#giving people incentive to learn and care where food comes from is a great thing! you get very cheap food out of it!

[hylianengineer]

Victory gardens are one of my favorite historical phenomena. Can we bring this back to fight climate change please? (And for like 20 other environmentalist reasons. Plus it's cheap produce and food is expensive.)

Uncle Sam had a green thumb? Digging into the history of victory gardens 🍅🌽🥕

Victory Gardens emerged during World War I as a way to ease the strain on the nation's food supply and foster solidarity among citizens.

Citizens were encouraged to grow their own fruits and vegetables to ensure a steady food supply for both the home front and the troops fighting overseas.

The movement continued during World War II, when the United States faced severe food shortages due to rationing and the need to support a growing military force. 

Victory Gardens became a symbol of community, patriotism and self-sufficiency, and by 1944, an estimated 20 million gardens were cultivated across the nation.

The U.S. government heavily promoted the Victory Garden movement through various initiatives and campaigns. The Department of Agriculture's Extension Service provided guidance and resources, such as instructional pamphlets on gardening techniques, to help citizens establish and maintain their gardens and plots.

The government also created a range of promotional materials, including posters, films, and radio programs, to encourage citizens to participate in the effort.

Further Reading:

[balkanradfem]

Learning more about animals made me think about an interesting comparison on how we decide to reproduce, compared to how animals do it.

In the wild, animals will usually reproduce less, or simply survive less and thus do less populating, if the habitat isn't suitable for them, temperature is wrong, and if they don't have enough reliable food sources. Sometimes they will be able to adapt to a different habitat and temperature, like having their reproduction cycle delayed or done in a different time of year so that their young would survive, but if there's no food source, they'll reproduce in smaller numbers.

This is why sometimes animals will overpopulate the areas near humans, if they're able to access people's food storage, trashbags and pantries, it will give them a great, fulfilling source of food and thus an incentive to reproduce as much as they want to - after all, there's food for everyone.

But with humans, it's like we don't even pay attention to that. Or rather, our reproduction is governed by culture that isn't built around human needs and quality of life. We're taught that we need to reproduce, especially if we're women, because:

everyone else is doing it and it's the only normal thing to do

if we don't do it we're failing to contribute to future society

we're going to be an outcast if we don't do it

we're going to end up alone and unloved if we don't do it

there's a limited time frame in which we can do it, and if we don't we might regret it later

there's intense pressure all around us from our peers, relatives, family, cousins and others to do it, and they are all assuming we will and ask us why

if we don't we're contributing to extinction of the human species

we're supposed to want to do it

we're threatened of missing out on a fulfilled life if we don't do it

we're depicted as wasted potential if we don't do it

we're told it's what we exist for and it should be our only purpose to do it

And this fails to take into account absolutely everything that comes into being with creating human life. We aren't supposed to pay attention to the amount and quality of food that we have, to the state of the habitat all around us (if we can even access the information about it), the amount of energy, free time and willingness we have to nurture and raise a human child, or what kind of life this child can have in a world like this. It's almost like we're pushed to be more mindless than animals, reproducing simply because it's the thing that is done, rather than assessing the situation and making a reasonable call of whether someone should be living in a world in this state.

So whose idea was it to create a culture like this, who benefits from it? The answer is very simple, m*n. Just from looking at the culture they developed, it's obvious they don't care about the quality, length, or resources put into a new human's life, all they care about is producing as much offspring as possible, regardless of circumstances. All of the beliefs I've mentioned above, that are forced onto women, come from that simple-minded desire: let us multiply uncontrollably. That's also where the idea of taking away womens choices comes from; it makes it all male choice. They can decide for a woman, whether she'll have a child or not, giving them absolute control over human reproduction, while they clearly do not care what kind of society this builds or what are the consequences for the said children.

When this control is put into women's hands, all of these circumstances are taken into account. Quality of environment, available funds, food, energy, human influence, the amount of danger and threat to the child, the climate, the chance of that child having a safe and happy life, woman will be aware of all of this, because she is the one who will make sure that child stays alive and well. Fathers can ignore all of this because they know mothers will take on this labour on themselves if given no other options.

I've read recently, on how human lifespan increased so grandmothers would be able to take care of their grandchildren, giving the parents more time to work and care for themselves, and isn't it interesting? How only women were ever expected to do that. Every grandfather I've heard of was not only incapable of taking care of a child, but also incapable of taking care of himself, burdening his wife with his every need until his death. Often, they were also a danger to the children (not every single time, but often enough to be mentioned).

And we're stuck in the world where they're the ones making the calls to create more children endlessly, all while ignoring the circumstances of that child's life, and doing massive acts of violence, wars, terrorism, destruction and devastation of human life worldwide, ultimately killing both mothers and children.

It feels wrong on every level that anyone except women should have authority on human life, when to reproduce and in which circumstances. We have to endure devastating trauma and pain, intrusion in our own bodies and risk of death to make just one person. We evolved to live longer in order to take care of children, to create a better environment for them to live in, and we should let someone else make the call? It's insane.

Not only women should have the ultimate say in this, for the sake of quality of human life and the environment, but all of the culture surrounding reproduction should change. Making children in a world where we can't care for, feed and protect them isn't normal. Not paying attention to whether a creation of a child will only cause extra suffering to the child, is not how we create a future our children can live happily in. Males spreading their broken dna is not worth creating a human society that is built up on suffering, and will lead into more suffering.

[bitchfitch]

I don't tend to like stories where the relationship is the main like Plot Driver™. I prefer to write things where there's always something Bigger happening that's causing the main characters problems.

And I'm having a lot of trouble figuring out what I want the Problem™ with the post apocalypse monster romance thing to be.

Like. Ok. Lino is a young scavenger who's never had a full belly in his entire life. Every day was a struggle for him to pay his dues to stay in the community he grew up in because no one survives alone in this setting, and once a person has been exiled no other community will take them in.

Life's Rough.

Vincent is the great grandson of a turbo wealthy business man and one of the last people still hiding in the bunkers. His mutations have affected his mind as much as they have his body and he struggles with extreme paranoia and delusions about 'filth'. He believes the people on the surface are vermin ruining things with their mutations, and he himself refuses to 'inflict his ugliness' on the outside world because of these beliefs.

His bunker is still in beyond good shape, but he's alone in it.

There's very few replicator type contraptions left in the world. many have been destroyed to give powerful figures more control over resources by making them scarce. Vincent has one of the most advanced replicators still kicking around and doesn't even know it's anything special. He does however realize how special Lino finds it and is more than willing to use it and the food it makes to align Lino's incentives with his own.

He destroyed Lino's leg and is convinced Lino is an actual angel from heaven here to help 'purify' the world. His evidence is Lino's 'wings' and the fact that Vincent feels so warm and nice just being in Lino's presence.

Lino has an extra set of arms, and Vincent hasn't talked to another human in several decades. he's just very lonely.

Lino needing to heal and learn how to live with only one leg, Vincent's delusions, his quest to destroy every human that looks like himself, and his overprotective/overly possessive energy with Lino are problems, but they're not Problems™.

No one would have a way to know the replicator exists. so no one would be coming for it.

Maybe Vincent is more proactive in his quest? He's killing people anytime they come too close. But no one would go close then/ no one would care because it would only be scavengers out searching that would go missing. And those people go missing constantly.

Maybe someone is looking to find Lino? Maybe the leader who wanted him to cut off his extra arms so he could look like a pre bomb human. Someone like Lino could have great value as a trophy spouse for one of the rich and powerful, especially if he let himself be dismembered into 'classicness'. A tracker he can't get out. He doesn't know if he wants someone to come looking for him or not.

the vibes aren't right. that'll be another problem but not The Problem. The Problem needs to be more contained. I don't want to split the deuteragonists up for very long.

Maybe it starts as just Lino that Vincent takes to keep alive. But Lino needs a doctor, so Vincent takes one of those and someone to hold hostage to make the doctor do as Vincent says. And someone comes looking for them. Lino convinces Vincent to let the third live too.

They build a community. Vincent is the leader. His delusions are getting worse with stress. Lino is the only one who doesn't irk him and he believes it's because Lino is more 'pure' than the others. He kills the worse offenders. There's tensions now between the new community and Lino's old one.

that'll be the Problem ™

The tensions are growing. The Leader isn't good. Vincent isn't any better but he's tempered by Lino in a the Leader isn't. Vincent still wants to wipe the old community out, along with everything else. Lino starts agreeing with him as things get further and worse. The last nail in the coffin is when anyone still in the old community who had had any tie to Lino is killed just to spite him. There's no one left to make Lino want to stop Vincent from opening the weapons vault.

Vincent never begrudged his blindness until that day. He wishes he could have seen Lino's face when he finally came to the conclusion Vincent had been right all along.

[charlotte-headcanons]

Hey! How have ypu been? 2,3,6,7,9,15 Who else but Monty (Kata, Brulee, Peros too :D) yeah it's a big order!

Phew, that one sure took a while! But everything for you, friend 💕💕 We're alright, hope you've been well too! ✨

Some practicalities first: We decided to organize this answer by characters, for maximum space to go into detail on each headcanon! Some headcanons pertain to our modern AU rather than to the One Piece canon as we found these headcanons worked better for a particular prompt: we'll indicate those at the start of each bullet point!

Send us a number and a character and we'll post headcanons!

2. Job headcanon

Modern AU: Mont D'Or is a librarian by passion and a prosecutor by profession. He opened up and manages his own library in the early mornings and late evenings, but in-between that, he works on court cases. He might be overworked, and is definitely a workaholic but he hardly ever slacks off on either of his careers; and he's notorious for being professional, convincing, and very attached to every case. Highly principled unless Mama orders him to do something for her, he refuses to prosecute those he doesn't believe should be prosecuted, and for those he wants to face justice - he will get so heated that he might get reprimanded by judges for yelling or by cops and detectives for joining their investigations uninvited. His sister, Galette, is his secretary, and she follows him around everywhere, helping out however much she can!

3. Drinking headcanon

Mont D'Or... might have a bit of an alcohol problem. It's not that he gets drunk often... but he does drink regularly. Essentially, every time his siblings piss him off, he takes a sip, so you can imagine how many sips accumulate throughout the day. His prefer drink is red dry wine and he mostly drinks alone, without witnesses, not to give a bad example! To get really drunk, he would have to drink a lot; but if he does get drunk, he mostly gets more explosive than usual or somewhat lagged out, processing all information input slower than normally.

6. Musical headcanon

In Mont D'Or's eyes, the main function music has is to help him either focus or unwind. For both of these roles, he enjoys classical music most - think especially something akin to Wagner. He despises loud music and prefers instrumental pieces, although he is also an opera enthusiast. His guilty pleasure, discovered quite recently, could also be lo-fi kind of music! It calms him down a little, even though he doesn't like to be caught listening to it, as his expressed music-related opinions are overall quite snobbish.

7. Food/Cooking headcanon

Mont D'Or would gladly cook if he had the time for it; but being as busy as he is, he is forced to depend on others and on ordering food throughout each day. His tastes encompass rather fancy cuisine: he adores charcuterie boards and seafood, refuses to eat fast food, adds cheese to pretty much everything that is remotely acceptable like an apple pie and calls it an acquired taste. Besides that, he always likes to have a cookie with his black coffee; considering how much coffee he drinks every day, that is a lot of cookies consumed!

9. Childhood headcanon

As a child, Mont D'Or was known as just a nerd. He was way more shy and less aggressive than he is now; it was only over time, having been ridiculed by some siblings for his unconventional (in this family) interests, that he toughened up and learned to stand up for himself. Ever since he learned to read, Mont D'Or was a frequent visitor to all libraries of Totto Land. At the time, there weren't that many, nor did they have impressive book collections, so soon enough, Mont D'Or started reading books way above his age target group, and by the time he came of age, he was disappointed to find out that he has already read every book currently available within Big Mom's territory. At first, little Mont D'Or wasn't quite sure what he can offer to his family of murderous pirates: he wasn't strong nor all that ruthless, and his strengths could be found rather in the areas that wouldn't be that useful for sailing or plundering. He also felt lonely before Galette came along, and he could most often be found alone, or around Compote, who had a soft spot for her smart little brother. Eventually, Mont D'Or figured out that strategy and organization were the areas where his family could need him, though; from there, he moved on to transform from a quiet nerd into a pillar of Big Mom Pirates’ planning.

15. School headcanon

Besides setting up many more libraries in Totto Land than it once had, Mont D'Or took it onto himself to kickstart a proper education system in his mother's territory. In the past, none of the Charlotte siblings went through formalized education, rather having to learn from experience or directly from Big Mom, other pirates, and from each other. Now, Mont D'Or makes sure that teachers are recruited to Totto, and at least basic schools (available universally) are established!

Modern AU: It is probably not surprising that at school, Mont D'Or would be a straight-A's student. Stellar at every test, he would however not be all that liked by the teachers due to his behavior problems. His temper and lack of respect for authority if the authority is wrong would both make him a troublesome student to get in conflict with. He'd absolutely correct the teachers on their mistakes, and if they dared refuse to acknowledge their faults... he would yell. 😔

Katakuri, Brulee, and Perospero under the cut!

2. Job headcanon

Modern AU: As we discussed in a previous post, Katakuri would definitely be every parent's dream child, aka a doctor and a lawyer in one! A neurologist and an advocate, Katakuri would be very close to burnout, and wouldn't really actively work in the law field anymore, not wanting to infringe on Mont D'Or's turf. He would definitely work too much, but telling him to rest would hardly be a solution: with his perfectionism, he would not be able to sleep unless his task was carried out well. He wouldn't like his job all that much, really, but he'd still keep it to continue supporting his younger or less talented siblings with his money; and not to disappoint his mother, of course.

3. Drinking headcanon

Katakuri refuses to drink alcohol, finding every possible excuse to not be pressured into it. First of all, he just doesn't want to show his mouth, lay down, or do something even more embarassing for anyone to see if he gets drunk. More importantly, though, he is scared of falling into an addiction as a coping method, so he prefers to just avoid the temptation altogether. If possible, he'd rather not be around drunk people, too!

6. Musical headcanon

Katakuri enjoys all kinds of music and has quite a diverse tastes, with some of his favorites coming from indie rock, metal, cute pixel music, grunge, and more. He is quite embarrassed to share the music he listens to, so when possible, he listens to it on headphones. When he's fully convinced that he's alone, he might sing a little or bob his head to the music he enjoys; if listening to songs around people, though, he'll keep a fully straight, unmoved face.

7. Food/Cooking headcanon

As the supreme donut lover, Katakuri actually has a secret bucket list of all flavors of donuts he wants to try! He cares about the textures of food a lot, and generally prefers soft and chewy things. To set him apart from Luffy, Katakuri also doesn't really like meat, with few exceptions! Sometimes, Katakuri joins Perospero in his morning tea drinking sessions, and it was from his older brother that he learned to like his tea very sweet. As for cooking, he tried it as a child, but found to have little patience for it back then; now, he'd probably do way better if he tried to cook, but just like Mont D'Or, he just doesn't have the time!

9. Childhood headcanon

Katakuri is probably the Charlotte that changed the most since his early childhood. Before the Brulee incident, he was actually a rather lazy, even if talented, kid. To get him to train, an incentive of donuts was always necessary; and having been highly influenced by Daifuku and Oven, he also used to be a bit of a troublemaker. If anyone made fun of him or annoyed him, they would always see Katakuri throwing hands - he was far more eruptive than now and didn't really care what others thought. Brulee getting hurt because of him, though, had a life-changing effect on him; and it effectively molded him into the hardworking, serious, troubled person that he is now.

15. School headcanon

Modern AU: Despite starting off as a troublemaker who slept through the boring classes, these days Katakuri is a model student, and many teachers marvel at his transformation. He is just as good in sciences as in sports, and often represents his school in various competitions, regularly winning too! Although he gets A's in everything, his favorite school subjects remain the humanities. After school, he revises the lesson material for exactly an hour every day, but doesn't need to study much before tests, having a great memory and a kind of sixth sense for filtering out important information. Despite not wanting to be in the spotlight, he's very popular with fellow students and a lot of classmates have secret crushes on him, girls or guys!

2. Job headcanon

Modern AU: As we headcanon, one of Brulee's main hobbies is tending to her herbal garden, and she knows a lot about the healing properties of plants! Naturally, then, she would gladly choose pharmacy as her career path: the calm atmosphere combined with helping others would fit her vibe perfectly. Besides that, she would also work voluntarily babysitting the children of her siblings; the kids would always be kind of scared of her at first, but soon enough they would outright cry whenever she would have to leave even just for a moment.

3. Drinking headcanon

Brulee drinks alcohol rarely and in small amounts; mostly as an addition to a good dinner. She is an extreme lightweight, so anything more than one glass of her favorite white wine results in her becoming way more clumsy than usual and inevitably getting a next-morning headache. To avoid this, she makes sure to never drink more than she knows she can handle!

6. Musical headcanon

Another classical music lover, Brulee would enjoy something akin to Schubert's songs most! Even though she isn't the best at it, with her voice being just a bit too nasal and too scratchy, Brulee likes to sing (especially ballads and lullabies!) and often hums while working. Having a bit more free time than most of her siblings, Brulee also managed to learn some instruments, albeit she only ever stuck to the basics and simple pieces. The piano is the instrument she plays rather well, so she can teach her younger siblings how to play a few easy songs if they so please; very recently, she also picked up the violin, and she enjoys practicing it although, so far, the sounds she can make hardly resemble what she would like to hear.

7. Food/Cooking headcanon

Brulee cooks a lot and enjoys doing that a bunch! She's quite experimental and healthy with her recipes, and prefers salty foods as well as meat or soups. As a result, she is one of the few bastions that keep some of her siblings from succumbing to dessert-only diets. Once in a while, she bakes bread too; since she always cooks way more food than she needs, she often ends up sharing or donating it! You can almost always smell something cooking up in her hut; even if Totto Land has so many high-level chefs, Brulee still likes to make her own, homemade food herself.

9. Childhood headcanon

As a child, Brulee was much more anxious than she is now. She was always a bit awkward and clumsy, and kind of bullied for her witchy appearance by the other children in ports and in Totto Land. Over time, she learned to embrace herself, though; in the stories her older siblings told her, she always identified with the witches, and she later proceeded to amplify this image of herself as much as possible, instead of resenting it!

15. School headcanon

Modern AU: Brulee would be a mediocre student, who'd be kind of picked on, at least until Katakuri got all set on defending her! Her favorite school subject would be history, and she'd also enjoy some parts of biology - though she'd much rather learn about plants and animals than the human insides. Always a sweetheart, Brulee would enjoy secretly making her classmates happy with little anonymous gifts; each birthday or Valentine's Day, anyone could count on at least one card from a secret friend, who everyone would suspect to be her, as she isn't all that great at hiding.

2. Job headcanon

Modern AU: Perospero would be an interior designer, but really, one of a kind. Even if just designing a chair, he'd see his work as art and himself as an artist, and he'd act accordingly. Cracker Any architect unlucky enough to have to work with him would end up in despair as he'd blatanly ignore the technical limits and capacities of a building for the aesthetic. Likewise, his clients would have to be prepared for many unexpected decisions and costs: Perospero would not take orders from them but always stick to what he thinks looks good, no matter how intricate or expensive. Effectively, the only clients brave enough to employ him more than once would be the rich and extravagant ones: those would appreciate his work immensely, while anyone remotely more practical would have to complain.

3. Drinking headcanon

Perospero parties and gets drunk quite often, although he exclusively drinks overly sweet cocktails and never drinks outside of a social context! When he has too much to drink, he gets either hyper, horny, or annoying - or all three at once - depending on his mood. Whichever it is, he also loses all understanding of personal space, gets a lot more touchy, and much more likely to lick everyone and everything. At the end of the night, he has the tendency to pretend that he's much more drunk than he actually is, too, hoping that someone will carry him home like the princess he wants to be; though most of the time, it just ends up with Daifuku pulling him back by the leg.

6. Musical headcanon

Perospero loves to sing, especially publically, and he's surprisingly good at it! damn I really got a stroke first time I heard him sing, like, my man, how can you sing so well with an entire tongue out wtf Perospero explain. His preferred repertoire of music to sing includes all sorts of songs from musicals; as for music to listen to, he ranges between musicals and hyperpop, or any music sweet and bubbly on the outside but disturbing and horror-like as it develops!

7. Food/cooking headcanon

Perospero does not cook on principle, insisting that they have the chefs for it. His diet as a whole is downright atrocious; he adds sugar to quite literally everything, acts dramatically, as if he was poisoned if forced to eat anything not sweet enough, and mostly lives off candy. His 'tea' can hardly be called that anymore, considering that it contains more syrups and sugar than tea itself. Basically, Compote gets chills whenever she sees him eat and continuously marvels at how the fuck he is still alive.

9. Childhood headcanon

Having to take care of his siblings early on, Perospero didn't get much of a careless childhood. Once Linlin was unable to keep all children with her on the Rocks Pirates ship, by the time he was 8, he was put in charge of all the younger siblings she left in a port (while Compote was looking over the ones that stayed with Linlin on the ship). Perospero looks back at his childhood fondly, though; he liked ordering his brothers and sisters around, liked being in charge, and especially loved being admired and looked up to as the eldest sibling role model. Once Katakuri became a new favorite of the family, Perospero was so jealous and grumpy for a while that he even went through a rebellious phase of trying to run away; he came back less than a day later though, having cried his eyes out once missing his family and homesickness kicked in, never to try to leave ever again.

15. School headcanon

Modern AU: At school, Perospero would definitely focus on socializing way more than on learning. Among the teachers, he would be known as a smart but lazy kind of student, doing the bare minimum for most classes, though excelling in art and music. He would have mostly girl friends, essentially running his own mean girls group; together with them, he'd always come up with excuses to not exercise during P.E. so that his looks don't get ruined and so that he can just spend the time gossiping about the guys instead. If someone got on his bad side, Perospero would also not be above bullying them, although he wouldn't do that in a conventional way - rather, he'd just make his victims severely uncomfortable, getting way to close, switching between flirty and dangerous tones, and making them feel trapped before just backing off and laughing. An absolute menace to society, even in a modern AU 😔

If you managed to get through all of this, we salute you, soldier 🎖️Hope you enjoyed, though! ✨ It was sure fun to come up with. Thanks for the ask! 💕

[ericxanders]

Hold Your Breath || Eric&Owen

@owenepierce

Eric and Owen explore breathplay, and someone calls someone Daddy. No prizes for guessing who.

June 2020

Unfinished; clearing servers

Eric

The mention of breath play had Eric intrigued. He had some experience with the kink but it had been a while since he’d fully enjoyed it — and Owen, he was confident, would be a wonderful submissive to enjoy it with. Caleb was swimming, so he knew they’d have a few hours to play before he joined them. He had already come to the conclusion that after something as intense as this, a quiet, relaxed evening with good food and cuddling would be exactly what the doctor ordered. He was as prepared as he could be for the scene ahead when a knock on the door announced Owen’s arrival. He greeted him with a warm smile. ‘I don’t think I’ll ever get tired seeing you kneel for me angel.’ He grinned. ‘Come on in, through to the living room.’ He invited.25 

Owen

It had been a while since Owen had submitted for Eric. In that interim, Owen had been scening with various people, picking up other tricks and skills along the way - so he was excited to demonstrate some of those newfound abilities to the Dominant he’d mainly started off submitting to. Arriving at the all-too familiar suite, Owen dropped to his knees and bowed his head obediently as he did so. Without the hesitation he might’ve had a month and a half ago, the blonde submissive knocked on Eric’s door. Owen didn’t lift his head until after Eric’s initial greeting - and when he did, there was a distinct, warm smile gracing his features. “And I don’t think I’ll ever tire of lookin’ up at you, sir.” He responded cheerfully before rising to his feet and making his way past Eric and into the living room. Twirling around happily, Owen beamed at Eric. “How’ve you been, sir?”(edited)

Eric

Owen’s energy was infectious, and like he had every time they’d spent time together, he brightened up the room. ‘I’ve been good. Busy — apparently the better weather prompts people into wanting to hire a photographer.’ He chuckled. ‘I’ve missed you though.’ He admitted honestly. ‘Spending time with you puts me in a better mood. It should be a more regular thing.’ He smiled. ‘And how have you been? We don’t get to catch up properly on our runs.’ He remarked, as he took a seat on the couch. He placed a cushion on the carpeted floor next to him. ‘Come kneel by me angel. Let’s catch up a little and talk about the scene I have in mind.’

Owen

Owen gushed at Eric's confession and stepped closer to him, reaching out to take his hand and give it a little squeeze. "Aww, you're adorable. Y'know you don't have to miss me! I'm always down to hang out with you - so I hope that when you're not busy takin' pictures of people, you never hesitate to hit me up." Smiling after Eric as he took a seat on the couch, Owen followed suit and knelt on the cushion the offered to him. "I've been great! I've been doing a lot of scenes with a lot of different people, so I feel like I've learned a lot. I even did one with Blaine and Sam! They're great. I'm so glad you suggested I go and talk to him, sir. Not only am I learning a lot about being a good submissive, but Blaine and I have become pretty good friends, too." He propped his head on Eric's knee as is he were a literal Golden Retriever and grinned up at him. "But - yes! Our scene for the day. I'm excited to hear what you've got in store for me."

Eric

‘I’m really glad to hear that. All of it. I think the way you’ve embraced your mark is something rather beautiful.’ He observed. ‘I knew from our first scene together you were going to shine.’ He praised. It was exciting to see how Owen has grown into his role as a submissive — he’d never doubted the blonde would excel. ‘I’m definitely curious about the scenes you’ve been doing, what kinks you’ve been exploring. If you’re happy to share, we can talk about that later though.’ He nodded. Owen seemed to immediately settle and make himself comfortable, and Eric threaded his fingers through his hair. ‘Well, I’m sure it’s no surprise that ever since you posted about breath play, I’ve been thinking about that.’ He laughed. ‘That’s something I’d really like to explore with you. But it can be more dangerous than a lot of kinks so I think it’s something we should ease into. And something that requires us to have more than a safety word.’ He explained. ‘I want us to come up with a safety signal too. Something you can do easily if for whatever reason you can’t verbalise you’re word.’ He explained. ‘And I’ll definitely check in with you a lot more than usual.’ He assured him. He wanted to ensure he did everything he could to put Owen at ease. ‘Do you have any experience with breath play? Either participation or witnessing it?’ He asked.

Owen

Owen beamed at Eric's praise - like he always did when the other complimented him. Eric had a way of making him feel especially valued - not only as a submissive but as a person, in general. "Yeah, I'll definitely tell you all about some of the stuff I've been doing. Most of it's super hot." Owen added naturally with a little giggle. There'd be a better time and setting for that, though. For now, Owen settled into his cushion and listened intently as Eric explained the scene he had in mind and the intricacies that went along with it. The blonde nodded when Eric mentioned the potential dangers of the kink they were about to explore and nodded again in understanding of the necessity of a more complex system for safeword-ing. "I mean, I've definitely been choked a little during sex before - which I guess would be breath-play at is most simple. It was super hot. The lack of oxygen kinda heightens everything. There's a little adrenaline involved as well as that immediate feeling of being like...owned that I really enjoy. Plus, I'd imagine it'd give the dominant part a similar feeling of power and all that. Seems to me like a fun time all around, but I totally understand why you've gotta be careful when exploring it beyond a little choking." Owen admitted. "How would we go about doing that, by the way? Like...how else would you take my breath away? Besides choking me or just...y'know, looking as handsome as you always do." The blonde added with a flirtatious little smirk.(edited)

Eric

‘I can’t speak for all Dominants, but I want you to know this isn’t just a power thing. Not for me. It literally blows my mind how much trust a submissive puts in me with this sort of stuff. That’s what makes this all so rewarding and arousing.’ He clarified. Yes, power and being in control felt good, but it wasn’t his driving force. He laughed at Owen’s flirting, and shook his head. ‘I thought that safest way for us to start might just be for me to tell you to hold your breath.’ He explained. ‘Perhaps it’s the photographer in me, but I’m a voyeur and I think I know you well enough to deduce that you like putting on a show. So you’re going to masturbate for me; you’re going to put on a show and you’re going to do it while holding your breath.’ He grinned. ‘At first, you’ll be allowed to breathe out when you need to but that means you stop touching yourself. The pleasure stops. We’ll move on to you only be allowed to release your breath when I tell you too. And then, if you’re a very good boy for me, you’ll earn my hand around your throat.’ His mind flashed with images of exactly that; his hand around the submissive’s throat as he was allowed to cum. ‘And who knows, if you enjoy it as much as I hope you will, next time, we can talk about using my belt.’

Owen

"Any submissive would be crazy not to trust you, sir. ...I mean - I realize that everyone's got their own issues - but honestly, you're an amazing Dominant and person in general. I always feel super safe with you, and I'm sure that's not a thing that's gonna change in this scene either." Owen assured Eric, perking up as Eric began to explain how he saw the scene playing out. At Eric's closing point, Owen couldn't help but imagine Eric looming over him - one end of a belt in hand and the rest of it secured tightly around Owen's own neck. The image was enough to make his cock jerk slightly with arousal under his jeans. Biting his lip, he nodded earnestly. "Okay - I think that sounds perfect, sir... A real easy way to start - and the reward of getting your hand around my throat...hopefully while you're pounding me is more than enough incentive for me to do all I can to please you throughout this whole thing." Owen smiled, his eyes darkening slightly with lust. Reaching up to rest a hand on Eric's upper thigh, he gave him a squeeze and cleared his throat. "So... How do you want me, then?"

Eric

‘’Oh, I don’t have enough time to tell you all the ways I want you.’ He winked as he stood to his feet. He offered Owen a hand to help him stand. ‘But I think we should move this to the bedroom.’ He laced their fingers together and led him through, and when the door was closed, he turned and pressed him against it. Perhaps making out was an unconventional way to begin a scene, but Eric wanted to ease into this. He wanted to kiss him, be the one to arouse him rather than just having him strip. ‘Hands up above your head. Cross them at your wrists.’ He instructed firmly, before placing one hand over where they crossed to hold him in place. He kissed him. Soundly. Deeply. And he allowed his free hand to palm against his crotch as he did so.

Owen

Remaining on his knees as Eric stood, Owen smiled up at him and only raised himself up at Eric's direction, keeping hold of his hand as they made their way to the other's bedroom. Upon entering, Owen squealed out cutely as Eric swiftly and expertly moved to press him against the door as he closed it. Having a particular affinity for kissing during scenes, Owen was always thrilled when it wound up being a shared sentiment. Following Eric's instructions, Owen raised his arms, crossing his lips over each other, keeping his gaze locked headily with the other's - his own lips parting slightly in anticipation of what was to come. It was tough not being able to tug at the back of Eric's hair and urge the kiss on, but it was arousing nonetheless. Sighing into the heated exchange as their tongue's mingled desperately, Owen arched against Eric's fondling, breathing through his nose in an effort to prolong the kissing for as long as he could.

Eric

It felt only fitting, given what was to come, to kiss him until they both felt breathless. He only pulled away from his lips to kiss his neck, to nip and bite at sensitive skin in an attempt to leave his mark. Without looking, he fumbled to undo his jeans, sliding his hand between the denim and thin fabric of his underwear. He squeezed and half-stroked him through the material. After several long minutes, he pulled back. ‘I’d really like you to take your clothes off now handsome.’ He grinned.

Owen

As always, their make-out session was intense to say the very least. Eric knew just how to kiss him, where to suck at his skin and how to hold him during it all that set almost every last one of Owen's senses on fire. By the time Eric was requesting that the other strip down, Owen had been reduced to a flushed, panting mess of arousal, his cock forming a noticeable bulge in his pants in lieu of Eric stroking him over the fabric. Nodding breathlessly, Owen stepped forward and furiously disrobed, pulling his. shirt off and stepping out fo his pants and underwear, his cock springing forth excitedly after all the attention. Without thinking, he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Eric's neck, pulling him in for another heated kiss. It was so like Owen at this point to forget his place in this sort of way. He just got so easily caught up in the romantics of it all that he'd forget the overlying themes of what they were doing - it was a flaw in his submission that warranted correction, for sure.

Eric

He was surprised when Owen kissed him. Surprised enough that it took him a beat to respond him. He laid his hands against the blonde’s chest and pushed back. He was gentle, not forceful but his intent was clear. Perhaps it was his fault for kissing him in the first place. ‘Ah-ah.’ He warned. ‘You don’t touch or kiss me without permission submissive.’ He reminded him. He used his mark like a pet-name; a soft reminder, full of affection. ‘You can kiss me as enthusiastically as you want when we’re not in a scene.’ He explained. ‘I want you on your knees, palms down in the floor in front of you. Slide them forward until your forehead is touching the floor. Hold that position, and breathe on my counts. Remember your place in this scene angel. Take a beat to bring yourself back to what we’re doing.’ He instructed. It wasn’t a punishment. He didn’t need to be punished, but he did need to refocus on the scene and Eric hoped a simple breathing exercise, in a position that embodies submission would help.

Owen

Owen couldn’t help the little pout he made when Eric gently pushed him away. Smiling sheepishly in response, Owen was reminded of his role in the scene thanks to the literal verbal expression of his mark as the accompanying order that went along with it. “Okay. Sorry, sir.” Owen apologized and dropped to his knees, placing his hands on the floor and sliding them forward, bringing his forehead to the floor. The position was almost like a yoga pose, but with his vision obstructed and the context of what they were doing, it served well to readjust Owen’s mentality back to where it needed to be. He took in a gulp of air and held it in anticipation of Eric’s impending order to exhale and then to inhale again.

Eric

‘Let that breath out. Good boy.’ He praised. He continued that trend a little longer. Unintentionally, it served as an introduction to Eric controlling his breathing. He crouched down, and touched his hair after a few minutes. ‘Come back up to your knees for me.’ He greeted him with a smile. ‘Good boy.’ He praised again. ‘When you’re ready, come to bed with me.’ He took off his shirt, but stayed clothed otherwise. He sat in the bed, and spread his legs, creating space for Owen. ‘I want you to sit here, and lean back against my chest. Right now, whenever you’re comfortable, I just want you to touch yourself. Don’t worry about your breath. I’m going to instruct you on that when it’s necessary.’ He directed. ‘Starting like this, you can still breath out of you have to. You can use your safeword any time. Because the only thing restricting your air is you, we don’t need a safety signal for this part.’ He clarified. He crooked a finger. ‘Now get over here.’

Owen

After the refocusing exercise, Owen brought himself up on his knees at Eric’s direction and smiled warmly back at him. He felt much more at home in the scene, now, and was more than ready to focus all his energy on pleasing his current Dominant. “Thanks, sir.” Owen stated happily at Eric’s praise. He stayed where he was and watched for a moment with admiration as the other stripped his shirt off, his blue eyes visually drinking in Eric’s lean, toned form. He was almost zoning out (although not enough to not take in and understand his instructions) and was brought pleasantly back to reality with Eric’s final, domineering command. The tone of his voice was notably different. It was deeper and filled to the brim with that natural, yet still playful brand of Dominance that Owen was drawn so desperately to. “Yes, sir.” Owen uttered quietly before rising to his feet. He made his way to the bed to join the other man. Situating himself in between Eric’s legs he leaned back gently against Eric’s chest and sighed. He cast a gaze shyly at Eric to his right and then down at his semi-hard cock before he reached out and began to stroke himself, his blue eyes fluttering to a close as he did so.

Eric

As tempting as it was to kiss his neck, he suspected that would drive them both to distraction and he needed to concentrate. ‘You’re so beautiful like this.’ He encouraged. Before he incorporated breath, he want to lull Owen into a perfect state of comfort and relaxation. He reached around him and slid his hands down his thighs, before moving one to rest on his lower stomach. ‘I’m going to count back from three and then I want you to hold your breath. Keep stroking that gorgeous cock until you let the breath out, then your hands move. Immediately.’ He explained. He tried to be as clear as he could about what he wanted so the submissive understood what was expected of him. ‘Three, two, one. Hold it.’ He directed.

Owen

Owen smiled to himself at Eric's compliment, sighing out at the sensation of Eric's hands against his skin. Registering Eric's instructions, Owen nodded and began to stroke his cock, listening for the Dominant to count down - and once he did, he ceased breathing but continued to jerk at his hardening cock, his eyes furrowing in concentration as he worked hold his breath for as long as he could. Finally, the need for oxygen overwhelmed him and he stopped jacking his cock instant and gripped his own thighs sharply as he took in a much needed breath, leaving his cock throbbing and desperate for more.

Eric

‘Good boy.’ There was something incredible about the way someone changed when their breathing was at all restricted. Owen tensed ever so slightly, but his hand continued to move over his length exactly as instructed. ‘I want you to take three, slow deep breaths and then I’m going to count down again.’ There was a small part of him that wanted to rush ahead, but the larger part of him knew it was important to introduce this play slowly. He was timing everything in his head, keeping a count so that when it did come to his hand or his belt blocking airflow, he had a solid idea of how long was long enough. ‘Three, two, one.’

Owen

"Okay, sir. I'm ready." He asserted after taking in the three breaths Eric directed him to take. The second the word 'one' was uttered from the Dominant's lips, Owen shut his mouth and concentrated solely on pumping his cock. While the desperation for oxygen grew, so did the intensity of the stimulation provided from his hand to his own member. It was if everything was enhanced - as if he'd lost a sense. Owen felt his arousal building and by the time he finally took in the gulp of air he needed and released his member in the process, there was a dot of pre-cum seeping from the slit of his cock. Panting Owen turned to Eric slightly and exhaled shakily. "That's....wild. Wow."

Eric

‘Feeling good gorgeous?’ He asked with a grin. It was obvious by the expression, his statement, his breathlessness, that he was, in fact, enjoying this and feeling good. ‘Same deep breaths for me.’ He encouraged, as he inched his hand closer to Owen’s cock. He was curious if anything would be different if he were the one touching him. ‘I think I’ll be the one to touch you this time.’ He explained. ‘Same rules apply; hold your breath and as long as you do, that needy cock of yours gets the attention you crave.’ He teased playfully. ‘Three deep breaths again when you’re ready gorgeous. Three, two, one.’ He counted back, and once Owen’s breath was held, he began to jerk his length.

Owen

Owen nodded eagerly, still breathless and flushed. "Yes, sir. Very, very good." It was all he could manage before he was raring and ready for another round. This time, Eric asserted that he'd be the one doing the stroking, the idea making his cock twitch in anticipation. After taking the necessary gulps of air, Owen held his breath and fought with all he could not to sigh out as Eric began to jerk him. To his dismay, the pleasure was just too good to last. He broke and let out a moan and with it, the stroking stopped, causing Owen to groan in frustration. "Sir." He whined out with a little pout.

Eric

He chuckled, bringing his hand away immediately. ‘You’re so cute when you’re whining.’ He teased. ‘Look at the mess you’re starting to make.’ He remarked. He ducked his head to kiss his neck. ‘And a pout to go with it. Adorable.’ He repeated this several times, and each time he was rewarded with beautiful sounds; breathless moans, needy whines. He could feel the way Owen’s chest was heaving as he caught his breath each time. And then he wanted to push it further.’You’re doing so well sweet boy.’ He praised. ‘But from here on out, I’m going to decide when you’re allowed to breathe again. On my count like before, you’re going to hold your breath and I’m going to continue to play with your cute little cock. When you start to feel like you need to breathe, tap my thigh once. I’m going to try to push you just a little beyond that tap, and then I’ll give you permission.’ He explained. ‘If you need to breathe right away, give me two taps. That’s your safety signal. Do you understand?’ He asked. When Owen confirmed his understanding out loud, Eric counted him down again. ‘Three, two, one.’

Owen

Owen was a mess in Eric's arms. His cock was achingly hard by now and his pre-cum was seeping from the tip of it in copious amounts, lubricating his shaft and making every stroke Eric granted him that much more pleasurable. Smiling breathlessly at Eric's praise, Owen perked up and listened for the instructions on the next phase of their scene. It was an intimidating notion - but that was the point of pushing oneself - to discover limits and uncover pleasure from places and extents previously thought to be unreachable. "Yes, sir - I understand. One tap means, you kinda need to stop - two taps means, okay I'm dying." The blonde teased playfully, his personality still shining through despite the seriousness of the scene. At Eric's countdown, Owen inhaled and endured another simultaneously brutal and erotically sensational thirty seconds or so before he tapped Eric's thigh once. It was about five grueling extra seconds until Eric ceased stroking, forcing Owen to take in a desperate gulp of air as he stared a head at his hard cock, throbbing desperately towards its release.

Eric

‘Look at your adorable little cock.’ He teased fondly. He rolled his hips slightly, knowing Owen would be able to feel his own arousal pressing against his lower back. ‘All red and flushed — just like you.’ Owen was always beautiful but there was something more beautiful about him in moments like this — little moments Eric was lucky enough to experience. ‘You’re doing so well, good boy.’ He praised. He knew he was pushing him hard, but he was responding to it exactly as he’d hoped. He was rising to the challenge and obviously enjoying this new kink. Three times more he had him hold his breath, and three times more he stopped short of letting him cum. He whispered against his ear as the blonde caught his breath. ‘You know we’ve been ignoring that needy hole of yours? Would you like me to fill it for you gorgeous?’ He prompted, nipping at his neck.

Owen

”Mmf.” Owen’s breath hitched as he felt Eric rolling up against him. He bit his lip at the telling sensation of Eric’s arousal pressing up against his back - it was always secretly satisfying when he got any indication that the Dominant he was serving in a scene was turned on, as well. It was his job to play the role of the desperate, moaning submissive, but the knowledge that he wasn’t the only one in need was validating to say the very least. Giggling breathlessly at Eric’s comment, Owen nodded. “No thanks to you, sir.” He teased playfully, his blue eyes honing in on his throbbing member that stood upright in front of both of them. After a few more rounds, Owen’s desperation had piqued to the point where he was rutting back against Eric, obviously conveying the message that he needed more than just his cock played with. At the Dominant’s question, Owen nodded a little too eagerly. “Oh, god - yes, please. My hole is so needy for you, sir. Mmf, please, please - fill me up.”

Eric

‘You’re adorable.’ Was there any other way to describe a submissive pleading to be filled and fucked? Honestly, yes but right now, adorable fit Owen perfectly. ‘An adorable slut pleading for cock.’ He teased fondly. ‘Shift over, and lay back.’ He instructed. He moved when Owen enabled him to do so, and sourced the lube he was looking for. He wasn’t about wasting time now. He helped tuck a pillow under Owen’s ass to lift him up slightly, and used a generous amount of lube over his fingers before he pressed one against the submissive’s hole. ‘Same rules gorgeous. Hold your breath; when you let it out, I stop fucking you with my fingers.’ His fingers were itching to close around his throat. That rush of control, of trust fuelled him in a way he couldn’t describe. He positioned himself comfortably and flashed him a grin. ‘Three, two, one.’ He counted down and eased a finger inside him, moving slowly at first so as not to hurt him.

Owen

Owen smirked proudly at Eric’s continued praise. Ironically, he was even a little proud at being called an ‘adorable slut’ - which, in retrospect was an odd oxymoron, but he felt it was one that he embodied quite well; there was a side of him that was cute, romantic and lovable and there was another, darker side that attributed to his heightened sexuality. Eric was consistently talented at bringing forth both of those sides and making the most out of them. Shifting his weight, Owen did his part in raising his ass up onto the pillow Eric offered, granting the Dominant better access to his entrance. “Mmm, got it, sir. This whole thing is making me really, really hate the fact that I need to breathe.” The blonde said with a laugh. He nodded his understanding and, just like before, took in a breath and held it obediently, squeezing Eric’s thigh to keep from moaning out at the oh-so pleasant intrusion. Finally, he broke and gasped out, immediately whining at the absence of the sweet stimulation Eric was providing. “Sir - that...fuck. That felt so good. Again, please.” He begged.

Eric

This scene was always going to be hot. He knew that much, but it was like his brain forgot just how hot Owen was when he begged. 'It has the opposite effect on me -- I like that you need to breathe, because I think it's cute how far you're willing to push yourself just to have my hand on your cock, or something stretching your greedy hole.' he teased fondly. He counted down again, and added a second finger. He sped up slightly, and crooked his fingers inside him. He was eager, and he walked a line between making sure Owen knew how wanted he was, without being so eager than he thought he'd get away with no more teasing. When Owen let out his breath again, Eric looked at him innocently. 'Anything you want sweet boy? Or shall I just keep playing with you like this?'

Owen

“Oh, there’s so, so much I want, sir.” Owen rasped out, a whine falling from his parted lips at the cruel absence of Eric’s touch as he took the breath he, unfortunately, had to take. “Mostly, though…” Owen sighed out, turning his head slightly to meet Eric’s fond gaze. “I wanna please you. I want to turn you on and I want you to fuck me. So, so bad.” He rutted back against the Dominant and blew out a breath through his lips. “How can I earn that, sir? I’m...so, so turned on. I just...need you inside me. Completely. I’ll do anything, sir. If I could like never, ever take a breath again, I would.” He begged and pleaded pathetically, his face flushed with desire.

Eric

He was so beautiful, so submissive and so unashamed in his pleading. Eric felt trusted, and that was his biggest turn-on. Owen having behaved perfectly for him throughout this scene, and his own lust winning out was all it took to drive him to giving Owen exactly what he wanted. 'Sweet boy, if you don't think I'm already turned on --' he gave a chuckle and shook his head. He shifted between his legs and spread them wider before leaning over the submissive to kiss him hard. 'I'm going to choke you gorgeous -- if you need me to stop, click your fingers.' He waited for Owen to confirm he understood before he grabbed a condom from the bedside table. He rolled it over his cock, letting out a soft groan as he paid attention to his own arousal for the first time.He held the base of his length as he pressed against Owen's hole, and keeping his gaze on the blonde submissive, he rolled his hips forward. He was tight, and hot and looked incredible. 'You look so good taking my cock angel. Such a sweet thing.' he praised. He gave them both a minute to adjust, to catch their breath before he started fucking into him -- easily finding a comfortable pace. Slow. Steady. One hand was splayed flat against the bed, supporting his weight and the other rested comfortably against Owen's throat. He didn't apply pressure at first; he started doing that gradually; focusing on making it more difficult to breathe rather than cutting off his air completely.

Owen

Owen bit his lip to stifle the little giggle that threatened to pass through his lips at Eric’s teasing comment. “Maybe I don’t know, sir. Maybe you should help me to understand just how awfully turned on I’ve gotten you.” Owen teased back, punctuating his playfulness with a little, all-too purposeful wiggle of his booty back against Eric’s groin. Owen let out a sigh as Eric spread his legs, a tell-tale sign of the inevitable. At Eric’s clarifying instructions, Owen nodded, unable to ignore the shiver of excitement and adrenaline that noticeably coursed through his body as the reality of Eric’s power hands around his own throat grew nearer. Leaning forward to give Eric room to prep himself, Owen pouted a little at the groan. He wanted every last utterance of pleasure that passed through Eric’s lips to be a direct result of his own ministrations. Furthermore, he wanted to feel the other’s length in every conceivable away. He needed it - and he knew, his hard work at submitting throughout the scene was about to pay off and award him the very thing he craved: Eric, and Eric’s cock and everything Eric was.

For a moment, the hitching of Owen’s bated breath at the mere touch of the tip of Eric’s length against his entrance was the only sound that punctured the bedroom. That silence was broken by Eric’s sweet, sweet praise and the moan that pushed through Owen as the other finally entered him. Before he knew it, Eric was pounding up into him, practically lifting the pair of them off the bed. It was wonderfully intimate moments like this one that really enlightened Owen to the effect he had on the people he wanted. He may be a submissive but in some twisted, ironic way, being held at the neck and fucked mercilessly from behind by an extremely authoritative Dominant: Owen felt powerful. As his pleasure mounted and his own cock leaked down onto his stomach in response to Eric’s movements, the pressure against Owen’s bared neck increased, and with it - so did every other facet. “Oh, sir...you, oh, god.” Owen moaned out, relishing the complete and utter feeling of possession. “Take me, sir. Please.” The blonde pleaded shamelessly, punctuating his plea by clenching his ass back against Eric’s intruding member.

Eric

He fucked him harder. Deeper. But kept an agonisingly slow pace. He squeezed his hand around his neck tighter, feeling completely in control and revelling in the rush of power. In that moment, he felt like he owned Owen, that the blonde was completely at his mercy and more than that, he liked being at his mercy. 'You're mine.' He felt possessive, and he was comfortable enough with Owen to let that show. His words left his lips in a growl, coloured with desire and lust. He squeezed tighter; this time enough to cut off his air supply. He counted in his head. Just ten seconds this time. He moved his hips faster and the sound of skin smacking against skin filled the air. 'Fuck' he groaned. He felt himself heat up. 'You feel so good. Just made to take cock and look pretty all the while.' he teased.

Owen

Owen thrilled at the way Eric completely owned him physically at that moment. The verbal affirmation that then and there, Owen belonged to the dominant that was controlling not only his pleasure but the very breath he drew or didn’t, worked to add to his arousal. Owen whimpered and then felt Eric grip his neck harder than he had throughout the duration of the scene. In that brief span of time, Owen’s pleasure was maximized. His blue eyes fluttered to an elated close and he floated away on a blissful wave of utter, total submission. When Eric released his grip, Owen gasped for air and clenched back against Eric’s member, his own cock standing up from his body, dripping precum down onto his abdomen. “Mmm, daddy. Fuck me harder. Please.” Before Owen could stop himself, the word was out. His face flushed. Less-so now from the breathplay and more-so out of the hope that if Eric wasn’t fond of the name, he’d ignore it.

Eric

A few things clicked in his head very quickly. He swore he’d heard Owen almost use that particular honorific on several occasions but he’d always stopped short. Eric has never wanted to press him because he was confident when Owen felt more comfortable, he’d bring it up or he’d use it exactly as he had. The last person who called him that had left a very bitter taste in his mouth but that person didn’t even enter his thoughts now. He smirked. ‘Listen to yourself — begging for Daddy’s cock.’ He spoke confidently. Hopefully reassuring Owen that it was perfectly okay and encouraged to address him like that. His mind was that perfect haze of pleasure, lost in what they were doing, how Owen made him feel, without being too detached to pay attention. ‘And look at your pretty little cock.’ He grunted, continuing to tease. ‘Making a right mess angel.’ He slammed his hips forward harder. He tightened his grip on the submissive’s neck again slightly. ‘Shall we play a game? See how long you can hold out?’ He prompted.

Owen

Owen couldn't help the sigh of relief he let out when Eric played right along with the slip-up he'd just made. "Well, I just need it so, so bad." Owen whined, intentionally pressing back into Eric, rutting back in a pathetic display of utter, shameless desperation. Owen's half-closed blue eyes drifted obediently to his own cock at Eric's direction and immediately let out a delighted yelp at the way the Dominant punctuated his tease with a particularly sharp flex of his hips, forcing his cock against Owen's sweet spot, henceforth worsening the very mess the other had mentioned. "I...I can't help it. You feel so good in me, daddy. Filling up my hole, so, so well. Owning it...mmf." The blonde stiffened slightly in anticipation for another round of choking when Eric's rough, powerful hand closed around his bared neck once more. "I'll win that game, sir." Owen muffled out, a slight smirk on his tone. "Your pleasure is what matters. I wanna make you feel good. Wanna feel you cum thanks to my hole and thanks to everything I'm doin' that turns you on. I'll cum only when you let me, daddy.... Promise." Owen gulped and trailed his hand up and down Eric's lean, muscled thigh. "What game are you thinkin' of, though?"

Eric

His reassurances were adorable. Eric knew Owen wouldn’t cum without permission. He trusted him in that. He trusted the submissive to communicate with him if that was becoming impossible. ‘You’re such a good boy for me, the game is making you cum. I’m going to squeeze my hand around your pretty throat and you’re going to stroke your cock while I fuck you. If you can cum before you need to tap out to breathe, you have my permission. I’ll keep fucking you after, sensitive or not.’ He informed him, shallowly moving his hips. He thought that might be an appealing incentive to inspire the submissive to push himself just a little more. ‘If you can’t cum for me before you need to breathe — Well, you’ll still get to cum eventually. But you’ll be going to bed with a very red ass.’ It wasn’t a punishment. Owen liked spanking as much as he did. It was intended to be playful, and his smirk gave him away. ‘I feel like this game might just be win-win for both of us.’ He grinned, thrusting hard as he sought out that sweet spot inside the blonde.

Owen

Angling his head slightly so that he could look back at Eric, he caught that boyishly handsome grin and returned it, a gentle smile gracing his otherwise flushed expression. "That's what it's sounding like, sir. I can't decide if I'd rather win or lose this game..." He let out a breathless little laugh and reverted his gaze to his hard, dripping cock. Reaching down, the submissive gripped his own member at it's base and gave himself a little squeeze - that mere stimulation made his cock throb noticeable, demonstrating just how close he was to his release. The added fact that Eric was consistently fucking up into him with measured thrusts certainly didn't disuade him from opting towards trying to win at their little game. There would be way more opportunity for Eric to spank Owen. They always made time for that. For now, Owen wanted to show Eric just how much having the other's hand around his throat turned him on. Owen gave a little nod and furrowed his brows cutely. "I'm ready, sir. Fuck me. Please."

[stayforya]

I FOUND LOVE

member: felix lee

genre: summer love au!

words: 3.0k

summary: summer love can hurt a lot in the end, but it’s also the most fun. heartbreaks are worth it when the future comes.

a/n: I named this au after oh my girl’s song “I found love”. it’s a good song I really like, check it out if you want to :) hope you enjoy the au!

you used to travel for a couple weeks, but not one month or so

just quick trips to breathe fresh air and know new places

this time, your aunt invited you to visit her during summer on sydney, australia, where she had been living for years now

you only visited her once, when you were younger, but you didn’t remember much

you packed up your stuff, clothes to spend the whole month and got into the plane

sydney was as beautiful as ever

on summer, the blue sea looked brighter and the sun shined strongly

your aunt came to pick you up at the airport and on your way home you payed attention to every single place trying to bring back memories

“I’m happy to be back”, you said to your aunt

“and we’re happy you’re finally back. how many years have been since you came here?”

“I don’t have an idea...”

your cousins were there too and they guided you to the guest room

it was pretty nice and you finally remembered the last you were there

the big window looked like the frame for that beautiful view

it was still morning, and you couldn’t sleep on the plane, so you just took a long nap to recover after the flight

“wakey, wakey”, your aunt said when you came downstairs

“I think I slept way too much”

it was about 4pm

“that’s okay. the kids are going out to see the sunset, why don’t you go too?”

“hm, nice! I’ll get ready”

“but eat first, ok? you’ve been sleeping for hours!”

you made a sandwich with anything you found on the fridge

and then you and your cousins left

you guys drove to a beach close by

the sky was so pretty, it was the first thing you noticed when you arrived there

it was a mix of orange, yellow, pink, and the sun was starting to set

the golden hour is a blessing and you didn’t notice how much you enjoyed the feeling of being sunkissed during that hour until that moment

your cousins found some of their friends and they went to talk to them

you didn’t care about being alone for a while because staying still, sitting down there, watching the sunset was enough

golden hour was definitely your favourite

the weather was good, so you just stood there, sitting on the sand

your eyes were closed, still you could see the brightness

but it suddenly became dark 

did the sun set this fast?

you opened your eyes and there was someone standing right in front of you, looking at the sea, holding a surfboard

the first thing that came to your mind was stand up and sit somewhere else

but why? you were there first

the boy was talking to someone else, so you were kinda shy to ask him to move

“hey, excuse me”, where did the courage come from?

he turned to you, his friend too

he raised his eyebrows as if he was caught by surprise

“you guys are blocking the sun”

he looked at his friend and they giggled

“I’m sorry, I thought you wouldn’t mind”

you laughed, sarcastic, don’t giving him the attention he was seeking for

he moved to the side, with his friend

and both of them sat relatively close to you

you stood there undisturbed 

but then your cousins came back

“we brought you ice cream, but it’s already starting to melt”, she said

“oh thanks!”

the surfboard guy and his friend looked at you guys and then your cousins smiled

“hey, felix and hyunjin!”, your other cousin said

“wassup, mate!”, felix and hyunjin got up and greeted them

you were there, sat on the sand, watching that scene from below

“y/n, this are felix and hyunjin”

you nodded, “hi, again”

“felix lives in our neighborhood”

“by the way, can I come home with you guys?”, he asked directly

felix sounded like he had familiarity with your cousins and it was reciprocal

“y/n is the one driving today”, your cousin said

felix looked at you

he was against the light the sun was shining behind him

his hair was some blondish red hair so the light fitted perfectly

“so, can I go with you guys?”, his accent was pretty strong

“of course”

“great, thanks”, he said to you and then turned to your cousins, “do you guys want to learn some surfing movements?”

you finished your melted ice cream while watching them

and then went to walk for a while

that beach was perfect

the skies, the sea, everything was beautiful and you finally felt it

you missed australia so much

when you finally got back, your cousins, the felix guy and the hyunjin one were all in a group of people talking and laughing

felix saw you from afar, since he was the one looking at you when you were approaching

it was already dark, but the beach wasn’t getting any less crowded

“do you wanna go home now, y/n?”, your cousin came to you

“I’m okay, if you guys want to keep on chatting, I’ll walk a little bit more”, you smiled at her

her brother and her were having a good time, so you didn’t want to be the annoying one on your first day there

“we’re okay, we’re all meeting tomorrow morning to surf”

“you’re invited too, y/n”, hyunjin said

not that you didn’t notice before, but he was very good looking

“I think I’ll pass”, you smiled

“are you scared of the waves, y/n?”, felix voice was deep but he was smiling

he didn’t look old at all, how did his voice sound like a grown up man?

“not at all, felix. are you willing to teach me?”

lol

didn’t know where that came from, but you said that

the other people around made some noise, making fun of him

“come tomorrow, then”, he said

“let’s go home, kiddos”, you took the car keys out of your pocket

it felt good to compete with him

even though you didn’t know if it was okay, since you both just met

but he didn’t seem annoyed at all

he played along very well

your triumphal exit would be perfect, but you forgot he was coming with you guys

and for some unknown reason

your sweet cousins sat on the back seats

so felix sat on the front with you

you weren’t uncomfortable, but there was some implicit pressure 

he put the seat belt and looked at you, with a sassy cute smile 

you looked away trying to concentrate

you had to pay special attention to the traffic, since sydney’s could be a little different 

the route wasn’t long, tho, so in a couple minutes you were home without having to go through a lot of cars

“thanks, guys, see you tomorrow”, felix said when he jumped out of the car

your cousins said bye to him

then he looked at you

“goodbye, y/n. see you tomorrow?”

“that’s a good question”, you answered without a lot of enthusiasm

"I’m going, bye”, he pointed at his house

you just nodded and got into your aunt’s house

your summer just started and there was so much you were excited about

but at that moment, you just wanted to sit at the couch and watch some netflix with your family

ok, best night of sleep everrr

you slept like a baby and woke up in great mood

“good morning, sunshine”, your aunt said when you showed up at the kitchen

“morning”

“you look happy”

“I slept so well! that bed is seriously from heavens”

“I knew you’d like it”, she handed you some fruits and yogurt

“omg I thought I was late”, your cousin were still sleepy

“late for what, sweetie?”, your aunt asked her

“I’m going to the beach today”, she asked

“will your brother go with you? I’ll have to wake him up, then”

“yeah yeah, only this one here will stay home”, she pointed at you

“why don’t you go with them, y/n? when you came here for the first time, you even started to learn how to surf”

“are you serious? why don’t I remember this kind of stuff...”

“anyways, I’ll get ready and go”, your cousin said, mouth full of food

“okay, I’m coming with you”

she jumped in excitement and ran to her room

you weren’t even late, but almost everyone was already there when you guys arrived

the hyunjin guy, other people

and oh, of course, the felix one

you just didn’t want to look at him so he wouldn’t give you the “oh-oh, look who’s here!” look

plus, everyone had their own surfboard

except you, of course

they were already getting into the water and you just put your earphones to relax under the sun

a few minutes later, a soaked felix shows up by your side

you immediately take off your earphones

“so, did you come just to listen to music while we have fun?”

“excuse me? I’m also having fun”

“come on, y/n, let me teach you how to surf”, he offered his hand

“what?”, you laughed, “I wasn’t born for this”

“well, we all are. cause it’s about practice too”

you looked at him

“why do you care...”, you asked softly so it wouldn’t come out rude

he smiled

“cause you’re nice. and I like that”, he got up, “come on, let’s learn”

you could ignore and let him stand there

but you didn’t

cause deep down you wanted to go have fun with them

and if felix was willing to teach you, then why not?

so you grabbed his hand and let him bring you up

felix was nice

his big smile when you did the wrong thing made you smile too

oh and he had freckles

you didn’t notice before

he was handsome

there was something about him that exceeded the level of physical beauty

he was likeable and in a short amount of time you felt that

“oh yes, yes! you’re doing great!”, he said when you did it right for the first time

because of the incentive, you did it right again, and again...

“ok, you can go into the water already”

“what?”, you asked

“don’t you wanna try? oh, you don’t know how to swim?”, he seemed worried

“I swim, it’s just that I’m not confident about being on top of this”, you pointed to the surfboard

“come on, you’re good. I’m here with you, let’s go”

for a moment you even forgot the whole group that was also there

because felix was paying so much attention to you and so focused on teaching you that, for a moment, the beach was empty for you

but it was actually pretty crowded

you went to sydney to have fun, take a break from your busy life and relax

that’s why you were really enjoying it

you were out and about with your cousins

went shopping with your aunt

visited places around

and, of course, started to go surfing with your cousin’s crew

which included felix

the way he talked to you was different

but you couldn’t tell if you were misunderstanding

because he was so nice to everybody

he was always there to everyone

so maybe what he did to you was just him being himself?

it was confusing, but who cares

you’d be coming home in a couple weeks, after all

after you all hang out with the crew, you were driving home with your cousins and felix, who lived close by

your cousins quickly got out the car

but felix was still there, doing something on his phone

so you looked at him, waiting for him to leave

“we are already home”

“oh”, he looked around, “sorry”

you both took off the seat belt

he was already opening the door and then stopped

“y/n...”

dang it, what was it now...

“hm?”, you acted like you weren’t even paying attention

“do you wanna go out? like, with me?”

eh?

he was pretty straightforward

“where?”

what kind of answer is this???

“hm, I don’t know”, he smiled

for the first time he was shy

and that was cute

“okay”

“are you... accepting?”

you smiled

“yeah, let’s go anywhere”

his beautiful eyes expressed the feeling his lips couldn’t say

“tomorrow?”

you nodded

“see ya”, he got out the car

looking at yourself in the rearview mirror

you couldn’t say if it was the sunkissed skin

or the moment that just happened

but your cheeks were blushing

next day

you dressed up nicely, but not too much

it was a pretty sunny day

and very hot

felix told you to meet him in an ice cream shop close to the beach

you started to think it wasn’t a date cause you both didn’t even go together

but it somehow made you feel less nervous

the sun was shining so bright, everybody was having a nice time at the beach 

when you caught sight of the ice cream shop, you started to walk towards there

the big glass wall definitely made felix see you

and you saw him too

you both couldn’t help but smile at the same time

ugh, his smile was the cutest!

the way his lips widened when he saw you

all his face was smiling and you felt yours heating up

maybe the weather, but maybe because of him

you got there and he came to you

“hey”, you said, sitting down

“hi, you look... gorgeous”, he looked at you

“don’t make me shy”, you glanced at him

“so, do you want ice cream?”

“yeah, definitely, it’s so hot outside”

“hmm... I have a place to show you. but if it’s too hot outside we can...”

“what? it’s not hot at all”, you joked

he laughed

whenever he laughed, your heart felt something

it was good to say something funny and make him smile

so you both bought your ice creams

getting out of the ice cream shop, the thermal shock was real

inside the shop was cool but outside it was very hot

you just kept walking while eating your melted ice cream

you two were walking and talking and observing the place

being with him felt light

you laughed easily and he had a nice way of speaking and noticing things

“so you’re going back in a few days, right?”

“it feels so close when you say 'few days’, but yes”, you looked down

“I’m sure we still have time left”, he let the words come out and posed there with his innocent face

you just wanted to hug him at that moment cause dang it

how could a boy look like an adult and a baby at the same time?

he really knew how to be cute when he wanted to

“don’t look at me like this, but of course I want to spend more time with you”, you said

nothing to lose here, right?

“we’re here”

finally found the place he wanted to show you

it was a more private part of the beach

some rocks around and waves crashing quietly

wow

the fresh air

you noticed felix getting closer, hands on his pocket, a little bit shy as you could tell

“why did you bring me here?”, you asked, turning to him

he looked at the horizon

“I want you to remember this when you go back home”

“this?”

“this place. and me.”

the wind hit your faces

your hair got messed up and he tried to take it out from your face so he could look at you completely

“you know what... meeting you was so unexpected. but it was the highlight of my trip”

he smiled

“it’s not like your going away tomorrow, but I wasn’t sure if we would have more time alone”, he said, “and I needed to spend time with you. only with you”

“and we’re here”

“yeah, we’re here”

your voices were getting lower as you got closer to each other

“y/n”

“yes?”

“can I...”, his fingers touched your cheeks, close to your lips

you didn’t wait

you just kissed him

his pink colored lips felt just like cherry

soft, sweet

you knew he waited for that by the way he kissed you

and of course, he knew how much you waited too

waiting until now to finally let the feelings come out could have been a waste of time, but not if you think of it as a beginning

it didn’t matter if you were going back home in a few days

you wouldn’t forget him

even if you didn’t feel the same when you visit sydney again

even if he didn’t

thinking about the future makes us all so anxious, so let it be

the world stopped for you two

time stopped for that moment

his little smiles while kissing you were obvious

you couldn’t help but do the same

the present with felix was your present

no need to think about how to deal with future

“does any other thing matter right now?”, he asked you

still very close

“no”, you smiled at him

“hey, y/n”, he stroked your hair, “I won’t forget this”

“what about this?”, you kissed his lips again

you both were too immersed in that kiss

you didn’t want to get out of your own little world in a special place in the middle of that beach

“be with me tomorrow”, he gave you a little kiss, “and after tomorrow”, another one

“yes”, you giggled

“hm... you taste like vanilla”

“it was just the ice cream”

“come on, it was good”

“ya, felix!”, you slapped his arm, joking

you both held hands and started to walk 

letting the water reach your feet

and playing like two kids around there

“y/n”

“what?”

“catch me if you can”

“are you kidding?”

“catch me if you want a kiss”

“well, I won’t run after you”, you crossed your arms and acted as if you didn’t care

when he stopped running and came back to you, it was your chance

“you catch me!”, you started to run fast

he did the same so he caught you

by your waist

and he pulled you inside a hug where you could see his face so closely

and again, the end of summer break didn’t matter

it would come, but it didn’t matter

not at that moment

not when you were with felix

[shego1142]

Apps I reccomend to get Money

Because what says “We live in a capitalist dystopia” like selling your bio-data for money?!

Full disclosure: Many of these apps will give me a reward/incentive for inviting people to them. If that makes this less genuine or less trustworthy to you then I fully understand, but I don’t and would not reccomend any app that doesn’t work fully. That said I’m not affiliated with any of these apps and I don’t know anything about them outside of “they give me money” so as far as trustworthiness on their part, I can’t really vouch for them. I assume the way most of these work is by collecting your data and selling it to 3rd parties, much like most things online, the only difference is with these you actually get paid lmao.

Sweatcoin: Get Paid to Walk!

This app converts your approved steps (steps you walk and not like, steps accidentally generated by your phone moving) into their own cryptocurrency called sweatcoin, which you can use to buy offers.

So this is one I have used for a while now (almost 2 years) but I never would have recommended it until now, because they have recently updated to include indoor steps, where it used to be only outside steps, making this much more user friendly and accesible.

The pros:

Getting paid to walk! You probably walk (wheelchair users this also counts steps that you roll btw, I am an intermittent wheelchair user myself and it counts it when I’m in my wheelchair) a little bit everyday, so why not get paid to do so!

New businesses are beginning to accept sweatcoin everyday, making the cryptocurrency gain credibility, which increases its value.

The offers can be of incredibly good value, which is awesome!

There are three chances daily to get extra sweatcoin by watching ads.

The cons:

The offers are not always cash

The offers change regularly which can make saving up for something difficult

The app works best when open in the background which can be annoying

There’s a limit to how many sweatcoin you can earn a day.

This app unfortunately has a lot of cons, imo, but I use it anyway because I’m desperate.

This is my referral link (i will get 5 sweatcoins and if 6 people use this I will get a $6 PayPal reward)

And this is an independent link that doesn’t count as a referral from anyone

Achievement: Get Paid to be Healthy!

This app reads your health data from any approved app you have that also reads your health data (so, for example, the Health App, Fitbit, Dexcom, myfitnesspal, etc) and rewards you with points for making healthy choices. It also has articles you can read in exchange for points and questions you can answer and health studies you can be a part of. The more apps you link to it often the more quickly you can earn points. The points can be redeemed for PayPal payouts.

Pros:

This app is passive and runs in the background, collecting your data and saving it anonymously (so your privacy is maintained)

You get points for even small things, like choosing to drink water or eating something healthy, which can be a great motivator.

Cashes out via PayPal, which is very useful and reliable

Also works with wheelchair users afaik/have experienced myself

Cons:

Bio-data collecting is still kind of... ehhh so if you have privacy concerns of any kind this probably isn’t for you ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It’s easier to get points if you’re able to be active so it’s not always accesible to everyone

Takes 10,000 points to get $10 which can be difficult and frustrating for some people!

I use this app a lot and I have used it for far longer than I used sweatcoin so I’m a bit biased towards this one, since it works so well. I’ve gotten $20 or more from this app so far and I’m not a very active person.

Here’s my referral link (I will get 100 points for everyone I refer)

An independent link that doesn’t count as a referral from anyone

Ibotta: Get Paid to Shop!

The og money “making” app! I feel like I don’t really need to tell anyone about this app but I’m going to anyway because it’s so useful and helpful. This app, for anyone who doesn’t know, gives you cash-back coupons, which you can redeem after buying the product said coupon is for. Basically they get paid by companies to advertise products and they pay you a small cut for buying said product.

Pros:

User friendly! Just create an account and press the check button on any coupons you want to redeem, buy the product, scan the receipt, and get cash back.

Super useful if you already buy the items they are advertising. Basically you get paid to do the thing you were already doing.

Often has many coupons for healthy food items, which can be motivating

PayPal cashout is available

Has “any item” coupons so you can get paid just for being human and needing things to live

Cons:

Can be frustrating if you don’t want anything the coupons have offered

Has a $20 minimum before you cashout

Many of the products to redeem can be expensive as they’re usually name brand

Costs money to make money system isn’t exactly “making money” so much as saving money

Be sure to read the fine print on the coupons you want to use, sometimes they are “must by two” deals or “only available on products of a specific size”

Honestly ibotta has become a staple in my family for years now. It has its cons but it also is really nice if you use it passively, just every now and then. I do reccomend making a written list of the items you want, since phone signal/internet connection isn’t always reliable inside a store and it is a lot more useful to write down exactly what you want/need in order to get the reward. I also reccomend not buying things you don’t want just to get coupons, it really isn’t helpful unless you can give the items away or something.

Here’s my referral link (I get $5 for anyone who downloads the app and redeems two items)

(here’s my referral code in case the link doesn’t work: nxdsmfs )

And here is an independent link that doesn’t count as a referral from anyone

Non money making apps because I just adore these apps and highly fully recommend them! Also I hate talking about money making stuff so much!

#SelfCare App: Take Care Of Yourself

This app is my absolute favourite app on my phone and I adore it. It’s very witchy, very aesthetic, and very calming. It’s an absolute treasure of self care techniques and motivational tools. It has become a home to me in many ways, a refuge and a sanctuary that I reccomend to anyone and everyone who may have need of one.

Pros:

There’s a cat! ^_^

Tarot

Customisable!

Moon phases

Journaling

Words of affirmation

Plants

Crystals

Positivity

Supports independent creators!!!

And more!

Cons:

I would say “none” but there is a bit of a learning curve that comes with the app, I may make a post regarding this in full but it becomes intuitive very quickly and if you have questions you can ask me!

There’s no referral link or anything so this is just a link to the App Store!

And one for Android!

Fabulous app: Create a Routine

This app is also super useful and very motivating and helpful, especially since I’m autistic and struggle with creating a routine that works for me, even though I really need one.

It’s very positive and lenient, and it has a lot of motivational tools in its own right to help you create a path for yourself.

Pros:

User friendly!

Helps you create simple goals

Keeps you motivated

Has built in journeys, mediations, exercises, stretches and similar tools to help you be the best version of yourself you can

Has a lovely community and a very supportive help center

Isn’t harsh on you if you need to restart your routine and is actually very encouraging

Can go as slowly or as fast as you need it to. Your routine can be simple or more complex because it’s ultimately your’s and no one else’s.

Cons:

Premium version costs money, but you can get a couple of free trials!

There is one meditation that triggered my existential anxiety called “The Value of The Present Moment” and I reccomend anyone who deals with existential anxiety to avoid that one

Not fully accesible/not always geared or mindful towards those of us with physical health problems which can be frustrating (uses a lot of able bodied specific terms)

Again no referral code so here’s just a link to the App Store!

And for Android!

If you read this post I do hope it was informative and helpful and not too annoying! If you use my referral codes on any of these then I thank you immensely, but please don’t feel pressure to do so. ^_^ i just want to share some of the tools I use to help with money problems.

[cowboyguts-moved]

Ok i’ve GOT to know 14 and 15 because josh...you have a torment hard-on unlike anyone else i have ever seen...why do you always have one OC who’s like a fucking orphan with a peg leg and almost starved to death as an infant or another one who ended up in the hospital and lost all of their money because their small time drug dealer turned out to be working for the colombian cartel and robbed them blind. josh why

ok tumblr wont let me post all of it but gimme a sec and ill edit this ask

edit:

HHSHDJDKXNXJDJZNSJ WHAT'S FUCKIN LIFE WITHOUT PERILOUS DANGER and inborn trauma and tragedy... i do it to purge myself of my own problems and to give me incentive for research and discovering different walks of life than my own ... you almost hit the nail on the head with lewis though which is the answer to

14. The roughest backstory I’ve given an OC

Lewis was made because the head of this cult wanted lewis to be born... kinda like symbolism for jesus's birth. i don't know all the lore for this cult yet but they're a small commune north of a small town in northern California. They have their own isolated community of two hundred people give or take. Lewis' mom was a teenage runaway and lewis' dad was a simple farm hand in a cruel family who treated him poorly because of mental disability and they had to have lewis because it was ordered of them and there was sorta no way out of it...they had a boy and for some reason the birth of this kid didnt feel right and he didnt feel like... divine enough to be used for ritual practice and the ultimate mission of these cults leaders... which would inevitably be a sacrifice of the boy. haha (: and so theyre like ...try again. so now Lewis was born with a fraternal sister but they only cared about Lewis...his real name is Aloysius for petes sake, he's named after a saint. Lewis isnt particularly singled out as he grows up like he doesn't know he's being especially watched because of some bullshit prophecy that was most definitely made up and no theres no angelic godly energy running through him everyone is just a bunch of freaks. Lewis grows up not knowing his siblings are his biologically because the commune is about group-raising. everyone is a sibling every adult is a parent. he doesn't know his mom is His mom but she watches him extra close and lewis gets an idea that this one women may be his Mom mom even though he doesnt have a strong concept of what that even means. Lewis is abused and neglected like other kids, him more severely by a man called Father Gabriel..we despise him ha ha. he's the most vile evil character i will ever make. Lewis's life is fine, not fine... because he's being raised in a cult... but fine in his eyes because he gets schooling in the small community school, he gets recreation activities..this is where he learns to paint, he does labor a lot but he does love when he gets to garden and pet the animals in their barn, he sings in the church choir. the hardest part about it are his visits with Father Gabriel that occur whenever father wants them to at whatever time of day and the neglect from the Brothers of the church as well. this starts when he's about 7 or 8

he's treated especially poorly and corporal punishment and solitary confinement and withholding of basic needs is a big thing. etc etc. this is a religious cult obviously so that sort of biblical fear is instilled in him. uhhh then for whatever reason i have to iron out the kids are allowed to go to private schools close by, probably as not to seem like a closed off and suspicious cult that draws attention. lewis meets chris at his school (: hehe. lewis still has to go back to the commune every weekend though and thats especially hell because things get worse when he's in middle school. uhh when high school comes around hes actually plucked out of the school system and is going back to living full time in the commune and being homeschooled except he and 5 children are selected to go on a Retreat with father gabriel and two of the Brothers..the retreat is actually just living in an abandoned home in the middle of Nebraska and its one big sacrificial ritual thats lasts a year and the kids are of course neglected, made to do odd rituals, are humiliated. uhh basically its Horror Movie stuff... i wanted it to feel like a horror movie that lewis is trying to escape from. theres no light in the house. they only use candles and daylight. theres limited food. hardly any outside time. the ultimate goal is that they'll eventually get very malnourished and then theyll be sacrificed... a little girl doesnt make it. Lewis is upset because he learned to love her as a sister. he can feel himself getting closer to death.... he has deep lacerations on his leg from abuse and theyre not getting treated and his tissue is dying and his leg is getting gangrene. he escapes one night through the corn field and he tells a man he sees in town to call the police and then flees. he realizes his leg is dying! he by chance meets a doctor! lewis has no money for amputation so he offers something Else and this disgusting doctor accepts!!! lewis is sent off with a bad wooden prosthetic and not enough healing time in bed and no physical therapy and his own supply of pain meds that will soon run out! lewis prostitutes for money and pain meds in mystic overhang!! he gets with very repulsive men that mistreat him! when lewis is touched he gets very pliable and limp as a coping mechanism! he stops the meds and withdrawals! thank you

15. The least painful backstory I’ve given an OC

My least painful backstory HHHSHDHSHS IS TANNER. jesus tanner grew up with a very...here or there father. he's not great at all. he's not the worst. but being around him feels kinda empty and they don't talk about much besides tanner in hockey and other common interests like that. his parents are divorced, he feels lost with his passions and where he's going in life. it all feels a bit aimless and he feels like he's on the Precipice of something bad or losing something he holds dear. like friends and memories and his girlfriend amiyah. his brother is really mean like pretty much abusive..he's 14 and he's narcissist asshole with a fucked up head and he makes his life hell and he's honestly a little frightening. sometimes his mom is unaware of the important things going on in tanners life and she's a bit harebrained and unfairly self absorbed but she is a good lady and he loves her. also we arent sure yet if this is canon material but he gets amiyah pregnant and she miscarries 3 months in SO...yeah there u have it.

[spiderlinged-blog]

Signs as Marvel Characters

Aries: Starlord, Peter Quill!

you are often sarcastic, & may hurt others in your attempt at doing something you believe in. you have a carefree nature, & you’re a very bright individual regardless of how hard you try to keep it hidden! you claim people don’t care, but that is no incentive for you to ignore your problems. next time, don’t wake thanos or you’ll have to be yeeted, sorry.

Taurus: Ironman, Tony Stark!

just like aries, you seem to use sarcasm in spite of not showing how you really feel, people enjoy telling you about their problems & letting you help them find a resolution; although most of the advice you give isn’t as great as you think, & you’d never take it yourself. whoever brings you food has your heart forever. you’re aquarius’ best friend, even if you bother them with nonsense on a daily basis; they love you. you’re scared of taking risks when it matters most, learn to pace yourself. it’s alright to fail, but it’s never alright to stop trying. also, stop breathing as much as possible because you’re using too much oxygen, we don’t want you out in space dying, right?

Gemini: Spiderman, Peter Parker!

your friends call you the meme king, so congratulations on that title; because it seems you send too many memes to your friends on instagram, & most of them blocked you. you enjoy reading & mostly playing video games instead of dealing with your problems, you’re very smart when you want to be — one time you quoted a vine on your essay, you got an F+ but when the time comes you’re ready to take on anything life throws in your face; like a purple gra- wait, nvm.

Cancer: Captain America, Steve Rogers!

you’re too serious. stop it, get some help, or get yeeted..again, but this time just out of the group chat.

Leo: Hawkeye, Clint Barton!

you hold many titles, like gemini you try to slip in as many vine references as you can to defuse a situation. you’re the friend to not pick sides & just love to make others laugh. you want someone to talk to, but everyone rarely takes you seriously, ease up on the humor & let your feelings out more & express yourself. remember; gen z humor isn’t always a great coping mechanism.

Virgo: The God Of Thunder, Thor!

you get along with mostly everyone, you have a bleeding heart, almost always complimenting your friends. you’re not the one to give advice but to receive it, you want to make the best decision as it effects the others positively, even if it doesn’t mean the same for you. you put everyone’s happiness before your own, which is selfless but also dangerous. you always try to understand someone’s perspective & see where they’re coming from. you spam uwu in the group chat & everyone always leaves you on read. take some time and discover more within yourself, your happiness can’t always be the peak of someone else’s.

Libra: Hulk, Bruce Banner!

you are always strong enough (although not always physically, but you always are mentally) you are so brave & yet; you are so powerful. don't let others tell you that you don't have the strength or the courage to do something. the world is forever in your grasp, don’t be provoked into thinking otherwise. you can do anything. continue to try on everything that makes you content.

Scorpio: The Mad Titan, Thanos!

you believe in balance, & you’d do anything to make someone see your view on things, you can adapt quite easily; just as easily as distinguishing those who aren’t for you. you are deceitful but your perception is never wrong. you’re self absorbed on most days, & you frequently imagine what the world would be like if you could erase a few billion people.

Sagittarius: The God Of Mischief, Loki Laufeyson!

you’re ambitious, yet so devoted, anything you claim you want to do gets achieved no matter the circumstances. you are very short tempered & competitive, first isn’t always good enough for you. people may think you’re self interested because your egocentric tendencies, which isn’t all that true — you have goals, & if necessary you will use others as stepping stones to get where you need to be; that includes manipulating anyone who seems to be a factor in your objective.

Capricorn: Falcon, Sam Wilson!

people only know you as, well, the comical mom friend of the group. you constantly find yourself worrying over your friends, or bullying them with love; one could say it is your adoring personality. you’re not afraid to try new things. you believe everything is achievable if you try hard enough, ‘what’s the point if you don’t try’ is your common catchphrase as you proceed to cover all the answers on your test. sharing is caring so please let your friends get a decent grade, some of us don’t have time to study & would rather be on social media. btw, you never get added to the group chat, blame gemini.

Aquarius: Antman, Scott Lang!

you love making jokes & insulting your friends out of love, but you’re quick to apologize because hurting a friend would never be intentional on your behalf. ease up; god is watching. when you’re not laughing uncontrollably you’re wearing your heart on your sleeve in hopes of spreading love and appreciation to where it’s needed. you’re a mix of witted & softhearted, you can easily switch between the two whenever it is needed or should i say in a SNAP of a finger? you’re the therapist friend, always there when anyone lacks guidance, but usually no one is there for you, at least that’s what you think. however, taurus loves you — let them help you as much as you helped them. focus on yourself more & open up.

Pisces: Venom(/)Eddie Brock!

you sometimes are the punching bag in certain situations; you may feel like it would trouble some if you’d share how uncomfortable the current issue is weighing on you, but you can’t always continue to be berated for something you have no control nor power over. you are constantly, constantly, moving forward even when you don't feel like it. your mind is growing, learning & evolving. don't be upset with yourself when you feel as if you're stuck.

[vesperlionheart]

Let's Meet At the Witches' Gathering - SasoSaku

Sasori watched in muted fascination as the puppets pulled on the chains connected to the woman’s wrists. It was so unusual to see his grandmother’s puppets employed in such a way. Chiyo was an older woman and not nearly as fit as she once was, but it looks like she went out hunting.

“It’s the last time, hopefully.”

Sasori turned to see the wrinkles around his grandmother’s mouth tug in a familiar grin. Her eyes were hidden in shadow, but he could tell where they landed. She was watching the woman the puppets brought in just like he was.

“Last time what?” he asked, playing dumb.

“Don’t act cute, it’s unnecessary,” Chiyo snapped. “You know what I’m talking about. This was the last time I’ll have to use my puppets.”

Sasori nodded slowly, and then stilled. “Why?”

Chiyo did her best to bend only enough so she was level with his eyes. She touched his shoulder and pointed the her puppets. “That woman there, the one in chains, she’ll take my place and protect this home.”

In his heart something rubbed the wrong way. His parents were supposed to protect his house. Mom and dad were supposed to come home to keep them all safe. Chiyo could do it when they were busy, but they didn’t need an outsider. They told him his parents weren’t coming back but he wasn’t sure what they meant by that. Mom and dad would always come back for him. Anyone else was unnecessary.

“I don’t like her.”

Chiyo cackled. “She probably doesn’t like you much either, brat. You think those chains are for decoration. I fought tooth and nail to get her under like that. I needed help in the end, but that’s not important. Her magic is blocked and she’s as good as can be like that.”

The puppets stopped outside the door that lead down to the basement cellars. Some were stocked with food, others were barred in with metal to keep livestock penned. If she was in chains that was probably where they would take her.

The puppets had to pause at the door while one of them undid the locks and lifted the latches. In that pause, she flexed her wrists and turned sharply, glaring over her shoulder up to the higher levels where Chiyo watched on with Sasori. Her eyes flared with magic that made them bright enough to see the color of, even from so far away. Her eyes were emerald fires that hated him to his core, he could tell.

The puppet tugged on her chains and she turned, snarling. Sasori watched as she dug her heels into the ground and pulled back with all her might, stripped of all her magic and as feeble as any other human. She was valiant in her efforts, thrashing and kicking when another puppet picked her up off her feet. She bit at what she could and tried her damnedest to get away. They tugged her down and he watched as she caught the edge of the doorway, nails digging into the doorframe. She held fast and it made Chiyo annoyed enough to flick her wrist and give the puppets a new command. It kicked her in the face and Sasori watched as she tumbled down the stairs to the cellar.

“I don’t think she wants to be here.”

Chiyo laughed at his simple words, reaching out to ruffle his short red hair. “You think so? What gave it away, the kicking or the screaming?”

“Why did you take her? She’s not going to help us.”

“She will if she wants those shackles off. Plus, she was too useful to ignore. Her talents were going to waste. I told you of the hidden villages, didn’t I? She was from one of the fallen ones.”

Sasori paused, recalling the stories his mother would tell him before bed, only to be interrupted by Chiyo inserting all the dramatic and tragic details. The hidden villages were where wizards, witches, sorcerers and magic kin of all sorts trained and worked until the purge. Government officials didn’t trust organized armies that they couldn’t understand, so all the witches were burned.

The last hidden village fell almost a hundred years ago, (eighty nine years actually,) but Leaf was one of the first to go under.

“How can that be? She doesn’t look that old!” he exclaimed. She had the smooth face of a woman just leaving her teenage years behind.

“I told you, she’s a witch. How old so you think I am, brat?”

Sasori’s excitement paused to answer in the most dull monotone possible. “Older than dirt.”

Chiyo cried out and slapped the side of Sasori’s head. “Petty brat. See if I ever do anything nice for you after this. Just for that I’m not introducing you to her for another eight days.”

“Why would I want to be introduced to someone like her? She hates us and I don’t care about someone like that.”

“Don’t lie, you’re interested in learning about her immortality, aren’t you?”

“Th-that’s it though!”

He flushed, knowing that he had been found out. His grandmother already knew about his fascination with things that couldn’t decay, like her puppets. Chiyo herself was over two hundred and forty years old, but the coven she had been born into weren’t known for their unending youth or long lifespans. Those from the land of whirlpools and leaves were more long lived than others.

“Keep to your studies and learn your manners. She’s not going anywhere anytime soon. A week or two in the dark and she’ll be in a better mood to discuss terms for cooperation.”

“Can’t you just make her do your stuff for you?”

Chiyo stepped away from the railing and Sasori moved as well to follow her back inside, out of the noon day sun. “I could compel her to move like my puppets, but not even I with all my powers can bend the will of another. That’s something saved for lesser witches, but we need not rely on their magic of the mind. No, if she has the right incentive she will put even my abilities to shame.”

“I don’t think you’re going to get her to do what you say.”

Chiyo laughed. “We’ll see.”

Sasori hated a lot of things, but few things he despised as well as waiting. He didn’t wait Chiyo’s eight days, but snuck down on his own after the first four, knowing it would be the easiest day to slip away on account of all his absent tutors. Few and fewer were trekking out to their estate in light of the marauders from the black waste.  

The puppets were gone, but the bolts on the doors were still there. He undid then enough to get through, and left each door partially ajar behind him. The first few rooms were filled with foods and salted meats to last them through the winter. Chiyo’s dried herbs hung from the ceiling, far out of reach.

Deeper in, and to the right curve in the cellar’s floorpan, metal bars began to show up. Sasori passed three different pens for livestock before he reached the forth one. Unlike the other three, this one wasn’t empty.  

Chiyo had called her Sakura, and he guessed that had something to do with her hair, and the story about her coming from the village hidden in the leaves. She looked like a cherry blossom tree out of season, limp across the thin stray, one arm draped over her eyes while the other hung in the air, held taunt by the shackle that connected her to the wall.

She didn’t stir when Sasori approached, and he wondered if that was because she didn’t hear him. He hadn’t been trying to be extra sneaky for her, only when he snuck in the first time.

He waited maybe a whole minute more, but when she didn’t move he grew annoyed. There was a stray stick on the floor across from the cells that he picked up to hit the bars with.

“Hey you, wake up!” he called. “She said you name was Sakura, so get up.”

Her arm slid up off her eyes, but the look she spared him was just as bored. “Why?” she rasped, voice dry and cracking.

“Because…because I’m here! Don’t you know why you were brought here? You’re going to protect the manor and the little lord, that’s me!”

Sakura eyed him up from toes to crown and then let her arm drop back over her eyes. “Unlikely. There’s no way someone as smart as Chiyo the Sand Witch would make so bad a mistake. Go away and leave me to sleep, boy.”

Sasori colored at her tone and clear dismissal. He didn’t care what she thought of him, but he was upset she had such poor taste. He was well born and an important person to the desert valley. His family owed the aquifers that made survival possible in the barren wasteland. People he didn’t even know respected him more than she did.

“My name is Sasori, you should remember it.”

“Not necessary. I’m not planning on staying here that long.” She shook the arm still chained to the wall. “She knows that too. I might have been outsmarted once, but her magic is still weaker than mine. Eventually I’ll be free. She can worry about what I’ll do to her then.”

“You sound like a wash-up.”

She was still for a while before opening her eyes again. They weren’t bright with magic like they had been the day she was dragged in, but Sasori could tell they were still free, even in the darkness.

“What’s a wash-up?”

“A has-been. Someone who’s no good anymore. You sound like a lazy, bloated old windbag that blows on an on about how great they are.” He waved his hand dismissively at her. “My grandmother is far stronger than you know.”

“Sure, doesn’t change the fact her magic is non combative.” Sakura settled back down into the hay, resting her arm over her eyes. “I give it another four days. No use remembering your name.”

“It’s Sasori.”

“See, I’ve already forgotten it.”

“You’re terrible, I can’t believe she thought you would be worth anything. I could probably protect this estate better than you.”

She snorted into her arm. “That’s very likely, seeing as how I wouldn’t lift a finger to help.”

“Once my parents come back we’re going to throw you out.”

“Great, thanks for that. Wake me up when that happens.”

Sasori wouldn’t admit it, but he felt a small part of his heart where his dreams were kept pinch and blacken. He had dreamed so often of the tales of heroes from fallen covens like the one hidden in the leaves. The stories of the hidden villages had enthralled him from cradle to knee. The woman in the hay wasn’t supposed to be so lackluster. Chiyo must of made a mistake. There’s no way the woman was from such an amazing place.

“Were all the other witches from the Hidden Leaf so pathetic? It would explain so much if this is all they amounted to.”

Sakura didn’t stir but Sasori felt like lashing out even more.

“It was a stupid place filled with stupid people, jut like you! I’m glad it’s not-”

The chain links were still clattering to the floor, some in broken bits, as her hand reached through the bars and yanked him up. Sasori smelled her flesh burning as Chiyo’s seals held fast. Her flesh was melting off in globs, but her strength didn’t waver.

He was eye level with her now as she held him up off his feet. “You don’t know anything, brat.”

Her hand was around his throat and with all the strength she had to break chains his scrawny neck was barely a challenge. He thought she would. She had the eyes for it, blazing with green fire and crackling with gold lighting.

But she dropped him and he landed on his feet, falling backwards when his legs gave out under him. His whole body was shaking in a way he couldn’t control.

Sakura pulled her hand back through the bar, bleeding and burned as it was from finger to wrist. She eyed it critically, not even flinching at the blood and gore of it. Her unmarked hand came up, glowing with green light and she used that light the teach her body the way of mending. Sasori watched transfixed as she reversed the damage, pulling blood veins back into place, sewing stitches of skin back together until they covered all the bones in her hand.

A minute later her hand was as good as new and she looked none the worse for it. Sasori knew other wizards could get winded from the simplest cantrips, but she wasn’t a wizard and she didn’t even seem phased.  

He tried to make words, but they felt limp off his lips, ruined by the fear his body still suffered. “Y-y-ou-you…”

“Go, boy. I’m tired of hearing you antagonize me.”

She turned away from him and stood in the place above the hay, watching the far wall with a dead look in her eye. It was like she had turned herself off to the rest of the world and retreated into some far place in the far reaches of her mind. Her hands were fine and the shackles were a mess on the stone floor, but she still looked dead-faced.

“Sasori!” It was the only thing he could manage to say. “My-my name is-is Sasori!”

Then he ran out of the cellar as fast as he could.

Before the eight day when she was supposed to make her escape and when he was supposed to be allowed to see her for the first time, the south wall crumbled under the heavy body of a Goliath scorpion. It was the easiest way for the desert marauders to get in.

Chiyo had the servants run to the far places while her puppets surged to meet the attack, but with her ten skilled puppets, she could only manage the humans who trickled through. The giant scorpion was still roaming free.

Where were his parents? The could take care of the marauders and the giant scorpion together!

He climbed up high, looking down at the chaos below. Chiyo’s gardens were on the lowest floors, but her lab where experiments and poisons were concocted where all done in the tower where he hid himself.

The scorpion was right below him and it was turning, reaching for the base of the tower’s foundations. Twisting upwards it began to climb and Sasori scrambled for the miles and containers, looking for something that might help. He remembered which ones burned and ran back to the window’s ledge.

It was halfway up when he dropped the syrup that caught fire when his match landed in it. The scorpion slipped, but as the fire spread over its body it continued to climb, making up the ground it lost in stride.

“They’re impervious to fire, even mine, kid.”

Sasori jumped at the sound just over his shoulder. She stood there, leaning against the window with a bored look on her face. She was still as much a mess as he remembered her, and she smelled like desert and sweat.

He wanted to ask how she got out, but didn’t bother. If she could break her own shackles after four days she could probably break those bars after another four.

She turned and looked down at him instead of the monster creature. “Where are your parents? You said they would be here to protect you.”

Her tone wasn’t mocking, but bored. It made his face pinch as he thought the answer, but refused to speak it. He didn’t tell her about the bodies Chiyo brought back, or the two new puppets she made out of them. He didn’t tell her about the limits of life and death he hated. He just cried.

Parts of the tower crumbled and shook but she knelt down next to him, as calm as before, and watched him sob. A shadow stretched over the window as the scorpion’s body swelled beyond the frame’s limits, passing them over.

He trembled, scampering away as the body moved back enough to make room for the tip of a giant pincer. Sakura didn’t move as the pincer was too wide to reach her. The frame strained and wood shattered in parts, but the stone held, bound with magic as well as mortar.

“You can’t deal with these guys using fire. It’s pretty, but not nearly as effective,” Sakura said, finally standing. She sighed and turned her face to the window where the scorpion struggled. “Just watch kid, I’ll show you what my village was known for.”

He didn’t have time to ask what as green magic bloomed from a mark on her forehead and her whole body shifted as black lines leaked from the seal on her forehead down her arms and legs. The looked like thick black lines, but Sasori could see the layers of incantations upon layers of incantations overlapping from years of spell work. Her magic changed and shifted her body into something else.

Sasori stood to back away as Sakura approached the pincer and grabbed the tip. With a shove she sent it flying out the window, and he could see how the rest of the scorpion body almost followed its momentum as it slid down the tower. Sakura jogged to the edge and then fell, folding one foot behind the ankle and folding over. She tumbled right into the body with her fist raise and the thunder from her impact sent shockwaves for what felt like miles.

Sasori was knocked off his feet as the scorpion was shattered into pieces she fell through. When she landed the marks on her body were thicker and growing. Even from so far away he could see how magic leaked through her eyes like the stray tongues of fire. 

Parts of her body burned with crackling gold magic as she raised a hand and burned alive a pair of marauders who weren’t wise enough to flee when they saw her handwork with the scorpion.

Transfixed, he watched from his tower as she channeled two veins of separate magic with perfect balance, defying limits he had always believed in. Her hair was a rose colored flame around her face as more and more of the enemies fell under her feet.

His throat felt dry.

Sakura used her spells to chase down the last of the would be invaders, sparing them little mercy when they begged for their life.

Eventually, she found Chiyo in one of the many useless parlor rooms inside the main building. She was nursing a bruise on her forehead and sipping something that smelled like chamomile but likely wasn’t anything nearly so innocent.

“You’re getting old,” Sakura huffed, reaching out to heal the bruise.

“I’m still your elder, little girl. Show some respect.”

Sakura pulled her hand back and then reached for a footstool to perch on, ignoring the other enormous armchair. “What happened to the boy’s parents? The lord and lady of this house are dead, aren’t they?”

“Both, yes. You don’t deserve the details.”

Sakura’s lip curled but she didn’t bite back in the sarcastic tone she had perfected from years alone. All her friends and family were long gone, and she was left behind with their memories and the secret to a cursed kind of immortality. If she had known her regenerative spells would take over like the weeds they were she might have elected to die out with the rest of her peers. It would be easier than living alone for over half a century while the last child died in his bed, wrinkled and gray. She wasn’t used to being kind like she once was. It wasn’t in her nature to be soft anymore.

“I’m not fond of children.”

“Liar,” Chiyo barked. “They adore you.”

“Not the same thing, and also not true. I left yours unsupervised in a tower, what does that say about me, huh? I can hang around for a handful of years until you figure something else out, but I’m not committing my life to anything. Your grandson might turn out to be someone formidable one day. Until then…I guess I could stay.”

“It’s really too much trouble to travel from this point,” Chiyo admitted. “Nothing but desert for daaaaaaays. You’d be bored out of your mind before you reached the nearest town.”

Sakura groaned at the woman’s sing song voice. “No wonder you’re constantly invaded. What else is there to do?”

“It’s necessary for my experiments. I need a radius of safety.”  

Sakura waved her hand and gold magic sparkled, enchanting a nearby teapot to pour for herself a cup of black tea. A stick of cinnamon stirred itself into the mix along with the spices and milk before cup and saucer floated to where she sat.

“I’ll need my own space, and not just a single room, I mean space for my own experiments. Give me a corner of your gardens to use on my own,” Sakura said.

“A corner, no more.”

“And access to your own experiments.”

“Never!”

Sakura chuckled, taking a sip. She wrinked her nose at the dull temperature before gold magic  made the tea steam once more. “That sounds like a ‘yes, as long as I don’t catch you’ to me. I’ll take it.”

Chiyo cackled. “Insufferable girl.”

“At least I didn’t scheme for all your protective wards to fall apart at the exact time a giant scorpion and seventeen wash up bandits from the desert found your fortress in the middle of nowhere.” Sakura shot the older woman a look of bored disbelief over her tea. “Classy, Chiyo, very classy of you.”

“I don’t take half measures to get what I want.”

“No, you don’t, do you.” Sakura looked over to the doorway where a miniature shadow still clung to the doorframe. “It’ll be interesting to see how much of that gets passed down.”  

[goldstandardclc1-blog]

Power of Good Mental Health

Power of Good Mental Health

In today's fast-paced society connected with billions of digital devices, feeling alone, uncertain and anxious is a perplexing paradox. The world has never been so populated, I have so many means of communication. Why do I hear only noise – noise with no meaning?

People pursue career goals, rush through a whirlwind of work and traffic to get to  their families, often without ever thinking about true incentives, things that make them tick and give that spark of feeling alive.

And while you will go to the dentist if your tooth aches, mental health is still overlooked. At the same time, it holds the keys to how you think and feel. If you don’t take care of your mind, it will be almost impossible to get work, play and rest balanced.

Turning the page and starting to put yourself first may require a different approach, you might need help. Gold Standard CLC is a counseling and life coaching company with over 30 years of experience. We have a passion for enhancing holistic health and wellness. The idea is to help people live empowered lives and embrace happiness within their true selves.

Mental health obstacles

What are the problems people face? In a highly competitive job market with demanding work hours and little time for personal life, it’s hard to stay confident. One of the ways to tackle that doubt is to build strong resilient self-esteem.

Unlike Europe, the US is known for frequent movement of people across the country for a new job or opportunity. Under that golden cloak of success hides a monster of uncertainty. A holistic approach to your mental wellbeing can help you adjust to new changes in your life with ease.

Maybe the hardest thing for a modern employee is to make work, home, rest equation work. This is one of the many stress factors surrounding everyday life. Learning how to cope with things that don’t go your way or how to handle stress with a solution focus mindset is an essential skill that will empower your mental health.

Setting problems aside, or more realistically finding a way to deal with them will open up the you-time. In a feel-good, be good and do good approach that focuses on the holistic wellness of a person’s mind body and soul, Gold Standard CLC counseling’s day life coaching will help you unlock the ability to enjoy life, have fun and laugh.

With the power of mental health, you could develop and maintain lasting and fulfilling relationships. The ability to listen, respect and not take anything for granted, and expect vice-versa from your partner is possible if you have balance within yourself.

“Our conviction is basically to unlock a world of endless possibilities while enhancing mental well-being. We are dedicated to inspire people to live more functional lives and harness their various strengths.”, said Alfonso Bercerra from Gold Standard CLC.

Some of the advice for a healthier mind and soul are well known and documented. You probably know that you have to eat better, get good quality sleep every night, and hang out more with friends and family. These activities can charge up your batteries, they seem straightforward, and yet so many of us fail in mental health basics.

Counseling support in veteran Gold Standard organization will strive to unleash unlimited potentials that can be harnessed through inspiration, support, and motivation.

Two words echo through the mind when thinking about mental wellbeing. Appreciation and purpose are the keys to enjoying life more. It can work on primal levels like doing things you like in life often, or on a more spiritual way where counseling will help you find meaning and purpose in your life.

Often we want to run to the top of the standings in all areas of work, on the other hand appreciating what you have is the best emotional charger besides love. If you can make all daily activities something you will enjoy you’re successful in tackling good mental health.

Ways to get there

With 30 years of experience, Gold Standard CLC have different approaches for getting to the goal. Among the most popular services are the workshops. Our company provides orientation, specific training, and hands-on workshops. They come in different forms from lectures, through discussions, up to informal tailor-made seminars.

There is a program for handling addiction ranging from alcohol and drug abuse, compulsive spending and work behavior, food and gambling problems. Certified addiction professionals will point out the way your addiction is affecting you and the ones closest to you.  Gold Standard are experts  in assessing the situation and guiding you to appropriate additional support resources.

Work-life balance is a very popular service that will assess needs, explore change strategies and provide resources to balance work responsibilities with family and recreational activities. Consultation on work-life issues includes caregivers' stress, family and significant relationships, financial stress, parenting, stress and time management.

Above mentioned hectic modern workplace world gave berth to career development service with Gold Standard CLC . Job coaching explores workload overwhelm, communication barriers, burn out syndrome, advancements, skill training and goal setting.

For individuals who want to maximize physical, emotional and occupational well-being, Gold Standard CLC has an emotional wellness service where they paint a holistic view of the individual. Experienced consultants help individuals to establish a commitment toward change, set specific goals and tackle problems like addiction/compulsive behaviors, depression, anxiety and stress management, mental health, relationships, parenting, personal development and muchmore.

Core values

The things Gold Standard CLC counseling & life coaching brand is pursuing are extraordinary, and their approach is like no other mental health service provider out there. Putting people first will have a positive impact on the whole society. Life coaching is a great responsibility, and values behind it must reflect the final goal.

Self-expression is one of Gold Standard's core values. The idea is to inspire people to put their best selves forward to achieve the basic necessity of life, happiness.

Guiding individuals through the path of self-discovery from a personalized perspective and ensuring they achieve life goals and become better people outlines the commitment value.

Inclusion and diversity mean contributing our quota to making the world a better place without discrimination. Through motivation Gold Standard CLC  aims to improve the quality of life by inspiring them to recondition their minds from bad thoughts toward positivity.

Giving back to the community, making a positive impact and doing charitable services along with raising awareness of the mental health issues is important to our unique  brand.

Finally, passion is the value that reflects through the love for the work that puts smiles on the faces of people.

Charity work

It is impossible to work on the happiness of individuals without caring about society. Gold Standard CLC has a long history of charitable events, and the next one will be held on December 14th at Bonaventure Resort & Spa in Weston, Florida. The Beauty of Children Fashion Show will benefit the Children of St Jude Research Hospital. Raised funds will help to create awareness for children fighting cancer, and will also allow the hospital to continue their research which has already made an incredible impact in cancer treatment for children.

Contact us: info@goldstandardclc.com 

Web: goldstandardclc.com

Witten by:

-Alfonso Becerra LC, NLP & Vice President

-Jacqueline Cagney LMFT, CAP & President

[stevenuniversallyreviews]

Episode 94: Greg the Babysitter

“We all gotta grow up sometime, right?”

Right off the bat, this episode’s greatest weakness is that we don’t see Baby Buck and the Baby Pizza Twins as we do in Lamar Abrams’s promo art. How dare we not have more baby teens?

Lack of infant variety notwithstanding, this is a great episode, if not a subtle one. Greg is no stranger to hammering out the lesson of a story, but here it’s made so explicit so often that it threatens to weaken the actual plot. Fortunately the plot does a good enough job of showing that it makes up for all the telling, but still, it’s so on the nose that Vidalia calls Greg out when he belatedly repeats the moral it in response to an unrelated statement. 

(But to be clear, this is a story about growing up. Growing up is what this episode about. Gaining maturity is valuable. Emotional development is important. Taking responsibility as you age: good. Staying a kid forever: bad!)

As with Annoying Steven early in the series, this lesson is achieved by presenting us with Douchebag Greg. Douchebag Greg slums around and mooches off a single working mother, depriving her of her own food and taunting her for working to feed her child. When tasked with babysitting, he does what he wants instead of focusing on what a baby might need, and when the kid goes missing, his search includes a pit stop to the arcade to play video games.

This is the second episode where Greg is awful for the bulk of the runtime, and the first, House Guest, was so bad that it earned my inaugural “No Thanks!” rating (a brutal assessment, I know). By that metric you might think I’d dislike Greg the Babysitter as well, because boy oh boy is Douchebag Greg unlikable. But the key difference is the level of intent: even looking past the age and maturity gap between these two Gregs, the Greg of House Guest chooses to lie to his son despite seeing how hard Steven takes it, while Douchebag Greg’s actions stem from sincere cluelessness. Neither is great, and younger Greg is still old enough to know better, but ignorance is far more digestible than purposeful shadiness from this character.

Both House Guest and Greg the Babysitter stay somewhat true to Regular Greg by making him driven by love, whether it’s paternal or romantic. The problem of House Guest is that this emotional core is tainted by him wronging Steven in a way we’ve never seen before or since (compare his feigning of an injury to his negligence in Maximum Capacity, where he instead makes a mistake and is immediately regretful). Nothing in Greg the Babysitter diminishes any sense of authenticity about Greg’s feelings for Rose, because for all his flaws, he doesn’t take advantage of Rose or their relationship.

Moreover, I appreciate that his flaws come from the same character traits that kicked off this relationship, which so far has dominated his flashbacks: Greg is a dreamer and a romantic, which works great in Story for Steven, and he takes the relationship seriously, so he matures on that front in We Need to Talk, but now we see that he’s so focused on Rose that he’s ignoring every other element of life as a functioning adult. 

This episode works because Greg is realistically irresponsible. His head has always been in the clouds, and now he’s in a relationship with someone that’s literally magic, so he has no incentive to reflect on himself barring a dire situation. But this episode excels because Greg’s decision to grow up has nothing to do with Steven. We get the groundwork for Rose wanting a kid, but Greg getting his act together is something he does for himself. It would’ve been so easy for this shift to be prompted by impending fatherhood, but it’s far more satisfying to see a character improve himself because he wants to, rather than out of obligation to others. It allows the moment he takes agency to be triumphant without being mixed up in a sense of begrudging acceptance of his duties.

Finally, while I still think it’s ridiculous that the Crystal Gems treat him like a total flake in Laser Light Cannon given his clear improvement since the Douchebag Greg days, it does make a little sense that beings unaccustomed to change would have a hard time getting past this first impression. If you go back and watch the second season of the series after Greg the Babysitter, it’s not hard to imagine which Greg they’re talking about. It’s a stretch, because they’ve seen plenty of evidence to contradict this impression, but if you’re looking to explain their behavior then it’s the best reason I’ve got.

Greg the Babysitter marks an unspoken milestone in the series: this is the last time we’ll ever see Rose Quartz before her web of duplicity begins to unravel. In just four episodes, we’ll learn that she bubbled Bismuth away and lied about it to everyone. In another three, we’ll hear that she shattered Pink Diamond. The veracity of that second part is irrelevant, because the truth only further proves her capacity for deceit. We’ve seen already that Rose wasn’t perfect, but this is her final appearance before the dominoes begin to fall. One last happy memory that directly leads to the creation of our show’s title character, in an episode that emphasizes how dreaming is nice, but reality will always force people to make a change.

We see way more of Rose in this swan song than we did in Story for Steven or We Need to Talk, and like Greg, her mistakes here can be attributed to cluelessness. She admits how confusing humans can be for her, particularly babies, so it’s hard to blame her for not taking good care of Sour Cream. It’s especially hard to blame her considering how excited she is for him to exhibit independence. And it’s impossible to blame her, at least for me, when she references one of my favorite dumb Simpsons jokes in regards to watching him.

The Pink Diamond revelation adds new layers to her explanation that Gems are made for specific purposes, but the funny thing is, it doesn’t add that many new layers: even before learning just how high up Rose was, we still knew she was rebelling against what she was made to do. I think the more interesting aspect of her speech is how it lines up with Bismuth’s repetition of her insistence that Gems could break away from their intended roles. Seeing Rose talk about it here, less than twenty years ago, is made fascinating by knowing she was saying the same thing thousands of years ago. For a Gem that’s interested in change, she hasn’t really changed that much. It’s one thing for her to know that and talk about it, but it’s another for us to see it in action.

I love how an episode that’s this unsubtle (about being a story about growing up, in case you didn’t catch it) manages to quietly explain why Steven exists. We see a baby, and we see Rose loves babies, and we see Rose admires the human capacity to change, and we’ll soon see that Rose herself stagnated there a little bit, but we leave it at that. Judging by the age difference between Sour Cream and Steven, it’s a few years until she and Greg make an actual decision, so it makes sense to not reference it too explicitly this early, but it’s still a direction the episode could’ve taken and I’m very glad it didn’t.

I’ve made no secret about how much I love Brian Posehn voicing Sour Cream with his regular grown man voice, so obviously the best part of this episode is his further use of that voice for Baby Cream. It’s the gift that keeps on giving, and by itself ensures that Greg’s dickishness can’t pull the episode too far down. As with Onion Friend, the strange connection between Sour Cream and Steven is left unspoken, but it’s wild to consider that this side character is a big reason why our protagonist exists. While I’d be fine with this continuing to be a quiet part of the backstory, I can’t say I wouldn’t be interested in seeing Steven and Sour Cream talk about it one day, even as a small gag. 

Onion Friend was also the last time we spent any meaningful amount of time with Vidalia, and it’s neat to fill in some gaps between her debut cameo in Story for Steven and her modern iteration. Marty’s flakiness is further proven by her being a single mother from the start, but she’s clearly risen to the occasion and loves the hell out of her kid. Her patience with Greg is tested by his awfulness (and honestly makes said awfulness hard to watch, given how much is on her plate), but it speaks volumes that she’s so welcoming to the ex-friend of her ex. She’s probably the only human Greg knows in Beach City at this point, and I honestly wish we saw more of their modern relationship when we have such a vivid image of their history.

I Think I Need a Little Change might not reach the rocking heights of Comet or What Can I Do For You, but it’s catchier than either and has that wonderful twist on the double meaning of “change.” The wordplay speaks for itself, but it’s a cool trick to reveal that this musical montage is as diegetic as the other two songs: this is something he’s actually singing to people. We get a hefty break from songs after Mr. Greg, so that might be meddling with my opinions, but I think this is my favorite of the three. Puns beat electric guitar, and the song crystalizes Greg’s similarity to Steven come Change Your Mind.

And so we end Season 3, Act 2. We’ve had the aftermath of the Cluster, and we’ve had a series of slice of life episodes from this particularly magical life, but we’ll soon be back to the high-octane plotting of the Cluster Arc. It’s a bit strange that Greg the Babysitter comes between Alone at Sea and Gem Hunt, considering the Jasper of it all, but it’s nice to have this respite before we barrel towards the pivotal moment of Steven’s series-wide arc, especially when this respite tells us a lesson that’s about to become a lot more obvious in the coming storm:

Steven Universe is a story about growing up.

Future Vision!

Good thing nothing bad happened to Sour Cream, or else Greg would’ve had to pray that his space goddess's magic could bring people back from the dead. That would be a ridiculous power!

If every pork chop were perfect, we wouldn’t have inconsistencies…

Vidalia got this top from the T-Shirt Shop where she works. This top has a collar. T-shirts do not have collars. It’s unresearched nonsense like this that makes Cartoon Network put this show on hiatus so often, come on people.

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

While I do enjoy this episode and stand by it being great, I don’t necessarily love things that I critically find great. Greg the Babysitter doesn’t do quite enough on the emotional level to make me truly love it, considering how much time we have to spend with Douchebag Greg. I appreciate the importance of his douchebaggery, and the importance of this episode as a whole, but this isn’t an something I go out of my way to rewatch. Sorry, Baby Cream. I still like it!

Top Fifteen

Steven and the Stevens

Hit the Diamond

Mirror Gem

Lion 3: Straight to Video

Alone Together

The Return

Jailbreak

The Answer

Sworn to the Sword

Rose’s Scabbard

Mr. Greg

Coach Steven

Giant Woman

Beach City Drift

Winter Forecast

Love ‘em

Laser Light Cannon

Bubble Buddies

Tiger Millionaire

Lion 2: The Movie

Rose’s Room

An Indirect Kiss

Ocean Gem

Space Race

Garnet’s Universe

Warp Tour

The Test

Future Vision

On the Run

Maximum Capacity

Marble Madness

Political Power

Full Disclosure

Joy Ride

Keeping It Together

We Need to Talk

Chille Tid

Cry for Help

Keystone Motel

Catch and Release

When It Rains

Back to the Barn

Steven’s Birthday

It Could’ve Been Great

Message Received

Log Date 7 15 2

Same Old World

The New Lars

Monster Reunion

Alone at Sea

Like ‘em

Gem Glow

Frybo

Arcade Mania

So Many Birthdays

Lars and the Cool Kids

Onion Trade

Steven the Sword Fighter

Beach Party

Monster Buddies

Keep Beach City Weird

Watermelon Steven

The Message

Open Book

Story for Steven

Shirt Club

Love Letters

Reformed

Rising Tides, Crashing Tides

Onion Friend

Historical Friction

Friend Ship

Nightmare Hospital

Too Far

Barn Mates

Steven Floats

Drop Beat Dad

Too Short to Ride

Restaurant Wars

Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service

Greg the Babysitter

Enh

Cheeseburger Backpack

Together Breakfast

Cat Fingers

Serious Steven

Steven’s Lion

Joking Victim

Secret Team

Say Uncle

Super Watermelon Island

Gem Drill

No Thanks!

     5. Horror Club      4. Fusion Cuisine      3. House Guest      2. Sadie’s Song      1. Island Adventure

[therearemonstersinthedark]

Book 2 Luciferous

Chapter 11: No One’s Here to Sleep

A Guardians of the Galaxy Fanwork

Pairings: Peter Quill / Gamora (one-sided), Peter Quill & Nebula (freindship)

Genre: Adventure, general

Word Count: 5.5k

Rating: T to be safe, mild gore and cussing in some chapters

Links: Fanfiction.net || Ao3

Summary: Peter’s dreams are back, and Mantis begins some lessons of her own.

Author’s Notes: Title is from ‘No One’s Here to Sleep’ by Bastille

No One's Here to Sleep

.

"So you and your father are an element? I have never heard of such a thing as a living creature being an element."

"Elementals, Drax, we're Elementals, apparently, which just means we can control the elements or something like that. I'd never heard of it either."

The rest of the Guardians, minus Rocket, were eating dinner with Peter as he shared the information he had learned with them. Even Nebula, who had joined him on his walk back, had decided to stay to hear his news, though she made a rather obvious point about staying far away from her sister.

"And Cosmo has his powers drawn from one of these... 'Givers?'" Nebula asked from her seat next to Drax.

"Yeah. Ego said drinking from the head on Knowhere should have killed him but, it's not completely unheard of for this to happen. He was just lucky I guess."

Nebula pursed her lips in disapproval at the mention of luck. "This does explain a few things," she murmured.

"How is your progress with your own powers going?" Gamora asked from where she sat two seats to his left, in the corner diagonally across from her sister.

"Oh!" Peter shoved his chair out so he could stand up and step away from the table. "Check this out!"

Peter was still pretty tired from the day's work, so he only managed to form a crystal about the size of a baseball, but it was satisfyingly round and toeing the line of being called truly transparent. "It's usually a bit bigger," he confessed, slumping back into his chair and placing the crystal on the table with a thunk. "But it's a big improvement from this morning and it's getting easier to summon and control the Light."

Drax reached forward to grab it, chewing loudly as he rolled it around in his hand.

"And how is this orb supposed to help us defeat Ronan and Thanos?"

"Well, it's not, but eventually I'll be able to make bigger things. When I fought my father last time I made these massive rock-bodies, like gigantic fighting robots," Peter waved his arms up dramatically to emphasize how very gigantic these bodies were. "It was pretty cool."

"On the subject of fighting," Gamora said, her arms crossed neatly on the table in front of herself as she stared at Mantis, sitting across from her. "Do you know how to defend yourself at all, Mantis?"

Mantis blinked her huge eyes in surprise at this question. "I have never needed to defend myself. Ego is very powerful, and I am always with him."

"No one has ever tried to hurt you?" Gamora asked.

"Well, I have met... unhappy people, but with my abilities, I can sooth them back into a happier state if they come too near. I rarely speak to others, though, so it does not happen often."

"Peter," Gamora turned her eyes on him now. "How did she manage in combat in your timeline?"

"Uh, I guess we looked out for her if it got too physical, but she's tough, and she was learning." He shrugged, not sure if this was the answer Gamora was looking for. Mantis was, compared to the other Guardians, pretty frail in terms of physical strength and fighting ability, but it had never been a big issue in their travels. They hadn't actually had many big fights after Ego's planet, though. Mostly it was some contracts that led to a couple firefights, and Rocket's shenanigans leading to their usual violent endings. Someone was always there to keep an eye on her, and she walked off any bruises or injuries she incurred with admirable grace.

"If you are planning to take her with us, she will need to know how to defend herself, at least." Gamora narrowed her eyes at him like he was an idiot. "You can't take someone with no real experience into battle against my father. She'll be dead in an instant."

"Why don't you guys teach her?" he asked. "I'll probably be too busy with my own lessons to do anything about it, but you and Drax would give her occasional lessons in my timeline."

"I would love to 'take lessons' with you and Drax!" Mantis piped up eagerly. "I have never had lessons before. This is so exciting!"

There was scoff from Nebula's corner of the table, and Peter glanced over to see her glaring into her food like it had personally slighted her.

"It's getting late," Gamora said, glancing meaningfully at the light fading rapidly through the glass panes. "We can start in the morning. There are no lights here, and I don't want you injuring yourself in the dark."

There was a clink of utensils as Nebula set hers down and shoved her chair out. "I'm done," she said flatly when she noticed Peter staring at her with his brows raised in question, her good mood from earlier in the day seemed to have vanished.

"Are you going exploring again tonight?" Peter asked.

Nebula shot her sister a darting look before answering, as though considering whether or not she wanted to give away her plans where Gamora could overhear them. "Yes," she told Peter. "I'll be in the canyon beyond the river if you need me."

"Okay," he said, as she made her way to the open doorway. "Thanks. Let me know if you run into Rocket?"

Nebula didn't look back, but she waved a hand in acknowledgment of his request as she left.

When Peter turned back to the table, Gamora was staring after her sister with her lips pinched in the corners.

-x-

Mantis was apparently eager to get to work, Peter thought to himself, as the pounding on his door came much earlier the next morning. Lifting his head from the pillow with a groan, Peter opened his eyes and could barely make out the features of his room under the starlight glinting through the panes of his window.

"Mantis?" he asked, suddenly wondering if it might be one of the other Guardians instead, but couldn't think of any reason the others would be pounding on his door at who-knows-when in the morning.

The knocking came again, more insistently this time.

"Hello?" Peter kicked off his sheets and groped around for his boots. "Who is it?"

More knocking, this time the door shook in its frame under the abuse.

"It's open," Peter called, giving up on his boots and crossing to the door. "What do you want?"

He flung the door open wide, but there was no one there.

"What the?" he mumbled, glancing up and down the hallway. "That's not funny! Come on. Go wake up someone who your life doesn't depend on their beauty rest!"

Something made a noise from outside.

"Rocket?" Peter asked, suddenly hopeful. Maybe Rocket wanted to speak to him without the other Guardians nearby. Peter stepped out into the hallway and immediately his foot slipped out from underneath him. He had to grab the door frame to keep from going down. "Ugh, what?" he grumbled, lifting up his foot to stare down at where he had left a track through a thick layer of dust that coated the marble floor. Peter swiped at his sock cautiously, but it appeared to just be normal, unremarkable, dirt. A little plume of dust rolled off of his foot and settled back to the floor. As he watched it settle, he noticed that, other than where his foot had just landed, the rest of the dust lay sleek and undisturbed. There were no other tracks in the hallway. So... maybe not Rocket.

Curiosity peaked, Peter stepped out into the hallway, careful of his footing this time, and made his way across to Drax's door. The layer of dust muffled the sounds of his steps, making him feel like a ghost himself.

"Drax?" he hissed, rapping on the door with his knuckles. Unnerved by the silence -not even the sound of Drax's snoring leaked through the walls- Peter shoved the door open. Inside, the room was empty and a thin film of dust coated everything in here as well. The dust sat the thickest in a clump on the bed, but Peter could find no clue as to what could have caused this or where Drax had gone, so he stepped back into the hallway and slid the door shut. He pushed Gamora's door open next, but her room was in the same state, and just as unhelpful.

Peter licked his lips and tapped his fingers against his pants, pausing when he realized something else here was out of place. Peter held his unbandaged hands up, marveling at the perfect, unbroken skin in the dim ghost light of the hallway, and it dawned on him like someone had raised a curtain after he had already guessed what was behind it. He'd known, but not really known, until just now.

Peter was dreaming again. This may be the most real one yet, or at least the most aware he had been without waking up. They were getting stronger.

Peter cast his gaze up and down the empty hall, not sure what he was supposed to be doing here. Was this a test of some sort? Peter closed his eyes and reached out towards the Light. He didn't know if he could reach it in a dream, or whatever this was. If nothing else, it could provide him with a way to light up the hallway. Ego would probably be disgusted at the notion of using his powers in such a way, but as far as Peter was concerned, his father's annoyance was just more incentive to do it. But when Peter felt the familiar sensation of the power drawing to him the world around him began to shudder. Peter's eyes flew open to see the walls dancing and rippling unnaturally. A wild, unreasonable panic seized his mind and Peter quickly severed the connection he had built, pulling away from the Light as if it had burned him.

The world around him settled back into place, and the panic receded, leaving his skin prickling despite the pleasant temperature. So that... was not a great idea...

There was another noise from outside. A grating sound, kind of like a cat scratching at a door, but louder, and it echoed unnaturally through the building around him. Feeling pretty confident that this was a dream and he was safe, Peter shook off the chills and moved towards the front doors to investigate. When he pulled the massive copper door open, he had expected to find the usual scene of galaxies, but was met instead with a bursts of hot air and a bright burning sky. Peter held one hand up to shield his face and peered through narrowed eyes into the wind. The world around him was lifeless and barren- even more so that when he had fallen asleep. All of the plants had died, most of them seemed to have blown away, leaving behind clumps of shriveled up sticks and vines scattered across an endless landscape of dry cracked dirt and sand that blew about and danced in the harsh wind.

"Ego?!" Peter called. His voice was snatched up by the whistling wind and blown away.

The scratching noise came again, this time echoing through the empty world around him like something was trying to dig in through a ceiling that didn't exist. Something moved in the corner of his eyes, and Peter squinted against the acrid wind until he saw it again. In the distance, beyond the softly rolling remains of the garden, something was sending the dirt flinging upward where the wind caught it and carried it off.

Peter tugged his jacket tight against his neck and waded into the wind. The sandy ground and bits of brittle leaves crunched under his socked feet, and the closer he drew to the flinging dirt, the louder the scrabbling noise became, but still the sound echoed from all around, rather than from his destination. As he surmounted a small roll in the desert, he was able to get a look at what was causing the strange phenomena. A series of rectangular holes had been dug into the dry dirt. Eight in total, all lined up neatly, like graves. As Peter watched, another clump of dirt was flung out of the nearest one and he approached with a sense of trepidation to peer over the edge. Inside, some four or five feet down, Rocket's striped tail bobbed as he dug furiously at the dirt with his bare hands, pausing to grab the loose dirt he had churned up and flinging it out from the hole. The scratching noise was louder than ever, and Peter had to shout to hear his own voice over it.

"Rocket?!"

Rocket paused in his digging again and straightened up to peer at Peter looming above him. The scratching in the sky above which had not stopped when Rocket had been throwing the dirt, stopped now. Slowly, his lips split into a wicked grin. "This one's for you," he promised darkly.

"What?" Peter took an unconscious step back.

"I told you to dig," Rocket said. "I was very clear. And that's a very difficult thing to do from here. If you can't dig fast enough on your own, I'll have to help."

"Rocket," Peter said slowly. "Where are the others?"

Rocket paused to look behind himself like he could see the other graves despite being underground. "We're all dust in the end," Rocket said. When Rocket turned back his eyes had changed, but instead of the red and blue Peter had seen on the Starburst, his eyes were flooded with stars and swirling galaxies. "One way or another. All but me. But if you help me dig, it doesn't have to be so bad. If we dig together, it will take much longer."

"What does that mean, Rocket?" Peter asked, ignoring how his skin shivered under that gaze. "None of that made any sense- why would it take longer to dig together?"

"Isn't that what you want, Peter? To delay the inevitable? I want that to, but I can't help you until you dig me up."

"What I want is to wake up," Peter said, crossing his arms and hunching miserably against the wind which hadn't relented in its assault. "I want these dreams to stop."

"Then keep digging." Rocket gave one last tooth flashing grin that was only a step to the left of a sneer and his body began to fall apart like dust in the whipping wind, sweeping away and swirling into nothing. The scraping noise started up again, rattling Peter's bones and filling his skull until he screwed his eyes shut against it.

-x-

Peter did not immediately awaken this time, but fell instead into a black and dreamless void so that by the time he stirred to wakefulness the next morning, the worst of the shudders and disgust had faded. The memory of what had occurred was still fresh enough, but the feelings had grown stale and he did not leap from bed with a shout or awaken in a pool of his own sweat. Instead, he lay on his back, his fingers laced together across his stomach as he stared mutely at the ceiling until Mantis came to alert them breakfast was ready.

"You are very quiet today," Drax told him between bites of his second plate. "Are you feeling unwell?"

"I'm fine," Peter lied, taking a bigger bite of his own food as if to prove it. "I just didn't sleep well."

"More dreams?" Nebula had deigned to grace them with her presence again. She had appeared after everyone else had sat down to grab her own plate and sit down in a chair that Peter was pretty sure Drax had intentionally saved her away from her sister, and while a part of Peter wanted sorely to say something, to tease her for her continued refusal to be a part of life, he was a little afraid she would actually leave if he did, and having all of them here and whole and alive was making him feel better. All but Rocket, that is.

"Yeah," he mumbled. "Hey, did you happen to see Rocket last night?"

"I saw him from a distance, but we didn't speak. It seems he is still trying to find a way off of this planet."

"Ego's ship-?"

"-is rubble by now."

Peter didn't feel even the slightest tinge of annoyance or regret at learning of the destruction of his father's property.

Mantis was clearly excited for her lessons. She could hardly sit still through breakfast and was clearing away everyone's dishes almost before they had finished cleaning them off. Drax nearly upturned the table, lunging over it to snatch the last bite from his plate as she pulled it away after he had turned away to say something to Groot and she had thought he was done. She was so upset by her mistake it took Drax taking her hand and placing it across his chest to assure her that he was not angry.

When everything had calmed back down the group moved out into the court beside the cliff where they had first stepped from the horseshoe shuttle. The fountain was out of the way enough that it still left plenty of open space to practice in, and even provided a place to sit for Groot who happily perched on the edge, toying with the false metal fish as they span in their endless cycle.

"Do you have any weapons here?" Gamora asked as she finished inspecting their footing. "A sword, or staff, or anything like that?"

"Oh!" Mantis exclaimed. "I will be right back!"

She vanished into the main cathedral that loomed over the court, returning a few minutes later, face flushed and panting, but held the item she had retrieved up for Gamora to inspect with a proud smile. It was a long staff, almost the height of Mantis herself, a brilliant gold with sparkling emerald carvings that didn't quite resemble dragons, but made Peter think of them nonetheless. "Often, when Ego and I would visit planets, the locals would offer Ego great gifts- things like clothing, or food, or decorative trinkets and weapons," Mantis explained. "Ego has no need of such things, so he either refuses, or disposes of the items later. When Ego and I visited the planet of Kleinert, he saw how much I loved this item, and allowed me to keep it."

She said this with such pride, like a child telling the story of how their parent had purchased them the exact pony they had wanted for Christmas. The sheer joy and gratitude sparkling in her eyes over something that had cost Ego nothing, and he probably didn't even remember doing, made Peter want to reach out and give her a hug.

Gamora took the staff and balanced it carefully in her hands, testing its weight and giving it a few experimental swings before handing it back. "It is actually very well made for such an ornamental piece," she said, loud enough for the others to hear. "Kleinert is known for its metalwork, and prides its self on combining beauty with durability and function. My father had considered commissioning me a piece from their smiths, once."

From behind Peter, Nebula gave a snort.

"This will do," Gamora finished and Mantis positively beamed under the assassin's cool approval.

"First, lets show you the basic stretches and stances."

Peter got comfortable on the steps and let his anxieties melt away as he watched Gamora guide Mantis through the familiar routines she had shown to him once. He was wincing in sympathy as Mantis struggled to find her balance in a stance that he had almost pulled a hamstring learning when he heard the scuffling of his father's shoes approaching from behind him.

"Are you ready to go?" Ego asked in that tone that clearly said 'I'm not really asking.'

"Yeah." Peter stood and stretched, dusting imaginary dirt off of his pants before turning to follow his father down the familiar pathway to their own practice grounds. "Aren't you going to ask what Mantis is doing?" Peter asked as the walked.

"No," he answered with disinterest. "She's yours now, you may do with her as you wish."

Peter's nose wrinkled and his brows drew together into an ugly glare at his father. "She's not a thing." Peter just couldn't understand why Mantis could feel anything but hate for the monster walking beside him.

Ego didn't answer him, and they continued on in silence.

Again Peter was lead to the center of the courtyard. "We're going to begin expanding on your usefulness today," Ego informed him. He snapped his fingers and a bubble of light rose from the ground between them, bursting outward and forming into a wide basin, about a body length across and nearly coming up to his hip. After that, he reached one hand out to hold it over the basin, in his hand swirled a smaller ball of Light. Slowly he tipped his hand over, and water began to spill from the orb, splashing into the basin below. Peter watched the orb carefully, but no matter how much water poured through, the amount of Light never changed. After a couple of inches had gathered in the bottom of the bowl Ego closed his hand and the light vanished, the last drips of water fell into the pool below where the ripples slowly settled into a pristine and unblemished surface.

"How do you-?" Peter began to ask, but Ego cut him off.

"You can take a break when you have filled the bowl to the top," he said, clasping his hands behind his back and stepping back to stare at Peter expectantly.

"But how do I make water?" Peter asked.

"The same way you made rock," Ego snorted. "I suggest you get started, or you'll be here all night."

Peter's lips pulled into a deep frown. He was running out of patience for these cryptic games. With an angry flick of his wrists, Peter held his own hands out over the bowl and began to gather Light. It came easier than ever, and he had a respectably heavy ball of light knitted together in a matter of minutes. He tried to focus on the thought of water, the feel of it, and the light seemed to change in his hands. Instead of growing heavier or denser, like it had when he was forming crystal, it changed in its behavior. Before, it had felt like it was made of strings of lightning, moving in darting, unpredictable ways. Now it was beginning to grow more sluggish and uniform, swirling in a slower fashion and trying to leak out the bottom. Peter tried to hold it together as long as he could, but before the light had cooled from the orb in his hands he lost control and it slipped from his hold. Instead of the explosions of yesterday morning, it burst like an overfilled water-balloon, chunks of still dimly-glowing liquid plopped into the bowl where they sizzled and bubbled into the existing water.

"You should tip it earlier," Ego told him, ever-helpful only after the fact. "And you cannot hold the water between your hands after it is formed, try to change only one section at a time."

Peter tried again, deciding to stick with smaller balls of light for the time being to avoid more big messy bursts of liquid light.

Trying to control the Light in sections was a much bigger challenge than Peter had anticipated. Edges would slough off when they became too heavy, unbalancing the energy still in his control, or the section he was working on would be reabsorbed by the Light if he lost focus for even a moment. Eventually, he tried Ego's trick of tipping his hands and letting the formed bits trickle out, aided by gravity. This way he could put most of mind to the task of making sure the water formed from the center and guiding it out through the same hole. This trick made the process less messy, but it was agonizingly slow. Each ball of Light only produced so much water before it had all been transformed and drained away and Peter had to start back over at the beginning.

The water level in the bowl had only raised a palm's worth by the time Peter had to pause and catch his breath, leaning with one hand against the smooth lip of the basin.

"How am I supposed to fill this?" Peter panted, his head hanging low. "This is going to take forever."

"Keep digging," Ego's voice answered.

"I am digging," Peter snapped, turning his glare from the tips of his boots to the celestial across from him. "This is me digging."

"I'm glad to hear that," Ego said, raising a brow. "Now, if you are feeling comfortable enough with controlling the Light in parts, why don't you try refilling the Light you posses as you drain it away."

Peter huffed out a mouthful of air and straightened himself back up to try again. As he stared into the Light, obediently swirled into existence between his hands, Ego's voice again broke into the silence.

"You're not digging deep enough."

The tiny orb in Peter's hands wavered, but he held it together.

"You're wasting your time with this, keep digging."

The bundle of light he had gathered flickered out with a tiny 'pop' as Peter looked up to shoot Ego an annoyed look.

"What are you doing?" Ego asked. "Focus."

"Gladly," Peter grumbled, not amused by this new game.

Things fell back into silence after that. Hours of practice had left Peter fairly exhausted, and he was beginning to run out of steam. The Light was growing just a bit more difficult to summon every time. He was considering whether he should drag out just a little more before he began trying to summon and modify the Light at the same time, or if he should just give it a go with the Light he already had, when Ego's voice cut into his concentration again.

"You're taking the long way," his voice rumbled with frustration.

Peter huffed his annoyance but didn't want to spare the energy to look up or answer, so he dug deeper and pulled another thread of light into existence.

"You have to keep digging if you ever want to save your friends."

"That's it!" Peter screamed, throwing the ball of light down in a fit of rage where it burst violently against the water's surface below and sent up a spray of water and mist.

Ego's eyebrows shot up at Peter's outburst. "Peter-"

"I'm here aren't I?" Peter shouted over him. "I'm learning to use this stupid Light and doing everything you've asked, so why are you doing this?"

Ego drew himself up to his full height and had the audacity to look shocked and offended. "I don't know what you're-"

"Don't lie to me!" Peter stepped around the basin and pointed one finger accusingly at the celestial before him. "Those dreams were bad enough, but now you're threatening my friends!"

Ego's lip peeled back into an ugly sneer, but his voice remained calm under Peter's storm of accusations. "I have not threatened your companions. I have no need to."

"Yes you did. Just now!"

"No, Peter," Ego's eyes narrowed. "I didn't"

"I heard you!"

"I haven't said anything."

"But you-" Peter's burst of rage was cooling under Ego's confused denial, and a strange spark in his father's eyes.

"What did you hear, exactly?"

"Keep digging," Peter repeated, watching Ego's face carefully. "Keep digging or... or I'll never save my friends."

"And you heard this in my voice?" The dark shadow of suspicion in Ego's eyes was replaced with a spark of understanding and something angrier that was making Peter's skin itch. "Just now? You're sure?"

"Yes?" Peter asked, suddenly not so sure of anything.

Ego ran his tongue over his teeth and made a face like he was tasting something sour.

"What is it?" Peter asked. "What's going on?"

"Celestials aren't the only thing that walk on other planes," Ego muttered darkly. He raised his hand up and placed his thumb against Peter's forehead much like he had the first time they had met.

The immediate result was less spectacular this time, perhaps because Peter knew what to expect, or perhaps because Peter already had some access to the Light so this was less overwhelming, he really didn't know. A strange tingle rushed through his body, and the late-morning forest around him transformed into a landscape of stars over the seafoam court. As Peter stared at the stars in amazement, he recognized the colorful galaxies of his nightmares.

"Finally," Ego's voice rang out from behind Peter, entirely disconnected from the body of his father which still stood in front of him, his mouth unmoving. Peter turned around to find a second Ego standing across the court. His eyes were bright with triumph and lips split into a toothy grin that revealed pointed teeth. "Found you."

"What the f-?"

A hand came down on Peter's shoulder and he risked a glance to find the Ego he'd come with had stepped up to stand beside him. His eyes were narrowed dangerously at his twin.

"Eternity," the first Ego, which Peter was pretty sure was the real one, growled over Peter's shoulder. "What is your business with my son?"

End

[the-bujo-princess-blog]

How to be a Valedictorian

Let's face it, we all have some goals for ourselves.

For some, it includes entering a college of their choice, or building a great business, or maybe even being the valedictorian for your batch.

In this post, I'll write about my own personal experience and the tips and tricks that I used in order to become the batch valedictorian in high school.

Let me just start off by saying that this post is in no way created for me to brag, but to be helpful and to give out practical advice.

With that, let's get started! :)

#1 Evaluate your motives.

Out of everything, this is probably the most important step.

Evaluate your reasons. You must be able to answer the following questions:

Why am I doing this? Why do I want to achieve that honor? Who am I doing this for? Will this make me happy--even for a short while?

For me, my main reason why I wanted to become the valedictorian for my batch was because I wanted to test myself. I wanted to know whether or not I can achieve something if I put my heart and mind into it. I wanted to be proud of myself.

And also, I wanted to do it for my parents and family as a token of thanks for all their years of support.

You see, once you figure out your own reasons, the whole process would be so much easier for you.

Since you know why you're doing this, you'd have the strength to fight the burnout, the stress, and the millions of obstacles that would come your way.

#2 Realize that it's all about strategy.

The education system is streamlined and can easily be manipulated. Remember this.

Figure out how your system works and play by its rules.

Each school is different. There isn't a specific guide for everyone, so you have to do some bit of digging and find out how they choose the batch valedictorian.

What's the required grade?

What are the extra curricular activities that would weigh heavily in your favor?

What classes should you take?

What's the grading system like?

What's the percentage of extra-curricular activities in your overall grade?

What are the activities that you could participate in order to boost your chances?

This also goes with each of your classes.

What's the teacher like?

How does s/he grade you?

What are the outputs s/he usually gives out?

Is your teacher fond of giving you essays, recitations, or homework?

To add, you can also talk to or even simply observe your immediate upperclassmen, specifically your previous batch valedictorian.

What are their qualities?

What groups were they active members in?

What sort of clubs did they join?

Did they participate in any inter-school competitions?

What subjects did they excel in?

How did they interact with their teachers?

It's not all about getting top marks for everything, so don't rush in and think that you just have to be a  study beast in order to get that spot.

Play by the rules.

#3 Allocate an hour to advanced studying everyday.

I wish I applied this sooner.

I only started this trick on my last year of high school, when I was aiming for this goal.

The thing is, if you want to be able to achieve something you'd never achieved before, then you should be prepared to do things that you've never done before.

Form a habit to allocate an hour per day to advance studying and reviewing your lessons for the day.

This seems tedious, but trust me, it's really rewarding to always be prepared for quizzes that might come your way.

Personally, my ideal time is 4 o'clock in the morning until 5 a.m.

And at 5, I reward myself with a little bit of Internet surfing and lazing around before I have to get ready for school.

You can pick out any time that's convenient for you and stick to it religiously.

#4 Hold yourself accountable.

It's easy to lose track of things and just slack off, but you're going to have to hold on until the end of the school year, at least.

When studying, it's better to have something that would make you accountable.

I used the Forest app, which is a simple app that abides by the

Pomodoro

technique wherein you have to concentrate for a certain amount of time, take a break, and get back to work.

What I like about Forest is that they provide an incentive for your hard work!

Be focused for more than 20 minutes and you'll be rewarded by having a full grown tree. Be distracted (answer messages, get off the app) and your tree will wither and die.

Until this day, I still use Forest whenever there's something that needs my undivided attention.

It also provides you with your statistics and tracks your progress for you.

While there are a ton of other productivity apps out there, I recommend using Forest as it is simple to use and it keeps the distractions at bay so you can focus on your end goal!

#5 Tell people about your goal.

You don't have to tell everyone, just a select few who you know will believe in you and help you throughout your year.

It will be lonely and tiring at times, so that's why you need your own support system.

Plus, it's also another way to keep yourself accountable. Since some people already know about it, it would only make sense to keep pushing on.

#6 Be an Active Participant.

Show up for stuff, and actually do your best. If you're a part of the debate team, then go for the championships.

If you're an athlete, then keep on practicing and joining in activities.

The school system rewards well-rounded students, so make sure you aren't only focusing on just your academics.

Do volunteer work and just get yourself out there.

Meet as many people as you can and form great connections.

Remember that life doesn't end in high school and you never know when you'll need certain people around you.

I know, breaking out of your comfort zone is hard. But since you have something that you want to achieve, don't let yourself just be a passive observer because if you don't put yourself out there, if you don't go after the necessary steps, then someone else will.

#7 Don't be competitive.

Never, ever, ever, ever compare yourself with others.

Don't compare grades.

Don't compare accomplishments.

Don't compare milestones.

The moment you allow yourself to look over others' path, you're actually keeping your eyes off your own lane.

There's no such thing as healthy competition. There will always be a part of you that would over think everything.

So, before that happens, just stop yourself.

It doesn't matter if someone gets a higher score than you on a certain quiz. It's okay. Just study harder and work on improving your previous scores.

Remember, the only person that you want to be better than is your old self.

#8 Set your standards higher.

 Before my final year of high school, I was content with my grades.

It didn't matter much if I had ten or less than ten mistakes. That was good for me.

But since I wanted to graduate as the valedictorian, I know I had to raise the bar higher.

I limited myself to less than three mistakes per exam, grade, or any other graded output.

Having a perfect score or less than three mistakes is the standard.

You have to set your own standards too, and don't settle for a mediocre grade bracket. Settle for the best because if you don't necessarily accomplish that, then at least your score would still be at the top tier.  

#9 Create your own visual board.

This isn't a must, but having an actual, visual reminder of what you want to accomplish would help you out a lot.

It would be a motivation on mornings when you don't feel like studying, or times when you're just so exhausted from everything.

If you're not the visual type, then just write it down or maybe even keep a recording. Either way, have a solid reminder you can look back on every day.

#10 Consult your teachers.

Don't be afraid to ask for advice, for clarification on topics that you can't fully understand.

Remember though, when asking for a subject-related question, you should make them as specific as possible.

You can't just go on saying "I don't know this topic. Can you explain it all to me?"

That only shows laziness and insincerity.

Instead, pinpoint what exactly is it that you do not understand and ask for their input.

People are always more than happy to help those who show enthusiasm and eagerness to learn more.

#11 Focus on your mistakes.

Prior to any major examination, you should go over all of your previous outputs: quizzes, tests, assignments, etc. and find out where you went wrong.

What was your previous assumption? How did you get the right answer for that?

Your mistakes will serve as a guide in prioritizing the topics you need to learn more about.

So when examination period rolls around, you won't have to read everything from start to finish, just the chapters where you commonly made mistakes

Strive to minimize your own margin of error.

#12 Take care of your body.

Eat well. Try to squeeze in some exercise throughout your day.

In order to keep up with your brain's hyperactivity, your body has to be physically fit and healthy.

Back then, my main form of exercise was walking all the way to school when the weather permits.

You could do some yoga, pilates, go for a run, or do whatever it is that you like doing. Just don't force yourself into completing an exercise that you don't like.

Exercising helps with your brain's functions and would actually aid you in your studies!

Also, eat nutritious foods such as vegetables and fruits. I highly recommend eating fish since it's proven to benefit your memory.

#13 Be humble despite your accomplishments.

Don't let anything get into your head. Keep your head down and don't think yourself above others.

Humility is always the key. After all, no one likes being around someone on his high horse.

#14 Pray

Before any examinations, always pray and ask for guidance to whoever it is that you believe in. Ask for a quiet spirit and gentle nerves. Know that you've done all that you could and the rest is up to Him.

So, these are all the top things that I can think of! I hope this post would serve as a guide for you in your journey! :)

[gspikes18-blog]

athletes getting paid

Tyler Tynes https://www.sbnation.com/2018/3/16/17121588/college-basketball-fbi-investigation-ncaa-player-compensation

Gavin Spikes

English 1010

Dr. Robertson

13 Nov 2018

Athletes Getting Paid

There has been much controversy surrounding college football especially concerning the payment of college athletes. Many people, particularly college athletes, have been speculating for years about the salaries. Multiple colleges make copious amounts of money from collegiate sports. Most of the profit does not even go to the players and instead ends up funding the schools. These schools often do not upgrade facilities or do anything to benefit the players aside from just the normal scholarship. With many people donating to these programs, it is sensible to believe that student athletes should be compensated beyond just the normal scholarship.

A large number of Americans believe that college athletes deserve a salary. Most of the top tier sports in college bring in significant revenue. While schools are gaining large profits, some athletes come from an impoverished background, which creates an unfortunate situation. Student athletes with low socioeconomic status may tend to accept external booster sources that may eventually place them in a position of ineligibility. Regardless, one motive behind the situation may be because they are willing to financially help their families. Nonetheless, the act of receiving booster funds is illegal according to the NCAA. Since it is illegal for donors to give athletes money, they may reconsider helping their families. Imagine, talented athletes with low socioeconomic status who bring great profit to the schools they represent, and yet they cannot provide well for themselves or their families. Most of these athletes get a full-ride scholarship which includes a full tuition, books, meal plan, and a small stipend. This small stipend could be as little as 500 dollars to 1500 dollars a month but most athletes have to use that to pay rent unless they live in student housing. So, this scenario shows how students athletes work extremely hard every single day hustling as “slaves” to the school without a salary as the school they represent make hundreds of millions of dollars. Those athletes receive absolutely nothing in return, except an education. Yet, exploiting students of their talents just to pay for their education is not enough because student athletes help school gain more than what may be expected, especially in terms of football. If schools pay these wonderful kids, these athletes may be able to provide help to their families and also learn how to financially plan and fund what is necessary. If savvy with their pay, student athletes might invest that money and build up residual income. For example, if each player is paid a 1,000 dollars a month, then over four years that will be 48,000 dollars. Most importantly, players will be more inclined to stay in school and finish their degree, instead of quickly becoming drafted after 3 years, cutting their college career short by one year and then depriving themselves of a full college education. That in itself should be enough for colleges to pay the students if they really care about the well being and the success of each student as they claim to. If schools make so much money, why can they not just pay the players so that they can help themselves and their families? It is because these colleges seem to greedy and it is all about putting the money into the pockets of the people that run the school.

The next point that should be brought to light is just how much the College Football Playoff alone generates a profit each year after only 4 games. The number is substantially high. Simply from four games, the College Football Playoff makes 600 million dollars. Just off of those four games alone it generates enough money to pay every single college athlete that participates in an NCAA sport with a salary of 54,000 dollars a year. That number is substantially more than just the 12,000 dollars listed above. 54,000 dollars a year is more than the average income in the United States of America. If that is how much football alone makes off of just four games then imagine how much football generates over a whole season; that is more than enough to pay each of the players and still profit more than enough money to upgrade facilities.

Of course, there is always a downside to each idea that has ever been presented in the human era. When a person goes from being less fortunate to having a decent amount of money in their pockets each month, then serious problems could arise. Some players may lose the drive to attend class since they are going to collect a check either way. These athletes already miss enough school to attend events and games and other sports-related events. They get behind because they miss so much class and need tutors that more times than not, may do their work for them, instead of helping the athletes through the learning process. By paying them and creating an environment in which students may lose the drive to attend class, this problem may only be magnified and intensified causing them to drop out or become ineligible to play sports.

The next on the list of problems is financial irresponsibility. These players are young and possibly naive. Getting paid each month may create terrible spending habits. For example if a player is given 1,000 dollars a month and he sees a car he likes and has never been able to afford a nice car with payments such as 300 dollars a month, then car insurance as well as other bills and things will affect their financial planning. This is a major problem if they do end up getting paid then they should be required to take a budgeting class or some type of financial responsibility class that will help them manage money and spend it wisely for things that they need such as, clothes, food, and other necessities.

The last point is that it could remove the competitive nature from the game. These kids lose the incentive to play. In college the players are trying to make it to the NFL well, in the NFL the nature of competition is slightly lower because many of these people have already made it they have the money now. So these players would most likely be less inclined to play at their best performance.

As this list contains the Pros and Cons of paying college athletes there is many conclusions that you can come to. Now I believe players should be paid and compensated for the hard work that they put in to succeed and make it to the next level of football. There are many things that go against and go in favor of each side. It is hard to say if the NCAA will ever come to the point where they will pay the players for their hard work and dedication they put in day in and day out to help the school profit money.

Malcolm Lemmons (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/college-athletes-getting-paid-here-are-some-pros-cons_us_58cfcee0e4b07112b6472f9a)

Patrick Hruby https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/college-football-has-money-pay-players-college-football-playoff-proves-ncna833486

Patrick Gleason and Eric Garland https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article202272034.html

Ryan Swanson https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2017/10/02/want-to-clean-up-college-athletics-pay-the-players/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.eea79e79623f

[finlocktechnologies]

Pandemic Fuels Cybercrime: 8 Scams to Watch For

Fraudsters are proven to flourish in time of emergency and important events, and the present COVID-19 pandemic is no exception. What's made this catastrophe different from preceding occasions is that the instant and rapid impact it's had on the cybercrime market with offenders leaving no rock unturned. Following are the numerous scams RSA® has recognized alongside safety best practices because we visit an increasing surge in fraud efforts.

In the modern environment, understanding that kids around the globe are from college, fraudsters are reaching out to children directly in hopes of gaining entry to their own gambling and other online accounts. I had a personal experience only last weekend in which my 12-year-old nephew unwittingly gave his Xbox login into an"online buddy" who promised to update his account. Rather, his new"friend" took on the accounts, changed the password and left off with tens of thousands of dollars in purchases which were billed to the credit card . A valuable lesson it is wise to enhance your kid's distant learning and cybersecurity schedule: Do not ever give private information out to individuals online. Preying on fear is a frequent cyber strategy, but it is 1 thing to prey on a person's fear of having their identity stolen or their credit destroyed -- and quite another to prey in their own fear of a brand new, sometimes fatal disease. In 1 instance, the fraudster introduces as a WHO doctor offering to share info on security measures to safeguard against the international health pandemic. Clicking the link in the email ends in malware being set up to collect confidential information from the receiver's apparatus, launch remote access to the apparatus or steal address book info to send additional mails to the receiver's friends. (NOTE: The World Health Organization is aware of all these kinds of actions and contains submitted cautionary information on its own site, including how to identify fake return email addresses and hyperlinks.) Not much, unless you are a fraudster such as the person who delivered a bank's clients an email advising them to telephone the lender to solve a payment. It had been for the most part a normal ploy -- except that it also contained the line"If your financial situation was affected by COVID-19, please phone us to discuss choices..." The email then supplied a VoIP (like in"v" to get"vishing") telephone number to call rather than a hyperlink to click. At the guise of being helpful, this scammer fell a potent lure to recipients who might have lost earnings or suffered financially out of the present pandemic. While vishing attacks normally involve a unsolicited cell call from somebody appearing to signify a financial institution another business, this newer form of assault, dubbed reverse vishing, utilizes emails, online advertisements or societal networking articles to convince prospective victims to call a telephone number that's controlled from the fraudster.

Smishing

A smishing assault is a magic attack which uses SMS texts rather than email messages to execute the attack. Fraudsters are currently including a coronavirus twist to this form of tried-and-true scam. In 1 instance, a person claiming to be in the HMRC, the U.K. tax thing (like the IRS from the U.S.) advises of"a goodwill payment" that's allegedly a part of this government's attempt to resist COVID-19. Other frequent ones popping up are a part of a current fraud tendency involving loyalty points, where a text which claims to come out of a rewards program entices the receiver with a supply of bonus points. Such efforts typically attempt to deceive anyone who reacts into supplying account information for a requirement for asserting the payment or points being supplied.

Social networking Attacks

you need to hand it into the fraudsters behind this one: It surely seems just like a social networking post from a legit significant merchant who would like to give a shopping spree. Obviously, it's no more a valid post compared to some of the other people you see social networking offering everything from just two free airline tickets into a calendar year's worth of grocery stores. However, what fraudsters actually want from social networking strikes is for the reader to browse and supply personal information or sign up for expensive services -- and, better still, share the article with friends, even more victims could be enticed in. Even more upsetting are sites purporting to supply completely free vaccines or other therapies for COVID-19 that are actually used to steal charge card and other private information from victims. Mobile programs are a fast growing attack vector for distributing malware, malware and ransomware. Playing global interest in the subject, fraudsters have published an assortment of fake cellular programs linked to COVID-19 claiming to give the most recent breaking news and upgrades. Rather, these fake programs are downloading malware along with ransomware effective at shooting more than a victim's cell device. RSA has discovered a lot of examples of those fake programs exploiting COVID-19 interest which are connected to Android banking malware such as BankBot Anubis, Cerberus and DanaBot. Brian Krebs lately reported on a single highly complex performance where fraudsters set up a bogus charity site in hopes of recruitment money mules beneath the guise of assisting those affected. Work-at-home"chances" popped up several decades ago following the worldwide financial crisis, many of that RSA reported on in the moment. If there ends up being a worldwide recession because of COVID-19, anticipate poor actors to prey on vulnerable customers and work-at-home fraud scams to flourish.

Social Engineering is your Crucial

We often overlook that scams can only be effective if it could engineer or fool victims to doing exactly what it plans for them to perform (e.g., download malware). Cybercrime is determined by the individual component, and Online frauds India understand they need to manipulate our primal triggers to become prosperous. They're adorable and smart and leverage strategies that lots of marketing businesses utilize to subconsciously our feelings to purchase a service or product. Think about those examples:

Fear of the others hoarding basic essentials like food, hand sanitizer and bathroom paper has produced a feeling of urgency for all.

Sense of dread --"You've missed a payment!" Knowing that a lot of men and women are undergoing financial hardship, so developing a feeling of fear that a utility is going to be closed off, as an instance, if they do not click a link to update their own accounts. Similarly, fraudsters are using incentives like government obligations and work at home scams playing the fear of financial hardship.

Sense of belonging - With almost every huge country around the planet in some amount of lockdown, people are yearning for social link and spending more hours than on social networking. Please do not blow solitude the door out in those stressful times and be careful what you discuss on the internet.

Prevent Becoming a Victim

Even though there's cybercrime that occurs in a more pressing scale than we could imagine, for example government bureaus being hacked or hospitals and health care suppliers falling prey to ransomware in the middle of pandemic, understand that the scams mentioned previously are ones we can all control (and prevent ) by just behaving smart online.

Don't respond to texts or calls from unidentified amounts, or some others that seem suspicious.

Be careful if you are being forced to talk about any info or make a payment instantly.

Scammers frequently snore phone amounts to fool you into responding or reacting. Bear in mind that government agencies won't ever call you to request personal information or cash.

Don't click any hyperlinks in a text message. If a buddy sends you a text using a funny link that looks out of character, phone them to ensure they were not hacked.

Constantly check on a charity (by way of instance, by phoning or looking in its true website) prior to committing.

Fraudsters were well-prepared to gain in the pandemic before the majority people had even heard of the virus. It is up to the public today to be equally prepared and practice great cyber hygiene and safety measures.