#cmo jobs near me

[forbesjobs]

So many times in my career I wish someone would have told me the real truth. I have, of course, had wonderful mentors and coaches throughout the years, but no one really broke down the unspoken rules, the real facts about ascending in your career and leadership.

I recently participated on a Phoenix Business Journal leadership panel and was asked to offer advise for the emerging leaders in the audience, and while I already had this column in mind before the event, it helped validate a notion I’ve been mulling over for awhile: Young professionals hunger for insight and feedback on how to advance or level-up in their careers.

That in mind, I would like to share five perhaps controversial leadership lessons every aspiring professional should know, taken from my personal experience and through conversations with a diverse set of leaders nationwide.

Your actual job (and No. 1 priority) should be making your manager’s job easier Individuals who are quickly promoted understand that if they make their manager look good, they will themselves reap the benefits. Now, this isn’t a nod to participate in anything superficial or borderline abusive but rather encouragement to anticipate the needs of your boss and company and deliver accordingly. Deeply understanding the overall roadmap no matter what your position in the company will give you a mindset to drive outcomes even if they don’t seem directly tied to you, allowing you to be open to the concept of being fiercely committed to moving your boss’ agenda forward.

You are going to receive many requests from your supervisor to do something that may seem like a waste of time, but they are asking for a reason. Understand that reason and then do it well. Think about things before your manager does, and if you figure things out with their minimal input, you can free up time for them to go farther, faster. And so will you. That’s true leadership. If there’s one thing to remember, it’s this: if your manager doesn’t feel like you are adding value and directly helping them achieve company goals and initiatives, you are eventually mapping out your own exit plan.

[firemeyr]

WOO this one ran away from me, not going to lie. Loved writing it though :D Prompts used, courtesy of @stealthetrees: 'Commander Fox becomes super popular among the Jedi younglings cause he takes them on field trips around Coruscant since it’s too dangerous to go elsewhere' and 'in an effort to make Coruscant better, the Guard attempts to root out crime syndicates. This sparks a 3 way turf war that rages in the lower levels. ' ____

His comm was beeping rapidly. Quick busts of three high-toned notes, one after another. Beep beep beep. Beep beep beep. Beep beep be—

Fox groaned into the crook of his arm, his right hand haphazardly slapping his left vambrace, managing to shut up the alarm. And thank the stars for that. He just needed five minutes of peace. Five minutes! He hadn’t even been asleep, just, contemplating the risks and rewards of taking that much needed nap. His allotted despair time however, was up. It wasn’t worth it.

He slid into a proper sitting position, plastiod armor dragging against the metal desk. Propping his face up in his hands, Fox just groaned. It was better than slamming his face into his desk. As alluring as that route was–he might even get mandated rest if he managed to knock himself out–his CMO would kill him if he caught wind that Fox did it on purpose. With one last prayer to the stars to be struck down by a freak malfunction in Coruscant’s weather, he was ready to brave the world once more. Well, he could say he was.

His vambraces clattered against his desk as he dropped his arms, pushing himself to his feet in the same movement. Bent over his desk, he pushed things to the side, halfheartedly trying to tidy it. He could at least stack similar pieces of flimsy and data work together, enough so that he had a clear spot in the middle of his desk. Always had him feeling a bit better, not quite so overwhelmed when he sat down for a long night of signing document after document when he could at least put his caf somewhere.

As he always did, Fox had someplace to be, unable to linger at his desk for long. Once a space was carved out for him to return too, Fox swiped his bucket from the floor and shoved it on his head. Helmet adjusted and back ramrod straight, he did not hesitate as he stepped out into the hallway, office door sliding shut behind him.

Messages hovered unread at the corner of his HUD, red numbers blinking and begging to be read. Flicking his eyes over to them, the messages expanded, allowing him to at least glance over their contents. Several were standard update messages, monotonous and unimportant in nature. One was from Wolffe, still lingering from Centaxday at the bottom of the list. The most recent one was from the Jedi temple, simply an automated reminder of his scheduled event for today.

Oh yes, how could he forget. Fox was the lucky commander chosen to take some probably snot covered jedi younglings on a field trip. Because why wouldn’t he. He just had so much time to spare for these kinds of things that were definitely written into his job description.

Fox closed the messages, his shoulders sinking slightly with a deep exhale. Best to just arrive on time and get this over with. It wasn’t his first rodeo with younglings, nor would it be his last.

The sterile hallway around him opened up, brightening near instantly as he stepped into the main lobby. Several large windows let in what natural light there was on Coruscant, while lamps made up for any dark shadows. Chairs lined the walls, well in view of the half circle desk in the middle of the room. It wasn’t uninviting persay, far from it apparently, but Fox knew it was carefully crafted that way. Their lobby wasn’t one of the most well maintained rooms in the base for no reason.

He nodded to the trooper sitting at the desk, they glancing up at him and nodding in return before ducking back down into their own work. Fox paused at the desk, his hip leaning up against the false-wood. The lobby was clearly still empty and there wasn’t anyone lingering past the glass doors. He had at least a few minutes to kill if the Jedi dropping off the younglings could be trusted.

Reopening the messages, Fox simply scrolled through the updates, only ending up replying to one, and even that hadn’t been urgent. Inbox clear, he stared at Wolffe’s message, most of it cut off in the preview. He had been meaning to reply to it since it was first sent but—life just didn’t stop on Coruscant.

The force was out to prove him correct, as the moment the thought of opening Wolffe’s message entered his head, the lobby’s doors slid open. Closing the messages and standing up straight once more, Fox saluted the Jedi in front of him. 

The Mon Calamari Jedi waved his salute away, “Wonderful to see you again, Commander.” “Sir.” He nodded, sight dropping to the two younglings in front of the Jedi.

Twi’lek girl–Ayyn if he remembered correctly–waved at him, rocking back and forth on her heels. She had definitely been excitable the last time he took her on a tour, but listened well enough. The other, a Bothan, was holding tight to the Jedi’s hands, half hidden by their robes as they eyed Fox suspiciously. 

Master Dreti, the Jedi’s name finally came to Fox, slipped his hand out of the youngling’s pushing him gently forward. “This is Tav, Commander. He’s a bit nervous about his first field trip.”

Tav clutched his hands tightly in front of himself, body swiveling to look back at Master Dreti. The jedi simply made a shooing motion with his own hands, his face tugged up in an approximate smile.

Fox bit back a sigh and dropped down into a crouch, his elbows resting on his knees and hands brushing up against one another as they hung. Eye to eye with Tav, pardoning the helmet, Fox tried to soften his voice, “It’s good to meet you, Tav. I’m Commander Fox. Just going to be taking you on a little field trip around Coruscant. I swear every other youngling has enjoyed it–right Ayyn?” Ayyn nodded her head viscously, “Yeah! I knowww I told you all about my last one, c’mon!”

Tav looked between Fox and Ayyn. His ears twitched once as he looked back at Fox. “One field trip, kid. If you don’t like it, you never have to go on one with me again, alright?” He shifted his weight, letting one heel fall flat as he offered a hand to Tav. Palm up right and inviting, simply waiting.

Tav hesitated, shifting on his hooves. He glanced at Ayyn and Master Dreti once more. Finally, he reached out and took Fox’s hand. A smile tugged at Fox’s face under his bucket, one he didn’t bother to stamp down. Not like they could see it anyways.

“Good to have you joining us, Tav.” Pushing himself back up with his one planted foot, he stood face to face with Master Dreti again. Tav had tightened his grip on Fox’s fingers as Fox adjusted himself. A moment later and Fox was glancing down at his opposite side, Ayyn having bounded over and practically wrapped herself around his right arm. He felt the smile draining off of his face. 

Master Dreti chuckled at the sight, tucking his arms into his overly flowy robes. “I will see you in two hours, younglings. Do behave for the Commander.” He finished his words off with a shallow bow, turning away and exiting the building, everything seemingly having been said.

Fox didn’t feel like it had been. Sure he knew the plan, who these kids were and where to take them, but he always just felt a step behind when it came to handling younglings. Maybe it was the whole force crap.

“Right, off we go then.” He shook Ayyn off of his arm, she doing most of the work as she gladly bounded ahead and out of the building. Tav didn’t seem to be keen on letting him go, walking so close to Fox that he may as well be trying to fuse himself to the armor. Not that Fox was set on forcing the youngling off of him though, it was easier if they could get through this trip without any fussing.

The walk to the bus station, thankfully, wasn’t long. Being quite frankly anywhere in the Senate district, sentients had places after places to visit. There was never a station too far away in this district, simply out of convenience for those poor sentients. Ayyn stayed within Fox’s sight, never wondering too far ahead. She constantly looked back and reeled herself in. Perhaps him snapping at her for wondering too far off ahead last time had stuck with her.

Sentients glanced at Fox, avoided him as he walked past. Even once they had come to pause at the station, despite how many were all waiting on the same shuttlebus, they let him have his own personal bubble. Their chatter quieted down and the stares weren’t exactly hard to feel. Fox kept staring straight ahead.

Ayyn slowly slunk back to his side as they waited. Shuffling step by step closer until she too, was pressed up against his side. Lekku occasionally hitting his side, Fox could feel her glancing around them, at the space they were given.

“Couldn’t we have just taken a speeder?” She whispered, tugging on Fox’s arm.

He did not look down, still staring out at the lanes of traffic, waiting for their vehicle to finally come in sight. “No, your Master said it was good to get accustomed to Coruscant public transit.”

Ayyn groaned, head bonking against Fox’s armor before she shifted away, seemingly unable to stay still for more than a couple seconds.

The shuttlebus hissed to a stop in front of the station, rocking to stop in the air, level with the platform beneath their feet. Sentients flew out of the vehicle as soon as the doors opened, their stream of movement quickly replaced with the many sentients boarding after them. Fox let himself and the younglings fall to the back of the line. He’d rather avoid the accusations of stealing a good seat from a natborn.

Ayyn took the brave step in front of Fox, boarding first. She shivered as she met the constantly cycling air inside of the bus, it surely being colder than the air outside. Only taking a moment to pause and look over the bus, Ayyn slid into the first row of seats, they left empty. Good, they could all sit together. Fox, as much as he might want to avoid conflict right now, wasn’t above kicking someone out of their seat so he could stay with the younglings.

Ayyn pressed up against the window seat, Tav hesitantly sitting next to her once Fox had wriggled his hand out of Tav’s. Sitting down, the aisle to his exposed right side, the bus finally jerked to a start, joining the ever constant flow of traffic.

“Ayyn.” Fox spoke curtly, the girl already turned to look out the window. “Did Master Dreti give the two of you the rundown?”

“Mmhm! ‘Said we’re visiting the Fobosi District today!” “Yeah, Master said I should really like it, being forestry and all, I think?” Tav piped up, catching Fox only slightly off guard. He hadn’t expected that many words out of the seemingly shy kid.

“Correct. The Fobosi District was founded by many sentients collectively missing the nature of their homeworlds. It is now known to hold the most parks out of any of Coruscant's districts, as well as being home to several plant nurseries, plant shops, and traditional medicinal clinics.” “Oh..” Was Tav’s quiet reply, face tilted downward and furred face scrunched together. “What about the temple? We have all those things and more.”

“I’m sure that you do, but this is simply our destination for today. I’m certain you will find something new there.” He tried to sound confident, masking the fact that he honestly had no clue what Tav expected. Fox had never visited those areas of the Jedi Temple, he didn’t know what the jedi took a liking to and what they didn’t.

Fox leaned back in his seat, leaving the kids to their own. Ayyn resumed looking out the window, often tugging on Tav to point out things, their quiet chatter all too easy for Fox to tune out. He kept his sight roaming over the sentients on the bus, both those sitting and those leaving and those entering at every stop. He couldn’t help but be hypervigilant while away from base, younglings at his side or not. The war was only worsening tensions between clones and civilians, not to mention the ruckus that lower level gangs had been stirring up recently.

“Station 684, Fobosi District, now arriving at Station 684.” The voice crackled over the intercom, muffled with static as it was pushed out of old and half-broken speakers.

Ayyn and Tav were close on his heels as Fox stood stiffly at the announcement, being the first one to exit the bus. This sector of Coruscant was immediately and clearly far, far different from the scenery Fox was usually surrounded by. They had sunk quite a few levels, shadows towering and cutting off most of the sun. It didn’t feel dark, the streets and buildings practically bathed in lamp lights mimicking the sun. Green grew from just about every crack and cove in the district, so much so that they might as well have been drowning in it. “Woah..” Tav whispered at his side, hand fumbling against Fox’s before he found a hold.

Ayyn spun in a tight circle next to Fox, head tilted up and eyes sparkling as she took in the sights. Fox let the chuckle slip out of his mouth. They were just two shinies, stepping foot into what was possibly one of Fox’s favorite districts. It was popular among the Guard for a reason. 

“C’mon, airheads. More to see than this.” He waved Ayyn along, Tav, predictably, still right at his side.

Leading the two jedi younglings through the streets, Fox settled into his role as not only a guard, but as a tour guide. He pointed out buildings and plaques, spilling the history of this district he had learned. He pointed out streets and their names and tried not to go into too much detail, like how during his 3rd visit to this district, he had met the great, great grandson of whom Valax St. had been named after. 

He let them pause at a sunlamp, great vines covered in yellow flowers snaking up the pole, and let Ayyn wave to another child on the street who was, apparently, kind in the force, despite their parent who ushered their child away. He sighed when Tav complained for the third time about hurting hooves, picking up the youngling and letting him sit on one arm, his other still more than free to point out landmarks. He kept Ayyn in sight, she always a few bounding steps ahead, focusing on her rather than the blinking notifications in the corner of his HUD.

Their path through the district led them to a small park, metal walkways covered with dirt and fenced off. Grass sprung brightly from the dirt and trees waved in the wind caused by Coruscant's constantly recycled and refreshed air.

“This park was established thanks to the Lisar family from Naboo roughly half a century ago. Nearly all the plants here are taken directly from Naboo, including several endangered species, where they are allowed to grow uninterrupted here.” Fox repeated, summarizing approximately, the research he had done on the Lisar Park. It was a nice place really, but it was unlikely the younglings were going to remember half the words he spoke, as enraptured as they were.

“Oh! Oh! A pond!” Ayyn tugged at Fox, pulling him forward only slightly before bounding off towards the water glistening under sunlamps. “Yes a–” Ayyn was already at the water’s edge, leaning over to look at the fish swimming through the water. “--Koi pond.” Fox gently lowered Tav to his own hooves once they joined Ayyn’s side. Tav dropped to his knees, staring intensely at the water as he dipped his finger into the pond. Fox stood behind them, half heartedly observing them. Mostly, he stared lazily out at the walking paths that bent around the Koi pond. The park wasn’t exactly busy today, but Fox had yet to be disappointed by his never-too-careful philosophy.

Several sentients wandered by before any caught his attention. The simple presence of a Falleen had him tensing, scanning their body for any mark of the Black Sun. Said mark laid half-exposed as a tattoo on their neck. Fox loosened his stance, standing between the two younglings as he quickly sent out his own update.

This wasn’t Black Sun territory. Not only was it far too high for them, but it had remained in Guard control almost since they had begun purging the planet of her many crime syndicates. His message, bare and quick, was sent out to his fellow guard the same moment the Black Sun member noticed him. They paused, eyes locked with Fox’s helmet, hand twitching towards a hidden gun.

“Get out of here, Falleen.” Fox hissed out, voice cold and commanding.

The gang member glanced between the two younglings and Fox, a laugh slipping from their mouth, “Or what, Clone? I’m not the only one here.”

That was more than enough information for Fox to act on. He lunged at the Falleen, knocking them to the ground. Pinning their throat to the ground gave him the delay he needed to pull his pistol out and stun the man beneath him. Would hurt waking up from that, but Fox couldn’t exactly get himself to care a whole lot for them. 

Standing, he took a picture of the knocked out Falleen, if for nothing but identification purposes. Gave them a reason to push even further into Black Sun territory, if he escaped, if nothing else. Turning on his heel, Fox slipped his pistol back into its holster, once more facing the two younglings. They both stood upright now, wide eyed and speechless.

“Field trip’s over. Let's go.” He beckoned the children towards him, setting off on a brisk pace, following the path they had taken into the garden. 

Commander Thorn’s holoprojection appeared above his wrist not a moment after he dialed the man, “Saw your message–” “Yeah,” Fox cut him off, looking to his side as he spoke. Good, the kids were keeping up. “Apparently he isn’t the only one. Guessing they’re going to try to encircle our lands. I needed a squad here about five minutes ago. Get on it.”

“Yes sir. Con and his men should be with you in eight minutes,” “Tell them to make it kriffing six.”

“Will do. K'oyacyi.” “K'oyacyi.”

Fox was forced to slow his steps as he hung up on Thorn, Tav grasping for his hand. The little Bothan taking three steps for every one of Fox’s. Ayyn, too, was just barely staying in stride with Fox.

“What was–What was that?” Ayyn’s voice trembled, glancing over her shoulder at where the pond was once visible. “Coruscant, Kid. Keep moving.” His voice had lost any of the warmth he might’ve once had as he spoke to the children, far too worried about keeping his eye out for threats.

He might’ve enjoyed this, might’ve made it a little game of cat and mouse between him and the unsuspecting Black Sun delinquents, were it not for Ayyn and Tav. He needed them to be back at base, at the temple. He wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if Black Sun even tried to use the jedi younglings against them. 

Metal rang out beneath their feet as they stepped out of the quiet garden, the sudden increase in sentients around them painfully obvious to Fox. The pushed through the crowds, Fox no longer caring about going with the flow, like they had on their first time walking these streets together. 

Fox retraced their steps faithfully, leading them closer and closer to the bus stop. An arbitrary and uncommunicated meeting spot, sure, but it was familiar for the kids and well out in the open. Easy for his guards to spot him, and easy for him to keep an eye on their surroundings.

A blaster bolt whizzed past his neck, scorching the plastiod armor. It bent unnaturally, running straight into a wall, harmless, besides for some vines. Startled yells filled the air, sentients clearing out of their way. “Sorry–Stars!” Tav squeaked out, “I just–there was–” “Shut it.” Fox took the clear sign and sped up their pace, scooping Tav into his arms before breaking into a sprint, Ayyn only barely able to keep up with the pace, her face twisted with the effort.

Fox counted the seconds in his head as they ran. They were a minute ahead of the meeting time as the bus stop came into view. He skidded to a stop, nearly dropping Tav to the ground as he unholstered his pistols, pointing them towards the ground as he stared at every sentient who had even dared to show their face today. Ayyn was several moments behind Fox, coming to a gradual stop. She doubled over herself, hands on her knees, barely propping herself up as she caught her breath.

A blue blaster bolt skimmed past Fox’s helmet, unflinching as a guard speeder made itself clear in the flow of traffic, redirecting its course to land near the trio. Fox grinned at the sound of a body thunking to the ground. 

“Half a minute early, Con!”

“Figured I should try to stay on your good side, Commander.” The trooper yelled out as his partner pulled the speeder to the ledge, Con hopping onto solid ground.

“More effective if I could have someone haul these two back to base.” Fox tilted his head down to the two jedi younglings, already nudging them closer to the guard speeders, where three more had parked alongside Con’s.

“Yes sir.” Con gestured towards two of his men to stay on their speeders, the rest already joining him on solid ground.

Fox guided Ayyn and Tav over to the speeders, pausing before he helped them on. “Hope you two had fun, try not to tell Master Dreti too much about this part of the trip.” Warmth finally bleeding back into his voice as he spoke.

Moments later and they were off, heading back to the Guard’s base. Fox did not spare the time to watch them disappear. He joined Con’s side, pistols comfortably in his hands. The Black Sun was sorely mistaken if they thought that Fox was just going to let the Fobosi District slip away from him. ____

@tazmbc1 and @whiskygoldwings , I believe you both wanted to be tagged? Severely sorry if I misread it and you didn't.

[hetalianskywalker]

The Bad Batch Prompt Event!

End of Avoidence

Summary: You find Commander Wolffe asleep on your couch after a night at 79s.

Authors Note: Thank you @arctrooper69 making this event. I did the SFW prompt with Commander Wolffe x gn! reader. The prompt is in bold. I had wanted to do the NSFW prompt, but the anxiety won out. Hope you all enjoy this instead.

Nickname for reader: Corvid-meaning a crow/raven. Partly based of the special relationship Ravens and Wolves have in the wild.

Warnings: Cursing and I’m pretty sure that’s it.

Word Count: 1225

Thank you for reading!

“Commander Wolffe?” You lean against the door frame in between your bedroom and the living room of your Coruscant apartment. You blink, making sure that you weren’t imagining things. Low and behold, your commanding officer was still half asleep on the couch.

His mismatched eyes give you a half glare as he sits up. You quickly glance him over, noticing the top half of his armor resting on the chair next to him. You both remain at this weird stand off before you sigh and head to the kitchen.

“Caf?” You call over your shoulder. You begin making the pot before you get an answer from him. You had seen the amount of caf Wolffe could go through when he had flimsiwork to do after a large battle or rescue mission.

You are the head engineer for the 104th. Usually your job would go to a clone, but after most of the battalion had been lost near the start of the war you had been recruited instead. Something or other about the Kaminoans at the time needing to train more engineers.

It had been weird at first being the only natural born on an entire Star Destroyer other than General Plo Koon and an occasional visit from Admiral Coburn. However, you grew to enjoy the company of the clones around you and they all seemed to get along with you. Apart from two that is and one of those was a recent development.

You can see Wolffe walk into your kitchen and sit down at your small table. While he doesn’t say anything, you turn just in time to see him take in a whiff of your brewing high grade caf. He almost smiles.

“I’ll take that as a yes on the caf than, Commander.” You state, unable to stop the smug smile from spreading across your face. Falling back on the jabs and glares that were the foundation for the majority of the conversations you had with him before whatever falling out had happened.

The trance of good smelling caf is broken as he now focuses his eyes on you and fully frowns, but still nods. You turn back to the caf, reminded once again that something had happened to change his opinion of you. You had no idea what though. At first he seemed to enjoy the banter with you until he started out right avoiding you a few months back. At least with the battalion’s CMO, you knew exactly why you two didn’t get along; you had a tendency of trying to take care of your own wounds yourself.

Actually for someone who can’t seem to stand me, how the hell did he end up on my couch? The thought hits you like a tidal wave as the caf machine beeps and you pour the two cups. You take them to the table and hand Wolffe his. You quietly add your extras in, once again trying to figure out why Wolffe was in your apartment, as he quietly enjoys his caf black.

“I don’t dislike you.” He breaks through your spiraling thoughts as you look up at him from your now much lighter caf.

“Since when?” You want to smack yourself when the unfiltered response reaches the open air.

“Since we met,” Wolffe snaps back. “Alright, Corvid.” You didn’t know how to respond to that. Both with the confession and the nickname most of the Wolfpack referred to you as. You were often perched in high places on the Star Destroyer when troops found you during any off time, wore mostly black when not in uniform, and you had somehow become a kind of safe house for Wolfpack contraband, which were mostly harmless things. Since most of your conversations recently had been unavoidable and professional, you hadn’t heard him call you that in months.

“You go down a different hall the moment you see me, how exactly am I supposed to take that, Wolffe?” It comes out far more resigned than the anger you wanted and he doesn’t deny it. “What brought this on anyway?”

“I overheard you tell a batch of shinies at 79’s that I hated you.” It’s the wrong answer to the wrong question, but it gives you information you wanted none the less. The heat rushes to your face and you watch him smirk. Fuck. You resist a very powerful urge to bang your head against the table. Cause if he heard that then he probably heard what your tipsy ass had said after that. At least you hadn’t been completely drunk and totally made a fool of yourself.

When he doesn’t say anything, your shoulders relax in relief. No hangover and he didn’t hear the more embarrassing half of that conversation. Today might actually be an okay day.

“Still doesn’t explain why you are on my couch.” You grumble as you take a sip of your slowly cooling drink.

“I came by to check that you got home alright and I wanted to talk to you. And you invited me in.” You nearly spit out your caf.

“I did not.”

“You were half asleep. You told me to spend the night with how late it was and waved at the couch.” Wolffe pauses before giving you a sharp smirk. “Besides, you wouldn’t rat out your favorite.”

“I totally play favorites. Mine just so happens to also hate me. Kriff, I’m fucking pathetic and toxic as hell, but oh well. You only live once.” You had raised a glass and the shinies had seemed to get a good laugh out of your self deprecating jokes. The memory makes your stomach churn.

No, he definitely heard the entire conversation with the shinies. Great, just fucking great.

“You’re the worst.” You growl.

“Yeah well you still like me.” The smug response makes you want to scream. But you're suddenly hit with the fact that he’s not rejecting you.

You inspect him for a moment; your mind trying to put together some other explanation for this situation. Wolffe smirks again as he sets his now empty cup down. Your thoughts take a carnal turn for a moment, having never seen his top half with just his blacks on up close. You shake them away as a new surge of anger comes through.

“Why did you avoid me then? I was trying to figure out for mouths why the fuck…”

“I thought avoiding you would end it. But it seemed to just make it worse for both of us apparently.” He cuts you off and you take a second to digest the words. It’s quiet for too long.

“And that was a mistake.” It’s not quite an apology, but he says it like it’s one. You open your mouth to except the peace offering.

“I’m sorry.” The genuineness of it soothes your remaining anger.

“Thank you.” As you say it, most of the tension finally leaves your kitchen.

“So what happens now?” Wolffe smirks again at the question as he leans in close.

“Well Corvid, you said we only live once.” You blush and stare at one another a quick moment before his hands gently rest on the sides of your face. He glances at your mouth and back at your eyes. A silent question.

You nod. A silent response earns you a kiss you have wanted and waited to long for.

[witchofthesouls]

How would the DJD react to a lone carrier? Maybe the carrier is stuck on a another planet trying to negotiate with the local market for tickets or shanix to get home? Would they go feral or would they just only somewhat interested? What if the reason the carrier is stuck is because they got abandoned by their partner who is on The List and didn’t want to cross paths with the DJD so left them behind to save their own ass, that could be juicy…

(Tarn's dignity will always suffer with me, so he majorly fucks up because of regulations he inputted himself in the initial days of his gun-ho zeal to the Cause and Megatron's worldview.)

Camiens have a reputation for falling in love too fast and too hard, and like any blitzed and infatuated mechling swooning over their first love, you fell for the rugged outworlder. It was like a tale from a stupid romance holo, but instead of a deepening connection from constant hardship, you were left destitute on a planet that didn't need your expertise and a forge full of newsparks.

The mech was happy enough to frag you silly and more than content to have a ward manager to weld his wounds, but you warned the mech of your spark-lineage and its coding quirks and the mech still had the audacity to not only freak out at impending sirehood but to actually do a runner as well.

Apparently, death caught him before you could because the mech took all the damn credits and shanix with him.

Luckily the group that got Deadzone had a functioning ship to drop you off near Camnius at the low price of your ex-lover's T-cog.

And you delivered that T-cog, still warm and wet from his fritzing corpse into the leader's hand. Beautifully intact despite his smelted frame.

Nicket, their CMO, dragged you to her medbay before any of the mechs could do anything, and practically shoved the empty job posting into your nasal ridge while checking your progress.

"Let me get this straight," You rub your temples, trying to force the stress away when Nickel tells you the reason why she nor any of the other mechs can't help with your carriage. "Instead of being able to proposition any of the mecha here, I have to sleep with the one that finished off Deadzone?"

"Unfortunately true." The medic grouses as she wipes her servos with a rag and you close your panel. "Some idiot thought that the winners caring for the losers' mates in gladiatorial matches was romantic."

There's a story behind that and you're not sure if you want to find out. Instead, you focus on the important part. "And that idiot?"

"Tarn." Nickel says, flatly.

"And who got Deadzone?"

"Also Tarn."

You're stuck with the mech that has no idea what to do with you, so he defers to stiff, awkward politeness. Nickels notes your expression and offers full use of the medical supply closet to have a private meltdown inside of it.

Sometimes, being a ward manager does have its perks.

_______

Because Nickel memorized the schedules, you approach Tarn on his downtime and knock on his habsuite door to rip the patch off.

"Hello, Tarn, I'm here for donor services." You pray that Nickel had beaten into his head that carriers needed resources. Otherwise, his refusal will launch a rut-induced riot by your own activated heat-protocols.

The mech nods and steps into his habsuite and you follow the nonverbal permission.

"Would you like something to drink?" He asks, gesturing to a cabinet and a spare convertor.

"No, thank you." You're being awkwardly polite because Tarn is as well. Your sensory panels twitch, partly anxious, but mostly to check if there are hidden cameras in the room. You click your glossa, door wings twitch again, and it reads as clear.

You have no idea what kind of weird scrap he's into, but you didn't expect the tank to simply... lie down on his berth.

"Do what's necessary then." And he just lies there, staring into the ceiling as if it held the secrets to the galaxy.

Solus save your spark.

You take a deep inhale and exhale through your vents.

"Okay," you step forward and eye his pelvis. "I'm going to need you to open this-" you tap twice over the panel that covers the spike housing "-and pressurize. I need to know what I'm working with."

He follows your instructions to the glyph. And it's a very generous proportion to the mech, there are treads lining its sides, deep grooves underneath the shaft, and solidly purple with a fat node sitting beneath the crown.

It was also dry.

You reach for the extra lubricant bottle in your subspace and smear a hefty dollop across your palm and digits because you want to minimize friction burn since he's definitely the largest spike in your experience.

You grip it firmly, sliding up and down the underside as you thumb the tip, it weeps and it's a healthy bright pink hue with no detection of infection. You don't feel anything off with the texture that would have denoted hidden spines or a knot or an expansion mod. The plating does overlap to create subtle ribbing...

Your face may be impassive, but your valve eagerly wets itself in anticipation, it gnaws and you can feel the innermost calipers trying to set to their widest setting, and you blame the active carriage because you never had been so turned on by a silent handy on a mech that reads 'clean' to your diagnostic tools before.

You tell him that it's best that you ride him, and it's true. You don't voice that you're 99% percent sure he has no prior experience, but you did voice that Nickel would be displeased trying to repair valvular lining and mesh on a carrier with only one valve.

You straddle him, nudging him to your rim until it catches, so you hold him firm to sink down in slow increments. He's big. Your thighs strain with the painfully slow pace of sinking down, hitching up, and sinking down further to carefully pop the next rib into you that spreads you wider and wider until you feel like bursting from the fullness.

Tarn is not as unaffected as he projects, despite that air of neutrality you can feel the underlying hunger nipping at your field, see his digits claw into the berth, and feel that massive spike twitching hotly as you brush over sensors you didn't even know existed inside your frame. You keep your own spike shut with medical lockdowns because you have no idea if Tarn would tolerate that mess on him.

You finally meet his housing and it takes a good moment to acclimate, frame slick and already steaming from that effort. You set to slow grind, bracing on his chassis, biting your lower lip as that node slides over a cluster of nodes that sets your valve to spasm and ripple.

There's a familiar wetness at the back of your valve that makes your spinal struts shiver and sensory panels rapidly flick to disperse the sudden swell of charge.

"Did you just-" You strangle out the words because merciful Pits the mech is big, and heat bursts directly into your chamber putting you on edge.

Tarn, who hadn't uttered a single noise ever since you mounted him and still hasn't looked at you since lying down, then said, very quietly, "I'm sorry."

You're far away from home, fucking a beyond awkward stranger because of archaic bull-scrap of a rule since the mech that was nearly your Conjunx wasn't the person you thought he was.

Tears start to well in your optics and you blink rapidly to keep it away since Tarn actually makes contact with your face and gets a dipole-deer-in-the-headlights expression, even with the mask.

That stupid fucker was dead and you're still here seething over it.

Tarn had said, Do what's necessary. Well, this is damn well necessary.

You lift yourself off his spike and immediately turn around to face the door. Without a word, you seat yourself again by not-so-gently guiding him back into you. And it's easier this time, granted you ignore the jarring sensation between too much and please more.

You can deal with an awkward-as-the-Pits frag, but you will not tolerate that pity.

Because you're ridiculously wet and primed since carrier-coding is in an absolute tizzy over this spike, you viciously ride said spike at a brutal pace, clanging hard enough to leave bruises upon protoform, and ignoring the stretch in your valve, your vents practically wheeze with every drop that shoves Tarn to the back of your throat and leaves your insides quivering, unsure if it's from pleasure or overwhelmed by the sensation of taking a mech that's beyond your schematics.

Luckily it had an adjustment period, Tarn isn't thrusting upward, and nothing in your system is currently red-lining.

The tank doesn't say anything else, he doesn't even touch you. Instead, you hear something breaking in the room, but it isn't your frame and you can't bring yourself to care.

You keep the pace for the rest of the ordeal, annihilating your thoughts until it channels all of the urges to raise the dead back to life (just so you could personally gut Deadzone over and over) into getting the newsparks the transfluid they need. You can taste Energon in your mouth, bleeding down your intake, cooling fans roaring, and beneath the mad clanking, there's the audible noise of lubricant splattering out.

It's hard to say what burns harder, your frame and fuel lines or the hate boiling in your spark.

You keep it up even when your chamber bloats, heavy and hot, forcing your howling thighs and back through the onslaught, ozone thick with the Energon on your glossa as you speed and lose count of the overloads, and it isn't until Tarn's spike fully softens within your calipers' death grip do you finally stop.

And because you refuse to crash here in the mech's room, you don't pause to rest, you simply swing off of Tarn.

"Thank you and good night," you shout at the guy. Raging and hurt you may be, but you still have manners and Tarn did his duty to the damn regulations.

You hobble-stomp back to the med-bay, a wildfire as your spark, even as your pelvis throbs and joints scream to rest. Nickel takes one look at your face and immediately points to the supply closet. "I sent you the code."

You jam in the sequence and the moment the door shuts, you scream.

____________

:: Tarn, what did you do!? ::

:: Nothing. ::

:: I can tell. ::

[cursedbag]

Author's Note: it's been about a billion years since I've written any sort of fan fiction but I saw a post that was just... inspirational (I don't remember exactly who posted it but it was for sure on Tumblr)

Anyways, warnings: 18+, minors don't interact, not proofread, afab!reader but 2nd pov used, reader is a nepo baby and not into unions, potentially degrading? Idk lmao Nanami might be a little ooc, it's been a hot minute since I read the manga

His Hard Earned Bonus

Lawyer! Nanami x CEO! Reader

Your hands gripped tightly on Nanami's hair as his tongue bullied your clit. His tongue always worked magic when you were stressed. Meetings, clients, your employees' desire to unionize, he would make those trivial problems melt away; legally and sexually.

"Nanamin~" you moaned as he tightened his grip on your thighs. He hummed in response, not pulling away to entertain anything beyond himself. His tie was thrown over his shoulder as he enjoyed his meal with messy slurps. He had your panties in his back pocket with no intention of giving them back.

Nanami was a man who always had a healthy sexual appetite. It's part of the reason why he became a lawyer. The gratification of getting his clients *exactly* what they wanted with the benefit of a solid paycheck behind it. When you first hired him, he couldn't get you out of his head. The cold glances that you'd give your subordinates, the glares you gave to your CFOs and CMOs; it made it near impossible to do his job without some sort of added benefit. Especially with how spoiled and bratty you were (on account that your father was the chairman).

Nanami loved that you were spoiled rotten; it always made his job a bit more exciting than it actually was. You could demand anything and he'd just ask for a deadline. So when the Christmas party rolled around, a well placed mistletoe was all that he needed to seduce you. Sure, there would have to be secrets for the sake of both of your careers but Nanami relished in the secret little rendezvous he planned.

"It's almost like you want to get caught," you chided with a soft moan. As if you wouldn't love something like that, to be caught with the hot blond lawyer between your legs as he feasted on you like you're the only thing he ate. You pulled at his hair, earning a groan from his lips that vibrated against your folds. Your essence dripped down his chin as he looked up at you insatiably. He pulled away, much to your dismay.

"If I wanted you to be bratty, I would have waited until I got to your penthouse," he stood up from his kneeling position, "we wouldn't want a certain chairman to find out that you're taking advantage of a lowly employee."

"As if my father would believe that. Besides, you came on to me. Metaphorically and literally," you winked as he towered over you. "plus..." your hand reached for the obvious tent growing in his pants, "you probably like that you're undermining my father's power by fucking his daughter during your lunch break."

"I think of it more as a bonus, most of the cases you ask me to cover are almost always some sort of impossible," he said before he placed a kiss on the corner of your lips.

You rolled your eyes, "well you always manage to get it done, don't you?" There you go again. Blue blooded, through and through. "Are you going to finish or...?"

"I have a meeting in ten minutes," he says with a sigh.

"... with me."

"And your father," he says as he tugged your pencil skirt to no longer be a clean sign of deviance, "wouldn't want daddy dearest to find me here alone with his CEO."

"Fine," you groaned as you leaned back on chair. You always had the most irresistible pout when you were denied what you wanted. "What about your little friend there?"

Nanami scoffed at the implication, "you were complaining about my *little* friend yesterday. I'll take care of it in the bathroom or something." You wanted to tease him for the imagery he painted in your head; His cold stoicism melting away as he fucked his fist, chasing a high that became harder and harder to satisfy on his own.

You picking up your phone and quickly dialed a number as Nanami watched you. "Hi daddy," you spoke sweetly, "I was just wondering if we could push back that meeting? I totally got food poisoning earlier and I was just about to go home." Nanami wanted to burst out laughing at your pathetic excuse, all just so that you could get your daily fuck in.

"Really? Oh thanks daddy... yes, I'll have Nanami take me home right away," you looked at him with a devious smirk before hanging up the phone.

"So I'm a personal chauffeur now?" Nanami teased as he stood by the door as you grabbed your coat, "what will my bonus be for that?"

"You act as if I didn't just do you a favor," you said as you slipped into your coat, "come on, I have to make it look at least a little believable." You leaned on his shoulder before he wrapped an arm around you and walked you to his car in the parking lot. The short walk and elevator ride felt hours long, even longer when Nanami got a call from his actual boss.

"Sir?" Nanami answered the phone, acting oblivious.

"Nanami! Would you be a pal and take my precious angel home and work from there? I'm sure they'll be so disappointed that they couldn't do work because they're a little sick," your father wasn't a successful business man because he was a smart man.

"Yes sir, I'll take them home right now," Nanami informed as he unlocked the car to let you in. You slipped into the front seat before he closed the door behind him. He hung up his phone as he entered the driver's seat.

"You know... we can't just leave right this moment," you leaned close to his ear. "Daddy will find it suspicious that you'd already have me on the road and stuff," your hot breath tempted him like no other.

"What are you suggesting?" He entertained your whims despite your recent bad behavior. You kissed his cheek as you undid his belt buckle. Nanami didn't move, not because he was particularly shocked at your choice of setting but rather to fully witness you at work. Your hand reached into his pants and wrapped itself around his dick. The warmth of your hand coupled with the sensitivity of his cock forced his head against the steering wheel as you kept a steady motion to taunt him. All Nanami could do is moan out a quiet, breathy, "fuck" and hope that you wouldn't tease him. You pulled your hand away with a mischievous giggle.

"Sorry, Nanamin," you're a liar, "we'll just have to wait until we go to the penthouse."

"...get in the back."

You laughed but it quickly faded when you looked at him again. His brows were furrowed with frustration as he removed his glasses. The green tinted glasses that once reflect you were shoved into the glove box haphazardly as Nanami motioned his head towards the backseat. You felt an unfamiliar heat rise in your chest but did as you were told and climbed into the backseat.

He starts the car wordlessly, driving out of the parking lot. You could practically hear the cogs in his brain churning as it settles to you that you pushed your luck too far. He pulled into your driveway an hour and finally looked at you.

"You think you can just toy with my cock as if it's just a plaything for you?" He climbed into the back with you, his fly and belt still undone. You didn't respond as you caught a glimpse of his tip peaking through his boxers. You bit your lip, hoping that he'll find it in his heart to forgive you and let you get a taste of the semen that stained his underwear. He sat down next to you and pulled his cock out.

"Suck."

His simple demand was listened to in full as you go on your knees and started slowly kissing his tip. Your slow tease grew impatience in Nanami as he grabbed the back of your hair and urged you to take his cock. He groaned softly as you took him in, inch by inch. You swirled your tongue and accepted the semen that had his familiar bitterness. You rubbed your thighs together but received a tug at your hair warning you not to push your luck again. You bobbed yourself up and down, looking up at him for approval as you felt yourself getting wetter and wetter.

"Just like that," he encouraged with a soft groan as he leaned his head back, "you're a good cock sucker, aren't you? Probably ruining my leather seating with how wet you are." You moved your head faster as you felt him twitch in your mouth.

"F-fuck, I'm so close," he panted, his hand following the bobbing of your head. Nanami forced your head down as he came, thick ropes of cum painted your throat white. You sat up and wiped your lip with a cocky smirk.

"You just had to have me, couldn't even wait until we were inside," you teased. Nanami glared at you as he attempted to catch his breath.

"You think you're done?"

[kvibe-test]

Uncharted Beginnings at KVIBE Studios: My First Month's Tale

First Month at KVIBE Studios: A Journey of Growth and Discovery

When I decided to leave the familiar comforts of the Netherlands to embark on an exciting internship abroad, I couldn't have foreseen all the new experiences that awaited me at KVIBE Studios. The moment I set foot in the bustling atmosphere of New York City, I knew I was in for an adventurous journey. Manhattan's imposing skyscrapers and the combination of seemingly spacious yet congested streets were a stark contrast to Amsterdam's narrow avenues.

First Impressions

The initial days were a whirlwind of getting used to my surroundings. My apartment in Union City, New Jersey, was ideally situated close to Jersey City, where KVIBE Studios is based. Union City had its own charm, providing a peaceful escape after the hustle and bustle of exploring New York City. Manhattan captivated me with its blend of tight and open spaces. I could walk for miles amidst a sea of people without feeling overly confined.

On my first day at KVIBE Studios, I felt a mix of excitement and nerves. Meeting Joe and Darren—our CMO and CTO, respectively—immediately put me at ease. Despite a minor hiccup with the Zoom meeting, where I had to refresh my page multiple times before connecting, we finally discussed my role and the projects I'd be working on.

Settling into the Role

Delving into the work proved fascinating right from the start. During my first week, I focused on creating landing pages for KVIBE's wedding services like Live Picture Studios and their new social media content creator service. This hands-on experience enabled me to quickly understand various aspects of media marketing.

The office environment was welcoming and friendly, filled with laughter and shared jokes. Joe and Darren, who shared the office space with me, were incredible mentors. Our team bonded over lunch outings, sampling different cuisines each week. An Irish pub serving Shepherd’s Pie, a Peruvian spot with delicious chicken rice, and plans for a hotpot adventure were all part of our culinary explorations. These outings were more than just meals; they were opportunities to connect on a personal level.

Unexpected Challenges and New Friendships

As more interns joined KVIBE, the workplace became even livelier. We soon formed a core group of four, sharing experiences and supporting each other through the learning curve. Sharing this journey with like-minded individuals made even the most challenging tasks enjoyable.

A memorable event was a networking function where Joel prepared chicken drumsticks. My job was to remove the lids, but not knowing they needed to stay on, I discarded them, resulting in cold chicken. It turned into a funny story we shared as we grew closer.

Exploring the City

The weekends presented various activities. Visits from my family and friends were highlights, providing a much-needed touch of home. My parents stayed near Times Square, and I loved showing them around the city, especially the views from the Edge observation deck. My friends joined me for a Mets game, immersing themselves in American baseball culture—a marked contrast to the sports back home.

Between work, outings, and explorations, I attended several shoots in trendy areas like Chelsea, Manhattan. One particularly enjoyable shoot near the High Line allowed me to explore the elevated park and savor a delicious bratwurst from the JLC Food Market.

Learning and Growing

As the weeks passed, my responsibilities expanded. I took on projects involving AI research and development, a field I wasn't initially familiar with. With Kwa, our CEO, explaining the importance of AI and its practical applications within Blogrify.ai, the scope of my work broadened significantly. I pitched ideas, debugged systems, and helped develop a personalized blogging product that could revolutionize content creation and consumption.

Each project brought its own learning curve, helping me evolve from a novice to someone proficient in both marketing and AI applications. The process involved progressing from simple tools like Google Sheets to more complex databases and learning to think from a product development perspective.

The Bigger Picture

After my incredible first month at KVIBE Studios, I can confidently say that this internship has shaped me in numerous positive ways. The blend of professional experiences, cultural immersion, and personal growth has been enriching. With projects lined up for Blogrify.ai and new interns constantly joining, there's always something exciting on the horizon.

Looking back on this period, I would encourage everyone to step out of their comfort zones and pursue international opportunities. The experiences, friendships, and knowledge gained are invaluable. Whether it’s explaining cold chicken at a networking event or pitching a new AI tool, every moment is a step toward growth.

Thanks for joining me on this journey through my initial month in the U.S. at KVIBE Studios. I’m excited about what the future holds and can’t wait to see how I’ll continue to evolve professionally and personally.

#Internlife #KVIBEStudios #NYC #MediaInternship #CareerGrowth

Explore the detailed experiences of my first month as an intern in the media industry at http://bloggerfy-test.webflow.io/

[elincra]

[ ! ] — it seems that [ elinor acosta ] has entered the scene ! she looks exactly like [ adria arjona]. this [ 33-year-old ] is the [ CMO ] of [ comoedia broadcasting company ]. it’s a small wonder since she is known for being [ ambitious and creative ] and [ distracted and dismissive ]. she has been involved with the company for [ 8 ] years. [ GRAY | SHE/HER | 31 | CST ]

Hi! I'm Gray and this is my first rp in a hot minute. I've been looking to get back into the swing of things and this looked like the perfect one (primarily because some of y'all are familiar faces and I missed you!).

Anyways, let me introduce you to my bb girl Elinor. She lives and breathes marketing, think of her as a young Miranda Priestly but instead of a magazine, it's Comoedia Broadcasting that owns her soul. Granted, she's not near as mean or heartless as Miranda but she's certainly on her way to it... hopefully networking can help soften her a bit and give her the social life she'd desperately been needing.

Below you'll find some basic info and I'll flesh her out as I start writing more threads so I can see how she ticks.

B A S I C   I N F O R M A T I O N

Name: Elinor Luz Acosta Age: 33 Job: CMO Company: Comoedia Broadcasting Sexuality: Heterosexual FC: Adria Arjona

B I O G R A P H Y

Becoming CMO had always been Elinor’s endgame, at least when it came to working at Comoedia. When she’d first started as an intern, she’d stare awestruck and the pristine corner offices and dream of how she could make her mark on the company that had given her a chance to put her degree to use.  Between late night coffee runs, picking up people’s dry cleaning, and copy editing internal emails, a 25 year old Elinor had wondered if she’d ever make it to the next step. When a content writer position opened up, she submitted her name and did all she could to prove they’d made the right choice when she was hired. Oddly enough, it didn’t take long for her to climb the ladder. Whenever anyone asked her to do something, she did it with a smile (even if she had to alienate some of her friends and family in the process). All the anxiety and hard work paid off when 8 years into her time at the company, the current CMO came to her and said they were leaving and the job was hers if she wanted. Now that she has the role, she’s realized it’s awfully lonely at the top but as it stands… work is the only thing keeping her going. But how long will that be enough? And will she be able to find another role or hobby that makes her satisfied? Who knows. 

P E R S O N A L I T Y

+ Charismatic, Ambitious, Creative - Distracted, Sarcastic, Dismissive

[work-and-life-in-shizuoka]

INTERVIEW_15

LIOE DE XING

Countries & Regions / Malaysia

1. Job Description

I am currently a Specially Appointed Associate Professor at the Research Institute of Electronics (RIE), Shizuoka University, Hamamatsu Campus. RIE is originated from the research laboratory of Kenjiro Takayanagi, who developed the world’s first all-electronic television and known as “the father of Japanese television”. I started working at Shizuoka University in 2016 upon graduation from my doctoral course here. I am involved in the research and development of CMOS image sensors, which are the chip in cameras to convert light into digital signals, which can then be processed and stored as images. The opportunity to collaborate with people from different countries and backgrounds makes the work much more enjoyable.

Working as a researcher is exciting, especially since the feeling of accomplishment that comes with achieving a breakthrough is exceptional. Seeing a project that developed from an idea to working in real life is so satisfying. Working in a university gives me a chance to work with students, which is a fun and rewarding experience. They are full of energy and enthusiasm, and I am inspired by their creativity and curiosity.

I am proud to be involved in the continuous development of imaging technology here and look forward to continuing to make a positive impact. It is one of the most fulfilling and satisfying experiences of my life.

2. Reasons for coming to Shizuoka

One of my hobbies is photography, and naturally, I have an interest in understanding the core of a camera, which is an image sensor. When I was completing my master’s degree in Malaysia, I came across the Japanese government scholarship (MEXT) and decided to apply. Eventually, I was accepted to attach to the laboratory of Professor Shoji Kawahito, who is an expert in CMOS image sensor technology. I came to Shizuoka University, Hamamatsu campus in 2013 for my doctoral course study, and have been staying in Hamamatsu ever since.

Being born and raised near the equator, I used to live in hot and humid conditions. I first experience living in four seasons in Japan, and to be honest, I can’t stand coldness. The weather in Hamamatsu is just nice for me, not too cold in winter, although the windy weather during winter can be quite cold sometimes.

During my time as a student, I joined a homestay program and travel from Hamamatsu city to Shizuoka city to meet my host family, and that is the start of our family relationship. Over the past 10 years, we have formed a close bond and have shared many unforgettable experiences.

We often visit each other and many beautiful places in Shizuoka. The warmth of my homestay family truly makes the experience unforgettable. They took me to delicious local food restaurants, share with me about Japanese customs and traditions, and talk about the local history. We’ve visited Miho-no-Matsubara, the world heritage site in Shizuoka, Nihon-daira, where we can see the panoramic view of Mt. Fuji, Hamamatsu Flower Park, explored temples and shrines, festivals, and many other places. They have taught me so much about Japanese culture and have broadened my understanding of Japan. I feel incredibly grateful for the special connections I have made with my host family.

3. Attractive qualities of living in Shizuoka

I have been living in Shizuoka prefecture, specifically Hamamatsu city for 10 years and I feel like it is a comfortable and convenient place to live in. The population here is about 800,000, so it does not feel too crowded as in major cities, especially during the rush hour. Public transportation is very convenient for traveling around Hamamatsu, either by train, which is widely known as “Akaden” or by bus that covers most of the city. Hamamatsu is roughly at the center between Osaka and Tokyo, and easily accessible through the Tokaido Shinkansen (bullet train) which runs between the two cities. For those who own a car, both Tomei Expressway and Shin-Tomei Expressway are also easily accessible.

Shizuoka has a lot of natural scenic spots, which is perfect for a nature lover like me. The main attraction is of course the World Heritage Site of Mount Fuji. I am proud that I have climbed up Mount Fuji, the tallest peak in Japan, at 3,776 meters. Determination is more important than physical strength to reach the peak, and the view at the top, especially the sunrise is stunning. Looking down at the magical sea of clouds makes you forget all the tiredness.

Facing the Pacific Ocean, the Nakatajima sand dune is one of the three largest sand dunes in Japan with a beautiful sand pattern created by the wind. The sand dunes have a length of four kilometers, and a place for loggerhead sea turtles laying their legs. We experienced releasing baby turtles into the ocean and that was an unforgettable experience. When the baby turtles leave the sand dunes, the males will never be back, but you may be able to see the female turtle coming back 20 years later to lay eggs.

Hamamatsu is famous for its gyoza, which is a dumpling filled with ground meat and abundant locally grown cabbages. People in Hamamatsu also love gyoza, which frequently tops the national ranking of gyoza consumption per household, making Hamamatsu a gyoza capital. Apart from gyoza, Hamamatsu is also famous for its unagi (eel), raised and produced in Lake Hamana in western Hamamatsu.

I find that Hamamatsu has a lot of parks that are suitable for children of different ages. My son loves playing in the parks and we always do park hopping on weekends. I can say that I have visited most of the parks in Hamamatsu! As a parent, we always think about caring for the child, and I think child-raising facilities such as medicals, kindergartens, etc. are very well prepared.

4. Message

If you do not prefer a bustling metropolitan lifestyle, there is a high chance that Shizuoka should check all the boxes for you. There are larger cities such as Shizuoka and Hamamatsu, and other smaller cities in between the nature of mountains, rivers, and lakes in Shizuoka prefecture.

A large foreign community is available here, and in my opinion very foreigners friendly. Many international students enroll to study in Shizuoka and continue to work and live here upon graduation. With the abundance of natural beauty, a large selection of local delicacies, and ease of living, I highly recommend Shizuoka as a place to call home.  

[ozajobs]

Why CMOs Jobs in India Are in Demand?

Why CMOs Jobs in India Are in Demand?

With the Medicare industry inch by inch making its way into the country, demand for Healthcare jobs in India is on the increase. With the rise in demand for Medicare jobs, we are appreciating that more number of scholars want to pursue the Medical degree. Medicare specialists on the path for active managerial spots seek to turn out to be looking out CMO jobs. At the high-ranking level, Chief…

[calliecat93]

Hi Callie! In your opinion, what are the top ten best Mccoy centric episodes in TOS? You don't have to answer if you don't want to, thanks for reading anyways! ❤️

Ooh, good question! This is a little hard because McCoy, compared to Kirk and Spock, didn’t get a lot of centric episodes. Actually I think he only really got like… two out of 79 episodes (depending on how you view it). But he DOES have a large prescence in others, so let me see here…

1. The Empath Technically it’s a Triumvirate episode, but this has McCoy’s best moment in the entire show. Like if you want to understand McCoy’s character, this is the episode that you turn to. I already blabbed about why once so I’ll let that go into it for me.

2. For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky: While some of the execution is a bit iffy, this is still a realy excellent episode. Mainly because DeForest Kelley plays McCoy here with everything that he has and just nails everything, McCoy’s sadness, loneliness, and invevat le fate of dying in a year, masterfully. The episode would be NOWHERE near as good if not for De Kelley.

3. The Man Trap: This and the last one are the only two McCoy-centric episodes, at least that I recall. This one often gets overlooked since it’s first so I think that the emotional impact gets lost. But God McCoy in this episode is just outright tragic. I wrote a whole post about it because it felt so unfair that it was overlooked because there is SO MUCH there. Also mrke amazing De Kelley acting

4. All Our Yesterdays: While McCoy does spend a good chunk of it passed out from hypothermia, he is freakin’ excellent in this episode. He’s not only hilarious (“He means it’s cold!”, De’s delivery made me burst out laughing) but when he’s finally awake, he’s just freakin’ awesome. He put himself at GREAT risk to snap Spock out of his mental state and then went ‘screw it’ and tried to find the portal home cause he wants his life back, with or without Spock (but preferably with Spock). He’s just great~!

5. Return to Tomorrow: This whole episode is super underrated. It’s the one where the alien beings posess Kirk, Spock, and Lady of the Week’s bodies. McCoy is the ONLY rational person in the episode and the one who has to deal with the majority of the problem. He has to both worry about everyone’s minds in the orbs and what the aliens do to their human bodies and is VERY concerned throughout. It also demonstrates how devkted to his profession and oath that he is. He even outright risks Kirk dying for good, as painful as it is for him, because it would mean allowing another to die and like Hell is he doing that. Seriously, this one is so freakin’ overlooked.

6. Bread and Circuses/The Immunity Syndrome/The Tholian Web: Yeah three way tie cause they all have one thing in common: they feature his complicated relationship with Spock. The first one I wrote a whole meta about already. It’s a Spones analysis, but it reflects why McCoy himself is great in this episode along with all hos geneal grumpy snark throughout. Oh and the ending with him throwing a mattess at a guy… and he wins IIRC. Best underrated comedy moment EVER. With the second, he’s not at all happy with Spock being picked over him to examine the amoeba and that Spock may die. Their whole interaction in the hangar, McCoy waiting until the doors close to wish Spock luck, Spock’s seeming final words, and of course “Shut up Spock! We’re rescuing you!”. The last one of course has Kirk gone and McCoy is angry, grieving, and stressed with everyone losing their minds and Spcok pressuring him to fix it all at the same time and he takes it out on Spock. Then they see Kirk’s final message and we all know what happens after. All three do such a great job showing how much McCoy cares about Spock and showcasing how great they really are together, and not even just the shippy sense. Only reason they’re at six is because of how closely tied to Spock he is in those episodes instead of being the central character, but he IS still central in them and showcase some of his best moments. So I hope I got my point across XD

7. A Private Little War: The episode’s message is kind of… questionable. But ignoring thay, McCoy is the real freakin’ hero of this story. It’s only because of him that Kirk survived and he’s more than willing to contront him on his questionable decision making. Which is the very thing that Kirk brought him for to begin with. It’s one of the best episode to show how much he cares about Kirk and the lengths he’ll go for him. Oh and he kept Spock from dying along with Chapel and M’Benga. Thank God he has competent medical staff who can do the job without him XD

8. Journey to Babel: Okay yes this is a Spock episode, but McCoy is VERY prominent throughout. He’s both hilarious in the cold opening and we all remember his reaction to Spock’s ‘teddy bear’ XD. But he managed to conduct a VERY risky surgery that put Spock and Sarek at great risk if he screwed up. A surgery he’s never really conducted. And during a battle that causes frequent rattling to boot. He succeeded and the episode appropriately rewards him by allowing him the final word. It’s not only oen of the best episodes showing why he’s the CMO, but he’s just freakin’ great the whole episode.

9. Amok Time: Again it’s a Spock episode, but I repeat what I said about Return to Tomorrow: McCoy is the real hero. He’s the one who recognizes that something is horribly wrong, puts up with zero excuses, actually usus logic to get Spock to comply, and of course it was him who saved both Kirk and Spock’s sorry butts. They’d both likely be dead had McCoy not been there. He may have had the least screentime of the three, but he damn wel made up for it.

10. Operation: Annahilate: It has one of the saddest but strongest McCoy scenes. Through the whole episode he’s super protectice of Spock, running various tests to get rid of the parasites and trying to keep Kirk’s kid nephew alive all at the same time. Then he gets made by Kirk and Spock to risk blinding the latter… and DOES blind him. Then his face when the test result revelaed that he didn’t need to use an jntense light and being outright unresponsive when Kirk calls him later… just ouch. It’s one of those moments I wish it had gone more in depth, but upseide is we have haply McCoy by the end. Want proof of how much he cares for Spock and others? Here you go

And he has really good scenes in other episodes despite varying levels of prominence (Miri, Space Seed, The Galileo Seven, This Side of Pradise, The City on the Edge of Forever, Mirror, Mirror, Friday’s Child, The Ultimate Computer, Spock’s Brain… no seriosuly he’s the biggest bright spot in that and for certain S3 episodes tbh). It’s a HUGE shame that he was treated like the third wheel both in series and the films, and even now gets the raw end of the deal in popular media. But I hope that this was a satisfactory list Anon. Sorry it got all wordy and long, I can’t help myself sometimes XD

(Image Source)

[forbesjobs]

You’re at least 10 years along in your desired profession, considered an expert in your field, won awards and garnered praise from your cohorts, grown your career accepting new positions and challenges along the way. Now it’s time to take the next step to the VP ranks or C-Suite and seek out elite, exhilarating executive jobs.

As we all know, not all paths are direct, often they meander. But there are a few proven steps you can take to land those illusive executive jobs with great pay and benefits. Consider the following:

Establish your personal brand, narrative Do this now, before you start looking for your ideal executive positions. This is a multi-layered dynamic that entails both your professional experience and personal passions, volunteer work, family life. It’s a balancing act that combines your leadership and executive skills with warmth and compassion for the world around you.

Ask yourself a few key questions: – How would I describe my career path or arch as a 30-second elevator pitch? – How would I tell a longer version with personal anecdotes sprinkled in – birth of your first child, continuing education, milestones, etc.? – How do I give back to my community? How does it align with my career? – How can I combine all of these elements in an executive bio? How does that read?

[scientia-rex]

dr. kristophine complains ad nauseam about the financial realities of clinical practice in the US medical system under late-stage capitalism

All this bullshit with work is such an ADULT problem. God, I miss when my problems were less complicated. "We should have a 10% pay rate differential for less desirable shifts, such as evenings and weekends, and this should apply to Advance Practice Clinicians (Physician Assistant/Associates as well as Nurse Practitioners) in addition to physicians (MD/DO), and the organization has already acknowledged the need to incentivize these shifts by providing a pay differential for MAs for these same shifts." Shouldn't even be a question. It's gonna cost the clinic 80 bucks a week for the evening shifts and another 80 bucks for the Saturday shifts, and they'll make more than enough to cover that, they just don't like it because nobody's pushed back who had the level of institutional heft that I do as an MD.

This is what I mean by nickel and diming us to death: I make 92 dollars an hour (although since I'm salaried, that's just flat-out not even close to true because I work WAY more hours than the "32 clinical hours" that's considered a full-time workweek because they KNOW I'm working at LEAST another 8 hours of non-patient-contact time on paperwork and frankly it's usually a LOT more), and in an hour if I see two 15-minute visits and one 30-minute visit, depending on what services I provide, how I document, and how I put in the diagnostic and billing codes, the clinic could easily be making 300-400 dollars. Now, they also have to pay my MA, which is going to run them another 20 bucks an hour (because we're underpaying our MAs), staff the front desks, staff the billing department (who! fun fact! once threatened to send ME, A PHYSICIAN EMPLOYED AT THEIR OWN CLINIC, TO COLLECTIONS, after I had SPECIFICALLY ASKED HOW TO PAY THE CHARGES I ACCEPTED WHILE I DISPUTED THE OTHERS WITH MY INSURANCE COMPANY), staff administration (I guess they do stuff...), pay for the building, keep the lights on, buy medical supplies, pay for Janitorial, etc. So this is a LONG way from pure profit. But I am worth a SHIT TON of money to them. If I don't see patients, they can't collect. I'm one of 10 physicians at the clinic currently, if I have the math right, and since I've teamed up with 2 other docs who have been asked to work evening and Saturday shifts without differential compensation, that means 30% of us are now pushing for something that will cost admin very little comparatively and greatly increase satisfaction. (This is also why residents need to understand how much power they hold in their final year, when they're looking at being recruited--you can change a clinic's approach to recruiting. Not kidding. Ask them about what they're doing for racial justice, or LGBTQIA+ rights, and you can make them care, because you are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to them if they can recruit you and you stay. I probably see around 4,000 patient visits a year. Most will "cost" over a hundred bucks, whether it's the patient or the insurance company covering it. Do that math.)

I still think they're being SUPER short-sighted by not working harder to improve staff satisfaction among the APCs, because APCs have lower salaries than physicians and make damn near as much for the clinic, soooooo they need to get their heads out of their assess and MAKE NICE, because there's legislation pending that would make insurance companies cough up as much for APC visits as MD/DO visits. But admin did NOT like this advice from me.

Anyway, I've ruined my whole weekend stewing about the VERY nasty and emotional response from our CMO, and the fact that we have a contract negotiation meeting coming up Tuesday night, and the part where I really, really don't want to have to change jobs because I LIKE my peers and I LIKE my patients and I have a vested financial interest (my loan repayment program right now is contingent on this employment and ALSO I don't want to have to pay back my recruitment bonus), but also, if they try to fuck me over because I asked for 20 bucks a night extra when I work the late shift, they can kiss my ass, I can and will go work for our competitor.

Having power ALSO means having RESPONSIBILITY? What kind of bullshit--

[half--agony--half--hope]

Midlife crisis

I feel like I have been propelled into a legit midlife crisis over the past week.  I am very much at a crossroads and have no idea what to do with myself and my life moving forward.  Suggestions and opinions welcome…

Putting in a read more break cause I know my thoughts are going to be rambly AF cause my brain is just racing…

I have been living in the condo I rent for over 6 years now.  After the first 2 on a lease I extended the least for another year and have been month to month ever since.  There are updates needed here but the rent is well below the average for the city I am in so I just always tried to never bother the landlord for fear of a rent hike.  Out of the blue last week I got a text from my landlord that he is getting a divorce and needs to move into the condo so I have to move out.

While moving always sucks the timing of this is just so damn awful. My mom is retiring at the end of this year and we had a plan for her to sell her house and then use the profits as a down payment on a place together around the area I live now where she’d live with me as she ages but spend lots of long stretches up with my sister and her kids. With that in mind I don’t want to move anywhere I need a lease right now.  But also god the rent everywhere around me is just so fucking steep for what you get. It just feels like so much wasted money.

My other option is to move back with my mom for the rest of this year until she retires and we can then really decide where we want to move.  That opens up more options for where to live, but my mom lives about 75 miles from me so keeping my current job is not possible if I do that.

We had settled on buying in my current area because of my work.  But again I know housing is crazy everywhere but in So Cal especially it’s just fucking ridiculous.  What you are paying does not feel in any way worth what you get.  So would it be a good idea to broaden where we settle?

I am still waiting to hear if I get the manager job at work.  I still have no idea the pay of when my follow up interview will be.  Though I was told the CMO is the next person who will meet with me.  However, the day after my interview my current boss who is the corporate director for case mgmt announced she is quitting because she is moving too far to commute.  They have a replacement already but that would mean if I take this job now I’d be taking it and learning under someone I don’t know vs my current boss who I totally know I work well with. I am sure her leaving is part of what is delaying the communication in regards to the manager job but the longer they delay the more I have second thoughts about wanting the job especially when I have no idea what the pay will be still.

So do I keep this current job or do I say fuck it and quit and move back home.  I don’t think finding another job would be hard near my mom and I have over 6 weeks of PTO I would get paid out if I left to have as padding.  Of course dealing with health insurance if I quit would also be something to consider (thanks fucking America health care). But also my anxiety does not do well in new places which accounts for why I have worked for the same parent company since 2007.  It’s much easier to move around inside the company when there is always something familiar despite the new position.  Which also many waking away much harder. 

Part of what keeps me from just accepting leaving this job might be the right thing to do is how much the world makes you feel like living back at home is akin to failure. Like I already have to deal with feeling like shit all the time for being almost 40 and single with no kids.  One of the things I could be proud of was being able to support myself and my career.  It’s stupid and I know it doesn’t really matter but that shit gets programmed in your head.

The single and no kids thing is unlikely to change and I have mostly accepted it.  I know work shouldn’t be so much of your personality/worth but when it’s all you have had to offer it feels like it needs to be good enough.  I don’t even think I really want to be a manager but I feel like at this point in my life I need to be something more than a staff nurse. Which again I am aware is just so dumb.  I hate being in charge of other people and love just being responsible for myself and my patients or now cases.  So if I don’t take the manager position what do I do going forward?  I guess if I moved home I could take any old nursing job knowing it wouldn’t be long term.  Sadly I do actually quite like the exact area of nursing I am in right now even if I don’t love the way it runs in my organization.  I know for sure I don’t want to go back to direct patient care but am kinda open other than that.  I just want to still feel like I am making some sort of a difference since again outside of work I don’t really have anything to show for life. 

I have so much shit to go through at my place.  I just want to throw it all away.  I am paralyzed trying to get started on any of it. I think if I knew for sure what my plan was that might help.  

[illogicalpunkwrites]

Diplomacy

Hello! Hope everyone is doing well! This is another McCoy fic and I’ve got one for Scotty in the works. Enjoy and thank you so much for reading!

Pairings: Leonard McCoy x Reader

Rating: M (18+)

Warnings: Smut, cursing, jealousy, angst, fluff, the whole works

Words: 4.3k

Tags: @bloodangelballerina​ @theweepingvulcan91​

You groaned as you read the message from Jim, already trying to find a way out of it. 

All commanding officers were to go to a Gala on the metropolitan planet of TIbbea. Meaning, you’d have to dress up and attempt to kiss ass to uphold the reputation of Star Fleet. 

Fantastic.

XXXXXX

You sat next to Leonard as you sipped the brandy he’d pulled out from his cabinet, some oldies playing in the background. You and Leonard had grown close, surprising everyone by becoming good friends despite the rocky beginnings. Bickering had given way to teasing, but that wasn’t to say that the bickering ended. 

“So I take it you’re not looking forward to tomorrow?” He asked and you snorted.

“Absolutely not. They also still haven’t given me a new dress uniform so I’ve got to wear the most uncomfortable thing on the planet. Thankfully, it’s just black but I prefer slacks over that thing any day.”

“Hey, I hate that monkey suit. I think I’d rather wear a dress.” You laughed and rested your head on his shoulder.

“We can always switch.”

“Nah, I don’t think I could pull it off.” He replied and you two simply listened to the music. While ancient country wasn’t your taste, you had made Leonard watch enough of your movies that you owed him some of your time. “At least you can dance, right?”

“Can you?” He made a more or less sign. “I don’t really like to. I’ll stay near the bar and appetizers. Maybe you’ll meet some nice Orion girl to dance with.”

“I’ll just stay at the bar with you, darlin;. Maybe a Ferengi will woo you off your feet.” You snickered into your drink. 

“If they buy me a drink, sure.” There was a comfortable silence between the two of you, but you didn’t notice Leonard’s heart nearly beating out of his chest. You only noticed something was off when he dragged his hand over his face. “You alright?”

“Uh, yeah. I was actually wondering if any of the other officers asked you to be their...accompany them to the gala?”

“No, why?”

“How about you go with me? Seems like we both want the same thing of staying out of the way and drinking them out of the house.” He joked. You hoped he didn’t notice your cheeks heating up as you looked back down into your glass.

“Sounds great, Len.” 

Stars, he loved it when he called you that.

XXXXXX

The hall was ornately decorated with white walls and gold accents, a grand staircase, and breathtaking portraits of previous rulers of the planet. It seemed like it was something out of a fairy tale or a palace from Europe. Star Fleet took you to so many places but you never thought you would be in as nice a place as this. 

You squirmed a little outside of the grand hall, the straps of your heels digging into your ankles, the garter belt that held your phaser chafing against your other thigh. Nyota and Janice had a lot of fun helping you get ready, an unspoken giddiness between the two. When you probed them as to why they were so adamant about getting you ready, they simply smiled and said “no reason”. Luckily for them, Spock had chosen to take Nyota as his date and Hikaru had kindly asked Janice to be his. 

You had to admit they had done a great job but you weren’t surprised. Their makeup and hair were always impeccable.

You didn’t notice Leonard standing behind you and staring at you. He was in awe of how you looked. He always thought you looked beautiful but seeing you in your onyx gown was something else. It hugged you in the right places, showed off your shoulders with the loose sleeves, and the slit up your leg made you look like a goddess. 

Dear God you were going to be the death of him. 

You fixed your hair a little before you felt a tap on your shoulder. You spun to see Leonard in his dress uniform. While you knew he hated the monkey suit, he looked so handsome. His eyes were even brighter than usual and he had run just a little bit more gel through his hair. 

“Hello there.” You greeted. He looked you up and down and you ran your hands over the silky material of the skirt. “Told you it was awful.”

“What’re you talking about? You look...you look gorgeous, darlin’.” Your eyes widened and you knew he saw the blush on your chest and cheeks. 

“You don’t look too bad yourself.” He offered you his arm and you took it, walking into the grand hall and looking out for your crewmates. You took note of the many different races that were there and the line to great the king and queen. 

“Jim needs a chair like that.” You commented, looking at the throne that was decorated with the overarching symbol of the national Tibbean religion. It was imposing to say the least and you wondered if it would even fit in the transporter room. 

“What? So his ego can get bigger?” You both chuckled and made your way down the stairs and towards the bar. 

“I see we’re sticking to the plan?” You asked.

“Wouldn’t have it any other way. Old fashioned, right?” You smiled, loving how he remembered your favorite cocktail. 

“Yes please.” He ordered that for you and boulevardier for him. One of the bartenders quickly made them and slid them over to the two of you, the glasses heavy and almost a little gaudy. 

“To drinking them out of the house!” He toasted and you chuckled.

“To drinking them out of their palace.” You corrected. You sipped your cocktail and, though you had many before, it was the best old fashioned you’d ever had. “Damn that’s good. I gotta figure out what bourbon they used.”

“I doubt you’d be able to afford it, darlin’.” 

“Hey, if I take more credits from Scotty in poker I just might.” He scooted closer to you so you were practically resting against him. 

“You gotta teach me your tricks.” “What? And let you take away my credits? I don’t think so.” You responded cheekily. You watched as Jim approached the king and queen, supposedly thanking them for their invite and talking up Star Fleet. 

“It isn’t even a game for you anymore! You win every time.” He complained and you laughed.

“Doctor McCoy, I don’t play games. Poker is just a means to an end to be able to get everyone’s credits.” 

“Never took you for a scrooge. You can tell me something”

“I never realized you were so whiny.” You replied and his jaw dropped in feigned shock. “Oh shut it, you know it’s true. ‘Jim, I’m a doctor not a brick layer. Spock you realize this is impossible. (Y/N) you need to be more careful’. Dammit Jim can’t you-” He elbowed you a little and you laughed, his arm going around your shoulders. 

“You two certainly look like you’re having fun.” Jim said as he approached with the other members of the crew that had beamed down. You both sipped on your drinks as the others talked about how beautiful the planet was. Scotty was impressed with their liquor selection just like you were, Janice couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw the paintings, Nyota was in awe of the poetic music that played, and Hikaru was obsessed with the native plants that nearly glowed with color. 

“Please Spock, dance with me.” Nyota begged, already a little tipsy. She was always a lightweight, ever since meeting her your first day on the Enterprise.

“Of course, ashayam.” He replied and held out his arm for her to take and lead her to the floor. You and Leonard looked at each other, hardly believing the Vulcan could be so smooth. 

“Miss Rand, if I may.” Sulu offered his hand, Janice laughing as she took it. Scotty lead Lieutenant Mira, Jim grabbed Carol, which eaft you and Leonard against the bar still. You were feeling the effects of your second old fashioned and decided “to hell with it”.

“Len, come dance with me.” He sputtered into his drink and quickly wiped his chin. 

“Uh, I thought you didn’t dance.”

“I never said that, I just never answered your question. So will you dance with me?” You replied, placing your glass down and reaching to grab his hands.  “Well...Look darlin’-”

“I’ll dance with you.” A deep voice called. You turned to see a  Daliwakan leaning against the bar near you. “I’m Ivvoid, junior ambassador to the Daliwakans.” 

“It’s very nice to meet you.” You introduced yourself and your rank aboard the Enterprise. 

“Dr. McCoy, CMO of the Enterprise.” He introduced and you didn’t fail to miss how his chest seemed to literally puff up. 

“Come, Commander. Indulge in me a little and dance.” Before you could object, he grabbed your elbow and led you to the floor. His other hand quickly went to your waist as you stepped in time to the music.

“You have to forgive me, I’m not a talented dancer.” You told him sheepishly, keeping in mind you had to keep up a diplomatic presence. You wished Leonard was with you instead. 

“To be honest, neither am I. But who ever heard of an ambassador who couldn’t dance?” You laughed softly at him as he lead the little waltz you were having. You could practically feel Leonard’s eyes on you. “Who is the CMO to you?”

“What?”

“Who is he to you? Just a crewmate?” He replied and you furrowed your brows at him.

“Why do you ask?”

“Well, if I wish to get to know you better I would want to know whether you are spoken for or not.” He replied bluntly. You were a little stunned, something unusual for you. You didn’t realize that was a trait amongst the Daliwakans.

“Well, he is my date for the night.” You explained and you saw the ridges on his forehead raise.

“Just for the night then? You two aren’t together?” 

“Well no, I don’t suppose we are.” You replied honestly.

“Fantastic! You know, back on my planet women-”

XXXXXX

Nyota looked over at Spock’s shoulder to see Leonard still leaning against the bar while you danced with someone else. She knew that there was something going on between the two of you, but you were both too stubborn and blind to do anything. If he wasn’t going to do anything, she would just have to push him.

“Spock, let’s move near Doctor McCoy.”

“Are you planning something?” Nyota smiled up at him and he did as she asked. “Doctor.” 

“Spock, Uhura.” Leonard replied as he sipped on his third drink of the night. He saw how flustered you were getting and couldn’t help the pang of jealousy in his chest. 

“Leonard, why don’t you go over there? She obviously doesn’t want to be there.”

“What’re you talking about? She’s laughing at everything he says and hasn’t stopped dancing with him.” He grumbled. 

“Perhaps she is merely trying to be diplomatic. It’s hard to reject an offer from an ambassador.” Spock replied and Nyota grabbed his hand in a Vulcan kiss, showing that he had done a good job. 

“Nah, she likes him.” She looked over again and saw how stiff you were. Sometimes she really wanted to slap Leonard for not catching on to the obvious things. 

“Really? You think so? Maybe she just needs someone else to go save her, be assertive! Go over there!” Leonard polished off his glass and moved away from the bar.

“Nah, leave her be.” She looked up at Spock and he led her back to the dance floor, hoping to lift her spirits again. Nyota looked across to Janice who sported a disappointed look on her face.  XXXXXX

You looked away from the ambassador to see Leonard going back up the stairs of the grand hall. Your eyes widened and you mouth went slightly agape. You let go of the ambassador’s hand and, against his protests, quickly made your way through the crowd.

“Wait, Commander!”

“I’m sorry, I have to go!” You caught Leonard going around a corner and followed him, wondering where he could possibly be going. He went up another set of stairs and you followed, but he had gone into one of the many rooms before you could see which one. You opened each one, looking around, before you found a study. You saw his back turned towards you as he leaned with his palms against a desk. The window in front of him showing the dark purple sky with triple moons illuminating his figure. 

“Dammit.” He sighed to himself and you quietly closed the door behind you.

“Hey, I thought we were going to drink the entire bar?” You joked but he didn’t laugh. You approached him and rubbed his shoulder. “What’s wrong? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” He bit back. You stepped back a little but your hands didn’t leave him. “I’m sorry. Go back downstairs, have fun.”

“I was having fun with you.”

“You were having fun with the ambassador.” He replied and you rolled your eyes.

“He was cocky and dull.”

“You laughed an awful lot.” He scoffed. You pulled away from him and crossed your arms across your chest.

“Doctor McCoy, are you jealous?” You teased, but your teasing nature went away when he didn’t say anything. “Len-”

“Darlin’, I’m fine. I just need a minute.” 

“No you don’t.” He turned to see you. Again, he couldn’t help thinking how beautiful you looked against the purple light. “What’s going on? We were having fun, I asked you to dance with me and you didn’t want to, the ambassador didn’t even really ask just took me over, now you’re upset.”

“I never said I didn’t want to dance with you.” He said. “I just didn’t have the...”

“Balls?” He finally laughed a little at that.

“Yeah. He kinda stepped in before I could finally get some.” You heard the music lightly coming through the door and walked over to him, grabbing his arms to wrap them around your waist and you locked yours around his neck. 

“There we go. That’s better.” You said. He rested his forehead against yours and you closed your eyes. You swayed together to the faint music, breathing in his musky cologne and your warm and spicy perfume. His arms tightened around you so the tips of your noses touched. You opened your eyes to meet his gaze. While he was someone who didn’t particularly like dancing, he didn’t mind it with you. “You don’t have to be jealous, y’know.”

“Why’s that?” 

“Because I don’t want anyone else.” His breath hitched as one of your hands slid down to cup his jaw. 

“Darlin’, don’t play games.”

“You heard me earlier. I don’t play games.” You closed the gap between the two of you and kissed him softly. One of the hands wrapped around your waist went up to the back of your neck to pull you impossibly closer. It didn’t take him long to start kissing you back, taking your bottom lip between his. His lips were a little chapped but damn did he know how to kiss. You felt your entire body melting into him as every nerve ending fired. You had to keep yourself from whining when he pulled away. 

“I’ve been wanting that to happen a long time.”

“Me too.” He leaned down to kiss you again, fiercer this time as he lead you against the desk. His hands went up to cup your jaw as you grabbed at his back, the dress uniform’s scratchy fabric unpleasant against your fingernails. His tongue darted into your mouth and you welcomed him as he teased you. His hands started moving all over you, wanting to feel as much of you as possible. His mouth moved against your jaw, down to you neck and stopped there. Your breathing had picked up as he kissed against the juncture of your neck and collarbone. “Len-” You gasped out when he kissed, sucked the skin into his mouth. You didn’t care about the mark that would be left there as his lips pressed a soft kiss to the red spot he had created. He pulled away to look at you, his lips slightly swollen.

“Darlin’ I need you to tell me to stop if you don’t want this. I’ve wanted this for so long, wanted to kiss you, to taste you, to feel you.” Your breathing picked up even more as you were rendered speechless. “I just need you to tell me to stop and I will.”

“I don’t want you to. Please Len, don’t stop.” you whispered, pulling at the short hair at the back of his head. You leaned forward and pulled the collar of his shirt down and leaned to give him the same mark he had given you. His hand went to your exposed thigh, feeling the garter that held your phaser. “Always have to be prepared.” You joked, breaking some of the tension. He smiled and pulled the phaser to set it on the chair behind the desk. His hand slid up your thigh again and you jumped a little as he finally reached your panties. His fingers creeped in to find that bundle of nerves that was screaming for attention. 

“Shit.” He cursed when he felt how wet you were. He started slowly circling it and your hands went to his biceps, squeezing tightly. His finger moved away from your clit and into your core, quickly joined by a second finger. You were tight around his fingers and you wondered how tight you would feel around his cock. He moved his fingers around a little until he found the spot that made you clench around him and moan into his mouth. 

“Yes!” You sighed, his thumb going to rub your clit has his fingers curled inside of you. You messed with his shirt with shaky hands, trying to open it to feel at least some of his skin. When you succeeded, you ran your hands down his chest to reach for his slacks. You pressed your lips together when you felt the bit of wetness at the bulge. You unzipped his pants and pushed them and his underwear down his hips enough to free his cock that slapped against his belly. You both moaned to each other as you ran the palm of your hand over his tip. You encircled him and started jerking him off slowly. The coil in your belly was growing tighter as he continually tapped against you while rubbing the most sensitive part of you. While you always secretly admired his hands, you had underestimated how good his fingers would be. “Shit wait, I don’t want to come yet.”

“What do you need? Whatever you want.” He replied desperately. 

“I need you inside me now. I can’t wait anymore.” He cured under his breath and you bunched up your skirt so it wouldn’t get ruined. He pulled his fingers and you swore you could’ve come just from watching him smear your wetness over his cock. He wrapped one of his arms back around your waist with the other holding it, your arms going to grip at his shoulders. His cock caught at your entrance and he grasped the base of himself before slowly starting to push in. Both of your mouths dropped open as he sank into you with small rolls of his hips. 

“Fuck you feel too damn good.” You mewled as his accent came out even more. He finally bottomed out inside of you and he felt your grip tighten on his shoulders. “You alright?”

“Perfect, you feel perfect.” You two stayed like that for a moment or two, basking in each other before your hips started to roll as best as they could against him. One of his hands left you to grip the edge of the desk as he pulled out to the tip to push back into you roughly. You could tell he wouldn’t be able to hold back as much as he wanted to as your body bounced against him and the desk creaked underneath you and the fact that you knew the grip he had on your hip would leave bruises. You hooked one of your legs higher around his waist and he gasped out when he sunk even deeper into you. The angle allowed for him to hit the spot that he had found earlier and if it wasn’t for him you would’ve collapsed against the desk. You muffled your cries against his shoulder, still cognisant that you were at a gala. 

“Shit, darlin’ I’m not gonna last much longer.” You shook your head against him.

“Me neither.”

“Rub your clit, c’mon.” He groaned into your ear and one of you shaky hands reached down to sloppily circle your clit. He cursed and bit his lip when he felt you clench around him tighter. “C’mon honey, come for me.” Your legs started shaking around him and you felt that coil turning even tighter. “Please come for me.” He whined and you felt that resolve snap inside of you, tingling through every part of your body as your back bowed to press your breasts against him. He kissed you to swallow your cries as your body convulsed. He was soon grunting and groaning loader before you felt hotness cover your walls and his thrusts becoming shorter and deeper. His knuckles were blanched as they went to move your hair out of your face, feeling the imprints the lines of the desk made on his fingers and his breath puffing out against you. Your hands went to feel his pecs, to feel his heart beating wildly. 

“See? Told ya you didn’t need to be jealous.” You panted and he chuckled against you, the sound reverberating through you. He leaned down to give you a sweet kiss against your forehead and nuzzled against you. 

“We should probably get cleaned up.” He pulled up your panties and you stood up from the desk, squirming when you felt come slide out of you. “Maybe that’ll keep you from dancing with someone else.” You rolled your eyes lovingly and grabbed your phaser to put it back in your garter. You helped him look presentable again and kissed his cheek before going to the door. He grabbed your hand and pulled your back to his chest. “This wasn’t the way I thought that this would happen, but I’m glad it did.”

“How did you want it to happen?” He looked down at you and rubbed his thumb over the mark he had made on your shoulder. 

“I would’ve taken you out first once I’d finally gotten the courage to ask you out. Maybe I’d take you to a nice restaurant on a planet like this to get some real food, not replicated. I might take you to a place where you could see the stars because you love ‘em so damn much even though you’re constantly surrounded by them. I was actually trying to track down an old movie you loved so that we could watch it together. I was thinking I would make my move then.” You smiled up at him and played with the medals on his shirt.

“Those things can still happen, y’know. We can still do all of that.” You said. “I would really like to.”

��Me too.” He gave you another kiss before you both left the room, hoping you didn’t leave behind too big of a mess. 

XXXXXX

“Janice, I thought it would happen too.” Nyota consoled the yeoman as they wondered where the two of you had went. They had assumed you had both beamed back to the ship after realizing the other was busy either dancing or wallowing. 

“But it was perfect! It was just like those sappy vids! Pretty dresses, dancing, two people who won’t admit they’re in love! I just want them to be happy.” “Plus it doesn’t help that we have a bet going.” Hikaru interjected. “If they didn’t get together tonight then she owes me fifty credits.” Nyota shook her head incredulously. 

“You two are-” She stopped when she saw the two of you walk back down the stairs together again. “Oh stars-”

“Yes!” Janice celebrated. “Pay up, Hikaru!”

“Wait, that’s not proof of anything!” He whined. 

“Think again, hickey at three o’clock.” Hikaru leaned against the table near him and groaned. 

“What’s going on?” You asked and they didn’t miss how Leonard had his arm around your waist. 

“Oh nothing, we’re just about to toast.” They grabbed some bubbly by a waiter walking by. “To new beginnings and old bets!” Your brows furrowed but you drank from the flute anyway. 

You’d figure out what they meant later. For now, you relished being with your doctor and friends. 

“C’mon, I owe you a dance.” He said in your ear, leading you away from your friends. Unlike before, you assumed a more formal position with your hand in his, the other on his shoulder, and his other on your hip. 

“Glad to see you finally made it out!” Jim chuffed. “Must’ve had enough bourbon.” 

“Yeah, that’s it.” Leonard replied and you chuckled. Leonard’s eyes suddenly narrowed over your shoulder before you heard a familiar voice.

“Commander, glad to see you made it back! May I steal you for a moment?” The ambassador asked and you sighed. 

“No, you may not.”

“But-”

“She said no. Go chase an asteroid.” Leonard replied and you were surprised at the way he talked. 

“Excuse me?”

“Excuse us.” You replied and pushed Leonard away from the ambassador before a diplomatic incident occurred. “Y’know, we’re trying to suck up here.”

“Never was one for kissing ass.” He mused.

“Ah, always with that southern charm.”

“It got you, darlin’.”

[romulanfucker]

more crew members I thought of while in the shower:

- captain Dakota Todd:

TRANSPORTER CLONE AND PROUD!

They were born 10 years ago as the transporter clone of then-commander, now also captain, Dakota Lastnamepending.

They call each other North and South, lastname only in private because she hates it (secretly likes it, it was her idea), Todd in public all the time to piss off lastname.

they spent the last 9.75 years going by SD Todd because it'd be confusing to have two identical captains named Dakota Todd (#clonephobia but w/e) but lastname is FINALLY getting married to her boyfriend of like 12 years and changing her last name so she's not Captain Dakota Todd anymore and THIS Dakota Todd can take their name back

Extremely excited to be legally named Dakota again, they are trying to convince everyone to call them Captain Dakota bc it sounds soooo much cooler than Captain Todd but no one on the crew wants to break protocol and call a captain by their first name.

Haven't picked a species yet but I'm thinking not human but raised on earth/a near-earth colony. the name Dakota doesn't make much sense if they weren't.

Perfectly content to be piloting this dinky little exploratory vessel around thanks! Doesn't want to get into trouble or anomalies or any of that shit. God forbid they accidentally create a triplet.

"yeah the transporter made me transgender you should try it sometime"

Novya

El Aurian

Science officer

Grandma figure of the crew (she's well into her 900s) and she has extensive knowledge in nearly every subject you could possibly need

On the ship postdoc-ing after earning her 14th PhD in microbiology

50% of the ships problems are resolved by "idk go ask novya she'll know"

Unnamed Medical Officer

CMO by default there is literally only one trained medical officer on board

A handful of crew are trained in nurse duties and triage if need be but mostly they work alone. the crew is only 80ish so it's serviceable

No idea what species. kinda wanna make him ferengi. needs weird little freak energy to the max

very old for whatever lifespan we're working with here

used to be CMO on one of them big fancy galaxy class starship explorers, got too old for the job, retired, immediately was bored out of his skull and asked for his commission back but on a chiller ship

gets bored in medbay by himself a lot and runs fucked up little experiments to pass the time

"ensign I sequenced your genome to feel alive down there in the cold gray walls. did you know you're immune to Katarian measles? no? well you are. can I have a blood sample I want to try and create a strand that would give you symptoms"

[pointy-ears-kink]

Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Fic #01; prompt: Strangling

Characters: Ezri Dax & Weyoun 6

cw: violence, dissociation

Ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33471691

@badthingshappenbingo

“How is he?”

The rest of the senior staff turned towards Ezri. They’d been silent the entire time.

Sisko broke the tension. “Who?”

“Weyoun. I mean, they pretty much just turned against everything they’ve ever known and fled to the enemy side, the only thing that allows him to justify it to himself is Odo, and he doesn’t want them around. They must be pretty shaken up.”

“Probably, yes. Why?”

“Well… I’m a counselor. I figured I could talk to him. It’s my job.”

O’brien barged in. “Woah, wait now, I’m not sure that’s such a great idea-”

“They’re right, though. He probably needs it.” Julian interrupted him.

“I just don’t want them to get hurt!”

Sisko raised his palm. “I think they can handle themselves, chief.”

“I just think they deserve a chance.” Ezri tried to keep their voice firm. “Plus, it would also benefit us a great deal if we ensured he’s healthy. But, really, they must be miserable. Just let me help.”

Sisko sighed. “Well then. You may visit him once a day, for an hour. You pick the time. You are to meet with a security officer who will escort you to and from your meetings, during which they’ll wait outside-”

Ezri opened their mouth to contest but Sisko cut them off immediately.

“-and that’s non-negotiable. He’s still under the effect of the toxins from the fake suicide implant, I don’t want to risk it. Dismissed.”

They figured it could’ve been worse, and silently left the room with everyone else.

Weyoun 6 had been taken out of the holding cell and relocated to living quarters as they spoke. He’d only arrived an hour ago and was at first put in a holding cell, but Odo, albeit reluctantly, had vouched for him, on the condition the vorta would be confined to whatever rooms they’d be given for the time being.

All in all, this meant that at 2459 Ezri was on the habitat ring walking away from their quarters and towards Weyoun’s, accompanied by a reluctant security officer. They would have preferred waiting to be rested, but they were only allowed one hour per day, and since it wasn’t midnight yet they could still squeeze in an extra hour. It was a technicality, sure, and Sisko certainly wouldn’t be pleased, but they needed all the time they could get.

At 2512, they were standing in front of the door. They addressed the officer escorting them. “Again, I’m sorry about dragging you here this late, but it’s important. I’ll try to make it up to you.”

She didn’t look pleased but accepted the offer.

2513. Better get started.

Ezri took a deep breath and chimed.

“Who is it?” Weyoun’s voice was slightly shaky.

“My name’s Ezri Dax. I’m a counselor.”

The door opened. Weyoun was precariously sitting at the edge of the window, looking out into space. They spoke without turning their head. “What do you need?”

“I don’t need anything. I’m here to help you.”

Now he turned to look at them, his eyes barely getting them into focus. “Why?”

“Again, I’m a counselor. And I think you could use one.”

“I’m sure there are more useful ways in which you could spend your time.”

“But I chose to come here, so we might as well make the most of it.”

Weyoun remained silent for a bit. “What makes you think this is necessary?”

“Well, I figured things may be tough for you right now. You’re among those you’ve considered your enemies for years, far away from your own kind and the Founders, so I guess-”

The vorta practically hissed. “Don’t you dare speak of them!”

“Alright, we don’t have to talk about anything you don’t want to.”

“Listen, counselor, I’m sure you think you can do something good here, but you don’t know what you’re talking about so don’t pretend you can waltz in and solve everything because of some flimsy licence of yours.”

“That’s not my goal, I’m simply here to talk. It’s up to you how much you want to share.”

“But that’s just another way to put it, isn’t it?” Weyoun stood and started walking towards Ezri. “You make promises of safety, put up a façade to lure me into believing I’m the one with agency here. What for? What do you want from me?”

They were standing dangerously close. Ezri forced themselves not to take a step back, or raise their palms, or do anything that would be read as defensive and invite conflict. “I’d only like to listen to you for a bit to see if we can come up with something. I’m a counselor. It’s my job.”

Weyoun’s voice became a hiss. “I’ve already told you I’m not falling for your lie, either try a new one or tell me truth.”

“It is the truth.”

Wrong answer. His hands jumped to their throat, gripping with unexpected force. Instinctively, they grabbed their wrists.

Shit. Shitshitshit not what I expected.

What did you expect? He should’ve been killed like any other enemy. That was the Joran influence. It had been with them since they’d asked for his help.

This is so not the time for this. Shit.

So far, they had managed to keep the vorta’s hands from choking them, but they were starting to waver.

God, now what?

“They should regain consciousness any second now.”

Ezri could see Julian’s back out the corner of their eye.

“Very well.” Sisko’s voice. He sounded tired.

“The damage was superficial, luckily. Just some bruises. Although I think it may have been due to lack of will rather than ability to harm. Security found him crouched in the corner, completely still and uncommunicative.”

Ezri sat up.

“Ah, lieutenant. How are you feeling?” Sisko was facing them.

Julian turned around, a concerned look on his face.

“I’m fine, really.” They tried to sound calm.

“Ezri, you were strangled until you lost consciousness. Sure, it could’ve been much worse, still, fine is hardly the appropriate term.”

“I do feel fine though.” They took a deep breath, which proved more relieving than they’d ever thought possible. “Where is he?”

“Ezri, I’m not sure you should see him…” Julian looked uncomfortable.

“He’s in a holding cell, isn’t he? I want to see him.”

“Weyoun is yet to be dismissed by Dr. Bashir, lieutenant. It is up to our CMO to decide whether they’re ready for visitors.”

Ezri looked at Sisko, then back at Julian. “Please.”

He sighed. “When he was found, he was completely out of touch with his surroundings. They seem to be slowly getting out of it, though, and I’d prefer to leave them a couple of days to recover before receiving visitors. Since security dropped them off here they’ve only interacted with the strictly necessary medical personnel and I’d rather keep it that way. As a licensed therapist, I’ll allow you in, but I’d rather wait a bit. Pass by later, around 2100. Go to sleep now. You had better be properly rested by then.”

Sisko sighed. “Fine. But this time, you’ll stay in visual range of the security officer and are not to get within two meters of him.”

Ezri almost protested, but figured they weren’t in the position to.

“One hour, lieutenant- computer, what time is it?”

“The time is 2535.”

“-starting tomorrow.”

Ezri got the hint and retired to their quarters. Julian was right, they needed to rest.

“The time is 0600.”

…

“The time is 0600 and ten seconds.”

“Alright, alright! I’m awake.” They begrudgingly pushed the cover away and got up. Turns out, getting strangled didn’t ensure good sleep. Who would’ve thought.

Ezri fueled up on ratkajino and prepared themselves for the day ahead. It didn’t look like it was going to be simple.

Stepping out into the habitat ring corridor, they ran into Odo.

“Hi, Odo.”

He turned. “Lieutenant.”

He resumed his course towards the promenade, Ezri tailing him.

A few moments passed silently. They were struggling to keep up with the pace, but eventually they resolved to speak anyway. “So… have you talked to Weyoun 6 since you two got here?”

“I have not. I thought it best to give him space for the time being.”

“Right. I imagine it might be awkward for you, being around them.”

Odo harrumphed. “That’s one way to put it.” He glanced at them, then went back to focusing on the corridor. “I heard about what happened. I wasn’t there as I was in my regenerative state, but I trust my officers handled the situation appropriately.”

Ezri nodded, even though Odo wasn’t looking at them. “I didn’t see them, but yeah, I think so.” They paused. “Dr. Bashir is taking care of them. He said they’re recovering. They’ll be fine.”

Some more silence before Odo answered. “Thank you, lieutenant.”

“Anytime.”

They spent the rest of their commute in silence. Ezri made it a point to get through the day avoiding -and ignoring- the subtle preoccupied glances, the not so subtle concerned stares, and the straightforward worried questions. They managed, mostly; up until 2030, when they stepped in the infirmary.

Julian was standing by an empty biobed, reading something off a pad. He looked up when he heard their footsteps.

“Oh, hi, Ezri.”

“Hi. I figured I’d come in a bit early.”

“I’m glad. Since we have the time, would you mind if I quickly checked in with you?” He was already lifting a medical tricorder towards them.

Ezri figured it was only fair. He’s the doctor, after all; at the very least, if they got clearance from him, they could dismiss everyone else by reassuring them they’d been checked by the CMO himself.

After scanning their neck and respiratory system thoroughly, he put his tool down. “You’re fine.”

“Why do you sound so disappointed?”

He chuckled. “I’m simply worried about you. I guess I half-hoped to find an excuse not let you do this.”

“I’ll be okay. Now, where are they?”

Julian gestured towards the other side of the infirmary. “Observation.”

The same security officer as the previous night, one ensign McKenzie, was standing by the door.

They awkwardly waved at her. “Sorry about, uhm… everything.”

She shrugged. “Just doing my job. I intend to take you up on your offer, though, so don’t die, okay?”

Ezri smiled. “Okay. Thanks.”

And in they went.

Weyoun was standing near the wall opposite, his hands joined on his back, looking at the posters on the wall about the bajoran muscular system as if it was a scenery.

“Are you feeling alright?”

They turned to look at them. “Yes. I must apologize for my current state.”

“I can’t imagine having spent multiple lifetimes seeing us as your enemy makes this easy or you. You held back though, didn’t you?”

“I… did. And, counselor, I appreciate the effort, but I don’t think you can quite, imagine what that’s like.”

“I think I can though.”

He tilted his head to the side, a question in their eyes.

“You see, I am trill. Although I, Ezri, look- and, in a way, am- twenty two, the Dax symbiont I’m joined with is over three hundred years old. Which, I guess, makes me three hundred. I have memories from seven other lifetimes, and although I didn’t spend all of them leading a war against people I later asked asylum from, I can use my imagination and say, it must be hard.”

Weyoun mulled it over for a bit. “Trill, you say…”

“Yeah. That’s the name of my species. Point is, I kind of get what you mean. And I’m here to help.”

He lightly shook his head. “I don’t wanna risk another… accident. For the time being, I’d prefer thinking things over by myself. However, I’d be glad to keep seeing you. If I am to stay on the station, I’ll need to get acquainted with its people, and I believe having you ease me into it would be good for me. That is, if you wish to.”

They considered it. “Well, sounds good to me. You sure could use some friends. I guess you can consider me one, now. And, in case no one’s told you…”

They fixed their posture, assuming the most formal stance they could muster.

“...welcome to Deep Space Nine.”