#published 10/22/2021 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jiminjamms · 2 years

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sex therapy :: 14. sucker for pain

chapter tags/warnings: misogynistic! naoya. pet names ("bimbo"). dirty talking. nonconsenual undertones. infidelity/adultery. strong language. humiliation. classism.

word count: 3.8k

notes: i published this story for the first time in october 2021 on wattpad, and i'm so thankful for and overwhelmed by the support and love that sex therapy has received over the past year. thank you for watching me and my story grow. xoxo

fic masterlist | 01. 02. 03. 04. 05. 06. 07. 08. 09. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33.

Eat. Sleep. Fuck. Repeat.

This would be the mantra Naoya would live by tonight.

The little date he was taking you on was merely a prequel to the chain of bedroom events he had schemed for the evening. Because warming up first was important, no?

As a wonderful husband, Naoya took his precious wife out to dinner at Shibuya’s Cé La Vi, a top-floor restaurant that may not be as vertigo-inducing as its famous Marina Bay Sands counterpart in Singapore, but offered a menu and skyline views second to none.

He had even requested an outdoor table under the fairy lights for the romantic atmosphere, where both the amber hues and soft jazz washed the vicinity with warmth and peace. Exactly what Naoya also needed after his last twenty hours filled with hurried negotiations with publishers, a long flight back to Tokyo, and many private lectures from his outraged father.

At least that was all done now.

Sighing, Naoya gestured at a nearby waiter, who disappeared and returned with a glass of expensive tequila several minutes later. Eight in the evening might be far too early for Naoya to down his third shot of Don Julio, but he needed to reward himself for completing a hectic itinerary without a wink of shuteye in between.

With the drink, he quietly soaked in the low hum of chatter that mingled with the gentle clinking of cutlery. The ambiance was so miraculous that Naoya didn’t know why he hadn’t taken you here earlier.

Now that he thought about it, when was the last time he had taken you out on a proper date anyway?

Oh, when he took you out two weeks ago to skydive in…

No, wait that was with Mari.

He was only two and a half glasses in, but the liquor was already messing with his memory.

So when…?

“We haven’t done anything like this in a long, long while,” you commented when you must have noted his extended silence at the dinner table, although Naoya found it quite funny that you seemingly read his thoughts instead.

He swirled the liquor in his glass but decided against another sip. “You think so?” he asked as harmlessly as possible. “When was the last time?”

Cutting into a scallop on your plate, you bit your inner cheek. “Our…honeymoon.”

Holy crap, that Caribbean trip was months ago. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah,” you deadpanned.

Oh.

Okay, he might have thought a lot more about spending time with his mistress, and he hadn’t exactly been keeping track of every single date he went on with you, but he certainly did not expect to have such an abysmal track record with his own wife.

Not that he felt guilty about his absence in your life.

Besides, you had the money to entertain yourself as you wished. Whether because you were blinded by sheer stupidity or his bank account, you thankfully didn’t complain much either. All Naoya had to do was to keep you happy and ignorant because—to paraphrase his father’s own words—if Naoya flopped this marriage with the COO's daughter, he would not be welcomed in the Zenin household again.

The difficult part, however, was that you were hard to please.

That was what happened to little girls who grew up spoiled by daddy’s money, Naoya supposed. Mari, on the other hand, would have absolutely been overjoyed in your position. Hell, even Naoya himself—who merely grew up as a spare heir—would have shown some gratitude.

“Sorry that I’ve been so occupied.” The Zenin CEO had to inject whatever sympathy and sincerity he had into his apology before sampling his risotto. “I’ve been buried in work ever since I joined the executive suite earlier this year. I’ve had a lot to catch up on.”

“I know,” you responded very matter-of-factly. “And I understand. You’ve been busy with meetings.”

Right. Meetings with his board in addition to his, well, other more discreet ‘meetings’ where he pounded his paramour into oblivion (but let’s not talk about that, shall we?).

As he pushed the thought away, he placed his fork down in exchange for his drink. “That’s why I invited you for dinner—to spend extra time with you. I’ll make things up to you even more later.”

You glanced up from your meal, blinking rapidly but the ambivalence apparent in your gaze. “Really? Like how?”

Sex, you motherfucking dimwit.

How much more obvious did he have to be?

Of course, he instead replied with, “You’ll see.”

He hadn’t told you his idea to rail your brains out because he didn’t feel obligated to, but if he wanted to a) get his father off his ass and b) be a baby daddy by morning, he had quite the mission to accomplish. Besides, if he calculated the numbers correctly in his head, today was still within your fertility window. A later day in the schedule, but still a fertile time for his wife, nonetheless. This was the perfect time to focus on you, particularly since he wouldn’t be distracted by Mari for some time. Perhaps arriving early from Mexico wasn’t too much of a bad thing.

Tonight, the deed didn’t seem too difficult to do either, thanks to how provocatively you dressed. Since when did you wear off-the-shoulder mini dresses? Was this from your New York fashion haul three months back?

“It’d be nice if you could apologize to me first.”

Naoya froze with his glass by his mouth at your unanticipated comment. What were you even going on about? “Didn’t I already say sorry for not spending time with you?” This was what he meant by how ungrateful you were.

Curling your lips inward, you inhaled sharply. “That wasn’t what I was—”

When the conversation was unexpectedly interrupted by a buzzing at the table, Naoya reached for his phone only to be greeted with a blank screen. Rather, he looked up to see you wiping your hands and staring at your device, mirroring Naoya’s own confusion as your brows creased at an unsaved number.

“Spam,” you concluded and pushed the device away once the caller eventually reached voicemail. “What I was saying,” you began even as your face contorted momentarily with reluctance, “was that you never told me you were away from Japan. I didn’t even know where you were or when you would be back had I not called your secretary.”

Wow, that was what you wanted an apology for?

What an entitled brat.

Admittedly, Naoya should have texted you before he vanished into thin air, but a homemaker like you certainly had no business in his personal schedule. Had he truly had an investor conference to attend, Naoya was certain you would have been just as meddlesome, which was why he found the situation even more sardonic when you confirmed his suspicions by adding, “Sending me a text isn’t too difficult, you know.”

Just who the hell did you think you were?

Don’t think he had not noticed how confrontational you had been as of late, criticizing his actions and then dishing out instructions as though you were anywhere near the place to do so. This change from your typically submissive nature was uninvited, to say the least. Like, at the bare minimum, you could look at your own husband as you spoke, and Naoya wondered if your actions were simply a phase in the relationship or a reveal of the real you. Whatever the reason, he wanted his good and obedient wife back.

“Well then, my apologies." His eye twitched as he spoke, and nothing now could hide the contempt rising in his tone. “Next time, I’ll make sure my assistants send you my entire itinerary from when I sleep to when I use the restroom to—"

Naoya couldn’t even think through his annoyance because, at this point, your phone was ringing for what must be the third time and that irked him even further.

“Please!” he scoffed, his vexation bursting through his voice. “Just excuse yourself and pick that shit up, good lord!”

At least that much you listened to. You pardoned yourself, stepping away just as Naoya pinched the bridge of his nose. On the one date he finally organized with his wife, you just had to ruin his mood with your shit attitude and table manners. Fantastic.

After one long huff, Naoya swung around in his seat and caught the attention of a nearby waiter.

The fuming executive then pointed at his glass.

“Another shot, ASAP."

As much as you were guilty of self-deprecation, you were not masochistic enough to simply swallow your husband’s insults over dinner.

‘Sex, you motherfucking dimwit.’

Simply thinking back to that line sent tiny pricks to your chest.

Did Naoya really think that, just because he mumbled that to himself under his breath, you wouldn’t hear him? What made you even more upset was that, when you asked for an apology, he could not even recognize his wrongs. There was more that you hoped to confront him about, too—particularly about the rumors of his extramarital affairs—but you had half the mind to shut up given his splenetic fury.

Whoever called you, however, thankfully provided you with a reason for reprieve.

You rushed out of the main restaurant venue as you curiously stared at your phone, noticing the missed calls from an unknown number. When the same contact information appeared on your screen in its fourth ring, you pressed the ‘Accept’ button only for the other line to greet you first.

“I still have your dress, kiddo.”

Kiddo.

Only one person called you that.

“Choso?” you nearly shouted in disbelief, unintentionally garnering the attention of some bystanders.

“That’s me alright,” the therapist answered, his reply cool and composed as though he never questioned the fact that his hands landed on your phone number. “I was just about to give up on reaching you.”

Overwhelmed, you sighed. “Sorry, I’m rather busy at the moment.”

“Right, right,” he mulled, a faint rumble sneaking in his tone. Choso then clicked his tongue against his teeth, and you could almost picture the blasé manner in which he would recline in a seat as some shuffling echoed over the line, which would have normally been irrelevant until he added, “Well, I’m downstairs.”

“What?!” was your first reaction. Now, you were certainly getting weird stares. Downstairs, as in, where? “Are you in—”

“Yes, Shibuya. You’re at Cé La Vi right now, aren’t you? Take the elevator down to the first floor. My car’s parked right outside the building’s main doors. That Dolce & Gabbana outfit I made you change out of before the club, I didn’t have a chance to return that since you stormed out of the meeting last night.”

You shut your dropped jaw. “The dress I remember but,” your gaze then narrowed, “how do you know where I am?”

The call suddenly grew quiet, the lull stretching for what must be an hour as Choso carefully contemplated his next words. “When you’re in the right business,” he hinted darkly, no doubt making a reference to his underbelly occupation, “information isn’t hard to come by once you know the right people.”

An assassin with eyes all over the city, huh?

Well, that explained how he got your number as well, albeit you would not be surprised if he had dug through the therapist office’s database for that instead. Sometimes, you had to wonder how an upper-class lady like you got entangled with a man like him, but a five-minute round trip to the first floor could not possibly hurt, right?

“I’ll meet you, then,” you eventually replied and ended the call.

Catching the first elevator car down, you had no trouble spotting the iconic blue Corvette convertible that stood outside the building’s entrance. Upon your approach, Choso rolled down his window and stuck his head out. This evening, his jet-black strands were pulled back into one low ponytail rather than two, his prominent jawline appearing even sharper against the nighttime backdrop.

No wonder this man had a whole harem in the club.

“Hey,” he hummed as his inky eyes ran down your figure, his gaze lingering a little longer on your exposed collarbone before traveling down to your legs. “I like your style.”

At the compliment, you looked away, feeling a bizarre prickle in your stomach. “I’m on a dinner date.”

“With Naoya?” Given how the therapists have recently revealed their disdain for your husband, you were not surprised to see Choso grimace. “Why…would you do that to yourself?”

Great question. “He’s paying, so I can’t complain.”

Choso pressed his lips outward, nodding when he could not argue against that. “I see.”

During the silence that ensued, you clicked your heels together, too busy floundering in the burning presence of your companion that you almost forgot the reason you were here in the first place. “Do…you have my dress?”

Nonchalantly, the man pointed to the back with his thumb. “In the trunk. What? You’re in a rush or something?”

You nodded slowly. “Naoya doesn’t know I’m down here," you explained but, given the psychological pain that your husband had inflicted on you, there was no good reason for guilt to be tugging at your lungs.

Even Choso narrowed his eyes. “You’re going back to that asshole?”

Another great question.

Without saying much, Naoya already made clear that his intention with you tonight was grounded only in sexual gratification, that he viewed you as nothing beyond—as he had put it—‘a motherfucking dimwit.’ Despite the pain, you never failed to find a reason to crawl back to the husband that lashed at your heart.

“Naoya is already angry at me,” you eventually remarked, twirling the edges of your dress. “If I don’t get back...”

“Then what? Even more of a reason to ditch him, to be honest. Maybe that will teach him a lesson for all the times he left you.” Choso was not the type to talk much, but he inevitably had the uncanny ability to leave you dumbstruck once he did. Oblivious to your state (or not), he then casually adjusted the braided bracelet at his wrist. “Better things to do with your time than stay with him.”

Funny that your first instinct was to defend Naoya again. However, even if you were to dutifully return to your husband, he would internally welcome you with apathy, his only goal to leave you smitten as a kitten just so he would have a pussy to play with.

Abandoning Naoya also came with one other problem, though. “There isn’t much else for me to do.”

How pitiful was that?

Sure, you had a stack of invitations to various charity dinners and networking parties, but—even with all the riches and respect in the world—you found those events pretentious, repetitive, and dull.

You half-expected Choso to mock you. (Because, really, who were you to complain about first-world problems?) However, the man just paused slightly, a dash of sympathy running over his expression as he then motioned to the empty shotgun seat.

“I could take you out for a ride.”

Your brows shot up. Tempting. “Where to?”

“Since I’m free tonight, I was going to take myself somewhere by Tokyo Bay—one of my favorite spots around,” Choso explained as he ran both his hands through his hair. “Although, if you’re interested, I could show you the area, too.”

At the proposal, you tried not to smile too obviously. Who knew that a hardened part-time hitman actually had such a soft spot?

“Then I’d love to.”

Choso drove off the second you jumped into the Corvette, the convertible greeting you with its familiar ashy honeysuckle scents and a The Neighbourhood tune. With a long exhale, you sank into the red leather seat and stared out the window, watching the nearby scenery transform from skyscrapers to highway signs.

Quietly, you relished the soothing silence in the car that was a refuge from the charged cacophony over dinner, reflecting on the steps that brought you to this moment. What a twist of fate, how the man who had detested you weeks ago was now a warm beacon that offered light in the merciless sea, providing you more comfort than you'd like to admit.

When you unconsciously turned in his direction, you tried to not stare too obviously at the metal on his ears, the piercings gleaming as they caught beams from bypassing streetlamps. You might have had a rough start with Choso Kamo, but you still found him ridiculously attractive with his oversized white sweater and black jeans, hiding his athletic physique underneath.

“Need me to pull up Google Maps?” you asked upon realizing your extended ogling.

“No,” he shot back. “I know this city like the back of my hand.”

And Choso sure seemed like he did.

He was focused solely on driving, his palms clasped around the steering wheel as his fingers drummed to the bass of ‘Sweater Weather.’

This close to him, you noticed how his hands were rough and calloused—almost definitive sign of working out. Right where he rolled up his sleeves, veins also weaved beneath his forearm tattoos, the inked vines something you never had the chance to examine extensively either.

This time, you weren’t too discreet given that he caught your gaze. “What?”

Oops. “Nothing.”

You turned away to look ahead, trying to calm your frenzied heart by observing some uninteresting cars on the expressway. A proper lady like you knew better than to gawk at someone for a prolonged time, yet you still got caught red-handed. How embarrassing.

Slumping further into your seat, you pouted as your weird way in mitigating the internal humiliation. “Just…keep your eyes on the road.”

While Choso did as he was told, he held back a low chuckle. “And you could keep your eyes on me.”

“But I wasn’t—!" A complete lie, but you still shouted with flailing arms, defenses hopeless.

Yet, what really disarmed you was Choso’s faint smirk.

One minute, you were frustrated and flustered; the next, you were simply stunned at the amused tilt in his lips, all because his smile was so rare. There was something enchanting about the cocky way Choso grinned as he stepped on the accelerator, the maniacal gleam in his eyes as he stared ahead, the bright colors of the Tokyo evening that glittered behind him.

“Jesus, take the fucking wheel,” you muttered like a starstruck teenager.

“What’s wrong?” he asked harmlessly because this man definitely heard you over the music. He threw you a quick glance even as the smile on his lips stayed. “I mean, you could keep staring if you want to, bimbo. I won’t judge.”

Mouth opened to back talk, your ambitions immediately got cut short as Choso moved a hand from the steering wheel to your inner thigh. While you hid your gasp at the unexpected contact, you only hoped that he did not notice the way you tensed under his searing touch.

But Choso noticed, alright.

“Hm, why are you so quiet all of a sudden?” Choso pressed again, his focus still on the lane as though he was not caressing you, massaging you, his thumb running in hypnotic circles centimeters away from the dull throb between your legs,

How he managed to maintain his composure in such a situation was a mystery given that you, unlike him, gripped hard at the side of your seat.

“Because…” you hissed after mustering all effort.

Then, you stopped.

How could you respond while completely distracted by the tightening in your stomach, practically holding your breath as his hand crept up higher? It was not helping that his fingers were so thick, that he had a small dagger printed by a knuckle, that his scent was reminiscent of burning maple leaves during a New England fall.

“‘Because…?’ Because what?” Choso asked, knocking your thoughts loose momentarily because he—on the other hand—did not miss your incomplete answer. His nails dug into your skin, nearly making you yelp at the incredible burn. “What’s the issue? I don’t remember you being this shy with the other therapists around.”

The steeliness that underlined his tone…

Was Choso still hung up about your frisky flings with Toji and Sukuna? Even though you should have never gotten sexually involved with them in the first place, you never would have thought that Choso would hold such a grudge.

In response, you cautiously observed his side profile. “Are…you jealous?”

He closed his eyes momentarily at the question, indescribable salaciousness etched on his lovely face, and he shuddered slightly. His eyes opened back as a sharpened glare, Adam’s apple bobbing as the result of a drawn-out swallow.

“Oh, baby,” he growled, and it was the backward tilt of his head that left your mind spinning, “you have no idea.”

Traveling beneath your dress, his hand roamed a little higher, then higher again, his pinky finger brushing at your panties’ seam such that if he decided to travel up any further, he might just feel how miserable and soaked you were.

Just hurt me, you begged silently, legs squeezing together subconsciously as you feel a delicious heat churning through your body, biting back a moan when Choso gripped hard at your thigh before smacking at the flesh.

“Harder,” you accidentally pleaded out loud, immediately clamping your hands over your mouth.

Unsurprisingly, your insanely handsome driver turned to you. When you met his gaze, you only wished that you hadn’t because Choso had a gaze that left you weak in the knees, the murky pool in his eyes enough to leave you whittled to a frantic and blubbering mess.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to—"

“Well, I'm curious what your husband would say,” he interjected, debauchery bleeding in his tone, “when I send you home my handprints on your ass cheeks?”

Wow, that really took you aback.

“‘When?’” you bleated. Not ‘if?’

“Yes, ‘when,’” he confirmed with a hoarse thrum. His overflowing confidence clouded your head with something heady, something intoxicating. As much as you think you should tell Choso to stop, words were lodged in your throat once he forced your legs apart with one firm pull, and while you found pleasure in the pain, it was his next suggestion that sent sweet vibrations straight down your spine: “Because I wonder what would happen once I spread you over the car hood and took you right there.”

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covid-safer-hotties · 11 days

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Alberta's COVID-19 death toll more than 4 times higher than flu over past year - Published Sept 9, 2024

By: Jennifer Lee

A year's worth of respiratory virus data for Alberta reveals, once again, COVID-19 is far deadlier than the flu.

The death toll due to the two illnesses, combined, topped 900 over the past year.

More than four times as many Albertans died due to COVID compared to influenza.

Alberta's respiratory dashboard shows flu was responsible for 177 deaths while 732 people died of COVID-19 (between Aug. 27, 2023, and Aug. 24, 2024).

"This is continual evidence that COVID is not just another flu," said Craig Jenne, professor in the department of microbiology, immunology and infectious diseases at the University of Calgary, noting influenza is not a benign virus.

"This is the most we've ever lost to flu, and COVID has still put up many more deaths than flu. So these remain significant viral diseases in Alberta. They remain a significant risk to some Albertans. And unfortunately, and tragically, they continue to take lives at a really unacceptable rate."

While they're high compared to influenza, Alberta's COVID deaths are trending down from a peak of 2,409 during 2021-22.

As a critical care specialist in Edmonton, Dr. Shelley Duggan sees the toll the disease continues to take on Albertans.

"We're seeing people who have COVID and all of the sudden are coming into hospital with blood clots, heart attacks, strokes. So we still are very much living in a COVID world," said Duggan.

There were 3,348 flu hospitalizations, and 6,070 people were admitted with COVID in the past year.

The province counts hospitalizations where the illnesses are either a primary or contributing factor.

Duggan points out COVID-19 is not seasonal but it ebbs and flows through the year.

Unlike early during the pandemic, she doesn't admit many patients to the ICU for severe COVID-related pneumonia. Instead, she treats people for whom the disease has exacerbated other health problems.

"We also have that at-risk population [including] people on chemotherapy, people post-transplant — people really who are immuno-suppressed and are at risk — or the frail elderly who we see," said Duggan, the president-elect of the Alberta Medical Association.

Alberta Health data shows 632 of the people who died of COVID were ages 70 and up, 81 were between 50 and 69 and 15 were in the 20 to 49 age range.

Four children under the age of 10 died of COVID in the past year.

The provincial government's dashboard states influenza and COVID deaths are counted when the illnesses are the cause of death or a contributing factor.

"We still have a significant proportion of people who will die either directly from COVID or having COVID that is going to set in motion other things. So we still have to be cognizant of it."

Both Jenne and Duggan say reversing the slumping vaccination rates will be essential for the next respiratory virus season.

Just under a quarter of Albertans received their flu shot during the 2023-24 season, while 16.9 per cent were immunized against COVID.

"It's going to be very vital that people get vaccinated this year to protect themselves, of course, but to also protect the vulnerable and to protect the hospital system, because we are already overflowing," said Duggan.

Alberta stopped offering XBB COVID-19 vaccines as of Aug. 31, following a Health Canada directive, an Alberta Health spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

Vaccines targeting more recent strains have yet to be approved by Health Canada.

A federal government notice to health professionals states that updated COVID-19 vaccines (designed to target the JN.1 or KP.2 strains) are expected to be authorized in time for fall immunization campaigns.

The province said more information on its upcoming immunization program will be made available in the coming weeks.

#mask up #covid #pandemic #covid 19 #wear a mask #public health #coronavirus #sars cov 2 #still coviding #wear a respirator

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bananaofswifts · 1 year

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Taylor Swift’s third re-recorded album, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), has earned over 575,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first four days of release (July 7-10), according to initial reports to Luminate — marking the biggest week for any album in 2023. Of that sum, album sales comprise over 400,000 copies – the largest sales week for an album this year, too.

Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is a re-recorded version of Swift’s 2010 No. 1 Billboard 200 studio album Speak Now. The 22-track re-recorded edition includes new recordings of the original album’s 14 standard tracks, along with bonus cuts and previously unreleased “From the Vault” recordings. Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) follows Swift’s re-recorded Red and Fearless albums, released in 2021. Both debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.

If Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) debuts at No. 1 on the July 22-dated Billboard 200 chart (which reflects the tracking week ending July 13), Swift’s count of No. 1 albums will rise to 12, surpassing Barbra Streisand (with 11 leaders) for the most No. 1 albums among female artists. Swift would also tie Drake for the third-most No. 1s among all acts, with only The Beatles (19) and Jay-Z (14) ahead of them. (The Billboard 200 began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in March 1956.) The top 10 of the July 22-dated Billboard 200 chart is scheduled to be announced on Sunday, July 16.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album.

2023’s previous largest week, by equivalent album units earned, was tallied by Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time, which launched with 501,000 units in the week ending March 9, as reflected on the Billboard 200 chart dated March 18. The year’s largest sales week was held by the debut frame of Stray Kids’ 5-STAR with 235,000 copies sold in the week ending June 8, as reflected on the June 17-dated charts.

Sales: With over 400,000 sold in only four days, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) already has the largest sales week for any album since Swift’s own last studio album, Midnights, debuted with 1.14 million copies sold last year (week ending Oct. 27, 2022; as reflected on the Nov. 5-dated Billboard charts).

Vinyl sales comprise over half of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’s sales – as the three-LP set has sold over 225,000 copies on wax. The latter marks the second-largest sales week for a vinyl album in the modern era (since Luminate began electronically tracking sales in 1991). It is second only to the first week of Midnights’ vinyl LP, with 575,000 sold in its opening frame. Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is available in three color variants on vinyl – orchid marbled, violet marbled and a Target-exclusive lilac marbled color.

The remainder of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) sales is comprised of CDs, digital album download purchases and cassette tape sales.

Streaming: The collected 22 songs on Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) generated more than 200 million on-demand official streams in the U.S. July 7-10, according to Luminate. The most-streamed tune on the album, by audio on-demand official streams, is the “from the vault” cut “I Can See You (Taylor’s Version),” with over 13 million on-demand official audio streams in those four tracking days.

#taylor swift #charts #speak now tv

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spacetimewithstuartgary · 1 month

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NASA’s Perseverance Rover to Begin Long Climb Up Martian Crater Rim

Aug. 14, 2024

After 2½ years exploring Jezero Crater’s floor and river delta, the rover will ascend to an area where it will search for more discoveries that could rewrite Mars’ history.

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover will soon begin a monthslong ascent up the western rim of Jezero Crater that is likely to include some of the steepest and most challenging terrain the rover has encountered to date. Scheduled to start the week of Aug. 19, the climb will mark the kickoff of the mission’s new science campaign — its fifth since the rover landed in the crater on Feb. 18, 2021.

“Perseverance has completed four science campaigns, collected 22 rock cores, and traveled over 18 unpaved miles,” said Perseverance project manager Art Thompson of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “As we start the Crater Rim Campaign, our rover is in excellent condition, and the team is raring to see what’s on the roof of this place.”

Two of the priority regions the science team wants to study at the top of the crater are nicknamed “Pico Turquino” and “Witch Hazel Hill.” Imagery from NASA’s Mars orbiters indicates that Pico Turquino contains ancient fractures that may have been caused by hydrothermal activity in the distant past.

Orbital views of Witch Hazel show layered materials that likely date from a time when Mars had a very different climate than today. Those views have revealed light-toned bedrock similar to what was found at “Bright Angel,” the area where Perseverance recently discovered and sampled the “Cheyava Falls” rock, which exhibits chemical signatures and structures that could possibly have been formed by life billions of years ago when the area contained running water.

It's Sedimentary

During the river delta exploration phase of the mission, the rover collected the only sedimentary rock ever sampled from a planet other than Earth. Sedimentary rocks are important because they form when particles of various sizes are transported by water and deposited into a standing body of water; on Earth, liquid water is one of the most important requirements for life as we know it.

A study published Wednesday, Aug. 14, in AGU Advances chronicles the 10 rock cores gathered from sedimentary rocks in an ancient Martian delta, a fan-shaped collection of rocks and sediment that formed billions of years ago at the convergence of a river and a crater lake.

The core samples collected at the fan front are the oldest, whereas the rocks cored at the fan top are likely the youngest, produced when flowing water deposited sediment in the western fan.

“Among these rock cores are likely the oldest materials sampled from any known environment that was potentially habitable,” said Tanja Bosak, a geobiologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge and member of Perseverance’s science team. “When we bring them back to Earth, they can tell us so much about when, why, and for how long Mars contained liquid water and whether some organic, prebiotic, and potentially even biological evolution may have taken place on that planet.”

Onward to the Crater Rim

As scientifically intriguing as the samples have been so far, the mission expects many more discoveries to come.

“Our samples are already an incredibly scientifically compelling collection, but the crater rim promises to provide even more samples that will have significant implications for our understanding of Martian geologic history,” said Eleni Ravanis, a University of Hawaiì at Mānoa scientist on Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z instrument team and one of the Crater Rim Campaign science leads. “This is because we expect to investigate rocks from the most ancient crust of Mars. These rocks formed from a wealth of different processes, and some represent potentially habitable ancient environments that have never been examined up close before.”

Reaching the top of the crater won’t be easy. To get there, Perseverance will rely on its auto-navigation capabilities as it follows a route that rover planners designed to minimize hazards while still giving the science team plenty to investigate. Encountering slopes of up to 23 degrees on the journey (rover drivers avoid terrain that would tilt Perseverance more than 30 degrees), the rover will have gained about 1,000 feet (300 meters) in elevation by the time it summits the crater’s rim at a location the science team has dubbed “Aurora Park.”

Then, perched hundreds of meters above a crater floor stretching 28 miles (45 kilometers) across, Perseverance can begin the next leg of its adventure.

More Mission Information

A key objective of Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including caching samples that may contain signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, to help pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet and as the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith.

NASA’s Mars Sample Return Program, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), is designed to send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.

TOP IMAGE: This panorama shows the area NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover will climb in coming months to crest Jezero Crater’s rim. It is made up of 59 images taken by the rover’s Mastcam-Z on Aug. 4. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

CENTRE IMAGE: One of the navigation cameras aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover captured this view looking back at the “Bright Angel” area on July 30, the 1,224th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

LOWER IMAGE: This map shows the route NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover will take (in blue) as it climbs the western rim of Jezero Crater, first reaching “Dox Castle,” then investigating the “Pico Turquino” area before approaching “Witch Hazel Hill.” Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

#science #space #astronomy #physics #news #nasa #MARS #astrophysics

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mybeautifulchristianjourney · 23 days

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The Offering of Isaac

1 Now it happened after these things, that God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only one, whom you love, Isaac, and go forth to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from a distance. 5 And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there; and we will worship, and we will return to you.” 6 Then Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and put it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.

7 Then Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8 And Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood and bound his son Isaac and put him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of Yahweh called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 And He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the boy, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only one, from Me.” 13 Then Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there was a ram after it had been caught in the thicket by its horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of that place Yahweh Will Provide, as it is said this day, “In the mount of Yahweh it will be provided.”

15 Then the angel of Yahweh called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16 and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares Yahweh, because you have done this thing and have not spared your son, your only one, 17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have listened to My voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and walked together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived at Beersheba.

20 Now it happened after these things, that it was told to Abraham, saying, “Behold, Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: 21 Uz his firstborn and Buz his brother and Kemuel the father of Aram 22 and Chesed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph and Bethuel.” 23 And Bethuel was the father of Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. 24 And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah and Gaham and Tahash and Maacah. — Genesis 22 | Legacy Standard Bible (LSB) Legacy Standard Bible Copyright ©2021 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. Cross References: Genesis 8:20; Genesis 11:29; Genesis 16:7; Genesis 16:10; Genesis 21:34; Genesis 23:1; Genesis 24:15; Exodus 17:15; Exodus 24:14; Joshua 8:10; Job 32:2; Matthew 1:1; Luke 1:73; John 1:29; John 3:16; John 19:17; Romans 4:13; Hebrews 11:17; James 1:12-13; James 2:21-22; Revelation 13:8

An Old Testament Portrait of Jesus

#God #test #Abraham #offering of Isaac #the sacrifice averted #Angel of the Lord #ram provided #the sons of Nahor #Genesis 22 #Book of Genesis #Old Testament #LSB #Legacy Standard Bible #The Lockman Foundation #Three Sixteen Publishing Inc.

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usedpidemo · 1 year

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Update - 2nd year anniversary! (plus a reflection, and future plans).

Hi everyone! π here.

Today, May 13th, is the day I officially opened up this blog and began writing degenerate and immoral stories! 2 fucking years have passed, how time flies. So much can change in a year, and so do some of the stats!

First work: Sandwich - Red Velvet Wendy (published 05/13/21, 4:03 a.m.)

Highest note count: Awards after-party affair - Itzy Yuna (published 10/23/22, 1167 notes)

Number of works published: 80 fics (1 fic every 9.1 days)

500 followers: June 18, 2021 (36 days or 1 month, 5 days)

1,000 followers: October 12, 2021 (152 days or 4 months, 30 days)

2,000 followers: June 18, 2022 (401 days or 1 year, 1 month, and 5 days)

3,000 followers: November 12, 2022 (548 days or 1 year, 5 months, and 30 days)

Follower count: 3,953 followers (5.4 followers a day)

I wish I had something awesome lined up to celebrate this milestone, but I don't have anything prepared XD I've been busy and lazy at the same time. (Is that even possible?)

Actually, yeah, I do have a whole week's worth of cool things lined up this week! If I can even follow through with this one...

Monday: AMA

Tuesday: Reader Poll

Wednesday: ???

Thursday: ???

Friday: ???

I don't want to make the fun section of the update elaborately long, so I just want to say thank you so much to everyone for the support! Even though I'm not as active or as productive as I used to be, your eagerness never wavered, and you guys enjoy me talking about random shit on the side, whether it be song lyrics, Pokémon, or literally posts without any context to them. I love you guys. Here's to another year 🧡

Everything else from this point is a brief reflection and introspection of what I've been feeling since then. You can ignore this if you wish to do so.

So today marks the second anniversary since I opened up this Tumblr and became a degenerate writer. The work I've been putting up is getting worse—in a sexual and filthy way, not objectively—and my mental health has been getter much, much better! When I made the same anniversary post around this time a year ago, I was at an all-time low, mentally speaking. I really felt like I had not much left to give at that point, my skill has stagnated, and I thought there wasn't much for me to improve on. If you asked me if I had any future plans for this blog, I'd say I'd be done by the end of 2022, if not sooner.

It's now 2023, and I believe I'm as good as I can be right now. Slumps happen for a reason, and you can't always win, but it's how you bounce back from the lowest of lows that you reach highest of highs. And I believe I can still get better.

Genuinely, not to sound arrogant, because Lord knows I'm not the best fanfic writer—fuck no—I'm not anywhere close, even in a theoretical top 1000 list, but I do think some of my finest work have come up in my most recent fics. I don't know, it feels more polished and there was more effort and deliberation put into it. The numbers don't lie, either; every single work I published since May 2022 has over 400+ notes, and I've even passed the 1000+ note barrier twice! It goes to show that you guys are enjoying what I'm putting out as much as I love making them, slow and difficult it may be. I can fondly smile at last year's additions to my masterlist and say, "I can't believe I did that."

I do want to apologize if my output rate has drastically slowed down, and if I'm not as active as I was before. It's unfortunately part of the sacrifice needed for better quality control, and also because I have more personal commitments to attend to. 2023 has been fantastic for me so far in almost every department, except maybe physically—I could use more exercise—but that can be worked upon.

I do believe I'm on borrowed time. Again, look at the gap between fics over the past six months ago, and it's only going to widen once I enter my third year of college. I also have to begin considering what hobbies and other things I should do to occupy my free time, so I can be more productive as a person. This isn't to say I'm definitely quitting, but I expect more responsibilities to be shouldered onto me in the future, and having time for myself is going to be pretty much a birthday gift with how rare it might be given, and I'd prefer spending my time off recharging and relaxing instead of stressing over inconsequential or 'fun' things.

There's a lot of people I want to thank specifically, because while I was struggling with my own personal battles, they've been encouraging me to continue fighting and have been absolute lads—and lasses—throughout the past year. When I needed someone to talk to that wasn't my therapist, they were there, and I took solace in their comfort and companionship. I can't tag you guys, but if you're reading this—Chunk, Raf, Peach, Aaron, Sol, V1n, Iz, Ddeun, C.o, Kaede, Frisky, Smite, Shaun, Sins, Jett, Eros, Prael, Ken, Cray, CJ, Sooya, Gray, Svn—I sincerely thank you. God bless each and every single one of you. And to Tim, I really hope you can see this, but I'm truly, truly sorry. I hope we can find a way to bury that fracture in our relationship in the past, and we can reconcile. If not, then I just want closure and peace for the both of us.

So in closing, I want to thank you so much for sticking with me through the bad times and prospering with me through the good, and I'm always humbled that you've taken a chance on me when I started, when I was a hopeful newbie, two years ago. Now here we are. I appreciate every single one of you, be it a fellow writer, a reader, or a lurker.

With grace,

Peter / π

#update #anniversary

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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 5 months

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By: Lucy Bannerman, James Beal, Eleanor Hayward

Published: Apr 10, 2024

The report should be the final nail in the coffin of Gids, the clinic that told thousands of children they were transgender

In 2009 the NHS’s gender identity development service (Gids) saw fewer than 50 children a year. Since then demand has increased a hundredfold, with more than 5,000 seeking help in 2021-22.

The sudden increase has gone hand in hand with the adoption of a model of “gender-affirming” care, which puts children on a life-altering path of hormone treatment. Services have been left overwhelmed, with vulnerable young people clamouring for medical interventions to help them change gender — despite a lack of evidence over the long-term effects.

It was against this backdrop that Dr Hilary Cass was commissioned in 2020 to examine the state of NHS services for children identifying as trans. Her final report, published on Wednesday, delivers a damning verdict on the medical path thousands of children have been sent down. It marks a turning point in years of bitter debate over how to help this distressed group of young people, confirming a shift towards a holistic model that takes into account the wider social and mental health problems driving the rise in demand.

Gen Z and online porn

The Cass report shines a light on the biggest unanswered question over transgender healthcare: why are so many Gen Z women suddenly wanting to change gender?

Cass paints an alarming picture of an anxious and distressed generation of digitally savvy young women and girls, who not only are more exposed to online pornography and the wider problems of the world than any previous generation but also consume more social media and have lower self-esteem and more body hang-ups than their male peers.

When Gids opened in 1989, it treated fewer than ten people each year, mostly males with a long history of gender distress. In 2009 it treated 15 adolescent girls. By 2016 that figure had shot up to 1,071.

Cass concludes that such a sudden rise in such a short time cannot be explained alone by greater acceptance of trans identities, which “does not adequately explain” the switch in patient profiles from predominantly male to female. She also says greater investigation of the “consumption of online pornography and gender dysphoria is needed”, pointing to youngsters’ increasingly early exposure to “frequently violent” online material that can have a harmful impact on their self- esteem and body image.

Gen Z is defined as those born between 1995 and 2009. Rather than focusing on the issue of gender in isolation, Cass looked at the context in which adolescents today, who have “grown up with unprecedented online access”, are experiencing such a disproportionate crisis over their gender.

“Generation Z is the generation in which the numbers seeking support from the NHS around their gender identity have increased, so it is important to have some understanding of their experiences and influences,” she writes. “In terms of broader context, Generation Z and Generation Alpha (those born since 2010) have grown up through a global recession, concerns about climate change and most recently the Covid-19 pandemic. Global connectivity has meant that as well as the advantages of international peer networks, they are much more exposed to worries about global threats.”

The report also focuses on 2014, when female referrals to Gids accelerated. Although this is not mentioned, 2014 was the year that CBBC, for example, broadcast I Am Leo, a video-diary-style documentary, to an audience of to 6 to 12-year-olds, showing the positive personal journey of a child who transitioned from female to male.

Throughout almost 400 pages, Cass argues that the gender-related issues of young patients should be treated in the same context as the wider mental health issues facing their entire generation. “The striking increase in young people presenting with gender incongruence/dysphoria needs to be considered within the context of poor mental health and emotional distress among the broader adolescent population, particularly given their high rates of co-existing mental health problems and neurodiversity.” Cass calls for more research into the “complex interplay” between these issues and a teenager’s sudden desire to change gender.

Lack of evidence for medical pathway

Rather than affirming children’s gender identity with medical treatment, the report calls for a holistic approach that examines the causes of their distress. It finds that, despite being incorporated into medical guidelines around the world, the use of “gender-affirming” medical treatment such as puberty blockers is based on “wholly inadequate” evidence. Doctors are cautious when adopting new treatments, but Cass says “quite the reverse happened in the field of gender care for children”, with thousands of children put on an unproven medical pathway.

Cass says gender care is “an area of remarkably weak evidence” and that results of studies “are exaggerated or misrepresented by people on all sides of the debate”. She adds: “The reality is that we have no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress.”

The report finds that treatment on the NHS since 2011 has largely been informed by two sets of international guidelines, drawn up by the Endocrine Society and the World Professional Association of Transgender Healthcare (WPATH), but that these lack scientific rigour. The WPATH has been “highly influential in directing international practice, although its guidelines were found by the University of York’s appraisal to lack developmental rigour and transparency”, Cass says.

The report says the NHS must work to improve the evidence base.

Mental health

Mental health issues could be presenting as gender-related distress. Children and young people referred to specialist gender services have higher rates of mental health difficulties than the general population. This includes rates of depression, anxiety and eating disorders. Some research studies have suggested transgender people are three to six times more likely to be autistic than the general population, with age and educational attainment taken into account.

Therefore, the report says that the striking increase in young people presenting with gender dysphoria needs to be considered within the context of rising levels of poor mental health.

The increase in gender clinic patients “has to some degree paralleled” the deterioration in child and adolescent mental health, it finds. Mental distress, the report says, can present through physical manifestations, such as eating disorders or body dysmorphic disorders. Clinicians were often reluctant to explore or address co-occurring mental health issues in those presenting with gender distress, the report finds. This was because gender dysphoria was not considered to be a mental health condition.

The report finds that, compared with the general population, young people referred to gender services had higher rates of neglect; physical, sexual or emotional abuse; parental mental illness or substance abuse; exposure to domestic violence; and loss of a parent through death or abandonment.

Puberty blockers

The report says there was “no evidence” puberty blockers allowed young people “time to think” by delaying the onset of puberty — which was the original rationale for their use. It finds the vast majority of those who start puberty suppression continued on to cross-sex hormones, particularly if they started earlier in puberty.

There was insufficient and inconsistent evidence about the effects of puberty suppression on psychological or psychosocial health, it says, and some young females had a worsening of problems like depression and anxiety.

Cass says there is “some concern” that puberty blockers may actually change “the trajectory of psychosexual and gender identity development”.

Her report warns that blocking the chronological age and sex hormones released during puberty “could have a range of unintended and as yet unidentified consequences”.

It describes adolescence as a time of “identity development, sexual development, sexual fluidity and experimentation”. The report says “blocking” this meant young people had to understand identity and sexuality based only on their discomfort about puberty and an early sense of their gender. Therefore, it adds, there is “no way of knowing” whether the normal trajectory of someone’s sexual and gender identity “may be permanently altered”.

Brain maturation may also be “temporarily or permanently disrupted” by the use of puberty blockers, it says. This could have a significant impact on a young person’s ability to make “complex risk-laden decisions”, as well as possible long-term neuropsychological consequences.

The report highlights the “concern” of young people remaining on puberty blockers into adulthood — sometimes into their mid-twenties. This is partly because some “wish to continue as non-binary” and partly because of ongoing gender indecision, the report says.

Cass adds: “Puberty suppression was never intended to continue for extended periods.”

The report finds young adults who had been discharged from Gids “remained on puberty blockers into their early to mid twenties”. A review of audit data suggested 177 patients were discharged while on puberty blockers.

Cass says the review “raised this with NHS England and Gids”, citing the unknown impact of use over an extended period. “The detrimental impact to bone density alone makes this concerning”, the report adds.

A Dutch study originally suggested that puberty blockers might improve psychological wellbeing for a narrow group of children with gender issues.

Following this, the practice “spread at pace to other countries” and in 2011 the UK trialled the use of puberty blockers in an early intervention study.

The results were not formally published until 2020, at which time it showed there was a lack of any positive measurable outcomes. It also found that 98 per cent of people had proceeded to take cross-sex hormones.

Despite this, from 2014 puberty blockers moved from a research-only protocol to being available in routine clinical practice. “The rationale for this is unclear,” the report says.

Puberty blockers were then given to a wider range of adolescents, it says, including patients with no history of gender issues before puberty and those with neurodiversity and complex mental health issues. Clinical practice, Cass found, appeared to have “deviated” from the parameters originally set.

Overall, the report concludes there was a “very narrow indication” for the use of puberty blockers in males to stop irreversible pubertal changes, while other benefits remained unproven.

It says there were “clearly lessons to be learnt by everyone”.

Social transition

The report concludes it was “possible” that social transition, including the changing of a child’s name and pronouns, may change the trajectory of their gender development. It finds “no clear evidence” social transitioning in childhood has any positive or negative mental health effects, but that children who socially transitioned at an earlier age were more likely to proceed to medical treatment. A more cautious approach to social transition needs to be taken for children than for adolescents, it concludes.

The review also heard concerns from “many parents” about their child being socially transitioned and affirmed in their expressed gender without their involvement. Draft government guidance, published in December, stated that schools should not accept all requests for social transition and should involve parents in any decision that is made.

Despite this, there has been evidence of schools ignoring ministers and allowing children to change gender behind their parents’ backs.

The report makes clear that “parents should be actively involved in decision making” unless there are strong grounds to believe that it may put the child at risk.

It also finds that social debates on trans issues led to fear among doctors and parents, with some concerned about being accused of transphobia.

The interim report, from 2022, had classed social transition as “not a neutral act”. The full report explains that it is an “active intervention”, because it may have significant effects on a young person’s psychological functioning and longer-term outcomes.

In a strong warning to schools, the report describes the need for “clinical involvement” in the decision-making process on social transitioning. It adds: “This is not a role that can be taken by staff without appropriate clinical training.”

The report concludes that maintaining flexibility is key among those going down a social transition route and says a “partial transition”, rather than a full one, could help.

In decisions about whether to transition prepubescent children, families should be seen “as early as possible by a clinical professional”.

Rogue private clinics

Long waiting lists for NHS care mean distressed children are turning to private clinics or resorting to “obtaining unregulated and potentially dangerous hormone supplies over the internet”, the report says.

Some NHS GPs have then felt “pressurised to prescribe hormones after these have been initiated by private providers”, and Cass says this should not happen.

The report also urges the Department of Health to consider new legislation to “prevent inappropriate overseas prescribing”. This is intended to tackle a loophole which means that, despite the NHS banning the use of puberty blockers last month, children can still access them from online clinics such as GenderGP, which is registered in Singapore.

Detransitioning

Cass says some of those who have been through medical transitions “deeply regret their earlier decisions”. Her report says the NHS should consider a new specialist service for people who wish to “detransition” and come off hormone treatments. She says people who are detransitioning may be reluctant to return to the service they had previously used.

NHS numbers

The report recommends that the NHS and Department of Health review current practice of issuing new NHS numbers to people who change gender.

Cass suggests that handing out new NHS numbers to trans people means they risk getting lost in the system — making it harder to track their health histories and long-term outcomes.

The review says that this has had “implications for safeguarding and clinical management of these children”, — for example, the type of screening that they are offered.

Toxic debate

Cass has called for an end to the “exceptionally toxic” debates over transgender healthcare after she was vilified online while compiling her review. In a foreword to her 388-page report, the paediatrician said that navigating a culture war over trans rights has made her task over the past four years significantly harder.

She warned that the “stormy social discourse” does little to help young people, who are being let down by a lack of research and evidence. Cass added: “There are few other areas of healthcare where professionals are so afraid to openly discuss their views, where people are vilified on social media, and where name-calling echoes the worst bullying behaviour. This must stop.

“Polarisation and stifling of debate do nothing to help the young people caught in the middle of a stormy social discourse, and in the long run will also hamper the research that is essential to finding the best way of supporting them to thrive.”

Cass said: “Finally, I am aware that this report will generate much discussion and that strongly held views will be expressed. While open and constructive debate is needed, I would urge everybody to remember the children and young people trying to live their lives and the families/ carers and clinicians doing their best to support them. All should be treated with compassion and respect.”

The recommendations

Data collection

Gender identity clinics should offer their data to NHS England for review, and more research should be conducted on the impact of psychosocial intervention — such as therapy — and the use of masculinising and feminising hormones, such as testosterone and oestrogen. Cass recommended that the NHS should also consider data from private clinics.

Puberty blockers and hormone treatment

Cass recommended research to establish the long-term impact of puberty blockers, which is expected to start by December.

Assessment of other conditions

Cass said that children arriving at gender identity services should be screened for conditions such as autism and other neurodevelopmental conditions.

Criteria for medical treatment

When treating children with gender dysphoria, only those who have experienced “longstanding gender incongruence” will be able to get medical treatment. Even then, this will only be available — with “extreme caution” — for over 16s.

A holistic approach

Before any medical intervention, Cass recommends that children should be offered fertility counselling and “preservation” by specialist services. This formed part of a more “holistic” approach to gender identity services. Cass suggested the creation and implementation of a national framework and infrastructure for gender-related care.

Growing into adulthood

The review advised that follow-through services for 17 to 25-year-olds should be established to ensure a continuity of care and support when children grow into adulthood.

Detransitioners

The report proposed that NHS England should “ensure there is provision for people considering detransition”, while recognising that they may not wish to attend services that assisted in their initial gender transition.

[ Via: https://archive.today/7GxDe ]

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usafphantom2 · 6 months

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IMAGES: USAF sends B-52 bombers to Indian Ocean base

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 03/26/2024 - 16:00 in Military, War Zones

U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortresses bombers were deployed on March 22 at the Diego Garcia Naval Support Center in the Indian Ocean.

The Bomber Task Force deployment offers the U.S. Air Force Global Attack Command a presence in the Indo-Pacific, with relatively easy access to the Middle East as well.

The B-52s fled to Diego Garcia from Barksdale Air Base, Louisiana, after a 30-hour direct flight. This is the first time that USAF announces a Bomber Task Force for Diego Garcia - a small island that is part of the British Indian Ocean Territory that serves as a fundamental base for the U.S. and UK military, which has hosted American troops since the 1970s. The B-1 landed there in 2021, and the last time a B-52 landed there was in 2020.

"This deployment aims to improve the readiness and training needed to respond to any potential crisis or challenge around the world, demonstrating the credibility of our forces to face a global security environment that is more diverse and uncertain than at any other time in recent history," the Pacific Air Forces Command (PACAF) said in a statement.

Although the island is in the area of responsibility of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, the U.S. Air Force used the island in the past as a base to send bombers to the U.S. Central Command's area of operations.

This latest deployment of PACAF bombers follows in the footsteps of the B-52 of Minot Air Base, North Dakota, deployed in Guam at the end of January and operating there until March 6.

Tags: Military AviationBoeing B-52H StratofortressBTFUSAF - United States Air Force / U.S. Air ForceWar Zones - Indo-Asia-Pacific

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Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. He uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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cityof2morrow · 1 year

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CO2 BACC & Integrated Economy Rules

Published: 7-22-2023 | Updated: 9-28-2023

Lookin' for a flexible, fun set of rules to jump start your next Build-A-City Challenge? Interested in trying an integrated economy in your save? CITY OF 2MORROW RULES (STANDARD VERSION 5) Create a government, grow the economy, and maintain a healthy population of 25 to 125 sims as you level up through various challenges. Minimum thresholds, bonuses, and penalties vary by level.

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE

Complete challenges to advance from a meager settlement to a megacity - or less if you prefer. Reach Level 3 (easy/start at §50K), Levels 4-5 (normal/start at §300K) or Levels 6-10 (hard/start at §500K).

Build whatever you wish – lot requirements are based on TYPE (residential, community, government) and SIMOLOGY (satisfy motives, skills, wants, and hobbies).

ADJUST RULES AS NEEDED You decide the time, setting, and layout of your city. You won’t be forced to unlock/limit default game functions, buildings, subhoods, or start your city from scratch. Play in rounds, or with Story Progression (2021), and mix in other challenges whenever you want.

DOWNLOAD from SFS | from MEGA CREDITS Sources: Beyno (Korn via BBFonts), Cyberpunk_06 (Maniavector via Freepik), Cyberpunk_13 (Maniavector via Freepik), EA/Maxis, Offuturistic Infographic (Freepik).

#co2rules #ts2baac #sims2baac #baac

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astrojulia · 1 year

Text

Always under construction!! The arts used are mentioned in each post. The same goes for references that I'm only using for that post. Template // Art

ASTROLOGY

BOOKS

[1] TOMPKINS, Sue. Aspects in Astrology: A guide to understanding planetary relationships in the horoscope. One Park Street, Rochester, Vermont 057067: Destiny Books, 2002.

[2] RIBEIRO, Anna Maria da Costa. Sinastria: Estudo dos Relacionamentos Teoria e Prática. Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Hipocampo Editora e Distribuidora Ltda., 1989.

[3] ABDUL-KHALIQ, Ajani. Hayden’s Book of Synastry: A Complete Guide to Two-Chart Astrology, Composite Charts, and How to Interpret Them. 13 junho 2017.

[4] LEWIS, James R. The Astrology Book: The Encyclopedia of Heavenly Influences. Canton, MI: Visible Ink Press™, 2003.

[5] WOOLFOLK, Joanna Martine. The Only Astrology Book You’ll Ever Need. Lanham, Maryland: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2006.

[6]NICHOLAS, Chani. You Were Born for This: Astrology for Radical Self-Acceptance. New York, NY: HarperOne, 2020.

[7] GARGATHOLIL. Depth Astrology: An Astrological Handbook - Volume 1: Introduction. Smashwords Edition, 2014.

[8] GARGATHOLIL. Depth Astrology: An Astrological Handbook: Volume 2: Planets in Signs. Smashwords Edition, 2014.

[9] GARGATHOLIL. Depth Astrology: An Astrological Handbook: Volume 3: Planets in Houses. Smashwords Edition, 2014.

[10] GARGATHOLIL. Depth Astrology: An Astrological Handbook: Volume 4: Planets in Aspect. Smashwords Edition, 2014.

[11] REED, Theresa. Astrology for Real Life: A Workbook for Beginner. Newburyport, MA: Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC, 2019.

[12] LISBOA, Claudia. Os astros sempre nos acompanham (Edição revista e ampliada): Um manual de astrologia contemporânea. Rio de Janeiro: Best Seller, 2021.

[13] ORION, Rae. Astrology For Dummies, 2nd Edition. Hoboken, NJ; Indianapolis, Indiana: Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2007.

[14] DEVORE, Nicholas. Encyclopedia of Astrology. New York: The Philosophical Library, June 1947.

[28 ]MARCH, Marion D.; McEVERS, Joan. Curso Básico de Astrologia: VOLUME I - Princípios Fundamentais. Tradução de CARMEM YOUSSEF. São Paulo: EDITORA PENSAMENTO LTDA., 1999.

WEBSITES/BLOGS

[15] SERVANTOFTHEFATES. Disponível em: https://servantofthefates.tumblr.com/. Acesso em: 29 de mar. de 2023.

[16] LINHA ASTRAL - ASTROLOGIA: Seu site de Pesquisa Astrológica. Disponível em: https://linha-astral.com.br/. Acesso em: 29 de mar. de 2023.

[17] Astromatrix. Disponível em: https://astromatrix.org/. Acesso em: 29 de mar. de 2023.

[18] Astrolibrary. Disponível em: https://astrolibrary.org/ Acesso em: 29 de mar. de 2023.

[19] Cafe Astrology. Disponível em: https://cafeastrology.com/. Acesso em: 29 de mar. de 2023.

[20] Astrologia na era de aquário, astrologia e estudos astrológicos. Disponível em: http://astrologiaeradeaquario.blogspot.com/ . Acesso em: 29 de mar. de 2023.

[21] Astrology and Numerology Study. Disponível em:https://astrologystudy.blogspot.com/ . Acesso em: 29 de mar. de 2023.

[22] Astrologia Luz e Sombra. Disponível em: https://astrologialuzesombra.com.br/ . Acesso em: 29 de mar. de 2023.

[33] Astrolink. Disponível em: https://www.astrolink.com.br/artigo/a-historia-da-astrologia. Acesso em: 25 de maio de 2023.

YOUTUBE CHANNELS

[23] Marcelo Levi. Disponível em:https://www.youtube.com/@oimarcelolevi . Acesso em: 29 mar. 2023.

[24] Astronalia | Mariane Chagas. Disponível em:https://www.youtube.com/@astronalia . Acesso em: 29 mar. 2023.

[25] Encontros Astrológicos: Débora Mechica. Disponível em:https://www.youtube.com/@encontrosastrologicos. Acesso em: 29 mar. 2023.

[26] Lais Casttelo Academia Astrologia. Disponível em:https://www.youtube.com/@laiscasttelo . Acesso em: 29 mar. 2023.

[27] Marcia Fervienza Astróloga+. Disponível em:https://www.youtube.com/@MarciaFervienza . Acesso em: 29 mar. 2023.

MY COURSES

Astrologia Autêntica - finished

Astrologia Nível 1 - Iniciação by Astronalia - coursing

Gaia Astrologia

BLOCO FUNDAMENTAL (fase 1) - finished

HISTÓRIA DA ASTROLOGIA - finished

ASTROLOGIA E MITOLOGIA - finished

ASTRONOMIA BÁSICA - finished

BLOCO FUNDAMENTAL (fase 2) - coursing

TEMPLATES/PSDS

[29] minikyuns on deviantart

[30] Iapetite on deviantart

[31] wildfireresources on deviantart

[32] sorberts on tumblr

[34] sparklypalace on deviantart

[35] soudwronf on deviantart

[36] v6que on tumblr

#astrojulia #sources

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itsfeckinwimdy · 2 years

Text

*HONK*

c!Karlnapity x Reader (Romantic) (Soulmate au)

Reader Pronouns: They/Them

Summary: The quartet are soulmates and need help finding their way back to each other. What's better to help them than the Soulmate Goose Of Enforcement?

Warnings: Duck hybrid Quackity, Blaze hybrid (blazeborn) Sapnap, DSMP family canon, Y/n is Phil's kid and Wilbur sibling, angst, mentions of fighting, mention of war, mentions of exile, mention of previous death, ambiguous/open ending, and finally unconscious people who don't want tea.

Word Count: 5.3K (5379 words)

DSMP Masterlist

Published: 22/10/2022

(started writing: 29/05/2021, yes it has taken me over a year to finish this)

Everyone had a soulmate. Sometimes it was easier to find them and be with them. Other times it was more complex and took a bit of time for everything to fall in place.

At least, that's what Karl told himself. But if he was being truthful, it was partly his fault.

The brunette kept hiding secrets from the people he loved. He claimed it was to protect them and that he would tell them if they needed to know, but honestly, he was scared. He was scared his partners, well now ex-partners, would judge him, and that if he told someone about his memory problems it would only worsen. That he would have to face reality, that he would have to stop time travelling, that he would have to stop trying to find a way to fix everything, that he would have to stop before he lost all his memory. Before he lost his partners. His soulmates.

But a part of him knew it was too late.

The night before the Pogtopita-Manberg war, the four had holed themselves up inside George's castle, knowing that two of them would be fighting against the other two in the morning. It was something the four of them were trying not to think about, knowing there was a chance that any of them could be getting injured or losing a canon life.

The entirety of the quartet was tired. Quackity's wings were killing him from being buried under his shirt all day, Sapnap was itching to set something on fire, Karl was fidgety with nerves as he didn't want to fight tomorrow, in fact, none of them really did, and Y/n was cold from their bath they had taken to strip all of the soot and grime from their skin, due to Pogtopia not having the best living conditions.

Y/n's brother, Wilbur, and themself were the cause of all this mess. The two of them teamed up once he arrived on the server to cause chaos but ultimately made a power grab and created L'Manberg from a simple drug van and the shared thoughts and beliefs of others.

But then they lost it.

That caused the new leader to exile Y/n, Wilbur, and the teenager, Tommy, who looked up to Y/n and Wilbur as older sibling figures, knowing the three would fight for their country back, even if they no longer had any jurisdiction over it.

This led to them fleeing, Wilbur losing a canon life along the way as he dived in front of Y/n after Punz attempted to shoot his younger sibling. That night Punz feared for his life after Sapnap threatened to kill him if he ever tried to hurt his partner again.

After setting up base in an abandoned ravine, their dad's old friend Technoblade joined them, promising to help destroy the government.

Whilst planning for this upcoming war and having Tubbo as a spy, for which he, unfortunately, got executed, Y/n would try to spend as much time with their partners, that being difficult to do so as two of them lived in L'Manberg and Quackity was forced to work ridiculous hours for the drunken president.

Therefore, the castle became a safe haven for the four.

This led to Y/n spending most nights closer to the impending day of the war there. They were glad they could sleep in a proper bed with the people they loved, and that they got to have a break from the bickering between Wilbur and Tommy.

Noticing Karl fighting the urge to get up and start pacing again, Y/n shuffled closer to Sapnap, letting the blazeborn's naturally high body temperature warm them up, and they wrapped their arms around Karl's midsection, pulling him into their torso.

Reaching forwards, they managed to get Quackity to join to cuddle pile, Sapnap wrapping his arms around the three of them, or at least trying to.

That night, the four made a promise to always stick by each other's side and to never let each other go. To always talk and resolve problems and that they would be truthful to each other. After all, they were now fiancées.

As they made this promise, the sound of an achievement rang through their communicators.

'The Soulmate Bond' it simply read.

That night they knew it was meant to be.

But then again, that wasn't the right saying on this server. What was it again?

Oh yeah,

It was never meant to be.

Sapnap was worried. And he had every right to be.

First, it was Y/n. After the death of their brother, they had started to pull away from the other three, becoming seemingly distant and only really there at night to sleep, disappearing for hours on end.

Quackity had followed them one day only to find them sitting overlooking a cliff. Apparently, it was where Y/n first took Wilbur on the server, where the two saw their first sunset together. Y/n would sit there as the hours would pass, watching the point on the compass spin, it no longer pointing to their bother. They began to snap back into their old self after Quackity sat with them, becoming who they used to be but more willing to fight.

Then Tommy got exiled. Sapnap and Karl believed they already knew, therefore not bringing it up, and Quackity simply didn't tell them. That sparked one of the biggest arguments they had ever had.

Y/n stayed with Phil that night.

Everything seemed fine for a while, with Y/n coming back home and then the quartet creating Cedar Rapids. And then Ghostbur came back, making it easier for Y/n to move on. Everyone was happy.

But then came the butcher army. Y/n refused to let their dad be pushed around and stepped in, earning themselves house arrest, by orders of Quackity.

That night they left. Sapnap remembers the conversation he had with them before they went. It was seemingly normal, Y/n saying they were staying with Phil for a few days. Except they didn't.

It was two weeks later they returned, hearing that Technoblade had killed Quackity. They helped the stubborn duck with his recovery. The blazeborn remembers the amount of shouting and the arguments that happened that week.

Looking back, he should've stepped in more. But he couldn't have known what was going through Y/n's mind at the time.

See Y/n was planning to blow up L'Manberg again. To finish their brother's job. They had realised how corrupt it had become, now wanting to get rid of the power the people who ran it had.

Sapnap should've seen it coming.

After doomsday, there was the final argument. Tensions were still high, and Quackity still couldn't see why Y/n chose to blow it up. Why Y/n would choose the side of Technoblade. The side of Dream. They explained why though. How L'Manberg was originally a power grab. How it was their idea to blow it up in the first place and that they were just finishing what that had started.

Sapnap should've stopped the fight. He should've stopped it before the words tumbled out of Quackity's mouth, before Y/n and Quackity exploded on each other, before Y/n walked away for what he thought was good.

Everyone's heart broke a bit that night.

Second, it was Karl. He started to disappear for a few days at a time, and when he returned? It was like his brain was scattered, and then he'd started to forget stuff.

At the time Sap had chalked it down to Karl's already bad memory, to his forgetful nature that his fiancée had. It began as small things. Karl forgot what day it was, where he left his book, what time he was meant to be at a certain place, and whether or not he had a meeting with the rest of Manberg's cabinet that day. But then It got worse.

Looking back, Sapnap realised that there were some days when Karl wouldn't say his or their partner's names until someone else said them. He had just thought Karl was messing around at the time, him just being cute and just wanting to call them by pet names but looking back at it, he should've realised sooner.

He should've realised when Karl came up with the idea of creating a new place to live, Kinoko Kingdom, because he said Cedar Rapids held no significate importance to him. Before he said it held no real value and that it was just where he lived because Sapnap lived there. Not because Sapnap, Quackity, and Y/n lived there, but because Sapnap lived there.

He should've realised before Karl completely shut him out. Before Karl would hole himself up in his library which he was forbidden from going in. Before Karl would forget him completely and call him by a stranger's name.

He should've helped Karl sooner. His heart cracked again.

Third, it was Quackity.

See the duck hybrid was stubborn, there was no denying that. Sapnap learnt this early on. If Quackity had his mind set on doing something, then there was a small chance, a very minuscule chance at that, of getting him to change his mind, the chance decreasing if Quackity was the one with the power to do what he wanted to do.

One morning, Sapnap had woken up alone. Karl had gone off again, who knows where, Y/n had just left maybe four days ago, and now Quackity had disappeared.

It stayed like that for a month. Quackity and Y/n were nowhere to be found. Karl occasionally disappeared and returned with his memory shot. Sapnap, probably wouldn't have minded so much if Quackity had told him where he was going, but after another month of no contact?

His heart broke again.

And the worse thing was? Karl had no idea what Quackity or Y/n meant to all of them.

And Finally, it was himself.

He could feel himself slipping away. With Karl coming and going, and no word from either Y/n or Quackity, Sapnap was stuck.

It wasn't like he had anyone to go to. His brother was locked away in a heavily armed prison, rightfully so; his Aunt Puffy was busy trying to deal with the fact one of her sons was locked up and also trying to solve this problem with the egg; his dad had been possessed by said egg, and was currently trying to take over the server; and his best friend was in some sort of deep sleep, only occasionally waking up.

He didn't know how much longer he could be there for Karl. As much as it broke him to ever think about leaving the Jacobs boy, he didn't know if it was worth it anymore, not without his partners. His first love and his third.

He didn't know how he could continue like this.

About a month after the fight, Y/n wanted to go back. Even if everything wouldn't go back to normal, they still wanted to see them, to check that they were doing okay. Because if their partners, well ex-partners were okay, then they'd be okay.

Or at least that's what they kept telling themselves.

The day they went to leave, Y/n climbed down the ladder leading to their room, only to be met with their dad, Philza, in the main room. As they made their way towards the front door and began to pull their cloak on, he stopped them.

"What are you doing?" he asked, nursing the warm mug between his hands.

Y/n sighed, not wanting to have this conversation with their dad but knowing he wouldn't let him go without telling him first, "I'm heading to Cedar Rapids, why? Is something wrong?"

Phil's face fell slightly, "There's a blizzard. You won't be able to make it Y/n."

Y/n's face dropped, and their heart sank in their chest, "How long will it last?"

They hoped it wouldn't be more than a few days at most, however, they were wrong. They ended up spending the next month trapped in the Arctic, unable to get to where they needed to. Unable to apologise for the shit they said.

The day they were finally able to get to Cedar Rapids, it was empty. The land was barren, but the buildings still standing. Their shared house was empty of the majority of everyone's belongings, only a few of theirs and Quackitys left behind.

Where was everyone?

As they stumbled out of the house, tears trying not to fall from their eyes they hit a solid object. Their hands came up to steady themselves, something grabbing onto their biceps. Looking up they saw the face of one of their fiancées.

Pulling back from their grip, Y/n wiped away their tears, wrapping the arms around their torso curling in on themselves. Their fiancée's wings drooped in response and his arms dropped to his sides. The two noticed the obvious distance between them, both physically and emotionally.

Choosing to break the silence between them, Y/n spoke up, "Hey."

Quackity stood still, having an internal malfunction. He was trying not to say anything he didn't want to say, not wanting to screw up again. His wings tightened up behind him, the slits in his shirt allowing his wings to come through, as he stood defensively. His instincts were screaming at him to comfort Y/n.

"Hey."

Looking up at the duck hybrid, Y/n locked eyes with his, and anyone could practically see the awkwardness between the two.

"So, uh," Y/n began, eyes still locked with his, "How are you?"

Quackity's wings fluttered slightly, "I'm alright I guess?"

His response came out as a sort of question, confusing Y/n slightly but they choose not to question it.

"How're the others?"

Quackity paused and Y/n could see them visible tense and him trying to form an answer but not knowing what to say.

"Quackity?" Y/n began, taking a step closer to him, "What happened?"

Hopping through the nether portal, Y/n grabbed a bunch of snow and hurled it at the goose that was following them, it letting out an exasperated honk and flapping its wings in annoyance. They stood up letting out curse words at the animal, beginning their trek back to their shared home. The white feathered animal biting against Y/n’s cloak and pants, attempting to pull the human back towards the nether portal.

The door slammed shut as Y/n walked through it, shrugging off the snow that had landed on their cloak. It felt like their ears were ringing, their mind spinning even though they could see clearly.

"What do you mean you left?"

"I did exactly what they did. What you did-"

Phil looked concerned at them, wondering what had happened, as his kid nonchalantly discarded their cloak and bag.

"What do you mean by that, Q? Where's Sapnap and Karl anyway, shouldn't they be around?"

"Well I wouldn't know, I came back one day to get them only to find they had disappeared along with all their stuff and most of ours."

"What do you mean disappeared?"

Phil's confusion began to grow as he heard the patter of webbed feet on his floor.

"Like gone. I don't even know where they are."

"Y/n," Phil began, walking closer and seeing the white goose standing next to his child, the goose attempting to pull on his kid's pant leg, it hissing at them when they shooed it off, "What's that?"

"This?" Y/n looked down at the goose, letting out a hiss in response to it honking at them, "It's a goose. And it won't leave me alone." They began frustration seeping through their voice, "Apparently it won't die, no matter how many times you push it into lava. So now I'm guessing it's some sort of immortal being that's come to spite me for my wrongdoings."

Y/n turned and climbed the ladder to the upper part of the house, the goose nestling down by the stairs, ruffling its feathers before it seemingly began to settle down.

"It's a soulmate goose."

Philza's head snapped around to face the voice, him calming once he realised that it was only Kristin. She made her way towards him, resting her hand gently on his shoulder, Phil leaning into the touch he could barely feel.

"The soulmate goose of enforcement only appears when there is an obstacle a soulmate pairing needs help to overcome," She continued walking over to pet the goose before it vanished, "It seems as if our little crow needs some help after all."

Upstairs, Y/n stared out of their window, watching the snow gently fall as they played with the three rings that were attached to a necklace around their neck. Each one with an engraving that referred to each counterpart in their past relationship.

"What do we do?" Y/n asked sitting down next to Quackity on the ground. The duck hybrid had finally stopped pacing and was now frustratedly pulling strands of grass from the ground before throwing them down, "How are we meant to find them?"

"I don't know," He began, "I don't know. I just- I keep thinking if we hadn't... You know... Then everything would be okay."

The two looked down at the ground, not noticing the goose begin to materialise in the distance. The silence between them was awkward. Neither of them knew how to continue and say what they wanted to.

"I came to apologise," Y/n spoke up, beginning to rip grass up from the ground. "I tried to come a month ago, but then there was a storm. But-"

"It would've still been too late," Quackity cut them off. Y/n looked up at him only to see him staring at the ground, refusing to look at them. "I left because I thought you weren't coming back, and then I had this idea-"

"What do you mean you thought I wasn't coming back? Quackity, I made a promise and so did you and the others! That we'd never walk away. Ever."

"Well, I'm sorry for thinking that then! It's just after the shit we both said I thought you were leaving this time for good! That you'd finally given up on us!"

"Can we not argue for once?"

"Oh, says you."

He stood up, taking a few steps backwards, before groaning in disdain.

"What now?"

"That fucking Goose is back!" Quackity sighed out, "I swear, it won't leave me alone."

"Okay, and what does that have to do with finding Karl and Sapnap?"

"I don't know okay! It's just this fucking thing won't leave me alone and keeps trying to drag me through nether portals." Quackity sighed, clearly frustrated.

"I'm sorry," he grumbled out, "I'm not good with emotions sometimes."

"I know," Y/n replied before standing up and taking Quackity's hands in theirs, rubbing their thumbs on the back of his palms when he didn't object or try to pull away. "You'd think the blaze hybrid would be the most hot-headed out of the four of us. Turns out, he's the least."

Quackity let out a small smile at their words before enveloping them in his arms, his wings fluttering and encasing the two of them.

“We still need to work stuff out,” Y/n said, voice slightly muffled, from where their head was buried in Quackity’s shirt.

“I know sweetheart, I know.”

Sapnap was outside.

And he was touching grass.

This wasn’t unusual for the blaze hybrid, him liking to sit in the flower fields surrounding his house.

When Karl choose the leave Cedar Rapids, Sapnap couldn't help but follow him, not wanting to lose the last of his partners, even though it felt as if he had already gone. Like Karl had slipped through his fingers and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

He thinks that may be the reason why he subconsciously chose this place to live. The flower fields reminded him of the unproblematic childhood he had and the first home he knew.

The loud honk, which came from his left, startled him enough that he dropped the flower crown he was absentmindedly weaving, fire igniting around his horns. The amber flames swirled before dying down.

The goose waddled over to him, attempting to bite onto his sleeve and drag him. Sapnap attempted to swat him away only for the goose to hiss at him.

After a least a minute of this happening, Sapnap sighed at the animal before grabbing it over its wings and lifting it into his lap, the goose immediately settling down but now gnawing on his hand.

“Why do you have a Soulmate Goose?”

Sapnap didn't tear his eyes away from the creature that was nestled in his lap, it was still keen on trying to bite his fingers off.

“Nice to see you too Drista,” he said back, “What do you want?”

“To know why you have a soulmate goose? Duh?”

Spanap gave her a deadpan look, “Well I don’t know. Shouldn’t you know, aren’t you like a god or something?”

The teenager glared at him from where she was floating in the sky, “Just because you’re best friends with my brother doesn’t mean I like you.”

Sapnap rolled his eyes in response, returning to pet the animal in his lap, the softness of the feathers reminding him of the nights when Quackity would let them help preen his wings. The duck usually ends up curled up on his lap, his head on Sapnap’s chest listening to his heartbeat letting out soft chirps of appreciation. Sapnap's heart clenched at the memory.

The teenager let herself land on the ground, sitting down amongst the flowers as she stared to mess with the grass.

“My brother told me about them.”

“Who, Dream?”

“No, XD,” she glared back at him when he interrupted her, “He used to say that sometimes the humans would need help to be with their soulmate and that he and some of the other gods created this being that would help them, the people giving it its name.”

“The soulmate goose? Really?”

“That’s not its full name, idiot. It’s the Soulmate Goose of Enforcement,” Drista deadpanned. “Anyway, I wouldn’t have thought you would end up meeting it, you know. You get along so well with Karl, Quackity, and Y/n, therefore you wouldn’t- Oh.”

Sap looked down away from the teenager, returning to give the now quiet goose more pets.

“Yeah,” Sapnap whispered in response.

Feeling really awkward about the situation, the teenage god thought it would be best that she left, “I’m going to go and find Tommy, bye Snapchat!”

And with that, she teleported away leaving the blaze hybrid alone in the field.

Sapnap began to think about his choices again. About everything that had happened, about everything he didn’t say, about everything he could’ve, no should’ve done.

He knew he should’ve stepped in and stopped Y/n and Quackity from arguing. He knew he should’ve helped Karl more before he began to forget everything. He knew he should’ve helped himself, to stop himself from walking away from his home.

Yes, Kinoko Kingdom may be where he lived, it may be his, or partly his, but it wasn’t his home. Cedar Rapids was more his home, if anything, the Dream SMP was more of his home than this place.

His fiancées are his home, not here. Not anywhere else.

Not this place he ran to when he was scared. When he was terrified of losing the last person who meant something to him.

A few tears escaped his eyes, but he quickly wiped them away as the Goose in his lap let out another honk.

Unbeknownst to him, a figure started to approach him, coming to a stop a few feet in front of him, gentle cawing being heard a lot more.

“She was right you know,” The woman said, Sap looking up at the person standing in front of him, not recognising the figure. He tensed up, ready to fight the unknown person, but only if it came to it, "I didn't expect you four to have him."

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" he asked only for the woman to gently smile in response.

"I'm Kristin, Goddess of Death-"

"You're Y/n's mom," Sapnap interrupted.

"I am, amongst other things," Kristin sat down in front of the young adult, "It's nice to finally meet you Sapnap. Y/n talks about you quite a bit."

One of the few crows flying around came and hopped down on the ground between the two, dropping Kristin a shiny rock, letting the goddess pet them before flying off and joining the rest of its brethren.

"Sapnap," Kristin began, letting the blaze focus his attention back on her, "The best thing I could do is give you advice. Don't spend time dwelling on what needs to be done. Go, find Y/n and Quackity, and talk. If you keep bottling up your feelings, it's going to get you nowhere, and this guy here is just going to get more mad at the four of you for being idiots."

"They left," Sapnap replied, voice cracking slightly, "They left us-"

He tried to continue talking but sobs left his mouth as tears started to fall. His shoulders shook with each shuddering breath he took, his horns lighting with a dull blue fire once again.

Kristin shuffled forward, wrapping her arms around him, letting his head fall onto her shoulder as she ran a hand through his hair, comforting her almost son-in-law.

And as Sapnap let the tears fall from him and his emotions run, he knew he couldn't continue like this. He knew something had to change.

The rain was bad that night.

It didn't rain much in Las Nevadas, it being in a warmer part of the smp, but when it rained, it poured like hell.

It was mainly when thunderstorms would happen in the main part of the greater smp that the weather would really be affected. It was like a cycle. Heavy rain that would cause the river to rise where L'Manberg once stood meant that light showers would last an hour at most and thunderstorms would cause heavy rainfall that would soak anyone to the bone.

Quackity knew it was a bad storm because even Slime was holed up inside.

He had managed to zone out the sound of rain hitting the window, the continuous drone allowing him to block it out as inherent background noise. The occasional flashes of light caused his wings to twitch in anticipation.

There was something wrong.

Quackity didn't know what exactly. It was more of an inherent feeling creeping up behind him, causing the occasional shiver to run down his spine. He just couldn't put his finger on it.

Slime was sat by the window, looking out across Las Nevadas. He personally likes the rain, just when it gets too heavy it affects his viscosity too much and throws him off. 'There's always the fountain', he thought, his fingers tracing the raindrops across the window.

Slime was following the raindrops as they fell, his finger reaching up to trace them before he remembered what his friend Quackity had told him the last time he did that.

Slime knew that he was a goopy guy but sometimes he would forget. He knew that he was bones or that he had to be but sometimes his brain didn't connect and say that to his goop. It was something he was working on because he had to seem like a human and that he had bones, even when it was a no-bones day.

Anyway, ignoring Slime's partial existential crisis, the goopy guy in a shirt and pants, and basically an identical outfit to his friend Quackity, he continued to stare out of the window before ultimately attempting to return to his previous task.

Quackity was not paying attention. The paperwork in front of him had been read at least twelve times but he still couldn't take the information in. Something was disrupting him and he couldn't work out what. It was an itch in the back of his mind, an annoying one at that.

He let out a sigh as he dropped the pen onto the table, leaning back against his chair and pushing himself away from his desk. He let out a puff of air, blowing the strands of hair out from in front of his eyes. Quackity really needed another haircut.

He stared up at the ceiling, his mind starting to wander.

How long was it going to take purpled to find Karl and Sapnap, surely not another week right? He couldn't keep living like this. In denial and regret, it was drowning him.

Even if the two decided they never wanted him again, then at least he would apologise to them. It was the least they deserved.

The shadowy figure in the distance continued to draw closer, forcing Quackity, who had unfortunately noticed its presence earlier but chose to ignore it, to rise up out of his seat and head towards the window. It was a person he was staring at, carrying a bundle of something in its arms, but for the life of him he couldn't work out who.

The rain was cascading down now, affecting his vision and the lights of his city did little to unmask them. His heart clenched at the sight of it; that same nagging feeling saying something was wrong hit him tenfold.

He turned to face Slime, having made up his mind he would go see if the masked figure was okay only for the doors behind him to be flung open.

It was Y/n soaked to the bone.

"Q," they began, terror etched onto their face. It made Quackity's feathers ruffle and stand on edge, wanting to wrap them in his arms and protect them from whatever they were afraid of.

"Q, it's Karl."

The fire flickered casting light across the room. It was the only source of warmth alongside the abundance of blankets piled across the four of them.

The bundle held in Quackity's arms was no stranger to him, the mop of brown hair that usually covered his forehead pushed to the side allowing the damp cloth to rest there and lower the Jacobs boy's raging fever.

The duck's instincts kicked in and the other two stepped aside to allow him to swaddle and care for Karl. They knew he was in safe hands and that Quackity was better at dealing with sick people.

Y/n had propped themselves against the wall, a blanket thrown over their shoulders and wrapped around them. The cloak they had donned earlier was in a pile alongside some of the other wet clothes of both Sap and Karl.

They looked down at the duo huddled on the floor, Quackity's wings furling around the star-eyed boy in a protective cocoon. Chirps left his mouth as he changed the water on the rag before smoothing it over the brunette's unconscious forehead.

There was no guarantee that he would wake up. Y/n could only pray that the gods of prime would help him. They couldn't lose him.

"What happens now?"

Both their own and Sapnaps heads snapped up to look at Quackity, he having the courage to break the scared silence that had overcome them all.

Y/n looked to Sapnap, the blazeborn looking worse for wear. It looked like he hadn't gotten an ounce of sleep in the past years, like he was soon to be death-walking. Just like Karl.

His shirt was clad against his chest, the white material somewhat see-through but now drying allowing them to see the runes that lined his body. He was hunched forward, his own blanket lying over his shoulders as his hands were clasped together in his lap.

Figuring that he wasn't going to speak up, Y/n pushed themselves off the wall and moved to sit between Sapnap's chair, and where the two were huddled together on the floor. They grabbed the blazeborn's hand in their own and placed their other upon Q's shoulder causing him to sway towards them slightly at the affection.

"We talk." They spoke out, the three awake sharing glances at each other.

A distant honk sounded as the goose settled itself into Slime's lap, the goopy guy petting the animal before it began to fade into dust, blowing away into the sky.

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