#beige website

[thehippiekittyph]

WIX Website Template for Wedding & Events Photography

This beige minimal website template is for wedding and events photographers who want to showcase their brand and portfolio. With WIX's user-friendly interface, editing a website is made easier and stress-free without the use of any coding. This website template is fully customizable to your satisfaction and is optimized for mobile and tablet use.

What's included in your purchase? - Installation guide - WIX website template with content guide - Mobile-optimized template with customizable side menu - 11 styled pages - Built-in fonts - Set of curated photos

Styled Pages: ➊ Home ❷ About ❸ Portfolio - Prenuptials portfolio page - Weddings portfolio page - Elopements portfolio page ❹ Packages/Services ❺ Book online ❻ Blog ❼ Contact

NOTE This website template is designed for WIX only and cannot be used on other platforms. Upon accepting the transfer invite on the email you used with your WIX account, the template will appear on your account as a NEW WEBSITE. It is not possible to add or integrate the website template to an existing site.

View live demo here:

https://thehippiekittyph.wixsite.com/angelawhitedemo

View Etsy listing here:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1572328815/wix-website-template-for-wedding-events

[jitterbugbear]

a reminder to check your graphics in greyscale before posting, especially if it has colourful text elements that are supposed to be readable 👍

also here's a handy dandy tool for checking colour contrast:

[designbyrobinsade]

Fall Skincare Canva Landing Page Template

Welcome to the Fall Skincare Canva Landing Page Template, designed to help you create a stunning, luxurious online presence for your skincare business, blog, or personal brand. This beautiful fall-inspired template, featuring warm nude and earthy tones, is perfect for skincare brands that embrace natural beauty and luxurious self-care. - DesignByRobinSade

[moonssugar]

someone defending the barbie movie by claiming oppenheimer is apolitical has got to be the most insane things ive seen today

[avo-kat]

when ur transmasc and hate plaid and shirts with high necklines (sad-emoji)

[vanillyanmocattio]

Agere sensories - visuals! (things I see!)

Seeking:

fairy lights, night lamps, aquarium lamps, lava lamps, LED strips, christmas lights

online you can search up toy commercials, toy unboxing, pinterest, or the website that you're on right now, Tumblr! however make sure your blocked tags and phrases are secured before going through social media, especially as a little

if you're feeling confident, visit toy stores, libraries' kids sections, playgrounds! they're very stimulating, but remember to stay respectful on your visits :)

There's more to artsy life than coloring books! Bead bracelets, clay, stickers, collecting various things, journaling, baby books, finger painting, glitter!

To my fem leaning regressors, hairclips, jewelry, bright make-up (I do not recommend kids make-up as it doesn't have regulations, use adult make up in a childish way), animal headbands! To my neutral/masc regressors, pins, patches, funky shoelaces, sticker tattoos, keychains! Decorate yourself to stimulate yourself on gloomy days!

get food for kids! More colorful, maybe with a cute animal or a smile or dinos, the pretty juice bottles with cartoons? don't get me started. You can also get shape cutters for your veggies/sandwiches

stimboards, gifs!

customize your devices! Wallpapers, keyboards, AOD, widgets! You can even use gifs!

decorate your room and gear too! Coloring pages or other craft you're proud of, showing your favorite toys (if you're safe) colorful rugs! Make custom pacis, add stickers to your bottles, add cute labels!

stim toys, glow in the dark toys! Water toys, squishy balls with colors in them, orbeez, snowglobes, slime!

Avoidant:

Have nap times! They don't have to be a nap time, but you can make an hour to yourself, covering the windows and turning off the lights

There are settings on modern devices specifically targeted for visuals. Lower the brightness, get yourself a dark mode, have eye safety on

Get yourself fuzzy nighttime blindfolds, cute sunglasses, hats or hoodies that will limit your eye view (be careful to be protected, but functional if you're outside)

this is universal for any sensory suppression, but items for babies are your best friends if you're looking for less eye straining gear. (Especially with the beige mom trend being more popular, ha ha)

if you still want to watch baby shows, check low-stimulation lists. Also, usually shows directed at younger age range are slower. I also find vintage cartoons less overwhelming (but they're not guaranteed to be always slow and not stimulating)

You can order online instead of throwing yourself out to the chaotic, overwhelming stores

limit your screentime! Short-form content is easily overwhelming, and staring into a bright screen for x hours doesn't do your eyes a favor. It's okay to need breaks and not always be up to date with everything

if possible, pick safe times to do your errands where there's not a lot of people, like weekend mornings.

have a list of safe cartoons, safe colors, safe places, or other "safe" sensories. It's sometimes better to know what you're comfortable with!

remember, if it gets too much, it is always okay to back out. This is YOUR coping mechanism and nobody else's, it's up to YOU what you're okay and not okay with

[deityofhearts]

@mastermatoyas EXACTLY 😭 ITS ALWAYS THE DAMN BATO COMMENTERS HATING ON INTERESTING CHARACTERS ESPECIALLY A FEMALE ANTAGONIST or a female lead who makes one (1) bad choice or mistake

I knowwww that the comment section under comics and manhwa is the bad place and should be avoided but sometimes it is nice, but usually it’s people complaining that a character makes very real mistakes and choices and calling the character (usually women) dumb bitches

[thehippiekittyph]

WIX Website Template for Newborn & Family Photography

This beige, pink and white themed website template is designed specifically for both professional and freelance photographers, bloggers or influencers who want to showcase their brand and portfolio. With Wix's user-friendly interface, editing a website is made easier and stress-free without the use of any coding. This website template is fully customizable to your satisfaction and is optimized for mobile and tablet use.

What's included in your purchase? - Installation guide - WIX website template with 6 styled pages - Mobile-optimized template with customizable side menu - Built-in font styles - Set of curated photos

Styled Pages: - Home - About - Portfolio - Services - Blog - Contact

NOTE This website template is designed for WIX only and cannot be used on other platforms. Upon accepting the transfer invite on the email you used with your WIX account, the template will appear on your account as a NEW WEBSITE. It is not possible to add or integrate the website template to an existing site.

View live demo here: https://thehippiekittyph.wixsite.com/preciousonedemo

View Etsy listing here:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1552726002/wix-website-template-for-photography

[toychest321]

Sorry for being late to post about Ramadan (school's been hell recently), but I thought I could take the opportunity to highlight some Muslim dolls! While there aren't many, one of my favorites is Fulla! For those unaware, Fulla was made by the company NewBoy FZCO and has been running since 2003! (MASSIVE thanks to Dollect for most of the information on her, at least throughout her early run in the 2000s) According to Dollect, some of the first dolls released of her with a hijab was in 2005 from the "Fulla with Abaya" sets, which apparently had embroidery on the sleeves! I love the long skirts, they give me Flower Power Barbie vibes!

There were also apparently "Outdoor Fashion" dolls with a surprise element where beneath their Abaya they'd be wearing an outfit of a specific color out of purple, pink, and green. They were MILES ahead of the surprise toy gimmick of the 2010s.

However, I can't find exactly what their outdoor outfits looked like? There aren't any images of them on Dollect, though I suppose these might be them? No confirmation of such, of course, but I found the pink one labelled for 2004 on another website.

It seems to check out with the description of having purple and pink variants in the outfit, but the beige and black leads me to believe these might be another release entirely... regardless I adore the detail in these coats! Anyway, I'll be posting about these more soon, but for now I better get back to that homework I just got distracted from lol. If you guys know of any other Muslim dolls you'd like me to post about feel free to send an ask!

Ramadan Kareem!

(Edit: Y'all thank you so much for the traction but please check out my reblogged edits to this post, I lowkey fumbled the info on the mystery outfits the first time around 😭)

[hanistry]

WELCOME TO THE MASQUERADE | HAN JISUNG.

genre | fantasy au, magic au / meet cute

synopsis | after receiving a strange recruitment letter in the mail for a barista job, jisung decides to fill it in despite his suspicions because he desperately needs a job.   

word count | 10k+

warning | brief mention of war, death, injuries / mentions of burn, pain, blood, suffocation 

world | two

Jisung had no idea how much louder his world would become when he entered the coffee shop. 

With nothing but multiple rehearsed speeches prepared and a nearly empty bag that stored only his tablet for note-taking, he let the door behind him close gently before fixing his eyes on the environment of, hopefully, his future workplace. A deep sigh left the confines of his chest as the familiar operating noise of coffee machines hit his ear. 

He gave the week’s notice for his previous barista job a month ago.

His charms and perfect speaking ability left after he had gotten hired the day of the interview. Part of him knew the manager was desperate for workers, and he understood why. The pay was laughable, the hours were horrendous, and some customers hit the nail on the head with being the group of people most undeserving of anything good in life.

Besides those, let’s be honest, being a barista is not a worthy enough experience for the future careers any student would want to pursue. 

He had no expectations for maintaining any friendly work relationships back then. Although his silence was not kept, the continuous ‘‘How are you today’?’ chain with his colleagues was not precisely material for making friends. He had gone to work and gone home on every shift. In the end, he left the place without adding a friendly contact.

The joke of his life writes itself. He quit the last barista job because it was a dead-end path in a poor work environment just to, a few months later, end up interviewing for another one. This job listing was nowhere on credible search engines or semi-sketchy recruiting websites. He found it in an advertisement letter addressed directly to him in his mailbox. 

Despite all the suspicion, he applied anyway, because the joke of his life writes itself. 

The shop smelt of coffee beans and stunk of natural wood previously rained on. Instead of a modern and popular beige color scheme, the structure maintained an old-fashioned brown tone, with vintage furniture and little to no alternative vibrant colors. Customers lined up before a long wooden counter with no opening to enter besides jumping over the surface.

On top of it, behind a glass panel of appropriate height, sat multiple steam machines shoving out coffee heat, either waiting to be or already being used. 

The accent wall attached in the center of the primary wall behind the cashier counter was made out of auburn red bricks and cement instead of ancient wood. The primary wall was lined up with tiny drawers, like stackable cabinets. Slapped in the middle of the brick wall was a fireplace with an ominous key cabinet stuck in the middle just above it. 

Jisung squinted at the fireplace. He swore he saw some colored dust on the logs. 

You made a mental note to sweep the fireplace after humorously following Jisung’s gaze toward it. 

You had already rung up all the customers’ orders this morning before Jisung could snap out of his trance. Determined to startle him a little to make up for the dull morning, you waited by the side of the counter with your arms folded and leaned against the edge. It took Jisung a minute, but eventually, he turned his head away from the brick wall and jumped when he noticed your stare. 

“Good morning,” you greeted.

“Good morning,” he returned politely with a casual bow. He cleared his throat of his nervousness. It remained, so he pushed it behind a well-crafted facade of confidence. “I am here for the interview!”

You raised a brow with intrigue. 

That was a surprising turn of events. There was hardly any deviation from the usual routine. You were usually on top of everything as well: the cleanliness of the coffee house, stocking ingredients, tending to request letters, and remembering information communicated to you by the Entities. You cannot for the life of you remember ever hearing about the coffee house receiving a new hire.

You have been working alone for three and a half years. If there were such groundbreaking news, you would remember.

Jisung pursed his lips patiently when you raised a finger, signaling him to give you a moment. In the meantime, he stood on his spot and recounted everything that had led him up to this point—the advertisement letter, replying to the advertisement by mailing a response letter (as he was instructed to), getting an irregularly quick decision back that told him to come to this location for an interview.

He made sure he double-checked the location before coming here. He could not have been wrong.

His eyes followed you as you moved toward the back, where the wall of drawers was. Sniffing to get the nervous itch out of his nose, he reached a hand up to pinch the tip. He wasn’t sure why he felt out of place. When you pulled open one of the drawers to peek inside and closed it shortly after, he realized they were not decorations. He wondered if the ones lined up to the ceiling could also be opened.

You touched your hand to the empty spaces between each storage row to find a spot. When you did, you banged the space with your fist twice and stepped back.

The ground shivered, startling Jisung. A pair of drawer rows separated themselves from the wall with visible vertical lines. Then, like a revolving door, it turned to the side and revealed an accent wall identical to the brick wall in the middle. There was a rotary dial phone on top of an antique table. 

You picked up the phone and dialed a number. Jisung has no idea what happened. 

His best guess was that it was a deliberate design choice, but that assumption was quickly defeated with two counters he thought too quickly of. 

First, corporate design choices are almost always made to maintain the old or garner new consumers. He knew that much as someone who has always been heavily involved in the inner workings of the mainstream music industry. He had a phase where he pretended being independent was better. With the fabricated authenticity people value today, it still is better.

But everything takes money, including breaking into the industry or just making an album in general, so he did care about corporate to an extent. 

Even though he had never heard of this coffee shop before, there was no way the store structure was not crafted to invite more customers except for the changing telephone booth, which was shown when there were no customers around. It was just a function of the architecture that an employer could use, which made no sense. What can a cool feature be worth if the money spenders never see it?

Two, that kind of architecture must have cost a fortune to build. But Jisung had just heard of this coffee shop when he was offered to apply for a job there.

When he was doing some research online before accepting the offer, he found no information about it either. A coffee shop as secretive as this one could be one of two things: a soon-to-be vacant spot or a top-secret hideout for the ultra-rich. Considering its mundane location—just across the street from a plaza with various fast food joints—Jisung settled with the first thing. 

Funnily enough, he would not put it past people who could wipe their snot with dollar bills to be bored enough with their life that they decided it would be fun to open a coffee shop down the street. To fit more into the ordinary atmosphere, they have decided to hire only one employee and pay them the most undeserving salary too! It was anything to live like poor people without actually doing it!

Jisung shook his head off the millions of assumptions popping up. He was thinking too deeply about this. All he had to care about was getting the job, or not getting it. He planned to figure it out as he played along. 

“I don’t know. He doesn’t look too fine to me,” you spoke into the receiver while stealing glances at Jisung. “He looks zoned out. All I’ve shown him is the turning wall, though.”

The other end laughed heartily with a joke you would have understood once, but you giggled with them nonetheless. Afterward, the person confirmed they hadn’t gotten a visitor at the shop without prior notice. You heaved a relieved sigh. Something must be off with the Entities. 

After you hung up, you knocked on the same spot on the wall to turn it back to the drawer row. Your hands flew to rub against your apron to clean off the cement feel, and then you habitually smoothed it down. 

Looking up from the ground, you caught Jisung’s eyes and smiled at him. He returned it with a much lower intensity because he was still confused about the sudden wall change. You headed to the side of the cashier counter and kicked it once. An entryway opened up, and you walked out from behind the register. 

Jisung tried his best to hold back the furrow of his brows. As confusing as everything had been, he was still making an impression that would get him hired.

But he swore on God that there was no visible entryway when he walked through the door. And, of course, he swore on God because he did not believe in such things, so there would be no real repercussions if he made a mistake in his swear. 

You did walk out from behind it. He was not taking any chances.

“Sorry for the wait. I was not aware that we would be getting new hires,” you said as you held out your hand. 

He immediately reached out and gave your a firm handshake. “No worries! My name is Jisung!”

“Y/N,” you returned. “You are a little early, Jisung. You came during rush hour.”

“The letter I received told me to come at this time, though,” he informed, motioning at his bag as if he had the letter with him and could bring it out for evidence if you doubted him. 

You hummed in acknowledgment. The letter could only have one sender: the Entity in charge of the coffee shop. Since the Entity also has access to the shop’s customer walk-in hours, if it specifically instructed Jisung to arrive at the time of serving, it could only mean that the Entity strongly desires him to become a barista.

It was a chance for him to catch you working, after all. If the Entity was unsure of its choice, it would have arranged for him to arrive when the shop was empty instead.

“I see.” You acknowledged to yourself before making eye contact with Jisung again. “You caught me at a terrible time. I just rang up all the customers’ orders but haven’t made them their drinks yet.”

Jisung smiled with uncertainty. He knew you were the only employee working, but he didn’t think you would also be the person to interview him. He assumed someone of a higher position must be lazing around at the back and was charged to consider his application. 

Were you the only person here? Were you the manager who sent him the reply letter? What about the time clash? What kind of lousy management was this? This was even worse than what he had to deal with last time! 

He shouldn’t work here!

You ran a hand through your hair as you turned your head. Your lips pursed and smacked inaudibly as your mind was riddled with thoughts about the next steps. When you looked at Jisung again, you politely smiled at him. It was a pretty smile. At least, he thought it was.

Maybe he should work here.

“Would you like to come to the back to help, or would you want just to wait around while I finish with this batch of drinks?” you asked, pointing behind your shoulder at the register. Jisung didn’t look confused, but you added anyway. “You were already hired when the response letter was sent to you. You didn’t come here for an interview. You came here for an explanation, which will help you determine whether you want to work here.” 

He breathed out an unsteady laugh. “Oh, I’m just looking for a part-time job. I am fine with anything… even though I quit my last job, so clearly I wasn’t fine with anything…” The last part was mostly silent. After beating himself up enough, he perked up and nodded. “I think I will work here and see for myself. I’m sure you guys don’t have any policies I haven’t seen before!”

You raised your brows and smirked at his response. “This is not an ordinary coffee shop.” 

“You guys sell coffee, no?” he questioned.

“Hmm…” You hummed with a mirroring of his questioning pitch. “We sell more than that.” 

“Oh, is this one of those–“ Jisung snapped his fingers to conjure the right words. “Marketing schemes? Where you guys say you’re selling coffee and something cheesy, like a homey environment?” The air quotes beside his head lingered for a moment.

You scoffed. “No, but I’m glad you think this place is homey.” 

“Actually, that was just an example. I think this place can use a bit more domesticity,” Jisung said, seemingly building up his confidence with each word he spoke. He rubbed his hands together as if in deep thought, and then he made a noise when he finally settled with an example to his suggestion.

“Maybe somebody like me? I’m friendly, and all the neighborhood aunties tell me I am adorable, like a stuff-cheeked squirrel.”

You couldn’t understand why the Entity wanted him unless it chose personality over competence this time. It would be harsh to judge Jisung so quickly, which you knew. His ridiculousness overshadowed any specks of assumption you have that he could be very competent at this job.

Not that this job requires much real effort daily, but when there comes a time when that effort is needed, absolutely nobody can slack behind, or the result will surely be bloody. 

Jisung responded to your judgemental eyes with a blushed smile. You sighed inwardly.

At least he’s cute. 

“Come help me,” you said with a wave. 

Even though you explained that he was practically hired at this point, he got the feeling you were asking him to get on board.

Jisung loved to pride himself on being a fast learner, and he was! 

He wasn’t brilliant, but he was clever and quick-witted. Thanks to his years of being a curious and rebellious child and having adults around him who cared too much, he often had to weasel his way out of lectures and punishments. The point stood as he grew older, with his teachers, co-workers, and (some) managers, with variations of him easily escaping problems. He absorbed his surroundings and people, and he knew how to manipulate them.

Not this time. Mainly because he was confused about what he was absorbing. 

After agreeing to help You with the orders, Jisung anticipated being told the steps to make standard coffee orders. The easier ones, at least, like the Espressos and Americanos. But you had him on customer duty instead, which was intriguing at most. He realized nobody was waiting around the area for their order. When he asked about it, you told him it was because the process of making a drink was better off staying confidential.

He had worked as a barista for so long and seen so few variations to making the same caffeinated drinks that he could hardly believe there was anything special about the menu. Besides, customers were usually not perceptive enough to stalk the process of a barista making their coffee, let alone steal the recipe or complain about it. He had seen some of those people before, but they were a rare breed!

He begrudgingly agreed to serve the customers, even though he was unsure why he was being defensive about the task. The agreement invited even more interesting rules of the coffee house. 

Firstly, he was told not to introduce himself or make unnecessary conversations. Initially, Jisung thought it was an issue regarding work culture—chatting with a customer for too long will delay the working pace! He understood that. He didn’t care much about talking to the customers anyway. Except You added clarification that he would not want any rare but possible mishaps in memory erasure when the customers leave.

Secondly, as he watched you make the drinks, he learned one of two things: the tiny boxes on the wall hold lumps of colorful dust, and you mix them into the drink. The first thing you did for every cup was add the dust that looked like craft shop dust glitters. Nothing about it looked drinkable to him.

Everything about it looked like the materials pre-schoolers will slap on a Mother’s Day card. When he asked about it, you said they were personality dust, and it would do him nicely not to inhale nor taste them. 

Lastly, there was nothing on the cups. There were no labels, no names, and no order abbreviations. There were only patterns. Each coffee cup has a unique design: chalk stripe, pinstripe, checkers, plaid, and whatnot.

You informed him that every customer has a charm bracelet made of patterned pearls around their wrist. The patterns on the cups reflect the ones on the bracelet identically, so all he needed to do was to obverse and hand the drinks out. No calling names, no asking about anything. Just serve the drinks and leave.

These were a set of exceptional rules. Bizarre ones! Most of what he was cautioned not to do was against the customer service etiquette he had spent years honing, and how the customers behaved was also abnormal. Everything so far has made a point to tell him working here would be easier than usual but also unfamiliar. Extraordinarily unfamiliar. 

“How are you doing, Jisung?” you asked after you collected all the bracelets from the coffee plates left by the shop's back exit. Customers were instructed to drop them off when they left. “You seem unwell.”

“That’s harsh. I don’t think I look that worn out,” Jisung muttered. 

“Not worn out,” you said as you approached the fireplace and reached for the key cabinet. You hung the bracelets on their respective slots before closing it. You turned back to Jisung, your expression monotonous. “Just confused.” 

“I am confused,” he replied as he crossed his arms. He regarded your with faint distaste. It was a misplaced judgment of his feelings about everything he had learned about this coffee shop. “You guys have interesting rules here.” 

“This is not an ordinary coffee shop.”

“Yeah, okay–” He pursed his lips shut and heaved a deep breath. Whoever was behind this marketing scheme to be different and unique has got to quit it because authentic things can only stay authentic for a maximum of two months before becoming annoying. This whole extraordinary concept you were selling him was getting on his nerves. “That is not remotely true about anything these days.”

“What is? Extra ordinem?” 

“What is that?”

“Latin.”

“Oh, my sincere apologies! Public school didn’t exactly teach me a dead language,” he said with a few nods of false acknowledgment. “Is that a requirement? Do I need to be fluent in an obscure language to work here? Something like Sanskrit?”

“Oh, I’m learning Sanskrit.”

“Of course you are.” It came out as a defeated whisper. Jisung rubbed his eyes and thought using humor as a defense mechanism against whatever he felt would do well. “Actually, let’s switch the roles for a bit. I want to talk to your manager about something.”

“You can’t do that until you have officially signed the contract to work here,” you said, giving him a brief glare for his snarky remark as you turned to the counter. “I was getting to that until you interrupted me.” 

You kicked the counter once and walked through the space. You moved toward where you last brought out the dial phone, which Jisung recognized, and repeated the knocking motion to turn the wall around. He counted how this operation unfolded: two knocks, the ground shakes, and the wall turns.

But, instead of a dial phone, what came about this time was a podium with a comically oversized leather notebook. 

Dust filled the nearby air when You closed the notebook. It was as heavy as you expected; you never had to take it off the podium. Holding it to your chest, you turned around, noticed the steam machine, and paused with a forgetful gasp.

You had forgotten to key in the code for the teleportor. Shifting to the side, you put the notebook on the counter before going to the steam machine. 

There was a sequence of buttons to push, to what degree to turn the dials, and when to pull on its handles. Jisung noticed it through some obscure form of rhythmic measure he could hear from how you handled the steam machine.

The machine whistled with an airy heat, like the starting of a steam locomotive. When you were done, the fireplace ignited with a burning flame. The flame blew out as abruptly as it started, startling Jisung for the second time. 

He stared at the fireplace with big, jittery eyes. But the way you slowly pulled the notebook back to your chest and left the counter did not go unnoticed.

You made your way near the fireplace and turned around, beckoning him over to your. Jisung furrowed his brows and fidgeted with his legs as if debating if he wanted to move anywhere near a self-igniting fireplace.

“Let’s stop stalling,” you urged just a beat before he jogged over, causing him to scoff with irritation. 

“I wouldn’t stall so much if you give me a thorough explanation of what is happening around here,” he retorted. “I don’t want to work in any unsafe work environment.”

“That complicates things.” You pointed into the fireplace, giving him dull eyes and ignoring his comments. “Crawl through the fireplace.”

“Wow! You are just full of surprises!” Jisung clapped his hands loudly. His smile looked delirious. “Did you not hear what I said about an unsafe work environment? I don’t want to have to sue you guys!”

You rolled your eyes. There should be nowhere more notorious than the cosmic stores regarding a hazardous work environment. If Jisung had been worried about safety, the Entity would have never set eyes on him in the first place, which meant he had other qualities that were overwhelmingly beneficial to this chain.

Hence, the Entity decided to take a risk and recruit him. However, if he was worried about safety, you would not recommend signing any contracts today. If anything, he should make his way out now.

But you must explain everything for him to make an informed decision, so it was through the fireplace willingly or—you pursed your lips together. You glanced at Jisung’s displeased sneer and decided to implement a slight change of plans.

“Fine,” you sighed with a shoulder slump. 

You clicked the heel of your right shoe against the ground, scraping it more than landing it. Then, with much effort, you slapped your hands twice.

The ground rumbled, but this time, the floor began to spiral in addition to the Earthquake. Sounds of rusty gears reverberated off the walls like a stereotypical factory, moving something out of sight. Most things stayed in place, not at all bothered by the shaking. 

Jisung went on his tip-toes in response to the spinning floor, but he soon realized that while the ground under his feet was moving, he was not. He gawked at you in disbelief when he saw you were only patiently standing off the side, waiting for a result he couldn’t imagine.

Then he thought that perhaps you were used to this. But the only reason he could fathom this being a common occurrence was that the phenomenally expensive design of this coffee house was made to attract customers. 

He had rejected that assumption an hour ago.

A pair of single vinyl sofas and a tall, round coffee table rolled into the room. When they were set near where Jisung was standing, the back of the couch close enough to nudge his hip, the ground stopped shaking. 

Jisung whipped his head from the sofa to you. For some reason, he decided not to run for the door. Something told him that if this was the level of abnormality the coffee house could produce, the door leading outside must not be outside. 

Not to say he came to that conclusion because he believed in magic. He didn’t. Jisung believed in a well-practiced production team and the greatness of technology. With a full head of modern, sensible options, he decided this must be the second coming of that famous movie about a live broadcast. Or something like that, at least. 

He wondered if he would get compensated for this. Maybe he should sue, just not for the poor workplace environment. 

“Sit down, Jisung,” you asked after you set the notebook on the table. “This must all be confusing to you–“

“Is this a prank show?” He cut your off with a twirling finger pointed at the ceiling. When you bewilderedly gave him no response, he sucked in a notable breath and leaned back against the chair. He crossed his legs and shrugged, almost smugly, as if it was a huge accomplishment to bust this little broadcasting scheme.

“I have to say! This is all very well done. But I think I’ve acted like an idiot enough for thirty minutes' worth of content, so please ask the editing team to blur my face, or else I will sue!” 

“You can’t sue us,” you said, with deadpan eyes and a deadpan tone. This has dragged on long enough. “We don’t exist anywhere on the government registry.” 

“What? You guys are independent?”

“Technically,” you nodded, “we work for the higher-ups.”

He hummed lowly, his eyes barely rolling away. “So, the government.”

“Think high as in literally.” 

He tilted his head then, his frown depleting seconds longer because he was thinking deeply about this. “Like,” he grumbled, “God?”

“There you go. There are actually two of them.” You clapped your hands in soft mockery. “Not directly, though. We work for Entities, who are discarded fragments of Gods.” 

He opened his mouth, debating what he should say. If growing up in a religious school has taught him anything, it was that God is not real. Let alone there being two of them. It could be a gross case of misplacing his hatred for the school system and, in general, the school itself that made him come to that conclusion.

But he has generally never broken out of that realm of thought, and he didn’t think he ever would in the future. Today was not going to be the day his belief got questioned. 

“I am not religious,” he informed.

“Okay. That means nothing to me, and I reckon it means nothing to them too.” You shrugged dismissively. “You don’t have to believe in them. You just have to abide by them.”

He tilted his head in unwilling agreement. If anybody here should know about abiding by values they do not believe in. Out of fear, shame, or any outrageous emotions, it should be he who the less-than-gracious societal standards have touched. He has been doing that since he began his studies at the religious primary school. He could humor this.

“Okay,” he said and crossed his fingers. “What do you have for me?”

“A thorough explanation,” you replied. “And a fair warning to please listen carefully to what I say in the next few minutes because I hate repeating tedious information. Once you sign the contract, you cannot terminate it unless of exceptional circumstances.” 

Jisung hummed. Somebody should really sue this place. 

Jisung was not religious. 

You were not asking him to be, but it felt like you were. Either that, or you must think he’s stupid. Not just out of a strange dislike but a genuine opinion, both of which left a bad taste in his mouth. 

However, this was going too far and too specific in detail, and it was out of place to settle it all using ’a scam’ as a solution. If this wasn’t a scam, then this must be a cult. A cult that believed in cosmic energy and a higher power. However, not even internet tarot readers would go as far as renovating an entire shop to sell a belief. There was no way.

That left him with one last impossible option: this must be real. 

From the Goddess’s sacrifice in a war from a time he couldn’t begin to date back, to the creation of this coffee shop and a chain of other shops under the same magical premise, to the powerful beings with no forms that were basically in the position of a branch manager—this whole shebang must be real.

On second thought, the most outrageous thing you have said so far was that he, who does not have a fulfilling life mapped before him, was chosen to serve here. 

“What was the war about?” 

“The war is inconsequential,” you replied with a brief smile, finding it hilarious that the war was what Jisung decided to ask about first.

“Didn’t a lot of people die from the war?” he questioned with an incredulous but still righteous-sounding whisper. “That is why the Goddess sacrificed herself, wasn’t it?”

“But did you die in the war?” you asked rhetorically before shrugging. 

He grimaced. “I don’t have to suffer from it to care.”

“You would have never known of it,” you said. “It didn’t occur in a world you live in. You having that knowledge does not benefit anyone or the cosmos, so spare me the energy.”

“It’s still history. A tragic one at that,” he argued while maintaining his previously low tone. 

He eyed you carefully, trying to access you more than you were letting on for him to see. You looked human, but he was still unaware of what you were. He wanted to know. He wanted to find an excuse behind that seemingly apathetic demeanor. 

“Yet you can learn nothing from it, and you can do nothing to prevent it if it happens again,” you said with a raised brow. You had not meant for the mood to dampen, but you would take no attitude from any boy with a false sense of heroism today. “What is history worth if it’s just some story?” 

Folktales, fairy tales, and fables. Raconteurs do not tell lessons from pure imagination. Everything children have ever read was real somewhere within this vast universe.

They were all history—Cinderella’s dream coming to an end, the flock of sheep that died because of a boy’s deceptive mischief, and Thumbelina’s home being turned into a fuming factory. 

The original story is always history, and the subsequent renditions result from creativity, which was still one of the greatest gifts the God of Creation has ever given mankind. Yet they are not important. They are nothing more than a colorful and lengthy hearsay. 

“I did not mean to say the war is unimportant in the foundation it set for the world to be where it is now,” you added. “But this is not human history. This event occurred above the sky where you will never be. You have not been living in the consequences of the war long enough to care.”

“But I do care,” Jisung said after a moment of silence. He looked determined; the answer did not come out of spite. “You told me what happened, and I am in the know now, so I care.” 

History matters because story matters. Stories of humanity, stories of people; they all matter. He was born in this generation because people cared enough about each other to keep each other alive and going. There were old stories about strangers he had never met because someone once loved them so much that they could not contain their legacy in memories alone. 

History matters because story matters because love matters. 

You debated against telling him the little impact his care has on the world. You looked at Jisung, remembering this was the first time you ever conversed with someone who had never been touched by the cosmos before.

Ever since you woke up in the coffee house without recollection of your past, you have been instructed never to reenter Earth. But you read stories about the planet and the people living there and knew little about empathy. 

You have empathy, too, as your colleagues always told you. Or at least you used to. 

Taking a mental step back, you slumped against the sofa and nodded in agreement with yourself to seal that thought.

“I don’t know,” you replied. 

Jisung looked up from his lap, recognition fading into his eyes. You pursed your lips apologetically. You assumed there must be a book at The Repository that detailed the war, but it was locked away with other classified materials. 

You visited the library tower often. There was nothing else you could do when you had limited access to locations, so you would turn to reading.

It was safe to call yourself an avid reader knowledgeable enough to understand most of the books in The Repository. But Seungmin, the librarian, never granted your access to the forbidden halls.

“It’s called the Foreign War for a reason. Nobody knows what happened, only that it did, and it was catastrophic,” you continued. 

Jisung nodded slowly. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” you said. “Do you have any more questions for me?” 

“Are you going to answer it?” 

“About the job,” you shifted in your seat, “not the cosmos.”

Jisung perked up. That was fair. He supposed if he needed more information about the cosmos, he would eventually come to know of them as he worked longer. If he decides to work here. 

He flashed his determined eyes at You due to his previously one-sided, agitating conversation. He quickly bounced from the brewing distaste onto his usual humorous demeanor. He cleared his throat and mimicked rolling open a very long scroll. The scroll would be full of questions, but much different than the performative ones he would ask at an actual job interview. 

“What is the compensation for working here?” He wiggled his brows at you with a smile. 

“Anything reasonable and within the limits of what an Entity can or is allowed to do. The kick is that it doesn’t have to be money,” you replied with a snap of your finger. “One of my colleagues, Chan, asked to extend a day by five hours so he can spend more time with his kids.” 

“Chan,” Jisung mumbled the name with intrigue. It danced on his tongue with familiarity, and then he tilted his head. “Chan, as in Bang Chan? As in the rockstar?”

You blinked and shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know who he is?” Jisung exclaimed. “He’s one of the world’s most famous rockstars!”

You pursed your lips apologetically, the corner of your lips twitching faintly to release an awkward smile. You shook your head. “I don’t listen to music.”

He slumped against the chair with a disbelieving sigh, finding it ironic that he met someone who had never once dabbled in the field he had spent four years studying and being told to stop pursuing. At least he could imagine a life without working in the music industry, but a life without music was a nightmare. 

As the stressless silence closed in, he finally realized there was never any background music in the coffee house. He has been so entranced by everything else, from the job interview to the architecture, that he didn’t realize how dull the air was. He looked at you. You’s been living like this, in a world where you could hear your footsteps out loud.

“There is going to be music here in this coffee house,” he said, shooting up from the seat. He raised a finger at the ceiling, pointing at it accusingly. “I’m going to play music in the background!”

You looked up at him and nodded. It didn’t matter.

“Good!” He sat down again and dusted his hands. “Next question! Do I get to do all those house tricks you did?” 

“You would have to,” you replied with a shake of your head, unsure why he even asked the question. “Additional to the tricks, you will also be granted special abilities.”

“I was getting to that!” Jisung slammed the imaginative scroll close. For a moment, his expression flattened with seriousness. This part was important to him. Although, the excitement to obtain superpowers (a childhood dream of his, one could say) overwhelmed his curiosity to understand the need for him to have them. “We need those abilities because of unforeseen attacks, right?”

“Yes.” 

“Do you know why they happen?” he questioned.

Those were not the details that existed in books residing in The Repository. Most of them consist of concrete, observable accounts. Books of Life describe actions and events but do not discuss emotions and thought processes. Why did this person do this? Why did this person choose a particular someone? The books do not detail the reason, just the action. Reasons can only be found in a reader’s interpretation. 

To answer Jisung, you have no idea. You could only guess, and you had developed an elaborate assumption long ago. You just has no wish to indulge Jisung in it today. 

“Why do people do anything?” you countered. 

Jisung sighed. His best guess was for power. It seemed to always lead back to that. 

“The Entities have a protective barrier around all the cosmic shops to prevent attacks, so we are mostly safe. But the barriers are useless if faced by a creature whose power is on par with them.”

Jisung deduced the rest by himself. He has read enough comic books and watched enough movies to understand what you meant. Suppose any creature is to barge into the store. In that case, there is a high likelihood that the creature would be of the same caliber as an Entity. Hostility paired with high power—he did not need a demonstration from celestial beings to predict the chaos that particular duo could cause. It was already happening on Earth. 

“Has anyone ever died from an attack?” he asked. 

“Not that I know of. Heavily injured? Yes. Died? Not sure.” You shook your head. “We don’t talk about it. If you really want to know, you best consult the librarian.” 

“A librarian, like from the… you know,” he waved his hand as if gesturing at a God standing behind him, “non-human library? Is there one?”

“Yes. It’s called The Repository. It is the only all-knowing thing in this universe.” You laughed briefly at his thoughtful expression. Then you began to hum. “Our current librarian is a human boy. The previous librarian stepped down and is now practicing alchemy in the tower instead. His name is Walbeart. He is an owl.” 

His eyes widened with intrigue. “Does the owl talk?”

“He does.”

“Do you think he will let me record him if I ask politely?” Jisung joked, but some degree of his voice showed that he was seriously anticipating agreement from you. This was all new to him, but the excitement of welcoming a magical world into his existence could not be contained with disbelief alone. 

You snorted at the idea. The owl was but an old man in animal form. There was not one menacing bone in its body. “He loves flattery, so that might be the way to go.” 

He grinned. He didn’t plan to videotape the talking alchemist owl. Come to think of it, how fascinating it would be to get a taste of alchemy? Let alone meeting an owl that has enough intelligence to practice it. That would be cool. It sounded fake; Jisung still had lingering doubts about everything. Reacting so calmly and floating with the process like this was extraordinary of him. 

A timid corner of him wanted to be part of something greater, something magical, something untouched by regularity. Because throughout his life, he has been underwhelming.

Nothing valuable comes from a boy pursuing a creative future that would bring him nowhere because he was unlucky and not good enough. That was it for him—a mistake made during freshman year in college that would soon dictate the rest of his life.

Unless he chooses to be a barista at an otherworldly coffee shop. 

“So…” Jisung muttered with his eyes on his hands. He played with his calloused fingers, fading wounds on his skin from guitar strings reminding him how his life could be more significant. He slowly peeked at you as he finished his sentence, “When do I start work?” 

You clenched your fists together. Jisung wanted to work here. That signaled the end of an era of you working alone, facing monsters alone, and being alone. A spark of excitement ignited within you like you hadn’t heard good news in a while. You contained it professionally and sealed the vault with a thankful smile. Its sincerity took him aback, and a sudden blush crept onto his cheeks. 

He knew this from the moment he saw you; time hasn’t altered his opinion. 

You were very pretty to Jisung. 

“They will send you the work schedule after you sign the contract and get your gift from the tree,” you informed as you touched the leather notebook on the table. You opened the spine to reveal two pieces of paper stuck to the back. They were employee profiles. You turned the book around and pointed at Jisung’s profile sheet. “Check your details and give me your hand.”

Jisung schemed through the information. He never checked them once throughout his life, not at the doctor’s office, not when he was applying to university, and not even when he was renewing his passport.

The odds that there would be an error are too low. Nodding and humming in mindless agreement, Jisung paid more attention to the profile structure than the information printed on top and gave you his hand. 

You huffed at his carelessness but said nothing. Taking the first page of the notebook between your fingers, you guided Jisung’s thumb to the slit of the parchment paper and swiftly nicked his skin with it. He winded with a strangled yell, surprised and pained.

Retracting his hand, he held his thumb and squeezed to numb the pain. He panicked when more blood trickled out, and his next instinct was to get it away from his clothes. 

“What the fuck?” he accused. 

“You need to sign the contract. I already told you,” you replied with a point to the end of his profile sheet. “You also need the blood for the tree.” 

“This is a lawsuit waiting to happen!” he hollered as he stamped his thumb to the paper, leaving a print. Unlike his expectations, nothing happened. It was just a bloody thumbprint. 

You ignored him as you shut the notebook. Standing up, you briefly gestured for him to follow your before shuffling away. You quickly ran behind the register counter to return the logbook to where it belonged. Then, you approached the fireplace and pointed at it for another attempt.

“Crawl through the tunnel,” you demanded.

Jisung scoffed, and one side of his lips quirked with unwilling smugness. He kicked his feet and glared at you as if telling you he would do it anyway, so you should have asked him nicely. You rolled your eyes as he knelt before the pit.

He grimaced when his hands touched the burnt wood, but he continued through and squeezed his small shoulders through the fireplace. You then followed behind him. 

It did not take long for them to come out the other side. Jisung could already see the brightness inside the tunnel, but his eyes still needed a short adjustment when his head popped out through a tree hole.

He forced his body out of the hole and carefully stood up, his eyes still squeezed shut to accommodate the sudden sunlight. You did the same but with more familiarity and dusted your apron like you always did after crawling through the tunnel. 

Jisung rubbed his eyes harshly a few times and blinked to process. The wind picked up behind him as his sight welcomed a never-ending meadow like a fairy-tale garden or an enchanted forest.

Flowers grew on all grassy surfaces, with tender trees lodged far and between. A curved walking trial could be seen leading up to what seemed to be the most enormous tree he could find in the area. When he squinted, he could find a picnic table with several chairs around it. 

“Come on. We need to get to the tree,” you urged with a tap on his shoulder. 

Jisung followed behind you. There was a pattern in his steps; he admired the scenery, and sometimes, he would stop to check something out before hustling to catch up with your pace. He wanted more time to take everything in, or maybe even more to explore this place, but he supposed work would always be work. 

“Where is this?” he asked after his third time catching up to you. 

“This is the Glory Garden,” you replied. “Do you remember the drawers behind us on the wall? We get the personality dust we store there primarily from this place.” 

He kept a confused smile on his face. “Personality dust?”

“Yeah, that is what we sell,” you said casually. “I planned to tell you once you start training.”  

“You guys sell personality dust?”

“No, we sell personalities.” 

Jisung stopped in his tracks with a head tilt, squinting at your. 

First of all, like almost everything that has happened, that sounded fake.

Second, that was a significant part of the coffee shop operation that you conveniently omitted from the explanation. He wasn’t sure if the sales aspect of this business was anything important to mention, but should you not have told him anyway?

Third of all, selling personalities? Give him a break!

“You can’t sell personalities,” he laughed. 

You turned around to face him. There was not one ounce of argumentative gleam in your eyes, only exhaustion and perhaps a mildly irritated speck. With a face like his, it was a waste for him to be so upsettingly redundant. 

“This is where you draw the line?” you asked. “You just crawled into a fireplace, through a tunnel in the fireplace, and out to a meadow that doesn’t exist on Earth. But this is where you choose to use your critical thinking skills?”

He furrowed his brows. That felt like a personal attack on his intelligence. “I don’t like your tone.”

“Start liking it then,” you retorted quickly before spinning on your heels and walking away. You added with a wave of your hand, though, just for some self-entertainment. “You can do it. You’re smart.”

Jisung snorted in disbelief as he watched your back. He pointed accusingly after your, faint curses flowing from his lips like a waterfall. But there was a smile on his face. 

Running a hand through his hair, Jisung licked the corner of his mouth and pulled his lips into a grin because he secretly liked it. He wasn’t sure what he liked. The subtle distaste they have for each other? Your irritation with him and his utter lack of trust in you? The kind of light-hearted rivalry he read so much about in comic books? Perhaps. 

Or it could be his crush on you making the judgment.

He chased after you, jogging along the only walking path in the meadow. You soon led him to a flower bed filled with various flowers: sunflowers, tulips, peonies, lilies, and many more he could not recognize.

But the most intriguing about the flower bed was that all of them were abnormally tall and squeezed closely together. The further the bed went, the higher the flowers were, starting from his waist and over his head.

There was an opening in the middle of two overhead roses. You had to push them apart to open the path up ahead. The more Jisung saw it, the more this flower bed felt like a trap. A human catching device of sorts, he was imagining. Something the fantasy people created to catch intruders who did not have the purest of hearts!

“Stupid… stupid… stupid…”

“The flowers can read your thoughts,” you told him without looking back. “They’re calling you stupid.” 

“I would make a problematic joke, but I’m walking inside you guys right now–” Jisung pursed his lips when he processed what he said. He shook his hand before his mouth to forgo his poor word choices mentally and also his horrible thoughts of cutting this whole flower bed down with a construction truck. He hasn’t learned how not to think whatever he wants to yet. “Please don’t kill me.” 

The flowers continued with their one-word insult until the end of the path. Coming out from the other side was the beginning or the end of a cave with heavy moss vines hanging over it like a door. Jisung peeked through the gaps as he walked out of the cave, and his brows raised. He turned to look behind his shoulder; all he could see was darkness. 

This place felt hollow. It was under the same sun, but the ancient trees dimed the lights with no gaps between their leaves and branches. Sounds of cicadas filled the forest, mixing with the gentle swings of wind against the surface of all the plants in this place. Everything was quiet, old, and humid.

This was the type of place people go to for peace of mind or to end their lives. There must be a lake here somewhere that somebody has jumped and drowned in. 

A refugee, a God, a girl and a boy.

“Do you see that tree there?” you asked gently as you pointed upward.

Jisung trailed after the direction and faced up. He could see it, but seeing only parts of a colossal log hidden behind the fog was weird. 

“That is where we’re going,” you said. 

You two walked. Jisung tested himself on his memorization to find out he was directionally challenged. Still, he pushed back against the defeating thought with the excuse that not only was this forest enormous, but he was also still in shock, and this was only his first time here. He should redo the test when he has done enough exploration. He reckoned he would do much better.

After a few minutes of non-stop walking, you finally stopped. Before them was a wall of thick fog. Jisung could not begin to try to see into it. You rubbed your hands together to combat the sudden cold created by the mist. Then you turned halfway around to alert for his attention. You reached your hand out to him, waiting.

“Take my hand,” you said. “You’ll get lost in there.” 

“Is that true, or are you flirting with me?” Jisung said with a loud chuckle.

“My friend almost died in there.” 

Jisung’s hand flew into hers with a solemn nod. He apologized under his breath, not quite meeting your eyes after the foolery he unknowingly pulled. You found his reaction amusing, mostly because you lied.

The fog never kills. It only loses people. 

You remembered the first time you arrived at this place with your colleague at the Portrait House—Hyunjin. You came across each other at the flower bed path leading to the forest—called The Green Hallow, you later learned—and decided to walk together for company.

After heading into the fog, you separated and became increasingly lost as you attempted to find each other. Once you did, he grabbed your hand and did not let go until they reached the other side. 

You did the same with Jisung. His hand was soft in hers as they walked straight ahead without changing the angle of their steps. Keep straight, do not falter, and go through the fog.

Coming out the other side was The Oak Fort—a sanctuary separated from the rest of the forest, protected by the power of the most ancient oak tree in the universe. This place was different from the forest; it was quieter but tranquil, and gentle sounds of wind chimes were in the air.

Jisung looked above and noticed the twisting branches poking out below the clouds, circling the fort like a dome. The most ancient tree, the wisest tree, the most powerful tree. 

You let go of his hand. He reacted by staring at the sudden cold that hit his palm. He threw off the feeling and followed you. He stepped across the narrow stream of water near where the tree’s root submerged into the ground and met you in the middle. 

“Touch the tree with your palm. Make sure your blood gets on it,” you instructed before taking a few steps back to give him privacy. 

His helpless eyes lingered on you, and part of him relaxed when you smiled faintly. He looked back at the tree and heaved a deep sigh. He thought he was hallucinating blood spots on the wood, marks left behind by previous workers.

This was what he wanted. This was what he agreed to! He had already signed the contract, so he couldn’t get out of it even if he wanted to now. 

Press his palm, and his life changes forever, for better or for worse. 

Biting his lower lip slightly, he abruptly flatted his palm against the tree branch. 

You watched with anticipation what would happen. From your experience, when you and Hyunjin received their respective gifts, the tree produced a different reaction. They deduced that whatever happens during the process reflects the gift that the tree grants. Your research on the oak tree in the library later confirmed that assumption. 

Looking forward at the tree, you see that there doesn’t seem to be much happening.

Jisung looked up with confusion. A sudden recoil of dread salivated in his mouth then. Could this be rejection? Was the tree refusing him a position at the shop? Could the tree even decide that?

Well, of course, it can! It is the most ancient tree ever! It must have been through countless wars and seen numerous generations! It could probably even fish out the fact that he sucked! If anything has a say in who could work in a store made out of pure magical bullshit, it would be the tree! 

Jisung abruptly choked on thin air, grasping for oxygen. His body struggled against sudden immobility. He was too busy arguing with his head. Even if he wasn’t, this was all too sudden for him to react anyway.

Your wide eyes fixed on him, unclear of the usual violence you were seeing, until you took a risky step forward and squinted your eyes. They were barely visible but, wrapped tightly around his limbs and throat, was spider silk. 

They were not soft. They were cold and threatening, like metal wires thin enough to cut someone’s head off cleanly. After a moment, they began to burn at his skin like splatters of boiled water he could not avoid.

It hurt. The burning hurt. Jisung could barely breathe. Unbeknownst to him, the spider silk glowed a faint gold color as it submerged into his skin, giving his vein the natural magic the tree had taken out of itself. 

That was where the burning came from, not the submersion but the magic. The magic was where the pain came from. 

When the gifting process was done, Jisung dropped harshly to the ground and sobbed.

“What the fuck! What was that fucking shit! What–“ He got thrown into a coughing fit simultaneously as he sucked in as much oxygen as he could. When he felt You near, he snapped his head up, tears rolling down his red eyes. “Fuck you! What was that? That sucked balls!”

“Do you curse this much regularly?” you muttered as you helped him up. 

“What–screw you! I thought I was going to die!” he retaliated while accepting your help. The redness on his face slowly faded as reality returned to him. “Damn it! I thought it was going to be butterflies and rainbows.” 

“With magic? Never,” you snorted. “Magic always comes with a price, especially when people who normally wouldn’t have it use it. We all went through the same thing when we got our abilities, and we all have to look after the possible consequences of using them.” 

Jisung eyed your with narrowed eyes. That made him feel better. He thought he was, embarrassingly, the odd one out, the only one who got his bones and pipes knocked out of him by a tree. An ancient magical tree, but still a damn tree nonetheless! Sighing audibly, he asked, “What was yours like?”

You hummed. “I was suffocating until the tree was done. Not gasping for air, suffocating. No air in or out of me at all.”

“That sounds better than what happened to me,” Jisung scowled. 

You rolled your eyes. It was not a competition, but if you had to pick someone who got it the worst? 

“I think Changbin got it the worst,” you said grimly. “He works at The Quartet. He got a tree branch shoved down his throat.” 

Changbin began working for the cosmic stores after you. You were not there during their gifting process, but you were there in The Repository when he barged through the doors while dragging a heavily wounded Chan on the floor.

One of the creatures that emerged from the fog after the process led them through the hidden cave in the middle of the oak tree, which directly led them to the library tower. 

Walbeart was the one who tended to them. You remembered it giving Changbin a cup of dark green goo to drink, instructing that it would be needed to get the wood residues out of his body. You made friends with him, and you two toured the library. It was to help him swallow down the disgusting drink.

“That’s a lawsuit,” Jisung mused under his breath to combat the disgusted itch clambering at his throat by simply imagining what you had just told him. He rubbed the base of his neck after he caught a glimpse of your deadpan, and he smiled. “It’s not funny anymore, huh?”

“It never was.” 

“Oh.” He rolled his eyes and whistled. “Harsh.” He liked it. “So, what now?”

“You’re done. Now you go back to Earth and wait for your schedule,” you replied. “Before I forget. This should go without saying, but do not use any of your abilities outside,” you waved your arms about, “this setting. Unless you are coming to work. You are allowed to use magic to get any door to lead here.” 

“The superpowers work outside of,” he mimicked the waves of your arms, “this setting?”

“Yes,” you sighed in defeat. “Please don’t use it outside of this setting.”

Jisung hummed in agreement. There was a lower chance of him attempting to use magic on Earth if you never even told him he could in the first place. Besides, who would believe him? Nothing is what meets the eye these days, even if they are real. He wouldn’t, though. He would listen to your.

“Okay.” A small smile peeked at the corner of your lips. “Welcome to The Masquerade, by the way. That is our shop’s name. Masks, personalities, you know.”

“Haha…” Jisung let out a wiggle of laughter that died down quickly. Not because he felt awkward but because he was deep in thought. It took him a short moment to speak. “A Masquerade, a mask parade.” 

You blinked with pity. Jisung pursed his lips together and forced a grin on his face. 

It would be a tough crowd from now on. 

[gaykarstaagforever]

Well if I'm going to use stupidass TikTok, I should find out what all the weird baby straights and soon-to-be-divorced tradwives are up to over there.

Today we learn about the "Clean Girl Aesthetic".

Near as I can tell, it basically means not looking or dressing like some kind of dumpster clown.

And there's a fascination with pleated slacks or shorts and exposed belly buttons.

Doubtless this is mimicking some lady all these people have seen on their TVs. Taylor Swift? Another lady? Who can say? Not me, because Taylor Swift is the only lady I know of.

I'm old enough to remember the predecessor of this style as a kind of late 80s / early 90s Yacht Club thing that was popular with movie bullies and other people no one liked. I'm sure it has a History of Fashion name but I'm not looking it up, because Google already doesn't know who the hell I am or what the hell to sell me. I know it was very polo-shirt heavy back then. Big pockets. Beiges and greys and muted colors, probably because the POOR PEOPLE were all dressing like dumpster clowns:

But I looked up the Clean Girl thing to see exactly what probably-AI says it is:

...So it is literally about not being dirty? Isn't all fashion, inherently? Was there a trend that was wearing filth recently? Filthcore? Dumpster clown?

Well yeah, the midriff thing. But again, isn't all fashion inherently fatphobic? That's still bad, but kind of a universal in the world of people being dicks to other people about how everyone looks. The TRUE SOUL of fashion.

And that's not a new thing. Or is the Clean Girl thing especially virulently anti-fatty? Like to be a Clean Girl, you have to drive at least one fat person to contemplate suicide a month?

I mean that's awful, but TikTok is a lot of teenagers with stupid hair. I wouldn't put this past them. They're horrible little idiots. Look at their hair!

...Wait so you guys are doing "brown = dirty"? In 2024? What Gulf Coast cave did you people crawl out of after a 150-year Rip Van Winkle nap? The War Between the States is over, and your side lost. How did you figure out TikTok so fast, displaced temporal stranger?

Can't we all just shut up and wear pants?

As for the stealing thing, white people have been stealing and recreating the things they stole from POCs, then excluding them from those versions of those things, for as long as there have been white people.

It's bad, but as it is our primary cultural trait, we're certainly never going to stop.

Especially not those hibernating cave people. They probably still think "the Curse of Ham" is a justifiable legal defense.

This is what Clean Girl looks like, in case you too want to dress like someone whose dad mismanages a major streaming platform:

(I don't know who this model is. The picture is from a half-broken aggregator website in Foreign.)

[recycledmoviecostumes]

A rather interesting take on the dreaded relatability, this (for Renaissance fashions) unusually loose suede doublet with more than a little nod to 1980s rock chic was designed by Jenny Beavan for Dougray Scott’s prince as well as Mark Lewis’ “gypsy leader” in Ever After, the 1998 take on Cinderella.

A bit sidelined it turned up again on an uncredited extra as a huntsman in the television adaptation of The Other Boleyn Girl in 2003.

This costume was auctioned off by Kerry Taylor Auctions, which described the piece as follows:

Designed by Jenny Beavan, Cosprop labelled with inked actor’s name, the Renaissance style ensemble comprising: beige mock-suede doublet with slash detail to neck and shoulders, the fabric gathered at the cuffs and shoulders, gilt filigree plaques, chest approx 107cm 42in; matching trousers with integral cod-piece, gilt metal-tipped laces, waist 86cm 34in; a silver lamé and gilt thread brocaded belt; purple corduroy cloak with detachable hood; an associated white cotton shirt with drawstring collar and cuffs; and a pair of brown leather thigh- high boots with straps and buckles at the ankles, boots 33cm, 13in long (8)

Worn throughout the film, while riding including when he rescues Danielle from the water and while fighting in the woods and being carried away by Danielle.

Designer Jenny Beavan writes:

Dougray played Prince Henry – the romantic hero – but was always being saved by ‘Cinderella’ – the film has a nice feminist, modern twist to it.

He needed to look heroic but ‘real’ and vulnerable. This costume is an ‘every day princely look’ but quite practical for riding and being out and about in the country. Just looking back at the photos Dougray does look rather good in it! 

Costume Credit: carsNcors

Follow: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram

[greenplumbboblover]

Not-a-tutorial - Lighting (Advanced)

Previous parts:

Not-a-Tutorial - Lighting (Basics)

Not-a-Tutorial - Lighting (Basics - Indoor)

Intention:

While dialogues and body language can say a whole lot on what you're trying to tell to the reader, lights can as well! Here's a great example:

(Left is with the lights on, right is with the lights off).

As you can see, the left one feels much more like it's... let's say, a winter-y 6pm, and she's studying in the library...

Whereas on the right, it feels much more like she's skipping on sleep, and it's 3am, studying.

Moods:

You can also use lighting for more tenser scenes! Here are a few examples from my story:

Here the setup was the same, but I added softer rose/red pastel-y colours... (Though this scene did have like 6 lights :p)

Here I not only used a blue backlight for giving it a “night” feeling, but I also added an orange and white front-light to represent a sense of hope and that our poor Ethan isn't alone.

Here I gave Vita and Nick Alto a yellow, green and red lighting setup, to represent more jealous and angry colours for Nancy. As Nancy is staring at them.

However, the pink represents not only the stage light, but also a sense of Innocence given her background of not understanding the entrepreneur game.

Here I gave little Bella a red background and light foreground, keeping the left part of her face dark, as the speech is about the future of the town. And with the light, she represents a bright but unclear future.

Note: all of these images do use Reshade, so trying to get these results without it may look a bit different!

Seasons:

Representing the colours associated with the seasons can give a scene a really cool feeling!

Summer, Spring, Autumn, Winter.

Color mixing:

One thing I thought was pretty cool with TS3's Lighting engine, is how colors in certain highlights will mix just like paint!

Red + Blue looks a bit purple-ish.

Red + Yellow will look a bit orange-y.

Blue and Yellow will turn green-ish at parts.

Custom Coloured Lights

Sometimes, some of EA's colours aren't... quite there. Or really what you need. Here is a short list of colours I've made and used:

0, 150, 255 - Replacement of Cyan (More of a light blue):

0, 163, 108 - Jade

255, 195, 0 (better Yellow)

What's the easiest way to find new colours?

It's pretty easy! If you google for "Colour generator" then there you go! Do make sure to get the RGB values from those websites!

But, for the ones who don't want to google, here are a few suggestions:

Give them a try and see which ones are great! Do go for colours that are quite strong in contrast. Pastel will just end up being white, and darker colours will just turn... well it will look like there is no light on :p

That was it! Hopefully it was insightful, and obviously feel free to add your own discoveries to it! :)

[blissfullyecho]

Elevating Your Personal Brand for 2025: Your Online Presence

In today’s digital age, your online presence is one of the most powerful tools you have to shape your personal brand. Whether you're looking to land a dream job, build a side hustle, or simply embody a more refined and elegant lifestyle, curating a sophisticated and luxurious digital image can make all the difference.

If you're ready to elevate your online presence with class, elegance, and a touch of luxury, you’re in the right place. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the step-by-step process of refining your personal brand and creating an online identity that’s poised, polished, and truly you.

Step 1: Define Your Personal Brand Vision

Before you start curating content, it’s essential to get clear on what you want your personal brand to represent. What does luxury, class, and elegance mean to you? Your personal brand should reflect your unique style, interests, values, and aspirations. It’s about crafting an image that feels authentic to you, yet elevated to match the lifestyle you desire.

Action Steps:

Write down your core values. These might include qualities like elegance, kindness, professionalism, creativity, or adventure. These will guide your brand’s tone and messaging.

Visualize your ideal lifestyle. What do you want your life to look like in 5 or 10 years? Let that vision inspire how you portray yourself online.

Identify role models. Think about women you admire (public figures, entrepreneurs, or influencers) whose personal brands resonate with you. What elements of their style, approach, or values can you incorporate into your own online presence?

Step 2: Curate Your Aesthetic

Your aesthetic plays a huge role in creating a luxurious and elegant online presence. A cohesive and thoughtful aesthetic conveys sophistication and attention to detail, whether it's through your Instagram feed, personal website, or blog. You want your digital space to be visually appealing, refined, and purposeful.

Action Steps:

Choose a color palette. Soft neutrals like beige, cream, white, and blush pink often convey a sense of luxury, while gold accents or muted jewel tones can add a touch of glamour. Make sure the colors you choose reflect the vibe you want to communicate.

Select your fonts carefully. Opt for classic, timeless fonts like serif fonts or clean sans-serif styles for a minimalist, chic look. Keep your typography consistent across all platforms.

Create a content plan. Plan your photos and posts to fit into your aesthetic. Whether you're showcasing your fashion, lifestyle, or business endeavors, ensure each piece contributes to the refined image you're building.

Step 3: Perfect Your Digital Wardrobe

Your online presence should mirror your real-life style, and this doesn’t mean you need to wear expensive clothes all the time. It's about cultivating a polished, put-together look that communicates elegance and sophistication.

Action Steps:

Invest in key pieces. Build a capsule wardrobe with timeless, high-quality pieces. Think tailored blazers, elegant dresses, neutral tones, and accessories that elevate your outfits. It's not about having a lot, but rather about having a few, well-chosen items that you wear often and with confidence.

Master the art of styling. Focus on classic silhouettes that flatter your body shape and keep things simple. Less is often more when it comes to cultivating an elegant look.

Show off your style online. Curate photos that highlight your wardrobe choices. Whether you're snapping selfies, sharing outfit posts, or showcasing lifestyle shots, make sure your fashion choices align with your refined brand.

Step 4: Cultivate High-Value Content

Luxury and elegance are not just about aesthetics—they’re about substance too. High-quality content that reflects your values, expertise, and passions will elevate your online presence in ways that go beyond just a pretty picture. Whether you’re sharing beauty tips, fashion advice, or personal development insights, make sure your content is valuable and thoughtful.

Action Steps:

Share your expertise. What are you passionate about? Whether it’s personal development, fitness, wellness, fashion, or business, share your knowledge and insights with your audience in a way that adds value. Offer tips, tutorials, and advice that make people feel inspired and empowered.

Focus on storytelling. People connect with stories. Share moments from your life that showcase your growth, your achievements, and your journey toward a more luxurious lifestyle. Make your audience feel like they are a part of your world.

Consistency is key. Post regularly, whether it’s daily, weekly, or biweekly. The more you show up with valuable content, the more your audience will trust and admire your brand.

Step 5: Cultivate Grace and Confidence

A huge part of elegance and luxury is not just how you look, but how you carry yourself. Cultivating confidence, grace, and poise in all your online interactions is crucial to building a brand that feels truly elevated.

Action Steps:

Be kind and respectful. The way you engage with your audience speaks volumes. Respond to comments thoughtfully, offer encouragement, and be gracious with your interactions. Classiness is often reflected in your communication.

Maintain boundaries. It’s important to stay authentic, but also protect your personal life. Keep your online persona polished by sharing only what you feel comfortable with, while leaving room for privacy.

Embrace a positive mindset. Luxury is as much a state of mind as it is a lifestyle. Cultivate a mindset of abundance, and focus on uplifting others. This positive energy will naturally translate into your online presence.

Step 6: Network with Like-Minded Individuals

To truly elevate your brand, it’s important to surround yourself with people who share similar goals and values. Networking with other women who embody elegance, class, and luxury will help you grow, both personally and professionally.

Action Steps:

Engage with like-minded influencers. Follow, comment, and build relationships with women who inspire you. Share their content, collaborate on projects, or simply connect over mutual interests.

Attend online events. Participate in webinars, virtual conferences, and online workshops to connect with other professionals in your industry.

Leverage social media platforms. Use platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest to network, share your expertise, and build meaningful connections that can help you advance your personal brand.

Step 7: Stay Authentic and Evolve

Finally, remember that a truly luxurious and elegant brand is one that remains authentic. As you grow and evolve, so should your brand. Don’t be afraid to adapt, try new things, or shift your focus. Your journey toward elegance and luxury is a continual process, and your brand should reflect the authentic version of yourself—today and in the future.

Action Steps:

Evaluate and adjust. Regularly check in with yourself and assess if your online presence still aligns with your vision. If it doesn't, make adjustments to reflect where you are now.

Embrace change. Your tastes, interests, and goals will evolve as you grow. Embrace these changes and let them shape your brand naturally.

Conclusion: Own Your Elegance, Own Your Brand

Building a luxurious, classy, and elegant online presence is about more than just aesthetics. It’s about curating a personal brand that reflects your true self and communicates your aspirations. By following these steps, you’ll elevate your digital persona and create a brand that resonates with authenticity, grace, and sophistication.

Remember, elegance isn’t about perfection—it’s about being the best version of yourself, every day. So go ahead, step into your power, and own your unique, elevated online presence. The world is waiting to see the graceful, confident woman you are becoming.

[astronomodome]

Astronomodome's 2024 US Presidential Election Liveblog

First of all I want to say I have other stuff to work on today so I might not be super up to date with stuff but I'll try my best to give my thoughts as to what's going on.

So first, how do we tell who wins?

In the U.S., the popular vote doesn't decide who wins the presidency. Instead, we use the (much hated) electoral college. Here's a helpful visual.

Every state (and DC) is given at least three electors, usually more based on population (which is why states like California and Texas have so many). There are 538 in total. To win, a candidate needs more than half of these- half of 538 is 269, so a candidate needs at least 270. (Interestingly, it is possible for both candidates to receive exactly 269 electors, in which case the universe corrupts and we all die infinitely the House of Representative chooses who wins, with each state getting one vote.)

The national popular vote may not matter, but the popular votes of each of the states do. Whoever wins the popular vote in each state (except Nebraska and Maine bc they're weird but that's not too important) wins all the electors for that state. It's very all-or-nothing which is why a lot of people don't like it.

This is a map from election forecaster 538, one of many such organizations that use polling and algorithms and election magic or something to predict who is likely to win each state. They have a lot of good graphs and stuff to look at on their site if you want to learn more about the stats of everything. As the key notes, we can see which way each state is expected to vote, as well as a few states highlighted in bold as likely swing states.

Swing states are basically wherever the election is close and the number of electors is high enough to 'swing' the election. Basically, while all the other states are mostly decided based on precedent (though surprises are possible), these states could reasonably go either way. This is why both candidates hold so many rallies in Pennsylvania, for example- it's competitive, and they want to boost their chances of winning those electors by currying favor directly with those voters.

One thing this map doesn't show is what I lovingly refer to as the Bar. It looks like this. I bring it up because if you follow the election news you'll see it. A lot.

The arrows in the middle point to 269.5, the exact midpoint. Whoever reaches that midpoint by filling up the bar wins (the beige in the middle are the tossup states who could go either way).

For example, let's look at 270towin. (the forecast websites love their special numbers.) They have a fun interactive map where you can make the votes go wherever you want to see what would happen.

^ Here's their prediction based on consensus.

^ Here, I changed Florida so it votes blue. Not likely unless I can bribe enough officials to make it so my ballot is the only one that counts (fair and just). We can see that the Bar has shifted, and the blue side has almost reached the arrows. Let's see what happens if we add another blue state. Let's say... Georgia, for example.

Wow! If the states were to vote this way, the Democrats would win, even if all the other undecided states went red. Is it likely? No. But, well, how do we know that?

In short, we don't. But we can guess, and that's what polls are for. There are several different types, but the most important ones for right now are exit polls. They'll start coming out soon, I think. I'm not sure if they have to wait until all the polls close (so people don't see them and decide not to vote or something because of it) but I think they do, at least in some states. Exit polls are conducted right outside of voting locations as voters exit, which makes them more accurate than other polls. They're not free of bias, though, so as always take them with a grain of salt. They're the first indicator we'll have of how it went, but they're not the final numbers.

One ray of hope I want to point out is the currently infamous Selzer Iowa poll (not an exit poll but still relevant). Ann Selzer is a really trusted pollster, known for a long streak of accuracy. She published a poll a day ago that indicated that Harris was beating Trump (!) in Iowa (!!) by 3 points (!!!). Iowa is... not considered a Democratic state; it went for Trump last election by 14 points. So this is really surprising (understatement). And yes, it could mean absolutely nothing... but it certainly shocked a lot of people, including Trump, who tweeted angrily about it.

States count their votes in different ways. Some results will be out within the day, others might take weeks. But usually most states can be 'called' for a candidate before every vote is counted. This is because the leading candidate will have more votes than can be overcome by the other one, even if every vote counted was for them. The important thing is that, as polls close over the next couple hours, they'll be counting. I saw one report that said election officials in Idaho, for example, plan on counting every vote "before they go to bed that night," which I thought was kind of a cute way to put it. Most states will release vote counts in batches or by county, which means that other batches or counties might still be counting as others submit their counts. That last sentence had a lot of 'count' related words in it, huh.

One thing to note about vote counting is that absentee or mail-in ballots often take longer to be received and counted than in-person votes. This can cause a phenomenon called "blue shift"- basically, a lot of mail-in ballots are cast by college students (like me!) or people who live overseas, and those groups tend to vote more Democratic than in-person voters. That means that late in the counting process, totals will often shift more towards the Democratic candidate. Famously, this is how Biden ended up winning Georgia in 2020- initially it was forecasted to remain red, but it inched over slowly as mail-in ballots were received.

So, in short, that's how we figure out who will be president. I'll be keeping track of what happens tonight, but it's very possible we won't know who wins until tomorrow morning or even later. Let's hope for the best :)

[pascalsbby]

CARNAL / Chapter 4: Defile

Joel’s POV <3

Chapter 3 / CARNAL Masterlist

Summary: 5K/ f!reader, dark!joel, dbf!joel, stalker!joel.

Warnings: 18+ mdni, SMUT, age gap, Joel defiles you, talks to you through it, then comforts you. dominate & aggressive joel, pet names, praise kink, stalking, p in v, unprotected sex, fingering, oral (f receiving), spitting, talk of anal + the usual pure filth. you’re so welcome.

Made this extra nasty for my Joel girlies <3

“The enormity of my desire disgusts me.” - Richard Siken

°:. *₊ ° . ° .• ♡ °:. *₊ ° *₊.• ♡ °:. *₊ ° . ° .• ♡ °:. *₊ ° *

Joel doesn’t want it to be this way, but it just is, and he thinks it always has been. A shameful nagging that started even before his wife decided she didn’t want him anymore. Maybe she saw it, the pinhole, sitting slightly to the right of his chest, veering ever so slightly towards his heart.

Women are better at telling those things, just knowing this and that. Identifying the rotten thing before they ingest it.

He’d been captivated by other women before. Coworkers, thigh-high wearing sweethearts at the bar. Sarah’s friends. His ex wife’s friends. It was easier to keep up with them when he knew where they lived, worked, who they hung out with. Accidentally running into them at the local corner store… offering to pump their gas whenever he happened to be there, too.

This was different though.

The chasm cracked the day Sarah had shown him the photographs of you. He felt the sudden release of tension before the pain of the wound itself settled in. This… this is what his being had been searching for, right? You. And it just took longer cause he’s 26 or so years your senior. He’d lived an entire life before you, the same amount of time you’ve been alive.

If anyone was gonna save you, it’s him.

He spent hours in the depths of whatever website would give him what he needed to sustain his interest. He knew exactly where you grew up, he’d walked the beige colored halls before. But that wasn’t enough. What door was yours in Sarah’s apartment complex? Before he found out, he bet it was the one with the evil eye mat in the front. He was right.

What car held you as you drove through town… when’s the last time you checked the oil? He found out quickly, knew you wore your seatbelt too. Good girl. He’d even opened the hood one evening and checked the oil. It was entirely too low, so he filled it up. You needed to check this stuff.

What bars did you frequent? One was The Strip, where you spent most your time outside at the bar politely dodging older ‘men’.

He knew your favorite aisle of the water-damaged grocery store down the street. You spent the most time deciding on which hand soap you wanted, smelling them all and scrunching your nose when you didn’t like the smell.

What boys were you seeing? And at what times? As far as he could tell, none. And that’s how he liked it. But he couldn’t be inside your long classes with you, and he gave up sitting outside of them a couple weeks ago. They were three hours long and you usually went straight home. What if there was a boy in there?

He needed to physically insert himself into your life and then maybe… maybe you’d want him to stay. See how good for you he could be.

When he turned from the nude woman painted on the wall, a version of you in oil, to the warm, guts and roaring blood of you- the gash completely tore itself open in the moments it took for his eyes to eat you in. Every nerve ending in his forty plus years heeding, 7 trillion of them.

God you were a pretty little thing. He knew that, from watching you defile yourself for him over a screen. Listening to your pussy shush itself as you slipped your fingers between your folds, cooing at him. But having seen these things before, having seen every crevice of you, didn’t stop his cock from all but jumping towards you. He wanted to be in those crevices; tasting, smelling, feeling.

He’d never been a man to beg, but he’d do it for you.

He knew too, in that moment, that you hated him the moment your eyes settled upon his face and your heart, body, told you precisely who he was; before he’d even reached out his hand and introduced himself. Before he even got the chance to touch your skin. What a hard-ass.

Here you were in front of him, pretending like he didn’t just tear your world open. What was he supposed to do? He couldn’t think of another way to do it… there was no other way. You wouldn’t have met him if he asked, or on the off chance you would, you wouldn’t have stayed long enough for him to explain himself after he uttered a few words of who he actually was.

You’d spent too much time being told, screamed at, by men telling you what to do. Why would you listen to him? He knew it. But he was hoping that your chest opened for him, too. That you had the same defect for him.

He had to get you in public, around the people who you were hiding your secret from. That was the easiest way to guarantee that it stayed that way. No telling Sarah, no telling your dad.

You had looked so scared. And it thrilled him, honestly. He had that over you. You were trembling and he wanted nothing more than to bend down and lick the sweat from your forehead. He did that, made you feel that way, had that control. It meant he had a chance to talk you out of the fear. Fuck it out of you, even. Hush your whimpers and screams into his palm.

He needed to see you, touch you, smell you. Seeing you over a computer screen, no matter how intimate, was not enough. He feared what he would do if, when on his stalking sprees, he saw you with another man. He needed to get this feeling out of himself, before he hurt someone.

“I said, excuse me.” You interrupted your dad.

Joel's instincts took over as he reached out for you, his fingers grazing the warmth emanating from your hip beneath your dress as you pass, almost walking through him. He is struck by the velvet-like softness that greets his touch, a sensation that lingers in his fingertips as a dull ache. Your warmth seeps through his skin, ripping the hole in his chest even further than he thought imaginable.

How could these two realities simultaneously exist on the same plane?

That deep-rooted desire to comfort the hurt within you. To hold the ever-wounded little girl and brush his lips across your forehead. Tell you that he’s here, you’re just fine. He’ll protect you. Lay you down on his chest and shhh your fears away. You deserve to be protected.

He wanted to raise goosebumps across your freckled shoulders and be the person you melt into at the end of the day. He wanted you to intertwine your tired bones with his.

He would do, be, better this time around. You wouldn’t leave him like she did, no. You would devour yourself for him, spit back out your bones and let him put them back together.

There was another place within him where he desperately needed your body. He needed to feel your hole flutter against his tongue, his cock. One where he could slip his spit covered fingers into your tight heat and stretch you just big enough to fit the girth of him. The sound that would vibrate through your lips would unnerve him, he would do anything for you. Fill any hole you wanted.

You’d fit around him so tight, so well. Always such an obedient sweetheart for him. “Oh c’mon darlin’, use your words. Pull them apart, oh goooood. Shhh. You can take it. It’ll only hurt for a minute Birdie.”

He wanted to push you onto the ground beneath him and unravel your inhibitions- force you to come undone for him. He yearned to scatter bite marks across your soft stomach and side, lick between your breasts, kiss the back of your knees.

He wondered what his initials would look like carved into your soft inner thighs. Marked by him, for him.

How could he undo you while trying to hold you together? A deafening need heaved through his chest. It fucking hurts.

He knew, deep down, that you would willingly surrender to him. Even though hatred was spewed across your face. Whether he asked kindly enough or convinced you that his involvement was obligatory rather than just desired, he sensed you would comply. He couldn’t help that his blood simmered for you, it stung him. He felt like he was burning from the inside, out, clawing around in his insatiable desire to explore the depths of you. To feel those depths with his fingers, his cock, his tongue, his nose.

He gathered himself out of his thoughts, and drew his body toward the path you had taken in your escape. He didn't pause to ponder the questions that would be asked: why he, out of all people—neither your mother, father, nor best friend—was the one chasing after you.

It was him. It had to be. It always has been. He had decided it the day he met you that summer, the first time he heard your laugh. Then, you grew up. And he wanted more. He was so fucking ashamed but there was nothing he could do to stop the want. He didn’t try very hard, though.

He didn’t want to stop it, because then that meant you were gone. You wouldn’t have kept accepting the calls if you didn’t want him back. You wouldn’t have nearly fallen to your knees in front of him if you didn’t care. Which is why he stopped trying to get rid of this vile thing you nursed inside of him, because you wanted him, it, just as much. You just haven’t had the chance to realize it for yourself.

The moment he entered your warmth, you would feel it too. He knew.

Why would you lay yourself out for him, reaching down to spread yourself wide open for his view, for his pleasure, and beg him to defile you- if you were just gonna leave?

As he observed you throwing yourself against the metal doors between stairwells, he caught the faint scent of your perfume—notes of bergamot, vanilla, and ire. When your eyes met his, truly and not merely through photographs, he felt an overwhelming urge to drop to his knees and weep in front of you. He wanted to surrender his entire being, to give himself over entirely if it meant that you would believe he meant you no harm besides the kind you wanted. The kind that felt good. That he was chasing a feeling that erupted within him and wouldn’t stop knocking at his chest.

You smelled heavenly, perfume and fear. You embodied the rest of his life.

The whole in his chest was the shape of you.

With a deep breath, he entered the bathroom, realizing that he needed you to remain by his side long enough for him to articulate the growing emotions within him. He yearned to explain why he acted the way he did, hoping that you might find it in your heart to forgive him for just showing up (and being seen this time).

He was still trying to figure it out himself. Why the world chose him for you, and why it was making it so hard for him to fulfill that proposition.

At the beginning he brooded over whether to stay and ultimately hurt you no matter how often he argued within himself that he would never… or to go and leave you be. That wasn’t an option anymore. It never had been, really.

You looked maddened, irate. But the blush kissing your cheeks from the heat of your anger looked so pretty.

“I was 15,” you spat at him. “Do you do this often, Joel? Stalk your daughters friends and tell them how much you want your nasty cock in their mouth? Pay them to strip for you and pay them extra to stick their fingers in their pussy so you can get off? How many? How many fucking girls have you done this to Joel?”

Ouch. You only saw the illicit side of everything he was willing to give you. He was paying you, even, to stay in his life. How could you not see he just wanted to be closer to you? But you weren’t wrong, it did look like that from the outside. An older man pursuing his daughter’s best friend, his best friends daughter. Finding her online, showing up to her gallery show.

Sarah would probably never speak to him again if she knew the extent of his need… the things he’s done to himself in your name. No one knew how much it hurts though, to know you’re out there in a world where he can’t have you all to himself.

He didn’t answer in time.

“Should I ask Sarah?” You continued.

Absolutely fucking not.

“Shh, shh. Lower your fucking voice,” he spat as he stepped towards you. You looked so small beneath him, face red and angry. He gripped your shoulder and pushed you against the concrete wall. He liked having this control over you, and he knew you liked it too in some sick way.

It was easy for you to give up control if it meant cowering down beneath his broadness. He was rock hard.

He felt himself buzzing, seeing the slight shock against your face before you pulled it back and turned it to anger. He watched your nipples harden beneath the thin layer of your dress and knew you wanted this just as bad, whether you admitted to it or not.

This was all for you. The possibility of losing his relationship with his daughter.. this is a small town, he could lose his job, then his house. Everything. All for you to stand here and pretend you don’t want it, basically yelling it down the hallway for everyone to fucking hear. After everything he had given you and how intimate he’d been for you. After just last night, you watched him spit on his fingers and fuck himself.

Yet you stand in front of him, threatening his dissolution.

“One word out of your pretty mouth and I will break you.” He whispered into your hair, once again inhaling you deeply. He kissed your forehead, a weak apology for being quick to anger. But you were starting to thrash around, making it so much harder than it needed to be. So he stood himself sturdy in front of you and put one arm above your head and the other next to your side, pushing you further into the wall.

Maybe if he showed you how good he could make you feel, you’d stay. He just needed to remind your cunt how good a cock felt inside of it.

There was silence, a contemplation.

“Why me?” You looked up at him through your eyelashes.

Fuck, you needed him, it was written all over your face. Who else was going to protect you like could?

“It was your eyes, Birdie.” He admitted.

You continued to run your pretty mouth, but he wasn’t having it. He begged for you to listen to him, but you wouldn’t. Finally, he had enough of your talking.

“If you don’t shut your fuckin’ mouth,” he accidentally spit and watched as you licked it away without thought. Fuck. He would happily give you more. His already hard cock pushed even further against his struggling zipper.

“What? What exactly are you going to do?”

You questioned, softening in tone and running your hands up his chest. That was an invitation. He took it.

“How ‘bout I show you, you fucking brat. You can’t hide from me. I see you, I can see through you. I saw you the very first time our eyes met and I see you now. Wigglin’ beneath my touch. You need me sweet’heart, stop denyin’ it. I know you remember how I made you feel without me even touchin you. So let me touch you.”

Before you could argue some more, he moved his hands to your small shoulders and turned you around. His hands were massive compared to your body, and he liked it. Your curves were dying to be let free, held in too tight by the dress. Your breast, begging to be cupped and played with.

Oh he’d imagined so many times rolling your hard buds between his lips, tonguing them. Your breath hitched, and he let out a low chuckle. Already, you were giving in to him. He knew you would, such a good girl.

He threw the dress to the ground and looked upon you, naked, standing below and in front of him with your palms against the wall. You were completely ready for anything he wanted to give you, stick in you.

He couldn’t help but moan into your skin, you answering in response.

“Now go on, tell me more ‘bout how much you hate me, Birdie,” he growled into your ear, pushing his entire body against yours, taking your breath away as his cock brushed against your back.

You made sounds, no full words.

“That’s such a pretty noise,” he nudged. You didn’t respond but your cunt did, releasing more sticky want.

“S’okay, you can hate me Birdie, but your pussy flutters every time I look at you. She doesn’t hate me, princess, she needs me ‘n she wants me.”

You let out a barely audible fuss.

“Aww lookie there baby, she’s drippin’.”

He reached down and caught the drop with his finger, sucking it clean into your ear as you dizzily looked into the concrete wall, attempting to level your want for him. He didn’t even know if you fully heard his teasing in your state.

“Your effort not to melt under me is truly admirable.” He growled as he stuck out his tongue and ran it along your ear, sucking and breathing, tickling. Fuck. You tasted sweet but your nervousness had caused you to sweat, but he liked that too.

Then, he slid down to his knees so he could be level with your pussy, immediately reaching to spread you open and take you in. He reached in front of you and grabbed a handful of your stomach, pushing your ass more towards his face. He could smell your arousal, and he almost came right then and there, like some goddamn teenager.

Red underwear stared him in the eye, a deeper burgundy down your seem where you’d been dripping for him.

“Oh so fuckin’ pretty sweet girl. Look at that,” he traced his thumb down the back of your cunt, pushing the fabric deeper into the slick already coating them. You whimpered and attempted to buck your hips back, rotating your hips so that your holes were even more open for him.

“Nuh uh uh,” he tutted as you started to squirm even more. That wasn’t gonna do, he needed you still so he could have at you. He dug his thumbs into your ass, spreading you open once again, without a doubt leaving marks that would later bruise, showcasing his want. Reminding you that you were entirely his.

He held your pussy open, air hitting your open holes, licking lines up and down your slit as you moved. Your cunt wide open, showing him that she was ready for him, sucking up a mix of his spit and your cum every time you moaned and your walls fell in on themselves, pushing in and out in want.

He laid his tongue flat and licked from asshole to cunt, flicking and sucking on the thin skin between the two.

He spit.

“You’re the dirtiest girl I’ve ever seen, you know that? Letting me stick my tongue and nose on your pretty little asshole. Want me to fuck you here baby girl?” He circled it, pushing his spit in with the tip of his pointer finger. You whimpered as your hole swallowed the tip.

He knew if he fucked you there right now, the tip of his cock wouldn’t even make it in before he came, and that wasn’t the type of game he wanted to play right now.

“Hmm, I hear you. We’ll save that for next time. It wouldn’t be fair of me not to work you open first.” Breathless, he heard a “please Joel” fall from your lips.

“Oh fuck. Say it again. I’ve been waitin’ for my name to pass your pretty lips.”

He didn’t know how much he needed to hear you mutter his name like that until it hit him in his fucking chest.

“Joel, please.”

He smirked against you, pointing his tongue into your hole, circling and lapping at you as you continued to drip onto his tongue.

“Could taste these sweet juices for the rest of my fuckin’ life.” The sounds your body made as he pointed himself in and out of your cunt were godlike, vulgar.

He told you to keep your palms against the wall and stop moving, your final warning. His nose was covered in you.

“Joel, I-“

“Tell me baby, use your words,” he murmured into you.

“Take me, right now, please. Can’t wait Joel, I’ve been waiting so long.” God you sounded pathetic for him, begging and wanting him.

Without warning he fucked two of his fingers into you, and realized how tight your walls were stretching against them. You were already completely full from just two fingers.

“You wanna take my cock? You’re so tight you can barely handle two of my fingers. So fuckin’ impatient, hmm?” He curled them upwards and the spongey insides of you continued squelching, you tightened around him and he knew what you wanted… needed. You just needed to let go, stop thinking.

“Let it happen. Stop fightin’ it and let it out baby. I’ll catch you.”

You threw your head back and your long hair fell against the top of his head as he crouched below you. He wanted you to cum down his wrist so he could lick it clean in front of you.

You looked pure, hungry, and your body shook around his fingers as all of your sounds immediately stopped. Your orgasm rocked through you and the bathroom was dead silent, only filled with the sounds of his fingers coaxing out more juices.

Then your thighs stopped shaking aggressively and you spoke.

“I can take it. Please Joel. Please, sir.”

He rose from the ground. Did you just fucking call him sir? That was all he needed.

“Then take it.”

Somehow during all of the movement he had taken his cock out of his jeans. It was fully erect, kissing his stomach every time he moved further into your pussy with his face.

He wrapped his large hands around it and guided it to the back of your cunt, precum sticking to your lips. He tapped your cunt with his throbbing tip, moving his cock around to pick up your juices and mix his in with yours.

Finally. Finally you were going to be his.

He wrapped his arm around you from the back, his forearm covering your mouth before you dropped your head back onto his bicep. Your hair was sticking to your face from the sweat, eyes rolled back in anticipation.

And then he was one with you, cock hugged by your tight warmth. And it was everything he thought it would be, but better. He let out grunts as he fucked into you, hips hitting your ass as the sounds of your wetness meeting bounced of the bathroom stall. You fit so well on him, he fit so well against your walls. It was meant to be, he knew even more so now.

Breathless moans left your lips and he bent his head down to swallow them. Sucking on your top lip as you sat limp against him, his body holding you up as you took him like the good girl he knew you always were, would be, for him.

“S’tight baby girl. I don’t know how those little toys even fit in these holes. Gonna need to stretch you out better next time ‘n it won’t hurt so much. I’ll fit you even better next time.” He shushed your moans, dropping his nose into your hair, completely lost and intoxicated by the smell of your sex.

“I-inside,” you managed. He almost shot his spend into you right then. You could warned him before you said something so nasty, so good.

“Want me to cum inside that tight cunt, is that what you’re tryin’t ask me? ‘N what about your daddy, hmm? What would he think ‘bout you walking out of this bathroom with his best friend’s cum drippin’ down your legs?”

Defeated, you let out another sound.

“Dirty girl. I want nothin’ more than to fill you up. But this isn’t the time or the place. You know that.”

You came again, squeezing his cock so tight, and Joel pulled out as fast as he could after your walls kissed against him, wanting, but not letting himself cum just yet.

“Turn around, baby.” He ordered. And you did, slowly and shakily. You were having a hard time catching your breath.

He then pushed you onto your knees from your shoulders, not caring whether he was hurting you or not. All he saw was how fucked you looked, pure bliss still lingering between your legs, tiredness clouding your eyes from cumming multiple times on his cock. It was his turn.

You grunted in pain as your knees hit the floor, and that’s all he needed from you. He cupped his heavy cock and stroked himself, spitting down to it making it even wetter.

“You’re fucking sick, you know that?” The words getting caught in your throat. That’s all he heard as he planted his feet into the ground and threw his head back, grunting as his cum spit out of his aching tip, dripping all over and down your pretty face. He swore he saw the slightest grin reach your lips before you stuck out your tongue and caught the mess he was making.

And then it was over. You were covered in his cum from what didn’t reach your mouth, bare and still shaking. You looked so pathetic, ruined. Your mascara had fallen down your face at some point and it looked like you had been crying.

Now what?

His mind was clear for the first time in months, thinking about how they’d been gone thirty minutes or so. How would they answer the questions that would undoubtedly be thrown their way? How the fuck were you going to be able to get yourself together again, looking like what you did before you came into the bathroom?

You were sitting on the ground, wiping cum from your face with paper towels that you got from above you. Joel reached to the side and handed you your dress after fitting his soft cock back into his jeans.

“Here, baby.” He said softly.

Silence.

There was something hanging in the air, unsaid. Was it guilt? Shame? For acting like complete animals the first time you two were alone together, devouring one another whole.

And then, your shoulders heaved and a deep sob left your mouth. It was the saddest thing he’d ever heard, full of pain and hurt. He immediately felt it in his own chest.

You weren’t going to cry naked on the bathroom floor, so he picked up your dress and held each of your arms up as he put it over your head and dressed you, letting out soft, “shhh”’s to you.

He wet a few paper towels and bent down to face you, gently grasping your face as you were shying away from him, tears falling. Your eyebrows were turned inwards, your face showing just how much pain you were feeling.

He wiped your face softly, focusing underneath your eyes where your mascara was running. He cleaned you up and then held your face in his hands, you, squeezing your eyes shut so he couldn’t see you. Or rather, you couldn’t see him and the look upon his face.

He sat fully on the ground and pulled you into his lap, doing a once-over to make sure you were all dressed and clean. You’re immediately nestled your head into his neck and he placed his large hand on the back of your head, holding you there gently.

“Shhh, it’s okay baby girl. You can let it all out, okay? I’m here baby. Let them out, it hurts too much when you don’t.” He stroked your hair and prayed that you felt comfortable in his arms.

He could tell this was painful for you, crying in front of him- the vulnerability and nakedness it took to completely lose yourself in front of another human. He understood that he had just taken something from you, had just hit something deep within you.

“Birdie, look at me,” he whispered. You opened your eyes without question and waited.

“Be weak with me. Break, rupture, scream. Intertwine your bones with mine and I will hold ‘em safely so they can rest. I’ve got you baby. ‘M not gonna hurt you.”

You didn’t respond, so he put your back against his chest and rocked your slightly, letting you have the silence and calm.

Minutes passed and your sobs eventually stopped, Joel’s shirt soaked from them. You moved so that he was holding you, but could look into your eyes better.

“I’m sorry baby girl, I didn’t mean to hurt you.” He let out, shamefully. He knew he could be overpowering, he’d been told before. “Let me stand up and I’ll leave, okay? Tell ‘em that I couldn’t find you but I looked everywhere.”

“You can’t just touch me like that and then leave,” you let out, begging him.

°:. *₊ ° . ° .• ♡ °:. *₊ ° *₊.• ♡ °:. *₊ ° . ° .• ♡ °:. *₊ ° *

Notes: Here’s Joel arguing with himself, trying to justify his actions as he descends into his own chaos.

I added more dialogue because in my mind Birdie is so lost in pleasure during the last chapter that she isn’t even narrating everything to herself/us.

And I just wanted a dirty talking Joel ;) You know me.

Someone referred to ‘carnal!joel’ and my heart grew 10 times bigger. I love it.

Tag List: @strang3lov3 @leeeesahhh @blackvelveteen1339 @huffle-punk @xxmr-potato-headxx @ssssc0m @paleidiot @i-love-rafe @silkiers @gracevn @scarletsloveletter