#i think sunday was the first time it actually clicked to him that he basically left mapey alone to take care of the team

[mcytegg]

i wonder if minute is gonna try getting the hearts for mapicc to revive jepexx bc i know he fs feels bad abt being unable to be there for him rn

[nana-au]

i have headcanons for church boy! yuta/eren. bear with me.

yuta would act innocent and be innocent.

eren would act innocent and actually be a fucking freak.

note: sorry to any religious readers, but for this drabble's sake, i am identifying reader as agnostic/atheist. please refrain from reading this fic if you may get offended. my intentions are not to disrespect anyone or their religion.

both of them were raised in the church, their fathers being pastors so they have this pressure to be good boys. i imagine they both wear the purity rings their family gave them and they spend all their free time at the church. helping their dad find topics for his sermons, volunteering at summer bible camp, putting up decorations for holidays, etc.

maybe you would meet them at bible study. at first you were annoyed your parents signed you up for it but once you saw the tall, dark haired boy at the front of the room you suddenly couldn't think of being anywhere better.

they both would be the spitting image of perfection. dressed in their sunday best, without a wrinkle on their dress shirt. eren would probably have his sleeves rolled up, his forearms flexing when he leaned across the table to help the girl in front of you find her page.

both of them would have spotless, leather shoes that went click clack click clack across the linoleum floor of the now sweltering bible study classroom.

yuta would be so enthusiastic leading the group. his smile genuine and his gelled hair a little messy from constantly running a hand through it. his dark eyes somehow became the lightest things in the room while he dived into passage after passage.

the two of them would introduce themselves to you upon noticing how lost you looked. your parents had decided to turn a new leaf, and suddenly you all went from only attending every christmas/easter service to your family attending every sunday sermon. to say the adjustment was unwelcomed for you would be sort of an understatement. you felt lost while listening to your pastor bring up names like 'corinthians'... and who even is 'matthew'? You were exhausted, and burnt out and how bad of a teacher would they be to not notice someone who needed some guidance in the teaching's of the lord?

yuta would introduce himself - his smile a permanent fixture on his face while he shakes your hand. "if you have any questions, please don't be afraid to ask," he promises you, "that's what I'm here for." his voice was soft and his hand would basically swallow yours in his grasp - but his grip on you was gentle. you could only nod, your ability to speak lost on you upon receiving his undivided attention. his presence could only be described as angelic. his eyes on you felt like sun rays on a cool summer day and his touch felt like water - quenching a thirst inside of you that you didn't realize you had. he caused your breath to catch in your throat but if he noticed he didn't point it out. he was far too polite for that. in reality, yuta was unaware of his affect on people; especially you. you knew that if he was aware - he wasn't the type to take advantage of it.

eren wouldn't be able to hold back a smirk watching you struggle to keep up with what everyone else seemed to understand with ease. he would come over to your table group, singling you out loudly in front of everyone, "having a little trouble?" ...to anyone who was used to seeing eren every day since a young boy they would believe his expression showed genuine concern. but all you saw was a man unwilling to hide his smirk as you stuttered your way through a verse. a man utterly amused being in the presence of a girl who wasn't raised the way he was. he always seemed to linger behind you after your first interaction with him. he watched you highlight the passages he read out loud and witnessed you doodling in the little notebook that was meant for you to annotate. he leaned over your chair, his arms caging you between him and his chest pressing against your back. "cute. but let's make sure we're focusing, hmm?" he whispered into your ear.

they both would end up inviting you to do private studies with them at their home - they were the pastor's son after all - and what better way to prepare to take over as pastor one day then to be able to bring an unbeliever into the light of god?

you couldn't deny them even if you tried. there was something about them that drew you closer.

eren was all-consuming. there was something about the way he carried himself - domineering almost. the tan skin of his neck flexing with every deep swallow he took - his gaze unnerving under the fluorescent lighting of the bible study room while he watched you thumb through the pages of your clearly unused bible.

yuta was electric. he held a youthful attitude towards everything. the kind of carefree only a man of faith could have; so sure of his beliefs and finding comfort in the stories he taught. he was kind, and warm... you hadn't thought it possible to find a man so gentle. or easily flustered.

you had realized the both of them had a deeper reasoning to invite you to study at their house - whether they were aware of it or not.

(pt. 2 coming soon i have to go to work :sob:)

[ixiot-ghostrebel]

Some Stuff I Should Probably Address.

Alright, For most of you lot who knows what fandoms I write for, this shouldn't come off as surprising to you:

But yes, this is about the Demand to Recasting Certain Voice Actors, Natlan's Characters Being Whitewashed, and my personal thoughts about these matters. They will be under the "Keep Reading" cut if you wish.

TL;DR If You Want to Avoid This, But Want Updates About My Blog: I am closing requests for Genshin and HSR for the time being. I will still be open to discuss HSR and Genshin, but not controversy. I'm sorry.

People Waiting For "Barren Lands, Final Wishes" Letters:

They're on their way, I promise! Unfortunately I haven't been able to make time for them as much as I wanted to, but they Will be out soon!

Now back to more Serious Matters.

⌨︎ Warnings: The Follow Will Contain Mentions of Sexual Abuse, Abuse, and Whitewashing. If I Missed a Warning, or Wrote the Wrong Warning, Please Notify Me Immediately!

Alright, first off: The Voice Actors of Sunday and Moze.

I frankly am not the kind of person who indulges in drama, nor do I like reading/watching them in my free time, but it can't be overlooked at this point. Griffin Puatu and Chris Niosi are quite the controversy recently.

For those who don't know, here's a (probably oversimplified—apologies, on that part) basic idea of what's happening:

Chris Niosi has been accused with sexual and emotional abuse by his ex-partners, as well as friends.

Now, the real big problem, however, is that Hoyoverse, the company who owns the HSR character by the name of "Moze" has decided to hire Niosi to become his EN Voice Actor, which is sparking a lot of disapproval, for Hoyoverse is being blamed for not checking his background/history well enough.

(For More Information About Him: Click This For an Article About the Matter.)

Now, I don't have much to say about Griffin Puatu, who is the current EN Voice Actor of Sunday, but judging from screenshots and tumblr posts I have seen by the Reddit post he wrote, many people are not liking him as well because Puatu is standing up for Niosi.

Now, my Personal Thoughts on the matter, and, as much as I hate getting into drama (apologies, these personal thoughts will be a rant):

Just why? I'm unsure who was at TRUE fault of hiring Niosi, and I don't have full context of WHY Puatu is backing up Niosi when people say he hasn't changed, but seriously, why?

As much as I really hate to say this, but honestly, with this amount of controversy around a game people download to have fun and enjoy, all of it is pretty much ruined for me at the moment. I'm fed up with this—Again, I'm not sure whose fault it was, but they seriously need to be CAREFUL.

I also don't believe that Niosi should have gotten the role of Moze (HSR), but at the same time, who the hell decided it was a good idea to get/give him the role? As I live under a rock, I didn't know who Niosi was. At the time of Moze's drip-marketing, I really thought it'd be cool—for the first time in a while, I actually felt excited for a character rather than the plot of a game. After hearing all this, and taking time thinking about it, I really just don't want to touch HSR content anymore at the moment. It's annoying, because HSR has really good content—it has the potential to be great.

I seriously just can't wrap my head around who hired this guy. I'm not going into Puatu specifically because I don't know much about what he wrote, and (again) I don't like getting into drama. My apologies on that part, but honestly? I'm just done.

Alright, Second off: Natlan Characters—Skin.

I'm pretty sure most people are aware of THIS controversy, but to simplify: Natlan Characters are too pale and it's inaccurate.

Geographically, it makes no sense. They're in warmer temperatures, they should be more tanned. On top of that, their skin tone DOES NOT MATCH their cultures, or where they're taken inspiration from. Hoyoverse are being boycotted (from what I heard) for whitewashing and neglecting to represent the people of said-cultures/said-traditions.

My Personal Thoughts?

COME ON, HOYOVERSE. Do better! It was one thing to drop Natlan Teasers about the characters, but seriously? Please, try a little harder! Genshin Impact has GOOD POTENTIAL—EVERYONE SEES THAT! But you can't make them tanned? Why?

This was the first thing that has been bugging me BEFORE the entire Moze EN VA bullcrap. Come on, Hoyoverse, do better. You are losing respect out here. I am so disappointed, and even that is an understatement! You are losing your respect and recognition as a worthy company brand! What is going on in their building???? Hello???

Someone better fix this skin tone problem soon. I am so fed up with this. As much as I love the characters they just drip-marketed, it's also quite unfair: Take Liyue, for example. Their culture and their people are represented accurately, as far as anime can go.

Natlan? Yikes, suddenly they aren't able to create that same amount of accuracy potential. Why though? What's stopping them? Why are they not doing what is ethically right?

Everyone's waiting for a proper answer, myself included.

Alright, With that all being said—the final Part: What's Happening to the Ghost Rebel's Blog?

Well, for starters: I need a break. I am not only disappointed, but mentally drained. I am so done with all of this, and I need an utter breather. I usually go on Tumblr to cool down or read some nice, wholesome writing posts I find on some fandoms I like. Now, however, I am in dire need of staying away from Tumblr.

I'll be on a little bit of hiatus from writing so much—but not for now, as I currently have an event going on.

However: I am no longer taking any HSR and/or Genshin requests until these issues are either resolved or fixed. That is my stance, and I hope you can respect it.

Yes, this will mean my blog will decrease in activity. However, I am still open to Genshin/HSR discussions—so long as they are not about drama/controversy. I think I'm drained from all of this.

To everyone who read to the very end of this post: Thank you for reading to the end, and I apologize if you were also trying to avoid witnessing these kinds of controversies. However, some things can't be overlooked.

Hope y'all are doing safe/good. Have a good day/night.

[liivzen]

Hiii i saw your requests are open. So i have a little something. So, I've had this daydream about post-war levi, where he has a cozy little tea shop. The reader, who is a law student, goes there to study quite frequently. She basically went there for the ambiance and kept going for the owner, if you get me :p. So yeah, it is obvious to lev that she has a crush on him, and you know you know, they talk and all that and one thing leads to another. I hope this isn't too detailed. You can let out anything you're not comfortable with, of course. Lots of luvv ~~

bruh i seriously i have an issue with tumblr. they deleated my draft i had for this. BUT ANYWAYS HIIIIIII, you’re the first person to have a request everrrr! Im so happy someone finally submitted something! I hope this is something that you like, i wish i could’ve wrote more but i am busy with finals (fucking kms). I hope i can expand on this soon though:)

nothing nsfw for now but hopefully we’ll expand on that as well 😏 Also mind the grammar or errors of any kind, I am not an english major for a reason.

You sat in a chair at a small table against the window of the little tea shop in town. Your books scattered around the table, but with no actual work getting done though however. You’re attention was on the man behind the counter with his back facing towards you making a tea for a fellow customer.

This isnt isnt the first time you’ve been at the tea shop. You started coming just to study and enjoy a tea or two. Now you stay for a completely different reason, or well person. You couldn't help put stare at his defined back, his sleeves rolled to his forarms and hands moving with skill.

Unknown to you, Levi could feel your stare, and has been feeling them for months. He could feel you staring at him right now, he tries ignoring it but in the end he always turns around and makes brief eye contact with you. You quickly looked away, breaking the eye contact and pretend to work on whatever was in front of you.

You keep working, sort of, while stealing quick glances to the man. This goes on until it starts to get dark outside and you can tell the owner is starting to clean up the shop. He slowly finishes wiping down a table next to yours and you try not to stare by pretending to work. He slowly makes it to your table now and clears his throat looking at you.

You peek up through your eyelashes before he starts saying something.

“Miss, the shop is about to close.” He says softly, looking into your eyes.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’ll clean up and get out of your way.” You replied back to him, starting to pack up your stuff into the your satchel. He nods at you as a thanks, but not before setting something on the table. Confused, you pick it up.

‘come to the shop on Sunday, 6 o’clock’

You think for a second, wondering why you might have gotten this. Then your brain clicks, the shop is closed on Sundays. Heat starts to rise to your face as you look over to the man again, he’s back behind the counter, back to you cleaning tea cups. You grabbed your satchel and walk over to the counter, this time your the one to clear your throat.

“Um, can I ask you your name sir?” You ask him politely. He turns around, cup and rag in hand.

“It’s Levi.” He responds, while still cleaning the cup. You nod your head at his response, shifting on your feet nervously.

“Can I ask why you left this note Levi.” You prompt him, saying his name with a soft tone. This time he sets the tea cup down and leaning on the counter slightly.

“Well I was hoping I could see the pretty girl thats always in my shop, but on her own.” He replied with a bit of red on his cheek as well. You hum at his answer, thinking about what you’re going to respond with. After a moment of silence Levi opens his mouth,

“If you’re not comfortable-“

“Ok, Mr. Levi.” You interrupt him before he can get his full sentence out. He stares at you for a second and nods his head.

“Ok then, I’ll see you sunday then?” He clarifies.

“I’ll see you on Sunday Mr.Levi.” You smile at him, a small blush on your face. You turn around and start to walk out the door, the little bell atop it chiming when it’s opened. You turn your head over your shoulder one last time and wave at him. Levi gives a small smile back, hands returning to clean tea cups. Walking out with a blush and a smile on your face you have one little thing on your mind now, nothing related to school work.

You have a date this Sunday.

[page-matcha]

hi honey, how about reader finding out her bsf (Taehyun) is a sugar daddy and just can’t help but think about what he would want for his money (starts having wet dreams of him-)

Cici! Hiii ^^

You're brain is actually so big, how do you come up with stuff like this-

Warnings: swearing, this whole drabble is honestly just really suggestive- , kissing/making out

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today was one of those lazy Sundays, doing nothing but staring at your computer and mindlessly scrolling through social media.

What's this? An add for a sugar daddy website? Is YouTube even alowed to have adds like this in here?

This was a weird and honestly kind of creepy thing to come across.... so... you click on the add. You were curious and had nothing better to do, so why not?

You clicked on the first profile that popped up. This dude seems hot.

You almost spit out your drink when you realize that this hot dude was your best friend.

Taehyun?! What was he even doing on this site? This has to be a prank, maybe it was just someone who looked like him? Someone who looks like him, has the same birthday as him, and is the same age as him, sure.

You shut your computer and push it as far away from you as possible. This was just a bad dream. It was time to get some rest, it was obvious you were tired and just seeing things. There was no way that guy was Taehyun.

So you go to sleep, hoping that when you wake up you'll find that the website didn't even exist in the first place and that you were just going crazy.

Your dreams though... they were even crazier.

In your dreams, Taehyun appeared. A very needy Taehyun at that. One that would shower you with presents for even just a quick handjob. God, what was wrong with you. Why was dream Taehyun so hot... Ethereal even.

All of the sudden you were.... kissing him? His tongue was sliding into your mouth and you were a whimpering mess.

What the fuck?

You woke up all sweaty and out of breath.

This continued for many more nights before you decided to finally confront the issue,

Taehyun.

You go through your search history and hunt the website down, eventually finding Taehyun's profile and e-mailing him about your interests. Basically offering to pleasure him for a very little amount of money (I mean, not like you were planning on actually pleasuring him anyway. You just wanted to see the look on his face when he realized you knew his secret. That was it... Right?)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry I just ended it so abruptly😭

I was gonna write smut but chickened out cause my smut scenes usually turn out really badly 😭😭😭

Might make a part 2 with smut cause I'm kind of invested in this now...

I took WAY to long to answer this ask just to give you a short drabble I'm sorry 😭😭😭

[reiverreturns]

us 🤝 gratuitously talking about our wips instead of actually working on them

i NEED to know about this ac/pacrim nonsense 👀

it's a hard life in the trenches (doing nothing productive whatsoever)

EHEHEHE okay so my nonsense file is basically all @alethiometry's fault and is more or less a dumping ground for assassin's creed PacRim AU stuff that i write odds and sods for when i don't feel like writing anything serious. it's mostly hytham/jacob frye where hytham is an ex-ranger who designs jaeger weaponry and jacob is an active ranger alongside evie. idk i think they'd have SUCH good chemistry and i know in my heart i'm right on that one. i have zero intention of ever making a real publishable story out of the stuff in there but i have lots and lots of little bits! it's very much ignoring quality, just having fun stuff.

anyway for context i've pulled a bit where jacob gets injured before the big mission to close the breach. furious and upset that he'll be sidelined, he ends up running his mouth to the press about how the world governments and their wall building plans are all stupid as hell and hytham sneaks him out into a hong kong hotel to screw some sense into him before marshal aya can find jacob and beat his ass six ways to sunday. i'm also dropping a cut in because it's a chonky bit!

send me a title from my wip list and i'll post a snippet and some thoughts

---

“Where will you go when this is all over?” Hytham asks.

Jacob turns, attention turns sharp, but Hytham isn't looking at him. He’s leaning against the edge of the window, arm resting across the top of the frame, eyes locked on a lonely hulking mass fuzzed in the heavy, sodden mist of the bay. A Jaeger on reconnaissance and repair. Odin’s Sight, if Jacob remembers the assignments. He can’t think of anything more pointless than checking the walls now.

You pilot a Jaeger for long enough, you come to understand that Rangers come in two flavours. The first are the sort who fight for an after. Eivor and Vili, with their dream of a patch of land and animals aplenty in the far flung reaches of Norway. Connor being reunited with his family back home. The second kind of Ranger fights against. ‘After’ isn’t exactly a worry when you're trying to wrestle a Kaiju’s lower mandible from the rest of its jaw. ‘After’ doesn’t mean anything if the chances are you’ll end up going down with your Jaeger. 

Before today Jacob had always considered himself firmly in camp two. Even now, with his Jaeger miles away, he can feel the mechanical click and whirr of the gears in his wrist as he sits up on the bed, pneumatic pressure falling when he adjusts his bad leg. It’s raining and the machinery aches. Evie's running through her tests with Henry. She's worried about him. His mind is hers and hers is his; no start and no end, a complex knot of flesh and metal that cannot be divorced. Jacob's future is a blue-tinged meld of past and present. It does not - can not - exist without Evie or Rook Empire in it.

But that had been then. Hytham turns, sighing, and the realisation hits Jacob like a bullet to the chest.

Jacob might die. He might live to see the whole world fall. He might be crushed beneath a warm body like he was half an hour ago, panting into Hytham's mouth, sweat-slick and needy for more time. But he also might live. There might be an ‘after’ after all.

More silence. Jacob wishes he had Hytham’s comfort in it. Maybe the roar of blood in his ears wouldn’t feel so intrusive.

“I hadn’t thought of it,” Jacob eventually says in a voice that doesn’t sound like his own, hands absently gripping the sheets, mind scrambling and overshot to somewhere far, far away. “I could go back to London, I suppose. Would be nice to go somewhere where I could pretend the world didn’t completely go to shit. But it’s…” He looks at the condensation on the windows, mouth dry. “I don’t think there will be a place for me when I go back.” 

Stupid thing to say. London’s a big fucking city. It still is, despite the attacks and riots and civil unrest that has destabilised its boroughs over the years. Hytham tilts his head thoughtfully.

“There will be no Rangers anymore,” he says, and Jacob nods.

[crmsnmth-journal]

7/18/2024 10:52 PM

You ever have one of those days that is great, without any real reason? That's what I had today. I mean, it was a smooth day and everything just clicked, but still. From the moment I woke up this morning, it's just been a really good day. I needed it. Badly. My brain is doing it's thing again but there was nothing to bitch and whine about. And if you've been paying attention to my journal, there is always something for me to bitch and whine about. It's what I do.

Anyway, I went in to the alley for an hour and did some basic maintenance for the kitchen. And after that I headed to AV (Apple Valley). It was really slow when I got there, so I had some time to get fully accustomed to the line and where everything is it. But when the dinner rush hit at about 4:30-5:00, I jumped on the fryers and just pushed through. And it was fun. For a little bit, we were in the weeds and Joe got kicked off the grill. I stayed on fryers while Shaun (our boss) jumped on the grill. Joe hit plating and we hit our stride. We made it through and at seven, I punched out and for the first time in four years, my boss said thank you. Made a sign of appreciation. I had almost all but forgotten what that felt like. A simple thank you made tonight easily one of the absolute best night I've had in a very very long time. I think AV is going to be a really good fit. I'm actually excited about Sunday, my twelve hour day. Who the fuck is excited about a 12 hour day? The whole goddamn world's gone mad.

I got home at about 7:30 and me and Jonah ended up just talking to almost ten. I feel so proud of hin. I still can't get over what a change he's made in the past six or seven months. It's like talking to a completely different person, Twice now we've ended up have conversations for a few hours, and not even realizing how long we'd been shooting the shit. It sure didn't feel like a couple hours. It's such a relief to see him become an adult. I mean, there's stuff that he does that's going to irritate me, but I thin that's pretty common in brothers. I never really realized it, but him and I are a lot alike in a lot of ways.

I wish I could see my other brother. I miss him being around. And I know he's on a really dark path and I don't want to see it, but at this point what can I do? I love Alex to death and would do anything for him and his family, without question. But I hate watching him fall so hard. I miss talking with him for hours about nothing. And god, I really miss my nephews. It still seems to damn quiet every morning without Bird in his playpen, chatting away. Or Z being the goofiest little ball of energy he could possibly be. I still have hope in them and a lot of faith that they will bounce back. I did. And if I can do it, so can they. Like I said, I love them all dearly, and would do anything to help them. I'm not even mad at them. I mean, I was, but that faded and was replaced with just a real deep sense of disappointment.

I cant end today with those thoughts to, so it's time to go be a misery poet and write until my meds kick in and put me under.

God, I really needed today.

[ericleo108]

The Industry

03/01/2024 Click here for Spotify, Apple Music, or Youtube. “The Industry” is my 71st official release and my 106th track published. This is my biggest and most elaborate release so far. It has more features than tracks. This has been a long time in the making. I had some trouble getting the features through my distributor but distrokid came through for me. The beats and major feature production comes from Anno Domini. The entire project was mixed and mastered by Keyano and the cover art is by Gigzlogo from Fiverr.

I talk about this blog post and other updates in the latest Sunday update here:

This album is called “The Industry” because it features many artists, big and small, from the music industry while also being about “The industry” as in the economy. I did the best I could with the limited resources I have. I would like to thank Anno Domini for this opportunity and for make this a dream come true and Thank you to all the featured artist.

90% of the CO2 in the atmosphere over the last 10 years came from 3 products, gas, oil and coal. This is who I’m referring to when I say “Big Carbon.” I was gonna just say “big oil” but it’s more than just big oil and saying “carbon” is really focusing on the problem.

The album approaches sociological problems and by the middle I bring in my personal perspective. I firmly believe we have a lot of the problems we do because religion which distorts zealots worldveiw. Thinking being gay is wrong, the earth is only 6 thousand years old, or the rapture is gonna happen really affects how people perceive and affect the world, and since we live in a democracy, political and societal outcomes as well. I believe inaccuracy in thinking comes from the distorted worldview of religion, and in America that means chirstianity. This means it’s fundamental to attack followers reality at it’s core because it is the basis in which they project their actions. I just hope Kurupt isn’t a devote christian or he might be upset. 

I do not condone violence peroid, let alone against congress members, although I think they basically deserve it. With that said, I tried showing Mitch McConnell as little respect as possible. You know, I’m human too and between his policies, greed, and lust for power representing an abhorrent party that he has enabled to regress the nation, it’s not hard to hate him, and as an artist I’m just tapping into that very real sentiment. People will cheer when he dies like they will Dick Cheney or how they did Harry Kissenger. The world would be a better place if you off’d yourself Mitch. Not because your death would solve our problems, but because your influence on power needs to end. Honestly, I don’t like Mitt Romney, but I took a different approach and said people should be like him because he’s actually retiring. Listen, I know the replacements might be worse, but they could also be way better. I would be satisfied with a maximum age requirement if we couldn’t get term limits. 

This release was going to be 12 tracks long, not 10. I had the hardest time getting this published. I went through CDbaby and it got rejected. I published it without the KRS-One or Gucci Mane feature track. After much deliberation, I have since went through distrokid to publish the “Heavy Hitters” EP which has the Krs, Gucci, and a snoop dogg feature that was supposed to be on the “Westside Connection” album but got rejected by CDbaby as well.

Lyrics:

America in Decline - Cappadonna, ZENRequium

Big Carbon - Kook G Rap, Duce McGuire

Smeagol - Cam’ron

Bomg First - Jadakiss, Soul Stretch

Captalism - Rich G

A Lesson

Honey - Kurupt

The Cold - Planet Asia

Independent - Juvenile

Lace Em Up

America In Decline

Ayo

To all my young brothers that hustle and flip

Get your money be humble

Killer bees everywhere yo we call it the Jungle

Some real nice Cheba

The government control that medical refund

Tattoo on my stomach that's the symbol of death

Yo I'm coming

You only got a little bit of time left

Back out the hood

I be the reclaimer

I punch deceivers in the face and roll on the flame

Hooky player

Survival of your forcedness

The board of education and all of that court shit

I'm from the street first then I went corporate

I'm out in Cali somewhere eating crawfish

I'ma pescatarian my ex-girl whorish

The angel of rap and country like a tourist

Even the terrorists

Know I got the rawness

The whole world ain't nothing but a fake Egypt

With these Devils acting like they tryna lead it (ayo)

I'm bout to leave here on a ship

Niggas turn zombie's they receiving the chip

I'm out here

With my mind on flip

I'm in the zone

Got the garlic in my system

My whole team drop knowledge and wisdom

We drop knowledge and wisdom

America in decline

Can’t afford to find

A house, food, education

Or care for your child

It was all by design

By the oligarchy

You can’t make ends meet

Cuz they rigged the economy 

America in decline

Can’t afford to find

A house, food, education

Or care for your child

It was all by design

By the oligarchy

You can’t make ends meet

Cuz they rigged the economy 

While you struggle to cop it

And made a deposit

Corporations make record profits

Billionaires are leaving on rockets 

And you are left to pay costs kids

Vampires should suck dick

Seamen has more life than blood

They looking at me like

I know what it was

When they changed the rules

Made America loose

By listening to fools

And never replacing them with new

Blood, new faces

America disgraced with

Wretches that won’t have to face

The destruction that all their laws have made 

From restructuring to give money to the paid

They’ll be dead and gone

But America will fall

Cuz what they did is wrong

And a selfish con

Guess the Process 

Is to stifle all the progress

Feather they’re own nest

And reap all the profits

America in decline

Can’t afford to find

A house, food, education

Or care for your child

It was all by design

By the oligarchy

You can’t make ends meet

Cuz they rigged the economy 

America in decline

Can’t afford to find

A house, food, education

Or care for your child

It was all by design

By the oligarchy

You can’t make ends meet

Cuz they rigged the economy 

Most of the world living on child support

Instead of talkin’ shit out

They’d rather take it to court

I used to think I was rich man

I realized I’m poor

That’s why I take an opportunity

When it knocks on the door

I drop bombs with psalms

To feed my mind so I’m calm

If you don’t see it or believe it

Let me sound the alarm

And I ain’t running from the problem 

Imma face it head on

I used think I was a man

Now I see I was wrong

It was all designed with a higher power in mind

They got money to start wars

Is feeding the poor a crime?

What if we all fortify?

Stand together unified

We could stop all the lies

I promise they’d be petrified 

America in decline

We can’t afford the disease

A hundred people have to die so that one lives with ease

America in decline

We can’t afford the disease

A hundred people have to die so that one lives with ease

America in decline

Can’t afford to find

A house, food, education

Or care for your child

It was all by design

By the oligarchy

You can’t make ends meet

Cuz they rigged the economy 

America in decline

Can’t afford to find

A house, food, education

Or care for your child

It was all by design

By the oligarchy

You can’t make ends meet

Cuz they rigged the economy 

___________________________________

Big Carbon

(Kook G Rap Lyrics Unknown)

Fuck big carbon, they’re the problem

They bought the news so they control the column

Been licensed, to pollute commons

And stifle innovation, top to bottom

Fuck big carbon, they’re the problem

They bought the news so they control the column

Been licensed, to pollute commons

And stifle innovation, top to bottom

You wanna invest

In income-producing assets

That make you money

That’s steady and passive

You won’t survive long unless you stretch

I still hope for the best but expect regret

I’m talking to the cats that I never met

I wish you peace my friend a bed to rest

Don’t ever let um convince you

Your needs shouldn’t be met

Everything is free

You just need materials and labor

Corporate endorsements

Are when the police protect property

Over the environment

That they pollute silently

So I dissent and live defiantly

While Carbon heating the entirety 

Global criminal conduct is how science sees it

The pollution, kills millions a year

While they lobby and interfere

With policy to limit there’s

While they should really be in jail

Fuck big carbon, they’re the problem

They bought the news so they control the column

Been licensed, to pollute commons

And stifle innovation, top to bottom

Fuck big carbon, they’re the problem

They bought the news so they control the column

Been licensed, to pollute commons

And stifle innovation, top to bottom

Now they pretend to be spiritual individuals 

Testing us like a physical

Kill us with chemicals 

Confiscate our residuals

Poisonous minerals

Force fed by the cynical

Think they school’um

But disregard the principles

Actin invincible

And aint talk’n mic in the mechanics

But all we need is a miracle

But they don’t like it when we’re lyrical

The devil’s being disguised

But we’re conscious they’re identical

But still got the keys to the solution

Cuz that big carbon pollution 

Got’um contradicting their constitution 

And then COVID cost so much confusion 

Then they blinded up with stimulus checks 

And called it a contribution?

Just be mindful of your investments

Success ain’t meant to be comfortable

Remain restless

And stay attended to your checklist 

Don’t let’um slow you down

Keep use of motion until you’re breathless

Fuck big carbon, they’re the problem

They bought the news so they control the column

Been licensed, to pollute commons

And stifle innovation, top to bottom

Fuck big carbon, they’re the problem

They bought the news so they control the column

Been licensed, to pollute commons

And stifle innovation, top to bottom

____________________________________________

Smeagol

I say see no evil hear no evil

No I can’t compare to people

Take a needle, try a shot 

Heroine, I swear it’s lethal!

You’ll be throwin’ up mean lean

Dozzin’ off wake ‘em up

Hurry up tell ‘em that he owe the boss

And he know the cost mob night holocaust

Mob lights flower tossed

Hard white throw us off

Gucci this dress pants Lenox sweater

Yes France

Just glance, wanna fight!?

Here I am let’s dance!

Do-si-do you lookin’ like a lovely ho

One, two bloody nose dripped down on his bloody clothes

Got what you wanted, I make it stick

Ain’t got to be handicap man make a wish

What you want Laker tick’s? Ski slopes, major trips?

Razor to ya neck disrespect I’ll lay ‘em stiff.

Round table round off sound off damn let the pound off!

I’ll show you what is lethal

And Infecting the people

Turning them into Smeagol

Like they Anemic and feeble

Like plastics in your blood

Pathogens in puss

Earthquakes, wildfires 

Famine and floods

I’ll show you what is lethal

And Infecting the people

Turning them into Smeagol

Like they Anemic and feeble

Like plastics in your blood

Pathogens in puss

Earthquakes, wildfires 

Famine and floods

Like Covid from the lab

Spreading across the map

Killing all your moms and dads

Leavein homeless children sad

Lethal like a chemical spill

Of dioxins that kill

Agent Orange, where’s the source

That left your newly born deformed?

The payment for the rent is tall

While families aren’t at all involved

Take oxycontin when hurt and fall

And end up addicted to Fentynyl

War in the middle-east, Russia and Ukrain

Give us an excuse to sell them weapons and then bang

No healthcare from the burn pits

That cause asthma and the serpent 

Lies bout what the purpose is

How they thank you for your service kid

When you Paywall healthcare Inequality kills 

But corporations are fulfilled for denying the bill 

While they pray in the steeple, 

We put money over people

I bet you heard, protect and serve

But they use their guns instead of words

Safety is a fallacy, with rampant police brutality

They show up at the rally scene

Turn to violence and battery

I’ll show you what is lethal

And Infecting the people

Turning them into Smeagol

Like they Anemic and feeble

Like plastics in your blood

Pathogens in puss

Earthquakes, wildfires 

Famine and floods

I’ll show you what is lethal

And Infecting the people

Turning them into Smeagol

Like they Anemic and feeble

Like plastics in your blood

Pathogens in puss

Earthquakes, wildfires 

Famine and floods

_______________________________

Bomb First

Three and a half years if they catch you with a gat

All that mean now is that niggas is shootin’ back

War is something I got the taste for 

Out on bail bigger gun than the one I got the case for

Never can tell what I might do I ain’t nothing like you

I put my Dutch out on your night boots

Pull my nuts out on yo wife in the mic booth

Then situate with her at the end of the night too

Those were the happy days these the real years

Niggas is brain dead in shit bags and wheelchairs

For the record I don’t give a fuck who ya team is 

And you don’t want it with me ‘cause I’m an extremist (Ugh)

Get back, take that, this rap, we blast

What’s a rat to a cat, or a bomb to a gat 

An opinion to facts, guessing compared to the math?

This a stick-up, bitch what, give me what you have

Like Pac, we bomb first 

We act, while you ponder

We adapt, you dishonor 

What you have and leave squandered 

I learned to be gangster from congress

Support the enterprise for profit

Lobby money with stock tips  

Like the drug money you pocket

The real terrorists are republicans

The gun-toting Smith-n-west’n grins

That come from killing the innocent

And claiming they deserved the shit

You small time, just tryna to survive

But if you get caught you’ll do more time

For selling drugs than a rapist

Makes sense if it’s a racist

System with most of the cases 

We make criminals of patients 

Yea Marijuana still illegal, although it’s medicine for people 

A textile, a food, with no overdose, but claim that it’s lethal

Are you a broke citizen down on your luck

Well find a way to get your money up cuz we don’t give a fuck

Get back, take that, this rap, we blast

What’s a rat to a cat, or a bomb to a gat 

An opinion to facts, guessing compared to the math?

This a stick-up, bitch what, give me what you have

Like Pac, we bomb first 

We act, while you ponder

We adapt, you dishonor 

What you have and leave squandered 

I learned to be gangster from congress

Support the enterprise for profit

Lobby money with stock tips  

Like the drug money you pocket

Why we try to fake like we don't know our system is wrong?

Its the land of the free? 

It's independently owned

I could try to

hold up, let me break it down in a song

I could try to, hold up

If you smart about your taxes

you might not even pay

And it's legal in your business

You can buy them away

Or you donate it to "Charity”

This is not advice

And we just talking

This is therapy

More and more

I feeling like we living in a parody

Only say I worry we ain't aware of the

Effect that we gone have

And Imma say this with sincerity

Every generation getting harder even barely

And even when I think of having kids it start scare me

Get back, take that, this rap, we blast

What’s a rat to a cat, or a bomb to a gat 

An opinion to facts, guessing compared to the math?

This a stick-up, bitch what, give me what you have

Like Pac, we bomb first 

We act, while you ponder

We adapt, you dishonor 

What you have and leave squandered 

I learned to be gangster from congress

Support the enterprise for profit

Lobby money with stock tips  

Like the drug money you pocket

________________________________

Capitalism

Get the elderly out of Congress

How much have the fucks

Already cost us?

Capitalism works

That’s why millennials are poor

Gen Z is even worse

And both parties want the war 

Thanks for the carbon

You left for your children

You literally got them coal

And robbed them of a pension

They enacted their vision

But it corrupted the mission

And Boomers left a society of despotism

You know I mean?

Can you feel me?    

Let me rip a minute 

On these insipid decisions

And intended intention

Of the economic agenda

Trickle down economics

You gotta be fucking kidding me

Kill yourself

If you think it’s answer economically

Capitalists make money off disasters

They got the shock doctrine mastered

And make global warming happen

They’ll buy with no logos

Sell it with girls that are Gogo

Say the love is all Eros 

And it’s meant for the pharoes

Cuz it makes fat cash destroying things

Just look at Oprah and Hawaii

Just set up a charity to funnel your money

And get it back in taxes, singing and humming

How it’s so terrible, my property value rose

From a disaster that left the island tattered

Disaster capitalism is on the rise

And makes society more stratified

Your misfortune is by design

Because they like you desptotic when they buy

Global warming is old, all they are is frontin

They make new ways take and plunder

We knew about carbon pollution in the late 1800 hundreds 

And big oil is still trying to convince us it’s nothing

Capitalism works

That’s why millennials are poor

Gen Z is even worse

And both parties want the war 

Thanks for the carbon

You left for your children

You literally got them coal

And robbed them of a pension

Capitalism works

That’s why millennials are poor

Gen Z is even worse

And both parties want the war 

Thanks for the carbon

You left for your children

You literally got them coal

And robbed them of a pension

You know I’m saying?

These fucks man

So glad Mitch McConnell died

Cuz he’s an awful senator

You know they could retire

But they cling to power

That’s why we hate him

It’s selfish and pervasive

In the Senate chambers

To stay and embrace it

Look, You’re not gracious

For bogarting a replacement

That’s more tenacious 

And doesn’t wanna enslave us

It’s not advantageous

To have geriatrics takes and

Are also patients

It affects whole nation

Won’t let you fly an airline past sixty-five

But if you wanna run a country

You can do it till you die

We got all these politicians holden on to power

When they should be Mitt, take a hint, and retire

Capitalism works

That’s why millennials are poor

Gen Z is even worse

And both parties want the war 

Thanks for the carbon

You left for your children

You literally got them coal

And robbed them of a pension

Capitalism works

That’s why millennials are poor

Gen Z is even worse

And both parties want the war 

Thanks for the carbon

You left for your children

You literally got them coal

And robbed them of a pension

You make me do this

Rich G

You know that right?   

Try and change the system from within and it changes you

So I'm stacking change what else you expect Rich to do

Corporate lobbying has the ear plus pockets of politicians

Follow the money to make sense of their decisions

Corrupt officials ain't just a third world issue

Defense contractors enriched each time we shoot a missile

Consumer society created planned obsolescence

Pushing insecurities through ads on adolescents 

Valentines days invented by hallmark cupids a profiteer

This a letter in a card to say its fucked up dear

I'm sincere we need an overhaul of the government 

Conglomerates have it their way and we loving it

Capitalism works

That’s why millennials are poor

Gen Z is even worse

And both parties want the war 

Thanks for the carbon

You left for your children

You literally got them coal

And robbed them of a pension

Capitalism works

That’s why millennials are poor

Gen Z is even worse

And both parties want the war 

Thanks for the carbon

You left for your children

You literally got them coal

And robbed them of a pension

Get the elderly out of congress

There should be term limits 

If we want progress

Listen, if if you can be too young to run the country, 

you can be too old

And that’s all

____________________________________

A Lesson

This is just a fair warning

I love to get horny

And give a fuck, what your story

Not yet, you’re not sorry

Ever since the inner circle I’ve stepped in

I’ve been sharpening lyrical weapon

To slit your throat, make um joke

About how you been flex’n

Haven’t done a mixtape in years, ya know

My music’s all original

Put in work, and ya I’m finna blow

And get paid off the residual

I would love some MCEE

To have a problem with me

Say my name, and make it sting

While make’n a scene

I ain’t scared of you

I’m flattered dude

I ain’t gonna battle you

I’ll serve you in a dark padded booth

So don’t bring me negativity

Unless you want some energy

That aggressive and offensively

Exposes what you pretend to be

No one owns my mechanical

No one takes my publishing

I say what I want 

And make money from stunt’n see

I’m a grown adult with a baby face

You ain’t gonna take my place

You ain’t got the mental state

To keep up with my pace

I’m a vetran, could wreck them

But rather make’um my brethren

Give an ultimatum to uphold

As I expose the deception

Fuck what you think

You ain’t convincing me

Unless you have overwhelming evidence

This is how it’s gonna be

Bitch shut the fuck up, why you talkin that shit

You sound like a child, that’s throwing a fit

You never grew up, but blew up big

They’re what you consume cuz you still a kid

You get what you give 

And they ain’t into shit rap

This ain’t a diss track

It’s a lesson for your bitch ass

I could make amends

Yeah, I’m down to make friend

But that’s not the intent 

Of motivation you intend 

You didn’t jock me when I’zz underground

Said you were down with the sound

Now you wanna come around 

Like you was alway down 

Gi’me an excuse

To write about the truth

Rap it in the booth

And make this happen to you

I ain’t never had a rap beef

Don’t want one, but I’d happily

Show you that I have teeth

And run it like an Athlete

I’m sure its not your too big to respond

It’s the contract your on

It doesn’t allow freedom at all

To defend your own honor

What’s more important is the dollar

Its not from your squalor

And the rights that you squandered

Who wants your Dumbass comments anyways

We were happy that you went away

They want to run, be free today

From you and your stupid ways

You feel no shame

From the problems you create

But if you want to inundate

I figured you could get a taste

Fuck what you think

You ain’t convincing me

Unless you have overwhelming evidence

This is how it’s gonna be

Bitch shut the fuck up, why you talkin that shit

You sound like a child, that’s throwing a fit

You never grew up, but blew up big

They’re what you consume cuz you still a kid

You get what you give 

And they ain’t into your shit rap

This ain’t a diss track

It’s a lesson for your bitch ass

______________________________-

Honey

I want this shit banging in my headphones, you understand me

Let me hear that beat

You dig

I'ma address some shit

Let y'all niggas know the real

I've been dormant for too long

Hibernating

Everybody want it, but do you wanna get it

I'm sick of all these niggas bullshitting

I'm sick of all these bitches

I'm sick of how these bitch niggas tripping

And how y'all get these passes to these snitches

Neighborhood crippling

Dog pound gangsters in the building

I'ma treat these niggas like bitches

Show em to the wolves and the vultures

The hyenas and my siblings

So they can experience what they say they really living

Man, let me show you how deep it really gets

And then I'ma show you the power of membership

One on the hip, illegal extended clip

I'ma show you niggas the power of membership

The viking and the villain

Riddling, couldn't stop this adrenaline

Mind bending forensic technical chemist

One for the bro, walk up and explode

I'ma show you niggas the power of membership

Nigga, we everywhere

I’m everywhere rocking that cosmic debacle

108 the prophet, understand ergonomics

Of electric ultrasonic magnetic harmonic

Conscious balls of telepathic diagnostics (stupid)

That’s what my artistry’s about

While you run your mouth for clout 

Or tryna turn Um out

I like them questioning “how?”

I hope they listen to learn astronomy, sociology and doubt

How Jesus could be god and not just arrogantly pronounced

As the truth, when the use of religion is a arroused

By consolidating power and giving it to the house

Because it doesn’t make sense

You know space is immense

And it was all meant for us

Is what Jesus presents

The Bible is a fairly tale

Contradicts itself everywhere

It takes an ass like dairy air

To think it’s really fairly clear

I’m sorry, I should stop, but nothing is

And the subject of the song is dumb ass shit

Jesus hates you

Jesus hates you

Jesus hates you

But it really doesn’t matter cuz

Jesus loves you

Jesus loves you

Jesus loves

But really doesn’t exist

I don’t do it to be mean, even shine or make you cry

It’s really a function of the perspective I entice

To say thinking and intelligence is nice and is desired

Is like saying dick and pussy is best when combined

Jesus hates you

Jesus hates you

Jesus hates you

But it really doesn’t matter cuz

Jesus loves you

Jesus loves you

Jesus loves

But really doesn’t exist

But to put it susincly Which is good to provide

Your like a bug attracted to light

Cuz Bees don’t spend their time Explaining to flys 

Why honey is better than shit to survive

Jesus hates you

Jesus hates you

Jesus hates you

But it really doesn’t matter cuz

Jesus loves you

Jesus loves you

Jesus loves

But really doesn’t exist

________________________________________

The Cold

This me and Asia, they say I’m gifted

I like misdirection and to put it simplest

I don’t think for myself, so yes I’m Christian (often)

I run it like the church, inquisition

Whether winter or fall I love the cold

It reminds me of my blood and it’s oxygen threshold

When the light from your eyes goes dull and closed

Is when I’ll stop coming after your throat

And we don’t play that gangsta shit

All my moves I make legitimate

In broad daylight I have the sense

Everything you have figured, isn’t

I suggest if you don’t wanna catch a case

Show some discretion, respect, and grace

I ain’t hard, but I ain’t a bitch either

You may try the takeover and then find that I’m the ether

Is the atmosphere to ethereal like gravity

Or since it’s clear do we not see it mattering?

I wouldn’t bring me back unless your eager

To figure out why they fear the karma I teach her

Weather winter or fall I love the cold

It reminds me of my blood and it’s oxygen threshold

When the light from your eyes goes dull and closed

Is when I’ll stop coming after your throat

I Molotov mics in the night

With the energy to cause a street fight

Knuckle up baby, buckle up

It's dangerous on the ave

They flaming guns 

Slanging crumbs 

Hennessey and Jamison

The eyes of the jungle Blood shot

The disgruntled smirk of a crook

Posing for the pic, in his first mug shot

My seven and a half is working oh that's for certain

We in the lab cooking and jookin'

Until its closed curtains

I'm busting shots at the serpent for a purpose

The seven stars represent the seven churches

Watch what you worship

Don't miss the revelations

You'll be caught up like the listeners

Still caught up on my first shit

Assassin with the blade catch a niggas fade

It's a rapture on the stage when you capture these grenades

You'll be a fossil once

Once they really understand the gospel

El Chapo with chopped cheese and a taco

This me and Asia, they say I’m gifted

I like misdirection and to put it simplest

I don’t think for myself, so yes I’m Christian (often)

I run it like the church, inquisition

Weather winter or fall I love the cold

It reminds me of my blood and it’s oxygen threshold

When the light from your eyes goes dull and closed

Is when I’ll stop coming after your throat

Weather winter or fall I love the cold

It reminds me of my blood and it’s oxygen threshold

When the light from your eyes goes dull and closed

Is when I’ll stop coming after your throat

I suggest if you don’t wanna catch a case

Show some digression, respect, and grace

I ain’t hard, but I ain’t a bitch either

You may try the takeover and then find I’m the ether

What’s a mind to a god

Time to a thought

Price to some art

Or lies if you're smart?

What’s a mind to a god

Time to a thought

Price to some art

Or lies if you're smart?

Sooner or later I’m gonna figure you out

And all I’ve really found, is how cowards get down

How they bring um out bring um out bring um out bring um out

It’s hard to tell that you aren’t really a clown

I’m not tryna develop what you sell

I’m hear just to tell

You, you need to get help

I’m not tryna develop what you sell

I’m hear just to tell

You, you need to get help

Weather winter or fall I love the cold

It reminds me of my blood and it’s oxygen threshold

When the light from your eyes goes dull and closed

Is when I’ll stop coming after your throat

Weather winter or fall I love the cold

It reminds me of my blood and it’s oxygen threshold

When the light from your eyes goes dull and closed

Is when I’ll stop coming after your throat

______________________________________________

Independent

Always committed, every day I was wit it

Well recognized for the ways that I did it

Indepent player that’s how you get it 

The people know whats happenin but they ain't gonna admit it 

Always committed, every day I was wit it

Well recognized for the ways that I did it

Indepent player that’s how you get it 

The people know whats happenin but they ain't gonna admit it 

Been rhyming ten years

Still haven’t broke even

I do it for the love

Cuz it Damn sure ain’t the money

But give me some funding

And a beat that funky

And I’m Gonna pop off, 

Guaranteed if you market me

You know what’s the difference between me and those puppets

About a hundred and fifty thousand dollar marketing budget

Having an audience is currency

That I don’t have currently

But I’ve invested in a catalog

And marketing um urgently

Need money to grow

And give um what they wanted

Need money for marketing

Just like any product

But I’m free, my own boss

Though I can barely pay the costs

I do what I want, I say what I please

They ain’t got no strings on me

I do what I want, I say what I please

They ain’t got no strings on me

Always committed, every day I was wit it

Well recognized for the ways that I did it

Indepent player that’s how you get it 

The people know whats happenin but they ain't gonna admit it 

Always committed, every day I was wit it

Well recognized for the ways that I did it

Indepent player that’s how you get it 

The people know whats happenin but they ain't gonna admit it 

I didn’t have a mentor

I started on my own

Everything I’ve done

I’ve had to do alone

300 dollars a month

Is my total budget

By the time it’s right

To promote there’s nothing

What a great community America has

Put in work every day but never paid for that

Which you made to get the bag

Americas so great that it’s people can’t

Afford necessities cuz they don’t get paid a living wage

How is the national debt doing today

All the money went to corporate pay

While you can’t afford a place to stay

Having money for food

It must be nice

Having money for goods

It must be nice

America The great

Where the people get raped

Of their financial stake

of what the community creates

Always committed, every day I was wit it

Well recognized for the ways that I did it

Indepent player that’s how you get it 

The people know whats happenin but they ain't gonna admit it 

Always committed, every day I was wit it

Well recognized for the ways that I did it

Indepent player that’s how you get it 

The people know whats happenin but they ain't gonna admit it 

_____________________________

Lace’em up

Let me rock it for a minute

I’m not a gimmick, yo I live it

Positive and different 

Like an ace word to tennis

They on the lean sippin

I live the dream envision

Thinking as they listen

From start to finish

If you want me on stage with

Raps for your entertainment

I need that bag, and the payment

From fans demanding my graces

Until then it’s about branding and landing these placements

Finding some way to get paid and get

The love so it make me continue with it

Not wanna quit, and give’um this gift

I do it for the love, the fun and the win 

Dabbin up a friend, bought what happened, what it is

This that classic flow with lyricism

Don’t kow tow, just listen

I’m here to help the mission

Unlock your inner vision

May not always agree

But I’m always for peace

Capeesh, I need you

To Keep it real with free speech

Lace’em up, lace’em up, lace em up, lace em

I’m just a man try’na create and make it

Be humble, burst your bubble while still being gracious

The music speaks for itself and felt as a statement

Lace’em up, lace’em up, lace em up, lace em

I’m just a man try’na create and make it

Be humble, burst your bubble while still being gracious

The music speaks for itself and felt as a statement

I’m that ill type, I kill mics

They’re all like, that was real right

It makes me feel like

A shooting star in the night

Glittering and glistening

On a path that righteous

Spread my name across the sky

Catch your eye, decide this

Music is a symphony

And it gets to me, and I write this

Hoping it goes gold

Like a touch from Midas

Don’t have to decipher

When I pop up in the Cypher

I’m a fighter that stifles

Don’t wanna make me your rival

Cuz I got stamina, and a brand that run

Edutainment for the audience

Since started up, I got the love

Harbored luck, and toughened up

It’s a cold, cold world even when it’s sunny

It’s about what you sold and only if it makes money

Most can’t make ends meet or afford to fill up their tummy 

The rich claim it’s hard work when they really got lucky

I bubble up and double up

On the trouble, I’ll sum it up

If you want it, I can get it done

Til you get enough, and feel the love

Lace’em up, lace’em up, lace em up, lace em

I’m just a man try’na create and make it

Be humble, burst your bubble while still being gracious

The music speaks for itself and felt as a statement

Lace’em up, lace’em up, lace em up, lace em

I’m just a man try’na create and make it

Be humble, burst your bubble while still being gracious

The music speaks for itself and felt as a statement

I bought these beats

For my artistry 

On standard lease

From Anno Domini

So If you like this rap, think it's dope like morphine

Buy the track, to show you support me

I bought these beats

For my artistry 

On standard lease

From Anno Domini

So If you like this rap, think it's dope like morphine

Buy the track, to show you support me

Lace’em up, lace’em up, lace em up, lace em

I’m just a man try’na create and make it

Be humble, burst your bubble while still being gracious

The music speaks for itself and felt as a statement

Lace’em up, lace’em up, lace em up, lace em

I’m just a man try’na create and make it

Be humble, burst your bubble while still being gracious

The music speaks for itself and felt as a statement

[badeditz]

No Pain, No Game

this is my first fanfiction so its probably rushed into plot ect. Its Max Verstappen x Y/N.

Tw.

Swearing, Violence, Mentions of Blood, Alcohol, Car Crash, Very Unrealistic, A bit Rushed, Sex/Mentions of it (eg. Being Turned on.).

I think thats everything, its also unfinished :)

13+ - if you are under the age of 13 please don't read this fanfic.

enjoy.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Driving for Red bull had its ups and downs. There were more positives luckily, such as, benefit's, pay; the car itself. But, a huge disadvantage? Your teammate - Max Verstappen. The three times world champion wasn't happy when you made an appearance on the team. Something just didn't click between them, and you were determined to figure out what it was, and why.

"Y/n." your advisors voice broke you out of your thoughts. "P2, great work!" He compliments, "How'd you feel about it?" he asked.

"Pretty shit." you said, not looking at him from the seat. "With Max in pole position, its basically a scrap for the win." you admitted you're thoughts sheepishly. He nods his head, understanding your worries. "What if one of us screw up? What if i crash, or he does?" you mutter, it was mainly a thought to yourself, but he heard it anyways.

"Just don't beat yourself up over it. you'll do fine."

But, you're thoughts told you otherwise.

You nodded in appritation of his words. It wasn't the crash you were worried about, it was your teammates reaction that scared you... you tried not to think about it, but the thought was engraved into your mind.

~

It was Sunday morning, 8:17 am, the sun was hidden behind a fog of clouds; as Redbull were in a meeting with the two teammates to make a stratergy.

You tried to listen, you really did, but you're thoughts and the looks Max were giving you had distracted you completely, as the poor stratagist explained everything.

You were anxiously bobbing your right leg up and down as you were lost in you're own thoughts. Surprisingly, people around you didn't notice - or they just didn't care, but it was far beyond her now.

~

POV changed to 3rd person:

She was walking to her room, when she got yanked into a room she was simply passing. The room was full of tables - like a briefing room, yet, no one was sat in a meeting. In fact no one was there at all. Except her and the person who pulled her inside.

It took her afew seconds to realise she was pratically shoved against the door, which had been closed upon her entry. She couldn't see who grabbed her, yet she could hear and feel they're breath on her. It was slow and collected, despite the situation she was in.

There was silence for a few seconds. Like the person was letting her process what was going on. Then a husky voice broke the silence, it was as if the person was trying to stay quiet, but not too quiet.

"You stay behind me in this race, you hear me?" the males voice growled, "Overtake me and see what happens." they added aggresivley. It was a threat no doubt, but why should she listen to this idiot?

She'd already put a name to the voice, which wasn't hard considering how unique the Dutch's accent was among the racers.

"Wha-" was all she could say before a hand covered her mouth. It was a bold and aggressive move, but she couldn't do anything because of the position she was in.

Max's hand stayed over her mouth to prevent her speaking, and moved her against the door, harder. "I said, do you understand?" the boy gritted through his teeth. He wasn't going to take no for an answer and it was very clear by his body language.

Since she couldn't say anything, due to him preventing words coming out her mouth, she knew a simple nod or shake of the head was all that she needed to do. She adjusted her head slightly, only to realise how close they actually were. From anyone who saw this from the outside they'd assume it was a couple being intermate, but it wasn't that. She knew it, but her brain wouldn't tell her that.

Her thoughts were clouded, with most certainly creative fantasies about this; which she wasnt happy about, for sure.

His harsh voice snapped her back into a reality check. "Y/n, I said do you fucking understand me?!" He was demanding for an answer now; and she was so dumbfounded and confused, so she just nodded like a dumb dog.

"Good girl," Were the next words to leave his mouth, moving his hand from her mouth to her chin. Guiding her face around, as if studying it. A small smirk playing at his lips. His grip was tight, tight enough to leave a red mark for an hour or two, but not tight enough to bruise her skin.

"Now go get ready for the race." He grumbled, letting her go. She could still feel his hands on her and for sure had some mark in place, and luckily it wasnt perminent, but she didn't want him to boss her about.

She knew she'd just have to deal with him for now. So she left, getting ready for this race; and man she was terrified.

~

She went to the garage to see her car, get her helmet, ect. All the necesities she needed to do to start the race. Max was in his own world, headphones in and getting ready. The two's relationship was clearly not a good one, and the interaction earlier added more tension.

She decided to go for a walk outside the paddock, due to having extra time. It was peaceful as she moved towards the still lake. She could hear the frogs croaking in the murky weather, it was sure to rain, it just hadn't yet, she hoped it it wouldn't effect her results in the race.

As she walked her boots squelched in the mud leaving new prints into the soil below her. Worms danced on the fresh mud and spiders crawling across the grass, begging for rain to fall, yet none did. The soil was moist - moist enough to squelch through it, but not enough to satisfy natures needs.

A whistle was heard in the distance, followed by the sound of someone calling they're dog. But she didnt pay attention to that.

As she checked the time it was 8:57 am. She had three minuets to get back to the paddock before they had the cars onto the track, so she headed back, quickly through the field.

When she suddenly tripped over in a ditch, landing on something that caused a cut to her knee, but she didnt look back. She had no time. She got back up and went to continue.

Luckily, she got back with a minuet to spare as she approached the garage. The cut wasnt too severe or painful, so she managed fine. It did however give her a rush of adrenaline, which is very useful for racing.

~

The car's were all lined up, fans watching as the drivers waited for the lights.

The leaderboard stood as: Max Verstappen in pole position, then Y/N L/N in P2, Lewis Hamelton P3, Charles Leclerc P4, Carlos Sainz P5, Lando Norris P6, ect.

It was good that both Redbull racers were in pole position and P2. Well, thats what they thought.

The lights turned on, adrenaline pumping through her veins. She was excited, loving the thrill of racing as most drivers did. The lights went off and the cars sped off.

There wasnt much shift in the positions in the first lap, as the clouds grew darker. Rain threatening to fall onto them.

As Y/N was driving she noticed the wheels were extra slippery, which made her nervous. If it did rain, the car could loose control and she could cause an accident.

Lap three was completed Carlos going into P4, overtaking his teammate - Charles Leclerc - Lewis went for a tire change, causing him to fall into P6, Lando P5, Charles P4, Carlos P3, Y/N P2.

The weather started spitting with rain. The track wettning becoming harder to race on. Lando managed to get to P4 as Carlos also went to a tire change.

She was nervous when the rain reports came, she felt as if the car was like Bambi on ice, and it was only a matter of time before Bambi fell.

She managed to get a 7th lap in before the second turn when she lost control of the car, crashing into Charles and Max. The three car's slid to the side of the track as a yellow flag was waved due to no one being injured. (AN ~ idk what that actually means but give me this one if im wrong)

Her body was still pumping with adrenaline when she crashed. She put her visor down, so her face was hidden by the helmet. She was upset since the accident wasnt her fault, and the tires were slippery.

She looked up, sighing. Then getting out of the car.

Charles approached her first, he was angry but understood that there wasnt anything she could have done to stop the accident. He also made sure she was okay, before going back to the paddock.

Max however, was fuming.

~

He approached her once Charles was gone and whacked her helmet, "Dumb bitch." he growled. "You had two jobs, dont crash and stay behind me. But you fucked it up." He spat at her, shoving her away from him.

She understood Max's rage, but felt he was being unfair, due to her not having full control of the tires.

He grabbed her collar; and pressed the two's helmets against each others harshly, "This is why you should stick to the bedroom. You can't go wrong when your being told what to do." he spat at her. "I'm all for women being in this sport, but you are something else." he said, she was happy her helmet was covering her face, so he couldnt see her silent, pathetic tears.

'You either be a dick or have one.' She thought. No way in a million years would she say that to Max. He'd kill her.

He hit her helmet again in frustration. "I cant believe you. im just so angry right now i could-." he stopped himself. He knew he was acting on emotions and not logic or fairness. He also knew he couldnt take back anything he just said to her. He was conflicted on what to do, and was reminding himself of his dad.

She was still his teammate after all. Half of him wanted to comfort her and apologize but the other half was thinking of violence. He was too conflicted. His thoughts moved to her fragile looking body, and it was safe to say that he blushed at that - subtly; and he was so thankful he kept his helmet on.

"Just- watch it next time." He said, keeping some annoyance in his tone. He then took her gloved hand into his and walked back to they're garage, with her trailing behind, like a puppy. He had a sudden urge to protect her, it was almost instinctive; so he acted on it. He wasnt weak he was just a teamplayer - is what he kept telling himself.

His face was like a cherry under the helmet, and her's was very similar. The vauge thoughts coming back to her. She didnt know why he's suddenly so lovely towards her, but didnt object.

~

They both knew interviewers were going to be all over what happened during and after the crash, but she was so exhausted, too exhausted to answer questions, as the adrenaline slowly left her.

Max sighed and lead her to his room, she was like a puppy, so happy and energetic, but also so vunerable and cute.

He couldnt believe he was thinking this but, maybe he was harsh because he liked her? No, he didnt like her because she was too childish, and didnt take anything seriously, right?

The thought stayed in his mind as he closed the door behind him to his room.

He faced her and put they're helmets together again, lightly this time, "im sorry Y/N." he said, "i just- i get mad, and when i get mad i act out and say things i dont mean. Its not good, i know... but i dont mean anything by it." he said, he removed his helmet and put it on the chair then took hers off, doing the same.

"You look tired," he said, not politely but it was an improvement. "Sleep." he said, putting her into his bed and tucking her in.

She was too tired, and this was new from Max. She didnt know what it meant, but she was slightly flustered by it.

As Max was about to leave she said, "wait. can you stay with me until i sleep?" it was a bold question, but she didnt want to be alone.

Max stopped, slightly shocked at the question. But reluctantly agreed. He just planned on watching her from afar, but she made spave next to her, and he couldnt resist.

The two were in an awkward silence as she closed her eyes, trying to sleep. As she was getting to sleep she shuffled closer to him, ever so slightly. He looked down at her noticing the small movement.

He sighed to himself, quietly. Then moved her so her head was on his chest. He didnt expect to be affected by this but it did something to him. It could have turned him on, made him anxious, annoyed or even happy. But whatever it was, he wasnt used to it or didnt like it. So he chickened out.

She was asleep, so he put her head onto the pillow and left. It was just too much for him at that moment.

~~~

Im dyslexic so a lot of spelling mistakes lol

NOT proofread and not realistic

part 2 out soon !!

[grannycharles]

Hi, so ive seen you post about this minceraft roleplay thingy (?) (I actually have no idea if it is soley that there was some talk about acting being good in the last video and it confused me even more) and was wondering what the hell is the plot? Like what is it about? Ive skimmed some posts and they are always very wild and now the curiosity got the better of me. Also I think it ended? At least some posts sounded like it did ^^;

So take this as your free pass to rant about it and tell someone who has no idea what the whole thing is about :3

I hope you are having a wonderful day!

oooooooooh hehehehehehe you are enabling the demons >:)

i assume you mean generation loss, because that's basically been all i've been reblogging the last few days.

it is not minecraft roleplay (but i can see where the confusion is coming from bc the creator, ranboo was first known for his mcrp on the dream smp)

generation loss is a livestreamed horror series created by twitch streamer ranboo "ranboolive" the beloved. they're really cool, funny as fuck and stream a lot of different indie horror and story games! (and minecraft, when it's time for him to lose another mincraft championship lmao. L)

anyway, the first part of genloss aired in three shows last week: on wednesday, friday and sunday. really messed up my sleep schedule due to time zones, but oh god it was worth it. of course the vods would've waited for me, but there was ✨audience participation✨ during the streams and i was not going to miss that. and also ranboo had been talking about this project and hyping it up for almost 2 years. so yeah.

and holy shit they delivered. tbf i was really perplexed when it started out all sillygoofy, but the slow descent into horror, the realization of what was truly going on, hit like a ton of bricks. that tone shift was pulled off So well omg.

the plot / premise / whatever is as follows: (fictional) media corporation showfall media is premiering a new type of liveshow with audience participation! there is a Hero, who the audience has to guide through different rooms and puzzles that pay hommage to old point-and-click escape room games and the saw movies among other things. and it is hilarious! however, something seems to be wrong with the transmission, it glitches out at times and the characters act strange. the fourth wall seems more fragile with each passing minute of the show.

ranboo and their crew made a really cool meta commentary on what it is like to be a "content creator" (god i hate that word sm). if you share your life online, where exatly is the line between "show" and "reality"? are your decisions really your own? what happens to you when the show ends?

he got quite a few of his fellow streamers and friends to star on the show, and even though i'm only tangentially familiar w most of them, the points genloss was making came across. everything that "ruined the immersion" was very much intentional. like, ranboo was 16/17ish when they started on yt and twitch, and they're 19 now. that is BONKERS to me. i'm so fucking proud of this guy, he made a really cool, impactful thing and i hope there'll be more of this series.

okay i rambled a Lot. hopefully that clears up some stuff! if you want to watch the show, the vods of all three shows are available on twitch.tv/ranboolive and also on yt on the ranboovods channel. it's about 6 hours total :D triggerwarnings include gore, unreality, probably some more i cant remember right now, just a lot of psychological horror fuckery.

and if you want me to ramble more, feel free to poke me again! because god do i have Thoughts tm about genloss. and yeah the entirety of episode 3 left me shook and rewatching the beginning with the knowledge you gain makes it so much worse :) in conclusion i am Very Normal about this thanks for enabling me

[newtonsheffield]

I'm always afraid of requesting too early because I think it will lessen the chance of you seeing it close to the time you'd be considering writing one, so I try to wait until it's Sunday AM for you. But since you asked!

Would you be interested in doing a Spicy Sunday 🌶 featuring Kate's first stay at Aubrey Hall in Lavender Haze? I loved the scene where Anthony shared pictures of it with her at his consultation. I just feel like it would be A Thing for them when Kate goes there for the first time. And I can see her calling it a castle even though she knows it isn't just to mess with Anthony. Also... Think of the kitchen appliances! In multiple kitchens!

Ahh let's give it a whirl, hey?

"Come away with me this weekend," Anthony whispered it in her ear as they lay in bed together, their legs intertwined and their noses brushing with their lips as they spoke, his muscled arms flexing as he held her in place against his chest.

"Where are we going?" Kate sighed, relaxing against him. "Are you going to spirit me away to a private island, Lord Bridgerton? Have your wicked way with me?"

He grinned a little dangerously, "Oh I've already had my wicked way with you. Quite a few times this week."

She rolled her eyes but didn't pull away from him, just stayed intertwined with him. "Where do you want to go?"

"I actually," He sounded almost hesitant, his fingers tracing the ink that ran down her spine, "I wondered if you wanted to come to Aubrey Hall with me."

She knew what it meant to him, the home she'd tattooed on his skin for him before she'd known him at all. Back when she'd been curious about him but she hadn't known the real Anthony. She hadn't known how kind he was, how sweet, how much care he took with everyone. How much care he'd take with her.

"Is your family going?"

"Just us, I thought."

Kate hummed, letting her fingernails scratch against his scalp as she pushed his hair back from his eyes. "And do they allow little loaves of bread at historical sites."

He chuckled, "I'll have Newton's car seat ready to go."

It was the last place Kate ever thought she would be, speeding down the motorway with Newton clipped into the backseat of Anthony's car, his hand squeezing her leg as they made their way to his ancestral home. Where hundreds of years ago Anthony's family had ruled their little corner of Kent, and now he was bringing his girlfriend home, his tattooist girlfriend who was raised in West London, well past Westminster and had more ink visible than skin.

"I'm glad you're here with me." He smiled at her, as they turned onto the long drive, the lawn stretching on before them and Kate felt it, the tiniest fluttering in her stomach.

"I'm glad I could set your ancestors rolling in their graves."

Anthony scoffed as they pulled up, kissing her quickly with an excited grin on his face. "Oh but you've brought a corgi. That's very regal."

She hadn't expected to love it here. Hadn't expected to feel at peace, sat beside the small lake with Newton sprinting around ludicrously, her back against the tree that was shading them. Anthony was different here, she'd noticed it as soon as they'd bounded into the fucking entrance hall their voices echoing, as he pointed things out to her, his eyes shining brightly.

He was still doing it now, with his head resting on her lap. "My Dad taught me to swim in that lake."

"I learned to swim in a public pool." Kate clicked her tongue, "Basically the same then."

Anthony leaned up, brushing their lips together, "Basically the same thing."

She could see how happy he was here, felt it in her own chest as well, at the image of him toddling around on this grass after a ball with the man from the portraits inside grinning down at him. "You're cute here."

Anthony raised his eyebrow, "Am I... not cute everywhere?"

"Oh you're sexy as fuck everywhere." Kate hummed, "But here I think you're just cute, there's a difference."

Anthony lifted his eyebrow, considering for a second before he sighed. "Right. Well. I suppose that settles that."

"It- Anthony!" Kate's breath left her in a whoosh as Anthony scrambled to his feet and snatched her off the ground, throwing her over his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Kate." Anthony said resignedly, as he strode towards the water. "But there's only one way to fix this."

"And how's that?"

"You need to see me at my sexy country landowner, Colin firth best." He grinned down at her, hanging over his shoulder and-

"Anthony!"

He jumped into the lake and the cool water splashed up around them, covering them completely.

"You absolute tosser!" Kate swatted at her boyfriend, pushing her hair out of her face.

"But," He grinned, "Is it... working?"

She looked towards him, ready to push him under the water and drag herself from the water but the second she looked at him, she nearly moaned.

Anthony was wearing a thin cotton button-down that had already been tight but it clung to him now, completely transparent, shaped to every ripple in the muscles of his chest and water is dripping from his hair and his shorts clung to his thighs and she couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Oh, fuck you!"

He grinned at her, reaching up to unbutton his shirt, peeling it off his body, and letting it float in the water between them. "I was kind of hoping you would."

Damnit!

They both moved at the same time, the water swirling around them and before she knew what was happening, her legs were wrapped tightly around his waist and he was dragging them from the water onto the bank, their lips crashing together desperately.

His lips were warm against hers as the light breeze whipped around them and her legs fell open for him, and moan building in her chest at the feel of him pressed against her. It always felt just right, the press of his warm chest against her, the pressure of his thigh between her legs and she couldn't stand it. She really couldn't.

Anthony's teeth nipped at her collarbone, his tongue tracing the lines of ink there the way it always did, and her fingers tangled themselves in his hair, holding him against her skin. She could feel the heat, that had been nonexistent seconds before, lapping at the pit of her stomach but there he was, setting her on fire slowly.

His hands were running over her body, sliding up her legs pressing his fingerprints into her skin, branding her for him, just as her teeth on his neck were branding him.

Her hands fumbled at the waistband of his shorts, slipping them from his hips that had already started grinding against hers.

"I can't believe that worked." Anthony chuckled, tugging her shorts down her hips.

Kate bit her lip, unable to stop the moan that escaped her when his hand slipped into her underwear, "Shut up."

He smiled smugly against her neck, humming happily as her hips ground against his hand in the afternoon sun, warming their skin and her eyes rolled back in her head and her hand tightened around his wrist to hold it just there and-

Fuck!

Kate cursed as Anthony snatched his hand back, swallowing the curse in his tongue as their lips met again and their tongues tangled.

"Finish what you started." She gasped, but the way he was looking at her stole the breath from her chest.

He looked so much younger here, with his wet hair falling in his eyes and a happy grin on his face and something in her chest pounded just for him as he settled between her thighs.

Kate!

He groaned her name as they came together and he was already lost to it. She could see it in the way his eyes rolled back and his body moved against hers, pressing her further and further into the grass with every second.

Her fingernails bit into his shoulders and their foreheads pressed together and the heat of the day seemed to overwhelm them both. Anthony's cheeks were flushed with the exertion and his voice was rough in her ear, pushing her higher and higher as their gasps and moaned echoed through the day

Kate, Oh God, I love you so much, Kate. I love you. Fuck I love you so much!

She couldn't breathe, watching him lose control like this, always so put together, even the new ink trailing down his arm couldn't change that, but he lost himself with her. Every ounce of his attention fixed on her, their eyes locked together as the tension coiled in the air around them, and in her stomach. Impossibly tighter and tighter until-

Jesus, Anthony!

"kate!

They fell apart together, clinging to one another as they shuddered against one another, and everything was quiet.

"So, we can agree, I'm sexy here as well."

Kate groaned, "Why do I feel like I just fell pray to teenage Anthony B's big move?"

"My big move?" He chuckled, kissing her neck softly.

"Yes, the whole, Oh I'm just a cute little future Viscount would you like to come and visit my castle?"

Anthony raised his eyebrow, "It's not a castle, it's just a hall."

"Oh, I'm so sorry!"

[the-pan-ace-writings]

Cartel Protection

First Next Last Masterlist AO3

A/n

im not gunna lie guys this one took me way longer than i thought it was going too, so im hoping ill be able to post at least weekly on Sundays. hopefully more than once a week

also!! Im not going to embarrass myself or others with attempting to translate Spanish and i think for coherency and comprehension i am just going to stick to italicized typing to indicate Spanish

Thank you!

   They found themselves alone on yet another airstrip. The chaos of the last mission washed away in cold base showers, and was forgotten over a basic meal with the remainder of their team. They had gotten orders that just Ghost with Soap and Badger were going off to Mexico to meet up  with the Mexican special forces on another tip off that Hassan was there. 

   It was a relatively smooth ride in a cargo transport to Las Almas, and passed in as much silence as Soap could manage when he hadn't sprawled himself out on several of the wall seats to sleep. 

   They landed in the early hour of the morning, the sun was barely rising casting a golden hue upon the new airstrip as they walked down the ramp to meet a rather stoic looking man. As they stepped out of the hull of the plane Soap was first to acknowledge the man as the Commander of the Special forces that they are linking up with. 

   “Alejandro!” 

   “Sergeant MacTavish” his voice was deep, and gravelly, he seemed less stoic as he was speaking, he reached for Soap's hand in a shake. Soap met it with a mild smile as Ghost and Badger finished getting all the way down the ramp and joined them. 

   “Call me Soap, That's Badger” he nodded over his shoulder towards Badger who  just nodded politely at the Colonel. Alejandro nodded and turned towards Ghost

   “Lieutenant, Laswell says they call you Ghost” 

   “Actually, I believes he prefers to be --” Ghost turned sharply to Soap and interrupted him

   “That’ll do.” Badger watched Soap’s face pinch up as he was foiled in his joke, he bumped his shoulder into Soaps as consolation before turning his attention back to Alejandro,

   “Welcome to the City of Souls' ' He turned on his heel and started walking to the first truck in a small caravan on the airstrip.

   “I've never been to Mexico” Soap took the lead following the colonel,

   “This isn't México,” Alejandro raised his arms to gesture around them, highlighting the mountains lit up in gold and the slow moving clouds, a small smile graced his lips when he spoke again “This is Las Almas” it was home to him, that much was obvious to Badger. 

   “Shepherd's contractors are inbound for reinforcements. They’re bringing hardware, they'll need room.” and there is Ghost, always straight to the point.

   “My base is your base.” Alejandro responded simply 

   “Good. Now, where’s Hassan?” Badger was a straightforward person but seemed to constantly be getting whiplash from the manner that Ghost spoke to people, he understood pleasantry always had their time and place, but maybe meeting an Ally for the first time was the time to use them regardless of how urgent their mission might be. 

   He was surprised that Alejandro took it in stride though instead of seeming off put by it,

   “Cartel Safe-house, ten clicks from here.” they reached the truck, “get in.”

   Ghost climbed in as Soap and Badger went to the other side, Soap stood dumbly for a second clearly trying to avoid the middle, Badger rolled his eyes and pushed him forward.

   “Get in chatty Cathy, ain't got all day” Soap looked taken a back before another more rougher push got him going,

   “Shut yer pus, im goin” He swatted at him as he climbed in and settled down with a huff, once Badger was in Soap seemed to purposely take up as much of his room as possible, Badger supposed it was only fair. 

   “C’mon, let's move!” Alejandro shouted to the rest of the caravan before climbing into his seat of the truck, he waves a head over to the driver, “This is my second in command, Sergeant Major Rodolfo Parra.” 

   Rodolfo smiled and leaned over to Alejandro just slightly, a look of false concern crossed his face as he spoke to Alejandro, “I’m afraid of Ghosts” Alejandro snorts and swipes at his shoulder before pointing to the road for him to start moving, he turned over his shoulder and looked at the men piled into the back. 

   “You know Spanish?” Ghost just looked away, and Soap shook his head lightly and muttered a no, Badger raised his hands and made a so-so gesture and then looked up into the rearview mirror to catch Rodolfos gaze.

   “Enough” Alejandro smiles at that before turning to Soap.

   “You will”

   The sun had fully risen by the time they made it to the colorful city of Las Almas, Badger was enraptured  by the colors of the buildings and the vibrancy of the people. The city was bustling for the early hours of the day, the streets were lined with cars and people chatted in door frames and in shops. A white truck passed them in the opposite direction with four men in the back of it. 

   Badger hadn't realized how much Soap had pushed into his space till he felt rather than heard Soap call it out, and he had to grab his arm to keep him from going for his weapon. He saw Ghost tense as well and tossed him a look before Alejandro turned around looking annoyed. 

   “Hey- tranquilo. Easy-- that's normal here.” he waved his hands as he spoke “Guns on the street is the jurisdiction of the police.”

   “Where are the police?” Ghost spoke up this time

   “Well, Las almas has a very serious problem, there are few here to uphold the law. And many of those who resist corruption disappear.”  

   “What about the military?” the tone that Soap spoke in unsettled Badger, these guys were supposed to be allies, interrogating them seemed like the wrong move. 

   “Well, because we are well trained, soldiers are recruited by the narcos” he spoke off handley as if he hadn't noticed the change in tone and instead looked at them through the mirror again

    "Why not you?” Ghost just barely avoided interrupting Alejandro, Badger tightened the forgotten grip on Soap before looking down at where he had grabbed his arm previously, Soap seemed to not have noticed that his grip lingered, Badger frowned slightly and tucked his hands back to himself and turned to look out the window again, watching the street go past. 

   He saw Alejandro lean back over towards Rodolfo and shrug his shoulders

   “We grew up here, they call us Los Vaqueros” he smiled at Rodolfo again but turned to look back at Badger when he spoke up,

   “Cowboys?”

   “Si, Cowboys, we love this place. And we will die fighting for it.” That familiar warmth was back in his voice from the airstrip, Rodolfo seemed to share the same sentiment,

   They drove past a street vendor at the corner of the street, it was a quaint little cart decorated with colorful cloth banners, Badger couldn't see what was being sold but did see the little family speaking with the vendor. He also saw the two armed men just a few steps away from the family. It was a stark contrast. Badger grunted when he felt almost the full weight of Soap pushing against him yet again as he tried to look out the window, Badger just looked over at Ghost with mild annoyance, he just rolled his eyes at him. 

   Soap started to lean back as they drove further away from them,

   “Kids, guns and balloons. That's a new one.'' Again with the confronting tone, Badger elbowed him back into his place in the middle and swatted away a retaliatory hand and gave Soap a stern look. 

   “Narcos use generosity to win over the people” Alejandro was watching ahead as the traffic started to slow as it became backed up. 

   “Even the children?” Soap questioned. 

   “Especially the children.” It was Rodolfo that spoke this time, a slight glare reaching them from the mirror again, Soap had the decency to look a little sheepish. It was clear he was getting annoyed at the interrogation that  Soap was putting up. 

   The traffic reached a standstill and they were stopped next to a taped off alleyway that had a truck and two bodies on the ground behind it covered by sheets that were covered in scrawling writing. Badger was mildly thankful that it was on the other side of the truck and extra thankful that Soap seemed to have enough common sense to not pull the same shit with Ghost, and instead just sits up more to look out the window without pressing into Ghost. 

   “What's on those sheets?” 

   “Nacromantras” Alejandro looked upset from the sight of the scene and it was reflected in his voice.

   “Cartel Cloths” Rodolfo clarified for them “Messages from El Sin Nombre. Warning, marking territory.” The caravan started moving again, Alejandro shook his head in disgust

   “Our streets are laced with death,” he said it like a curse before pointedly looking away from the scene. 

   “Who is Sin Nombre?” the misspoken name sounded rough from Ghost

   “El Sin Nombre,” Alejandro corrects him, “the Nameless, the leader of the Las Almas Cartel”

   “Where can we find him?” Soap spoke but then seemed distracted by a rather large mural that they started to drive by. It was painted on a three story house. It had what was clearly a symbol for the Las Almas Cartel painted directly in the middle surrounded by vibrate roses, motifs of the Madonna and guns, a banner was painted just below the symbol EL SIN NOMBRE filled the banner and just below that was likely more of the naromantras from the sheet but it passed to fast for Badger to be sure. 

   Alejandro was also caught by the mural, “ You can't, no one knows who he is. But he is everywhere and this a challenge” He turned back to Rodolfo and chuckled “But Los Vaqueros like Challenges” Rodolfo nodded back to Alejandro before he looked back through the mirror again looking back at Ghost specifically.

   “With your mask, you'll fit in well here, Ghost” Badger stifled a smile as he watched Ghost slowly turn his attention to Rodolfo in the mirror, his eyes were like ice and he just stared. Rodolfo's smile faltered as he caught Soap making a “don't do that” hand motion

   “Hey easy”  Alejandro tried to comfort before being distracted by an upcoming checkpoint, “Checkpoint, Its the Army, turn right, we’ll go around”

   Soap pursed his lips in confusion before leaning forward to question as the took the turn down a narrower road,

   “Why?”

   “Some troops are in the pocket of El Sin Nombre, like I told you. He is Everywhere” Alejandro looked frustrated, leaning back to speak to them “cartel is hiding Hassan in the Village across the river, let's hope he's still there” 

   The road they took turned into something that could barely be called a road, mostly just packed dirt from frequent use. They remained in silence for a while, badger was messing with his comm unit, pinning the ear piece into place and then started to mess with the inputs on the unit. He looked up and started to ask for the right input so their comms would all be linked but Alejandro had caught on to what he was doing and without having to ask to read off the correct codes to join their systems.

Badger fixed Soaps comms to the right settings as well and watched over as Ghost adjusted his. 

   They parked just outside of the village, Soap Ghost and Alejandro stepped out first and went to grab kits from the back of the truck, Badger was stepping down out of the truck when Rodolfo spoke to him, he was adjusting his comms unit as well.

   “I would’ve  thought someone with the name Badger would be asking all the questions” 

   Badger looked back at him a little sheepish, he had noticed how much all of  Soap's questions had bothered both of them, and while Rodolfo was better at hiding it than Alejandro it was still evident even if Soap hadn't noticed. Or cared. 

   “Badger for a different reason,” He looked over at him before he collected is own kit “sorry to disappoint” Rodolfo just patted his shoulder before heading over to Alejandro, who had just called for all the team leaders to circle up on him. 

   “Where are they holding Hassan?” Soap joined them in the circle with Ghost right behind him. 

   “White two story building, back of town” Alejandro fist bumps Rodolfo before pointing off towards a gate that seemed to lead into the town, and with a wave of his hand Alejandro leads them off towards the town, as Rodolfo takes his team off a different way. 

   They gather around the gate, Alejandro has bracketed himself to breach the door and coordinates over the comms with Rodolfo's team. 

   This town lacked the colors that Las Almas had; the buildings were all browns, whites and oranges, they all seemed beaten down and in disrepair. It also lacked the people that las almas had, there wasn't just less people here there was no people here and it left the town eerily quiet

   “Where are the civilians?’ Soap spoke up as he walked past a window that was broken peeping his head inside as they passed

   “Gone, Cartel took over people left, it's a hideout now”

   “Good place to keep Hassan then” 

   They approached another black gate and could hear the cartel men clamoring around as they started to notice the breach into the town, this gate was left partially open. Ghost pushed it further open and Alejandro went guns blazing through the gate with Soap and Badger behind on his heels. 

There was a brick building to their right as they burst through the gate and a white building down at the end of the slope little more than a hovel. Cartelmen used them for cover trying to avoid the hellstorm that was Alejandro's team. It was easy to clear them, they wore little for protection and seemed to only have rudimentary grasp on their weapons. Alejandro ordered a push forward. The man called Rodriguez moved with them as they pushed further into the town and into an ally. 

   Badger crossed the ally fast and took cover behind the white building, Soap cleared the final man from inside as they moved. More firing from further up the ally. Three more cartelmen dropped from their fire. He called another push up and made a break for a set of cement stairs and just barely took cover fast enough to be missed by incoming fire that broke up the brick wall behind him into pebbles. 

   Alejandro was pinned down behind the stairs unable to make anything other than blind return fire, Soap had pushed past Badger and peaked from the corner of the building into the alley way, took aim and downed the final cartelman. He called clear

   "Secure this house, then we go for Hassan” Alejandro ordered as he got up from his spot behind the stairs, he pointed to the orange brick house that ended the alley in a dead end. 

   “Cartel will move him fast.” Ghost protested as he also came out from his cover behind an abandoned cupboard against the wall behind them, he had taken rearguard with Rodriguez,

   “Then we move faster” Alejandro moved up to the teal door of the house, crouched low waiting to enter as soon as the door was breached. Badger moved to the door and waited for his signal to break it down. 

   The door almost shattered as he kicked it down, it was much thinner than he expected so he almost tipped into the room had Ghost not pulled back on his vest roughly settling him back on two solid feet before He Soap and Alejandro burst into the house, clearing it as they went. Badger and Rodriguez held rear guard until Clear was called again. 

   They joined them in the house, which was low ceilinged, dark and now littered with dead men, a great sight to be in a forgotten child bedroom.

   “What happened to the families here?” Badger asked as he entered the kitchen area

   “The cartels bring violence, so they leave '' he was short with his answer, gruff it was clear the lack of control he had on the cartels upset him greatly. “Lets go, get ready to move” 

   Soap takes the lead to the door in the kitchen that goes to the outside, Soap made a show of using the deadbolt to unlock the door, tossing a ”see its simple”  look to Badger as he started to open the door, Alejandro’s hand pushed the door shut, and pointed out the window “Stand By. Victor-2 this 1-1, Deploy smoke. We’re moving external” 

   “Copy, smoke out” Rudy called back over the comms and the plunging of smoke canisters could be heard as they struck the ground and slowly filing the atmosphere with cover

   Soap broke the silence that had comfortably fallen as they took the second to prepare for rushing the next house.

   “Where’s your Family? Alejandro?” Badger snapped his attention to him, eyes slightly wide and a grimace set in place. The man simply didn't think before he spoke. He flicked his eyes over to Ghost where he stood watch at a window. Ghost didn't seem to care about Soaps dumbassery and just rolled his eyes when Badger looked over.

   Alejandro took a deep breath before he spoke. 

   “I keep that a secret, hermano, to protect them.” it came out stern but not angry much to Badger's surprise. He watched as Soap opened his mouth to speak again, but was thankfully cut off by Ghost.

   “We have concealment” 

   “Let's Move, on me Soap” Alejandro clasped Soap on the shoulder, removing the hand he had blocking the door. The moment it was open Alejandro took off towards the large two story house just across the courtyard. 

   The door was broken into with ease and the first floor was cleared too easily, there was an unsettling lack of resistance for a house that was supposed to contain Hassan. It set Badger on edge. 

   “Clear! No Hassan!” Alejandro calls out as he moves towards the stairs, 

   “Second deck” Ghost orders as he makes his way up towards the loft, the rest of the team in tow. It was also cleared in seconds. Alejandro cursed as it became obvious they missed Hassan.

   The house was littered with dead men and weapons, it also was strewn with dolls and other toys, a kids bike was broken on the floor in the kitchen, the bedrooms had been decorated in accordance to those that had previously lived here, those that had clearly left the house in a hurry as boxes that had likely been hastily packed laid turned over just about everywhere you looked. 

   When Badger made it back up to the loft, Ghost was looking through files on the desk, Alejandro Soap and Rodriguez were discussing Hassan and the intel that they operated on. Badger went to the big bay windows and found a photo of the family that had lived here toppled over, he had bent down to pick it up when movement up on the roads caught his eye. 

   A Caravan was rolling into the village, and fast. They were tearing up the roads and kicking dirt into the air behind them. Badger sat back up quickly, the speed of the action grabbed the attention of the others, he was about to speak when Rodolfos voice broke over the comms.

   “Commander! Army is rolling in!” Fucking hell this was going to be bad.

   “Shit” 

   Ghost looked up from the paperwork on the desk to Badger, “What is it?”

   Alejandro answered for him. “The Army”

   Soap joined him at the window to look out to the ever closing Mexican Army Transport. He looked confused.

   “We’ve got reinforcements”

   “Negative.” Alejandro sounded grim. “0-3, fall back, fall back”

   “Copy that”

   Ghost caught on quick and stepped away from the desk and took up a spot couched in front of one the bay windows.  “What’re we doing?”

   “Covering my men,” Alejandro waved up to Rodriguez to block the entrance of the loft, dragging a shelf over to the door, and pushing the couch against that. “Once they’re clear, we fall back” 

   Soap was taken aback “You want us to engage the fucking Mexican Army?!” He had stepped close enough to Badger that he grabbed him and pulled him down so that he wasn't standing dumbly in front of the large windows and nearly growled at him. 

   “Didn't you hear a single thing he said in the truck Soap? That not the fuckin army thats the cartel payroll.” He roughly pushed him back as he let go and went back to leveling off the trucks in his scope. Soap flushed red, and a dumb ‘oh’ dropped from his lips before he managed to remember himself and join them in targeting the caravan. 

   “Hold your fire, we dig in until my men are clear”

   “Multiple vehicles, troops transport, light armor” Ghost calls out 

   “Hold fire, let them get close” 

   One of the trucks launched a large smoke canister, blocking them from seeing when and where the caravan stopped, but they saw troops emerge from the smoke with shields and take aim at the house. They have mere seconds to turn away from the windows before they're rained upon by glass shards as the windows are shot out above them. Alejandro called for weapons free. 

   The room thundered with fire, and it made moving for any extra cover nearly impossible. The few shots he was able to get in after getting up from his low crouch seemed to do nothing.

“They’re Armoured,” Soap shouted in annoyance. 

   “Target the helmets, they're weak” 

   “They’re using shields” Ghost shouted over the clamour as a well, it was clear that they were doing little to minimize the amount of combatants against them, the simply had to pull the fire away from Rodolfos squad and hope they could last long enough. Badger watched as shards of wood ripped away from the walls from the incoming fire, and cursed. It was quite a bind. They started falling back from the windows and just sought cover. 

   “Commander, we're clear!”  oh thank the light, they can start moving from this deathtrap.

   “copy ! rally at the safehouse!” Alejandro orders before turning to them “lets get the hell out of here!” He popped up from his spot in the corner and made for a shuttered window, tossed it open and hoped down and slid off the roof onto the ground and took off like a bat out of hell to a path that led down the ridge. Rodriguez followed with the same grace, then Soap. Badger rather fell from the window than slid but still took off the same as Ghost  reached the ground and followed. 

“Down the hill! We’ll lose them in the mountains!” Alejandro shouted over his shoulder as they raced to catch up with him. “Fan out and stay close” 

   It was like everyone just had the ability to melt into the forest with how quick he seemed to lose everyone and he hoped that he didn't get lost. Shots fired down from above tossing up small handfuls of dirt as high velocity rounds stuck the earth by their feet rather than them. 

   The army had caught up. They jumped off a steep boulder and rolled behind cover, turned and returned the fire. Rodriguez went down with a shout. He was nearby. Badger looked around and saw him face down a few paces away, He ran over to him and looked him over.

   “You're fine, let's get you up boyo” Badger pulled him up against the boulder they now shared as the rest of the team was trying to clear the army. Rodriguez groaned in protest of moving. “It hit your back plate, it'll bruise” Rodriguez nodded and tried to calm his breathing for a moment. The firing came to a sudden stop and they were hauling ass again, Badger tried to stay with Rodriguez to give him extra cover, he was slowly lagging behind. 

   “You know these trails?” Soap called out to Alejandro as he took the lead,

   “Very well, but do does the army” 

   “Cant hold off the Army. We need extraction” 

   “Rodriguez! Call for extraction!” Alejandro ordered, they stayed closer this time as they dropped down the hillside, more than once Badger crashed down off rock faces compared to the grace and Alejandro and Ghost demonstrated.

   “Contact!” 

   Fire rained from above again as they tried to find over, Badger pulled them behind a larger rock again and took up fire as Rodriguez crouched low, tucking himself into the cover between Badger and the rock, fiddling with his coms trying desperately to reach Rodolfo.

   “Control, victor 1 request immediate extraction at Soul River Bridge, How to copy?”  he was shouting into the comms. 

   The fire stopped again and badger pulled him up and kept him in front of him as they ran again down the hill, he continued to shout into the comms with no response

   “Rodriguez where are we with comms?” 

   “Mountains blocking out comms!” Rodriguez called back.

   “Your man got the call out?” Ghost questioned as they slid down a slope a bit further

   “Let's hope so” Alejandro laughed a little, 

   “What's the plan then?” Soap jumped down a boulder next to where Badger and Rodriguez were moving and he joined them. 

   “There is a bridge at the river. Extraction will be there.” Alejandro explained to them as he looked for a specific path to lead them down. 

   They reached a steep drop, Badger threw himself down it and rolled out of his fall in front of a tree when it exploded with an RPG. the force of it shattered the tree throwing shards of wood back at Badger, a shard struck him before he could cover. He was bleeding from the hairline, with a curse he stood back up and continued forward wiping roughly at his forehead.

   “Anyone hit?” Alejandro called out from cover as he was firing up the ridgeline, everyone called out a negative from where they stood firing hoping desperately that the onslaught of men would end.  Eventually it did.

   They seemed to be running out of places to run as the clift side seemed to come nearer, Alejandro stopped abruptly at the edge and looked back towards them,

   “We have to jump here”  Soap reached the ledge and looked over it down to something unseen by Badger.

   “Can we even make that?” Badger paled slightly at the comment of the unseen ledge and looked over to Soap and then back to Alejandro 

   “Are you serious?” It took a lot to keep the nervousness from his voice, it was one thing to jump from a plane and another to jump from good solid ground. If a parachute failed when jumping it was just a rush that ended quickly, who knows if he misses if the fall will kill him. 

   “Do or Die hermano” Alejandro tossed over his shoulder as he jumped, Badger made it up to the ledge to watch him fall down and slide across a very far and very thin outcropping from the clift, and watch him pop up and jump to an even further outcropping that rounded around the cliff face. 

   Soap followed bravely and executed flawlessly, Rodrigues followed with the confidence of someone who's done it a million times. Badger steeled himself and took a step back to give himself momentum for when he jumped down,

   He hit solidly and slid down the rough ground of the slope, and just barely managed to get his feet back under him for the second platform, of which he rolled onto and slapped softly into the stone wall. He heard Soap make a small sound of surprise when the other two on the platform let out a small snicker at his less than graceful execution.

   Ghost perusal just seemed to appear silently and unbothered as he crouched down, weapon in and and scanned the tree lines for snipers.

   “Where to, Alejandro?” Soap asked from his watch position. 

   “Soap push forwards, Rodriguez keep trying on the comms, the rest of you watch for snipers” Badger settled down in front of Rodriguez’s position and turned outwards towards the tree line mirroring Ghost who was a few paces away from him. “Soap, use that ledge there will be a way up the mountain”

   Soap disappeared out of sight with a grunt as he presumably jumped to whatever ledge that Alejandro pointed out. Badger could hear Rodriguez speaking into the comms again as he and Ghost looked for the tell tale gleam of a scope or barrel in the sunlight. 

   “Got anything?” Badger questioned over to Ghost who just grunted a negative in response. 

   “They’re out there,  believe me” 

   “control , this is victor-1, do you read me?”  Rodriguez sounded desperate as he looked back up to where he knew the Army was, the action made him look incredibly young and it struck something in Badger. He's quickly distracted though as Soap calls that he's found a way up the mountain, as they are just finishing getting up the steep cliff face Ghost spots a Helicopter with a curse. 

   “Get to a firing position. We’ll take them by surprise” Alejandro confirms the heli sighting and helps direct them back into cover.

   “Which way is the bridge?” Ghost asks as he pulls himself up last from the final ledge, following them closely. 

   “Straight ahead. Past the helo” he paused a moment in thought “they'll try to cut us off” 

   “Grand” the sarcastic excitement sounded wrong coming from Badger “then I guess we’re goin through them” 

   It was almost like he called for them to appear with how fast the Army dropped down from an up ahead ridge and immediately took to firing upon them. But they made it easy for them to return fire. The sun was to their advantage, casting their hiding spots into deep shadows and lit the ridge and boulders they took to walking on in bright golden light that simply begged for them to shoot the brains out of anyone who stepped too far forwards.

   The inched their way up in the shadows creeping closer and closer to the remaining army troops that had been smart enough to attempt to find cover, even if it wasn't successful. Ghost shot the last man on the ridge and called clear. It was a right mess on the boulders that they had to climb to get to the bridge.

   They pushed up the hill and Alejandro called out that the bridge wasn't too far; they entered the top of the hill. It was gorgeous up there, and had they not been running for their lives from the Mexican Army Badger would have stopped to just absorb the landscape. It was towering mountains and the sun hit just right to light up a thin waterfall that casted a shimmer around it. 

   Alejandro warned them about hidden shooters.  

   “There's the bridge”

   “No visual on extraction”  a curse ripped from Rodriguez that Badger didn't know but knew it as colorful from the bits he understood, he watched him take a calming breath though turn towards Ghost.

   “Comms didn't get through” Badger clasped him on the shoulders and gave him what he hoped was a comforting look. 

   “We’ll radio when we get down there” Alejandro waved them forwards and dropped an extremely steep drop off, and while Alejandro took it with grace even Soap had tripped up his landing and Badger downright slammed into the ground yet again. They took off down even more narrow outcroppings than last time, Alejandro taking the lead with Soap following, Badger kept Rodriguez in front of him and per usual Ghost took up rear guard. 

   They were quite literally shuffling along and outcropping no wider than a boot, when shots started above their heads. Bits of rock broke off from the walls from missed shots

   "Sniper! Move!” Ghost shouted as they all tried to go as fast as they could without slipping off the cliff, they had almost made it to a larger outcropping when another round of shots fired. 

   A shot ripped through Rodriguez's thigh, and he shouted and tipped forwards reaching out behind him, Badger surged forwards to try to grab him, but he slipped as another shot just barely missed him. Just for a moment he had Rodriguez in his grip before he fell too far forwards tumbling into the valley. 

   “Rodriguez!”  Alejandro shouted mournfully, and Badger was gasping as he was pulled further back onto the narrow outcropping, a hand laced into his vest at his shoulder. Ghost hurried him forwards keeping a tight grip on his vest. 

   Badger didn't hear the return fire from Alejandro but he nearly felt the rumble of Ghost's voice as he praised “Bloody good shot, mate!” 

   They all looked upwards as they heard the Army catching up to them again, their orders to follow them down the cliff side sent dread through Badger.

   “Army's still on our trail” Soap urged them to move, Alejandro looked down the cliff side remorsefully before steeling himself and then turned to take the lead again. Ghost let go of Badger as they looked off again.

   They slid to a stop at the end of an outcropping a bit further down the cliff face, it was a deadend. 

   “You led us to a deadend mate,” Ghost complained, looking pointedly at Alejandro. 

   “We jump from here, don't lose your weapon” Alejandro basically gave the last order while in the air, there was absolutely no hesitation before jumped off the clift, it was a solid moment before he splashed into the water. Badger took a nervous gulp. 

   Soap brave as ever followed quickly with a little whoop of excitement, he too splashed safely into the water. 

   Badger stepped forwards and hesitated a moment before looking backwards towards the ridge that he knew soon would be full of soldiers shooting down at them again. His eyes flicked to Ghost who surprisingly didn't roll them or slide off his gaze.

   “Your turn sergeant” it was missing the usual roughness that typically accompanied Ghost. Badger swallowed again before nodding and turning forwards again, pointedly avoiding looking down. 

   “Fucking hell” He jumped. And he damn near forgot to hold his breath until moments before he crashed into the water. Vaguely he thinks he hears ghost land in the water shortly after him. 

   When Badger resurfaces he tries his best to minimize the gasping he is doing, he barely manages to call back that he's okay when Alejandro asks. 

   “Move down river to the bridge, use the rocks for cover” they start down the river drifting from rock to rock and mostly travel under the water in an attempt to remain hidden from the banks. Alejandro attempted to reach Rodolfo on the comms. “All stations, this is victor-1 how to copy?” 

   Finally a voice crackled over the radio in response to them.

   “dow-1! Do you- say again,-o you’tre---?” It was an American voice. 

   “Radio is picking  up something! Soap sounded elated and looked back excitedly to Badger and Ghost. His smile dropped a little when he looked at Badger, eyes flicking towards his forehead. 

   Ghost made a sound of approval “sounds American” he commented and was promptly cut off again by enemy fire.

   Badger couldn't say he had the most experience fighting in water and had to admit it was adversely affecting his ability to be effective in combat. He swam to a rock that was jutting out of the water and clung to it to steady his hand on his weapon, that miraculously wasn't lost when he crashed into the water, and fired upon the right bank noting that more trucks were rolling in behind the current line of soldiers. 

   “Vehicles on the bridge” Badger called out and continued to swim up river as the bank was cleared,

   “They're not ours” another curse spilled from Soap's lips as he checked his ammunition, they're all low. 

   The river shallows out the closer they get to the bridge and thankfully more boulders were available for cover as they rose from the water.

   “We have to hold here and get extraction” Alejandro started firing upon the vehicles on the bridge, it was doing alarmingly little. 

   “We can't do shite against that armor!” Soap complains as he continues to fire upon the vehicles trying to target helmets again, when the voice that crackled through before returned

   “This is Shadow-1! Engaging the bridge north of your position. Danger close!”

   “Who the hell is that?” Alejandro shouted the question over his shoulder as he continued his fire.

   “Commander Graves, Shadow company, they're with us” Ghost responded as they all took the welcomed reprieve that was watching the Army be blown to bits and at the bridge collapsing with them on it. Ghost jumped onto the comms to confirm the hit with Graves, “Shadow-1, Bravo 0-7! Good shots! Fire for effect!” 

   “All stations, no enemy movement detected. You're clear” Badger let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, “Good to see you boys''

   “Likewise, mate,” Ghost replied and motioned for them to follow Alejandro to the left bank of the river and onto dry land and towards the bridge. Thankfully there was one ruck left behind. “Graves, we located a vehicle for exfil”

   “Roger that. Be advised, we got a possible hit on Hassan, two clicks north of your position”

   “That's cartel land, they have a compound there”    They reached the truck and dumped some of their wet gear into the bed of the truck, Alejandro hopped into the driver's seat and Ghost filed into the front passenger, 

   “You boys, good to roll up Hassan with some fire from the sky?” 

   “Lets wrap this fucker up, Graves” Soap sounded full of confidence for someone whos missed Hassan twice and was chased down a mountain, Badger couldn't say that he shared the confidence,

   “Solid copy. We are pushing to the target directly. Shadow-1 out” 

   Badger pushed himself firmly into the back seat and closed his eyes,  trying to ground himself and take account of his body. He was tired from the mad dash down the cliff and his forehead was starting to really hurt as the adrenaline started slipping from him on the drive,

   He felt Soap lean closer to him and he turned his head rather roughly to give him a mild glare, really not feeling up to his shenanigans at the moment. He was surprised to see that he had gauze in hand and a small first aid kit sitting between them, he looked startled at Badger not expecting the hostility. Badger looked at him confused before Soap gestured to his forehead, and Badger remembered the tree exploding, and reached his hand to the cut on his forehead, fingers coming away red. What he thought was water dripping from his hair was actually mixed with blood and covered a good portion of his face. He must have looked deadly if the worried look he caught from Soap was anything to go off of.

   He looked down at Soap sheepishly and let him take his head in his hands, Soap dabbed at his face carefully, occasionally gripping his chin and moving him about so that he could reach everywhere. Badger felt his face heat up and closed his eyes to avoid looking at Soap as he worked, who had drawn his lip between his teeth unconsciously. 

   It wasn't long until he cleaned up his face, applied a small amount of antiseptic, he cooed at Badger when he had flinched not expecting the sting, and applied small wound closure strips to the gash across his forehead.  

   Badger thanked him quietly when his hands left his face, and he leaned back into his seat. He looked into the rearview mirror and caught Ghost staring back at him. He flushed again and closed his eyes trying to catch the little bit of rest before they were tossed back into the frying pan. 

   He tried not to dwell on the feeling of warm hands now absent on his face. 

First Next Last Masterlist AO3

Thank you so much for reading! Please consider leaving a comment also i take suggestions for one shot and drabbles

[apparitionism]

Confection

For the holiday this year I offer you a culinary AU I’ve been thinking about for basically forever but only now started to write down. It’ll be in parts, as I chip away in the spare minutes, with littler bits of story at a time, as when I first ventured contributions to this surpassingly wonderful fandom, years ago. I miss those long-gone Bering-and-Wells days: the speed, the inventiveness that so many brought to bear... anyway, however many parts this ends up being, it’s all just for fun. (And maybe a little ontological inquiry. Also just for fun.)

In any case, on this random Sunday, I wish everyone their preferred form(s) of activity and/or rest, as appropriate. Good feelings. Whatever it is we’re here for.

Confection

“Cutthroat.”

So says the talking head on screen in response to the offscreen question, “Describe your style in the kitchen in one word, Chef Helena Wells.”

****

“Chef Myka Bering, describe your style in the kitchen in one word.”

“One word? That’s a challenge. Diligent? I’m really diligent. Or, no: focused. I definitely think ‘focused’ is more descriptive.”

Senior Producer Claudia Donovan, upon viewing this footage, had said to the editor sitting next to her, “Can you cut that to ‘focused’ and make it sound decisive?” But then she let herself have a second thought. “You know what? Leave it all in. Compare and contrast.”

Cutthroat Wells first, indecisively diligent and/or focused Bering second... the third competitor’s response had been, in retrospect, hilarious. Claudia did appreciate how radically his pronouncement had failed to match his performance: “Awesome,” Walter Sykes had described himself, with no sense of irony whatsoever. He’d been cast as a sacrificial lamb in the first place, but Claudia still snorted at the completely useless dudebro swagger.

The fourth chef, Artie Nielsen, had been brusque rather than bro, but with no less swagger. “Classic,” he’d said, like the idea of anybody even asking the question was a “don’t you know who I am” insult. The editor angled a glance at Claudia and said, “You were real with him about what show he was on, right?”

“The old-school thing sets up the B plot,” Claudia told her. “He’s known all three judges for decades.”

“Don’t you think the A’s a lot more fun?” the editor said. She clicked quick on the Wells “cutthroat” clip—and Claudia had never in her life heard such an all-facts no-swagger saying of a word—followed by a bit of the Bering: “I definitely think,” Chef Myka said, as if in answer to the editor’s question.

“I definitely think,” Claudia echoed decisively.

****

“The name of our show,” Steve Jinks explains, as he does every week at the start of the program proper, after the contestants have described their styles, “is ‘This Without That.’ What this means, contestants, is that in each of three rounds, you will be asked to prepare a classic dish... but without its defining ingredient.”

****

“You gotta do it,” Pete Lattimer had said. “Because it’d be so cool. Gottagottagotta.”

Myka was leaning against the at-last-closed-for-the-night door of the restaurant where they both worked—Myka as sous chef, Pete grilling and frying—and she wanted to ignore him, for her fatigue weighted her such that she could barely convince her spine to support her head. Forcing that head to lift, accompanied by actually working her jaw, felt well beyond possible.

And she would have ignored him, but she was the idiot who’d made the mistake of telling him about “it”: a producer from “This Without That,” the wildly popular cooking competition show, had called to express interest in having her compete next month (next month being August) for their Christmas championship, to air in December.

Having been that idiot, she couldn’t ignore him, but she was regretting the telling, so now she said, “No I don’t. I don’t ‘gotta’ do anything.”

“But you wanna.”

“I don’t ‘wanna’ do anything either. And as for this, I don’t want to do it.”

First, television. Second, a competition. Third, a Christmas competition. In August. She didn’t want to. In fact she’d rather have gnawed off her knife hand than do it. But then Pete moved from “gotta” and “wanna” (Myka hated those pseudo-word elisions) to “hafta,” adding “for the restaurant”—the one they planned to partner to open someday, when they had saved enough money and/or could talk investors into believing in them—and Myka gave in. “I’ll try,” she told him, and she meant she’d try not to tank her upcoming interview with the producer, Claudia Donovan. She told him that too... but for integrity’s sake, she added, “I hate the whole idea of that show. ‘This Without That.’ It seems so dumb.”

He waved a hand at her, but slowly, showing that he was tired too. “Little piece of non-tanking advice: don’t say that to this producer. Besides, a hugeity-huge-huge audience loves it, which means it’s smart. Say that instead.”

That, she did ignore. “Smart? It’s insipid.” Mimicking Steve Jinks, the show’s host, she quoted his dismissal of each round’s losing contestant: “Unfortunately, this competition will continue without you.”

“I knew you watched it,” Pete crowed.

Ugh. “Once.” She didn’t tell him why. “But it bothered me.”

“Bothered you because you knew you could do better at making a thing without its major thing, right? Say that’s why.” He added, “And by the way, I know you could too. So you should say it twice.”

His faith was sweet, but she told him the truth: “No. It bothered me ontologically.” She didn’t expect him to understand, but she tried to explain anyway. “Beef Wellington without the beef, for example, like they did in the one I saw. That’s just... Something Else Wellington. And then at the end, the judges pick whose Something Else Wellington they like best. The beef part—the constitutive element!—falls by the wayside. The thing itself doesn’t even matter anymore.”

Pete shook his head. “It’s like you don’t understand games. Something Else Wellington is the whole idea. If it isn’t Something Else Wellington, then it isn’t Beef Wellington without the beef. You’re just ticked that the judges don’t spend all their tasting time splitting ontological hairs about how close to beef that Something Else really is. Or isn’t. Whichever way makes you happier, but it doesn’t matter, because that isn’t what they’re there to do.”

Myka hadn’t known he would—could—come up with “splitting ontological hairs.” That was another point in favor of her trying not to tank.

Also (and she’d been thinking about this since the call from Claudia Donovan): her parents. They were reasons that were maybe (okay, probably) on par with “for the restaurant,” because if she could she impress them by being on television... she really did hate the clichéd nature both of their objections to her career—their dismay that she wasn’t “using that brain”—and of her response, a heels-dug-in “I’ll show you.” These several years on, they hadn’t yet acknowledged being shown. Maybe television would be the charm. Maybe if they could switch a channel and discover Myka there, doing what she did... maybe that would finally do that work of showing.

Pete said, “They judge based on creativity, too—how out-there a Something Else idea you come up with. Imagination what? Plus you gotta do it fast. Thinking on your feet, right? Don’t you love all that?”

As adept as Pete could be at saying the wrong thing, he was also, sometimes, exceptional at saying the right thing. “Using my brain?” she queried, just to make sure.

He nodded, and Myka was pretty sure it was because he knew the history: the family, the pain points. She’d inflicted versions of it on him so many times. “Think it’s a smart idea now?” he asked, at his most canny.

Show them not only by being on television, doing what she did, but also by “using that brain” on television. To do what she did. To do it better than other people. To at last, in the end, show them. “Maybe,” she hedged, but her overriding thought was Yes, yes, at long last yes.

Not for one instant did it occur to her that she might not win.

****

Claudia had started on TWT in the casting department, over two years ago. Even though evaluating potential talent wasn’t technically her job anymore, she did like to tinker. Particularly if she sensed a good story brewing.

When Myka Bering walked in—no, she loped in, her legs looking about as long as Claudia was tall—Claudia really hoped the good-story pings she’d been sensing were real radar.

There was truly no time like the right-now to see what was what, so Claudia said, first thing after introductions: “Just FYI, Helena Wells is already locked as a cheftestant on this one. I hear you know each other.”

Myka, who’d been settling into the chair across from Claudia’s desk, froze.

So far so good, Claudia thought. But then she thought again, as she observed Myka’s dart of eyes, followed by a small-but-visible twist of neck, both signaling obvious discomfort: No... so far so spectacular.

TBC

[where-fading-princesses-live]

eBay Rant

Boy, oh, boy do I have a juicy eBay rant coming your way.

 So, I’ve been buying on eBay since 2016 and never run into major issues with sellers.

 The stupidest seller I ever came across was one such person who thought it smart to ship me a *porcelain* doll in a cardboard box with no outer protection, and of course, she broke into a million pieces and I basically got her for free, lol. I never thought anyone could be more stupid than that.

 But this one takes the cake.   🎂

 So, I’m looking at this from two sides—as a buyer and a seller. I’m also a part-time seller myself. I don’t sell very often because I don’t have too much to sell; but if I want to downgrade and need the money, I’ll part with a few items in my own collection. I usually sell occasional doll items and have never had a major issue with buyers (I’ve had more issues with Facebook Marketplace than eBay), but naturally, if a customer had a complaint, I would not have responded in the way this bloke did.

Well, there’s a first for everything, right?

I’ve been buying and collecting high quality photos of old Hollywood stars for some time now and I purchased a Don Knotts photo on Sunday, January 1 (Don Knotts is one of my faves and I have quite a collection on him). The photo finally arrived on Monday, January 9 but unfortunately, it was not the high quality I expected. The seller claimed in the item description that the photo was from an original negative from a film print of a Steve Allen show episode (which are hard to find; only a few episodes exist on DVD). But naturally, the old Steve Allen shows (as most old tv shows back in the 50s) were not on film. They typically ‘’filmed’’ live using a process called kinescope, which is not tape or film, and the quality tends to be very low (you’ll notice any Steve Allen show episodes uploaded to YouTube are very poor quality, because that was the low, cheap quality they processed the show to be shown on the very small tv screens; there is no high definition version that exists, even with restoration. The quality looks worse on our big flat screens, something that was not very noticeable back then on small tube television sets in the 50s). But judging by the seller photo, it looked like it might be a higher quality glossy that I’m used to. I’ve also purchased some photos from the Red Skelton Hour that also used the same process of The Steve Allen Plymouth Show, but they were actual stills used to advertise the show in the newspapers at the time, so the quality was better. So, that’s what I was expecting, more or less.

 But I get a photo that looks like this:

And to be fair, that is the quality of the videos you will see, but the seller photo just made me think otherwise.  Normally, I don’t buy items from sellers who are too cheap to afford a basic scanner to scan their items, because it’s hard to rely on crappy cell phone pictures that don’t determine what the photo will look like in person, but I decided to take a chance, because you know… I’m a simple man. If I see Don Knotts, I click, lol. And I’m a big fan of The Steve Allen Show.

 The seller, despite only being on eBay since January 2022, also had good reviews from buyers (I always review their profile and reviews before buying, if I haven’t bought from them before just to make sure they’re okay). He was at 100% when I bought the photo but more on that later.

So, to make a long story longer, I requested a refund on the day of delivery (January 9). I stated why I was returning the item when I opened the refund request. The seller responded on Tuesday, January 10. First red flag was that he did not use pleasantries. ‘’Hi, how are you? May I ask why you are returning the photo?’’ That’s how I would respond.

 No, here was his abrupt response. And terrible grammar to boot (no punctuation at the end of his sentence, but I’m not here to be a Grammar Nazi).

 ‘’What is wrong with the photo?’’

  (And I’ve blocked my name but really this seller does not deserve to be protected for privacy reasons; he is a cautionary tale for anyone on eBay.)

But another thing that was strange, too, was that I have returned some photos before in the past or requested refunds for photos that were not to my standards, and the sellers were always polite and very rarely ever asked questions about my returns. They always refunded me promptly. There’s really no reason for a seller to ask, ‘’What’s wrong with the photo?’’ Buyers don’t necessarily need a reason for a refund; sometimes they change their mind. Yes, I’m aware of buyer scams, but I’ve cancelled orders before for buyers who just had their own reasons for no longer wanting the item. It isn’t my business to ask. For instance, someone wanted to buy an American Girl Doll from me and changed their mind at the last minute because they had a surgery coming up. Understandable. I moved on to the next interested buyer. The less you ask of your buyers, the better. They don’t need to explain themselves. If they don’t like it or it doesn’t match the item description, they have a right to return it.

 I wanted a refund for an item I thought was going to be higher quality, but I got a very fuzzy, blurry photo. It wasn’t the seller’s fault; it just wasn’t what I expected.

 Well, this guy has only been on eBay since January 2022 (and he’s not just a seller, but also a buyer; in fact, he has more reviews as a buyer than a seller, five pages worth, and he only had seven reviews as a seller at the time I bought the photo), so I should’ve known right off the bat he’s a newbie who isn’t familiar with the standard eBay procedure in how to deal with customers.

 But in my experience, the sellers NEVER directly message me to ask me questions about why I’m returning the item or requesting a refund. I always state why when I make the request.

 I always maintain cordiality no matter how rude the person I’m dealing with (I’ve worked customer service for years, so I’m used to it), so I just responded with an honest answer. I always try to treat sellers the way I would want my buyers to treat me. Most buyers would just yell at the seller for no apparent reason.

 The seller seemed to soften after I kindly explained the issue and only then, did he start to use pleasantries. Because see? Niceness goes a long way. Usually if you’re nice about it, they’ll be nice right back. Usually.

 Well, he clearly stated that I did not need to return the photo and that he would give me a full refund on Wednesday evening (January 11). Good. I thought the matter was solved and I wouldn’t have to worry about it. I received a notification via email that the seller accepted my return. eBay did send me a shipping label to return the item, but again, the seller told me to keep it, and I did not want to waste more money sending it back anyway (the item was $10, and shipping was $10. With tax, the total came to be $20.84, for a photo that was not very good to begin with), so I hoped the seller would keep his promise and refund me ASAP.

 Come Wednesday evening, there’s no refund. I waited a few days and heard no response from the seller, so I reached out again on Monday, January 16. Most buyers wouldn’t even wait this long.

 The seller did not respond so I reached out again the following Wednesday, January 18. I never heard a response. Again, the seller promised he would refund me LAST Wednesday. It had been over a week now. I think I gave him more than enough time to issue me that refund. I also saw him listing new items on his store between the time I messaged him three times, so he was clearly more preoccupied with his own business than actually assisting a customer. He was ignoring all my messages. I was not a priority to him.

 I wasn’t sure if I should wait for his response, but I was starting to think I was never going to see that $20 again. My first mistake was not asking eBay Customer Support to step in, but they gave me a message on the 9th when I opened the case that they would only be available to help until January 13, so it was already past the window for me to contact them, and I couldn’t figure out how to contact them through the website directly anyway (there was a number to call which I should have tried, and their live chat wasn’t very useful either). In all my years buying on eBay, I never had to escalate a return case to eBay Customer Support because the sellers always resolved the issue in a timely manner and never ignored my inquiries. Frankly, I just wasn’t sure what to do next. This seller was purposely giving me a hard time.

 So, I was admittedly losing patience now and reached out to PayPal directly on Wednesday, January 18 (PayPal always refunds me for merchants who refuse to do so). I gave them all my documentation. I explained the issue and provided them with screenshots of my eBay order, the conversation I had with the seller showing that he clearly promised me a refund, and an Account Statement that detailed my credit (showing date of purchase, the order ID, and the card I used to pay for the item).

 On Thursday, January 19, I left a negative review for the seller because he ignored all my messages and I think I waited long enough for him to respond, and if he just issued me a refund in the first place like he said he would, I wouldn’t have to be going through all this. This is also the first negative review I've ever had to write up simply because I never had to before. I prefer not to write them if I can avoid it, but this experience has been very trying. Most buyers would just go straight to the reviews and start lashing out at the seller before contacting the seller first, but I think I followed all the steps. I contacted the seller first, chatted politely with him in private, and agreed to settle the issue, so there was no reason for me to write a negative review, and that’s usually how I go about it. I’ve only written maybe two neutral reviews (which one seller had eBay remove and another asked me to change to positive after he refunded me the difference for overcharged shipping), but otherwise, I try to avoid it. I’m not out to ruin a seller’s perfect 100% rating on purpose. But this seller did not handle the issue properly and I think I gave him a fair chance. I also worded my review as kindly as possible despite my frustration. His rating is now down to 99.1% (not counting the false positives he’s received as a buyer from other sellers but more on that later).

 After reviewing the details of my case, on Tuesday, January 24, PayPal denied my case because I accidentally deleted the PayPal receipt, and I wasn’t able to recover the file from my email because it was more than 7 days ago. PayPal did give me from Tuesday, January 24 to Friday, January 27 to provide them the additional documentation of my receipt, but there was no way to recover it. All I had was the Account Statement to show proof of credit. They said ‘’because we never received documentation that proves you are due a credit’’ they unfortunately had to deny me. Because I reached out to PayPal, the Return was automatically closed on eBay on the 18th. Well, I was a little disappointed they didn’t see my side. It was the first time PayPal denied me.

 It’s mostly my fault because it’s the first time I’ve failed to save the PayPal receipt. I usually always archive them in my emails when I place the order and save the receipt until the order arrives in case I need a refund, but I guess I just wasn’t thinking. Oh well. I had 10 days to appeal my case to PayPal, but since I can’t recover the receipt, I decided not to pursue the refund further and let it go. Sure, I’m short $20 now but I know for the future to just save the receipts and ask eBay to step in first. It’s not really a big deal, just a lesson to be learned.

 I thought about disputing the charge directly through my bank or credit card company, but it’s such a hassle to go through all that for $20. If the charge was more, I would consider it, but I also don’t want the bank to think I’m attempting to commit ‘’friendly fraud’’ so again, I just decided to let it go. Life’s too short to worry about stuff like that. It’s not worth the aggravation and I have more important things to worry about.

 On the same day PayPal closed my case, I did manage to reach out to eBay Customer Service via Facebook messenger (which I should have done in the first place) to just to double check if there wasn’t anything more they could do. They were very sympathetic to my case, but they explained because ‘’a dispute was opened with PayPal. Once this happens, it would take precedence over our claims process, and we would no longer have the ability to issue a refund on the order. It definitely isn't that we don't want to help, our hands are just tied. If you haven't already, I would encourage you to reach out to PayPal and see if the case can be appealed, or what other options they may have to help. We hope this is resolved soon.’’

 So, that was that, and I just decided to let it go because there was nothing else to be done, and I didn’t think more of it. That was four days ago.

 BUT WAIT... THERE’S MORE 

So, this morning, I see the seller messaged me at 11 AM, practically harassing me over the negative review I left for him. Like I need more stress in my life, lol.

Sorry, I’m lmfao right now, this is so rich.

  🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣

And, oh the awful grammar. Dude, please do yourself a favor and go back to school. I’m losing brain cells trying to make sense of this.

 Something’s wrong with me? Mmkay. No, I think something is wrong with you. I asked you three times for a refund, and you chose to ignore me. You do realize it’s been three weeks, right? Or can’t you tell time?

  First off, I did not ‘’keep the photo free of charge.’’ lol what? 🤣 I paid appx. $20.84 for the photo that you NEVER REFUNDED, so you basically kept my $20 for yourself. Even if I printed out the return label to ship it back to you, you probably STILL would not have refunded me, and I would have been short even more money than I already am right now. (I’d return it now, but I no longer have the shipping label, and I doubt anyone would want this crummy photo. The 2 bids you see were both placed by the Gixen Mirror service on my behalf. There was no other competition.)

 Also, sorry I wasted YOUR precious time sending you three messages, two of which you ignored, and having to go through PayPal and having them review my case for an additional week. Yes, I clearly wasted YOUR time. 🤣 Dude, really. It’s been 20 days since I opened the return on the 9th, and it’s been 18 days since I last heard from you. I gave you more than enough time to refund me, which you failed to do.

 I’m sorry, I just can’t right now. XD I honestly think this guy is brain damaged. Ngl

(Also, a funny thing happened when he shipped me the item. He assumed I was married (for some reason???) and addressed me on the envelope as ‘’Mrs. So-and-So.’’ Like… you *never ever* assume a woman’s marital status, or *anyone’s* marital status for that matter, like for real… I didn’t let it bother me, but still, it was hilarious. I don’t think he’s very smart.)

  🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣

In all seriousness, I did not think my review was unfair. I only stated I'd been waiting for a refund the seller promised since January 11. I understand, of course, if he was busy filling other orders, but I gave him more than enough time to refund me and sent him two additional follow-up messages, one on January 16 and another on the 18th and he never responded to my inquiries. He's just now responding.

 I just think it’s ridiculous that I’d been waiting for him to refund me since January 11, and, even if he was busy, he could have temporarily set aside his orders for a measly minute. I’m sure it doesn’t take nearly as long to send a refund. It took him six days to ship my order, so he’s clearly in no rush to fill orders. There was no reason for him not to take two minutes out of his day to issue me a refund. Most sellers I’ve dealt with in the past issued me a refund in no more than three days at most. He intended to drag this out longer than necessary. Also, the cordial thing for him to do, if he was so busy, was to reply to my messages explaining he would get back to me as soon as possible, and I would’ve understood. I’m aware sellers have lives outside of eBay, but usually if there’s a delay for whatever reason, a *good* seller will always keep me informed.

 A *good* seller cares about customer satisfaction, as in responding to customer inquiries at your earliest convenience. If it were me filling a refund request, I would not wait weeks and weeks to get them their money. I would do so right away. And if life happens, just reach out. I basically did all the work messaging the seller regarding the issue. He did not have the common courtesy to reach out to me and explain why it was taking him so long.

One time, I messaged a seller to ask when they would ship an item after a week had gone by since placing the order, and they responded by saying their wife had suddenly passed away and there would be a slight delay in shipping, and of course I understood, and wished them sympathy and simply told them to take all the time they needed. Another time, a seller informed me they were out-of-town on vacation and would ship my item as soon as they returned, and I wished them a good trip and there was no rush. I received both items as promised from these sellers who were kind enough to take the time to explain the delay. This seller, however, did not bother telling me he was busy filling other orders, so how was I to know? Also, a few more reviews were left for him from other buyers a few weeks AFTER I opened my return case, so he should have refunded me first before he filled other orders. Why keep me waiting? And he only had until January 31st before eBay closed the Return. Why wait until the last minute? I feel like he was doing so on purpose, lol. There was absolutely no communication with him. Most sellers will ghost you if you agree on a refund. Sometimes, they say they will refund you and never follow through, and just keep your money, so naturally I assumed I’d been ghosted.

 Again, he just didn’t go about this the right way. If you say you will issue me a refund on January 11, but there’s a delay for whatever reason, he should have reached out to me. Again, I waited several days before reaching out to him, trying to give him time to respond. I tried to follow up with two additional messages which went completely ignored, so at that point, there was no more excuse. The fact that he’s just NOW responding to me on Saturday, January 28, 11 days after the Return was closed by eBay and four days after PayPal closed my case, it just says enough about this seller in general. Obviously, a procrastinator. It shouldn’t take you nearly a whole month to give a customer’s money back. JMO

 I always maintained cordiality and never resorted to threats, so I'm not sure why he feels the need to threaten me now. I have since blocked him, but I did reach back out to eBay Customer Support on Messenger and showed them this seller is going out of his way to harass me. I've been buying on eBay since 2016 and never encountered a character quite like this one. No buyer has ever left me a negative review either because I always try to be reasonable and understanding. I don't want to cause any more trouble, I'm just letting them know this eBay seller is prone to harassing his customers and I just hope he doesn't treat other customers in similar fashion in the future.

 So, eBay did respond and said, ‘’Thank you! You're completely entitled to your feedback, and you don't have to delete it. We'll go ahead and report the seller on our end so our Trust team can take appropriate action based on their findings. On your end, I recommend not engaging with this user further. Please keep us in the loop and let us know if you run into any other issues, we're here to help.’’

 So, I hope nothing more comes of this and this guys just quietly goes away.

 BUT WAIT... THE PLOT THICKENS

I did investigate him further and found out, as a buyer, he has several false positives from other sellers. He’s had at least four complaints from four different sellers for failing to pay for items, despite their constant notices and reminders. I wish I looked into him further before buying from him, because obviously, if he has an issue paying sellers, then he surely has an issue refunding his customers. But I probably wouldn’t have taken that into account, since I rarely request refunds and rarely experience issues with my items. I’m not sure if anything was done about it, apart from the orders being cancelled, or if these sellers tried to contact eBay’s Trust team to report him, but I’m just putting it out there. Unfortunately, sellers cannot leave negative feedback for buyers, so if a seller experiences an issue with buyers, and they leave a review, it will just be counted as a false positive. I wish I’d read all the reviews thoroughly. So, despite his generally positive reviews from other buyers, I wouldn’t let this deter you. He clearly has issues when it comes to money, whether it’s paying on time or issuing a refund.

If you ever deal with him, proceed with caution.

 I will say this whole experience has given me weeks long headaches and an upset stomach, but I also won’t say it wasn’t at least remotely entertaining. Shakespeare would’ve loved this kind of drama.

[fruitcoops]

Hi Eve! Just wondering if you could write a coops smut where one of them wears lingerie? You sort of explored the concept in the Valentines Day smut where Sirius wore thigh highs, but i was maybe thinking a fic where one of them wears a full set. Its all completely up to you!

How about both? Happy smutty Monday, folks! Coops credit goes to @lumosinlove

TW for smut, subspace/ subdrop

It was Friday, and Remus was learning the glory of stockings on hockey thighs.

It was Thursday, and he began to wonder how to repay his lovely fiancé.

It was Sunday, two weeks after Valentine’s Day, and between flashes of thunder outside and damn near howls of pleasure into their traumatized pillows, Remus was still thinking about the socks.

It was Tuesday, a bye week, and the last piece of his plan clicked into place as Sirius hefted him further over the countertop by the muscle of his thigh with one hand keeping his chest flush to the cool marble.

It was Wednesday, and Remus smiled to himself as Sirius snuggled closer in the darkness of a quiet night in. He ran an absentminded hand through inky curls, relishing the soft puffs of Sirius’ breath on the hollow of his throat while their legs remained comfortably tangled. You have no idea what’s coming, he thought, letting his lips linger on Sirius’ forehead. No idea at all.

It was Sunday, and Remus had spent two minutes hyping himself up in the bathroom mirror. The rustling from their bedroom had stopped long before. “Alright, you can do this,” he murmured, leaning his hands on the edge of the sink. “You look hot. This isn’t weird. He’s gonna lose his fucking mind.”

“Mon loup?”

Anxiety leaped in Remus’ stomach. “One second!” he called back through the closed door. He stared at himself for a moment longer, then sighed. It was a stupid idea—there was no way Sirius would want to see him in something as silly as this. He looked ridiculous, and it wasn’t even worth it; any clothing would be off in a heartbeat anyway. Sirius always preferred skin-to-skin contact.

The lacy edge of the garter belt itched the peak of his hip as he blew out a slow breath. Did Remus still dream about Sirius’ thigh highs over a month later? Yes. Did that guarantee Sirius would have a similar reaction to seeing him in actual lingerie? Not necessarily.

Remus liked guarantees. They were safe. Soothing. Unquestionable.

“Are you alright?” Sirius’ voice floated through the door on a wave of concern.

Fuck it. The bathroom lights caught the silver buckles. It’s now or never. “You can’t laugh, okay?” he warned, closing a hand around the knob.

“I won’t. I have a surprise for you, too.”

That bit of curiosity gave him that last push of courage he needed to open the door and step out of the safety of the bathroom. His pulse skyrocketed, though whether it was from the sudden feeling of absolute exposure or the sight of Sirius waiting on their bed in some sort of sheer, lacy top, Remus couldn’t tell. Sirius stared at him, lips slightly parted. Remus cleared his throat and spread his hands. “Surprise?”

“Oh.”

“You look—you look great,” he managed lamely. There were a million better words to describe the lavender fabric cascading over the planes of Sirius’ chest, but his brain had been replaced by the blush prickling up his neck and face. Going for the basic black garter belt and underwear suddenly seemed subpar instead of classically sexy.

Sirius shifted on his knees and reached for him. “Viens ici.”

“It—” Remus faltered. His chest and legs were bare, save for the satiny clasps holding the garters in place on his thighs. Sirius was just staring, like he couldn’t believe his eyes. It had been a long time since he felt self-conscious around Sirius; every bit of missed embarrassment flooded back at once as he sat on the foot of the bed. “I liked your socks on Valentine’s Day, and I figured—I dunno. This is the surprise, by the way.”

“C’mere.” Sirius’ eyes finally flickered up to his face without a trace of judgement.

“I’m here.”

“Here,” Sirius repeated, tugging him over to straddle his lap with an arm around Remus’ waist. He kissed him, soft and slow but undeniably wanting, before he leaned back. “You look so handsome, mon coeur.”

“Yeah?”

“Ouais.” And, god, if Remus didn’t love the way his voice curled around that word, turning it into a million perfectly lazy syllables.

He rolled the hem of Sirius’ top between his fingers and hummed against his mouth. “This is new.”

“You like it?”

“Mhmm.” It was hard to tear his eyes away from the shadow of muscle beneath the delicate fabric.

Mischief flickered over Sirius’ face. “It’s called a ‘babydoll’. Thought you might get a kick out of that.”

“Babydoll for my baby,” Remus teased, kissing his nose with a playful tug to the lace edges. Sirius’ gaze slipped back down to his lap—no, his legs—and his fingers toyed with the seam of the accompanying underwear. Remus placed a light kiss to the shell of his ear, watching every twitch of his hands. “What do you want?”

“To look at you.” There was nothing but honesty when Sirius glanced back to him. The intensity of it sent a spark up Remus’ spine; he had grown so used to Sirius’ general aura of focus that he had nearly forgotten what it felt like wholly directed on him.

“And…?”

“And nothing. Just to look.” Nervousness flickered across his fine features as he settled back against the headboard and pulled Remus with him. “Just for a minute, and then we can do whatever you—”

Remus silenced him with a kiss, bracketing his waist with his palms. The babydoll was like water under his touch, but Sirius was as solid as ever. “This is for you,” he said when they separated. “You can look for as long as you like.”

Except Sirius didn’t only want to look—he wanted to touch. That fact was made clear within seconds, when the hands smoothing up and down Remus’ thighs in rhythmic motions began dipping beneath the straps of his garter belt and sliding up to his narrow hips, then hooked around the backs of his bent knees. Sirius pressed one palm flat over his abs and Remus shivered, trailing his lips down his neck. He wasn’t aroused in the lightning-fast please please I need you now kind of way, but more of an I’m about to float into space if you don’t keep touching me like a treasure buzz.

“Re, honey,” Sirius murmured. It was only then that Remus realized most of his breaths were coming in short pants instead of kisses. The nickname was one of his favorites, reserved for the times when he was well and truly gone; it was more tender than mon coeur, and worlds more intimate than his own name or even sweetheart. He nipped the edge of Sirius’ jaw and felt him gasp.

Remus licked his lips as he pulled away just enough to speak. “D’you want me to take it off?”

“Never.”

He smiled. “It has to come off if you want to fuck me.”

“Deux pièces.” The arm around his lower back tightened as one hand came to rest on his ass, which was still fully covered by lace-lined black fabric. Remus had opted for the ‘boyshort’ choice, as it looked to be the most likely to prevent slippage.

That, and it had fewer strappy bits. The buckles were hard enough to figure out—adding an accidental wedgie into the mix seemed like a poor idea.

“Yeah, but the important piece can only come off if I take the fun one off first,” Remus explained, snapping one of the ties. Sirius stared at it for a long moment before blinking slowly.

“Are you sure?”

“Giving me puppy eyes isn’t going to flip this inside out, babes,” Remus laughed. “Two seconds.”

“But you’ll keep the fun part on, right?” Sirius slid down to lay next to him while he wrestled with the garter belt, hissing curses each time the buckles pinched his fingers. It was, quite possibly, the least sexy thing he had ever done. That did not seem to deter his fiancé—if anything, watching Remus struggle with black satin strips in the dark while laying flat on his back appeared to be the highlight of Sirius’ day.

The fog in his head cleared a bit as he worked his underwear down his thighs, being careful not to mess with the garters too much. It had taken him five full minutes to get the damn things on in the first place, and he wasn’t exactly in the mood to waste another five that could be spent in much more pleasurable ways. “The ‘fun part’—” Remus couldn’t spare a hand to do air quotes, but he hoped Sirius got the gist. “—is a lot more trouble than it’s worth.”

“Nope.”

He paused. “You’re not the one losing a fight to a few scraps of fabric.”

Sirius met his eyes, looking every inch the fallen angel with his hair splayed over the pillow and his lavender whatever-the-hell-glory pooling at his mid-chest. “Do you want me to take it off for you?”

“I thought you wanted the fun part to stay on.”

“Here.” Remus barely managed to kick the underwear off his ankles before Sirius shuffled over to lay between his thighs and attach his mouth just beneath the left garter.

“Oh, fuck me,” Remus huffed, letting his head fall back against the pillows.

“Gimme a minute,” Sirius said into his skin while he licked a stripe up to the first buckle and carefully pulled it down to hook into its proper place. Remus arched his back, only to be pushed down a moment later as Sirius electrified patches of skin he didn’t even know he had. Teeth slipped along the curve of his muscle and nibbled just above the back of his knee; Remus clenched his hands in the sheets with a shuddering inhale and tried his best to keep his wits about him.

By the time Sirius moved on to his other thigh, he was a goner. He could practically feel his pulse through his dick and the fog had returned with a vengeance, blurring the world at the edges while he let go of the tension in his back. How could he possibly be stressed when Sirius was saying such pretty things? The warmth of lips on his thighs disappeared and he stretched his arms above his head, relishing in his own contentment and Sirius’ light laugh. “You’re lovely,” he mumbled. Really, it was the only appropriate word for the occasion.

There was a rustling sound next to him, but Remus didn’t bother paying attention to what it was—Sirius’ weight all around him was more than enough to occupy—

“Oh.” His eyes flashed open as a lube-slick finger pushed into him to the first knuckle. “Oh.”

“Were you listening?” Sirius sounded faintly amused. Remus smiled lazily; he must have missed a joke (or a warning) somewhere in the tumble of words from that lovely pout. He rocked his hips onto Sirius’ finger, stretching one leg out as the other remained bent and tilted away. It was only kept in place by Sirius’ free hand, but even the idea of being held sent a tingling feeling all the way to his toes.

“How many?” Remus asked, looping his arms under Sirius’ to pull him closer. He needed warmth, and the smooth familiarity of Sirius’s chest against his own. He needed the encompassing feeling of being covered, which had yet to fade, no matter how much more muscle he gained.

Sirius smiled into the side of his neck. “Two.”

“Really?”

“Mhmm. Are you still with me?”

“Sure.” The world zoomed back into 3D focus when Sirius’ fingers brushed his sweet spot and Remus gripped his shoulder blades with a hitch of breath—his free leg jerked inward at the sudden shift. “There. There, now.”

“I have other plans, sweetheart.”

“Now,” Remus insisted. He would give Sirius anything he wanted if it meant he could feel that thrill again. Their bedroom was dim, but the lights popping at the corners of his vision as Sirius closed a hand around his shaft and continued sliding two fingers into him were so very bright. Remus moved his hands down from Sirius’ shoulders to his hips, then lower to give him a hint. “Now?”

“I was going to do three—”

“Now,” Remus said, brooking no room for argument. He pushed Sirius’ chest until he rolled onto his back—bless the man for his quick thinking skills, because Remus’ new muscle still wasn’t enough to manhandle him properly—and settled himself into his previous position on Sirius’ lap.

A dark eyebrow arched, though his dilated pupils gave away Sirius’ true feelings. “Like this?”

“You said you wanted to look, didn’t you?” Thinking back, Remus couldn’t imagine how he could ever have been worried about this. He took a few deep breaths as he sank down, biting hard on his lip against the dizzy want prodding the edges of his mind. This needed to last. Sirius’ mouth was cherry red and wet when he glanced down, fully seated and feeling rather confident about the whole thing. “Then look.”

The first rock of his hips brought a whimper from plush lips and Remus grinned; he took Sirius’ hands and planted them on his thighs before bracing his own against the broad planes of his chest. Silky fabric parted under his palms and his smile widened into giddiness as he slid his hands beneath it to rest on warm skin. Sirius pushed the side of his face into the pillow with a huff of breath.

“No,” Remus panted as he continued to move, pulling Sirius’ chin back up. His hands were shaking when he cupped his face. “Look. L—look at me.”

Sirius’ brows pitched and his silver gaze flickered down to the garter belt; Remus let his head fall back as long fingers toyed with the straps, sometimes tugging gently, sometimes snapping fireworks through his legs. The power shift between them ebbed and flowed like the tide. He wanted a tsunami.

He worked the words around in his mouth for a moment, unsure of how to ask for what he wanted. One of Sirius’ hands traveled to his back and began moving in steady presses up and down his spine. “Fuck me,” Remus pleaded.

A synchronized roll of their hips made them both moan. “I am,” Sirius said breathlessly.

Remus licked his lips and made a valiant effort to get air back into his lungs. “Please.”

His expression must have made the message clear enough, because understanding rippled across the puzzlement on Sirius’ face in mere moments; with a firm squeeze, Remus’ hips stopped cold. Mistake, his brain thought immediately as Sirius’ dick rested directly on his prostate. Mistake, mistake, keep moving or you’re gonna—

“Remus.”

The whine that tore from his mouth would have been embarrassing if he had any self-conscious braincells left to spare. He bit his lip again, teetering on a knife’s edge while his thighs shook and his knees slid on the sheets.

“Deep breaths.”

One.

“One more for me.”

Two. He was wheezing slightly with the effort of keeping down his moans.

“Try again.”

A frustrated grumble built in his chest, but he obliged. Three. The air was warm and smelled like Sirius; it was intoxicating. His next breath was even deeper, and he let it fill him.

“Good job.”

Something in Remus perked its ears up and he managed a lopsided smile, blinking his eyes open to look down at Sirius. His face was still soft, but his eyes had a tarnished edge to them that sent a shiver down Remus’ spine and nearly undid all his hard work.

“Color?”

He didn’t hesitate. “Green.”

“Are you slipping?”

Slipping, slipped, gone for good, he thought. “Mhmm.”

Sirius laid him back down, catching himself from sliding out at the last second. Remus arched his back at the slow press in. “How do you want it?”

“I already told you twice,” he said, planting a kiss to Sirius’ upper lip. The warm touch around his thighs had not faltered yet. “Come on, Captain, you know what I want.”

Sirius positioned his legs to wrap around his waist and kissed him fully, stealing the breath from Remus’ body in one fell swoop as he began to move his hips again; the pace increased so steadily that Remus nearly lost himself in it. The lace of the garter belt no longer itched, but slid in a blissful rhythm instead. The bits of cold where the small buckles rubbed against his skin were a mind-melting contrast to the cocoon of warmth he sank into.

“M—” Remus didn’t even get the word out before Sirius gave him a hard thrust and pressed their tangled fingers further into the mattress. He muffled a shout into the dip of his shoulder and sucked a mark there between moans. “Oh, fuck, Sirius.”

His head was spinning with the mixture of sensations—he had been so focused on being full that he almost forgot about the hand still moving terribly slow along his shaft. One leg kicked out on its own accord and he twitched, one hip canting upward until Sirius held it back down without breaking stride. Remus’ breaths were little more than staccato moans; he knew bringing out Sirius’ dominant side was an easy switch to flip, but he hadn’t been expecting the change to be quite so sudden. Not that he was complaining, of course.

Sirius let go of his hand to drag his leg back up, fingertips digging in just below the garter as the new angle drew a desperate ‘holy shit’ from Remus and a squeak of protest from their bedsprings. He had forgotten how long it had been since Sirius truly railed his lights out—the tingling sensation racing through his thighs and up to his chest was a welcome companion.

And he began to laugh.

Breathless and practically hiccups, but a laugh all the same. He could see Sirius’ confusion in his mind’s eye despite the fact that he had given up on trying to keep his eyes open several thrusts prior. The movement slowed. “What?” Sirius asked. “What’s so funny?”

“I fucking love you,” Remus said between gasps.

“Why are you laughing?”

“I don’t know.” Something warm slid down his cheek. “It’s so good and I can’t—I don’t know. Keep moving, please, please.”

Sirius’ thumb swiped across his cheekbone and he picked up the pace again; Remus’ shocked laughter faded back into panting and babbling within a few seconds, but the pure elation didn’t slip until he felt his orgasm approaching and resorted to leaving a trail of sloppy kisses along the line of Sirius’ collarbone and neck. Sirius liked his mouth, liked feeling it on him, and Remus could tell that he was getting close by the heat building under his palms where he struggled to find a handhold.

“I l—I lo—I love you,” he managed, adding a love bite to his collection around a groan. They were both sweaty messes, but the salt on his lips was exactly what he wanted.

“I love you, too.” Sirius’ voice was just as labored as his own, buzzing against every pleasure center Remus had.

“I lo—” He broke off with a strangled shout as Sirius squeezed the sensitive part of his thigh at the same time as a thrust. There was nowhere for his mouth to go. He bit down hard on instinct.

Sirius hissed in pain and Remus immediately pulled away, feeling frantic and worried and awful. “Ow.”

“ ‘m sorry,” he said, still a little wild as he covered Sirius’ cheek in apologetic kisses and searched for a hand to hold. “ ‘m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I promise.”

“It’s okay,” Sirius assured him, soothing his hands as they skimmed across his body. “Just surprised me.”

“Didn’t mean to hurt you.” Horror tried to push in around the tangle of joy-want-need-more, but there simply wasn’t room. Remus settled for running his trembling fingers through Sirius’ hair and kissing him gently. He hoped it would be enough.

“You didn’t hurt me,” Sirius said against his lips, rubbing circles with his thumb in the crease of Remus’ hip and thigh. The whirlwind in his head calmed to tv static—the world tunneled to them and their bed. Remus buried his face in Sirius’ neck and slid deep under.

He registered the pressure of Sirius’ hands and the feeling of his own throat pouring out nonsense; he felt his muscles clench and the slide of satin on sweaty skin before balling his fists so tight in Sirius’ babydoll top that it nearly tore. He heard his own breaths become shallow, knew it was Sirius’ hand running along the crown of his dick, and finally, finally shuddered apart with a hitching whine.

“Re, honey.”

Remus sighed through his nose and held him close. He was beyond comfortable, if not a little sticky. Again, his body suggested.

No, his brain answered immediately.

Yes.

No.

Yes.

No.

“I can’t,” Remus slurred.

Lips pressed against the corner of his mouth. “What can’t you do?”

“Go again.”

He felt laughter from the weight above him—Sirius, his brain supplied with a happy fizz down his back—and let his legs be pulled back down to the mattress. “Yeah, not a chance.”

The warmth inside him slipped away and he winced. “Put it back.”

“Nope.”

“Why?”

“Cause we’re definitely done.” The laughter returned, bright as a summer day, and he rubbed his face in the hollow of angular collarbones where the vibration was strongest. “How are you feeling?”

“Noodle.”

“Okay, sweetheart.”

Remus closed his eyes and stifled a yawn; the world could wait until he was done with his nap.

“Hey.” Someone tapped his hip and he frowned. “No falling asleep yet.”

“I’m tired.”

“I know, but we need water and a shower.”

Remus squirmed around until he could fix Sirius with a look. “Can’t stand up.”

“You hate sleeping while you’re sweaty.”

Fair point. Remus became suddenly and harshly aware of how sticky he was and pulled a face, flexing his fingers on Sirius’ back. The high was softening; he felt more settled in himself already. He nudged Sirius until he laid down, then curled into his ribs with an arm and a leg slung over his body. The aftershocks raced in pops of lightning down his legs. “Teddy bear.”

“Hmm?”

“Teddy bear,” he repeated. “ ’s all you are, at the end of the day. I love it. I love you.”

Sirius pulled him closer and kissed his temple. “How are you feeling?”

“Better.” He stretched all four limbs and felt his elbow pop, then relaxed. “Much better. Alright, I need to get this thing off.”

If trying to put the garter belt on had been difficult, it was nothing compared to forcing his unsteady and sweat-slick fingers to get it off. “Do you need some help?” Sirius asked, amused.

“No.”

He struggled for a moment longer, spoiling the sweetness of the drop with frustration, before Sirius’ hands replaced his own and carefully untied each strap so he could get it off properly. “There you go.”

Remus kicked it to the floor and glared balefully at it. “I love you, but I’m never wearing that again.”

“Never?”

“Maybe one more time,” he conceded. The confidence boost had been dizzying. “As long as you keep this.”

Sirius looked down at where Remus’ fingers were tugging with the hem of his slip. “I really like it, too.”

“The color’s nice.”

“C’mere.” Sirius wrapped his other arm around Remus’ shoulders and drew him in for a snuggle, rubbing his back with one hand. “Let me know when I can get us some water, okay?”

“You can go, if you need to.”

“Really?”

He hesitated, then moved his head to rest above Sirius’ heartbeat. “No.”

“D’accord.” Sirius kissed his forehead again.

Remus lasted three minutes before he couldn’t stand the tacky feeling of the lube any longer, but those three minutes were the coziest he could remember. Sirius was warm and traced patterns over his bare skin; his soft lips decorated Remus’ face, simultaneously lulling him and keeping him from falling asleep. With a sigh, he detached his arms. “Okay.”

“I’ll be right back,” Sirius promised. The room was darker without him—the bed stayed warm. Remus scooted over into the indent he left and basked in the memory, cataloguing his aches. Abs? Sore. Arms? Still good. Thighs? A bit chafed from lace, but alright. Neck? Scattered with love bites he couldn’t recall receiving, though that was a fairly common occurrence.

“That was quick,” he mumbled when the other side of the mattress dipped.

Sirius shrugged. The babydoll shift was tragically absent. “The usual two minutes, actually.”

“Must have zoned out,” he hummed, leaning into the cool washcloth on his face. A few tears always slipped out when they dipped into rougher territory, though he never felt sad. It was just…overwhelming, in the best way.

Sirius cleaned his thighs with the same careful touch as his face before handing him a cup of water. “Are you hungry?”

“Nope.” Remus downed the glass in two gulps and opened his arms. “Bedtime.”

“No pajamas?” Sirius asked with a laugh, though he obliged and let Remus laminate himself to his side.

“Unnecessary.”

“No shower?”

His instinctive response was god no, cuddles take precedence and I’m dead on my feet, but a shower did sound nice. Sirius washing his hair, scrubbing the last bits of shakiness and his drop away, going to bed clean…

“Alright,” he agreed grudgingly. “We’re probably going to need to change the sheets, too.”

“That can wait until we’re done.” And before he could even attempt to stand on his own, Sirius gathered him into his arms and hoisted him off the bed. If he wasn’t afraid he’d fall flat on his face without help, Remus would have protested. “Mon dieu, I forgot how muscly you are now.”

“Says the man who can’t stop ogling me whenever I take my shirt off,” Remus teased, then frowned when he saw the purpling bruise on Sirius’ neck. “Holy shit, my dentist could identify me with that thing. Are you sure you’re okay?”

Sirius paused in the bathroom doorway and kissed him hard, stirring the last dregs of arousal in Remus’ gut. “You have blanket permission to do that whenever you like.”

Remus gaped at him, speechless. “Well, that’s not fair,” he managed. “I’m tired.”

“Not a bad way to spend a Sunday night,” Sirius mused. His sneaky squeeze of Remus’ ass did not go unnoticed. “In my personal opinion, of course.”

“Of course,” Remus said drily. Maybe a shower wasn’t the worst idea after all. His knees weren’t nearly sore enough yet.

[ericleo108]

11/16/2023 Click here for Spotify, Apple Music, or Youtube. “Process, People, Product” is my 63rd official release. This song is edutainment and fiense about business inspired by Marcus Lemonis’s business philosophy “the 3 p’s” from his CNBC show “The Profit.” The song was recorded at Crack House Recordings in Lansing Michigan and produced, including the beat, by TheyCallMeHeat. The cover art is by ArtworkGang from Fiverr.

I talk about this blog post and other updates in the latest Sunday update here:

I intentionally dropped this song on November 16th because it’s Marcus’s birthday. I love Marcus. As you can read in the comic luve log after I uploaded this track probably back around January I actually went looking for Marcus in Chacago around June. We follow each other on twitter. I have told him all of this but he doesn’t respond. 

I wanted to make a deal for a project for funding. I want to do an album that’s just business advice from Marcus. Basically this song is an example of what I could do. “Process People Product” is based on Marcus’s 3 P’s philosophy and the lyrics come from quotes that I got off his instagram. The goal would be to do an album from quotes and inspiration from Marcus. 

The profit definitely has helped me think like a business. Marcus is mostly to thank for my business acumen. Doing business with Marcus would be a dream come true.

There’s not a lot of people or entities I would let own my music, but I’d be willing to make concessions for Marcus if he wanted to invest. It was my dream to do business with Marcus since I started releasing as Eric Leo 108. I actually put a song dedicated to ‘The Profit’ as the last track in “The Chalice Mixtape” that I haven’t remade, and probably won’t, and is on SoundCloud

I have since let this dream go, or at least I’m not chasing it. Now, what I really want is a loan from Marcus and his blessing and or investment in an album and associated products and marketing. I don’t think hiphop is a business Marcus wants to be in. I don’t ever expect to hear from him unless I can make him money in another way.

As I made the call for help a couple months back, I still need a videographer. It’s not that what I need is expensive the way I run it. The problem is I have such little money to work with. I need money for marketing and promotion basically.

I don’t have a job, but I do work, I just don’t get paid much for my hip-hop yet. I got a job for the seed money to start my music business. I made about 9k in a year but I’ve gon through it. I refuse to work fast food anymore (which is really the only job available around me) the way America exploits labor, if I don’t have to…My entire budget is less than $300 a month plus maybe another $50 from royalties. 

I’m a prolific artist. As far as discography goes I’ve already out worked most of the industry. The only thing holding me back from making more music and building an audience is money. I don’t have the funds to release a song every week and discover and reach my audience through marketing dollars. I’ll have 100 tracks out by around March 2024 and I still feel like no one cares. I’ll probably never make it because of situations like this where I can’t get attention or funding let alone a deal for marketing which shows dreams don’t come true in America, unless you have the money to afford them.

Lyrics:

When it comes life, get yours, got it This message comes to you from CNBC’s “The Profit” I got the recipe for success in life in business Strive to be your best self, look it’s real simple I got the strategy, the plan to make it grand Process, People, Product give the three P's a chance  I got the recipe for success in life in business Strive to be your best self, look it’s real simple I got the strategy, the plan to make it grand Process, People, Product give the three P's a chance  The three P’s are business ingredients to live by Together they’ll show you how to do it right The first step, surround yourself with good people Don’t compromise who you are, reach for hope Take the time, strive for innovation  Action requires initiative, not invitation  Take Marcus’s advice for money accruement  If you don’t love what you do than you shouldn’t do it People will work for recognition and opportunity  More than they'll work for money and jewelry Your what makes it worth it, people are the purpose  The whole point of a product is to be of service Not about being wealthy, it’s about connection Can’t be affraid to fail or learn life’s lessons People are important, their happiness a need People are the reason the business fails or succeeds I got the recipe for success in life in business Strive to be your best self, look it’s real simple I got the strategy, the plan to make it grand Process, People, Product give the three P's a chance We talked about people, the most important  But process and product a core part of the vision Focus on efficiency, streamline the process Organization is key to getting orders done quick To produce a consistent product, fine-tune your process There’s nothing like a system that’s cost-efficient control your cash, stick to your core business know your numbers, merchandise what sells big Hear your customers out, take time and listen Focus on the goal and your value proposition  Aren’t open to change, don’t expect to improve Take what you learned here and use it as a tool When someone challenges you, gives you flack Do what you gotta do, put yourself to task Put up or shut up, It’s not about luck Performance is the best way to shut people up I got the recipe for success in life in business Strive to be your best self, look it’s real simple I got the strategy, THE plan to make it grand Process, People, Product give the three P's a chance I got the recipe for success in life in business Strive to be your best self, look it’s real simple I got the strategy, THE plan to make it grandProcess, People, Product give the three P's a chance