#and we all know what good workers get as a reward: more work!

[nihils-trolls]

I never really mentioned it flat out, but Allaik does work for Excelsa Luxe- and by proxy, Nacre. I was trying to hint at it vaguely in the last plot I did with Mayara, "Operation: Shove it".

It's a semi-willing position, as Al did choose to work for her after he got into some trouble. There was nowhere else for him to go at the time. But now? He is a rather valuable asset to Nacre, and he knows far too much.

The only way he sees out, is dying. If the job doesn't kill him (or Nerizo now I suppose,) Nacre will if he tries anything- especially leaving. And he knows she's aware of nearly every move he makes.

[mysaintkitten]

smut with cillian murphy at the golden globes? am i crazy?

Claim Your Prize | Cillian Murphy x fem!reader

!!disclaimer!! this fic does Not represent Cillian as a person, we love and support Yvonne here. this is simply for fun/fantasy! :3

WARNINGS: SMUT (MINORS DNI), public-ish sex, mirrors are involved, kind of sweet sex i think lol, creampie (of course)

“And the award goes to …”

A moment of silence and anticipation fills the room as the announcers carefully pry open the envelop containing the winners name. Beneath the table, you anxiously grab Cillian’s hand. He squeezes it gently in response.

“Cillian Murphy!”

As soon as his name escapes their lips, a wave of relief and appreciation crash over you. Finally, the most hardworking man you know is getting the admiration he deserves.

The people around you clap and cheer, and before Cillian heads up to accept his award you give him a quick hug and a kiss. A brief glimpse into the intimacy the two of you regularly share, yet are never public about it.

It then all becomes a beautiful, hectic blur. As cillian stands in front of everyone accepting his award, he seems to find all the right words to say, and all the right ways to say it. All you can do is stand back and watch him, giving him your utmost respect as he gives his thanks.

When his speech is over and the announcers move on to the next category, you get up from your table to meet Cillian half way. Since the rooms so tightly packed, the best route along the outer edges. As soon as he makes you out in the crowd he smiles happily at you, his eyes beaming with energy and gratitude.

Once you’re face to face, he hugs you again, tighter, finally getting a chance to hold you like he’d initially wanted to when they first announce his win.

Whilst getting ready earlier, you couldn’t help but brainstorm different ways to “reward” Cillian if he won. He isn’t very materialistic, and you knew that the only thing he truly wanted from you was your support, to stand by him whether he won or lost.

But you wanted more, you had to give him something you knew he needed after all these gruelling months of seemingly endless work.

So, after slipping into your dress for the event, you slipped off your panties directly after. Wanting Cillian to have as easy access as possible if he wins.

And now you’re here, wearing no panties underneath your dress, while hugging your winner of a husband.

“I’m so proud of you,” you whisper softly in his ear, turning your head a bit more to give him a kiss on the cheek, “so proud.”

He hums back, briefly nuzzling into your kisses before copying your gestures and kissing you on the cheek, leaving small quick pecks until he ended up back at your lips where he kissed you properly.

The kiss is passionate, warm, not yet sexual but you knew how easily it could fall into that territory.

“I have a gift for you,” you purr in his ear before dragging your fingers along his back, planting a small kiss on his neck and then pulling away.

“What is it?” Cillian asks, earnestly curious, he looks down for a moment but quickly realizes you aren’t carrying anything with you. With a mischievous grin, you grab his hand and lead him away to a private area. You’re able to sneak away quite easily, everyone else is much too fixated on the next winner anyway.

The hallways are vacant for the most part, a few scattered workers here and there, but all you’re thinking about is getting Cillian alone.

Whilst roaming the halls, you spot the bathroom. A unisex, single bathroom. Although it’s not ideal, it’s the best you’ll find in a place like this. Once Cillian sees where you’re heading, it doesn’t take long for him to figure out what your “gift” may entail.

After taking one more good look around, you decide the coast is clear enough and you both sneak into the bathroom before promptly locking the door.

It’s nothing special. A toilet, a sink, a mirror, what you’d normally expect to find in a bathroom. Luckily for you, the room had clearly just been cleaned. The counters and mirrors were spotless, and it smelt faintly of lemon and fresh laundry.

You swiftly turn around to face Cillian, placing your hands on the counter behind you, that sneaky little grin still spread across your lips.

With an equally naughty smile, Cillian presses his body against yours, him too placing his hands on the counter.

“So, what kind of gift does my lovely wife have in mind?” Cillian teases, kissing you gently on the lips, his voice lowers before he speaks again. “One that we need to be all alone for …”

The warmth between your legs intensifies, and the pressure of his body alone is enough to make your brain fuzzy. You drape your arms around his neck, briefly running your fingers through his hair.

“Just wanted to give you a little something that I know you’ve been missing,” you coo innocently, “something that you deserve after all this long …”

You pause for effect,

“And hard …” your voice becomes breathier as bring an arm down off his neck and snake it between your bodies, your grasp landing between his legs to palm him through his trousers, “work.”

Cillian growls, deeply inhaling your sweet and comforting smell, “you don’t know how much I’ve missed this.”

Quickly, Cillian turns you around, your hips now against the edge of the counter top. And now, you’re met with your own reflection. Both you and Cill with flushed cheeks and slightly messy hair, your makeup smeared around the edges of your lips while Cillian’s have a faint red-ish hue from your lipstick.

“I’ve missed this, too,” you sigh as your arousal stirs within you, at this point you don’t doubt that your wetness has made its way to your inner thighs. “I’m so proud of you, baby.”

“S’all thanks to you, really …” Cillian groans against your neck, kissing the skin hungrily. “You’re the only thing that’s kept me fuckin’ sane throughout all of this.”

“Cill …” you giggle at his sweet words, your fingers carding through his hair while he stands behind you, his grip on your hips tightens and you feel him roll his hips against your ass. His warm bulge just begging to be freed.

“Honest,” he defends, “while I was on set, or late at night when I couldn’t sleep, the only thing that brought me peace was you.”

Despite how sweet Cillian’s being, you didn’t take him in here to some exchange kind words or swap some spit.

“You’ve got me here now,” you make eye contact in the mirror, his pupils blown and swimming with lust, “claim your prize.”

The palms of his run along your stomach, his head dipping down to place a kiss onto your neck before bringing his eyes back up to your reflection. Those same palms find your hips, gently gripping the soft skin before sliding his hands down further around your thighs.

He begins to grab at the material hanging down your legs, attempting to hike up your dress as best he can. You bite your lip and give him some assistance in pulling up the fabric, eager for him to see the little surprise you have for him.

Once your dress is lifted up enough, Cillian groans at the beauty in front of him. Your ass on clear display, no panties or tights obstructing his view.

“Were you like this the entire time?”

He watches you nod, a proud smile spread across your lips with your bottom lip still tucked between your teeth. With a smirk he shakes his head, quickly unzipping and unbuttoning his trousers. He pulls them down just enough to allow his cock to spring free, and you feel his hot member pressing against your ass.

Cillian dips a hand down between your legs from behind, trailing his middle finger along the slick seam of your pussy. He dips his finger in, moaning lowly at the warmth and wetness of your core.

“Jesus, baby. Missed my cock that badly, huh?”

You nod while watching him through the mirror, completely transfixed by the sensation of his body against yours along with Cillian’s effortless beauty and sex appeal. You’ve never had a partner that knew which buttons to press as well as Cillian, he could read you like a book.

A small sharp inhale is sucked from your lips when you feel the tip of his length teasing your pussy, smearing your arousal around before gently prodding at your opening.

“Look at yourself when I put it in.” Cillian purrs in your ear, sneaking a large hand up to your neck, gripping your neck and jaw and moving your head forward, forcing you to face your own pleasure.

Already you feel some small amounts of embarrassment, your cheeks are all flushed and your hairs all messy- how could you look so ruined already?

Before you can think too much, Cillian’s pushing his cock inside, slowly. You watch yourself as your mouth starts to hang open, and your brows pinch together. You feel his cock nearly splitting you open, giving you that oh so familiar sweet stretch that you’d been craving after all this time.

“You’ve gotten so fuckin’ tight …” Cillian groans from behind, his warm breath against your neck causing your body to shiver. “You missed getting filled up like this, sweetheart?”

You nod, panting heavily while barely being able to keep your eyes open. His hips roll back out before harshly snapping back in, forcing a pathetic whimper to slip from your lips.

“Yes, yes!” You moan, gripping the edge of the counter as Cillian’s grip on your jaw tightens. Your eyes crack back open and you see your own face again, the pure pleasure he’s giving you leaves you almost unrecognizable in your own eyes. “Missed y-you and your cock-k so much … love you so much …”

It wasn’t very common of either of you to say ‘I love you’ during sex. You’d say it regularly before and after the act, but during? Rarely happened. But since you’ve missed Cillian so much, and he’s been so busy, and now that all his hard work has paid off- it only felt right.

Well, that and the fact that you were already getting cock drunk off of him, your brain barely processing whatever words are coming from your mouth.

“Love you too, darling.” He breathes, kissing your neck while thrusting into you roughly, your hips pushing so harshly against the counter you’re certain it’ll leave a bruise. You don’t care. If anything, you want it to bruise. You want the physical reminder that your husband gave you a good, hard fucking after so many months of separation.

“Love your face, and how cute you look when you’ve got a cock inside you,” Cillian teases, nipping at the shell of your ear before kissing your neck again. “Love this pussy …”

“Fuck-“ you gasp, already feeling the knot in your stomach beginning to form. You really want to make this last, but it’s all been building up within you for far too long now.

“Love, love, love you, my sweet girl.”

“I-I- fuck-“ embarrassment pangs inside you, already too ruined to properly respond to him. Even though you hate it, you know Cillian adores it. While pounding into you, he feels your channel become slicker around him, the subtle sound of your wetness filling the room combined with some mewls and heavy breaths.

“C-Cill, gettin’ close-“ you warn, opening your eyes as best you can to see Cillian when you come. The hand that was gripping your jaw slides down your back, creeping over towards the front of your body where Cillian starts to rub quick circles onto your clit. His other hand digging into your hip.

“Come, baby. Please, missed seeing that pretty little face of yours come undone for me.” Cillian encourages with a growl, the mind-melting combination of pleasure had you tipping over the edge merely moments after.

Your orgasm hits you hard, the hardest you’ve come in months. You bite into your bottom lip roughly to try silence yourself. Your knees wobble, nearly giving out beneath you, but Cillian’s strong grasp on your hip keeps you up on your feet. While wincing from sensitivity, you push away the hand that was rubbing your clit, Cillian obliges.

“That’s it,” he groans, his own thrusts becoming sporadic and sloppy, “gonna come inside, baby.”

You nod and whine, the sensitivity and pleasure had your entire body vibrating.

“Please, please come inside. I need it.” You beg almost pathetically, wanting nothing more than to feel Cillian’s warm spend spilling out from inside you. He’s panting, cursing, sweating slightly, desperate to give you as much of his come as he can.

He bites down on your shoulder while keeping his hips flush against yours, his cock almost painfully deep inside you, you feel his cock twitch. His hot seed painting your silk walls, just like he’d been fantasizing about for all this time.

Once it starts to become too much, he slowly pulls himself out, only to lean his body forward while spreading your cheeks apart, attentively watching as some of his come trickles out of your pussy. He brings his middle finger up and gently shoves his come back in, earning a small whimper from you.

He leans back up and smacks your ass, making you gasp and giggle before letting the fabric of your dress fall back down to cover your legs.

Cillian turns you around and kisses you, sweetly and passionately.

“Thank you for the gift, my love.”

“This was just the first part, baby. The real gift comes when we get home.” You tease with a wink. You take the next few moments to clean yourself up and fix your appearance before heading back out to the event.

You spend the rest of that evening with Cillian’s come seeping out of you, a dirty little secret that only the two of you share.

—

this fic doesn’t really do it justice but I loooove in fics involving mirrors where the top or whoever’s in charge forces the other to look at themselves getting ruined :,( eat it up every time

[wriothesleybear]

We know about pussydrunk Wrio, how about cockdrunk reader!! 🙃 Reader and Wrio are in a very stable and loving relationship, and she can't keep her hands off him either (HONESTLY WHO WOULDN'T)

mhm i know i wouldn't be able too 🤤

~warnings: horniness😈, smut, mentions of blowjobs, blowjobs under desk, slight exhibitionism?, riding, a little bit of consensual somnophilia, overstimulation, edging, quickies, shower sex, squirting, men moaning and whimpering, slight sub!wrio, fem!reader, cockdrunk!reader, MDNI!

~ hoo boi this man is in for it. He of course is the type of boyfriend to fulfill all your needs, especially sexually ;) You want him to eat you out right now? He'll tell you to sit on his chair and spread your legs for him. You want his cock? He'll tell you to pull up your skirt and bend over his desk as he unbuckles his belt and unzips his pants.

~ He is a busy man so it may be difficult for him sometimes to let you have him and his cock and he feels bad about it. It especially doesn't help when you accidentally forget to put on underwear before you leave the house, and you accidentally drop paperwork on the floor and slowly bend down with your ass facing him, giving him a good full view of your bare pussy.

~ When you're being naughty like this and he's extra busy, he punishes you by ignoring you and acting like your tricks aren't fazing him (in reality he's dying on the inside). He'll avoid eye contact when talking with you, only talk about work related things with you and basically just try to avoid you all together. This ends in two ways. Either you end up waiting patiently until he's less busy and finally gives you want you want or you find a way to corner him in one of the many dark corners of the fortress and he gives in and you two have a quickie.

~ You two usually fuck in his office, but you two have secretly done it in other places of the fortress because you just couldn't wait to have his cock. You both prefer his office though because it's more privacy and you can be more vocal.

~ Fuck. He can't say no to you when you're begging and pleading for his cock as you rub him through his pants, giving him your best doe eyes, and promising him "just one little taste". It ain't just one taste.. Or when you innocently ask him to sit in his lap but end up grinding against his thigh or crotch, begging him to pull his cock out. Or when you get on all fours, bare, face into the sheets, ass up in the air, wiggling your ass, begging him to fuck you into the mattress.

~ You love sucking his cock the most. The view of him trying to keep his eyes on you, but ultimately ends up closing his eyes with his head falling back, his hand intertwined in your hair, thighs shaking, and moans and whimpers leave his mouth as he comes in your mouth for the nth time. His cheeks are flushed, eyes dazed and slightly watery, drool slightly spilling out the corner of his mouth, panting heavily as he comes down from his high. You wouldn't mind taking a picture of that to keep for later..

~ Blowjobs under his desk often when he's working on boring paperwork. Makes it more interesting. Damn, just imagine you make it into a reward game. Every time he finishes a file, you let him cum. But if he slacks off and gets distracted, you edge him and don't let him cum. Let's just say he gets his paperwork done faster this way..

~ People have walked in his office while you were sucking him off under his desk. They couldn't see what was happening under his desk so they didn't know. He's usually able to keep a straight face, unless you turn it up a notch and do his favorite thing where you suckle a bit harshly on the head of his cock and fondle his balls at the same time. Makes him weak in the knees and almost come immediately. He's literally pushing on your head, silently pleading for you to tone it down or he's gonna cum while a subordinate is in his office. Once the worker finally leaves, he leans back, letting you continue and finally letting go and cumming deep down your throat.

~ You overstimulate him often which he doesn't mind. Helps take his mind off of things especially when he's stressed. He has a lot of stamina so he's able to keep up with your insatiable lust. He can't help that he gets sensitive sometimes though..

~ When you heard him whine for the first time after being overstimulated for the 3rd time, it was music to your ears. You had to hear it again. He doesn't get embarrassed easily, but he was a bit embarrassed at first. He soon got over it because the pleasure just felt too good. Sometimes, you don't let him cum until he whimpers for you. He doesn't whimper unless the pleasure is too much or you edge him for too long. Making him beg for you to ride his cock until he can't cum anymore.

~ Although he may be busy, when he finally has the free time, he gives himself fully to you which you take advantage of. He doesn't even have to do much sometimes. You usually enjoy riding him, both cowgirl and reverse cowgirl (which he likes a lot). Sometimes it's worth the wait, because when you pounce on him and he's able to finally fuck you, you squirt the most and multiple times. The view of you under him, moaning and whining from how good his cock feels as he pounds you into the mattress, makes him fall over the edge quickly.

~ You wake him up to blowjobs often (with consent of course!). It starts his day off right and puts him in a good mood for work. Most of the time, he ends up returning the favor and giving you a good fucking before work, which usually ends in you two being a bit late for work.

~ Shower sex. You love washing him. His back, his chest, his thighs, and most importantly, his cock. Of course the washing is too good so he ends up cumming either on you, himself, or the shower floor. It's ok. Just gotta clean it again, but this time with your mouth so as to not make a mess again.

~a/n: this ask made me feral..

[meichenxi]

Language learning: slow learning versus toxic productivity

Or: the process in crisis

Five years ago, all of the productivity advice I read (and gave out) as a successful self-learner of many different languages had one basic premise: that I was not doing enough, and that I could always be doing more.

Several burnouts later, running headlong from one mental illness into another, I'd like to invite you to entertain the exact opposite idea: there is a limit to what you can do. I have run face-first into mine on multiple occasions, and burnt out. At many points I've stopped learning the language at all. Most importantly, I've learnt to be distrustful of the very premise that all of the so-called productivity or optimisation advice is based on.

More is not always more.

Listen to a podcast in the target language whilst you exercise. Exercise to give yourself more energy to learn your target language. Talk to yourself in the shower in your target language. Do Anki whilst eating breakfast. Listen to Glossika whilst walking to work. Change your phone settings to your target language. Bullet journal. Manage your time. Make friends in your target language. Control your time. Write a diary. There's always enough time. These are all things I have done myself and recommended others do, to increase exposure to the language, to increase productivity.

Productivity? What productivity? What, exactly, is it that we are producing? I am producing sentences and words but - for who? Who is listening? Nobody's here, in my room, at 7am on a Sunday. If productivity were just speaking or writing, I'd be productive in my native language too, by virtue of speaking out loud. Or conversely, in language learning circles, should we measure it in terms of input? How many hours did you spend listening to Chinese yesterday? What about today? Is there anything you do in your life, in your daily life, that you could optimise? You're wasting time. There's time here, for those that want it. If you want to get ahead, to be successful, to be a good language learner, you have to know how to use that time. Go online, and debate over which tools are the best; watch your videos. What exactly is it that is being produced?

Productivity is a measuring tool for concrete output: the productivity of a field means how much crop it can yield per harvest. The productivity of a factory is how many mobile phone chargers it can bring to market per year. There are direct and measurable ways to increase this sort of productivity. But what is productivity when it comes to knowledge work? Cal Newport's work, The Minimalists, Essentialism: they all run into the same problem, which is that nobody seems to know what 'productivity' for knowledge workers means at all. You can look at a factory line and see which parts need greasing up, figuratively or literally: it is very difficult, on the other hand, to look at the work of a self-contained writer and tell her where she is going 'wrong'. (And by 'wrong', I mean - slow.) And language learning is an even more particular subset of that particular subset of work.

You could judge a novelists' productivity two ways: by the 'busyness' of her daily writing routine, or the amount of novels she produces. But what exactly is being produced when we learn a language? What is the end product?

In some ways, language learning as a hobby is even more playful than traditionally thought of arts and crafts. (By 'play' I mean something which is done for its own sake, and which is pleasurable, and which may yield next to no monetary reward.) We might think of the poet as sitting on a tree and dangling his feet in the river, a vision of artful indolence, but at the end of the day there is output - a poem. A knitter has a jumper. A potter has a pot. But language learning doesn't follow this [work] + [time] = [tangible output] structure. We can't even use the second metric of 'productivity' to measure it at all. Something is being done, of course - I can learn to speak Greek, and speak it markedly better after two months than one - but my point is you can't look at a day's work and say, this is exactly how much I learnt. Learning is not memorisation in the short term - it's receiving input, and practicing how to wield and use a structure. It doesn't happen over the course of a ten-minute podcast.

Learning happens - encoding happens - when the brain is doing other things. In other words, much like every creative process, you need downtime. You need rest, and sleep, and fun, and brightness and joy in your life. You might 'remember' a bunch of words on Anki, but you need to sleep before you can review them again: that's the whole point.

There is a much wider problem here, a culture of goals and optimising your life and glowing up, and to be honest, I find it disturbing. I think that for a very long time my language learning metrics were a stand-in, a relic, for the kinds of unhealthy and obsessively perfectionist thinking that gave me an eating disorder. How many of us truly believe - genuinely, with every inch of our heart - that we are better people if we 'better' ourselves? Learn more. Exercise more. Study more. How do you feel about yourself at the end of a day, exhausted, because you've completed day 75/100? Do you feel better about yourself because you've achieved? I'm guessing that you do.

For many people - including for myself - this wider culture has spilled over into their hobbies. Hobbies like language learning in particular are a target for this because they are so easily quantifiable - and we are encouraged, if we want to succeed, to quantify them. How else will we know how to improve?

Over the last few years, after burning out, after living off grid and without wifi and doing extreme minimalism and a lot of other lifestyle experiments to try and understand why modern life is so fucking hard, it's become clear that most systems of 'productivity' measure 'optimisation' by getting the most done in a day, but they don't stop to question whether you should be doing those things at all.

They don't stop to ask: what matters? They don't stop to ask: why am I trying to write a novel, finish my dissertation, pursue a romantic relationship, get healthy, learn ice-skating, learn to cook, look after my aging parents, and learn guitar at the same time? They don't ask: how do I prioritise, and where do I find silence? They ask: how do I cram more time in the day? They don't ask: how do I slow time down? They don't ask: how can I know what matters, if I never give myself space to think?

In other words: 'productivity' in language learning is measured by 'busy-work', by how much you can see from the surface.

You can't measure how well the learning is going, exactly, but you can measure how many hours a day you show up and grind. Whether or not that struggle is the best use of your time, or whether you're spending the time on things that will truly bring you value and quality, is a different question altogether.

And it's not one most 'productivity culture' will ever ask.

There will be things in your language learning journey that, to borrow from self-help terminology, no longer serve you. Habits and relics and resources and mindsets that worked for you once, or no longer did. Those books that are too advanced that you feel like you 'should' be able to read. That textbook that's been sitting beside your bed for a year. That habit of scrolling social media in your target language that was helpful when you were at a more intermediate level, but does little for you now that you're advanced.

Take stock of these. Simplify. Do less, but do it better. Productivity culture never stops to ask: what can I do without? It always asks, instead: how can I do more? But maybe - just maybe - the way to do more is to focus on fewer things, but do them well.

Multi-tasking isn't multi-tasking, but switching quickly between different focuses of attention. The average American owns 300,000 things, and watches television for 4-5 hours a day. On average, if you are distracted, it takes you 20 minutes to reach the same level of deep focus: but the average American office worker opens an email within six seconds of receiving it. Are you any better with your phone? How much time do you spend there? If you meditate, that's wonderful, but do you have any time to let yourself think? To walk and to understand how to feel? I don't want to sound like a boomer, but: can you name the birds? Do you live in a place, not just a room?

Stop trying to be 'productive'. Do less. Do it well.

I am now facing a wall in my learning of Chinese, and I'm still not sure how to get around it. The reason for this is because so much of the advice I gave others around language learning, and so much of the advice I found online, is focused on this sort of optimisation. But I no longer want to be listening to something, to be watching something, every second of every day. I have a partner to love and a house to appreciate and I want to spend time, humming and pleasant, alone with my thoughts, and it's summer, dear diary, and I don't want to stay indoors. Routines can keep you afloat, but they can also drown you. Do something different. Do something new. Do something that is not productive, that produces nothing, idle away, walk to work without music and perhaps when you sit down to your language learning that evening, you'll be filled with a renewed vigour and love for it. Do it because you love it, not because you scheduled it in your calendar.

A lesson, related, from my martial arts teacher. He said:

If you are tired, do not train. If you do not train, rest. 'Rest' does not mean go on your phone.

The same principle applies here. If you are tired of learning, which you may well be, rest. Not going on your phone, not watching Netflix. I mean taking a walk and sitting under the tree and looking at the patterning of the sky. I mean lying with your dog and absently scratching his tummy. If you're tired, and you have the luxury to stop - stop. Let yourself be tired. Don't drink caffeine. Sleep.

Last year, I was able to write 340,000 words of fiction because I focused on one thing: writing my book. Apart from things that I literally needed to do to survive and maintain my health and relationships around me, I didn't set a single other to-do. My daily list looked like: write for three hours. Not a word limit. Not exercise, though I ended up doing that, not learning a language. I imagine that if I had tried to focus on Chinese at the same time that I wouldn't have achieved anywhere near half the result. I still learnt Chinese, a very decent amount - I went to China and Taiwan for three months in total! - but I did it because I wanted to, of a whim, on a Sunday, something fun. It wasn't a must, or anything I was forcing myself to do. Many days I didn't do any Chinese at all. It was so immensely freeing to be able to think, at 11am: I'm finished for today. Even when I was at work, because I knew I was just there to pay the rent, I felt serene. Stressed on a day-to-day level, certainly, because all work is stressful, but - there wasn't any striving. I just did the best I could. And that was enough.

I am writing this, now, as I come out of my first ever information-overload burnout. I've burnt out, but I've never experienced one of these before: even looking at a book, at a phone, physically hurt my eyes. I couldn't bear to listen to people speak and would lock myself away in my room. I physically felt I could not talk, and had to take extensive time off work. Even looking at a pen and a blank page was too much; listening to podcasts was too much; reading the instructions for dinner was too much too. The only way I could heal was by doing absolutely nothing at all. That period shocked me deeply, because it showed me how absolutely dependent I was on having some input of information all of the time. No wonder I was tired.

I know, now, that there are lots of movements built around this same idea, by frustrated learners all over the world: the growing realisation that metrics and Excel and polylogger and tracking tracking tracking can't be the only way to learn. That a list of the number of books you've read in one year is hardly indicative of how well you understood those books, and what you learned from them. You've read 20 books this year already - good job. When do you think about them? What time do you spend on reflection? Why did you choose those books? Which chapters, and which characters, hit you the hardest? Why?

Minimalism, deep work, 'monk mode', essentialism, every writer's dream to run away and write in a cabin in the woods, slow learning, Buddhism, Stoicism, Marie Kondo-ism, the art of less, project 333, my no-buy-year, slow fashion, slow food, slow travel:

What all of these philosophies have in common is the idea that doing things deliberately ('mindfully') means 1) doing things slowly, 2) doing things well, and 3) doing things one at a time.

I am now at a place in my life where I understand the value of time alone with my thoughts. I don't want to listen to podcasts every minute of the waking day, because I need time to think about them. I need time to let the ideas for my novel grow in the dark. Nothing can be heard in noise; so make space for silence. I am a member of the real, living, breathing world, and that means I cannot devote 8 hours a day to Chinese television shows like I could when I was 20. I have to call my father. I have to do the dishes. I want to flex my creative muscles in other ways. Alternatively - I no longer believe that my worth is tied up inherently with how well I do my hobbies.

You're just some guy. There's freedom in that. You, my friend - you suck <3

Let yourself be bad. Let yourself be mediocre. Let yourself 'slide backwards' or regress, because all that means is that you're putting focus somewhere else. It'll come back. It always does.

I'm no longer comfortable, therefore, with the way that the language learning community tackles productivity. Please don't misunderstand; a lot of us have time spare that we could use to do things 'better' for us. I know. But I just believe now that getting rid of things, like the time you spend on your phone, is going to be more helpful in the long run than trying to force yourself into some gruelling, achievement-centric regime that collapses from within after two months of struggle and self-flagellation.

The other realisation I have had is just how much happier I am spending more time being alive, really alive, and less time in front of a screen. For a language like German or Gaelic that's much easier, because you can study with books, but with Chinese you always have to study to some extent with audios, flashcards, computers. Especially if - like me - you can read novels without a dictionary, but cannot handwrite even your Chinese name. So where next?

I don't have any answers. I'm not sure how to pair the two things together, to be honest, because almost all of my language learning has traditionally made use of technology. It's all been goal-orientated, systems-orientated, and despite the fact that I've failed at using these systems every day for years, despite the fact that Anki has NEVER worked for me, despite the fact that I have spent hundreds if not thousands of pounds on courses here, there, a wealth of overwhelm and five thousand words saved on Pleco, did I read that right? Five thousand. No wonder I'm stressed.

Regardless of happiness, it's much easier to achieve a state of deep focus and work when you're not online. After my period of information burnout, I feel actual physical pain from the weight of choices online. It's exhausting. I'm watching a Chinese show, but I want to go on tumblr. I'm on tumblr, but I feel guilty for not watching the Chinese show. I'm constantly torn between doing this and that, never fully committing to anything, seeing a post by Lindie Botes and thinking, damn, she's good. I should be better. But I don't want to compare myself to her. Do you know what? She is good. I admire her immensely. But I don't want to judge my self-worth by some imagined scale of productivity anymore - and, the more time passes, the more I'm not sure what 'productivity' in the context of language learning even means.

Try slow, focused, deep learning. You might just find it works.

There's something refreshing, almost counter-cultural, anti-capitalist, anti-consumerist, anti-rat-race, about this thought. Slow learning. I think there's an answer here, somewhere. It's a problem I've been dancing around for a while; and do you remember how you learnt your first foreign language? For me, it was on the floor, absolutely absorbed in German comic books, flicking through the dictionary furiously and scribbling things down in a notebook. I only had one book, and one dictionary, and one grammar book. I want to go back to that sort of simplicity. There was joy in that.

One again: I don't have any answers. I don't know exactly what direction this blog is going to go in, as I wrestle with these sorts of meta-problems. I'd love to hear your thoughts. And for now, if there's one thing I'd like you to take away from this long and frankly absurdly rambling post (thank you for bearing with me!) it's an alternative answer for the question I get so often, about what you can do to learn the language when you're tired, because:

Yes, you could watch reality TV shows in Chinese, or you could give yourself permission to be human. You could rest.

Thanks guys. Meichenxi out <3

[danieyells]

care to spoil any interesting dialogue Haku has when you reach higher affinity levels? Would love to know!

Haku's so. . .normal, it's kinda cute? Lol. But yeah I'm pretty down for that! I wanted to share one of these things but held my tongue lolol but since you're asking here're some of the ones that were more interesting or otherwise appealing to me!

I've amended this post to be all of Haku's home screen lines. Enjoy!

Hello: (the first time the game is opened after that character is set as home screen NPC. Only happens once per day, unless the character is switched out and back.)

"Oh, finally here, huh? I'm not really ready for you yet though... Ha ha. Wait over there for me, would you?"

You've Got Mail: (whenever there's something in the inbox, usually Arena rewards)

"Oh, looks like you've got a letter. If you don't open it soon, I might sneak a peek."

Default: (requires no affinity, has no time constraints)

"How's the search for clues about your curse going? Don't put too much pressure on yourself. If you ever want to talk, I'm happy to listen."

"Most people in Hotarubi have something they put their heart and soul into. That doesn't really work for me though. I lose interest in things way too easily."

"What are you doing here? Don't tell me you've gotten yourself mixed up in something again."

this is a very funny one to have him say when i use the sinostra casino as my home screen bg

"Haha. Don't expect too much from me. Ghouls are just glorified street magicians, really. Let's keep it light, huh?"

'glorified street magicians' is a hell of a way to describe. . .a lot of the stigmas we've got going here lmao

"Boo! Ha ha, didn't think you'd get that scared. I was just getting rid of the shadow imp that was sticking to your back... I'm kidding! There was nothing there, I promise."

Affinity 1: (between 5am and 11am)

"...So, how about we take a walk? This dorm's seen better days, so it's tough work checking all the places that need repairs."

Affinity 2: (between 11am and 4pm)

"You've adjusted to life at Darkwick pretty well, haven't you? Not that anomalies and missions are something you'd want to get used to..."

Affinity 3: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"Today doesn't really work for me... I'm going to be getting back to the dorm pretty late, so can we do tomorrow instead?"

Affinity 4: (between 8pm and 5am)

"...Hate to be the one to tell you this, but there's something untoward lingering behind you. Don't look! Hah, I was just kidding. It was just a little dust, see?"

Affinity 5: (between 8pm and 5am)

"Twilight has been a lot quieter than usual today... I hope that's not a bad sign."

Affinity 6: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"Subaru's just too nice. Keeping all the eccentrics in Hotarubi in check's gotta be rough."

Affinity 7: (between 11am and 4pm)

"Everyone here comes from different backgrounds and has different gifts. There's no reason you should feel out of place."

'we're all unique, including the most ordinary among us.' good lesson!

Affinity 8: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"Looks we're going to make it through today without any disasters. At least I hope so."

Affinity 9: (between 8pm and 5am)

"What are you doing out here? You shouldn't walk around at night with your guard down. Don't come crying to me if you get possessed by a fox spirit, you hear?"

Affinity 10: (between 10pm and midnight)

"Your parents ever tell you ghosts would get you if you don't go to bed? For some reason Zenji's the only one who gets spooked when I say that..."

after the reveal that zenji is a ghost this is so funny actually I LOVE THAT ZENJI IS A GHOST WHO'S AFRAID OF GHOSTS AND THE DARK.

Affinity 11: (between 5am and 11am)

"All these geniuses and their lectures are giving me heartburn. Wouldn't mind hearing the woes of someone long-suffering instead every once in a while."

(this sounds cruel but from what i can tell in Japanese he says he'd rather hear stories about hard workers/people who struggled from the bottom than prodigies. Basically he's more interested in, y'know, ordinary folks than people who're really special.)

Affinity 12: (between 11am and 4pm)

"That video I took of Zenji today? I'm just going to do some quick editing and post it. I don't know why he doesn't just focus on content that's more his style..."

Affinity 13: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"I saw Tohma a little while ago. Been a while since we last had a real chat. Sounds like he's got his hands full, as always."

so i initially left this one out of this post because i didn't think much of it but. . .the way Haku regards Tohma is so much more casual than Tohma regards Haku in retrospect, it seems. To Haku, Tohma's just the usual hard worker. Someone he'd actually enjoy having a conversation with. But Tohma speaks to Haku almost as if with suspicion or disdain. . .then again he speaks kind of coldly to Jin too. Maybe that's just how he is with people he kind of knows or views as more on his level. Or it's something more sinister. Who knows.

Affinity 14: (between 5am and 11am)

"Mornin'. You've got a sleep mark on your face. Yeah, right there. Good to know you got a good night's rest."

Affinity 15: (between 5am and 11am)

"You haven't collected all the papers that were supposed to be submitted by today's deadline yet? Who are you waiting on? Got it. I'll go get them for you."

Affinity 16: (between 11am and 4pm)

"I don't mean to scare you, but... be careful with your right leg. Especially when you're in the main building."

Affinity 17: (between 10pm and midnight)

"Getting cold feet when you try to jump into the deep end is just proof you're a normal human being. We're the crazy ones."

Affinity 18: (between 8pm and 5am)

"Can't sleep? In that case, let's go for a little walk. There's actually something I want to talk to you about."

pretty high affinity to be having chats on night walks. . .i wonder what he wanted to talk about.

Affinity 19: (between 10pm and midnight)

"Just having someone you care about at your side is all you really need... Ha ha. That was a little out of character, huh? My bad."

Affinity 20: (between 5am and 11am)

"Oh, you're awake. I was just about to make some tea to wake myself up. Want some?"

Affinity 21: (between 11am and 4pm)

"It's not very often I get to kick back like this in the middle of the day. Maybe I'll take a nap."

Affinity 22: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"None of us wanted to become like this. Living an ordinary life, and dying an ordinary death— why go after more than that?"

He just wants to be normal. And he can't. It's kinda tragic lol

Affinity 23: (between 8pm and 5am)

"(Yawn) Oh, didn't see you there. Haha... Guess I've been letting my sleep debt build up. I'm going to bed."

Affinity 24: (between 10pm and midnight)

"Being cursed really sucks, huh? You can't help but ask yourself, "Why me?" all the time, even when you know it's a question with no answer."

Affinity 25(max): (no time constraints)

"I know I'm being selfish— but sometimes, I wish you'd just forget about me..."

WHY. . .ARE YOU THE SUS ONE AND YOU FEEL BAD THAT YOU'LL BETRAY THEM? DO YOU JUST FEEL LIKE YOU'RE TOO LUCKY HAVING HAD FALLEN FOR SOMEONE NORMAL WHEN YOU KNOW YOU'RE NOT NORMAL ANYMORE? DO YOU FEEL LIKE THE PC DESERVES SOMEONE NORMAL AND TO BE ABLE TO GO BACK TO A NORMAL LIFE BUT BEING WITH YOU GUARANTEES THEY WON'T? WHY DO YOU WANT THEM TO FORGET YOU. . .he's so interesting to me simply because of how much he tries to keep himself apart from his being a ghoul(and, y'know, seeing spirits and shit--) so he can try and just be any other guy. . .and he can't lol his surroundings, who and what he is, he can't go back to being normal! It's a charming way to have a boy next door sort of personality i think lol

Spring: (March-May) (between 5am and 11am)

"I've been noticing more birds in the garden lately. Is that a bush warbler? A white-eye, maybe? A lot going on during spring in Hotarubi."

Boy knows his birbs.

(between 11am and 4pm)

"Heading into another nice, warm afternoon. Maybe I should take a nap...? Oops, nearly forgot I promised Zenji I'd film him."

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"Must be nice being a ghost—no hayfever, and no hangovers. Spring really is the embodiment of human weakness."

How drunk did you get last night buddy. . . .

(between 8pm and 5am)

"My family home is pretty famous in our area for its cherry blossoms... When I was a kid, my friends and I used to go exploring through them at night."

Summer: (June-August) (between 5am and 11am)

"It's so humid... Days like this make me miss Frostheim..."

He's former Frostheim! Maybe that's why he and Tohma seem to have some history. There's also Jin's friend who left that Tohma helped to switch houses. . .but Haku was a second year then so would he have needed it?

(between 11am and 4pm)

"Today, I've got to go round and check the stalls for the festival Hotarubi is holding— wouldn't want any dangerous charlatans sneaking their way in."

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"Zenji's off roaming around somewhere again... People are more sensitive this time year, so I wish he'd just stay put..."

AGAIN, BEFORE WE LEARNED HE WAS A GHOST I READ THIS AND THOUGHT PEOPLE HE MEANT LIKE. . .SENSITIVE EMOTIONALLY TO NOISE AND ZENJI'S BIWA PLAYING. I DID NOT REALIZE THAT HE WAS WORRIED PEOPLE WOULD REALIZE ZENJI WAS THERE.

(between 8pm and 5am)

"You're not going to wear a yukata? Eh, I just thought it'd be cute to see. That's the kind of thing guys think about, don't know what else to tell you."

It reads like he's a little disappointed the girl he's into friends with isn't gonna wear something he thinks is cute lol

Autumn: (September-November) (between 5am and 11am)

"They say fall is the season of the arts, but I'm a really mediocre flute player. I'm about as uncultured as you can get."

funny thing for an ex-frostheimer to say.

(between 11am and 4pm)

"You can hear the biwa, right? He's been going for three hours now. People are going to start getting pissed off, so I'll go tell him to stop soon."

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"Nightfall can catch you unaware this time of year. It'll be dark soon, so let me know when you're planning to head home. I'll walk you back to the cathedral."

(between 8pm and 5am)

"It's a stunner of a night. Maybe I'll grab a drink and do a little moon gazing."

don't drink too much you're trying to quit smoking, the solution isn't to replace it with another addiction--

Winter: (December-February) (between 5am and 11am)

"You'll catch a cold dressed like that. It's already pretty chilly out there, you know... Here, take my coat."

(between 11am and 4pm)

"Winter rain really chills you to the bone. Sorry, walking through the garden must be rough for you this time of year. Come a little closer."

I'm a bit of a sucker for huddling together in the cold lol

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"It's cold again today. Now that I think of it, Subaru said he wanted to make hotpot with everyone. Guess I'll go grab some things and make it happen."

(between 8pm and 5am)

"Your hands hurt because of the cold? Let me see. Oh yeah, your fingertips are all red. Here, stick them in my pockets."

Is that your flute in your pocket or are you completely unaffected by the cold

His birthday: (July 26th)

"Wait, you got me a birthday present? You're so conscientious. Oh, I didn't mean it in a bad way. Thanks, I appreciate it."

Your birthday:

"Hey, come over here a sec. Here. It's nothing special, but I got you a something. Today's your birthday, right?"

why is this worded like he's asking you to come into a shady alley in secret to give you a birthday gift lmao

New Years: (January 1st)

"Happy New Year. I know it's a cliché, but I hope this year's a good one for you."

Valentine's Day: (February 14th)

"Whoa, chocolate? I didn't think you'd give them to me too. Guess I better think of something good to get you in return."

White Day: (March 14th)

"Here, for the chocolate you got me last month. I wasn't sure what you'd like, so I got the ones I remember you said were good."

April Fool's Day: (April 1st)

"A bunch of spirits have been following you around all day, are you okay? Psych, just kidding. Seriously, I was joking, I swear."

Halloween: (October 31st)

"Looks like you've had your fair share of tricks today. I'll narrow down your options and just make it a treat, then."

Christmas: (December 25th)

"You look like you're having fun. Do you have a present for me, Little Miss Santa? Haha, I'm just kidding. Here you go. Merry Christmas."

Idle: (about 20 seconds without interacting with the game) (below 13 affinity)

"...Hey, you alive? Not much point me just standing here waiting around. Guess I'll take off."

(13 affinity and above)

"I know I look like a slacker, but I do have stuff to do. Guess I'll nap till she gets back."

Absent: (logging in for the first time in 2 or more days?)

"Hey there, stranger. Everyone's missed you, you know. ...Even I was starting to get a little worried."

Those're the ones that're most interesting to me I think! 'u' there are some that aren't up there though, like some of the ones that show him being responsible and worrying about his teammates haha. Hope you don't mind my little commentary here and there!

A while later and I've amended this post to include all of the home screen voicelines, not just the ones that appealed to me most in that moment! Haku's interesting in how. . .normal he is. Aside from the seeing spirits and things anyway lmao. He's just a casual flirt who wants to escape the abnormality that his becoming a ghoul got him. I feel like his lines don't really reveal anything about him. . .but also 19 in particular feels. . .a little lonely? Maybe because of how he had to leave Frostheim, he doesn't really feel as connected to the Hotarubi ghouls yet, compared to how he was with Jin before? Or, if he is the spy, he feels like all of his relationships are fake. . .and man that 'I wish you'd just forget about me' line is sad but also SO SUSPICIOUS. WHO SAYS THAT IF THEY DON'T PLAN ON LEAVING YOU OR STABBING YOU IN THE BACK.

[huihuiheart]

Loosen Up My Buttons - Seventeen - Woozi

Navigation

Seventeen Masterlist

Pairing:  Office Worker! Jihoon x Office Worker! Fem Reader

Summary: Your work rivalry carries a lot of tension. Especially come promotion time, but what happens when the two of you finally snap?

Warnings: Cursing, dirty talk, bratty speech, degradation (in the dirty talk), oral (fem rec), fingering, spanking (light), dom! Jihoon, sir kink (light), unprotected sex, cumming inside, multiple orgasms, crying (from pleasure).

Word Count: 4278

You swore that if he wasn’t so hot and you didn’t need this job quite so badly you’d have snapped a long time ago. Jihoon really grated on your nerves. It didn’t help that he was your only rival when it came to being noticed at work. Your only true competition for a raise or promotion. Thankfully up to now it had been for promotions with multiple openings, but not anymore. Your department head had just left and so the potion opened to the team leads. You and Jihoon each push yours to keep ahead of the other. You were mumbling curses under your breath when entering the break room for another coffee only to see the very bane of your existence. 

He turns from pouring his coffee, expression smug as ever upon seeing you, “Guess who just completed another project.”

“That’s because they only trust your team with low-level shit. If you had the Arlington or Campbell projects things would be very different.” You counter without hesitation. 

“Is cursing really appropriate for the workplace?” Jihoon jumps topics seeing the opportunity to strike at something, as the snake of a man always did. 

“Have I ever fucking cared? I stay professional with clients and in meetings, but in the break room no one fucking cares.” You roll your eyes at him. 

“You better watch out, when I get promoted I better not hear any of that or we’ll have a problem,” Jihoon smirks at the way you so visibly bristle at the comment.

“If you get it because god knows I’m not going down without a fucking fight. Now get back to work… or do they actually get more done without your hovering?” You have a turn to smirk now having finished fixing your coffee to leave before he does as the supervisor passes. The same supervisor who had been in the area and you intentionally neglected to tell Jihoon. If he wanted to be a dick he’d get to see what it got him. 

“Come on guys, I know we’re exhausted, but we’re almost done. Arlington meeting is on Friday and if we nail that we’ll all get a nice little check and on top of that we can go to Boo’s Bar on me. Start our weekend off right.” You encourage your team, and the cheers in response make you chuckle when Jihoon walks by with a scoff to sour your mood again.

“Having to bargain to get work done isn’t a good sign of your leadership.” He muses, raising a brow when you whip around towards him.

“It’s not bargaining, it’s a reward to thank them for all the hard work they do. Some of us know how to appreciate others and have fun after all.” You counter feeling more smug than attacked.

“I know how to have fun! In fact, I’m sure I could have more fun with my team than you do!” Jihoon insists, having to make a competition out of everything.

“If you have to make fun into a competition then you really don’t grasp the concept of it.” You scoff rolling your eyes, “But if you insist you know where we’ll be Friday night.” 

Jihoon got on your nerves, yes, but that would certainly be good entertainment for you too. Seeing how out of place such a stuck-up man like Jihoon would be in that environment. This would be something to look forward to, especially whenever he got on your nerves between now and then. Though you knew the antisocial man was likely to chicken out. 

Once Friday rolls around though you refuse to allow yourself to dwell on Jihoon when you have to present your team's project in one of the biggest quarterly meetings. Focused solely on getting through and your team completing this successfully. A wave of relief washing over once you’re on the other side of it. Seeing them off rather professionally before your team immediately turns to cheers after, everyone is relieved after putting so much into this project. Now finally able to amuse yourself with the concept of Jihoon being knocked down a few places as everyone rambles about how they will celebrate tonight at Boo’s or over the weekend. Only more excited as Jihoon stomps past you to his desk to sulk. 

Your team mostly walks down the block to Boo’s after work, packing your blazer into your bag, and undoing a button to relax some. Sitting at the bar to let Seungkwan know you were covering the team tonight and unwinding some there before whatever else happened. Somewhat stunned as Jihoon’s team walks in a few moments later. Jihoon’s tie was long gone and a few buttons popped, sleeves rolled up as well. The sight of him making your jaw drop for a second before quickly correcting yourself in time for him to spot you and head over. 

“A Vieux Carré,” Jihoon says, obviously trying to seem above this place only to blink in shock as Seungkwan goes to mix it up without an ounce of hesitation. Making you have to hide your smirk at how ineffective his plan to make this all seem lesser blew up in his face so well when the drink was placed before him.

Seungkwan’s attention turned to you, “I indulged you with your first drink request, but no more of this. See you need to celebrate tonight, so I’m bringing your wine out.”

You watch him walk off, returning with a bottle of 2004 Masseto, opening it to pour you a glass before setting it back down. Jihoon’s jaw-dropping now at the sight of the wine.

“I… here I was thinking you had no taste at all, but I stand corrected. At least you know how to pick a good wine.” Jihoon finally speaks though it is still slightly condescending and Seungkwan has you back before you can even put your glass down.

“Too bad you won’t be getting any of it. See this is part of the private collection that I have just for her.” He beams before winking at you. Today certainly was your day and maybe it would teach Jihoon to keep the pointless remarks to himself for once, though you knew that was likely too good to be true. 

Jihoon scowls and it only makes you even prouder, taking the opportunity to goad the man even more, “Besides what do you even have to celebrate tonight?”

Jihoon rolls his eyes, “You can go out for reasons other than to celebrate something.”

You know that he’s trying to save face and it makes you smirk around your glass, “Right, that’s why you’re so good at letting loose.”

“You say that as if you’re not just sitting here too.” Jihoon counters and you roll your eyes.

“That’s because everyone else has someone they're with, and them having fun is more important than me proving something to you.” You shrug as you sip on your wine, “ Sometimes I’ll dance with Boo too, but he’s busy right now.

Jihoon raises a brow before standing and offering you his hand. Surprising you some, but you’re not about to give him any more reasons to talk shit to you. So you take his hand, get up, and follow him out to the floor. Hating how your body heats up when he puts his hands on your waist. Closer to Jihoon than you ever anticipated you would be right now, following his lead even as it has you both drawing closer to each other. Hands drifting all over each other as the music takes over, your coworkers all whispering as they notice. Jihoon not letting you go anywhere when you get flustered though.

“Are you going back to being shy, put together, professional now? Don’t tell me that now that I’m proving you wrong you can’t back up your own words.” Jihoon muses, only chuckling a little more when you glare at him.

“Absolutely not.” You insist as you continue to dance with him, “What about your stuck-up reputation though?”

“Like they would say anything to me when I’m about to get a promotion.” Jihoon counters to bristle you intentionally.

“If.” You roll your eyes, “If you get the promotion.”

“Well, how exactly are you going to stop me from getting it?” Jihoon taunts you smugly.

“You should be the one worrying about stopping me after today.” You taunt right back. You are biting down on your lip to stop any sounds when his grip tightens on you.

“You know what I hate most about you?” Jihoon’s question is rhetorical as he whispers it against your ear, “ It’s that you’re how when you’re trying to be a threat.”

You shudder when he says it, but you’re not giving in that easy, “If this is a new tactic to beat me it won’t work.”

“I wish that it was sweetheart, but unfortunately for me, it's the truth. Even if that gives you a slight edge over me.” Jihoon admits, licking his lips as he looks over you instead of being flustered or embarrassed over it. 

“Well, what if I told you that makes us even?” You respond though you’re not as bold as him in doing so. It only serves to make him even more smug though.

“Awe, have you been having a hard time when I put you in your place sweetheart?” Jihoon is backing you towards the bar now as the song ends.

“Have you been having a hard time when you can’t?” You counter, taking a turn to smirk when his eyes darken as a result. Leaning in all the way now as he traps you against the bar.

“How about we get out of here and I show you just how well I can put you in your place, hm?” Jihoon offers and you’re snatching up your purse, letting Jihoon drag you out of the bar and presumably to his place. Your brain only sends red flags for a moment that perhaps he was playing you, but that quickly gets thrown away when he pulls you inside and smashes his lips against yours. Pressing you against the door and pinning you there with his body. Jihoon quickly dominated the kiss, wanting to show you who was calling the shots. 

Jihoon is affected by you even more when he pulls away to see you panting and dazed just from a kiss. Growling into your mouth when you grab his collar and pull him back in. Nipping at your lips in retaliation.

“What was that?” Jihoon hisses when you both separate again.

“Oh please Jihoon, since when have I ever made anything easy for you?” You counter only to whimper when Jihoon’s hand is behind your head, gripping your hair firmly.

“Fair enough, we’ll do this the hard way then.” Jihoon shrugs before leading the way to his bedroom with that grip, tossing you onto the mattress.

“What’s the hard way?” You ask and Jihoon smirks as he crawls over you.

“Well if I told you then it would spoil the fun.” Jihoon pouts coyly at you, not about to let on anything about what he has in store for you.

“How will you know if I’ll like it then?” You counter, gasping when Jihoon’s touch travels under your shirt.

“Little bratty sluts like you like whatever I have to give, don't worry,” Jihoon says, fingers toying along the hem of your bra before pinching at the flesh. Pulling his touch away just to remove your shirt.

“Oh, that’s what they’ve lied and said to you?” You can’t help but take the opportunity to mess with him. Jihoon not saying anything in response, simply removing your bra next only to slap your boobs and smirk when you whimper. 

“Well look at how fast you stopped talking. Jihoon teases you.

“I can start again just as fast.” You shoot right back. Only for him to pinch your nipples and earn a yelp.

“A minute from now I’d like to see you try.” Jihoon isn’t phased by your attitude as he finishes undressing you. When he doesn’t toss your panties aside you assume it's him being a prick who is just pocketing a prize. Only to realize that’s not what it was when Jihoon is twisting them around your wrists. Securing them tightening in the fabric over your head.

“What’s that supposed to do to stop me?” You raise a brow at him.

“Oh I thought about stuffing your mouth with them to shut you up instead, but then I thought that we could probably find a much better use for that mouth of yours.” Jihoon counters and suddenly you have nothing to say, your mind full of thoughts of him filling your mouth with other things. Jihoon caresses your cheek before gripping firmly and making your lips part as he undoes his pants, “So let's see what your mouth can do better yeah? Talk shit or make me cum.”

You give in easier than you’d like to admit with his cock in front of you. Your mouth falling open more than his grip was forcing, sitting pretty and limp as you looked up at him and waited for what he would do.

Jihoon doesn’t keep either of you waiting long before he’s in your mouth. Pressing against the back of your throat when he gets as deep as he can, his work slacks pressed against your cheek as you gag around him slightly. Your spit not only coating his cock, but creating a mess on his pants as well. Jihoon couldn’t care less though, ready to pay whatever dry cleaning bill came out of this. So long as he could continue to lose himself in the feeling of your mouth. Grip returning to your hair and tugging slightly before holding you in place. 

“See I knew you could do so much better if your mouth was given a better use.” Jihoon pants out, never stopping the movement of his hips, “Just made for taking cock, not for trying to take my place. 

You definitely would have made a smart response to his face had you not been unable to. Jihoon’s other hand comes down and brushes under your teary eyes.

“That’s all it takes to make the smart, composed Y/N dumb. A cock down her throat.  It’s okay to cry though, pretty girl. In fact, it’ll get you what you want… my cum.” Jihoon’s voice is cracking and shaking more than he’d like to admit. You’re really about to make him cum though. His moans are music to your ears as he finds his orgasm, stiffening as he cums into your mouth. Pulling out to just the tip until you take every last drop.

“Show me.” Jihoon tugs your hair, tilting your head back and sucking in a sharp breath when you show him all of his cum in your mouth, “Good, now swallow.”

You’re giving in too easily and you know it. You don’t find that you care all that much right now though. Not really anyways. That doesn’t mean you won’t test him, however. After all, it got you such a good result this time, who knows what it might get you next. Hopefully something even better. 

“You learn anything, sweetheart?” Jihoon asks and he should know as soon as he sees you smirk that you aren’t about to give him the answer he’s looking for.

“Yeah, that when I talk shit you get hard and cum in like a minute.” You smugly answer only to get a smack to your thigh. 

“I bet you think that you’re some hot shit right now, don’t you?” Jihoon scoffs, “But we’ve barely gotten started, so why are you talking when you don’t even know what you’re in for?”

“Because it's fun pissing you off, plus you’re hotter angry.” You shrug giggling a little in enjoyment.

“Oh sweetheart I’m beyond angry. I’m livid.” Jihoon spits back and you’re practically dripping now. So overwhelmed with lust that your head feels heavy.

“And what is that going to get me?” You ask Jihoon, wanting nothing more than to poke the bear right now.

“What I want, not you.” Jihoon insists though you’re sure that you’ll have no problems with whatever it is he wants.

“And what is it that you want?” You question Jihoon, licking your lips knowing how many possibilities there are.

“You reduced to a dumb crying slut beneath me.” Jihoon answers, “And that’s exactly what I’m going to get too.”

“Then get it.”Your words make Jihoon jump to action again, practically ripping the rest of your clothes off your body. Pushing your legs towards your chest until you let out a whine at the tight stretch making him smirk a little and coo.

“So tense sweetheart, is this from being all uptight at the office? Don’t worry we’ll get you loosened up a little more each time we do this. After all, I like you all exposed for me, filthy little soaking cunt just begging to be stuffed.” This is the first time anyone has implied that this isn’t a one-time thing and it stirs something in your gut. “Gonna train every inch of your little body to handle me.”

You open your mouth to retort, but he beats you to it, blowing onto your pussy and making you whimper instead of talking back as he intended. Exactly what Jihoon had been planning on achieving in doing so.  You’re quick to fix him with a glare though. 

“Do you even need to do that for your small dick?” You bite back, only you see his eyes darken more than they ever have tonight or in the time that you’ve known him. Jihoon only smirks as he turns around to straddle you, using his body weight to pin your legs towards your chest still, and maybe stretching them a little more in his irritation at the moment.

“As if you didn’t choke on it.” He scoffs to himself spitting on your cunt before using his now free hands, two fingers smearing his spit around before spreading your folds to spit more directly onto your entrance now. Pressing one finger in as his lips wrap around your clit, not spending any time on gentle and delicate. Fully intending to get you ready for him quickly so he can make you eat your words as he fucks you entirely open. His weight prevents you from squirming away from his harsh actions. Jolting at the way he curls his fingers once he has added a second and finds the spongy patch that has your vision blurring a few seconds later. You think it’s solely from the sheer pleasure until you feel your cheeks wetting as tears fall only then realizing the full extent of your body's reaction. Jihoon is unable to see how quickly he got what he wanted as he is locked onto your pussy right now, fully intent on having you gush around him. The pads of his fingers massage at your spot while his mouth only gets more intense on your clit, moaning around it between harsh sucks. Not letting up until you’re cumming around him, lifting his weight off your trembling legs to turn around and face you again, only growing more smug at the sight.

“One orgasm is all that it takes sweetheart? Had I known that I would have crawled under your desk to give you one a long time ago, after all, that’s probably the best way to get you like this. Sweetest too.” He winks at you as he licks your slick off his lips. “How much more of a crying mess does that mean you’ll be on my cock though? Do you wanna find out sweetheart?” 

“Will you even last long enough to make that happen?” You raise a brow at him as if you’re not an absolute fucked out mess beneath him.

Jihoon responds with a swift slap to your cunt before pressing your legs to open more until your hips lift, “I’m not some little virgin who blows his load the second he feels a slutty cunt.”

“You could have fooled me with how you reacted to my mouth, but I guess we’ll just have to see.” You know it's quite likely that you’ll be the one eating your words, but that you’ll have no real complaints about it when he does.

Jihoon scoffed as he ran his tip through your folds only pushing in when he finally pulled a whine from you, “That’s right sweetheart. You’re talking big, but just a needy little cockslut for me huh?”

When you refuse to answer him he stills inside of you, “Answer me. Be good and say yes sir.”

“And why would I ever give you that satisfaction?” You grit out as if you weren’t so gone you were almost ready to give him anything that he asked for.

“I mean you should get used to saying it now since I'm going to be your boss soon enough.” Jihoon grins wickedly, “And if you don’t I’ll walk away leaving you high and dry.”

The threat in his words settles on you like a heavy weight and your heart nearly stops, swallowing down your pride, “Yes sir.”

“Yes sir what?” Jihoon pushes you further as he still doesn’t move.

“Yes sir, I’m your needy little cockslut.” Your voice is soft, but thankfully not so much so that Jihoon doesn’t push you further.

“There’s a good girl who knows how to listen. Don’t worry sweetheart, girls who do as they’re told get rewarded.” Jihoon’s tone is slightly condescending still, but he’s praising you nonetheless as his hips slowly start to move. The position he has you in allows him to press in deep, the man focusing more on that and making it hard than fast. “Bet you’d learn to listen even better if I filled you up with cum. All the biggest brats just need someone to make a mess of their little cunts to start acting right.”

“There’s only one way for you to find out if it will.” Your words spur him on. Willing to say whatever you’ll need to to get him to follow through on that though. Something that has Jihoon cursing under his breath and finally picking up the pace, shifting so that his pelvis grinds against your clit whenever he fills you up again. That is the moment when you once again become an incoherent mess. Jihoon looks into your eyes as he smirks down at the incoherent mess that he’s made of you.

“That’s right go dumb for me. I want you to cum like this and only when you’re good like that will I fill you up.” Jihoon growls down at you as he closes the gap, breath hot against your face. Not letting up until that’s what he gets, you delving further into pleasure as you cum for him. Jihoon continues on for only a moment longer until he’s cumming inside, warmth spreading through your core for another reason now. Jihoon rolling off you now to allow you both to catch your breath and for you to stretch your sore legs out.

Jihoon looked over your form, licking his lips before grinning mischievously, “Round two?”

You huff a laugh before grinning right back, “You’re on.”

The rest of your night ends up like that. Bleeding into the weekend as well. Though you weren’t entirely animals, having some reprieve from all the sex. Having to adjust to the sight of Jihoon in casual clothes which was surprisingly more shocking than seeing him naked. Adjusting also to having to wear his clothes for your little impromptu weekend away. Learning that Jihoon wasn’t as much of a prick as he could be in the office. Still, all good things had to come to an end… kind of. Going back to work on Monday sparked the rivalry back up, but had anyone really focused there were signs things had changed. A door held when it would have been left to close in the face. A coffee cup was replaced with a full one right on schedule by the other. Including certain people in lunch orders now. Still, it never went anywhere beyond friendly professionalism in the office. Despite the fantasies on both sides. Even outside the office where it was obvious something was developing you were both still feeling it out. Slow to everything outside of the physical aspects so as to see if it was merely tension or not. Finally grasping the feelings involved as the month drew to a close and the time to reveal the promotion came.

Jihoon finds you in the breakroom as you both get coffee before the meeting to announce it, “You know it’ll be really hard not to fuck you in the office when you’re having to call me sire all the time.”

You would have gotten him back for the teasing had you not gasped so incredulously at how blatant he just was in the office. Despite you two being the only ones in the breakroom. Jihoon simply winks as he sips his coffee on the way out. You roll your eyes as you follow behind. Having to hold back your laughter when Jihoon ends up eating his words anyway, you having been given the promotion.

You lean in with a smirk while passing his desk after finalizing everything with HR, “You may not be my boss, but that doesn’t mean I won’t let you fuck me in the office.”

Your whispered words make it up slightly to Jihoon who is now following behind you to help you break in your new office.

[giorno-plays-piano]

Office Menace

Pairing: boss!Toji Fushiguro x reader

Warnings: dubcon, power play, unhealthy work dynamics, swearing, smut, attempt at humor.

Words: 1.4k

Summary: Being your boss' favorite employee is no easy task.

_________

Toji Fushiguro is the type of boss everyone hates and loves at the same type.

There wasn't a day he actually showed up on time. All his calls before 11 am end up being sent to his voicemail, regardless of the situation. Emails? He has his secretary sort all of his stuff for him. Reports? Haven't done one himself in a very long while. Overtime? Never for him, of course. He's outta there long before 5 pm. His employees, though? It's better not to ask.

He's such a slacker most people who don't work close with him wonder how he ended up as a vice president, overseeing a department of more than 50 employees. This guy probably spends more time in a gym than in his office.

But his people know why Toji is here, thriving even more than an utter workaholic Nanami Kento. Despite his seeming lack of interest and necessary skills to handle the job, Toji is sharp and observant, and his problem-solving ability is god-tier. Unlike many of you, he never sweats the small stuff. There wasn't a day when he cracked under pressure, even when one of your biggest suppliers suddenly went out of business, leaving you hanging on a thread with a horrifying deficit of goods. Even Geto was on a verge of a mental breakdown that day, but your boss just left the room, made a couple of calls, and returned an hour later with three more factories willing to pull the weight of that bankrupt supplier with less than one month delay. It was a freaking miracle. You still aren't sure how he managed to do it, but it's likely thanks to his impressive network and a sixth sense: Toji Fushiguro can smell smoke long before fire starts. He never comes unprepared.

That's not why his employees love him, though. Regardless of their annoyance at his style of work, they rarely leave because Toji is one of the few bosses who values his resources, and his resources are his people. When the company was going through a severe restructuring, letting go of more than a third of its workers, Toji's department retained the majority of his employees. He fought for them over and over until he wore down higher management and HRs so much they started avoiding him like the plague. To this day, some of your coworkers remind him of his heroic feat when they get drunk enough at the corporate parties.

Besides, while most of you do unpaid overtime, you get rewarded for it with bonuses and other perks like additional vacation days he somehow beats out of management. "We work hard and play hard," says Toji before he goes out for lunch at 12 and disappears from the office for the rest of the day.

He is, surely, a legend.

Jokes aside, you still remember vividly one day when you were supposed to have a significant presentation in front of the heads of departments, including Gojo, Geto, and Kento, and an hour before you discovered a mistake in your calculations because you collected data from the wrong time period. Blood drained from your face when you realized you had an hour to re-do all the formulas that could possibly change the outcome of the whole analysis you had spent weeks working on. If you didn't make it right, your mistake would affect all the crucial decisions made while developing the new collection. You were done.

When Toji found you a couple of minutes later, nearly sobbing and shaking in your seat, he quietly took a chair, sat next to you, and asked you to explain what the problem was. After you told him, biting your lips to shreds, he shrugged, compared the raw data from those two periods, found 4% difference in sales, and asked you to leave the report be. The change was insignificant. It wasn't going to affect the outcome of your analysis, and no one would even see your mistake. They would, however, see your puffy face and think you're unfit to give presentations of this sort if you couldn't handle the pressure.

So Toji just brought you a glass of water, told you to go powder your nose, and left as you stared at his broad back, unblinking, unsure if you wanted to keep crying or fly to him and kiss him all over his handsome face instead.

Least to say, Toji Fushiguro will always be a legend to you, regardless of circumstances.

Or not, given the situation you are in right now, your boss standing right behind your back with his hand not-so-subtly caressing your ass.

You bite down on your lower lip, thinking feverishly if you need to scream - given it's 9 pm and the office is empty - or smack him and run for your life. Both options seem worthless, and, to make it worse, you suck at confronting people. Especially someone as menacing and effortlessly cool as your boss.

While you're stuck in your thoughts, Toji moves his hand to pull your skirt up, and his large hand cups your pussy through your panties as you squeal. His breath warms your ear when you finally manage to utter a single, "S-Sir?"

You can feel him smile against your skin, his lips on your neck. "Sh-h-h. You're safe with me. I won't do anything you don't want."

Respectfully, you are a liar, Sir, you think because you sure as Hell don't want him to stuck his hand between your thighs and do this. Sleeping with your boss, even if he's as handsome as Toji Fushiguro, is a bad fucking idea. But you can't for the life of you get those words out of your mouth, and his fingers are already stroking your clit as you breath out loudly, shivering against his large form.

"Sh-h-h-h," he repeats, making you lean onto him as he moves your panties to the side, his other hand gently caressing your throat. "It's just me. I won't hurt you."

You squeeze your eyes shut, trying to at least make it seem like you find his touch repulsive. Your brain refuses to recognize the fact your boss is actually forcing you to have sex with him. Toji Fushiguro? The man who's paying your salary? The one person who's been anything but respectful to you and your colleagues? It must be a mistake. He'd never do anything like that to you, one of his favorite employees.

He does enjoy having power over you, though, given the satisfaction on his face whenever you call him "Sir" despite how outdated it seems to use this word in a business setting. He wears this strange expression every time you wholeheartedly compliment him on helping his team with something only he can do like he's some sort of your personal hero. You didn't think much of it, but now it seems like...

Oh god, he's so fucking good at fingering you bite back a moan, afraid to make a sound. He's been teasing your swollen clit so much your pussy is drenched, and your knees are trembling. What the fuck? He only just touched you.

"Feels good, huh?" He whispers in your ear as you squirm, desperately clenching the desk in front of you for support. "Wish I could eat you out right here."

"S-sir!"

Apparently, it's the only thing you can say while he fingerfucks you, his long, thick digits working your sex, his other hand lightly squeezing your throat. You grow feverish at his touch, unintentionally rubbing against his crotch as your pussy tightens around his fingers, and Toji exhales into your skin.

He doesn't give you a second to think, pumping his fingers in and out of you as if he wants you to think with you pussy, his hand on your throat squeezing it till you are a bit lightheaded, you hole growing tighter.

Everything else happens like in a dream with you cumming on his fingers before he turns your head to him and forces his tongue inside your mouth. He's magic. You still think it's wrong for him to do it to you, but it feels good, and you are far too intimidated by him to say a word against it when you feel his huge boner pressed against your ass. It feels so fucking good.

But Toji ends it there, carefully pulling your skirt down before he hands you a pack of napkins you keep on your table. When you look at him, bewildered it's ended just like that, he laughs and tells you to be a good girl and meet him tomorrow at 7. He's far from done with you.

_______

Tags: @minshookie29

[ilythecolorpink]

Convince You To Join (Hiromi Higuruma x fem reader)

Another day, another mission for you to complete as you were asked to visit Defense Attorney Hiromi Higuruma. Since you are a jujutsu sorcerer and Kenjaku gave Hiromi Higuruma his cursed technique, you were instructed to try to persuade him to join the organization. You were friends and co-workers with him before you turned into a sorcerer. Even though he comes off as apathetic and detached from others with you, he is different. 

The sound of your heels as you ascend the steps of the firm announces your presence. You open the entrance doors, As you pass by the multiple workers complain about how many cases they have on hand. You stop as you find his office. You hear a "Come in" from the other side of his door as you softly knock on it. He was dressed professionally, with a black suit, tie, dress pants, and a sunflower pin on his left shoulder, as you opened the door to see him. "It's been a while, Y/N, how have you been?" he asks as he slumps into a chair at his desk and wears a tired expression.

You smile at him and say, “I have been good, I’ve missed you."  He responds, "Hmm how sweet, tell me what do you need Y/N?," as he looks up and down at you. "The higher-ups are looking into you since you have obtained a curse technique", you approach him and sit down in front of his desk with your legs crossed. He spreads his legs out in his chair and asks, "Really now? What do those bastards want?"  "They seem to want to recruit you as a sorcerer", you tell him with an amused tone. He chuckles a little before saying, "Heh, how foolish, I'm not going to join in that easily." You slowly put your hand towards his tie as you lightly grab it, wanting him to lean closer up at you taking in his intoxicating scent.

"Do you think that I can convince you?" you ask in a seductive whisper. "Maybe, what do you think my decision will be?" he asks, gazing intently into your eyes the entire time. "I think you wouldn’t, but you’ve got such a talent, it would be such a waste" you tease, delicately pressing your heel against the chair that's wedged between his legs. "After all, I think you wouldn't do it if I wasn't there, now would you?" you remark as you continue to whisper close to his ear and glide your hand up and down his chest. He replies in a sultry tone, "And if I said yes, then what hm? ", with a slight smirk. "I might just reward you if you say yes", you remark as you pull away from his ear, close the gap between you, and move your face in close proximity to his.

He gives you a longing look and says, in a domineering tone, "If you beg for it, I'll consider joining." You blush at his tone and remain silent for a moment. "Come on darling, use that pretty mouth of yours," he says as he stands up and towers over you, placing a hand on your chin and placing another on your waist. You inhale deeply and bite your lip before saying, "Please join us, We need you." You feel a warmth in your chest. He questions you saying “We? You can do better than that dear.” Your voice becomes more desperate as you say “Please Hiromi, I need you... I need all of you.”  As he kisses you, he grips your face, pulls your body closer to him, and deepens the kiss by inserting his tongue into your mouth.

You moan with pleasure because you don't want this to end. He pulls back, leaving you breathless for air while remarking, "Such a good girl." As one of his coworkers asks him to look at something, you both hear a knock. "Looks like work always wants to separate us, huh?" he sighs. "When can I see you again?" you ask as you get down from his desk, your cheeks flushing with embarrassment. He whispers, "Soon, meet me here again tomorrow evening" as he tucks a piece of your hair behind your ear. You start to go as you hear another knock at the door, but not before you ask, "You know you never answered my question?" He grinned and said, "I guess you'll find out tomorrow, now be safe my love." 

A/N: I hope y'all like this. He is so fine. I'm so glad Yuji pulled up and called his lawyer against Sukuna fr fr. I love yall.

[lu-is-not-ok]

Timekilling Time Trailer Frame by Frame

That's right. The second trailer for Timekilling Time is out, and I'm gonna go through it frame by fucking frame. I've always done this for story-related teasers and trailers, just not on Tumblr. So, might as well do it here for once.

First thing after the logo of the event:

We see a view of a T Corp street. The visual effect over some of the silhouettes if very interesting, especially considering it's almost completely unseen on the more working-class looking people, while being very extreme on the one person with color. Some sort of visual cue showing how much 'Time' currency everyone owns perhaps?

Judging by the golden accents and clockwork motifs, seems like a T Corp official dealing with one of the workers. The official does mostly match the outfit one of the T Corp collectors we see in Canto 4, so we might be seeing some more intricacies of whatever their job entails in this Intervallo.

The transition between this and the ID showcase is a glitchy effect, interestingly enough.

Project Moon why the fuck is Ryoshu's dialogue so goddamn blurry here? Whatever, we'll get back to that line later. Let's focus on what we can see.

Ryoshu is getting the 00 Identity, and is an Event Reward, meaning you'll be able to get her through grinding the event itself. Also, in case the pattern on the bandana wasn't already a dead give-away, then the name of the identity will be - we're dealing with the Yurodiviye again.

This has. A lot of lore implications. For one, we know from Canto 2 that the Yurodiviye are no longer confined to just District Y, but the fact that this is a confirmation they exist in District T as well means they are far more widespread than we might think.

Also the role they seem to take on is very interesting as well. In Canto 2 we learn of them as being a Syndicate that has connections with a bunch of other Syndicates in District J, but in here it seems like they're more official than that? We're talking straight up detective stuff, with the previous teaser implying the people we'll be working with are actually officially recognised by T Corp. Just what the fuck has Sonya been doing?

First look at event combat. Unsurprisingly, we're in the streets of T Corp. Interestingly, we're fighting the human T Corp Collectors we got to see in Canto 4 but didn't get to fight. Does that imply some sort of inner conflict in T Corp? Like I said above, the previous teaser implied the detective work we're doing is for T Corp's interests, why are we being impeded by other T Corp officials?

Looking at the Skill animation, Ryoshu's Skill 1 is two coins.

Skill 2 looks like maybe three coins?

Skill 3 is definitely three coins, and that is Very Much a Tremor Burst sound effect on the last coin. We got the Tremor baby!

Finally, some readable dialogue! Doesn't give us much, but "Shake down the loaded pigs..." shows us that even in their new role, Yurodiviye still despise the rich and focus on redistributing wealth.

Also, hi Hong Lu! You're here early! We'll get to you in a moment.

Let's talk about Ryoshu's guard, as the trailer very nicely shows us that's what Ryoshu is using.

"...and share the pilfered time with everyone." Yup, just as I said, redistribution of wealth.

Anyway, Ryoshu's guard seems to have a sort of Assist Attack mechanic to it, causing her to follow up with an attack of hers after Hong Lu's own attack. This Defense Assist Attack appears to be two coins, with a Tremor Burst on the second. Already looking very interesting as an ID.

Good lord Project Moon, what is it with the unreadable Ryoshu dialogue?! At least this one is slightly legible. "Pictures? Hmph, fine-snap away. Just make sure to get all the blood splatters." This combined with the post-uptie art showing an overlay of a camera with a shattered lens gives the idea that the Yurodiviye are somewhat well known I think. Enough to warrant taking pictures of.

Aaaand here's man of the hour! A 000 Identity that will be in the Gacha - District 20 Yurodivy Hong Lu. Same faction as Ryoshu, and the fact that we are definitely dealing with a Detective archetype here, again, it brings Yurodiviye's spot in T Corp into question. Are they going to be the people we help out, or are they the bad guys we'll be catching?

There's a lot to unpack here. First - "Hmm... What an amateurish finish... They must've been really pressed for time." - again with the Hong Lu identities utterly unphased by violence! What is the deal with him! The fact that he comments on the murder scene in terms of 'finish', as if judging a piece of art, is extra suspicious considering we've got Ryoshu as the other Identity here. It also has a weird connection to Sign of Roses's Observation Log, where Hong Lu starts describing it as if it's an art piece. Something is going on here.

Next, probably the least important part - new Hong Lu hairstyle! This is the first time we get to see Hong Lu with a low ponytail, as opposed to his usual high ponytails.

Finally, something I'm sure everyone has been talking about since the first teaser we got of this Identity - the marks under his jade eye. That is very clearly a T, again seemingly marking him as connected to T Corp itself in some way. Add to that the uncanny resemblance those marks have to the barcode mark under Alphonso's eye, and we've got one hell of a mystery. What the fuck is his deal!

Another look at event combat. A different area of T Corp + a return of the more robotic looking T Corp collectors. I repeat, why are we fighting T Corp collectors if we're working with T Corp on this case? What the hell happened?

Anyway, Hong Lu's Skill 1 seems to be a two coin, and I believe this is the same animation as in the Ryoshu Defense Skill showcase, meaning we got a potential early peek at its Sin Affinity - Gloom! Doesn't bode well for this Hong Lu story-wise!

Skill 2 is a three coin skill.

"Okay, let's think. How would I do this, if I was the killer? I just have to slowly think it through, and..." Now, this doesn't have to be that deep, but this line combined with the previous one where Hong Lu judges the murder scene as 'amateurish' feels... just the slightest bit sus.

"...Hehe, I suppose I'll find the truth sooner or later, hm?" He's the worst. I love him. Anyway.

CAN WE TALK ABOUT THAT SKILL 3?

First, the animation start with Hong Lu spitting out the stick he's had in his mouth, which is followed by a flashy either one or two coin skill with a Tremor Burst, which is then followed by that same eye sparkle effect that signifies SP healing in the Liu Identity and Dieci Identity. SP heal on stagger? SP heal on Tremor Burst? Fuck if I know.

That eye is definitely sparkling. Project Moon please give us eye lore.

Also, the background is very interesting. The visual style and slight transparency makes it feel like a sort of replay of events. Is that what his eye allows him to see? Just straight up visualizing the murder?

And let's not forget the dialogue line. "Hm... let's think about what we should target next." This is. Ominous. Again, we know very little about why Yurodiviye are involved, but judging from Ryoshu's dialogue lines their core motivations haven't changed. What does it mean for them to 'target' something? Are they faking being detectives and just framing people to get their 'Time'? It is notable that the title of Hong Lu's Identity never actually refers to him as a detective or anything of the sort. Just what are they scheming?

Another glitchy transition out of the ID showcase section. Glitches seem to be a recurring theme for this Intervallo.

Anyhow, time for the event enemy showcase!

We got another look at the T Corp collector guy from the ID showcase, not much to say here.

Next up we've got... Oh! That's a Yurodivy! Looks like regardless of the faction we'll be actually working with, we'll be making enemies with everyone! That being said, it's exciting to know we're finally seeing the Yurodiviye in combat, even if it's just a very specific branch of them. The chance for a future Sonya fight or Sonya Rodya ID has risen due to the fact we're seeing this faction in action!

T Corp collector guys from Canto 4, yup, we've seen that earlier as well.

And here we are. In a split second frame. That is the character that Hong Lu's Identity is based on! Not much else to say on this because it's such a quick snippit, but it again puts Yurodiviye's role in the Intervallo's story in the question. If we don't start off working with them, why are they appearing as detective types? If we do start off working with them, what happens to make them turn on us?

Fascinating.

Also, another glitchy transition.

Alright, there's a lot to talk about here. First off, the CG in the background - what the fuck is going on.

Dante and Hong Lu (in his detective garbs) are looking at Meursault in... some Zero Time Dilemma looking ass contraption. Meursault has his arms crossed, the contraption connects to his head, and there's a T Corp logo on it. I honestly have no idea what to do with this information.

Next up - the dialogue line and character sprite silhouette.

"We observed a large-scale, unauthorized temporal leakage phenomenon... which shot you up the progressive Time Tax bracket due to the immense amount of time leak." Uhhhh, I understand what those word mean on their own I guess. My only guess here is that this is the work of Yurodiviye in some way. Looks like Limbus Company is gonna be dealing with the fallour of this temporal leak, whatever that entails.

The character silhouette itself... doesn't give us much. A secretary of some sort? One of the T Corp officials giving us a job? Hard to tell.

Again, a lot to look through.

First we got a view of the whole room the previous CG is taking place in, including office desks and a shitload of clocks everywhere. We're definitely in some sort of T Corp office space, that's for sure.

"Isn't it absolutely brilliant? The very concept of 'killing time'. They're not slowing down or speeding up time; they're eliminating it completely, just entirely yanking it out of circulation." Hmm... Again, hard to say much about this line with its lack of context, but it certainly does seem interesting. All of T Corp stuff we've seen thus far does rely on things like speeding up or slowing down. The TimeTrack upgrade in LobCorp lets you speed up time. The L Corp time loop and the R Corp hatchery compress time so that what takes a long time inside takes less time outside. The Warp Train collects the time of its extremely long travels to sell to T Corp. Straight up deleting time seems very different from what we've seen thus far.

Also, the matter of the silhouette - whoever it is doesn't seem to be the same person as the Yurodivy we see in the split second frame, so whoever this is likely has no connection to Rodya or Sonya.

...This might sound a little out there, but I feel like this would be the perfect opportunity for Project Moon to pull out their own version of Sherlock Holmes. It almost feels like a waste to not include that reference in a detective themed Intervallo.

And now for the biggest surprise of them all from this Trailer - Faust is getting a WAW E.G.O. The name of the E.G.O itself is Everlasting, and the Abnormality it's based on is the Time Duck from the Mirror Dungeon event, also known as the Abnormality that gives the E.G.O Gift Melted Spring.

Not much is known about the Abnormality, as its MD Event primarily connects it to the Duck-Rabbit Illusion, where you have to tell it whether it's a Duck or a Rabbit in your eyes, with the Abnormality fleeing if the answer isn't confident enough.

"How does it appear, my form in your eyes? Perhaps within the clockwork of time the answer lies?" First of all- nice rhymes. Second of all - this is a direct reference to the MD Event, but also very interesting with regards to Faust herself. There's a lot about Faust that shows she lacks self-awareness, with her describing herself as someone who only speaks when asked and doesn't talk much, when in reality she goes on endless tangents without prompting. Add to that the Council of Fausts theory, and it makes the idea of her seeking the opinion of other people with regards to her identity resonate quite intensely.

Also, I'm pretty sure more than enough people have made comparisons between Everlasting Faust and Eileen the Church of Gears leader, but it has to be stated that there definitely are some parallels here. Again, further adds to the Council of Fausts theory, as it would make Everlasting Faust a mirror to Eileen. Eileen, who controls the gears in her head, and Faust, who is controlled by the gears in her head.

Oh, and the E.G.O is Tremor as well. Because why not. At least Faust has a good Tremor Identity already, so it works well.

Putting this here for the woman likers.

Corrosion time. For one, Faust takes on a distinctly bird-like form here. Not sure what exactly this means in the grand scheme of things for the E.G.O's meaning just yet, but it does feel important to note.

"Thus. You cease to move. Trapped in the stopped time. For eternity." ...Hm. There's a few ways this can be interpreted. If we ignore the time-related references and treat them as something only connected to the Abnormality, it gives us the idea of Faust being trapped. Being unable to move on her own, likely due to her extreme ties with Limbus Company and/or the Council of Fausts.

However, adding the time motif into it makes it more interesting. There's a lot of ways one can be 'stuck in time' and unable to move forward. One is a literal time stop Za Warudo style, and another is being trapped in a Time Loop, being unable to make progress due to always being reset and thus ceasing to move for eternity. Both feel relevant to Faust when it comes to what little we've learned of her 'goal' from her original character PV.

There's something Faust is seeking above all else. Some piece of knowledge that is nigh unobtainable. ...But what comes after she reaches it? I think the Corrosion line alludes to exactly that.

If it's a Time Stop scenario, that means that once Faust reaches the unreachable she will just. Stop. There's nothing left for her. She'll be trapped for eternity knowing everything she wished for but being unable to keep moving forward, because there'll no longer be anything for her to move towards.

If it's a Time Loop scenario, that means that Faust's constant push towards the unreachable is an inescapable loop. Once she learns what she wishes, it won't be enough, and she'll just repeat the process again. Stuck in a cycle of reaching everything, coming back to nothing, and reaching for everything anew ad infinitum. No movement made in the process, because she always comes back to square one.

Either way, it doesn't bode well for her.

On another note, the animation fucks severely, and there's another glitchy transition.

Time Georg. Sorry. Actually not sorry.

Seriously though, we get to see another view of T Corp streets, this time with one of the factories in the background and, funnily enough, the fucking Big Ben. We really are in London.

"An average T Corp. citizen has about 20 to 28 hours in a day, but you might also run into people like him; people with plenty time to spare. Because he has so much surplus time, he can afford to condence 40, 50 hours into a single day." Looks like the 'Time' currency doesn't just act as money - you literally can use it to manipulate your time scale. If you're rich, you can do like L Corp Time Loop and make yourself experience more time than everyone around you. It's also notable that the average T Corp citizen can go as low as having less than 24 hours in a day. Guess that explains why people are so desperate that they try to steal 'Time' from each other - their days literally get shorter than more debt they have.

Also, who is this 'him'? Who is this mysterious man with so much ''Time' he can have double his daily hours? I wonder if it's the fully colored man from the first CG of the trailer?

Hey it's the same factory CG from the previous teaser! Nice to know we're still on the track of visiting one.

"And to people with fewer hours in a day... it'll look as though he's moving two, three times faster than them. Someone with that much time could pick their nose in the blink of an eye before anyone even has the chance to catch them in the act." Yup, this explains the visual effect in the first CG. People with a lot of 'Time', who can have more hours in a day than other people, straight up look like they're moving so fast they leave behind after images.

Also, this very much feels like a commentary on how the rich can get away with things just because they're rich. A man rich with 'Time' can get away with unsightly behaviors just because he moves so fast people can't see him do it, just how real life rich people can get away with crimes because they have enough money to not care about fines.

Another glitch transition.

We get to see the iconic CG from the Roadmap, this time in washed out T Corp colors and in all its glory. God I'm excited for seeing more of these goobers.

After we get the logo again, not only do we see the glitch effect, but the music completely cuts out.

What follows is a constantly glitching out text with a background noise that gets louder and more discordant as it goes on.

"Can't wait for what won't come."

"Now is the time for action."

"All those time-killing bastards..."

"I'll..."

Hmmm. Curious and ominous. The presentation of these words does not bode well for the fate of whoever is speaking them, but the content makes me even more interested.

Because... this is Yurodiviye we're talking about. Sonya's whole thing was that he kept reading and learning about theory instead of actually acting until after Rodya commited murder, and even then his personal actions within the group seems confined to establishing connections with other Syndicates and delegating duties to others.

So to have someone who opposes the idea of sitting back and waiting so vehemently in the same Intervallo as Yurodiviye coming back into the spotlight... It is certainly interesting, don't you think?

Alright, that's all for the Trailer! Holy shit I'm excited for this Intervallo.

[mt-oe]

its finals season (again..) and huge projects for classes right now. can we get a stressed reader x modern mizu where reader is like actually tweaking out? like I mean pulling our energy shots, shivering hands, 'gotta lock in', hysterically crying on snapchat video and sending it to their groupchat for moral support type of tweaking out and the reader is going BANANAS over all the final papers, and studying for finals and mizu helps comfort reader?? i hope this would be a silly little write but also helpful to anyone going through finals season right now. much love! xoxo <3

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

Hey dears!

To start this, I am absolutely sorry for being gone for so long. I had my thesis defense, practicals, laboratory works, deadlines, and my finals all in the span of two weeks AND I fainted twice, got sick twice, and nose bled a LOT.

I was chugging 3 cans of energy drinks a day, eating one meal per day, sleeping minutes less than how long I showered, and smoked quite a lot. Someone even caught me sleeping on the fire exit stairs (istg so embarrassing ;;). Honestly makes me wonder how I'm not six feet under by now.

To those who are going through their finals, please don't follow my lead. Vomiting at 3am from how dizzy you are while some Sepultura song plays in the background is NOT the experience you'd think it was. Try to plan when you'll tackle your work and get some sleep as much as you can, on your free time, on your commute. I swear, answering tests are SOO much easier when your vision isn't spinning or tunneling.

Chose to do this request first to remind you all to take care amidst your finals (or as a reward if your finals are finished, good job dear!).

Hope you enjoy! Mwa mwa <3

warning: not proofread, my corny jokes, she/her for mizu, implied afab reader

Blue orbs watched as you cracked open another can of Red Bull. A small grunt leaving your throat as the fizzy caffeinated drink went down your esophagus. Was this your second? third..no wait..fourth?

Damn.

How are your blood vessels surviving this onslaught of caffeine you've been shoving down your system? She had no clue. But what she did know was that you've had enough. This wasn't healthy at all. Your lips were already as pale as the palms of your hands which were trembling to the point where you couldn't stop writing because that meant you'd feel the quivering of your hands even more.

The two of you had decided to slave off at Mizu's apartment for your finals. It was mostly Mizu dragging you there since your friends have been bombarding her to take care of you since she had the closest to what was considered a free schedule. T'was something about you freaking out and crying over the finals. She didn't have a Snapchat account so she didn't know.

Usually, she wasn't even interested in these stuff, but when Akemi showed her a picture of you with a thumbs up, holding a can of Monster, dark circles under your bloodshot eyes, tear streaks on your face, with the caption 'Boutta pull another Kay Chung tonight', concerned didn't even begin to describe what she felt.

Boutta pull a Kay Chung?

What or who was this Kay Chung anyway?

She knew you were a hard worker, probably one of the most studious people she knew, so she already expected you to be busy studying. What she didn't expect was the mess you were in.

The moment she stepped into your unit, cans of energy drinks, bottles of energy shots, cups of coffee, and random paper strewn randomly littered your apartment. The only source of light was your window and a small dim lamp you had.

Was that cup noodle container growing mold?

Ew.

It was like the Capital Wasteland in here, and she was the lonesome wanderer, awaiting the dangers to come.

And you were a radiated ghoul hunched over your desk with the emptiest gaze she has ever seen. Your head in your hands, as you scrunched your eyebrows together, trying to figure out what the fuck was wrong with your equation.

Now she understood the bombardment of messages from Akemi and the others, and damn was she grateful for the heads up because you looked like you were at death's door and death... Death just thought you looked too pitiful to let in.

The two of you were now sitting on Mizu's carpet, books, papers, and gadgets on the smooth wood of the coffee table. In her mind, she thought a bit of companionship would comfort you like it usually did. But she was wrong.

The shaking grip you had on your pen and the occasional 'what the actual fuck?' or 'the hell?' already told her that you were too locked in to relax even just a bit. You looked like you were losing it.

Her eyes peered over your review sheet before she raised an eyebrow at how scattered your handwriting looked, numbers and symbols italicized to the left and to the right as if they were dancing and your solutions scattered. Add this value here..derive the formula there..problem 3's solution is somehow on the back of the paper even though problem 5 was solved on problem 1's spot. It looked like a shit show.

"What...problem is this for? You did it wrong." Her tongue clicking as a slender finger encircled a formula you derived wrong, making you look at her with a mildly bothered look. Your eyes tiredly scanned your review sheet, looking away to the side to blink the heaviness of your lids away, then looking back at it before letting out a strangled sounding groan, shoulders slumping back onto the sofa as you covered your eyes with your hands before looking at your own solutions again. "I don't fucking know..maybe it's for..umm..for..fuuuuuck," you sighed defeatedly, realizing that you couldn't understand your own handwriting either.

You wanted to strangle yourself so bad right now or like, strangle your professor until they give you a passing grade. Maybe the threat of arson would scare the university admins into passing everyone for the semester???? The prospect of being a sugar baby is starting to sound better than trying to finish this degree.

It wasn't like you were an absolute idiot. You could solve these problems no problemo. However, your vision was already lagging and tunneling. Whenever you tried to read the problem or your own handwriting, it was like your vision was hyper-focusing on one spot and the areas around it were...spinning or it'd focus on everything else EXCEPT the ones you wanted to focus on.

The amount of caffeine you had consumed wasn't even helping anymore. Instead of waking you up, you just felt jittery like a hyper-charged toy. Before you were sleepy and slow, now you were still sleepy but faster.

And when was the last time you even ate anyway? Was that moldy cup noodle your last meal? You didn't even know anymore at this point. You could barely feel anything aside from the fear of your impeding academic doom. Not even hunger was strong enough to stop you.

Mizu's eyebrows furrowed at how miserable you looked before sighing and pulling a sheet of paper out of her own notebook. "Here," she sighed out, sitting beside you and scanning each problem you had printed out before re-writing each question you looked like you struggled with. Her eyes occasionally glanced at you, unseen worry rising with every hitch of your breath and every twitch of your eyebrow as you looked at the questions she rewrote.

"Mizu..I don't want to do those all again," you groaned frustratedly, ruffling your hair own hair aggressively, strands falling to the carpet below. A hand held yours firmly, preventing you from tangling the ends of locks even more. "I'm going to teach you, dumbass. We can't have you failing and dying at the same time," she huffed, grabbing your calculator and placing it in front of both of you. She leaned closer to you, hand on your waist to pull you closer before taking the pencil and pointing to the first problem she rewrote.

"I'm not going to repeat my explanations, so listen well,"

...was what she said.

However, Mizu was a big softie when it came to you. Every time she caught you spacing out or having a hard time in general, she took her time and explained it to you again, even explaining it slower, simpler, or more detailed as needed. She really made sure that you understood the principle of the problems and the process of solving them, handing the pencil and calculator to you to make sure you actually understood her.

After a while, you were slowly starting to understand you earlier mistakes, and with her help, you were able to finally solve the review sheet. Thank god for hot smart women.

A look of amusement crossed her face as she watched you slump back onto the sofa with a loud sigh of relief. Shaking her head with a small lop-sided smile, she took the pen again before grabbing your laptop and searching for similar problems. "Here," she said, turning the device towards you. "Solve these. I'll be back in a bit."

You looked at her in confusion before letting out a tired groan. The exhaustion was starting to let itself be known through the heaviness in your lids. Another problem set was the last thing you wanted to do right now.

Oh wait.

Fuck, you still had to edit your methodologies and results, and you haven't even started on the discussion yet. Oh god...

'Better get started, I guess,' you thought with a defeated sigh. Muttering a string of curses under your breath, you picked up your pencil and calculator and began solving yet another set of hellish questions while the dark-haired woman stood up and walked off somewhere in her apartment. Silence filled the room aside from the aggressive scritching and scratching of lead against paper and the sound of clacking from your calculator.

Every now and then, Mizu would come back with something to comfort you. May it be a cup of water, a bigger pillow, a hair tie, or to charge your phone for you. She didn't really speak though, fully wanting you to focus on your work.

It was like her quiet little way of telling you that she was here and that she cared for you.

Amidst your problem solving, the smell of something being fried hit your nose, making you look up. It was a bit oily, but at the same time, homely and savory. Your stomach growled slightly at the smell, reminding you of that uncomfortable feeling of hunger that you were somehow able to ignore during your study sessions.

Just as you had finished writing your answers, Mizu came out of the kitchen with a bowl of rice and a plate of what seemed to be fried fish. Kinda burnt but maybe that's a charm point...or something. At least she tried.

She set it down on a clear space on the coffee table and gently urged it towards you. "Here," she mumbled, looking at you expectantly. You stared at the food she prepared, snorting a bit at the charred skin, some bits missing which obviously stuck to the pan while she was frying it. "Err..Mizu...?"

"Don't mind how it looks just..just eat, okay?" she groaned, sounding a bit embarrassed, a bit of pink dusting her cheeks. Her eyes looking away as her hand went up to cover half her face. You couldn't help but laugh a bit. Mizu? Embarrassed? God that woke you up, didn't it?

The sound of your laughter made her feel even more embarrassed but at the same time relieved. Your laugh was so fucking cute. She was glad that you were starting to sound a bit more like your usual self. Hell, you were smiling now. A big improvement compared to the face of misery you were making earlier.

Eventually, your laughter subsided upon the realization sinking into you. She really did all this just to take of you. Dragging you to her apartment, tutoring you, fetching things for you, cooking for you...

She really does care. Doesn't she?

Your hands picked up the chopsticks before breaking into the soft flesh of the food in front of you, picking off the bones before taking a bite. It was salty, the char even made it a bit bitter, and for god-knows-why, even a bit spicy?? But it tasted so good to you. Heavenly, dare I say.

As you continued to eat, bite after bite and scoop after scoop, the shakiness in your hands slowly calmed down. You couldn't help but look up at your friend who was now checking your answers, the ghost of satisfaction making itself known through the barely visible smile she had. "Mizu..."

She looked over at you, raising an eyebrow to indicate that she was listening. "Thank you for uh..taking care of me," you said shyly, giving her a small smile. A low chuckle escaped her throat as she shook her head slowly as if in amusement. "At least you're not shaking like a leaf anymore," she joked, followed by you letting out a small 'hmph!', making her chuckle yet again.

Though she wouldn't tell it to you right now, she'd be more than happy to take care of you anytime you wanted or needed it.

The sound of your pen tapping on the paper filled the room again as her eyes narrowed at your answers, checking it carefully. After a while, she handed the paper back to you, looking very much satisfied. "Looks good," she said, eyes watching the proud smile on your face. "How 'bout a reward?...Some rest I suppose?"

Your smile faltered at the sound of rest. "I can't...my manuscript is due in a couple of days and I haven't even finished editing my methodologies and results," you explained, opening the files for each of your chapters. "The data isn't even tabulated in the required format. It looks like shit."

She stood up from her spot and sat next to you, placing a hand on your head to pat it gently as she looked at the screen. Her eyes narrowed again while you scrolled up the file for her before she sighed. "Yeah, it does look like shit," she agreed before suddenly grabbing your laptop and setting in front of her. "Go and take a nap or something. I'll do whatever I can to...whatever this is."

"But Mizu, this isn't even your field. I can't—" She cut you off with a finger to your lips before gesturing towards the sofa behind the both of you. "Nap," she ordered firmly. You sighed before standing up and laying down on the sofa. You knew there was no use arguing. When Mizu makes up her mind, she's deadset on it.

Her eyes scanned your figure for a moment, taking in every curve of your body and the way your face relaxed. Then, she took off her jacket and draped it over you, before giving you a small loving pat. Before you could even open your mouth to protest, she immediately shushed you and turned to your manuscript, scanning over it.

Your eyes observed the way her eyebrows furrowed and the way her eyes darted from word-to-word. The sound of her typing and clicking filling the room, oddly relaxing you.

It didn't take long for you to drift off to sleep. And for the first time since hell week started, you finally relaxed.

No frustration, no stress, just...sleep.

You did nap for hours longer than expected though.

Don't worry.

Your methodologies were now updated, results properly formatted, and ideas in bullet points for your discussion were laid out in a new file. Even your references were fixed.

Damn, you really wanted to smooch Mizu reaaal hard after this.

[oneatlatime]

Lake Laogai

This Lake had better have Appa in it. With little water wings on.

Skipping the commentary as usual.

The Previously On section suggests that a whole lot of plot threads are about to crash into each other. Strap in folks.

Lefty Sokka!

Beat up Sokka quota fulfilled by his sister's critique of his art skills. It's not like he had paper to practice with at the South Pole.

Sometimes I forget that Aang is 12, then he does something like attempt to rescue his pet from a nefarious city-wide conspiracy of silence with lost cat posters.

"Good tea is its own reward." That means no, he isn't paid enough.

Remember what I said in my last post about Iroh bringing too much attention to himself?

"senior executive assistant manager" someone on the writing team has worked retail I see. Nothing like meaningless promotions with no raise attached! It's right up there with employee pizza party.

I have to pause here and point something out. This whole scene with Iroh? This is an adult fantasy. I don't mean dirty, I mean this whole scene was put in specifically to appeal to the adults who got roped in to watching this kids' show by their children. A rich man walks through the door of your shitty retail job, immediately spots your natural greatness, and offers you a much better paying job with unlimited creative freedom and a better house to go with it? Find me a burnt out retail worker who hasn't conjured up this fantasy five times a shift.

And so the plots come crashing back together. This won't end badly.

"patience really pays off" I checked. He waited literally three seconds.

Shout out to Toph in the background playing catch with a ball she can't see. Casual flex of epic proportions.

Remind me never to go to Lake Laogai. Sounds like it's lousy with Ju Dees.

So the Ju Dees don't know about each other? Because she seems honestly confused. Does Ju Dee think she's the only Ju Dee? What happens if two Ju Dees run into each other in the street?

Posters are illegal but I haven't heard a peep about recarving a bunch of fields into a zoo.

This is maybe the second time Aang's blown up over Appa. Frankly he deserves more blow ups about the whole situation.

I don't think knocking down walls will help find Appa, but I applaud Toph's spirit.

They took out a whole wall and then exit by the door anyways. That's funny.

I really hate this guy, but I have to admit that he may be the first truly competent villain of the series.

'The Jasmine Dragon' also lets anyone with half a brain know that you're Fire Nation. Try the Jasmine Badgermole instead.

Zuko really can't catch a break, huh? He wasn't happy being a tea server, but at least he was resting. But every time he gets five minutes to himself, the main plot reappears to drag him back into the action, whether he wants to or not. Although he hasn't figured out that he doesn't want to be dragged back yet.

Every line of dialogue in this scene is a good point. Zuko's right, Iroh's right. The Zuko's right again, then Iroh's right again.

YES YES YES GET HIS ASS

That was satisfying!

I'm not understanding why Sokka is the voice of reason here. Is he incapable of holding a grudge? He's the one that had all the animosity with Jet to begin with. Shouldn't it be Aang who wants to hear him out?

Toph is a living lie detector now? I can't think of an example off the top of my head, but I'm sure that could have come in handy previously. Any other incredibly useful skills we should know about?

Jet is oddly defensive for someone who claims to know he did wrong.

Ever get so excited that your spine malfunctions?

Sokka just has a metre long map in his pocket. Good friend to have in a pinch.

Avatar first! Katara is rude to an old person!

I'm going to have fun with Toph's new ability.

Toph, you have never been more right. It is the worst city ever. You are really shining this episode.

I know this is a serious scene, but I need to point out that Jet's guyliner is on point.

This shot is jarringly out of place. I think it's because it both black and white, and live action. Those have to be real clouds.

So the Blue Spirit can talk after all. Careful, your Zuko is showing.

Wow Zuko is good at sewing. And fast too.

Sokka is having far too much fun with this whole 'prompt Jet's memory' thing. Maybe he does have a bit of a grudge after all.

Katara can reverse brainwashing now too? Everyone's levelling up this episode.

This scene with the planks is a very cool and disorienting visual.

Didn't have 'the gaang breaks into a brainwashing facility' on my ATLA bingo card.

Pretty.

OMIGOD IT'S AP- did Zuko just break the fourth wall?

Everyone always forgets to look up.

So this fight is going to be Toph v. all of the Dai Li while everyone else tries not to get in Toph's way.

That's a boat.

Toph could probably take all these guys out faster if she wasn't having to constantly break off to save everyone else from them.

The Dai Li prancing up walls is a really cool visual. It's very Ty Lee of them.

I love watching her work.

Why don't you let Long Feng escape? He's no longer threatening you, and you're down there to rescue Appa. Just let him go.

The security on Lake Laogai is a joke.

Big words from someone who also had no plan whatsoever at the North Pole.

Zuko knows that Iroh's right. He knows, and that's important. I don't think Iroh is saying anything that Zuko hasn't thought and then hurriedly pretended to have never thought about before. It's why he says 'stop it' rather than being completely confused as to what Iroh is referring to.

Poor Appa's like 'can you have a crisis of self after you free me please?'

'You've chosen your own demise." No. You chose it for him. That's some top tier deflection/victim blaming right there.

Longshot can talk!

That's one hell of a set up and pay off re: Toph's lie detecting abilities.

Poor Jet. A double tragedy: to be likeable only when you're brainwashed, and to dedicate your life to wiping out the Fire Nation yet being killed by the Earth Kingdom.

Hi Appa. It's about time buddy.

Shockingly in character for Appa's first actions to be to single handedly save the Gaang from a threat.

You skip that bastard like a stone.

Everyone go and listen to the sound Appa makes when he spits out Long Feng's shoe. It's delightful.

I am framing this.

And this too.

I can tell there's some shmymbolism here, but it's gone right over my head.

Final Thoughts

Appa is back. The Gaang has Appa back. I have Appa back. Ok. I can relax now. With any luck, this means we can leave Ba Sing Se.

This episode felt like City of Walls and Secrets, Part 2. I think it was a good decision to have a couple of episodes between the two, but I think there would be some tonal whiplash if you binged this section of season 2. Which wouldn't have been a problem for a show designed to air once a week, so it's a moot point.

So Zuko freed Appa from his chains, and presumably pointed him in the direction of a door or something. Or maybe not; Appa has a ridiculously hard head, he could have busted his way out. Either way, Zuko broke the chains. Thanks Zuko!

In season 1, Zuko finds the Avatar the world had lost. In season 2, Zuko finds the Sky Bison the Avatar had lost. So in season 3, Zuko will find something Appa has lost. I wonder what that will be?

Jet being killed by the Earth Kingdom is so deliciously ironic, and tragic, yet very in character for the Earth Kingdom's approach to this war. It's also literally this:

Smellerbee and Longshot have really gotten the short end of the stick over and over this season. They were the only ones to decide to stick with Jet. Presumably they were the only ones who believed that he had had a legitimate change of heart. And they were kind of wrong. They get to Ba Sing Se only for Jet to immediately backslide way past even where he was at his worst in Season 1. He completely discounts and dismisses their legitimate concerns for his methods and his overall health. Then Jet gets arrested and disappears for two (?) weeks. So what do they do now? Get jobs? Steal so they don't starve? Then suddenly Jet's back but he doesn't even remember them. Then suddenly Jet's dead. The whole point of coming to Ba Sing Se just died, in a way that shows very clearly that their desire to help with the war is not welcome at all in the city. So what now? Do they leave and try to fight in the war from outside the walls? Do they settle down and try to forget about the war? Things did spiral completely out of Jet's control once the Dai Li got involved, but you have to admit that he's left his only remaining friends up a creek.

Sokka had some good jokes but was oddly ok with this episode's events. Toph had some great lines and got to shine with a new skill that any writer with half a brain will bring back in future episodes. She felt like the audience substitute this episode, which is usually Sokka's role. Toph was episode MVP for sure. Poor Aang took a bit of a back seat this episode. Zuko finally hit the crisis point, and may well have made his first indisputably correct decision of the series. But, as previous episodes have gone out of their way to show me that Zuko being good always goes badly for Zuko, I'm sure freeing Appa will somehow come back to bite him.

Iroh's question of "who are you? And what do you want?" was Zuko's entire character arc this season. He took a shot at answering the "who are you?" portion in Zuko Alone, and sort of halfway got there before messing up at the end of the episode. As for the "what do you want?" Zuko will tell you (often and repeatedly) that he wants his honour back. But I think he just wants to go home. The thing is, I strongly suspect that the home Zuko wants to return to hasn't existed since his mother left, if it ever existed at all. Which means that while "who are you?" has an answer Zuko can work towards, "what do you want?" has an answer that is kind of impossible. So Zuko is going to have to learn to want something new.

RIP Jet. Your life was fucked to Hell long before you were old enough to try and salvage it. You'll probably be missed by more people than you strictly deserve. War sucks, amirite?

[purpdrawsthings]

How's life being... Well, like that? Are you two being treated at least semi-decently? You're not being used as punching bags for Mr. Puzzles's emotions, right? Right?

SMG4 : Oh! It's... Not bad actually... Aside from having such terribly planned deadlines and overworking because Mr. Puzzles always gets ideas from... Who even knows who, to the point you even question your own mental stability... It's decent I guess. This is better than what we expected...

SMG3 : As for that semi-decently thing... I guess you could say it's like... Decent? It's like a normal worker and boss relationship but worser? He is a decent but a bad boss at the same time, moreee on the bad side cuz he's him. Also, we are not used as punching bags for Mr. Puzzles emotion. He does let it out sometimes but whenever it's in front of us he would make that crazy face for a second then go back into his office and scream so loud that everyone could hear it. He really thinks we wouldn't notice.

SMG4 : Huh, speaking of decent things, I actually got this "Best Writer #1" mug from him a few months ago because I was doing a good job as a lead script writer. I'd never knew he gave gifts.

SMG3 : And here I was thinking where the hell you even got that.

SMG4 : It's my emotional support mug by the way.

SMG3 : What.

PS : Yes I'm adding context to my older posts so people would actually understand.

Context : They live in actually pretty stable and decent environment. Think of it as a movie/office studio or whatever. Butttt due to them being kinda clumsy and very tired, the place got a bit dirty. Still nice either way. Though, it isn't nice that they don't get fresh air and are always stuck in there for eternity.

As for how Puzzles treats them, I would have to say kinda bossy. He always gives them work and well, other stuff. Like editing videos late. Buttt when they get a little sick, he let's them rest. And by rest I mean only for a day and nothing more than that. He wants to keep his movies coming out as consistent as possible. The reason why he acts like this is because all his time of making low quality films, he was just making them alone with nobody tbh. That's why he manages them so poorly

And no, Puzzles does not use them as punching bugs. He actually doesn't even use violence. He just shouts and gets way too frustrated. If he gets a little stressed, he would just go in his office and scream to let his stress all out. Great way of coping Puzzles =D

As for the last part, that was just a funny last part I just wanted to add because I thought it would be fun. I decided that if an employee [ basically one of the crew ] did a great job, he would reward them. In his case, 4 got three mugs with messages that were way too relatable to him =]

[ijumpbridges]

Scp 076 Crush Headcanon

At first he doesn't know it he had one on you. You were an agent, you had been in the military and you got partnered up with this thick skull. You used to be a Captain in the infantry, you also quickly ranked up pretty quick at the foundation.

076 saw this and was impress by this. A "true leader" he used to call you. You didn't mind, as to well of course what he thought of you didn't matter, but what he does around mattered because, now you were in charge to keep him in control, which it was annoying, he did considered you as a leader, but he would step out of line sometimes.

Even though he step out of the line, he was still a bit more competent at the things that some irresponsible co-workers did. Surprisingly you did a lot, really heavy work, from paperwork to physical work, but it wasn't something that could throw you off, since you were used to it.

Scp 076 would admired all the hard work that you did for him. You would mercilessly scold him when he did something cruel, you would train with him and give him challenges to complete. Training was most of the big thing, his favorite thing was running with you in the outside with the sun hitting both of you and the heat outside of the artificial outside campus they had for training.

Training together made both of you a bit closer, you told him stories about your deployment and he would listened to them amazed, but never showing it because of his pocker face. Sometimes, when you scolded your soldiers he would step in, even if they were acting up or not, and you will tell him and everyone who you were yelling at to drop down.

You will literally lose your voice because of him doing this. Of course 076 was hated for this. You will always leave off the room piss off having to cool off somewhere else, and oh yeah, he will be following you. He would stay out of your way but of course not out of your sight.

You two complemented each other, he had actually helped you with making exercise and the physical therapy, since working in the military had damage your muscle and almost cripple you for life because of irresponsible leaders who refuse to help their soldiers when they said they knees or back hurt. You were really grateful for it.

He ended up using some of your daily quotes that you said around. "Bullshit","As long as we fucking tracking", and military branches to describe other agents, "Hey Marine", or the one that stress other the most "Hey HERO" most of the time he liked when you were angry, since he knew something 'good' was coming, by good is that someone will get callout for their bs behavior.

In missions he was always sticking to your side, he had protect you when you saw a dead agent around and you had to do the work of cleaning them up, so no one tries to get anything important from them. He also appreciates when you also try to protect him too, when you warn him about enemies and show him some small trick of how to use new technology, even thought he refuse to use a pistol he needed basic knowledge, at least on how to use a walkie-talkie.

After some missions you ended up rewarding him with being able to help with the dogs of the foundation, he was able to train them and take care of them with you and he loved that, but he hated the other people around. There was an agent who was clingy to you. No, let me rephrased that, half of the staff or agents that work around of the foundation saw you as a parental figure, they were all equally clingy to you. Dudes older than you calling you mom/dad.

076 saw this and hated it, he thought you deserved more respect because you were greater than that, and even hear the comments of who you would look good with as a partner figure since, of course there were other staff members who were looked up like that too. You didn't mind this, it surprised you that dude's older than you accidentally called you mom or dad or other staff members came to your office crying to you for any weird problem that they had.

He will try to get them off of you, you, on the other hand, you did mind this, you told him to stop forcing people out of your office or to be away, even thought you had work to do, you also look out for others well being, even his own and not to get in the way of it. So he would stare at whoever came in anger wishing their were gone from your office.

He enjoyed alone times with you, you used to sneak him some sweets, talk to him, he had slowly opened up to you, and you both even ride one of those golf cars that the foundation used around with him while blasting some music. They banned both of you because they thought you were breaching him containment because you surpass the limits of where he had to be.

By the time 076 had warm up to you a lot, he is bit more open with what he feels, he doesn't do a lot of talking about himself but sometimes throws small details that you quickly catch onto. He overhear others and see the behavior of other couples, he had found himself thinking about it with you and even more after you took him fishing one time. He keeps overhearing other people keep talking about love, the things that he knows are 'love languages and what love is and what partners sometimes do' and really weird loop holes and rabbit holes of 'love' that he still didn't understand, since its all different from his culture.

He started to think more about you as a partner and what people say, he didn't care whether if it was positive or negative. He was embarrassed to ask, so he would have to find out on his own and not to get caught and of course he would never ask because its not his thing. So, he would have to relay of what other say and what they do too. He also thought about what he remembered what he did on his culture to pursue someone romantically.

Recently you were called for a mission, you told him and he was and about for not being able to go with you, he complained that to you and you listened and try to calm him down by telling you couldn't do anything about it, but in case you didn't come back to enjoy your company while it lasted it. He told you not to talk like that, it was a dead man talk and you even yourself told him not to ever do that. You laugh realizing how much you had taught him and went doing physical training again.

When you left, he was locked in his cell, he took the time to do exercise and read books, after a week he had ask for you and they still gave you no answer, they ended up changing you from someone else and he was so upset to that and demanded an answer on why they changed you. To which they told him it was for the mean time, and that you gave him some task to do while you were gone with one of your co-workers. He didn't like them either, he acted out a lot with them.

As it turns out you were on the hospital because you got shot on the chest, he demanded to see you, but was put on request to a senior staff who ended up asking you if it was okey for him to come. The moment 076 pass that room and saw you he started to start to demand what happen for you to go like that. Not even a warning and you are jumpscared and bombarded with question.

You told him to calm down and you explain to him the whole thing, he thinks you are badass to survive. After an hour he is taken back to his cell. He thinks to himself about what had happen. He thinks you are a warrior fighting for your life and others. He still wishes he had be there in the mission and next to you in the hospital room, the same way your co-workers were hanging out with you in your hospital room, it made him mad he wasn't in neither on them, that's why he put a long face when he was on his way to his cell and when he got there. For the pass days he would think of everything and questions everything.

After you had fully recovered, you went to see him to surprise him. He was happy and the best part he even attempted to make physical contact which was new and you accept it. He tried to hug you, awkward, but wholesome. You got to hang out there for about 30 minutes until they told you they needed you for something and you left. He thought about the hug he gave you, he didn't want to think about it, but couldn't stop.

He thought maybe the next day he could try to hug you again, and the next day and then he wondered what physical contact he could make with you. Then he stop for a second, why was he thinking about all of this? He realizes what has he been doing and then all the thoughts rush inside him.

The next day he got distant with you, you thought it was normal or tried to believe so, but it felt weird than his usual distant persona, this showed that you knew him maybe well or too well. When you asked him he questioned why were you asking and that it was nothing, you of course didn't say anything and still tried to engage with him as usual.

Your interaction with him started to get a bit questionable, not sure what was happening with him, but you took a step to tell him that it was okey to tell you any problem he had and that you will never judge him. He again told you he didn't have any, you told him that it was okey if he didn't have any now, but maybe in the future he could always come to you. You try to avoid on keep asking him to not upset him.

After one week of you telling him, a breach containment happen, you were on your office it was late, but when you hear the intercom saying that 076 breach containment you lock the office door. Not even a second of doing, so you get massive amounts of messages because he broke out pf containment and now somehow its your fault.

You tried to contact anyone to ask them what was happening on to why he did that, then a call from the intercom inside of your room call you saying that you should go to the cafeteria immediately in demands on 076.

~~~

You went rushing to the cafeteria, not sure of what was going on or why 076 was on the lose, but maybe have some answers there. When you open the door you saw how the tables where aside and saw Able in the middle, two d-classes both typed up and a deer.

"What..." You said looking at him.

Able was holding goat one D-class too.

"What in the actual fuck" you said you were so confuse.

He didn't say anything, but he knew you weren't a good reaction, maybe he should take initiative.

"Come closer" he said and you comply.

"Able... what is going on?" You said.

"I brought you a offering, im not sure if your parents were alive, so im making it to you the offering on taking your hand" he said he paused and approached you with the deer and D-class. When he got close you could see what D-class he took. This D-class used to give you trouble and 076 knew it, seeing him in such a position made you wanted to laugh and feel bad for him.

"I brought what was close for the offering, you didn't have sheeps here p,but deers near by and the D-classes who used to dishonor you" he said.

"Wait, hold on why did you do.. this?" You asked him.

"For your hand" he reply.

"You mean marriage?" You asked.

"Yes, it may not be practical, but its close. Please, take my offering for your hand and i will be by your side till death and give you protection even from the people here. What do you say?" he asked and looked at you waiting for your answer.

[wisekiwi123]

The S class that I raised vampire au: Prologue

( Hi everyone it's Kiwi, I will be officially writing this AU so please let me know if I make any mistakes since I am knew to writing fanfics. Hope you enjoy it )

original post for more info:

https://www.tumblr.com/wisekiwi123/747487646743396352/vampire-au-where-all-the-s-classes-are-vampires?source=share

***

“Happy birthday–”

“ Who hurt you hyung”

Yoojin paused as he watched his younger brother storm into the kitchen decorated with birthday decorations with a very sour look on his face. Ignoring the cake with eleven candles on the table Yoohyun began to expect the cast on his older brother's arm carefully, his frown becoming deeper with every second.

“There was a little accident at work today nothing too serious” Yoojin laughed nervously as he avoided direct eye contact with his brother  “ It will be healed in a few weeks anyway so how about we look at the birthday present I got you instead”

“ Hyung this is serious” Yoohyun shook his head “ Was it your co-workers again or maybe you taking on more dangerous jobs without telling me”

“I wouldn’t say dangerous—“

“So you are taking on more deadly jobs!” Yoohyun shouted before he started clenching his teeth tightly.

‘ His integration skills are getting better by the day’Yoojin lampooned to himself as Yoohyun continued to fret over his broken arm.

 It was true he was taking on more dangerous tasks but it was never anything he couldn’t handle. Being a vampire hunter was a very high-demanding job which often had well-paying quests that only a fool would miss out on. Besides it was his brother's birthday and he wanted to make it especially special so he may have taken on more rewarding jobs that were slightly harder than usual.

‘Even so, I should have been more careful’ Yoojin thought to himself as his free hand reached to pat his brother's hand.

 “It's because of me again isn’t…” Yoohyun whispered as his shoulders began to slump downwards “If I were born a normal human hyung would not have to work so hard. If I wasn’t a vampire hyung wouldn't  get hurt—

“Han Yoohyun that is enough” Yoojin firmly said with a solemn look on his face.“I told you before that I am not doing anything I don't want to do and you will never be a burden to me ever”

Yoojin’s hand reached out to pinch the side of Yoohyun’s cheek, he smiled largely as he spoke.

“I am your Big brother it's my job to look after you while it's your job to grow up well and live a good life. Sorry for making you worry  and I promise not to take risks on purpose”

“Promise  not  to take risks ever”

 “Ok now you're pushing it, I still need to make a living you know”

“Fine hyung but when I am older you will never have to work again since I will be strong enough  to protect you”

“Sounds like a plan but  make sure to study as well ok?”

Yoojin hugged Yoohyun as he laughed while Yoohyun smiled back slightly revealing a set of small fangs as he accepted his brother’s embrace.

“Now let me cut the cake after you blow out the candle ”

“Hyung no let me do it instead!”

“Fine if that's what the birthday boy wants”

The snow gently gathered by the window as the night sky remained starless as both brothers munched on cake. The red gift wrapping was discarded in the corner of the old kitchen’s bin along with some empty vials of blood.

The winter nights were often long but it was never lonely. Not on this practical night at least.

***

Small puffs of cold smoke escaped Yoojin's lips as he looked up at the starless night with nostalgia. Snow piled by his feet as he stood before humongous gates made of silver and gold which opened to a driveway that seemed to be freshly shovelled of any snow speck of snow.

Yoojin turned his eyes away from the sky to look directly at an obnoxiously grand mansion of substantial size at the end of the driveway. His gloved hand gripped a single piece of paper tightly as he swallowed dry spit.

‘I am sorry Yoohyun” Yoojin thought as he took a step past the gate

“Promises can only be kept if I see you again” He muttered dropping the the wrinkled paper on the frozen ground before taking large strides forward. A calculated risk the first of many.

The paper continues to lay upright and undisturbed on the snow. The words wanted vampire , dead and 50,000 are written in bold along with Han Yoohyun's face plastered right in the middle.

(next chapter is currently being made.Hope everyone has a great night/day )

[lonely-north-star]

jewelry maker mammon x retail worker mc pt 2

hi guys, two people asked for part two and now I'm here. Did not expect people to find enjoyment in this.

Part one above, not sure how to shorten it on mobile. Once again, this is me projecting onto my MC because I'm not suffering alone. Anyway, more craft store silliness !!

-Mammon attends the hiring event, dressed in a button down shirt and his hair combed. It's his Lucky Interview Outfit™

-He's kinda nervous because he really would like to work here and doesn't want to blow his chance

-The store manager recognizes him, and Mammon can't tell if this is good or bad

-Good because he's already got him laughing, and it helps brush over the fact that there's a few gaps in his resume

-The manager admits he had hoped to see Mammon there and it's good to put a name to a face

-Asks Mammon what he wants to work as, which Mammon kinda shrugs at, saying he's pretty flexible, but reminds him he's already good with the beads

-Says they'll label him as a floor person and put him anywhere as needed

-His first day is filled with training which he finds extremely boring until MC comes in to the break room

-She stops in her tracks and is stunned to see him there, before she recovers and smiles at him

"You're gonna work here now?"

"Nah, they just gave me a vest and name badge for nothing."

-She huffs and side eyes him as she grabs her equipment, rolling her eyes when she puts her bag away. Turns around, handing him a yellow star sticker

"For your badge."

-Suddenly he's even more eager to finish training and get to work

-His first days, he works short shifts during her hours and trains on the register (because everyone needs to know they claim)

-MC falls short of shaking him, sternly telling him to ask questions, no, she will not get mad. Yes, she may look irritated but she always looks like that. She'd rather you ask.

-They let him take over on his third day and he has great interactions with every customer

-He gets two credit card applications immediately. Had to walkie for help because he knew the script, but not the process (because no one ever gets them)

-The manager group chat receives a single photo of his tally sheet from the store manager because "Five sign ups! Three protection plans! Where has this cashier been my whole career? 🔥"

-He quickly becomes a favorite because of how good his numbers are

-No one knows how he does it but as long as higher ups aren't breathing down their neck everyone is happy

-It's because he's extremely motivated by the sticker rewards MC gives out. They're scented

-He might be good at the register but he hates staying up there when it's slow because he feels trapped. He can only recover the queue line so much guys

-Will beg to go on the floor if he's met the goal for the week and there's another person scheduled. Or will work to make the goal first and then beg to switch places

-On Fridays he works mornings in order to do jewelry repacks (Repacks are boxes of mixed products that get sent to us that we have to sort into other boxes by department. These things are like 12 x 10 x 20 inches maybe?)

-They are PACKED with products. The strung beads specifically come wrapped in bubble wrap or sealed bags by the SKU. Same goes for other products like findings, wire, and string. You spend a lot of time ripping open the package, pulling it out, scanning it, and then putting it on the shelf

-But see, Mammon knows these aisles better than the back of his hand. He doesn't need the scanner

-He'll unwrap handfuls at a time of strung beads and immediately start putting them out. Anything that goes in the next aisle he doesn't touch because he will not be walking back and forth, he's going to gather it all up and do it at once

-He spends barely an hour on each box, and once he's done, he admires any of the new items that came in. As a treat.

-Replen manager comes to check on him and she's stunned to find him done. She buys him a pastry from across the street as a reward

-He does help out with other repacks, but it takes him longer since he's not as familiar with the aisles

-Despises craft paint with a burning passion. Do NOT put him in that aisle or he will throw a fit. Threatens to quit (wouldn't actually)

-Gets frustrated easily with that aisle because the paint tubes fall over too often. And his hands are too big to reach for the one that fell over, and he'll end up knocking more over because the shelves are too close together

-Has trouble folding T-shirts. MC has shown him multiple times but he can't stay consistent with it

-One time she found him kneeling on the floor trying to fold a shirt. Has not let him fold since

-Now if they're working together, she folds them and he puts them away. It's efficient.

-After three weeks, he's gotten pretty good with memorizing the store and product locations. He has come to this conclusion.

Hell: Craft paint, T-Shirts, Open Stock Paintbrushes

Heaven: Jewelry <3, Kids Beads, Seasonal, Yarn

Neutral: Fine Arts, Ribbon (Thin Ice), Stickers, Fabric, Floral, Baking (Hates the baking pans specifically though), Wood, Frames, the rest of the store basically

-He likes making things look neat (actually likes the way MC looks pleased when he drags her over to show it off)

-If they're working together, he might get slightly distracted and trail after her to chat. She only allows it if it's slow.

-If someone needs help she'll shoo him away/send him off. He'll come right back after he's done though

-Otherwise she's walking through the aisles recovering with him and doing returns, handing him stuff and pointing to where it goes as he rambles about a new commission he made. Or the newest beads they got in stock.

"Says B 23."

"And they said they we're gettin' it for their partner-"

"There. Next to the red gift bags."

"-but how do ya not know their favorite color?! C'mon! That's like the first thing ya learn!"

"What's yours?"

"Blue. Or gold. And yellow, when gold ain't an option, because yellow is a lot more common. But none of that neon crap! Nah, like.. like.. I'll show ya when we reach the bead aisle! Anyway, they came back all-"

-'Yellow.' She thinks. Fitting, for someone who brightens her day so much. She shakes the thought away.

-She won't admit it but she does enjoy it. It makes the time pass faster.

"Did you know the beads go on sale Sunday? And we get paid this Friday. Are you gonna buy any?"

"...Are ya messin' with me?"

"Why would I be?"

"I'm going to buy so many things."

-MC starts to dread Sunday, and knows she's gonna have to reign him in. Oh boy.

-

hahaha pt 3 is in the works, i think. Because I had more ideas, but this got long again. Rest of this is me rambling.

Anyway, today I worked on repacks for Research™. And because I didn't wanna hear people asking if things are in the back. NO. I DID IT ALL TODAY !! EVERY LAST BIT !! (for t shirts and jewelry at least)

Took me four hours to do three jewelry boxes, though I did stop multiple times to help customers and go fulfill online orders. And unlike Mammon, I did need a scanner for some of it.

T shirts I did five boxes and took ten minutes a box since I didn't need the scanner except a handful of times. So it definitely varies on what department you're doing how long you'll take and how familiar you are with the aisle. For reference, it took my coworker 3.5 hours to do two boxes of jewelry.

Edit:

HERE'S PT 3 LOLOL

[msfbgraves]

Work vs Jobs

What I'm going to say is not in any way new - you can read Marx, Chomsky, Graeber, Bregman if you want to ponder it at length, but in the offline world it is still seen as a radical idea.

When reading about the sandwich- to- minimum wage- ratio, I saw all these Tumlblr comments basically going: (sobbing) 'fuck you, I'm not gonna buy that (sobbing some more').

So then I thought: if so many of us are cutting back on things like sammies because who indeed would pay €8 for a döner or $10 for a sandwich, how can this not cause a recession?

And then I remembered a Jon Stewart interview with some banking hotshot, saying that yes, because of the pandemic there were fewer laborers around, and yes, we absolutely had to force them to take jobs with bad pay, because supply and demand doesn't go for multinationals, so yes, they had to raise interest and prices artificially to force a recession, cannot be helped, how else would anyone work?

There's so many people who share that view, that if you didn't force people to take jobs, they wouldn't do any work, especially unpleasant work. A uni friend of mine who supports the German Green Party had argued vehemently against a basic income for that reason, because who would deign to clean the streets if they weren't forced to by threat of starvation, homelessness and having their children taken away?

And I need you all to know that experiments with basic income have proven that this is utter, and I mean utter bullshit. Even The Atlantic is seeing now, that there are people for whom working wasn't worth it because of the abysmal conditions, have begun working when the pay was high enough to justify the cost of work - in time or commute or rent.

There's this protestant view of the human spirit that suffering is somehow good for the soul, and this medieval catholic idea that the concept of "work" and "doing penance" is somehow one and the same, and therefore it is morally just to make others and yourself suffer through work, possibly to get a pat on the head from God, whose existence is taken as a given. And that has bled into the idea that jobs are

-morally just

-supposed to be awful, because good for the soul. The more intrinsically rewarding a job, the lower the wages, that's why caring for your own family is unpaid work the world over (both important and intrinsically rewarding)

-something you have to force sinful people into against their will

And both research and experience have proven time and time again that this isn't good, neither for people nor human society at large.

-First of all suffering doesn't make you a good person, ask Art Spiegelman, writer of MAUS, when talking about his father;

-Miserable workers do worse work, ask, well, any labour board in any country

-People actually choose to work for wages when the benefits outweigh the costs, ask the Finnish Government's minimum wage pilot, and the Mincome project.

If you guarantee people housing and a livable income whether or not they choose to work for wages, a few things happen:

People who couldn't afford to work less than fulltime because the cost of care would outstrip the benefit of wages, now choose to take on smaller jobs, stimulating both their wellbeing and the economy;

An increase in informal care makes sure that so many fewer people get sick (excluding antivaxxing tradwives, goodness knows what they're about....), costing the economy billions less

A greatly reduced crime rate, and far fewer incarcerations.

The reason why we're mostly not in a recession that several people who weren't working before, because of high wages, actually ARE working now and nobody needs to bully somebody out of their small business to become a barista at an understaffed Starbucks instead.

What people have been doing, however, is quitting pointless jobs that were actually killing them and keeping them away from their families.

And sure, corporations do not like that.

They need people tired and absolutely miserable so they spend their meagre disposable wages on immediate relief: overpriced food and alcohol, forcing them to clock back in until they die.

If a few employees die, that is absolutely fine. Cost of doing business. We need a critical mass of employees to replace them. You can replace a dead person with a former small business owner, no biggie.

If people get sick, they do not carry any - and I mean not any - of that cost. Society does, but they're not in society, they're in business. Money is not the means to an end, money is the entire end, no matter the cost.

They need to extract as much 'value' out of people as they can, then discard them. Again, it's not about making the employees do good work, it's about having their labour be of very short term gain, and having enough surplus people to be able to work employed people to death.

For that, they need to create poverty where, by rights, there isn't any.

And even they understand that people do not hold with that. So they conflate the idea of "labor", i.e. activity to sustain to make something new, sustain something or improve something, with the idea of a "job" - a position where you, potentially, are used to get a few shareholders richer with no regards for your wellbeing or that of your community, and if you want to get an increase in wages, you have to accept that your time spent there will be increasingly miserable. There are good jobs and bad jobs - indeed some jobs need you functioning at a minimum level of physical health, or are indeed fun, but even they will make you artificially miserable, either by forced poverty (you are a teacher! That is so rewarding! Of course you make nothing!), or moral injury (not only are you not doing anything useful, you are actively making people's lives worse). And they tell you this is necessary, like that episode in Black Mirror where someone has to kill three people or the world will come to an end. People have to be employed, otherwise the economy will tank, making everybody's lives super duper awful and nobody will ever even bother to come out of bed anymore.

There's is useful work done in jobs, but they are not the same thing.

If you guarantee people food, housing, and healthcare, they take better care of themselves, their loved ones, their environment, choose work that suits them, be it about the amount of hours or the kind of work, commit fewer crimes, spend more on fun, make more art, raise more children (their own or others), have fewer addictions. Exploitation is only in the interest of like 5 big companies in the world right now, and they exploit people so they neglect other people who also then have no other choice to get exploited until they die. So please let no one ever tell you that, because there is obviously a lot of work to be done, people have to be forced into jobs. Work is a necessary activity, a job is a place where work may or may not be done under artificially miserable conditions (or what economists think are miserable conditions. Dentists get paid so well because everybody thinks it is a horrible job; meanwhile, I've known a fair few, and those who choose it enjoy it well enough! And yes, every office has a Dwight, but those people truly are outliers).

The person who says "no one wants to work anymore" or "without jobs no work will get done" and especially "without us the economy would tank" are lying through their teeth! Especially those people who say that about "tanking the economy". They're trying to artificially tank it right now! To make people stop doing work they deem necessary and start doing jobs that benefit only the corporations!

Work is necessary, and people will always want to work, and work for wages too. Jobs are designed to be prisons under the current conditions. They will only be opportunities if you can freely choose to leave them at any time, with no risk to your wellbeing.