#please vote quickly or this will take a million years

[pointandclickkimchi]

Battle of the Ateez B-sides

Welcome! To determine the best or best-loved b-side among Ateez's impeccable discography...we shall pit them together; 1 vs. 1; to knockout those that do not deserve the crown title.

Let's be honest though, every Ateez b-side is worth loving.

I have broken 50 Ateez b-sides into 5 categories. I tried to match them by vibe as best as I could, and as we have eliminations, those vibes will start to be at odds with each other. But for these prelim rounds, they'll be similar feels! Prelim round votes are only gonna be open for 24 hours - as we get closer to the end, I'll leave them open for a week!

Commence the voting!

Okay, first up - Let's Get Together is a super cute OST for Mimicus; very catchy and boppy.

And what Atiny doesn't know this CLASSIC?? (Look, this was to round out to have an even number of b-sides...I apologize.)

[lovepotionsandlust]

All Of The Ways We Differ

This is my first ever fic I have written. this will be MULTIPLE parts. *please note this is an AU* Not proof read

no use of Y/N

no warnings for the first chapter

enjoy!

“Explliarmus!” you watched as Harry’s wand flew from his hand. For your first try at the disarming spell, you were shocked how well it had worked. You were late to join “Dumbledore’s Army,” making you the newest member. You could not stop the nerves of feeling behind everyone’s progress. “Well done!” shouted a student whose name you were yet to be aware of. As you strode away from the center of the room, enjoying the praise from your peers, you joined your group of friends.

“Fred Weasley,” he said, extending his right hand to you. Looking up at him, you reached out, shaking his large hand. From his right stepped out his identical twin.

“Now Freddie, don’t take all of the star students’ attention.”

 He bumped shoulders with his brother making more room for himself.

 “George Weasley at your service” you couldn’t help smiling up at the red headed twins.

 “I wouldn’t call myself the star by any means but thank you for the vote of confidence.”

“it’s about time you three met,” interrupted Ginny, your best friend. “I’ve only told you about her a million times.”

“ah so you’re the infamous twins I have heard so much about” you chuckled up at them.

“so what brought you to join the big boys?” they asked in unison.

Rasing your hand, showing the back of it. Still red and irritated, “I shall not speak disrespectfully to my superiors.” You mocked Umbridge’s voice. “after she decided to insult my work in class, I promptly asked if her hairstyle was some form of curse we would be learning about in the upcoming chapters.” You smiled to yourself, still staring down at your hand. “Was well worth it though, the look on her face was a thing of dreams.”

Shooting your eyes at the twins, both looking amused. “absolutely brilliant if you ask me! We were thinking of slipping her some puking pastels in her tea, they are an invention of ours.”

Your interest peaked, you had to know more. As you stood taking in all of the information regarding the skiving snack boxes, their deliciously devious contents. “here, consider me a founding member, and remember who supported you at the beginning.” You handed them each ten galleons.

Right then and there Fred knew he had fallen, and fallen hard.

***

Every meeting since then, you had always held Freds attention. Frequently catching him watching you in the mirrored walls when your back was to him. Typically ignoring it, “he’s just watching you because you’re a fast learner, don’t think too much about it.” Today you decided to stick your tongue out at him, letting him know he was caught. Quickly straightening himself up, his face turned a darker red color than his bright hair. George leaned over to whisper something in his ear in your general direction. Whatever he had to say clearly upset him as he gave his shoulder a quick shove. Leaving George to walk away looking far too smug.

 You turned walking your way to Ginny, noticing the expression on her face.

“Now what is that face about Gin?”

“Well, isn’t it obvious? You clearly have caught my brother’s attention” she tilted her head in Freds direction. “he was so busy trying to impress you with his patronus charm, that he sent it flying  into the back of Nevilles head.”

“Yeah, bloody hurt too. If I didn’t have a hard enough time remembering things, now I have a head injury to worry about.” Neville exclaimed joining the conversation.

Rolling your eyes, shaking your head, you did your best to hide the blush that had risen to your cheeks.

“You both have gone mad, he has got most of the sixth years wrapped around his finger-“

“Well, your finger is the only one he is wrapped around. All he can ever do at home now is ask about you. Speak of the devil, look who’s coming.”

You could feel his approach from behind you. Ginny leaned in closer adding.

“At this rate we will be in-laws before the semester is through.”

“you keep pestering me and I will send Goyle a love potion with your name on it.”

With this she put her hands up in surrender stepping back, “hey, I have always wanted a sister.”

You stepped forward at her causing her to turn around, exiting the room. A throat clearing behind you caught your attention. Turning on your heel, there Fred was, standing much closer to you than you had expected. Catching you off guard you stumbled backwards slightly, he reached out catching your hand helping you find your balance. Both of you blushing, avoiding each other’s eye contact.

“Sorry about that, I just wanted to come to with you a happy Christmas.” He smiled down at you in a way that made your knees feel as if they were going to give out.

“Thanks Freddie, Happy Christmas to you as well.”

“Going to visit your family I trust?”

“Not this year actually, ill be staying at the castle. My family is traveling around Europe visiting relatives from all over the country. They won’t return for quite some time after either. With O.W.L.s quickly approaching, figured it would be best to stay behind to catch up on my potions preparations.”

“Well, now if I knew you were staying behind, I would have signed up to stay as well. Percy, Bill and Charlie, all cannot make it home this year. Should be a quiet day at the burrow.”

“don’t you worry about little ol’ me. There is always trouble somewhere that I can find myself in the center of.”

A low chuckle left him, as if without thinking he replied “That’s my girl” with a grin.

Your eyebrows raised at him, biting back a smile.

“Oh- uh- I just meant- um” he stammered.

You watched as he tried to back his way out of the corner, he had just put himself in.

“For the biggest prankster in Hogwarts history, I really thought you would be quicker to get yourself out of trouble Weasley.” Without breaking eye contact, you slid your bag over your shoulder.

“I hope you have a very merry Christmas Freddie.”

Without another word shared, you exited the room. Attempting to hide the amusement on your face. Fred watched you intently as you exited into the large hallway, rejoining your friends.

George joined his side “ugh, I missed her! Did you at least wish her a Happy Christmas from me?”

Without moving his attention from you, he leaned closer to George, “ do you remember how much trouble I had got in for turning moms knitting needles into snakes last summer?"

“How could I forget? She wouldn’t let me out of the house either for fear you were lying to her to get out of the house. Wait- why?”

Fred nodded in your direction “that one over there is more trouble for me than that, I assure you.”

***

***

As the campus refilled with student, you could not help but feel eager to see Freddie again. Too many nights to count over the last week you had found yourself in the astronomy tower yearning for his company. Classes roared back up with the looming O.W.L. examinations nearing closer. Sitting in the library you could not focus on your text books, your mind often wandering. You were so distracted you didn’t even notice Ginny join your table. Your name being called pulled you from your day dream.

“Lost in the clouds again?” she teased.

“just cant seem to keep my feet on the ground, nothing out of the ordinary. Did you enjoy your break Gin?”

“well, I tried to, but most of the time I was being harassed. Do you want to know by who?” she smirked up at you.

“Yes, absolutely I do.” You thought. Keeping your eyes on your textbook, afraid she would read your facial expressions too easily. “oh, here we go again, I do not want to hear your theories- “

She promptly interrupted “Fred would not stop pestering me regarding what you were talking to me about before break. He overheard my comment about wanting a sister. You should have seen his face when I told him that we were discussing your schoolgirl crush for Ron. He turned just about the same shade of red as you have now.”

You crumpled up a near piece of paper and threw it at her.

“You did not!”

“Well what else was I supposed to tell him?”

You hid your face in your hands with a sigh.

“tell me you’re joking you did NOT tell him-“ you looked around your surroundings quieting your tone, “that I fancied Ron of all people.”

Pushing your arm gently, prompting you to remove your hands, your eyes flashed up at her.

“well would you have preferred I told him the truth about who has caught your eye?”

There was no point in trying to lie to her at this point.

“you open your mouth and I will tell Harry about that dream, in which I swore never to repeat”

She placed her hand over her heart dramatically. “you wouldn’t!”

Smiling back at her, you waited a moment acting as if you were dep in thought.

“but you promised!”

Pure embarrassment and panic flushed over her expression.

“you’re right Gin, I wouldn’t. even thinking about having to repeat that depravity and I’m feeling ill. Have been doing my best to forget it since you told me about it.” You placed your hand over your mouth pretending to fight back vomit.

“you and Fred are perfect for each other, you know that? Glad to see you finally admit that you do in fact fancy him, don’t think I missed that.” Swiftly you kicked her under the table.

“Now it is your turn to promise to keep things between us Gin.”

She extended her pinky to you, interlocking them in a promise the way you would as a child.

***

Days had passed since your conversation with Ginny in the library. No practice sessions took place in the room of requirement as everyone prepared for the O.W.Ls. Tensions continued to build as Umbridge had really supped her retaliation against the students and now the staff. With her rules prohibiting students of opposing genders to interact in the halls, your chances of spending time with Fred any time soon were dwindling.

As students sat quietly in the rows of desks that now lined the great hall, the only sounds to be heard were the quick movements of quills and the swinging of the pendulum. That was until a fizz and pop noise caught everyones attention. Before you knew what was happening, Fred and George were flying through the air above you. Throwing more fireworks than you had ever seen. You could not keep your eyes off of him. The loud cheers of the fellow students gave him the courage he needed to make a move. Swiftly he flew down to you slowing only for a moment to leave a kiss on your cheek. Turning to wink at you as he returned to his brothers side. Ginny grabbed your hand pulling you closer, the smile on your face could not be removed with the cruciatus curse. Between the twins antics and the sound of Umbridge screaming as she ran, the previous months of stress seemed to melt away. As a large dragon made of fireworks chased her out of the room, all of the students followed. Chasing after the twins as they entered the courtyard, a large “W” filled the sky in shimmering colors. As they were out of eye sight, something else caught your attention. A small paper bird flying near your side. You extended your hand allowing it to land softly in your hand. Noticing the ink bleeding through from the other side, you quickly opened the parchment.

“tomorrow 6pm

3 brooksticks

Back booth

Don’t be late xx

Freddie”

[cripple-woe]

PLEASE READ THIS IF YOU CAN SO YOU CAN KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING TO TRANSGENDER PEOPLE, POOR PEOPLE AND LEFTISTS IN THE UK RIGHT NOW!

Don’t let Rishi Sunaks current agenda fool you. While he is blaming transgender people for things that aren’t even problems (fun fact: more MP’s have been reported assaulting people in the bathroom than transgender people) you need to be aware of what he is doing.

The price of oil has surged 30% since June,

They are trying to ban protest and free speech,

4.2 Million children (29% of children in the uk) are living in poverty,

The inflation rate is 6.7+.

While people are starving, while kids are going to school with broken shoes and empty bellies, this man is ignoring it and complaining about how he doesn’t like transgender people. He will continue to ignore real issues and harass transgender people so that you don’t notice all of the things going wrong.

He’s banned people from hospital wards that match their gender identity, meaning many trans people may avoid being hospitalised when they need to because they will be put on the wrong ward, which may mean people don’t get the healthcare they need and may even DIE.

In the past five years, hate crimes against transgender people have gone up 186%.

Over 300 transgender people have been murdered in the last year.

Trans people are 770% more likely to commit suicide, mostly because of this cruel persecution from the government and society.

Taking away the rights and ruthlessly persecuting and attacking a group of people who only make up 0.5% of the population is fucking ridiculous. Trans people have done nothing wrong.

Rishon Sunak is a fucking fascist, the whole Tory party are fucking fascists, and if you vote for them you’re also a fascist.

Oh, and by the way, because I’m a very intense leftist, this could be sent to my college and they can send me to a radicalisation/terrorism course for expressing my political views about you know… not wanting to be killed by the governments cruel policies. Yes, you heard that right. If you are communist, anarchist or even just too intensely left for their liking, they can shove you into a radicalisation programme and forcefully influence your views. This country is going to hell and we can’t keep ignoring it.

They are also freezing income and National insurance tax meaning most people will be getting pushed up into a higher tax bracket that they just cannot afford, the rise in tax will be unpredictable and most likely more than the current tax, on this monetary note, our knife crime has risen 80% no doubt because of inflation and cost of living creating a higher general crime rate and therefore increasing this crime alongside it.

This section is directed to the Americans: please help spread this word. Many of us in the UK are reblogging and raising the alarm for you. Please, do the same for us. We are quickly falling into parallel situations, and people seem to have no clue what’s happening in the UK despite the fact it’s no secret.

~ Thank you.

[cru04]

the Night Nurse

Nurse Crucible Moray starts walking the hall, after her briefing on her newest patient, Will Graham, who was diagnosed with anti-NMDA encephalitis. Crucible grabs the syringes for his I.V. line, puts them in her scrub pocket, and goes into the room with a soft knock.

She writes her name and information on the whiteboard on the wall of her patient’s hospital room.

“Good evening, Mr. Graham. I’m Crucible Moray. I’ll be your nurse for the next three evenings,” she smiles. “How are we feeling?” she asks kindly, her voice soothing, like raspy honey. “Can you rate your pain for me, on a scale of 1-10? 10 being the worst pain you’ve ever had…”

Will's expression brightens slightly. He looks up from his files and gives a small smile, slightly relieved to hear a friendly voice. "Evening... Crucible," he responds, trying to suppress his southern drawl slightly.

He glances at the whiteboard, then back at her, appreciating her friendly demeanor. "Pain? Oh... well... hmm," he rubs the back of his head. "It's an eight, perhaps."

He squints at her, his keen sense of intuition kicking in.

He studies her, noticing the tiny details in her appearance and manner, his empathetic abilities in overdrive. He can feel the warmth and empathy from her, which puts him at ease. "You seem kind," he comments, his tone softening. "Have you been a nurse for long?"

“About six years,” Crucible answers calmly. “Okay, Dilaudid, Toradol, and your Zofran, Mr. Graham,” Crucible says, carefully injecting the three syringes into the small hub at the catheter of her patient’s IV line. “And… the saline flush,” Crucible finishes. “Sorry about the salty taste,” she winces sympathetically.

Will grits his teeth as the medicine flows into his vein, the cool liquid a stark contrast to his feverish body. He makes a disgusted expression as the saline flush flows through the IV, cringing slightly at the bitter taste.

He looks up at her through his glasses, trying to mask his exhaustion and pain. "You're good at this," he compliments, his voice weak but genuine.

“Thank you for the vote of confidence, Mr. Graham,” Crucible smiles. It’s a million-dollar smile that lights up her whole face, radiating from her perfect glossy, plump lips outward. She swishes her long, raven curly ponytail over her shoulder and straightens the sheet over her patient’s feverish body. “Can I get you a little fan or something? It’s a small battery-powered guy, and you can take it home with ya,” Crucible offers, noting the sweat on his brow, a sheen over his handsome features.

Will nods weakly, his expression grateful. "Yes, please," he manages a small smile. "A fan would be nice," he admits, his voice a little hoarse.

As she adjusts the sheets, will can't help but notice her kindness and beauty. He's charmed by her caring nature and her captivating smile. He feels a strange mix of emotions - gratitude, intrigue, and a mild attraction.

“I’ll be right back,” Crucible grins, her curly ponytail swaying in the opposite direction of her hips as she exits the hospital room.

She returns quickly with the little grey fan, switching it onto high, and adjusting the angle so it’s aimed towards her patient’s face, causing his dark sweaty curls to blow in the breeze.

“How’s that, Mr. Graham?” Crucible asks sweetly.

"Much better," he admits, his eyes closing momentarily as he feels the cool air soothing his hot skin.

He glances up at her, his gaze locking onto her captivating smile once more. There's something about her that draws him in – her kindness, her intelligence, perhaps even her beauty. He blinks, snapping himself out of it, "And please, call me Will."

“I can do that,” Crucible says kindly. “Is there anything else I can do for you? A cold Sprite, maybe? Or a popsicle?” she asks kindly. “I’ve got to draw some blood here, and then I’m all yours if you need anything. Toileting, a cool cloth, name it,” the young nurse offers sweetly, her almond eyes sparkling.

Will appreciates her kindness and her willingness to assist him. "A Sprite would be great, I'm thirsty," he answers. He watches her closely as she prepares to draw his blood, his empathetic nature picking up on hints of her emotions and intentions, but finding nothing but good intent and kindness radiating from her.

He tries to relax, knowing he's in good hands. "And um... when you're done, could you tell me a bit about yourself? I don't know much about you and I'm curious."

“Sure,” Crucible agrees easily.

“A little poke,” she says, quickly sticking his forearm with her needle. “And I’ll be right back with your Sprite.”

Crucible returns with a cup of ice, cracking the top of a small can of lemon lime soda, and then pouring it expertly into the cup, adding and bending the straw. She eases it up to Will’s lips gently. “Slow sips,” Crucible cautions. “Take it easy…”

Will takes slow sips of the Sprite, feeling the cool, fizzy liquid soothe his dry throat. The sweetness of the drink contrasts with the bitterness of his current situation.

He looks up at Crucible, the straw still in his mouth. His eyes are filled with curiosity and a bit of vulnerability. "So.. tell me a little about yourself," he says after taking a few more sips. "What brought you into nursing?"

“I’ve actually spent my fair share where you are now,” Crucible smiles kindly. “I have Fibromyalgia and Cerebral Palsy, and had a nine-and-a-half pound cyst at the age of sixteen, and then complications from a liver abscess and stomach ulcer that gave me this hot midline scar,” Crucible grins, lifting her scrub top to reveal the pink line marring her skin. “For that I was in the hospital for twelve days, and IV antibiotics later at home,” she explains.

“So I know what it’s like to have good nurses,” Crucible finishes. “And shitty ones,” she remarks wryly.

Will's expression softens as he listens to Crucible's story. His empathetic nature allows him to perceive her feelings, and he feels a deep compassion for her.

"You've been through a lot," he says softly, his gaze lingering on her scar. "You must be incredibly strong." He takes another sip of his Sprite, then places the cup down, reaching out to gently touch the scar. "Does it still bother you?" he asks quietly, his touch tender.

“It’s a keloid scar,” Crucible explains. “The tissue grew back aggressively, leaving the skin bumped up and sensitive. So it’s a little tender, but not a big deal.”

Crucible flashes him her million-dollar-smile again. “I’m tougher than I look,” she smirks.

Will nods, his fingers trailing lightly down her scar before pulling back. He can feel her resilience and strength. He admires her honesty and openness.

"I can feel it," he says softly, his eyes flickering up to hers. "You've got a... strong presence. Almost intimidating," he admits with a small smile.

But there's a hint of something else in his eyes - a flicker of intrigue and maybe even attraction, hidden beneath his exhaustion.

Heya! I’m Cru! I’m 30F, and a literate writer looking to continue this guy! Work with me here?

[benevolent-collegiate]

Boycott & Pressure ITV – Stop the Platforming of Racist, Anti-LGBTQ+ Hate!

Hi friends. Do you know who Nigel Farage is?

For those of you lucky enough to be unaware of the hateful bag of grease, let me catch you up to speed. He is the face of manipulative far-right demagoguery in Britain. He has been sowing the seeds of fascism in our political landscape since 2006. His lies, dog-whistling, and xenophobic faux-outrage permeate the media to this day. If you've ever heard a Brit complain about the "bloody foreigners taking our jobs", or totally incorrect claims of the oppression/replacement of white British people, I'd bet money that they heard it from him or the institutions in his cabal. Brexit happened because of pressure from the far-right hate party he founded, and these days his vitriol is focused on the "woke establishment". A true stochastic terrorist, there's POC blood on his hands, LGBTQ+ blood on his hands, and he has no intention of slowing down.

Oh, and he just picked up a cool £1.5 million from ITV to appear on I'm A Celebrity this weekend.

ID: A screenshot of a news article by Matthew Evans for Oxford Mail. It reads: "I'm a Celebrity: Nigel Farage reportedly highest ever paid. ITV have found themselves in hot water for allegedly offering Nigel Farage £1.5million to appear on this year's I'm a Celebrity." There's an image of Nigel Farage smiling widely and pointing toward the viewer.

I'll quickly explain what I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here is too. It's a reality show where D-list celebrities "live in the jungle" (a luxury glamping setup with every amenity one could want) and may occasionally be tasked with a trial such as having bugs poured on them or having to eat a kangaroo penis. Real highbrow stuff.

Now I know you probably weren't going to watch it anyway. You've got better things to do than watch reality TV. But last year's I'm A Celeb was a huge moneymaker, drawing in over 9 million viewers who made ITV lots of money via the value of ad space, plus the show's phone and text voting charges.

The move to shell out for Farage was a calculated one to attract people via shock value, from the eventual drama and viral clips they'll make by having the other celebrities butt heads with him. In doing so, they are platforming and promoting a cruel authoritarian. One whose rhetoric has made this country more dangerous for people like me. That seven figure paycheck is going to directly fund the racist, homophobic, transphobic hate campaign that threatens us all.

Here's what you can do.

- Don't watch the show.

- Don't watch ITV at all.

- Encourage your mum and dad, your nan, the gossipers at the salon, anyone in the target audience, to boycott too.

- Write to viewerservices@itv.com and let them know that you won't be using their services at all if they platform dangerous people like Farage.

- Please please please reblog this so we can continue to make hatred untenable, together <3

[cosleia]

Hello hi, it's me, ms. 666. I have a ficlet request! How about cannoli(sh) kylux in the reality show Survivor?

Congratulations on winning a ficlet! :D Since I have never watched Survivor, I read a description of how the show works and poked around the Survivor Wiki a bit in order to write this. I've decided to go with the pre-Covid format of revealing the winner during the Reunion. Please forgive any inaccuracies.

I hope you enjoy!

kylux, 1045 words, modern au, survivor au

~

Armitage was not looking forward to the Survivor Reunion Show. He'd spent the last few months trying to forget the 26-day ordeal, and it was only the potential million-dollar win—and the guaranteed $10,000 attendance bonus—that had him taking a deep breath and walking onto the Los Angeles set now.

It should have been an easy win for him. Not only had he been taking care of his own basic needs since he was five years old, but every summer between the ages of 13 and 18, his father had abandoned him in the wilderness somewhere, telling him to find his way back to civilization on his own. There was no one on Earth better prepared to handle being left on an island with only the clothes on his back than Armitage Hux.

But Armitage had learned quickly that Survivor wasn't just about survival skills. It was also about manipulating other players into favoring you so you could avoid being voted off. This was not something Armitage had ever had occasion to learn, especially from Brendol Hux, who rather infamously had managed to make no alliances, at work or socially, in his entire life.

Unfortunately, one of the other contestants, who had made it all the way to the final two with Armitage, happened to be a natural manipulator. Kylo Ren had a way of ingratiating himself to people; if his wry wit didn't do it, all he generally had to do was take off his shirt or carry something heavy. He looked absolutely sinful eating a banana...or doing anything, really. And he knew it, and he used it to his advantage.

Not only had Armitage had to watch Kylo win immunity after immunity, but he'd had to pretend to like him, too, at least when talking with the other contestants. Because if they knew how much Armitage hated Kylo, they would have voted Armitage off long before the end. As it stood, Armitage had only made it as far as he had by going along with whatever the others were doing and occasionally sharing his survival knowledge with them. Kylo was almost guaranteed to be the final winner, and it was infuriating.

"Hey," a deep voice practically purred in his ear, thrumming so low Armitage's stomach flip-flopped. Big hands came up from behind to rest on Armitage's hips. "Long time no see."

"Not now, you cretin," Armitage hissed.

Kylo squeezed Armitage's hips, then let his hands slide away, thick fingers just grazing Armitage's outer thighs. "Later, then," he said, shoulder-checking Armitage as he made his way to the castaway seating.

"Fuck off," Armitage muttered at Kylo's unfairly broad back.

He'd been trying to forget that, too.

~

"The winner of Survivor is..."

Kylo Ren, Armitage thought resignedly.

"...Armitage Hux."

Armitage blinked. "What?"

"You're kidding," Kylo said.

"What?" Armitage said again.

"What the fuck," Kylo said.

~

The reunion show normally would have begun right after the announcement, during which the contestants would share what they'd been up to for the past few months and reminisce on things that had happened during the game.

Things went differently this time.

"This was obviously rigged," Kylo roared, leaping to his feet and sending his faux-stone bench flying. "I was the clear winner." He stormed to the urn, snatched it up and hurled it to the floor of the set, where it smashed into shards.

"You have no actual survival skills," Armitage yelled at him. "All you know how to do is trick people. I deserved to win."

He did deserve it. And he'd done it.

Kylo's head whipped up, his dark, angry eyes fixing on Armitage's face, and Armitage's heart skipped a beat. Then Kylo was barreling toward him, grabbing him by the shoulders, backing him up against the nearest fake palm tree.

"You think you're so perfect," Kylo snarled into Armitage's face.

"And you think you deserve whatever you want, just for existing," Armitage snapped back.

"I hate you," Kylo growled.

"I hate you."

"Now seems like the perfect time to show our first clip," host Jeff Probst broke in.

"And we're clear," called the producer. Behind her, the large flatscreen that showed what was currently on air flipped from the live feed to a recording. Armitage might not have noticed, except—

"Yeah," came the sound of his own voice. He sounded winded. "This is what you're made for, isn't it?"

Armitage's eyes widened. He almost didn't dare look at the monitor. When he did, he recognized the exterior of one of the huts back in Fiji.

The hut was shaking.

"They're doing it in there," one of the other contestants said in voiceover. "They've been doing it almost every night. They think we don't know."

"I would have voted against both of them way earlier, but I wanted to see what would happen. I mean, they kind of deserve each other, right?" said a different contestant's voice. "Assholes."

"And we're back in three, two," the producer called, miming the "1" and pointing to Jeff on zero.

"Looks like you two really made a love connection," Jeff said, giving Armitage and Kylo a sly grin. "When did this all start?"

"I refuse to indulge this—" Armitage began, but then Kylo said:

"The very first night. I knew he wanted me from the moment he saw me."

"You're the one who couldn't keep his hands to himself," Armitage retorted, because while he had his dignity, he could not let that stand. "Even today, right here—"

"I think we have a clip of that, too," Jeff said, and the flatscreen flipped to a recording of Armitage and Kylo standing at the edge of the set, Kylo's hands gripping Armitage's hips.

"Idiot," Armitage said, just as the live feed resumed.

"You're hot when you're pissed off," Kylo told him mockingly.

"You goddamn piece of shit," Armitage started to say, but he cut himself off this time, grabbing Kylo by the hair and thrusting his tongue into Kylo's mouth. Kylo pushed closer, and the fake tree behind Armitage collapsed, and Armitage and Kylo fell to the floor, mouths still locked together.

"Let's chat with the other castaways," Armitage thought he heard Jeff say. It didn't matter. Kylo was trying to subdue Armitage's tongue with his own, and Armitage wasn't about to let him.

~The End~

[guelfoalexander]

Ten things we know to be true

We first wrote these “10 things” when Google was just a few years old. From time to time we revisit this list to see if it still holds true. We hope it does—and you can hold us to that.

1. Focus on the user and all else will follow.

Since the beginning, we’ve focused on providing the best user experience possible. Whether we’re designing a new internet browser or a new tweak to the look of the homepage, we take great care to ensure that they will ultimately serve you, rather than our own internal goal or bottom line. Our homepage interface is clear and simple, and pages load instantly. Placement in search results is never sold to anyone, and advertising is not only clearly marked as such, it offers relevant content and is not distracting. And when we build new tools and applications, we believe they should work so well you don’t have to consider how they might have been designed differently.

2. It’s best to do one thing really, really well.

We do search. With one of the world’s largest research groups focused exclusively on solving search problems, we know what we do well, and how we could do it better. Through continued iteration on difficult problems, we’ve been able to solve complex issues and provide continuous improvements to a service that already makes finding information a fast and seamless experience for millions of people. Our dedication to improving search helps us apply what we’ve learned to new products, like Gmail and Google Maps. Our hope is to bring the power of search to previously unexplored areas, and to help people access and use even more of the ever-expanding information in their lives.

3. Fast is better than slow.

We know your time is valuable, so when you’re seeking an answer on the web you want it right away–and we aim to please. We may be the only people in the world who can say our goal is to have people leave our website as quickly as possible. By shaving excess bits and bytes from our pages and increasing the efficiency of our serving environment, we’ve broken our own speed records many times over, so that the average response time on a search result is a fraction of a second. We keep speed in mind with each new product we release, whether it’s a mobile application or Google Chrome, a browser designed to be fast enough for the modern web. And we continue to work on making it all go even faster.

4. Democracy on the web works.

Google search works because it relies on the millions of individuals posting links on websites to help determine which other sites offer content of value. We assess the importance of every web page using more than 200 signals and a variety of techniques, including our patented PageRank™ algorithm, which analyzes which sites have been “voted” to be the best sources of information by other pages across the web. As the web gets bigger, this approach actually improves, as each new site is another point of information and another vote to be counted. In the same vein, we are active in open source software development, where innovation takes place through the collective effort of many programmers.

5. You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer.

The world is increasingly mobile: people want access to information wherever they are, whenever they need it. We’re pioneering new technologies and offering new solutions for mobile services that help people all over the globe to do any number of tasks on their phone, from checking email and calendar events to watching videos, not to mention the several different ways to access Google search on a phone. In addition, we’re hoping to fuel greater innovation for mobile users everywhere with Android, an open source mobile platform free of charge. Android brings the openness that shaped the internet to the mobile world. Not only does Android benefit consumers, who have more choice and innovative new mobile experiences, but it opens up revenue opportunities for carriers, manufacturers and developers.

6. You can make money without doing evil.

Google is a business. The revenue we generate is derived from offering search technology to companies and from the sale of advertising displayed on our site and on other sites across the web. Hundreds of thousands of advertisers worldwide use AdWords to promote their products; hundreds of thousands of publishers take advantage of our AdSense program to deliver ads relevant to their site content. To ensure that we’re ultimately serving all our users (whether they are advertisers or not), we have a set of guiding principles for our advertising programs and practices:

We don’t allow ads to be displayed on our results pages unless they are relevant where they are shown. And we firmly believe that ads can provide useful information if, and only if, they are relevant to what you wish to find–so it’s possible that certain searches won’t lead to any ads at all.

We believe that advertising can be effective without being flashy. We don’t accept pop–up advertising, which interferes with your ability to see the content you’ve requested. We’ve found that text ads that are relevant to the person reading them draw much higher clickthrough rates than ads appearing randomly. Any advertiser, whether small or large, can take advantage of this highly targeted medium.

Advertising on Google is always clearly identified as a “Sponsored Link,” so it does not compromise the integrity of our search results. We never manipulate rankings to put our partners higher in our search results and no one can buy better PageRank. Our users trust our objectivity and no short-term gain could ever justify breaching that trust.

7. There’s always more information out there.

Once we’d indexed more of the HTML pages on the internet than any other search service, our engineers turned their attention to information that was not as readily accessible. Sometimes it was just a matter of integrating new databases into search, such as adding a phone number and address lookup and a business directory. Other efforts required a bit more creativity, like adding the ability to search news archives, patents, academic journals, billions of images and millions of books. And our researchers continue looking into ways to bring all the world’s information to people seeking answers.

8. The need for information crosses all borders.

Our company was founded in California, but our mission is to facilitate access to information for the entire world, and in every language. To that end, we have offices in more than 60 countries, maintain more than 180 internet domains, and serve more than half of our results to people living outside the United States. We offer Google’s search interface in more than 130 languages, offer people the ability to restrict results to content written in their own language, and aim to provide the rest of our applications and products in as many languages and accessible formats as possible. Using our translation tools, people can discover content written on the other side of the world in languages they don’t speak. With these tools and the help of volunteer translators, we have been able to greatly improve both the variety and quality of services we can offer in even the most far–flung corners of the globe.

9. You can be serious without a suit.

Our founders built Google around the idea that work should be challenging, and the challenge should be fun. We believe that great, creative things are more likely to happen with the right company culture–and that doesn’t just mean lava lamps and rubber balls. There is an emphasis on team achievements and pride in individual accomplishments that contribute to our overall success. We put great stock in our employees–energetic, passionate people from diverse backgrounds with creative approaches to work, play and life. Our atmosphere may be casual, but as new ideas emerge in a café line, at a team meeting or at the gym, they are traded, tested and put into practice with dizzying speed–and they may be the launch pad for a new project destined for worldwide use.

10. Great just isn’t good enough.

We see being great at something as a starting point, not an endpoint. We set ourselves goals we know we can’t reach yet, because we know that by stretching to meet them we can get further than we expected. Through innovation and iteration, we aim to take things that work well and improve upon them in unexpected ways. For example, when one of our engineers saw that search worked well for properly spelled words, he wondered about how it handled typos. That led him to create an intuitive and more helpful spell checker.

Even if you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, finding an answer on the web is our problem, not yours. We try to anticipate needs not yet articulated by our global audience, and meet them with products and services that set new standards. When we launched Gmail, it had more storage space than any email service available. In retrospect offering that seems obvious–but that’s because now we have new standards for email storage. Those are the kinds of changes we seek to make, and we’re always looking for new places where we can make a difference. Ultimately, our constant dissatisfaction with the way things are becomes the driving force behind everything we do.

fonte:

[novumtimes]

Musks new PAC promises to register votersjust not in swing states

The world’s richest weirdo, Elon Musk, is reportedly collecting data from prospective swing state voters under the guise of helping them register to vote. CNBC reports that a series of (weird!) digital ads funded by Musk’s America PAC promises to quickly help register people to vote. However, where the would-be voter lives dictates whether or not they actually get that assistance. After entering an email address and a zip code, users are redirected to one of two pages. Residents of an electorally non-competitive state (such as California or Iowa) are thanked “for taking the first step” toward becoming a voter and directed to their state’s official voter registration portal. People from potential swing states—like Michigan, Arizona, or Pennsylvania—are instead presented with an involved questionnaire, asking for personal details such as their address, age, and phone number. Popular Science staffers filled out the form, and were redirected to “a page that simply reads, ‘Thank you for taking the first step to register to vote … Please complete the form below and we will help you complete your registration.’ At the time of writing, there is no actual form underneath that message.” As CNBC’s Brian Schwarz puts it, “In the end, they got no help at all registering. But they did hand over priceless personal data to a political operation.” And thanks to the form’s privacy policy, America PAC “can use the data they’ve collected on ‘other activities and/or fundraising campaigns.’” Musk’s new super PAC is collecting swing state data to be shared, and used later in service of the Trump campaign’s door-to-door canvassing efforts. According to Schwarz, America PAC spent $21 million on canvassing, digital media, text message services, and phone calls since June. According to The New York Times, a recent Federal Election Commission advisory opinion “makes it legally permissible for super PACs to coordinate directly on field-organizing.” Of course, Musk isn’t the only sketchy PACman out there these days. As Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas wrote on Wednesday, scammy PACs are out in force this year, and they’re basically legal—so be careful. And if you, or someone you know, needs to register to vote, go to Vote.org. It’s a government website that does exactly what America PAC promises to do—no matter where you live. You—yes, YOU!—can help Kamala Harris win in November!  Donate what you can! Source link via The Novum Times

[of-another-broken-heart]

Not like there weren’t already a million and a half completely reasonable things to be upset and anxious and despairing over.

The shit with twitter has me confronting several more awful truths. About how I’ve compartmentalized myself, even though I tried not to. About feeling unsafe and not trusting people. About fearing betrayal and abandonment - somehow, even though it’s all but certain, even though the majority of people have already established without a shadow of a doubt that their convention, their museum trip, their puppy parade, their concert, their viking party, their cruise, their movie, are all so so so very important, much more than a shitty life like mine.

Some people have taken to sharing “other places you can find me” and I don’t really have any. And I’m too exhausted and defeated to go through all the effort and energy expense of setting up new things, only to then have the combined obligation to check them all, as well as the futility when the majority of those accounts end up on vaporized or quickly abandoned platforms.

I have such precious little energy and hope. I can’t squander it by feverishly scattering seed to the four winds like so many others can.

Can you wipe your own ass after taking a shit? Have you ever tried wiping with your other hand?

My bladder is destroyed. Even when I can use the bathroom, I have to take an extra 1-2 minutes cleaning the toilet of my brother’s piss, because he stands - but doesn’t aim, doesn’t direct, just lets it all fall where it may, and more often than not, that means the toilet seat gets covered in a 22-year-old’s piss.

I tried getting in the habit of putting the seat up after I’m done. Just in the futile hope that I’d not have to delay my broken bladder’s relief. But my mom and sister are not on the same page. So, still, I have to smash my thighs together. And stand there, wiping the toilet down. After hobbling across the basement, up a flight of stairs, and through half the house. Because otherwise I get to sit in someone else’s piss.

And there’s voting. Everything is fascism. The “left” is also fascism. How am I supposed to be anything but hopeless? What logic is there to be happy in the face of all of this? Absolutely insane. And I’m the one with the damaged brain.

I started writing this hours ago. I got distracted. I cried. I dissociated. I remembered to take my afternoon meds. I don’t think I took my morning meds.

Whatever electromagnetic anomaly is passing thru my area, please leave. My tablet battery damn near ran to 0 in less than a day, and that’s not supposed to happen. My phone? Sure. That thing loves to burn thru battery searching for a phone signal that doesn’t exist in this living tomb. But my tablet doesn’t do that.

And you. You’re almost back to normal. Not really. Halfway, maybe.

Everything is disintegrating. I’m never going to know another human’s touch before I die. Maybe I should just accept that.

[fanfic-cave]

Okay. Here’s an idea. Blind s/o or friend (whatever you want) with the bad batch. Maybe they and hunter bond over their heightened senses. They show Omega how to navigate the world without sight. Tell wrecker or echo that they look great (pun intended). Or maybe tech helps them learn to maintain things without sight, something no one has really done.

Didn't See That Coming Pt 1.

Rating: PG

Word Count: 1.0k (just barely)

Pairing: Tech x Blind Reader (platonic or romantic up to you)

Warnings: None

Summary: You've been blind for a good chunk of your life, and haven't been able to read or write for years, an activity you used to really love. Tech decides to find a way for you to read again, hoping that it will help you grow more confident too.

Authors note: I rewrote this thing like a million times sorry for taking so long! I'm gonna make a couple chapters/parts for this because I thought the idea of blind reader with TBB was adorable and contained soo many possibilities. Please enjoy part 1 of "Didn't See That Coming" !!! (thanks @gokyacetakal for the request)

tags: @mangoberry99

edit: part 2 is up! link

“Are you ready Y/N?”

Tech shuffled through his pack as he spoke to you. You listened closely, trying to figure out what he was doing.

“Ready for what, exactly?” You asked him, leaning forward in your seat with curiosity.

“Do you not remember?” You really couldn’t remember at all. You shrugged apologetically.

“I had previously explained to you that I discovered something that would help with your… condition.” He paused towards the end, trying to avoid saying the word. It was clear that he felt awkward talking about your disability.

You smiled in his direction. “It’s okay Tech, you can say it. Blind isn’t a dirty word.”

You hadn’t always been blind, but it’s been this way for so long now that it just felt normal to you.

Tech nodded, then realized you couldn’t see him nodding, and he shook his head at himself. “Yes I understand,” he was ready to move past it and get to the topic he had prepared for.

Tech dropped a stack of books in front of you, and you jumped at the sudden loud noise. He hasn’t seemed to notice.

“Have you heard of the miralukans?”

You reached out to the books as you spoke. “No, why?” Tech took your hand in an effort to guide it towards the stack. It wasn’t uncommon for each of the squad members to do small things like this to help you. You were still appreciative at his efforts nonetheless.

“They are a very unique species. They look almost identical to the human species, save for the fact that they have no eyes.”

You froze. Tech found himself smirking, seeing that he finally caught your interest.

“So they’re blind? Like me?” You found yourself getting excited, and you were speaking quickly. Questions starting to bubble in your head.

“Yes, and no.”

Your eagerness began to diminish. “You’ve lost me. Are they or aren’t they?” You pressed Tech for more details.

“They do not see the way an average species does.”

“What does that mean?” You questioned him.

Tech scrolled through his notes on his data pad as he continued. “The Miralukans are considered force sensitive individuals, and they see using the force.”

Your face fell a bit as he spoke. You weren’t a force user, how was this supposed to help you? Tech noticed this, and he tried to keep explaining.

“But that is besides the point,” he placed a book in your hands and opened the page. “Put your hand on the pages.” He instructed. You felt your curiosity return again, questioning how touching a blank page would do anything.

As your fingers skimmed the pages, you felt an odd texture on the page. There were almost what felt like bumps in it. “What is this?” You raised your head to his direction, showing your confused expression.

“You’ll find out, keep tracing the texture.” Tech turned his attention to the rest of the books, and started organizing the pile.

You felt yourself get a little exasperated. Why could he just get to the point already? You knew he liked to teach, but now you knew he really liked having you apply yourself before he jumped in.

As you traced the texture, you began to recognize something. There were… symbols? No, letters. The language wasn’t galactic basic, but they were definitely words. “Oh-“ the noise escaped you as the realization came upon you.

“Interesting, is it not?” Tech smiled, pleased that you had figured it out.

“What language is this?” You inquired, scanning the raised lettering more quickly, now that you had recognized it.

“Miralukese.” Tech replied. “And you are going to learn it.” Tech placed another book in front of you, getting his curriculum ready.

“Me?” You sputtered.

“Yes.” Tech replied matter of factly. Of course this didn’t bother him, you thought. The genius sitting across from you knew several languages, this must seem easy to him.

You had stopped tracing the raised lettering, and froze.

“Tech…” you sighed out. A frown began to form on your face. This was a lot. Learning a whole other language, just so you could maybe read again? You didn’t feel like you would be able to do it. You had resigned yourself to never being able to read again a long time ago, when you had started losing your sight. Why put yourself through more disappointment by getting your hopes up here, just to fail?

“Y/N.” Techs voice brought you back to reality. You turned your face up in his direction. “You are more intelligent than you are giving yourself credit for. Also, I will be helping you. With both of us applying our efforts to the task, you should be reading and writing very soon.”

A painful smile grew on your face. “I’m not sure that you're right, Tech.”

Tech felt a pang of sympathy. Hearing you doubt yourself like this, made him feel all the more determined to teach you.

“Have I ever been wrong?” He countered your previous statement.

You thought for a second on what he said. “Yes, if my memory serves me right.” You let a soft giggle escape as memories filled your head.

“I know I’m not wrong about this.” Tech spoke with conviction. If you weren’t confident, he wanted to give you a vote of confidence. Tech thought of you as a good friend, at the very least. He knew you were more shy, and he thought teaching you a useful skill would help you grow more. Plus, you had told him before how you missed reading and writing.

You hadn’t witnessed Tech talk to you like this before. He was a person who relied on logic and data, however, you weren’t so sure he was relying on logic when he spoke to you just now.

“You’re sure?” You inquired again. Tech let a sigh escape him.

He reached out and put a hand on your shoulder, both for comfort and encouragement. “Yes, Y/N.”

You smiled to yourself, feeling the excitement return.

“Okay, let’s do it.”

[withcolebrock]

Caught Simping

Corpse Husband x fem!Reader

Requested: yes :)

Summary: Corpse gets upset when he thinks Colby is flirting with Y/N

Warnings: swearing and cringe stuff

Word Count: 2,351

Author’s Note: I was going to wait to post this tomorrow but why not now lol haha. honestly this could’ve been better but ummm yeahhh, anyways the person had asked for Mr. Brock to be here so yay my two favorite men in one fic love it lol. also I literally could not figure out anything to title this so this is what ya get lol haha anyways I hope you guys enjoy it!!

~~~

It had been an hour since they all started playing, a few people were getting tired. While others were willing to play for several more hours. “Be right back, gamer bladder,” Corpse and herself said around the same time, she stood up from her chair, placing her headphones on the desk. She left her gaming room, and shut the door behind her. She walked into the living room to see Corpse walking towards the bathroom. He stopped short as he looked towards her. His eyes looked her body up and down.

“Are you playing much longer?” he asked while he began to walk towards her. She shrugged slightly as she dropped the hoodie covering her head.

“I’ve got a few more games in me, are you almost done?” she asked while he slowly wrapped his arm around her waist. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

“I’ll be done when you’re done,” he smirked as he leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. She smiled against his lips as she slowly began to kiss him back. They pulled away, smiling towards each other as they walked towards their gaming rooms. She entered her room again, she couldn’t hide the smile she had to her lips, as she sat down in front of her face cam.

She put her headphones on as she heard Sykkuno say, “Anyone got a fill?” A few people had said that they didn’t have anyone, Y/N began to text a friend of hers from the Vine days. Before she started doing gaming, she was pretty popular on Vine, she had over two million followers and she hung out with Sam and Colby all of the time during that time.

“Dave? Boyinaband? I know he has proximity chat already,” Corpse asked, Y/N smiled to herself as she heard his voice.

“Oh yeah, of course!” Poki cheered.

“Awesome,” he said into the mic, “We still need one more, right?” Corpse continued, muting his mic shortly after.

“I think I got someone, one second,” she said into her mic as she continued to text Colby. She muted herself briefly as she focused on what she wanted to say to him. Explaining that the group was playing the proximity version, asking if he had that version or if he could download it quickly.

“Who is it?” Toast asked.

She unmuted her mic and explained, “His name is Colby, We’ve been friends for years, if that’s cool with you guys,” she chuckled. They waited for a few of the people to join, they began to discuss some things going on in their lives, while talking to their chats. She muted herself in discord while she talked to her chat. “A few of you guys might know him, he has a channel with Sam Golbach, like creepy paranormal stuff. It’s pretty cool. We did vines together all the time, I’m sure they are on YouTube somewhere.” her eyes widened at the memory, the vines were overwhelmingly cringey as most of her vines were.

She unmuted herself in discord and told the group,“He’s coming and he already has the proximity chat,” she explained as she added his information into their discord call. She sent him the invite over discord.

“Sweet,” Sykkuno said, Y/N smiled to herself as she listened to Sykkuno. Shortly after, Dave joined the call. Everyone started asking Dave how he was doing, since they all haven’t played with him in a while.

“Uh, hello,” Colby spoke, everyone in the call immediately started greeting Colby. Poki had asked how Y/N and him had met, Colby laughed slightly, “We met at Vidcon like four years ago, when Viners were invited that year.”

Shortly after everyone introduced themselves to the new people, the game was started. She was a crewmate. “Oh my god, oh my god,” Y/N giggled as her character moved towards the lab. Colby’s pink character was following him, “No, Colby no get away from me, I don’t trust you,” she joked. He chuckled.

“Hey, come on, I promise I’m not an imposter, please stay with me and keep me safe,” Colby begged. Corpse’s character ran past them, he ran towards one of the nodes. “You have med scan? Let’s scan together,” he offered while making his character dance. Y/N rolled her eyes as she followed Colby’s character to the med scan.

“I do have med scan,” she giggled. She clicked off her med scan, seeing that she had to wait for Colby, she officially cleared him. “Okay, you’re cleared,” she explained as she started heading towards decontamination.

“See, I would never lie to you,” he said teasingly. They entered the small room and Y/N went to do wires.

“I gotchu,” she giggled. Shortly after a body was found near admin. Everyone began to ask each other where everyone was at, “I was with Colby the entire time,” she said as she hovered over the skip vote button.

“I wouldn’t let her out of my sight, she’s med scanned,” Colby explained, everyone laughed as they quickly began to ask everyone else where they were at.

“I was by O2 tree,” Corpse said, with no further explaination. He was never straight forward with his responses. Instead of further investigating, the group decides to skip vote. Except there was a rogue anonymous vote to Colby. Everyone gasped slightly at the sight.

“What? I hard cleared him,” Y/N laughed, as the screen faded into the game.

“Y/N please stay with me, I need your help,” Colby whined as they walked towards the admin table together. She quickly clicked onto the table checking to see where everyone was at. There were a few in the lab and a few near electrical. They both walked into decontamination. “Everyone else is so scary, you make me feel safe,” he drew out his words as they walked through the long hallway together. They entered the bigger room together to see Corpse doing simon says.

“Corpse!” Y/N whined as she motioned her character towards him, she danced near his character. Colby walked away briefly to do another task. He finished his task and as his screen lit up, he saw her character. He chuckled as he began to dance with her. “What are you doing down here alone, it’s not safe,” she muttered as she continued to dance her character with Corpse.

He giggled as he said, “I’ll join you guys,” himself, Y/N, and Colby’s character headed up towards the decontamination that led towards the admin table. They all stumbled upon Poki’s body.

~~~

The next round she was imposter with Poki, she was doing amazing. The proximity chat made it even harder to be imposter. She always screamed after she killed someone, but she had to stop for this type of game play. One of Poki’s kills was called, “Where’s the body?” Corpse asked.

“By the button,” Colby responded, “Where were you, Y/N?” he asked. Corpse let out a huff of air, while leaning back into his chair.

“I was on the left side of the map the entire time, Sykkuno can vouch for me, I was with him for most of that round,” Y/N explained, her heart racing. She raced her eyebrows and forced a smile.

“Yeah, there’s no way she could’ve done this kill,” Sykkuno responded.

“I don’t believe it, Y/N’s acting weird,” Colby said.

“How am I acting weird?” she asked through laughter. Corpse smiled to himself as he heard her laugh.

“I dunno, you’re just being all different, it’s weird,”

“I’m not being different,”

“Maybe a little bit you are,” Colby teased, everyone laughed as they all skipped at the same time.

“Definetly not,” she rolled her eyes playfully. The next round began and Y/N ran off with Corpse. “Bub, what tasks do you have?” she asked as she chased after his character, contemplating on killing him or not.

“Wires,” he said shortly. Her head shot back slightly at his response, he was never short with her. Suddenly coming from the other direction was Colby.

“Y/N, thank god! I missed you!” Colby shouted jokingly, he danced his character around Y/N’s as they walked towards decontamination together.

“Missed you too! What tasks do you have?” she asked to try and switch the conversation. Corpse didn’t say anything, he just stood and began to do his wires. They continued to walk down the long hallway. Once they were in the big room Corpse and Colby began to do tasks. Y/N stood awkwardly in the middle of the room as she saw Poki come running down one of the hallways. They moved their characters towards each other as they ran up and killed both Corpse and Colby.

“Oh my god!” Colby yelled.

“Uh, fuck I knew it,” Corpse commented. With the double kill, they won the game. “Good game,” he commented as he leaned back into his chair.

“I’m totally going to get you back for that,” Colby teased. It wasn’t much, but the more he spoke Corpse was getting annoyed. He wasn’t even sure if he was flirting with Y/N, but it sure felt like it. He knew Colby would never intentionally flirt with her, but he needed to do something.

“I’ll be right back,” he spoke into his mic. Corpse muted his mic in both discord and his YouTube stream. He stood up from his desk and left his gaming room. He walked towards hers across their apartment. He knocked on the door several times.

“One second,” she whispered into her mic, muting herself on both platforms. She stood up and pulled open the door seeing Corpse standing at the door fuming. “What’s going on?” she asked, noticing the small frown to his lips. Without saying anything he takes a small step towards her. He rested his hand on her lower back, he lifted her shirt slightly as he rested his hand on her skin. The sudden cold feeling sent chills all over her body.

“Why is Colby flirting with you?” he asked as he looked her features up and down, he looked back into her soft concerned eyes. Her mouth fell open as she shook her head slightly. She stood silently as she looked into his squinted eyes. His fingertips grazed over her skin as they spoke.

“He isn’t, that’s just how he is,” she explained, he raised his eyebrows slightly as he took a long breath. “I promise he’s just messing around,” she reassured as she rested her hand onto his cheek. He pulled her body towards his, he pouted his lips. “It’s nothing more than just jokes, I promise,”

“He’s not very funny,” he let out. She chuckled as she shook her head slightly. She moved her hand slightly as she ran her finger across his bottom pouted lip. His lips curled upward slightly, at the touch. “I don’t like it when another guy jokes around with you like that,” he whispered as she slowly pulled her finger away from his lips. She slowly moved her hand from his cheek to the nape of his neck. “I’m the only guy that can do that.” She rolled her eyes playfully as she moved closer to him.

“I’m sorry,” she let out, he looked her body up and down slowly before he slowly dropped his hand away from her skin.

“It’s okay, I’m just-whatever,” he shook his head as he bit his bottom lip, she raised her eyebrows as her eyes widened.

“Were you just going to admit to-”

“No,”

“I think you were,” she teased as she watched him walk away from her gaming room.

“No,” he sing-songed as he walked into his room. She giggled as she shut the door and headed back to the game. She put on her headphones and unmuted herself in the discord call.

~~~

She ran her fingers through her wet hair as she walked towards her bedroom. She pushed open the door to see Corpse laying on the bed scrolling through Twitter. She walked towards her side of the bed and picked up her phone from the side table. She read a text from Colby, thanking her for allowing him to play with her. She quickly responded as she sat down on top of the comforter. She rested her phone down onto the side table again, while plugging it into the character.

She inched closer to Corpse, he lifted his gaze towards her, a wide smile forming to his lips. “Hey,” he muttered barely above a whisper. She slowly laid down beside him, while adjusting the pillow beneath her head.

“Did you make something trend on Twitter or something again?” She questioned, he rarely sat on his phone scrolling through his social media unless he was messing with his fans or reposting his fans art or people who share his music. He chuckled while shaking his head.

“Not intentionally,” he motioned the phone towards her, she took a hold of it and saw that #SimpCorpse was trending. She furrowed her eyebrows as she clicked on the first video that showed up. It was a slowmo of Corpse taking a hold of her waist earlier in her stream. She gasped, covering her mouth. He nodded slightly. She lifted her head to meet his gaze, she thought he would be mad but he wasn’t. “I think that’s funny,” he chuckled as he rested his phone on his side table.

“I didn’t think to turn off my face cam, oh fuck,” she laughed nervously.

“It’s fine, Baby, I promise,” he tilted his head to look towards her. “I mean, I am always a simp for you,” he teased, her features scrunched together as the words left his lips.

“That was really cring-” she tried to say but he shook his head as he leaned down slowly to press his lips against hers. She kissed his back softly as she giggled slightly, “You were definitely a jealous simp today, then,” she played along. He pressed his lips together while shaking his head. He slowly fell back onto his back.

“I wasn’t jealous,”

[lesbianakaashi]

The Forgotten Shounen: Katekyo Hitman Reborn

This is not a “Why you should watch/read khr” or anything like that. This is just me going into the deep dive and throwing my findings at you. I’m making this because khr used to be my favourite series when I was 15 (I had plushees, posters, tradingcards, the art book etc) and now as an adult I constantly find myself baffled at how unknow it seems to be.

1. Okay first what is khr?

Katekyo Hitman Reborn! or just Reborn! is a series by Akira Amano which was published in Weekly Shounen Jump from 2004 to 2012 (with 42 volumes) and got an anime adaption which run from 2006 to 2010 on Tv Tokyo (with 202 episodes and one OVA).

2. What’s it about?

Khr is a parody of the italian mafia and plays in a world where the mafia is heavily influencial. The protagonist is the japanese middle schooler Sawada Tsunayoshi who is known as “No good Tsuna” because of his failing grades, general weak and cowardly personality and weak physics.

He becomes aware of the mafia world when a 2 year old baby called Reborn arrives at his house claiming to be the greatest hitman and declaring himself his home tutor. Reborn was send by the 9th head of the Vongola famiglia who is ready to retire and looking for a new heir. Which of course, is supposed to be Tsuna and now it's Reborns job to shape him into a worthy sucessor.

Tsuna rejects the violence of the mafia world and refuses the position as the 10th. Thanks to Reborn and his general craziness Tsuna meets different people and starts to make real friendships. Reborn wants 6 of those friends to be Tsuna's future guardians, basically a group of people which will be closest to him in the vongola famiglia. Tsuna might have no interest in those positions but the friendships he builds with them become really precious to him.

Reborns arrivial also brings in the enemies of the Vongola family which leads to Tsuna being forced to engage in battles. Generally Tsuna openly avoids fights and prefers to run away but will put himself in danger for his friends' sake or because of something Reborn did.

Through out the series Tsuna matures and gains strenght but he never becomes a power fantasy. He's just a guy with many flaws who grows through the human connections he makes.

Personally I think the relationship between Reborn and Tsuna is one of the best student teacher reltaionships in all of manga only topped by Mob and Reigen from Mob Psycho 100. Especially the last arc really underlines their unique relationship to me.

Furthermore, khr offers a new and unique battle system: The flames. I'm not gonna go into to too much detail but the general idea is that one fights with their dying will flame which basically turns off your the savety switch so you can fight with everything you have. The flames are seperated into different categories such as: sky, storm, mist, rain, sun, lightning and cloud and have different attributes asigned to each one. Tsuna's use of the sky flame and his transformation when using it is still one of my favourite shounen transformations to this day.

3. What happened?

The series did really well and then not so well over the course of its serialisation. After the manga got an anime adaption it increased in populairty and video games, light novels, and other products such as CDs were created based on the series. Reborn is one of the best selling series of Weekly Shōnen Jump and has sold around 30 Million volumes overall. It was and still is very popular in Japan but rather unknown in the west.

According to the article "The Rise and Fall of Weekly Shonen Jump: A Look at the Circulation of Weekly Jump" khr was the 10th bestselling series in Weekly Shōnen Jump, with a total of 7 million copies sold in 2007.

This number increasing to 15 milion in 2008. Which placed khr into the 4th best selling series of 2008 in Japan.

Between 2008 and 2010 those sales declined but still kept strong with khr as the 6th top selling manga in 2009, 8th best selling in 2010 and then 24th best selling in 2012.

In November 2014, readers of the Da Vinci magazine voted khr number 17 on a list of Weekly Shōnen Jump's greatest manga series of all time.

After the anime came to an apprupt stop in 2010 for unknown reasons the manga sells took a visible hit. (Apparently the studio wanted to put the anime on halt because they were busy with other projects and give Akira Amano time to develop her story but I couldn't find any source for this claim) Furthermore, the rushed last chapters of the manga in 2012 declined the popularity of the series even more. There's no offical statement as to why the manga was ended in such a way but it's reasonable to assume that Jump either cut it considering the decreasing sales or Akira Amano choose to end it for personal reasons.

Nontheless, Tsuna not being included in Jump Force (a fighting game where you can play as different characters from Jump) in 2019 even tho he made it in earlier Jump Stars games also underlines the decreased interest in the series.

Rumors on a reboot or anime adaption of the last two arcs surface from time to time but are genereally unlikely. Artland the studio which made khr has gone bankrupt around 2015-2016. It might be taken on by another studio but rather uncommen especially with such an old series.

4. Art style

The khr anime ended over 10 years ago and the old art style might not be appealing to newer audiences.

Especailly because the anime adaption follows Akira Amanos old art style which heavily developed within the years. Here a picture comparing characters in the new art style:

A modern anime adaption in the new art style would be aesthetically pleasing. It would probably look similiar to Psycho Pass since Akira Amano did the concept art for this series.

(My personal art student hot take is that both art styles are unique and fun. Up to this day Akira Amano still has my favourite art style and even if the amount folds in the characters clothing is a little extreme I love it dearly.)

5. Criticism

The show is not without flaws and even if I greatly enjoy it it wouldn't be right not to adress them.

Daily Life Arc:

A lot of people view the first 20 to 25 episodes as fillers and quickly lose intererst in the series. This is due to the fact that Akira Amano inteded the series to be a gag manga and focuses the first chapters on world building, character introduction and comical narratives. It's rumored that the decision to develop the story into a battle shounen was made because the sales weren't doing well enough at first. So the first chapters/episodes may seem titidious but are necessary for the story and the development of the characters. The tonal shift from a more gintama like gag manga to a darker battle focused story can also be offputting to some viewers.

Either way a lot of people blame this arc when discussing why khr never got an english dub or didn't end up on Toonami. I've also read that the manga never finished serializing in the north america. However, it finished in other western languages like german and spanish.

Censoring:

The anime censors A LOT. From Gokudera's smoking habit, Yamamoto's whole character arc which deals with heavy themes such as depression and suicidal thoughts. The general bloodiness of the manga was censored and sometimes whole chapters and characters were left out even if those were important to the devolopment of others.

Filler episodes:

Out of the 202 episodes the anime has around 29 filler episodes which makes roughly 14 %.

Sexism:

Even if Reborn was written by a woman most female characters are rather flat and their storylines often tied to a male character in one way or another.

Genereal things:

Khr, like many other long running series, is sometimes criticised for a lack of world building or unpopular narrative choices.

6. Hope?

Khr isn't exactly dead. As stated before the series is still very popular in Japan and still gets new merch pretty regulary. There are also petitions floating around for a reboot or a new anime season but those never get a lot of traction. Furthermore #Reborn2期アニメ化 (#Reborn2ndAnimation) used to get some traction on twitter not too long ago. Last year the Anime News Network did a poll on which anime the readers would like to see a rebooot of and khr placed second.

Either way here's a collection of recent khr things I could find.

- In 2018 a new bluray set was released in north america

- The khr stage play reached yet another new season

- A mobile game was released last year

- Currently ongoing anime cafe event called "Concerto di Vongola"

- Last month there was an event with the former VAs and stage play actors where they discussed their favourite khr episodes.

- There has been an increase in blind reacts to the openings on youtube which might bring in a new fan base. The biggest one I could find had around 90k views and was made in 2019. On this note check out the soundtrack. The first openeing Drawing Days by SPLAY still makes me go insane (but I'm biased of course)

There also renewed hope for a new season/reboot because Shaman King, Inuyasha and Bleach got anounced for new seasons after a long hiatus. It's important to keep in mind that the circumstances for those series are differnt tho. For example bleachs new anime is often tied to the immense success of the gatcha game.

7. Conclusion

Khr is a series which used to be a flagship for Weekly Shounen Jump and is deeply beloved by it's fans, especially in Japan. It influenced other shounen series like bnha. It would be nice to see it gaining a bigger fanbase in the west :)

[novamirmirsblog]

Mission gone right

Hi guysss. This is 18+ ty :3

Word count: 1596

Genre: Smut, kinda dark? R is bad basically

Request: no

Warnings: Wanda sex magic, swearing, alcohol (think that's it)

A/N: we got votes for both angst and smut so I kinda combined both? I feel like this isn't angsty enough so imma write something super angsty next. Then I'll go back and do some more spidey duo xxx

"What to do, what to do, what to do..." You paced back and forth around your living room. "Ugh!" throwing your hands up in the air, you flopped down on the sofa, leaving your legs dangling over the arm. Switching on the TV, you saw that there was a new display at an art gallery. You looked around your walls and saw nothing as pretty as the painting on the TV.

"I guess one more couldn't hurt..."

The TV then changed to show that the Avengers were making a special appearance considering Tony Stark owned the gallery and it was it's opening night.

With newfound determination, you got dressed in a red dress with a neckline that dropped all the way to just above your navel and a slit that went all the way up to the middle of your left thigh. The dress gave you the freedom to move but still looked like it was just something pretty to wear. You grabbed your clutch (because god forbid a woman has pockets) and headed out.

~~~~~

Soft music played as people with more money than sense wandered around the gallery. Women wore pearls loosely and men had watches just begging to be taken. You had to focus. You were there for one reason and one reason only. The oil painting apparently cost millions. You didn't really care about that - it was a nice touch, sure - but not the reason you wanted it. You told yourself it was because it was a pretty picture but maybe it was more to do with the fact a pretty mindreader was going to be there tonight.

So far, you had done well to avoid the guards and cameras. You had stolen from this place a few times before and you knew that they rarely changed their security because you had cameras on them. You had seen a few of 'Earth's mightiest heroes' and had tried to ignore the disappointment you felt when it wasn't Wanda.

It's not like the two of you had history, but you were at HYDRA when the twins were too. You were a failed experiment. Your powers were useful, but not useful enough. They also took a little time to form. Time that Strucker didn't want to waste. You, Wanda and Pietro spent about a year together before they went to the 'good side' and you delved deeper into what your powers could do for you. You'd think that HYDRA would love the fact you could convince people of anything and erase all traces that you had ever been somewhere, but apparently they weren't looking for spies, they had enough of those.

You strolled around until you made it to the bathroom, waiting there for the rest of the evening. You had everything planned, walk up to the picture, take it from it's frame and leave out the front door. Everything was going according to plan until you heard footsteps behind you.

"Hey! What are you doing there!" You opened your mouth to speak but you were grabbed and dragged round the corner and into a storage room.

It was Wanda.

"What the hell are you doing here!" Wanda whisper shouted as guards jogged past our hiding place.

"Same as you apparently." You realised Wanda hadn't noticed how close the two of you were, cupoards were very small...

"You just fucked up my night out."

"Sorry darling, at least my night is going splendidly." You winked and leaned in closer, watching as the anger transformed to lust on her face.

You were taller than Wanda by maybe half a head so she had to look up at you as she tried to formulate a reason to get out of there. Technically, she didn't even have to be there. She could walk out right now and the guards wouldn't even bat an eye and yet something was making her stay.

You moved slightly and Wanda groaned ever so faintly. It was so quiet that you would have missed it if you hadn't been so close to her. You then realised that your leg was conveniently placed between Wanda's, and what can you say? The storage cupboard was small. It wasn't your fault.

Okay, it was maybe a little bit your fault.

"Oh darling, has no one been taking care of you?" You mocked, leaning in and whispering over the shell of her ear "Want me to take care of that?"

Wanda froze even more. Her mind was racing so fast that there was no possible way for her to read yours even though she was desperate to do so. She hadn't seen you in forever but when she glanced over when Tony was telling her a particularly boring story, she couldn't help but gasp at how beautiful you were. Wanda had hoped that you were just there to admire the art work but she knew, deep down, that that would be too good to be true.

"Cat got your tongue?" You were unaware of the turmoil you caused for Wanda. Too focused on your own fun and the way her suit hugged her in all the right places. You wanted nothing more than to fuck her there and then. You didn't want a meaningful relationship with Wanda, just something physical. The two of you were occasional fuck buddies when you were both at HYDRA - the relationship turning slightly toxic very quickly.

You both liked to see how quickly one could get the other jealous. Whether that meant flirting with other people and making sure the other one saw, or just outright sleeping with whoever was nearest. While it seemed that Wanda had grown out of that toxicity, finding love with a glorified Alexa, you never had.

"Why save me darling? I can handle myself."

"You were two seconds from being caught" It was a little disheartening to hear her accent slipping, the last little piece that reminded you of the Wanda she used to be.

"No. No I wasn't." you lifted her chin up and spoke into her neck "I don't need you to save me."

Wanda let out another groan, much louder this time as her hips bucked on your thigh.

"Shhh" You chuckled lowly "We don't want anyone to hear you, right?"

You grabbed her hips and kissed her. It was rough and fast. Wanda whimpered and began grinding harder, trying to get more friction. One hand traced lightly on Wanda's thigh and the other tugged at her waistband. Wanda got rid of them instantly with her magic and you slipped your hand into her panties.

"Shit sweetheart, your toaster not giving you the satisfaction you need?"

"I don't want to think about him" Wanda let out with a slight growl, her accent getting heavier again, like how it was when you knew her.

"Sweetheart when I'm done with you, you wont think of anything else for months."

"God you're a cocky bitch. You're all talk and no action."

"No?" You pushed two fingers into her. You weren't feeling nice enough to start off slow and she was wet enough for it anyway.

Wanda's back arched as she let out a moan and you kissed her chest, her blazer falling open to reveal an extremely unbuttoned shirt. She tried to push your hand further, desperately chasing her release but you pulled away, taking your hand and licking your fingers, watching as Wanda gulped.

"Please..."

"But darling, I think the guards are gone." You smirked as the witch basically threw a temper tantrum.

"So? I haven't felt this good in so long" Wanda shoved her own hand back to where yours was. It was strangely extremely hot to see her try and get back to her high. She suddenly opened her eyes and looked at you. You could see the red wisps surrounding you before you nearly doubled over, looking up at Wanda who wore an evil smile.

"Now you know how I feel. Are you going to get back to it?" Wanda had never done this before. When you had known her, she had little to no control over her powers, only being able to control things with her mind and read others thoughts. She had been practicing.

"Fuck you."

"Well yes, that's what I'm trying to get you to do."

You dropped to your knees and took the rest of her underwear off, slowly licking her as she swung a leg over your shoulder. "Shit y/n, just like that."

You worked your fingers in and out of her, feeling everything you were doing to her on yourself thanks to her magic. You got slightly sloppy as you both neared your climaxes. You suck and bit along her thigh and on her clit until you felt her clench around your fingers. You both saw stars as her magic continued to fuck you, drawing out your orgasms until you were both sweaty messes.

~~~~~

You never did get the painting that night. You didn't really get anything you wanted that night. You sat on the top of your building, one leg swinging and a bottle of something strong in your hand, just watching the city buzz at night. As you sat there watching the tiny people come home from their jobs to their loving families, you wondered if you could have had something like that with Wanda. Then you laughed as you remembered that she was probably wrapped up in the arms of Siri, taking another swig from the bottle, you got up and prepared for your next job.

[inkandpen22]

Permanent Chaos (5/?)

Pairing: MGK x Female!Reader

Word Count: 2.4k

Warnings: none

Part Summary: Colson and Y/N talk over coffee and Colson shows her a hint of what it’s like to be a part of his world. 

Masterlist

The Starbucks in the courtyard has since emptied out with everyone having to return to work after their breaks. Colson and I are two of the only remaining people inside. My hands are wrapped around cup, it’s nice and warm. I had to remove the lid to cool down the substance. We’ve been going back and forth, sharing facts about ourselves. 

"Have you always wanted to be an actress?” 

Studying the dark brown drink in my cup I recall memories from before I moved here.“No, in all honesty. I never saw myself as an actress.” 

He doesn’t try to hide his surprise. His stunned reaction makes me giggle. 

"If you don’t mind me asking, why do you do it then?” 

I sway my head from side to side. “It sorta just worked out. I was out shopping with my mom one day when I was in high school. Nicole approached us. She was in town on business and encouraged me to at least visit Los Angeles so we could set up a meeting. The next thing I knew I was in auditions and I got my part on The Seasons of Life a few months later.” 

“Wow,” his brows remain raised as he glances down at his drink. “If you weren’t acting what would you be doing?”

Sitting up straight, I remember what I once thought was my dream life. “First I would go to college and…” I wave my hand, dismissing the thought. 

Colson presses for me to say it. “you’d what? Come on!” He chuckles, grinning brightly. 

Rolling my eyes, I tell him. “I’d go to art school.” I bite my lip timidly. “Yeah... that would be nice.” I pick at the cardboard wrap on the cup. 

There’s a comfortable silence between us until I change the subject. “Enough about me! What about you? If you weren’t a singer, where would be right now?” 

He looks over in the distance, almost envisioning where his life would be. “I wouldn’t be anywhere else,” he shrugs but is pleased, “I’ve always loved music. Being in music allows me to do what I love.” 

I nod, almost impervious of him and his contentment. 

“However,” he adds pointing at me. “If it were up to my parents, I would have some office job probably.” 

"Eh, those jobs are so bland. I vote you stick to concerts," I giggle. 

He laughs and it’s contagious. 

My gaze lands on his arm as he reaches for his coffee. His entire arm is covered in ink. I was taught by my parents to despise tattoos. My mom would say, “why would anyone ever be willing to damage their body like that?” Finn jumped on that bandwagon. Whatever Mom says is considered fact to him. For the longest time, I agreed with them. That is until I met Colson. He was made to have tattoos. 

 I’ve seen many people in this city with tattoos but his aren’t just markings for the body, they’re art. 

“Which one are you interested in?” He questions, watching me as I admire them. 

“All of them,” I mumble, examining each one individually in awe. 

Back where I’m from tattoos are frowned upon quite frankly. When you grow up in a place no different than Pleasantville, that’s what you get. Especially, in South Carolina. 

“Do you have any?” He asks with amusement in his voice. 

I shake my head rapidly, “never in a million years!” Comprehending how he could take my response as an insult I’m quick to explain. “I mean, I would never be allowed.” 

His brows scrunch together. "Never been allowed? You’re an adult. Who’s stopping you?” 

I can’t help but snicker a little. If only it was as simple as he makes it sound. “My parents, brother, Nicole, Steph..." 

Colson narrows his eyes at me as he leans forward in his chair. “You’re your own person. You should be able to make your own decisions.” His argument is lacking and quite frankly too optimistic. 

“It’s complicated…” My eyes fall onto my fingers picking at the cardboard rim of my coffee cup. 

“If you say so… except all of them are keeping you from expressing yourself.” 

I roll my eyes as my lips form a smirk. It’s unbelievable, he makes everything sound so black and white. “You’ll never understand,” I conclude. 

“I understand more than you think.” 

Lifting my eyes up, he stares at me with a sincere expression. 

“Prove it,” I challenge him. 

Based on the change of his features, I have given him exactly what he wants.

"If you say so, Princess," he chuckles, rising from his chair. I stare at him in confusion and he offers me his hand. "You coming?" 

I smirk, slipping my hand into his. He grins and bites down on his lower lip. I'm going to regret this. 

_______________________________________________

Driving around with a guy I’m only acquainted to is completely unlike me. Everyone who knows me would be beyond freaked out at the current scene. It's kind of riveting. 

“We’ve been driving for almost an hour," I snicker. 

“It’ll be worth it, trust me!” 

“Where exactly are we going?” 

“The mystery is half the fun!” Colson enjoys the antics. 

I reach forward and change the radio station. Yungblud's "Parents" plays and I leave it. "Love this song," I mumble to myself. 

Colson glances over me, evidently surprised. "You know Dom's music?" 

"What? Just because you view me as a 'goody-two-shoes' doesn't mean I live under a rock." I giggle and hold my finger for him to wait a second. He chuckles. I begin to rap the lyrics from memory. "Yeah, the teacher fucked the preacher. But then he had to leave her. Had to wash away the sins of a male cheerleader. Hi, nice to meet ya, got nothing to believe in. So let me know when my breathing stops!" 

Colson turns up the volume to blasting and we then shout the chores together. I can’t remember the last time I had the chance to drive with the windows down, blasting music, and acting my age. I’ve forgotten what’s it like to just be a young girl, not working all the time. 

Once the song fades out, he turns down the volume. 

"So, she can rap too!" Colson looks at me, rather impressed. 

I dismiss his compliment with a wave of my hand. "Only if I've listened to a song a dozen times." 

"Not gonna lie, that was hot," he chuckles. 

Warmth rushes to my cheeks and I struggle not to smile. My head rests against the window as I watch the ocean become a blur as we drive down the PCH. 

_______________________________________

Colson drives down the road until there’s a dead end. To my surprise and then confusion, he parks the car. 

“We’re here!" He announces before jumping out of the car. 

There’s nothing here. Bushes, sad-looking trees, and dirt. I watch as he walks over to a clearing between some bushes. 

He peers over his shoulder. “You coming?” 

I take a deep breath and swing open the door. Following him to wherever we are, I spot a sign. 

                                   No Trespassing! 

“Hey Colson, that sign said no trespassing. We should go back.” 

He doesn’t even slow down as he walks down a weak path. “I’ve seen it, they never do anything.” 

With every passing moment, this road trip becomes more and more out of my comfort zone. Nicole and my entire team for that matter have guided me to prefer the indoors these past few years. I can’t remember the last time I spent an entire day outside in nature or not following a schedule. 

There’s a light at the end of the tunnel when the brush ends and the path opens up to a clearing. The sound of waves hitting the cliff before us echoes throughout the area. 

I cautiously step closer to the edge and look down to the bottom. “Wow!” I say to myself breathlessly. 

Colson peers down to the shoreline beside me. He then suddenly removes his jacket and moves on to his shirt. 

My jaw drops and I quickly direct my attention to the coastline far from him. I bring my hand to the side of my face shyly, blocking my sight of him undressing. “What the hell are you doing?” 

He chuckles behind me. I’m glad he can find so much amusement in my discomfort. “Cliff diving!” He says a matter of factly. 

“What! No you couldn’t! It’s illegal in these parts! You could get killed!” 

“Or, I’ll jump, have loads of fun and do it again!” He debates. 

I huff, crossing my arms over my chest. “Fine, you live out your death wish. I won’t be participating!” Whipping around and avoiding even sharing a short glance with him, I stomp toward the direction we came. 

He drops his shirt on top of his jacket in the grass and jogs to catch up to me. He squeezes my shoulder, using the other hand to plea with me. I whip my head around to face him. That's when I notice his tattoo-covered chest. 

“Oh let’s do it, Princess!" He encourages. "It’ll be thrilling! An adventure! Reckless! Something different!” 

Did he just call me Princess? No one has ever called me that and he has twice now. 

Colson takes my hand into both of his and I’m thrown off by the action.  “Be spontaneous with me,” he requests softly. 

Currently, I’m debating with myself. The youthful part of me is screaming ‘hell yes! Let’s do this!’ The businesswoman part of me is wiser than to take such a risk. I check over at the edge again. My willingness to do such a rebellious action is new to me. There’s no one here to see us. Paparazzi isn’t around to take pictures. Perhaps the cause of my newfound bravery is because of him. 

I take a deep breath and nod. “Okay, let’s do it.” 

As if he already knew I would eventually accept, his grin only grows. 

“Well then, I suggest you strip unless you prefer to sit around like a wet dog for the hour ride back.” He winks at me, biting his lower lip. 

In a normal case, I would be insulted by such a forward request but considering where we stand I find it humorous. After thoroughly checking the area for any cameras or strangers, I slip my dress over my head then kick off my wedges. An odd feeling stirs in my stomach and my heart is pounding. My comfort zone is shot to hell. 

Tossing my hair up in a ponytail, Colson scans my appearance. 

“Excuse me Mr. Baker, it’s not nice to stare,” I tease, yanking at my finished ponytail to tighten it. 

Unfazed, he snaps out of it and faces the shore. His hair wisps around in the breeze, falling over his face. The perfect strands are just as light as his eyes. His jawline could cut a diamond. His skin, as smooth as porcelain but covered in various tattoos. 

“Excuse me Miss Voss, it’s not nice to stare,” he repeats my words back to me. 

I snap out of my daze. “Wasn’t staring,” I argue, now turning towards the coast. 

“Nothing to be ashamed of, I know I'm hot.” His lips curve into a loose smirk. 

My time with him is often one big eye roll. I slowly approach the edge of the cliff, peering over. 

“Nervous?” He checks, looking down at the water for himself. 

“Nope." I lie. 

“Scared?” 

“No.” 

“Have you jumped from a cliff before?” 

I exhale deeply. “No.” 

He shifts his body to face me and I flicker my eyes to the side to meet his gaze. 

“And you’re not afraid?” He checks. 

“Not at all,” I admit without hesitation. 

He snickers, whether it be because he’s impressed or he doesn’t believe me. “How come?” 

I shrug, a brief hum for an answer escaping me. “The unknown doesn’t scare me, only challenges me… and I love a challenge,” I wink with a sly grin. 

His warm hand interlocks with mine and I nearly yank mine away yet because of the non-threatening look in his eyes, I stay. In fact, a part of me likes the feeling of his large hand in mine. It makes me feel safer than I have in quite some time. 

“On three” he exhales, staring off into the distance. 

I nod. 

“One," he counts. “Two...”

I exhale. I can't believe I'm doing this! 

"Three!" Colson shouts. 

I jump. Out of instinct, I squeeze Colson’s hand tighter. My voice travels in a scream as the two of us fall towards the crystal blue surface. He was right, this is such a rush! We torpedo into the water and the cold temperatures engulf me. Colson and I lose touch at some point then I kick to the surface. Wiping the excess water from my face, Colson pops up from under the water in front of me. Somehow even when wet and disheveled his hair still appears effortlessly pristine. 

“Wasn't that a rush!” His arm snakes around my waist. 

A part of me is begging for me to protest but I suppress that part of me. Instead, I rest my arms over his shoulders. He takes the opportunity to guide my legs around his waist. Shading my eyes from the sun with my hand I measure the height of where we jumped. 

Still struggling to catch my breath, I can’t help but smile widely. “It was a one-time opportunity!” 

“That’s up to you to decide!” he argues wittily. 

I lower my hand and his blue eyes see right through me. My eyes flicker down to his lips and impulsively, I slam my lips to his. I'm not sure what comes over me, but I needed to kiss him. Colson wastes no time, bringing a hand behind my head, deepening the kiss. We break apart only to catch our breath. 

“I believe you’ll prove to be a bad influence,” I say lightheartedly but between the lines with the utmost seriousness. 

“That depends on how you look at it,” he argues, his breathing inconstant.

Hungrily, he brings his lips back to mine and I melt into it. Colson is everything that’s bad for me. He’s an indulgence that’s disguising itself as a need. He’s toxic and I’m ignoring the warnings. The warmth of his palm radiates onto my face as he cups it. 

Against my lips, he grins. “You were spontaneous! Always be spontaneous!” His words, nearly sounding like a beg, settle in me. 

His crystal blues eyes stare into mine and I can’t help but be addicted. I'm falling for a fairytale.

________________________________________

Masterlist

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[youjustwaitsunshine]

Sebs interview with Der Spiegel, 26.6.2021, Part 2

as with Part 1, there might be some typos or small translation errors

Q: Formula 1 team bosses like Toto Wolff from Mercedes say that the Grand Prix circus has a communication problem. It hadn't worked to explain the grand efficiency of those hybrid engines to the audience.

A: The problem of Formula 1 to me isn't a question of communication. It's a question of relevance. We ask ourselves if we're allowed to shoot fireworks on New Year - because that also produces fine particles and emits CO2. In a time like this it's fully justified that Formula 1 has to fight for its place and its right to stay. So it should again become a development ground for the sake of the series production and - because we need mobility - for the sake of the environment.

Q: What does serial production owe to Formula 1?

A: Innovations like the ABS, for example,kr traction control. Driving has gotten safer for the individual person, accidents get avoided. That's what I call relevant. If you look into my race car today, it has none of that.

Q: Why?

A: Because it's about putting the driver's performance into the spotlight. And with it the sport and the entertainment. Which is correct, but it took the relevance from Formula 1.

Q: How can Formula 1 become a development ground for the car industry again?

A: A great chance could be the development of synthetic fuels.

Q: The German car industry is steering strongly towards electric engines. And you want to save the dated combustion engine?

A: On this world, there's about a billion cars that burn diesel or petrol. Those can't be replaced from one day to the next. It would also be desirable to find a way to operate those cars without damaging the environment. I know that synthetic fuels stand only at the beginning of development, that it still takes time, that it's expensive. But if nobody pushes that development, it will always stay that expensive.

Q: Do you think the switch to electric drive is a mistake?

A: I wouldn't say a mistake, no. But like with everything in life, you shouldn't just bet on one horse. We can't just look at Germany here. We have to look at this globally and look at regions where the switch away from the combustion engine can't be completed that quickly. Who's going to build a useful charging infrastructure in Africa or South America in a time that short? And what about trucks, about ships and planes? It's not foreseeable with those when they can be operated electrically. So we need alternatives. And Formula 1 is perfect for that.

Q: The FIA has frozen all engine regulations until 2025. The manufacturers invested hundreds of millions into the engines. Those should amortize first.

A: I understand the argumentation. Only, if the FIA announces to force more environmentally friendly engines from 2025 onwards, I'm asking myself why we delay such an important development. It needs the courage to not hold on to old things anymore. Not to treat the interests of individuals with consideration but act in the interest of us all.

Q: After your five years with Ferrari you didn't end your career and looked for a new job in F1. So you decided to stay part of the system.

A: Please assume that I give my opinions openly to the decision makers who make the rules. And as a driver I'm probably listened to more than as a retired driver. Again: if the rules dictated to maybe mix 50% synthetic fuels in for the transition and then drive with 100% non-fossil fuels in a few years, that would be exactly the challenge Formula 1 needs - quickly bringing technological innovation on the road.

Q: The Grand Prix circus leaves a massive ecological footprint. There used to be 16 races, mostly in Europe, today its 23 races and all the people and the material gets flown from continent to continent.

A: Absolutely. The race calendar doesn't make much sense. At the moment it's following too much the interests and wishes of singular countries and sponsors, same as the pointless waste of resources at plane shows. Those are things that can be worked out quickly and where the change would have a big impact. I hear from other sports trying to reduce their travel efforts. The ski circus wants to avoid the commute between Austria, Switzerland and the other Alpine countried in the future and plan a sensible route through the winter instead.

Q: Would Formula 1 be willing to do that?

A: It's talked about at least. The Formula 1 management have invited me to a round table discussion about environmental issues last time, where there were talks about the race calendar as well. I hope this get worked on now.

Q: The sport has a far reaching autonomy, should politics give more impulses in environmental questions?

A: Firstly, it's important that people understand that protecting the environment concerns everyone. Then I would wish for a change in Germany, to lead with a good example. That there isn't only talking but action. The Bundesverfassungsgericht (federal constitutional court) upped the pressure with the decision for climate protection. I think there needs to be a change at the top.

Q: So you want the Green Party in power?

A: I know that the Green Party often get called a 'prohibition party', but we have to move away from words like prohibition or sacrifice and from the fear, everything would develop into a bad direction. We should recognize the chances.

Q: You're going to vote green?

A: At the moment, almost every party has climate protection written on their banner and in their program. The question is, where will actually something happen. We should vote for a government where we're convinced that they stand for those values and principles most authentically. Yes, I will vote Green.

Q: Isn't it shocking to you that the Green Party in the case of their government participation will want to plead for a speed limit on german motorways?

A: The times where you could really step on the gas on the motorway are long gone anyways. It feels like half the motorway is under construction all the time and the other half has so much traffic that you can't drive fast. I actually believe we'd be better of with a 120 or 130 kph speed limit, just because the traffic would flow better.

Q/End: Mr Vettel, thank you for the conversation.