky finger casually hooks itself around his without so much as a glance over in his direction. ( they’ve worked together enough now to know that he’s going through his own mental checklist standing there next to her; and she’s not about to disturb his process with anything more than a little gesture to remind him that they’re in this together. )

she times hitting the button to keep the doors closed with their arrival on the ground floor; silencing the ping that would have come along with metal sliding back ( not that anyone would actually hear them with the volume of the music still making the air around them vibrate ) allowing them a few extra moments to prepare before they’re no longer in complete control of the situation. “ah,” she clicks her tongue as she taps the apple of her cheek ------------- a spot that’s easy enough to locate with a neutral expression, and one that’s made even more prominent with the way she’s trying not to grin too broadly while dropping a hint to a ritual she’s in the process of cementing before jobs like these; it may be an oldie, but in her book, it’s still awfully compelling; a kiss for good luck.

for someone who swears she isn’t superstitious, actions ( and callsigns ) say otherwise.

when the gesture isn’t acknowledged she turns to see why; quick enough to catch @sierra6x reaching out to hook the bottom of her chin with a curled finger and thumb. now she thinks she’s clever when she pushes herself up onto the balls of her feet, sneaking in another inch or two on top of the heels she’s stuck in for the next few hours ( appearances, appearances ) and stealing his bottom lip before he can lean down and try the same with her.

“you know the rules,” she murmurs before attempting to rock herself back down onto stiletto’d heels, but six’s thumb doesn’t move. instead, it pushes up against the underside of her chin, easing her head upward until she’s left trying to count the tiles on the elevator’s ceiling before his mouth charting a course down towards her throat has her eyelids fluttering shut.

( there’s a good string of seconds where her brain attempts to rationalize keeping those doors closed and daring him to do it again, but that isn’t what they came here to do ---- business before pleasure and all that bullshit. she’ll just have to hold onto the fact there will be plenty of time to return the favor once they’re back at their hotel later on. ) in the meantime, all she can do is bite her lip and swallow down a hum -------------- a sound he’ll feel if not hear as one song transitions into another just beyond the double doors.

her eyes open again ( reluctantly ), as is that inevitable ease back onto her heels --------- but not before she can catch the edge of his jaw just one more time with her teeth and offer instead a nip of encouragement.

her palm finds the doors open button with a ' ping '. “go get ‘em, tiger. make me proud.”

[countlessrealities]

@advnterccs​ sent: 🌿 { to your Rick from my Rick 🤭 } Send 🌿 to accidentally get caught under the mistletoe with my muse

A shared Christmas party meant having to deal with twice the pains in the ass he usually had to face, but Rick had to admit that, all in all, there were also other things that made it all worth the trouble. One in particular. Namely that he was allowed to spend the whole day with his boyfriend. Of course they mostly had to keep their hands to themselves and tune down any sort of display of affection, unlike when they were alone, or with just the Mortys around, but it still felt good just spending time side by side.

Not to mention that, whenever they wanted a break from everyone else, and the chance to get more touchy, they could always retreat in the garage. Only for a little while, because they had promised the Beths to be physically present during the celebrations. And, to go around that rule, he also had come up with the perfect excuse to set aside the good behaviour that was being demanded from them.

The plan was simple, and perhaps a bit obvious, but Rick didn’t care. The only thing that mattered to him was that it would have worked and that he would have gotten the chance to kiss the hell out of the love of his life, and maybe grope him a little, without getting interrupted or yelled at. After all, traditions were traditions, right?

A sly smirk curled his lips as he wrapped an arm around his boyfriend’s waist and casually coaxed him in the direction of the door that led into the corridor. Both Jerrys had the habit of hanging a few twigs of mistletoe over one or two doorways. It was meant to be more of a decoration or, at most, something they all could joke about, and he had always either ignored it or berate his son-in-law for how lame it was.

This year, however, not only he hadn’t said a single mean word about it, but he had all the intentions of taking full advantage of it.

His steps stopped right when they reached the threshold and he looked up, trying to convey his most stunned expression, even it was obvious that he was trying not to smirk.

From where they were sitting on the couch, the Summers rolled their eyes in synch, without even looking up from the screens of their phones. No one was buying that he had “accidentally” found himself under the mistletoe, aside from the Jerrys and their parents perhaps, but it didn’t matter. Rick had already stopped paying attention to anything that wasn’t the man in front of him.

“W-Well, damn, would you look at that,” he exclaimed in a surprised tone that was a little too theatrical to be genuine. “W-Who the fuck put it there, I-I hadn’t fuckin’ seen it. N-Not at all.” His eyes fell half lidded as he returned his gaze on his boyfriend’s face. “N-Now we have to kiss. W-What a goddamn chore.~”

His hands landed in the middle of his counterpart’s chest and he delivered a little push, gentle but firm, coaxing him into leaning against the jamb. Then he stepped forwards, invading the other self’s space and trapping him between his own body and the door.

Ice blue eyes feel half closed, the slyness that had been shining in them quickly softening until all that it was left in them were adoration and love. One of his hands moved on the side of his boyfriend’s neck, thumb stoking the lines of the muscles that ran there, while the other slowly inch lower and lower until it reached his counterpart’s waistline. His fingers hooked themselves around a hip and he fully pressed their chests together.

“I-I love you so fuckin’ much,” he whispered, lips brushing against his boyfriend’s.

The next moment, he was bringing their mouths together, the kiss starting out light and tender and gaining heat with every heartbeat. Slow, chaste caresses turned into nips and little sucks, and then into a passionate battle of tongues. The hand he had laid on his other self’s neck slipped into those blue locks tugging them firmly to change the angles of their heads and deepening the contact.

A low moan rumbled in Rick’s throat and fingers slipped under his boyfriend’s shirt, spreading over the hot skin of his abdomen. Someone cleared their throat in the living room, but he almost didn’t notice. A bomb could have gone off in the next room and he wouldn’t have taken notice, because all he could feel, hear, taste and smell was the man he had fallen for harder and deeper than he ever had with anyone else.

Rick allowed the kiss to be broken only after a few, intense minutes, still dropping a couple of pecks on that mouth before he could make himself fully move away.

His lips curled into a smitten grin, eyes shining brightly and an unashamed lovestruck look spreading his features.

“I-I don’t fuckin’ remember where I was taking you, b-but I don’t give a fuck,” he purred, leaning in to nuzzle his boyfriend’s jaw. “I-I have everything I could ever want and need right here.”

This, us, you. Forevermore.

[batricide]

Hello everybody! My name is Iri. They/Them. 25+. Currently trying to make a go at being a full time artist, activity comes in bursts as I frequently travel for work.

rules are pretty simple! standard code of conduct. i'll unfollow for heavy drama or nothing but ooc content. that's about it.

TO NON-RP OR PERSONAL BLOGS.

Everything on my blog is meant for my RP. Not for reblogging. I'm fine with people reading this content! But I will block if you reblog my posts or go through and like every single one.

GENERAL DISCLAIMER.

this is an injustice based damian wayne. while i do have some verses set in other universes (such as the short-lived infinite crisis video game where he's a dhampir) this is not a blog for rebirth damian. i'm much more interested in what-ifs and elseworlds.

damian's default verse will most likely be one where he's been displaced into another universe, though characters are welcome to tumble into his & i am more than happy to work out verses if your character is in injustice but you want to do something different with them. i don't expect anyone to play the injustice versions of the characters (but i will give you my firstborn if you do) and i'm mostly interested in exploring this version of the character.

there will be talk about child abuse on this blog as damian's story in injustice is fraught with it. injustice bruce is not a good dad. injustice clark is not a good dad. damian is pretty fucked up from their combined bad dadness.

damian is also generally on the wrong side of any argument about the morality of the regime's way of doing things. he doesn't agree with it either, but he's so under clark's thumb that he can't see any functioning alternative. worse, he's been so worn down that he's very easy to manipulate and has a raging death wish.

i'm duplicate friendly! and very open to pretty much any idea you'll throw my way.

SHIPPING & NSFW CONTENT.

Injustice was my first foray into DC comics so it is my "default" canon. Damian is between the ages of 18 (Injustice 1) and 23 (Injustice 2). Due to this, I won't ship with muses under the age of 18.

This blog is multiship. I don’t really go into RPs looking for ships but I’m not against them happening so long as there’s chemistry. Just because I ship something OOCly does not mean that it will happen ICly, sometimes interpretations of muses do not mesh.

Please do not force ships upon me. I ship chemistry.

Sexual content will not be present on this blog. This is a personal preference, as I just feel uncomfortable with minors potentially reading any smut logs I may do. If a ship should move towards that direction and the other party wants to pursue it, I’ll gladly write it in other avenues that are not accessible to the public.

TRIGGERING CONTENT.

This blog deals with core concepts present within INJUSTICE 1&2: namely war, guilt, child abuse, fascism, tolalitarianism, indoctrination, manipulation, murder and questions of identity.

The Clark Kent of Injustice is not a good person. Neither is Bruce Wayne. Injustice is a story of two men who absolutely refuse to see each other's perspective, both doubling down and making the situation worse for all caught in the middle - especially Damian.

I will tag things as best I can, but I ask you contact me directly about things you want tagged. things are tagged tw __. The most common warnings on this blog are tw child abuse and tw abuse.

I’m open to darker roleplays but please talk with me before

CONTACTING THE MUN & ENGAGING THE MUSE.

I’m tracking #batricide for the character, but my tag breaks sometimes so I recommend PMing me if you ping me on it.

Damian's default timeline is set between INJUSTICE 1 & 2.

You are welcome to IM me if we're mutuals. My Discord is available to mutuals.

In addition, I’m not comfortable with writing or interacting with people under the age of 21. I’m an adult who really just wants to unwind with other adults in my free time. You’re free to follow me and read my writing but please respect my boundaries.

I ONLY RP WITH MUTUALS. It’s nothing against you if I don’t follow you back! Sometimes I’m slow to follow back, sometimes our writing styles just won’t mesh, etc.

[buckinghorseoutpost]

Establishing a Proper Grip and Stance to Mitigate Recoil When Shooting a Handgun

While recoil is generally going to be more jarring when firing a handgun than from most shoulder-mounted platforms, there are things you can do about it.

Chiefly, establishing a proper grip and assuming a good stance can go a long way towards taking the kick out of a handgun.

Here are the high-level pointers.

The Grip

Grip is arguably the most important aspect or recoil reduction, and there most certainly are good (and bad) grips.

To get a good grip on your handgun (assuming you are shooting a slide action handgun like a 1911 or a Glock) you want your shooting hand as high and tight on the frame as possible.

Bring your hand all the way up to the base of the slide, as close as you can get without getting pinched when the action cycles.

Wrap the fingers of your shooting hand fully around the grip. Lay your index finger along the base of the slide until ready to shoot to practice good trigger discipline.

As for your shooting thumb, lay that along the base of the slide on the other side of the frame, as high and far forward as you can extend it.

You want to maximize the contact surface area between your hand and the gun, in order to distribute the force of recoil.

As for your support hand, the same general rules apply here. Wrap the fingers of your support hand fully around the grip of the handgun, with your support thumb alongside your shooting thumb.

Again, maximize surface area contact between your grip and the gun. Then pronate your grip slightly (push the muzzle slightly down) and lock your wrists and elbows.

You’ll want a strong, sure grip on the handgun so that it cycles fully when you pull the trigger (you don’t want to limp wrist it).

The Stance

The other component of mitigating recoil comes from your stance. What you don’t want is to be standing up straight and tall so that you’re off balance when the trigger breaks.

Instead, bend your need slightly, assume an athletic stance square with the target, and lean forward ever so slightly.

This will position your center of mass just a little in front of you, so that the force of recoil is striving against a center that is very slightly off balance. It will help you better control the recoil of the shot.

In addition, you might also want to:

Install a heavier guide rod, which will increase the mass of the gun.

Install a compensator, a muzzle device that will actively counter the force of recoil.

And shoot ammo that produces less muzzle energy, which is a direct determinant of recoil.

Where to Get 9mm Bulk Ammo Online

Now that you’re armed with these suggestions on how to better control your handgun, you’ll need a lot of ammo and get to practicing. Refill your range cans with some 9mm bulk ammo from Bucking Horse Outpost and carve out some range time. You’re going to need it.

For more information about .380 Remington and .223 bulk ammo please visit:- Bucking Horse Outpost.

[autistictranswreck]

Thoughts on surviving small humans-

I've found it very helpful to view children in the light of exotic pets. There are rules to keeping small humans and you must do your research. That way when the unexpected happens and they pee on someone's leg or stand on a table in the lunchroom and pull their penis out, you don't freak out.

Parents are the deluded folks who swear ferrets don't smell, if they're properly cared for.

Let's be real, for a lot of people, your ferret really is a small stinky meat tube that looks way too rat-like for rat-bigots. So being realistic, what is your response going to be?

•Not keep a ferret

•Train your willful ferret to be unobtrusive/demure; seen little, heard less

•Air freshener subscription service and Ad Campaign for Pro Ferret message to sway public opinion

•Avoid 🐀 bigots

•Figure out the specific needs of your ferret and your shared situation, and address them. While they do have opposable thumbs, I don't recommend they use the kitchen appliances without their adult human present, so you have to feed them.

Think about your ferret growing in a human world. Everything is too big and loud, and completely alien. It's stressful for them. Even with as absolutely fierce and fearless as they may seem, fear and anxiety are corrosive. Even if you don't believe animals possess intelligence or a soul, it's not rocket surgery to understand why animals from abuse and neglect look absolutely awful.

If you struggle with being around ferrets, or are allergic even, but regularly find yourself responsible for the care and feeding of one, remember how clever they are and beware those opposable thumbs!

Don't avoid the ferret, and when confronted, make sure to maintain eye contact until you can come up with a reasonable excuse to break eye contact and not look like a punk. If you avoid them, they'll tear up your home until they get attention.

And finally, breath. Take a sec. It's still gonna be tearing apart your couch in a min. If you're angry when you deal with the situation, the ferret will take that in. And as science teaches us, they'll expend the exact same energy, in an equally opposite direction. You need them to put a coat on but they want to chew your fingers. Yelling "PUT YOUR COAT ON!" results in significant increases in finger consumption. They want any attention and they want it now. If they learn you'll respond once they've done enough damage, they begin to plan the revolution. With the tactics you taught them. Plan your tactics and do what you say, don't create a revolution of angry feral weasels. Empathetic, thoughtful, kind and inquisitive ferrets are a treasure, but you get what you put in. So waiting for magic bullet answers like a pill or a trainer won't do anything if you're not the one taking it.

No amount of logic, reasoning, explaining, or "but why's" will ever answer all the questions presented by your ferret. Also, not giving a logical explanation in a reasonable response to the ferret is no bueno. Make a choice that reflects your values and your proud of, even if it's not perfect, and stick to it. It's your home and you're the boss. That doesn't mean you can't give and tweak the formula though. You teach it integrity and how to behave when you're consistent and they understand the dynamic, in a way that won't give you insomnia.

At the end of night, he's still a ferret and sometimes they're just in the mood for fingers 🤌🏻 Laugh it off. You're trying to teach it to be responsible in the future, to find a good business and their place in it. There's gonna be a lot of nipped 🤞🏻. No use crying over discarded band aids.

And if you're really not into ferrets, try imagining it's a small human. Many people find them adorable and soothing.

[sz-marketing]

Insider Scoop: What Makes This Website Design Company the Go-to for Successful Businesses

Let's face it, we're in the digital age, where business transactions, customer interaction, and brand building largely take place online. Your website is often the first impression potential customers get of your business. As a web designer who's been helping businesses in Temecula Valley for over a decade, I can't stress enough how a well-designed website can transform your business. But don't worry, we're in this together. Let's dive into the ins and outs of effective website design.

The Power of User-Friendly Design

What is User-Friendly Design?

User-friendly design is all about making your website easily navigable and intuitive for the user. Think of it this way: if your website were a physical store, a user-friendly design would mean clear signage, easy-to-find products, and helpful store assistants.

Let me share a story. A local Tile & Stone company Tomalak Tile & Stone Inc. was struggling with their old website. It was cluttered, confusing, and customers often complained about not being able to find their bestselling items. We redesigned it with a user-friendly layout, clear product categories. The result? A 75% increase in website clicks. 

Another example: K Hinkle Painting Company in Palm Desert. Previously, their website was disorganized and lacked a distinctive design. We stepped in and overhauled it, infusing a user-friendly layout and seamlessly incorporating vital keywords. The outcome? A remarkable 55% increase in customer calls, signifying a direct impact on their business growth

The Impact of User-Friendly Design

A website that's easy to navigate keeps visitors engaged. They're more likely to explore, understand your offerings, and ultimately, make a purchase or contact you. It's the best way to ensure your visitors don't leave out of frustration, never to return.

Mobile-Responsive Design: A Non-Negotiable Element

In today's smartphone-dominated world, a mobile-responsive design isn't a nice-to-have; it's an absolute must. Here's why: over half of all web traffic now comes from mobile devices. If your site isn't mobile-friendly, you're missing out on a huge chunk of potential customers. Not to mention, Google ranks mobile-friendly websites higher in search results.

Elements of Effective Website Design

Designing a website is like constructing a building. You need a strong foundation and thoughtful architecture. Let's discuss some crucial elements.

Navigation

Your website's navigation is like a roadmap to your business. It should be intuitive and straightforward. A good rule of thumb? A visitor should be able to find any information 

Content and Visual Elements

Content is king, but visual elements are its queen. Striking visuals grab attention, while compelling content keeps visitors engaged. Remember to balance the two for a visually pleasing and informative website.

Brand Uniformity

Your website should tell your brand's story. It should reflect your brand's colors, logo, and style consistently. Think of it as your virtual storefront. Your online presence should mirror your physical one.

Loading Speed

Ever clicked off a website because it took too long to load? Yep, we all have. A slow website drives users away and hurts your search engine ranking.

Call to Action (CTA)

An effective CTA guides your visitors towards a specific action, like making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter. It's like a friendly sales assistant nudging a customer in the right direction.

Website Design and SEO

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is crucial for your online visibility. Think of it as the big sign outside your store that lets people know you exist. Good website design and SEO go hand in hand.

Website Design Meets SEO

Website design impacts your SEO in various ways. Mobile-responsive design, fast loading speed, user-friendly navigation - they all play a part in your website's search engine ranking.

Here's a tip: Always design with SEO in mind. When we started working with SEO-friendly designs at Service Zoom Marketing Agency, we saw our clients' websites climb up the search engine ranks, bringing in more organic traffic and potential customers.

Conclusion

To sum up, good website design is a game-changer. It’s all about providing a seamless, enjoyable experience to your visitors while reflecting your brand's personality. Keep user-friendliness, mobile responsiveness, and SEO in mind, and you're already on the right track.

And remember, you don't have to do it alone. If you need help creating the perfect website for your business, we at Service Zoom Marketing Agency are always here to lend a hand. Let's conquer the digital world together!

[icinch]

31 Ways to Market on a Shoestring Budget

New Post has been published on https://www.cinchhomebiz.com/31-ways-to-market-on-a-shoestring-budget/

31 Ways to Market on a Shoestring Budget

With these tips you can get more accomplished and grow your online business faster without spending a fortune.

Mind you – some may seem too simple. But years of trial and error have taught me that these methods flat out work at bringing about extraordinary results.

1. Have a Plan – So many new online marketers simply start working on something without knowing where they’re going or what they hope to achieve (other than making money.) I think this is why Internet Marketers tend to hop from one thing to the next and have trouble settling down. But if you simply take the time to write out your plan of action (what you’re going to do and how you’ll do it) in a step-by-step fashion, then you’ll have a guide that you can follow. It will save you so much time and money in the long run, and make things that much easier as well.

2. Narrow Your Niche – One of the biggest mistakes is trying to make everyone your customer. By targeting a niche, it makes it easier for you to find your customers and easier for them to say yes to your offers. One example I like to use is the IM niche itself. If you’re marketing to ALL online marketers, you’ve got a HUGE niche with a lot of competition. But if you focus on teaching chiropractors how to market their businesses online, you’ve now got a tightly focused niche. Rule of thumb: The more focused the niche, the more you can charge for your products and services. Paradoxically your click through and conversion rates will be higher as well; thus you can earn more with fewer customers.

3. Fine Tune Your Slogan – Sure, you’ve picked a great name for your business (I hope) but what about your slogan? This is the sentence or sentence fragment found on your header, and it’s also what you tell people when they ask what you do. It needs to be short, clear and compelling. “Teaching Chiropractors how to optimize their online efforts resulting in a more diversified clientele and enhanced revenue” is NOT a good slogan. “Helping Chiropractors get more clients through simple marketing methods” is much better. It’s clear, it’s direct, the benefit is unmistakable, and it’s how people naturally speak.

4. Reach Out – Find the movers and shakers in your niche and reach out to them. Blog about them, buy their products, get on their mailing lists, and yes, email them. The more people you know in your niche, the better. You can ask them questions, become their affiliate, and eventually ask them to promote your products, but only when you’ve built the relationship.

5. Network at Live Events – Sometimes working online isolates us so much, we forget that there are real live PEOPLE out there who want to meet us. That’s why it’s good to go to as many live events as you can afford, not just for the training that might be offered, but for the networking opportunities. Take a stack of your cards and try to meet as many people as possible. Get their cards, or write down their info if they don’t have a card. One note: Do not try to sell anybody on anything at these events. Your job here is to make contacts – setting up JV’s and such comes later when they know, like and trust you.

6. Follow-up – You know all those business cards you collected at the event? Follow up with each one within seven days to continue building the relationship. Follow up by phone or email, or both. Remind them of your conversation and pick up where you left off.

7. Use Both Sides Of Your Business Card – You’re at events, handing them out anyway – why not use BOTH sides of the card? On the second side you can add a testimonial, a link to a free report, and invitation for a free consultation, etc.

8. Crank Up Your Signature – Use your email signature to promote your business. Name and contact info are a great start, but you need more. For example, add a link to your webpage with an offer for an excellent freebie. And use the offer in your signature line on forums, too, where it’s allowed.

9. Billboard Your Vehicle – If appropriate to your business, get inexpensive vinyl signs for your vehicle’s doors and rear to bring in new customers. Or if it’s in your budget, spring for the full coverage auto graphics that are so eye-catching, like ones you find at adsonwheels.com

10. Focus On The List – Really this should be titled: Become Obsessive About Building Your List With The Highest Quality (Best Targeted) Prospects Possible. Your first priority in list building should be QUALITY, not quantity. That said, don’t miss a chance to add to your list if the prospects are a good fit for your business.

11. Work Your List – Send them great info on a very frequent basis (3 to 5 times per week) so that you become the “go-to expert” in their eyes. Once they know you and trust what you say, you can recommend anything and get a great conversion, so be sure to only recommend the very best products that they will truly benefit from.

12. Create Fun Promotions Around Silly Holidays – While most every business is trying to leverage major holidays into sales and events, you can stand totally apart from the crowd (and avoid the competition on the big holidays) by focusing on the lesser known holidays. For example, Opposite Day, National Hugging Day and Do a Grouch a Favor Day. First, you need to find the holidays… Google something like, “strange holidays” or “weird holidays” or even “crazy holidays.” and you’ll find plenty of options to choose from.

Now choose a holiday that’s coming up soon, and think of how you can design a simple, eye-catching promotion around it. It doesn’t have to be anything too creative. For example, on Opposite Day you could send your list a product that they only pay for after they receive it and if they like it. That would certainly stir up some attention, and if you promote it in advance it could also grow your mailing list.

13. Hold Contests – You might give away your new digital product or anything else your prospects might like, in exchange for whatever you choose. It could be a new sign up to your mailing list, a suggestion for a new product, the answer to a trivia question (not found on the Internet), etc. If your prize is big enough and awesome enough, ask your readers to forward your contest to others in exchange for extra entries, and it could go viral, providing you with hundreds or even thousands of new prospects. And certainly it will help you with getting your name out there as well.

14. Volunteer Your Services – If you provide a service such as building websites or writing sales copy, volunteer to do it for a non-profit and grab yourself some great publicity in the process.

15. Stage a Launch – New product? New website? New service? Create a launch to turn it into a real event that gets people talking.

16. Take a Stand – If you want customers to feel strongly about you and your products, you need to take a strong stand that they can relate to. Most marketers are afraid to take a stand because they’re trying to appeal to everyone. The problem is, when you appeal to everyone, you end up appealing to no one. Guaranteed no matter what your niche might be, there are positions and opinions that you hold that you can share with your readers.

Taking a stand will bond you to the readers who agree. Those who don’t agree will also want to take a position, and in so doing they also bring attention to you. Think Rush Limbaugh – his fans are devoted and his enemies provide him with tons of free publicity. However, you always want to remain 100% professional – do not name call or denigrate others under any circumstance because it will only hurt you if you do.

17. Make Podcasts and Videos – Microphones and video cameras are cheap, and the payback can be huge. By dispensing great info via voice or video, you’re creating Internet ‘ambassadors’ that can bring you new prospects from places you never expected. BONUS: Someone who joins your list after listening to your podcast or watching your video is far more likely to open and read your emails in the future.

18. Build an Alliance With Non-Competitors – Look for non-competitors who service the same niche you do. Make contact and see about promoting each others products to your own lists, thereby expanding both your sales and your list of new customers and prospects.

19. Build an Alliance With Your Competitors – This works especially well in service niches because successful people have more business than they handle. Plus one competitor might specialize in a certain size or type of project that you prefer not to handle and vice versa. When you collaborate with your competitors, you can sometimes surprisingly double your business with very little effort.

20. Add Value – Whether you’re offering an affiliate product, your own product or just giving info away to build your list, add value. In the case of an affiliate offer, give away something that enhances the original product. In the case of your own product, give away the first chapter or two as a sample. And if you’re simply giving something away to build your list or as an added benefit to your readers, give them additional resources where they can get even more great information or the tools they need to implement your strategies.

21. Use Testimonials – Not just testimonials for the specific product you’re promoting, but also testimonials for yourself, your business, and even your methods. For example, you might use the left or right column of all your sales pages and web pages for testimonials from happy customers of all your products. And inside of your sales letters, place testimonials from people who back up what you say, such as experts who’ve done research that corroborate what you’re telling people in your sales message.

22. Ask for Referrals – This is one you want to be consistent on. Ask your readers to pass along your emails (make sure there is a link to your sign-up page) ask followers to retweet your messages, and ask fans to “like” your pages and messages. Next, put a referral program in place that rewards your customers for referring new, paying customers. And lastly, simply make it a policy to consistently ask and remind, in a very friendly, gently manner. Remember to always show your immense appreciation for those customers who do refer new business your way.

23. Do Teleseminars or Webinars – Teleseminars and webinars are excellent ways to connect with your customers and build your lists. You might do Q and A sessions or present a certain topic. Be sure to give lots of information, and save any product pitches for the very end. If you’re doing the webinar for a joint venture partner’s list, be respectful of the opportunity and make your partner look great for having invited you to speak to their people. You’ll build tremendous rapport with your listeners, and if you’ve presented them with great info, they won’t mind a little product pitch at the end.

24. Send Out A Newsletter On A Regular Basis – You might have a list and you might send them offers – but do you send them real news and stuff they can use? If not, you might want to start. By sending them great tips they can use, they will be more likely to open and read your future emails, thus increasing your conversion rates on the offers you do send.

25. Take Your Best Shot – A professional photograph of yourself is something you can use everywhere – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, your websites, article directories, business directories, etc. Build recognition by using the same great photo and it will pay off.

26. Blog – If you don’t have a blog yet, start one. Yes, even if you have a website, you should still have a blog because it allows you better connect with your community and create a personal connection. And btw, Google tends to love blogs, so if you set it up correctly you may also find you get some free traffic from your blog efforts.

27. Use Keywords – If you want to get found and ranked by Google, you need to use the keywords that people are looking for and that you have a chance of getting ranked on. It’s not always an easy balance, but investing in a good keyword tool and tutorial can help.

28. Bookmark It – Social bookmarking is a good way to help others find your best articles and blogposts. Join sites such as del.icio.us, reddit, digg and mix, and then bookmark your best stuff as well as other people’s best articles, pins and blog posts.

29. Do Press Releases – Do you have some real news to report? By all means do a press release and publish it on top press release websites.

30. Post in Forums – This comes with one caveat: Monitor the time you spend on forums or it can eat up your entire day. Spending 30 minutes a day posting on the best forums in your niche is a great way to increase your visibility. Add a link to your website in your signature and info about your business in your profile. This way when other forum members find your posts helpful, they’ll have somewhere to go to sign up for your list or just get more information about your business.

31. Capitalize on Social Media – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn are great places to find people in your niche, to network and to build your own list. An entire library can be written about using Social Media in your business, so I’m simply adding this one in as a reminder.

As you can see, there are a multitude of ways to promote your business without spending a fortune. An open mind and a little creativity go a long way towards reaching out towards others, thereby getting the business to come to you.