#tour costing system

[orcelito]

2nd choice property (the big duplex with more questionable quality) the property management texted me yesterday asking when I'd be looking to move. And I answered around the start of June (tho technically I don't *have* to move until July)

They took over a day to reply with This...

Call me petty but this certainly lowered the appeal of the place to me

[sunderwight]

Shen Yuan transmigrates into PIDW as a "vine demon" (read: hentai tentacle monster) and of course at first he is very much Not Pleased with this development.

Vine demons in PIDW basically only ever served one role in the story, and it was to sexily accost one of the protagonist's wives until the protagonist himself could come along and hack them to bits. Usually only after the wife in question had been sufficiently debauched, but not actually violated. This is not a role Shen Yuan wants to have for a variety of reasons, some of which are plainly obvious and others that have to do with his great big bag of repression. Man has more issues than a library with a robust magazine subscription service, after all.

But it is what it is, and hey, PIDW is also the land of weirdly intriguing monster world-building. Vine demons might have been one-note wonders in the novel itself, but turn them into fully-fledged creatures with three dimensional lives and they get a lot more interesting.

Like, turns out that a completely mature vine demon is sort of like the central hub of an entire plant network. Shen Yuan can root extensions of himself into suitable locations and these plants will gather energy for him and provide him with information about their surroundings, though mostly it has to do with the air and soil quality, the weather, and the presence of any large beasts that have been trampling them lately. Newer plants can only give extremely basic feedback, but more mature specimens can be imbued with demonic energy and reshaped to gain upgrades like eyesight, varying degrees of locomotion, defensive skills, and of course the notorious aphrodisiac and porn trope abilities.

Which do serve a purpose beyond fanservice, of course. The goal of a vine demon's network is to acquire as much energy as it can, transmute it in a form of energy preferable to the demon itself, and then convert that energy into power for its cultivation. Actual individual vine demons are not very common, they require a lot of energy to reproduce in a way that's not simply an extension of their existing selves, and their juvenile state is very vulnerable as it has to acquire energy on its own before it can begin to form its own networks. But if they can make it to adulthood they can cultivate into some of the most ancient and powerful demons around, and are almost impossible to destroy as they can regenerate themselves from any of their extensions, which can be spread out all across the realms.

So most of the vine demons being aggressively destroyed by the protagonist in PIDW were just extensions of one central, perverted vine demon. Good to know!

Shen Yuan is still not all that interested in playing the role of local hentai monster himself. He's a pretty powerful vine demon, and frankly he'd rather just reduce the rate of his power consumption by cutting back his extensive plant network a little (reduce upkeep costs) and focusing on doing stuff like devouring spiritual grasses or locating places with a lot of natural power and just soaking it up, while his main body enjoys the privileges of being a powerful demon and tours around the demon realm, cataloging all the interesting creatures he comes across.

The system, however, requires he facilitate the plot and help lead Luo Binghe to his great success. Shen Yuan is sure the protagonist doesn't need his help to seduce women, but the system is unreasonable, so with his newfound existence on the line he packs his little leaf bags and instructs some of his vine monster extensions from the human realm to head in the general direction of a great big (dangerously spicy) power nexus in the human realms, which would logically be the most powerful sect and the Tian Gong mountains where the Ling Xi caves are.

Right?

Well, slight miscalculation, as Shen Yuan's plant minions actually end up congregating at Bailu mountain, where Tianlang Jun is imprisoned. Some get caught and killed by patrolling Huan Hua cultivators, but a few others make it to where the former Junshang is chilling under several tons of rock. Shen Yuan only manages to figure out what's gone wrong just in time to stop his minions from uh, trying to eat Luo Binghe's father. Which. Would not be good! There's a very distraught snake monster involved also, and Shen Yuan feels kind of bad about the misunderstanding.

He heads to Cang Qiong himself while leaving his plants to just kind of, chill in the mountain and avoid getting slaughtered by cultivators for a bit, while he figures out what -- if anything -- he should do about that end of things. The Snake monster seems to be trying really hard to convince one of his plant minions to help harvest some mushroom seeds for it, though it's hard to tell since the plant minions tend to be singularly fixated on other plants in the area and it could just be that the mushrooms seem important because they're clearly high in spiritual energy. Frankly the minions aren't smart, there could be an entire string quartet in the cave as well and they wouldn't notice unless one of the musicians had tasty spiritual energy!

Shen Yuan debates the pros and cons of letting his minions eat mystery shrooms while he infiltrates Cang Qiong in person, carefully finding and slipping past all of the wards until he can finally get into the Ling Xi caves and plant a root there.

He's lucky. One of the reasons the vine demons would show up basically anywhere the author wanted some dubcon bondage to happen is because they're actually difficult to notice if they're not actively hunting. Shen Yuan's minions don't give off the telltale signs of demonic energy until they're in attack or defensive modes. Dormant, they can stick around and just slowly siphon the energy from the caves, and as long as he doesn't leaven like hundreds of them there, it's unlikely anyone will notice them. They'll just seem like regular plants, or maybe proto spirit grasses that the cultivators will want to leave alone for a while and watch develop, in case they turn into anything useful for grinding into a pill at some point.

Shen Yuan leaves plenty behind just in case, then hightails it back out of the danger zone and breathes a sigh of relief. For good measure he plants a few other extensions around the mountain range on his way out. Leaving plant minions in a location is like installing listening devices and cameras, he manages to get a spy network installed in a cultivation sect with a surprising lack of difficulty.

Wow! It's probably a good thing that vine demons are pretty rare and generally uninterested in politics or really anything other than their personal survival and growth. Turns out they are really over-powered.

Anyway, Shen Yuan leaves his new network to grow and flourish and subtly spy on the protagonist and the current main setting of the plot for him, and then decides what the heck, if random snake monster wants to eat some mushrooms, let's eat some mushrooms. He instructs his minions to get some spore-seed-things (one of them gets absolutely decimated by the ambient spiritual energy in the process) and give some to their new buddy, and then lets Vine Minion no.1209 eat the rest itself.

This proves... interesting.

Vine Minion no.1209 grows a whole new extension. This extension is a human-like body with Shen Yuan's own face and a huge amount of raw spiritual power. The body also has the full range of senses that a human body would. Shen Yuan can sink his consciousness into it to such a degree that he has to find a place to stash his actual main body and it safely go dormant while he does, because otherwise he can't actually split his focus well at all.

The end result feels a bit like teleporting. One moment he's a vine demon outside of Cang Qiong, the next he's staring through human eyes (wow he had almost not completely registered that his senses were EXTREMELY different since transmigrating) at a wide-eyed snake monster.

Through some flailing and awkward attempts at communicating, the snake monster leads Shen Yuan (now in awesome human-like cultivator body! Yes!!) back to Tianlang Jun, and between the three of them they figure out that the question on the table is, can Shen Yuan use his vine demon energy transmutation abilities to use the Sun-Dew Mushroom seeds to grow TLJ a body that's actually compatible with his demon nature, and free him from his prison?

Shen Yuan is sure that freeing TLJ isn't on the plot's agenda, but he's not enough of a bastard to just leave the guy there in the dark with a mountain on top of him either. The system doesn't try and stop him either. So he figures, fuck it, and uses the seeds and a sample of TLJ's blood to grow him a new body.

Good news -- this body successfully comes out demonic! Unlike Shen Yuan's shiny new human cultivator style body. He basically manages to spawn Tianlang Jun a vine demon body that has enough resonance with his Heavenly Demon nature for his blood parasites to transplant the soul/consciousness from his original body to the new one.

Bad news -- he gets infected with Tianlang Jun's parasites in the process, which means he has to help the former Junshang get his shit back in order on pain of, well, pain until his own network can isolate and kill all of the parasites, which is a slow process because they're over-powered immortal protagonist god bugs. Also, Tianlang Jun hijacking Shen Yuan's internal network basically lets him listen in on it also, which the guy apparently LOVES because he's been bored of his skull for the past decade just lying in the dark listening to his own body decompose.

Also, TLJ's new body looks roughly like a twelve-year-old demon kid, rather than a fully grown adult with a son (albeit unknown) of his own. And TLJ insists that Shen Yuan also make a new body for Zhuzhi Lang, since this is so incredible, which means Zhuzhi Lang also gets baked into a new preteen shape.

Shen Yuan has his hands full helping TLJ and ZZL escape Huan Hua Palace territory and then navigate the human world beyond it. Not that he himself knows all that much more about wandering random human settlements in the PIDW world. He decides to pose as a wandering cultivator with two young disciples, with the hardest part being hiding the demonic traits on TLJ and ZZL's new bodies.

Well, at least he's beaten the possibility of more heavenly demons turning up where they're not supposed to. Despite TLJ and ZZL retaining some of their original demonic traits, they're both vine demons now, which might still put them in the running of "incredibly over-powered" beings in PIDW, but is definitely a tier below where they were before. Plus, having helpers is kind of handy for when he needs to divert his attention back to his full vine demon network, as the human body tends to take so much focus that it's an on-or-off situation. Either he's piloting his cultivatorsona around, or he's doing the demonic plant network thing, but he can't do both.

Which means that his not-so-young "disciples" have to watch his catatonic body for him while he's busy elsewhere. At least they seem pretty decent about it, especially Zhuzhi Lang, who diligently stands guard (TLJ on the other hand tends to let his consciousness follow Shen Yuan along so he can spy on Cang Qiong).

Shen Yuan debates telling TLJ about Luo Binghe. But he doesn't know how he would explain it, or how it might impact that plot, so instead he holds off. Tianlang Jun and Zhuzhi Lang seem to be under the impression that he deliberately came to help them, and that he's got some grand scheme to help bring Huan Hua Palace down as well, and he's not sure what they'll do if they learn otherwise. They are very (understandably) pissed at Huan Hua. But Binghe needs it for the plot!

Anyway. His plant minions aren't completely idle in Cang Qiong territory. Even when he's not paying attention to them, they're gathering energy and keeping sort of internal records about changes in their environment (admittedly, this doesn't always tell him much about what the people are doing, but they do at least notice when people pass by and can imprint snippets of sound, so they're not a total bust as spies). When Shen Yuan is paying attention, which is generally at night (he doesn't need much sleep), he can observe a lot of the goings-on himself and move his minions around to better locations if possible/needed.

Most of his minions are on Qiong Ding and Qing Jing, of course. He avoids Qian Cao as having the cultivators most likely to recognize seemingly-innocuous plants as something Else, but over time he spreads a few more seeds out to the other peaks. Partly to keep his bases covered, partly so he can distract Tianlang Jun with shit like the pangolins on Wan Jian or listening in as the maiden flowers of Xian Shu talk about yellow books like it's their life's calling.

Of course, Shen Yuan interferes with Luo Binghe as well. He can't help it. The poor protagonist bun doesn't deserve to be so miserable! There's not much Shen Yuan can do, but he gets away with what he thinks are subtle acts of assistance. Tripping some bullies on a vine here and there. Smuggling fruits and healing herbs into the woodshed. Providing a little boost of spiritual energy here or there, to help with Binghe's struggling cultivation and subsequent pain and injuries. Using some vines to untangle a particular lost pendant from some branches, and ferry it back to the woodshed as well, being careful not to wake its rightful owner as they deposit it into his palm. Catching a few rampaging demons before they can attack young disciples. That sort of thing.

Shen Yuan even finds himself intervening in the situation of Liu Qingge's qi deviation again, restraining the peak lord with the network of now-quite-robust plants in the Ling Xi caves, binding him tight and siphoning off his disrupted energy. Shen Yuan is trying very hard not to think about how much he's playing the roll of a PIDW-typical vine demon as he snakes a tendril down Liu Qingge's throat, but it's to feed him qi! To fix the deviation! He's not sucking him dry, and credit where it's due, feeding energy to prospective victims does not come naturally to vine demons and he has to figure the whole thing out on the spot!

And then he has to do basically the same thing to Shen Qingqiu, who is also having a qi deviation! What the fuck!

Unfortunately, saving two Peak Lords is conspicuous -- despite the chaos and the chance that neither of them should remember much of what happened, figures convenient amnesia tropes would fail Shen Yuan right when he needed them. The peak lords opt to misremember the incident as both of them being attacked by the vines, that's gratitude for you, and figure this is all part of the elaborate demon invasion situation and burn out his entire Ling Xi network.

Shen Yuan gets the fright of his life when Luo Binghe even manages to track down his actual main body just outside of Cang Qiong, with the help of Meng Mo's advice. Luckily the young protagonist just seems curious, and the Shen Yuan's embarrassment, reveals that he had in fact noticed the random varieties of plant life that seemed determined to lend him a hand. He even thinks Shen Yuan is some type of benevolent helper! Well, that's better than "horrible pervert plant to be killed on sight", so he'll take it!

Also, it turns out that there seems to be... another vine demon infiltrating Cang Qiong? An Ding peak, specifically. Shen Yuan would suspect a dropped plot involving Shang Qinghua, notorious traitor to the demons, but he gets a vibe off of the system notifications when his plant minions make contact with Other Vine Demon's minions. Which at first seem determined to run him out of dodge, before they seem to also decide the better of it and back off.

Tentative ceasefire and overtures of contact are made. Shen Yuan discovers that there's another transmigrator in a similar position -- died then woke up as a PIDW vine demon, tasked with keeping the general shape of the plot on track, etc. Except this guy's base of operations remains in the demon realms, and he's been keeping the future Mobei Jun from biting the dust, patching over other plotholes on that end of the equation, and spying on the major sects for the demons in collusion with Shang Qinghua and some non-literal plants in Huan Hua.

Shen Yuan starts to hatch a plan. According to Other Vine Demon Guy, part of his system-mandated quests involve arranging the Immortal Alliance conference. Shen Yuan also has to be present for that, in order to ensure that Luo Binghe makes it to the Abyss without dying on the way, and that other vital characters like Shen Qingqiu and presumably Binghe's wives survive the dangerous scenario as well. It seems the transmigrators are being used to patch over situations from the novel that simply had such terrible survival odds, there's no way they'd proceed without outside assistance.

But this means Shen Yuan can meet up with Other Vine Demon at the conference, they can work together to meet the system's demands, and then -- hopefully -- Shen Yuan can get Other Vine Demon to take Zhuzhi Lang and Tianlang Jun to the demon realms. Fact is, the more time passes the more clear it becomes that they need to get out of range of human cultivators, as TLJ and ZZL figure out how to master their new styles of demonic cultivation. Plus Shen Yuan is almost rid of TLJ's last remaining blood parasites, and as TLJ can no longer make new ones, this means he'll finally be free to shake his hangers-on loose and focus on getting things ready for Luo Binghe's return from the Abyss.

The IAC plot goes down about as smoothly as possible. With Other Vine Demon's help, Shen Yuan sets up a bunch of plant minions in Jue Di Gorge, and when the abyssal rift starts opening he's even able to run interference and keep too many of the young competitors from getting killed outright. He follows Luo Binghe's group, vines emerging from the shadows to assist, and even ends up using his main body to prevent several creatures from killing vital characters until the Black Moon Python-Rhino turns up to break Luo Binghe's seal.

It's even a good opportunity for him to feed by devouring a lot of the attacking demons!

Of course, there are downsides. Shen Qingqiu manages to sneak up on and slice the shit out of his main body, which is really quite painful. Tianlang Jun and Zhuzhi Lang don't stay behind to watch his catatonic cultivator body and instead get involved, which is dangerous and ill-advised. Luo Binghe absolutely loses his shit in a way he didn't even manage to during PIDW, acting weirdly jealous of his father and cousin at first, then going fully feral and just straight up trying to murder Shen Qingqiu until Shen Qingqiu knocks him and Shen Yuan's main body into the Abyss. Asshole. On top of it, Shen Yuan's unattended human cultivatorsona gets captured by Huan Hua palace investigators who declare him a suspicious person in light of the whole debacle and throw him into the water prison!

So that's. All very bad.

But the system seems happy. Shen Yuan is tasked, in the Abyss, with helping Luo Binghe get to Xin Mo in one piece (well, one frequently regenerated piece), which he supposes is more convenient than just hoping the heavenly demon blood and Meng Mo will be enough assistance. Other Vine Demon is able to converse with one of Shen Yuan's remaining plant minions in Jue Di Gorge for long enough to establish that he'll look after TLJ and ZZL, before cultivators show up and Shen Yuan's minion gets chopped up. Shen Yuan's human body seems to get mostly forgotten in Huan Hua's water prison, but that's fine, he wouldn't be able to pay it that much attention while he's in the Abyss anyway. He just puts it into a meditative state and lets it focus on cultivating automatically.

A lot of his plant minions in the human realm got wiped out, leaving most of the remaining ones in various villages that he and TLJ and ZZL visited on their travels (good backups, but nothing fancy) and some on Qing Jing peak. Shen Yuan focuses on regrowing the ones on Qing Jing so that if need be, he can regenerate his main body there, and reunite with Luo Binghe in a place he's certain the protagonist will return to.

Although after they're out of the Abyss, Binghe might not want to ever see him again, given the crazy stuff that's been going on! Please, it's not Shen Yuan's fault he's a walking smut trope! Every time he has to intervene, it's like something out of a cheesy hentai. The protagonist is injured and needs energy? Here, have some vines invading your orifices! Protagonist has fallen off of a cliff? Lets entangle him in the most erotic post possible to save him! Nights are cold and dangerous? Nothing says sharing energy with your mentor figure like letting him practice tentacle-shibari on you! Vicious succubi are not taking 'no' for an answer? Guess Shen Yuan will just have to string them up and drink them dry!

It's so awkward, it even seems to be throwing Luo Binghe off of his harem-building game, as the protagonist turns down every woman he had picked up in PIDW. At least the system doesn't dock Shen Yuan points for that. Well, the Abyss wives were the worst of the bunch anyway, they won't be missed. Though, Binghe should really be careful about how he explains that Shen Yuan's vines are good at helping him regulate his spiritual energy -- declarations about "his master's tendrils" and his comments about how Shen Yuan can used whatever orifice he'd like could really be taken the wrong way!

It's even going to Shen Yuan's own head a bit. The Abyss must be getting to him, dragging him into a more demonic mindset. How else to explain the way he'll look at a trussed-up Binghe and catch himself licking his lips???

The sooner they're out, the sooner everything can go back to normal and they can forget this whole weird ordeal!

[reasonsforhope]

"In an unprecedented transformation of China’s arid landscapes, large-scale solar installations are turning barren deserts into unexpected havens of biodiversity, according to groundbreaking research from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The study reveals that solar farms are not only generating clean energy but also catalyzing remarkable ecological restoration in some of the country’s most inhospitable regions.

The research, examining 40 photovoltaic (PV) plants across northern China’s deserts, found that vegetation cover increased by up to 74% in areas with solar installations, even in locations using only natural restoration measures. This unexpected environmental dividend comes as China cements its position as the global leader in solar energy, having added 106 gigawatts of new installations in 2022 alone.

“Artificial ecological measures in the PV plants can reduce environmental damage and promote the condition of fragile desert ecosystems,” says Dr. Benli Liu, lead researcher from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. “This yields both ecological and economic benefits.”

The economic implications are substantial. “We’re witnessing a paradigm shift in how we view desert solar installations,” says Professor Zhang Wei, environmental economist at Beijing Normal University. “Our cost-benefit analysis shows that while initial ecological construction costs average $1.5 million per square kilometer, the long-term environmental benefits outweigh these investments by a factor of six within just a decade.” ...

“Soil organic carbon content increased by 37.2% in areas under solar panels, and nitrogen levels rose by 24.8%,” reports Dr. Sarah Chen, soil scientist involved in the project. “These improvements are crucial indicators of ecosystem health and sustainability.”

...Climate data from the study sites reveals significant microclimate modifications:

Average wind speeds reduced by 41.3% under panel arrays

Soil moisture retention increased by 32.7%

Ground surface temperature fluctuations decreased by 85%

Dust storm frequency reduced by 52% in solar farm areas...

The scale of China’s desert solar initiative is staggering. As of 2023, the country has installed over 350 gigawatts of solar capacity, with 30% located in desert regions. These installations cover approximately 6,000 square kilometers of desert terrain, an area larger than Delaware.

“The most surprising finding,” notes Dr. Wang Liu of the Desert Research Institute, “is the exponential increase in insect and bird species. We’ve documented a 312% increase in arthropod diversity and identified 27 new bird species nesting within the solar farms between 2020 and 2023.”

Dr. Yimeng Wang, the study’s lead author, emphasizes the broader implications: “This study provides evidence for evaluating the ecological benefit and planning of large-scale PV farms in deserts.”

The solar installations’ positive impact stems from several factors. The panels act as windbreaks, reducing erosion and creating microhabitats with lower evaporation rates. Perhaps most surprisingly, the routine maintenance of these facilities plays a crucial role in the ecosystem’s revival.

“The periodic cleaning of solar panels, occurring 7-8 times annually, creates consistent water drip lines beneath the panels,” explains Wang. “This inadvertent irrigation system promotes vegetation growth and the development of biological soil crusts, essential for soil stability.” ...

Recent economic analysis reveals broader benefits:

Job creation: 4.7 local jobs per megawatt of installed capacity

Tourism potential: 12 desert solar sites now offer educational tours

Agricultural integration: 23% of sites successfully pilot desert agriculture beneath panels

Carbon reduction: 1.2 million tons CO2 equivalent avoided per gigawatt annually

Dr. Maya Patel, visiting researcher from the International Renewable Energy Agency, emphasizes the global implications: “China’s desert solar model could be replicated in similar environments worldwide. The Sahara alone could theoretically host enough solar capacity to meet global electricity demand four times over while potentially greening up to 20% of the desert.”

The Chinese government has responded by implementing policies promoting “solar energy + sand control” and “solar energy + ecological restoration” initiatives. These efforts have shown promising results, with over 92% of PV plants constructed since 2017 incorporating at least one ecological construction mode.

Studies at facilities like the Qinghai Gonghe Photovoltaic Park demonstrate that areas under solar panels score significantly better in environmental assessments compared to surrounding regions, indicating positive effects on local microclimates.

As the world grapples with dual climate and biodiversity crises, China’s desert solar experiment offers a compelling model for sustainable development. The findings suggest that renewable energy infrastructure, when thoughtfully implemented, can serve as a catalyst for environmental regeneration, potentially transforming the world’s deserts from barren wastelands into productive, life-supporting ecosystems.

“This is no longer just about energy production,” concludes Dr. Liu. “We’re witnessing the birth of a new approach to ecosystem rehabilitation that could transform how we think about desert landscapes globally. The next decade will be crucial as we scale these solutions to meet both our climate and biodiversity goals.”"

-via Green Fingers, January 13, 2025

[munsonsmixtapes]

Make it Steamy

Simon "Ghost" Riley x fem!reader

A weekend at a cabin with your best friend, Simon makes the both you decide to take your friendship to the next level.

cw: MDNI (18+) fingering, oral (f receiving)

You let out a sigh of relief when you enter the cabin you’re going to be sharing with Simon. He brushes past you as he comes in behind you, holding your suitcases that he insisted on carrying. Tension between the two of you was high the entire car ride and you’re wondering if being here alone will finally cause everything to crack and you wonder who will be the first to break. 

You’re sure it’s probably going to be you. You’ve been feeling this way about Simon for so long and you think this is going to be the weekend where you finally make a move. You wonder if he feels it too. You see the looks he gives when he thinks you’re not looking. His hand was on your thigh the entire way up here so that has to mean something, right?

While he sets your bags in your rooms, you decide to take yourself on a tour, checking the place out. Simon booked the reservation and wouldn’t tell you anything so it’s all a surprise. Considering how spacious and nicely decorated the whole thing is, you just know that it had to cost a pretty penny even though it’s not very big. 

You make your way through the kitchen where there’s a sliding glass door that leads out onto a deck. Your eyes see nothing but the giant hot tub and you let out a sigh at how good that would feel on your aching muscles. Your job has been stressing you out and you can literally feel the knots in your shoulders. 

And you can’t help but let your mind wander, letting yourself think about Simon joining you in the hot tub, straddling his waist and-

“I’ve got some bad news,” he says, pulling you out of your dirty thoughts and you’re so startled that you feel like cold water has just been poured on you. 

“What is it?” You ask, turning to face him and he has that face that lets you know that you’re not going to like what he’s going to say. 

“There’s only one bed.” You resist the urge to bite your bottom lip, fighting off the smile when you hear those words. You’ve shared a bed more times than you can count so you don’t see why this is any different. He’s been acting weird the entire day and you can’t figure out why.

“So? We share a bed all the time. I missed your snuggles.” Simon normally loves sharing a bed with you. He loves that you let him hold you, but this time, it’s different. Seeing you in that tank top and short shorts is making his brain short circuit and if he’s around you for too long, he’s afraid of what he’s going to do. 

He wants to pull you close, to feel every inch of your naked body, to bend you over the counter and-

“Hello, Simon?” You wave your hand in front of his face and he shakes his head, reluctantly bringing himself out of the delicious daydream he’s been having for days. If only he was able to stop thinking with his cock. Then maybe he’d actually be able to be around you and not have to constantly go to the bathroom to adjust himself. He’s debating taking a shower and putting on some loud music so he can jack off to get it out of his system. 

“I think I’m gonna get in the hot tub if you want to join,” you tell him as you make your way to the bedroom to change. You don’t have to ask him twice. He makes a beeline for the bedroom and you’re already in the bathroom, surely getting changed. He wonders what little number you’ve packed this time, if you’ll let him take it off of you. 

You stand in the mirror, the bright purple bikini looking a lot better on you than it had in the dressing room. You’ll wonder if he’ll like this one, if it will be left floating in the water as you ride him. Part of you wonders if you should just take a cold shower instead to make yourself a less horny mess. 

You come out of the bathroom, feeling more confident than ever as Simon’s eyes catch on you, slowly moving over your body and your skin burns under his gaze. He looks like he wants to eat you alive and you think you might let him. 

He stands there, frozen and you make your way towards him, batting your eyelashes like you have no idea what you’re doing even though you can clearly see the outline of his cock in his swim trunks. 

“How do I look, Simon?” You ask and his mouth goes dry, all the words he’s ever known fleeing from his head. You look so good, so much so that he’s close to bending you over the bed beside you and having his way with you. 

“Fuck,” he rasps, his eyes moving down to the tops on your breasts. God, what he would give to be able to reach out and touch them. 

“You can touch me,” you tell him, your voice soft as you arch your back ever so slightly. “You can touch me any way you want.” You grab hold of his hands and rest them on your waist, your mind racing with all of the dirty things he could do with just his fingers. 

He doesn’t even care that you’re calling the shots-he actually prefers it. He loves being told what to do, knowing that he’d do whatever command fell from your pretty lips. He’s so in love with you, needs you so badly that he’ll do whatever he needs to in order to please you. 

He’s hypnotized, feeling dizzy as you stare up at him, his eyes now shifting to your lips that he so desperately wants to know the taste of. But he decides he won’t let himself until you tell him to. He just doesn’t want to overstep, to do something that you don’t want even though you’re looking at his lips too.

“Maybe we should get in,” he gulps, jerking his thumb in the direction of the hot tub and you wordlessly take his hand and lead him that way. 

You feel like you’re on a high. You’ve somehow made Simon nervous and you kind of like it, that you were able to completely disarm him with just a few words. You wonder what he’d do if you straddled him in the hot tub, if he would let you fuck him right there. Your mind swirls with all of the possibilities as you both get in, the water bubbling as you sit across from each other. 

The tension is palpable and you can’t help but smirk at the fact that he looks like he wants to eat you whole but he’s restraining himself, holding onto the edge of the bench so hard that his knuckles are white. 

You don’t even last five minutes before you’re making your way over to him. You straddle his lap, each leg landing on each side of his thighs as you wrap your arms around his neck. His hands hesitantly land on your waist. You stare at each other, both of you thinking about all of the nasty things you want to do to each other but neither of you are willing to make the first move even though you’re staring at each other’s lips again. 

“Kiss me,” you whisper and he does as you command, not holding back, pouring out everything he’s feeling for you into this kiss. It’s hungry, and desperate as you both take exactly what you want from each other. It’s teeth clinking and hands in hair, filthy moans. 

You can feel hard he is underneath you and you grind against him as a way to tease him. He looks like he’s about to bust and before you can even register what’s happening, he’s carrying you inside, lips still attached as he takes you to the bedroom. 

Once inside, he sets you on your feet, his lips moving down to your neck, kissing his way down your body until he’s on his knees. He goes to untie your bikini bottoms, letting them fall to the floor as he brings his fingers up to your cunt, moving them back and forth in a teasing manner and because you just need some relief, you grab hold of his wrist and shove his fingers inside you, moaning loudly at the sensation and Simon swears he’s going to bust right there. 

“Fuck,” you whine, when he begins to pump harder and harder, seeing how easily you’re able to come undone just from his fingers. Your fingers dig into his shoulders as you hold onto him for dear life, feeling your legs already turning to jello. 

“So tight,” he groans, his fingers moving at an even more rapid rate. “Let me fix that for you.” He keeps going, watching you as he fingers you, eating up your pretty moans and the way your throw your head back because of how good it feels. 

He’s hard beyond belief and despite how badly he wants to get inside you, he wants to taste you even more. He wants to watch you writhe as he eats you out, to fuck his face the way he knows you will, you scream with pleasure when you eventually come, his name falling from your lips. 

He watches you orgasm, his ego even bigger because all he used was his fingers. You’re so close to falling to the floor so he pulls his fingers out and steadies you, making sure to lick his fingers clean before he does so. 

“Can I eat you out?” He asks, and you look down at him, your eyes darkening as you do so. “Please.” He’s begging now and you never thought you’d ever get to see Simon Riley in this position. 

“How about it sit on your face?” You ask and he’s on his feet in an instant, throwing himself onto the bed and you join him, kneeling beside him as you take off your bikini top and throw it to the side. 

Simon can’t help but stare at your bare chest, your hard nipples, wondering how someone can be so beautiful. He swears that you’re more beautiful than he imagined, the star in all of his late night fantasies. But even those can’t compare to what’s happening now. 

You lean over and press your lips to his and he can’t help but think about how natural this feels, how he could kiss you for hours and never get bored. This could be what you do for the rest of the night and he wouldn’t complain. 

He’s so in love with you and he wonders how you would respond if he told you the truth. He doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to sleep with anyone else after tonight, not that he wants to. You’re it for him and he wants to spend the rest of his life with you if you’ll let him.

You pull away before he’s ready then move up by his head, swinging one leg over and before he knows it, you’re sitting on his face and he doesn’t need to be told what to do. He begins at your clit, teasing it with his tongue and just that makes you moan loudly, the sounds almost pornographic and he pulls it into his mouth, giving it a rough suck. 

You must like that because you’re riding his face now, the prettiest sounds falling from your mouth as you do so. His hands move your ass, giving it a squeeze which makes you squeal and Simon can’t help but be amused by that. He then begins to knead, desperate for something to do with his hands. 

You grab hold of the headboard in front of you, as he bites down on your clit, going at it like a man starved and and you can’t help but think that this is the best head you’ve ever received and don’t think you’d ever let anyone do this after tonight. 

Once his mouth moves down to your slit, you already know that you’re going to come again, it’s rapidly approaching and the three words that have been on the tip of your tongue for years are blurted in a breathy confession as you reach yet another orgasm and as soon as the words are out of your mouth, your eyes widen, realizing what you’ve just said. 

You’re quick to climb off of him and his expression matches yours, his eyes just as wide as he takes in the words, really letting them sit. The silence is deafening and you’re silently begging, pleading for him to say something. 

“I meant what I said,” you’re quick to say, not wanting him to think it was just because of the orgasm he just gave you. Before you can even overthink, he smiles, and matches the way you’re sitting, getting on his knees as well. 

“I love you too,” he smiles as a hand reaches up and cradles your face in his hands as he pulls you into a kiss that’s nothing but teeth and giggles because of how happy you both are. “So fucking much.” His swimsuit is off in an instant and he lays you down on the bed, fully intending on showing you just how much. 

You stay like that the rest of the weekend, tangled up in the sheets, whispering just how much you love each other between giggles and sharing stories of when you first fell for each other. The weekend is nothing like you anticipated but you can’t say you’re upset with that. This is everything you ever wished for and exactly what you’ve been wanting your entire life. Needless to say you’ve both earned it.

[mindblowingscience]

Rice University researchers have developed an innovative solution to a pressing environmental challenge: removing and destroying per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), commonly called "forever chemicals." A study led by James Tour, the T.T. and W.F. Chao Professor of Chemistry and professor of materials science and nanoengineering, and graduate student Phelecia Scotland unveils a method that not only eliminates PFAS from water systems but also transforms waste into high-value graphene, offering a cost-effective and sustainable approach to environmental remediation. This research was published March 31 in Nature Water.

Continue Reading.

[3600frames]

Translation for the Off the Hook page of Splatoon 3 Ikasu Art Book

[Squid & Octo Supernova Unit]

A unit consisting of the wicked-tongue rapper and champion of chaos Pearl, and the ditzy and dependable Marina, who loves nothing else in the world more than Pearl, heavy machinery and shoujo manga. They are the ones responsible for the Final Fest held in July of 2019 Mollusc Era that caused the "chaos boom" sweeping over the world. Currently, they are in the midst of a world tour accompanied by the band Damp Socks.

[The One and Only Genius Rapper]

“A world tour? No way, we’re taking this thing to outer SPACE!” is what Pearl suddenly declared before throwing herself into creating a new outfit themed after an space suit. The end result was a haute couture garment made by the hands of a world-renowned designer, and threaded with an abundance of valuable materials that can withstand the vacuum of space. The manufacturing costs ended up totaling to 200 million geso, leading some to call it “a huge waste of money.”

[Sharp-Minded and Girlish DJ]

An Octoling maiden who finds happiness in constantly being swept up by the behavior of the ever free-spirited Pearl. All the while progressing with musical composition for the new frontier that is Damp Socks feat. Off the Hook, she is capable of also managing other affairs in tandem with complete perfection. These include coordinating the overall direction of the world tour, booking the venues, development of ticket sales systems, and lunch box preparation.

JP under the cut:

イカ&タコの超新星ユニット

毒舌ラッパー兼混沌の覇者"ヒメ"と、ヒメセンパイと重機と少女漫画をこよなく愛するしっかり者の天然DJ"イイダ"によるユニット。 軟体世紀2019年7月に行われたファイナルフェスで、世界に混沌ブームを引き起こした張本人たち。 現在はバンド”ビジー・バケーション"を引き連れて、ワールドツアーの真っ最中。

唯一無二の天才ラッパー

「ワールドツアー？　いや、宇宙進出だ！」と突然言い出し、宇宙服をモチーフとした新衣装を作り始めた。宇宙での使用にも耐える貴重な材料をふんだんに活用し、世界的なデザイナーの手によってヒメ専用のオートクチュールが誕生した。その製作費は2億ゲソはくだらないと言われている。

頭脳明晰で乙女チックなDJ

自由気ままなヒメの行動に毎回振り回されつつ、幸せを感じているタコの乙女。新たな展開の”ビジー・バケーションfeat.テンタクルズ”の楽曲制作を進めながら、ワールドツアーの総合演出や会場のブッキング、チッケト販売システムの開発、お弁当の手配など、あらゆる業務を平行しながら完璧にこなしている。

[evilminji]

You know... >.>

My Dad always used to tell me, if I get a Genuine Genie(tm)? Get a lawyer first. Before I make my Wishes(tm), so they can help me word them correctly.

Obviously, a human lawyer would not be foolproof... BUT! What about a Ghost Lawyer?

Like? Obviously Desiree would be PISSED. How DARE you twist HER wish twisting! Her THING is "what you believe is your heart's desire always comes at a terrible cost" which is what she DIED to learn.

So obviously she would NEVER, willingly, bend her Obsession for ANYONE. And you'd have to make a DAMN good case to that Lawyer for why he ISNT breaking the law by helping you. Probably some "you can: save the life of an unconscious person against their will/shove an unobservant person OFF the train tracks, even if they get hurt, to save their life" clause.

Like? Using a ghosts Obsession against them? Bad. Illegal.

Using it against their will, to save OTHER ghosts, who are in immediate danger? Not illegal, but they will be PISSED. Still not great though, you will want to apologize and fast.

So like??? Reality Bending Power. Patrick Star Method of "what if we MOVED the city... somewhere else?" Considered at 1am. Team of Ghost Laywers, acquired.

Amity and all Limnals are REMOVED from the DP-verse.

Wish worded juuuuust so. Any ghost that forms there? Yoink! Instantly removed to the Zone. Natural Portals? Cut off. Let the whole Reality fade out at an accelerated rate, as no NEW energy is fed into the system. Entropy will do, what entropy does. Exactly as they wished it.

They hated Death so much, they speed up the heat death of their ENTIRE universe by Eons. Congratulations, you guys "Won". Enjoy the wildly more fragile flora, fauna, and general ecosystems. Now that none of you have that ambient Ectoplasm strengthening your bodies. Yeah, the things you used to shrug off? Those are gonna maim or kill you now.

Doesn't MATTER if you "learn your lesson" though! Cause this is WAY past that point! This is "cutting off the tumor before it kills us" territory, and buddy? Amity ISNT the tumor. Go forth a grow, just like you wanted.

They won't be here to fix your messes anymore.

Because Danny got himself a dictionary thick "I Wish..." contract. Which was worded, as it needs to be, in one loooooooong run on sentence. Shouted "I Wish what's written on THIS, as it is currently, and without any form of editing or negotiation!" As fast as he could. Yote the document in Desiree's direction. And Flew like an INCANDESCENTLY pissed off Genie was trying to set his everything of fire.

Which she was.

Thankfully, Paulina came in clutch with her History of all things Jewelry, world fashions, and Make-Up knowledge. That, coupled with the Power Of Rich Friends(tm)? (Sam. Her mother was THRILLED to take her Jewelry and clothing shopping for something other then blacks and dark purple. They went on a jet setting whurl-wind tour. Sam actually kinda liked a some of what she found.)

They have Apology Bribes.

They shamelessly HIDE behind the mountain of Apology Bribes, while they explain themselves. Is Desiree HAPPY? No. But those bracelets are magnificent and she DOES deserve nice things. Those silks will really bring out her eyes. And she... DOES... admit...

Maybe...

That things are not... SAFE. Any longer. Danny TRIES. Everyone else can see it. And he's made incredible strides! Even convinced his lunatic parents. Though they're still not quite POPULAR. (WAY too pushy and invasive with their questions, for most people.) But the fanatics in white?

They nearly killed Box Lunch. If her father hadn't BEEN there...

And the poor man will have that scar on his back for the rest of his afterlife. Desiree can see why Danny is pushing. Does she LIKE it? No. But...

She supposes she will content herself with the suffering of the Fanatics in White and all who support them. THEIR wishes, twisted. Their ugly heart's desires.

Fine.

"SO YOU WISH IT. SO IT SHALL BE!"

And? The ghost town of what WOULD of one day grown into Amity, had the witch's there not been found by those they had fled from, which sits in long rotted ruins, amongst the trees in nowhere Illinois? Poof! Two "Towns" are switched.

The roads out of town coming to a clean line stop, meeting not even goat paths. Just trees. Old growth.

But it's not ALL of Town, is it? Faces missing. New, confused, faces from every corner of the map, taking their place. No Limnal left behind. No supporter of the GIWs genocide, brought along. Family's kept together where they could be. But by the few, scared and upset, green flashing eyes of children in the crowd?

It seemed for some, it was easier to fear and hate, then love their children.

Already they were being gathered up by school teachers and PTA parents. As everyone tried to figure out what had happened. Concerned, quite muttering a dull roar as everyone tries to coordinate.

Red Huntress joins Danny and Dani in the Sky. She doesn't get a word in. Wanted to know what the HELL was going on. She was with her dad in Chicago! Dani was in Taiwan! Literally! As in, sitting in a SUBWAY station one second, the next? Outside!

But they don't get to demand those answers. Because there is a sonic boom on the horizon. And then? Floating... weird... not ghosts?

Uuuuuuhhhh?

Hi?

That much blue... sure is a Statement. Like the cape and... bloooomers? Shorts. Bikini bottoms? It.. it's a Cool Look, dude! No, really. They are being VERY supportive here! If YOU like it? That's the only thing that matters!

Red Huntress smacks the Danny/i's Repeated upside their heads and demans to know what the Not-Ghosts are doing in their airspace.

Oh YEAH. Good point! What she said! And can it WAIT? They're kinda going through A Thing right now...

Kon? Wants it on record he loves these guys. They're hilarious. The LOOK on Clark's FACE?? He wishes he could frame it. Preserve it for future generations. Thing is? There was NOT a town here a second ago.

Well, bout 30 minutes or so, but you get the idea. One moment? Tree noises. Bam! Thousands of people! Obviously the checked it out. Only to be met with two... three maybe? Heros who have NO IDEA who they are.

Clear Reality warping shenanigans. Might be time travel or multiverse. Question is... are they STAYING? And if SO? What now...

@hdgnj @ailithnight @the-witchhunter @nerdpoe @dcxdpdabbles @mutable-manifestation @hypewinter

[bubbles-for-all-of-us]

I whisper secrets to my mirror

a/n idk this came to me in a dream last night so here we are now. I had to let this out of my system. Also, I haven’t written properly in a month so apologies if this sucks ass. 🫂✨

summery: take a gamble… one night leads to a handful of chased pleasure. So let’s whisper secrets to the mirror maybe at the end we will get to see each other clearer.

warning: FWB, sexual content, female and male receiving but also a plot… right…

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Noah had a strict rule when it came to seeing people. He wanted his life to stay off the internet at all cost and by now he was more than aware that letting random people into his bed was like a time bomb waiting to explode. So once bad omens took off, he cut off almost all the careless hookups. He wasn’t a priest, of course, he still had needs. But the bigger his band got, the harder it became to enjoy a careless night out because no matter what he always felt as if a dagger hung right above his neck.

You fell into his lap quite literally. The whole team had agreed to go for a round of drinks after the end of the tour. Bryan had been the one to point you out in the crowd. “That’s my buddy’s sister, moved here for uni I think”, he muttered something along the lines. Or that was all Noah heard before every part of him was consumed by you. That whole night had been a blur. All Noah was confident in was your smile. He would never forget you smile. One that still had him in a chokehold. And that red dress that looked as if it was painted on your body until it wasn’t and he was fucking into you from behind in a random bathroom stall. All procession thrown out the window. Moaning as if there was no tomorrow. Kissing your shoulder as he muttered your name.

And then there was one big blur again as he woke up the next morning. Nothing made sense but all Noah saw was you when he closed his eyes. Just the throbbing hangover had brought a wave of realization too. And he had spent good two hours trying to find your profile and another two trying to come up with a decent message. He had scribbled an awkward, “Hi, last night was fun but I don’t usually do that so sorry that I wasn’t in a state to take you home”, he regretted it instantly but the moment the three dots appeared he forgot how to breathe. “I can still feel you between my legs”, was the first thing you responded with, and fuck if his dick didn’t twitch at the thought of how you had felt. “Took the morning-after pill so you have nothing to worry about”, and there went all his arousal. So he kept in touch. Slightly growing paranoid. A month he had told himself. Till you get your period and he could make sure that you weren’t pregnant by accident. He just didn’t take it into the consideration that four weeks was a long time and growing familial in a month wasn’t all that hard. Not when you had tumbled back into bed not even a week later.

So tonight, as Noah anxiously tapped his steering wheel, ridden with stress about the tour preparations, he couldn’t wait to see you again. He had texted you to say that he was coming to your apartment. He just didn't wait for your response, too desperate to see you. Get a fix you offered. Just you. Because it settled something in him. Being there with you made him feel like he could do anything.

Noah held up two bags of takeout, as you opened the door. A slight frown on your face. “Hey", Noah muttered leaning against your doorframe. “Hey, I was just texting you back”, you gestured to your phone. He stepped into the apartment with a hum, setting the takeout down on the kitchen counter. "Don’t need to bother with that now”, Noah leaned against the counter, eyeing you from across the room. You looked tired. The dark circles you tried to hide with the concealer… yeah he saw through you. He had from the first moment. It was scary how it felt as if he had known you his whole life.

"Long day?", he muttered as you patted closer, peaking into the bags of food. “I mean… I guess?”, you mussed, reaching to put your hair up in a messy bun, running a hand down your face before turning to him, “What brought you here?”

"Like I texted you. I'm tired and stressed, I missed you.", he watched you move around with that look in his eyes. The desperation almost. You never really liked your man needy but had made the exception for Noah. “Careful, or I will assume that I am your favorite booty call”, you chuckled, opening one of the boxes up, taking a fried dumpling before plopping it into your mouth. Noah rolled his eyes, a crooked smirk appearing on his face as he watched you take a seat across from him.

“You are, the only one too", he said bluntly, watching you roll your eyes. It always felt domestic with you. It was stupid honestly but even watching you eat had become special to him. Noah leaned against your fridge, so he could face you properly, hands rubbing his face as he gave out a long sigh. “Aren’t you gonna eat?”, you asked, tilting your head to the side as your eyes landed on him. Noah glanced over at the food sitting beside him on the table, then back at you, "Not in the mood. Too many things on my mind." He was tired. He knew you could sense it too. Yet he did what he always had. Shutting his brain off as he let himself take you in. Crossing his arms over his chest as his eyes roamed up and down your body, almost shamelessly, a smirk slowly spreading on his face.

You pushed the box with food to the side, “Want to talk about it or TALK about it?”, you mused, leaning against the kitchen counter. Noah raised an eyebrow, a chuckle leaving his lips. He wanted to be cheeky like you. After all your personality had won him over in a heartbeat. But the day’s weight was too heavy on his shoulders so instead of suppressing it like he usually did, he let himself let out another sigh, as he muttered, "I'm just… stressed. Tour and planning and everyone and their fucking opinions. Just thinking of all the things that need to get done and it's all just…”, Noah trailed off, running a hand through his hair. You watched him now, those assesing eyes dissecting him on the spot.

“Do you want to fuck this out of your system or are we talking about it?”, you asked bluntly. He blinked a couple of times, a smirk spreading across his face before a scoff left his mouth. You were always so blunt with things like this, after all, you were the one who had asked to fuck the first time you met. That was probably why he had said yes too. It was a transaction. Just two horny people. You didn’t want anything to do with the fame, the band, him as a musician. And fuck it he loved it.

“Can’t it be both?", he shrugged in return. “What comes first?”, you mused, smiling at him all innocently. It was tricky. Was fucking and then dumping his problems onto you worse? "Talking”, he nodded, “then we can fuck", you nodded, pushing off the counter as you reached for his hand. “Okay then”, you mused, dragging him towards the living room. And he followed without any hesitation. Like a lost puppy trailing after you.

“Sit, and then lay your head on my lap”, you ordered him, pointing to the sofa as you too settled down. Noah nodded, slowly lying back, head resting on your lap as he looked up at you with a cocky smile. A similar expression lit up your features as you ran your finger over his lips, before slowly moving your fingers through his hair, massaging his scalp, making Noah let out a deep moan. “Your booty side hoe and psychologists at your service”, you snickered. He smirked at your words once more, eyes opening again as he looked up at you from his position on your lap, "It's a lot to expect of one person, you know." You let out an overly dramatic sigh, “What can I say, you got me working overtime here” He chuckled, watching you so casually working your fingers through his hair. Making him want to lean into your touch, enjoying the feeling of your fingers running through his hair, eyes falling shut again as he spoke, "well fuck", Nowh said, his voice low, almost a grumble, "You're too good to me."

“You do come with a perk or two”, you shrugged. "Care to share some of those perks?", Noah asked, his voice low as he wiggled his brows. “Oh shut up, I ain’t about to praise you too, that comes with extra pay”, you teased, as Noah rolled his eyes, "come on, you're such a killjoy. I just want a little bit of your love." Now it was your time to rolled your eyes. Love had been a fleeting word between you two for a while now. But you never let it actually hit home. You couldn’t. “You still need to replace my bedframe after your last performance”, tapping Noah’s chest, looking at that knowing smile spreading on his face. That image and night had kept him up for quite some time. The bed frame had broke early in the morning. Noah had instantly grabbed for you, wrapping you up in his arms as he turned you over. He wasn’t sure why that had been his first reaction but it had been. Cause a part of him sensed danger and it felt like a no-brainer.

After a beat, he looked up at you again, eyes roaming down your body one more time. "Yeah, I'm still sorry about that. I'll get you a new bed altogether." “You’re sorry?”, you snorted, “you said it was the best orgasm of your life.” He smiled at the memory, nodding, "Yeah, it was fantastic. I don't think the bed frame agreed, though”, he shrugged, making you tip your head back as you laughed. Warmth spread through Noah’s chest at the sound alone. His hands began tracing up and down your legs, moving from your knees to your thighs, up and down, up and down.

He felt you clenching your legs together, running your hand down his neck as you pinched his chin. "That bed frame wasn't the only thing we broke, though." He said, smirking once again as he watched you from his place on your lap. You frowned, “what else broke?” He chuckled, a low, amused sound as the smirk on his face widened. "Let's see… I think I left a pretty nasty mark on your-" He lifted his head from her lap as he made a show of thinking for a moment, acting like he didn't already know the answer. You let out a gasp, hitting his chest, “you’re nasty…”, your cheeks going red as you shook your head. And once again there was something about knowing that he could do that. Affect you. Makes you squirm.

"I'm not that nasty.", Noah mused, turning slightly so he could kiss your exposed skin, thanking all lucky stars for the skimpy shorts you had on, “I can prove it too", muttering against your skin before biting your inner thigh. “Mhm… where are you spitting this time then?”, your voice was breathy, as you pulled at him. Noah chuckled as you called him out, his hands moving from your legs to gently grab your hips as he pulled the both of you to a sitting position. He gave your ass a little swat as you settled on his lap, "Where do you want it this time?" There was a moment of shock there before your eyes caught the same fire. The one blazing in his own. Your palm came up his neck, nails already digging into his skin, “Surprise me”, you mused. A small moan left his mouth as Noah moved his hands to grab your hips, moving his fingers beneath the hem of the shirt you were wearing.

“Just”, you nibbled on his lip, “Don’t blow in your pants this time”, Noah groaned, rolling his eyes at your response, a hand moving to grab the back of your neck. It had only happened once. He had been desperate and it had been a while since he had been sexual with anyone. “I'm sure I could last for about 20 minutes…", he paused for a beat before adding, "…on a good day." You snorted, throwing your head back with laughter once more. A different kind of laughter. A genuine one. He couldn't blame you, it was a stupid comment, and he was honestly proud of himself that it made you laugh. Yet it was short-lived since your neck was exposed to him now. So he leaned in nibbling at your throat as he pushed you down onto his already throbbing cock. You whimpered, “Oh I don’t doubt it, I’ve seen your honest work”, you mussed, teasing him.

"You've gotten to watch firsthand, haven't you?", he stated proudly, “You’re an idiot”, you shook your head leaning in to crash your lips against him, grinding against him. He was shocked for a split second, before he relaxed into your kiss, closing his eyes as you took what you wanted. One of his hands moved to the back of your head, holding you in place as he kissed you back hungrily. He moved his hand on your ass, pulling you closer, wanting to feel all of you against him. You pulled at his shirt, yanking it over his head, “Let me help you forget”.

Noah nodded, desperate eyes watching you pulling your own shirt over your head. Lushes breast bouncing with movement right in front of him. “I need you”, he grunted, leaning in, letting his tongue move over the perky nipple. “I know baby”, you cooed, “That’s why you came here after all”, and there was almost a tad of bitterness in your voice but you knew that he was too desperate to notice it. To let it sink in.

"You got that right”, Noah said with a smirk, "But… there's something I forgot to mention…", but you bit his earlobe, making Noah groan as he leaned his head to the side. With one more chased kiss you slid off his lap, sinking to your knees in front of him, eyes looking up. You could see him clenching his jaw as he looked down at you, legs spreading just a tad to make more room for you. So you liked your lips, smirked at him, before pulling at his pants.

"Baby, you don't have to", he grunted, letting out a low rumble as he pulled his eyes away from you to look around the room for a second. At anything other than the goddess in front of him. “Shh, sit back and enjoy”, you kissed his thigh, eyes never leaving his. Noah knew you were going to take care of him… you always did… you always took care of him in more than one way. He leaned his head back, a silent sigh leaving his mouth as you finally wrapped your fingers around his aching cock, spreading the precum all over. “Baby”, he whined, watching you swirl your tongue around the very tip before taking him all into your mouth. His hips bucked up, he couldn’t help it. As you bobbed your head, taking him all in, eyes rolling to the back of your head as you gagged. “Fuck, fuck you feel so…”, Noah grunted, taking fistfuls of your hair between his fingers. Your choked-out moans filled the space, sending pleasure all through Noah’s body. “I could die for you on your knees”, he stated, pushing your head down his length as your drool coated his thighs. “Come on… spit on it baby”, he demanded and you instantly did as told. Pumping him in your hand as you spat the mixture of you both on the tip of his dick, keeping direct eye contact as you leaned in to lick all the way up the throbbing crown. “Jesus”, Noah ran a hand down his face as you wrapped your lips around him once more, keeping that deadly rhythm. But this was dangerous. He was too worked up.

“Come here”, pulling you back up, he watched as his dick slid out your mouth with a pop. Panting, as you climbed up his lap once more. His fingers gently wiped the tears away from your cheeks. Your eyes locked for just a heartbeat before you crashed your lips into his once more. His hands instinctively went to grab your hips, before he dipped his hand between your thighs pushing the skimpy material to the side. “Noah”, you whimpered, bracing yourself against his shoulders, so he could slide into you with ease. “You’re ready? You’re sure?”, he pulled back, looking right at you, the very tip of him lingering right there, right by your entrance. So you didn’t bother to answer, sinking into him as you pressed your forehead against him. “Shit”, “Noah, fuck”, you both grunted in unison as you slowly bottomed out. Just breathing together in the feeling of each other. Noah was the one who pulled your hips forward, urging you to move. “So… big”, you mewled, as you wrapped your arms around his neck, pressing your chest against him. Noah instantly moved his arms around your torso, kissing your shoulder, “such a good girl, look at you”, he praised as you rocked your hips back and forth, nuzzling against him whimpering in his ear every time he hit that delicious spot deep within. This felt different in a way. It wasn’t that you always fucked, there were more intimate moments too but this felt raw somehow deeper than before. “Noah”, you cried out, snapping him back to the moment as he moved his hands beneath your bum helping you ride him as you slowly began to clench around him.

“Baby”, you pulled back, hair falling behind your shoulder as you cupped his cheeks, leaning in to kiss him. “I’ve got you gorgeous, cum for me”, Noah urged you on, kissing your collarbone before leaning in to lick up your breast. Biting your lip you clenched around him, feeling the throbbing vein pulsing each time you bottomed out. “I will…”, you whimper before the blissful flames erupt. “Shittt”, Noah whines with a loud growl, pulling you all the way down as you both come undone. You let your head fall on his shoulder as you tried to move through the last bits of chased pleaser. You could hear Noah’s heart pounding in his chest as you lean in to press a tender kiss to his neck. His still slightly shaky fingers moved to thread through your hair. These moments always frighten you. Even more so the fact that you craved them. Him staying. Holding you in his arms. So even if it was chased and careless you snuggled closer to him, wrapping your arms around him. “You’re okay?”, Noah muttered, kissing the side of your head. “I am, always when I’m with you”, you whispered looking up at him, Noah smiled down at you softly, moving his hand between you both. “Don’t”, you clasp his wrist, clenching around him, “Just for a moment”, you whisper shyly. Noah clenched his jaw, settling back down as he brings your body full flesh to flesh with his. “You know that I would give anything to you”, he admitted and the sound of these words hit him like a punch. The realization of it. The promise of it. Unsettled him slightly but he was selfish like that so he stayed put, holding you because all of a sudden letting go felt impossible to imagine.

[gremlin-girly]

Angelfish

Part of the Sun, Sea and Sirens Collection

Header by me in Canva, images sourced from Pinterest (credit to OG creators/posters) | Dividers by @/animatedglittergraphics-n-more

Lloyd Hansen x f!siren!reader

Not beta'd. I do not give permission for my work to be reposted, copied, translated or put through an AI machine. All of my work is 18+ so read at your own risk.

Tags/Warnings: death, blood mentions, hint of smut (nipple play, chasing, mention of having kids), sweet and fluffy too, Lloyd being Lloyd, talk of mates too!

Summary: Lloyd loves to show off his possessions; especially when when they're as beautiful as you.

Word Count: ~2.2k

A/N: I've been sitting on this one for a while, I hope you enjoy! This was supposed to be longer but I liked it short and sweet for these two 🐠

Lloyd Masterlist | Main Masterlist

Lloyd Hansen never, ever invites his henchmen to his home unless he's going to assign them to a strictly confidential job, promote them or kill them. So when Darren was invited, he was convinced he'd be one of the former two options.

Lloyd made sure to give him the grand tour, why bother with that if he was going to kill him? Lloyd's home was in the middle of nowhere, hidden away with a state of the art security system that money could buy. The house itself was modern and stupidly large; a display of wealth that Darren and many other of Lloyd's employees envied. Although, it wasn't as if Lloyd never got his hands dirty alongside his men, which was why he commanded such respect.

"Would you like to see the aquarium?" Lloyd asks, pouring whiskey into the two tumblers, handing one out to Darren. They'd ended the tour in the kitchen, either side of the island, with Darren rocking on his heels awkwardly. Lloyd still hadn't explained what he wanted.

"You have an aquarium?" Darren's eyes widen. He doesn't know why he's surprised, Lloyd lives in such a big, lavish house that of course the rich bastard would have an aquarium.

"'Course." Lloyd says smugly. "I like fish."

The aquarium wasn't just a tank.

It was a whole floor.

Walking through one heavy oak door in the basement led to a small oval room no larger than ten feet wide with reinforced glass panels from floor to cieling covering a good ninety percent of what would have been a normal room.

There was a small loveseat, brown leather, and a fur rug beneath it with an end table off to the side in the centre of the room but no lights. The light came from the tank. Huge, tree-like stems of seaweed disappeared upwards towards bright, white lights. Some fish swam by, some big some small, but Darren shivered. It felt like he was being watched.

Lloyd gestured to the seat behind him as he stepped towards the glass and rapped on it loudly. Some of the fish disappeared, some paid it no mind.

Darren took a seat, unable to shake the unease. He didn't even want to distract himself with what Lloyd did down here. He surely didn't just... watch the fish in the dark? He knew the guy was a freak but that was taking it too far.

"How much did it cost you?" Darren says, taking in the room again. It had to go further back.

"A pretty penny." Lloyd whistles, peering through the glass like he's looking for something. "Custom built and all that jazz. The filters, the fish, the food."

Lloyd turns back to Darren with another shark grin. "It spans the length of the house."

"And if it bursts?"

Lloyd scoffs and taps the glass again. "Re-en-forced." He punctuates. "But - I also made sure they put pipes throughout as a fail safe."

Darren hums in acknowledgement and Lloyd frowns into the glass, his sigh creating a little bit of condensation that he draws a smiley face in. "Wanna to see how I feed them?"

The walkways across the tops of the tank criss cross in a number of sections, illuminated only by the white lights underneath that made the dark water reflect silver. Lloyd strolled across it with practiced ease, banging a bucket full of what looked like blood and pieces of meat while Darren teetered and struggled to keep his balance.

"Here fishy fishy!" Lloyd calls out and Darren wonders if he might actually be insane.

"What- what's in the bucket?"

"Chum." Lloyd says cheerily but doesn't elaborate further.

Water ripples along the surface, a flash of white in the darkness. What the hell kind of fish does he have that are that big?

Swallowing nervously, Darren wipes his hands on his jeans and follows Lloyd until he stops. The stench of blood tickles at his nostrils and he grimaces, watching Lloyd carefully.

"Do you know I have to keep the temperature just right in this thing? Too cold they die, too hot they boil. Pain in my ass." Lloyd sighs and shakes his head, hands on his hips before looking at Darren. "You know why you're here, right?"

Darren stiffens. There's that smile again - you never know what Lloyd is thinking. It's off-putting. Dangerous.

The water ripples again, closer this time, and Darren shivers. Lloyd didn't specify what fish he had in this tank and given his nature: it probably wasn't something Darren wanted to see face to face.

Darren shakes his head slowly. "Uh. No, sir. I don't."

Lloyd clicks his tongue and hums thoughtfully. It's loud, bordering on obnoxious, but there's something about the way Darren can feel the vibration through the metal of the walkway that makes fear seep into his bones. He stops after a moment and sighs, fixing Darren with a sheepish look.

"She's a little shy today."

Darren blinks, today was getting crazier by the second. "Sir?"

Lloyd waves a hand before kicking over the chum bucket letting the thick congealed blood and offal pour into the water below. Below the surface, in the light of the walkway, fish begin to appear. There's a variety, some colourful - some not, but there's nothing as big that looks like the tail Darren saw earlier.

"Look. I know about the deal you worked with one of the agents in the CIA." Lloyd shrugs. "I get both sides; up and coming agent, a great opportunity for you to make a load of cash..."

Darren's blood freezes. He can't move. The only people that knew about the deal were him and the agent. And if that were true that meant the agent truly worked for Lloyd...

"That agent doesn’t work for me." Lloyd says, reading Darren's expression. "But he did work for a friend of mine. Problem is he was a terrible brag - that's like rule one of spy school by the way. You don't brag about your plans."

Did. It didn't take a genius to figure out the agent was already dead and gave up Darren in the hopes he would be allowed to live. That was laughable when he was dealing with Lloyd Hansen.

"You're going to kill me now, aren't you?"

"No shit, Sherlock." Lloyd snaps, shaking his head slightly. "I pay you well, I pay you to keep you loyal and you betray me? Why the hell would I let you go? So you could do it again?"

Darren winces and tries to force his feet to slide backwards across the walkway. "Gonna feed me to the fish like some mafioso?" He spits, anger finally over taking the fear. "God, you're fucking nuts Hansen."

Lloyd scratches head and then shrugs again, clearly unsurprised nor offended by the accusation. "I mean, they'll clean you down to the bone which saves me money and time. Work smarter not harder."

"You're not human." Darren says, shaking his head in disbelief.

"I never said I was." Lloyd grins.

Darren charges at Lloyd with a roar - a last ditch attempt to escape the hellish mansion, and his death by killing Lloyd first. Whilst Lloyd looks surprised by the outburst, he steps back and to the side so that where Darren should have collided with him, he is now perpendicular to him. All it takes is a hard shove to Darren's ribs to send him off the edge of the walkway and into the water, scattering the fish below.

Darren swims upwards in a blind panic and reappears gasping for air, staring up at Lloyd who is in the middle of stripping. Lloyd is mid-fold of his shirt when he spots Darren's soggy form and smiles.

"You really thought running at me would work?" Lloyd shakes his said like a disappointed parent. "Honestly, I expected mo-"

Darren disappears. There's no scream, no loud splashing. He just vanishes. Lloyd blinks at the calm of the water surface for a moment and then Darren reappears about six feet from where he disappeared, frantically splashing trying to get back to the walk way.

Lloyd watches as he takes off his shoes, hearing Darren's gargled call of his name before he vanishes again, for longer this time.

As Lloyd begins to undo the buckle of his belt, Darren's battered body is launched out of water, splashing centimeters from the walkway, soaking Lloyd. Lloyd rolls his eyes and continues to remove his clothes. Darren's body is facedown in the water; he wasn't dead ... yet.

"Honeybear, don't be like that." Lloyd faux-pouts with a small smile, crouching to dapple his fingers into the warm water. He waits for a moment and as he goes to retreat a hand jumps from the water grab his wrist and yank him forwards; sending Lloyd toppling head first into the tank.

When the bubbles clear from his fall, Lloyd's blue eyes flit around him until they settle on a figure swimming towards him.

"My love," Your voice, serene and angelic, travels through the water clear as day. "I wish you would stop bringing trash into our home. You know how much I hate it."

Lloyd pushes forward with a beaming grin, meeting you halfway. You looked radiant - you always did - wearing nothing but your wedding and engagement rings and a delicate teardrop pearl on a white gold twist chain around your neck. All gifts from him.

You're trying to look annoyed as he twists around you, making your tails intertwine but when his hands find your hips, the corners of your mouth twitch.

"Angelfish," Lloyd coos playfully at you, his moustache tickling the back of your neck as he places sweet kisses there. "Forgive me."

You beat the end of your tail to move upwards, twisting to glower teasingly at him. His and your hair dances freely around you like halos in the light; weightless and free.

"You're lucky I love you." You dip your head to press your lips against his and allow his hands to guide your hips back down so that your pearly iridescent tail flush with his black-and-white tiger striped one. You both smile into the kiss and your arms wrap around his neck and broad shoulders lazily. When you both part, you gaze up at your mate as he spins you gently in a circle, starting to hum a song hoping you'll join in this time.

You concede to his request and for a few minutes, you both float entwined together in song - as one - and happiness radiates between you both. That is until you look up and see Darren's now-dead body and huff a bubble of irritation up to the surface.

"But I mean it, Lloyd. Stop bringing them here."

"But you know I love watching you terrify them." Lloyd half whines, following your gaze upwards and admiring the huge purple welt across Darren's ribs. "Look - you even broke his ribs this time!"

You growl quietly, frown deepening despite Lloyd's nuzzling of your neck. You didn't like strangers in your home; baser instincts came into play and more often than you'd like a dead body was left somewhere in the tank.

"My Angel," Lloyd murmurs, his hands releasing your hips and trailing to your hands, bringing them to his lips. Your frown melts away despite your annoyance. Your husband had such a way of charming you even when you were annoyed. "Have I ever told you how gorgeous you are?"

"Yes," you tease, brushing your nose against his. "But tell me again. Tell me for the rest of the night."

"That can be arranged." Lloyd licks his lips slowly, eyes shamelessly roaming your figure. "You know that water bed finally showed up."

You snort and pull a face as Lloyd wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. "Oh Gods. Why would you order such a thing?"

"Because I thought, as merfolk, we should try it out." Lloyd winks at you, kissing at any bare skin he can find.

"Absolutely not!" You squeal and swim away from him quickly, disappearing around a strategically placed boulder.

"We're obligated by nature." Lloyd laughs and gives chase, inching around the boulder as you do the same, pulling yourself diagonally up the rock by your fingertips so you could pat Lloyd's ass and dart away further into the tank.

With a squawk of surprise, Lloyd makes a grab for you, missing you by centimetres.

"Playing hard to get, honey?" Lloyd teases, following you through a rocky archway. "Just like when we first met."

"Mm." You purposefully hum, looking back long enough to see Lloyd shiver at the sound and head towards the dark patch of green underwater plants, hoping to lose him.

You swim through the thick, tall vegetation but as you reach forward and you knot your hand to pull, the plant twists and you cant get free. You panic slightly as you tug and you wrist remains locked in place, excitement rushing through your veins knowing Lloyd would be on you any second.

"This is also like when we first met." Lloyd murmurs from behind you, ghosting his fingers over the exposed flesh of your stomach to make you squirm.

"Lloyd..." You pout at him.

"You know, you're just as beautiful as the day we first met." He purrs into your ear, catching your other wrist as you make a half-attempt to swat at him.

"And you're just as handsome." You chuckle as his other strong arm wraps around your waist and holds you close. His body is warm against yours and you relax into him.

"I think I'd like to see how our beautiful genes would look like combined." He noses your cheek gently, watching your eyes grow wide with surprised excitement.

"Are you serious?"

"Deadly." He grins, tweaking your nipples playfully to make you whine. "Whaddya think?"

"I think," you begin, giving your husband - your mate - a breathless smile. "We should find out just how buoyant this water bed is."

Angelfish END

A/N: Hiiii! How we feeling? Just thought I'd come down here and say thank you for reading and impartl some fun facts about Angelfish that helped me build these two love birds (fish?) - because I'm a nerd like that. Definitely think I may have to do some drabbles of them in the future.

1. Angelfish are tropical and freshwater fish with variety of colours. Lloyd's tail is similar to the freshwater variant found in the Amazon (like Tiger stripes, their colouring helps to camouflage them!)

2. Angelfish mate for life and they raise their young together 🥺

3. Angelfish are super territorial ;)

Taglist - Add yourself here

@stargazingfangirl18 @irishhappiness @pandaxnienke @looking1016 @jeremyrennermakesmesmile @almostglitterybear @blackhawkfanatic @peaches1958 @bridgetina @steviebbboi @late-to-the-party-81 @brianochka @dontbescaredtosingalong @waywardwifey @queen-honeybee-stories @alicedopey

[seat-safety-switch]

Movies make nitrous oxide seem so much more exciting than it really is. Green exhaust flames, super blurry vision, cars that instantly do wheelies and jump drawbridges. Completely rad. If nitrous oxide was so cool, I ask Hollywood, then why does my dentist have a whole bunch of it? The truth of the matter is that nitrous oxide has one hell of a lot of marketing goodwill, built on the dreams of every broke-ass drag racer on the planet.

First, a primer: cars run on oxygen and fuel. As anyone who's run up a hill can tell you, there's only so much air in the air that you can breathe, and there is basically an infinity of Burger King Whoppers you can practically eat. It's not fair, so we have to make it more fair.

There's ways to compress the air, and cram more of it into the engine. Then we can eat more Whoppers – I mean fuel – and make more power. We've all heard of miraculous mechanical devices for adding air, such as turbos and superchargers, but those cost a lot of money and involve complex fabrication. Nitrous oxide, a gas that we get from whales or some shit, accomplishes the same goal just by being sprayed into the engine.

It's sort of like if you gave an asthma inhaler to a Tour de France bicycle dude. He'd go a lot faster for a few seconds until and unless his heart explodes. Or maybe not. Don't get medical advice from me. Treat your captive Tour de France bicycle dudes like you yourself would want to be treated (and for the love of Pete, get them spayed or neutered if you let them outside.)

Hollywood has largely failed to make the intricacies of nitrous, such as not being able to afford filling an entire bottle with today's prices, into a compelling narrative. The sequel to Two Lane Blacktop was never approved because the middle 40 minutes of the film consists of the two of them digging through a half-abandoned parts store looking for the exact AN fitting they need for the fuel system. That's not how you win even a soundtrack Oscar. So instead, they do this crazy movie shit, which in turn makes a lot of other people buy nitrous setups. They want to be like the famous movie star Mr. Bean.

I'm not asking for perfect realism, here, folks. All I want is the occasional admission that sometimes you forget to turn on your bottle heater before making a pass.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

They told her she was just spending the night in Miami.

No warning. No lawyer. No time to pack. Just steel cuffs wrapped around her wrists, cinched tight across her chest, chained to a waist belt so snug she couldn’t breathe. A bus with no food, no water, no bathroom—just a puddle of piss soaking the floor. The guards told her to go ahead and urinate where she sat. She did.

Then they pushed her into Krome.

Krome, the Miami processing center where men with criminal records are supposed to be held—not immigrant women with no charges, no convictions, no voice. Krome, where she and 26 others were stuffed “like sardines in a jar,” forced to sleep on concrete, offered one three-minute shower in four days, and told by guards to pretend to have a seizure if they wanted medicine. One woman actually had a seizure. They came for her. The rest they ignored.

Three people are now dead in ICE custody. Three. In just over a month. Genry Ruiz-Guillen, 29, from Honduras, died January 23. Serawit Gezahegn Dejene, 45, from Ethiopia, died January 29. Maksym Chernyak, 44, from Ukraine, died February 20.

No convictions. No due process. No protection. Just death under fluorescent lights.

And while the bodies pile up, the architects of this system are laughing.

THE ARCHITECTS OF SUFFERING

Tom Homan—now officially Trump’s Border Czar—is no longer just shouting from Fox News panels. He’s in charge. And he’s promising “deportations every day,” vowing to expel millions. He’s pushing to build new detention camps on military bases and at Guantanamo Bay, to outsource incarceration to local jails, and to lower federal detention standards across the board. He wants to hand over human lives to any sheriff with a cage and a budget. This isn’t law enforcement—it’s a national purge.

Kristi Noem is no longer the governor of South Dakota. She’s been promoted to Secretary of Homeland Security, overseeing ICE, CBP, and FEMA. She’s already begun reshaping disaster policy and immigration enforcement with the cold efficiency of someone who never cared about the human cost. She’s toured detention centers abroad and proposed funneling more power and funding into the machine that’s already killing people. This is the woman now in charge of protecting the homeland—and she’s treating it like a battlefield.

And Stephen Miller—the alabaster goblin behind Trump’s first wave of xenophobic terror—is back inside the West Wing as Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor. He is not hiding. He is not softening. He is laying the groundwork for mass deportations, family separations, and the total militarization of immigration enforcement. Miller’s strategy is simple: flood the system, break it, and make cruelty look like order.

This isn’t mismanagement. This isn’t politics. This is state-sanctioned human suffering.

ICE has 46,269 people in custody—far above its legal bed count of 41,500. Congress just rewarded them with another $430 million. Detention centers are overflowing. Guards are whispering, “It shouldn’t be like this.” But they keep turning the key. They keep locking the doors.

Because this system wasn’t designed to rehabilitate. It wasn’t designed to deter. It was designed to break people.

And it’s working.

CORPORATE PROFITEERS OF THE GULAG

Akima Infrastructure Protection—remember that name. That’s the private contractor running Krome under a $685 million federal contract. Your tax dollars. Your country. Your name on the invoice. And Akima didn’t just ignore the reports of overcrowding, abuse, and death—they didn’t even respond. Because they don’t have to. In America’s immigration gulag system, accountability is optional, profits are mandatory.

Akima isn’t alone. The privatized detention racket is a booming business. The worse the conditions, the higher the margins. More detainees equals more beds, more guards, more federal payouts. These aren’t just prison contractors—they’re war profiteers in a domestic war against the poor, the brown, the undocumented, and the disposable.

And while three human beings die in government cages in thirty goddamn days, ICE puts out a statement saying they can’t verify the abuse without the women’s names. That’s like watching a house burn down and saying you can’t help unless the flames file a formal request.

What ICE really means is this: unless you hand us their names, we can’t retaliate.

FEAR, SILENCE, AND THE NEW AMERICAN NIGHTMARE

These women are afraid to speak because they know what happens to people who tell the truth in a system built to erase them. Their fear isn’t paranoia. It’s wisdom. Because in Trump’s America, the immigration system is no longer civil. It’s punitive, predatory, and lethal.

And while this slow-motion horror show unfolds behind steel bars and security checkpoints, the rest of the country scrolls past it—too tired, too numb, too wrapped in talking points to see what’s right in front of them:

The United States is running concentration camps again.

Not in secret. Not in shadows. In Miami. In Arizona. In Texas. With full congressional funding. With bipartisan indifference. With the open approval of a political movement that cheers cruelty like it’s patriotism.

And unless we name it, scream it, and rage against it, it’s only going to get worse.

Because this administration has made it clear: they don’t want to fix the system. They want to break more people. Faster. Cheaper. Louder.

And if that means more body bags? So be it. To them, that’s not a failure.

It’s the plan working exactly as intended.

WHAT THE HELL DO WE DO?

We stop pretending this is normal. We stop calling it a “broken system” and start calling it what it is: a weapon.

We hold the names. We name the dead. We say Genry. Serawit. Maksym. Not as footnotes, but as proof that silence is complicity.

We pressure Congress to defund ICE, to end private detention contracts, to shut down Krome and every facility like it. We demand independent investigations, criminal accountability, and media that covers these stories like lives are on the line—because they are.

We support immigrant-led organizations. We raise hell at town halls. We show up with signs, with lawsuits, with cameras, with righteous fury. We flood their offices. We write until our fingers bleed. We organize, we protest, we resist.

And if you’re in a position of power—if you’re a staffer, an attorney, a journalist, a human being with a platform—you use it. This is not a drill. This is not a moment to stay neutral.

The machine is killing people. The people running it are proud of that. And history will not forgive anyone who stood by and watched.

Raise your voice. Wreck their silence. And don’t stop until the cages are empty.

[Bill Adkins]

[atalana]

so i saw the wicked movie!

honestly considerably better than i would have expected from the trailers, it was clearly made with love and i do recommend seeing it if you're a fan of the stage show

but if there's one thing i'm a bit sad about, it's glinda's wardrobe colours

like. the costuming in this movie is amazing! and i have no criticisms about the design of glinda's outfits, they're really good!

but they're all pink

and i care a lot about the thought that went into the costuming of wicked (particularly how important blue is as a colour here), so for those unfamiliar with her original outfits, lets go on a tour of them!

in chronological order for glinda, we start with the school uniform

notably not pink, but white. blue and white are shiz's colours, so she's not actually breaking any uniform rules (this will be important later), but she does want to stand out. this also contrasts elphaba's entirely blue uniform (all the other students wear stripes), and the fact that every other elphie outfit is black, because they are and always will be diametrically opposed

she keeps this one through a lot of the first act, until around popular, which is when we get her actually pink dress! and this is glinda actually being honest for the first time, so it makes sense this is the most accurate to her personality dress she gets (and i did love the extremely dramatic dressing gown she got in the movie here)

glinda in the emerald city gets a yellow dress and sunglasses! and honestly while there's not a lot of symbolism in this one it is strange seeing defying gravity not involve the yellow dress (and also i think it would have made that yellow brick road bit have more weight but you know)

now here's where i say that thing about the white will be important later. defying gravity is the act break and the timeskip. and now it's important to note - every single outfit glinda wears in act 2 is blue

and i think for her the blue represents the status quo. she was never an outright rebel in act 1, as we see with her uniform, but she did want to make her personality and choices known, she wanted to forge ahead with something. it's defying gravity where she definitively makes that choice to conform, to pick up that colour she originally had left behind, and to work for power within the system instead of defying the system (elphaba, notably, wears all blue while at school but from one short day onwards always wears black, because that's a status quo she no longer cares to hold up)

act 2 opening with thank goodness, she's a little older, she's got more power, she's a community leader, and her outfit reflects that, in the most business look glinda could possibly have and still look like glinda (i do love this one just from a design standpoint)

her wedding dress isn't just blue but also has a lot of green in it, which is fun on multiple levels (because green is the colour of the wizard, and what madame morrible wears after the reveal they're working together on this, but also was elphaba's from the start)

and her last outfit is also her first outfit, but i told these in order of glinda's life not the song order, because this is the pinnacle of who she's become. this is her dress right at the start before the flashback, and then for for good and finale

it's enormous, it's princessy, it mirrors the dress from the original wizard of oz movie, and it's blue. it's the combination of who she always has been and who she's decided to become. everything she always wanted to be, at the cost of everyone she cared about

and im so curious to see how the movie costuming goes for part 2

[carsthatnevermadeitetc]

Ford Thunderbird Golden Palomino Concept, 1964. To promote the new fourth generation Thunderbird Ford presented a version of the Landau Coupe with the flipper roof at the Chicago Auto Show and then toured it widely around dealerships. However concerns about the costs and complexity of the system and durability of seals meant it was never offered in series production

[nightghoul381]

A False Promise to the Pure White Bride

Nica Schwartz ~ Chapter 1

This a fan translation so it is definitely not 100% accurate. I do not own anything related to Ikemen Villains. Support Cybird by buying their amazing stories!

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Premium End | Epilogue

Kate: “Wait a second, where are we?”

Nica: “This is a facility run by an organization called Tiamo—”

Kate: “That’s not what I mean,”

Nica: “Hmm?”

Nica was smiling faintly and I grabbed his arm and cried out.

Kate: “Why, are we supposed to be getting married!?”

--Flashback—

A few days ago, I was out shopping with Crown and we stopped in front of a certain store.

A pure white decorated wedding dress was displayed behind the glass.

All the women passing by lit up at the sight of the dress.

I was no exception—

(What a lovely dress…)

Nica: “Robin, what are you doing?”

I turned toward the familiar voice and felt a long finger poke my cheek.

Kate: “Nica.”

Nica was playing with my cheek, and I tried to look away, but

Nica: “A wedding dress? You want to try it on, Kate?”

With those words, my gaze returned to the dress on the other side of the glass.

Kate: “Well, I guess I do admire it a little bit.”

He hadn’t said anything at the time…

This morning, Nica had suddenly come up to my room and brought up that story from a few days ago.

He’d brought me out here simply saying that I was going to try on the dress.

Nica: “This place, Tiamo, is all about true love, allowing couples to hold weddings for free.”

Nica: “If you get married to me here, you’ll get to wear that dress you saw.”

Kate: “But why would you and I have to get married—”

I started speaking but suddenly stopped.

(There’s no way Nica would say something like this without a reason.)

Kate: “…What are you planning this time?”

I knew my guess was correct when Nica grinned.

Nica: “As expected of you little robin, you’ve gotten smarter.”

Nica began to tell me about the organization called Tiamo.

Couples would visit Tiamo, whose belief was ‘true love is equal’

 Apparently, they could hold a wedding ceremony at low cost in the church on the premises.

There were also systems in place to support their life after the celebration,

Apparently, if a couple who held their wedding ceremony at Tiamo gave birth to children, there was a facility like a nursery to take care of them.

Additionally, it appeared that couples in need of assistance were able to hold their wedding ceremony free of charge provided they worked for Tiamo—

Nica: “I need to go undercover for some investigating, but I need a bride to go undercover.”

Kate: “That’s why you asked me…”

So Nica was planning to lure me with the dress, infiltrate Tiamo, and have a fake wedding.

(That’s no good, I should go home.)

If I listened to what he said and infiltrated, I was sure I’d end up being led around like this again.

Having already learned my lesson, I turned around and tried to leave, but—

Tiamo female employee: “We’ve been waiting for you Mr. Nica and Miss Kate. Thank you for making a reservation.”

(You made a reservation already?)

I was taken aback by what the employee said and looked at Nica.

Nica: “Sorry, I already booked it.”

Kate: “Hey, Nica.”

Nica: “I’m sorry, we eloped and came here so I was worried about whether or not we could really hold the ceremony.” 8943

He put his arm around my shoulder and gave the staff member a friendly smile.

Tiamo female employee: “We believe that true love is equal, and we’ll help all couples.”

Tiamo female employee: “So please, rest assured.”

I tried to deny it in the conversation that was unfolding, but…

Nica: “I’ve explained everything to Crown.”

He put his lips close to my ear and whispered.

Nica: “Marry me, my lady.”

In the end, I was persuaded and Nica and I were given a tour of the facility together.

Due to various factors such as preparations for the ceremony, the couples were to stay at the facility for one day and the ceremony was held the next day.

We were shown to a room with only one bed.

(I’m going to spend the night here with Nica…!?)

A heart was drawn on the bed with flower petals making it seem welcoming to lovers.

Kate: “Um, Nica…”

Nica: “Hmm, what is it?”

Kate: “About the bed…where are you going to sleep?”

Nica stood up and was about to leave the room when I pointed to the bed—

Nica: “Oh, you can stay here. I have work to do so I’ll be off for a bit.”

Kate: “Huh, wait, don’t leave me behind.”

I’d feel bored alone in the room, and more than anything, I’d feel a mysterious tension that would last late into the night.

I quickly grabbed Nica by the sleeve of his shirt, and he smiled.

Nica: “My bride is lonely.”

Kate: “Woah!”

He pulled me close by the waist and put his hand on the doorknob.

Nica: “Well then, let’s go together, and act like proper lovers.”

The facility was large, with many buildings packed together and corridors that seemed to continue on forever.

(I feel like I’m getting lost.)

As I looked left and right, trying to remember my location, Nica pointed and began to tell me.

Nica: “This building is off-limits to anyone other than staff. If you go straight, you’ll reach the courtyard, and if you turn there, you’ll find the kitchen.”

He was telling me about places that we hadn’t been shown.

Kate: “Did you learn the layout for the purpose of infiltrating?”

Hearing that, he shook his head.

Nica: “I memorized it when we were being shown around earlier. By the way, I also memorized the names of the staff while we were being shown around.”

Nica: “The person who guided us was Miss Irene.”

(Oh, I think he was reading something while we were being shown around.)

I remembered him casually looking through some documents, but I was still surprised.

(It’s amazing how you can remember it just by skimming through it.)

Impressed, I stared at his profile as we walked.

Then the moment our eyes met, he brought his face closer—

Nica: “Robin, have you fallen in love with me?”

With a teasing smile on his face, he filled my field of vision.

Although I was almost captivated by his handsome features up close, I held myself back and turned my face away.

Kate: “I’m just impressed!”

Nica blinked and laughed with amusement.

Nica: “Oh, really? Cute.”

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Premium End | Epilogue

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Lies, damned lies, and Uber

I'm on tour with my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me TONIGHT in PHOENIX (Changing Hands, Feb 29) then Tucson (Mar 10-11), San Francisco (Mar 13), and more!

Uber lies about everything, especially money. Oh, and labour. Especially labour. And geometry. Especially geometry! But especially especially money. They constantly lie about money.

Uber are virtuosos of mendacity, but in Toronto, the company has attained a heretofore unseen hat-trick: they told a single lie that is dramatically, materially untruthful about money, labour and geometry! It's an achievement for the ages.

Here's how they did it.

For several decades, Toronto has been clobbered by the misrule of a series of far-right, clownish mayors. This was the result of former Ontario Premier Mike Harris's great gerrymander of 1998, when the city of Toronto was amalgamated with its car-dependent suburbs. This set the tone for the next quarter-century, as these outlying regions – utterly dependent on Toronto for core economic activity and massive subsidies to pay the unsustainable utility and infrastructure bills for sprawling neighborhoods of single-family homes – proceeded to gut the city they relied on.

These "conservative" mayors – the philanderer, the crackhead, the sexual predator – turned the city into a corporate playground, swapping public housing and rent controls for out-of-control real-estate speculation and trading out some of the world's best transit for total car-dependency. As part of that decay, the city rolled out the red carpet for Uber, allowing the company to put as many unlicensed taxis as they wanted on the city's streets.

Now, it's hard to overstate the dire traffic situation in Toronto. Years of neglect and underinvestment in both the roads and the transit system have left both in a state of near collapse and it's not uncommon for multiple, consecutive main arteries to shut down without notice for weeks, months, or, in a few cases, years. The proliferation of Ubers on the road – driven by desperate people trying to survive the city's cost-of-living catastrophe – has only exacerbated this problem.

Uber, of course, would dispute this. The company insists – despite all common sense and peer-reviewed research – that adding more cars to the streets alleviates traffic. This is easily disproved: there just isn't any way to swap buses, streetcars, and subways for cars. The road space needed for all those single-occupancy cars pushes everything further apart, which means we need more cars, which means more roads, which means more distance between things, and so on.

It is an undeniable fact that geometry hates cars. But geometry loathes Uber. Because Ubers have all the problems of single-occupancy vehicles, and then they have the separate problem that they just end up circling idly around the city's streets, waiting for a rider. The more Ubers there are on the road, the longer each car ends up waiting for a passenger:

https://www.sfgate.com/technology/article/Uber-Lyft-San-Francisco-pros-cons-ride-hailing-13841277.php

Anything that can't go on forever eventually stops. After years of bumbling-to-sinister municipal rule, Toronto finally reclaimed its political power and voted in a new mayor, Olivia Chow, a progressive of long tenure and great standing (I used to ring doorbells for her when she was campaigning for her city council seat). Mayor Chow announced that she was going to reclaim the city's prerogative to limit the number of Ubers on the road, ending the period of Uber's "self-regulation."

Uber, naturally, lost its shit. The company claims to be more than a (geometrically impossible) provider of convenient transportation for Torontonians, but also a provider of good jobs for working people. And to prove it, the company has promised to pay its drivers "120% of minimum wage." As I write for Ricochet, that's a whopper, even by Uber's standards:

https://ricochet.media/en/4039/uber-is-lying-again-the-company-has-no-intention-of-paying-drivers-a-living-wage

Here's the thing: Uber is only proposing to pay 120% of the minimum wage while drivers have a passenger in the vehicle. And with the number of vehicles Uber wants on the road, most drivers will be earning nothing most of the time. Factor in that unpaid time, as well as expenses for vehicles, and the average Toronto Uber driver stands to make $2.50 per hour (Canadian):

https://ridefair.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Legislated-Poverty.pdf

Now, Uber's told a lot of lies over the years. Right from the start, the company implicitly lied about what it cost to provide an Uber. For its first 12 years, Uber lost $0.41 on every dollar it brought in, lighting tens of billions in investment capital provided by the Saudi royals on fire in an effort to bankrupt rival transportation firms and disinvestment in municipal transit.

Uber then lied to retail investors about the business-case for buying its stock so that the House of Saud and other early investors could unload their stock. Uber claimed that they were on the verge of producing a self-driving car that would allow them to get rid of drivers, zero out their wage bill, and finally turn a profit. The company spent $2.5b on this, making it the most expensive Big Store in the history of cons:

https://www.theinformation.com/articles/infighting-busywork-missed-warnings-how-uber-wasted-2-5-billion-on-self-driving-cars

After years, Uber produced a "self-driving car" that could travel one half of one American mile before experiencing a potentially lethal collision. Uber quietly paid another company $400m to take this disaster off its hands:

https://www.economist.com/business/2020/12/10/why-is-uber-selling-its-autonomous-vehicle-division

The self-driving car lie was tied up in another lie – that somehow, automation could triumph over geometry. Robocabs, we were told, would travel in formations so tight that they would finally end the Red Queen's Race of more cars – more roads – more distance – more cars. That lie wormed its way into the company's IPO prospectus, which promised retail investors that profitability lay in replacing every journey – by car, cab, bike, bus, tram or train – with an Uber ride:

https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN1RN2SK/

The company has been bleeding out money ever since – though you wouldn't know it by looking at its investor disclosures. Every quarter, Uber trumpets that it has finally become profitable, and every quarter, Hubert Horan dissects its balance sheets to find the accounting trick the company thought of this time. There was one quarter where Uber declared profitability by marking up the value of stock it held in Uber-like companies in other countries.

How did it get this stock? Well, Uber tried to run a business in those countries and it was such a total disaster that they had to flee the country, selling their business to a failing domestic competitor in exchange for stock in its collapsing business. Naturally, there's no market for this stock, which, in Uber-land, means you can assign any value you want to it. So that one quarter, Uber just asserted that the stock had shot up in value and voila, profit!

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/02/hubert-horan-can-uber-ever-deliver-part-twenty-nine-despite-massive-price-increases-uber-losses-top-31-billion.html

But all of those lies are as nothing to the whopper that Uber is trying to sell to Torontonians by blanketing the city in ads: the lie that by paying drivers $2.50/hour to fill the streets with more single-occupancy cars, they will turn a profit, reduce the city's traffic, and provide good jobs. Uber says it can vanquish geometry, economics and working poverty with the awesome power of narrative.

In other words, it's taking Toronto for a bunch of suckers.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/29/geometry-hates-uber/#toronto-the-gullible

Image: Rob Sinclair (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Night_skyline_of_Toronto_May_2009.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

[wheelsgoroundincircles]

1960 DiDia 150 Custom

1960 DiDia 150 Custom

1960 DiDia 150 Custom

1960 DiDia 150 Custom

1960 DiDia 150 Custom

1960 DiDia 150 Custom

The car was originally powered by a 365 cubic inch Cadillac engine, later replaced by a 427 cubic inch high-performance Ford engine, and had a 125-inch wheelbase, with a tubular aluminum frame and a hand-fashioned soft aluminum body. The car has Batmanesque set of rear fins dominating the bodyline and ruby red hubcaps on whitewall tires.

The car was designed by Andrew Di Dia, a clothing designer, who Bobby Darin had met while on tour in Detroit in 1957. Darin telling Di Dia at the time that he would purchase the car if he ever "hit it big".

For seven years, from 1953 to 1960 the DiDia 150 was hand-built by four workers, at a cost of $93,647.29 but sold to Darin in 1961 at a cost of over $150,000 (1.5 million today). At the time the car was listed as most expensive "custom-made" car in the world by the Guinness Book of Records. The body was hand-formed by Ron Clark and constructed by Bob Kaiser from Clark Kaiser Customs.

Di Dia toured the car around the country, when Darin wasn't using it for public appearances. After publicity and film use, Darin donated his "Dream Car" to the National Museum of Transportation in 1970 where it remains. It was restored by Mike Manns of Manns Auto Body in Festus, Missouri before going on display.

The gasoline-fueled V8 engine (originally 365 cid, later upgraded to 427 cid) is located at the front. It is rear-wheel drive. The body and chassis are hand-formed from 064 aluminum with a unitized alloy tube frame.

It has a glass cockpit in back, a squared steering wheel resembling a superellipse and thermostatically controlled air conditioning system. The interior is rust colored in contrast to the ruby paintwork. The design included the first backseat-mounted radio loudspeakers and hidden windshield wipers, which start themselves when it rains. Other features include retractable headlamps, rear turn signals which swivel as the car turns, 'floating' bumpers and a trunk that was hinged from the driver's side. Each of the four bucket seats have their own thermostatically controlled air conditioning, individual cigarette lighters and ashtrays, as well as a radio loudspeaker.

Source: Wikipedia / motorius.com