#from what i remember the larger sizes are so expensive tho

[man-made-object]

sometimes i remember when i hid in a dog crate bc my ex's dad didn't want me at their house at the time (i'd later learn that that guy's really quick to violence) and i liked it. like not even as a sexual thing, it felt so safe and cozy and the blanket covering it made it all dark and warm and stuff. i barely fit in it but i got comfy. besides the violent father thing that experience was so soothing. need that again.

[kinkmaster3000]

oh wow if you can do more character a and character b things that'd be so cool!! maybe with an office setting, some secretary spread? >:9 im down for anything tho I'm still sad that other imagines blog is on hiatus :,(

This ask has been in my inbox for like two fucking years, very sorry to whichever beautiful person sent it 🙏 I mixed the genders up a bit just for funsies but they’re pretty much interchangeable with whoever you want to be in that role.

- A tends to be a comfort eater, and it’s been a very stressful day at work. He takes his lunch break and finds himself eating in the breakroom alone. He clears out everything he brought in about 5 minutes, and opens the fridge to get his drink, only to be tantalized by everyone else’s meals. He goes on a messy binge, devouring everything in record time and getting crumbs and condiments on his expensive button-down shirt. By the time he’s finished, the fridge and cabinets are completely empty and his shirt buttons are digging into his flesh. He feels too heavy and lethargic to move, and sits there in a daze. As the stupor clears, not only does he feel incredibly guilty about eating everyone’s food, but he remembers that he has a video conference in 15 minutes with some very important clients. The problem is, he cannot stop hiccupping and burping, so this would be a disaster. As he’s freaking out about his situation, his cute secretary, B, walks in to get a cup of coffee. He tries to apologize, feeling awful about eating her lunch, but she just smiles at him sympathetically, knowing the stress he’s been under. She just gives him a firm pat on the belly (bringing up a sizable burp) and goes off to call the clients and reschedule his meeting.

-Same as the one above, except character B is A’s client instead of his secretary. Even though B could be getting a better deal somewhere else, he continues to do business with A’s company because he finds A to be very attractive and likes dealing with him. He also happens to be a feeder. He’s excited for the video conference with A, and doubly so when he sees A miserably trying to stifle hiccups. He even awkwardly shifts his eyes downwards at one point, hoping to catch a glimpse of A’s stomach, before remembering that it’s a video call. A is looking increasingly more anxious by the minute, as he continues to hiccup and burp very softly behind his hand as he explains the figures, while B is just getting more and more giddy. Eventually, the tension in his stomach gets to be too much, and he can’t hold in a guttural belch that clips the microphone a bit. He’s mortified, apologizing profusely and trying to make an excuse to continue the meeting later, but B insists, lying and saying that he doesn’t fully understand the pricing yet. A reluctantly continues talking, accidentally burping a few more times, before he realizes that B doesn’t care at all. In fact, he seems very pleased. A begins letting out closed-mouth burps in-between sentences, regaining a bit more of his confidence with each bit of pressure that is eased out. B gives him a better offer than he began with, and (almost too) enthusiastically asks him to “talk about it over lunch” next week. A is thrilled about making a good sale, and has no clue about B’s devious intentions.

-A, a classy, serious woman who is in upper-level management at a prominent company, gets terrible indigestion from anything with even the smallest amount of spice. The problem is, she loves spicy food, the hotter the better. One day, during lunch, her bubbly, motor-mouth assistant manager, B, insists on the two of them going out to eat at a restaurant she just has to try. A reluctantly agrees to leave her work because B won’t take no for an answer). When they get there, she perks up a bit when she sees Phaal curry on the menu. It’s deliciously flavorful, and also packed with habanero peppers. She’s in heaven as she eats it, and then hell 10 minutes later as her chest starts to burn intensely and her stomach starts to roil. She tries to hide how bad she feels from B to maintain her image, but long, queasy belches that burn her throat start to come up involuntarily on the ride back. Her stomach is gurgling like thunder the entire time. She even has to pull to the side at one point and let the concerned and unusually quiet B, who is a notoriously bad driver, commandeer her precious BMW on the way back because she can’t focus at all on the road. A is completely undone, groaning, hiccupping and belching with increasing length and violence as they work their way back to the office

She manages to hold everything in as B ushers her up the stairs (wanting to avoid seeing someone else in the elevator), until she gets back to her private office. She’s horribly embarrassed and gives B a rare apology, saying that this often happens to her and she shouldn’t have gotten the curry knowing that. But before B can even reply, A’s notoriously strict higher-up gives them a call, wanting to speak with the two of them about some important matters. They know better than to decline the call.

The more they talk, the less A is maintaining. She’s having trouble keeping up with the conversation, and the pressure in her belly is becoming unbearable. Unable to take it anymore, she turns away from the machine and risks letting out a soft burp, but it keeps going and becomes loud and gravelly, tearing up her throat as it comes out. The entire room goes quiet, but before she can start apologizing profusely, B does it for her, taking the blame and saying that she ate too much at lunch. Desperate to save face, A scolds her and has her leave the room, apologizing on “her behalf” when the higher-up is displeased at her “unprofessionalism”.

After the call thankfully wraps up with no more outbursts, she rushes to find B, who is sitting at her desk and filling out paperwork, somewhat sullen. A apologizes for her actions, thanking B and saying she didn’t know what else to do. B simply stands up and knocks A harshly on the back, dislodging an even larger belch before. She asks if A “got it all out” and A just nods, a bit sheepishly. “That’s good and all, but I’m never letting you order spicy stuff ever again.”

- A and B are both receptionists for the same company, and work at the same desk answering calls. The two of them are close, and A has a bit of a crush on B, but she has a boyfriend and A is very shy, soft-spoken and dorky. B is kind of a glutton, which A thinks is adorable, and A loves to cook, which B thinks is adorable. So everyday, A brings B Tupperware of increasing sizes filled with delectable homemade meals. B can’t get enough of A’s cooking, and A can’t get enough of watching B chew and swallow and sighs in satisfaction. He finds himself listening very closely for little burps and hiccups, and when she wears blouses that are tight or sheer, he has a hard time keeping his eyes off of her belly. They do this every shift for a couple months, and B starts to get a bit of a stomach pooch. It drives A wild, but one day, B comes in looking distraught, and won’t talk to A. When she refuses his lunch, he presses her on what’s wrong, and she says that her boyfriend made an unsavory comment on her weight as she was getting ready that morning, blaming A for always pushing so much food onto her. A is hurt but apologizes, saying that it wasn’t his intention but that he thinks that she looks amazing with the extra pounds. B is touched and accepts A’s food, enjoying it as always, and finally starting to see him as maybe more than just a friend.

[oh-for-fic-sake]

A Walk In The Park

Masterlist

Warninngs: Swearing

Meeting Henry in the park.

A Walk In The Park

It was about 9 in the morning when you got the leads out of the cupboard deciding that by this time the park would be quiet as the school rush was over and anyone who had to be at work was.Your two excited dogs ran at you jumping over one another to be the first on a lead , your 3 year old blue doberman Milly was first as you clipped the thick leather lead followed by your bearly year old phantom standard poodle polly. You preferred walking them when it was quiet because of their rare colours your girls were a prime target for dognapping because any pups they had would be very expensive. You grabbed a small bag of treats ,their ball launcher and favourite ball as you left . Walking to the park it was a huge enclosed field that had a small fenced off play area in the middle there was a foot path around the edge with the occasional bench and bin, large trees dotted hear and there across the whole park, near the enterance there was a small coffee kiosk for the dog walkers that frequently used the safe enclosed space to run there dogs. Once there you saw three other dogs running loose one large and two small but they were far enough away that you should be able to avoid them. Walking a quater the way down the field you released your babies letting them go scatty they both ran off in a large circle around you letting off steam. After a few moments they slowed down panting watching you as you leaned the ball launcher on your shoulder then flicked it catapulting the ball a fair distance . Playing the game of fetch as you continued walking slowly around the field. Throwing it for the 12th or so time was when you heard someone calling for there dog to "leave it" as an akita that tore past your two and caught the ball resutling in a freindly game of chase as Milly and Polly tried to get it back you laughed and waved it off as the large man jogged closer to you still calling his dog. He was very handsome from here you noted.

"Its fine, their freindly" you called out ,he shook his head at the playful pups before smoothing his dark hair back as he watched the three play excitedly. It was rare that your babies had a similar sized dog to play with everyone now days opting for tiny 'cute' dogs and the larger breeds falling out of fashion. You giggled as the akita run up to its owner dropping the ball who dutifully threw it in your direction. The three dogs chased it erratically it was only as they got closer you realised he'd misjudged the distance before you could move his dog collided with your legs sweeping them from under you. Crying out suprized you landed with a heavy thump on the near frozen ground, the dog realising its mistake stood over you sniffing to see if you were ok joined by your two, before being pushed away by the most beautifull man you think you have ever seen, your thought stuttered to a halt as you noticed he looking down at you with bright blues eye filled with concern.

"Kal you big lump look what you did. I am so sorry are you ok?" He said helping you up laughing it off.

"Yeah im fine not the first time a dogs knocked me on my ass." He looked you over quickly decideing that your ok but began trying to brush the dry dirt off of your legs and bottom. Flustered as this heavenly stranger wiped at the seat of your jeans,you bent down quickly to take over ending up butting heads hissing you both grabed your throbbing forehead.

"Shit sorry fuck is your head ok? Look at me" he said cupping your face making you look at him as he gently ran a thumb over your bumped head. You couldn't help the a small gasp as you saw just how handsome he really was tall and broad, a clean shaven angular jawline,his mouth had a defined cupids bow that looked perfect for kissing among other things, lightly defined cheek bones and all topped off with a set of incrediblely clear blue eyes he looked like a god, you snapped out of it as he ran his tongue over his lips in what you assumed was a nervous gesture.'well you are just fucking oogling him' you thought

"That was my fault sorry, are you ok?" He nodded staring at you still smoothing over your face, you thought it was because you looked a mess after falling ass over tit but it was actually the opposite he thought you were beautiful. Blushing at his appraisal you nervously pulled his hands away ,looking down stroking your babies who had been hovering around you since you fell,you quickly turned your attention to his dog.

"So hes a boy then?" He nodded sheepishly as he realised he'd been caught staring snapping out of his thoughts.

"Yep this is my son Kal" he said ruffling the dogs furry head who was panting content. You giggled it was cute

"These are my babies Milly and Polly" you pointed each one out he smiled letting them sniff his hand gaining approval to stroke them.

"They are really sweet ,amazing colours i dont think iv seen them before. I couldn't acctually tell what breed Milly was when i watched you come through the gates" He stated then faulterd sheepishly as he'd let slip he had been watching you ,choosing to ignore it he concentrated on giving your babies ear rubs as they reveled in all his attention. You nodded smieling shyly.

"Well thank you most people think they are scary tho because of there size. Milly is what you call a blue doberman and Polly is a phantom coat both are rare its why i try to bring them here when its quiet" he nodded in understanding sighing in relief as you didn't mention his embarrassing admission.

"Sometime people are wary of kal because of his size. And you coming when its quiet would explain why I've never seen you here befor, I'd have definalty remembered you" he flirted you blushed not sure where to look as he smirked at you. He picked up the ball launcher and leads from the floor beside you. Holding out your hand to take them back he twisted them away from you lightly with a teasing grin.

"I think we should continue this walk together ,you know for health and saftey's sake" he said winking at you as he used the launcher to pick up and launch the ball out towards the field causing the trio chase it. You nodded looking away your face glowing he chuckled.

"I just realised i havent introduced myself im Henry" he held out a stong hand you shook it introducing yourself.

"Y/n" he tested your name

"Well Y/n would you allow me to buy you a coffee on this fine cold morning?" You smiled shyly at him nodding

"If you want to"

"Oh i do trust me" you felt giddy as he slipped your hand in his before makeing your way to the kiosk.

It had been just over three weeks since you first walk with Henry and it had become a daily occurrence you'd both meet up at around nine grabbed your coffees and do two or three slow laps around the park before going your seperate ways. In that time you'd gotten to know one another he seemed quite reluctant to talk about his job at first, which you understood when he told you he was an actor, he was worried that it would scare you off but it didn't bother you in the slightest and that was the day you exchanged numbers. Your walks were spent chatting and casually flirting with one another, before you knew it you had a crush on the sweet man. Today was particularly cold as you made your way to the park when you got there Henry was at the bench by the kiosk coffees in hand he let out a laugh when he saw both your dogs in their little knit jumpers. You pouted at him as he gave you your drink.

"So your one of those?" He got out between laughter as you let them off their leads and began your walk.

"Yep its for a good reasons tho poodles hair is fine and wavy when they're young it gets thicker and curly with age untill then they feel the cold really bad and Milly gets jealous if Polly has her jumper on and she doesn't" he nodded watching as kal followed the two going between them investigating the jumpers comically then they began chaseing one another for the new slightly bigger ball that you had tossed towards them.

Henry moved closer towards you grasping your hand as usual, taking sips of his drink opting to kick the ball with across the grass with his feet as one of the dogs returned it.

"Well its freezing today there threatening snow by the end of the week" you sighed

"Just what i need snow" you muttered into your cup taking a mouthfull.

"Tell me about it i hope it will hold off until friday" you looked at him confused as he kicked the ball again.

"I have to travel just outside of london on wednesday should be back by friday morning at the latest ,its a fitting and makeup test for an upcoming role ,they have a few different ideas but want to have it sorted asap the costume and props are going to take a while to be ordered and made" he explained shrugging lightly, you deflated slightly it meant soon you wont be able to see him, he would be away filming and promoting and youd be on your own.

"Oh.. that sounds fun tho, are you looking forward to it?" You asked trying to bite down your dissappointment he turned to you smileing wide

"Yes its a role i never thought id get when i auditioned but im really excited for it i cant wait to start filming" he said enthusiasticly you nodded but kept quiet as you kicked the ball kal had brought back. He slowed down and binned your now empty coffee cups then took a long look at you sighing before pulling you around to face him.

"Hey dont worry i'll call you everyday at the fitting and when I'm filming" he said stroking your hair out of your face with one hand an overly intimate gesture to anyone onlookers.

"You dont have to do that" you said trying to look anywhere but his face not wanting him to see how upset you were. You had no right to feel like this you hadn't even known him that long.

"But what if i want to?" He said before pulling you closer to him by your interlocked hands and joining free hands. Your gaze snapped to at that he continued knowing he now had your full attention.

"What if I say that I'm gonna miss you, miss talking to you everyday ,miss the way I can make you blush adorabley with just a look or miss holding your hands in mine ,that im going to find it hard leaving you behind here when I've only just gotten to know you." You were lost for words staring at him as he rubbed to back of his neck.

"That... didnt sound as cheesy in my head.. I just mean I really really like you, as soon as I leave here I cant wait for tomorrow to see you again. What I'm trying to say is that I really really like you" he admitted

"I like you too" the words left your mouth before you could stop them he looked up glowing at you. Quickly before his courage dissapeared he wound his large arms around your waist and pulled you against him leaning in for a kiss, you gasped as his lips met yours soft and gentle at first before tilting his head down more and deepening the kiss becoming more heated and desperate as you wrapped your arms around his neck pulling him closer as your tongues danced back and forth. Hearing a whining you both pulled back looking down at three impatient dogs waiting for the game of fetch to continue. You both laughed Henry kicked the ball without releasing you before leaning down again.

"You have no idea how much I've wanted to do that" he mumbled against your lips placeing chaste kisses on them as he spoke.

" and now I cant seem to stop"

"You think your the only one?" you giggled at him meeting his kisses half way

"Just so you know I expect this to be our greeting from now on love" he whispered lowly and squeezed your waist your tummy fluttered at that.

"Well i suppose thats an acceptable request" you murmured he gave you a mischievous smile.

"Who said anything about request? I'll greet my woman as I see fit" your laugh was cut short as he kissed you deeply again. Before pulling you around one arm slung around your waist as he guided you along the path against him.

"Your woman? you havent even bought me dinner?"

"Which i plan to rectify tonight?" He asked cheekily you nodded at him leaning your head against his chest feeling like the luckiest girl in the world as he looked at you lovingly leaning over kissing your head.

[succygirl]

Hi! Could you share a little about your studies/what you plan to do when your done? Or if you aren’t sure (which is totally valid!) maybe just a little about your classmates future career paths?

I’m trying to figure out what I want to do career-wise so any thoughts you have would be amazing!

Yeaah, I’m totally not sure honestly! I’d love to actually work in a nursery (but honestly that requires no Hort knowledge at all to start, you can pick it up as you go) but with how my physical health is going I’d be better off staying on a computer or at least not having a 9-to-5 kind of job (I’m literally unable to make it through the day without needing to rest for several hours). I also can’t do any work that requires looking down at all, my neck is in enough pain just from day-to-day ‘I have to look down at papers/eating/writing’ that I can’t do it.

And unfortunately I’m not too close with any of my classmates now. A lot of them are older folks who already had careers and are getting into gardening and such either to take better care of their own yards, or just to have something fun to do on the side. Some have made their own business of fine gardening/maintenance on people’s yards of course, but they’re working for themselves and it’s a very small operation of just them or maybe a friend from class if they need help with something. One of my teachers was also a student in my program herself and was hired by one of the other teacher’s after she graduated and became head of his company’s maintenance department eventually. Of course she then started teaching when she got older. There’s a fair number of guys who were/are in the program specifically for landscape construction but wanted to learn about other things surrounding Hort. We also had people who were there as part of their job, to learn a few more things on company/city time, as they worked for the city’s parks or landscape departments (I don’t remember what specifically they were part of but they were in several construction and irrigation classes all in their work uniforms).

Irrigation was actually very interesting to me, the troubleshooting of systems more than the creating/planning and building of those systems. As long as you’re willing to work odd hours and be ready whenever time someone has an emergency (the pipes/something always goes wrong at like 3 in the morning for irrigation of course) you can make some fair money diagnosing and fixing irrigation problems. My teachers for the irrigation classes were always saying how they didn’t have enough people who could figure out and fix problems on irrigation systems, the figuring out part being the most needed). You do have to go through some troubleshooting steps logically so if you’re not the type that can deduce problems based on data/information then it might not be the best thing for you (Clue is like my favorite fucking board game even though there are definitely people better at it than i am, i still enjoy trying to solve a mystery like that. Same with figuring out IT problems). There’s some very light electrical knowledge needed when irrigation control boxes are involved, and lots of problems happen at a valve box or a control box, but again, as long as you’ve got a logical/mechanical mind it’s pretty easy.

I also very much enjoyed pruning, it can be rather meditative while you’re looking at a tree and thinking about how it will grow depending on where you cut it and how best to cut it to look and grow it’s best. Just have to be careful with going too far and knowing when to stop cutting! Taking just a class or two in pruning can really propel your knowledge very quickly and from there it’s just getting more experience actually cutting trees and learning how they respond to what you’re doing to them. You’d also want to take a few plant ID classes so you’re familiar with what you’re pruning as different plants need to be pruned in different seasons and will respond differently. Or at the very least know how to ID a plant you’re unfamiliar with so you can pull out a plant ID key and figure it out, this would require knowing a bit of plant lingo/anatomy. SO many people need things pruned and lots of people don’t know that certain trees look better when pruned certain ways. Around my area we have lots of Japanese maples which require a different technique to make them look GOOD/architectural/a show piece rather then just a tree. People also have a lot of unskilled gardeners that only know how to “prune” trees into a lollypop shape, these are usually known as “mow and blow” gardeners (at least in my area?). So having a gardener that knows how to prune a tree? That’s some value (tho those clients who are used to mow and blow prices will probably fight you if you have a higher price but just.... don’t work for those kinds of people honestly. Quality work means it’s more expensive and that’s just how it is).

I’ve also taken pruning classes for roses specifically as there was a rose garden in the park closest to me (before i moved) that needed volunteers for pruning and maintaining it so the park gave free classes for pruning on the assumption you’d be coming in to prune their roses, you got a nifty apron you had to wear so they knew you weren’t just some rando cutting their roses.

Something I can’t do any longer but I also liked doing was drawing landscape plans. I didn’t care so much for designing them but the drawing of them was very meditative for me, focusing on what I’m drawing and how to get the shapes and lines i wanted. But it also involved a bit of math to scale things down to make them fit on the paper size you’re working with. It’s not necessary to know how to draw well but it certainly helps. There are also programs for producing those same landscape drawings on the computer and/or in 3D even. Which is becoming more and more mainstream though there are lots of landscape designers/architects who like drawing it out by hand and will probably pass it off to someone else to get it all into a computer for other people to work with. Many of my classmates were also working on becoming landscape designers or where already providing clients with designs but they didn’t do any of the actually installing themselves. But there were some who were doing small designs and installing them for people (like just doing one flower bed so it wasn’t a huge job but they still had to pick plants and design with colors and water needs in mind).

Almost had a job at a small company that did plant arrangements in pots and such at homes where they’d refresh and maintain those arrangements or change them depending on what the client wanted (ones that lived outside mainly and it was larger estates with multiple potted arrangements decorating their spaces/entryways). Like if they wanted a Christmas themed one for a party or certain colors we’d go out and change them a number of times a year, maintain them, and hook up a drip irrigation system just for those pots. But that fell through when the law around independent contractors changed here in California and would have forced me to be an Employee that needed to have insurance and such payed by the company instead; with the company being so small the owner couldn’t afford that (it was like the owner and her husband and they kept plants and materials at their house in their garage/driveway. They used independent contractors only when they needed to go to the houses to change arrangements on a quarterly schedule).

Hopefully that gave you some things to think about!! If you have any more specific questions fell free to ask them :)

[incandescent-creativity]

The Story of the SEA

SOLE Pirate AU Part Four

That’s right everybody, the SOLE Pirate AU has a name now! And a cover!

And you know I had to make it a pun. Cuz that’s what Beth is trying to do, is Save Everyone’s Ass.

In case you missed it: Part One ||| Part Two ||| Part Three

Tagging  @kometa-makes-art @homesteadhorner @merigreenleaf @perringcentral @eyes-of-golden-light @no-url-ideas-tho @knightedwriter @cog-writes @boothewriter @gettingitwrite @theguildedtypewriter @roselinproductions @halfbloodlycan @dreamwishing  @nicholewrites @writerofwriting @ava-burton-writing for this! If you want to be added to the tag list just let me know!

Last Time:

Christian looks between the two of them and takes a rattling breath. “You’re both in terrible danger.”

It takes three days to get the story out of the saved man.

After his cryptic warning, Dr. Lurno recovers his senses and shoos the Captain and her first mate out of his medical office. “The man needs his rest if he’s going to recover from this ordeal,” he says, all business. “I will keep you updated on every improvement, Cap’n, but this is of highest importance.

She withholds nothing from her crew, and puts them on high alert for those three days. By the third, everybody is tense. Arguments break out every hour, though only one threatens to get physical. It’s a great relief when her medical officer knocks on her office door. “He says he’s ready to talk now.”

“Bring him in.”

Her office is appropriately larger than Lurno’s, accommodating a wooden desk, a table, and four chairs for eating, in addition to a rectangular aquarium in the back corner. In lieu of candles or lanterns, she has commissioned an entire wall of windows. Expensive, and likely to shatter in the event of an attack, but the view of the ocean is unparalleled.

Christian, if that is his name, moves as if he’s never been on a ship before. He constantly stumbles, and folds his hands in front of him as if he is afraid of touching anything. Beth’s offer of a chair is taken with immediate and obvious relief. She sits across from him, but Hans refuses to take a seat, preferring to stand behind her with his arms folded.

There’s silence for a moment, Christian glancing around the room. It’s up to the Captain to speak first: “The doctor tells me you are sufficiently recovered to explain yourself.”

“I–yes.” His fingers run over his arm compulsively. “What would you like to know?”

“What kind of danger are we in?” she demands immediately. “Who is it that’s threatening us, and why? How close are they? Do you have information on any of their weaknesses? How did you find out about this danger, and why did you come to us about it?”

“Uh. Wow. That’s, um,” Christian says with a clearing of his throat, “that’s a lot.”

“You offered us information,” Hans reminds him, a not-so-subtle threat to his voice.

“And I’ll give it,” he says quickly. “I was just surprised, that’s all.”

“Understandable,” Beth intervenes quickly. The last thing she needs is for the tension of the last few days to spill over between these two.

Settling back in his chair, Christian starts running his fingers over the scars on his left arm. The movement is subconscious, and adds to the eeriness of the tale that he tells.

“I… I told you that you were in terrible danger, and that’s true. But you’re not the only ones. It’s the whole world, really. Everybody’s in danger. But you’re the only ones who can do something about it, so… you’re the ones I’ve come to.

“There’s no easy way to tell you this, so I’ll just say it. There is a dragon growing and gathering power on an island in the middle of the sea.

“This is a kind of danger that the world has faced only once, and it nearly destroyed civilizations. I know we’ve all heard the stories,” he says hurriedly, as if expecting their protests, “but the legends are true. I’ve seen it. It’s growing bigger every day, especially with what she’s feeding it.”

Christian’s eye catches on their surprised frowns. “What, you thought a wild dragon was surviving on its own? No, it’s got a caretaker. I don’t know how she’s controlling it, but it obeys her like a mother. She’s the only reason it hasn’t been found yet; she’s keeping it quiet.

“But it won’t stay quiet for much longer. It’s the size of a house now, and she’s starting to test its power. Nobody questions plumes of smoke when they’re coming from a volcanic island, so it’s the perfect place. But I’ve seen its power, and it…” Christian stares out the expansive window of Beth’s office. “It will tear through cities like paper.”

Coming back to the present, he focuses his eyes on Beth. “That’s why I had to find you. You’re the only one who has a prayer of fighting this thing. You’re the queen of the ocean, with a cutthroat crew. I figure you’ll be able to subdue it while they fight the rest of the people on that island.”

“What people?” Hans asks suspiciously. He hasn’t unfolded his arms since the beginning of Christian’s story.

Christian stares at him plainly. “This isn’t a one-woman operation, you know. She’s got al sorts of people around her, dragon worshippers and outcasts and rebels. She’s promised them all a front seat to the destruction of the government. Hell, it’s practically a cult.”

“Which government?” The question comes from Hans again; Beth hasn’t said a word, preferring to simply listen and let her first mate ask the questions.

“All of them. She goes on and on about how she has been destined for a purpose, how she has gathered the most powerful individuals she can find to aid her in this purpose. And she’s not wrong. There are some people with crazy abilities there. 

“For instance, she’s got a runner, someone who can move faster than the eye can follow. And there’s a guy who can affect things with his mind. And… she used to have me, too.” He says this quickly, as if a confession.

“You? What can you do?” Hans asks. Beth sits up in her chair as the conversation turns, her attention caught.

Christian raises a hand above the table, the scar in his palm facing the ceiling. A moment later, a flame flickers to live in the middle of his hand. It dances and twists right above his palm scar, and its source is no longer left to the imagination.

The captain and her mate recoil in synchronized shock. Christian quickly curls his hand into a fist to extinguish the flame. “I know. It’s… My ability is the reason she targeted me. A child born of fire has never really been welcome anywhere, and she told me that I would fit in with her people.”

“And I’m sure you did,” Hans says scornfully. “So why would you leave them? Why would betray them for us?” His hard tone leaves neither Beth nor Christian with any doubts about the real question: And why should we expect you to stick with us?

“I didn’t know what she was planning,” Christian objects. “I told you, she hides the beast well. I only learned of its existence a month ago. Then I had to arrange to get away without notice, and then I had to find you. I left her as soon as I could, believe me. I’ve no love for the world, but it is a better place today than it would be under her direction.”

“This dragon cultist, this leader that you speak of,” Beth speaks up. Her voice is heavy, and contemplative. “What’s her name?”

“Oh. Right.” Christian gives a short nod, as if remembering the detail he had skipped. “Her name is Barbara, Barbara Agau.”

[histologyapology]

Quiz Review #1: Water Quality

hhhhhhh i really don’t want to study tonight but this is a fairly interesting topic so I figured I’d try to bribe myself into some review by posting about it here. alright leggo. giant wall of text under the cut, strap in lads. 

Water Quality as it relates to histology is probably an overlooked topic in many labs. Many labs use tap water as a bluing reagent, and so the logic may be that if it’s good enough in that context then it must be fine for other steps in process, such as for water baths and rinsing steps in the H&E strainers. This isn’t the case; the ideal lab will have a water purification system that allows for water that goes through several layers of deionization, filtration and sterilization before it ever comes out of the spigot. But that’s getting ahead of things; let’s talk about why tap water isn’t usually a good idea for use in the histological setting:

Why is tap water bad? Five main Reasons:

 Tap water contains inorganic ions, which can negatively effect the quality of a whole bunch of special stains. Silver stains in particular are very vulnerable to inorganic ion contamination; it is common practice at my school to make students do a Gomori Methenamine Silver stain with tap water and a second with DI, just to demonstrate the difference the contrast and background staining issues. 

Tap water contains organic contaminants, such as those created by the breakdown of plants and algae. Bacteria and fungi find these substances extremely snack-able, which can lead to some false positives on bug stains. We actually had an issue with this in the lab at my previous rotation; the milipore guys wouldn’t tell us exactly what happened but going by the weird fish smell and the MANY  false positive bug stains from that week, we think it was an algal bloom/dieoff that fueled a giant bacteria party in the DI system! Fun times!                                        Another source of organic contaminants is the breakdown of plastic shipping materials and plumbing pipes, such as the polymers that leach out of PVC and water carboys. These are usually indicated by a harsh ‘chemical-y’ smell.

 Certain areas of the country may have issues with particulate and colloid pollution; most of the large particles (sand, rocks, plant bits) should be filtered from tap water by waste management, but certain substances such as calcium carbonate (aka limescale) are hard to get rid of and may cause crusty deposits on machinery and artifacts on slides.

Tap water can contain bacteria and their by-products, which is a big issue if you’re running any number of bug stains or histochemical enzyme tests. The bacteria themselves can give you a false positive on things like Grams, Gomori and Warthin-Starrys, and those bacteria contain can also cause degrade endogenous nucleic acids and screw up F/ISH testing.  

The last and probably rarest class of tap water pollutants is Gases and Fumes,including things like carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and fumes from acids and volatile solvents used in the lab. Carbon dioxide in particular can be an issue, because too much CO2 in water will cause it to acidify, which could mess with everything from basic H&E staining to tissue morphology. Xylene and alcohol evaporate very quickly; a lab with many open containers and/or poor ventilation may have areas where fumes ‘collect’ and these can sometimes condense onto an open water bath (tho can i just say? If your lab has open processors/open vats of xylene just sitting around??? get out of there, you’re going to get sick. rat out your management to OSHA. love yourself. jeeze). 

Alright so now you know why tap water is garbage, now let’s talk about how to measure the degree and severity of how garbage it might be. 

Measuring contamination:

Resistivity: a measurement of how strongly the water opposes an electical current moving through it. Remember genchem? yeah it sucked, but remember when you did that experiment where you put different salts into water and then recorded how easy or hard it was for an electric current to get through said water? It’s like that, but the inverse; resistivity is the inverse of conductivity. Pure distilled water does not conduct electricity well; it has a high resistivity. If your water has a bunch of inorganic contaminants in it, it will have a low resistivity, it’s going to conduct electricity very well, and the College of American Pathologists will yell at you and make you fix it or your lab will lose accreditation. Resistivity is measured using certified and calibrated meter. Details about the calibration of the meter and the periodic resistivity testing you do on your lab’s DI system should be recorded and presented to CAP when they come a-knockin’ at inspection time. 

Colony Forming Units: this is a measure of bacterial contamination where you plate some of your DI water onto some agar and see what grows. Make the nerds down in Micro do it so you don’t contaminate the plate with the sleeve of your scrubs and give yourself a heart attack. This is another measurement of water quality that CAP’s going to want to see during inspection, so keep good records. 

Alright so now we know what garbage is in tap water, we know how to measure that there garbage, now let’s figure out how to make some water that isn’t terrible, some nice pure delicious Science Water ® :

Purifying water: Seven ways

Distillation: Mankind’s been doing this one for thousands of years, tho usually it’s for getting drunk. The idea is to boil water and collect the steam that comes off. This will get rid of larger particulate pollution but may not get rid of some chemical pollution, so it’s best paired with another method. 

Reverse osmosis: ‘RO’ involves forcing contaminated water through a very fine membrane under enormous pressure. RO systems are expensive and making large quantities of water using RO can be time consuming, but the water quality they produce is generally worth it. 

Ion exchange: ion exchange involves two beds of resin, one positively charged and the other negatively charged. Contaminated water cycles through these beds, and any ionic contaminants are extracted from the water. The water itself dissociates into H+ and OH- ions, which can then be re-constituted to make pure water. 

electrodionization (EDI): EDI is a combination of Ion exchange and electrodialysis. The physics of how it works is a little complicated but there’s a nice video about it by Siemen’s here if you’re interested. The important thing to remember is that it is constantly regenerating the resins it uses in the ion exchange step, which makes it attractive to labs who don’t want to do a lot of maintenance (it is still recommended that you replace the ion beads periodically for quality control reasons; everything has a shelf life, you don’t want to push it). 

activated carbon: another classic. Carbon tends to be very porous, so if you let gravity pull water down through a thick layer of it, most larger particulates will get caught in these pores. This is neither a specific nor very powerful form of filtration, however, and is best paired with other methods. 

UV sanitation: A UV light is used to kill any aquatic life forms that may be in the water. Fishkeepers may be familiar with this method, it’s good for cutting down on algal blooms. 

Fine Filtration: a variety of filters can be used to reduce the amount of particulate pollution in water. they are split into two main categories: microporous and ultrafiltration. Microporous filters are basically large mats of fibrous material that physically trap particles while letting water flow through. Ultrafiltration membranes work at the molecular level, separating molecules based on size. Filtration with the method is extremely slow, so most labs opt to only use ultrafiltration for cell culture and molecular techniques. 

So there’s an important question outside of all the different filtration choices, and that is: How pure do you *need* your water do be? How much of it do you anticipate your lab needing? How fast do you need it to be able to replenish? Most labs will decide to choose some combination of these methods in order to best meet their needs and deal with the contaminants presented by their local water sources. The lab for my current rotation uses a combination of RO, EDI and UV, and circulates/re-filters unused DI several times each hour to avoid stagnation. We also have a number of rules about decontaminating pitchers, carboys and water lines within our stainers. We are strongly encouraged to use clear glass containers whenever possible even tho we all wear gloves all the time so we drop beakers all over the place ive only been there two weeks and its almost happened to me twice now

There are several classifications of water set by the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute with varying degrees of purity for use in the laboratory setting:

Clinical laboratory reagent water (CLRW): In my lab, this is what comes out of the DI tap. It’s whats called for in most stain recipes and is what we put in flotation baths. 

Special reagent water: we use this for reconstituting antibodies and the F/ISH team uses it for PCR. It comes from the milipore machine in the genetics ward because they need it more often and apparently the machines are very expensive so we only get one per department. 

instrument water: It won’t clog your stainer lines but it’s not good enough for your flotation bath. 

‘water supplied by instrument manufacturer’: I’m told no one does this any more. apparently once upon a time lab machine companies would send you big ol boxes of water in the mail to use exclusively on their machines, but then no one was checking to see how chemically stable the packaging was and there were issues with polymer contamination; this was very much before my time so i don’t have a lot of details. 

Commercially bottled purified water: another method that’s no longer popular since apparently most  bottled water is just tap water from someplace else and you’d still have to plate for CFU’s, test for resistivity etc

autoclave and wash water: tap water. Remember though, you should always give your glassware a final rinse with DI before hanging it up to dry toget rid of anything funky in the tap water. 

So yeah that’s how you make and monitor some sweet sweet Science Water, aka the Good Stuff. My next unit is on PAS/PASD, that’ll probably be up next sunday-ish. Til then,

-Reby