#a lots of ups and downs with mostly downs but! i'll persevere through them

[wishingyouback]

been currently obsessing over the new boy group boynextdoor and i can't get over how lovely all the members are! i'm quite literally addicted to their songs; they've been on repeat & im half expecting to grow tired of it but that's not happening anytime soon i feel hahaha

[honeytae]

“you refuse to meet his gaze, afraid that your carefully constructed facade will crumble if you do. and it seems like that's exactly what is happening - the walls you've built around yourself are slowly falling apart.”

genre: angst, fluff, comfort

warnings: reader is overworked af and petrified of showing vulnerability, brief argument between reader and jk but only bc he cares, so many tears..like a LOT of crying, descriptions of kissing, make out sesh💋, an unforgivable amount of fluff and L bombs, i really didn’t know what to call this one so it’s just riptide, sorry not sorry you guys

wc: 2k

the air in the apartment is mostly silent, save for the gentle scratch of lead on paper and the muted pattering of rain against the windows in your home office.

jungkook’s teeth play with his bottom lip as he fidgets in his seat, intently observing you from the opposite end of the table.

across from him, your brows knit together in an attempt to focus, lips pursed in concentration as you stop for a moment, then resume moving your pencil across the page.

he cringes at the disruption of his phone vibrating on the table, abruptly snapping you out of your daze.

as your pencil slips out of your grasp, you sit up straight and flex your fingers around in the air to release some of the tension residing in your joints.

jungkook murmurs an apology but you brush it off, glancing wearily at him and providing a small smile. a sigh of relief escapes you as he leans in, taking your hand in his and gently massaging your tired fingers with a few strokes of his own.

“that feels good,” you mumble, shifting closer to the table for more of his touch.

he hums softly, taking another few moments to work his fingers into your skin, creating a small pocket of silence.

"are you bored?" you ask, feeling a twinge of guilt for leaving him essentially alone at the table. "i'm sorry, baby, i'll be finished in just a few more minutes."

jungkook shrugs in response, casual as he moves his arm to gently rub up and down your own. his touch is comforting and helps ease your anxiety, preventing you from spiraling further.

“it's okay,” he reassures you with a gentle smile, “just take your time. i'll be here.”

his eyes shift from your face to your hand, a frown forming as he notices the red mark on your finger, evidence of how tightly you've been holding your pencil.

you watch, endeared, as he leans down to kiss the spot, then replaces his lips with his finger, gently rubbing over the indentation to soothe the redness.

"you work so hard," he says, tutting his tongue as he continues running his thumb over the spot.

you can only manage a sigh in response, feeling drained and unable to speak. plus, tears are starting to form in your eyes, and you’re desperately trying to hold them back. jungkook notices, of course he does.his expression turns into one of concern as he studies your face, trying to assess the situation.

your mouth is set in a deep frown, almost a scowl, and your eyebrows are furrowed in discomfort from holding back your true emotions. you refuse to meet his gaze, afraid that your carefully constructed facade will crumble if you do. and it seems like that's exactly what is happening - the walls you've built around yourself are slowly falling apart.

in a rush, he rises from his chair and rounds the table, your eyes following him through tears.

once next to you, his fingers weave through your hair, leading your head to rest on his stomach. he wraps his arm around you and massages the tension from your shoulders as you nestle into the soft fabric of his t-shirt, taking in the familiar scent of his laundry detergent.

“time for a break?” he muses, watching as you adamantly shake your head in response.

“i just need to finish,” you reply, trying to stifle the lump in your throat.

he watches as you draw your laptop closer while blinking rapidly to chase away any tears.

you’ve always been one to persevere, which he greatly respects. but it also irritates him that at times, you don’t allow yourself to fully feel.

jungkook suppresses a groan as he watches you type something else into your search engine, briefly tilting his head up to the ceiling in frustration and closing his eyes to take a deep breath.

it can be hard, to watch those you love push themselves beyond their limit. he understands, knowing that he often puts you through the same thing.

you and him share an achilles heel of refusing to give up easily, which is both a blessing and a curse.

the sound of your fingers tapping on the keyboard snaps him out of his trance and he reopens his eyes, sneaking another glance over your shoulder.

he’s about to drop it altogether when he sees your bottom lip quiver, his breath hitching in his throat when the first tear makes it over your lash line.

“baby,” he utters softly, nearly tripping over the leg of the chair he pulls out from the table to sit beside you.

you can’t help but let out a throaty chuckle at his clumsiness, swiping the single tear from your cheek and trying to wave him off.

“i’m okay,” you sniffle, but jungkook just shakes his head in disbelief. he leans forward, balancing on his knees as he takes your fidgeting hands in his own, running his fingers gently along your knuckles.

“seriously, jungkook, i’m fine. stop making it bigger than it is,” you attempt to push him away, but he refuses to budge.

“stop making it smaller than it is!” he counters, voice raising slightly as his anger takes over.

he takes a breath, continuing in a softer voice.“baby, i’m not gonna stop until you let me in.”

his brows furrow in frustration, wide eyes pleading with you.

in the heat of the moment, you hate how intrusive he’s being. you hate that he sees you as his responsibility and that your struggles are ruining his day.

“jungkook, if i’m just a burden-“

“a burden?” he interrupts in disbelief, “you could never be a burden,” he reaches for your hand when you try to get up. “hey, all i ever want to do is help you, because i love you,” he stresses.

his words instantly calm your mounting emotions, preventing you from any more self sabotage.

“i love you,” he says again, “and i cannot sit here and watch you ruin yourself.”

you simply blink at him, the last of your resolve shattering when he starts to soothingly caress your arm with his warm palm.

even when you’re so difficult, he’s so unbelievably kind to you.

“please let yourself not be okay,” he begs, eyebrows pulling together, pained, as he watches you stifle a sob. “it’s so hard to watch you be so strong all the time,” he says, “please don’t shut me out.”

and just like that, your wall comes tumbling down.

jungkook’s emotions bubbling to the surface seem to be the final push for you to tip over the edge. tears now stream down your face, features crumbling as you weakly lift yourself from your chair.

jungkook’s arms reach out to pull you into him, intercepting your body as you launch yourself onto his lap. his lips press repeatedly to the side of your head as he wraps his arms around your stuttering back, squeezing you to him.

“let go, baby,” he says, feeling tears well up in his own eyes as you collapse in his arms, “just let go.”

broken sobs wrack your frame as you cling onto him, one of his hands securely holding the back of your head while the other runs up and down your spine.

the dam has finally broken, and its cathartic for both of you.

soothing words are spoken softly into your ear as your breaths begin to even out, your face finding solace in the crook of his neck.

after a few minutes, your cries quiet and the pool of tears starts to dry on his skin.

jungkook leans back to glance over your face, reaching up to swipe at the leftover tear trails on your cheeks with his thumb.

“feel a little lighter in here?” he inquires, dancing his fingers over your scalp as you lift your reddened eyes to lock with his.

“a little,” you sniff, leaning into his touch as he starts massaging the crown of your head.

“hm, good,” he murmurs, “we’re making progress then.”

wordlessly, you stare into his big brown irises, the whites of his eyes showing evidence of his own tears. despite this, his mouth quirks in a small smile, and the guilt from ten minutes ago consumes you.

“fuck, i’m so sorry,” your frown deepens, closing your eyes when his lips press to your temple, remaining against your heated skin. “i’m so sorry for lashing out at you, i’m just,” you sigh, “i’m just overwhelmed and,” you glance up in thought, “in my own head.”

“i understand, baby,” he soothes, warm eyes finding yours to show he’s being genuine. “it’s all gonna work out, i promise.”

you inhale and sit up straighter, cupping his cheeks as you position your face in front of his. you stare at each other for a moment before he cups your jaw, adoringly squishing your cheeks with his fingers.

jungkook laughs as you pucker your lips, sliding his hands down to rest under your jaw when you tilt your head to the side, pressing your mouth to his.

with each pass of his lips over yours, you feel the ache in your head lessen. your heart reaches out for him and squeezes him closer to you.

he hums as you pull back and immediately go in for more, taking turns capturing your bottom and top lip between his. you grip on tighter to him to momentarily stop the world from spinning around you.

breaking apart for air, jungkook giggles as you unattractively sniff with your full nose, your fingers absentmindedly playing with his hair.

“sexy, huh?” you raise a brow, and jungkook’s features warm when the sparkle returns to your eye.

“duh,” he rolls his eyes, and there’s a beat of comfortable silence as you both recover from your breakdown.

“i love you so much,” you murmur, “thank you for everything you do.”

“yah, kiss-ass,” he teases, his high-pitched laugh escaping his mouth when you pinch his side as punishment for his snark.

“ugh, nevermind,” you sigh as you stand up, and he smiles at you in return, holding onto your hand to help you back over into your chair.

“i love you more,” he sings, chortling as you squint your eyes at him in response.

you redirect your gaze back to your notebook, still looking tired but not as weary as you did before.

jungkook lifts himself to reassume his position from earlier and stands behind you, dropping his arms around your neck. you tilt your neck as he plants a kiss onto the top of your head.

sensing your reluctance to go back to work, he leans down further, his cheek pressing against yours. the gesture seems to melt you back into your chair as the both of you stare ahead at your laptop screen.

“okay,” he starts, understanding your process, “how about some tea to get you through this last part?”

he waits patiently as you think it over. his eyes travel from the screen to your features, staring at your lashes touching your cheek each time you blink.

there’s a hint of water clinging to your bottom lashes, and the sight makes his heart squeeze in his chest.

“yeah, actually,” you answer softly, gently craning your neck so that you can press your lips to his, kissing him one, two, three, four times.

“you’re the best boyfriend ever,” you whisper against his lips, some of the tension in your body already subsiding.

his cheeks go pink with your praise, dark eyes catching the dining room light as he puffs air out of his nostrils.

wordlessly, you let your head hang off the back of the chair, closing your eyes when jungkook’s hand comes to support the back of your head, dipping down to kiss you again.

his fingers rub soothing circles into your neck, causing an involuntary noise to rise up from your throat.

you break apart with a “tch,” noise, pouting when he pulls his arms from around you.

“nooo,” you try to grip onto his fingers, jungkook chuckling as he pokes your bottom lip back into place.

meeting your lips one last time, it takes everything in him to step away from you, pointing at your dimmed laptop screen.

“i’ll be right back,” he soothes, “and i promise i’ll sit here with you the whole time.”

you smile despite yourself, because jungkook is simply the light of your life.

“you better. you’re my emotional support human.”

[greenerteacups]

Hi! I am an ardent fan of your writing, and I hope to be as sorted and planned as you some day in my own writing journey.

My question is: you have a keen eye when it comes to planning character personality, dynamics, and such. I've also been wading through your ask replies, and your insights into how you write people and how you make them play off of each other is so wonderful to read. If it's not too personal a q, how did you learn how to write like this? Did you go to school for writing, does it come from years of observing people, do you have reading list recs for "how to write real people and real interactions"?

Thanks! This is a really flattering question. I'll try to answer it honestly, because I wish someone had been brutally honest about this with me when I was a young writer.

I didn't go to school for writing. I started doing it when I was about nine years old. It sucked very badly. I kept writing throughout high school, and it still mostly sucked, but some of it was occasionally interesting. ("Interesting" here does not mean "good," by the way.) I took a break in college, and then came back. I've been writing ever since. Sometimes, I feel good about it. A lot of the time, I don't!

I hate giving this advice, because I remember how it feels to get it, and it's the most uninspiring, boring-ass, dog shit advice you can get, but it's also the only advice that is 100% unequivocally true: you have to write, and specifically, you have to write things that suck.

I do not mean that you should make things that suck on purpose. I mean that you have to sit down and try your absolute hardest to make something good. You have to put in the hours, the elbow grease, the blood, sweat, and tears, and then you have to read it over and accept that it just totally sucks. There is no way around this, and you should be wary of people who tell you there is. There is no trick, no rule, no book you can buy or article you can read, that will make your writing not suck. The best someone else can do is tell you what good writing looks like, and chances are, you knew that anyway — after all, you love to read. You wouldn't be trying to do this if you didn't. And anyone who says they can teach you to write so good it doesn't suck at first is either lying to you, or they have forgotten how they learned to write in the first place.

So the trick is to sit there in the miserable doldrums of Suck, write a ton, and learn to like it. Because this is the phase of your path as an artist when you find what it is you love about writing, and it cannot be the chance to make "good writing." This will be the thing that bears you through and compels you to keep going when your writing is shit, i.e., the very thing that makes you a writer in the first place. So find that, and you've got a good start.

Some people know this, but assume that perseverance as a writer is about trying to get to the point where you don't suck anymore. This is not true, and it is an actively dangerous lie to tell young writers. You are not aiming to feel like your writing doesn't suck. You are aiming to write. You are aiming to have written. Everything else is dust and rust. And of course, you'll find things you like about your pieces, you'll find things you're proud of, you'll learn to love the things you've made. But that little itch of self-criticism, in the back of your brain — the one that cringes when you read a clunky line, or thinks of a better character beat right after it's far too late to change — that's never going away. That's the Writer part of you. Read Kafka, read Dickens, read Tolstoy, you will find diary entries where they lament how absolutely fucking atrocious their writing was, and how angry they are that they can't do better. A good writer hates their sentences because they can always imagine better ones. And the ability to imagine a better sentence is what's going to make you pick up the pen again tomorrow. And the day after that. And the day after that.

Which is what I mean, and probably what all those other annoying, preachy advice-givers mean, when we say: a good writer is just someone who writes every day. It's that easy, and that hard.

[jadecitrusmint]

Hello, I'm starting college soon, majoring in statistics. When I mention my course, people often warn me about its difficulty and hope I'll manage to stay through all years. Could you provide tips on how to persevere until the fourth year? And I want to advance study. What should I focus on studying? Also, would you recommend a laptop or a tablet/ ipad?

Thank youu :3

Hello! I got a lot of the same comments when I picked stats as my major🥲

Two things are key to persevering through a stats degree, (1) not beating yourself up when you fail and (2) reaching out for help when you don’t understand something. Stats has a lot of disconnected but continually reappearing topics and you’ll get confused and fail sometime- that is perfectly okay and normal, you just have to learn to let it roll off your back and do better next time! This is when my second tip of reaching out to professors, other students, or uni resources come in. Your professors want you to understand the content (or at the very least are paid to ensure you understand the content)- go to them when you don’t understand something! There is no shame in asking for help.

All calc, especially your multivariate calc, is very relevant to statistics, so I’d brush up on your calc 1 and calc 2 skills if it’s been a while since you’ve used them. Additionally, I’d review probability rules, and basic things like finding means and variances. Later on, you’ll cover “distributional results.” When you get to these, absolutely keep a running list of these results that you frequently look over!

For narrowing down your interests, I’d recommend exploring finance courses, science courses (chem/bio), and coding courses. Statistics is a super versatile degree and there’s a lot of freedom and flexibility!

I would 100% recommend a laptop for two reasons. As a statistics student, you will likely be coding a good bit; mostly in R, but probably in SAS, python, and possibly matlab as well. As far as I’m aware, there’s no software that allows you to adequately code in these languages on a tablet/iPad. Secondly, hand writing on paper is much better for retention. I have an iPad as well, but I only really use it for homework to save the trees from all my scratch work😅 you could accomplish the same effect with a white board and marker. All of my notes (and even sometimes my homework and practice problems) are on paper since you retain the info significantly better. My friends in the stats major who also have an iPad or tablet for notes have also switched to using pen and paper over the years to help with retention since there’s a lot you need to have memorized.

Feel free to reach out with any more questions, and good luck! You’ve got this ~~

[apolloslyrics]

Hi, Sun! How's your April so far? I hope it's going great! Can I please request a reading about my spirit guides?

If possible, I'd like to know of these things, please:

> Who might they be

> How they view me

> Any important message/s they have for me

If any of these questions make you feel uncomfortable, please feel free to answer what you only want/can.

I greatly appreciate this opportunity! Blessings to you and have a wonderful day ahead.

- Maryel 🌼

Hey Maryel!!! It's lovely to meet you. My April has been okay! Ups and downs, but mostly ups :) I hope your April has gone well too!!!

I can try to answer your questions; the only thing I will say is that I can't necessarily put names to spirit guides. So, what I will do instead is describe their attributes and personalities! I'll try to identify a few for you.

The first thing I'm going to do is ask for your spirit guides to come into my space. To do this, I hold a pendulum and ask aloud for them to come forward. When I get a "yes", I start the reading.

For this reading, I'm going to do something similar to a deity identification tarot spread. Here is what I'll be using:

I made this spread! Anyone can use it any time :)

Anyway, onto the reading:

Spirit Guide #1

Card One: Six of Wands

The Six of Wands translates to success, public recognition, progress, and confident. A six in tarot usually represents growth, overcoming challenges, leaving things behind, and understanding yourself. This spirit guide in particular is a very outgoing, confident figure. They know who they are, and they're not afraid to show it. They've overcome a lot of problems and issues over their time here, but they've grown to understand the lessons.

Card Two: The Fool

The fool's meaning has to do with beginnings, innocence, spontaneity, and being a free spirit. This spirit guide, while confident and outgoing, can sometimes be a little bit too spontaneous. They might do things that are silly, but receive many consequences later on.

Card Three: Page of Wands (reversed)

The Page of Wands (reversed) includes newly formed ideas, redirecting energy, and spiritual paths. A Page in tarot often means new beginnings, new phases, and next steps. Because the imagery on the Page of Cups is of a young man, it's safe to assume that this spirit guide is a male.

Card Four: The Hermit

Card Four explains what the spirit guide likes to do for fun; the card they gave was The Hermit, which means introspection, being alone, soul-searching, and inner guidance. In this case, the spirit guide enjoys helping others, especially when it comes to relationships and conquering insecurities.

Card Five: Seven of Wands

The seven of wands represents challenge, competition, protection, and perseverance. This spirit guide is here mainly to protect you, as well as help you persevere through challenges in your life. They may also be sending small tests to check on your ability to get through tough times.

Card Six: The Magician

Card Six, representing what you can do to collaborate with this spirit guide, talks about power, skill, concentration, action, and resourcefulness. To connect with this guide, you might want to work on logical skills. Concentrate on focus and problem-solving. Any time you make a decision, study, or even look at a situation logically, know that this guide is with you and is there to help.

Interpretation: This guide sent primarily major arcana cards and the suit of wands! In tarot, the wands represent primal energy, spirituality, inspiration, determination, strength, creativity, original thought, and more. This spirit guide seems to be extremely creative and does well at problem-solving. They are there to help; they enjoy helping. They will always be there when you need them!

Spirit Guide #2:

Card One: Eight of Cups

The eight of cups represents withdrawal, escapism, and abandonment. While this card may seem negative, an eight in tarot talks about work, change, and getting where you need to go. So, a positive trait about this spirit guide is that they are able to guide you wherever your path should go. Their skill lies in letting go of past resentment and problems, and moving forward.

Card Two: Ten of Pentacles

The Ten of Pentacles, supposedly a negative trait, represents wealth, security, family, and contribution. A ten means final outcomes, the end of a cycle, rewards, and consequences. I'm really playing into the security and consequences part; it seems like this spirit guide holds their cards close to their chest, maybe a bit too much. They prefer not to be vulnerable; this may come from family issues, or it may come from their own resentment.

Card Three: Strength

Card Three, Strength, represents the gender of this spirit guide. The imagery of the strength card shows a woman and a lion, so it's safe to say that this spirit guide is a lady.

Card Four: Eight of Pentacles

This spirit guide sent the eight of pentacles, which talks about apprenticeship, tasks, mastery, and skill development. In their free time, they prefer to be practicing a skill, whether it be teaching themselves or other people. They enjoy the practical things in life, but they also like to have fun with it!

Card Five: Six of Pentacles

Six of Pentacles, which is meant to represent their purpose as a guide, talks about giving, receiving, generosity, and charity. A six represents growth, overcoming challenges, leaving things behind, and understanding yourself. This spirit guide is there to aid you in selflessness! It's important to remember that you are allowed to be selfish as well. They want you to have a balance between giving and receiving; not too much loss and not too much gain.

Card Six: Ace of Pentacles

The Ace of Pentacles talks about manifestation, new opportunities, and abundance. Aces typically talk about beginnings, initiative, drive, potential, and the early stages of an endeavor. Take the reigns! Start a new adventure. Whenever you are trying new things, manifesting, and standing up for yourself and others, that's when your guide is beside you. They are there to help you grow and change; they are there to help manifest who you are meant to be. So go ahead and move forward knowing they will be with you all the way!

Interpretation: this guide sent a lot of pentacles in your reading. The pentacles typically represent work, business, trade, material possessions, ego, self-esteem, and self-image. This spirit guide is work and play! They enjoy finding the balance in things, whether it be generosity, work-play, or communication. They love to see you grow and change, and they love to see you love yourself. Know that they are so excited to get to know you, and they are proud and happy for every achievement you've had thus far.

Spirit Guide #3:

Card One: Seven of Wands

The Seven of Wands talks about challenge, competition, protection, and perseverance. A seven in tarot usually represents confidence, truth, determination, and having faith. This spirit guide is very protective and determined. They are strong and independent.

Card Two: King of Cups (reversed)

The King of Cups (reversed) is meant to speak about self-compassion, inner feelings, moodiness, and manipulation. A King usually represents authority, power, and believing in yourself. While this spirit guide is protective and confident, they can sometimes be overbearing and easily angered. They might get self-absorbed sometimes.

Card Three: Temperance

In tarot, the Temperance card represents balance, moderation, patience, purpose, and meaning. The person depicted on Temperance is female, so it is safe to say that this spirit guide is a lady, as well.

Card Four: The Star

The Star represents hope, spirituality, renewal, inspiration, and serenity. This spirit guide engages in a lot of spiritual hobbies in their free time; they love to connect with nature, other spirits, deities, and energies.

Card Five: Nine of Pentacles (reversed)

The Five of Pentacles (reversed) is said to represent what this guide is here for. Recovery from financial loss and spiritual poverty are some key words for the Five of Pentacles (reversed). They are here to guide you on your general spiritual path; when you pray, when you connect with nature, when you give offerings, and when you meditate, know that they are there to keep you safe and protected. They do their best to have your space nice and peaceful, without any harm coming to you.

Card Six: Knight of Wands

The Knight of Wands represents energy, passion, inspired action, and adventure. Interact with your spiritual path more! Whether that be praying, doing spellwork, leaving offerings, or even simply lighting a candle, they would love to see more of your practice in your daily life.

Interpretation: This spirit guide didn't send any specific suits; they want you to decide what you think of them, and how you want to interact. They are there to help you in your spiritual path mainly, but know that they are also welcoming any general questions from you. They are hopeful that your spiritual journey will give you some insight as to what might happen in the future.

Your spirit guides were very kind and understanding during this reading! I do hope this resonates and that you find this to be helpful in your practice 🫶 as always, take care of yourselves!

[atanx]

okay I NEED you to elaborate on your headcanon about kuze being mana’s uncle because I absolutely can see it but I wanna know your context specifically (im @designernishiki btw)

Hi! Thamks for the ask! :3

Okay so admittedly I didnt come up with it myself, but I read it in this and thought yo why the heck not that shits epic?? Just the idea of Kuze having a niece and being a pretty good uncle?? Good shit right there!

I even started writing a little bit, dunno if I'll ever continue it but here:

It starts with his sister. His sweet, shy sister he never really knew, he never really talked to not because they didn't like each other but because she was five years younger and they had virtually nothing in common.

Throughout the years, they'd lost contact, yet, as Kuze's boxing career is falling apart, a letter arrives. Where Akira got his address from, he doesn't have a clue, but he remembers her handwriting.

They meet at Cafe Alps to catch up. He doesn't recognise her in the beginning, but she recognises him.

"Hold her for a second, would you?", Akira shoves her baby into his arms.

"-Oi!", Daisaku complains, mostly because his hands are made for boxing, for hurting, and he most definitely does not know how to take care of a baby.

But Akira leaves to go to the bathroom before he can get another word in.

Daisaku looks down at the potato. Babies are so ugly. They're deformed, weak and disgusting with drool and snot and even less pleasant bodily secretions everywhere. They scream and they're annoying, but - this isn't his baby. This is Akira's baby. He doesn't have the responsibility of having to do everything right. He won't have to suffer through the majority of the baby's tantrums.

The baby's big eyes follow his finger as he boops its little nose. It scrunches up its face in a way he must admit it decently adorable.

"Oh, you got an attitude.", he remarks with amusement. "That's a good thing. I like you."

The baby stretches out its tiny, tiny hand to play with his finger and he lets it.

Daisaku is overcome by wonder. It's so small, so weak and helpless, yet this is a human. This will one day grow up into an adult. What he is holding in his arms is a life. A pure, young, innocent life.

"I see you've become acquainted!", Akira teases him as she sits down, not making a move to take the baby back.

"Aa. It's got spunk."

His sister chuckles.

"What's it's name?", Daisaku asks.

"Kuze Mana.", Akira responds, looking at the baby with a lot of fondness. The little shit starts gnawing on his finger. He lets her.

"Eh? You're not hitched?"

"Nah, she was an accident, but I wanted to keep her."

"Huh."

"So, Daisaku... How have you been holding up?", Akira asks him, tone becoming a tad bit gentler. "I heard about what's happening with your boxing career."

Kuze clicks his tongue. "Don't believe everything you hear. Reason why things are going downhill is that I did something the Championship doesn't like so they're forcing me to lose. Bunch of fuckers."

Akira hums. "And what, you're just going to let them walk all over you?"

"Pf. As if. The reason I started up boxing is because I wanted to fight people stronger than me, not get tossed around by losers I could defeat in my sleep. I could tough it out, but... This isn't about strength or perseverance. Getting back in the bosses' good graces is gonna take a long time and then it's one wrong move and I'm in the doghouse again.", Kuze snorts derisively. "This is more showbiz than boxing. No, I think I'm done with it. Only question is what happens after."

"Do you have a job in mind yet?"

"No. That's most of the problem.", Kuze admits. "Like hell I'm gonna start an office job or anything like that. Don't exactly have qualifications either."

Akira looks him over critically. "I guess so."

"I have received an offer.", Kuze states, staring at the table. "He said my strength and potential was wasted there."

"Eh? Is it the Yakuza?"

Kuze looks up in shock. "How did you know?"

Akira smiles. "I've had a couple of friends who were in there."

"I see.", he states, still uncertain of what she thinks of it.

[ordinaryxtreme]

Blue Lock Thoughts(tm) Post

So I read Blue Lock up to the U-20 match and let me just say that having a lot of thoughts about it is an understatement. These are not Smart(tm) thoughts at all, just me screaming into the void. I'll mostly be talking abt third selection up to U-20 match so spoilers for up to ch 148!!

Chigiri and Kunigami

MY SHIP... The third selection truly made them so Spicy. They could've been the dynamic duo that perseveres together all the way through the selection, but they got separated and Kunigami didn't even make it PAST the third selection, at least, not in the normal way. I was upset at the reveal (I was very embarrassingly yelling to my friend in voice chat while reading) because I missed their banter. But now that I think about it, we now have the knight/hero rising up from the ashes to meet his princess again and I'm now so glad this was the outcome. As my friend so eloquently put it, it's super cool that Blue Lock isn't afraid to separate their duos. Which brings me to the next duo...

2. Reo and Nagi

Reo's separation from Nagi is honestly the best thing to happen to both of their characters. Reo didn't really interest me as a character until Nagi left him and he was all gunning for revenge. I thought they were going for some sort of villain arc with him, but what they did was SO much better. Yes, Reo was understandably bitter for some time, but he changed stances and saw it from a different point of view really quickly. We literally watched him go through the 5 stages of grief.

And then come back stronger after his acceptance. Even finding a crazy ability to call his own.

And he OWNS it too. That moment when Shidou made fun of him for being a copy-cat, he DOUBLED DOWN ON IT and taunted him for not even being able to beat a copy-cat. Now that's the ultimate power move.

My favorite favorite FAVORITE thing is... he is still a duo with Nagi. They still sync perfectly well. They still know each other the best. Reo turned his spite on its head and came back to Nagi at full force.

What can I say except NAGIREO REAL!!!!! OK next point.

3. Bachira & Isagi

Honestly, I kinda didn't expect Bachira and Isagi to develop almost like a parallel to Nagi and Reo. I love how Bachira is portrayed. He obviously has some mental disorder (I'm guessing ASD or adjacent) and the way it's portrayed as a monster which Bachira eventually hones into his own... At first he just wanted friends, he wanted people who play just like him, to accept him as he is and that was what Isagi was to him. But in the end having others accepting him wasn't enough. He had to accept HIMSELF, his monster. And because of that he came in SEVENTH after the third selection!!!

Honestly, it was one of the most satisfying character development moments.

And again, after that, his and Isagi's duo play just comes out stronger.

Just Dynamic Duo Things.

3. Barou and Rin

I put these two together because they feel like the ultimate sports trope subversion. It's almost BLASPHEMOUS how they essentially become the egotistical "villains" of the field.

I love Barou as a character too, he is SO GAP MOE. Who would've thought that he was a malewife that was obsessed with keeping things neat? I want to destroy his ass. Ahem.

Anyway, Rin. He literally went fucking BONKERS at the idea that he has a team behind him. HE WANTS IT ALL TO HIMSELF.

THIS SHIT WOULD LITERALLY NEVER FLY IN A NORMAL SPORTS STORY. Which brings me to my favorite thing about Blue Lock

4. It is simultaneously a love letter AND a blasphemy to the sports genre.

I had a Kuroko no Basket phase years ago and I KNOW a KnB inspired story when I see one. Of course there's references and concepts that Blue Lock obviously borrowed from KnB. I could easily list all of them like the concept of "Flow" that is totally not KnB's "zone", the copy guy, the "emperor style", Aryuu Juubei who is totally not a homage to Murasakibara... References and concepts are easy to insert into any story. The important part is the Utter Unhingedness. They took KnB's barely believable superpowers and high school drama and all these high stakes that are totally just made up in the characters heads... and turned it up to 11.

KnB was a level of "skirting the boundary of what's humanly possible" that is still acceptable. Yeah, people thought it was insane and were laughing about it, but it didn't really have "haters". It's still just regular sports. But Blue Lock said fuck that, they're going to be straight up CONTROVERSIAL. There's no point if it doesn't have passionate haters. This isn't sports as you know it. And I respect that so much honestly. (If you've been on anitwt recently, you'll know that fans of conventional sports stories DESPISE Blue Lock).

I think with the sports genre becoming this Big Thing(tm) and the market somewhat becoming saturated over the years, this kind of blasphemy is exactly what the genre needs right now.

Speaking of blasphemy...

5. Itoshi Sae vs. Itoshi Rin

I love the whole angel vs demon thing going on with them. I love Sae's beautiful perfection and Rin's feral animal-like approach

(short digression, as a STEM major nerd I fucking LOVE the numbers in the visualization of Sae's abilities. I'm betting that it's the golden ratio because you won't get a number more perfect anywhere else!!)

I love their entire silent sequence against each other. No dialogue, no SFX. They were silently communicating with their bodies and with their eyes the way only brothers could. In a way, this is brotherly bonding :D

I love that Rin, and the Blue Lock team, is painted as the "villains" of the sports scene. And they won against U-20, the "heroes". They changed sports forever.

6. The unseriousness of it all (my lovehate letter to Isagi Yoichi)

In the end this is a manga about SOCCER. The characters take it WAY too seriously because they're dumbasses who literally only have soccer in their brains. It's honestly hilarious at times. But damn, if I'm not invested in this unreal, unserious, BFFR shit!!! Every time Isagi realizes something that is common sense (like when he "discovered" that luck also plays a part in games) I die a little bit inside.

BOY YOU ARE STUPID AND DRAMATIC AND GAY AND I LOVE YOU. Blue Lock would not be the same if Isagi wasn't the protagonist. If you think about it, every insane visualization of everyone's abilities is how ISAGI sees their abilities. This shit we are seeing, all the puzzle pieces, the fire, the thunder... is all in Isagi's head. And once he gets out of the game, he's literally just an awkward high school boy.

I guess he can be cute sometimes.

8. (For now) I don't think Blue Lock will end the way Ego says it will. (A love letter to Ego)

Muneyuki Kaneshiro you did it again. If you haven't read his other work, Kamisama no Iutoori and Kamisama no Iutoori ni, please do so. Having read those, I'm half-convinced that he'll pull an Akashi on us and give Isagi a canon love interest by the end AHAHA.

Digression aside, Ego said that by the end, there will be 1 striker to stand above all 299 "corpses" as he so elegantly put it. But I honestly don't think that'd happen. I have no basis for this other than the fact that it would just feel WRONG to end it like that. They wanted the sport to evolve by "creating soccer from zero", playing different positions with the ego of a striker. Honestly, I wouldn't see the point in all that when there's only 1 striker to survive in the end, you feel me?

Ego may have only said that to rile the boys up. He's playing the role of the ultimate "villain" for the boys to conquer. Now that's a very questionable approach to coaching but it sure fucking works!!! I really really love it.

And he KNOWS his methods are questionable at best, enough to get him banned from the world of soccer forever. He didn't care about himself if it meant these boys will evolve and play the ultimate soccer.

He really knows how to cultivate the perfect little "villains". Sure, it involved literally isolating them from the outside world in what is the equivalent of Soccer Jail, but you gotta do what you gotta do! :D

Honestly my wishful thinking is they end up with 11 top Blue Lock players (maybe a few more for the bench) and they get to compete internationally or something. Go beyond the scope and scale of regular sports manga... But I guess I'll just have to see what happens next!

OK. Alright. I think I'm done now. If you read this all, thank you for coming to my TED Talk!!!!

[solradguy]

Anon who wanted to contribute to the fandom here, thank you so much for the recommendations on what I can do!! I do have two more questions though if you are alright with answering those.

When it comes to perseveration, what do you think is in the most dire need for it? I am thinking of creating a site dedicated to persevering a sole aspect of the media in Guilty Gear, I just don’t want to accidentally have it focused on something already wildly saved already.

And for my second question, when it comes to digging up media, where do you recommend I begin? Are there certain sites or apps that can help me find GG lost media? Or are links to places to look something the lore server also provides?

Yeah, no problem!! I'm still pretty new at GG media preservation compared to most of the other people doing it, but I don't mind sharing what I know ^^

Honestly probably the interview articles, then the scanned stuff, followed by the .ROM rips, and then the sprite/background rips. The music is by far the most archived part of GG. ArcSys apparently basically never files takedown notices so the OSTs are uploaded everywhere lol

I don't think the lore server has website links for this kind of stuff but there are a few sites that I end up returning to for stuff occasionally. Readmore again because there are kind of a lot haha

Oh, a quick note before you dive into this: Avoid Blade (gear-project on here; sometimes Blade Highwind elsewhere). He used to do some old preservation stuff and work on translations/lore documents but he has a reputation for purposely manipulating or misinterpreting the canon, on top of just generally being racist and trans/homophobic. You'll see his name often on old forums/archives. It might be worth saving his stuff for shiggles but that's your call.

I'm heading out for the day here soon so I'll answer this now but if I think of anything else while I'm out, I'll reblog it when I get home and add on to it.

Archive.org - The bae. Most of the lore server (myself included) upload our projects here. Mostly scanned works but a few .ROMs are on here too. The Wayback Machine can be used to find lost stuff from defunct Geocities pages or, if you're really good, you might be able to find old/dead GG fansites hosted outside of Geocities.

GuiltyGear.ru - I have no idea who runs this site but its last update was in 2015. Has a bunch of art/sprite rips, archives of old official fankits, WinAmp skins, just like a lot of old interesting stuff. I have a feeling I'm gonna hop on one day and they aren't gonna have renewed the domain and it'll be dead so I've saved a good portion of the things uploaded here but would like to doublecheck some day. It wouldn't hurt to also maybe make a backup of it, imo.

FightersGeneration - Active general fighting games website. Has a bunch of loose scans, sprites, art for GG though. I don't think this website is in danger of going down anytime soon, but it could save you some trouble of going to archive something and double checking to see if FG has it first, though FG's archives for GG are not comprehensive since they do other fighting games too.

Vimm's Lair - Still active .ROM archive that's been running since 1997 (!!). Also not in danger of going down any time soon but it's another reference to see what has and has not been preserved already. Their page for GG has icons next to what .ROMs they're missing.

The Dustloop forums - These seem to be entirely inactive and searching them is a pain in the ass but I've found some cool stuff on here before just from poking around. Might lead to some ancient fan sites to run through Wayback Machine.

This is a touchy topic for some, but it might also be interesting preserving old fanfiction from FF.net and ao3 (and old forums/fan sites). This is a form of art that is often overlooked when people talk about preserving fan content. Since most authors are still active, I wouldn't touch anything from maybe like the last idk 10 years or so? But anything older than that is entering "danger of becoming lost media" territory, imo. No idea where you could upload these if you decide to back them up though...

[plasma-packin-mama]

26 27 and 34 for whichever oc you choose :3c

Ahh thank you so much for sending the ask!!!!!!! I'll answer with Delilah because I haven't introduced my other ocs yet :] id notmally do drawings for these answers but I'm sick rn so I don't feel super up to it lol...

26. what are their strengths?

Well. For one, their physical strength. They're shredded they're a beefcake. They can and will lift you up and carry you around like a sack of potatoes. They train with Boone a lot he helped them get swole :)

They're also super mechanically minded, they can take anything apart and learn how it works and put it back together better than it was before. They love modifying weapons and all of their gear is made of lots of miscellaneous pieces they've collected over time.

They love easily and deep deep deeply. If they decide they like you, they will walk through a field of land mines and detonate every one to get you what you want. Kindness and friendliness come naturally to them, and they make good impressions on most people they meet.

They're tough and perseverant, they will ram their head against a wall until they break a hole in the wall, and then they'll tear the rest of the wall down with their bare hands to let other people through. Their hands are bleeding they should've put gloves on.

27. what about fatal weaknesses?

They're gullible and easy to trick. (They accept Benny's promise of taking over new Vegas ~together<3~ hook line and sinker) They tend to give second chances to people who really do not deserve them and it sometimes ends Poorly.

They have never once thought about something before doing it. It drives most of the people they travel with up the wall, especially Arcade and Boone. Int 8 but common sense 0. It's not uncommon for them to get themselves and the people counting them into serious trouble because they didn't exercise critical thinking skills. They also tend to think exclusively in the short term, and so they're oftentimes blindsided by long term consequences of their actions.

They tend to refuse help from others, and shut everyone out when they're feeling poorly. They can do it themselves, and their personal problems are none of your business, so stop being nosy and overbearing. A lot of their interpersonal relationships tend to be shallow or one sided because of this. They're willing to pour mountains of time, energy, money, and effort into keeping relationships alive, but vulnerability is a much more expensive resource for them to give away.

34. murder accomplice

Boone. They've killed a lot of people in the Mojave- mostly legionaries, and usually with Boone. But most importantly, they trust Boone to stay by their side no matter what, they know he won't bail. He was their first friend and he's their best friend. Arcade is the love of their life, but they know his love comes with conditions. They have to be Good for him. Boone would stand with them through far more irresponsible actions.

[shadowmaat]

Okay, so a combined headcanon and ficlet ask: Does Smokey have any nerve pain where he was burned, and if so, how does he cope with it? What was his initial recovery like? How did he handle such a painful and disfiguring injury? And for a ficlet: If the pain does kick up sometimes, how does Surge support and care for him?

Mostly the area is just numb, but there are occasional flare-ups where the burn area gets twitchy. Not much to be done but ride it out. He can't really smile on that side and if he goes too long without doing stretching exercises it can be hard to chew.

Once the initial adrenaline wore off the pain was, of course, excruciating. He doesn't remember much of the treatment or surgery and was honestly kind of surprised to wake up in a recovery room. It turns out an assessment was made and he was deemed salvageable. They didn't put a lot of effort into fully healing the developing scars, but they made sure he'd still be combat ready.

His body armor actually protected him a bit. It was warped and useless afterward, but the burns on his arms, legs, and torso were less severe and healed with time. He was definitely castigated about not wearing his helmet, too. And for going in to save the other cadets in the first place.

Recovery was a slow process that involved bacta injections, gel wraps, and lots of mouth stretching exercises so he'd still be able to give intelligible orders. He was in pain throughout most of it, but didn't dare to speak up about it. He wasn't told the fate of the other cadets since it was "irrelevant."

Barker, as he was known at the time, wasn't allowed any visitors, but as soon as he was discharged his squad swooped in and took over, lavishing him with the love and attention he needed and calling him a hero. They also let him know that the two of the three cadets he rescued survived. The third was too badly injured by the time Barker got to him, but he still blames himself for that death.

It was his squadmates who renamed him Smokey, and while he wasn't sure he'd earned a new moniker he didn't want to disappoint them so he went along with it. It took some time but he eventually grew to like it. Besides, with the smoke damage to his lungs he probably wouldn't be barking a lot of orders anyway.

His self-worth wasn't great and the scarring and raspy voice made him incredibly self-conscious. Not as a vanity thing but just the usual clone fear of standing out too much. Thankfully his brothers were there to support him and the two cadets he saved managed to touch base with him to show their appreciation. They had burns, too, but not as severely as Smokey. Mostly he got through it all due to stubborn perseverance and an unwillingness to let down his squad.

Smokey has come a long way since then. Having Issa as a General has helped him (helped all of them) grow into themselves a bit more. Having someone who encourages and supports individuality? Who goes out of her way to accommodate them instead of demanding it be the other way around? It helps. A lot.

Having Boba around helps, too. Learning how to negotiate all of Boba's prickly spots and chipping away at the biases his father taught him is teaching him a few things about himself, too, even if he hasn't realized it yet. ;)

I'll do the fic prompt in a second post after a (hopefully) good night's sleep. <3

[johnkrrasinski]

ℑ𝔫𝔱𝔬 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔚𝔬𝔬𝔡𝔰

Chapter 3: Fall from Grace 

full masterlist // series masterlist

Pairings: dark!Steve Rogers x female!reader

Word count: 3,639 

Warnings: smut, kidnapping, stalking, slight bondage. (MUST BE 18+)

Summary: after the death of your mother, you decided that you were going to do something new to honor her. You chose a perfect camping spot somewhere down South. You thought it was going to be the life-changing vacation that you never had in your life, until Steve Rogers, a man existed in roughness and control all his life, found you.

a/n: chapter three is here!! they are finally going to start their festive, but steve is gentle enough to at least take things slow. things will grow more extreme in future chapters and i hope you’re ready for that. for now, let’s just enjoy, (lowkey) altruistic steve, yeah? enjoy! please leave a like and comment. 

The next morning, you were woken up by a gentle caress on your hair, with a pair of striking blue eyes greeting you. Not that you had any clue whether it was actually morning. It could've been 3 PM in the afternoon for all you know, but the man before you; Steve Rogers, as he declared his name last night, confirmed it by rolling the words on his lips; "good morning."

You tried to sit up, but you remember that you were still bound in place since last night. He sat by the side of the bed, and he asked; "did you sleep well last night?" You didn't know how to answer that, so you nodded aversely. He smiled, not the menacing smirk that he displayed several times last night, but a suave one, like he was gratified by your sated rejoinder.

"I brought breakfast. You must be starving."  You turned your head to your right side and a saw a small table standing next to you, containing a plate filled with scrambled eggs and bacon, the smell was so mouthwatering that your stomach grumbled at the absence.

You whined and pulled your hands scantily, hoping that it was enough to send him the message. "Oh shit, sorry." He made light of the situation and he moved slightly forward to uncuff you. You sat up and tried to take off the gag but he abruptly blocked your hands from proceeding any further.  

"Let me do it." It was supposed to sound thoughtful as if he was lending a helping hand, but the glare in his eyes expunged the sentiment away for what he acutely implied was; "you don't get to make that decision of your own, little girl."

So you let loose your hands and yield into him to perform the task instead. You never cherished your freedom more than at that moment. You instantly contorted your body and grabbed the plate. You ate like you were a famished vagrant. You moaned at how succulent the meal is.

You ate in silence and he just sat there as he watched you gobbled up your food. The sound of the room was only generated from the clinking sounds of the metal fork hitting the silver platter.

When you were repleted, you put down down the dish and you drank the glass of warm vanilla milk on the tray. You gulped half of the glass and put it back on the tray. You didn't realize the remaining splotch of the milk had stained your upper lip milky white.  

Steve cleaned it with the stroke of his thumb tenderly and he wiped it on his jeans. He didn't waste any second longer as he spoke up; "today, we are going to start our training. We'll go over the rules and learn the basics. We will see how much we can wrap today, and then we'll carry on tomorrow."  

He got on his feet and picked up the tray from the small table, and he continued, "while I prep, you can take a shower."

Take a shower? Does this mean he was going to take you upstairs and let you use his bathroom? That's a good start, maybe, you might find a way to escape through the window or scream for help.

But your vision was cut short by his next instructions. He pointed at the direction of the staircase, but not specifically at it, but rather towards something underneath it; "you see that door over there? It's the bathroom. You can shower there."

You hadn't noticed that door before until it was pointed out.  You had only been here for, you assumed, less than 24 hours, there were a lot of things you had yet to discover. After all, your first night here was restricted; you were bound on all fours and the dimmed bulb on the ceiling could only provide so much.

"I'll give you an hour to be ready for me. I expect you to be all cleaned and fragrant when I come back." He leaned down to your level and spoke composedly. "When I'm back, I want you on your knees, with your hands placed neatly on your thighs and your chin down to the ground, understood?"

You nodded. Ever since you got here, it seems like you had lost your ability to form a sentence, you could mumble a few primary words, but you still felt so caged inside despite not being restrained any longer.

"Words, sweet girl. I want you to use your words."

"Yes."

He raised his eyebrows and made a questioning look, you didn't seem to get to hint, so he proceeded; "yes what?"

Your brain quickly recalls last night's events, where he told you that you may call him sir at "certain times" and you immediately knew that this was the moment he implied.

"Yes... Sir." With that, you earned a murderous smirk on his face as if he was amused by the way the sound of the epithet rolled off your lips.

"Good girl. I'll see you later." He left a kiss on your forehead and fled; passing the staircase, off he go.

You folded your knees and tucked them under your chin. What kind of rules was he planning to go over with you? Is he ever going to let you go? And most importantly, are you truly safe with him?  

Steve took off from the basement and locked the door behind him. He was amused by how obedient y/n had been so far, he quickly learnt how naive and innocent you were. He was going to have it easy when it comes to molding you into his favorite possession. The girl he had fantasized about for months; you were nearly there. You just needed a little more disciplinaries.

He calculated in head that in a few weeks, you were going to be innately capable of performing his orders. If he wanted you on all fours, with your head pressed down on the mattress and your hands tied tidily on your back, as he pounds vigorously into you, then you were going to do so, with only a single cue.

Yeah, he'll get you there. He just needed patience and perseverance.

He stripped himself off his navy blue plaid shirt and his worn-out jeans. He also pulled down his boxer and put them into the dirty laundry basket as his lengthy cock sprung free. It wobbled as he stepped into the bathroom and turned on the lights; the rustic interior came into view. There was a single, broad rectangular mirror on his right side, over the Pecan brown ceramic sink. The tile that topped the cabinet sink resembled the colour of its owner's hair; deep brunette brown.

On the left side, there was a single wooden framed window that was shut due to the windy weather that caused the fallen leaves of the trees to enter his cabin uninvited.

He diverted the shower curtains and climbed into the giant bathtub. He swiveled the shower faucet and let the warm water wash over him. His thoughts migrated to his discoveries last night. He had stolen her phone and her other personal things and stash them in the top racks of his closet.

While she was unconscious, she pressed her button onto the fingerprint passlock, and the screen lit up, displaying all of the menu icons. He looked through all of her social media one by one; her text messages, her Instagram, Facebook, emails, Youtube history, Google history, Google Play Books, and even her Amazon search list. He thoroughly scrolled through every app on her phone he could find, to dig deeper into her personal background.

From what he discovered, he hadn't learned much except; she was a nerd, the number of books she had yet to finish explained that much. Her history search revealed nothing much more than juvenile information, and the most recent ones were camping related info. She was on social media, but she didn't seem to have that many interactions cramming up her notifications. Her emails and text messages mostly consisted of professional matters with her, what he assumed, were her co-workers.

He also read several unanswered texts, saying sentimental things, such as; "I'm truly sorry for your loss." "I'll be here if you need me, call me soon!" "Do you need a friend? I can come over anytime! :)" "She was such a wonderful human being, she's in a better place now." "Stay strong, okay? Thinking about you here."

That made him curious. Why didn't she answer these well-intend messages? Who was this "wonderful human being" her acquaintance talked about? He didn't dwell on those futile questions for too long, he could ask her about it later, but now, he just wanted to learn more about his girl.

He clicked on the gallery icon and there was only a single file. He unfolded it, and the file revealed pictures that she took from the woods; the river, the trees, the scenery, etc. Then as he scrolled down further, pictures of an older woman surfaced. The older woman slightly resembled her. They both have the same eyes and that warm demeanor. Some pictures showed she was in a hospital bed, clad in a hospital gown. She looked pale and frail. He put the math together and concluded that this might be her mother, and that she was ill.

But her peer or whoever the hell that was, texted that she was in a better place now? Does that mean she was deceased? Is that why she came here all alone? To get away from her thoughts?

He'll learn the answers tomorrow, when she's awake, and when she's willing to talk.

After about an hour browsing through her phone, he decided that he had found enough. He decided to delete all her social media accounts and discarded her SIM card and the battery. Then he turned off the device and stash it back to where all her personal belongings were stored.

After he showered under the warm water and cleaned himself enough, he turned off the faucet and stepped out of the bathtub. He dried off his damp hair as he stared into the mirror, acknowledging his God-like, well-defined figure. His chiseled abs and bulky chest that could bring anyone in his way to their knees. He trimmed his unkempt beard just enough to keep it presentable. He brushed his hair until he was satisfied with how dashing he looks.

He stepped out into his room and searched through his wardrobe. He pulled out a pair of sweatpants and put it on. He didn't even bother putting on a boxer or briefs, for he knew it would go futile anyway. Nor did he bother putting on a shirt. So he walked into his basement, where his girl was kept; shirtless, and eager.

Let the games begin...

The warm water washing over you felt pleasant on your skin. You took your time in cleaning yourself up, as your minds keep drifting to the last 24 hours. Still, the remaining questions in your head were; where the hell were you? who the hell was this man? what the hell did he want from you?

You squeezed the bottle of the shampoo onto your hand and you messaged your scalp smoothly despite your restless thoughts. You had walked into the bathroom fifteen minutes earlier, and saw how complete the bathroom was.

It wasn't much, there was a single toilet and a roll of tissue glued around a wall-mounted tissue holder beside it. You also found many feminine toiletries such as; coconut shampoo, lavender body wash, vanilla-scented lotion, deodorant, toothbrush & toothpaste, razor, blades, shaving lubricant, soap bar, and nail clippers.

In the tiny cabinet sink, there were a few white towels and washcloths. Inside the drawer, there were a few tampons and pads. You truly felt like you were a special guest at a fancy hotel. The cramped bathroom was even a lot neater compared to your own in your apartment.

It makes you wonder... Did he plan all of this? If he did, how long had he been planning for this? Your own questions rose the shivers down your spine. You decided to shake it all away and stepped into the tight space behind the curtains.

You turned on the faucet and let the warm water stream over your skin.

After you were finished, you wrapped one of the towels in the cabinet, around your body. You used it to dry off your face and your hair, then you walked out to the room. You were glad that he hadn't come back yet, so it gave you enough time to get ready.

How... exactly were you going to get ready? You just realized he didn't provide you any clothes or undergarments. So you sat in your bed, still clothed in the towel until you were ready to follow his instructions.

You weren't ready to find out what he meant by "there will be punishments" as he casually stated last night, so you dropped the towel off your body and hung it on the hook behind the bathroom door.

You heard the faint sound of approaching footsteps and you sprinted to the center of the room and knelt. You placed your hands neatly on your thighs as he instructed with your head down, not wanting to stare at his face. Despite it was part of his orders, you were also fearful of gazing into this man's eyes.

The sound of the door opening reverberated through the room, and your hands shook despite being perfectly still on your thighs. Your lips trembled at the mighty presence making a grand entrance. The sound of the approaching footsteps grew harsher and in seconds, a pair of black mudded boots covered feet came into view.

"You listened to my orders well... Good. We are off to a good start. Alright, let's begin our lesson today. You can look up now."

You lifted your head to look at his face, and you trembled. Seeing this man from down here hit you differently. He was majestic in every possible way. You didn't know whether that made you feel safer or even more terrified. He was leaning on a small table pressed to the wall behind him, his hands holding his bodybuilder figure.

"First, I want you to address me as sir when we are engaged in sexual intercourse. You have learned my name but it doesn't mean you can call me by my first name whenever you like."

"Second, I don't wanna hear you talk unless I address you first. If you absolutely need to, you may raise your hand to let me know. The only thing that I wanna hear from that mouth is your compliance, understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Third," his eyes darkened. There wasn't a hint of emotions on his face, nothing but stone-cold, hard-rock sobriety. Like a supreme commander, commanding his subordinates. "I expect you to submit to me, fully. Your body and your mind belong to me now. I am in control of the way it works and I am free to choose whatever I want to do to you. No refusal, no recalcitrance, no inquiry. Trust me, the less you resist, the easier this will be."

You were stiffened in place, cemented on spot. He demanded complete submission; a person you had never come across before, the pieces of equipment that were foreign to you, a territory you never had the slightest bit of idea existed... You were forced to yield and accommodate yourself into it. You bit the insides of your cheek to forestall the tears. He already had you impotent, like a wounded animal succumbing to its injuries. Resistance would be vain now. So you let him take the wheel. Even if it means, your temple would be driven by him.

Maybe... Just maybe, after you've pleased him enough by letting him get a grip of you, he might let his guard down and you might even find a way to escape.

But not now, you must work to earn his trust first. You just needed to brace yourself and have self-control. This man promised you that he wasn't going to hurt you, after all, maybe in exchange for a few sexual favors, you might obtain your freedom.

So you entertained him, by saying his two favorite words. "Yes, sir."

"Alright. Now, get on the bed and lay on all fours, like you did last night."

You got on your feet and walked slowly to the mattress. It wasn't a comfortable one. It only had one pillow and not a duvet. It made you miss your own bed dearly.

You laid on the bed, seeking the most comfortable position, despite nothing that would actually make that much difference. You were still placed in the center of the bed, with your head on the pillow.

Steve followed you behind, and he restrained you again to the corners of the bed. He got on top of you, caging your hips with his knees.

"Today, I'm going to teach you how it feels to cum. Fall apart as you give into pleasure... You're never going to be the same once I'm done with you."

He started with nipping the sensitive spot of your neck, followed by the soft caress of his fingers, slowly moving down to your lip, circling around the bud, as he began to collect the wetness there. He moved his head down to your breasts, as he sucked your left nipple with his lips. The feeling overwhelmed you, you had never done this with any man before.

To say you were inexperienced would be an understatement. You had never dated anyone, let alone sleep with one. Your thoughts were jumbled with the sensation, you wanted to push him away, but you were bound in spot, your brain is telling you to tell him to stop, but you couldn't.

His mouth is taking its sweet time, moistening your nipple, as the finger on your bud didn't stop, but rather going faster, rubbing you up and down, that elicited a faint moan from you. What is he doing? What is this feeling? You didn't know. But you let yourself get lost in the moment. Thrilled to let him enlighten you.

He released your nipple with a loud pop and he continued his wrongdoing, by moving down to your most sensitive area. He stared at your sweet cunt and unhesitantly dipped his tongue into it.  The lewd noises he was making with his mouth was making your head spin; you tried to block him out by sealing your thighs but he hindered you by wrapping his large hands around your thighs so tightly, you thought it might leave a red mark of fingers afterward.

His right-hand retreated to your breasts, to pinch the right nipple that was left ignored earlier. He groped you so fiercely that you shrieked from the pain. You shifted your head to the side to hide your pleasure, not noticing that his fingers had released your nipple to shove them inside you.

You threw your head back from the sudden intrusion. Your body felt electrified. The sensation was extraordinary. Him pleasuring you with his tongue was one thing, but his fingers stroking the sensitive spot inside you made you forget the dreary situation you were currently trapped in.

You lifted your head to look down at him, trying to figure out what was happening; you could see him engorging you with his eyes shut, as two of his fingers were scissoring inside of you. Your head was misty, and before you know it, your climax had washed over you. The sudden eruption of euphoria shocked you, as you give in to the bliss. You trembled from the unprecedented explosion your body made, as you panted harshly, ceasing you from moving.

Steve was exultant by his work, how he knew he had successfully taken the first step of breaking down your wall. How he managed to inoculate your brain with pleasure. His mouth and fingers had triumphantly turned you into an incoherent, cum-drunk mess, that you didn't even try to fight or resist him. It would be so much easier to mold you to a more advanced doll now.

He reached to your eye level and caged your head once more with his hands, as he alerted you from your post-cum bliss; "when was the last time you ever came that hard?"

You opened your mouth, with still uneven breathing, and answered; "I- I never..."

He squinted his eyes at you with a puzzled look. "You never what?"

You shuddered, cautious to not provoke him; “I never... Never done that before.” 

You were comfortable with being inexperienced, until now. Until this dangerous man, who had just violated you began to interrogate your personal life; what if your celibacy incensed him because you weren't exactly what he was looking for? What he instead of releasing you, he decided to murder you and bury your body in his backyard?

He sat back, between your spread, cum-drenched thighs, and incredulously asked; "you are a virgin?"

You nodded dubiously. You broke off the gaze on his eyes, to look at the rustic wall shielding you from the world. Then his hand grabbed your chin to your move head back so that you were looking at him again; "hey, it's okay. There's nothing to be ashamed of. You are here so I could train you. We've got all the time in the world."

You didn't know how you should react to that; should you smile because of the fact that he wasn't going to murder you? Or should that frighten you instead because that means, one way or another, he was going to corrupt your innocence, and there's nothing you can do about it...