#this will probably reach around 0 people that can actually use the information and maybe 1 or 2 that can't

[gottagobuycheese]

definitely a long and last-minute shot but if any of you are over in Ireland right now take a minute to call the minister for foreign affair's office and tell him to vote in support of the call for an immediate ceasefire at the UN Emergency General Assembly under the Uniting for Peace Resolution. With enough of a majority they could override the U.S.'s security council veto, but Ireland mustn't abstain under U.S. pressure.

[giggly-squiggily]

Prove Me Wrong (Jujutsu Kaisen)

Heyo! Guess who's back with more of the OG chaos trio? This girl! I freaking love them your honor- and after rewatching JJK 0 recently (as of writing this anyway) I wanted more fluff with them- and so I made it :3 I hope y'all like it! :D

CW: Swearing

Cloud 9 (Taglist Peeps):

@thatbigbisexual29 @duckymcdoorknob @gladdygirl18 @baby-tickles2022 @cupcake-spice13 @rachi-roo

Summary: Gojo refuses to believe Shoko isn't ticklish- so he convinces Geto to help prove her wrong. Things get silly.

Shoko Ieriri was without a doubt, a hundred percent ticklish. Gojo knew this like the back of his hand.

He…didn’t have any actual proof of this information, but the vibes were there- she had to be!

“You can’t just decide someone’s ticklishness based on a feeling.” Geto rolled his eyes when Gojo declared his theory, finishing off the last of his soda. “Besides- we’ve tried tickling her before, remember? She didn’t even react.”

“Well yeah- she wasn’t ticklish on her sides! That doesn’t mean she isn’t ticklish somewhere else!” Gojo was slumped in his spot beside him, arms over the back of the bench, his abandoned can of cola a delightful trap for bugs. “I bet she’s one of those people who you need to turn on their ticklishness- has that one spot that when prodded, it sets off the rest of them!”

“Or she could just be immune.” Geto reached across him, stealing the remaining cola before the local wasp could. “Some people are. Maybe it’s a reverse curse thing.”

“Yeah but anyone can learn that- hell; I bet I could!”

“Probably. Then you’d never be ticklish again.” Geto jabbed his side, making him spasm and scrunch. “Or it’d make it worse. It’s always so tingly when she does it- the whole healing thing. You can barely handle it.”

“She touches too softly, that’s all.” He fussed, cheeks dusting as he sank in his seat once more. Geto smiled around the can. He went to drink.

Without any warning, Gojo jabbed him in the hip.

“GE-AH!” The other boy wheezed, soda spitting everywhere as he coughed and choked.

“That’s what you get. Now- are you gonna help me or not?” Gojo raised a brow, eyes dancing when Geto glared at him.

“Fine. But first- I’m gonna kick your ass!”

~~~

“Hey.” Shoko waved at Gojo as she walked in, kicking her shoes off by the door. “What’s up, Satoru?”

“Hello, my dearest Shoko. Please- come in and have a seat.” He waved his hand in a flourish, the table a semi-organized mess of notebooks, pens, textbooks and snacks.

 The medic made a low sounding whistle, brows raised at the spread. “And here I thought you were full of shit about studying. Bummer- I was looking forward to goofing off.” Shrugging, she came over and took a seat, immediately grabbing a bag of sour cream chips. “Where’s Suguru?”

“He’s running late- likely talking up some pretty girl in town.” Gojo leaned into his hands, eyes dancing. “Can you believe it? He actually has admirers!”

“Jealous?” Shoko smiled around a chip, earning a tongue stuck out at her.

“Please- I’m simply too hot to handle.” While he talked, his eyes found Geto’s looming shadow by the hall, waiting for his cue. Time to get this show on the road.

“So, Shoko darling. What would you say are the biggest drawbacks of your curse technique?” Lead her in- nice and slow.

“What’s with all the darlings and dearests? Are you practicing for Suguru?” She tilted her head at him before growing thoughtful. “I guess the biggest drawback is fatigue. Reverse curse technique- it takes a lot out of you.”

“Ah, I see. What else? I’m curious!” Gojo leaned in, fully engaged. Geto moved closer in steady paces.

“Knew you were full of shit. Hm…well, it’s a high demand technique, so I’m always busy. And I suppose walking in on gruesome sights is another bummer. Oh- and my friends try to use it as a distraction technique to get the jump on me.”

Geto froze- face blank. Gojo’s glasses drooped.

Silence.

“Suguru, do it!” Gojo cried before anyone could move.

“Right! Take THIS!” Geto shot his hands into her armpits, wiggling his fingers.

The reaction was…

“Ah. So you’re still trying to tickle me, huh?” She blinked at him boredly, something amused in her smile at Geto’s blank stare. “Go ahead- I already told you I’m not ticklish.”

“T-There’s got to be somewhere! Here?” He tried her neck. Shoko merely rolled it to the side.

“Here?” Gojo scrambled around the table, squeezing her hip.

“It’s got to be bad here!” Geto pressed into her ribs.

“This is a good spot!” Gojo poked her belly.

“Oh ho ho. Please, guys stop. I’m soooooo ticklish.” Shoko snickered, unfazed by their antics. No matter where they touched, she was unmoved, finishing off the last of her chips. “I can’t handle it. Please, don’t.”

“My god.” Gojo sat back, wide eyed and mildly spooked. “She’s a god.”

“Unfazed and untouched.” Geto put his hands on his hips, shaking his head.

“Praise me.” She flexed, satisfied. “My turn- which one of you got the bright idea?”

“Satoru.” Geto wasted no time.

“T-Traitor!” Gojo cried, scrambling back just as Shoko went to grab him. “He helped though! Get him first!”

“Nah. I like tickling you more. You make funny noises.” She dived, grabbing his ankle as Gojo tried to wiggle free. Within seconds she was upon him, sitting by his hips as her fingers worked along his torso. “See what I mean?”

“Aheahhahahahhahahha! S-Shohohohohohokoohohohohohooho! Gehahahahhahaa, nohohohohohohohohohoohoo!” The pale haired teen was a mess of giggles almost immediately, flopping like a fish out of water as he batted at her hands. “Dohohohooohn’t tihiihhihickle mehehehehehehehe!”

“Heh- I tried to tell you, Satoru.” Geto snickered, eyes falling to Shoko as he watched her work. She was sitting on her knees, socked feet tucked under her butt as she carried on pinching Gojo’s waist.

…..Hm….

Without any warning, he dragged a finger down her sole.

“AH!” A sharp squeal shot out of her mouth, full body spasming at the feeling. Geto stared, brows raised. Gojo was equally stunned, staring at the reverse curse user with equal amazement.

“Oh my GOD! I freaking knew it! You’re ticklish!” Gojo cackled, pumping his fist in the air like a happy child. “Shoko’s ticklish! Shoko’s tickli-EEHEHEEHEHE!”

“Eh. So I am- but you’re more.” She grinned, prodding the terrible spot along his lower third rib. “See what I mean? Funny noises.”

“AEHHHAHAHHAHA! SKEHEHHHEHHEHE! SUHUHUHUGUHUHHUURU HEHEHEHEHELP!” Gojo cried out, flailing his hands for mercy. “GEHEHHEHEHT EHHEHEHEHEHEHER!”

“So demanding…” Geto grinned before shuffling over, hands raised and fingers clawed. “Here I come~”

~~~

It was safe to say Geto tried.

The moment his fingers touched Shoko’s foot, she all but flailed, arm swinging backwards and knocking him sideways. Before she could check on him though, Gojo all but leaped across- tackling a groaning Geto and going right for the hips. 

"SAHHAHAHAHTAHAHHAHRU YOU SHIIHIHIIHIT!"

"Hehe, gotcha Sugu-EHEHEHEH SHOKO!"

"Hehehehehe~"

More antics ensued. A foot connected with Gojo’s stomach- likely Shoko’s, one of Geto’s curses came out (“Let’s kiss!” “GET THE HELL OFF ME!”) and the little table of snacks and books that weren’t even real textbooks went tumbling over with a kick.

When the dust finally settled, the three of them were spread out across the carpet of Gojo’s apartment, giggly and exhausted.

“Heh…hehehe..new ruhuhle. No suhuhuhuhmoning curses.” Gojo declared, earning a tired round of “Hurrahs” from his friends.

“Ihihin my defense- I was gohoing for the hahands.” Geto huffed, rubbing his jaw with a snicker. “That’s ohohne hell of a right hook, Shoko.”

“Heh. Bet.” She sat up, patting herself down until she found her cigarettes. “I’m gonna take a smoke break.” She reached out, pressing her fingers into his cheek until the bruise was no longer there. “Sorry about that.”

Once the door shut, Gojo grinned, raising a tired hand. “Told you she was ticklish!”

“She’s also violent when tickled.” Geto rolled his eyes, slapping it anyway. “Was it worth it?”

They sat there, reflecting for a moment. Her laugh was so….gremlin-like. Snickery and snorty, shrill at points. Completely different than you’d expect from her…

“Worth it.” They nodded.

Thanks for reading!

[an-aura-about-you]

let's keep going with Handbook for Mortals!

Chapter 12 part 2:

when we last left our hero, Scheherazade just got embarrassed as hell because she had no defense for Sofia's legitimate questions and also Sofia is banging Zade's dad. what a queen. I wish I could high five and/or kiss her. easily the best part of the book. maybe I should write Lani Sarem a fan letter about how much I love Sofia.

-we pick up after the show with Zade and Mac taking a walk in the park well after midnight. but since this is Vegas, that's not unusual and there are a lot of people around.

-a guy asks them if they'd like him to do a card trick, and Mac says Zade isn't allowed to do magic? I have no idea where that's coming from. saying that would imply he knows about Zade's magic, but he doesn't. we also know that, if she's not allowed to do magic, she is already breaking that just by participating in the show.

-we once again hear about Zade's showblacks fetish and also she's on this pseudo-date with Mac while in full show makeup. she changed into her street clothes, but seriously? stage makeup on a date? I mean, I guess there are stranger things in Las Vegas, but still.

-ooooooooof Zade says her maternal grandparents were literal... well. she uses the g-slur. between the use of that word and Zade and her mother being porcelain white, I sincerely doubt that anyone in their family is actually Roma. I'm pretty sure Zade is just using the term the way Skye Turner did to describe Sarem. Zade's family, to borrow a phrase I use for a different character I write fanfic about, are people who look like a new age shop threw up on them.

also I haven't forgotten that Zade's family have been landowners in Tennessee since the 1700s AND the family home is comparable to Tara. (I wonder if they use the plantation to grow weed now.)

this feels like it should be a tally for the bigoted language but also a tally for the bigger bigotry at play with Zade/Sarem using the g-slur for themselves.

-ahhh, and here it is: the narration confirms that Zade thinks talking about Spellman being her father would be trouble. WHY didn't we know this before??? also, THIS is confirmation that Zade has known who her father is. everything about the way this is phrased indicates that she has known since the start of the book that Spellman is her father. so why don't the readers, who have been along for the ride of Zade's thoughts this entire time, know this? because it would ruin the twist, of course. but unlike The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, this serves no purpose. or at least, it serves no purpose for Zade because concealing this information only makes things worse for everyone, herself included.

-also I wonder how many other pieces of media I can negatively compare this to. so far, from what I remember, I've compared it to Rebecca, Gone with the Wind, The Disaster Artist, Sunset Boulevard, Legally Blonde, High Noon Over Camelot, Ella Enchanted, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, and to a lesser extent the 1001 Nights and the Book of Esther to drag Scheherazade about not living up to her name.

-we've also reached page 231 in this book and now, for the first time, Zade is mentioning that she's been wearing a family necklace this whole time. you couldn't find a way to fit that into your description infodump back in Chapter 0?

also, the picture of Zade on the cover shows her wearing the necklace, but the problem with that is it's essentially paratext. covers can and do change, though I doubt this book is ever getting reprinted, but it is on a dust jacket covering a white book bearing the triple moon symbol. dust jackets can get removed or lost. I actually don't know if paperback versions of this book exist, but if they did, they're even flimsier. also, in the unlikely event that this book ever did get a second edition, they would probably have to use different cover art since the one on the dust jacket is plagiarized.

-she also claims the necklace is very important, but if it's so important, why are we only just now hearing about it over halfway through the book?????

-after Zade starts getting evasive about her parents, which I don't even understand because she COULD just say, "I don't like to talk about my parents," and then move on to safer territory, Mac starts tickling her and that segment ends with him straddling her in public and giving her a kiss. dang, guess what they say about Las Vegas is true.

-we then skip ahead to Zade and Jackson running into each other while she's on her way to lunch. after crashing into each other, Jackson puts Zade in a kabedon.

and I'm just gonna use the first gif I found for that because it's hilarious

-unfortunately Jackson is interrupted from making his move by a little girl who's a fan of Zade's and wants a picture with her.

-ok, I'm baffled about why Zade is the performer this little girl has picked out. the girl's mom says the girl won't stop talking about Zade after seeing her last night, but the only trick we know Zade has in the show is her high dive trick. that doesn't seem like the sort of thing that would capture a little girl so much, to the point that there was nothing else about the show that was more interesting.

and this is not knocking high dive acts. that shit IS impressive! it takes a level of courage and skill I know I'm surely lacking. but I would think a little girl might be more interested in something like, say, Sofia's Dance Illusion that's no longer in the show. (will I ever stop talking about Sofia? probably not, but can you honestly say I'm wrong about this? what do you think is going to capture a little girl's imagination more, an impressive high dive act or a beautiful magic dancer?)

idk maybe the kid wants to be a daredevil. mom better keep an eye on her or this might happen

-and of course the little girl has to say she wants to be just like Zade when she grows up. I am currently channeling Strong Bad's energy from this moment:

(actually I would love to see SB talk about how this is the crappiest Vegas show he's ever been to. I think he'd say something like there's too much boring acrobatic and magic crap, or acromagic crap, and bands that should be confined to AM radio only and stop fouling up our precious FM stations. also where are the showgirls?)

-Zade tells us she likes using quotes and sayings so that she can feel like she can always comment on something without sounding dumb. so when are you gonna stop sounding dumb? (ok that one was low-hanging fruit, but it's not my fault that Sarem is bending the branch down towards me.)

-you know those jokes they'd sometimes make in SpongeBob Squarepants where Sandy would rattle off some ridiculous list of things like it was a Texas saying? Zade is doing the unfunny version of that talking about how Jackson has charm flowing out of him like sweat.

and the chapter pretty much ends there with Zade moving on so she can go to lunch. that scene was there to reinforce the two things we know: Zade is amazing and Jackson is hot.

I mean I guess it's good that this chapter sort of gave us moments with both love interests, but all of this feels like some kind of salad of a chapter. it was all about Zade's relationships, but the most unifying part of it was the first part with her talking to Zeb and Sofia and getting on slightly better terms with both of them.

also this is how I'm picturing Sofia now for anyone who wants to see:

hey if Sarem is gonna put the term Magi Girl in her book, I figure it's not that much of a stretch to visualize Sofia as Tira Misu from Sorcerer Hunters.

[nolightsinthedark]

As someone who works for a company that deals with a similar type of public reporting, this is how you make a convincing sounding fake report to use up there resources.

1) provide a very generic sounding fake name of a person you want to “report” that doesn’t sound too fake ie try Rachel Smith vs Jane Doe. These are also reports on teachers, so you can probably get away with just a last name as well! More early school teachers are women so use traditionally female sounding names.

2) if they ask you for a location, provide a generic one. I recommend looking up a school district with a lot of schools in it before hand and give the district name. A parent who doesn’t know their own kid’s school is less believable than maybe an overly involved uncle/aunt so go that route if needed.

3) have a specific and actionable complaint. You specifically saw/heard something concerning from said subject. Your nephew brought home an assignment about x and you’re concerned. Make it plausible and make it something they can do something about. Going to big here is what is going to turn your report from plausible to hogwash.

4) remain anonymous, insist you’re worried about the offending teacher retaliating against your kid, but! And here is the key, provide an email if they ask for a point of contact. Cases with contact information from the reporter are more likely to be investigated than ones with none. Obviously, use a fake email, and use a NEW one. If you do this multiple times, use new and different accounts. Don’t make it jesus123 and Jesus124 they will just ignore all of those once they catch on. Also use a new fake name each time you make a new account. People can see the name you made in emails and they will catch on.

5) if you’re still on the phone at this point, use this time to wax poetically about your concerns. Ask questions! Parrot talking points on tv. You’re goal now is to keep this person on the phone as long as possible. Don’t use memes or jokes, you want to sound genuine. Generally these people cannot hang up on you if you are not being hostile. Repeat questions, ask for clarification. Ask what’s going to happen to your report, explain your concern again.

6) now if things have gone REALLY well, you’re off the phone, but you receive an email asking for more details about your report, or giving you an update or whatever, this is where you shine. Reply with very long winded difficult to understand and difficult to read responses. Write things down in your worst cursive writing and take a picture of it with poor lighting and send them a ���written statement” via email (actual things I have received). The number of times I’ve had to read a 3 page email that could have been one sentence written from text to speech with 0 punctuation has truly ruined my day. This is your goal. Don’t wait more than 5 days to respond, and keep responding as long as you get responses. They will probably eventually stop reaching out once they realize you aren’t going to give them the info they need. And if you get REALLY lucky, you might get the email of a specific person and not a group inbox, in which case, spread that shit around! That is the time for spam. Having to remake someone’s email because it ended up on Reddit and is now so filled with spam it’s useless is a MASSIVE time waster.

7) and repeat! However, don’t use the same name or complaint. Avoid using the same unique phrases if you can. Once they realize you’re a joke report, they will be on the look out if you use anything too unique or specific phrases. We once were able to catch a guy fucking with us because he kept using the phrase “my redneck wife” so keep that in mind.

If you’re doing phone calls, wait a little bit between calls, partially so you can avoid getting the same person and being recognized and partially to avoid having your number screened. In fact, spoof it if you know how with a local area code.

Best of luck! And if all goes well, they will spend all of their time and money looking into people and problems that don’t exist!

So Arizona launched an “education hotline” that allows “concerned parents” to report “””critical race theory””” and other things like ~gender identity~ being taught in the classroom

It would be a shame if the number and email were spread to bad actors looking to prank call the AZ Department of Education

602-771-3500 or empower @ azed .gov 🤡

[scamrisk]

Modern Millionaires Review

TheMMSaaS & Modern Millionaires Review (2023 Update): Are These Gurus Legit?

The new income app “MMSaaS” is a software promoted by the modern millionaires Chance & Abdul and they say you can make money online with it.

It’s essentially a CRM called “leadific” that you can sell to small business owners for a monthly rate of $299, and by doing so, start creating passive income.

But before they give you access to this CRM, you will have to join their Modern Millionaires program. So that leaves us with one question, is this opportunity the real deal?

Before writing this review, I’ve spent several hours reading through its customer complaints on various platforms such as BBB, Google, Youtube, and Trustpilot.

Now, I do want to be totally transparent in this review, so… 

DISCLAIMER:

This Modern Millionaires review has been thoroughly researched with information and testimonials that are available to anyone in the public. Any conclusions drawn by myself are opinions.

PROS

Chance and Abdul have an impressive track record

No previous skills are needed

This business model has great potential

CONS

The program has a hefty price tag

There are overhead that will add up before you

Additional costs can anywhere from $300-400 per month

WHY LISTEN TO US?

My name is Josiah, and this is my Dad, Joel.

Together, we make up the team here at Scamrisk.

If you’ll let me bother you for two minutes, I’d like to quickly explain why I’m even here writing this review.

In early 2020, I had just graduated from college & had no real career prospects. 

I knew I was destined for something more, but I had no clue how I was going to make it happen.

I had this sinking feeling in my gut all the time… like the “big man upstairs” had accidentally given me the version of life where I’d be mediocre forever, instead of the one where I was, ya know – happy & fulfilled.

Anyway…

I had fiddled around with some different online businesses in college:

Some random MLMs, a bit of affiliate marketing, a (failed) dropshipping store or two, all the usual suspects.

Even my dad had been involved in MLMs back in the day… selling knives & other random nonsense people (probably) didn’t need.

All I really wanted was to find something that was going to actually work for me.

Maybe those things had worked for others, but for me it all turned up a fat “0” in the bank account department.

So I searched! And searched… and searched… and searched…

And eventually, I somehow stumbled upon a program that promised to help me build an income online (read about it here if you’re curious).

I didn’t really want to be “rich”.

The thought of making a reliable $5K per month & not having to worry about clocking in to a 9-to-5 ever again was all I needed.

Sure, there were people in the program doing high-6 and low-7 figures per year… but that wasn’t what I was out for.

I just wanted to provide freedom for myself, and if I was lucky, take my family along for the ride.

Fast forward a few days and a few phone calls & I was enrolled!

Here’s the first “money making website” I put up:

I built that site in 2020, and it still makes me $1,500 per month. It’s a basic 5 page website I built based on a template the program provides.

The best part to me? My dad and I get to do it all together!

So between the:

Ease of reaching $5-$10K per month in income online

Straightforward-ness of the system to do it

Fact that I get to do it w/ my family

Is why I recommend local lead generation as my #1 business model for making money online.

Sure, it takes some work and dedication – but anyone that tells you that there’s a business out there that requires no work is selling you a lemon.

I’m not saying you need to sign up for the same program I did, but I would definitely recommend giving the business model a peek!

Modern Millionaires is an ad agency course. The basic premise is that you’ll learn how to build your own ad agency, land clients, and get them results.

Running an agency (even though they’re a bit of a commodity nowadays) isn’t a bad way to get your feet wet in the world of online business.

That said, there are a lot of moving parts with this business model:

Prospecting – you need to know how to find potential clients

Sales – you need to know how to convince those clients to give you money

Media Buying – you need to know how to run ads profitably

Copywriting – you need to know how to tailor your ad messaging for the right customers

Design – you need to know how to design ads/landing pages to maximize conversions

Email Marketing – you need to know how to follow up with prospects and customers

Automation – you need to know how to connect everything properly

Now, most course-sellers will try to make this easier on you by telling you they’ve managed to “automate everything”, offering “plug-and-play” campaigns, and “pre-built templates”.

Here’s the thing though:

Markets are always changing. 

They get more savvy as time goes on.

If you buy a program with thousands of other students, where everything is built out for you, there’s an almost 100% chance those templates don’t work.

Why? 

Because if thousands of other students are using those exact same “plug and play” campaigns, tens of millions of people have already seen them, reducing their effectiveness.

Not to mention, with most agency programs, the templates are actually built by some virtual assistant in the Philippines or India, and have never actually been tested in real life.

And if they have, there’s a good chance they’re extremely outdated, since most programs don’t bother updating their templates after launching. The course creator gets too busy just trying to sell to more and more students, instead of focusing on quality education.

Now, here’s the most sinister part of this whole thing:

Most course creators market their agency courses as something you can do anywhere in the world. You might hear them say things like “The world is my office” or “This is a simple passive income business”.

That’s just plain false.

Running an effective agency is in no way passive. Look at the list above, and remember that you can’t rely on pre-built templates. You’re responsible for every part of the process.

Does that really sound like a business you can do from a laptop on the beach?

See how this could be a problem?

Now, what if there was a way you could build a passive income stream that’s actually passive?

An income stream that doesn’t require:

Mastering 100 different roles

Needing to be a technology wizard

Working around the clock just to keep things from blowing up

An income stream that brings in consistent revenues every single month (from a couple thousand dollars to well over $10,000)?

An income stream you could actually build in your spare time, and grow as large or as small as you want to, without having to spend hours a day chasing, selling, or managing anything?

If that sounds like something you’d be interested in, check out Digital Real Estate. 

However, if you’d still like to know more about Modern Millionaires and are wondering about the MMSaaS income app, keep reading…

TheMMSaaS Income App Is It Legit?

Before we dive into the rest of Modern Millionaires and what you get in the program itself, it’s important for us to mention their SaaS update.

If you watched their webinar you’ll recall that they offered a D4U system in which you pay them $18,995 and they set up 10-30 weekly appointments where you can sell their SaaS called Leadific.

Leadific is a CRM that clients can use for their own business to track their own leads in an easy to see pipeline.

Leadific costs $299 per month and the gurus boast that you can keep 100% of that commission.

Now that all sounds great…

But as you’ll see from other consumer reviews down below, they are very disappointed in the quality of the leads and don’t make much sales.

Beyond that, try and remember why you were interested in something like modern millionaires in the first place…

You wanted financial independence.

A life with no boss.

A life with no outward control over you.

Well, Chance and Abdul are basically your new boss.

Keeping you from going out and being as independent as you really wanna be…

What you really would be is a fancy looking employee that’s really working for their white label agency.

That’s just the unfortunate truth of the matter. With them you just won’t have that independence you seek.

So What Does Selling Leadific Look Like?

According to their webinar, if you’re a good fit for their partner program, they will give you Leadific to sell to small business owners.

It’s unclear what they mean by “if you’re good fit”…

We’d wager that really means “if you have enough money”.

But they’ll set up the appointments for you!

They claim 10-30 appointments and assume you’ll close at 20%.

What this doesn’t account for though is no shows or cancellations…

Let’s say best case scenario you get 30 appointments, if industry standards are anything to go off of, you’re looking at a 50% no show rate to these set appointments.

Which slashes down your money making opportunity to 15 calls per week at best. Of those calls you have to close 3 to hit that 20% rate.

Now closing 3/15 might sound super easy…but honestly explaining techy CRM stuff to business owners is a lot harder than Chance and Abdul make it look. Not to mention 15 shows would be best case scenario…

Either way most business owners only care about one thing and that’s “how do I get more leads in the door”.

That’s why digital real estate is such a great model. Business owners are looking for people with that skill.

They aren’t necessarily looking for people trying to sell them an CRM that they won’t even know how to use…

Something else that is unclear in the webinar is whether or not that 20% close rate is a requirement or not.

This is where we start to feel MLM like vibes.

Most MLM companies require you to first buy a product demo kit and then you must use that demo kit to go out and make sales. If you don’t hit certain numbers you lose your spot as a rep.

Other MLM companies will allow you to sign up for free and they’ll send you a kit. However, if you also don’t hit certain sales numbers, the company will run your card and you’ll pay for the kit yourself.

We say all this to ask the question:

Will Chance and Abdul charge you for Leadific if you don’t hit certain sales numbers for them?

Remember, just like an MLM…you’re now employees of Chance and Abdul and businesses have to be profitable right?

If they’re sending you leads and you’re not closing them, do you think they’ll keep you around for long without somehow getting their moneys worth?

Another tough thing to grasp from their webinar is how they present selling Leadific so easy as a beginner…

You see, the modern millionaire gurus might be able to sell something like Leadific really easily themselves because both of them use CRM’s on a daily basis and know how to navigate it for a prospect.

You however, would be selling a product that you really haven’t used or know how to use proficiently.

And if it’s one thing business owners can sniff out, it’s nervous people, and they know the only reason why someone would be nervous is if they don’t have confidence in the product itself or the ability to use said product themselves.

Either way, you’ll lose the sale if you don’t have full confidence.

That’s something we would have liked to see addressed in their webinar.

But at the end of the day they are still trying to SELL YOU into their networking business so we understand why they didn’t address certain points that may cause you some doubt.

No different than when a car company selling a fast car doesn’t tell you about the awful gas mileage…

So now that we’ve talked about their “money making app” a little bit, let’s jump into the actual modern millionaires training review.

What Is Modern Millionaires?

Modern Millionaires is a program that shows you how to start your own local lead generation business by using Facebook and Google ads.

Mainly, it shows how you can make a social media marketing agency. You’ll be producing leads via Google ads which they like to refer to as “online billboards”.

While the course does discuss different niches you can go into, the primary focus for this course is lead generation as your own business and developing passive income.

We’ll get into why it isn’t as passive as they say later on in this review.

Who Are The Creators Of The Modern Millionaires Course?

The names behind the Modern Millionaires are Abdul Samed and Chance Welton

Both are unknown in this internet coaching business.

Abdul and Chance have produced several businesses from scratch. Chance is productive in marketing and advertising, whereas Abdul is more along the lines of digital businesses, lead generation, and producing income.

Abdul and Chance complement one another nicely on this particular training course, and each of their skillsets brings something different to the program.

After I’ve done the research I’ve come to the conclusion that they’re not lying about the effectiveness of the business model….but I do question their ability to coach…

I question why Forbes actually showcased them, have they completed something extraordinary? No…

I suspect that Chance and Abdul purchased that section from Forbes and that’s why it’s no longer up.

What Is The Modern Millionaires Business Model?

This training course is based upon running Google ads for business owners.

Basically, you contract yourself out and help businesses grow via marketing. Not a bad idea at all…but does this specific course carry value? I have doubts.

What Is The Modern Millionaires’ Course Content Actually Like?

Module 1: The Foundation

Within the 1st part, everything is kept simple and beginner friendly. You are going to learn exactly how to start your business from scratch.

The primary focus because of this module is going to be on choosing your niche and also creating your agency site (including purchasing your domain name). This domain name is vital in getting clients.

Also, there’ll be a considerable amount of discussion on being in the proper state of mind for operating a business.

Essentially, this particular module is about providing you with the inspiration that you simply need to have to be successful in starting an online business.

Module 2: Prospecting And Sales

It’s in module two that they begin to get into the meat and potatoes of their program. Here’s a brief overview.

This module is kickstarted with a breakdown of what prospecting truly is. When that’s out of the way, you will learn the right way to research the market you wish to work in and learn a little bit about the way an internet CRM works.

The second part is extremely significant since your entire business model is constructed around prospecting the client and generating leads; and how you can control them.

After that, they talk a little bit about how cold emailing works. This is something that’s uncommon to find in other courses like it.

Many actually ignore the entire cold emailing thing.

Therefore, I see this as a benefit from the simple fact that the Modern Millionaires Course is prepared to discuss much more special methods to produce leads.

You’ll likewise find out how to prospect with LinkedIn, how to take payments, and also how you can finalize deals with clients that you’ve picked up.

The training skims over the offer finalization part, which happens to be a disappointment because this whole business model does fall back on sales and your ability to get your current clients to spend more with you.

This may be hard in case your sales game isn’t on point.

Module 3A: Driving Traffic With Google Ads

This is definitely where the meat on the course is. In this particular module, as the title indicates, you’ll learn how you can use Google Ads to generate traffic and in turn, leads.

This is most likely the most in-depth module I’ve seen so far on Google Ads, and the powerful duo leaves no stone unturned in coaching you are shown exactly what you need to know to produce leads from it.

You’ll likewise find out about exactly how Google Analytics works into the puzzle that is starting your own business successfully.

Module 3B: Driving Traffic (Facebook)

This mini module is very much the same as the main module, just this time; you’re going to be utilizing Facebook Ads to produce leads instead.

Module 3C:

The last module brings the previous two modules together.

In this lesson, you will learn the right way to develop those leads and, ideally, hand those off to business owners that will be a paying client for you.

Module 4: Auto-Pilot

The last module teaches all the automations you can put in place to make this passive. This talks about getting employees, training them, and so on.

Unlike other courses and programs that tell you to run the business yourself for a while before automations, Chance and Abdul encourage you to outsource as soon as you can.

I have mixed feelings about this.

On one hand, I think outsourcing is good and ultimately the end goal for anyone so they can have that time freedom they desire.

On the other hand though, I do think it’s valuable to run your business and know it inside and out before putting automations in place.

I am also weary of potential upsells being the reason why they push you to outsource. I imagine they might want you to outsource to them through their own white label agency.

Leading to even more money in their pocket.

At the end of the day though, I want to believe they have the students best interest at heart.

Can You Really Make Money With Modern Millionaires?

Yes, you may really make money after purchasing the program, but it’s still lacking in information and support.

In fact, as of writing this article, I’ve seen several customer complaints about the Facebook group having no activity and very little interaction with Chance or Abdul.

Of course, you can make money, but the cost of this course is just too much for the value received in my opinion.

But before that, let me clarify why this particular business model could really allow you to make good money.

The Good & The Bad

The Good:

The Modern Millionaires program was developed by Chance and Abdul, with each accomplished rather a remarkable quantity of success in their own individual labels. They’ve showcased in Forbes.

There’s no prior experience needed for using this program – you do not have to have a background in online advertising or even have any unique marketing skills already.

The business model of the Modern Millionaires (AKA Officeless Agency) is a viable and common-sense method to make money through Google Ads and Facebook Ads.

The training is of decent quality, and you could arguably receive your money’s worth.

The Bad:

The prices seem pretty high considering you get very little access to Chance and Abdul at best.

The expenses do not stop with the training – additional costs incorporate digital advertising on your own. You will have to pay everything yourself until you have a client offsetting your costs.

There’s no promise of success – you may never see your money again.

You will find hidden costs not disclosed during your assessment phone call, and it may be an extra cost of $300 to $400 monthly.

Understanding The Modern Millionaires Business Opportunity

The majority of the business owners don’t understand how to run ads.

They don’t understand the way to create a website and draw in visitors to it.

They’re way too preoccupied for all this.

I like the business idea – I just don’t believe in the coaching.

Does Modern Millionaires And The MMSaaS Income App Have Support?

Alongside the online training course, you can find many support systems. At least systems they’re supposed to have anyway…

The main support piece you’ll be a part of is their sales call with you. However after they have your money, that’s where support arguably seems to stop.

They promise a private Facebook group and some good coaches as well, but honestly, from everything I’ve seen so far online… it doesn’t look like that kind of support is available anymore.

In fact, if you paid attention to that webinar you may have watched before reading this, you’ll notice the dates of the coaches lap top date back to November of 2020…

Pretty outdated at this point I’d say.

Why not show us what your Facebook group looks like for this year?

I think that’s a reasonable question.

What Does The Internet Have To Say About Modern Millionaires?

Online, it seems as though Chance and Abdul don’t have the best reputation. They have some 5 star reviews online, but I’m personally always skeptical of 5 star reviews that are short and simply say something along the lines of “best course ever”.

Personally, I like to head over to reddit and see what the people have to say. In my opinion, the odds of fake comments/reviews are much lower.

Here’s what I found:

Of the multiple users on the thread, one says:

“This is definitely what we call a “bait” tactic. These guys are just trying to make more money off of other peoples naivete. If I were you, I would try to reinvent the focus of your husband on something more productive. Typically, things like these are simply just scams because in reality, people succeed due to a lot of variables that they can not control that end up going their way; therefore, can not be replicated again in the exact same way at the same time and at the same place.”

Not off to a great start…another user chimes in and says:

“DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY. This course isn’t a magic pill. And despite the shiny ads, becoming a millionaire isn’t simple or fast. If you are on hard times and don’t have a few thousand on hand to burn without it torching your household finances or wrecking your relationship, DONT DO IT. The “value” they offer isn’t worth the price tag. I’ve taken a course from these guys. They’ve changed the name now but the ad strategy looks similar. Being completely honest, I dearly wish I hadn’t given them my money. For all the millionaire talk, the course was not professionally filmed or produced – it looked like it had been shot on a desktop camera or iPhone. Except for a couple of ads – I mean, those have to look super shiny – gotta look like millionaires after all…Not that that’s a deal breaker by any means. Their support wasn’t super supportive. When I needed help, one of them was almost always on some epic hike or mountain climb (no cell service), and the other was frequently on vacation. Again, that’s not a deal breaker. But the content was meandering and repetitive and not edited well. Basic takeaways: little bit on FB ads, website SEO, Insta ads. The major gist, and one I had a huge problem with, was this: whatever you don’t want to learn or feel like learning bc you’re not good at it, go hire yourself a team on Upwork/Freelancer/Fiverr. And if you’re a complete putz like I was, you’ll put it on your charge card hoping somehow you’d hire right the first time and not have people literally eat through all your credit with little to nothing to show for it. If I had known that this was the advice I was paying for, I’d be a good $8k richer right now. Again, I wish I hadn’t spent my money. There are MUCH better courses out there. Hell, I’ve take MUCH better courses out there. I’m just mad at myself for taking this course in the first place and wasting the money I couldn’t really afford to spend. Listen – if you’re in a financially desperate situation, don’t be stupid – don’t buy this course! Don’t be me. Get a steady job somewhere, doesn’t matter where. Wait tables, pour coffee, bartend. Get your money situation STABLE. BE SMART. Slow and steady wins the race. Then, if you’re able to squirrel a little money away every month to pursue your dreams, do it that way! Don’t wreck your family, don’t ruin your relationships. Don’t buy this course and sacrifice all that. It’s not a magic pill. You’re only making a couple of strangers on the internet richer with YOUR money.”

That one was pretty rough, but informative. It also confirms the nearly $9,000 price tag I listed earlier. Maybe they give you a “fast action discount” of $1000 if you join on the call?

There is one positive comment though…

“I am part of the program and I can tell you its legit! I was sure it was a scam too until I decided to go for it and there’s all sorts of training involved, it takes a lot of work and time but they aren’t giving anyone money. They’re selling a business model that they teach and then you implement. I havent made my first client yet but I can say for sure its real”

While it’s nice to see a positive review, I can’t help but notice that they said they haven’t landed a client yet. Usually when people join something new, they are pretty excited. Right now I wonder if the user holds the same excitement despite no clients…

Is Modern Millionaires And The New MMSaaS Income App A Scam?

So, is Modern Millionaires and the New MMSaaS Income App a scam?

Not technically.

You can make money with this program, but it’s definitely not as easy as Chance And Abdul makes it sound.

There’s a ton of work to be done upfront, no real guarantee of success, and – most importantly – running an agency is extremely active income (NOT passive).

Now, there’s nothing wrong with front-loading the work and making the money later.

But if you’re getting into this game to live life on your terms, travel the world, and generate passive or semi-passive income from anywhere, then this isn’t for you.

What if, instead, you could put in a couple hours a day (in your spare time) to build a single digital asset, and your reward was a $500 to $2,000 payment that came in every single month?

And what if you could get started today and have your first payment in a week?

And what if you could double it next week?

Well, that’s the power of Digital Real Estate. 

And, unlike a traditional ad agency, you can legitimately do this from anywhere. It’s a true lifestyle business.

Your laptop and an internet connection is all you need.

Some of the most successful students in this program run their entire 6-figure businesses from:

A camper in the middle of the woods

A beach chair on the water in Mexico

A small villa in Greece

They’re able to travel around, living their lives first, and focusing on their income second.

Because even if they stop working for an extended period of time, the money keeps coming in. 

So adventure, memories, and experience are the top priority.

And they never have to worry about how to pay for the next trip, or consider asking for time off.

If this sounds more like the type of life you want to lead, just click here to find out more about Digital Real Estate.

How Much Does Modern Millionaires Cost?

According to their webinar, they currently have 3 different pricing tiers.

The first pricing tier is what they call their “DIY Package”.

This package is listed for $7,995.

In this package you’ll receive all the training videos, access to the private Facebook group, and livestreams.

You will not get one on one coaching however and are left to “do it yourself” as the name suggests.

The second pricing tier is what they call their “DWY Package”.

This package is listed for $12,995.

In this package you’ll receive everything you do with the DIY package, but additionally you’ll receive some smaller, more private group coaching from one of Chance and Abdul’s coaches.

This however, is still not one on one coaching and earns the term “done with you” as the name implies.

Their 3rd and final pricing tier is what they their “DFY Package”.

This package is listed for $19,995.

In this package you’ll get everything from the first two packages plus one on one coaching from a coach assigned to you by Chance and Abdul and the opportunity to sell their Leadific SaaS product by getting leads they generated, sent straight to you to close. They claim 10-30 calls per week.

So what do I think about all this?

Well to be honest, the pricing is fairly steep. And even at the highest pricing tier, you still do not get one on one coaching from Abdul and Chance themselves.

That is certainly disappointing in my opinion.

Instead, you are handed over to a coach that is promoted as someone who has their own agency that earns 10k per month…but there is not exactly any confirmation on that.

If they do run their own 10k per month agency and have decided to coach you, that’s great, but there is also the chance that they are just people hired by Chance and Abdul to hold your hand no different than college professors do.

And you know the old saying…

“Those who can’t do, teach”.

Ultimately my main issue with these different levels of pricing is that NONE of them provide that one on one interaction with Chance and Abdul.

You see them on the front end of their ads. Is that the last time you’ll ever see them?

How You Can Purchase The Modern Millionaires Training Course?

Unfortunately the only method of purchase for Modern Millionaires is to hop on a call with one of their sales reps after you go through their long webinar styled sales funnel.

If for whatever reason you forget what the price is, the sales guy will direct you back to the webinar and then tell you to call them back.

I think this is kind of ridiculous and comes off to me as that they only care about money.

I do not like it.

However, sales process aside, they use this call to find what’s best for your budget.

That being said, the more money you have, the more they try to push you to the higher priced offer where you are able to sell Leadific for them.

As a final note on the purchasing of Modern Millionaires, their sales process in my opinion focuses more on getting money out of your pocket and into theirs instead of focusing on educating you on digital marketing and properly starting your own online business.

Are There Alternatives To Modern Millionaires?

Yes, there are plenty of other business models to choose from if you want to pursue this making money online.  Here are just a few:

Local Lead Generation

Digital Real Estate

SEO

Real Estate

Website Building

What Is Our #1 Recommendation For Making Money Online In 2023?

The ScamRisk team has spent months researching, reviewing, and vetting dozens of business models and thousands of programs.

While there may be no “perfect business”, the research IS conclusive:

Digital Real Estate is the #1 online business model for those just starting out.

Whether you’ve never made a dollar online, or you’ve been in this space for a while but never really “made it,” Digital Real Estate is for you.

Why?

1) It’s Flexible: got an hour a day? You can do this. Ready to drop everything else and dive in full time? You can do this. Yes, the more time you put in, the faster you see results. But even with a little time each day, you can move the needle in a Digital Real Estate business.

And because this system is so flexible, you don’t have to constantly be working to make more money. It’s called PASSIVE INCOME because if you stop working, the money doesn’t.

Imagine taking 3 months off to just tour around Europe, rent a cabin in the woods to write a book, hike the Appalachian Trail, or live on the beach and surf all day.

This is only possible if you have an income stream that’s not tied to your time.

2) You Own & Control EVERYTHING: With an ad agency, you don’t really own anything. You’re a hired gun for clients, and entirely at their mercy.

Sure, you own your agency, but if your business grinds to a halt once you stop working, all you really have is a self-created job.

With Digital Real Estate (a passive income stream), you own all the assets, which means you have all the power and all the control.

3) Little To No Startup Costs: It’s possible to get into Digital Real Estate with zero dollars upfront. Because, using the strategies outlined in this program, you can get a client to pay you BEFORE spending a penny out of your own pocket…even before you do any work.

Even without getting paid in advance, you can have your first Digital Rental Property up, running, and generating profits for less than $100.

4) Easy To Duplicate: Ok, here’s the best part: once you have your first Digital Rental Property up and running, you can literally DOUBLE your income with a few clicks, a couple keystrokes, and a single phone call (and you don’t actually need the phone call).

Remember: each Digital Rental Property is worth $500 to $2,000 a month in semi-passive income (over 95% profit). Every time you decide to create another one and increase your income, it gets easier.

Because you have more knowledge, more experience, more results, and more momentum.

If you wanted to double your income with an ad agency, you’d have to double your clients OR double the monthly payment of your existing customers. And, guaranteed that’s a lot harder than a few clicks and a few minutes of your life.

5) Make Money Helping Real People: This part is what makes it all worth it. With Digital Real Estate, you’re actually helping people by solving your clients’ biggest problem:

Small, local businesses need more customers, and with Digital Real Estate, you are unleashing a flood of happy, paying customers for these businesses.

You make money by helping them make money.

Not a big, faceless corporation either…a small business owner who’s using that money to put food on the table for their family, start a college fund for their kids, or take care of a sick parent. Once you see how Digital Real Estate makes a real impact in the lives of real people, you’ll sleep like a baby with a big smile on your face.

Now, the choice is yours. You could continue browsing, looking at opportunities like Modern Millionaires which could one day make you money.

You could continue researching, never making a decision.

OR, you could take a look inside, consider what you really want, and join a program that makes your dreams a reality especially if you put in massive and consistent effort. At the same time, joining a community of over 2,000 successful students that are living life on their own terms thanks to Digital Real Estate.

A consistent, reliable, semi-passive stream of income that doesn’t depend on you or your time to keep producing profits.

All while genuinely helping real people who are grateful and happy to pay for it.

If this sounds more like what you want out of life (or if you just want some nice side income), click here to learn more about Digital Real Estate.

[opalesense]

Dick headcanons for Kaeya, Diluc, Childe, and Zhongli? 👀

dick headcanons

kaeya, diluc, childe, zhongli & gn!reader (NSFW)

1.1k words • ~9 min. read

warnings: cockwarming, blood mention, size difference, liyue arc spoilers

notes: SUPER delayed response (i’m so sorry) because i genuinely took a couple days to think about some fictional characters’ dicks??? i think it’s time to touch some grass?? ANYWAY i hope i did this request justice, i’ve never thought about this stuff in detail before :0

kaeya

i’ve always imagined that kaeya really has some LENGTH. he’s slightly above average so it’s not monstrously large, but he can definitely hit your sweet spots with ease or no effort at all.

it’s to the point where he can easily make bulges in your throat or your stomach. he absolutely loves watching his entire length disappear inside you and will either tease you about how he fits inside so well or how he’s so big that he can’t fit in you. just depends, of course.

cockwarming!!!! especially if you take his entire length in so well, expect him to ask if he can bury himself in you when the opportunity presents itself.

not super related to the topic but he’s the type to “fake bang” you if you’re bent over just to tease you. also the type to discretely grind his bulge against you when he’s in the mood, whether you’re hugging, cooking a meal, or even in the middle of a conversation with someone. he will not hesitate to let you know he wants you by letting you feel how hard you make him.

i don’t think many people talk about this but i imagine he’s uncircumcised... it’s going to sound so stupid but the “always hiding something” characterization... i’ll stop talking, you probably get it now HAHA

very well groomed down there! he truly does care about appearances and cleanliness after all. you never have to worry about poor hygiene with him in general. even though he loves doing dirty things with you there’s no doubt that he will always keep his dick as clean as possible. (shouldn’t everyone, though?)

he loves feeling tightness around his cock. whether it’s your hand pumping him or his form fitting pants restricting his bulge, firm pressure against that area can make his heart race. sometimes he can just be so needy for his cock to get attention.

diluc

despite being around average size he really has some girth on him! his cock is deliciously thick, that’s for sure.

twitchy! you can learn what he loves by the way his cock or his hips will twitch in excitement, almost as if it has a mind of its own. sometimes he can get so lost in the feeling and become speechless that those twitches would be your only indicator to keep doing what you’re doing.

his tip is so sensitive... if you lick that specific spot underneath his head or use your fingers to squeeze his tip, he will absolutely lose his mind. he also likes to shallow fuck you sometimes, loving the feeling of penetrating you over and over again.

that being said, expect him to usually take things slow and steady at first. he loves seeing the way his cock stretches you out, and especially loves seeing your hole gaping open to match his thickness. the feeling of pushing your walls apart because of how thick he is is always enough to make him weak at the knees.

he loves when you inflate his ego a little by using two hands to jerk him off rather than one. he especially loves when you use one hand to massage his balls, another sensitive spot of his. seeing you so eager and dedicated to please him will always send his heart pounding.

i like to imagine he has big, thick loads too to match his fat cock... he would definitely love dumping his cum inside you then letting it spill out so he can fuck it back inside again, penetrating you until your entrance is sore and covered in his load.

childe

this man is packing. he’s huge. nothing anyone can say will change my mind. out of this entire boy band group, this man packs the most. even his in game model has been proven to have such a fat cock that his bulge can literally be seen from behind???

it can tear you apart! hell, maybe it could make you bleed if he’s a touch too rough with you. but we all know that’s secretly what he would love to see... his bloodthirst might extend to intercourse too.

despite this, of course he would make sure your comfortable with his size first and would adjust accordingly in normal circumstances. he’s aware of how big he is and doesn’t want to make you feel genuine pain. maybe in other circumstances where he needs to take out his frustrations, he might not be so considerate...

if you gently touch or lick the veins that travel on the underside of his cock he goes a little feral! his veins are his weakness, just imagine the shaky moans he lets out as you tease him by tracing your finger along those veins... god help me

i believe in size kink foul legacy childe supremacy... his cock is already above average in size when he’s his normal self, but when he transforms you often tremble in borderline fear wondering how he could fit inside you. it’s mind boggling how the size difference is humanly possible.

(un?)fortunately, he can’t keep this form up for very long but rest assured he loves seeing the look on your face when he fucks you silly on such a fat cock, even if it’s just for mere moments.

that being said, expect childe to be super cocky about his size. his ego swells whenever you swoon over how big he is and he’s definitely the type of person to use this to his advantage by teasing and pushing your buttons.

zhongli

several sources have stated that rex lapis was able to change and alter his form freely... surely if zhongli could still do this even with his gnosis taken away, he would change his size to your preference if needed.

if you wanted his cock to rip you open, just say the word and he will do so accordingly. but if you’re feeling a little more mellow and wanted things to be gentle, he would gladly alter himself to be average size, or even smaller if you wanted.

but when i say he can alter his form, you best be sure that he can make it so he has two cocks at once. yes i believe in double cock zhongli supremacy... do with that information what you will.

since zhongli isn’t exactly human, his cock doesn’t exactly match that of a human’s either. in his most natural form without any changes being made, his cock is tougher and firmer than a normal human’s muscle. it doesn’t squish easy to the touch, but it’s not completely rock solid as you’d expect, which is quite ironic coming from a geo god.

you notice his veins on his cock, just like the rest of his body, are golden. they only actually show up when he’s reaching his climax where they’ll glow brighter if he’s getting closer to his orgasm. finally, with each pump of cum he lets out, these veins start pulsing with light until they eventually dim when he’s calming down from his high.

weird, huh?

[theoi-crow]

Hey!! So I invited Hermes into my room yesterday and prayed to him nd stuff-

And I was wondering about smn he (might) have done? I'm not very experienced in deity worshipping and stuff and have been mainly taking information off of trusted sources but I'm not very good at communicating with deities yet

Basically in context: I was listening to music yesterday and was coloring while singing along and suddenly out of nowhere the candle I lit for him started leaking excessively. Up to that point the flame had only been dancing and waving around a bit, but when it started leaking wax I didn't really know what was going on.

The wax turned out to have molten into a form of a burning candle, much like the one I was using for him as well and it's currently on his altar as well as two other pieces of wax I made with the leftovers from the candle yesterday.

But could the sudden leaking mean anything? Is it a sign of something? :0

And thanks in advance! Your work is really nice and I've been scrolling through this blog all morning ^^

Hi!

Thank you for scrolling through my page, I really hope my posts help!

First, I'd like to say that I don't sense any malice coming from Hermes at all. If the flame was really high that usually indicates a lot of energy coming in, like maybe he was dancing and vibing to the music while enjoying your company.

Before I continue, I'd like to make a quick disclaimer that these are just my own personal interpretations and also, I am not an expert of the meaning behind candle communication so I'm linking a page that can help with more meanings in case you’re interested: (LINK) Although this page is mainly about spell work it can help serve as a guide to interpreting candle meanings.

As for the sudden wax, my intuition is telling me Hermes is probably warning you about someone close by whom you seem to have communication problems with as a form of thanking you for wanting to work with him (gods sometimes do little favors for new followers as thanks for reaching out to them in the form of alerting them of a situation they might not have been aware of. Since Hermes is the god of communication, that might be something he might be indicating) but again, I don't use candles in my practice so please take this with a grain of salt.

Before I finish; please note that Hermes is not annoyed or mad at you, in case the candle's reaction looked a bit spooky.

Regardless of what the myths say, it actually takes A LOT to piss off a god, usually in the form of purposefully killing their worshippers, kids or destroying their temples in order to specifically spite the god in question. Please note that the myths were often commissioned and written by people who had an agenda in mind and wanted to use the gods to control the public, so no worries needed, Hermes is just letting you know that he’s here to help.

[the-insomniac-emporium]

Bound Blood (Cassandra Dimitrescu/Reader, Soulmate AU) Pt. 4

Fandom: Resident Evil: Village Rating: T+ for language, nudity (but, like, for art), and violence Warnings: Unhealthy dynamics, including violence between the shipped pair, leaning heavily into the "enemies" part of "enemies to friends to lovers" Summary: Local vampire discusses art, depictions of certain anatomy, and enjoys the company of her feral soulmate for 4.5 minutes. Then it goes to shit (as things tend to do). 0-60 Real goddamn quick. Previous Chapters: 1: Sharing Is (Not) Caring; 2: Bloodbath, Baby!, 3: Haunt Me Dearly

4: Portraits For Ghosts

“Am I really supposed to just… stay here? Did she honestly think that I, of all people, would behave? The universe gave me two good hands, and by God, I intend to make that someone else’s problem,” you mutter to yourself as you get dressed. It’s not that you necessarily had anything in mind, rather that you hated the idea of waiting around for who knows how long for Cassandra to return. Especially considering what she had done prior to leaving. Sure, you had laughed, but that hadn’t meant much in the end. At this point, you hadn’t even been out of the dungeon for a full day yet, and the memories of what happened there were fresh in your mind. Nightmares, too, even if you had pushed them aside to deal with Cassandra’s. Why did I bother? You wonder, frowning. There was hardly any point to comforting a monster, no matter the way they trembled.

Or at least that’s the lie you sold yourself.

Soon enough, a knock at the door brings you out of your head. Daphne, maybe, you think, remembering the maiden from yesterday. When you open the door, however, you’re met with an unfamiliar woman. She’s a few years your senior, at the very least, and appears surprised to see you. In her hands is a very enticing tray of food.

“Lady Cassandra wanted me to bring this to you. I am… I am glad to see you are feeling better already,” she says, voice shaking. What was with these maidens and assuming you were anything like your soulmate? Though that last part did catch your interest. Something told you that she wasn’t at all referring to your time in the dungeon. If you had learned anything from Daphne, it was that the best way to get information was to be indirect. So you graciously accepted the food, before speaking, dodging your way around your ignorance.

“Yes, it’s amazing what a bit of meditating can do for the soul- and body, that is,” you start, watching closely for any veiled reactions. Even within the first few words you can tell that this stranger wasn’t expecting you to be pleasant. “Out of curiosity, what did my Lady say about my condition? There are, uh, a few details that I hope she did not share. I’m sure you understand.” As soon as the words leave your mouth, the maiden is nodding, appearing eager to satisfy you. Maybe a hint of fear can be useful, after all.

“No worries, Lady Cassandra did well to respect your privacy, and we would not dare question her further. She simply explained, to her family, that you were dealing with a migraine. I only heard this because I was helping serve breakfast,” she explained, smiling softly. You’re quick to nod, mimicking her expression for maximum empathy. “Do you require anything else? I am here to serve, you must only ask.” Ah, perfect. Would she have offered this even if you hadn’t attempted to be charming? Probably, but your politeness certainly didn't hurt.

“Well, there is one thing… as long as it’s no trouble.”

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

It had been a risk, asking the servant to take you to a room you weren’t sure existed, but one that had paid off brilliantly. Even if said room was nothing like you had anticipated. Who would have thought that Cassandra, you think, would be an artist? What’s far less surprising is the fact that the studio (or ‘study’, as you had called it) is a disorganized disaster. Discarded papers lie scattered around an overflowing trash can, a cabinet with an attached tool rack is missing pieces, and in one corner there are literally random shards of broken glass lying about. What is this, performance art? Part of you feels tempted to clean up the mess, if only to occupy your time. Instead, you decide to examine some of the pieces within the room. Maybe somehow they’d tell you something noteworthy about your soulmate.

First, you move to your left, where a workbench houses strange sculptures. For the most part they’re abstract, jagged edges contrasting with gentle curves, but there is one you think you understand. It’s very clearly a bust… of someone’s ‘bust’. Guess that solves the age old question of ‘boobs or ass’, you think, stifling a giggle. Moving on, you shift your attention to the exposed section of the cabinet. One row is dedicated to small vials, each labeled with a concerning ‘blood’, despite the fact that it’s clearly not refrigerated. Still, you have heard of artists painting with blood before, but you seem to recall them mixing it with something else. Perhaps Cassandra had done the same? Though you did wonder if she had any difficulty resisting the urge to drink the blood, at least prior to mixing it.

Shrugging, you continue to the other side of the studio, squatting to get a closer look at the broken glass. As expected, there’s no discernable pattern or purpose. Huh, you think, wonder why she doesn’t clean up. Maybe she’s waiting for a servant to do it? Guessing her reasoning was rather difficult, especially considering your lack of context, such as how long the mess had been here. Deciding that this was a pointless distraction, you move on to the only other thing of note in the room: An easel, in the center, with a canvas nearly as tall as yourself. So far, there’s little on it other than pencil lines, a sketch marking where to paint certain details. Only the (start of) the background has been colored. Understandably, it’s hard to make out what exactly the finished project would end up representing. Based on what you know of Cassandra and her family, however, you infer that this- with four figures, one larger than the others, protective- is a painting of the castle residents.

“Family means something to you, hmm?... I hope that mine does not miss me much, for I will never see them again,” you say to yourself, instinctively reaching out towards the art. Before you can touch it, or think better of it, the door to the studio is flying open. In storms Cassandra, fists clenched at her sides. As soon as she sees you, she’s rushing forward, pulling you away from the easel. “Hello, darling. Glad to see me feeling better, yes?” You teased, smiling wide at her. Feeling a bit emboldened by your earlier success, you go a step further, leaning in to give her a quick kiss on the cheek.

“I swear to fuck, if you touched any of my stuff-” Cassandra starts to say, intentionally ignoring the kiss, even though her cheeks get flush at the contact.

“Nope, not a single thing. Not even the broken glass. Nice touch, by the way, makes the whole space feel a helluva lot cozier,” you interject. For a few moments she holds you by your shirt collar, staring you in the eyes as if determining whether or not to believe you. Somehow, some way, she declares you innocent, releasing you with an irritated sigh. After pretending to dust yourself off, you return your attention to the central canvas. “Do you do a lot of art of your family? I passed by several pieces on my way here, though they were certainly in a different style.” Another pause, with Cassandra waiting for you to spring a verbal trap.

“Some of those are mother’s work,” she answers, tentatively, eying you closely. When you merely nod in reply, expecting her to elaborate, she starts to relax, little by little. “I doubt you passed any of mine. Mother tends to keep those closer to her quarters, or near the main entrance.” Interesting, you think, why hasn’t she addressed my original question?

“It sounds like she’s very proud of you,” you muse, still facing away from your soulmate. There’s a slight shakiness to your voice, as your mind starts to dwell on memories of your own family. Perhaps noticing this, Cassandra takes a few steps closer, one hand hovering over your shoulder, not quite sure if you needed (or perhaps deserved) any comfort. In this moment, you feel far more vulnerable than you had the day before. Taking a deep breath, you try to center yourself, before perfectly ruining whatever trust you had just established with Cassandra. “Something tells me she doesn’t know about the titty sculpture though, right? Can’t quite imagine that one being displayed where everyone can see it.”

To your immense surprise, Cassandra gives you a blank stare.

“You… you really don’t know anything about my mother, do you?” She says, after several awkward seconds. It feels strange to think that she had been furious, merely a handful of minutes ago. “If you actually behave for a while, I can show you some of her favorite pieces around the castle. Then maybe you’ll understand.” Intrigued, you debate how exactly to respond. On one hand, you did want to see the art, but on the other hand… misbehaving was your goal of the day.

“Sounds like a nice date to me. Why not start the tour right now?” You suggest, hoping to meet your ‘politeness quota’ earlier rather than later. Still, it is in your very nature to be chaotic, and you find yourself giving Cassandra an affectionate shoulder touch. It’s not at all genuine, but the two of you blush nonetheless. How could you not, when your blood was bound together, hearts made to race in sync?

“Don’t get friendly with me,” Cassandra stammers, unadjusted to the way her pulse pounded. “This isn’t a date. We’re just- it doesn’t matter, actually. As long as it means getting you out of my studio, I don’t care.” With that said, she takes your hand in her own, pulling you towards the exit. If she has any feelings about the soft touch, she hides them well… unlike yourself. Cheeks flushed, you’re half tempted to yank yourself out of her grip, hating the way your heart skips a few beats. Would I still feel this way if I didn’t know we were soulmates? You wonder, biting your lower lip to prevent any unwanted comments from slipping out. Soon enough you’d have art aplenty to distract yourself with. Hopefully.

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

“My God, you were not kidding. I don’t- I can’t even think of anything clever to say,” you chime, staring dumbfounded at the several statuettes of naked women. They seemed to fulfill some other purpose, one you couldn’t parse at the moment, but you could hardly think about the details right now. “I mean, good for your mother, for sticking to a theme, I suppose,” you continue, tripping over your own tongue, uncharacteristically quiet. Clearly amused by your flustered display, Cassandra lets out a hearty laugh.

“Good to know some things can shut you up. I’ll have to keep this in mind for next time you bother me,” she teases, light-heartedly. Her words only fluster you more, though they quickly give you room to counter, much to your joy.

“Is that so? Planning on carrying around a busty bust for the rest of your life, or thinking of going the more au naturel route?” You asked, briefly sticking your tongue out at Cassandra. It takes her a moment to understand what you’re getting at, but as soon as she does she’s smacking your arm with an offended huff. Despite her irritation, the blow is relatively soft, and you swear you can see her fighting to hide a smile. “Starting to go soft on me, are you? I hardly even felt that one.”

“So you’d prefer I hit you harder? And to think you called me kinky,” Cassandra fires back, without a hint of hesitation. Now both of you are laughing, softly, like old friends sharing fond memories. It’s… weirdly nice. A warmth fills your chest, even as you try to remind yourself that you shouldn’t be happy right now. Damn it, you think, suddenly frowning, hands clenching. We shouldn’t be having fun banter, back and forth like a real couple. Not when I’ve still got wounds from her hands on my skin. Instinctively you reach up to your face, thumb running over the marks Cassandra’s nails had left behind. The touch stings, bad, no matter how gentle you try to be. Noticing your shift in expression, your soulmate inches closer. “If your wounds are bothering you, I can have one of the servants get more ointment or whatever it is we have around. I don’t want you to-... There’s no reason for you to suffer more than you need to, besides, I don’t want you complaining all day.” Of course she couldn’t bring herself to imply that she cared. Of course. It wasn’t like the two of you were actually capable of being soft for each other, obviously. All of your confusion melts down, boiled by the warmth in your chest, turning to a familiar, albeit painful, rage.

“Right, right! Because you care so fucking much, yeah? What the fuck am I doing? Why am I-” you jab a finger towards her chest, accusatory- “talking to you? Why am I pretending you're not the one who did this to me? You’re the fucking reason my face hurts, my shoulder hurts, my brain-... I can’t stop thinking about everything that happened down there. I can’t get those goddamn images out of my head, every time I close my eyes, every time I look at you. I…” You trail off, chest heaving a little, tears pricking the corners of your eyes. Cassandra’s standing tall, unflinching, but there’s a noticeable regret in her expression.

“What. Are. You… going to do about it?” She asks, through clenched teeth, fighting back the full force of her emotions. You can’t tell what exactly she’s feeling, but you know that you want her to show you. Every part of you is itching for a fist fight, regardless of how stupid you know the idea is.

“Depends, dickwad, on whether or not these statuettes are properly secured,” you snap, already moving, fully abandoning all impulse control. By the time your hand grips the first sculpture, Cassandra has put you in a headlock, forcefully tugging you backwards. Panic sets in, making you try to jam your elbows into her stomach. Before long both of you are tumbling to the floor, bodies already aching, limbs flailing wildly in an attempt to hit a target, any target. In the end the air is knocked from your lungs as your head smacks against the ground. “Shit, shit, shit,” you grumble, coughing, finally processing just how much of a dumbass you were. It’s clear that at least one of the previous day’s wounds has reopened, and you feel something wet and sticky on your shirt.

“Finished, asshole?” Cassandra wheezes, sounding dazed, roughly pulling you up by your shirt collar. You nod, refusing to meet her gaze. Then she’s sighing in relief, letting you lean on her for support, holding you surprisingly close, considering the circumstances. “Let’s get you cleaned up. Again…”

[seesgood]

no okay but honestly, here are some ways in which to actually gain traction and interaction on blogs, 

make things readily accessible ,  especially if you’re just starting out or joining a new fandom ,  make sure that you have your rules / about / dossier / info / whatever other information that is needed front and center and easy to find on your blog. 

as bad as it sounds, sometimes it helps to think in terms of branding ,  what do you want people to think / see when they come to your blog? are you a Serious Writer? big on aesthetics? friendly and approachable? poke around your blog every once in awhile and look through your recent posts and see if that’s how you want to come across ( there isn’t a right or wrong way to do this, but everyone has different things to appeal to them and that they want to project )

although there’s no rule of thumb for what to have / not have in my opinion, i will say that have some writing within the first 3-5 posts when looking at your blog. if you’re just starting out and haven’t written with anyone yet, write up a quick headcanon or meta post. it gives people a sense of how you write your character and what your writing style is like.

interact with people’s posts ,  this is probably the best and most important one. like peoples’ posts, comment on them --- it not only makes your url and presence a bit more known to people, but it also creates a sense of familiarity and safety and a sense that you know this person. also, people put a lot of effort into their headcanons and such, people like to have them recognized. 

reblog memes, post open starters, or post starter calls / plotting calls.  it makes it easy for people to reach out first for interactions, and if your blog is brand-spankin-new, it capitalizes on the !!!! feeling of someone finding your blog and wanting to write with you.

send other people memes ,  ( maybe non-shippy to start off ) even if you have 0 intention of turning it into a thread, send them a meme. it lets them know that you���re ready and willing to start thinking about some interactions, and it gives you a sense of how your characters could interact. bonus: you can then turn that meme into a thread. 

respond to other people’s opens ,  if other people post opens, they want people to respond to them. if you’re mutuals, that means they’re okay with you responding to that starter. 

check your own anxiety ,  figure out what works for you about how to navigate things. we all have anxiety and we’re all terrified of bad experiences and rejection and not being good enough --- but if we’re all out here letting those own fears be a barrier to us interacting with one another, no one will interact with anyone. ever. and that sucks.  

have fun with it and don’t take it too seriously ,  “but you literally just told me to think of my blog as a brand”  and now i’m here to remind you that this should be fun for you, and people are likely more inclined to interact with someone who looks like they’re genuinely enjoying what they do versus someone who comes off as really rigid and who values aesthetics above all else --- which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it just comes off as intimidating at first. 

check your own insecurities / thoughts / intentions / desires ,  and then work through them. you’re gonna fail a little. that really awesome blog might not interact with you, but that doesn’t mean shit in the long run. i like to try and find my core belief and intention about following blogs, and then go from there. sometimes that intention is “i really want to write with this person i think we could do great things” sometimes its “this character is so cool and i just want to read the writing and threads here” and sometimes honestly its “i just really want to be accepted by this person with perceived popularity” whatever that intention is behind craving that interaction, a lot of time it’s going to bleed into how you perceive yourself and others. and a lot of times, those perceptions aren’t ultimately truthful.

be gentle ,  with yourself and with others. not everyone is going to have the energy to always approach you first and carry the weight of plotting / flailing / interacting, and you’re not always going to have the energy to always approach, flail, or carry the weight of everything. that’s fine! just pinpoint and remember the things that matter to you about this hobby and be kind to yourself and others when things get hard. because they will. and that’s okay.

[13uswntimagines]

Your sister is who? (USWNT X Swift!Reader)

Hey Dudes, this is my first USWNT imagine. I’m considering writing more one shots from this universe but I haven’t decided yet. I’m totally open to requests and suggestions of things that you guys would like to see! All mistakes are 100% my own, and I hope you enjoy! Also reader is the baby of the team.

Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

You loved your family more than anything in the world, but that didn’t mean that you always loved your last name. You had never been the most outgoing person in your 17 years on earth, but you had honestly never needed to be. The only part of you that most people were interested in was your last name, so you had learned to fade into the background and let your older sister work her social butterfly magic. Unless you were on the Soccer Pitch. That was your happy place. Who you were didn’t matter. You were only judged on your ability to get around the defenders and bury the ball into the net, which was something that you excelled at if you did say so yourself. The pitch was the only place in the world where you were more than simply Taylor Swift’s little sister, and you wanted to keep it that way.

Maybe that was why you had introduced yourself to the USWNT as simply Y/n, conveniently forgetting to add the Swift to the end. Maybe that was why you hadn’t told them who the Tay that you were texting all the time was. Maybe that was why you were so closed off anytime they had asked about your family in the past 2 months you had been on the team. Maybe that was why you were dreading the team bonding activity for the night so much. You didn’t like truth or dare to begin with, and the fact that your teammates were determined to get you to open up to them did nothing to ease the anxiety you were feeling as you sat between your self-declared team moms Alex and Kelley.

“I think I win that one” Lindsey smiled as she took a bow after finishing Sonnett’s dare. “But who should go next?” She hummed, sitting down and tapping her fingers to her chin.

“Well, the rookie hasn’t gone yet?” Megan Hummed back, smirking in your direction, laughing as you leaned a little closer to Alex, who wrapped her arm a little tighter around you.

“Ah yes, the rookie,” Lindsey smirked back. “Truth or dare rookie?” She asked, and you shrunk back a little further as you felt the eyes of the rest of the team land on you.

“Um, dare I guess?” You asked back unsure. So far, the truths had been really personal and uncomfortable questions that you had no desire to answer. At least with a dare, they couldn’t get you to reveal too much personal information.

“Brave choice kid” Ashlyn smirked, as Lindsey leaned in to listen to whatever Sonnett was whispering in her ear. The evil smile that crossed Lindsey’s face meant that whatever Emily had suggested was probably something that you really wouldn’t enjoy.

“Ok little striker, I dare you to give me free rein over your phone for 3 minutes,” Lindsey said with a chuckle. Alex immediately noticed how you tensed in her arms, your eyes growing comically wide with the implications of handing over your personal device.

“Um, that seems a little invasive don’t ya think?” You asked back quietly, praying to god that you would be able to get out of this.

“What if we set some ground rules, so nothing too bad happens?” Alex glared at where Emily and Lindsey were grinning triumphantly, rubbing your back. Those two hadn’t understood why you were so guarded, but then again neither of them was as shy as you were. They had been determined to get to know you, no matter how evasive you were. You huffed but nodded into her shoulder.

“You can go on messenger and photos, but not my social media.” You said back firmly, attempting to compromise with the women who were grinning like Cheshire cats. You were just glad that you had decided to use nicknames for all your contacts, at least they wouldn’t know who they were talking too. And your photos pretty much consisted of landscapes you had seen during each stop of your sister’s tours. You had never liked people, but you loved nature so that was what you filled your phone up with.

“Include the facetime app, we get five minutes and you have a deal.” Lindsey smiled, sticking her hand out for the phone. You huffed again, causing several of the girls to coo at how cute you looked, and handed over the desired device. Kelley laughed and pulled her own phone out to act as the timer.

You watched with worried eyes as most of the team got up to crowd around your device and Lindsey began to thumb through your phone. You glanced at the clock, praying that the time would tick by faster and that they wouldn’t find something that you didn’t want them to.

“You’re no fun kid,” Megan mumbled as she watched Lindsey scroll through the crazy names that adorned your contact list.

“Alright, Who’s Tay?” Lindsey asked after 30 seconds of scrolling, glancing over to you.

“It’s Taylor” You groaned.

“Who’s Taylor?” Emily asked, wiggling her eyebrows at you.

“No, one” You responded far too quickly, your cheeks turning a deep shade of red.

“So you tell no one that you love them all the time?” Megan hummed disbelieving as you tried to hide even further into Alex’s neck, and Kelley’s hand began to rub comforting circles on your back.

“Just tell us who he is, and we’ll leave you alone” Mal laughed at your discomfort, the memories of her rookie year still very fresh in her mind.

“It’s not a he. It’s my sister.” You said quietly. The room went silent at the admission, the eyebrows of your teammates furrowing. Some not understanding why having a sister named Taylor was such a big deal, and other’s trying to figure out why you had been so reluctant to give up such a small piece of information.

“Wait. The name on your uniform is Swift.” Someone said, breaking the tension in the room. You nodded slowly, whining as Alex attempted to remove you from your hiding spot.

“So that means that Taylor is Taylor Swift. As in The Taylor Swift” Emily nearly yelled back. Your Y/E/C orbs peaked out of Alex’s neck to meet the wide eyes of your teammates as you sent them yet another small nod.

“There’s no fucking way dude.” Lindsey snorted, shooting you a disbelieving look, causing you to laugh.

“Well, there is a way cause I exist so…” You shrugged, sending her a shy smile, as several indistinguishable questions were thrown your way from your shocked teammates.

“I’m going to call her to prove it.” She said, glancing back towards your phone, and you sucked in a deep breath.

“She’s probably in a meeting or something” you mumbled, returning to your hiding spot. You hadn’t intended this. Your phone rang out with telltale sounds of a facetime call, and your heart speeding up at the sound that signaled that someone had picked up.

“Hey kiddo, everything alright?” Taylors concerned voice filled the room, and the team gasped.

“Holy Shit you’re actually The Taylor Swift,” Emily said shocked, her mouth hanging open.

“Guilty as charged, and you must be The Emily Sonnett?” Your sister giggled, as Lindsey reached over and closed Emily’s mouth.

“You know who I am. How do you know who I am?” Emily began to fangirl, flapping her arms excitedly as the room burst into laughter.

“Y/n talks about you guys all the time. Speaking of Y/N/N, where is she?” Taylor questioned, concern leaking into her voice. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust the women, but Y/n wasn’t one to introduce people to her. Her little sister was a shy, smol bean, and just the fact that she hadn’t seen her yet was causing her a little anxiety. They had always been close, and Taylor would be dammed if her little sister got hurt.

“Over there hiding in Alex’s neck” Lindsey laughed back, flipping the camera to show you sitting on Alex’s lap, curled into her neck. She sighed in relief, glad that you seemed to be connecting with someone other than her, as that was never one of your strong suits.

“Hey Tay,” Alex smiled, waving as the offending phone was passed to her. The Y/E/C eyed girl peeking out to smile at her older sister. Taylor smiled back and chatted for a few minutes with Alex before she needed to go. Y/n said her goodbyes and hung up, pointedly avoiding the questioning eyes of her teammates.

“So you talk about Sonnett, do you talk about me?” Lindsey asked, wiggling her eyebrows, and you couldn’t stop your cheeks from turning impossibly redder.

“Um…” You stalled, unable to form the right words. The truth was that you might have a small, well not so small, crush on a certain defender. It was kinda hard when she was a literal ball of sunshine all of the time, and your sister had given you great advice so far. The problem was that you were too much of a wus to do anything about it, and you were utterly convinced that the age difference left you with a 0% chance.

“Leave her alone guys,” Alex said sternly, tightening her arm around you and leaning down to whisper in your ear. “Why didn’t you tell me that I knew your sister?” She said quietly, rocking you back and forth.

You sighed. “Cause I wanted you guys to know me for my soccer skills and not who my family is.” You responded equally as quietly as if talking any louder would break you.

“Trust me, kid, we know all about your soccer skills” Tobin laughed, causing you to smile. You may or may not have nutmegged the nutmeg queen during practice, several times.

“But why would you hide?” Christen asked gently, moving towards you and Alex.

“People hear the name Swift and it’s like I don’t even exist. I mean, I’ve met all of you guys before and none of you even remember that. I mean I love Taylor, but soccer is my thing and I wanted it to stay that way.” You murmured, ashamed. You loved Taylor and you were incredibly proud of her, but for just this once you wanted to be known for who you are and not who your sister was.  

“You’ve met us before?” Kelley said in disbelief. How had they met you and not remembered it? Sure, you were a little shy, but you were incredibly sweet and adorable. Plus she was convinced that you would be hilarious once they got you to come out of your shell.

“When she invited you on the stage during the 1989 Tour. She did it because I was such a huge fan of you guys.” You answered back, staring down at your hands. She had felt guilty about missing your U20 championship match and had invited the team on stage to make up for it. You had been so excited, but you had once again faded into the background the moment your sister was in the room. She had tried to put you front and center, but you had been so nervous that words had been nearly impossible.

“That’s why she traded us tour merch for our signed jersey’s” Tobin put the pieces together, vividly remembering trading her jersey for a signed sweatshirt.

“Yep,” You said back, popping the p, and smiling at them.

“and you met us? Why don’t I remember that?” Megan cut back in, trying to remember that night. She remembered Taylor and going on stage, but where had you been? There was no way she would have intentionally ignored you.

“Because Taylor was there and I’m just her little sister.” You shrugged, used to the fact that Taylor cast a huge shadow, one you typically didn’t mind hiding in.

“Well, I can promise you one thing. You Y/n Swift are so much more than just Taylor’s little sister” Alex said with finality. Squeezing you tight.

“Yeah dude, you put Sonnett on her Ass during practice” Tobin laughed, as Emily pouted. It was true. Emily had been assigned to mark you, which had proven to be a very difficult task. It had taken both her and Becky to finally shut down your goal-scoring abilities.

“And got 3 goals, past Uncle.” Becky added, smiling at you, as you cuddled further into your team “mom”.

“You, my dear, are a fantastic striker, and every time you step onto the pitch you show the world that you’re on the team because you’re amazing and not because of who you’re related to,” Megan said, cooing at how adorable you were. Not that she would ever say it out loud, as they had learned early on that you hated being called adorable.

“And you guys don’t hate me for not telling you?” You asked quietly, glancing up at the 22 other women carefully watching you.

“We could never hate you kid,” Kelley grinned, bumping you with her shoulder.

“Now how bout you tell us what it’s like to The Taylor Swift as a sister?” Ali smirked at you. She was one of the few that knew exactly who you were from the first moment you had walked into camp.

“Well, her fans are crazy.” You laughed, your shoulder’s relaxing, reassured that you were so much more than just a Swift. You were a force to be reckoned with, and you couldn’t wait to show the world what you were made of.

[lunasphantom]

Mission: Rise of Rivalries-Chapter 1

Synopsis: Phoenix, a top assassin from a very secret group, the definition of girlboss.gaslight.gatekeep.No one knows her name but they call them Raven. A very intelligent killer whose kills have been studied by many (some very entertaining by the way). Studied by people like Dream. Dream, a mysterious detective,works with the government. The only person who found Phoenix,she was hard to track but in the end he did find her. Now, these two establishments come together to take over a shared target, Sleepy Bois Inc. A family who has gotten into illegal business. How will these two sworn enemies, Dream and Phoenix, take over the most powerful family.

TW: blood,knives

taglist is open!!

masterlist

series masterlist

After their first tension filled meeting Dream and Phoenix were ready to go on their first step of their mission. Mexico. Throughout the way to the airport and during their time in the airport Dream was acting nothing but like a child. Unlucky for him Phoenix knew exactly which points to push, which made the whole trip entertaining for her. However it wasn’t nice that he was also being mean to ones around him, leaving Phoenix with a lot of “Excuse me”’s. It was like apologizing for your dad's bad behaviour to service. It’s not like Niki or Puffy could give Phoenix a word of advice for handling him.The plane was lowering down, “Be an asshole to me stop being an asshole to a waitress you are starting to become a Karen.” Phoenix argued towards Dream. Dream didn’t acknowledge her at all but just kept “reading” the file for the mission. Phoenixs takes the file from his hands, harshly. “I was looking through that.” Dream says as he looks through Phoenix’s eyes for the first time. Phoenix takes a big inhale “No you weren’t you were just staring in the void.”

“I was thinking of ways to kill you.” Dream said with a smirk and Phoenix just rolled her eyes ``You are just begging to have your hands around my neck.'' It was Phoenix’s turn to smirk now. Dream got stiff over the change of subject. As the plane lowered down Dream's hand tightened on the seat. “Big man afraid of planes,” Phoenix said in a joking manner, hoping to Dream huffed “Haha very funny.” “Have we figured out our story yet.” “Story for what?” “Our couple story, how we met and stuff” Phoenix explained with a slight annoyance “It’s all written on the file” Dream turned to Phoenix. “But who likes going by the book? I’d say we met at a farm” Dream just rolled his eyes. His previous annoyance was replaced with a glint of playfulness “What if we used the real story of how we met?” Dream said wanting a payback over the mention of his hands on her neck. “Before or after you stabbed me” Phoenix asked not even lowering her voice down, earning an eerie look from the old lady beside her “You stabbed me first.” The bickering of who stabbed who first continued until the plane landed. They got their luggage called a cab to go to their hotel. Throughout all of this none of them said a word.

Their hotel room was nice and large enough for other things (knives,guns,computers) to fit in. “Oh you have got to be kidding me” Dream said as Phoenix was fascinated with the amount of food inside the mini fridge. “What happened?” Phoenix said as she opened a small bottle of vodka.Phoenix’s eyes scanned over the room to see that there is only one bed. “You” said Dream pointing at her “are sleeping on the couch.” “Huh no” “Oh yeah I think so.” “You know how my back gets” “Your back will be fine Y/- Phoenix” Dream spit out her name like venom. Unbothered by the sudden rise of emotions from Dream “Rock paper scissors.The one who reaches 3 wins” “We aren’t kids.” “Do you have any other ideas or are you just afraid of losing?” Dream thought for a minute and finally gave up. “Fine” He marched over her like a child. Both of them got into a sort of a stance position, it was a funny sight to see. Two kids fighting over the bed. The game was intense, especially the last round “Rock paper scissors shoot.” Both of them said at the same time. Dream won against Phoenix. As she was about to scream, Dream's phone rang, it was from George. “Did you two arrive?” “Yes we did.” “Okay put me on speaker I also need to talk to her.” Dream looked at Phoenix who was sitting down in defeat eyeing the couch, trying to seduce it to come to her. Dream put George on speaker “She can hear you know.” “Hey George!” Phoenix yelled since Dream was far away, she stood up and approached Dream so she could hear George. “Oh thank God you are alive.I don't have to get rid of any bodies.” “Not yet.” both of them said at the same time. “If I say please, will you not kill each other?” “If you get down on your knees, sure I’ll consider.” Phoenix replied with a smirk.

George laid out the plan for them. It was easy:

Do good in poker to gain Quackity’s attention (Dreams job.)

Talk with Karl enough to get to know him

Get a game with Quackity

Threaten

Get info

Run

Seemed easy and logical. A plan with 0 risk

Couple hours had passed, and Dream and Phoenix were getting ready. Dream wore a suit, a navy green suit while Phoenix wore a matching dress which suited her body elegantly. Dream also saw how this dress made her look beautiful, powerful, it was like the day they first met.

“You look rather lonely for someone this handsome.” Y/N approached Clay in a confident manner without a smirk, showing that she is quite the humble one when it came to her confidence. Clay chuckled while taking a sip from his drink “You look rather beautiful for someone who will be spending the night alone.” Clay said as he leaned down to her “or maybe I can change that.” Clay whispered into Y/N’s ear. It has been a while, a long while since Y/N had been affected by someone like that. Even though she looked powerful Clay could take her walls down with a simple touch, a whisper even just a look from day one. Y/N leaned in more, she tied her hands around his tie pulling him even more close. “Who said I was going to spend the night alone.” Y/N whispered back to Clay. Let his tie loose and walked over her next target.

“What were we threatening them with again?” Phoenix yelled from the bathroom, making a few last touches on her makeup. “You should know it by now, you will do it after all.” Dream said “Well you didn’t let me change our names and how we met, for the first time I am going by the rules. Might as well know it deeply.” Phoenix told Dream as she looked at him through the mirror “They betrayed SBI, released info apparently, almost causing the downfall of the company.” “Why don’t we just let them take down their own business then?” “People who have the information were killed so the family never found out about the betrayal.”

Y/N P.O.V

“Maybe you should do the talking.” I suggested as I walked towards Dream. “And why is that?” He was trying to tie his navy green tie which made his eyes shine through. “Let me do that,” I muttered to him. Seeming to hear it, he let go of his tie and turned towards me. He wore the same tie when we met. “You know betrayal better than I do.” “Phoenix not again.” Dream growled under his breath. “I am not wrong though. You used me to get to my organization. I read that report you know. Shame you didn’t mention our sex life as well, would’ve been more fun.” “You would’ve liked people to know how I fucked you” “Pretty sure we fucked each other Clay.” I said as I tightened his tie around his neck and he grabbed his knife. He pushed me against the wall, his knife was now on my neck and my hands magically didn’t let the tie slip. “Don’t call me Clay.” “Oooh are you mad that I made you realize you were a real person?” I mocked him. “I can kill you.” “Don’t say that to an assassin, we are way too creative.” His knife went in deeper to my neck, but not deep enough to cut it. He took a big breath in “I am not a traitor, you know that.” I looked into his eyes. One who knew him well would argue that Dream got colder after me. Dream got colder after “love” because he didn’t know how to handle it. I heard these arguments from his friends, these arguments over why he got “cold”. However “Eyes never lie chico.” His eyes were the real traitors for his emotions, which made me think back to everything. “You said you would never leave and you left.” I mumbled. He took a step back, confused by my answer. I let the tie loose, it fell to the floor. I took a deep breath, gained my composure back. “Now, let’s gamble shall we?You’ll be fine without the tie.”

I thought I had the toughest job but it turned out to be easy. Karl Jacobs was probably the nicest bartender/ I just watch people gamble so I can psychoanalyse man I’ve ever met in my entire life. Dream played well enough to impress Quackity and we both deserve an Oscar for our performance as a couple. This came naturally to us. Even before we were “dating”, before I knew about his plans of turning me in. I always blame Dream, but I wasn’t any different. We portrayed what we felt differently even though we were the same drug. Quackity bought our act as a couple and told us that he would love to play a card game together in his office, which was downstairs, and Karl would also be there.

We started going downstairs with Dream's hand on my back. The room wasn’t lit enough but I guess it’s to add to the tension. “Come on gentlemen and lady. Lets play, '' Quackity said with a smirk. I think this whole “come to my basement” was just to get money back from Dream cause that man actually knows how to play poker now. Karl laid out all the cards. “If you cheat I will catch you.” Karl said as he sat down comfortably on his chair. “We’ll see about that.” I said with a tight smile. The game was going on. Dream cheated two times but wasn’t caught. But guess who was….me. “No, give me the card back.” Quackity said sternly. “Oh come on you gamble and you cannot handle cheating.” “Cheating means dishonesty and that is a betrayal of my trust. That's important to me.” He said giving me the deadliest look, he fell right into the trap. “How did they react?” “How did who react?” he asked genuinely intrigued. “How did the SBI family react when they found out you released important information but was shit at covering it.” I said as I leaned over the desk to get closer to Quackity who was sitting in front of me. I heard Karl gulp, the smirk Quackity once carried fell from his face. I got up from the desk “I mean come on! Throwing them into the river.” I said as I traced my hand over Karl. I got a chance to look at Dream who wore a smug triumphant look.

“I can come up with more creative ideas, you know.” I said looking straight at Quackity ``And you both can be my little tests to see which one gets the job done faster and cleaner.” I said and finished it with a smile. “What do you want?” “Information.” Dream replied coldly “Why would we give it to you?” Karl asked “This family isn’t helping you, they are stopping you from growing your own company and you are basically their sl-” “One way or another we are going to get to that family Karl and Quackity.” I cut Dream off. “A family that doesn’t care if I kill you now or later. But I am sure they would be itching to kill you when they find out about the leak.” I leaned down to Quackity “I heard they are also very sensitive about this.” The next move came at a very vulnerable moment: Quackity pushed me against the wall and pulled out a knife and dragged the knife against my stomach. Not deep enough but still a wound that’s going to sting. Since I am used to pain, both internally and externally, I couldn’t show much reaction (which seemed to worry Quackity) “They are holding a ball on the 20th. It’s masked, you can go, I can arrange the invitations.” Quackity whipped his head around and took the knife out. “They are right Quackity we are literally slaves, this family needs to be taken down. You were talking about your own plans last night, this is your chance.” Karl pleaded. Quackity thought for a minute, looked at us “Go. Karl will give you the things you need tomorrow just come here.” he grumbled. That was our queue to leave.

When we arrived at our hotel room I was exhausted. I also lost the rock-paper-scissors game for the bath. Again. As Dream was showering I decided to change into more comfortable clothes. Through the adrenaline and stress I totally forgot about my wound. I was deeply staring into the wound trying to decide whether it’s deep or just a surface-level one. I was into thinkin that I didn’t feel Dream’s presence “Who did this to you?” he whispered. I turned around. He looked at it and touched it. I winced. His eyes were filled with worry “Sorry I-” “I know” I said, trying to sound as reassuring as possible. “It was that Quackity guy wasn’t it.” Dream said sternly. “It’s fine, it has happened before.” “Come here, let me fix it.” he said as he held my hand and dragged me to the bathroom so he could fix my wound.

He pulled out the med kit and cleaned up my wound. Every touch had an electrifying effect on my body. I was extremely tired but his touch seemed to give me back life.He didn’t look at the wound all that much, it was as if he was a pirate who already knew his way around the map, the map being my body. With every touch that could cause me to wince he would look up like a child. He finished it off and got up. Our position wasn’t much different from the one where he was pressing a knife to my neck. Well now it was minus the knife and I wasn’t pressed against a wall. “We can sleep together if you would like?” Dream offered his eyes softening. “I won't mind” I checked my bandage to make sure I didn’t start bleeding again. Dream had already gone inside the bed, I followed him and went on the other side. We didn’t talk after that, we were both silent as if his touch on my body had a silencing curse. After shifting a bit more I finally faced Dream again. “Stop shifting it will start to bleed again.” his eyes were closed “You will get away with my death if I just bleed to death” “The scar isn’t that deep” “You never know” I argued “You and I both know that.” “Fine whatever. You’ll clean up the mess when I die.” I said and turned my back to him “Just go to sleep before I regret taking care of you.” “Sweet dreams Dream” the smirk was lingering on my tone. I heard him chuckle but it was a very muffled chuckle “Good night Phoenix.”

[thatsamericano]

The Sun, the Moon, the Whole Sky Too

Pairing: America/Romano.

Rating: Teen, but only for cursing.

Warnings: This fic is mostly fluff, but there is some vague, brief discussion of historical imperialism in Hawaii. 

Word Count: 1884

Summary: Romano is not normally an early riser, but he is willing to wake up at 2:30 a.m., drink shitty hotel coffee, and brave freezing temperatures to watch a sunrise on top of a volcano with America.

A/N: Written for Itapan/Romerica week Day 7 run by @welovefrukmerunning and the prompt “sunrise.” I’ve never been to Hawaii, and all my information about America and Romano’s trip and the Māui legend comes from the Internet.

Romano was not a person who believed in waking up early. He preferred a leisurely start to his day: a light breakfast, a cappuccino or two, and a boyfriend who could be persuaded to collapse back into bed rather than dragging him out of his warm cocoon of blankets before the sun was even up.

So when Savino felt arms picking him up while he should have still been deep in slumber, his first reaction was to groan in exasperation. “Jesus fucking Christ, Fredo. What time is it?”

“2:30 a.m. Time to rise and shine, Vinny.”

Romano leaned his head into America’s chest, because he was much too exhausted to fight with him, even if he was severely annoyed right now. “Thought you said you wanted to see sunrise at the top of the volcano.”

“I do. But the sun rises before six o’clock in the summer, and it’ll take us at least two hours to get to Puʻu ʻUlaʻula in the car. And that’s without stopping for restroom breaks.”

Savino yawned as Alfred set him down on his feet in front of his suitcase. “I need coffee. Now.”

America pushed a thermos towards him. “Here you go. But fair warning, it’s the best I could do with the little machine here in the room.”

Savino wrinkled his nose as he took a sip. Alfred wasn’t kidding. This coffee was horrible. When America saw Romano’s reaction, he chuckled and kissed his forehead. “Don’t worry, we can stop for breakfast on the way back. I’m sure the coffee at the Kula Lodge will be much more to your liking.”

“Hope so.” He took a deep sip and watched as Alfred, who seemed to be unnaturally full of energy this morning, hummed and packed a cooler with snacks for their trip. Once Romano had drained the thermos and was as awake as he was ever going to be this early in the morning, he got dressed in the sweater, parka, gloves, and jeans America had told him to pack specifically for this experience. Hawaii was generally warm during the summer, but at more than 3000 meters above sea level before the sun rose, the temperatures at the peak of Haleakalā would barely be above 0 degrees Celsius when they arrived. Romano disliked the cold just as much as he disliked waking up before even a rooster would. If anyone else had proposed he wake up at 2:30 in the morning so he could watch sunrise at the top of a mountain, Savino would have bluntly told them they were insane. Maybe Alfredo was a little crazy for suggesting this, but he was also impossible to say no to, especially when he promised Savino that the view of the sunrise would be “almost as gorgeous as you.”

When they were both ready to go, America cheerfully led them out of their hotel room and took them out to his car. Romano squinted into the darkness skeptically.

“Are you sure this is safe? I mean, you are driving up a mountain.” Romano had enough mountains in his home to know how dangerous driving on mountain roads could be.

“We’ll be fine. I know these roads like the back of my hand. Besides, if I was gonna do something really dangerous, I wouldn’t do it with precious cargo like you in the car.” Alfred winked at him, and Savino rolled his eyes, pretended he wasn’t flattered at America casually referring to him as “precious,” and got in the passenger seat.

As America was setting up his iPod, Romano decided he had one last question to ask his boyfriend. “Aren’t you tired? Like, at all?”

“Not right now, but I’ll probably crash later in the day. I took some 5-hour energy this morning and drank about twice as much coffee as you did, so I’ll be good to go. Plus, I brought some snacks and have music to make sure I’ll stay perfectly alert for the drive.”

Romano buckled his seatbelt and stared out the windshield into the blackness. “Don’t expect me to stay awake the whole time. Because that is definitely not happening.” He could already feel himself getting sleepy, even though the passenger seat in Fredo’s car was a lot less comfortable than the bed back in the hotel.

Alfred laughed. “I figured as much.” He turned on the car, and started to back out of his parking space at the hotel, singing along to his “island tunes” mix. America wasn’t much of a singer, but he was loud and entertaining enough to keep Romano awake for a while.

Alfred’s playlist was an eclectic mix of Don Ho, Elvis Presley, and several singers Romano didn’t know the names of (or wouldn’t even attempt to say without abbreviating, like the one America called Bruddah IZ). The songs in Hawaiian tripped as easily off America’s tongue as the English ones did.

There was only one song on his playlist America didn’t sing along to. His hands tightened on the steering wheel as the song began with a slower, sadder melody. At first, Romano didn’t understand why Alfred wasn’t singing along, nor why he had that solemn, guilty expression on his face, but then he heard the English lyrics talking about highways through sacred ground and the land that was taken away. And considering they were on a highway right now…

Romano didn’t know what to tell America. He couldn’t tell America that it wasn’t his fault, or that he wasn’t to blame for what had happened to the Hawaiian people. All he could do was give America a weak smile once the song was over. He would have squeezed his hand if it hadn’t been on the steering wheel.

America let out a deep breath. “That one’s hard for me to listen to. But I think it’s important for me to hear it and to acknowledge that stuff, you know?”

Romano nodded. “Yeah. That makes sense.”

“They didn’t want to be my people, but now they are, just as much as anyone else is. My government’s never let me do much, but I can try to do my best for them. For them, and for everybody else.” America turned up the volume on his stereo and started singing, and his happiness seemed a bit more forced than usual.

Romano frowned, but didn’t say anything. Now was hardly a good time to make Alfred confront his guilt about American imperialism, or his tendencies to mask more negative emotions with false levity and engage in the sort of naïve, optimistic thinking that would only lead to disappointment down the line, when people inevitably failed to live up to his expectations. Maybe they would talk about this later, at some point when Romano wasn’t so tired he could barely keep his eyes open. Probably after they had returned to the mainland.

Eventually, Savino’s exhaustion won out over his worry. He was woken up by America vigorously shaking his shoulder. “Hey, sleepyhead. Time to wake up again.”

Savino rubbed at his eyes. “We there yet?”

“Not quite, but we’re at the Visitor’s Center. This is your last chance to go to the bathroom before we head up to the summit.”

Now that he was awake, his bladder felt uncomfortably full from the thermos full of coffee he had earlier. Romano unbuckled his seatbelt. “Yeah, okay, I’ll go.”

After using the facilities, America pulled out another thermos of coffee. “I figured you’d still be tired, so I packed this for you just in case.”

Romano accepted the thermos gratefully. “I could kiss you right now.”

Alfred giggled and leaned over to do just that. He pulled back a few seconds later with a goofy grin on his face, and Romano was smiling too.

America was back to his normal ebullient self by the time they reached the summit. He slung a blanket and a towel over his shoulders, took the cooler of snacks in one hand, and held Romano’s hand with the other. “Look at the stars, Vinny! Look at the stars!”

Savino laughed at his boyfriend’s childlike enthusiasm. “I can see the stars, tesoro.” He looked up towards the sky, where the tiny pinpricks of light from millions of miles away were much more visible than they would be down the volcano.

“They’ve got an astronomical research observatory over there.” Alfred pointed towards a group of buildings Savino could barely see through the distance. “I’ve actually been there, and to the Gemini North one up on Mauna Kea on the Big Island. Maybe in a few days, I could take you back up here for the sunset and to look at the stars some more. Or we could go Mauna Kea if you want.”

“We can always do that the next time we come to Hawaii too. There’s plenty of time for trips in the future.”

Alfred proceeded to give Savino a hug that lifted him off his feet and peppered the side of his face in kisses until Savino was cackling and weakly squirming to get away. Then he set him back down, took his hand, and led them to a spot where they could watch the sunrise together.

The temperature at the top of Halekalā was just as ridiculously cold as America had warned him it would be. But with the towel on the ground to keep their butts dry, the blanket wrapped around both their bodies, and his cuddle monster of a boyfriend, it wasn’t so bad.

There were a lot of other people around them, chatting and setting up their cameras, but a hush fell over the crowd when the first rays of dawn began to lighten the sky. Romano gasped when he saw that view America had spoken so highly of. With the clouds rolling in over the crater below them and the spectacular colors, they seemed to be in heaven itself.

“Told you it’d be worth it,” America smugly whispered.

Romano nodded, too awestruck to say anything, and America snapped a few photos to preserve the experience.

As people began to head back to their cars and leave, Romano turned to face his boyfriend. “Thanks for bringing me up here, amore.”

“Of course. There’s no one else I’d rather watch this sunrise with than you.”

Savino gave him a slow, sleepy kiss then turned back around to watch the sky for the next several minutes.

Eventually they were ready to go. America was holding Romano’s hand on their way back to the car. “You know, there’s a legend about this place. Apparently, Māui came up here before sunrise, just like we did, and lassoed the sun and beat him into submission. All so the sun would move more slowly across the sky and his mom would have more time to dry her bark cloth.”

Romano snorted. “He sounds like a very devoted son.”

“I’d figure out how to lasso the sun for you if you wanted. The sun, the moon, the whole sky too. If only Mattie had longer hair…”

Savino had heard such grandiose promises before, especially around Christmastime if Alfred had watched It’s A Wonderful Life recently. “How about we start with a decent cup of coffee?”

Alfred swung their hands back and forth in a giddy display. “That, I can definitely do.”

[zinzinina]

Re: that post about body worship / praise kink... I'm in my 20s and never been in a relationship, so I have literally 0 experience with any of it... And every time I see posts or whatever talking about how unrealistic that kind of stuff is, it kinda scares me... Kinda like in this "is there a good chance I'll end up with someone that I love and that loves me but *doesn't* treat me like that" way, if that makes sense? Like, all the stories about girls with guys who don't really work to get them off and just get themselves off during sex and that's basically it, and the girls talking about how that's just how it is and they fake it or whatever??? Like jfc, I'm so terrified that I'll find someone I love that just... is like that because that's just what sex is to them, and that's so damn disappointing and it makes me sad/scared? ... Idk, sorry, didn't mean to dump this on you... Just saw your tags and... it kinda resonated...

Hi sweet anon! This got a bit long so I popped it under a cut.

NSFW, discussions of sex

I can totally understand why you'd feel that kind of anxiety, and you're right; there's so much out there about having to endure or "settle" for shitty sex. We hear constantly about women in particular being doomed to just never finding partners who care enough to make them feel good, and often it's passed off like a joke, like it's just so funny that some people "can't find" the clit, etc. etc. And I think part of the flipside is informed by that same shitty standard: this idea that the (frequently female-authored) smutty fanfic/romance novels/erotica in the world gives off unrealistic expectations in that it's perfect, wonderful, loving sex where everyone has mind-blowing orgasms in unison every single time.

Sure, that's a tiny bit true. Erotica rarely explores the fact that sex is never going to be perfect-perfect. Like sometimes stuff doesn't feel great straight away and you need to change positions or you need some help from lube or toys. Sometimes you're out of rhythm with your partner, or you get a cramp or you're too tired, or someone farts, or you accidentally kick them or the bed won't stop squeaking, or they're just not touching you exactly right and you need to correct them. It's actually pretty rare to orgasm simultaneously with a partner unless you've had a ton of practise with them. You might enjoy something a lot more than your partner does, or vice-versa, and you guys have to navigate how that works in a way that everyone is comfy and safe with. Maybe despite their best efforts, you just can't reach an orgasm every single time. This is all awkward stuff that definitely happens during sex, and it's still great, awesome sex. It's still just as hot and romantic and fun as anything in a story.

Here's the thing though: if you're with a partner and they're not treating you the way you want to be treated, or talking to you the way you like, or they aren't putting your pleasure at the forefront of their attention, they aren't being respectful or caring or attentive, and they aren't listening to you when you tell them what you want, then that's when the sex is bad. And chances are, if they're using you for their own pleasure and not caring about your pleasure during sex, they're probably also a selfish fucking asshole in other aspects of life anyway and so sex is a comparatively minimal part of their overall issue. If you do find yourself in a situation where you care deeply about someone and they're trying to do everything right but you're still not feeling fully satisfied, there's nothing wrong with playing around until you find a good groove. It can feel hard, but don't be too shy to communicate exactly what you want, whether that's by sharing with them a hot story you really like, or showing them how you like to use a toy or touch yourself, or just straight-up talking about how you're feeling during sex if something is good or bad or you want to change something.

This is just kind of how I personally feel, others might feel differently but hopefully it made a bit of sense and something in there helps in some little way with that overwhelm and worry you're feeling. There's nothing wrong with saying everything you just said to me to a prospective sexual partner too; in fact it'll probably help if you let them know what you're nervous about so you guys can communicate through it. You totally didn't dump this on me, I'm glad you felt like you could ask about it! Feel free to chat anytime, on or off anon x

[kaen-ace-of-diamonds]

Walking Space Heater

Word Count: 2700+ (oneshot) 

[AO3]

Genre: Fluff/Hurt/Comfort

Characters: Cinder Fall, Neopolitan, Emerald Sustrai, Mercury Black

Pairing: Cinder Fall/Neopolitan

Summary: Written (late) for Day 4 of @spice-cream-week 2021, “There Was Only One Bed.”

With the heat of both her Semblance and the Maiden powers, Cinder's body is much warmer than the average person's. So long as she's still by her side, Neo intends to take full advantage of that.

~0~

This is definitely a step down from the Haven dorms. Neo’s thumbs moved lightning-fast over the keyboard of her Scroll. Don’t they have ANY concept of personal space here? 

She could say something about Roman’s excessive use of emojis. But looking at his messages, she could hear his laughter clearly in her head, and she had no problem with that.

wtm? you got stuck with a shitty roommate? I’ll come and get her for you idgaf

That elicited the breathy noises that were the closest Neo got to laughter. Truthfully, she probably wouldn’t have minded sharing a room much in and of itself. It might even have been fun to mess with Emerald and Mercury in their own space. 

But no, she’d ended up with the only one that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

Cinder Fall was calm, collected, and incredibly competent. Neo didn’t necessarily dislike her. She thought that they got along fairly well, in fact. But that didn’t mean that she trusted her.

Roman was content to stay in the dark about what exactly her ultimate design was beyond Beacon’s destruction, having already accepted the fact that they would be overwhelmed by it. It still gnawed at Neo, though. Thus far her only clues had been the couple private calls that Cinder had taken, and the way Haven’s headmaster cringed like a kicked puppy whenever he caught sight of her. 

Sure, the man was jumpy enough in general, but Cinder — or, more accurately, whatever force had moved Cinder to the Academies — made him cower. Even Neo’s most devilish smile couldn’t do that.

She’s...not bad. She definitely likes me more than she likes you.

Now, did that really require five laughing emojis after I can live with that lol?

And

Neo’s thumb hovered over the screen. For the first time in several minutes, she glanced up from where she was curled up tightly on the covers of her bed. 

Cinder was perfectly at ease on her own bed, leaning back against a stack of pillows with her Scroll open in front of her face. Still rifling through the records of all the Academy students, no doubt. Casting her great and bloody show, for which every little thing had to be perfect. It wasn’t enough that she was sending Emerald and Mercury out to run recon and collect as many relevant details about their players as possible. No, she had to study up herself for hours on end.

Neo was willing to play her own part, but it all seemed very boring to her. Certainly her interim leader could use a break. She returned her attention for one moment more to her Scroll:

I think she would be fun to play with.

Ignoring the several question marks sent in reply, Neo pocketed her Scroll and slipped off her bed. Moving soundlessly was one of the first skills she had ever had to master, and she still considered it her most important. 

Cinder was still too engrossed in her research to notice as she crept across the carpet and climbed onto the other bed. Or maybe she just didn’t care enough to acknowledge her. She certainly didn’t look surprised when Neo’s head poked through the hole between her arms and her Scroll.

“Oh,” she said, smirking, in a tone that she might use with a stray cat that had come up to her in the street. “Hello there. Looking for some entertainment?”

Neo gave her her best strawberry-ice-cream smile, and scooted closer. From the meager rations of physical contact she meted out to Emerald, she wasn’t sure how much Cinder liked being touched, so she proceeded with care, little by little. It seemed to be acceptable: she stayed very still, but allowed Neo to settle down on her chest, resting her head against her shoulder.

“Or are you just lonely?”

Neo hummed thoughtfully, letting herself relax: not all the way, but just enough. This was nicer than she had expected, she had to admit. Cinder was dressed like she had been in the first round of the Vytal Festival: sleeveless jacket, long pants, and sarashi. Neo’s cheek rested mostly on bare skin, and though of course she had seen Cinder’s Semblance before (as well as the flames that didn’t quite seem to fit with it), it was much warmer than she had thought it would feel. Softer, too, with the scents of wood smoke and spicy perfume clinging to it.

“Well?”

Neo rolled lazily over onto her back, looking up at Cinder’s Scroll to see what she had been so busy scrutinizing. Hm. Several pictures of that Mistrali girl from the cereal commercials, accompanied by a passage about her Semblance which had been highlighted in a few places. There was one more tab open with an acronym on it, but that was it. 

Nothing that could tell Neo anything about their situation that she hadn’t already guessed at. And what was more, absolutely nothing that could be more interesting to her temporary partner than her.

Clearly, Cinder could use a lesson on how to properly spend an evening. Dastardly planning, which seemed to be her only form of recreation, just wasn’t going to cut it. 

So Neo helpfully reached up, laid her hands over Cinder’s, and pushed the Scroll shut for her. She put her pointer finger to the outside of her nose; her new teammates might not be picking up Valerian Sign Language particularly well, but she hoped the long, exaggerated twist away from her face coupled with a dramatic sigh got the message across equally well: Cinder, I am bored to tears.

Cinder tilted her head, puzzled but smiling. She slipped her Scroll into her pocket and wrapped an arm around Neo’s waist. 

“Well, in that case, I’d be happy to give you some attention.”

Neo made as pleased a sound as she could muster up, and snuggled up to Cinder, as close as she could get. It might have been dark and cool outside, but she felt as if she were napping on a sunbeam. Rolling over to lay her head on Cinder’s chest, she could imagine that there was a powerfully burning fire inside it in place of a beating heart, whose heat was palpable, just beneath the skin. 

She tried to look more sweetly smug than actually impressed, but gods, she had never felt anything like this. 

Cinder held her tightly in both arms now, fingertips scratching lightly between her shoulder blades, and Neo nearly purred. Years of pulling back bowstrings had turned those arms wiry and oh so strong. All at once, she completely understood why Emerald was always trying to earn one of these rare hugs.

And speaking of which...

Neo wasn’t sure how long she spent in the lap of luxury, only that she felt like she might actually fall asleep in it, as toasty warm as it was. Cinder had switched from rubbing her back to stroking and playing with her hair, which, in her experience with other people, was a welcome first. But she was jolted back to full awareness when their dorm room door slammed angrily open.

Blinking, Neo lifted her head. She caught the lingering scents of jungle juice and sweat incoming, before she saw Emerald stalking inside, barely hanging onto her last scrap of patience. Mercury stumbled in after her, wearing a huge grin and mirrored shades that Neo was fairly certain did not belong to him.

Cinder smirked. “I was wondering when you two would be back. How did it go?”

Emerald forced a halfway convincing smile for her leader. “It was...interesting. Though not quite as informative as I was h—”

The smile froze on her face when she turned to look directly at Cinder, and saw Neo lounging in her lap like a spoiled cat. 

Neo smirked, and signed, Party fun? With the reputation Vytal Festival house parties had, hopefully Emerald had gotten some attention as well.

“Oh, it was great!” Mercury shrugged off his jacket and pitched it into his and Emerald’s room, littering their carpet with brownie crumbs. “We saw a lot of everybody, didn’t we, Emmy?”

While Emerald tried to take a cue from Cinder and set him on fire with her eyes, Cinder herself just closed her Scroll with a soft laugh. 

“Well, you can tell us all about it in the morning. We should all get some rest now.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You got it, boss...”

Neo watched them slink into their room, where muffled bickering started up as soon as the door closed, but did not move until she felt a gentle pat on her thigh. 

“You too, dear. Go on.”

Though she made a show of huffing about it, Neo got up off Cinder’s bed and went back across the room. 

Her own bed felt cold and uninviting now. Catching up on the several missed texts from Roman (including but not limited to what do you mean by that lmao, hey Neo dont leave me out of the loop :), Neo tf are you doing to her O_o, NEO) did make her smile, but as she drifted off to sleep, she couldn’t help but wish that she didn’t have to return to being alone just yet.

~0~

This was not at all the solution to that problem that she had envisioned, but Neo knew very well how to deal with whatever life threw at her.

She had never been to Atlas, and while she had to roll her eyes at its decadence, she couldn’t say she hated the place. Cinder, on the other hand, never answered outright when Neo tried to ask if she had ever been here before, but every bitter hiss from her about Atlas elites that had not been asked for gave her a general idea. It had taken them a while to find a vacant apartment to squat in, especially considering that there was an entire chunk of the city that Cinder refused to even go near. 

But now here they were, and it was empty around them and quiet outside. The blackout curtains shielded them from the city lights. In pitch darkness the two of them were curled up together in the place’s one bed.

Cinder had initially balked at the idea of sharing it, insisting that Neo take an extra blanket and find somewhere else to curl up. So barky with her orders these days, and so on edge, too. Neo was beginning to wonder how she had ever thought of this woman as calm and collected.

In any case, she didn’t see what her once-again partner’s problem was. She had invited Neo into her bed with her before, hadn’t she? Maybe not to sleep, but still. And she was far from squeamish; she wouldn’t make a fuss about the scarring and empty eye socket on full display. As such, she ignored the demand, and simply undressed, got under the covers, and gestured for Cinder to join her. 

After some indignant spluttering, Cinder threw up her hands and stormed into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. She didn’t come out until Neo had turned the lights off and laid there long enough that she might reasonably have fallen asleep. Even then, she slipped in quietly, gingerly, and stuck close to the edge of the bed. 

Now, that just would not do. Atlas was much too cold for that kind of nonsense. 

Neo rolled over under the blankets, feeling just as bold as last time, but exercising even more care, Cinder being so volatile lately. She went out of her way to be heard, so it wouldn’t startle Cinder to be touched. She knew her bedmate was awake: though she lay very still, her breathing was nowhere near relaxed enough for her to be asleep. 

Cinder didn’t jump when she felt Neo wrap her arms around her waist, but she did go still as a statue.

“Neo,” she growled, low in her throat, “what are you doing? I’m not in the mood for—”

Neo nuzzled her bare shoulder in a way she hoped was reassuring, as she pressed up against her back. Fortunately for her, Cinder’s new arm was tightly bandaged up for the night, so she didn’t have to risk touching the awful thing. Only human skin, just as fiery warm as before. Even the wood smoke smell remained. 

As had happened so often since the Fall of Beacon, Neo caught herself writing a text to Roman in her head, wryly telling him that he was right, she shouldn’t have thought so hard about where Cinder’s flames came from, because she would never in a million years have hit on the right answer.

She gave her head a shake, and resisted the urge to glance back at the bowler hat perched neatly on a bedpost. If she started thinking too hard about that, she would never get to sleep either. There would be time, when the sun came up, to consider some more whether the woman in her arms was the key to her revenge, or its target all along. 

Right now, the darkness was peaceful and the blankets thick and soft around them, and the heat of their bodies grew more soporific every moment. Comfort was a rarity in both of their lives. They ought to savor it whenever it came their way. 

Cinder let out a long, exasperated huff, clearly not sharing the opinion. 

“Couldn’t you just hug a pillow?” she grumbled. But there was no bite in her voice. 

Neo smiled against her skin, entwining her legs with Cinder’s. Now, she would have said, were her hands not occupied, where would be the fun in that?

“...Fine. Just don’t think you’re going to make this a regular thing.”

Oh, she absolutely was, so long as they were staying in the coldest part of the world and she was in the company of a walking space heater. 

As such, Neo ignored the question and snuggled closer. She was trying her best to communicate “calm down and go to sleep” through body language alone, so to feel Cinder slowly but surely relaxing in her arms, eventually going limp, was deeply gratifying. Almost fascinating.

From nights spent in the Beacon dorm room and Mistrali inns, Neo already knew that Cinder talked in her sleep. Most of what she said was sluggish and toneless as well as nonsensical, but sometimes it was a series of fierce snaps or pained moans. It came as no surprise to Neo that when, just as she was starting to doze off herself, she was woken back up by her partner’s twitching and yelping. 

“No...don’t take...I’m...!”

Neo sighed drowsily, and tightened her embrace, humming as soothingly as she could. Her inability to speak never really bothered her, but there were times like this when it didn’t exactly help her, either. At least she could keep Cinder from thrashing around and hurting one of them: if that arm decided to act up while its host was in distress, she had zero faith in the bandages to hold those claws back.

It’s okay, she thought, hoping that somehow it would get across, just relax, you’re all right...

Nightmares never lasted forever. Neo had woken with her stomach still in free fall from enough dreams of plummeting wildly through a Grimm-infested sky to know that. Still, she hoped that her attempts at calming had helped this one pass quickly. Cinder’s mumbling devolved into moans, then to frantic whimpers, then finally to something close to the restful breathing that Neo had almost fallen asleep to before.

Neo took a deep breath of her own. She was too tired to smile, but leaned in to press a kiss to the back of Cinder’s neck, the ends of her short hair tickling her nose. To her surprise, she felt a burn scar here, too: thin and faded, but winding around her neck like garrote wire. Somehow she didn't think that Ruby had done this. But she certainly wasn't going to ask who had. They weren't going to discuss any part of this in the morning.

So she kissed her neck once more, soft and just a bit more sincere, before closing her eyes again.

Good night.

[saiilorstars]

Sweet Ambitions

Ch.3: The Whispers

Story Masterlist // Masterlist of other OCs

Fandom: Supergirl // Pairing: Winn Schott x OFC

Summary: Anais begins to find her way around in National City by trying to secure a job at CatCo. and working at DEO. But what should she make out of a stranger whispering in her head?

Taglist: @ocfairygodmother​ @anotherunreadblog​ @maaaaarveeeeel​​ @stareyedplanet​ @perfectlystiles​

[If you’d like to be added to this specific OC’s stories/edits, send me a message!]

Two blondes soared into the sky after one another. Supergirl made a quick turn, just as Anais was coming up, and managed to swing an arm that got across Anais' face. As the blonde Solista swung backwards in the air, different sets of missiles shot into the air after her.

With a roll of her eyes, and a rub of her jaw, Anais put her hands together to create an orb of yellow energy and shot it at the missiles. She landed on the ground afterwards, intending on taking on Supergirl again for a rematch, when she heard gun bullets fire from behind. Her super speed once again slowed Time around her so that she could easily, and rather effortlessly, pick each bullet from the air. When time started up again, she let the bullets on her palm fall to the ground.

Not too far away, she heard Supergirl's distinct wind nearing her, alerting Anais that the Kryptonian was enacting a second round. Anais whirled around in time to swing a leg and throw Supergirl to the side. She super sped towards Supergirl and decided to return the favor with a punch across the face.

"Sorry!" Anais made sure to call out before shooting into the sky again.

"So am I!" Supergirl called after her.

The two women were once again fighting in the air, but perhaps it was because Supergirl had a little more experience in the air, or maybe because Anais didn't have the right suit yet, but Supergirl managed to get an upper hand rather quick. Before Anais knew it, she fell directly on a table and brought down everything on it with her. The little groan the DEO employees heard could have been the sounds of a broken women, but they would never hear it from Anais.

Supergirl gracefully landed on her feet just in front of the broken table and crossed her arms as she waited for Anais. Soon enough, the blonde Solista sat upright with multiple cuts on her arms and face. Said injuries faded away within seconds, making her look new. However, the mock glare she had fixated on Supergirl was not one that anyone wanted to be on the receiving end of.

"Did you have to throw me on the table with—" Anais winced as she pulled a beaker penetrating her back, "—glass?"

Supergirl's scrunched face said it all. Of course that wasn't her intention. They were just practicing, after all. She extended a hand for Anais to take then helped pull the woman up to her feet. Anais cracked her back and sent a look to the monitoring employees.

"Do they have to watch too?"

"Yeah…" Supergirl followed Anais' gaze and sighed. The audience was never an easy part for her either. "Sorry."

"Protocols, I know," Anais hated that word, honestly. All her life it had been embedded as common vocabulary in her home.

"On the bright side, your showing such good progress," Supergirl remarked in hopes of drawing Anais back to the positive side of this hard training. "You're not bulletproof but dodging the bullets and missiles is no hard job for you since you're a speedster-"

"Child's play," Anais waved a hand at it.

"And your speed overall is said to be incredible too," Supergirl stopped by a table where Lucy was overlooking one of the monitors.

"Very for someone who hasn't been out in the field yet," the newest DEO director chimed in with a proud smile. "Though your flying...seems to be in need of improvement."

"I do more speed runs than flying," Anais shrugged bit ultimately groaned at her progress. "I'm good on the ground but a loser in the sky. What a dork."

"Hey, you're going to get this," Supergirl set a hand on her arm for comfort. "I'm still trying to get the hang of my powers."

"But it's easier for you. You're a full Kryptonian," Anais sighed over her biological disadvantages. "I'm half human and half Solista. Some of the abilities my people have...I don't. Maybe it's my human side that doesn't let me fly as well."

"Don't say that. We just started practicing," Lucy reminded her. "This takes time."

"I could have been telepathic if I was a full Solista," Anais pointed at them. "Imagine that. A telepathic Anais. Yeah, I could have been that great."

Supergirl chuckled. "Okay, you are great and now I just think you might be a little tired."

"You're done for today, Anais," Lucy agreed. "Go home."

"No, but I have been practicing all my life," Anais shrugged. "I have powers but I just haven't had the opportunity to use them for something worthwhile, ladies."

"Well, before you can go out there, you still need to practice," Lucy warned, even wagging her finger at Anais. "You know the drill—"

Anais rolled her eyes and swayed her head. "Yeah, yeah, only small-time, petty crimes."

"Just until you get the hang of things," Supergirl said as a reminder. "Baby steps."

"Fine," sighed Anais. "Now I'm starving…" she rubbed her stomach and pouted specifically at Supergirl.

"Lunch time!" the Kryptonian exclaimed and not a second spared into the sky.

Anais waved a hand at Lucy and sped off on ground. Oh yeah, she was much faster on ground.

~0~

Kara had chosen a small-time restaurant that, according to her, sold the best types of pastas. Anais revealed that pasta was her favor lunchtime meal. Though they were originally planning to have lunch alone in the restaurant, a quick call from Winn changed that into a whole get-together at Kara's.

"Wait, so you just threw her on a table? 50 feet from the sky?" Winn almost laughing after hearing Anais' latest training session was about to get him smacked from the Solista herself.

Kara was making an apologetic face every time she relieved that moment. "I said I was sorry."

"Don't worry, you'll get better," James told Anais, probably the only more mature one in the group.

"That's what everyone says," Anais bitterly huffed and stuffed her mouth with some pasta. Despite the others laughing, she still heard her cell phone ringing. She reached for it on the counter and saw it was her mother trying to video chat. "Oh no," she struggled to swallow in one go. "It's my Mom. Video chatting."

"Answer it," Kara encouraged her. "She just wants to know how you're doing."

"Something about getting my ass kicked by Supergirl and having no job tells me she isn't going to be happy."

"You are trying. You've gone from being isolated to moving to the city and getting a hero identity. She's going to be happy," Kara nodded at the cellphone. "Answer."

Anais squeezed her eyes shut and managed to answer like that. "My Anais!"

Anais slowly opened her eyes and awkwardly smiled at the screen. "Hi...Mom."

"I'm so sorry to call unexpectedly I was just...well, to be honest," her mother said, "I'm home today and this is usually the days we have movie night and I was just missing you."

"Aww," Kara unexpectedly said, instantly gaining the attention of Mrs. Allen.

"Is someone there with you?" she asked Anais.

'Sorry' Kara mouthed to Anais, knowing that now Anais' mother would want to talk to all of them.

Anais cleared her throat and braced herself for the embarrassment she was sure her mother would give her. "I'm, um...having lunch with some friends."

"Friends!? You've made friends already!?" her mother gasped as Anais let her head hang low. The others could not help but laugh. It was the type of embarrassment that only a mother could provide.

"Thank you for that," Anais scolded her mother and decided it couldn't get worse than this so she might as well introduce her mother to them. "Mom, you're on speaker. This is Kara Danvers..."

"Hi!" Kara cheerfully spoke into the phone. "Nice to meet you-ish."

"Kara is letting me stay at her place until I get on my feet," Anais informed her mother.

"Well thank you so much for that, Kara. Though we have told Anais she doesn't need to work—"

"And then I told them that I didn't always want to live off of my parents' money," Anais cut her off before she went on that whole lecture again. "Anyways, then we have James and Winn," she turned the phone over for the guys to give their greetings. "They work at CatCo where I'm hoping to get a position."

"Which we think she will," James said, smiling at Anais. "And I'm James."

"Yeah, I heard she won over Cat Grant in a minute tops," Winn added. "No one does that. Oh, and I'm Winn."

"Plus, she's very good at her photography. I've seen her portfolio," James said.

"Oh we know that," Anais' mother hummed. "We bought her her first camera almost a month after she came to live with us and she couldn't be separated from it. You know, she even went—"

"And that's all the time we have for embarrassment, Mom," Anais turned off the speaker function and pressed the phone to her ear. "Until next time," her sarcastic smile made the others want to laugh again.

"Not so fast, young lady. This call wasn't just to express how much I missed you. Your Dad and I are coming in this weekend to see how you're doing."

"What?" frowned Anais. "But—"

"And to make sure you're not overexerting yourself with all these training sessions we hear you've been doing. Plus, since it was revealed Hank Henshaw was actually an alien and now a fugitive...your father and I are concerned for your safety."

"Mom, I'm fine. Really," Anais honestly said. She didn't want her parents to feel concern for her when there was no reason. Lucy was actually doing a fine job keeping things running whilst keeping Anais contract-free.

"We'll see you this weekend," Mrs. Allen promised then hung up.

Anais cleared her throat and set her phone on the table. "Well, and the award for most overprotective parents go to…"

"Their concern isn't completely misplaced," Winn tried to make her see the logical side of the situation. "Your director turned out to be a Martian who was replaced by a woman who…" he trailed off upon seeing James' expectant face. He cleared his throat and smiled so widely. "Who-who is so lovely. That's-that's what I was going to say. Lovely. Yeah."

Anais smiled at him and picked up her fork to continue eating. "Lucy is doing a good job, actually. And I guess I see why they would want to come back for a check up. I'm just afraid they won't like things and drag me back home."

"Then we'll just have to make sure everything's good this weekend," Kara said like it was no big deal.

Anais, on the other hand, was much more realistic. "Hm, the fact I've got no place of my own and still no job isn't exactly where I want to start."

"Cat will call," James assured her. "I'll give her a push myself if I have to."

"I want the job but...I don't want to be there if it was just because you have to push her," Anais glumly forked at her lunch.

"I really don't think I'll have to," James kept reassuring while the others agreed with him.

"Well, I do have an idea of how to give me a better edge against the other applicants…" Anais admitted. She put her fork down as the others expectantly waited for her to explain. "Cat said she wanted a picture of the newest superhero in the city…"

"Golden Girl—" Winn barely got the name out before Anais pointed a finger at his face.

"Don't call me that!" Anais took a deep breath and continued with her explanation. "Anyways, if I get a shot of myself then I could get closer to the job."

"Isn't that cheating?" Kara thought about it before Anais answered.

"No, just an advantage I happen to have," shrugged Anais.

"But is it a good idea to expose yourself when the DEO has you under observation?" James put down his own fork and hoped that Anais would seriously think about this particular idea before going through with it.

"It's not like they're going to rain down on me for one little picture that's not even going to show all of me." Anais' hopeful stare, which now included her hands put together in a pleading manner, flickered amongst the three helpful candidates.

"I mean, theoretically speaking…if we do this right, we can make sure no faces show up or anything that could potentially out her, or Kara for that matter…" Winn had unknowingly become Anais' new favorite person.

One down, two to go!

"I just feel like it would be cheating," Kara insisted. She didn't want to be made out as the bad woman in this story, but she also didn't want Anais to later regret this decision.

"I mean, think about it, please," Anais didn't want to sound desperate but the idea of returning home to where she would be cooped up again wasn't helping her. She loved her parents, she really did, but she wanted to start making her own life now. Securing a job was the first step.

"Why don't you give us some time?" James offered an alternative he thought was a good compromise for everyone. "Maybe we can come up with something else or, if we decide to go with your idea, we'll at least know how best to do it."

Anais' nod was disappointment but she upheld a grateful smile nonetheless. "Thank you," she said honestly.

Lunch went by without anymore snags. Still, it was obvious their overall hesitancy hurt James and Winn left the apartment, Kara felt an overwhelming urge to apologize to Anais.

"I don't want you to think that I don't want you to get the job, I just...I think you might regret getting the job on...these terms," Kara's intentions were truly honest and that was why Anais had no grudge against her.

"I know. Maybe I'm going about it all wrong but…" Anais threw the last of their trash of their lunch, "I really want that job. Even from where I lived - totally secured - I know that working for Cat Grant would open so many doors for me. I want her to pick me."

Kara nodded. She could see the desire in Anais' face and wished she could help in another way. "You want to go shop?" she found herself asking. Anais blinked with confusion, causing Kara to nervously laugh. "Sorry, I thought...I thought that's a way to distract. I don't even know what I was thinking—"

"No, that's okay, I like the idea," Anais moved over to the blonde. "I haven't really met the city yet."

Kara beamed. It was the perfect opportunity for them to go out and forget about their problems for a while. Who knows, by the time they returned Anais might have come up with another idea for the job position.

~0~

Anais usually wasn't one for shopping, at least not when her mother would drag her around. She remembered her first shopping trip with her adoptive mother and still got shivers. It was just after Hank - or J'onn - stationed her with the Allens. Going from hiding to a loving with humans, surrounded by humans at all times, was a challenging thing for a five year old hybrid.

Since her clothes were tattered from her traumatizing experience, Mrs. Allen thought that giving Anais a whole new wardrobe would help Anais settle into her new life. At five years old, all Anais knew was how to best hide and stay off the grid. Suddenly, she was being brought into a mall surrounded by humans, shown dresses, shirts, jeans everything a little girl would want...but it scared the living hell out her. She'd burst into sobs, attracting the attention of every customer nearby, so from there on out, Mrs. Allen brought Anais clothes herself.

It continued on like that despite Anais growing up and feeling more prepared to deal with humans.

Now that Kara brought her to a local mall, Anais started to regret it. While Kara pointed out the shops she liked to usually visit, Anais was trying to get a handle on the level of noise in the three story building, and the lights…it all seemed to mesh together in front of her, overwhelming her. She jumped in her spot when Kara placed a hand on her arm. With wide eyes, she saw Kara giving her a concerned look.

"Are you okay?" the Kryptonian asked. The color in Anais' face had paled, making the girl seem sick.

"U-um…" Anais kept looking around, the quick-paced action bringing her special attention from passing customers.

Kara wasn't sure what was going on, but she suspected it ran along the feeling of being unprepared. She pulled Anais into a hallway leading to the restrooms. Anais relished in the quiet of the hallway, but once she was calm again she felt ridiculous.

"I-I'm sorry," she leaned against the wall and tilted her head back, closing her eyes to give herself another moment.

"Is it too much?" Kara looked out the hallway, even with her controlled super-hearing ability she could understand what Anais was probably going through.

"I'm acting like a child," Anais rubbed her forehead. "Here I am trying to prove to my parents that I can handle a life on my own, in a city, and…" she laughed at herself, "I can't even go to the frikin mall without panicking."

"I'm sorry, I should have taken you somewhere smaller," Kara came to stand beside her against the wall. "Like a shop or something…"

"No, it's on me," Anais crossed her arms and took a deep breath. "I've had so many examinations on my...powers," she whispered, "But it's always in remote areas or small places."

"So...you've never been somewhere like this?" Kara made a gesture to the mall.

Anais shook her head. "My mom brought me once when I was five and I freaked out so I never went back."

"What about when you were older?"

"I couldn't really control my powers and since there were no real teachers...I stayed at home instead. Even now, I don't have the same hold like you do. I've been cooped up for so long I never really learned…"

Kara could understand some things Anais was going through. As a child, it took her a while to learn to control her new abilities as well as just...adjusting to human life. She stood away from the wall, turning to Anais. "We're going to help you learn, then. We'll just need to start small."

"It's a lot of work, Kara," Anais wasn't sure if she could put people like Kara to do all this work for her, someone Kara barely knew. "I'm not...I'm not worth the trouble…"

"Don't you say that," Kara grabbed her arm and gently pulled her off the wall. "Now you've been saying you want to start anew, so...let's start again."

"The noise…" Anais hesitated to leave the hallway.

"I understand how that feels, so here's what we're going to do," Kara made a gesture for Anais to watch her. "When you start hearing more than you can handle, stop and take multiple deep breaths. I know it's cliche but it really does work. Your body needs to adjusts to the new noise level before it finds a level that's suitable. With time, you're going to get used to the noise levels in the city and you'll be fine."

"Okay," Anais nodded, willing to give it a try. She allowed Kara to bring her back to the shopping area and sure enough, she felt her ears ringing with the incredible noise.

"Deep breaths," Kara instructed again and attentively watched Anais. If anything happen, she'd just have to take them out of the building fast.

Anais lowered her gaze to the marble floor and took in one deep breath. The noise felt warbled in her ear, so she took a second one. By the third one, she felt the noise begin to die down.

Kara smiled when the woman straightened up with a much more calm expression. "Better?"

"I...I think so," Anais looked up at the three floors and fought against the overwhelming feelings. "Let's...let's go buy something."

Kara chuckled and turned them around, pointing to a store across them. "We can start there!"

Anais followed her and hoped to God she would keep it together. As it turned out, the store definitely seemed to be in Kara's style. Anais thought Kara's style was...preppy, cute...but not really around her style. Still, there were some nice things she liked such as blue and white striped shirt and then there was the nice yellow plaid skirt she found afterwards. Kara's joke of looking like Cher Horowitz from Clueless did make Anais laugh just a tad loud for customers to stare. Things were going fine until they came out of the store and Anais felt a peculiar tickle...in her mind.

Kara was getting frozen yogurt, which Anais hadn't wanted, so she was alone when it happened. It was a strange feeling to have something poking in her mind, but Anais was sure that it wasn't her imagination. She looked around but all she saw were bustling humans going in and out of stores, too drawn to their cellphones if she had to describe. The tickle (or poke) turned into a light whispers. She was definitely not imagining!

Anais whirled around trying to catch the culprit. There wasn't anyone suspicious but it was in her gut that someone was trying to do something to her.

"Anais?"

As soon as Anais spun back to see Kara, the whispers in her mind stopped.

Kara pulled the spoon out of her mouth, concerned Anais was getting overwhelmed again. "What is it?"

Anais brought a hand to her forehead again. "I'm not imagining, I'm not imagining…"

Kara was about to ask her what she was talking about when Anais' cell phone went off. Anais took out her cell phone from her back pocket and took a look at the ID on the screen. "Hello?" Anais forgot, only slightly, what she'd experienced after hearing the other line. "Um, yeah...I, yeah, okay. Kara won't mind."

Kara had returned to her frozen yogurt but at the mention of her name she cocked an eyebrow. "Won't mind what?" she asked after Anais ended the call.

"If I take a raincheck on any more shopping for today," Anais slipped her phone back into her back pocket. "That was Winn. He wanted to meet me for some suit conversations?"

Kara's laughter was rather amusing for Anais. "Oh my God, he won't stop."

Anais smiled as they started heading out of the mall. "I want to talk about a suit. It sounds cool."

"He has good taste but remember to take things slow," Kara threw the woman a glance. Anais agreed. "So, where's Winn?"

"Said in a coffee shop—you'd know the place, actually."

"Oh! Mr. Shertbets!" Kara burst into an excited exclamation.

"Kara…" Anais grabbed the end of Kara's spoon and gave it a wiggle to remind her that she still had dessert in her mouth.

Kara apologetically smiled. "So maybe I can just meet you back home."

"Yeah," Anais chuckled. "After you show me to this place."

"You're going to love it!" Kara promised then hurried to show her where her absolute favorite place was.

Neither woman noticed a young man across the street watching them. He frowned, though it wasn't clear to who or what he was upset with. "Could it be?" he whispered then went to follow.

~ 0 ~

Anais was sure she would love the cafe shop as soon as her nose met the sweet cinnamon scent. Kara made her promise to bring back a box of cupcakes at the very least since she would be returning home without stepping in. Anais wasn't sure what Kara would want - since the Kryptonian left before Anais could ask - but Winn would probably know.

"Hello," she found Winn seated at a round table on his own.

Winn was looking at his computer when she'd arrived. He lowered the lid and motioned her to take a seat. "Hi! You ready?" it was obvious was too excited over this new assignment he'd basically signed up for.

"Yes!" Anais was the same. "But are you sure you're up for this? Not that I'm doubting your expertise since, you know, Supergirl and all, but...this could take a while. Isn't your girlfriend still pissed she got fired."

Winn awkwardly cleared his throat. He didn't really want to admit that he was taking some space away from Siobhan - just for a bit - to breathe. He still cared for her, especially after what happened to her, but she was getting a tad grouchy. No matter what he said, she would shout and get angry with him. She'd later apologize and he'd forgive her knowing she wasn't in the right state, but the cycle repeated itself anyways. He just needed a break. And maybe with some hours to herself, Siobhan would calm down too.

"She's napping," he geniously came up with.

Anais raised an eyebrow, immediately guessing this was just a lie. "Napping?"

"Yeah, napping," Winn opened his laptop again. "Definitely napping…"

Well, who was she to poke a hole in a lie she had no business being in? She scooted her chair closer to his and went straight for the interesting parts. "So, what do we need to start in?"

"I need to understand your...unique biology," Winn purposely lowered the volume of his voice. "You know, what exactly is a Solista?"

Anais nodded in understanding. "I am basically driven by light…"

"Yeah, kind of got that from the whole 'Sol' root word," Winn gave a light shrug of his shoulders. "Spanish for Sun?"

"My people are from a planet named Solaria. The Solista race are first and foremost speedsters. My birth mother used to say that kids would begin running as soon as they took their first step. Since I was only half Solista, it took me a bit longer."

"Do you mind if I write this down?" Winn asked. He wanted to keep useful notes for when they actually got started on the suit, but he didn't want to do it without her permission.

"Yeah, just...you know, don't share it with anyone please," she motioned him to go ahead and type.

"Okay, so what other abilities do you have?"

"Besides speedsters, we use heat energy. Um, the speed and the heat go hand in hand. I can fly, I have super strength, super hearing - but I'm not bulletproof so please help me out with that." Winn laughed and told he would try to come up with something. "So...that's...really much it...for me…"

Winn stopped typing to look at her. "Me? Why-why do you say it like that?"

"I'm a hybrid," Anais sighed. "Half Solista, half human. Because of that, I don't have all the powers a regular Solista would typically have. My birth mother said Solistas are naturally telepathic but it doesn't look like I inherited that. So, what do you think we can do?"

"I think we can fashion something that can fit your speedy needs. We're definitely going to need to add a cape - I actually made the mistake of not giving that to Kara and she crashed into a building…" Winn scrunched his face at the reminder. Poor Kara. "So we're not going to repeat with this one. I think the hardest part will be doing the speed resistance bit but I've done it with Kara's so, we should be good."

"Be warned that I'm faster than Kara," Anais didn't meant that to show off. As part of her biology, she was just naturally faster than a Kryptonian who wasn't on Krypton.

"I will make a note," Winn promised her.

Anais thanked him for it but she was cut off when she felt that tickle in her mind. Only this time, the whispers were almost immediately heard.

Outside…

Anais turned on her chair and looked out the glass windows. Winn noticed her off action and followed her gaze to the windows. "Is something wrong?"

"Many things but this one...this one I might be able to fix on my own," she got out of her chair and hurried towards the doors.

"What? Hold on!" Winn quickly shut his laptop and went after her.

Anais rushed out into the sidewalk and took a quick look around the streets. She caught the back of someone who was running away. "Oh no you don't," she took off in a normal-paced run. She wasn't about to expose herself to the public before even becoming a true hero.

"Anais, where are you going!?" she could hear Winn's calls from behind but she wouldn't stop.

The person she was chasing, which by now she could see was a man, was clearly running away from her. The whispers in her head wouldn't stop and neither would she. She made a quick turn at an intersection leading to an alleyway. "Got you now," she smirked.

The man had come up to a fence barring an apartment building. His hands gripped the metal but he wouldn't turn around to meet Anais.

"You're the one doing the whispers in my head, aren't you?" she kept her distance for caution.

"Whispers?" the man repeated with a low chuckle.

Anais' eyebrows knitted together in offence. "Are you laughing at me?"

"Yes," his blunt answer only increased her offence.

"Anais! There you are!" Winn came to a skidded stop beside her, completely out of breath. "What are you doing!?"

In that moment she glanced at him, the man across them started rising into the air. "Oh no you don't!" Anais was about to fly after him but Winn grabbed onto her arm to keep her on ground.

"You can't out yourself like this!" he reminded her.

"He's getting away!" Anais groaned and pulled out her cell phone and snapped a couple pictures of the man now in the sky. She lowered the phone to see what she'd taken, but she, along with Winn, weren't sure who they'd captured.

~ 0 ~

"You should show these to the DEO," Kara said as soon as Anais had shown her the pictures. The Kryptonian was staring at Anais' cellphone in their living room.

Anais was pacing in the room trying to come up with plausible facts about the stranger she'd encountered. "No if I do that it'll just give them and my parents another reason to keep me away from the field."

"But they could help find out who this guy is," Kara swiped through the pictures but couldn't see the face of the man.

"Or they could shut me down altogether," Anais stopped walking and turned to Kara. "I'm sure this guy is the reason why I kept hearing whispers in my head. It was like...like he was trying to get into my head or…"

"Maybe that's his power," Kara reasoned. "He could be with my aunt's crazy army, actually…"

"But then he would be after you, wouldn't he?" Anais didn't know a lot about Kara's aunt Astra - except that she was dead - but she thought the uncle Non would be more focused on getting Kara and not some stranger alien.

"Well, if we don't show these to the DEO then what are we going to do?" Kara's use of pronouns made Anais smile, but confused Kara. "What?"

"You want to help me figure out who this guy is?"

Kara thought this was an obvious thing but apparently not for Anais. "Yeah, why wouldn't I?"

Anais realized she was being ridiculous again. "Sorry," she came to take a seat on the couch. "I'm not used...all this…"

"I noticed," Kara gently smiled at her. "But here we are now, so...what's our plan?"

Anais took back her cellphone and swiped through the pictures again. She'd examined them so many times since she'd taken the pictures but there wasn't anything she recognized. She'd only met a handful of people in her time with her adoptive parents so...she doubted she actually knew him. "Maybe he knows me…" she started to reason. "He was doing that same trick on me at the mall. He picked me for a reason, right?"

"Maybe," Kara shrugged and leaned against the couch.

A smirk spread across Anais' face suddenly so Kara concluded she'd come up with a plan. "What are you going to do?"

"Let him know that I got him," Anais' cryptic answer wasn't very helpful for Kara...until the next morning.

~ 0 ~

"Why are you in my office when I am trying to write up one of my best articles?" Cat Grant removed her glasses and gave Anais a warning look. "I just finished throwing out an annoyingly persistent Siobhan Smythe out yet again so whatever you have, it better be good."

Anais had to watch herself not to rock on her feet. She'd come in with the intention of solidifying her job opportunity and acting like an excited child was not the way to do it. "I have some pictures that might help you with another story…"

Cat was never one to turn away a potential story, even when it was coming from someone who wasn't an employee. "Don't tell me, you've gotten a picture of Golden Girl?"

Anais inwardly groaned. I am not Golden Girl. "No, but—"

Cat lost interest immediately. "Well—" she put her glasses back on, "—then you can find your way out-"

Anais rolled her eyes and dropped the pictures she'd taken of the stranger-man onto Cat's desk. "You may have yourself a new hero on your hands, or enemy."

Cat gazed down at the photographs and raised an eyebrow at them. "A civilian flying?"

Anais gave a curt nod. "Had a streak of luck, but...I'm pretty sure I saw him running away from something...or someone…"

Cat picked up one of the photographs and examined it. The man, dressed in civilian clothes, was aiming for the sky but there were no recognizable features on him. "There's no other witnesses to this man?"

"Not that I know of but...he might show up again," Anais was certain of that. Things would pick up if Cat decided to publish the photographs for the public to see."

"Well, it's no Golden Girl—" Anais cringed but let Cat continue, "—but it is something valuable." Cat removed her glasses again and looked Anais over, making the blonde alien very self-conscious. "I think you and Olsen can get me that Golden Girl picture by the end of the week." She made a motion for Anais to leave her alone.

"Th-thank you…" Anais followed the motion and turned around, making a quick stride out of the office.

Kara was waiting - and acting as if she hadn't been listening all along - by her desk. "Soooo?"

Anais was very careful not to squeal - she'd have to hold that in until she was up in their secret base, or at the very least the elevator. "I got the job!"

"Oh I'm so happy!" Kara gave her a big hug. "Now we can work together and live together! It's going to be a lot of fun!"

"One thing is urgent though," Anais got very serious all of a sudden, making Kara pause in her cheering. "I need to give Cat a better name than 'Golden Girl'."

Kara couldn't help but laugh again.

[dndaddyissues]

Hi there! My friends and I just started playing DnD and we want to play a second campaign (our current DM is not available a lot) but none of us have any DM experience (and we've all only done one campaign, our current one). Do you have any tips/resources on how to start DM'ing? I really don't know where to look/start😅 thanks already for replying! Love all the memes on your blog haha

hello! yes! i’ve answered similar asks here, here, and here, but i’ll also add onto those lists with these quick tips/reiterations:

- run a session 0. since you’re all friends already, you probably know each other pretty well, which is fantastic. but it never hurts to gauge what players want out of their dnd experience. do they wanna kill shit? do they want a politically intricate world? how about hot NPCs to romance? how about a post-apocalyptic setting overrun with monsters? meet your players where they’re at – some will have a deeper and more concrete understanding of what they desire, while others will likely just shrug and say “idk, i just wanna tell a story with friends.” both are fine. take notes during your session 0, and use it to design a campaign around your players’ “wish list.” you can also run character creation during this session 0, during which you should decide if your players all know each other already, if they’re just meeting for the first time, or a combination thereof. finally, a session 0 can be used to determine meeting frequency, scheduling logistics, and “squicks” – topics players want to avoid in the campaign. you can also introduce a “campaign menu” to your players during session 0, so your players can pick their favorite plot hook from it and you can plan your first session based on the characters they make surrounding the hook. easy peasy breezy beautiful  covergirl.

- control the pace. as the DM, you control the speed, tone, and pace of the story. if players are just sitting around, confused and unsure of what to do, throw an encounter at them. combat, roleplay, exploration, any of those things, all of those things. anything to move the story along. if your players take forever to get to the plot hook, bring the plot hook to them. if your players decide to split up, generate quick cuts between scenes so we don’t spend too much or too little time on one person. if your players are confused about a rule, you can spend 5-10 minutes looking it up and delaying gameplay – or you make an executive decision on the spot. just be sure to make it clear to your players that this is a quick ruling to move the story along, and that you will look up (and implement, if you want) the actual rule later.

- who’s afraid of the big bad railroad? ok, this might be controversial, but whatever. in my experience, a genuine “sandbox” campaign can be deeply frustrating and feel pointless if players are just running around, from waypoint to waypoint, killing dozens of goblins in random encounters that have no bearing on the greater world. that’s why i honestly prefer what people might mistakenly call a “railroad” campaign – basically this is just a campaign with concrete and visible goals in sight, and a cool “endgame confrontation” on the horizon. at the end of every session, your players should feel like they’ve accomplished something – or, at the very least, are on the way to accomplishing something. that often makes sessions more fun. 

- start in media res! ah, session 1, that most terrible and beautiful of sessions. nothing wrong with starting in a tavern – many of the most memorable campaigns start in one. but there’s also nothing wrong with starting in the middle of the action. this doesn’t necessarily have to be combat, though it certainly can be. throw your players into the middle of a plot-relevant situation, and see how they respond. they can be the main agents – perhaps they’ve stalked an evil wizard to this lair, and are facing down his horrific automatons at the top of  session 1. or they can be background characters, in a “wrong place wrong time” situation – they’re all in a fantasy elevator, a man walks in with a briefcase, the door closes, and the man falls to the ground, dead – with a dagger coming out of his back. your players get a chance to look at each other, talk this out, make decisions, before the elevator stops, the door opens, and there are a bunch of fantasy police and bystanders milling about. what do they do?

- take notes! TAKE NOTES! i’m really guilty of not doing this often enough. it’s my greatest vice. but yes, take notes during your sessions! what NPCs did you make up on the fly? what improvised magical items did you give your players? where are they going next? what information did they uncover? etc etc. write notes during natural pauses in the game, or when players are arguing with each other about which road to take.

- prepare! some GMs improvise everything. i am not one of those GMs, and i am terrified of them. when i improvise my sessions, they either turn out great or horrible. i’m a risk-averse person, so i want to avoid that coin toss. my solution? prepare my sessions in advance. if you have the time, draw out maps of big set piece battles you think might occur. prepare lists of NPCs that the PCs might encounter in an area you’re pretty sure they’re going to reach. write out some random plot hooks (brownie points if they’re related to the greater campaign story) just in case weird downtime occurs and the players feel lost /listless /confused. and, if you want, prepare a written narrative speech – brief, vivid, visual, and performative – for the beginning and maybe end of your session, vividly describing where your players are, what the environment’s like, what’s around them, and what they could do with this information. having a written “speech” (but no longer than a paragraph or two) ready for just the top of your session really helps make you seem like you have your shit together lol.

that’s all i can think of right now! what advice do other folks have?