#the center and circumference

[pynkhues]

Hi! I know you’re taking a break from GG at the time, but I was re-reading See You in the Light and was wondering if Rio eventually finds out that Beth’s only family is all of Annie and Ruby? If so—could you share a tidbit from when he does? I’m really curious as to how it all goes down in his head! Thank you!

Hi! Thank you both for your very kind words! C&C is absolutely a fic that has a very special place in my heart, and I definitely put a lot of thought into Beth concealing her limited family and Rio's discovery of it in that 'verse. I think for me one of the things I love most about them as a ship is how reluctant they were to give over any information to each other (you just know that they'd hide their coffee orders from each other), and I love exploring the root of that in 'verse as a trauma response which I definitely think the show was implying.

But yes! Have the scene! Since I'm not sure when (if ever) I'll finish this fic. I wrote this a long time ago and have given it a little tidy, but it's mostly a pretty messy wip-y excerpt, so please keep that in mind, and I hope you like it. <3

-

“You talked to Annie about it?” Elizabeth asks, voice thick with disbelief, and nah, she doesn’t get to play it like that. Doesn’t get to pretend he’s the one who’s stepped outta line when she’s spent the last two weeks spinning the truth around her finger like she used to her old wedding ring. He gets to be mad here. Gets to feel it – that he’s the one laying his cards on the table while she keeps hers flush to her fuckin’ chest.

It frustrates a laugh out of him, and the sound is coarse even to his own ears, and the thing is, he doesn’t even blame her for rolling her eyes, even though it prods at the embers of his temper. He rocks his jaw, lets his gaze drift sideways to the pile of boxes lining the side of their bedroom because they ain’t even unpacked upstairs yet, at least not outside of the kids’ rooms, and he doesn’t like it. Any of it, but least of all the fact that he’s dressed for her, in some soft cotton button down his sister got him, while Elizabeth’s dressed as she always is, fuck, might even be in the same purple dress she was in three years ago, and he’s only just starting to realise that maybe everything about her is a type of armor.

Downstairs, he can hear his sister hoot and the call of steaks up from Elizabeth’s dipshit ex-husband, can hear the start-stop-start of a playlist no one can agree on, and Marcus’ giggle, loud, always, and perfect, and he looks back at Elizabeth, two feet away, and he just thinks - - who the fuck is she.

He sniffs.

“Yeah, see, I figure this whole thing was about family, right? You gettin’ to meet mine, me gettin’ to meet yours, and since your sister’s the only one fuckin’ here - - ”

“She’s not the only one here, Ruby and Stan are here, and all the kids, and Judith, and - - and - - ”

Rio sucks in a breath through his teeth.

“Oh, I’m supposed to feel good about your ex and his mama bein’ here?”

It’s instant then – the way Elizabeth’s look hardens. Her shoulders back and her jaw set, and it ain’t right, how much that look on her face sparks deep in him.

“Your ex is here too, and I haven’t said a thing about that. She’s Marcus’ mother, just like Dean is my children’s father, this whole thing is about - - about blending and - - “

“She didn’t bring her mom, darlin’’.”

“Well, she could’ve,” Elizabeth bites, and she takes a step back, rounding the bed, grabbing at the first box she sees and yanking off the tape. The sound’s loud, ugly, and he knows it, feels it, the need to have somethin’ to do with your useless fuckin’ hands. “I wouldn’t care if she did. And for the record, I’ve known Judith for 30 years, and you know how much she’s helped the last few weeks.”

Thing is, she has. Judith’s been on call more than his own ma’s been, more than Dean has, and it eats at him, that Marcus likes her, that she’s made the fuckin’ effort there, but still doesn’t quite know how to string two words together when it comes to Rio, and it sits in him that Elizabeth calls her, she doesn’t call his mom, and she doesn’t call - -

Rio sucks in a wet breath, watching as Elizabeth unpacks a box of ugly bubblewrapped ornaments onto their bed, and fuck it he thinks.

He just says it.  

“Yeah, coz your parents ain’t here, and you ain’t in it.”

He’s not sure what reaction he’s expecting, but it’s not for Elizabeth to reel back, her face bare naked with shock, and she blinks. Once, twice, three times, before she abandons the box in front of her and throws her arms out broad.

“What? We just bought a house together. We’re moving our children to the same school.”

“Yeah, and everyone here’s mine. My family, my friends, shit, the men in my fuckin’ employ - - ”

“Oh, what? You wanted me to invite Molly from PTA? You want her talking to Mick about getting wine drunk watching episodes of Vanderpump while Mick’s got a glock in the back of his pants? And these guys are in our employ now, just for the record, okay?”

And fuck, if this whole thing hasn’t completely derailed. Rio clenches his eyes shut, pinches the bridge of his nose, paces, briefly, in their whole ass brand new fuckin’ bedroom, and this wasn’t supposed to be what happened here. This shit was supposed to just be them, real, but Elizabeth’s never known when to drop the knife.

“Elizabeth,” he says slowly, too patiently, if the way she looks at him is anything to go by, and he asks the question he’s wanted to all night: “Where’s your family?”

She just exhales, exhausted, gestures, vaguely, towards downstairs.

“They’re here.”

He huffs, shaking his head, feels his face clench, and something in his chest tighten, and this ain’t right, it ain’t workin’, because they talked about this, and she doesn’t just get to give him the parts of her he already knows like they’re a step forward. Doesn’t get to play that this honesty, this vulnerability is his to give and hers to take, doesn’t get to - -

“My mom’s dead, if that’s what’s got your panties in a twist.”

Rio blinks, lifting his head, staring at her sullen look back at him. She swallows, shrugs, and shit, he just stares at her.

“And my dad left, like, a million years before that. This is it. I’m not,” she gestures limply. “I’m not. Hiding anything…Like there’s nothing to hide because there’s nothing else. This is it. For me. Annie, Ruby, the kids…you met my whole family a long time ago.”

He stares at her, searches for the lie, but there’s not one. It’s just Elizabeth, her eyes glassy but her chin jut forwards, defiant, and somewhere outside a car pulls up and he hears Annie yell Greggles! Nance! And it’s just all so fuckin’ stupid. He swallows, thick.

“You didn’t say it, when we were talkin’ about all of this.”

“You didn’t tell me you had a kid until you brought him to the park one day.”

“Circumstances,” Rio hums, and Elizabeth gives him a look.

“Circumstances,” she says, gesturing to the house, and Rio thinks the context ain’t it, but shit, with the two of them, maybe it is.  

[asjjohnson]

I did a vine theme for pumpkin carving this year. A pumpkin pumpkin and a rose pumpkin.

I'd made a poll asking whether to do vines or draw Dan and Valerie from Danny Phantom, or both. ...And although 'vines' won, the idea of adding something Dan and Val related was too compelling. The thought of deep red roses with their thorns being like Valerie. ...And, well, I suppose Dan's like a big heavy pumpkin being thrown at stuff?

I tried making the plants wrap around an object representing them, Dan in a D shape and Valerie in a triangle shape. Though it's not very noticeable.

[infinitesofnought]

Two tasks set at the beginning of life: limiting your circle more and more, and constantly scrutinizing whether you haven't gone into hiding somewhere outside your circle.

– Franz Kafka, The Zürau Aphorisms

[bratbby333]

it's just a game, my love

gamer!bf sukuna x fem!reader ‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ nsfw mdni warnings: language (duh), rough sex, mild degradation, creampie, established relationship, sukuna is his own warning summary: sukuna can't stand losing, so he takes his anger out on you in the best way possible author notes: this my first request, courtesy of @youliveincassisworld !! i hope u love it, thank u so so much for sending this in. this was so fun to write. my reqs are open! send a message here♡

“No FUCKING way!” You jump at the deep, booming voice that resonates through your apartment. You sit upright, hoping to hear more.

“You’re trash. Scum of the earth.” 

You peel yourself off the sofa and walk down the hall, pausing in the doorway of your boyfriend’s office. 

“Stupid bitch.” He spews out. You see him leaned forward, headset adorning his unruly pink locks. The rapid clicking of buttons and the soft sounds of gunfire that escape the padded circumference of his headphones let you know he was playing Call of Duty. This game always gets him so worked up. You don’t understand how it’s still enjoyable at this point.

You watch from the doorway, his body mimicking the movements he’s making in the game. An amused smile dances across your face. He’s so cute when he’s focused. 

“Fuck!” He shouts, throwing his controller down and sitting back abruptly in his chair. He’s enraged. You walk up behind him, placing your hand on his shoulder. 

Placed 5th displays across his screen. 

“Sukuna, baby, you alright?,” you ask, rubbing your fingers into his shoulder blade.

“Does it sound like I’m fuckin’ alright?” he bites back at you, rubbing his fingers between his eyebrows. You don’t take his anger personally.

“It’s just a game, my love. Why not take a break and try again later,” you suggest, attempting to calm him down. 

“It’s just so fucking stupid,” he seethes, his eyes covered by his large hand. 

He finally meets your gaze. You expect to see anger plastered across his face. Your heart drops when you’re met with a different, unexpected look; arousal. 

A coy smile spreads across his face.

“Bedroom. Now.”

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

Laid on your back, Sukuna smirks down at you. Positioned in the center of the mattress, knees pressed against your chest, ankles on either side of Sukuna’s neck; the mating press. Deep, powerful strokes cause your head to bounce around. The pressure of your legs against your ribcage makes it hard to breathe. 

Sukuna’s lustful red eyes gaze deeply into yours. “C’mon, brat. Give me your cum.” His large, firm hands dig into the backs of your thighs, pushing you deeper into the bed, his cock reaching unimaginable depths. You can’t help but cry out for him. 

“I-I don’t think-ahhh-I can c-cum again, Kuna,” you stutter out, overstimulation raking through your body, hands pushing against his stomach. 

“Do you think I care? Move your fucking hands.”

Frustration is still painted across Sukuna’s face as he plows into your pretty pussy. He’s taking all his rage toward the game out on you, and you couldn’t be happier. His strokes are mean and demanding, eliciting such crude noises to fall from your lips. 

“You better take that shit…let me fuckin’ break you.” His thrusts are unrelenting, the head of his cock bullying your g-spot. 

You can barely keep your eyes open, undeniably falling apart on his cock. He feels you tightening around him, and he grins back at you.

“Let it go. C’mon.” he rasps, his hand grabbing your throat tightly. 

“Mmmph, Su-Sukuna…I-I…” you gasp out. You can’t form a coherent sentence, his rough hand constricting your windpipe. Your wide eyes stared into his as if you were pleading with him to give you a break.

“Shut the fuck up. You better cum for me. Now. Make a fuckin’ mess on my cock.” His coarse, demanding voice was all you needed to lose it. Your eyes roll back, body shaking violently. Sukuna growls at how tight you’re gripping him, the warm squirt of your release painting his abdomen. 

“That’s it…I knew you had another one in you. Such a good girl for me” he groaned out, hand still tight around your throat. He shifts his position, sitting back on his knees, one arm straightened out and pressing your folded leg against your chest, the other holding your extended leg flush to his chest, your ankle resting against his neck.

“Takin’ me so fucking good…want me to fill ‘ya up?” he cocks an eyebrow at you, seemingly amused at your fucked out expression. 

“Mhmm,” you hum out, eyes low and head foggy.

“That’s not how you ask. Beg for it, brat.” he bites back at you, still stroking deeply. 

“P-please…Sukuna.  Please fill me with your c-cum.” You gasp out. He fucks into you, his strokes never losing momentum. He repositions again, leaning back over you, pushing both your legs back into your chest with his hands. He bottoms out inside of you, thick ropes of his cum painting your walls. He stills, his cock twitching as he empties himself completely. He remains deep within you, his pelvis pressed firmly against your aching core, ensuring you take every drop of him as you both struggle to regain your breath. 

“Sucha good fucking girl for me, baby,” he says, voice softer now, his hand cupping the side of your face, the rough pads of his fingers dragging down your cheek. He pulls out and lays beside you, his hands rubbing your stomach, as if he was massaging his cum deeper into you. 

"You feelin' better, my love?" you ask lazily, eyes low and breath labored, shifting your body toward him and propping yourself up on your elbow.

"No," he replies simply, "I think I need another round." His eyes follow the curves of your body hungrily.

As much as he hates losing, you can't help but love it.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

author notes: have a request? drop it here♡ thank you all so much for the support on my stories,,i appreciate it more than you know.

more gamer!bf sukuna here and here

© bratbby333 on tumblr. all rights reserved. do not distribute. 2024.

[blood-smiles]

𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐀 𝐏𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 ᡣ𐭩₊⋆

𝐘𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐄! 𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋 𝐗 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑 TW MDNI Fake religion . angel being creepy . profanity and small blurbs of NSFW . M!preg to some degree?

Eyes, many eyes, all watched you silently, feathers fell around you in a circle, the beautiful fluffy bird like wings curled around your form, a gorgeous man stood in front of you, eyes alike to those of a prism shining under sun, a kaleidoscope of colors reflecting off his beautiful hues and back into your own (e/c) irises.

He held you ever so gently, his fingers trembling as he softly caressed your face, his long ashen hair flowing down his back, alike to smooth silk.

He opened his mouth to speak but as soon as he was about to form a sentence your eyes snapped open.

ᝰ.ᐟ Your friend poked you with their finger, waking you up from your surreal dream and back into reality.

You were thinking about angels again, weren’t you?— They had been appearing in your dreams for the past few days, strangely they always centered around this man, a beautiful man.

After waking up you couldn’t remember anything else but his stunning crystalline eyes, those rainbow eyes were burned into the back of your head, you knew that he was beautiful, could it be your guardian angel visiting you?

ᝰ.ᐟ You had been assigned an essay on the topic of the heavenly protectors, your professor wanting to have a change of pace and focus on something more niche.

There were limited sources, so you had to dig deeper.

You had been looking at links as of late, locations that centered on religious themes and creatures.

ᝰ.ᐟ Lucky for you a new location appeared on your browser, what seemed to be a library that nuns and priests went to often, to study and solidify their fate.

ᝰ.ᐟ You walked into the library quietly, clutching your messenger bag close to your chest, your feet tapped against the pristine white flooring.

ᝰ.ᐟ This library was large, huge even. You had no idea how you never noticed it, the structure being a behemoth among other buildings.

The architecture of this place was simply breathtaking, your eyes drinking in every inch and centimeter of the temple, you knew you came to the right place when you noticed cherubs intricately carved into the white plaster above you.

ᝰ.ᐟ You were too much in awe to realize that you were about to crash into a person, instantly hitting their chest with your face and falling back onto the floor.

ᝰ.ᐟ Yandere!Angel let out a faint breath of air when he saw you, his heart beginning to beat rapidly, he had found you. He had finally found you!

ᝰ.ᐟ Yandere! Angel helped you up immediately, gently taking your divine hands in his own, holding them as if they were golden 3 carat chains.

“Oh my! Are you alright, dear?”

ᝰ.ᐟ You thanked Yandere! Angel, your jaw slightly ajar from the beauty of the man, Yandere!Angel laughed lightly, covering the lower half of his face with his hand bashfully.

“You can take a picture so it lasts longer, hm?”

ᝰ.ᐟ Your eyes drifted down to his neck, star shaped scars lining the circumference of his throat over his skin. How strange.

ᝰ.ᐟ You cleared your throat, deciding to ignore that comment all together, taking out your small note pad you read from the pages, asking Yandere!Angel if the library had any books on your selection.

ᝰ.ᐟ Yandere! Angel’s brows raised, he knew you were here for something.. But about his own kin? It seems that he was guided to you and you were to him, just like faith.

ᝰ.ᐟ Yandere! Angel took your hand and ushered you to follow him, a slight flush centering on his cheeks. the both of you ventured to the very back of the temple like library, the undercover angel pushed a book case with impressive strength to a side.

A cloud of dust came off the shelves, bringing a hand up to cover your mouth and nose from the puff of dust. 

ᝰ.ᐟ Yandere! Angel beat you to it as he gently put his hands over your face, protecting you from inhaling grime particles, the unexpected and honestly intimate gesture making you gaze up at him quizzically.

“Wouldn’t want you getting sick, dearest.”

ᝰ.ᐟ Yandere!Angel couldn’t believe he had just touched you, he had touched YOU. Ecstasy flooded into his system, the golden blood surging in his veins boiling.

His face twitched, eyes behind eyelids making small movements, a nervous smile pulled at the corners of his mouth as he dusted your shoulders off.

ᝰ.ᐟ Yandere! Angel took out a few books, blowing the dust away with a flick of his hand, he grasped the human leather cover, staring at it for a moment before handing the heavy enciclopedia to you.

“This is the most in depth book we have here, it isn’t every day anyone asks for books such as these.”

ᝰ.ᐟ Yandere! Angel watched as you opened the pages, tracing the book with your hands, he shuddered, would you touch him like that too?

He gently plucked a feather from the wings attached to his back, gently putting the soft feather in your hand, he opened his eyes for a split second.

Beautiful. Breath taking crystalline eyes, those eyes. You could recognize them anywhere! Those were the eyes from the man in your dream!

“This feather is from an angel, Seraph if you may. Treasure it, keep it with you at all times and it will keep you safe.”

ᝰ.ᐟ You stared at his eyes, it was like they were eating at you, just who was he? It would be silly to think he would appear in your dreams.. Wouldn’t it..?

“..Lucien.”

“Huh?”

“Call me Lucien, (Y/N).”

ᝰ.ᐟ How did he know your name? You never told him your name.. you gave him a funny look, you smiled awkwardly while turning on your heel to make a hasty departure.

You glanced back over your shoulder, a bad habit you had developed as a result of walking home alone during night time.

ᝰ.ᐟ Your breath caught in your throat, Lucien. That same strange librarian was no human anymore, he stood in front of a window, he lifted his hand slowly waving to you, a nice flush tinting his cheekbones.

Long white wings adorned his back, lush feathers falling onto the pristine floor of the temple. A golden halo behind his head, circulating and hovering in clock wise motions. Small wings that hid under his hair twitched and fluttered as they unfolded, looking unbearably soft and pretty.

“..What the fuck..?”

ᝰ.ᐟ You gasped to yourself as you stared at him, he smiled wider, you had noticed, he knew you had noticed! And you didn’t go crazy!

ᝰ.ᐟ Yandere! Angel was delighted to make the discovery that you weren’t driven to insanity while seeing his half form. most humans would have been having seizures on the floor right about now, but you just blinked a few times and turned back around, shoulders tense and rigid.

ᝰ.ᐟ He shivered in delight, humans were at times so adorable— Well more like you were the cutest little thing he has ever seen! 

ᝰ.ᐟ He just wanted to grab you and tuck your little self into his nest and have many many children! He hasn’t had his first batch of eggs yet.. he was going to be plump with eggs soon.

ᝰ.ᐟ the both of you were mates! Yes, yes there was no other explanation for these events, perhaps [ REDACTED ] had finally blessed him!

ᝰ.ᐟ Yandere! Angel ‘s face turned a deeper shade of red, he could swear there were little hearts coming out of him.

He held his face in his hands, his cheeks felt agonizingly hot, he put his hands to work, trying to bat his face a little to keep the blushing down.

ᝰ.ᐟ You were safe. You had taken his feather. Basically a natural tracking device, and soon he would work his way into your life little by little.. Guardian Angel or not he was going to take you as his.

“My wings..? You want to touch them? Well of course, darling! All of me is yours.”

(Touching an angels wings is an intimate act where mates solidify their mating bond. Discretion advised.)

[talonabraxas]

“God is a circle whose center is everywhere, and its circumference nowhere. ” ― Empedocles

Mac Baconai @Macbaconai One ring to rule them all

[girlsdads]

#ok it’s giving girl dad wearing his daughter’s handmade necklace special for him into work 🥺🥺😩😩

couldn’t stop thinking about this tag of mine, wrote a little smth about it 🥰

The stomping footfalls racing down the hall behind him could only be those of a toddler. Daniel turns and squats just in time for his tiny blonde projectile of a child to come barreling into his chest. The force sends Daniel falling back onto his butt with a surprised oof, his daughter giggling delightedly in his lap.

“Hey, Ellie-bug,” Daniel smiles. “Daddy’s gotta go to work, remember how we talked about it and you promised to be a big girl?” He brushes a strand of hair away from her mouth where it’s gotten stuck in a little smear of jam leftover from her breakfast. Daniel had shown Max how to make it just the way she likes—the pancake batter shaped in the silicone star mold, the silly faces drawn in jelly and jam.

Ellie’s head bobs up and down dutifully, but she makes no move to get up.

Max appears from the kitchen then, looking like a man who’s been fighting a losing battle with the second pancake. There’s a splatter of thick batter on his white t-shirt. He’s holding the spatula like it’s offended him somehow. Daniel looks at him over their daughter’s head, and loves him fiercely.

“She is of course the biggest girl,” Max says. Ellie grins proudly. “Why don’t you give Daddy your present now, then we will finish your pancakes.”

Daniel watches her grey-blue eyes light up like she’s just now remembering why she came running at him in the first place. She reaches a chubby hand into the bib pocket on her overalls, embroidered Enchanté script stretching as she roots around and produces a string of brightly-colored plastic beads. She holds it out to him expectantly.

Daniel takes the strand delicately in hand, wraps it around the backs of his fingers and rotates his wrist to get a good look. It’s a necklace, probably more of a choker given its relatively small circumference, the fat pony beads the only real indication it was made by a child. The powder pink and fuchsia beads are separated by interspersed pearlescent white orbs and clear sparkly stars. Smack in the center is a single number bead, a glittery pink three.

“Jeepers, did you make this for me? It’s beautiful!” Daniel says, and means it. He’s already been wanting to talk to his team about adding a jewelry collection to a future drop, and what better inspiration?

Ellie nods excitedly. “Papa helped me do a…,” she pauses, squints and tilts her little head, searching for the word, “…a pattern!”

“We made it the other day, while you were out with Blake,” Max chimes in. “For good luck.” He sounds almost bashful, like maybe it wasn’t their daughter’s idea in the first place. Daniel’s heart is so swollen it’s threatening to leak out through the gaps in his ribcage.

“How’d I get so lucky, huh?” Daniel muses, softly, mostly to himself. He stretches the elastic over his head, feels the smooth plastic three settle in the hollow of his throat. His pulse thrums evenly against it, grounding.

He flashes his biggest smile at his family. “How do I look?”

“Pretty, Daddy!” Ellie throws herself forward again, wrapping her arms around Daniel’s neck. It leaves him locking eyes with Max, who’s gazing down at the two of them like nothing else in the universe exists. Daniel can never quite get used to that look—still feels butterflies dancing up the back of his throat, his stomach dropped into a glorious freefall.

“Beautiful, Daniel,” Max says, reverent. “Always.”

[gallusrostromegalus]

How does trash pickup, Recycling centers, &/or Hazardous Material Disposal work for Soul Society in AEIWAM? Is there a Kido-based ritual to break things down into Reishi? Are there Tech Repair Shops?

Sewage in Soul Society works really well but very dangerously because those fucking idiots built the city directly on top of an active supervolcano.

Let me back up:

There isn't a good consensus on how big the Seireitei is (Yoruichi says it takes 10 days to walk 1/4th of the way around the circumference, but whether that's her speed, the average person's or how long a patrol group takes is unclear), Or any real maps of the place, but it's generally agreed that

the city is LARGE. Yoruichi says it would take her and the kids ten days to walk to the next gate 1/4th of the way around the city. Maybe that's 8 hours average human walking speed minus 'trying to herd a bunch of teenagers' but that's still a long trip!

Even before the Seki-Seki stone wall was put up, the city was pretty much circular.

Unlike pretty much every real city, there's no river running through it. Where are they getting their water?

There is a Small but substantial and TOTALLY ISOLATED mountain in the middle of the city made of apparently hard-to-mine rock. A Lonely Mountain, one might even say.

The only visible natural sources of water I've seen evidence of are hot springs in both the Yoruichi/Urahara Super Secret Training Ground/Love Nest and the first division grounds.

Soul Society is run by jackasses and if there's a stupid way to do things, that's the way they're doing them.

In fact, the Soul Society as a whole is almost suspiciously Amestris-shaped, but instead of nefarious alchemy, it's negligent civil engineering

...all this leads me to believe that Seireitei is built DIRECTLY ON TOP OF the caldera of an enormous supervolcano. The city gets it's water from the aquifer of rainwater that's collected in the underground cracks and fissures of the Caldera, and the seki-seki stone wall is set up around the really convenient geographic barrier made by the rim of the caldera.

"Hey!" I hear some of you nerds objecting "Aren't calderas usually concave? Seireitei is convex, if anything!"

You're right! Most Calderas are concave! But they will absolutely fill in with sand and dirt over the true floor of the caldera over time and develop Mounts like the thing at the central part of the city and start to rise WHEN THEY'RE ON THE VERGE OF A CATASTROPHIC ERUPTION.

So yeah! The Gotei-13 has an almost infinite supply of hot water, and probably less than a century to figure out what to do before The Big Kaboom.

Anyway, back at sewage:

There's been a city where the Seireitei is since time immemorial, and even though it's done the istanbul-not-constantinopple shuffle a few times, very little of the actual infrastructure has changed. Empires rise and fall but the desire paths stay the same.

This is especially true in Seireitei, because unlike very nearly every major IRL Municipality, it doesn't have a river running through it, something that usually necessitates Sewer updates By Force. But compared to a river which is constantly moving around in it's bed, a volcanic aquifer doesn't move much until it moves a whole fucking lot real fast, so the undercity of the Seireitei has really had time to... Develop isn't quite the right word.

"Ferment" is closer.

Above-ground waste management is the provenance of the actual local city government- yes, there is a Mayor of the Seireitei that the Gotei-13 has to pay property taxes to. Yamamoto maintains a lot of goodwill with the Mayor by dint of sentencing ill-behaved shinigami to shore up the municipal labor pool, and by knowing the mayor's family for the last millennium. So you'll see Shinigami doing things like trash collection and street-sweeping, but they're just there on probation.

-But nobody wanted to deal with the undercity. It's got a soul of it's own. Washington DC, which is less than 500 years old as a city and on top of a swamp, has an undercity that goes down over half a mile. Imagine how deep the sunken buildings, abandoned secret tunnels, and sewer system of a city that's millenia old, not sitting on actual mud and constantly subjected to high levels of magical background radiation might develop.

An Appetite, for one thing.

The 11th likes to talk a big game, but the reason the 4th is in charge of sewer maintenance is because the only people with the guts for it were people who got degrees rummaging in the guts of living people. Sewer maintenance really is a lot like abdominal surgery, if you were able to walk around inside the patient.

It was Retsu Unohana's idea, actually. Chigiri was a battle medic and aged rapidly for a shinigami. She was old when the court guard finally went from "Yamamoto and his gang of assholes" to "A for-real governing body". Her successor, Kirinji was more interested in traumatic injury recovery than preventative medicine, for obvious reasons- his triage was constantly full of combat casualties and early kido experiment victims Blood Loss was still his #1 Killer.

But Retsu had been reincarnated in and spent her youth in South 80, in the utterly undeveloped conditions there, and held deep, personal grudges with Dysentery and Cholera. For all his talk of healing waters, Kirinji had no sense of the importance of water sanitation, and it was a continuous point of contention between them for her apprenticeship.

"FINE!" He shouted one day after a particularly nasty row. "IF IT'S SO GODDAMN IMPORTANT TO YOU, YOU HANDLE IT! FORM NOW ON, YOU'RE IN CHARGE OF SEWAGE, SLUDGE QUEEN!"

She made her first descent the next morning.

She did not return for six weeks, and Kirinji almost thought he'd resloved that particular problem when she reappeared from the depths, a changed woman. That long in the darkness, alongside the buried secrets and skeletons of the city, with the horrors that did not dare brave the sunlight- it would change anyone, and most would come up looking at least mildly haunted.

Retsu Unohana is not most.

She looks radiant, almost like The Kenpachi again, covered in the horrors of the underground as she used to be covered in blood. She thrives on a challenge, and excels at the art of purification, and now, she has been given the single greatest challenge of purification in history. There is something beautiful and terrible in her eyes as she explains that it does down at least five miles, look at this, she thinks it's from the neolithic era, and there are incredible boneyards of thousands of skeletons, and fungi the likes of which she's never seen before- She is ecstatic- a creature kept in captivity, finally released into it's natural habitat.

It's hardly a surprise, if you consider Minazuki. Stingrays are benthic creatures, right at the bottom of the river, deep in the muck and decay.

It's been a little over eight hundred years into her tenure as a medic, and she has tamed much of the beast. The upper levels are well-mapped and have been made clean and well-lit, enough that even the civilian sanitation forces of the city can regularly enter and work in them without any particular unease. Infant and preventable disease mortality has dropped astronomically. Nobody's had cholera since the 1800's . While they have other jobs, all members of the 4th division are required to take at least one tour in the depths of the undercity.

Horrors still lurk in the depths.

They're pretty sure they lost Tokagero Kenpachi chasing one of those, shortly before Unohana became captain, and she's been reluctant to let other divisions assist since then. The Fourth Division's Fourth Seat, rumored to be the unluckiest post in the entire Gotei-13, is permanently stationed underground, and she loves it that way.

It's only recently that the 11th has been allowed to come along on descents, after Zaraki vanished for two days and then emerged victorious from a manhole in the 5th division with a tentacled horror she'd been tracking for decades that lived at least three miles down. He apologized- he had meant to come up in the 4th to present it's corpse to her directly, but well, you know what his sense of direction is like. Anyway, I saw it scuttling around in the rain aquifers and we don't need it tracking literal shit into the water supply so I went after is and d'ya think maybe I can take the lads down sometime? They' get lazy between deployments and you have a triage up here to manage.

Charmed, she agreed.

---

Hm. I just re-read that ask and it's actually about dry waste managment.

Sorry. I got very excited about the sewers.

I am now about to get worse about trash.

I don't think they have plastic in soul society- given how bug-themed the 12th division is, I'm pretty sure the casing on Rukia's soul pager is made of Chitin, and if you break it, it bleeds. Also it makes people with shellfish allergies break out in hives.

Since pretty much all the waste in Soul Society is either recyclable or organic matter, I think those trash pits Yumichika and Ganju were fooling around with are really more like Kido-enhanced composting centers. All waste goes into them and the bottom of the pit is pulled out in a tray, like with a vermiculture tower, if the worms were eighteen and a half feet long and hungry enough to swallow anything that falls in the pit, because Mayuri is incapable of making anything that is not at least slightly awful.

The compost is then shaken out for any spare glass or metal that made it into the compost and that's sent off to the 12th division forges to be recycled. it's baked to kill any dangerous pathogens and Giant Garbage Worm Eggs so they don't breach containment, and measured for nitrogen, phosphorus and other important plant nutrient content. Based on it's composition, it's then shipped out to farmers in the upper districts of the rukongai because "Free, A+ grade fertilizer if y'all don't start revolutions, pay your taxes and give us first dibs on crops" is an amazing incentive for rural farmers to not start backing the local warlords.

It was 12th division founder Uhin Zenjohji who came up wth the scheme- he remembered the lengths upper-district farmers were willing to go through to make sure their land remained fertile, what kind of demand Nitrogen was in, and the ravages of phosphorous runnoff, so he could kill two birds with one clod of shit by supplying farmers with 'free' fertilizer that kept them loyal to the court and was tailored to that area's nutritional needs and watershed capacity.

The fact that it kept a lot of swamp and waterway areas pristine so he could indulge his birdwatching hobby was a nice benefit too :).

NORMALLY, those pits are covered, clearly marked, and usually the site of a major traffic jam because that's the local collection point, but when Ichigo and friends arrived, Aizen had whipped everyone into believing they were being invaded by an elite force of super-assassins and not like. 4 high schoolers and a furry. All the street signs and markings came down, civilians shuttered themselves inside, and generally made the Seireitei as difficult to navigate as possible.

I wonder how much Zaraki's rotten sense of direction was exacerbated by that.

ANYWAY! That's my thoughts on trash! Deep undercity horrors and giant compost worms over an active volcano!

[pynkhues]

Hi! Are you still planning on posting the pregnancy scare fic before the new year?🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️

Hey! I don't think I'll have it quite done by New Year now, but I'm aiming for before I go back to work on the 16th January, so hopefully it won't be too long of a wait!

[squishi-bunni]

🧶💝As Special as You💝🧶

Reader who was in a past toxic relationship is shocked by Howl spoiling them.

Reader likes to crochet

Howl x Reader

tooth-rotting fluff , comfort , cheesy

The castle creaked and huffed as it crawled across the rolling green fields. I watched the bright blue rivers wind across the plains from the balcony. The Wastes were quite beautiful, despite their name.

In my lap sat a half finished crochet project -  one mitten out of a pair. The yarn was a bright fuscia, vibrant against my wooden crochet hook. I finished the last row of the mitten, cut the yarn, and sewed the ends in with a darning needle. I put the mitten on my hand and smiled at its perfect fit.

The flung open, startling me. I whipped around to see none-other than my love, standing proudly by the door and beaming at me with excitement.

"There you are!" he proclaimed."I've been looking for you!" He grabbed my arm and yanked me put of my chair before I could say a word. "Come downstairs my love -- I have something to show you."

I stumbled down the stairs as I was being not-so-gracefully dragged to the living room by the eccentric wizzard. I laughed at his antics. "Slow down there, Howl! I'm gonna trip if you're not careful!"

We reached the living room and Howl stood next to the center table, presenting to me a long wooden box and sealed black bag.

I cocked my head at him. "What's all this?" I asked, eyebrows raised with intrigue.

"It's a gift!" he said, "for you!"

I was stunned. I wasn't used to getting gifts, or just having anything done for me in general. Even a flower picked from the garden would shock me when Howl gifted one.

"Don't just stand there," he said, gesturing towards the gift. "Open it!"

He beamed at me as I carefully opened the wooden box. The hinges at the back creaked as I slowly lifted the lid.

I was presented with a set of gold plated metal crochet hooks of every size available. There was a hook small enough for a piece of sewing thread, a hook which took up the circumference of my hand, and every size in between. Howl's delighted chuckle is what indicated to me that my mouth was agape. I could feel my smile reach up to my eyes.

"I-- you-- Howl--" I stammered.

"You still need to open the bag!" he reminded me.

I looked over to the velvet back and opened it. There was assortment of yarns of all different colors, thicknesses, materials. I dipped my hand in the bag to feel the yarn, and it was like how I'd imagine shoving your hand in a cloud would feel. Each yarn was soft and somehow silky.

I felt the tears come to my eyes then. I choked on the built up air in my throat and broke out in sobs.

Howl's beaming smile turned into a concerned frown. He rushed towards me and held my shoulders gently. "What's wrong my love?" he asked, brows furrowed.

"I--I just," I choked out. "I haven't-- No one's ever gotten me something so nice." I hugged him and buried my face into his shirt. "This is the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me."

Howl wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a tight embrace. "My love, you deserve every precious thing in the world," he said. "Only a fool would fail to make you feel as special as you are."

I looked up and gave him a chaste kiss through salty tears. "Thank you so much."

He smiled at me. "It's no problem love -- I'm happy to make you happy."

[oliversrarebooks]

The Rare Bookseller Part 74: Fitz's Metronome

Previous > Masterlist > Next

tw: mind control, body control, emotional abuse, torture, captivity, hypnosis

September 1905

With a cold, stiff hand resting just on top of his head, Fitz was marched out of the dank basement like a marionette. He couldn't even find relief from being done with Lex's torture -- for now, at least -- because he was drowning in terror at his own fate, wondering if he'd ever control his own body again.

The Maestro had carried the weak lantern with him, so that Fitz could see a bit of the manor surrounding him. The oppressive patterns of the wallpaper, the dark wood door frames with their yawning openings, the intricately carved wooden furniture, all of it seemed to swallow what little light there was. The main floor of the manor was less obviously a prison than the basement where Lex had been chained, but it was a prison nonetheless.

Was this where he'd spend the rest of his days, in the dark, cold gloom? Would he die here?

His new master led Fitz into a room which seemed slightly more welcoming than the others. It was a music room, and what he could see was filled with antique instruments in perfect condition. Polished horns sat in neat brackets on the walls, violins and other stringed instruments rested in their stands, and an antique piano occupied the center of the room.

Fitz's body came to a stop in the middle of the room, standing as still as a statue, with Fitz hardly even able to blink. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Maestro pull a measuring tape from his pocket. He measured the circumference of Fitz's chest and stomach, the lengths of his legs and arms, the length and width of his feet, and more, while Fitz's automatically body shifted to accommodate the measurements.

It reminded Fitz of the last time he'd been measured so thoroughly, that night in the auction house where he'd first met Lex. He'd been scared out of hits wits then, too, but he'd also had hope, hope that his charm and charisma and ability to look great in a red velvet ballgown would earn him a permissive master. Fitz couldn't muster up any such hope now. There would be no softening of Lex's sire, no manipulation to earn privileges, not when he wasn't even allowed to speak.

The Maestro sat down at a nearby desk, leaving Fitz standing stiff as a board in the middle of the room. He dipped a pen in ink and wrote out a note, then rang a small brass bell. A moment later, a tired-looking older man in a modest black suit appeared at the door.

"Fetch clothes appropriate for these measurements. I have another new thrall this evening."

His eyes flicked over to Fitz very, very briefly. "Yes, sir," he said, exiting the room as swiftly as he appeared.

Another new thrall? Fitz wondered how many he had. But he didn't have much time to wonder, because the Maestro stood before Fitz again, running an icy hand below his chin and tilting his head up to meet his eyes.

His eyes were as deep as the ocean and as dark as a moonless night, and Fitz couldn't look away from them, even as he felt their pull. He was being enthralled. His new master wasn't simply content with controlling every movement of Fitz's body. He was trying to control Fitz's mind too. Fitz could feel himself scrabbling for purchase, trying to keep his grip on his thoughts even as they began to slip from his grasp.

"That's it, child," he said in that dreadfully melodic voice. "You will look deeply into my eyes, and you will lose yourself. Your mind, your body, and your will are all mine, to do with as I must."

He slipped. He was falling, falling, falling down a pitch-black well that seemed to go on for miles and miles. His thoughts began to empty as he sank further into a daze, unable to resist the thick blanket of control that was smothering him.

"Fitzwilliam de Hastings. Third son of the de Hastings family and an abject disappointment in every conceivable way. Am I correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"Despite that unfortunate history, you may be excellent raw material." A porcelain thumb stroked Fitz's cheek just below his eye. "Your parents didn't have the strength, the knowledge, or the time to mold you into anything better than this pathetic creature, did they? Despite having little understanding of humans, I can be certain that they did not love nor care for you. If they had cared for you, they wouldn't have left your talents and better qualities to rot and spoil."

Fitz was sinking so deeply under his spell that he couldn't muster even an internal denial to any of this. No, his parents most certainly didn't care for him. They probably thought it was just as well that Fitz was gone, if they even gave it any thought.. His heart ached with the jealousy he'd felt each time his father praised his golden older brother, praise that Fitz would never hear himself.

"If someone had cared about you, they would have corrected your personality."

No, that wasn't right, couldn't have been right. Correcting Fitz was all his father ever did, and he knew that his father hadn't cared about him, would've just as soon not had a useless third son.

"Make no mistake, child, I certainly don't care for you either. I would be incapable of such a thing, even if you did deserve such tender treatment," said the Maestro, pulling Fitz in slightly closer. "I don't care for you, but I have time. All the time in the world, and some dim flicker of curiosity. Curiosity to see if I can mold something like you into something perfect. That is why I am prepared to do you a great mercy."

"Mercy…" Fitz's voice came out as a pleading whine.

"Yes, a mercy. I will be the one to correct your vile personality. Despite your deficiencies, I think you understand that it has brought you nothing but suffering. A lifetime of poor choices and waste."

Fitz wanted to deny it, but it was his choices that brought him here, wasn't it? If he hadn't pursued the stage, if he hadn't taken Miss Lily's bet, if he hadn't charmed Lex…

His master suddenly broke his gaze and released Fitz, who was still falling, lost in his spell. The servant from earlier had arrived silently, and handed the Maestro a set of neatly folded clothes with a deep bow. The Maestro looked over the clothes and nodded at the servant, who exited the room with an unnaturally rhythmic gait.

Fitz knew that would be him, a puppet on strings, fit only to serve, and the cruel voice in his head whispered that maybe it was all he was good for.

The Maestro turned back to Fitz and began unbuttoning his shirt, one button after the next. His chest was exposed to the cold, damp air of the manor, but under his master's power, he could hardly even shiver. There was nothing he could do to resist as one leg lifted, and then the other, allowing the Maestro to remove his shoes and socks, followed by his pants.

As his clothing was removed and set aside, Fitz was reminded that he was wearing his stage magician's costume. He'd had a performance just earlier tonight, his last. It already seemed like ages had passed since them.

And then he was standing utterly nude before his new master, body fully controlled and mind ensorcelled, with no protection and nowhere to hide.

Fortunately, the Maestro didn't seem to care for Fitz's nude body. He wasted no time dressing Fitz in the clothing the servant had brought. The drab suit was scratchy and uncomfortable, and it was such a small thing, but Fitz couldn't help but despair at it. A lifetime in uncomfortable, stuffy clothes.

Once Fitz was dressed, the Maestro examined him this way and that, pinching at the cloth here and drawing it upwards there. "This will require some tailoring, but that can be handled later. It's an improvement for now." He tossed Fitz's old clothes to the side like rags and rang the bell once more. The servant arrived to collect them, and then the only possessions Fitz had left were gone.

The Maestro gestured to the piano, and Fitz's body moved to sit on the bench. He was going to have to play, and Fitz already knew his meager skills and repertoire of popular ragtime tunes wouldn't satisfy his master. There was a metronome with a shining brass arm sitting on the top of the piano, a surprisingly modern touch.

His master reached past Fitz's shoulder and started the metronome in a slow rhythm, and Fitz couldn't help but watch it and listen to its tock-tock-tock. His fogged mind wondered when the Maestro would make him start playing, but as the minutes dragged on, he realized that he wasn't going to play. No, all he could do was sit there and watch the metronome.

Almost experimentally, he tried to turn his eyes away, and found that he could not. His master had taken hold of his very eyes, keeping them glued tightly to the metronome's arm. Now he was aware of the way his eyes were being forced to follow, and he couldn't help but try to resist it, with a spike of panic. Resisting it was like walking through a wall, or struggling against thick chains, and it only made his pupils jitter strangely, the metronome's arm going briefly out of focus.

"You will allow the rhythm to enter your head," said the melodic voice near his ear. "You will allow it to govern your thoughts, your movements. You will allow your own thoughts to fade."

Fitz could feel it, the way his thoughts were slowing and swirling in time with the metronome, the way his emotions were growing dim. He dug in, determined to stubbornly fight it as long as possible. Even if it was futile, he didn't want to go out easily.

"Everything you are, everything that is not me will fade away. You cannot fight this. You will not fight this. You are weak and you know that you will slip."

He tried to pull whatever happy memories he had from the recesses of his mind, one last moment of fun before the doom. Taking his bows to raucous applause. Laughing and drinking with fellow actors after a show. Bluffing his way to a poker jackpot.

"The only sound in your head is the rhythm. The only thoughts in your mind are mine."

tock - tock - tock

Dancing in the music room with Lex. Lex holding him while he fell asleep. The night he'd finally got up the courage to kiss him.

"The only desire left to you is servitude. You will submit."

No --

"You will submit. Blank. Empty. A doll on which to impose my will."

Lex wouldn't want him this way. Lex wanted him just the way he was.

But…

As Fitz was kissing Lex in his mind's eye, he saw that handsome face with a silver knife jammed into the eye, dark blood dripping from the wound in a rhythm like

tock - tock - tock

Fitz knew he wasn't worth it. Fitz could never have been worth all of that.

tock - tock - tock

"You will feel relief as you are washed clean. It is the only relief you will have for some time, so I suggest you savor it."

His mind swirled with the images of Lex's tormented body lying motionless on the basement floor.

tock - tock - tock

Relief. Yes, he wanted relief. He didn't want to see that any more.

"No more thoughts. No more wants. No more needs. No more distractions or decisions. You are my doll to pose, to mold, to break. My empty vessel. You are better this way. Far, far better."

One more memory flashed into Fitz's rapidly fading mind. His father looming over him, so tall and so stern, and all Fitz wanted was to please him, but he never did. He grabbed Fitz's arm too tight. It hurt, and Fitz bit back tears. "Why can't you just do as you're told?"

He wanted to. He wanted to just do what he was told so badly, but he couldn't.

"Yes, Fitzwilliam," said his master. "You will never again have to despair at not doing what you're told. I will make you do what you are told, always. I will make you perfect."

Tears were dripping down his chin in the same rhythm as the metronome. "Thank you, sir."

Previous > Masterlist > Next

Next week, Vivian is on Alexander's trail.

Thanks so much for reading this story. The feedback I get always brightens my days.

@d-cs @latenightcupsofcoffee @thecyrulik @dismemberment-on-a-tuesday-night @wanderinggoblin

@whumpyourdamnpears @only-shadows-dwell-where-we-are @pressedpenn @pigeonwhumps @amusedmuralist

@vampiresprite @irregular-book @whumpsoda @mj-or-say10 @und3ad-mutt

@sowhumpshaped @whumpsday @morning-star-whump @silly-scroimblo-skrunkl

@steh-lar-uh-nuhs @pirefyrelight @theauthorintraining @whump-me-all-night-long @anonfromcanada

@typewrittenfangs @tessellated-sunl1ght @cleverinsidejoke @abirbable @ichorousambrosia

@a-formless-entity @gobbo-king @writinggremlin @the-agency-archives @just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi

@enigmawriteswhump @bottlecapreader @whump-on-a-string @whumpinthepot

@cinnamoncandycanes @avvail-whumps @tauntedoctopuses @secret-vampkissers-soiree @whatamidoingherehelpme

@strawbearydreams @ghost-whump @tippytappytyping @natthebatt @fire-bugg14

@fuckcapitalismasshole @slightlydisturbedbeans @paperprinxe @demetercabingreen-thumb @the-broken-pen

@pokemaniacgemini @jumpywhumpywriter @basica11ywhumped @anoontjecanush @cepheusgalaxy

@whump-me-harder @whump-till-ya-jump @the-monarch-whumperfly

[zoropookie]

WHAT YOU WON'T DO FOR LOVE (WYWDFL) — NINE

YOU couldn't be having a worse halloween night. choose your fate with your fellow readers and see if it gets better!

chapter eight — chapter ten

soulmate!wanderer x gn!reader

What year is it?

When your eyes finally fluttered open...the world around you circumferences into a blob of fading pain. Even though you were met with the strong realization that you were still in the same situation as you were...probably 7 hours ago? This time, in the front seat of the car.

The passengers seat of the car, bathing in a light of the rising sun you'd thought you'd never witness. Cold leather of the interior pressed against your back, your skin throbbed relentlessly still with a tourniquet wrapped around the stab. A dull and distant pain now, a memory that hadn't fully settled but stung like one. The first time in a while you wished you were back home wasn't frequent. This was definitely one of those times.

The car hummed with a soft engine, lower with a sound of rhythmic value. "Huh..." You drawled, a trail of drool that traveled down the car window slowly maneuvered in swishes with every turn. You mentally cursed yourself for falling asleep, heart pounding in your chest again.

Your stomach churned, and it all suddenly made sense.

"Pull over." You said lowly, feeling bile rise up in your throat at the sudden image of the dead body in the trunk rearing its ugly head.

He didn't answer immediately, narrowing his eyes with a frown as he switched his gaze from you to the road. "No time."

"Unless you want chunks of pastries and candy corn all over the dashboard, pull over." Your tone was so dull that he couldn't even tell if it were an emergency or not. Quickly, he pulled over.

Before the car came to a full stop, you spilled out as soon as you tugged on the door handle. You fumbled down to the ground, propping yourself on one arm to leave the wounded one unbothered before spilling onto the pavement with a large cry. You coughed, retching the contents that were in your stomach rise and spill onto the ground. It was a relief you were in a different position, despite the heavy smell of your own vomit clasping your nose violently.

You couldn't muster up any strength to pick your head up from your position, so you laid there still, shuddering at you felt the contents touch you. Your body shook from the strain of your wound, aggressive and continuous vomiting that had you emptied. Pavement beneath you rough and cool, yet uncomfortable with the rocks cutting into your cheek.

You could feel him standing over you, presence looming irritably. But you couldn't even pay him any mind with focusing on your ragged gasps. You heard him sigh, low and exasperated as he too, began wincing once holding onto your body and lifting it. "You're fine," He muttered, despite having no real heat in his voice this time. Just impatience. "Stop fighting."

You wanted to bite his head off, to tell him you'd make an effort to comply when you felt like it, but your body surged sweltered with agony to even measure how capable you were of fighting him. "It hurts." You responded, dazed.

"Then, adapt."

Your vision swam back and forth, trying to make a sense of his mood from your view. But much like a fogged window, you couldn't see anything. His words shot harsh, but the way he lifted you back onto your feet was careful, working his way around the article of clothing that now were filthy in your bodily fluids. You weren't going to hold up much longer, and by the sound of his hissing every now and then, he seemed to be having a hard time himself.

Your legs wobbled beneath you, sagging immediately against the seat of the car, using the center console as support. He stared at you like he wasn't worried about his prey leaving, frustration evident in the tense line in his jaw. You thought he might just knock you back out, and you hope he did. You leaned back against the car, head spinning wildly.

Without saying anything, he walked around to the backseat and opened the door to rummage through the back. He pulled out a bottle of water, his shoulder tensing every now and then. It was the same shoulder that you actually had a stab wound on. He languidly twisted the cap off, flicking it back into the car and leaning closer to your form, holding the bottle closer to your mouth.

"Open." His voice was flat, it telling to you that he obviously saw this as another inconvenience.

Your eyes glazed over, eyes meeting with his in desperation. All you could really find yourself doing is looking at him, sickening weight of his actions plaguing your minds and his eyes cold and unwavering coinciding. His hair fell messily across his forehead, look defined a certain response you couldn't place your finger on. The haphazard way he moved made him seem less calm than before, even if his voice was still demanding.

"You don't have to think about it so hard," he said, this time more impatiently. "Drink, now."

You swallowed, stiffening as you let him watch you closely. This was insane, you thought. How could you even be sitting here right now, okay with him treating you like you were a vegetable? You parted your lips slowly, the cool water trickling into your mouth, the refreshing icy cold soothing the rawness and the roughness of your throat. He was cataloguing your every move, studying your every breath you took, attempting to tear your eyes away from him.

"Why?" The absurdity of his ways made you grit your teeth, your voice barely above a whisper. "You don't gain anything. Why are you doing this?"

He pulled the bottle back once you'd had enough, wiping your face coated in your own sick with a clean wet wipe he reached out from the backseat as well. "You need to stay alive." He said, absentmindedly. "That's all. Just for a while longer."

The cut on his face wasn't as fresh anymore. Your knees were tucked up to your chest in a lame attempt to help your unsettled stomach. Seemingly satisfied, he rounded the car again after shutting the door and got back into the driver's seat. The car after it started up again was filled with nothing but icy silence, you slyly glanced at the man beside you. There was something... off about him.

You didn't know how much time had passed with you feeling out the throbbing soar through half of your body. Too focused on making sure you didn't throw up again, but when you looked out the window again after regaining your sight through tears, the uniformed rows of tall fir trees thinned out. Civilization was close again, and you took a long time processing it.

The dark trunks of said trees blurred past the windows, bending toward the road like they were part of some wide-open fields of grass stretching far. There was no sign of civilization, nor houses or power lines. The car veered off the main road onto a narrow path of gravel, the wheels crunching under the texture. He slowed the car to a stop beside the home, letting the engine idle for a moment.

He sat still for a beat longer, then turned towards you. "You'll be dealt with, then. And I don't want to hear a sound from you. One syllable, go anywhere you're not supposed to, you're going back in the trunk."

"Charming," You scoffed, stomach twisting. You looked up at the house. It was nice, yeah, but you could still feel your pulse quickening in your throat.

taglist ♢ @kinvasions @kazumiku @animeobsessed56 @levianamor @auroratumbles

@mellowberrie @scarawiki @xxxion

[elkement]

Reality and Imagination for real

Real and imaginary part of complex function 1/z - "Reality and Imagination" - for the first time drawn traditionally on paper, therefore I call it: "Reality and Imagination for real".

I picked the colors intuitively, but now I see: Red pill versus blue pill :-)

Geometric drawing - axonometry, creating the "3D view" from the view from above - "cloverleaf-like", placed in the center of the drawing - and from the side - where circles become just lines. Graphite pencil, watercolor pencils, ballpoint pens.

The contour lines of these functions are actually just circles whose radii decrease reciprocally with height, and which are aligned along one point of the circumference. The towers of reality and imagination can be rotated into one another. I also often call them "trumpets" - it's 4 trumpets, two blue and two red ones, each opening up to an infinite circle.

[talonabraxas]

“God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere.” Circe - Greek Goddess of Sorcery Talon Abraxas

[graylinesspam]

Charming

Having a teen girl in military camps was somewhat of a balancing act. Your average encampment, at least those for the 501st had around 300 men, and you couldn't expect to keep that many men on their best behavior, in a war zone, for extended periods of time.

There were some stress relieving behaviors that the men needed to stay balanced. Drinking, roughhousing, and generally acting unsavory to name a few.

In the early days they'd just tried to herd Ahsoka to certain parts of the camps and stay vigilant to catch her coming. It was a precarious game that Rex in particular had no intention of losing.

They tried having the boys on watch whistle signal her location, which had only irritated her. Curse her insanely quiet little stride, he blamed Vere and genetics for that one. They lost track of her once she started dodging them on purpose.

Then there was that comment on Felucia. "Maybe we should reconsider General Kenobi's suggestion of a bell," Rex had smarted off as Ahsoka ghosted silently into the upper branches of a tree.

Well Hardcase was injured on that deploy. His leg was broken, not an easy fix planet side and med evac wouldn't be for a few days. He was stuck in a cot. All that chaotic energy contained within the four edges of canvas. He needed something to keep himself busy. That's where Ahsoka's first present came from.

Six muzzle seals roughly the circumference of a thumb, cut and re-bent around each other until it roughly resembled a crude flower shape. It didn't hold it's shape well unless laid out flat on a surface, but he strung it with a crude chain made from braided wire pulled out of a fried HUD.

Ahsoka, the poor thing, was in and out of medical the whole time for medication, snot rubbing her face permanently raw. When the medication knocked her out she chose Hardcase to curl up on. He had presented her with the gift curled up in the center of his palm, a sheepish look on his red feverish face.

Rex couldn't have organized it better if he had tried. A bell they couldn't attach to her without some serious protest and her going even farther to evade their tracking tactics. But a handmade gift from a sick and pitiful vod? It was the perfect excuse.

Ahsoka hooked the dangly little charm onto her belt clip. It tapped musically against the hilt of her saber. The tinkling of little bells that could be disarmed quickly in combat by simply holding her sabers or hooking on of the rings around the clip.

Everyone came to memorize the sound of her stride, the little tapping highlighting every step. Just loud enough that you could here her before she turned a corner or caught you doing something you shouldn't be.

The first charm lasted for almost half a year. It's crude design and salvaged parts eventually becoming a casualty of combat. The second charm came from Fives, ever competitive to be everyone's favorite vod, He'd been working on it since she'd received the first one. Three little scraps of plastoid he'd cut to shapes. One rectangular chunk painted to resemble a domino, one flat piece painted with a five on one side and a tiny crude recreation of a hand print on the other side. And a third painted with 212th yellow unsuccessfully mixed with a hint of medic red to create a streaky red orange color, the paint carefully carved away in the shape of Ahsoka's markings. It had a woodier sound as it collided with her lightsaber.

Cody was next with a series of little plastoid stars strung on real chains. They tinkled like rain on music stones when they knock against plastoid.

And General Plo-koon, as her founder, showed them all up with a metal medallion wolf charm.

Getting bells on Ahsoka was easier than any of them expected it to be. Their only miscalculation was believing she didn't know exactly what they were doing the whole time.

[flnpushy]

Helios: Angels Last Birth

13 months ago…. Helios Birthing Center

“Angel do you choose to accept this experiment for your last required mission on Helios?” Kara said.

“What are the details.” Angel responded. 

“The details are as follows.” Kara said beginning the list…… “You will be impregnated… 

12 Months Later 

“We are 1 month away from the birth.” Kara said to Angel. “How do you feel?”

“This is the biggest belly I’ve ever had and will ever have again, But I Am excited to be a part of this experiment.” Angel replied.

The Final Birth for Angel 

Kara had meet angel years prior when she was giving birth for the first time. Kara and Angel had also been part of a prior experiment together. Now it was time for Angels 3rd and final baby required to complete her service to the Mission. Angel agreed to do an experiment as it granted her access to a full-time position at the Facility. If she did not she would have been retired out of the Helios Mission and would have to find a new career option. Angel knew however she wanted to stay with helios and stay with her friend Kara. Kara now a scientist was in the lead of Angels experiment. Angel would be granted a position with the Helios Facility upon completion of this birth experiment. The guidelines of the experiment were as follows: 

The Class 152 Impregnation experiment…..

This experiment is to be conducted under close supervision by scientific staff. The Woman to be impregnated must be small framed, have a strong will power, and must be patient. She is to birth A large baby under close supervision of Scientific staff. This experiment has been conducted on Alpha Centauri, and Martian soil. The gravity of Helios is significantly less, causing less help for the birthing mother. The plot is as follows:

Outcomes for this experiment and the breakdown are as follows. The mother is to birth a large baby 25-30 pounds in womb. The baby under the Class 152 type will gain 1-1.5 pounds per day during the birthing process. The baby will be born head first. No mechanical assistance is permitted, the mother must deliver the baby under her own will power. All data must be collected and stored for future reference. The babies head will have a large circumference, making crowning and leading up to crowning very difficult. Anticipated birthing time: 1-2 weeks 

The day had arrived. Angel was in her room and getting ready to report to Kara’s Garden 150. This birth garden was designed for experimental births and was equipped only for this matter. Angel looked forward to this birth. It was her final birth, and she was excited to find a position within the Helios facility. Her goal was to work with Kara directly. Angel Arose from bed and began walking toward the door to report to the garden. In her large belly she could feel the baby squirming and kicking. 

“Little man wants out.” She whispered. 

She went out the door and made her way by scooter toward the experimental wing of the facility. Angel was ready. 

Angel arrived at Kara’s office. 

“Good morning beautiful, are we ready for this?” Kara asked. 

“Yes, I am ready for this baby to be out of my belly, he’s active in there today!” Angel said. 

“Ok lets go through the basics on your health and wellness and lets get this show in the road. We are going to have a long week!” Kara said.

“Do you think it will take longer?” Angel asked.

“Personally I bet we are looking at 1 and a half to two weeks to get this baby out of you.” Kara said. 

“Whew!” Angel said. “Lots of pushing in my future.” 

“Oh its going to be!” Kara said. ‘Lets get you in and ready.”

Kara led Angel into the entry way of Garden 150. She scanned in and the airlock doors opened. Upon opening a beautiful garden environment was revealed. This truly was the ultimate in birthing facilities. Angel was excited to birth her last baby here in absolute luxury. The facility was lavish. A jungle scene with a small stream, koi pond, and flowing trees and foliage. The smell was fresh and natural. The facility had all birthing facilities like any normal garden, accept this one had state of the art tech for measuring data, metrics, and recording data. 

Kara had angel sit upon a birthing bed. 

“Ok hun, open up.” Kara said. 

Angel laid back and spread her legs. Kara took a small device, and with a gloved hand inserted it up inside of Angels vagina. This probe had a camera and was set to record the baby during birth. The next item of business was the babies position and the injection that would skip labor and dilate Angel. Kara did the injection. 5 minutes passed. 

“Ok lets take a look.” Kara said. She grabbed a long tube and attached a suction cup looking device to the end of it. Kara inserted the tube into Angels vagina and continued to insert until it stopped. Kara tapped a button that turned on a camera at the end of the tube. 

“Ok you are dilated and I see the top of the babies head.” Kara said. 

Kara pressed the tube farther in. She placed the suction cup upon the unborn babies head, and then withdrew the tube.

“Ok that will be it for instrumentation for now. This will measure the weight if baby, the vitals, and your pushing efforts.” Kara said. 

Angel smiled and made eye contact with her good friend.

“Ok hun, your ready to push momma!” Kara said. 

Angel smiled and laid back on the bed. 

“Ok first contraction is coming, and I’m getting data.” Kara said. 

Readout: Baby healthy, head first, weight 27 pounds, gaining 1 pounds per day. 

“Were on our way.” Kara said 

“My last baby.” Angel said. 

“Yes, your last one hun.” Kara replied. “Its not going to be the easiest one, I can assure that.” 

“It’s ok, it’s my last one.” Angel said.

It was time for Angel to begin her pushing. A contraction came and Angel gave the first push. Kara begin receiving data, and the birth had begun. Angel started out on her back with the first few contractions, but quickly switched to a birth stool. Kara noticed that the baby was active at first, but then seemed to relax and let things happen. For such a large baby, Angel need all the help from within that she could in order to get it out of her belly.

12 hours passed. Angel actively pushed while Kara tended to her and the data. 12 hours of pushing had moved the babies head through the cervix, but that was all. It was time to inspect. Angel moved to a birth bed and Kara began a visual check. Kara opened Angels opening, It was still tight yet and the head wasn’t in view. She put her finger in about 2 inches and still felt nothing. After 12 hours, not much had happened. Angel kept on. 

Another 6 hours passed. Not much. 6 more hours advanced. Nothing much. 1 day into pushing and nothing to show for it. 

Kara made a check, at 30 hours in. Finally about 2 inches inside her opening, she could feel the top of babies head. 

“Ok we have progress, the head is about 2 inches inside of you.” Kara said. 

“Ohhhh it feels big…..” Angel said. “I can feel him squirming in there.” 

“Its good that he’s active.” Kara replied.

“Yeah he can help mamma get him out.” Angel said. 

Angel continued her pushing efforts for another 5 hours. She began noticing that the baby was squirming and helping less and less as she moved it towards her opening. The vital signs were ok, but the baby stopped its helping efforts. Without them it would be an all out struggle for Angel to birth the baby. Still she continued.

It was now coming into the second day of pushing. The head was still one full inch inside Angels opening. It had taken 12 hours to advance the baby one inch closer. Still not crowning. Now with the baby not helping at all, Angel was pushing a 28 pound baby through her. No easy task. 12 more hours passed. Angel was now side laying. Finally after almost 3 days of pushing. A sign of progress was about to happen. 

Angel made a huge push, Kara watched her opening in anticipation. As Angel bore down, Kara could see a tiny bulge starting to happen, the labia opened ever so slightly. The push ended and the bulge disappeared. This continued to happen with every push, until 3 hours later, a tiny tuft of hair could be seen for a brief moment. 

“Good girl, I see a head!” Kara said. 

“Thank goodness he’s starting to come out!” Angel said as she exhaled. 

“Yes Angel you are doing it.” Kara said. 

Angel continued to push, making headway little by little. Each push now made Angels opening bulge. The head was just inside. Each contraction was lasting several minutes and Angel was working hard to push with them. The baby wasn’t progressing much though. The babies lack of movement, the large head, and chunky 28 pound body was making progress very slow. 

The next contraction and pushes Brought the head more into the opening, Kara could clearly see a tiny sliver of the head sitting in the opening. When the push stopped the sliver retracted back into the opening. The baby was now entering the yo-yo phase. And It was going to take some serious pushing and stretching to get it out. 

Meanwhile Kara was working with the data. Measuring the pushing force and reading the vitals of the baby within. It was all up to Angel and the baby to complete this birth. With the baby barely moving, Angel was doing a bulk of the work. Still each push went on. Another 6 hours passed. Another day had progressed. Kara now noted that the baby had gained weight once more. The baby was now 29 pounds and still well inside Angels belly. It was only getting harder to push out. Another few hours passed. There was a slight breakthrough. The head was now getting bigger in the opening as Angel was slowly beginning the stretching process. Each push brought the head into view. At the end of the push however, the head continued to slip back in. 

Kara continued to take notes, as the action was now happening faster. Kara’s notes are as follows:

10:50:30 Push, can see head in opening 

10:51:10 push ends and head slips back in

10:55:12 Pushing, head appears

10:55:30 tiny slip-in but pushing 

10:56:01 head slips back in 

Kara watched as Angel kept pushing. The head made more and more appearances with each push. However it continued to slip back in. This continued for 4 hours, until finally Angel was able to hold the baby up against her opening with each push. More stretching needed to happen, but it was progress seeing more of the head with each push. 

Angel pushed, this time the head stretched into the opening nicely. However as Angel bore down the baby suddenly wiggled its head, this caused the head to recess back in. The baby was now active, but it wasn’t helping Angel progress. Rather it was working to get back in her belly. Angel pushed again. The head pressed tightly against her un-stretched opening. She held it there as best she could, the baby once again wiggled, the sudden wiggle had the baby recessing back inside once more. 

“Looks like the baby is refusing to fit through.” Kara said. “Your not stretched enough yet.” 

“What do I do?” Angel asked.

“Not much you can do, just keep pushing the head against the opening, it will slowly stretch open.” Kara said. 

“Was there a clause in this experimental contract for mechanical assistance?” Angel asked.

“No, there wasn’t, Its all up to you to get the baby out.” Kara said. 

“Ok.” Angel said 

“Its going to be ok.” Kara said. “You’ll get it out.”

“This is the biggest baby I’ve ever had in me since I arrived at Helios.” Angel said concerned.

“Yes it is, but birthing this baby will grant you retirement from birthing or scientific status.” Kara said. “You could join me doing experiments.” 

“Yes that would be ahhhhh!” Angel said as a contraction began.

Angel pulled back her legs and began to push her big belly began to contract. Below she began to bulge. The babies head was coming closer as she continued to push. Angel held the push as long as she could but the baby did not show. She tried again. This time she bulged more and the babies head came into view. The push ended. However this time something changed. Instead of the babies head retracting back inside. The head remained in view in the opening. Angel was beginning to stretch. Kara could see the head wiggling from side to side inside on angels opening. It was the baby attempting to wiggle free of Angels vagina. 

“It looks like the little man is helping.” Kara said

“Yes, I can feel him wiggling against my opening.” Angel replied. “Its nice he’s helping in there.” 

Angel pushed again with a new contraction. This time the babies head remained in the same spot and didn’t budge forward at all. The little head wiggled once more as angel pushed to attempt to free it. The push ended, but this time the baby slid back in and the vagina closed. Angel waited till the next opportunity and pushed hard. The head came right back up to the opening and began wiggling again trying its hardest to free itself from the clenches of angels womb. However the baby was simply too big, and not strong enough to free itself. It would have to wait till angel stretched and pushed to get free. 

The head remained visible but refused to budge for the next 5 contractions. Angel was trying to stretch open, but the progress was very slow. Angel was trying hard but the head wasn’t budging. Another 30 minutes passed with no forward progress. Angels opening was no farther stretched than before. The head was visible in the opening. Kara could see the dark hair on the babies head just stuck there in angels vagina. She could see the head wiggling back and forth inside trying to get free. Angel was pushing, but not movement was happening. The 29 pound baby was clearly stuck. 

After another hour of trying to move the baby. It was clear that changes needed to be made. Kara suggested that Angel get active and walk around to try and help move the baby inside to free it. Angel stood up and let her huge belly hang down. She had been laying down now for many hours attempting to free the baby. Upon standing up her vagina closed, sealing the baby back inside. Angel was discouraged, but kept at it. Angel paced around the area, taking in the surroundings while working with contractions to attempt to get the baby to move. Each time she pushed Kara could see the babies head appear in the opening, before being sealed back in at the end of the push. Angel continued activity for another 4 hours without much progress. The babies head seemed to be simply too large to progress any farther. 

Now approaching 4 days into the pushing. The 29 pound baby still remained stuck in Angel. It was time to get more aggressive with the pushing as the baby was still gaining weight inside of her. The baby needed to make progress. Angel laid back on the birthing stations bed and pulled her legs back. Kara attached stirrups to hold here legs in a better position. The table was then inverted so that Angel didn’t have to fight uphill to push the baby. Pushing was now getting serious. Kara got another data update. The baby was now 29.5 pounds inside angel. It was time to get this baby out before birthing became nearly impossible. 

Angel began pushing in rhythm. Pushing even without the assistance of a helping contraction. Angel was forcing her body to the maximum to attempt to free the baby from her belly. Kara began coaching and taking data at the same time. The baby continued to slide back in after each push with little forward progress. Finally after an hour of this, angel started to stretch a bit more allowing more of the head to seen. The tear drop opening shape was now forming, meaning that the head was making some progress. Kara decided to switch angel back to a birth stool for added comfort. The head was now much larger in the opening. Another 3 hours of pushing passed until the head moved farther. The progress was painfully slow, but was happening. The head now bulged out a bit, but angels skin was still tightly clenched around the huge head. 2 more hours passed of constant pushing. Finally with one big push the skin slipped around the rest of the head. After almost 5 days of pushing the head was free. The babies head as massive and dangling from angel. Angel needed to stand as her legs could take no more of the birth stool. As she stood the head made it so she couldn’t close her legs at all. Angel waddled around a bit. The babies head turtled back a bit sucking itself back. The baby wanted back inside, but the head was much too large to do so. Still the baby tried, but wasn’t successful. The rotation began. It was now time to birth the shoulders. Luckily with the genetic make up of the experiment this wasn’t going to be as hard as the head. Sitting back on the birth stool angel began pushing hard once more. The rotation of the baby continued. The baby was active. Constantly wiggling trying to escape. After about 4 more hours the baby finally slipped out. 

“Good job angel.” Kara said. “You did it friend.” 

Two weeks later: 

Angels last birth was now over. Now she could choose to retire, or potentially take a job at the facility. What happens is to be continued……