#oil mill business
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minioilmill · 6 months ago
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corpbizlegal · 8 months ago
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Learn how to start an oil mill business in India with this comprehensive guide. Explore key steps, including market research, business plan creation, machinery setup, and obtaining necessary licenses to ensure success.
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newbusinessideas · 1 month ago
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🚀 Want to be your own boss and make huge profits? Start your own Cooking Oil Business today! 🌿💰 🔥 The market is booming – don’t miss out on this golden opportunity! Hit FOLLOW for more business ideas! ✅ #BusinessGrowth #Entrepreneur #StartupSuccess #FoodManufacturing #SmallBiz #SideHustle
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reasonsforhope · 2 years ago
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"Governor Janet Mills announced that Maine has, two years ahead of time, surpassed its goal of installing 100,000 new heat pumps by 2025, a milestone that represents significant progress in reducing Maine’s reliance on heating oil, lowering heating costs, and curbing harmful carbon emissions.
To continue Maine’s momentum, Governor Mills also unveiled a new target: installing another 175,000 additional heat pumps in Maine by 2027, thereby bringing the number of heat pumps installed in Maine homes, businesses, and public buildings during her time in office to 275,000.
If this target is achieved, Maine would have more than 320,000 heat pumps in total installed across the state.
Heat pumps can be thought of as temperature recycling machines. They are filled with refrigerant fluid and contain a compressor, and they work by extracting excess heat and moving it around, either in or out of a house depending on whether it’s hot or cold.
It’s believed they work best in hot weather, but in February, Maine’s temperatures in some places plummeted during a cold snap to -60°F. Efficiency Maine, which aided in the state’s adoption of heat pumps by organizing rebates for customers under the provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, did a survey of owners they had helped the previous year.
Many of [the heat pump owners] reported they were comfortable and warm, and offered to bring up the fact that by February they had already saved hundreds of dollars on home heating systems, over boilers, gas furnaces, and heating oil.
“We are setting an example for the nation,” said Mills at the announcement event. ​“Our transition to heat pumps is… curbing our reliance on fossil fuels, and cutting costs for Maine families, all while making them more comfortable in their homes—a hat trick for our state.”
The transition began in 2019 with bipartisan support of the Legislature, when Governor Mills enacted laws setting ambitious targets for transitioning to renewable energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions."
-via Good News Network, July 31, 2023
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empressdede · 1 month ago
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Whispers of Magnolia - 3
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A/N: This is a love story set during segregation times. The languages are harsh but please be aware that I am trying to be as historically accurate as possible for fictional content. Racial slurs will be used, and some chapters involve really dark content: Death and Non consensual sex. Please read at your own will.
P.S. If you see her mother call her Line please know it’s being pronounced as (Leen) lol because I don’t want to confuse anyone😭
Banners used are made by @/firefly-graphics
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Chapter Three
New Orleans had always belonged to someone. Governors. Politicians. Oil tycoons. But in the late 1950s, it belonged to him.
Roman Reigns wasn’t just a man—he was a force, a storm that swept through the city and left nothing untouched. He controlled everything that mattered: the ports, the unions, the underground gambling rings, and even the police who were supposed to uphold the law. People feared him, respected him, and when they saw him coming, they either stepped aside or ended up buried beneath the weight of his wrath.
The name Roman Reigns had been whispered in the streets for years, growing into something more than just a man’s identity. It was a warning.
He came from a family of power, an empire built long before he was born. His father had been ruthless, his uncles worse. But Roman? He had taken what they built and turned it into something untouchable. The Bloodline ran New Orleans like it was stitched into the city’s foundation, a silent kingdom of wealth and violence that few dared to challenge.
The police? They were bought and paid for. The mayor? He owed Roman favors he could never repay. Business owners? They knew better than to operate without his blessing. And if anyone tried to cross him—if anyone thought for one second they could outsmart him—well, they didn’t live long enough to regret it.
The Bloodline wasn’t just Roman. It was his family.
Jimmy and Jey were his cousins, his right and left hands. Jimmy was the talker, the one who could charm his way out of anything. He laughed easily, made people feel at ease—right up until he decided to slit their throat. Jey, on the other hand, was quieter, colder. He didn’t waste words when action would do. When Roman needed something handled, Jey handled it, no questions asked.
Together, the three of them were untouchable.
Roman had started young, proving himself by taking over the docks where illegal shipments came in under the cover of darkness. By twenty, he was running the gambling houses on Bourbon Street. By twenty-five, he had expanded into Chicago, Miami, and even New York. But New Orleans? That was home. That was his kingdom.
He rarely had to get his hands dirty anymore—he had men for that. But when he did, the city remembered.
People still talked about what happened to William Devereaux, the banker who thought he could withhold money from Roman. They found him floating in the Mississippi, his hands tied behind his back, his tongue cut out—a warning to anyone else who thought they could betray the Bloodline.
And then there was the police chief who tried to investigate him. The man went missing for a full month before he was found in an abandoned sugar mill, his body burned beyond recognition.
But Roman? He never went to trial. Never spent a day behind bars. The police reports always went missing, witnesses always recanted their statements, and judges always ruled in his favor.
It wasn’t just fear that kept him in power. It was control.
He knew everyone’s secrets—what they did, who they did it with, what they’d pay to keep it quiet. And if there was something he didn’t know? Well, he had ways of finding out.
Still, despite all the power he held, there was one thing about Roman that unsettled even those closest to him.
He was never satisfied.
No amount of money, no amount of respect, no amount of power ever seemed to be enough. He always wanted more.
That’s why he had agreed to meet with the Rollins family. They were old money, the kind that had been sitting at the top of society for generations. They weren’t criminals like him—at least, not in the way that mattered—but they understood business, and they understood power.
Mr. Rollins needed security for his shipping yards, protection from the kind of men who weren’t afraid to take what they wanted. Roman could offer that, for a price.
So when he walked into that grand estate, it wasn’t about business. It was about ownership. Rollins thought he was making a deal. Roman knew he was making a conquest.
And then he saw her.
A girl—no, a woman,—moving silently through the room, her head down, her hands careful as she set glasses on the polished table. Dark skin, delicate hands, eyes that held a quiet strength he had never seen before.
Evangeline.
He didn’t know her name yet, but he would.
Because for the first time in years, Roman wanted something he couldn’t just take.
And that made her the most dangerous thing of all.
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I see this doesn’t catch the eye of many, BUT I love the story so much, I’m going to keep releasing anyway. I may also release chapter 4 tonight, just because. To those who read, enjoy. 🤍
VIP TAGLIST : @wrestlingprincess80 @whatdoeseverybodywant @pr0tost4r @paigereeder @alyyaanna @raya-hunter01 @mzv11 @trippinsorrows @partypoison00 @isabella-2025 @jstarr86 @chrisevanswife0405 @fearlesschimera @cyberdejos2 @whowrotethenote @potatosackk @ajaxcleaningsupplies @sayyestoheav3nn @chasssssworld @christinabae @glittergirl7 @itskii01 @fame-ass-ers @li-da-savage @ashykneee @kianaleani @holisticcoach @pittieprincess22 @sabrina-carpenter-stan-account @amandairene88 @luvrsluxe @jaethaone @horneyforsmut
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memecucker · 4 months ago
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Simpsons headcanon is that Mr Burns had deliberately sabotaged the Springfield Elementary oil well by intentionally making it hyperpolluting and inefficient to prevent any other buyers from coming in and potentially threatening his energy monopoly and also ruining the site for any future owners while being able to write it off as a business expense for taxes.
The existence of that oil well combined with how the presence of the Gay Steel Mill implies Springfield has ready access to large amounts of coal means that Mr Burns had to build his nuclear plant in an area where oil and coal would’ve been easily accessible as sources of energy. I maintain that this suggests at some point in the past Mr Burns had engaged in some hostile actions to undermine then existing oil or coal energy plants in the area which would’ve been to such an extent that he was able to get his nuclear plant built. This would also explain Burns’ reputation for being ruthless and cutthroat despite how he seems to be fairly parochial with his business interests because he had managed to defeat several powerful business interests to carve out his own fiefdom.
So basically my headcanon is that around the 1950s Mr Burns was an ambitious capitalist futurist utopian like Walt Disney or Andrew Ryan and had a grand ambition to make Springfield an advanced “Atomic City” and that he was partially able to succeed by establishing his nuclear plant as having an energy monopoly but was unable to enact his societally transformative ambitions but that this is the reason he still occasionally makes attempts to take over the town. For all I know this may have been the exact plot of one of the hundreds of episodes released since I last watched idk
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gamesetattach · 2 months ago
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Been churning out some self-indulgent Jannik Sinner reader-insert fics, there's such a lack of content on here that I figured I might as well post them.
Some of them less are less flushed out than others, and the premises can overlap sometimes... and it's different from my full effort writing style... but hey, I hope someone can enjoy them.
Gonna use this post as a masterlist eventually.
JANNIK SINNER FIC MASTERLIST
Comfort Zones and Conveniences, Part 1 - A one-night stand turned into a unavoidable fixture
Comfort Zones and Conveniences, Part 2 - An unproductive resistance to progressing the relationship
In Flight - An airport is the perfect place for chance encounters and first impressions
Amidst the Chaos - Coordinating the logistics of tennis tournaments is not for the weak, but run-ins with sweet Sinner are starting to make it more worth it
The Blind Leading the Blind - Reader goes on a set up double date against her better judgment and it's goes just about how she expected (very poorly), but there may have been one saving grace...
Coach Me Good, Sinner - Quick-witted reader has a ball at a tennis bootcamp led by none other than Jannik Sinner. And he finds her to be a pretty good time, too.
When World's Collide Series Masterlist - Williams newest racing strategist is shaking up the F1 world, and also... Jannik Sinner's?
Coach's (Honorary) Kid - Blurb of reader being introduced to Jannik through her longtime family friend and his coach, Darren Cahill
The Little Things - Short and sweet, a snapshot of Jannik's small gestures in his and reader's established relationship
It's You - Soulmate AU where all the things reader feels, Jannik does too, and vice versa. And that's because (spoiler) they're soulmates! And they meet!
Crushing Feelings, Part 1 - Reader tries to handle her growing, unrequited crush on Jannik Sinner; any distraction is welcome, no distraction is working...
Valentine's Special - Navigating long distance is lame, and also hard and sad. And apparently Valentine's Day is also lame, but that's secondary.
The Space Between Us - Jannik cold shoulders reader? Fine, be that way... but why is he that way, you ask? Well, little do you know...
You Always Know - Passing time through Sinner's ban isn't easy, but having reliable reader around helps. What they are to each other isn't quite describable, but it's real.
That One Night - Being a part of Lewis Hamilton's team means reader gets to meet a lot of athlete hot-shots, including the Jannik Sinner. They hit it off and get it on for a night, and that's kinda it... or is it??
Pleasant Distraction - Quick blurb where Jannik's run of the mill practice gets a surprise interruption by reader and her work and, suddenly, she's the most interesting thing on court.
What Do You See - Slightly withdrawn reader is tasked to photograph Sinner for Nike's newest campaign, she takes a beat to warm up and is... intriguing to say the least. Jannik certainly thinks so.
Unwinding, Unravelling (Release) - Life can be stressful!! The reader here can attest to that. Luckily her neighbor takes her in and... uh you know... takes care of her.
Night Owl - Boo, insomnia! Burning the midnight oil can be addicting, but it adds up real fast. Jannik quickly becomes reader's incentive to get some sleep.
Through Wins and Losses - A condition of being a pro-tennis power couple is supporting each other unconditionally, duh.
Crushing Feelings, Part 2 - Okay, so now that year-long unrequited crush has resolved itself... and the recovery so so sweet.
Lost in Translation - Working a job and being the only non-Italian surrounded by native speakers? Yeah, that comes with some close calls and consequences.
It's Never Just Coffee - Based on Chappell Roan's song, this fic follows the vicious cycle that is reader and Jannik's relationship. They just can't seem to escape it.
An Old Friend - Jannik's got his own busy life, and reader really does too, but they're good friends and get together when they can. And there's always been a little spark there, if they're being honest with themselves... To bad reader's never around long enough to explore it. +Can be read as standalone or a prequel to You Always Know
Rest and Relaxation - After making it the finals of a tournament, reader's body is wrecked with exhaustion. She spends her few days of reprise in between travel recovering at home with Jannik.
A Little Taste Before - Jannik has an idea to occupy the little idle time he has with reader before one of his matches... and he wants to act on it bad. Reader tries, and fails, to be the voice of reason.
Reps and Races - Preparing for the upcoming F1 Academy season means putting in the hours at the gym, and so reader is up in there. A new member joining makes her feel a little more inclined to go, though.
On the Record - A master of working the crowd and connecting with the players, sports commentator reader is often seen on screen for post-game interviews. The people eat it up, especially when it's Jannik up there with her.
No Words - Reader does the thankless work that is Sports PR. Jannik humors her, but with a lot of insistence, and it's not much more than that. Until he really sees her in all her glory...
Frustration - After taking a loss especially hard, reader takes out on her willing and understanding friend. Note that friend here actually means friends with benefits...
Thesis on Tour - Ph.D. student reader takes her work on the road every now and then, so she can spend time with her dear dear boyfriend.
*Updated 3/21/25
4-5 fics out every week, posted at 9:00 PM PST
Thanks very much xx
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redfoxwritesstuff · 4 months ago
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AN: What do we have here? Did we forget a couple presents under the tree? Merry Christmas Nyxy, happy Boxing day- I hope you don't regret it. That's it folks, we made it to the end of Smutmas! Did you like it? Or were you all too burned out on smut on the heels of Kinktober? Would you like to see this or a similar event next year? Above all, remember the biggest lesson learned here- don't lick doorknobs.
CW: Smut, religious trauma, pretending to be a priest, belly bulge, loss of virginity, anointing oil used as lube (Don't do this)
Summary: Vox is owed money and the price of business is high. He's not a businessman anyone should keep waiting. So when Father Francis does just that, Vox finds a rather entertaining way to pass the time while he waits around the church.
You make the perfect thing to pass the time with. Sweet, innocent and pure- you take every one of his lies at face value, trusting the new priest taking your confession in the place of Father Francis. The cost of forgiveness and absolution for your sins is high but… the new Father wouldn't lie to you, would he?
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Vox straightened his suit as he stood from the pew. Parishioners milled about still, lining up to speak to the priest as if he could somehow grant them salvation into heaven’s pearly gates if they but only had a few more moments of his time. 
The idea alone had Vox scoffing, but he did what he did best and put on a showman’s smile. There would be people who notice him, remember him, but that was the price he paid for being him.
“Father Francis!” Vox held out his hands, palms out, and spread in greeting. Nothing to see here, folks, just a friend greeting the father. “It’s so good to see you.”
Father Francis greeted, wrapping Vox in his arms in a tight hug. The preacher patted Vox’s back, whispering in his ear, “Wait in the confessional box.” 
Vox nodded, walking confidently over to the booths. He made a point of admiring the ornate craftsmanship; the details carved deep into the wood while he also looked around to see if anyone was watching him. 
As soon as the coast was clear, Vox opened the door closest to him and stepped inside. The dim light inside was just enough to see by, not illuminating much in the way of details.
There wasn’t much inside the small booth, all things considered. The bench was simple and hanging on a small hook inside the door was a spare set of robes, much like those that the good Father wore on a typical day. 
“Mr. Vox?” Father Francis poked his head inside the door. 
“Do you have the payment?” Vox asked, keeping his voice low. 
“I need to make a run to the hospital. A parishioner’s father is not well, I- It’s urgent, Mr. Vox.” The man stood just inside the small booth, looking sheepishly at Vox. 
“You’re not trying for a delay, are you, old chap?” Vox made a show of looking at his nails, not wanting Father Francis to have any more attention than Vox deemed necessary. 
“No!” Father Francis repeated the word, softer as he looked around sheepishly. “Not at all. I’ll have the funds. I just- we don’t think he’ll make it more than a few more hours. It’s vital that he has his last rites. You understand, don’t you?” 
“Sure,” Vox waved his hand as if he was batting away a bug. “I’ll just wait right here. You won’t be long, will you?” 
“Make yourself comfortable in the chapel.” 
“Oh,” Vox laughed. “I’ll be waiting right here.” 
“No, no-” Father Francis laughed awkwardly as he reached for the door. “Someone will mistake you as a preacher. You-” 
“Good!” Vox said, a smile blooming on his face. “All the more reason for you to hurry back.” 
~~~~~<3
Vox sat, passing the time, playing what amounted to dress up. The last thing he wanted was to step out of the little box and have to deal with socializing. Instead, he put on the robes, dressing himself in the garb of Father Francis’ role. He admired the feel of the robes, how different they made him feel, only to freeze in place at the sound of door hinges squeaking. 
Someone stepped into the booth on the other side of the wall. Vox looked back and forth in a panic, hoping to find some sort of hint, something to tell him what he should do or say next. 
“Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.” Your soft voice carried through the wall easily. You sat neatly on the small bench, head down, as you focused on your task. 
“Haven’t we all,” Vox whispered under his breath. 
“I’m sorry?” You looked up, eyes glanced at the mesh that obscured your view of the man on the other side of the wall. You couldn’t see much more than the basic shape of him sitting there. 
“Nothing,” Vox waved the question away, out of habit more than anything, not knowing if you could see him at all. “Carry on.” 
“It has been… it has been a while since my last confession, Father.” Your fingers twisted in the soft fabric of your skirt as you tried to will the tears back from your eyes. The air in the booth tasted bitter and stale on your tongue, but you forced yourself to take a deep lungful of it, anyway. 
“Tell me of your sins?” Vox urged, not knowing for sure if it was the right thing to say but wanting to urge you on. You had such a pretty voice. He couldn’t help but wonder if the face matched it. Hell, did your body match the voice? 
“I’ve… lust has plagued me,” you whispered, struggling to find your voice in the face of the horrible things you had been thinking. “I- the thoughts come to me during the darkness of night, during the devil’s hours. I focus on my prayers, but the thoughts- they even come to me in my dreams.” 
“And what are those thoughts, exactly?” Vox asked, leaning forward. 
“I beg your pardon?” Your voice wavered as you looked again at the mesh between you. 
“I need to know the details of your thoughts,” Vox said, eyes straining to look through the mesh to see the woman sitting on the other side. “How else can I offer you absolution?” 
“I-” you hesitated only for Vox to speak over your doubts. 
“You can trust me,” Vox said, smile spreading wide. “I’m just a man of God, here to help.” 
“Okay,” Doubt lingered in your voice, but you pushed on. “There’s been men- I’ve been noticing them. I’ve been noticing things about them and thinking-” 
“What have you been noticing about them?” Vox asked, scooting closer to the mesh, hoping to see something more than just your silhouette. 
“Oh.” The sound came out as a sweet little squeak that ran down Vox’s spine. “The… the way their pants rest on their…their bodies.” 
“What parts of their bodies?” Vox pressed. “You need to be honest and detailed or I cannot help you.” 
“Right,” you sighed the word, face and chest growing hot with the words you were going to say. “The way they rest on… their hips and around their… pelvis.” It took you a while to settle on the right word, unsure how… vulgar the good Father wished for you to be. “I also… notice the way their shirts fit across their chest or the way the muscles in their hands and arms move.” 
“And what does that noticing inspire?” Vox leaned closer to the mesh wall. “Our God made the human form in his perfect image, did he not? Isn’t admiring the beauty of it little more than worshiping of His greatest work?” 
“I-” You sighed, “Yes, I suppose, but… It makes me think of how it would feel if they… if they gave me their attentions.” 
“In what sort of way?” Vox had his face nearly pressed against the mesh now, finally seeing you, though poorly. 
“In…. romantic ways.” Your voice came meeker as shame washed over you. 
“How?” Vox pressed, needing more, wanting more. He could hear the shame in your voice, the watery sound of emotion threatening to choke your words. 
“I… I think of how it would feel to have their hands on my.. on my thighs or touching my breasts.” You choked on the words, face burning with shame as you ran your hands through your hair. Curling in on yourself, you willed the words to continue. If you couldn’t say it, he couldn’t help you. “I think of how it would feel if they kissed me and held me as a husband should hold his wife.” 
“And how is that?” Vox shifted, pants growing tighter under the robes. “You must be very detailed, my child. The devil is in the details and you do want me to help you, don’t you?” 
You whimpered, curling in on yourself more. Never had you felt so shameful sitting in this little booth. It had been a place of comfort for most of your life, but now? Shame was all you felt. It had been too long since you had come. That was what made your mind, heart, and soul weak. 
“I think of… the feeling of his skin against mine. I- Of the way his lips would feel on my skin… and what it would feel like to have them… have them take me to their beds and lay with me.” Tears welled in your eyes as you confessed to the good Father your sins. 
“Have you acted on these desires?” Vox asked, palming his hardening cock through his pants.
“I am pure,” you whispered, pleading with the priest on the other side of the thin wall to believe you. Your attendance slipped, but you were still godly. You hadn’t acted on the thoughts. You had done nothing forbidden. He had to believe you. God had to believe you, had to know. 
“Even to yourself?” Vox asked, pulling his cock from his pants, moving slowly to make as little noise as possible. Once he was free, head brushing against the inside of the robes, he wrapped his fingers around his shaft. A sigh whispered between his lips as he leaned back, shifting his hips toward the edge of the seat as he worked his fist over the length of him slowly. “Do you touch yourself to these thoughts? Do you indulge in the- the lust of them?” 
“I-” Tears ran down your cheeks. You were crying openly now, no longer making an effort to hide it. If you wanted forgiveness, you had to lay it all bare in front of the Father and in front of God. “I almost did, Father. Last night- That’s why I came here. Please, I do not wish to sin.” 
“Do you feel it?” he murmured, his voice low and deliberate as his hand began to move faster over his length. “That ache inside you, the one that refuses to be ignored?”
“Yes, Father.” You answered, though you were not sure you understood. The ache inside you was the demon, clawing at your insides, demanding your fall. 
“The cure is surrender,” he said, leaning closer to the mesh. “You have to open yourself completely. Let yourself be filled, every inch of you, until there’s nothing left but the purity of what you’ve accepted.” 
Your pulse quickened, your voice barely audible. On the other side of the thin wall, you could just hear a rhythmic rustling, almost. It was a ghost of the sound, as if he was rubbing his leg. “And if I can’t?” 
A slow smile curved his lips. “You will,” he said, his tone curling around you in sinful delight. You told yourself it was little more than the whispers of demons. “You just have to let it take you... wholly.”
“I’m scared.” Your voice was broken, strangled by fear and shame. 
“Oh fuck,” Vox whispered, precum smearing against the inside of the robe. “The price for absolution will be high, my child.” Vox struggled to keep his voice steady as he swiped a thumb over the head of his cock, smearing the slick fluid that hadn’t been wiped away yet. 
“I’ll do whatever it takes,” you cried, turning to face the man you could not see, tears dropping from your chin. The scraping of your nails against the wooden frame of the booth was loud in the small space, or at least it seemed that way to you and to Vox. 
“The cure for lust is to be filled with- with the Holy Spirit.” Vox said again, “This is a ceremony of utmost seriousness a-and we must begin it immediately.”
Vox was certain you would question him. There was no way you would just accept his lies. Surely he was too far off the accepted script, but damn, you sounded so sweet and innocent, sitting there crying in the other half of the box… and he wanted you. 
He wanted to take that innocence and grind it under his heel. It angered him in a way that he couldn’t explain that something as sweet and innocent as you could exist, untainted.
“What must I do?” you whispered. “I’ll do anything to be in God’s graces again, to be freed of this demon. Please, Father. Please, help me?” 
“Good,” Vox sighed, cringing as he tried to shove his cock away, settling on fastening his pants up over his shaft. The waistband pinned his head to his abdomen. “Stand up and close your eyes,” Vox said, smile growing wide and greedy. “Do not open them until I tell you. I’m going to lead you to a room where we can see to this ceremony.” 
“But Father-?” You stood, eyes fluttering shut even as you questioned him. You were, at your core, a good girl who listened to the authority of the Church. 
“Do you trust your God?” Vox asked, standing himself. “Do you trust in the power he has vested in me?” 
“Yes,” you said without a shadow of doubt as that feeling twisted your insides. It was a vile, uncomfortable feeling that had you shifting your weight from one foot to the other. 
“Good girl,” Vox said, stepping out of the booth. 
The church was empty. His eyes settled on the altar and oh, he would love nothing more than to push everything off of it and take you right on top of it. That wouldn’t do, though. It would be pushing you too far. 
He opened the door to your booth, finding you standing with your eyes closed. You were just as he hoped you to be. Perfect and meek and oh so good. You looked like a ripe fruit, ready for the picking. Perhaps you were an apple?
Vox was eager to spoil you for all that would come after him. “Keep your eyes closed.” 
“Why?” you asked, even as you continued to obey, walking forward as a hand wrapped around your arm at the elbow, tugging you softly out of the box. 
“Why, we must keep the sanctity of the confession.” A wicked smile spread on Vox’s face, though you could not see it. All you could hear was the soft care in his voice, promising you he was a man who cared about what’s best for you. 
Vox lead you carefully through the church. He wasn’t totally unfamiliar with the building. The altar was too risky, but Father Francis’ office- surely no one would go in his office without at least knocking first. He watched as he lead you, ensuring your eyes stayed closed each step of the way. 
You allowed yourself to be led, heart pounding in your chest as you squeezed your eyes closed. Fear kept trying to worm itself into your mind, but you pushed it back down again and again, reminding yourself that you were safe. You were with a man of God. 
“Where are we going?” you asked. “What happens next?” 
Vox shushed you. “I need you to show faith in your God.” 
Vox walked you into the office, your simple heels clicking against the hardwood floors. After directing you to stand where you were, Vox made quick work of cleaning the desk of the stacks of papers and books Father Francis left littered on the surface. 
Once the task was seen to, he returned to your side, placing a steady hand at the small of your back. “We’re just about ready.” 
“Can I open my eyes?” you asked. 
“Not now,” Vox said, smoothing down the hair at the back of your head as he walked you up to the desk. “You must show great faith as I exercise the demons of lust from you. You cannot open your eyes before I say you can. Are you ready and willing to offer your body up as a sacrificial lamb in exchange for absolution?”
“What is going to happen?” Your voice trembled as you once again reminded yourself that you needed to trust the Father. He would take good care of you, as was his duty. He wouldn’t harm one of his flock. Still, the very idea of giving your body as sacrifice terrified you. “Will it hurt?” 
“No,” Vox said sweetly, “I promise I will try my best to not cause you any pain.” 
“What must I do?” You tried to sound brave, tried to lean on your faith for the strength to get through the unknown trials ahead of you. 
“Bend over.” Vox brought your hand to the solid surface of the old wooden desk. “Lay over this. Whatever comes next, know that I am working as an agent of the divine to purge you of these sinful thoughts. You are safe in God’s house. The Devil cannot touch you here.” 
“Yes, Father.” You laid across the flat surface. Cold from the wood radiating up into you as you willed your breathing to slow, trying to be calm. 
What attempts you made at calming your nerves were undone as a large hand ran along your thigh, moving over the thick fabric of your skirt. You squeezed your eyes closed as the hand moved around your side, caressing up the curve of your ass. 
“Have faith,” you whispered to yourself as the hand hooked under the elastic band of your skirt and your panties. “Have faith.” 
“Yes,” Vox said above you. “Have faith. This is what must be done to purge you of your sinful thoughts. I must be able to see the areas where you long to feel the touch of sin to purify it.” 
“What should I do?” You asked again, not daring to open your eyes. 
“Just lay there,” Vox answered. “I will take care of everything.” 
He wasn’t surprised in the slightest to see the full coverage, modest panties fall to the ground around your ankles along with your skirt. What did surprise Vox was that your stockings were thigh highs, not tights that would reach up to your waist. A part of you enjoyed the feeling of something scandalous, a little sexy. 
You trembled, laying on the desk as your most private place was exposed. “Have faith,” you whispered again and again before whispering prayers. It felt right while you were being prepped for a ceremony that you should pray. 
Vox looked at your folds, moist but far from the slick pathway he would need your virginal body to be. 
“Stay just like that,” Vox said, running his hands over the naked curve of your ass before leaving you. 
Things clattered around you as the Father looked around the room, looking for something. You laid there, listening as you whispered your prayers. Even within the sanctity of the church, you could feel the siren call of lust demanding your attention. 
The feeling of the Father’s hand on your skin felt good, and that was sinful. That was why you needed him to purify you. You needed help. He had to help you.
You needed something, though you didn’t understand what it was your body was longing for as you shifted your weight from one foot to the other. The change in position stimulated something between your legs, something sinful that had you shifting your weight again, thighs rubbing against each other as you did so.
Vox returned to you, standing back for a moment to just watch as your thighs moved against eachother. From between your puffy folds, he could see the glittering of slick starting to build ever so slightly, reflecting the dim light in the room back at him. 
You may have been a pure church girl, but your body responded like the slut you wanted to be. He smiled, knowing you were aroused even if you didn’t understand it at the time. 
“Move your feet apart,” Vox ordered, eyes locked on your folds as they spread, exposing your opening more. “Good girl.” 
“Please,” you whispered. “I need to be freed from this sin. I- I can feel it calling to me, tempting me even here.” 
“Sin cannot reach you here,” Vox said, opening the bottle of anointing oil and sniffing it. There was nothing to the scent that gave him any reason to believe it would sting or burn either your sensitive walls or him. “I am going to anoint you now.” 
Cold wetness dripped onto your core, running over folds and down your legs as you jumped. Vox shushed you, offering honeyed words of reassurance as he spread the slick oil over your exposed sex.
The strange sensation wasn’t unpleasant, and that terrified you. You trembled under his touch, body begging you to lean back, to chase the feeling of his hands running along your slick folds. 
“Isn’t this a sin?” You struggled to keep your eyes closed, wanting nothing more than to look back at the Father for reassurance. 
“It is a blessing,” he said, robes shuffling. “Keep your eyes closed and I’ll save you from the demons of lust.” 
“Okay,” you whispered, wanting to believe him. He was a priest. He was a man of God. He wouldn’t hurt you. He wouldn’t cause you to sin.
For a moment, Vox simply stepped back, admiring the view you made while he pulled the robes up, gathering it around his abdomen and tucking the fabric into the back of his pants. He carefully worked his fly down, trying to make as little noise as possible before he returned his hands to you. 
He gripped the globes of your ass, spreading you open for a clearer view of your slicked up hole. Fuck, he groaned internally. You looked tight. It would make sense. You were a fucking virgin, unspoiled even by yourself. 
Vox looked forward to ruining that. 
Vox poured some of the oil onto his shaft, smearing it around and slicking himself up as he watched your legs shake with how badly you wanted to close them. You were such a good girl, listening to him so well. 
He would reward you for that obedience. How many times could he bring you to orgasm? Would your body be responsive, or would you fight the pull of pleasure? Vox knew he was going to ensure you at least had one. Sure, this had very little to do with you but he was anything but a selfish lover. 
Vox rubbed the blunt tip of his cock through your folds, critical eyes cataloging every reaction of your body. He watched as your muscles tensed as he probed your entrance and jumped under your skin as he nudged your pretty little clit. 
The slick oil was far from a perfect lubricant but hopefully, you would soon relace it with your own natural productions. Vox pressed the head of his cock against your opening, parting the walls for the first time with such slowness he would consider it to be care. 
“What are you-?!” you gasped, spine pulling tight and lifting your head up off the desk as his bulbus head popped inside of you. The stretch of him burned. Your eyes shot open, though you did everything you could to not look over your shoulder. 
Hands rested on your bare hips, holding you in place. It wasn’t needed. You didn’t have anywhere you could have gone with the desk in front of you. 
“In order to purify you,” Vox said, thumbs rubbing soothing circles on your lower back. “The oil must go inside the core of your lust. It must be placed with something holy.” As he spoke, he sank deeper and deeper into you. The way your body squeezed around him made it hard to think or breathe, but Vox knew he couldn’t afford any mistakes. You had believed everything he had said and he would not fuck it up now. “You understand, don’t you? I’m doing this for you, to save your soul.” 
“Yes, Father.” The words tumbled out of your mouth as you felt the front of his pants press into your ass. 
The feeling of something inside of you stole your breath away. You felt so full as his seated cock twitched inside you, spreading blessed oil onto your inner walls. Your mind screamed at you that this was wrong, that something was wrong, but you refused to think about that. The burning pleasure of his holy tool pulling from your anointed body was more important. 
You expected him to withdraw from you now, having used his most holy tools to anoint you from the inside out. Instead, he pushed inside you again, moving slowly enough that your walls allowed him to drag but not lingering. 
“What is happening?” You asked as his hips again nestled against your ass. 
“I carry in me the Holy Spirit,” Vox said, thrusting slowly into you again and again, feeling as your body adjusted to the intrusion. “It takes time for me to deposit it within you. Only then will you be pure again of sin, free of the demons of Lust.” 
Shudders ran down your body as you struggled with the full feeling of having something inside you. It felt wrong, but not unpleasant. You wanted more of it and for him to stop all at once. 
It was alright; you kept telling yourself that again and again. He was a holy man. It wasn’t fornication; it was a ceremony. He wasn’t acting as a man. He was acting as a vessel of the Lord. 
You struggled as he pushed into you. You wanted to chase the feelings he was giving you, the sensations whispering of pleasure you could only imagine if you just gave in. Surely, resisting the call of the pleasure was a part of the test. 
“Give in,” Vox whispered above you. “Relax. Let it happen.” 
“Oh-” your breath hitched, breaking the sound up into a gasp. Confusion warred with the pleasure of the ceremony. “Okay.” 
Vox looked down at you, watching as your body shifted up the desk with every slow thrust in. You were so tight wrapped around his cock. Tight, innocent, virginal as you whispered your sweet little prayers, begging for salvation even as he ruined you. 
Vox couldn’t help the grin that spread on his face as he slowly picked up his pace. Each thrust into you brought pleasure through you both, stroking nerves that no one had touched before. 
As his thrusts came faster, you couldn’t manage to take a full breath. The force of his godly hips hitting your ass knocked the breath from your lings. Each thrust hit you with a spike of pleasure, making your voice jump as he hit something inside you that seemed to act like a wall. 
“Oh, ow!” you jerked away from the feeling. 
“Shh,” Vox cooed behind you, pushing his cock deep into you, slowly pushing your cervix back to allow him to truly bottom out. Reaching around your hips, he ran his fingers over your oiled folds, searching until he found the nub of your clit. “Just relax. Your body will make room for me, for God. That’s the demon inside you.” 
It took everything in Vox to not laugh at the nonsense he was spewing, focusing instead on the way your warm body felt around him. 
“The demon?” You whimpered as his cock pushed against that painful thing again. 
“Yes,” Vox said as his fingers slipped around your oil coated clit. “Can you feel it?” He knew you could. There was no way your body could lie to him. He felt the way your body clenched when he hit your cervix. He felt the ripples of tensing muscles that irritating the sensitive end of your tunnels caused. 
“I can,” you gasped. “It hurts me. Will you chase it away?” 
“I will,” Vox promised as he worked his cock into you again and again. “You must submit and let whatever happens happen.” 
His body slapped against yours, the sharp edge of the desk cutting into your hips with each thrust. Pain shot up through you as he hit the demon again and again. Along with the pain, pleasure came. You tried to focus on the sensations, the pleasure that the blessing was giving you. 
Each thrust into you by the holy tool brought more and more pleasure. “Something’s happening,” you cried out as your muscles tensed. Something inside you felt like it was becoming brittle and ready to break. “Something’s-” 
“Let it happen,” Vox said. “It’s alright.” 
Your legs spread more, chasing the feeling of the blessing. It felt… so good. That was why this ceremony was a secret. If anyone knew how good it felt, they would think it was sinful. 
Vox was more than pleased to watch your feet inch further apart, giving him better access to your clit. That and a small pinch to the sensitive bundle was all it took to have your walls twitching and clamping down around his cock. 
“Oh,” Vox moaned, choking off the curse that so badly wanted to tumble from his lips. “That’s it.” 
Your fingers dug into the desk as your eyes clamped closed. It felt like the good Father was pulling your body apart, ripping every muscle fiber from another before putting them all back together again. 
“Good girl,” Vox whispered, riding the waves of your orgasm, thrusting through the sensitive walls as he waited for their waves of pleasure to calm. “You’re doing so good for me, for your- for our God.” 
“Is it- Are we done?” You panted, fingers twitching as his pace slowed. “Is it outside of me?”
“No,” Vox sighed, reaching down and wrapping a large hand around your leg. He lifted it, twisting and rolling your body so that you were spread wide, leg bent and hooked around his torso. Each thrust into you in the new position had his pants rubbing against your sensitive clit as his shaft worked into your tight hole. 
“No?” You whimpered, torn. You should have been disappointed, but you were far from it. You wanted the Father to continue his ceremony, working his tool into you repeatedly, giving you such pleasure. 
That was the demon talking. You knew that. That’s why you needed him to purify you. Only God’s blessing would save you from the demon within you, trying to pervert a holy ceremony. 
“Please,” you whispered, eyes slitting open as you looked at the ceiling. “Please, my God.” 
Vox smiled, hand running up your side as he held your leg to his torso. “That’s right, doll.” 
You could feel him pushing against nerves you hadn’t realized went untouched before. Each thrust into you stole your breath as you focused on trying to keep your eyes closed. Pleasure had nearly replaced all the pain and discomfort now. Each thrust into you was smooth and filling. 
“Oh, God,” you whispered, pleasure building as it had before. You knew now that when it reached its peak, something magical, powerful would happen. Was that something God had given you, something that was a part of the ceremony? Or perhaps it was something you could look forward to sharing when you married and gave your body to your husband. 
“Unbutton your shirt,” Vox ordered, struggling to push back his orgasm. He wanted to see you finish at least one more time. 
“Why?” Your protest came out more as a sigh than anything else, fingers acting before you had an answer. 
“The demon will leave through your skin,” Vox lied, pleased to see you doing as he said without question. The pleasure mixed with your faith, making you the perfect little fuckdoll. 
He pushed your shirt back from your body, exposing your white bra. Of course it was simple, covering the whole of your breasts. It was expected though he wished he could have seen them. 
All in good time. Perhaps after a second orgasm you’d be fucked too stupid to question why he needed to see your tits. It was just a matter of time. You were already getting there, one orgasm in. Virgins were so fucking easy. 
Each thrust pushed you against the desk. Your foot lifted off the floor, the toe of your shoe grazing the hardwood floor as he pushed into you again. A flush rose to your chest and face anew as you caught sight of the man working into you, handsome and unknown. 
“Father?” you whispered, watching his eyes leave your exposed sex and run up your body. “I don’t-” 
“Shh,” his voice came out soft, reassuring as he rocked his tool into you harder and faster. “You’re doing so good for me, my child.” 
“Who-” The tightening in your body stole the ability to question anything. Whatever had happened early was coming dangerously close to happening again. 
“Priest,” Vox groaned out the word and by god, you accepted the answer, moaning as his tool twitched inside you. “You’re going to be so pure, so holy.” 
The promise of healing, of forgiveness mixed with the promise of pleasure, sending you over the edge once again. Your back arched with the force of the muscle contractions, breasts pushing out as your toes curled in your shoes. Sweet moans flowed from your mouth. 
“Oh God,” you cried out as the handsome Father’s fingers dug into your thigh and hips. “Oh God. Bless me.” 
“Soon,” Vox whispered. “Soon, my child.” 
“More?” You whispered, as his tool twitched strongly inside your clinched walls. “Do we need to go more?” 
“Yes,” Vox groaned, watching the way your folds twitched with the power of your internal contractions. Your body was begging him for his seed. “Lay back now.” 
Vox helped you roll onto your back, passing your leg to his other side. He guided your other leg up, resting them both on his shoulders. Leaning forward, strong hands ran up your sides as he watched your eyes flutter, settling on him, dazed. 
There was nothing he had to fear now. You were far too drunk on his cock to think about what he wore under his robes or why you had never seen him before. He pushed the soft cotton of your bra up, freeing your tits from their confines. 
“What-?” The question was little more than a sigh as you watched him reach for a bottle on the side of the desk. 
“I need to anoint you,” Vox said, thrusting lazily into you. “Where the demon has wanted you to sin.” 
Warmth radiated off the hand he planted on the desk, tempting you to reach out for him. Cold oil splashed as it drizzled on your chest. The tool inside you twitched as a thin stream of oil ran over your breasts. 
Vox set the bottle aside, not bothering to put the stopper on before reaching out to you again. His warm hand smeared the slick oil over the mounds of your chest, fingers slipping over your nipples in a futile attempt to pinch the pebbled buds. 
You arched into the touch, begging for his blessing. Your hips rocked, forcing him to move inside you, seeking more. 
Once your skin was shiny with the oil, dim office lights reflecting off your curves, Vox’s hand returned to your hip. Finally, he began to thrust into you again. He watched, eyes roaming eagerly as he pounded into you with more force than he had before. 
Your body jerked harshly on the desk, no longer pinned in place by your legs as his hips crashed into you again and again. Each blow into you pushed against that thing, that sign of the demon inside of you. The pain was less, just as he had promised it would be. 
“Bless you,” you gasped as the pleasure of his tool hitting that place outweighed the pain. The demon was being purged from you with each thrust inside of you. “I want to be pure.” 
“You will be,” Vox grunted, pushing your legs off his shoulders. He pushed your legs down, causing your heels to click against the wooden floor. “I can see it inside you.” 
Vox was talking about the way his cock pressed out against your abdomen, but you, sweet innocent you shuddered, thinking he could see the demon inside of you. 
“Please,” you moaned the words. “Please, make me pure, make me holy. Please, I want to be free from sin. Please, Father. Please.” 
Your begging was just what Vox wanted to hear. His cock twitched and swelled, threatening to explode within you, but he pushed his orgasm back, focusing on anything else. He threw your legs back over his shoulders and leaned into you. 
He nearly folded you in half as the desk groaned under the weight. Dark hair that had once been so perfectly combed back fell into his eyes as he pounded his tool into you. The pleasure was overwhelming, pulling moans from your lips easily. 
Your breasts moved with every harsh thrust, tempting Vox to taste the oil he had smeared onto them. Your chants, pleas for your silly God to protect you, to bless you, went on and on as your body tightened. The force of your orgasm choked the words off, throat too tight for them to push through. 
“Vox?” The door to the office opened as Father Francis stepped into view. 
“Shit,” Vox hissed, jerking back from you just as his cock twitched, ropes of hot seed cascading from his tip as he slipped from your warm, milking embrace. 
Vox wrapped his hand around his cock, eyes only darting over his shoulder for a moment before he focused on working his hand quickly over his length. Cum shot out, splattering your folds before he adjusted the angle, salvaging the situation. 
“Oh God,” you cried out as his holy spirit landed on your stomach. Ropes of it shot out from his tool, landing on your chest and running down your oil covered breasts. 
“What are you doing in here?” Father Francis snapped before remembering himself. Vox was not a man to be fucked with. Certainly, Vox was not a man he could afford to fuck with. 
“I was waiting for you to return, Father. Entertaining myself.” Vox said, shrugging his shoulders as he tucked his softening dick into his pants. The sound of his zipper being pulled up was deafening in the small office. 
You rose up on your elbows, looking to Father Francis and the new Father with wide eyes. 
“Father Francis,” you said. “The new Father- he was helping rid me of…” your words trailed off as the new Father reached behind him, pulling the robes off and tossing them aside without a care.” Rid me of the demon of… Of lust..” 
“He’s no Father.” Father Frances said, handing the other man an envelope and ordering, “You need to leave.” 
“Don’t keep me waiting next time,” Vox said, winking over his shoulder at you as you scrambled to cover your body, pulling your shirt across your breasts and pulling your knees up to your chest. 
Panic ran through your veins like cold ice as you realized the man you had been with was no priest. The world wavered as tears welled in your eyes. He was no man of god; he was a demon personified and you? You were nothing more than a dirty sinner. 
Fornication was your crime. 
Father Francis watched Vox walk away as if he hadn’t potentially ruined someone’s life before looking back at you. It didn’t surprise him in the least that you had fallen for the charming lies; you were innocent as could be. 
“You are not guilty of the sins another enacted upon you. Our Lord forgives you for anything he may have led you to do. Go… Go clean yourself up.” Father Francis turned on his heel, walking out of his office as tears ran down your face. 
You were dirty, defiled. He had stolen your purity from you. God had let him take from you within his own house. You felt betrayed and worthless. The emptiness within you was crushing as you pulled your bra down over your breasts. 
It was on that day that you came face to face with the demon of lust in the church. You had been too weak to resist the temptation. You had lost the battle that day, but you walked out of the church with a renewed determination to live your life godly, sinless. 
Though you had the holiest of intentions, in the darkness of night, your hand crept up your thighs as you remembered what it felt like to be taken by the demon of lust. 
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Thank you for joining us for Smutmas 2024! This year, smutmas was a colab between @redvexillumRedVexi and I with prompts provided by @nyx-umbrakinesisNyx. Together we make up the admin team of VoxTek Inc on Discord. We thank you for letting us smut up your holidays.
Nyx, Thank you for the prompts- We've had a blast perverting them, twisting them at times so out of shape they hardly look like what you expected.
If YOU would like your own prompts, reach out to Nyx either here on tumblr or join VoxTek and hit up the Prompt Goddess there!
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serpentface · 6 months ago
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Question for Faiza: what does the average day for an Odonii priestess entail?
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We wake before dawn, and most of us spend the morning working around the temple. We maintain the shrines and grounds so- tending the hearths and burning the offerings, collecting water from the spring, feeding the lions. And there's always lay visitors milling around the temple while we're doing all this, but our attendants take care of the general public interfacing so. We can mostly focus on our duties.
There's always going to be some pregnant women or the odd soldier stopping in, so you might give out blessings once? Twice? On any given day. Rarely any more than that. But sometimes, you'll be right in the middle of something important- it's always when you're in the middle of something - and then, suddenly, in wanders an entire troupe. And you hear them before you see them. They'll have brought every single weapon and piece of armor they own, so they're clanging loud enough to wake the dead. And you'll just be standing there thinking, well, this is going to be my entire morning now.
...But it's very important work of course, attending our soldiers. Give a man Odomache's blessing, and he fights more bravely alone than twenty without.
Once the temple closes, we usually spend most of the afternoon just preparing the amenchalme. So- grinding the maize, then blessing the maize, then grinding the salt, then blessing the salt, then mixing the wine, then blessing the wine, then mixing the oil, then blessing the oil... It's a little tedious, I won't lie. But I think this is our most important duty, in a way. Out of every rite we perform, day in and day out, this is the one that serves all our people. The amenchalme that blesses a whore's nameless bastard daughter at birth and the amenchalme that blesses a great lord at his wedding is the very same, made by the very same hands. So when I see priestesses shunting the task off to initiates so they can go nap on the grounds or play with their muskets...
I digress.
So, when the rest of our duties are complete, we end the day with training. This is mostly practicing the six dances. Ideally, every Odonii in the temple should be assembled and practicing in unison. But in practice, there's usually some stragglers. So you'll be out in the yard and everyone is following the same drumbeat, but you'll see one group dancing the spear, another dancing the musket, and then another who's already finished and running laps around the grounds just to kill time.
Our core duties are over at sundown, and we're free to do as we please. Dinner is served at the temple, so most of us will spend an hour or two in the hall, you know, socializing, having a little wine, unwinding. I like to go down to the ocean after dinner, when I can. I prefer the quiet.
Uh, so that's an average day for the vast majority of us. It varies throughout the year, of course. Things get busy when we're approaching festivals. Or during wartime. And I'm a senior Odonii and liaison to the Usoma, so-. My duties tend to be considerably more complex, year-round. Sometimes I miss those long afternoons just mindlessly pounding maize, haha.
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Notes:
-Temples to Odomache are open to the public from dawn until noon, and closed throughout the rest of the day. The temple consists of a great shrine that is publicly accessible by all, inner walled grounds that are prohibited to the public outside of certain festivals (tame lions are kept here), private spaces only Odonii and temple staff can enter (the Odonii's quarters and bathrooms, a dining hall, library), and ritually private spaces that only Odonii can enter (an inner shrine reserved for internal cult practice that is forbidden knowledge for non-Odonii)
-Odonii-attendants are high ranking servants to the priesthood. They start out as child servants given to the order by their fathers who perform most of the basic labor (this is a very attractive position to poor families in particular, as the family is paid until the child comes of age, and the child themself can acquire a degree of security and potential for class mobility that is otherwise difficult to attain). Those who choose to remain with the order upon adulthood (they have no choice in the matter beforehand due to children being under full legal jurisdiction of their fathers) may eventually graduate into attendant positions. This is a well paid and esteemed job, with attendants managing most of the practical logistics of maintaining a temple and interfacing with the public.
Servants to Odonii are only women and eunuchs. Those considered male are forbidden from this role (which entails entering some ritually private spaces, and sometimes seeing them naked in the course of bathing/being armored, etc) - the Odonii's body is sacrosanct and an analogue to the power and the security of the Wardi nation and God Itself, and the male gaze is considered uniquely dangerous to a metaphysically vulnerable female body and thus to be fundamentally violating of this sacred state.
-Outside of certain festivals and rituals, Odonii only perform blessings for royalty, soldiers, and pregnant women. Odonii also bless soldiers' weapons and armor.
-Amenchalme is the basic material used in public rites for blessing and purification. The finished product is a paste that is daubed on the body to give blessings, and consecrates animals/humans for sacrifice. It is exclusively produced by Odonii, but used in a broad variety of contexts.
-'Nameless' in the context of 'nameless bastard daughter' means not having a family name - ie an orphan of unknown parentage, or not being claimed by one's father, and therefore not having access to and the protection of the family as the foundational social unit in Wardi society. Namelessness itself is stigmatized, and its implications invariably entail ostracization and lowered status. Faiza saying 'whore's nameless bastard daughter' is her conjuring up like, the lowest possible status Wardi citizen she can imagine.
-The six dances are the core weapons-dances used in rites and for combat training, centered around the key weapons techniques- spear, sword, handgun, musket, spear and shield, sword and shield. Bow dances are still practiced by most soldiers (given that firearms are limited enough in access to have not fully replaced them) but are no longer part of the Odonii's core retinue.
-Faiza privately ascribes to a niche quasi-atheist strain of Wardi philosophy that posits that God fully died during creation and can no longer directly affect the world, and thus does not believe that the majority of rites her Entire Life is built on performing have any intrinsic divinely sourced effects. She is very good at not letting any of this slip, but tends to frame the benefits of rites around their practical effects (ie- soldiers who believe they are protected by God fight more bravely).
Her emphasis on the importance of amenchalme as is partly rooted in sincere conviction that all* (*Imperial Wardi citizen) people should receive the practical benefits of the state's religion regardless of class and she finds the ubiquity of the substance to be an equalizer, and partly because she absolutely believes in bad luck, ghosts, and evil spirits, and amenchalme protects people from those.
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dronebiscuitbat · 12 days ago
Text
Oil is Thicker Then Blood:Polarity
Chapter 2: Freinds
This is a bit shorter. And the art is not as polished as last time... but I have been busy as fuck this week and this is all I managed. Part of me wants to apologize but I'm not gonna because that would imply I could have tried harder (and that's not true.)
So. Enjoy. It'll be up on AO3 later.
Tera pushed open the doors to the school building, the wooden doors groaning on their hinges before snapping shut and echoing through the hall, though the milling of students didn’t quite notice, too busy chatting in their chosen groups to pay the tall solver drone any mind.
The hall was lined with small tan lockers, stolen of course from the ruins of the previous inhabitants of the planet, and there were exactly five classrooms each holding about 25 students, for a grand total of 125 seats for 95, total, students. The school was split into two sections, three classrooms of the left side of the hall, for students above 13 years old. Advanced Learning and Training for those that had already learned basic arithmetic and reading, medical training, construction, refinery work, welding, electrical- all the jobs that Sanctuary needed. The two classrooms on the right were for those younger then 13, which functioned as a place to teach the fundamentals, math, writing, reading, pattern recognition, and critical thinking.
Tera sighed as she opened her dented and beaten locker, grabbing her math textbook and blue, sticker-bombed binder and shoving her backpack in it roughly. The dufflebag making a loud bang that once again echoed through the hall.
“Tera!” Came a soft and sweet voice from further down the hall, just hearing it made her tail wag subtly, a half smile forcing it’s way on her face as she turns to face the sound.
Now standing next to her was a short worker girl with long, blonde hair, some of it held up in a large black bow that framed the back of her head, her white eyelights were mostly closed due to the beaming smile she had etched on her face. She wore a teal sundress with another black bow around the middle, and long black socks, with grey flats.
“Hey, Kia.” Tera’s smile grew bigger at the sight of Kiara Von Roth, her best friend. Her tail wagged a little faster.
“Heya you big grump!” She playfully teased. “I texted you last night but you never shot back, you weren’t out all night partying were you?” The worker cocked her head, still smiling but her eyelights held a note of seriousness.
“D-did you?” Tera replied, “I haven’t even looked at my messages yet…”
She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “Nah, I wasn’t. Just… tired is all, midterms coming up…”
“So you’re actually studying for them?” Says another, more masculine voice, a thump being heard behind Kiara, which made her startle breifly. “Raaad!” She whines
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Rad had light brown hair hidden under a backwards green and white baseball cap. His bright green eyelights quirked up slightly in a smirk. Her wore a red letterman jacket with the number twenty-eight emblazoned in green both on the front pocket, and, much larger, on the back. Along with it loose, black sport shorts and red sneakers. He was leaned up against the locker behind Kiara with his arms crossed.
He chuckled. “Not my fault your so easy to scare K. I wasn’t even trying!”
Kiara pouted in response. “Everyone would jump at a noise behind them! You shouldn’t sneak up on people!’ She crossed her arms in a huff. Tera just chuckled and shook her head.
“For your information. Yes. I am studying for the midterm… I kinda have to pass to be eligible to graduate next year…” She added almost quiet enough for them not to hear. “You act like I’ve never studied before.”
“Well… you really haven’t studied much since you’ve started getting serious with your training with V.” Kiara pointed out, leaning slightly further into the solver drones personal space. “So it’s good to hear your going to start again instead of asking me for my notes…”
“You take good notes!” Tera protested, raising her voice only slightly.
“Thank you!” Kiara smiled.
“But I’m not giving them to you.” She then deadpanned.
Tera growled softly and her tail flicked in response, Rad laughed. “Damn, guess that applies to me too.”
“You’re even worse! You copied our biology homework from me almost word for word! The only reason you got away with it is because Mrs. Finley trusts me not to let you cheat!” Kiara spins around to face the worker boy, pointing her finger… but perhaps the effect was lessoned by the fact Rad was still looking down at her, with her being one of the smallest workers of their class at a resounding 4’2. Because he snickered instead of looking the slightest bit intimidated. “You didn’t ‘let me’ do anything. You only noticed me taking a picture after I did it.”
“Because you left the flash on your visor and blinded half the class.” Tera chimed in. “You suck at being subtle dude.” She closed her locker the same moment the old, rattly bell rang to usher the students in the hall to their classes. “See you in an hour!” Kiara sounded off before filtering off into a separate room.
“Let’s go face the music…” Rad sighed, looking up at Tera as she slouched even more. Dreading heading to a class she struggled with out of all others.
“Yup.” And with that, they both headed towards the worn metal door that was Mr. Rikers classroom.
There are five teachers in Sanctuary, most of them teach multiple subjects though specialize in one over the others. Mr. Riker taught Math, Science fundamentals , and then specialized in construction and engineering. Mrs. Finley taught Biology, Chemistry, and Specialized in Medical Care. Then there was Mr. Krainer, who taught English, History, and Specialized in toolsmithing; Mrs. Potts, Who taught creative writing, art, and specialized in tailoring and armorsmithing.
The last teacher was also the principle. His name?
Serial Designation N, or for everyone else; Mr. Doorman.
He was the only teacher focused on a particular age group, 4-8, and taught the young dronelings the foundations of what they needed to splinter off to the rest of the school building, it went without saying, but he was also the most beloved.
Tera found her seat, the back corner next to the long window that ran up the side of the room, underneath of which was a row of cupboards that housed all the supplies needed to run the classroom. Rad settled in beside her and instantly whipped out his utterly battered phone, scrolling through messages and images from near everyone in their age group.
Tera took the chance to look through hers too while waiting for the classroom to fill in with students, though she didn’t use her phone, though the thick homemade thing was in her flannel pocket, she simply opened a tab on her visor and scrolled through them there.
[Princess] 11:25PM 7/13/89
You awake?
11:30PM 7/13/89
Clearly no. Or you’re doing something you don’t want me to know about and are actively ignoring me.
Wondered if we could go out again sometime this week? I know, like, midnight is the worst timing ever to ask, just wondering.
11:45 7/13/89
To the ruins I mean, we go out with Rad all the time, thats what I meant. But you knew that… I think I’m just too tired.
12:01 7/14/89
Goodnight, Ter-Bear.
Tera winced as she scrolled through the messages, feeling guilty that she had missed them, even if she had genuinely been asleep at the time. She’d make up for it latter, she wouldn’t mind taking her little friend group to the outskirts of ruins, especially at a specific request.
She was distracted by Mr. Riker, a drone with greying blonde hair and a pair of squared rimmed glasses. he wore a brown sweater-vest over a white dress shirt.
“Good Morning Everyone.”
The class calls back. “Good Morning Mr. Riker.”
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multireese · 2 years ago
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Yandere Roommate x male reader
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Your new roommate seems nice enough but a string of unfortunate events lead you to rely on him financially. (WARNINGS: financial abuse, dubcon, sex mention obviously
Yandere!Roommate who drops you off and picks you up from work since your car was in the shop due to mysterious damage. Youv’e tried to report the vandalism to the police but they are not of any help. This is fine because your roommate doesn’t have a 9 to 5 so he will drive you everywhere.
Yandere!Roommate is bothered when you try to leave the apartment alone without telling him. He will drop everything to walk with you to grab a coffee or to a convenience store, even to meet up with friends. He likes to know who you're with and make sure there’s no competition. 
Yandere!Roommate is an only fans creator. This man is built like a Greek statue and is always wearing sexy cosplay and outfits. He walks around the apartment in the hottest underwear you have to force yourself not to stare. Your roommate asks you to oil him up and give your opinion before he films. He is adamant it's purely business so you help.
Yandere!Roommate offered you an opportunity when you were laid off at your job. You can wear a mask and not show your face if he can fuck you in some of his videos. He explains that it's just a business agreement but more importantly the money was too much to say no too.
Yandere!Roommate fucks you for your first time ever on camera. He played a nurse and you were the patient. After loosening your tight hole with his tongue and fingers for almost an eternity you were still not prepared for his big dick to stretch your hole the way it did. He talked you through the process which lined up with his character. The video got the most views to his page. 
Yandere!Roommate thought he would be proud to show you off but the disgusting comments about your beautiful body actually angered him. He was fine with strangers sexualizing him but you were his and his alone. No matter how hard his fans begged they would only get that one video of you. This did not stop your roommate from filming more content with you and paying you out of his own pocket. The difference being these videos were for him alone.
Yandere!Roommate convinced you to sleep in his bed together at night to create a more natural chemistry for your videos. This usually led to off camera sex which you had realized you liked a lot more than you wanted to admit. The two of you agreed it was just practice for videos but you both craved each other’s bodies. His constant praise and amazing sex made it easy to fall for him
Yandere!Roommate you were too shy to look at the posts and see what people would say but after you were more comfortable you got curious. Scrolling through his promotional page there was no sign of your body. Only that one original video. When confronted, your roommate was honest.
Yandere!Roommate was probably too honest in admitting he fell in love with you and the subsequent damage to your car, firing at your job, and tricking you into becoming a pro at riding his cock. You weren’t dickmatized enough to not realize what he did was crazy. 
Yandere!Roommate wasn’t going to just let you walk out of his life. He had ruined your career and you needed the money. “Do you really think someone else would provide you with a better life?” He directed your attention to the Richard Mille diamond watch on your wrist, then stroked your ear adorning the diamond stud you were wearing. “Will anybody fuck you like I do? You can have a good life with me or nothing at all. I promise I won’t let anyone else have you and live to tell about it.”
did this in 20 minutes let me know if you want a part 2 or expand story with this guy
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minioilmill · 10 months ago
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mothiir · 9 months ago
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romancing the lion
You are not going to be courted in any sense of the word - you think you’ll get knightly romance? Nope, you need to study your history and realise that most of the courtly romances were told to entertain and had no more bearing on actual Caliban courtship than mills and boon has on today’s dating scene. Even if they were the norm, the lion is a feral child of the wastes who believes he is quite literally gods gift. He’s not doing any of that.
instead, the first indication of his interest is going to be indistinguishable from literal kidnap. You’re a serf? Well done, you’re not serving him exclusively. You’re a noble woman? Congrats, you’re now a serf serving him exclusively. Diplomat? Guess. And try telling him no. Go on. Try it. This is a promotion you do not get to say no to.
does this mean that he is now nice to you - absolutely not of course it isn’t. He isn’t nice to anyone. He doesn’t even really have the words for the feelings he is feeling for you. This applies to him in the 30th millennium and the 41st btw. Either iteration is equally bad with emotion. The older version of him is less likely to start killing people you love so you’ve got that going for you.
the fact is that now you have his total attention and that means you get ordered about constantly because his love language is acts of service which means you will be serving. Think the princess bride but a little less wholesome. “Mend my armour. Make my food. Prepare my beard oil. Spend time with my watchers.”
At this stage you probably think he is planning to kill you. He can’t stop staring at you. Every little thing you do seems to to infuriate him. You’re not to know that this is his brand of cuteness aggression.
he will kill things for you. Like a cat dumping dead lizards on a doorstep. It’s what he’s good at and it’s how he shows affection. If you have enemies they are now dead. If you are a normal person with no mortal enemies he will just kill the biggest scariest things and ensure you see him do it. Do you feel aroused yet?
when he takes you to his bed he will be under the impression he has been incredibly obvious with his intentions and you will be completely taken aback
he is not suave. His pick up line is: “come to bed with me.” Or: “come to my chambers to see to my needs.”
he’s a virgin. War always took priority over sex for him. He will try and mount you without any prep, flipping you onto your front and clambering aboard.
he will blame you for not being open for him. For being too tight to fit him. He’s seen women give birth he knows how this works.
(he saw one woman give birth once and has extrapolated)
40th millennium him will be a little less grumpy about this but will still insist that you are doing something wrong. You will have to coax him through the business of foreplay which should be easy enough as long as you suck his dick. As soon as he realises that’s an option he’ll be happy to hold off on actually penetrating you as long as you keep licking
Will get annoyed at you for walking too slowly and carry you. There is no choice in this
basically be prepared for the most aggressive care you’ve experienced in your life - on the one hand he will yell at you for being stupid and human and frail, on the other he will carry you on his shoulder like a tame kestrel and hand feed you “because you’re too foolish to take care of yourself”
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helloheyhihowdyheya · 4 months ago
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Hanukkah with Peter | Headcanons
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Peter Parker x reader
Masterlist
Here are some thoughts on what it’d be like for a non-Jewish reader to spend their first Hanukkah with Peter 🕎 it’s based off my experiences with my partner :) happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate ❄️
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Peter teaching you how to play Dreidel and what each of the different letters mean. And while you know that it’s just a game of chance, he somehow ends up with all the gelt by the end. But he still gives you some of the chocolate every time.
You and Peter lighting the menorah each night. You start looking forward to it, and even when Peter gets busy, you still insist on lighting the candles.
You also insist on learning the prayer so you can sing along while lighting the candles. He ends up writing it out for you, and you take the job of memorizing it very seriously. And by the end of Hanukkah, you’re singing along beside him and watching the smile spread across his face
You trying to make latkes with Peter using Aunt May’s recipe. The first couple don’t come out just right, and you’re spending a lot of time dodging the popping oil. But Peter’s there to teach (and bravely protect you from the oil) until the latkes are perfect. And you never knew potatoes and applesauce could go so well together.
Speaking of Hanukkah foods, you two buy sufganiyot from the closest bakery that sold them. And you instantly fall in love with it — to the point where you’re dragging Peter back there for more as soon as you two run out.
Originally, you brought up the idea as sort of a joke, but Peter brought it to life by buying you a Hanukkah sweater and a matching one for himself. It was cheesy, but you (not so) secretly loved it.
You and Peter going over to May’s for the first night. She makes a beautiful dinner and showers the two of you with gifts, despite both of you insisting she really didn’t have to. The entire night, you’re smiling and loving every moment with them. May tells stories of Peter’s childhood and showed pictures of him on Hanukkah through the years.
You two invite Harry, Gwen, and Miles over another night for dinner and to exchange gifts. You spent the night laughing and catching up. You promise to do it more often in your busy lives.
And on the weekend of Hanukkah, you two go to a lighting ceremony. Crowds of people watch as the large metal menorah lights up the next candle. Then you all mill around together, your breaths clouding in the chilly night air. Warm drinks steam and heat up your hands.
By the end of Hanukkah, you wrap your arms around Peter and thank him for sharing this part of him. He calls you ridiculous because of course he wants to share all of him with you. And you can’t wait to do it all again next year.
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dastardly-imbecile · 4 months ago
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Mechanical Butterfly (IV)
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
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Viktor doesn't run from Singed. Silco sees the burgeoning inventor in the young girl he found, after Vander. Collaborations abound!
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Wordcount: ~3900
Silco has been out far more often, recently, but Jinx doesn’t mind. He keeps the nightmares away, fractionally, his presence, but she’s found something that does exactly the same: the task that Viktor gave her. 
So refreshing! No rules, no admonishment, no telling her, Powder, stop messing around, or Powder, nobody’s ever gonna use anything you build, no, just letting her crawl into the belly of that great mechanical beast and come out victorious with its guts(soot and oil) plastered all over her. 
She loves it. 
What she doesn’t love is the late nights, when it’s too dark to build, and she has to lay awake in her bed and try not to think of the names she won’t allow herself to speak. Try not to flinch, when something explodes out there in the dark-dark night, try not to climb out of her small cot and find someone to run to. Because Sevika started locking her door, after the first time Jinx tried to find her, and normally Silco at least tucks her back in, but now he’s out quashing rebellions or whatever it was that he called it. 
What’s worse is, two days later, when she’s finished with the filter. Technically, the third time she’s done so—the first two, there were tiny, minute things to fix, sockets a millimeter out of alignment or mesh not stretched taut enough, but now it’s genuine perfection and she looks at it and there’s the sound of voices creeping in the edges of her brain, nothing to block them out anymore. 
There’s only one thing to do: which is to track down Sevika currently in the basement, punching at a sack of flour. Looking out at the room, something ugly and slippery flip-flops in her chest, because all the old couches and blankets and shelves have been removed to make room for the woman’s gym—and it’s so unfamiliar that she can hardly believe she used to share it with…
 Jinx stands at the doorway at the bottom of the stairs, waiting patiently for her to finish—which she doesn’t for a long, long time.
“Sevika,” she says eventually. The woman throws two more punches before finally turning her way, brow furrowed in a scowl. 
“What?”
“We need to go back.”
“What?”
“To Viktor’s,” she says, “I finished the assignment. He needs to give me more. And I can learn more.”
It’s a well-laid out argument, in her opinion, but Sevika’s face screws up, and she shakes her head. 
“No.”
“What? Why?”
“Silco’s paying a damn bucketload for each lesson,” she starts, counting off on her fingers, “Silco’s out, and he can’t approve this, and I’m busy.”
Jinx stares at her for a moment. “But-”
“Take it up with the boss,” she growls, “but it’s gonna be next week.”
With that, she turns back to her bag, leaving Jinx to slowly ascend back up the stairs. There aren’t many others milling about in the space, the ground floor of The Last Drop, but that just gives her more room to appreciate the changes to the room. Most of the old decorations have been taken down, ripped, or otherwise disposed of, and now it’s a vast expanse of stained wood and nothing much else. It’s good, in a way, even if it makes the space wide and darkly unfamiliar, because it means that she can look at the wall and not imagine Claggor standing there, arms crossed, or Vi leaning against one of the ratty bar tables. 
She can’t think of that. 
Upstairs, it would be quieter yet, but she likes the level it’s at down here. Just loud enough to take the edge off her thoughts. Silco has yet to reopen the bar—he has to finish whatever street business it is that he’s working on, first—but some of his group hang around. They spare her no glances, used to her presence, and she doesn’t look at them too long either, afraid that she will see one of their faces, spark a bit of familiarity, be dragged back into the shadowed corners of her mind. 
Warily, she proceeds to the door, tugging on the fringes of her hair as she does. The small braid that peers out from under the rest of the mop barely reaches her shoulder. Vi braided it for her. Abruptly, she snatches her hand away, as if burned. 
Don’t look behind you. 
She doesn’t. Stiffly, she pushes open the door. Still, nobody stops her—seems that most of the group is instead occupied in rifling through the liquor cabinet behind the bar. A spike of fury at that—they’re touching things that aren’t theirs, stealing—but then she remembers that nobody will be around to reprimand them, and her heart skips an uncomfortable, sputtering beat. 
Nobody around, because of her. 
It’s her fault. 
All her fault. 
No!
This is what she needs to go to Viktor’s for—because in those two hours, sitting and learning, it was all calm and clear and nothing but razor-sharp focus upon the gleam of metal upon her lap. 
Deep breath. 
Silco told her, weeks ago, in those early nights when she couldn’t stop crying, deep breath. Never reprimanded her for crying—so different from Mylo’s mocking tone, whenever he found her curled up under the pillows—just told her how to stop. 
She likes that. 
Deep breath, again, and she peers out onto the street. Midday outside, though Zaun sees near-none of that light, and all the neon signs are just as lit as in the dead of night. It’s quieter than usual, too—all the normal market stalls are shuttered and closed, their inhabitants fled into their teeny hidey-holes. 
“Hey,” someone says from behind her, the words slightly slurred, “hey, isn’t that the boss’s kid?”
She whirls around, sees one of the gangly figures behind the bar point at her. 
“Don’t let her leave,” another one cautions, coming around the bar, and in that brief moment that they disappear into the shadows, she sees someone else. Not Vi or Claggor or Mylo or Vander but some homunculus made from all of them, reaching and chasing and there’s smoke in the air and her hands are burnt from the heat of the bomb, and she opens the door and flees into the street. 
As she runs, her hand snakes into her pocket, reaching for the small round ball tucked securely into the depths of the fabric. The last one. 
Footsteps behind her, chasing, but she knows these streets around The Last Drop just as well as she’d know anything, and she ducks into one alley, scales a rusted ladder, jumps from one roof to another before sliding roughly back down a slanted awning, landing roughly on her feet. Her pursuers are drunk, and less agile than her, and not trying all that hard in the first place, so by the time she allows herself a moment of stillness, there’s nothing else. 
She laughs, the sound bright in the open air. Ha! Take that! She’s still got it. 
Now, slower, she progresses down the street. It strikes her that she could just go to Viktor’s herself, but though the idea is tempting on the surface level, there’s a tug in her gut that stops her from navigating to the alleyway shop. Part of it is getting in trouble, of course, but that’s not much, especially because she’s probably already going to be in trouble from fleeing. No, it’s something that almost feels like fear. 
Not of Viktor, of course, because he’s kind, and if he wasn’t then she still thinks that she could take him in a fight, but it’s the other one. The other man, thin and tall and no more physically intimidating than Viktor himself, but she does not like his lab with all the creatures in the jars, does not like his experiments. Does not like the way that Silco carries himself around him: tense, careful, and wary. Whatever sort of person incites that sort of reaction from him, she’s automatically wary of. 
Though she bemoaned Sevika’s chaperoning, the first time, now the prospect of entering that space without her tall, solid presence is more than a bit intimidating. 
So, instead, she continues to wander. This road leads to the main market street, the largest one of them, and—judging from the babble of sound already reaching her ears—one that’s at least somewhat less abandoned than the rest. She’s got no money to her name, but that’s never posed much of a problem before—Ekko was always the best at pilfering from the edges of the stalls, at not getting caught—and, if spotted, at running away swiftly. 
Ekko. Where is he? He didn’t leave her, not like the others, but he’s not where he used to live.
So maybe she can find him! Find him, and Silco will take him in too, and then he’ll ask where the others are. What happened to Benzo. What she did, the bomb and the blood and the screams, and she collapses against one of the grimy walls, clutching at her head. The world spins violently, everything flipping upside down, and she can still hear Vi—she can always hear Vi, it’s just now, she cannot suppress her—and there’s wetness on her cheeks. 
Jinx!
Jinx!
Jinx!
“Jinx?” 
A new voice. It muddles with the ones still pecking at her head, until the speaker repeats himself, “Jinx?”
Familiar. The world clears, somewhat, though it’s blurred now not by her headache but instead by tears, and she peers out from between her fingers. A man on three legs. 
Except, not three legs, she realizes, wiping the last of the tears from her eyes, but instead two and a cane. 
“Viktor?”
A simple look upwards confirms it. She knew already, from the tone of his voice and that soft accent, but this is visual confirmation. There he stands, tall and narrow-boned, cane in one hand and leather pouch in the other, packed with things she can’t see. Must’ve come from the market. He looks nervous, out of his element, and looking at him now, she can’t help but agree. 
It’s not exactly that he doesn’t belong in the undercity. He looks Zaunite, no doubt about that, clothes simple and hardy, face set hard, worn. Clear in the way he holds himself, the little mannerisms like holding the bag close, so unlike the free, loose strides of topsiders. No, it’s less that he doesn’t belong in Zaun and more that he doesn’t belong on this street, in the open, away from his lab and looking like any random citizen. 
“Why… ah, are you here?” He asks. Part of that nervousness might actually be related to her, she realizes, and suddenly she’s embarrassed to be here crying on the side of the road. She is no better than she was as Powder, crybaby and weak and runaway. “Are you alright? Lost?”
“No,” she says, “not lost.” The last part of that sentence is the need to clarify—because she’s not lost, no, but also perhaps not alright. 
“Is Sevika..?” He asks, glancing around. The street is fairly empty, and none of the few shrouded figures meandering by are glaring or grunting or cursing, so he’s able to rule that out before Jinx even has to say no.
“I wanted to see you,” she blurts, which wasn’t really the reason she ran out of the lab, but is close enough and really the only thing that’s relevant now. “I finished it.”
But she forgot to bring it! She can picture it now, in her new room on the second floor of The Last Drop, haphazard on the floor and surrounded by scattered tools. Suddenly, she shrinks a bit, afraid that he will accuse her as a liar—but instead, he simply tilts his head, the corner of his mouth quirking into a smile. 
“That was quick. I should’ve expected that, though, no?”
Unsure how to respond, she nods wordlessly. He takes a step back, gesturing loosely to the road with his cane. 
“Perhaps you should be getting back. I’m sure your…” For a long moment, he hesitates, and she opens her mouth, Dad resting on the tip of her tongue. It’s so very close, but when she imagines saying it, she imagines Vander as he once was—strong and warm and laughing—and Vander as she recalls him now—laid low, snarling, screaming—and so she can’t bring herself to spill those syllables from her mouth. 
“-I’m sure they’re worried,” Viktor eventually finishes lightly. 
“Can I walk with you?” She asks. 
“Where are you headed?”
“The Last Drop.”
A flicker of surprise in his eyes—he knows the place, of course he does—but he dips his head in a shallow nod. “It’s on the way.”
He doesn’t turn to walk until she pushes fully off the wall, following in his footsteps. As she blinks the last of the tears out of her eyes, she’s glad that he never asked why she was crying. She’s glad she doesn’t have to think about that herself. 
From her vantage point slightly behind, she notices the further unevenness to his gait, beyond even that of the normal limp, showing clear strain trying to balance both his cane and the bag of supplies.
“Do you need help?”
“Hm?”
“I can carry that,” she says, indicating the bag. Eager to be of help—maybe, then, he won’t send her away immediately, and he’ll let her come back to the lab. The instant she thinks that, however, she also remembers the darkness, the sharp smell of alcohol overlaying the faint scent of blood, and the enthusiasm dies just as quickly. 
Still, though, if only to help him. 
“It’s heavy,” he says, but she crosses her arms. 
“I’m used to heavy stuff!”
“...For a bit,” he finally says, twisting to pass the bag over to her. It’s simple leather, lifted by two straps made of the same material, and she grasps it sturdily, heaves it up to her shoulder. There’s a wary look in his eyes, that first moment, like he thinks she’ll fall—or run off with the supplies—but though it’s weighty, she stands straight and smiles and tries not to let any strain show on her face. 
They set off again, and she smiles to see that his stride has returned to normal. The bag bumps against her hip, and she tries her best not to peek, but curiosity wins out in the end—inside, instead of the food and the like she’d been expecting, it’s simply bottles of darkly-labeled chemicals, scraps of metal, and, at the top-
“You can take it,” he says, and she startles, cheeks flushing at being caught in the act. 
“What?”
“The box of tools,” he says, “I bought it for you.”
She blinks at him, uncomprehending. “I have tools.”
“They’re not very good,” he replies, tone nearly teasing. She frowns. 
“Sevika bought them for me.”
“I guessed,” he says drily, and nods again at the bag. “Go ahead. Unless you would rather wait until next week, of course.”
She would very much not rather wait until next week, confusion aside, so she reaches into the bag lightning-quick to withdraw the heavy box at the top of the stack. It’s thin, but weighty, the edges lined in dark metal. Her face splits into a smile at the sight, and all insult from his previous words is struck down upon the realization that these are indeed way better. 
“Thank you! These are…” no words to express it in her brain, so all she can do is look at Viktor and grin and hope it imparts at least a fraction of her happiness. 
“Singed bought me mine,” he says softly. Singed must refer to that man—it’s a jolt of a reminder that they are, in fact, associated. “When I began to tinker. A brilliant mind can only be enhanced by quality implements.” 
The way he parrots the last words makes it clear that it’s a quote—not direct words of his. Still, her mind snags upon that one word, brilliant, and she asks, before she can stop herself, “Am I brilliant?”
“It took me a week to configure my first filter,” he says, “granted, I assisted, but at your age, in two days? You could not be anything but.”
Nobody’s ever called her brilliant before. Impulsively, she rushes forwards, hugs Viktor. He stumbles back a single step, but skids the cane backwards, catching himself—and the other hand hesitantly settles upon her shoulder. He’s thinner than Vi ever was, bones where she had muscle, smells of metal and chemicals instead of leather and clean air. But they’re somewhere in the realm of the same age, and she clutches the box to her chest, and if she closes her eyes and turns her head it’s almost the same. 
The embrace lingers only a moment later before he extracts himself, clearing his throat awkwardly. 
“I’m… very glad you like it,” he says, “but I’m afraid this is where we part.”
Right. On one side, the path splits towards The Last Drop, and the other must no doubt eventually lead to his alleyway. 
“Thank you,” she repeats, quieter this time, sliding his bag off her shoulder and proffering it back up to him. He takes it wordlessly. 
“Next week,” he says, like a promise, and then turns down to continue stepping down the path. She likes that—a promise, because those can’t be broken.
So absorbed is she in the new tools, in the memories of the day, turning ‘brilliant’ around in her mind until it’s smooth as a river-worn stone, that when the door to The Last Drop opens, she startles. Sevika doesn’t know a thing about her escapade—must’ve spent the whole day sulking down in the basement—and the few subordinates that saw her escape aren’t breathing a word. Mutual silent agreement: because if they admit she ran away, then they admit they let her run away, so her little secret is tucked away just as safely as the blue gem still shimmering in her pocket. 
Despite all this, when the door below opens, there’s a spike of unfamiliar fear in her heart. It’s Silco, and she confirms that by perching at the top of the stairs, hidden by the bannister, and watching the man stroll in. These past few days, she has always greeted his return by running down, grabbing onto his coat and sticking by his side for the rest of the night, but today, something holds her where she is. 
Below, he looks around, expecting her as well—the confusion on his face is almost funny. 
At least, until he looks up the stairs, and despite her hiding spot, meets her eyes. 
Jinx! Someone says. 
It sounds like all of them. 
She flees back, back into her room, heart suddenly sparked into a quick hammer-beat, but there is nowhere to hide, no lock on the door, and what exactly is she hiding from?
Suddenly, she wishes Viktor had asked her why she was crying, because maybe then she could have told him something, and he’d have comforted her. Vi was always able to comfort her, with soft words, or failing that by gathering her into her arms and squeezing her until she started to laugh, so maybe he’d have been able to do the same, but he’s gone and Vi is Gone, capital G. 
And it’s all her fault. 
Jinx! Someone yells. 
Footsteps on the stairs. She scrambles into bed, because she’s unsure of what else to do, kicks the covers up around her feet until she’s in a half-sitting sort of position. She doesn’t like sleeping alone, doesn’t like the absence of the other kids’ breaths. Misses, even, the occasional kick in the middle of the night, sometimes—usually between Mylo and Vi—leading to a short scrap. It’s penance, sleeping in silence, and she wouldn’t even know if they were in the room because they wouldn’t be kicking or breathing, would they?
JINX! They all scream. 
The door opens. 
“Jinx,” Silco says, stepping fully into the space, “where were you?”
“Up here,” she replies. He crosses over to the bed, sits down. 
“Is everything alright?” 
“Yes,” she breathes out. 
“I apologize,” he murmurs, “for my absences. Everyone in Zaun wants a piece of the power. It’s like setting rattraps, keeping all the vermin away.”
“Oh,” she says, more a wordless sort of acknowledgement than anything. She wants, so badly, to do what she’s always been doing, these past few weeks, bury her hands in the coat and her head in his chest, let it drown out the world around. When she thinks of doing that now, however, there’s the smell of fire, Vi’s voice, her wide blue eyes aglow with flames. 
“Vander never did a good job of keeping them in line,” he says. The words coincide with a long, low scream that rings through her mind, and she flinches—lowers her head—only barely resists the urge to cover her ears. Vander. Vander. Vander. 
“So it’s that,” he whispers. The blankets bunch as he scoots closer, places a warm hand on her arm, tilts her chin up with the other. When she looks up, it’s into his eyes, one green and the other a pinprick of red. “Are you thinking of them?”
She pushes herself back, further away, panic rushing bright and hot in her veins. 
“I’m not angry, Jinx.” A pause, and when she still doesn’t answer, a peculiar sort of expression flits across his face. “Or would you prefer Powder?”
A blow so strong that it’s as if he’d cuffed her. She flinches back, and he follows, arm snaking up from her hand to the back of her neck, the other settling across her back. 
“No,” she whispers, as he gathers her into his embrace. Not like the hugs of Viktor or Vi—this one is taut and poised on the edge of comfort, and she knows that it would be good if she melted into it, but she does not. “Not Powder.”
“She’s gone,” he hums, his chest thrumming with the motion, “and so are the rest of them. They left you all on your own, did they not?”
She relaxes just a bit more, cheek pressed uncomfortably into the buttons of his coat. When she nods, she knows he can feel it, because he continues. 
“Vander was a coward and a traitor. Your sister ran to the enforcers, ran to her death, rather than stay with you. Did they help you, even before? Vander had money plenty. Did he ever find you a mentor? Someone to cultivate your gift? Or did they degrade you? Leave you behind?”
She nods. In her head, Vi is hugging her, and then she’s throwing her off onto the cold, wet ground, shouting Jinx! Silco’s grip tightens, and the image puffs away in a cloud of reddish smoke, and the voices are mercifully silent. She surrenders herself fully into the embrace, finally lets herself settle against him. This is how it is. This is how it will always be. 
“There’s only us,” he says, hand rubbing circles into her back, “they’ll always leave you, Jinx, and as the ones left behind, we must stick together.”
One final time, she nods. He doesn’t speak again—for a long moment, they remain there, suspended in the silence. 
Eventually, as all things must, they separate. He ushers her under the covers, pulls the sheets to her shoulders, departs with a quiet, “Goodnight.”
Her dreams consist not of the usual—faceless figures circling her, calling her name, flame burning bright in the background—but something new. Silco’s embrace, which morphs into that of a thinner man, the clatter of a cane, which then turns into a child’s, and when she pulls back all she can catch is a shock of white hair and crooked grin.
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reasonsforhope · 1 year ago
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"As countries around the world begin to either propose or enforce zero-deforestation regulations, companies are coming under growing pressure to prove that their products are free of deforestation. But this is often a far from straightforward process.
Take palm oil, for instance. Its journey from plantations, most likely in Indonesia or Malaysia, to store shelves in the form of shampoo, cookies or a plethora of other goods, is a long and convoluted one. In fact, the cooking oil or cosmetics we use might contain palm oil processed in several different mills, which in turn may have bought the raw palm fruit from several of the many thousands of plantations. For companies that use palm oil in their products, tracing and tracking its origins through these obscure supply chains is a tough task. Often it requires going all the way back to the plot level and checking for deforestation. However, these plots are scattered over vast areas across potentially millions of locations, with data being in various states of digitization and completeness...
Palmoil.io, a web-based monitoring platform that Bottrill launched, is attempting to help palm oil companies get around this hurdle. Its PlotCheck tool allows companies to upload plot boundaries and check for deforestation without any of the data being stored in their system. In the absence of an extensive global map of oil palm plots, the tool was developed to enable companies to prove compliance with regulations without having to publicly disclose detailed data on their plots. PlotCheck now spans 13 countries including Indonesia and Malaysia, and aims to include more in the coming months.
Palm oil production is a major driver of deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia, although deforestation rates linked to it have declined in recent years. While efforts to trace illegally sourced palm oil have ramped up in recent years, tracing it back to the source continues to be a challenge owing to the complex supply chains involved.
Recent regulatory proposals have, however, made it imperative for companies to find a way to prove that their products are free of deforestation. Last June, the European Union passed legislation that prohibits companies from sourcing products, including palm oil, from land deforested after 2020. A similar law putting the onus on businesses to prove that their commodities weren’t produced on deforested land is also under discussion in the U.K. In the U.S., the U.S. Forest Bill aims to work toward a similar goal, while states like New York are also discussing legislation to discourage products produced on deforested land from being circulated in the markets there...
PlotCheck, which is now in its beta testing phase, allows users to input the plot data in the form of a shape file. Companies can get this data from palm oil producers. The plot data is then checked and analyzed with the aid of publicly available deforestation data, such as RADD (Radar for Detecting Deforestation) alerts that are based on data from the Sentinel-1 satellite network and from NASA’s Landsat satellites. The tool also uses data available on annual tree cover loss and greenhouse gas emission from plantations.
Following the analysis, the tool displays an interactive online map that indicates where deforestation has occurred within the plot boundaries. It also shows details on historical deforestation in the plot as well as data on nearby mills. If deforestation is detected, users have the option of requesting the team to cross-check the data and determine if it was indeed caused by oil palm cultivation, and not logging for artisanal mining or growing other crops. “You could then follow up with your supplier and say there is a potential red flag,” Bottrill said.
As he waits to receive feedback from users, Bottrill said he’s trying to determine how to better integrate PlotCheck into the workflow of companies that might use the tool. “How can we take this information, verify it quickly and turn it into a due diligence statement?” he said. “The output is going to be a statement, which companies can submit to authorities to prove that their shipment is deforestation-free.” ...
Will PlotCheck work seamlessly? That’s something Bottrill said he’s cautiously optimistic about. He said he’s aware of the potential challenges with regard to data security and privacy. However, he said, given how zero-deforestation legislation like that in the EU are unprecedented in their scope, companies will need to sit up and take action to monitor deforestation linked to their products.
“My perspective is we should use the great information produced by universities, research institutes, watchdog groups and other entities. Plus, open-source code allows us to do things quickly and pretty inexpensively,” he said. “So I am positive that it can be done.”"
-via Mongabay, January 26, 2024
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Note: I know it's not "stop having palm oil plantations." (A plan I'm in support of...monocrop plantations are always bad, and if palm oil production continues, it would be much better to produce it using sustainable agroforestry techniques.)
However, this is seriously a potentially huge step/tool. Since the EU's deforestation regulations passed, along with other whole-supply-chain regulations, people have been really worried about how the heck we're going to enforce them. This is the sort of tool we need/need the industry to have to have a chance of genuinely making those regulations actually work. Which, if it does work, it could be huge.
It's also a great model for how to build supply chain monitoring for other supply chain regulations, like the EU's recent ban on companies destroying unsold clothes.
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