#for the low low price you too can have a skin that will be banned

[kuroi-coffee]

Risen Legend Ahri~ ✨I'm only gonna look at her 😭but i still love her

[islenthatur]

Ghost was regretting saying yes the moment he stepped out of the car and into the chaos around him. His skin felt tight as he scanned the packed lot of people, fingers itching for the comfort of a knife or his gun. Everything within him was screaming that this was a mistake, that tonight was not going to go well.

But Gaz had convinced everyone of the 141 to join him for the concert, stating that he had won the tickets in a competition and didn’t want it to go to waste. Simon was never one for concerts, not since his father had dragged him to one when he was younger… had forced him to laugh at the dead… no Simon.

The only reason he agreed to go was because Soap, his Johnny was supposed to be attending tonight and Ghost wanted to surprise him. The mission he was on ended up finishing a week early and Simon missed him.

God if someone even dared to utter anything about Ghost caring for someone like he does Johnny even a year ago they would have found themselves at their end with Ghost’s dagger in their throat. But here he was, surrounded by people, in a place he never wants to be because the man he loved was to be joining them.

“Alright Kyle, you got us here. Who is it that’s playing?” Price asked with a tired sigh, this was also the last thing he wanted to do on his shore leave but he couldn’t say no to Kyle’s puppy eyes. Thankfully Simon was here as well, both of them can linger far, far back. I am too old for this.

Throw me into a warzone any day than a concert.

Kyle grinned as he led them towards the concierge desk where he was told to pick up his v.i.p tickets. “The Wulvers! They’re a military service based banned. They’ve been popular amongst the F.N.Gs and recruits for a while.”

“Oh, I’ve heard of them.” Price stated with raised brows. “Heard a song or two.”

“Da, as have I.” Nikolai stated his eyes still scanning the people around him with more interest.

Ghost let the world flow around him, letting the talk of his team surround him as he pulled the mask and hood around him tighter. He hadn’t received many looks surprisingly but as he looked around he took in with surprise he wasn’t the only one wearing a mask. He too had heard of the Wulvers, some of their songs on his own playlist when he needs to decompress but he forgot that they wore their own masks.

“Are you okay Simon?” Price asked as he fell back a step to walk side by side with his Lieutenant.

Ghost hummed low in his throat. “I am not overly fond of concerts, too many people.”

“We have our own seating area.” Gaz stated his eyes taking in the stiff frame of Ghost, the white knuckled grip and shifting eyes with a wince. “I uh- made sure of it when I got the tickets last month, apparently the band allocates small spots for military…”

Price and Ghost raised their brows in surprise at this but didn’t question it. Nikolai nodded with understanding, if he was part of a band that was mainly military service based then he too would set aside designated areas for those of service if needed.

“You said Johnny was going to be here?” Ghost asked once they made their way to the small closed off area, it was mainly three temporary walls about seven feet in height with a small gated front near the stage but off to the side, he also noted it was close to the doors.

“Yeah, he’s gonna be late, had somethin’ to do first but he’s gonna be here.” Gaz replied without hesitation or bringing to attention Ghost’s sudden nervous tone. “He’ll be excited to see ya Ghost, was mighty disappointed he had to take medical leave before you got back.”

A grumble escaped Simon’s chest, more of a snarl than anything at the mention of Soap’s injuries. Both of them got sent on separate missions, one that needed Ghost and just Ghost for infiltration while another task force needed Soaps’ expertise in demolition. He only got told the moment he got back that one of the rookies set off a trap and Soap had taken shrapnel to his thigh and burnt hands.

Nothing major but Soap had been hurt, his Johnny had been hurt and Ghost didn’t even know till he got back.

“Oh.” Gaz uttered in surprise, drawing their attention to the front where the band was getting in position. “S-Mac isn’t playing tonight… they have Ramshorn… he’s one of the original founders of the band. He took a step back years ago and no one knew why.”

Ghost followed Gaz’s hand to see who he was talking about and blinked, the first thing he saw was a cracked decaying ram skull mask that looked like it had been left to the elements for far too long, it was stunning… slightly morbid but still. There was something familiar about him that Ghost couldn’t place, he could swear that it was his Johnny but as he looked down to the exposed leather clad chest and saw the ink, he knew it wasn’t.

Because Johnny didn’t have a chest tattoo, let alone that took up the majority of his chest like Simons.

The crowd goes wild as the first notes of their first song began to play and Ghost let the world around him fade, his eyes focusing on the hand movements of the bands, the lyrics, the beat that thudded in his chest. It was anxiety inducing but yet somehow calming, it felt like the first rush of stepping of a Helo and freefalling.

We're steady on the blade

But our hearts are getting tired

Can't see it through the flames

Or the ringing in our ears

We're losing all the reasons for our hate

Have we gone too far to find escape?

Lay your weapons down

 Simon rubbed his chest where the fresh tattoo itched under his skin. Something in the lyrics hitting him hard and thinking of Johnny, of them. Simon had always thought he would be KIA, he honestly thought that’s what he deserved after all he has done but Johnny had showed him otherwise. Ghost was slowly becoming obsolete with the sunshine that was John MacTavish and really… he was happy to let him rest if that’s what the man desired.

 We are the warriors, who learned to love the pain We come from different places, but have the same name 'Cause we were, 'cause we were 'Cause we were, 'cause we were Born for this, we were born for this We are the broken ones, who chose to spark a flame Watch as our fire rages, our hearts are never tame

 All of the 141 were born to be soldiers, their very being made of blood, war and pain… all of them a little broken, they had to be to do the jobs they did. To do the tasks the higher ups pointed them at and let loose like the rabid dogs all the other soldier saw them as.

All of them were a little rabid.

Ghost flinched as the music peaked, the crowd screamed. He longed for Johnny, to be in the small flat only a few minutes drive from here where Ghost was told to go when he got back from leave but Johnny was coming here because this was a band he faintly remembered Gaz saying he enjoyed.

So here Ghost will remain.

Go find something you can hold on to

Find someone who will be there for you

Cause that’s all that really matters in the end

Find somewhere you can come home to

Find someone that will die for you

Cause that’s all that really matters in the end Is love, love. Love

 Something struck deep within Simon at those words, something he didn’t know was there. Love. Johnny knew Simon loved him even though the man could not say it yet, still terrified of the made up consequences in his mind but Ghost made sure to show his Johnny how much he loved him. How he would die for him, kill for him if asked.

He didn’t know what love could feel like till the Scot blew through all his defences like a well placed breacher charge.

He let the song flow over him, calming and pulling all the soft moments with Johnny to the forefront of his mind. A deep breath in and a sharp exhale had Price’s attention on him instantly, but Ghost was relaxed, he was calm.

“Now ladies and gentlemen,” The lead singer of the Wulvers uttered, bringing everyone’s attention to the man in the wolf skull. “We have news, unfortunately it is not happy news at all. As you can see Ramshorn has joined us for the first time in years instead of S-mac.”

A deep ragged sigh escaped the bass player in a deer mask. “You all know the reason why we hide our faces because we all serve in some way, be military, police or firemen. Ramshorn has decided to play tonight because as of three days ago S-Mac passed away from complications to injuries sustained in service… we played tonight in dedication because it was his last request and how could we refuse?”

There was a hush over the crowd, a growing sense of grief and mourning. The 141 didn’t know how to react as they took in the emotional scene with slight apathy. They lost people all the time, it was inevitable in their line of work and though it killed them all slowly with each loss… they let it flow over them like water. If they let the grief cling to them then they too would be consumed by the raging tidal wave.

“So tonight, we shall share his name as a request… we raise our glass in memoriam of S-mac… of Sergeant MacTavish my god have the patience for that chaos!”

Simon’s world crashed around him, he felt his legs give and arms catching him as the words. No, no, no, no… Johnny… it cant be please… please… He felt his lungs constrict on him, felt his heart aching in a way he had never felt before, as if it was being ripped out with bare hands.

“…mon… please son… deep breath…” Price’s voice filtered in over the roar of his blood, over the screaming in his head… was it in his head?

[cyborg-franky]

Watching Scary Movies With One Piece Characters.

Some more spooky headcanons for the season <3<3 I will take requests for others!

Marco

He doesn’t jump or scare easily.

He’s used to you if you are a jumpy person.

Nothing really gets him.

He’s one of those people who can work out a plot before it’s halfway over.

Will just hmm when it clicks and he’ll nod to himself.

Likes popcorn and coffee as movie-time snacks.

He likes supernatural horror best.

And monster movies.

Doesn’t talk during movies unless you talk.

Ace

Ace isn’t easy to scare but he’s jumpy.

If you jump he’ll jump, even if the thing that made you jump wasn’t what got him.

Comments during the movie, like, a lot.

All manner of junk food for snacks.

Lots of soda, full-on bowls of chips, and salsa.

Likes to cuddle you close.

Pretend you are scared, he loves to feel big and protective.

Sucker for gore and slasher. Also monster.

Izou

You didn’t think anything scared Izou.

You’d be wrong.

He hated gore, he hated scary stuff, he jumped and hissed when things made him jump.

He’d accidentally dig his nails into things, people, anything to ground himself.

He’d mutter under his breath fucking fuuuuck when something made him jump.

Izou would still watch horror movies, for you though.

He’d just jump a mile.

Thatch

Not a massive horror fan but doesn't mind it.

Likes to bake snacks for it.

Maybe a massive nerd who makes themed cookies.

Watching Saw? He’ll make you beartrap-shaped cookies for example.

Makes silly comments throughout the movie.

Just likes dumb jokes.

Seems to enjoy the cliche ‘this call is coming from inside your house’ type of ones.

Law

Sometimes you think he’s low-key getting ideas.

Is that bitch who will tell you That wouldn’t bleed like that.. Or make a huff that something isn’t that realistic. 

He’ll explain to you why that wouldn’t work, why that's wrong and it would take more/less time for someone to die that way.

Hates dumb characters and will bully them the entire time.

Also one of those people who guess the plot halfway through.

Doesn’t like many horror movies.

Ones he does enjoy are really well-written and intense thriller-based one. Gets in your head kinda scary.

Kid

He loves a good horror movie, he loves gore and blood and violent ones. 

He loves the ones where bad people get their karma.

Will cheer when idiots get murdered/killed/die dumb.

Likes slashers, gore, purge style movies.

Likes beer and chips during his movies.

Will cuddle you close because sometimes, just sometimes, the ghost, supernatural ones get under his skin and make him see movements in the shadows.

Bullet counter THAT GUN ONLY HAS 5 AND THEY SHOT 6

Sabo

Ones that take down a government.

Horrors that the worst thing about the movie is other humans.

Think your classic Dawn of the Dead, 28 days later, The Mist.

I apparently think he’d like zombie movies too.

Loves movies where the underdog gets their own back in such brutal glory. The I spit on your grave and last house on the left’s

Loves classic popcorn and Twizzlers and soda.

Doesn’t jump, doesn’t scare, he might pretend to jump just to make you feel less of a baby.

Has an obsession with horror movies banned by the government.

Mihawk

You might not think it but this bitch loves horror.

He will have a projector that he gets out and turns his entire wall into a movie.

Wine is a perfectly good movie snack and you can take your suggestions elsewhere.

He liked classic horrors, like the old black and white ones, the really old vintage ones that had a lot of Vincent Price in them.

Has a huge collection that has you like Oh wow.

Yes, he loves vampire movies.

Nothing bothers him or scares him, if you are bothered by anything it’s because you are a coward.

[didsomeonesaydaddydraco]

Drive me crazy | Tom Felton one shot (smut)

Request: yes, by anon. 

Word count: 3,017

Pairing: Tom Felton x reader

Warning: sexual content, PDA, daddy kink, swearing, oral sex (female receiving)

It started as a stupid bet, and neither of us would have thought we would make it so serious. A month ago, Tom saw a stupid video on TikTok, where the couple wanted to see how long they can go without having sex. And of course he wanted to try it too. We both found it stupid, and thought we’d break after a week, but after eight whole days, we found a way to make it a little bit more spicy. Tom would come up behind me and kiss my neck while I was making breakfast, or I would go and sit on his lap in nothing but one of his tank tops. Small little things that we knew would drive the other crazy. We both tried to break the other and win this foolish bet. At first, I was actually glad that he found something that could make the quarantine life more interested, but when we reached the one month milestone in the bet, I knew we were both at the edge of madness. I had to do something. My body missed him, and I wanted to catch on fire when we were in the same room, yet alone in the same bed every single night. I would have gave up everything just to get my internal organs rearranged by Tom.

“Babe?” I called out his name. I heard the calming melody of the piano, and knew where I had to find him. I went to his little music room and watched how his long fingers ran on the keys. Tom always knew how to use those beautiful fingers of his. He looked up from the sheet music that was spread open in front of him and smirked at me. He knew very well what he was doing and he enjoyed seeing me suffer.

“Yes, darling?” His voice was low and he stretched his words. I had to bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from moaning. My eyes wandered back to his fingers that were playing a faster song now. 

“We need to go grocery shopping and I thought we could go to the mall real quick” I walked up to him and hugged him from behind. I slowly slid down my hands on his shoulder blades, down on his chest and leaned to his ear. My lips brushed his ear as a whispered in his ear “I’m in the mood of a little bit of shopping” I kissed the thin skin behind his ear and gently scratched his chest with my nails. I felt his whole body tensed under my touch. I smiled to myself, knowing that he was as famished as I was. He was in my hands, and I wasn’t going to give him any mercy.

———-

We were walking hand in hand in the mall, enjoying that we were finally out of the house, even if we had to wear our masks. Tom was talking about a new trick that he wanted to teach Willow, and I tried not to pour cold water on him by telling him Willow hated to learn new tricks, because she preferred play time and naps with her Daddy. My eyes were scanning the shops and the shopwindow, trying to find something that I actually liked, but all my previous plans about buying some new clothes for spring, and some new hoodies for Tom were long forgotten when my eyes caught a glimpse of my favourite lingerie shop. 

“Come” I dragged him with me. I knew all his weak spots, and one of them being Italian lingerie. Lord knows how many of it ended up in the bin just after hours of purchasing them. They made Tom go crazy and brought out the raw caveman in him, which always left me shaking in bed and not being able to walk properly for days. 

“Didn’t you buy this stuff last month?” He asked me with tilted eyebrows. He could be so daffy sometimes “Or did they end up in pieces?” I laughed and walked in to the store, with Tom closely following me. I knew what I wanted and what I had to do to get it, and I wasn’t planning to play a fair game with him. 

I walked around the store, looking for the most beautiful, most revealing lingerie that I could find. I was playing with the different kind of fabrics, showing Tom, asking him to feel it himself and imagine how good it must feel against my skin. With each set, his patience was getting smaller and smaller, and his actions became possessive - always blocking me from other male costumers who were there with their partners. I was dancing on very thin ice, but I wanted to break the ice. 

“I’ll go and try these on” I kissed his cheek sweetly, dangerously close to his lips. I went to the changing rooms with a few new pieces of lingerie and waited for him to catch up with me “Be a dear, and hold my bag in the meantime, yeah?” I smiled at him innocently and closed the door of the changing room. I hesitated about my choice, but I finally settled with a black, lacy set with a suspenders attached to the bottom. I let my hair out of the messy bun and checked my reflection. I was more than satisfied with what I saw in the mirror. The lingerie fitted perfectly, my hair was wavy from the bun and it covered my shoulders. My face was glowing, I had a little red colour in my cheeks and my eyes were dark from lust and the fire in them made them look like they were shining like stars on the pitch black sky. I slowly opened the door, and leaned to the frame, playing with the ends of my hair as a looked at Tom, who was sitting on the sofa, placed right in front of the changing rooms. He was doing something on his phone, but he dropped it the second he looked up and saw me. His eyes turned black from icy blue in just a second, and he was on his feet. 

“So” I smirked at him, straightening up and turning around so he could get a better look at my chosen set “What do you think?” As a response, he pushed me back to the changing room and closed the door behind him. He threw my bag to the corner and pushed me against the wall behind me. His hands were gripping my hips and his face was inches away from mine. I could feel his heavy breathing on my skin and the burning of his gaze on my body. This was the exact reaction I wanted from him. I grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer to me. His chest was pressed to mine and his thigh was between my legs, brushing against my aching core. 

“You drive me fucking crazy, woman” he growled in my ear and aggressively bit my skin on my shoulder. He was clever. He knew this game very well, and he still tried to win even though we both knew he lost the second he pushed me back to the changing room. Game was over, and I won our bet. And I knew my price was going to leave me shaking, screaming and unable to walk for days after this but it was so worth it “I want to taste you so bad” 

“Fuck this” I said and pulled him down to me. Kisses weren’t banned throughout the bet, but this definitely felt different than those. We didn’t care about it anymore, we just wanted to feel each other again. 32 days of abstinence was in that kiss. I felt his love, his lust, his struggle, his hunger and his desire. Tom’s grip got tighter and his kiss got deeper and more demanding. His hands wandered from my hips to my backside, smoothing his palms on the shape of it and grabbing it with such force it made me moan into his mouth. With this, he had the perfect chance to slip his tongue into my mouth and find its partner and ask it for a dance. I let go of my grip on his shirt and slowly slid down my right hand on his chest, his stomach and even more slowly on his abdomen until I reached him. He was already rock hard under my touch, and that deep groan that I loved so much broke out from him when I gently palmed him. With my left hand, I dig into his hair and pulled it slightly.

“Darling” he moaned and kissed alongside my jawline, his arms holding me closer than ever. I felt like a goddess under his touch. Tom’s hands left my backside and ran up on my back, straight to my hair. He pulled my hair with his left hand to tilt my head back so he could look into my eyes “You did this on purpose, didn’t you?” His voice was deep and raspy, it was enough to push me into another dimension. Tom’s right hand grabbed my neck and held me in my place. He ran his thumb across my bottom lip and squeezed my neck gently, just how I liked it “You’ve been such a naughty little girl”

“Babe, please” I whispered and kissed his thumb, never breaking the eye contact. He was in my hands and I wasn’t letting him go so easily. Tom tilted his head to the side, his dark and dangerous side showing a little.

“Please what, princess?” He looked at me like a predator looks at its prey. My blood froze in my veins but blew up in just a second, under his gaze. I felt the heat rising between my legs and my knees seemed to be too weak to hold me any longer. Tom helped me to stay steady by locking my body between the wall and his body “Tell me what you want”

“Don’t be gentle” my voice was shaky. Tom cooed at me and brought his thumb to my lips, forcing it between my lips. I gently sucked on it and closed my eyes, imagining all the things I wanted to do to him and all the things I wanted him to do to me right there and then. 

“What else do you want?” His lips were on my neck, leaving wet kisses and bite marks all over my skin. He was trying to push me to my edges. He was controlling me, and I was happily obeying him, which turned him on even more. He lived for being in control and being dominant in the bedroom, and I was perfectly submissive for him “Say it, baby girl”

“I want you to push my knees apart and paint my thighs with purple kisses” my eyes were begging him. Begging for him to ease my pain and make me feel fully alive. I wanted to scream his name and hold onto him while both of us came down from our highs. 

“Such a good girl” Tom was satisfied with me. And when he was, he always rewarded me with something “Daddy fucking loves you” he whispered in my ears and let go of my neck, sliding down his hand on my chest, grabbing my breast, massaging it while his lips kissed me with passion and hunger. Tom’s hands were exploring my whole body, they were everywhere where I wanted him the most. 

“Tom” I whimpered under his touch. I was craving him and I had enough of the teasing. I was burning inside and needed him to let me cool down “Do something, damnit” he looked amazed by my sudden demanding and bold tone. His fingers finally found my genitalia and hummed at how wet I was already. He slid his finger in the black lace thong and stroked slowly between my folds, pushing on my clit to make me go crazy. He started moving his finger painfully slow on my clit, pushing on it harder  after a few strokes. He was fast to cover my mouth with his free hand to dim my moan when he suddenly pushed two fingers in me. Tom moved his fingers in a steady pace, not letting me to close my eyes. 

“Quiet, baby girl. We don’t want anyone to find out what we’re doing, do we?” He whispered in my ear and bit my earlobe gently. I nodded slowly, my eyes shutting at the pleasure of finally feelings his hands on me again. Tom pulled his finger out and brought it to my mouth, touching my lips with it “Now suck” he ordered and my lips parted automatically at his tone. He pushed his finger in my mouth, watching with a satisfied look on his face as a sucked on it “That’s it, darling. Now be a good girl for daddy and stay quiet”

“Yes, daddy” I whispered and leaned my head on the wall, closing my eyes and enjoying the wet kisses on my skin what Tom left on me as he slowly moved down on my body and kneeled in front of me. He pulled down my soaking wet undies and threw it to the other end of the changing room. He slid his hand up on my calf and grabbed my right leg and placed it on his shoulder. My hands found their way to his hair and pulled it softly when I felt his lips on the inner side of my thigh. He planted open kisses on it, biting on the thin and sensitive skin, sucking on it to leave his mark on my body for him to admire his work of art later. 

“So soft” he spoke in a low voice and kissed along my bikini line “And so wet” he blew on my clit which made me shiver from pleasure “All for me” Tom’s praising was melody to my heart and soul, and it just made me want him even more if it was possible. His lips pecked my skin, slowly finding their way to my core. I had to bit my bottom lip to stop myself from screaming a little when I finally felt his warm tongue flicking my clit and diving inside of my fold while his lips closed up on my clit. His hands were grabbing my thigh on his shoulder, and the other pushing my hip to the wall, forcing me to stay still. My back arched at the satisfaction and my fingers were tangled in his hair, pulling on it with every gentle stroke he left on me. 

“Look at me” I almost sobbed when Tom stopped for a bare second just to order me and bite on my skin again “I want you to look at me while I’m eating you out” I obeyed his order, knowing very well if I didn’t, he would have stopped “God, you taste so fucking good, princess” 

“Don’t stop” I whimpered and pushed his head back which made him chuckle darkly, but chose to give me what I wanted. He let go of my leg and teased my slit, drawing small circles, before spitting on it and pushing them inside without any warning. His fingers were hitting the right spot every time and he double my pleasure and joy with moving his tongue on my clit quickly. My breathing became heavier and quicker as I was getting closer and closer to reach my high. It was impossible to stop myself from shaking and pushing my lower parts to his face. He looked perfect between my thighs, with his fingers deep inside me and his tongue spelling the most beautiful poems on my clit, while his dark eyes drowned me in “Fuck, Tom” I hissed. He sped up the movements of his fingers and gently bit on my clit. The suddenly came slight pain pushed me to the very edge and my eyes rolled to the back of my head. I covered my mouth from moaning his names loudly. It was a torture, not being able to show how amazing he felt. 

“Come on princess, come on my face” his breath tickled my pussy as he spoke “Be a good girl and come for daddy” he bit my skin above my Venus mound. His fingers curved inside me, making me see stars from pleasure. He harshly sucked on my clit, pushing his warm and strong tongue on it to give me the full satisfaction. His voice, his look, the way his fingers literally conjured me and a month without having him inside me was enough to completely destroy me and push me to the land of pleasure. My leg gave up and Tom had to hold me while I rode out my high on his face. I felt his smile on my skin and he cleaned me up with his tongue, enjoying the taste of me. He slowly pulled out his finger and brought it to his lips, licking my juice from them and smiling at me darkly. 

“Get dressed” he kissed me sweetly, but I could feel the hunger in it “We’re going home. I’m not finished with you yet” he said and tucked my hair behind my ear “I want to hear you scream my name” he whispered in my ear “I want you to shake under me and beg for me” I swallowed hard, already feeling myself getting hot just by his words. He gave me my clothes and turned around to leave me alone to get my clothes back on, but he suddenly turned around before he exited the changing room “And I’m buying all of these” he said and grabbed all of the lingerie that were still untouched and hung on the clothes peg. By the time I was ready, Tom already paid for the different coloured and different styled lingerie and was waiting for me impatiently in front of the store. It was safe to stay, we didn’t left our bedroom for the rest of the weekend. 

[kashimos-hajime]

bottom of the bottle | g.r.

summary: gabriel tried to outdrink morrison. where does that leave you? his designated caretaker plus his girlfriend, you suppose.

WARNINGS: just something really cute, lots of fluff, that’s all, gabe is a big soft drunk pairing: gabriel reyes x fem!reader word count: 1.1k

part of the black and blue universe

It’s funny.

In hindsight, it’s really funny.

Currently, kneeling over a toilet as you run a hand soothingly down his back and make sure no hair gets in the way of his volatile vomit, it isn’t. Turns out partying isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and now you’re paying the price.

Well, Reyes is.

You’re designated caretaker.

“Your ego couldn’t have taken the hit?” you ask, amused as he groans, his hand on the rim of the toilet bowl. “Jack was already giving up by shot forty-two.”

“Got to ninety-seven,” he mumbles, hanging his head low in the toilet bowl and you reach over to flush the toilet. Grabbing the wet towel, you dot it down his back, down the small divot of his spine before he pushes back, collapsing against the steel walls of his quarters’ bathroom. His hair is loose, falling over his eyes, and you pat at his sweaty brow sympathetically.

“Men and your egos,” you simply say, trying not to laugh out loud.

“If it were anyone else besides you,” he says raspily, “I would have them fucking court-martialled and banned from ever seeing me again. I would serve them an NDA and a restraining order. I would hire a hitman and wipe their existence from the net.” He glances up at the lights, squinting heavily and you get up, stepping over his legs to grab the water bottle you nabbed on your way out of the lounge. Crouching down again, you smile fondly.

“I feel special, then,” you whisper, handing him the bottle and brushing hair back over his head. Kissing his temple, you move to get the bed ready for him to collapse in, knowing he’s going to need to be knocked out for a good few hours. Even with SEP, he’s going to have a fucking massive hangover. He downed like…

You can’t even do math. You’re fucking drunk yourself.

Pulling the covers back, you wriggle yourself onto the bed, shimmying your clothes off and unclipping your bra, flinging it into some unknown corner of the room. You roll onto your side, the cheeky smile unable to slip off your face as Gabriel finally stands, leaning over the sink with a repressed groan.

“You can turn off the lights if they hurt, babe,” you call teasingly, and he swings his head to pin you with a glare.

“I could punch you right now,” he grumbles, slamming his hand against the switch. Immediately, the bathroom plunges into darkness and you hear the distinct sound of the tap running as he brushes his teeth. You stretch in bed, just grateful both of you managed to make it through an Overwatch party in one piece. More often than not, there are insane games where every single one of them turns into a competitive asshole, but not this time.

Nope. This time, it was just a good old-fashioned drink off, time for chatting, and good food.

Thank God for that because you snuck out a few burgers and stuffed them in Reyes’ fridge for the morning. They’re gonna need something greasy after tonight.

Before long, the mattress is dipping underneath your company’s weight and you hear his heavy sigh as he lays down on his side. You roll over, stark naked against his half-naked body, and drape yourself over him, wrapping an arm around his chest and nudging your head underneath his chin. Instantly, his arm wraps around your waist, settling on your hip and his thumb rubs over you hip bone.

“Feeling better?” you whisper, tilting your chin up to kiss his jaw. He arches an eyebrow in the dim light, barely prying his eyes open to glance at you. “C’mon, baby.”

“Yeah, yeah. Feeling loads better,” he grumbles, tugging you closer. Your legs wrap around one of his still-clothed ones, your feet rubbing against his calf. Reyes’ is always so fucking warm. It’s the only reason you sleep naked sometimes. Just to feel that heat— “Cold?”

“Eh. When am I ever with you around?” you mumble, tracing his bare chest with a finger. You know every single one of the scars littering his body—you were there when he got some of them, and for others, he told you the stories linked to every pale little imperfection. There’s a bullet hole right near his heart, and your finger traces the circular mark. It’s darker than his skin, and you curiously dig your finger into his skin.

“Hey. Go to sleep,” he murmurs, his free hand coming up to envelop your prodding fingers. Fingers interlacing, he brings your hand up to his mouth and presses a kiss against your fingers, trailing down to your wrist before laying your palm flat against his face. “Go to sleep.”

“I’m not tired,” you reply, scooting yourself out from underneath his chin and putting yourself at eye level to him. His eyes open blearily as he looks at you, head tilted into the pillow. “But I’m not gonna have sex with you when you’re this… uh…” Your face screws up as you try to find the adequate phrase.

“Sickly?”

“Not sickly. Just… indisposed?” You wince at your own choice of words and he growls, nipping at your chin and jaw. He could easily roll over and pin you down, shift the waistband of his cargo pants down just low enough and take you easy.

You’d let him. You know you’re no better than he is when it comes to the charms of a partner.

But he doesn’t do anything of the sort.

Instead, his mouth flutters up again to your jaw, presses languid, warm kisses against your mouth, and you sigh. It’s heavenly, just simply kissing him, your hand curling against his face as your other hand brushes against his jaw. His arm around your waist tightens and he rolls onto his side, his free fingers finding the neck.

“Not indisposed, then,” you whisper nefariously.

“Not at all. But I’m exhausted.” He presses his forehead against yours. “Remind me never to drink again. I fucking know I can beat Jack at that shit.”

“Yeah. Ninety-something shots? Pretty fucking impressive.”

“That impressed you, huh?”

You laugh. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, it did. Why, did you do it to impress me?”

He kisses you again, heavily, slowly, like he’s drawing the love out of your heart. “Maybe. Maybe I did it for a pretty lady.”

Smiling against his lips, you feel the beginnings of a tired grin pull at his cheeks too. “Then, consider this lady in awe of your power.”

[doctorslippery]

1d50 Fantasy Rumors

In a bathhouse to the far south, there is a well that grants wishes to those who please the guardian Naiad.

The Lord of a nearby country has set an enormous bounty on the head of a wicked bandit chief. However the old folk whisper the bandit is actually the true King, having been spirited away in the night when he was but a small boy.

The dwarves of the Jarring Peaks only surface mine and refuse to go underground. Something terrible drove them from the deeper mines generations ago, and still rests there today.

A foreign dignitary repeatedly insulted the Governor, however this is because by custom speaking praise of someone invites upon them ill luck. An international incident is looming.

In the Hinterlands, defeating someone in a fair duel entitles you to their lands or their lives. The duels, however, have incredibly complex rules that are nearly impenetrable to outsiders.

In the eastern seaport, the bay is supposedly teaming with mermaids. Dangling your toes off the docks is a sure way to get their attention, for better or worse.

There exists a flower that blooms once a century in the depths of the Sparkleberry Swamp that can cure any illness, no matter how dreadful. A tribe of lizard folk have been protecting the site for countless generations.

The mausoleum in the center of the city’s graveyard refuses to remain sealed, the bricks always burst outward in the night. Nothing, however, has been seen going in or out of it.

The old hag who sells flowers in the market place is in fact a powerful witch, waiting for a prophecy to fulfill itself.

The old orphanage at the edge of town doesn’t house real children, but changelings who were discovered in the crib.

Gert the Butcher once got into regular rows with his brother Bert. Bert vanished a few weeks ago and Gert had a sale on delicious sausages.

During a New Moon, the tides dip low revealing an isthmus connecting to Finnegan’s Atoll. The very best pearls can be found in reefs, it is a race to find them first.

Hjalmar Bjornson defeated the evil conjuror Illhugi and took residence in his tower. Recently, however, dark things have been coming from the tower again.

Cattle has been disappearing recently from local fields, a crime that the thieves’ guild refuses to claim. The town fool claims they are being abducted by invisible creatures for their heinous rituals.

The baron’s daughter is set to marry the heir of a neighboring fiefdom. Her maidservant, however, claims she plans to elope with the captain of the Guard, Providence Blanchard.

The Gleaming Desert gets so hot during the summer months that whole areas melt into glass. A local alchemist thinks if conditions are right a huge and perfect lens could be created.

The White Forest is so called for the strange, color draining sickness that affects the animals within. Farmer Gregor claims, however, to have seen a giant black stag with glowing rainbow antlers.

A pair of river traders have brought a new, powerful and addictive medicine which they initially gave away for free. However prices have risen and addicts have taken to increasingly aggressive acts of robbery to fuel their addictions.

Gloria Haversham is a tinker who travels the countryside in her one donkey cart. People say she can fix absolutely anything, but her prices are never in mere coins.

Word on the street is that the fireworks prepared for the New Years celebration have been tampered with and their glowing bursts will in fact place a hex on the city.

A new tattoo artist from the far west has set up shop, creating beautiful works of art on their patron’s skin. They’re almost too lifelike.

Parents always told their children that the Weeping Man would take away naughty children on full moons, but recently children have actually started going missing and the bogeyman has turned into hysteria.

The Wizard-Archeologist Philipa Saint-John claims there is a lost ziggurat buried in the permafrost of the Karngorm Tundra, she just needs the funding and manpower to uncover it.

Jenny Greenteeth has haunted the swamp since time out of mind and the locals now live in a tenuous peace with her. However a rich merchant has brought in foreign workers to fill the swamp and build a road.

The Count’s fortune was read in tea leaves last month. He was so horrified by the prophecy that he banned all fortune tellers and all tea from the county.

A giant hand made of an unknown metal was uncovered by flash floods in the hills.

Migratory patterns have shifted, taking game away from the barony. Something is happening up north that is scaring all the animals away.

The cats hold a monthly sabbath where they make reports to their true master.

The border marauders have been getting more bold after their leader uncovered a trove of strange weapons that fire burning light.

Stay away from the harbor on misty nights, that’s when the ghost ship and her dread captain looks for new crew to take aboard.

13 O’Clock, the Witching Hour, only strikes for those who know to listen for it.

The King in Chains, an especially rowdy tavern, has a terrible rat problem, but for some reason the landlord refuses to do anything about it. He also despises cats.

The Patron Saint of Thieves famously stole themselves right out of the hangman’s noose as they dropped. It is said the holder of that noose cannot be barred by any locked door.

A truly massive thunderhead has been passing back and forth across the plains for weeks without a drop of rain. The locals have taken to calling it the Thunder Anvil.

The city on the other side of the mountain throws a truly spectacular street celebration each year. Its participants, despite the fireworks, feasts, and music are all masked and silent.

A powerful noble was cursed in her youth to never be able to eat the same meal twice. She is elderly now and is desperate for truly exotic ingredients for her increasingly bizarre diet.

The old barrows have always been a haunt of fairies and their mischief was mostly benign. A necromancer recently desecrated those ancient tombs and the fairies have gone berserk.

A travelling circus filled with exotic animals of all kinda passed through last year, however a fire at the big top consumed it. Strange trumpeting and growling are still heard from the village green.

Theodore Goldfinch, the secretary of the magistrate, ran screaming out of the courthouse last week claiming he uncovered a snakeman conspiracy.

“The Slithery-Dee came out the sea, he ate all the others but he didn’t eat me,” claimed the only survivor of a fishing village, found covered in blood and holding a notched whaling hook.

There is a deaf musician who wanders the south who knows a tune terribly sad that those that hear it die of a broken heart. They say the musician is in fact a master assassin.

Giant petroglyphs cut across the shrublands where the sheep graze. The wizards claim that the petroglyphs have actually been walking across the land at geologic speed.

Everyone ties a ribbon with wishes on it to the Angel Oak, hoping they’d come true. Sometimes, they actually do!

Keep a ring of iron in your left pocket when you travel the road at night, otherwise the Wyld Hunt will turn you to a beast and hunt you till morning.

Anyone who dies without fulfilling a contract is damned to rise against to complete it. It is important to burn or transfer contracts to avoid terrible revenants.

After a long bender that the PC barely remembers, their wanted poster has been pasted across the land for the kidnapping of a rich silk merchant’s son.

A bat covered in gold dust was found in the church’s belfry, setting off a rush searching all the local caves for a rich vein.

A strange light was seen pouring out of the canyon in the night and no one who has gone to investigate has returned.

Sir Zoray and his band of knights were tasked by the High Priestess to seek a holy artifact to cure a terrible wasting illness. They were last spotted spending their gold the the most expensive brothel in an eastern city.

A wingless wyrm was spotted swimming through the Frothy Run River and coins of foreign make were later found on the pebbly shore.

[snowbird-down]

Sixth Sense

The weirdest thing about waking up that day was that nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. Laelia had gone to bed sober for once – well, that was more common these days with Valeriaux’s gentle influence – and she’d not had any out of the ordinary dreams. The day before had been as good and productive as it ever was, with her making her usual Gridanian rounds before returning to where she’d hidden the Delphinus in the woods. She’d brought back extra treats for Brutus who, now fully-grown, consumed meat like a dragon. Seeing him happy always made her happy.

And sure, Val was away in the Gentry Ward on business…the kind of business that she couldn’t really help with. Laelia knew when she and her lack of social grace would only be a detriment to her lover. It didn’t bother her any. Besides, she’d had plenty of her own fun recently with Vicky and Max, even if it had ended with her getting banned from the Gold Saucer.

No, today should have been a day like any other, but instead Laelia woke up feeling spooked. She couldn’t quite figure out why until she pulled on a pair of well-loved cargo pants and a tank top and sauntered outside.

The forest hadn’t changed. Not really. But through her third eye Laelia could tell that the shadows were not where they normally were this time of day. It took a bit of staring through it before she realized that every tree around her was leaning ever-so-slightly to the south. The shift was so subtle that she couldn’t even really tell when looking with her ‘regular’ eyes.

But in this forest? She knew that meant something.

Thankfully Quixia appeared on cue, her little leaf-wings buzzing merrily as she wove her way into the clearing. She was carrying a covered basket in her stick-arms and looked thoroughly frazzled.

“This one is so sorry!” she called. “This one found such a good sunny spot that this one slept late! But this one remembered the glamour powder!”

“Hey, it’s alright.” Laelia slanted a smile and reached to relieve her of her little burden. “It’s not a huge deal, I just like having it for places where I can’t wear the hat.”

“Oh this one knows!” Quixia nodded. “And smoking one has done so much for these ones! It’s the least these ones can do.”

That gave Laelia an idea. “Your purple cousins getting all antsy lately…is that related to the trees?”

Quixia tilted her head. “Smoking one can Hear?”

“Heh! Nah. But I can see things, sometimes. The trees are…I dunno. Different today.”

The sylph nodded. “Oh yes. A tower appeared in the south! Something is very, very wrong.”

“A tower.” Laelia furrowed her brow. “What do you mean? What kind of tower?”

So Quixia described it to her. Sylphs were not known for being meticulous, but something about the picture she painted left Laelia’s hair standing on end. It was less so that the tower had apparently appeared out of literal nowhere (although that certainly bothered her too) and moreso that it sounded like…

“I don’t suppose they know who built the tower?” she asked.

Quixia bobbed in place a bit. “The walking ones say it must be the iron ones who did it.”

That didn’t make sense either. Van Baelsar was dead, Ala Mhigo lost, and – last she’d heard from what few contacts she had left – another civil war had broken out. Garlemald wouldn’t have any designs on Eorzea now of all times.

“…Quixia, I’m gonna have to ask another favor of you. I’m going to need a lot more glam powder.” Laelia turned to gesture at the Delphinus. “Like, a whole lot.”

“Hmm.” The sylph considered this. “Very well! But smoking one will have to pay a heavy price for so much powder.”

“Name it.”

“Smoking one must dance with all of these ones.”

Laelia groaned.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 “Welp.”

Laelia stared out the window. The tower looked as though someone had torn the spine straight out of an eikon and thrust it into the earth, whereupon it bled red light into the sky. There was nothing about it that looked magiteknical, nothing that displayed Garlemald’s cultural hallmarks in its construction. Why in the world did the Adders think this was the Empire’s doing?

“Just because it’s black and red doesn’t make it Garlean…” she muttered.

Brutus shifted behind her. He had trouble fitting in the cockpit these days but wanted to always be close. The pugnax turned in place half a dozen times and finally flopped against the back of her chair. She definitely wasn’t getting out anytime soon.

Laelia tried pinging the tower; it showed up on her radar but the sonar waves distorted once they got close to it. The aethernometer couldn’t make sense of it, let alone pinpoint a local power source – in fact the system was convinced that the tower was not a tower, but rather a mass gathering of thaumaturges. Though she hovered malms away from the construct, her dashboard twinkled festively with various warning lights:

 WARNING: ANTI-AIR DETECTED

WARNING: INCREASE ALTITUDE

WARNING: SECURE CARGO

 Brutus stirred restlessly behind her with a low complaint.

More questions than answers. Laelia frowned and reached for the Vox, idly scrolling through frequencies. Out here she was lucky to catch anything that wasn’t static, but perhaps if the tower was broadcasting something, she could—

A sudden grating noise nearly sent her shooting out of her seat. Brutus began to bark and howl.

The pilot stared at her dash. There, at 4625 kHz, she’d managed to capture some sort of signal. It wasn’t anything per se, just an awful, terrifying, inhuman sort of buzzing sound that droned on and on with perfect repetition. Something about it was like claws digging into her flesh, just under the skin. It was empty. Haunting. Threatening.

Laelia switched the Vox back off. Brutus calmed, did his turnaround routine again, and laid back down – but the tawny, wiry hairs on the back of his neck remained standing, and he did not go back to sleep. “What the fuck…” Laelia whispered.

 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 She couldn’t sleep that night. Any time she closed her eyes the droning sound raked across her mind. This time the nightmares did come, of fire raining from the skies as Garlemald burned. But that was impossible. Try as she might, try as everyone might, nobody could topple the Empire.

So why couldn’t she get those dreams out of her mind? Why did they march hand in hand with that awful sound? Why did she suddenly feel so protective of the home that had betrayed her?

Because it’s still home… she thought, staring at the far wall.

Her family. She had no pictures of them, only the images in her mind. Dysfunctional though they all were, they’d still had happy times – days when flour fights would break out in the kitchen, days when Mater came home with sweets, days when the sun was actually out. Namedays and holidays. Snow days that kept them all home from school.

Irene had been missing for three years now. Tacitus was always busy teaching. Marcus had started a family and Elaria was abroad. Mater and Pater had been forced to hire local teenagers to help serve in their place, as they were forever too busy for everything while the restaurant slowly grew. Nonna and Papa still commanded the kitchen.

They were safe, all of them. Even Irene. They had to be.

They had to be.

And yet the next day Laelia found herself setting out again, her ship still glamoured to look like an Ironworks vessel. This time she flew east out to the Wall, to a Vox booster she knew still worked. There were a few Populares who, like her, had fled to Aldenard -- a few who still had eyes in the capital. A quick check-in would put all this to rest.

Laelia had done this a dozen times before already. She ran the proper cables to and from the Delphinus, attuned to the right frequencies. One by one she went through the callsigns she knew. VULT did not answer. IGNIS did not answer. TEMPUS did not answer. Nobody answered.

Only the buzz answered. No. No, she was imagining that part.

Laelia remained until the sun began to go down and a patrol departed from Castrum Velodyna in her direction. She hastened to disconnect the Delphinus and vanish back into the Shroud, knuckles white on the helm the entire way. She’d have to try tomorrow, of course. And the day after that if need be. They weren’t always at their Voxes, but they would be. She just needed to be patient.

It was fine. This was fine. Everything was fine.

It had to be fine.

It had to be.

[kittymsmithwritesstuff]

Commission: Surprises

A Valorant commission for @sr-023! Was fun to write. :3

If you’re interested in commissions you can find my prices here: (x)

Tags: fluff, humor, light angst, people cooking together. Platonic Viper/Jett getting to know each other a little bit more in the kitchen.

Word count: 2413

-----

“Oh my God, you cook?”

Viper without her mask gave way to several emotions Jett forgot she was capable of. Like amusement. “Yes. And I eat, too.”

“Wow! I never would have guessed. I thought you subsisted on like, diluted snake venom and children’s tears.”

Viper rolled her eyes, peeling a potato in one smooth movement, leaving a curl of peel to fall into a bowl. “It was Breach’s turn to cook. I don’t know about you, but snake venom is far more palatable than lutefisk.”

Jett couldn’t tell if she was kidding or not. “You’re just secretly a sweetheart.”

Viper twirled the knife in her hand and pointed it at Jett, mouth a hard line. “Don’t push it.”

Jett shrugged it off smoothly, hoping she didn’t see the stutter of nerves in her shoulders. She looked over the kitchen island-thawed meat, potatoes, green beans that looked like they must have come from a garden, except there weren’t any gardens on the compound that she knew of so...beans-of-mysterious-origin. And all of it in huger quantities than needed to feed the compound. How very American.

And there was Viper in the middle of all of it. Peeling potato after potato in a silent kitchen, a bowl filling with impeccable ribbons. She wondered where she might have learned to peel a potato like that. Like, that totally wasn’t a master poisoner skill, right? It was like a housewife or a hobby cook that was…really into peeling potatoes. Given she was usually taken with annoying Viper, and Viper in turn was taken with threatening her life with any method that violated the Geneva Convention, the fact she hadn’t already kicked her out must have meant she was in an unusually gregarious mood.

And maybe Jett was in her own kind of mood from witnessing the phenomenon of the great mighty Viper being distinctly un-snakelike. She glanced at all the food again, rocking from heel to toe. “Can I help?”

“Yes.”

“Great! How?”

“By leaving until I’m done.”

Jett rolled her eyes, coming to the other side of the island, out of stabbing distance. “C’mon, please?”

Viper stopped mid peel, nicking the skin so it fell, unfinished. She looked at it like it had cut in front of her in line, but it was too public to make a scene. Her eyes flicked up to Jett, who spread her palms over her heart. “I’m good with knives!”

Viper looked from her to the meat, then back again. She sniffed. “You may cut the beef into steaks, if you insist. Inch and a half.”

She almost buzzed, throwing one of her knives up to hover beside her and quickly washing her hands. She wasn’t super into cooking usually, but it was kind of like getting to see the lions actually up and wandering around at the zoo instead of just sitting there and waiting for their next meal. Very aware of the eyes on her, she grabbed her knife from the air, adjusted the meat on the cutting board, and slowly started cutting down into it, trying to channel every lesson her dad ever gave her in the kitchen, all of which she’d ignored so she could go back to doing literally anything else.

Evidently, she wasn’t channeling them very well, as there was soon a knife clattering over the counter toward her. She jumped, half expected to get stabbed, but the knife rested a foot away. She looked up at Viper, who looked absolutely pained. “Use…use an actual knife.”

“This is a knife?”

“It’s a throwing knife. The blade is five inches at best. That is a chef’s knife.” She went back to the potatoes, though somehow Jett still felt her eyes on her. Maybe she had false eyespots like a moth and her real eyes were on her forehead. She palmed the handle, tilting the blade so it glinted in the stark kitchen light, then lined it up and finished cutting the steak-smooth, easy, like butter. She looked over at Viper.

“Good,” she said. She was still peeling potatoes. How many potatoes were there? “Set it on the plate. Use the seasoning there. Not too much.”

Jett snorted, setting the meat aside and using her meat-juice covered hand on the unlabled spice shaker. “Yeah okay, Mom.”

There was another nick, a potato peel falling half done. Jett could see her muscles tense-her whole body, in fact, went rigid, but as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone, and the knife was steadily scraping against the potato again. She could have imagined it. This was Viper after all, the same woman that once “accidentally” bumped her into a poison pit because Jett had been “annoying”.

And yet…

She shrugged, flipping and seasoning the other side of the steak, apparently to her cooking neighbors satisfaction, and then went ahead and cut the next steak, seasoning and flipping it, leaving bloody lines on the seasoning bottle until she realized just how unsanitary that probably was, and got the idea to clean it, then grab a paper towel and fold it over a few times, wrap the bottle and tape it. Viper raised her eyebrows. “I don’t think I’ve seen you do something so smart.”

Smart? She just called her smart? Sure, it was backhanded, but she’d never heard her call anybody smart. Especially not her. She threw on a British accent as she said, “don’t need anymore bloody spice shakers, huh?”

She hummed. But it could have been a laugh. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard a British person sound like that.”

“Phoenix said if I ever try to do the accent in his presence again he’ll set me on fire.”

“As is his right.”

Jett snorted, returning to her cutting and seasoning. “You’re not…wrong.”

Viper finally finished her unholy pile of starch and set up two pots of water to boil the approximate 230,000 potatoes, give or take a half dozen. Jett finished her own job and set the steaks up on pans to broil, Viper taking over from there and telling her to “get the beans ready”. Considering she’d only ever eaten green beans straight from the can at 2am this was a bit of a difficult task. Difficult, unfamiliar tasks tended to make her nervous. But Jett wasn’t about to be shown up by some beans.

So she confidently put the burner on high, grabbed a handful and dropped them in the water once it was boiling, thus splashing water over burners, herself, countertop and floor, sending up a grand sizzling equitable to the sounds of demon laughter bubbling up from hell. She yipped, jumping away, in doing so smashing into Viper, who almost slipped on the water, caught herself on the counter and flicked the gas off.

The look she gave Jett could have boiled the ocean.

“Get out.” She said. Low, dangerous, like the buzz of a rattlesnake’s tail.

Jett scurried backward, tapping her hip to count how many of her knives she still had on her as her calf knocked against a chair at one of the circular dining tables in the room. She sat in it, not entirely sure as to why. Probably because Viper hadn’t straight up killed her, and she had the self-preservation instincts of that rat from Ratatouille.

She watched from her seat, how she moved around the kitchen as if on a breeze, smoothly following the curve of the wind, twirling between the meat and the potatoes, setting up the beans by gently placing them into the pot (which, in hindsight, was definitely common sense that Jett…apparently didn’t possess). The beautiful potato skins were tossed in one large bowl and covered with water, then a timer was set. It felt like watching an artist, spawning a question in her head.

Viper saw her staring and glowered. “Why are you still here?”

Her feet fidgeted, and she clasped her fingers together to avoid tugging at her hair, like her Mom had taught her. Better to look pensive than apprehensive. “Were you a chef?”

Viper stared, glower softening to a neutral expression tilting towards surprise. She glanced back towards the kitchen, slowly crossing her arms under her chest. “Why would you ask that?”

“Well, cooking is like, a form of chemistry, right?” She pulled the only fact she’d ever retained from Home Ec out of her ass, hoping and praying it worked, cause otherwise she was probably going to be banished from the room…and maybe dinner. Man, she really hoped she wasn’t banned from dinner.

Thankfully, the wind blew in some luck. “I was a double major at University of Washington. Culinary Arts and Chemistry.”

She let herself smile, just a bit. “So, you’re good with knives, too.”

“You could say so.” She was eyeing her, and instead of sitting in the chair across from her, she leaned against the nearby wall. “Did you have any training with your knives?”

Jett was surprised she’d bothered to ask. “I taught myself. Since I was a kid.” She leaned back and swung her hand casually, swirling a knife into the air to illustrate her point. “My mom wanted me to go to college but, like, I can control wind with my mind, so that sounded kind of lame.”

Viper cocked her head to the side. “So, your powers, it’s all mental manipulation?”

Jett shrugged slightly. “I mean, mostly. I also gotta like, move my hands and legs and stuff. But I mostly just think about it. Or don’t-like it’s natural now, like walking or breathing.”

“Fascinating,” she said with a thoughtful tone, returning to the food. Somewhat hesitant, Jett joined her, at a respectful distance. She stabbed the potatoes, and apparently that meant something because she drained them immediately after, chucked in some butter and started sprinkling some salt and pepper and beating the living shit out of them with a hand mixer. She noticed Jett standing and nodded toward the sink. “Make yourself useful and drain the potato skins. Toss them in the bowl with olive oil and the spice mix and put them on a pan in the oven.”

She blinked, then shrugged and slipped around her. Now that she was pretty sure she wasn’t going to get speared through, or find her way into another poison pit, she decided she…sort of liked working with Viper in the kitchen. She was rude but she also was sort of…normal? As normal as she was capable of being? She did as directed, coating the skins until they looked unhealthy and chuckling as she threw in the spices. “Y’know, I probably should have asked if this was poisoned before I put it on.”

Viper huffed, turning off the mixer with a click. “Please, not everything I do involves poison. I wasn’t born with, with tubocurarine dripping from my fingertips, hell I wasn’t like this, I was made into it.”

She tossed everything in the oven. Jett paused, gripping her arms, trying to seem casual. She’d heard a few throwaway comments before, they all had, but right now she thought, perhaps, if she phrased it right, she could ask certain questions without sounding (and being) a total dick. “What’s tubocurarine?”

“A neurotoxin, first used for poison arrows and later to keep muscles relaxed during surgery. It would paralyze you for a couple hours, basically.”

“Oh, interesting.” She bit her lip, digging her nails into her skin. “Hey, you don’t have to say anything but, can I, can I ask who?”

Viper paused, turning slowly to look down her nose at her. She was, again, reminded of the other woman’s venomous namesake. “Excuse me?”

“Who, uh…made you, uh,” in fear of phrasing it wrong, Jett gestured vaguely at Viper, who narrowed her eyes.

The air was heavy, but it wasn’t boiling like with the beans. It wasn’t even rumbling. It was contemplative, quiet, even a little sad. Like a waveless ocean. “I don’t know.” She said finally.

Jett blinked. “What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I mean I don’t know.” She shrugged smoothly, though she was visibly tense. Like when I called her mom¸ Jett thought, a stone sinking in her stomach. “My family, my friends, myself-it all was taken from me. And I don’t have faces or names to put it to.”

Her shoulders dropped. “Shit.”

Viper let out a very uncharacteristic snort, pulling the steaks and potato skins from the oven. “That’s about the best way to describe it. Perhaps in some ways it’s my fault, I didn’t fight it as much as I should have…” she stopped, staring at the steaks and then shaking her head, taking a deep breath. “Though if I ever do find out who, they’ll wish they’d killed me. Anyway,” she gave Jett a sidelong glance. “Now you. Venice.”

A bolt of anxiety speared through her being and she gripped the strap of her tank top reflexively. “I-I didn’t do it.”

“A floating city and a wind radiant found at its base? Please.”

She pursed her lips. “I. Didn’t. Do. It.”

She turned slightly, furrowing her brow, eyes darting over her face as she began to move the steaks to a plate. “You’re serious.”

“Yeah.” She looked at her feet. “I was there when it started cracking, and I used my powers to jump off and landed on some chunk that hadn’t come up with the rest of the island. Some guy got me on his phone camera. Nobody believed me when I said I had nothing to do with it. And if I’m being honest with myself, they probably never will.” She sighed and forced herself to look up, braced for the pity, or the accusation-you’re bad at lying, she’d say, like so many others.

But in place of either, there was a slight, slight smile. “Guess we have more in common than I thought, Jett.”

---

Everyone was very thankful to not have to try and find the politest way to refuse Breach’s lye-soaked cod. Jett saying she helped also reassured everyone that the food didn’t contain Viper’s latest experiment. At least, that was until Viper was noticeably not eating, glancing around the tables, sipping only her water as the members of Valorant gradually stopped chewing, some digging into their potatoes, Breach eyeing his steak suspiciously. Jett glanced around and suddenly choked, falling off her chair.

Phoenix screamed, scrambling backward over his chair, the others quickly beginning to scoot away until Jett sat up again, grinning.

“Gotcha,” Viper said, smiling over her glass.

[lastnightbrawls]

What Is Octyldodecanol and What Are Its Benefits?

What is Octyldodecalin? It's a hair loss product that has been around for decades and is still popular today. Octyldodecalin (often referred to as octyldopancrine) is an octahydroalcohol which is part of a family of chemicals called "carboxylic acids". These acids are used in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and as an anti-fungal and anti-septic agent. There are many uses for what is octyldodecanol; however, it is most commonly found as an anti-aging ingredient.

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Research has shown what is octyldodecanol to be beneficial because of what is octyldodecanol's unique feature. Octyldodecoil has what is known as a CFU (carbon trans-caccharide) that is what is responsible for its foam forming ability. What is octyldodecol is actually a compound that has a higher molecular weight than what is found in wine. This higher molecular weight is what is responsible for what is octyldodecanol's foaming ability. Many cosmetic companies use what is octyldodecanol for what is octyldodecanol's foaming ability.

However what is octyldodecanol was what is actually the liquid that was introduced into the wine. After the alcohol had been removed, new hydroxyl molecules would form. These hydroxyl molecules are what is octyldodecanol's "fats". This type of fat is what is called a lipolytic fatty acid. This type of fat will break down the cholesterol in your blood stream. This can be great news for the people who have high cholesterol counts.

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The research team projects that the Octyldodecanol (Cas 34513-50-3) market size will grow from XXX in 2020 to XXX by 2027, at an estimated CAGR of XX. The base year considered for the study is 2020, and the market size is projected from 2020 to 2027.

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By Market Players:

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[notquiteaghost]

there’s nothing i wouldn’t do

mcu/hawkeye comics, post-avengers, barney&clint, 2k

inspired by this post

AO3 link in notes

He wasn’t expecting it to be a thing, is the problem.

Like, how often do aliens fucking invade New York? Once in a lifetime deal, it’s gotta be. Clint was busy — with having a hole in his chest, but SHIELD wouldn’t like him picking fights with run-of-the-mill mobsters, so it was, once again, up to Barney to step up and keep his baby brother safe. Hell, even if Clint could’ve got out his building without passing out, Barney still probably would’ve gone instead. Clint’s just a guy.

He had a plan, and it should’ve been simple. Bandana tied round his face, hair hidden under a beanie, and only Natasha’s gonna notice which Barton is actually slinging the arrows around, and Natasha’s well-aware of Clint’s stab wound. Murder all the aliens, sit through Coulson’s lecture on Clint’s behalf, hopefully their building’s still standing by the end of it. Hold it over Clint’s head until they die. Never, ever do it again.

Except.

He goes after the wannabe god, and the wannabe god can, obviously, control fucking minds, so then he shoots a shit ton of almost-entirely-innocent SHIELD employees. And then Natasha knocks him out of it and they all murder a shit ton of aliens, so hopefully SHIELD will cancel the shoot on sight order, but after all the aliens are dead, Tony goddamn Stark drags them all to get shawarma, and it’s not like Barney can say no. He can’t make Captain America think Clint’s an asshole.

And then, three days later, when Barney’s trying to explain to Coulson that, no, Clint is absolutely not going to fucking Russia, Clint can’t lift his arms, and also they’re still trying to get back the power in their building and also also as far as SHIELD is concerned it was Clint who got used as a puppet by a hostile alien and then bounced without any kind of medical eval so what is this actually about, because it sure as shit ain’t a human trafficking ring — three days later, his phone rings. Caller ID says Your New Sugar Daddy, so it’s Stark, so Barney hangs up on Coulson and answers it.

“Y’know, I could use some new shoes,” he says, throwing Clint’s phone on the couch when it immediately starts buzzing again. “What’re your terms? How much skin am I showing to get some new shoes?”

Stark splutters, but recovers within seconds and says, “Shoes are a titty pic at least,” and Barney is suddenly, sinkingly certain that him and Stark could be friends. It makes him shudder. 

He bites back the joke he wants to make about how many titty pics he gets to send before Stark stops buying him shoes, and says, “Titty pics ain’t why you’re calling, though.”

“Heard you’ve been having some apartment trouble,” Stark agrees, casually, like he has any way of knowing that that isn’t really fucking creepy. “Y’know, I have this great big tower. It’s got, amongst a lot of other things, an entirely self-sustaining power system.”

“…You want me to move in with you?”

“I’m just letting you know it’s an option, that’s all.”

Barney narrows his eyes. “Anyone else say yes?”

Stark huffs. “You’re first on my list, actually. Figured I’d start with the easiest, work my way up.”

Again, Barney bites his tongue. He cannot flirt with Tony Stark when Tony Stark thinks he’s his brother, no matter how funny it is. He’s sworn off starting shit with Clint since they got banned from Lithuania. “And what if I like my apartment?”

The briefest of pauses, before Stark says, “Then you keep living in your apartment. Again, just letting you know your options.”

“Pay to have the power lines for my block fixed,” Barney says, just as Clint stumbles out his room, “and maybe I’ll swing by for lunch. That’s what this is really about, yeah? Team building shit?”

“Wait, your block doesn’t have power?”

Clint is staring at him, eyes narrowing. He’s been awake maybe ten minutes, and it’s a coin toss if he’s remembered to put his aids in yet. Barney makes a face at him. “Half the damn city doesn’t have power, don’t you watch the news? Hell, ain’t people waving big signs outside your front door?”

“I’ve been—” Stark starts, then stops himself, then presumably remembers he’s trying to tempt Barney into some kinda morning-cartoons perma-sleepover and that’s gonna require some emotional vulnerability, and says, “Been in the workshop, mostly. The suit didn’t cope so well in the vacuum of space. But, yeah, power, I can do power. Text me about lunch.”

“Only if Captain America’s there, too,” Barney says, then hangs up. Clint’s eyes are even narrower. He’s gonna give himself a headache. “What?”

“Were you talking to Tony Stark?”

“Yeah, he wants me to move in with him.”

“He wants me to move in with him,” Clint counters.

“Hey, I’m the one who actually fought the aliens, kid—”

“I was all for fighting the aliens! You ziptied me to the bed!”

“And that you couldn’t get out of those makes it clear you were in no shape for fighting the aliens.” Barney walks into the kitchen, digs through their pile of homecooked food — you showing up on TV saving the world makes everyone want to cook you things, it turns out — for Clint’s pain meds. Clint leans against the wall and looks pitiful.

“Maybe I wanna live with Tony Stark,” he says. Barney laughs, hands Clint the tablets and the water so his hands are free to talk.

“Thought you were gonna die in this shithole. Thought, next time anyone shoots you, you were gonna demand they carry you back here so you can bleed out on the floor since getting the blood out’ll be someone else’s problem.”

“Bet Stark’s eyesore of a tower’s got power, though.”

“And soon,” Barney assures him, “so will we.”

Clint shuffles back to the couch and flops over it, and almost hides his wince at the feelings his stab wound has about that. “Bet Stark’s tower’s got heated floors. Stupid fast internet. Bet he’s got chefs and cleaners and everything.”

Barney always forgets how being hurt makes Clint into a five year-old again. “If some stranger tried to clean your room, you would stab them.” Clint sticks his tongue out.

Then he jumps, because Barney’s phone is buzzing again. Got his aids in, then.

It’s a text, this time, from an unknown number.

???: Stark tells me you’ll only come out to play if I come out too - Steve

“Holy shit,” Barney says, “Captain America is texting me.”

“What the fuck,” Clint pushes himself up, “Give me the phone. Give me the phone! He’s texting me!”

“Again,” Barney says, typing complete nonsense so Clint hears the tapping noise, “it was me who he bonded with when we murdered a load of aliens together, he has no idea who you are.”

“Barney. He’s Captain America.”

Goddammit, that fucking whine. He throws Clint his phone.

Then stands behind him to watch him type.

You: he ain’t exactly my usual kinda buddy

You: appreciate the thing with the missile obviously but also i don’t think he pays taxes?

Clint backspaces four times to change his terrible text speak for actual words. It’s hilarious. 

steve!!!!: He fucking better.

You: if you yell at him about this please film it

You: i promise not to put it online i just want it playing on a loop in my apartment

steve!!!!: He says ‘Excuse me of course I pay taxes, I have to get rid of all this money somehow’

steve!!!!: I’m double-checking with Miss Potts.

You: did shield just give you the phone numbers of the entire population of new york

steve!!!!: No, I think it’s only 30%.

You: oh shit do you have fury’s number

steve!!!!: Strangely, no.

You: dammit

You: one day

“You are definitely the reason Fury didn’t give Captain America his personal cell number,” Barney says. Clint shoves at him. 

steve!!!!: Not planning on moving into Stark’s place, then?

You: think living somewhere that expensive would give me a rash

You: don’t tell shield this but i stole my apartment from the mob

“Oh my God Clint they are definitely reading his texts,” Barney groans.

You: hey uh unrelated but anyone give you an update on opsec

Clint glares at him, pointedly, then makes a truly inhuman noise when he reads Steve’s next reply.

steve!!!!: Is that an offer?

“Oh my fucking God I’m gonna become best friends with Captain America,” Clint says, low and reverent.

Barney rolls his eyes. “He still thinks he’s talking to me.”

“So? You wore a mask and shit, he won’t notice.”

“You are so fucking injured. He will definitely notice.”

“Okay, then you wear a wire, and I tell you what to say—”

Barney snatches the phone back, types out ‘hell yeah let’s get a drink, when you free?’, then locks it and tucks it away. Clint is fully pouting.

“I’m going out,” Barney reminds him. “Coulson wants you in Russia, I’m gonna find out the fuck why. Amuse yourself for a while, you can keep flirting with Captain America when I get back.”

“If you really loved me you’d wear a wire,” Clint huffs. Barney ruffles his hair and goes to find his jacket.

–––––––––––––––

“Explain to me again,” Coulson says, exasperated in a way Barney’s more used to seeing directed at Clint, “why you thought pretending to be Clint was in any way a good plan.”

Usually, they have chats like these in some pretentious hipster place, where all the drinks have dumb names and cost twenty bucks a pop, but for obvious reasons that’s not happening. So, they’re in a park, miraculously untouched. There’s a flock of pigeons going at what looks like some bodega’s entire stock of bread.

“Clint was stabbed doing something SHIELD don’t need to know about; SHIELD didn’t tap me for the Avengers, ‘cause they still think I’d sell them all out for the right price; aliens were invading New York; I live in New York and I didn’t have any other plans.”

Coulson pinches at the bridge of his nose. He for sure agrees Barney made the right call, given the givens, and he will for sure die before he ever admits it. Barney is the reason the wannabe god didn’t stab him through the chest, though, so Barney is gonna try and make him admit it.

“You don’t have clearance to know about the Avengers.”

“Half the world knows about the Avengers, we were on every news channel there is.”

“Prior to the Chitauri invasion,” Coulson says, exasperation ticking up a notch, “you did not have clearance to know about the Avengers Initiative. SHIELD already don’t trust you, and now you’ve been compromised by a hostile alien with unknown motivations and allegiances—”

“Which is why SHIELD’s gotta keep thinking it was Clint,” Barney agrees, “‘cause they'll just straight up shoot me.”

Coulson sighs, heavily. But he doesn’t disagree.

“Going forward, then,” he says. “Are you going to continue to be Hawkeye?”

“I kinda really thought the alien invasion was a one-time thing. You telling me we’re expecting more aliens?”

“Not with any certainty,” which is Coulson for ‘yeah, probably’. “But I, for one, would rather we were prepared. And with the way some things are going, the Avengers may be needed for purely Earth-based disputes.”

“You get superheroes, you’re asking for supervillains?”

“Unfortunately.”

Barney lets out a long breath. It should be hilarious, that some idiot might actually pull on a cape and a dumb mask and try to take over the world, but he just got done stopping the last idiot, and they’re still pulling out the bodies. Morning cartoons never have collateral damage.

“I gotta talk to Clint,” he says. “He’d be better at it, but he’s been muttering about bouncing from SHIELD lately. Taking it real personal that you don’t trust me, who’d’ve thunk it.”

“I trust you,” Coulson says, lightly. Barney rolls his eyes.

“Yeah, no shit. Look, I’ll go to Russia, but someone’s gotta babysit Clint while I’m gone. I’m sick of the fucker pulling his stitches.”

“I don’t know who’s going to be there to meet you—”

“This ain’t the first mission I’ve run in Clint’s place.”

Coulson blinks. Huh, Barney had honestly thought he knew about that. “Well,” he says, “then you leave bright and early tomorrow morning. Try not to get in too much trouble, would you?”

Barney grins, trademark Barton asshole. “No promises.” 

[caffeinatedreviewer1]

Hamilton Beach Electric Indoor Searing Grill Removable Easy review

1-Large drip pan 

2-Very easy to clean

3-Visual appeal

4-Nice temperature range

An indoor electric grill can do a lot of things to improve the quality of your cooking. Especially if you live in an apartment, condo, or townhome where outdoor grilling is banned. At the same time, an electric grill is also light enough that you can take it with you if you are camping or tailgating somewhere that provides access to electricity.

The Hamilton Beach 25360 Electric Indoor Searing Grill caters to people with these needs. It has a 118-square inch cooking grate that is perforated to mimic the lines and appearance of traditional grilled food. This also allows drippings to easily fall down into the large drip pan underneath. It makes it much easier to clean up than some of the competitor grills where grease and other drippings simply run off.

The sensitive temperature control knob allows you to control the temperature throughout a wide range. This means you can go slow and low for something like a chicken breast or a deboned chicken thigh. Yet you can also crank it up to the maximum 450 degrees, which is hot enough to nicely mark a hamburger patty or sear a Steak.

The Hamilton Beach also knows that no one likes cleanup. With this in mind, they designed the Electric Indoor Searing Grill. The drip pan, grilling grate, and even the lid all easily detach from the base. They are also made from materials that are dishwasher safe.

Construction & Ease of Assembly

The Hamilton Beach Electric Indoor Searing Grill is very easy to assemble. You simply unpack it from the box and put it together. You barely even need to look at the instructions.

It is made from quality materials, which includes a brushed metal lid. The large drip pan, grill grates and the lid easily detach from the base. They are made from dishwasher safe materials, which make cleanup a breeze. Just keep in mind that these are the only things that are dishwasher safe.

Grilling Performance

One knock on a lot of indoor electric grills is that they don’t get hot enough to create strong grill marks or develop a nice sear. The ones that do often end up getting too hot, to do anything other than sear. This electric grill does a very nice job of covering all ends of the temperature spectrum.

It can handle low heat for big pieces of meat like a chicken breast, that takes a little while to fully cook in the middle, without burning the surface. At the same time, its highest heat setting does a nice job developing a sear on a steak or even crisping the skin on a ring sausage.

If you want to make a perfectly medium rare steak, it might help to bench rest the steak for 20 minutes, by salting it and leaving it covered on the counter. This will let the internal temperature come up a little. You can then crank the electric grill to the max. Give it 10 minutes to fully preheat, then drop the steak and let it sear for four minutes with the lid closed. Then flip it to sear for two more minutes. The end result should be a perfectly pink middle with a nice flavorful crust.

The lid on the searing grill also helps reduce the amount of smoke it puts out. Still, if you are making something that is fatty or has a lot of marinades, it might produce enough to smoke up the kitchen or even trip a nearby smoke detector. It might be best to use it near your oven hood, or close to an open window.

There are one or two drawbacks to consider with this grill. It isn’t a traditional clam-style electric grill, meaning you will need to occasionally flip the food being cooked. It also isn’t multi-functional like many of its competitors in the relatively same price point. It is a one surface contact grill, it can’t be used say as a fold-flat griddle.

Grilling Areas

The Hamilton Beach Electric Indoor Searing Grill features a 118 square inch non-stick grilling surface. This should be enough to grill two New York Strip steaks if you pack them in tightly. With careful placement, you might also be able to grill three hamburger patties at a time.

If you have to cook for more people than that, you may want to work in batches. Food that gets done early can be wrapped in heavy duty aluminum foil and placed in a warm oven.

Ease to Clean

The Hamilton Beach 25360 Electric Indoor Searing Grill is generally much easier to clean than its competitors. The drip pan is large enough that it should never overflow in the middle of a cooking session. The drip pan, the primary cooking grate, and the lid all detach from the base, and they are dishwasher safe.

Just be careful when loading the dishwasher to make sure that nothing can bump or scrape on the grill grates. Like a lot of nonstick surfaces, its easy to scratch and once damaged that area will cause food to stubbornly stick.

If there’s a little spatter on the base or knob you can wipe them away with a nonabrasive sponge soaked with warm soapy water. Then dry with a clean paper towel.

Warranty

The Hamilton Beach Electric Indoor Searing Grill is warranted to be free from defects in material and workmanship for up to one year from the date of original purchase. Some online retailers will also offer three or even a four-year protection plan for a very affordable rate.

Conclusion

Electric grills come in a lot of different shapes and sizes. Finding the one that is right for you can take a little shopping around. The Hamilton Beach Electric Indoor Searing Grill provides nice heat and temperature range. It’s a snap to clean, and stores away easily.

Unfortunately, it isn’t a multi-functional or even a clam-style grill. This means it is a bit of a one-trick-pony. Yet when you hold it up to other one trick pony electric grills, it does have higher quality components and it is much easier to clean.

PROS

Very easy to clean

Large drip pan

Visual appeal

Nice temperature range

CONS

Not multifunctional

Only one cooking surface

Somewhat small cooking surface

Only a 1-year warranty

[cratekendo98]

Are Peptides Secure In Skin Care?

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Content

Prospective For Advancement Of Bacterial Resistance To Amps.

Potential Benefits Of Taking Sarm Items.

Medik8 Fluid Peptides.

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Possible For Advancement Of Bacterial Resistance To Amps.

It is best made use of to protect muscular tissue mass while in a caloric deficiency. Ostarine mk-2866 can and also will certainly reduce your natural testosterone production in much longer, higher dosed cycles, so a SERM PCT is required. Ostarine can also cause gyno in some individuals, so it is recommended that you have an AI handy. RAD is powerful enough to limit the effect of testosterone on the prostate as well as other unwanted areas. It has even been shown to be more anabolic than testosterone, as well. Application appears to be in the 4mg to 12mg range, with optimal cycle size being 4 to 6 weeks.

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It can possibly be used as a pre-contest hardener, combined with various other muscle solidifying compounds. Ostarine binds to the AR, which shows anabolic task in the bone and also muscle mass. By binding to the AR, MK raises protein synthesis and alters the expression of genetics. The primary negative effects associated with MK677 is the increase in hunger, which might rate by many research topics. Research studies reveal this to decrease after 4-8 weeks, though this varies from one person to another.

Possible Advantages Of Taking Sarm Items.

If you do not really feel up to some press ups as well as push ups in your bedroom after that perhaps a little walking would certainly be excellent. This could merely be a ten min walk around the block or a walk down to the shops once a day. Try to make the stroll rather brisk to obtain the maximum advantage as well as don't just amble along. To be effective the stroll needs to be quickly enough to boost your breathing rate but not so rapid that it would make it tough to speak to someone at the exact same time.

Way too much cardio can prevent growth, as it will burn the excess calories you're consuming. Rather, a mixture of low and high strength cardio via the week together with your bulk will certainly help minimise body fat. It does have the ability to additionally generate much less hazardous negative effects, that are uncomfortable to users, ostarine results bodybuilding. But, if you remain in a cutting stage, then you can stack it with Anavar, Clenbuterol, and Winstrol, sarms acquire now pay later.

Medik8 Liquid Peptides.

It is beneficial to keep in mind that discerning androgen receptor modulators act upon specific androgen receptors in the body that are found in a number of critical cells. Androgen receptors are found in the seminal vesicle, prostate, gland, genitalia, testis, ovary, stomach vesicular cells, thyroid follicular cells, mind, liver, adrenal cortex, sebaceous glands, and hair roots. SARMs, or selective androgen receptor modulators, have actually not yet been confirmed to be harmless. Potentially, they guarantee an excellent alternative to steroids that normally feature a lengthy list of negative effects. Nevertheless, you should do your research to be sure that you're getting top quality products-- sadly, many business attempt to make use of the appeal of SARMs by creating tablets that have absolutely nothing to do with the actual compounds.

Does Amazon sell SARMs?

Amazon.com: sarms.

This orally bioavailable nonsteroidal SARM is best known on the planet of body building as a better option to S-4 that advertises muscular tissue hardening. Known as "The Big Dad" of careful androgen receptor modulators, S-23 targets chemical receptors in the skeletal bone as well as muscle mass. They are likewise not poisonous to the liver and also this top quality makes them an excellent choice for individuals who are dealing with existing liver illness or deal with an increased threat of liver toxicity. Simply put, discerning androgen receptor modulators benefit both healthy and balanced individuals in addition to constantly sick people that are looking to boost the high quality of their life. In the last few years, scientists throughout the world have brought forward several searchings for in the context of enhancing oral bioavailability as well as decreasing the hepatic toxicity of these efficiency enhancing drugs.

Different Types Of Sarms & What They Do.

They revealed an actual rise in complete muscular tissue mass and also improved strength degrees. When incorporated with an excellent diet and also extreme exercises, this SARM assists users attain resilient and extraordinary muscle mass and also endurance gains.

It additionally reveals assurance to change androgens which can produce comparable desirable outcomes on muscle mass tissue as steroids.

All you need is some basic nonprescription PCT supplements as well as you're good to go.

Given that they do not interfere with the hormonal degrees in the body, you will not be prone to the unpleasant side effects that anabolic steroid and also prohormone cycles can set off without a proper PCT program.

It is just one of the most significant reasons why SARMS are gathering fairly a loyal following nowadays.

No, Shop CJC-1295 DAC Online don't need to have a post cycle therapy or PCT after using SARMS.

It can be administered orally, reducing the results of testosterone blood degrees.

Differing only in effectiveness and also period of activity, all these representatives bring about enhanced alertness, a boost in blood pressure, heart rate and deepness of respiration. The central results additionally mean that the user will be able to partially balance out the results of tiredness. Energizers might also enhance the competitor's pain limit, enabling that added press beyond their typically optimum effort. I did a great deal of reading up on different means to fast and also one technique that stood apart was the 72-hour water-fast. Clearly not consuming for this lengthy methods your body will certainly be dipping right into its fat books, leading to fat burning. However individuals claim a variety of other advantages, including renovations to your immune system, giving your digestion system a break, far better blood-sugar regulation and also reduction in inflammation. Others assert it's a tons of hokum-- as well as it's definitely a great concept to approach these points with a healthy and balanced dose of apprehension.

Given its much shorter half-life, RAD requires to be dosed at the very least two times daily. Human studies have revealed it to boost both muscle mass and bone mineral thickness. Dosed at 25mg day-to-day, Ibutamoren has actually been revealed to enhance IGF-1 levels by 60% in 6 weeks in humans. Bicyclists now appear to favour this technique of enhancing efficiency over practically any various other. Professional athletes might illegally make use of hGH in mix with AAS in an attempt to boost muscle mass mass and stamina. On the various other hand, hGH is a hormonal agent created by the pituitary gland, which is important for regular development in youngsters and assists the body in building muscle mass and bone.

So, the very best SARM for developing muscular tissue is LGD-4033 and following are its features, benefits, dose recommendation, and so on . To build muscular tissues like a body builder you have to educate like one as well as depend on performance improving medications or supplements like SARMS. It may seem like an expensive, time consuming as well as problematic job to construct enormous muscular tissues specifically when you look at pros. In another test, enobosarmsafely boosted lean muscle massin 159 cancer individuals.

This time will certainly depend upon the mass-to-charge proportion of the particle. From this time and also the well-known experimental criteria one can find the mass-to-charge proportion of the ion. The biological half-life of a medicine or radioligand in vitro or in vivo. In vitro, the t 1/2 of the result of a medication is the time considered the feedback to a drug to decline to half the initial reaction. In radioligand binding, the t 1/2 can be utilized to gauge the dissociation price of a radioligand from its receptor, for that reason it is the moment considered the quantity of radioligand bound to the receptors to decline to half its initial degree. In vivo, t 1/2 refers to the metabolic half-life of a drug or radioligand, i.e. the moment considered the concentration of a medication in plasma to decrease to half its initial degree. To obtain muscle mass with your exercise program you must stick with build muscle quick supplements where LGD-4033 will never dissatisfy you.

The very best part of S-4 is the truth that it causes a drying out of the muscle and also the skin bordering it, and also consequently binds extremely well to the androgen muscular tissue receptors, setting and sharpening the muscular tissue. This means that towards completion of a cycle, it would show to be extremely effective.

Time-of-flight mass spectrometry is a method of mass spectrometry in which ions are increased by an electrical field of recognized stamina. pharmalabglobal.com online Shop CJC-1295 NO DAC Online causes an ion having the exact same kinetic power as any other ion that has the very same cost. The time that it ultimately considers the bit to reach a detector at a known range is determined.

How long is MK 677?

https://pharmalabglobal.com/product-category/oxytocin/ in humans demonstrated that daily oral administration of MK-677 in healthy older adults,8 GH-deficient adults9 for 4 weeks, and GH-deficient children10 for 7 days increased serum GH, IGF-I, and IGF binding protein (IGFBP)-3 concentrations.

Nevertheless, what is encouraging is that even in cancer cells clients going through periods of severe muscular tissue wasting, the introduction of SARMs has shown significant rises in lean body mass and better overall physical functioning. The extent of lean body mass gain depends greatly on the certain SARM is concern, nonetheless most SARMs in pre-clinical pet tests saw a minimum of significant boosts in lean body mass, and also on many celebrations caused reductions in fat mass. SARMs were developed to be tissue-specific as well as just affix to receptors in the muscular tissue and also bone to prevent the dose-limiting damaging results on various other tissues that occurs with basic testosterone or steroid use.

The opposite impacts that showed, though were really infrequent and uncommon, were mild lower extremity edema and also muscle pain. However, they are an one-of-a-kind class of substance currently undertaking examination and also growth from a number of pharmaceutical companies. SARMs are advertised as safer, lawful options to anabolic androgenic steroids. They are claimed to give comparable favorable outcomes, but to have a reduced threat of adverse effects. SARMS are a selective androgen receptor modulators, which are medicines that bind to androgen receptors in the body, activate androgenic signaling paths, as well as therefore upregulate muscle mass and also bone metabolic process.

[numberangora21]

Risk-free Sarms Muscular Tissue

Cycling Athlete Suspended For Visibility Of Sarm Rad

Content

Possible For Development Of Bacterial Resistance To Amps.

Possible Advantages Of Taking Sarm Products.

Medik8 Liquid Peptides.

Different Types Of Sarms & What They Do.

If it has been a tough task for you to put muscle mass then LGD-4033-- finest SARM for bulking will work like your bodybuilding friend. The demand of injections is removed and it can be taken by mouth. If you pay attention to the dose, it will not trigger also minor damage to the body. Every SARM works in a different way and here we will certainly go over regarding the one that will certainly assist you build muscular tissues quickly.

The only precaution you need to consider is the dosage due to the fact that it reduces the testosterone manufacturing. LGD-4033 is additionally called Ligandrol Fluid or Anabolicum which boosts toughness and aids to develop the muscle mass swiftly.

Potential For Advancement Of Microbial Resistance To Amps.

It is best used to protect muscle mass while in a calorie deficit. Ostarine mk-2866 can and also will certainly subdue your all-natural testosterone production in longer, greater dosed cycles, so a SERM PCT is required. Ostarine can also create gyno in some customers, so it is suggested that you have an AI accessible. RAD is powerful sufficient to restrict the result of testosterone on the prostate and also various other unwanted areas. It has also been revealed to be a lot more anabolic than testosterone, too. Application appears to be in the 4mg to 12mg variety, with ideal cycle length being 4 to 6 weeks.

Illegal Contact: Banned drugs found in athletic performance supplements - WAVE 3

Illegal Contact: Banned drugs found in athletic performance supplements.

Posted: Wed, 05 Feb 2020 08:00:00 GMT [source]

It can perhaps be utilized as a pre-contest hardener, incorporated with various other muscle setting compounds. Ostarine binds to the AR, which demonstrates anabolic activity in the bone as well as muscular tissue. By binding to the AR, MK enhances healthy protein synthesis and modifies the expression of genetics. The main negative effects connected with MK677 is the increase in cravings, which might rate by lots of research subjects. Researches show this to go away after 4-8 weeks, though this varies from one person to another.

Possible Advantages Of Taking Sarm Items.

If you do not really feel up to some press ups as well as raise in your bed room after that perhaps a little bit of strolling would be good. This could just be a ten min walk around the block or a walk down to the stores daily. Attempt to make the walk rather quick to obtain the optimum benefit and don't just amble along. To be reliable the stroll must be quickly enough to raise your breathing price however not so fast that it would certainly make it hard to talk with a person at the exact same time.

SARMs: The massive black market in illegal bodybuilding 'research chemicals' - ABC Online

SARMs: The massive black market in illegal bodybuilding 'research chemicals'.

Posted: Tue, 17 Apr 2018 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Too much cardio can inhibit growth, as it will burn the excess calories you're consuming. Rather, a mixture of low and high strength cardio through the week along with your bulk will aid reduce body fat. It does have the capability to likewise produce less hazardous negative effects, that are uneasy to customers, ostarine results body building. However, if Buy best quality peptides Direct Belgium remain in a cutting phase, after that you can pile it with Anavar, Clenbuterol, and Winstrol, sarms get currently pay later on.

Medik8 Liquid Peptides.

It is worthwhile to keep in mind that selective androgen receptor modulators act on particular androgen receptors in the body that are located in a variety of crucial tissues. Androgen receptors are located in the influential vesicle, prostate, sweat glands, genitalia, testis, ovary, intestinal vesicular cells, thyroid follicular cells, brain, liver, adrenal cortex, sebaceous glands, and also hair roots. SARMs, or discerning androgen receptor modulators, have not yet been verified to be safe. Possibly, they assure a superb choice to steroids that usually feature a lengthy listing of side effects. Nevertheless, you ought to do your research to ensure that you're purchasing top quality items-- sadly, many firms attempt to utilize the popularity of SARMs by creating tablets that have absolutely nothing to do with the actual compounds.

Does Amazon sell SARMs?

Amazon.com: sarms.

This orally bioavailable nonsteroidal SARM is best understood on the planet of body building as a much better option to S-4 that promotes muscle mass hardening. Known as "The Big Father" of selective androgen receptor modulators, S-23 targets chemical receptors in the skeletal bone as well as muscle. They are additionally not toxic to the liver as well as this top quality makes them a perfect option for people that are suffering from existing liver illness or encounter an increased threat of liver toxicity. In short, selective androgen receptor modulators profit both healthy and balanced individuals along with persistantly ill individuals who are looking to enhance the quality of their life. In the last couple of years, scientists across the world have advanced several findings in the context of enhancing dental bioavailability and reducing the hepatic poisoning of these performance improving medicines.

Different Types Of Sarms & What They Do.

They revealed an actual rise in total muscular tissue mass as well as better stamina levels. When incorporated with an excellent diet plan and also intense workouts, this SARM helps users achieve resilient and also unmatched muscular tissue mass and also endurance gains.

It also reveals assurance to replace androgens which can generate similar desirable outcomes on muscle cells as steroids.

All you require is some basic nonprescription PCT supplements and you're excellent to go.

Considering that they do not interrupt the hormonal levels in the body, you won't be susceptible to the nasty adverse effects that anabolic steroid and prohormone cycles can cause without an appropriate PCT program.

It's one of the greatest reasons SARMS are collecting quite a dedicated following nowadays.

No, you don't need to have a post cycle therapy or PCT after using SARMS.

It can be carried out orally, reducing the impacts of testosterone blood degrees.

Differing only in strength as well as duration of action, all these agents produce enhanced performance, a boost in blood pressure, heart price and also depth of respiration. Buy best quality peptides Direct UK indicate that the user will be able to partially balance out the impacts of exhaustion. Energizers may additionally enhance the rival's discomfort limit, allowing that added push beyond their generally maximal initiative. I did a great deal of researching different methods to quick and also one approach that stood out was the 72-hour water-fast. Clearly not consuming for this lengthy means your body will certainly be dipping into its fat books, resulting in weight management. But people claim a series of various other advantages, including improvements to your immune system, giving your digestive system system a break, better blood-sugar policy and reduction in swelling. Others claim it's a load of hokum-- and it's definitely a great suggestion to approach these things with a healthy dosage of apprehension.

Product Groups.

Offered its shorter half-life, RAD requires to be dosed a minimum of two times daily. Human studies have revealed it to increase both muscle mass and also bone mineral thickness. Dosed at 25mg day-to-day, Ibutamoren has been shown to boost IGF-1 levels by 60% in 6 weeks in humans. Cyclists now appear to favour this technique of improving performance over practically any other. Athletes might unlawfully make use of hGH in mix with AAS in an attempt to enhance muscle mass and also toughness. On the various other hand, hGH is a hormone produced by the pituitary gland, which is essential for regular growth in kids and helps the body in structure muscle mass and also bone.

So, the best SARM for constructing muscular tissue is LGD-4033 and adhering to are its attributes, benefits, dosage referral, etc . To develop muscular tissues like a bodybuilder you need to educate like one and also depend upon performance enhancing drugs or supplements like SARMS. It may appear like a pricey, time consuming and bothersome task to construct huge muscular tissues particularly when you check out pros. In one more trial, enobosarmsafely boosted lean muscle massin 159 cancer individuals.

This time around will depend upon the mass-to-charge proportion of the bit. From this time around and the well-known experimental criteria one can locate the mass-to-charge proportion of the ion. The organic half-life of a medication or radioligand artificial insemination or in vivo. In vitro, the t 1/2 of the impact of a drug is the time taken for the action to a drug to decline to half the initial feedback. In radioligand binding, the t 1/2 can be made use of to determine the dissociation rate of a radioligand from its receptor, consequently it is the moment considered the quantity of radioligand bound to the receptors to decrease to half its initial level. In vivo, t 1/2 describes the metabolic half-life of a medicine or radioligand, i.e. the time considered the concentration of a medication in plasma to decline to half its original level. To obtain muscles with your exercise program you need to stick to develop muscle mass quick supplements where LGD-4033 will never dissatisfy you.

The most effective part of S-4 is the truth that it causes a drying out of the muscle mass and also the skin bordering it, and consequently binds extremely well to the androgen muscle mass receptors, hardening as well as developing the muscular tissue. This indicates that in the direction of the end of a cycle, it would prove to be really reliable.

Time-of-flight mass spectrometry is a technique of mass spectrometry in which ions are increased by an electrical field of recognized stamina. This acceleration causes an ion having the very same kinetic energy as any other ion that has the same charge. The moment that it ultimately takes for the particle to get to a detector at a known range is determined.

Nonetheless, what is encouraging is that also in cancer cells individuals undergoing periods of severe muscle mass squandering, the introduction of SARMs has demonstrated significant boosts in lean body mass and much better general physical performance. The extent of lean body mass gain depends considerably on the certain SARM is concern, however most SARMs in pre-clinical animal trials saw at the very least considerable boosts in lean body mass, and also on numerous events resulted in decreases in fat mass. SARMs were developed to be tissue-specific and just attach to receptors in the muscular tissue and bone to stay clear of the dose-limiting unfavorable effects on various other tissues that happens with common testosterone or steroid use.

The opposite impacts that showed, though were very irregular as well as unusual, were mild lower extremity edema and muscle discomfort. Nevertheless, they are a distinct course of substance currently going through investigation and also advancement from a number of pharmaceutical business. SARMs are promoted as more secure, lawful options to anabolic androgenic steroids. They are stated to supply comparable favorable outcomes, but to have a lower danger of side effects. SARMS are a discerning androgen receptor modulators, which are drugs that bind to androgen receptors in the body, trigger androgenic signaling paths, and also thus upregulate muscular tissue and also bone metabolism.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Pluralistic: 20 Mar 2020 (Who Has Your Face?, Monkey law firm vs covid, Blurred Lines sharpened, Consumer Reports on covid, Right to Repair during pandemics, secret GOP senate panic trading, Trump is outbidding state agencies for medical supplies, Coronavirus Sean of the Dead, Ifixit medical device guides, crowdsourced open source ventilator, Dafoe's plague diary)

Today's links

Patent trolls spin their shakedown of covide testing tech: Monkey law firm hired by Softbank patent-trolls to use Theranos patents to attack covid testing engages in spin.

Who Has Your Face? A short and sobering quiz from EFF.

Judge overturns terrible copyright decision against Katy Perry: Sharpening up the "Blurred Lines" principle.

Consumer Reports' covid-19 guide: Consistently the most reliable source of unbiased product info.

Right to Repair during pandemics: Hospitals are the new farms: isolated, with systems that need to be fixed NOW.

Republican senators told us everything was fine as they secretly panic-sold their stocks: But they made sure to clue in the donor class.

Trump is outbidding state agencies for medical supplies: He says federal coordination would turn him into "a shipping clerk."

Simon Pegg's coronavirus Sean of the Dead remake: "What's the plan?"

Ifixit's new database of med-tech repair guides: They need your help.

Open source hardware ventilator enters testing: From zero to prototype in 7 days.

Dafoe's plague diaries: Party like it's 1665.

This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019

Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Patent trolls spin their shakedown of covide testing tech (permalink)

Remember the garbage-matrioshke of a story in which a Softbank-funded patent troll was using bogus patents bought from the wreckage of Theranos to shut down covid testing, through a firm that once claimed to represent a monkey for copyright purposes?

https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/17/pluralistic-17-mar-2020/#fortress-investment-group

It gets worse!

Irell and Manella, the monkey lawfirm, has been claiming it's all a nonstory because their Softbank-backed patent-troll client offered a "royalty free license" to their garbage Theranos patent.

But this is worthless. Labrador (patent troll who make nothing but lawsuits) has offered a royalty-free license to only some of things that Biofire (biotech company that makes covid tests) needs, while banning the rest.

https://www.patentprogress.org/2020/03/18/patents-in-the-time-of-coronavirus/

They're "offering to allow a royalty-free license for the COVID-19 test… [but] they're still trying to block the technology that's needed to run the COVID-19 test."

What's more, that license doesn't extend to other companies working on covid tests.

Even by the low standards of deceptive spin from predatory lawfirms, this is garbage behavior. Not as bad as hastening the extinction of the human race by blocking covid testing, but worse than anything you or I are likely to do in our lifetimes.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200318/16113044127/why-softbank-patent-trolls-promise-royalty-free-license-theranos-patents-covid-19-is-bullshit.shtml

Who Has Your Face? (permalink)

Who Has Your Face? is a new interactive from EFF that tells you where the biometrics you had to give up – for a driver's license, say – have proliferated. We are in "perpetual lineups," our faces being continuously assessed by algorithmic guilt systems.

https://whohasyourface.eff.org/

The project announcement delves into this in depth:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/03/announcing-who-has-your-face

There is a stunning lack of transparency on biometric sharing. And the pandemic is making it worse – even as grifty beltway bandits are promising to use mass surveillance to prevent the spread of the disease…for a price.

It's time for a national ban of government use of facial recognition tech!

https://www.eff.org/aboutface

Judge overturns terrible copyright decision against Katy Perry (permalink)

Here's some rare good copyright news! A judge has overturned a copyright claim against Katy Perry that would have had her paying $2.3m because she recorded a song in which eight notes were similar to many other songs, including an obscure piece of Christian hiphop.

The ruling does not overturn the jury's finding of fact – that Perry's song had similarities to this other, obscure song – but rather, it overturns the legal principle that this similarity constitutes a copyright infringement.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200319/00094444129/surprise-judge-throws-out-jurys-awful-copyright-infringement-decision-over-katy-perry-song.shtml

And although the copyright trolls who came after Perry might appeal, this decision chips away at an even worse copyright precedent, the "Blurred Lines" argument that a pop song is illegal if it reminds the listener of Martin Gaye, even if it was not copied from a Gaye song.

One of the best things about this decision is that it cites the plaintiffs' expert witness's own testimony – the musicologist the copyright trolls hired basically admitted that this was not a copyright infringement.

This case is a victory for fairness and Fair Use, though Warner Chappell, Perry's publisher, has not covered itself in glory during this affair. Most notably, they attacked a prominent supporter of their cause with a fraudulent copyright claim.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/05/warner-chappell-copyfraud/#warnerchappell

(Image: slgckgc, CC BY)

Consumer Reports' covid-19 guide (permalink)

The most consistently reliable US source of unbiased product reviews and information is Consumer Reports, and now they've published a covid-19 guide.

https://www.consumerreports.org/issue/coronavirus-covid-19

Included: products believed to be effective at destroying the virus on skin and surfaces, guides to sanitizing your devices, how to work from home, what kinds of novel scams have popped up, and what to do if you feel unwell.

Right to Repair during pandemics (permalink)

Farmers lead in Right to Repair is because when you're isolated and need to get the crops in, you can't wait for a distant part or service tech to come to your site – that's why farms have workshops (even forges!).

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/03/right-repair-times-pandemic

Pandemic puts us all in situations like those farmers, with important things to do that can't wait for the authorized tech or official parts.

But especially, it puts hospitals in this situation.

That's why Right to Repair is so urgent at this moment.

The right person to decide whether a field repair should be attempted, and whether the repair is solid enough to rely upon are medical professionals, not the shareholders of med-tech companies or the lawyers who write their terms of service and patent applications.

Republican senators told us everything was fine as they secretly panic-sold their stocks (permalink)

The Senate and Congress have incredibly lax insider trading rules. They let elected politicians use the private information they glean from closed-door hearings and legislative planning sessions to take market positions that enrich themselves when the rest of us are clued in. That's how GOP lawmakers cleaned up in 2017, buying up health insurance stocks before announcing the full-court press to kill Obamacare, which sent the insurers' stocks skyrocketing.

https://theintercept.com/2017/07/06/republican-lawmakers-buy-health-insurance-stocks-as-repeal-effort-moves-forward/

But it's not just Congress and the Senate! Lawmakers have a long tradition of laundering their insider information for politically connected types: rich donors, lobbyists, party bosses.

https://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2013/04/government-report-examines-political-intelligence-but-questions-remain.html

It's no surprise that Senate Intelligence Chair Richard Burr [R-NC] secretly sold off $1.7m of his stocks after being briefed on coronavirus, even as he was publicly reassuring people that Trump was right, it was no biggie, and everything would be fine.

https://www.propublica.org/article/senator-dumped-up-to-1-6-million-of-stock-after-reassuring-public-about-coronavirus-preparedness

Not just Burr, either. Even as he was publicly claiming that coronavirus would fizzle, he was briefing North Carolina's elite $10,000/person members that they, too, should be panic-selling before us plebs got wind of the real scale of the crisis. The secret recording of that meeting has Burr saying "There's one thing that I can tell you about this: It is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything that we have seen in recent history … It is probably more akin to the 1918 pandemic."

That's what he told plutes. Here's what he was saying for public consumption: "he United States today is better prepared than ever before to face emerging public health threats, like the coronavirus."

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/coronavirus-prevention-steps-the-u-s-government-is-taking-to-protect-you-sen-alexander-and-sen-burr

It wasn't just Burr, either. Other GOP senators who panic-sold while telling us that Trump had it all under control and nothing bad would happen include Kelly Loeffler [R-GA], Ron Johnson [R-WI], and Jim Inhofe [R-OK].

<a href="https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/4-senators-sold-stock-before-steep-market-losses-from-virus-1986546/">https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/4-senators-sold-stock-before-steep-market-losses-from-virus-1986546/

This insider trading is so egregious that it might have actually breached the Senate" s="" farcically="" loose="" rules.="" aoc="" is="" calling="" for="" burr="" to="" resign.<="" p="">

https://twitter.com/aoc/status/1240759241847308293

Trump is outbidding state agencies for medical supplies (permalink)

Trump has refused to coordinate federal procurements of emergency supplies for states, saying the fed is not "a shipping clerk" for state governments.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-19/trump-told-governors-to-buy-own-virus-supplies-then-outbid-them

Now, state agencies are routinely getting outbid by FEMA when they try to buy things like masks.

Trump brought Mass Gov Charlie Baker onto a FEMA videoconference to boast about his performance, only to be told that Baker's officials had been outbid by FEMA. Three times.

Baker (to Trump: "I've got a feeling that if someone has the chance to sell to you and to sell to me, I am going to lose on every one of those."

Trump: "Prices are always a component of that also. And maybe that's why you lost to the feds, OK, that's probably why."

Simon Pegg's coronavirus Sean of the Dead remake (permalink)

Gorbless Simon Pegg and Nick Frost for this delightful coronavirus-themed reenactment of "the plan" call from Shaun of the Dead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO6FW1aJkTw

Ifixit's new database of med-tech repair guides (permalink)

The latest Ifixit project is a database of indepedent repair manuals for medical devices:

https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Medical_Device

They need your help to improve it. If you have photos, manuals, etc related to medical device repair, please submit them:

https://www.ifixit.com/News/36354/help-us-crowdsource-repair-information-for-hospital-equipment

They're carrying on the work of Frank's Hospital Workshop, an amazing, one-person site based in Tanzania:

http://www.frankshospitalworkshop.com/

Ifixit turns crowdsourced photos, tips and guides into easy-to-read, consistently formatted, tested manuals that are aimed at both laypeople and skilled technicians.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21187981/ifixit-medical-device-repair-database-guides-ventilators-coronavirus-covid-19

As supply chains break and parts and technicians become scarce, hospitals need to carry on their long tradition of effecting field repairs on their own – but these repairs may need to be longer-lived and serve more urgent needs than ever before.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/03/right-repair-times-pandemic

Open source hardware ventilator enters testing (permalink)

7 days ago, a group of open source hardware enthusiasts put out an open call for help in designing OSHW ventilators. After contributions from 300+ engineers, med techs and researchers, they have a prototype ready for testing.

https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/19/open-source-project-spins-up-3d-printed-ventilator-validation-prototype-in-just-one-week/

Ireland's Health Services Executive, which regulates medical devices, is evaluating the prototype.

The group has since changed its name to "the Open Source COVID19 Medical Supplies community" and has broadened its focus to "masks, sanitizer and protective face guards."

Dafoe's plague diaries (permalink)

I spent 13 years in London, off Pitfield Street (named for the plague pits that still line it), near Bunhill Cemetary (a "hill of bones" made from the plague dead). Bunhill has some incredible inmates, including Thomas Bayes, but also Daniel "Robinson Crusoe" Dafoe.

Dafoe was five in 1665, when the bubonic plague came to London. It made an impression on him. 57 years later, he published "A Journal of the Plague Year," featuring his recollections of the time.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/376/376-h/376-h.htm

This excerpt, dealing with the economic terrors of the city shutdown – and the ways these exacerbated the health crisis – bears reading now.

https://www.wired.com/beyond-the-beyond/2020/03/plague-economics-1660s/

The economy froze up: sailors couldn't sail, so shipwrights couldn't build, so tavern keepers couldn't pour, so brewers couldn't brew. Centuries later, it's pretty familiar stuff.

But this longer excerpt is even more fascinating and relevant. As the plague loomed, people hallucinated angels and devils, sought out prophecies, blamed it on foreigners, and sought out scapegoats.

https://www.wired.com/beyond-the-beyond/2020/03/fears-people-young/

They were terrified that they would die, that they would be cast out, that they would be denied care, that they would be left to die. They panicked, and it spread.

Also eerily familiar sounding.

Dafoe says out that the only reason London survived is that it had a crude safety net, which kept absolute chaos at bay.

People lost their jobs, or panicked thinking they would, and left the city, carrying plague through the land.

This day in history (permalink)

#15yrsago Yahoo! bought Flickr! https://blog.flickr.net/en/2005/03/20/yahoo-actually-does-acquire-flickr/

#10yrsago Peter Watts may serve two years for failing to promptly obey a customs officer https://www.rifters.com/crawl/?p=1186

#5yrsago Suspicious people, American Airlines edition https://secure.flickr.com/photos/doctorow/16690196059/

#1yrago Sponsor of the "Discouraging Frivolous Lawsuits Act" sues Twitter cow-account for $250 million https://lawandcrime.com/crazy/devin-nunes-sues-twitter-and-devin-nunes-mom-for-a-whopping-250-million/

#1yrago More Than 130 European Businesses Tell the European Parliament: Reject the #CopyrightDirective https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/03/more-130-european-businesses-tell-european-parliament-reject-copyrightdirective

#1yrago California's Right to Repair Bill, killed by Big Ag and Apple, has been reintroduced https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/03/18/california-reintroduces-right-to-repair-bill-after-previous-effort-failed

#1yrago Health industry lobbyists are posing as "ordinary citizens who don't want Medicare for All" https://splinternews.com/look-at-these-absolutely-ordinary-americans-who-hate-me-1833380461

#1yrago IBM supplied surveillance gear to Davao while Duterte was mayor and cheering on the city's police-linked death-squads https://theintercept.com/2019/03/20/rodrigo-duterte-ibm-surveillance/

Colophon (permalink)

Today's top sources: Naked Capitalism (nakedcapitalism.com/), Slashdot (https://slashdot.org), Geekologie (https://geekologie.com), Geoffrey MacDougall (https://twitter.com/taliesan).

Currently writing: I've just finished rewrites on a short story, "The Canadian Miracle," for MIT Tech Review. It's a story set in the world of my next novel, "The Lost Cause," a post-GND novel about truth and reconciliation. I've also just completed "Baby Twitter," a piece of design fiction also set in The Lost Cause's prehistory, for a British think-tank. I'm getting geared up to start work on the novel next.

Currently reading: Just started Lauren Beukes's forthcoming Afterland: it's Y the Last Man plus plus, and two chapters in, it's amazeballs. Last month, I finished Andrea Bernstein's "American Oligarchs"; it's a magnificent history of the Kushner and Trump families, showing how they cheated, stole and lied their way into power. I'm getting really into Anna Weiner's memoir about tech, "Uncanny Valley." I just loaded Matt Stoller's "Goliath" onto my underwater MP3 player and I'm listening to it as I swim laps.

Latest podcast: The Masque of the Red Death and Punch Brothers Punch https://craphound.com/podcast/2020/03/16/the-masque-of-the-red-death-and-punch-brothers-punch/

Upcoming books: "Poesy the Monster Slayer" (Jul 2020), a picture book about monsters, bedtime, gender, and kicking ass. Pre-order here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723627?utm_source=socialmedia&utm_medium=socialpost&utm_term=na-poesycorypreorder&utm_content=na-preorder-buynow&utm_campaign=9781626723627

(we're having a launch for it in Burbank on July 11 at Dark Delicacies and you can get me AND Poesy to sign it and Dark Del will ship it to the monster kids in your life in time for the release date).

"Attack Surface": The third Little Brother book, Oct 20, 2020. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250757531

"Little Brother/Homeland": A reissue omnibus edition with a new introduction by Edward Snowden: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250774583

[okimargarvez]

REVERSE - 1

Original title: Reverse.

Prompt: Penelope is the new girl on the BAU team and Luke tries to treat her cold.

Warning: A.U., possible OOC.

Genre: drama, romantic, family, friendship.

Characters: Luke Alvez, Penelope Garcia, BAU team, Derek Morgan, O.C. Sam Cooper’ team, Roxy.

Pairing: Garvez.

Note: oneshot 62 in Garvez collection.

Legend: 💑😘👓🔦🐶❗🎲🎈👻🎬🎵.

Song mentioned: Amici per errore, Tiziano Ferro.

Reverse- Masterlist

GARVEZ STORIES

Note: I written the whole story in just two days; yeah, I’m not normal. It was funny (but also not so easy) re-writing their main scenes and dialogues imagining that the situation was reverse: she the new girl, he with the team since… the beginning.

1 # In no way I would like to be elsewhere, that’s why I’m still here

About a month had passed since Christine left to follow her husband to another city. He couldn’t really blame her without feeling selfish: in her place he would probably have done the same. Not only had Rich risked dying from one of the madmen they were chasing (as had happened to Hotch, with a less positive ending), but at that moment she was actually pregnant. It had hurt him, that she hadn’t told him, to have to find out in such a brusque way. He was her best friend after all. Perhaps for a while, before Rich, he had even hoped for something more.

Her absence was not only noticeable in his heart, but much more practically when it came to solving a case. Hotch had called Kevin Lynch, with whom they had collaborated in previous years, but who for some reason he had never really liked him. Then, about a week ago, however, the man had announced that he was needed elsewhere and so his historic ex-girlfriend had replaced him (in the Bureau the gossip went wild, there was no concept of privacy): Penelope Garcia, the star of the behavioral analysis team led by the unscrupulous Sam Cooper.

Of course, he had already heard of her, not just through rumors. She was definitely the best in her field (as much as it bothered him to admit it, because he seemed to be doing wrong to Chrissie). Probably the best in the entire FBI or perhaps even in the world, without exaggerating. Someone said that CIA has banned her from its archives. Top level hacker, like any good computer technician. Even Agent Oller idolized her in a way he never really understood, since they were almost peers. Not before he meets her in person.

But there were other voices circulating, of another kind. Epic stories, almost to compete with the Arthurian and Carolingian cycles. With a co-star: Derek Morgan. The nicknames they had given themselves (and that people had added, as the wireless phone tour continued) were wasted. Her lines were at least as famous as her speed in finding the address of a suspect found untraceable. It had happened to him sometimes to meet Agent Morgan at the shooting range. He had wondered what was in her and was about to find out, at his price.

The elevator doors open halfway. The solitude in which Luke Alvez has taken refuge is about to be broken by a blond hurricane. -Hello!- Garcia exclaims enthusiastically, getting on board and positioning herself too close for his tastes. It is as if the lone wolf that was before joining the BAU had returned after Christine’s departure. Although his eyes remain fixed on the reflective steel surface, his nostrils cannot avoid capturing her perfume. The first time he saw her he was bent over studying a file; Hotch appeared on the balcony, calling them to the meeting. And he glimpsed at her backside, beginning to understand Morgan. Then the big boss made the presentations one by one. She was dressed in such an indecent way… not so much for the clothes, even JJ occasionally allowed herself something low-cut… and also Chrissie. But for the bright colors. He remembers what he thought at the time. But it would have been proven wrong more than once. Because her perfume is not at all exaggerated, strong and annoying as expected. Indeed, it seems an almost natural and damn stimulating aroma.

He erases the last thought and forces himself to be at least polite. His mother and grandmother would otherwise scold him, even if they have no way of finding out. -Good morning.- he replies, with a cold, distant and professional tone.

Because of the silence he can hear Garcia take a breath before opening her mouth. But he knows she won’t be able to hold herself; she can’t help it. She is certainly the least formal creature of the FBI. And Chrissie would love her. -How was your week-end?- here she is. Luke remembers how difficult it was to be grumpy and unkind when he shook her hand. Surely it would have been easier to hate Lynch for no reason… but he was a man. The overlap was not working.

He feels the woman’s gaze on him. Those brown eyes so dark and penetrating, as well as so large and apparently innocent, covered by a pair of fuchsia glasses, naturally paired with the flower in her hair and the three-quarter jacket. He cursed himself for being so adept at noticing a great deal of detail in no time. He may even feel her expectation while she is patiently waiting for him to answer. -I don’t see why I should talk to you about it.- he chooses to continue with the farce of professionalism. But then, despite Garcia continuing to keep quiet and good, he feels driven by an external force to add a detail. -But if you really insist…- he turns for the first time towards her, instantly catching her eyes. -I stayed with my girlfriend, who is beautiful and loves me.- inside he laughs deeply, because she can’t know he’s talking about his dog. It doesn’t seem to have been added to his file.

-Oh, fantastic!- her reaction, sincerely enthusiastic, confirms that she has fallen for it. Naivety is another of the things she is famous for. This often made her the victim of her team’s (light) jokes. He feels a little bad in taking advantage of her weakness, but if it helps to make her understand that with him he doesn’t work, that she won’t be able to become his friend… Garcia looks at him again, without any shame. -And you stayed at home or…- apparently not, he will have to play it heavier. He sighs.

He doesn’t even shake his head. -No, we went for a walk in the park.- he smiles maliciously, reflecting on how easy it is to exchange Roxy for a woman. -She loves it.- he adds. -What about your weekend?- he asks, considering that only one floor is still missing before they reach theirs. But has this elevator always been so slow, or is it doing it on purpose? Everything conspires against him.

She speaks with much more tranquility. Of course, she hasn’t lost her best friend. -I stayed at home with my boyfriend.- Luke feels a pang of annoyance at that answer, but doesn’t want to believe it’s the thought that she can’t have an affair. Kevin is proof of that, isn’t it? It seems to him that they have been together for about five years, back and forth. Of course it was JJ and Chrissie who talked about it all the time, they love the internal gossip. He has never been a superficial type and Garcia has all the credentials; her curves certainly don’t leave men indifferent. -It helped me improve my fingering techniques…- she continues, then realizes the way he is now looking at her. Eyes wide open and narrowed in amazement. Yet he knew it would happen. She is also the undisputed queen of double meaning. It seems that this time however it was not wanted. -On my clarinet!- she then adds, almost screaming. She defends herself with too much emphasis, the skin of the face even paler. -I swear, I meant the musical instrument.- finally, she seems to succumb and he is even sorry.

But not from the outside. Luke, on the other hand, chuckles, nodding, amused by the situation, he can’t help. As he wonders if Agent Morgan has ever been able to test the skill of her fingers. -There is no need to get agitated.- he says, but it doesn’t sound reassuring at all and in fact he didn’t want to be. -Whatever you do in your spare time, this is only about you.- he is amazed at the ease with which such nonsense comes out. Then he feels the cell phone vibrate in his pants pocket, just in time, even if he hasn’t programmed it. He extracts it and looks at the familiar message. -And, sorry- how damned fake he is! -but we have an important case.- without looking at her once, he goes down the elevator first. Really not very gallant. -Have a good day.- he adds as compensation.

-Wait!- she shouts after him. He hears the sound of her heels as she tries to reach him. -I can also play the ukulele.-

—————————

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[s7vencity]

Vmon/Taejon 001

Modern day witches - ©soupsol

It’s late.

Well not so late that the herbal shop would be closed and in turn render Taehyung’s trip completely useless.

But late enough for Namjoon, the owner to raise an eyebrow as to why anyone would show up five minutes before he’s about to lock up.

The door chimes when Taehyung pushes it open and a gush of wind rushes in along with him, causing the various charms hanging from the ceiling to sway about gently.

He’s immediately hit with the scent of dried herbs, wood and incense and relaxes his hunched shoulders at the warmth slowly seeping into his pores.

“Ah Taehyung-ssi, I should’ve known it was you, hello.” Namjoon appears from behind the beaded curtains, giving him a dimpled smile as he settles near the counter.

His tall broad frame is drowned by an oversized black top with exaggerated sleeves that cover his hands entirely. A single choker sits around his neck and the way the lights above him bounce off his blonde hair, gives it a soft glow.

Taehyung thinks he’s beautiful.

“Uh h-hi, sorry for coming so late.” Taehyung squirms a little in embarrassment, his cheeks pink as he looks at Namjoon from behind thick lashes, feeling shy under his gaze.

“It’s alright, I’m used to your strange hours by now, although this is the latest you’ve ever come.” Namjoon chuckles; he doesn’t look annoyed, even though he probably should be.

If anything his smile just seems to grow wider and Taehyung simply rules that to him being a loyal regular customer, rather than getting his hopes up that he’s been looking forward to seeing him.

“Yeah it’s sort of an emergency, I’m out of chamomile buds you see and it’s for a potion.” Taehyung hasn’t been able to sleep properly for about a week now, his usually glowing sun kissed skin looks dull, the dark circles under his eyes are prominent and overall, he just feels like a zombie.

Being a university student through assignment season and working a part time job has made insomnia his best friend.

Luckily for him, he’d finally managed to perfect the recipe to his sleeping potion and now that he’s submitted his last essay for the semester, Taehyung wants to spend the entire weekend catching up on precious sleep.

He was about halfway through taking out all the ingredients to start, when he noticed he was low on chamomile buds, which is a vital part of his potion.

Taehyung knew Namjoon’s shop would be closing soon and that it’d be cutting it close running there now but he really needed those buds (and would take any excuse to see him too).

So with a tired groan, he clumsily shoved on his boots and coat, grabbed his backpack and keys then bolted out of the door.

“School giving you stress huh?” Namjoon asks sympathetically and Taehyung sighs with a nod. “I remember those days, pulling all nighters and long library sessions, it’s not easy. But you’ll get through it, you’re a hard worker and I believe in you.”

Taehyung’s face flames at the compliment and he averts his gaze, mumbling a pathetic string of sounds that loosely resembles a thanks and Namjoon giggles.

If it isn’t already obvious, Taehyung likes him.

He always tells himself that he’ll be confident, that he’ll look Namjoon in the eye one of these day and tell him he’s the cutest witch he’s ever seen and finally ask him out on a date.

But then the second he sees Namjoon’s pretty dimples, those deep brown eyes and plump rosy lips. His brain scrambles, he starts to sweat and his heart feels like it’s going to explode because there’s absolutely no way that he could do it.

Namjoon comes round from behind the counter and beckons Taehyung to follow him.

They walk towards two large floor to ceiling wooden shelves, covering the old burgundy walls. They’re stacked with jars filled with a variety of natural herbal ingredients that Namjoon grows in his garden at home.

He’s a green witch who’d gotten the genius idea to combine his love for nature and plants to start a business, making his trade by selling great quality herbs for the local witches.

Jimin recommended his shop to him after Taehyung complained about needing a new place to buy from because he’s sure Ms Kang was ripping him off (which she was).

Taehyung had then been confused how he’d never heard of Namjoon’s shop, especially since it was so close to his apartment. But Jimin said he’d only been there for a few months yet already his business was booming because of the quality and reasonable prices. Plus the owner was apparently a sweetheart.

So he trusted his friend’s judgment and decided one day that he’d visit. It’s a quaint little place that has all the essentials he would need; from herbs, to candles, crystals, essential oils.

“Hi there, do you need any help?” A deep voice had asked from beside him and Taehyung turned to tell the person he’s fine but stopped dead in his tracks when his eyes fell on the most beautiful man he’s ever seen.

Namjoon had smiled at him, his hair was ash blonde at the time and he had glitter on his lids. He was wearing soft green overalls and a cream t-shirt underneath it with a choker around his neck.

The crush was almost instant.

“Is it just chamomile you need?” Namjoon asks, grabbing a jar from the shelf, his sleeves roll back revealing his large slender hands and glossy black nails as he turns to Taehyung expectantly.

“Uh yes, I stocked up pretty recently so I’m good for a while.” Namjoon nods and hands Taehyung the jar as they head back to the counter so he can pay.

Suddenly there’s a loud rumble coming from outside, followed by a few splats of rain hitting the concrete.

“Oh no.” Taehyung groans, just his luck, of course it’d start raining when he was out with no umbrella or coat that has a hood.

“It’s raining?” Namjoon frowns, seemingly sharing Taehyung’s pain. “I only bought a light jacket today and I don’t have an umbrella, fuck I’m going to be soaked.”

He sighs frustratedly, pouting a little as he bags up Taehyung’s shopping and takes the money he hands over, punching the code for the till to open in a sulk.

Taehyung looks at him nervously, he remembers Namjoon telling him once that he lives at least 30 minutes away from his shop, which is the only downside of the location. With the way the rain was starting to come down, there’s no way he wouldn’t get sick by the time he gets home.

Honestly, Taehyung would never forgive himself, if he didn’t at least try to help him.

He bites his lip, feeling nervous at what he’s about to ask. His heart pounds loudly in his ears and he almost forgets to say thank you when Namjoon hands him his change and shopping bag.

“Do you maybe want to go back to my apartment with me?” Namjoon’s eyebrows raise in surprise and his eyes bulge like saucers, making Taehyung’s ears burn violently at how suggestive his words sound. “No, no, not like that, I-I mean, it’s just that I live fairly close to your shop, if you wanted to maybe wait out the rain... I’d be happy to have you.”

When Namjoon doesn’t respond after a long moment, Taehyung wants to curl into a ball of shame and humiliation. Why did he have to open his mouth, who even says that? Now he just looks like a creep.

Oh God, what if he’s banned from his shop now because of this? He’ll probably wake up tomorrow to posters of his face everywhere saying ‘beware of this pervert’ and be shunned from the town or something.

If only the ground would swallow him up right now.

“Okay.”

“Oh God I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, I’ll leave no-.” Taehyung freezes, looking up at Namjoon with wide eyes. “Wait what?”

Namjoon chuckles and Taehyung’s stomach flips at the sound.

“Yes, I wouldn’t mind coming with you.”

“Really?” Taehyung can imagine the shock painted on his face right now, as he looks at him with big hopeful eyes and parted lips, Jimin always told him he resembles an excited puppy when he does that. Which must be true because Namjoon looks endeared.

“I was wondering when you’d asked me out, sure it’s not how I’d hoped but it’s a start.” He smiles adorably and Taehyung can’t help it, he smiles too, in fact it turns into a full boxy grin.

He can’t believe it, of all the impossible things that could happen to him, he never thought Namjoon would be interested in him too.

He always believed his lingering smile and attempts to prolong conversation were just him being friendly. How he always seem to have what Taehyung needed and sometimes gives him a discount without a reason.

Which he knows now.

For once it’s Namjoon’s turn to blush under his intense gaze and he scratches at his nape to avoid Taehyung’s eyes.

“I’ll just go close up and get my coat.” He says, before disappearing behind the beaded door leaving a grinning Taehyung who punches the air happily.