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charliedawn · 3 years

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The Joke's on Us part 4

Warning : possessive behavior.

A dark shadow floats on top you and gently caresses your face.

" Soon..We'll be reunited, old friend."

Penny gasps, recognizing that shadow from the deep confines of his memories..Maturin had mentioned him when they were still friends.

" Shardik.."

At the mention of his name, the shadow quickly turns towards Penny whose breath stops. Shardik's smile widens and he floats on top of Penny to stare at him straight in the eyes.

" Ah..You must be one of the creatures Maturin created. A shame, I really thought you would be more..impressive ?"

Penny only snarls at him before responding with a threat.

" What were you doing ? I swear that if you touch her..I'll kill you."

The entity, far from being intimidated, only laughs loudly at Penny's menace which seems to amuse him more than anything.

" Really ? And how will you do that without your powers, Penny ? Don't forget that I am as powerful as you were and as old as Maturin. Funny, the old turtle really thought you and Pennywise could stop me when he is gone. Imagine how much he was disappointed when he realized that your hatred towards humanity was blinding you. He never got you those powers to use them against humans, or children..He wanted you to protect them. But, now that the old turtle is dead and you two are too weak to stop me. I'll be able to rule over that planet. I'll suck upon its energy until there is nothing left. I'll even start with you little charming town. Derry, is it ?"

Penny glares up at him, but had to admit that he can't protect you like this. Now that he is only human, he is happy, happier than he's ever been..but..The shadow chuckles evilly in the shell of his ear.

" That planet has been without order for much too long..It passed its life expectancy hundreds of years ago..But don't worry, as soon as I will have ate her, Maturin's powers will be in me and I will make sure to bring an end to humanity.."

Penny growls at the mention of you being eaten by Shardik and tries to jump on him with a roar.

" Don't you dare touch her !"

However, he suddenly wakes up, covered in sweat and sees that you are the one who woke him up. Your eyebrows are tensed in obvious worry and, without any words, Penny wraps his arms around you. He had felt fear before..but not like that..never like that..His heart is racing against his ribcage and he is holding onto you like it is the last time.

" P..Penny ? Are you alright ?"

Your question makes him open his eyes and come back to reality. You are running your hand gently on top of his head, smoothing his hair in the process to calm him down. He finally steps back and looks at Pennywise that had woken up as well. The both of them had felt it..He was coming back. You look at the both of them with a confused expression and finally ask, tired by the secrecy of both men.

" That's it. What's going on ? Why do you look so grave all of a sudden ?!"

Penny doesn't answer, he only stands up and gets out of the room without another word. You turn towards Pennywise, hoping for some kind of explanation. He doesn't peep either and only returns to the sofa that had become his bed for the time being. However, you don't let it go and sit in front of him with a determined look on your face.

" Now, you're going to tell me what's going on."

You didn't mean to make it sound like an order, but you couldn't just let them fend for themselves anymore. Pennywise finally turns towards you and sighs loudly before telling you what this was all about.

" Penny and I always had a very deep connection with Maturin, we could feel his presence and so could he. However, Maturin is not the only entity out there. The world has at least 12 entities guarding it. One of them being Shardik..Shardik is one of the twelve guardians of Beams that hold up The Dark Tower. It is a cyborg bear that stands over forty feet tall and one ugly unkillable bastard with more energy than millions of suns. He was pissed to know that I killed his brother and wanted to come and exterminate this planet on which lives his brother's murderer..But like many, he was scared of us. But now that we lost our powers ? He's coming, and with you being the turtle's successor ? We will all die for sure."

You lean against the back of your chair and sigh loudly. You only are a painting teacher..Of course he would crush you. But, that didn't mean you had to give up.

" Well, aren't you the optimist ?! Why don't you show me how to fight instead of complaining ?!"

He ignores you and only turns his back to you as he pretends to fall asleep again. You stand up and suddenly throws his blanket off. That get a reaction and you can hear a growl from him as he stands up to face you menacingly.

" Why ?! You want to know why ?! Because of this !"

He suddenly takes you by the shoulder and digs his thumb in your wounded flesh. You whine in pain and Pennywise immediately retracts his hand.

" Do you really think that you'll ever be able to vanquish Shardik the bear with a human body ?! He would squish you in an instant! Learn how to heal yourself, then we'll talk about your fighting skills.."

You glare at him: deep inside, you know he is right, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating. You humph at him before leaving the room to join your bedroom, but then, you hear someone crying upstairs. You follow the sound and find Penny, sitting on the floor and leaning against one of the corridor's wall. He looks up at you when he hears you approaching and you crouch by his side with a reassuring smile.

" Hey..We're going to be okay..Alright ?"

You try to comfort him, but he only sobs.

" What if..What if you can't beat him ? What if the only solution is for us to get back into who we were ?"

You sigh, knowing that if there were to be no other solution, you would have to break your promise..You would have to hurt them, one way or another.

" I guess I'll have to change you back. I know that I prefer you to have the choice but..If there are no other solution, I'll have to break my promise. I can't let you die. Not when I know I could have avoided it.."

You sit next to him and you both stay quiet for a moment, lost in your thoughts until Penny looks at you with his eyes full of uncertainty.

" And what if I don't want to get back to what I was ? What if I want to stay human ?"

You can't help but smile and tears start to build up in your eyes..Why couldn't the universe leave them alone ? You are so close to them finally accepting their new forms..

" Then, I'll guess it'll be my job to be sure that you don't have to."

He smiles back and before you know it, you are both holding hands. You don't try to get it out, even though you know that at any moment, Penny could come back to his old ways. You're not scared of him, you aren't even sure if you ever really were ? You don't even notice that Pennywise had climbed up the stairs and is now looking at the both of you from afar with a slight frown. He only turns away and waits when he is safe in is bed to grunt.

" What does she find in him..?"

Unaware that his eyes glow a slight orange in the dark for a second.

The next day, you decide that it's grocery shopping time. However, the two clowns are still sound asleep and you take the opportunity to get out alone. Once in the street, you take a breath of fresh air and start walking towards the shop, wondering what you should buy for the two men. You enter the shop and start looking around. You are lost in your thoughts and don't see another person coming in your direction. You suddenly collide with said person and look up to see a man with blue eyes and a nice smile.

" I'm sorry. I didn't see you there."

He extends his hand towards you and you take it with a grateful smile.

" No. It's me. I should have looked where I was going."

His smile widens as you shake his hand. He introduces himself.

" I'm Dan. I don't really know my way around here. I'm the new teacher from down the block."

You smiles politely and introduce yourself as well.

" I'm Y/N. Nice to meet you. I'm the Art teacher of the neighborhood."

His eyes seem to light up at the mention of you being an Art teacher.

" Really ?! You're the Art teacher ? My cousin never stops talking about you. Tom ?"

You seem to remember last time and wince at the memory. Seems like Tom hadn't said anything about the incident..You try your best to keep your composure and automatically feel that you need to make amends somehow.

" Do you want..Do you want a coffee ?"

He smiles again and nods.

" Sure ! Lead the way."

You take your groceries and pay them before getting out. You end up in a small coffee shop and both take what you want before sitting outside.

" I'm sorry. You must think it's weird that I never came before. I just moved in from the States so..Tom isn't even aware that I'm back yet."

Oh. Well, you still hoped that Tom hadn't talked to anyone about what had happened. You smile and shake you head.

" Not at all. Tom is a very nice boy and I always like to meet the families of my students. It helps to understand them better. Although, it's the first time I actually invite a member for a coffee."

" I should be honored then."

He takes a sip of his coffee before winking playfully at you. You blush and let a small chuckle.

" To tell you the truth..Tom and I have been quite distant since our older brother died. I do sometimes feel guilty for leaving him, but.."

You see that he is concerned and put you hand on his compassionately.

" I'm sorry..It must have hurt."

You had heard about Tom losing a brother, he did have a period when he could only draw dark things. Horrible things. It must have been a shock for everyone in his family. Dan smiles gratefully at you before answering.

" Don't worry. It's been a year now. I'm stronger than this."

You smile sadly at him, but then feel two very familiar shadows looming over you from behind. A hand grabs your shoulder and squeezes it in silent warning.

" Hi Y/N. Who is this ?"

Penny..And Pennywise is certainly not far behind. Dan stands up and stretches his hand towards them with a bright smile.

" Oh ! Sorry ! My name is Dan, I'm the brother of one of Y/N's students. And you are ?"

You are about to answer when Pennywise does it for you. He takes his hand and smiles forcefully.

" Pleasure. My name is Robert, and this is Bob. We're her roommates. Unfortunately, she seems to have forgotten about us this morning. You should have woke us up, Y/N. We would have helped you with the groceries."

He may sound calm, but you know better: the way he pronounces the last word makes you understand that he is pissed. Even Dan seems to understand as he retracts his hand and addresses you one last smile.

" Well..I should go. It was nice to meet you, Y/N."

However, he still writes something on a piece of paper and hands it to you.

"Here is my number, just in case."

He then gives one last nod in acknowledgement to the two men before turning and walking away. You have cold sweat running down your back as you can feel the murderous glares of the two clowns behind you.

" Let's go. Shall we ?"

Penny finally ask, more like commands as he grabs you harshly by the arm and drags you towards the house. You just have the time to get your bags. As soon as you are home, you run towards the kitchen and pretend to be busy with putting the grocery items on the shelves and in the fridge.

" W..What do you want for..?"

You don't have the time to finish your sentence as Pennywise suddenly comes behind you and wraps his arms around you.

" Now, princess..You're going to turn around and face us. We're not angry. We just want to talk."

"..Just want to talk..?"

You repeat with a broken voice, making sure that you heard right. Pennywise only nods slowly and you gulp loudly before turning around with your eyes closed tight.

" Come on, darling..You know that we want to see your eyes..Come on."

You tentatively open one eye, then the other in shock. They are not angry..They are very mad. You see that their eyes have changed colors and their skins are white..the same white than a few weeks ago. Suddenly, Penny takes you by the throat and pins you to the fridge while Pennywise presses his nose again your throat. He then inhales deeply and growls perceptibly.

" Looks like your little stunt hurt us more than we thought..I'm smelling your fear, sweetheart. And it smells delicious..One more minute, and we would have surely taken our true appearances back."

You don't understand. You hadn't hurt them, so why are they taking their clown forms back ?! Why are they angry even ?! You try to breathe, but Penny's mouth is against yours in a second..You open your eyes wide 'Everything makes sense now. They are jealous. Pain..They're in pain. You whimper when he bites your bottom lip. But, you don't open your mouth and he groans.

" You are going to open that mouth, sweet thing..Or I'm not sure you'll have a mouth to close at the end of the day.."

You open your eyes wide and tears are falling down your face. You don't have a choice but to open your mouth. But before he could do much, Pennywise gets a hold of him and throws him away from you.

" What the heck, Penny ?! When I said we were supposed to talk, I didn't mean by putting your tongue in her mouth ! Jeez ! Get a hold of yourself, kid !"

For a moment, shame and guilt seem to take a hold of Penny and he shakily stands back. He seems confused himself..Why did he do that ? Pennywise is taken aback by the clown's kiss..Where the heck did he even learn that from ?! Pennywise then returns to you, curled into a little ball on the floor and his heart tightens..Sh*t. They got carried away..Again. He sighs loudly and takes back his human form. Penny also loses his white skin and his yellow eyes. He wants to approach you but, you cry out.

" Don't touch me !"

Penny freezes and tries to nuzzle your neck as an apology, but you frown and push him back.

" No, Penny ! I'm angry ! You didn't have the right ! I didn't want you to be my first kiss ! I wanted someone who loved me !"

He looks up to Pennywise for help, but the older clown just shrugs. He has no idea of what to do..Truth is, he doesn't even know what all the problem is with "first kiss". He knows that a girl had to remain pure in order to marry when he was still alive..But he thought that rule had been abandoned long ago ? However, you seem very upset and Penny doesn't like it when you cry. He tries to think of a solution, of anything to make you forget what happened..He wants to get out the music box, but in your rage, you grab it and smash it against the wall. To your horror, you realize too late what you've done and Penny roars before pouncing on you, his teeths bare and ready to chomp on you. Pennywise tries to make him get off you, but he is too weak and Penny doesn't have any problem pushing him aside. However, Pennywise falls and knocks his head against a nearby table. You can see blood, and so does Penny. Penny quickly gets back to his human form and shakes Pennywise to wake him up.

" Pennywise ! What's going on ?!"

Pennywise only groans in pain when Penny shakes him again. You instantly come by his side and automatically feel the sweat covering his arms and forehead. You then see a strange mark on his neck and blood starts getting out from his nose, eyes and ears. You quickly unbutton his shirt and gasp in horror.

" Oh my God.."

He was covered by black sports that seemed to spread all over him like a..a disease.

" P..Pennywise. Did you have the..?"

" The black plague ?"

He guesses and you nod. He sighs and finally nods.

" Yes. It was not as bad as my family though.."

You bite your lower lip..By how fast it was spreading, he had a few hours at best. The disease seemed to have survived with him. You are about to call the ambulance when Pennywise stops you.

" Don't..Don't call the hospital. Those bastards won't know what to do..They're not prepared. Plus, they could get infected."

You sigh before remembering that..

" Pennywise..You bit me."

Your voice is shaking as you wonder if you will have it too..? Pennywyse's eyes widen and he curses.

" Sh*t. I have no idea.."

You have trouble breathing and put your hands in your pockets as you pace back and force, wondering what you should do ? You suddenly feel something inside your palm and quickly get it out to look at it. Sam's number..Inviting him could maybe break the deal and make them return to what they were ? Save them ? You shiver at the thought. Yes..But at what price ? You look back at Pennywise, his eyes are closed and his breathing very bad..You don't have a choice. You call him. It doesn't take you long to have him on the other side of the line.

" Hello ?"

" Sam ? Hey ! Could you come over ?"

You emphasize on his name, which make both of the clowns groan loudly in disapproval. However, they know what you're trying to do and don't try to stop you.

" Yeah ! Sure! I'll be right here !"

You force yourself to smile, still wanting to sound excited as to see him. However, the clowns seem to slowly change and growl loudly in the background. You hang off and look at them with a small sad smile.

" You know that it's the only way..Please, don't make this even more complicated than it really is."

Both clowns seem to understand your sacrifice and Pennywise slowly takes your hand with, for the first time in forever, tears in his eyes.

" Thank you, sweetheart."

You only nod and then, ask Penny to move him upstairs, as for Dan not to see him. He reluctantly agrees and helps you move the man upstairs. You then ask Penny to go hide in the basement. You prepare yourself and it doesn't take long for the doorbell to ring. You take a big breath before opening the door and letting Dan in. He looks around and finally smiles at you.

" Hi. So, what did you want to talk about ?"

You bite your lip and start thinking of a good reason for his presence.

" I..I just thought that it's been a long time since I've last had company and I wanted to see you again.."

He smiles and nods before sitting down on the couch. You gulp loudly before sitting beside him and looking at everything but him. He seems to catch on your nervousness and gently runs his hand on your back to soothe you.

" Hey, if you're not ready, I understand. I can wait and.."

" No !"

You hadn't meant to sound so desperate, but Pennywise was dying and you didn't know how to save him but to hurt him the only way you could. You take Dan by the collar and suddenly kiss him on the lips. He seems surprised at first, but reciprocates soon enough. You open your eyes and see that his are closed, he is actually enjoying the kiss. You smile. Maybe it wasn't so bad ? Penny and Pennywise would go down to the sewers and you would get to have a normal life back. However, you should have known that things wouldn't be so simple. Dan starts to be more persistent and slowly slides his hand up your thigh.

" No, Dan, wait.."

But he doesn't wait and only deepens the kiss to shut you up. Suddenly, someone pushes you apart harshly and you see Penny that took back his original form. He glares at Dan and growls menacingly before taking you in his arms and running in the basement. When he stops, you call him, nervous and scared that he would hurt you.

" Penny ?"

You ask, afraid that something had gone wrong..But, Penny only smiles with his multiple rows of very sharp teeths before answering you in his familiar high-pitched singing voice.

" ~I'm back.."

You smile in relief, but Penny suddenly takes you by the throat and you only have the time to look at him with widened eyes.

" Don't look at me like that..We wouldn't want Shardik to come and get you.."

When you fall into complete darkness, you barely hear Penny adding something in the shell of your ear.

" Don't worry. When all of this is over, we'll make sure to remind you who you truly belong to..You've been playing with us for too long, pet. With no humanity to abide by, there will be nothing to hold me back.."

Whereas upstairs, Pennywise enters the room transformed as you and takes Dan by the neck to kiss him harshly. However, when Dan opens his eyes, Pennywise is standing before him with a large grin.

" Surprise, shawty ! Not the person you were expecting, huh ? What ? Never kissed a clown before ? Remember that when the girl says no, it means no."

And then, without a warning, Pennywise sinks his teethes into Dan's shoulder. However, he doesn't scream. Pennywise feels something acid in his mouth and quickly steps back with a sour growl.

" You aren't human.."

Dan only chuckles before sitting on the couch in a nonchalant manner. His skin quickly turning to a pale shade of white and his eyes brighten almost mischievously.

" Man..Didn't think it would take you this long to figure it out.."

#fandoms #fanfic #imagine #pennywise 1990 #pennywise 1990 x y/n x pennywise 2017 #pennywise 2017 #pennywise x reader

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animehun7er · 3 years

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TOP ECCHi ANiME TO WATCH FOR

It’s sexy time now or in anime terms, it’s ‘ecchi’ time now. After doing a list about some of the popular harem anime out there, why not compile another list, this time with popular ecchi anime. The ecchi genre has been a fan favourite for a long time. So much so that there are special fanservice episodes in anime from other genres. Though I am not an avid watcher of ecchi anime sometimes I do tend to dwell in them. If you are looking for some sexy anime the here’s a list compiled just for you. So, let’s see what are some of the top ecchi anime out ever. You can watch some of these best ecchi anime movies on Crunchyroll or YouTube. Most of these anime are erotic and hot

10. No Game No Life (2014)

‘No Game No Life’ is a fantasy, ecchi anime. It has been made bright, colourful, and is filled with fan service. I liked the premise of the movie (though it has been done before). The base theme is that you have to play high-stake games to make critical decisions. Thus, this removes all kind of action, bloodshed, and war. So, if you are into that action anime then I suggest you skip this one. Sora and Shiro are one of the best online gamers. They are siblings who are not currently pursuing any sort of education or doing any jobs. Their online game username is ‘Blank’ which has achieved a sort of legendary status. They don’t go out much and feel that the real world is nothing but a lame game.

One day they receive an e-mail which challenges them to play a match of chess. This starts their adventures in another realm where every rivalry and problem is solved by games. The ruler of this world, Disboard, is Tet, who is the God of Games. This system of settling disputes and discord via high-stake games works pretty well for one particular reason. Both the parties must wager something equal in value to the wager of the opposite party. Now, the gaming genius duo Sora and Shiro has got a reason to play games. They must unite all the races of this world to play against Tet so that they become the new God of Games.

9. Kill la Kill (2013)

‘Kill la Kill’ is an entertaining anime. There are two ways of watching this show. You can watch it as a parody of sorts and enjoy how it satirically criticizes the stereotypical anime paraphernalia. You can also watch it as a common ecchi, action anime with strong female leads and lots of funny scenes. Whichever way you choose you will end up having fun while viewing this show. Though at first, the series might feel a bit confusing and clichéd it matures gradually as the series approaches the end. Ryuuko Matoi is the protagonist of the series. Her father was an inventor. One of his inventions is a scissor-like weapon. It is the missing half of this weapon which serves as the only remaining clue of his murder that Ryuuko has.

With the remaining half of the scissor blade, she ventures out to find the killer of her father and avenge his death. Her investigation takes her to Honnouji Academy. It is a prestigious academy at the top of which is the cold and heartless Satsuki Kiryuuin, the student council president. Four people serve her and are known as the Elite Four. They have been given God Clothes by Satsuki which grants them superhuman powers. Ryuuko tries to fight one of them but looses and retreats to her home. There she finds a rare God Cloth which after coming in contact with her blood latches onto her. This gives her immense superhuman abilities.

Now, armed with power Ryuuko ventures once again to the Honnouji Academy to face Satsuki and her underlings to uncover the culprit behind her father’s murder.

8. Highschool of the Dead (2010)

The only reason I decided to include ‘Highschool of the Dead’ is that I found it quite entertaining. Mind you it is nowhere close to some great ecchi anime like ‘Shokugeki no Soma’ but it is entertaining nonetheless. It is an erotic zombie apocalypse anime with lots of fanservice. There are some steamy hot scenes in this anime. It does not plan to intrigue the viewers with a complex and interesting plot or relatable characters (though at times you can relate with some of them) but rather let them enjoy a sexy little zombie apocalypse anime. So, if you are a fan of the genre then you might enjoy it.

The plot starts with the world suddenly amid a zombie apocalypse. People start turning into the undead. The entire social structure is experiencing a great demise as humans start feeding on each other. Takashi Kimuro is the protagonist of this anime. His friend, unfortunately, turns into a zombie. Takashi takes the harsh decision and kills his friend before he can harm anyone. He promises to protect the girlfriend of his friend. As they navigate through their school campus they meet a bunch of other students and a school nurse. All of them are trying to escape this predicament. They decide to bundle up together and work as a team so that they can survive this apocalypse.

7. Sekirei (2008)

‘Sekirei’ is a popular ecchi genre anime and like lots of other anime in this genre, it too uses the supernatural theme. The series has some funny scenes and some over-the-top action sequences. The female characters, who are the centre of attraction for all ecchi anime fans, in this anime are quite pretty and sexy. They are nicely endowed and have voluptuous figures. Though it is common in these types of anime I felt that ‘Sekirei’ was somewhat misogynistic in its approach. It is one thing to make women wear skimpy and tight clothes (which is quite staple in any ecchi anime) but it is another thing to treat them as objects. This was one of the most obnoxious things about this anime. If you can get over this fact then it will become a fun little anime which you can either binge or watch an episode or two once in a while taking a break from your regular stuff.

Though Minato Sahashi is not an idiot he keeps struggling with academics. He tries hard but ends up failing the college entrance exams a second time. He and people around him lose their hope and think that Minato is a failure. But suddenly his life changes when a beautiful human-like extraterrestrial-being falls into his life (literally). Her name is Musubi. She is a Sekirei, special beings who kiss humans who possess a special gene to unhide their secret powers. Musubi brings out Minato’s hidden powers but now he is paired with her to compete against other similar pairs. What Minato doesn’t know is that there is far more danger regarding this than he thinks.

6. Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san (2018)

Up next is another supernatural ecchi anime. If you fantasize about sexy supernatural or fantastical beings then you will enjoy ‘Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san’. There are 12 episodes in this series and each episode is around 23 minutes long. If you have ventured into the ecchi genre after watching anime like ‘Shokugeki no Soma’ then I will suggest you not to hang around this genre much, since most anime are not remotely like it. They are filled with lots of fanservice and buxom beauties and that’s mostly about it.

Fuyuzora Kogarashi is a medium and has been troubled by spirits since his childhood. He has been possessed many times but as he grew older he became more resistant towards the spirits and can now even exorcize them with just a punch. But he is poor and in need of a cheap boarding house to stay in. He finds it quite cheap to stay at the Yuragi manor. The main reason that this Manor is cheap is that it is haunted. But having dealt with ghosts most of his life Fuyuzora has no problem with it and starts staying in the house. The other tenants of the house are beautiful and sexy females. There he meets the ghost of the girl who is haunting the house. After Fuyuzora vows to help fulfil her lingering wish, the other members of the house reveal their supernatural nature.

5. Sankarea (2012)

The next anime is an odd one. ‘Sankarea’ had one of the most unusual plots. The main character is Chihiro Furuya a boy obsessed with everything ‘zombie’. He is so into them that he even wants a zombie girlfriend. One day Chihiro’s cat Baabu dies. This makes him determined to create a resurrection potion. He finds one of the main ingredients in Rea Sanka’s, a girl who wishes to die, house. After the potion is complete Rea decides to drink it thinking that the potion will kill her. But the potion was successful and when Rea, dies in an accident she is resurrected from the dead thus, becoming a zombie. Though this situation may seem ideal for Chihiro he faces a lot of trouble to deal with Rea.

4. Mayo Chiki! (2011)

Kinjirou Sakamachi had developed gynophobia, a fear of women, thanks to his mother and sister’s wrestling obsession. One advantage did come out of this though, his body has become very resilient allowing him to even brush off bumps from vehicles. But his fear is quite abnormal so much so that even a touch from a female can make his nose bleed. He ends up discovering that Subaru Konoe, who is the butler to his headmaster’s daughter, is a female. In exchange for secrecy, she promises to cure his phobia.

3. Prison School (2015)

Hachimitsu Private Academy is a popular all-girls academy until very recently when it decided to let boys enrol. After the first enrollment process, only 5 boys are selected. This puts them in a very awkward position as they cannot converse with almost any of their classmates since they are all female and ignore them. They try to find recluse in being peeping toms. But they are caught and thrown in the school prison for one month. Will they be able to survive or will they break?

2. High School DxD (2012)

Issei Hyoudou is your everyday pervert who wants to own a harem someday. He enjoys peeping on women. One day he is asked by a girl. Unfortunately, the girl is a fallen angel who wants to kill Issei and is successful in doing so. End of story, right? Wait! Issei is then resurrected by Rias Gremory, a devil, who makes him her servant. Now, Issei must adjust to this new lifestyle and survive in the vicious world of devils and angels.

1. Shokugeki no Souma (2015)

Souma Yukihira has been working as a sous chef under his father in their family restaurant. He is quite creative in his cooking style and entertains the customers with skilful culinary creations. His dream is to one day become the head chef of the restaurant. His dream is however cut short when his father closes down the business and enrols Souma in Tootsuki Culinary Academy. Now, he needs to work hard since only 10% of the students can graduate. Will he be able to survive the academy and its famous food wars?

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goron-king-darunia · 3 years

Note

Annon-Guy: Sonic - Thanks for answering that Darunia. It makes sense, but I hope it's not weird that I'm a big TaiSmo and SonAmy fan 😊. As for Amy and Marta, they would definitely get along as friends, but if it's Post-Game Marta, she would see a lot of her old self in Amy and try to give her advice about pulling back (she would understand what that means by than). Also, Sonic is only 3 years older than Amy (Sonic is 15 and Amy is 12), so it's not that huge of a gap.

(Relevant to this post for context for future me and other peeps.) Nah, man, ship what ya like. If anything I’m probably an outlier in the Sonic Fandom because I actually like Big the Cat and next to Chris Thorndyke from the Sonic X series, Big is one of the most hated characters in the Sonic series. TaiSmo and SonAmy are, like, pretty mainstream ships. The only others I can think of are Sonic x Shadow, Silver x Blaze and Shadow x Amy with Knuckles x Rouge being pretty popular too but mostly because everyone’s thirsty for Rouge. I like the dynamic Sonic and Amy have in Sonic Boom a bit better because Amy acts a bit less like a petulant child when she can’t have all of Sonic’s attention and actually has hobbies outside of just... being Sonic’s girlfriend. Yeah, their age gap isn’t THAT big. But it flies in the face of what the culture of the USA deems comfortable. IRL, if they were in a schooling situation, they’d only be at the same school for 3-5 out of the 13 years they’d be school-aged and that’s... not a lot. Granted that’s a WEIRD framework, but the USA has a weird script for teen romance that usually involves them growing up together so in the USA at least, it’s framed as ��weird.” The relationship is also right on the cusp of Amy technically being a child and Sonic technically being a teenager and that makes people uncomfy. There’s a sort of internet shipping “rule of thumb” in the west that generally seems to work for separating age gaps that people find comfy and age gaps that people don’t. Half the eldest member’s age and add 7 years and that’s the youngest the character “should” be dating or paired with. So 15 yo Sonic would be 15/2= 7.5+7=14.5. So generally the age gap people would be comfortable with Sonic in would be with someone basically his own age. Age gap problems tend to be less of an issue when both characters are adults. Add 10 years and Sonic becomes 25 and Amy becomes 22. 25/2= 12.5+7= 19.5. Amy’s well over the age people would generally be comfortable with Sonic dating. Now, granted, relationships are more than math problems. Age is just a number and it’s not a magical one. The number 15 isn’t magically magnetically repelled by the number 12. The reason that age gaps are a problem in real life is because a middle-schooler and a high-schooler generally have different levels of agency IRL. A 12-year-old is barely at an age where you might start giving them more adult chores like grabbing groceries from the corner store on the way home from school while a 15-year-old is almost at an age where you start teaching them to drive in the USA. If Sonic was 16 and Amy was 13 (which, I think, as of Sonic Heroes, are their canon ages?) Sonic would be able to drive and basically be allowed to do most things on his own, might even have his own job or whatever, and Amy would just start having more adult responsibilities. Now, of course, most of this doesn't matter, because Sonic and the others take a leaf out of the book of Japanese social norms. Kids are afforded more agency and responsibility because it’s expected that the community will help them if they need help. And even then, the Sonic series plays VERY fast and loose with norms from real life, to the point where Tails, an 8-year-old, can drive vehicles and fly planes and Amy regularly goes shopping by herself and Sonic probably only ever drives for fun because he can run literally faster than the speed of sound. Like, everything’s clearly loosey-goosey in the Sonic world. But kind of like how Sonic 2006 had that whole kiss with Sonic and the human woman and everyone (in the USA at least) thought it was weird, Sonic and Amy have an age gap that’s going to rub a lot of people the wrong way. But, like, at the end of the day, they’re cartoon hedgehogs and their world is different enough from our world that a fox can not only fly with or without a plane, but people trusted him driving the Tornado 2 around on a dang freeway to chase after the freaking President and no one really batted an eye. So, like, I have no problem with the ships, I just understand that in the USA there are many avenues by which the ships (in this case, SonAmy) is considered “probmelatique.” But, like, honestly, Amy Rose can wield a giant hammer and has most of the brain cells in the main Sonic crew, (Next to Tails maybe, but Tails seems to have only tech brain cells. He’s a kid by most other metrics, he’s just a tech wiz.) So, like, I can totally buy that the power dynamic between Amy and Sonic is pretty equal despite the age difference. I just understand the visceral reactions people would have to that age difference. It’d be cool if Rays’ Marta (The best version of Marta IMHO) talked some sense into Amy about Sonic while they were out shopping and they became best buds. Marta would be a cool big sis type to Amy.

#Sonic the Hedgehog #Letters from Annon Guy #I'm putting way too much thought into this I think #like #for real though #ship what you want to ship #I just totally understand where some people are coming from in regards to how the age gap is a problem #because in real life an age gap like that would be a problem...#not an insurmountable problem because adulthood mostly levels that playing field #but I totally understand why it rubs people wrong #but #never feel bad for the ships you like though #because fiction is fiction after all #Anonymous #ask GKD

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oldmacnewlife · 3 years

Text

Meet the Mac

PowerMac G5 2.0 DP Early 2005 M9747ll/A A1047

The Specs

The early 2005 PowerMac G5 2.0 DP introduced in April 2005 with dual PowerPC 970 fx G5 processors running at 2 GHz. The base model came with 512 MB of PC3200 DDR memory, clocked at 400 MHz. I’ve upgraded my machine to the maximum supported amount of 4 GB. This model was discontinued in October of 2005.

This PowerMac shipped with Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and supports up to version 10.5.8 Leopard. Applications designed for Mac OS 9 may be run in Classic mode, as this computer will only boot into OS X. I have set up my Mac to dual boot both Tiger and Leopard.

Storage was originally provided by an 160 GB 7200 RPM SATA hard disk, with a second bay available for an additional hard drive. I’ve installed two 1 TB hard drives to my system, allowing the two supported versions of OS X to each have their own drive. A 4X DL SuperDrive also came standard, enabling reading and writing to DVDs and CDs.

The G5’s graphics are powered by an ATI Radeon 9600 with 128 MB of VRAM, installed into an 8X AGP slot. This card provides two DVI ports, permitting either dual or mirrored displays at a maximum resolution of 1900x1200.

For networking, you get 10/100/.1000Base-T ethernet standard. AirPort Extreme wifi, Bluetooth, and modem were all optional and not originally installed on my machine. I have since added these.

Connectivity is fairly generous for a machine of the period, with 3 USB (2.0) ports, 2 Firewire 400 ports and a single Firewire 800 port.

For expansion, you get the aforementioned AGP 8X slot, occupied by the aforementioned ATI Radeon 9600. There are also 3 open PCI slots.

OK, that pretty much covers the specs, Let’s take a look at what you can actually do with this thing in the modern era.

The Internet

I’ll get this out of the way first: you’re not going to want to use this Mac as your daily driver on the internet. Safari, Firefox and Chrome all left the G5 behind along time ago. Internet Explorer? Even Microsoft has moved on from Internet Explorer. Sort of. But...There is a web browser actively supported for these machine. Built on an older version of Mozilla, TenFourFox is intended for PowerPC Macs running OS X Tiger or Leopard. It’s objective is to bring the modern web to these old Macs and, considering the limitations of the hardware, it doesn’t do a terrible job. Those hardware limitations are a pretty severe bottleneck, though. It’s just too slow to keep up with today’s internet. Social networking sites like Facebook and Tumblr don’t seem to function correctly. YouTube does technically work if you can accept watching videos at 144p. Higher resolutions bog the computer down to much, leading to buffering or choppy video. Basic, text heavy sites work tolerably well, though, and I have done quick research on the web while working on other projects on this machine. Still...Verdict: No.

Video Editing.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha . No.

Audio Processing

My needs in this area are very simple., and, I’ve been able to do very basic audio recording and editing on this Mac using a Blue Snowball USB microphone and Audacity. A quick note, though: if you’re Audio files absolutely need to be in MP3 format, Audacity requires the LAME library for MP3 encoding, which I have not been able to get to work with the old version of the software compatible with this old machine. I’m not saying it can’t be done. I’m saying I haven’t been able to figure out how to do it. Verdict: meh.

Retro Gaming

From a hardware perspective, this Mac should be a pretty capable retro gaming rig. The chief problem here is simply the availability of games for the platform. Game studios tend to focus resources on where the customers are, and in the computer gaming world, that’s going to be Windows and gaming consoles. Back in 2005, the Mac community mainly got ports of games that had already been out for other platforms for some time already, sold for full “new game price”, of course. If retro or any other type of gaming is your primary interest, the Mac probably isn’t be your first choice. Still, it’s not a total wasteland out there. MacSoft put out some decent ports - Civilization IV? OK, I’m in for that. Verdict: meh.

Office

I spend most of my time on this Mac in OS X Tiger. The two office suites I’ve found available for this operating system are Office 2004 and an equally ancient (4.0.6.2) version of Open/LibreOffice. Whether this PowerMac can meet your needs in this area depends on, well, what you need. I use Office 2004, which includes Word, PowerPoint and Excel, and for me, that does pretty much everything I need it to. This old version of Office can’t open anything saved in Microsoft’s XML format, though. Those can be identified by an x at the end of their filename extensions, such as .docx for a Word document. OpenOffice can deal with these files, so if you find yourself frequently exchanging files with other people, that’s probably the way to go. Verdict: Qualified yes.

Desktop Publishing

Ah, now we’re getting to what I consider the Mac’s strong suit - desktop publishing. With the right software installed, this old Mac is still pretty capable. I got lucky and was gifted a G5 with Adobe Photoshop CS2. That’s CS2 as in “Creative Suite 2”, so, it’s the bundle - Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat Pro, and InDesign. I once read something to the effect that “your Mac will always do the things it did on the day you bought it just as well years later.” That’s not absolutely true - see Internet and Video Editing - but here I think that statement holds up. I’ve used this Mac to create newsletters. My typical workflow looks like this: rough drafts of articles are written in Word. I’ll also handle the proofing in Word (if InDesign has proofing features, I haven’t found or seen a peep about them anywhere.) I’ll copy and paste these into InDesign, and begin to design the layout. I’ll use Aperture for quick touch-ups to photos (color or contrast adjustment, brightness, etc.) while actual photo editing (cropping, compositing, etc.) is done in PhotoShop. I’ll then import these into InDesign and finalize the layout. Although very old, these are professional grade tools. Could a professional use them in 2020? That might be a bit of a stretch, but a hobbyist can absolutely use them. Verdict: Yes

Conclusion

Hardware and software limitations make this Mac poorly suited for the modern web. Limited availability of software hobbles it’s capabilities as a retro gaming rig. But, for basic office duty and desktop publishing tasks, this old Mac can still be a productive member of the family.

#computers #apple #mac #macintosh #powermac #g3 #powermac G5 #ppc #powerpc

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prorevenge · 5 years

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Power hungry president sucks the joy out of a local artist collective, ends up having to leave town.

A warning and an apology: this is long.

For background, my older sister, who I'll call Beth, is married to her high school sweetheart, who I'll call Craig. Beth is a pretty laid-back person, but she has one hot button trigger that causes her to have zero chill: anyone treating her beloved Craig poorly. Craig is very quiet and kind, just in general a mild-mannered, good-natured guy who's not great at standing up for himself, so he often attracts bad actors who view him as an easy mark, and because he alwaysassumes that other people have good intentions, he's not great at realizing when he's being mistreated. Beth is usually pretty relaxed about things, but she will basically turn into a howling, vengence-seeking banshee if anyone takes advantage of Craig.

Which brings us to ~2-3 years ago. Craig works a white collar job remotely, but he's an amateur artist/craftsman as a hobby. He does wood carving, a little bit of light metalwork, and 2-D art (mainly pencil sketches and pen-and-ink illustrations). He joined an artist's collective/makerspace where he could work on these hobbies around likeminded people, and he absolutely loved it. Whenever I hung out with him and Beth around this time, Craig would excitedly talk about the space and his projects there with infectious enthusiasm. His eyes were practically beaming out of his head whenever it came up. Beth joined too to learn/improve on her own hobby of fiber arts (mainly weaving and dyeing), but she was way less into it than Craig.

Some time after this, the president of the makerspace stepped down. It was essentially a volunteer position, though it came with a small (mostly symbolic) stipend. Since the makerspace had no actual staff, being president of the makerspace was a huge undertaking that involved being a one-man show for everything--for a start, coordinating with the board, keeping day-to-day operations going, and chasing the grants that kept the lights on. The current president just couldn't do it anymore with his full-time job, and announced his intention to vacate the role. Craig had come to love the makerspace, and he figured he had the resources to be an effective president. His job is entirely remote and deliverables-based (he can work whatever hours he wants as long as he's meeting his objectives), so he figured he could work out of the makerspace on his laptop and be available there if anyone needed him, and then do the heavy lifting of the role outside work hours. So he threw his hat in the ring.

Enter Jamie, a recent industrial design grad. Jamie was known to be flaky and very dramatic, but he'd been a member of the makerspace for a couple of years, almost as long as it had existed, and he felt entitled to be handed the presidency because he had seniority. He lost his damn mind when he heard that Craig had the audacity to go for the same role and complained to several members about how Craig was massively overstepping. This got back to Craig, who didn't really take it seriously, and it also got back to Beth, who, of course, was already irritated that Jamie was shit-stirring, but kept it to herself.

Long story short: Jamie won the member vote by a small margin, which Craig was very gracious about. Craig congratulated Jamie on the victory, then settled back into business as usual. Jamie... was not so gracious. He was enraged that Craig had gotten so many votes, and made it known to everyone that he was trying to figure out who had voted for Craig, and that they "would pay." Many of the members who had voted for Jamie passively because he'd been around forever and they didn't really know Craig were shocked by this behavior and started privately expressing regret to each other. But it gets worse. The makerspace had always offered members the perk of sponsoring workshops, meetups, and classes that anyone, members or non-members, could attend; all you had to do was sign up for the space on a first-come, first-served basis and kick up 20% of any profits to the makerspace if you charged a fee. Jamie started preemptively cancelling classes and workshops sponsored by anyone on his shit list by blocking off all available reservations during the regular times certain classes would be held. So Craig had traditionally sponsored a popular casting workshop on Wednesday evenings, and suddenly all Wednesday evenings were booked solid before the sign-up sheet was even available. He tried switching to Thursday, but after just one rescheduled workshop, suddenly Thursday evenings were out too. He tried Tuesdays, but because it was so early in the week, no one could come. Craig was bummed, but was still too good-natured to realize Jamie was intentionally sabotaging him out of spite, despite a righteously angry Beth trying to paint the picture for him of what was going on.

Beth. Was. Pissed. But she wasn't banshee pissed yet. Not until...Jamie selectively told the people on his shit list that member fees were going up. By almost double. He presented this as a makerspace-wide policy, but he made one crucial error. Somehow, Jamie never picked up on Craig and Beth being married, probably because he was never around both of them at the same time. So Beth flew under his radar, and he didn't raise her member fees, just Craig's and some of Craig's known friends, which confirmed to her that he was intentionally retaliating against Craig.

At this point, Beth had steam coming out of her ears and went to go talk to the board, since they have the power to cite or even throw out the president. They were uneasy about what she told them, but they said the president was technically allowed to set member fees, and they'd keep an eye on things.

Beth didn't really believe the board that they'd be keeping an eye on things, because Jamie was already dropping the ball all over the place, and the board wasn't making a peep over it. He wanted to be president because of the prestige, but he was never willing to do the work, so he just--didn't do it, and things were falling apart. The makerspace was getting late notices on unpaid bills, basic maintenance of the space wasn't getting done, materials weren't being restocked as they ran out, and the record keeping was nonexistent. It got so bad that the previous president who had stepped down because he couldn't handle the time commitment anymore (who had run the makerspace from its inception) quit as a member altogether because he was so saddened and disgusted by how bad things had gotten. He'd put his blood, sweat, and tears into this place, and stepped down from a role he treasured because he believed it was in the best interest of the organization, and now he had to watch Jamie run this place he loved into the ground out of sheer laziness. Craig was also losing his excitement over the makerspace, because he no longer had the space or resources to do the things he enjoyed there.

Beth, at this point, had gone from furiously angry to strategically angry. Suspecting that Jamie was being shady in more ways than one, she spent a few days being friendly to Jamie and sucking up to him, and then sprung on him the offer to help with the organization's bookkeeping and records. Still not realizing that she was Craig's wife, but knowing that she worked as a project manager in her day job, Jamie saw a chance to get some skilled work done at zero effort to himself, and he happily agreed, and gave her access to the makerspace's Google Sheets (not the most high-tech operation). For a little while, Beth bided her time, bringing the financial accounts up to date and continuing to be diabolically friendly to Jamie.

After a while of this, she calmly pulled together six copies of documents comparing the official organizational income that Jamie was reporting to her with the actual income, which Jamie was completely unaware she was tracking. These documents proved that Jamie was not only skimming money off the top of class and workshop fees, but was actively stealing money from the grants the makerspace was receiving, which is highly illegal. Beth gave the six board members her impeccably compiled proof of what was happening.

Almost immediately, the board "fired" Jamie and issued a lifetime ban from the makerspace. They were afraid of losing their grants if news came out about the gross misappropriation, so they didn't report Jamie to the authorities, but instead gave him 48 hours to return the stolen funds, the implication being that they would report him if he didn't. He panicked and complied, selling his car quickly to do it and scrounging up the difference in a ton of quick loans from friends, many of whom were makerspace members not aware of what was going on (no, he never paid them back). He's now persona non grata with all of his former friends, and while he still has a clean criminal record, word traveled pretty far in the local artist community, which means he was black listed from most of the industrial design jobs in the area and couldn't use his degree if he wanted to stay in town. As far as Beth and Craig knew, he moved away about six months after all this went down, but they haven't kept up with him, and don't know where he is.

The makerspace board realized their setup was bad, so instead of a single president, they restructured to have a panel of volunteer officers running the operation. Craig is one of them, and has happily thrown himself back into wood working and metal casting. Beth still helps out with the books.

TL;DR: Power hungry industrial designer tries to sabotage my brother-in-law's hobby; gets his life destroyed by my protective sister, who reveals that he's embezzling.

(source) (story by SisterSist)

#prorevenge #by SisterSist #pro revenge #revenge stories #pro revenge stories #pro #revenge #revenge story #last10

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blackdamed-blog · 5 years

Text

Obrien ( a land of eight nearly united kingdoms )

Oriens -- The largest and most diverse country, serves as the unofficial capital of Obrien. Is home to human, dwarven and vampire realms. Home of the dwarves of Jorrsgar and the Emerald Mountains, who separated from the Duregbag dwarves long ago to achieve democracy. Noble houses are aplenty in the land, but there also an abundance of commoners living comfortably middle or lower class. Though there is poverty, jobs are fairly easy to come into. The people of Oriens are opened-minded, due to being exposed to many races and cultures, but there are always a select many that stay prejudiced to others unlike themselves.

Sanct Amell -- The capital and home of the royal family, named after one of Obrien’s long deceased saints, Sister Catherine Amell. It used to be a humble and quaint town, full of the middle and lower class among the towering castle, but gentrification has began making changes to the village and it’s quickly becoming a bustling city. Some of the upper class seek to move closer to the castle, prices raising and forcing the middle and lower class out of their homes. Home of Cypress.

Charles -- Named after the late Lord Roywood Charles, ancestor of the current King Heathwood Charles. And, no, no more Charles men have been named after wood. A romantic and lively town, full of creative architecture, art, and music. Home of the upper and middle class. Charles is also the home of the Bard’s College, where many come to learn the trade of song.

Sanct Marie -- Named after the long deceased saint, Lady Marie Flores. A more humble area of Oriens, this is also a town where middle and lower class usually reside. It’s quiet and far from the other cities, ripe with greenery and animals. Farmers and ranchers like to make a living there. A true country town.

Lissa -- Named after a late princess of Oriens, Princess Lissa Ysell, who’s untimely death of illness caused her parents so much grief that they named a town after her. Lissa is a gated settlement where many of the wealthy are located. One must make $$$$$ amount of money to reside there.

Seline -- Named after the late Queen, Seline Del Rio, who was Oriens’ primary ruler once upon a time after her father’s death. Seline is a mountainous region, filled with grassy plains and plenty of rain. Much like Sanct Marie, it’s a country region far from city life.

Lisanct -- A port town and the only predominantly human settlement that’s not named after a person. It is believed that Oriens stemmed from Lisanct and grew from there.

Mudarra -- A forest region, bombarded with trees and and other vegetation. It is said that the moon and stars are most beautiful when seen from a clearing in the Mudarra forest, but it is also home to a vampire clan. However, the vampire clan has sworn not to suck the blood of human -- lest they be purged from Oriens and life all together by the Oriens guard. Such a deal was struck long ago and is upheld by a treaty. To keep the peace, the clan is strict with what vampires come in and out of Oriens. Each member is registered and kept under surveillance by clan prefect. The leaders of the vampire clan are Garnet and Slate. All vampires that come in give up their old lives and names, renamed after stones. Lately though, Slate has been getting tired of living under human rules. He believes that the vampires are losing the power they once held over the world. Why should they fear what humans will do to them?

Emerald Mountains -- A large dwarven region that takes up nearly half of Oriens; separated by a large mountainous region that borders Seline and Lissa. Unlike the dwarves of Jorrsgar, the dwarves of the Emerald Mountains kept their strong caste system that rooted from Duregbag and is ruled by royalty and several noble houses. King Agni is a distant cousin of the current King of Duregbag, King Afolabi, and their family cut ties after Agni’s ancestors left Duregbag to rule elsewhere. Greed was the root, both families simply wanting to have power, and it sprouted a war in the bloodline. What ended the inner war was the split up.

Jorrsgar -- A humble town of dwarves, in between Sanct Marie and Lisanct, that believed Agni’s family truly wanted democracy. When that wasn’t the case, they left and created a settlement of their own, protected by the Oriens royal family. Their current mayor is Hilde Gold Hand.

Sybil -- A primarily human country, but it borders Orc and Shifter territory that are not in Sybil’s protection. Sybil is larger, albeit more old fashioned than Oriens; long ruled by a royal family under the surname Harebell. It’s current ruler is the unmarried Queen Marth-Marie Harebell, inherited from the late King Renald Harebell after his untimely death. Queen Marth is accompanied in ruling by a string of advisers and her hand, Violette de Montsimmard. Though reserved towards outsiders, the people of Sybil are no strangers to mages and magic users. They seek to help control them instead of eradicating or banishing them, therefore establishing the only Mage’s College in all of Obrien. Establishing such has created a large mage population in the country, which they are struggling to control. Each mage must register themselves (or be forced to) and must give blood for a phylactery, which can trace magic back to whoever cast it.

White City -- The capital, where the royal family resides. The streets and large buildings of the town are made with white stone and the city is quite picturesque to look at. The palace, made of beautiful pearly stone and marble itself, towers over the other large structures. The White City is very much a marketplace, houses and living spaces few or right above a store; where the store owners live.

Riverwell -- Right off from the White City, this is where the homes that the White City lacks usually are. Upper and middle class live here.

Brightenwood -- A quaint town, home to the largest library in all of Obrien; the Brightenwood Guild of Education. Despite it’s name, formerly a college for the wealthy, it’s open to all and is mainly used as a public library. True to it’s name, the town is surrounded by woodland and there’s hardly a cloudy day -- save for the colder seasons. There is a Brightenwood Old Town, gentrified by the wealthy, and simply Brightenwood; where the middle and lower class stay. Home of Hamsa.

Marshlands -- Not protected by the Sybil royal family, but apart of the country. This is an orc realm, separated from the Orcs of Azacstan. These are a group of Orcs that found Azacstan’s bloody and aggressive culture too much to live with and sought a better life for themselves. They seek for other races to see them as peace lovers, but the Orcs of Azacstan have terrorized all of Obrien for many years. They are often antagonized by raiders from Azacstan, constantly asking for Sybil’s protection and for the royal family to send more guards to help them. Long has the late King Choi turned a deaf ear to them, perhaps Queen Marth will hear them out.

Black Forest -- Shifter territory, home to several pacts of animal shifters that do not need the protection of Sybil. A forest region, so overrun with greenery that the sun is merely a small peep in the sky. Humans dare not set foot there.

Hidden Forest -- A region, far off from Brightenwood, that is not documented on the map. This is home to a clan of vampires that name themselves after flowers. The clan is primarily for young vampires undergoing their chrysalis (fluctuating emotions that young vampires and dhampyr go through), but word among creatures of the night is that older vampires have also disappeared around this region -- seen again within the clan, memories of life outside of it erased. There seems to be no leader within this clan, except for an unknown master from the Blood Council. It is co-run by prefects. This is the vampire clan that Cypress is a prefect of.

Dawnstar -- A fae realm, in which humans are warned away from. If a non-fae steps foot in Dawnstar, they’ll only be met with an endless forest. In this endless forest, one is prone to being the victim of several types of fae -- good and bad.

Kur Vashox -- A large country in between Oriens and Sybil, ruled by several Jarls. More so than relying on bloodlines, Kur Vashox has a culture of fending for oneself and ‘survival of the fittest’. If a Jarl was uprooted and defeated by another one day, that person who defeated the Jarl would become the new Jarl. If the people of a town collectively decide that their Jarl is unfit and seek to seat another, they have all right to forcefully uproot that Jarl and place the other in the seat. Otherwise, it is the Jarl’s choice for who comes after them. Not determined by birth, but who’s fit for the seat. Kur Vashox is unofficially democratic. The Kurians are a hearty people. The land is nearly surrounded by the sea and, as such, they have become a sea faring folk. Nearly every Kurian has been on a ship in their life and many middle to upper class family have their own small boats; which are kept in the port

Morgal -- Capital of the country and it’s port city. Many merchants make a living there.

Valenguard -- A simple town to the naked eye, nothing much but a few houses, stores, and a tavern. To those who know better, it’s home to the Emerald Eye; a guild of thieves who’s members are spread across Obrien.

Ervisgur

Ysgor

Duregbag -- A dwarven kingdom inside of a large mountain, so it has no cities -- only districts. Duregbag has a strict caste system and is run by the wealthy and nobility. Their King, Afolabi, is a man who listen to those with the deepest pockets and turns away from the poor. In Duregbag, the wealthy can take up harems -- the owner of it can be man or woman. The people in these harems get a monthly salary, so many of the better-looking people in poverty turn to being apart of a wealthy patron’s harem. That or sell themselves into servitude. There are dwarves who live just outside of Duregbag, surface dwarves. These dwarves still fall under the reign of the King, but enjoy a little more freedom outside of the caste system. There is another castle just off from Duregbag, at the very top of the mountain. It is known that this castle belongs to a strange dragon (Hamsa), who appears to be docile. The people of Duregbag dare not bother it.

#∘⡊ ☾ ˚⊹ HEADCANON ⊹ — for the history books.#∘⡊ ☾ ˚⊹ OBRIEN ⊹ — the process of unification and peace.#∘⡊ ☾ ˚⊹ WORLD BUILDING ⊹ — from scratch to beyond.#there's still nimwood azacstan mirai and the sunset isles #but i'm hella tired yet also want you guys to see what i did so far lol #will reblog when it's updated

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dabbhangra · 6 years

Text

Arbor Vitae

Genre: Fantasy, adventure

Word count: 3002

Pairings: none (so far)

Chapter: 1/?

Summary: The Teaching twelve men to control their superpowers and save the Earth at the same time? Nandini saw no problem in that. Now if only Baekhyun learnt to be less annoying...

A/N: There are some malayalam dialogues I’ve used here, the translations for which I’ve provided at the end of the fic. Also, this is my first fanfiction here, so please enjoy!

It was for simplicity’s sake, that Nandini Mohandas told anyone who asked that she hated Byun Baekhyun.

Because really, she didn’t hate him, per se. Baekhyun was a nice good-looking guy who didn’t have a mean bone in his body. Hell, the reason she had caved in and became an EXO-L was because of him, her first bias.

And it wasn’t like he was messing with her directly. She wasn’t one of the lucky ones who got to assist the band members on their tours or anything. The most she generally got to see of the idols were glimpses whenever she had to give stuff to their managers, or when they were leaving for their concerts. And getting yourself noticed was straight up a scenario from a reader insert fanfic.

No, Baekhyun by himself wasn’t the problem. Baekhyun’s stupid debut concept, on the other hand, was the source of all her frustration, something she couldn’t explain to her normal friends without sounding like a crackhead.

(After all, telling people that the Earth was being controlled by something called the Tree of Life and that twelve idols were currently running around with superpowers worked best if you were describing a fantasy novel, not if you were telling others your Tragic Backstory TM.)

Nandini didn’t hate him. That didn’t mean that she didn’t feel like pulling her hair out whenever she was around him.

Like right now. She had to submit some files to one of their managers, on behalf of a co-worker who had called in sick. Things had gone well until she reached the office, when her phone started ringing.

She yelped when MAMA started playing out of nowhere and fumbled with her phone, her face heating up. She dismissed the call right as Chen began to sing, feeling even more embarrassed when she saw an adjacent practice room with its door open. And she had heard voices coming from it earlier.

“I’m sorry!” She called out nervously to the now quiet room as she shoved her phone back into her pocket. Please don’t be EXO, please don’t be EXO-

“Do you have a habit of stalking all your non-biases, or is it just me?”

SON OF A BITCH, YOU’RE HERE?!

Baekhyun slid into view, a shit eating grin on his face. “It seems we keep running into each other, stalker-ssi. Can you blame this on fate again?”

“Fortunately, I can,” Nandini grit her teeth, “Your manager asked me to submit these files to him, and I came here to do my job. Perhaps you’re the one who’s stalking me, hmm? Baekhyun-ssi?”

His grin grew wider. “Ah, but I’m doing my job here too! My band members and I need to discuss with our manager important things as well! Plus, I’m not the one who stalked you. Twice, if I may add.”

“Objection,” She said, “Stalking implies intent to harm or harass. I followed you, and that too only once.”

“So, our second meeting was just a series of coincidences, you say? We shopped at the exact same store, we had coffee in the exact same café, we were watching the exact same movie rerun-”

“Kimi No Na Wa is not a movie, it’s a religion, so excuse you-”

“And after all that noise you made, you still say I’m not your bias-”

“Thendi, you’re not even my bias wrecker, so stop day dreaming.”

Baekhyun snickered. “You keep following me everywhere, and yet you say I’m not your wrecker? Please, stalker-ssi, let me see a change in your behaviour, or admit that you stan me the most.”

Delaying her task further was increasing her chances of getting fired, and Nandini had no desire to achieve that. Meanwhile, some of the other members were peeping through the door curiously. “Move it, Baekhyun-ssi, I need to submit these documents now.”

“I’ll let you go if you come back and admit that I’m your bias.”

“Like hell!” She snarled.

“Time’s ticking, stalker-ssi~” Baekhyun practically sang in an annoying manner.

The things I do for money… “Fine I’ll do that, now let me go!” She groaned and raced to the door the moment he stepped aside. As she closed the door, she heard the boys laugh loudly as Baekhyun began rapidly speaking to them. The manager was talking to someone on the phone, so she waited.

And then she felt it again. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Sure enough, she clearly felt an energy spike coming from behind her. If she were to visualize it, she would see a bright white light nestled within the life force of the person emitting it.

Does he even know what he’s doing? Nandini winced as she felt it fluctuate and recede. As far as she could remember, none of the previous hosts had experienced this problem. She’d once read about a host who had tried to break the seal suppressing his power. That had ended with the host going mad and his power going out of control. As a child, it had been drilled into her head to never attempt to do away with magic you have no control over.

Well, it’s not like they’re ever going to believe that the tree of life is an actual thing, is it? And considering the situation, it’s best that they remain ignorant. Although… Her eye twitched when she heard Baekhyun perform an extremely vocal impression of their first meeting, I wouldn’t mind risking insanity if it means I find a more tolerable host…

A few months ago, Nandini had been making an impromptu trip to the bakery when she first felt the spike. It had flared so violently and suddenly that she’d nearly dropped her bagel and successfully spilt her coffee in alarm. After a brief lament over her loss, she had rushed outside to track the energy which was starting to fade.

The source of the spike turned out to be a tall man in a mask and a beanie, who she followed surreptitiously. The man had appeared aimless, and walked for a long time, traversing between crowded streets and finally moved into a secluded street, much to her relief. When she followed, she was immediately backed into a wall by the mystery man, who revealed himself to be none other than Byun Baekhyun.

Her face heated up as she remembered Baekhyun calling her a stalker – an accusation she vehemently denied – which lead to one of the most ridiculous arguments she had ever gotten into. Really, what was she supposed to say to a guy who was more offended at not being her bias than her supposedly stalking him?

“Nandini-ssi?” Her senior’s voice snapped her out of her reverie, making her straighten up.

…

The manager hummed as he set the file down. “Thank you, Nandini-ssi. You may go now.” She nodded and turned to leave.

Okay, maybe he’s forgotten I’m here? She thought as she tentatively closed the door. There was no one in the hallway aside from her. Good. Now I just have to leave quietly without being-

“Oh stalker-ssi!”

Ninakke vera pani ille myre?!

She remained perfectly still as she felt the weight of six stares upon her. Baekhyun bounded up to her gleefully.

“Well?” He said expectantly.

“Well what?” She grit her teeth, feeling slightly nauseous.

“Didn’t you agree that you’d admit something?” He said, “I believe it was something along the lines of “Baekhyun-ssi is my bias”, right?”

“Is it?” She grimaced, “I suppose I can’t back out of this now?”

“I have five witnesses, stalker-ssi~.”

“Poyi chavada myre.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing…” She took a deep breath, trying to ignore the nauseous feeling that was steadily building up. “Fine then…I hereby declare you my bias by coerc-” She began, and then collapsed onto him with a gasp.

At that precise moment the temperature rapidly dropped, and she felt a powerful energy surge come from the five men.

“Whoa,” Baekhyun said, no longer sounding amused as he tried to steady her, “Are you alright?”

“No!” She shouted as she sprang back, trying to calm herself. She looked at the men behind him and locked eyes with Xiumin, who looked both concerned and utterly bewildered.

Another one?! Another defective seal?! What the fuck?! And – hold on, is that frost underneath his feet?!

This was all too much for her. Mumbling something about the flu, she turned and ran to the elevator, ignoring the men calling after her.

…

Back in the comforts of her home, Nandini stared at the cloak on her bed.

It was plain black, with yellow lining and a hood. Sewn on the inside was the image of a four-pointed star, signifying her as a user of light. A smile appeared on her face as she remembered her days as a trainee, struggling with maintaining the light she channelled from her hands.

Like all the others, her parents had taken her to the tree of life when she was ten years old, to determine her affinity for the twelve forces. She remembered how her older sister and cousin brother kept teasing her about it, insisting that there was an obstacle test she had to take and how she had cried when they told her she’d be banished if she failed.

The relief that she felt when she was told that the test merely involved drinking some sort of potion knew no bounds. Well, at least until they told her she had to be injected with something to stabilize her. That had set off a fresh round of waterworks, and her parents had to coax her with promises of soan papdi and ice cream to calm her down.

The injection had hurt, and the symbol on her back had burned. Though it was all worth it to her ten-year-old self, who kept taunting her sister about how she had such a cool power and “Edthi your healing power is so lame! See, that’s what you get for lying to me! Amma, don’t give her any ice cream!”

“Amma, sharing is caring, don’t listen to her!”

“Mindathe irunillachal randu aalkum ice cream kittila, ketto?!”

She caught herself smiling when she glanced at her mirror. Those were the best moments in her life, back when controlling her powers was the most troublesome part of her life and they were all one happy family. Then she remembered her fight with her mother, and her smile faded.

It was no secret to any of her colleagues that Nandini was not close to her family. Part of the reason why she had moved to South Korea was because of her family and her ex. She could clearly remember the day she had stormed out of the house, with her mom screaming at her for being such a terrible daughter and how ashamed she was to be her mother from behind. Her sister and father had tried to reason with them that day, unsuccessfully.

If I can make sure the seals have been bound properly, then Baekhyun and Xiumin won’t be in danger of hurting themselves for the time being. I’ll have to check up on the others as well, just to be sure. There’s got to be at least one mage here that knows their way around seals, right?

She sighed, freeing her hair from its ponytail. Her long curly hair flowed downwards where it ended midback. Her big brown eyes looked dull, and the dark circles under her eyes were more prominent. I need a bath…

The frantic banging on her door suddenly snapped her out of her stupor. She quickly grabbed the cloak and shoved it into her wardrobe. The temperature around her dropped drastically, frost forming on the wood.

She carefully approached the living room, the faintest glimmer of light forming at her fingertips. The banging had not stopped, and she could sense a cold aura behind the door. They’d sent an ice mage after her, and only one at that. She grabbed the door knob with one hand, light forming in the other and pulled it open, preparing to strike.

One hundred and sixteen lbs of Xiumin stumbled onto her and they collapsed spectacularly on the floor.

“What the-get off me!” She shrieked and pushed him off. A part of her was relieved that the cult hadn’t tried to kill her, but her alarm was increasing at the ice forming on her carpet. “And get off my floor, you’re turning my apartment into an ice block!”

“You-” Xiumin said as he got up, his expression frantic. He hugged himself, staring at the ice in horror before looking at her, “What’s happening to me? Everything was normal this morning, I swear!”

He clutched his clothes as if they were his life line. “It was all fine until you and Baekhyun-ah had your stupid lovers’ spat, everything was perfectly normal! Then I touch my coffee and it becomes one big coffee ice cube! And then everything starts freezing and Junmyeon-ah somehow lifts all the water in our bottles-”

What?!

“-and then Baekhyun-ah just lights up like a star and Jongdae-ah causes a power shortage and no one has any fucking clue-”

Nandini just stared at him. Xiumin could have been screaming into a speaker for all he cared, and it would have still registered as white noise. His shirt was tugged to the side, exposing a good amount of his shoulder and the mark on it, a bright blue snowflake that proudly stood out against his skin.

The seal had completely broken.

“Stalker! Stalker! Stalker!” Nandini was rudely jerked back to earth when a hysterical Xiumin grabbed her by her shoulders and shook her. Instinctively she raised her hands, and a beam of light sent him flying backwards onto her door.

“FUCK!” She shrieked and ran to help him up. He appeared more shocked than hurt, if the rise in temperature was any indication. He gaped at her for a second or two, and then fainted.

“Good grief, you’re, ugh, heavy,” Nandini groaned as she slung his arm around her neck and tried to lift him up. She somehow dragged him over to the couch and laid him there before getting a glass of water from the kitchen.

She sprinkled some water on his face, making him groan.

“Stalker…?” He muttered weakly. Her eye twitched.

“Is saying ‘Nandini’ really that hard for you Koreans?” She said incredulously, trying to keep the irritation from showing on her face. “Don’t exert yourself,” She said when he tried to get up, “You’ve clearly had a rough day, and what I’m about to tell you will either make you faint or have you call me crazy.”

“Is it?” Xiumin looked wary. “I froze our office and my car today and saw Junmyeon-ah basically water-bend. How much crazier can it get?”

“Alright…” Nandini said, taking a deep breath. “Let’s see… Xiumin-ssi, tell me exactly what each member did. You said Suho was controlling the water?”

Xiumin nodded tentatively. “Junmyeon-ah made the water float without him even trying. When we saw what happened, Chanyeol-ah’s hand caught on fire. When I grabbed my coffee, it frosted over and became an ice block. Then Jongdae-ah did something that caused all the electricity to go out, and Baekhyun-ah literally lit up when he said he’d bring a flashlight.”

Ente bhagavane… She rubbed her temple with a groan. I’ll have to soften the blow. Maybe… “Xiumin-ssi…do you remember your debut song?”

“What does that have to do with anything?” He asked bemusedly.

“Do you or do you not remember?”

“Kind of…yeah, I remember MAMA.”

“And you remember the concept?”

“Not really…?”

Boy, this may take a while. “Well…the MAMA MV was based on supernatural powers-”

His eyes widened. “Oh, I remember now! Something about the tree of life and legends splitting into twelve powers and the red force of evil-”

“That’s the first time I’ve ever heard the darkness being called that.” She muttered wryly.

“-and we had to do that English chant while wearing those cloaks, “Careless, careless, shoot anonymous’-”

“Hang on, you remember that stupid chant, but you don’t remember the cult concept?”

“-and we all had supernatural abilities which we used for the Power MV, which you could have used as a better example because I clearly remember that one more than MAMA, by the way.”

“Did you forget Power doesn’t have any of your Chinese members, genius?”

“And what do they have to do with any of this?” He asked incredulously, “Yixing-ah, I understand, but the other three left us.”

She ignored the pang she felt at the slight bitterness in the tone. “That, we’ll come to in a bit…so you remember your assigned powers?”

Xiumin looked bewildered. “You can just use google, you know…”

“I’m doing this for all twelve of you, marshmallow, work with me!”

“Marshmallow?” Xiumin bit his lip in amusement, which Nandini pointedly ignored, “Damn it stalker, how can someone so talented come up with insults so childish?”

“That’s not the point!” Nandini swatted her hand at him irritably. He dodged it with a laugh, a definitely non-endearing, adorable laugh.

“Then, what is the point, stalker?” He grinned at her, “You’ve been beating around the bush so long, I can’t make head or tail of what you’re telling me!”

“Oh, this is definitely going to take a while…”

…

We’ve apprehended Huang Zitao.

“Excellent.” The woman in the black cloak spoke, staring at the apartment window. “And Lu Han?”

He’s putting up a bit of a fight. He’s figured out how to use his powers, but he’s untrained. We can handle it.

“Good.” She murmured and turned to her companion, a burly man wearing the same cloak as her. “Is this where she lives?”

The man nodded. “I saw a man barge into her apartment some time earlier. She said he was freaking out and freezing everything that he touched.”

“It must be Xiumin for sure.” She said quietly. “None of our ice mages are untrained, and the children have not reached that stage yet. Let us proceed.”

A/N:

“Ninakke vera pani ille myre” = don’t you have any other work to do, ‘myre’ means pubic hair (obviously a swear word)

“Poyi chavada thendi” go die bastard

“Mindathe irunillachal randu aalkum ice cream kittila, ketto?!” = if you don’t keep quiet the both of you won’t get any ice cream, got it?!

Amma is the malayalam word for mother

“Ente Bhagavane” = Oh my God

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seriouslycromulent · 6 years

Text

OK. So I finished binge-watching Black Lightning on Netflix and ...

... Oh my damn! I really didn’t want to give this show a chance because I’m vehemently anti-Berlanti-verse and just general anti-CW writing, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I’m on board for Season 2 when it airs this fall.

I think a part of the reason this show works for me more than the other Berlanti-verse shows is because of Mara Brock Akil. She’s the executive producer, and I’d like to believe it’s her influence and leadership that makes the dialogue and characterization on Black Lightning just 10x more realistic and engaging than the hokey after-school specials that make up the rest of the DCtv world on the CW.

Add to that the fact that the acting is far better than what I’d expect from the CW universe, and I have to say...

I only started the show yesterday, and I’m already on episode 10 (of 13) finished. And now my biggest complaint is why didn’t this show get a full season from jump? But I shan’t dwell on the could haves and should haves. Instead, let me share why I’m enjoying this series so much:

The superhero is over the age of 40. Thank goodness! For a network dedicated to high cheek-boned youth and their parental figures occasionally offering a word of cliched advice, I’m so happy to see something developed outside of that superhero trope.

The main superhero has to juggle an actual family and full-time job. Now, like most superheroes, we don’t see him doing his job nearly as much as he should be when the action gets going, but it’s still somewhat believable that a high school principal can afford the life that he leads and have a family without going:”Where is all this money and time coming from?”

Team Anissa all the way! Granted, she did her old girlfriend wrong, and deserved to be called out on it, but she’s easily my second favorite character on the show.

Speaking of family dynamic and Anissa, how much do I love the relationship Jennifer and Anissa have as sisters?! Like seriously. They remind me of real life sisters. Not “TV” sisters. Their dialogue and behavior toward one another -- whether they’re arguing or supporting each other -- is so on point, I feel like I’ve heard these conversations before in person between different members of my family.

The constant commentary on Black Lightning’s outfit is cracking me up. I like how every other episode someone on the street or in the neighborhood compares his outfit to something they saw in Parliament Funkadelic or Earth, Wind & Fire. :-)

Jill Scott. She was a wonderful surprise to the cast, especially in the role she played. I wish she had had more screen time because Ms. Scott just has the most magnetic presence, and I’ve never seen her get to play a role like this.

Ha! The Garfield High School mascot is a panther. I see what you did there!

Other cameos I’m feeling: Senator Nina Turner. Roland Martin. Antonio Fargas. I would love to see more of this type of diverse cameos in the future.

Again, I know this is a CW show, so the younger audiences are their bread and butter. But I really like the 1970s music they have playing during Black Lightning’s fight scenes. I feel like it’s a great tip of the hat to the comic book’s 1970s’ origins, and well, most of the songs are just great jams. I appreciate the hip hop music too, plus the original songs written clearly for the show. But the ‘70s music is a nice touch.

Soooooo ... Khalil? Can I get your number? Because damn if that child ain’t fine.

In episode 10, when that lady tried to drop her A/C unit and microwave on top of Black Lightning in the alley ... I damn near spit out my water! And when she said her name was, “Rent. Car-Note-Electric” I almost fell out of my chair. See, that’s something you just would not hear on Supergirl or The Flash.

Like most CW shows, one of my biggest problems with Black Lightning in the beginning is that they don’t write transitions well. For the first 5 episodes, you constantly feel like they’ve cut a scene that had some important information or character development for a scene they left in. Legends of Tomorrow did this a lot. I mean, a lot. But thankfully, as I continued to watch this show, that trait seems to have disappeared a bit and has become less of an issue.

I’m a bit thrown every time Tobias Whale makes a derogatory comment about Black people, then turns around and makes a derogatory comment about White people. Is it purely the result of self-hate borne from an abusive upbringing? Or is there a tad bit of genuine Uncle Ruckus lurking beneath the surface there?

Even though her attitude sometimes gets on my nerves, I love the exploration of a character with superhero powers who doesn’t want to be a superhero. We rarely see that explored in the mass media adaptation of comic books, so it’s a nice swerve compared to the current slate of superhero fare where we either see people eagerly wanting to be superheroes or we see villains reluctantly become anti-heroes, then superheroes. Jenn’s desire to just be normal in the face of the possibility that she might have a higher calling in life is a great trope subversion.

The makeup on Gambi’s face while he was being beaten and after it had supposedly dried was not good. Dude, seriously. The makeup department dropped the ball on their end with those details. It didn’t look realistic at all and it was too over-the-top.

Another great trope subversion: The techie/hacker of this franchise is a man over the age of 60 instead of a teen or young adult under the age of 30. Sweet!

Can I just say the Pierce family is probably my favorite biological superhero family of all-time? Yes. Yes, I can.

Favorite line of the season: “You got to bring ass to get ass.” - Detective Henderson

Jefferson’s dad’s old house has a wood-encased floor unit television set with a push button remote. Awwww, that reminds me of my grandmother’s old TV set.

I wonder if Gregg Henry ever gets tired of playing bad guys?

Khalil’s dreadlocks look ... not ... good. Either that’s a really bad wig or whoever twisted his hair has a broken hand.

Ahhh, so Syonide does know how to aim for the forehead when she shoots. Could’ve fooled me when she was fighting Thunder that first time.

So I mentioned that Anissa/Thunder is my second favorite character. That means someone else is my first. And it is ... Gambi. I know. I know. Go ahead and take my Black Card away, but from the first episode on, all I wanted was an episode dedicated to learning his secrets. And not just secrets as they relate to Alvin and Jefferson. I still want to know about his past. Like, why did he say he was a “monster” to Proctor? He stayed in Freeland even after he left the ASA, but does he have family that’s missing him or looking for him? Did he look after Jefferson in an official capacity after Alvin died? Was he his legal guardian? Or was Jeff in foster care and visited Gambi a lot? That man has been some places and did some things, and I can imagine a ton of backstory there to fill in. Yes, I know he’s the only white guy in the cast of mostly minorities, but to be frank, that just makes me respect James Remar more. I’ve been a fan of Remar’s for years. I even got to meet him 2 years ago at a convention in Philadelphia. And the man’s IMDB page is ridiculously long. Seriously, check it out. So he’s not hurting for work. He’s not up and coming. He’s not an older actor struggling to keep his name in the game. He’s a respected character actor who has a very successful career. The fact that he probably has white actors telling him to turn down this project because he’s “above” it, but he’s on the show as the anchor just makes me proud to call myself a fan. Either way, Gambi is a cool cat with a terrible mustache, whose background is a mystery. And I’m a nerd who loves mysteries and lots of character development in my genre fiction TV shows. It’s a perfect match. But yeah, he’s the only white regular on the show, and he’s my favorite. You mad? Good. His role could’ve easily been played by another actor of a different racial/ethnic background and I would’ve felt the same about Gambi. I pretty much like all scenes with him in them, especially when Gambi interacts with Anissa or Jennifer. That cool uncle vibe is sweet, and I think it adds a nice layer to the family dynamic on the show. Anyway, enough about him ... For now.

To sum up, I highly doubt I’ll ever go back to watching Arrow. Now that Jeremy Jordan has left Supergirl, I doubt I’ll be checking in on that show anymore either. Legends of Tomorrow is just ... ugh. But because I love Matt Ryan’s John Constantine so much, I just know I’ll probably peep an episode here and there throughout the new season. And I’ll probably be disappointed because ... ugh. And The Flash? I know a lot of people on Tumblr love that show, so I’m going to play nice and say nothing about it.

But I’ll definitely be checking out Black Lightning season 2 and hoping that the common CW failings don’t work their way into the show. It’s a highly entertaining series, and a breathe of fresh air for this crowded genre. Here’s hoping season 2 is a full 22-episode season!

#black lightning #cress williams #james remar #china anne mcclain #fandom #christine adams #nafessa williams #marvin krondon jones iii

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sanityrequiem · 6 years

Note

How well known were each of the FoD/DioS characters among the public before their kidnapping?

FoD: (haha, I’m not spoiling what people think about some of these peeps just suddenly being erased from history)

Akita Yamazaki–Somewhat. In the public, however, she was more well known for her blog. Her name, other than that, was most commonly heard of in Japanese gangs and businesses circles. Also, along with Takayuki, was popular for those loyal to the Committee due to them being one of the more popular teams out of all the work they did.

Takayuki Anno–For those who kept up with crime, Takayuki’s name is everywhere, especially right before the Killing Game. People outside that circle would only know his name offhandedly and be like ‘oh yeah, I think I heard of that guy that one time.’

Naoko Kawabata–Once again another member more well known in certain circles. Mostly known for her thesis papers around such topics as abuse, which is how Takayuki heard of her before the story began. She was more popular when she was younger though, around the age of twelve, leading to her Ultimate title.

Kyoto Kamui–I think most of these people are going to be more well known in their certain circles. Kyoto is actually quite popular with people that pay close attention to contests, gaining a cult following of sorts. He actually has no idea this group of people exists.

Hotaru Amemori–Hotaru is not that well known since nobody gives a shit about dart throwing other than the Committee. She’s actually more popular for being an Amemori and being related to her family than anything else.

Shinichi Fujimoto–Along people who are deeply invested with books, Shinichi’s name is very well known. He actually might be one of the most popular with older adults since he finished translating Gilgamesh and other older works. However, Shinichi is not popular with teenagers.

Mitsuru Banda–Mitsuru’s name is all over the place in the news, especially because her gang has close ties to the Committee. She is known to be quite dangerous and one of the most powerful people not high up in the Committee in Japan.

Takara Miyagi–One of the least well-known students. He might find secrets everywhere but he doesn’t really like to be in the spotlight. Whenever he does something of note, Takara uses an alias. The spotlight is just something Takara doesn’t want, and he only joined Hope’s Peak to help his family.

“Mirabilis Folium”–Actually very well known. People know her as multiple different names, but the most popular is Rosalina Folium. Of course, even with her mild popularity, nobody knows she’s an Irving.

Hayato Akimoto–Also has his name pop up a lot in the business world. Hayato is known to be quite the salesman and many people want him to join their companies. And he’s popular in the underground because of his ties with Cassius’s smuggling ring.

Kira Iwata–Slightly popular for those with an interest in jewelry. This is mostly because Kazuhiko did an article about her. Like Takara, she’s one of less well-known students, and she wants it to stay that way. Kira is not the type of person to seek out fame.

Cassius Jacobson–Very popular back in England (considering England is much, much smaller in this future because bombs…he’s still well known I guess). His family is trusted with making the crowns for future royalty, even though they’re figureheads now. Being the sole heir of the Jacobson name, a lot of faith is put in him. Too bad he runs a smuggling ring. Oops.

Ayano “Nishiki”–Believe it or not, Ayano is well known with the populace. Helps that her boyfriend is Kazuhiko Hiraoka. She is a famous hacker and known badass. The Committee likes bragging about how they got her. Ayano also is in the most powerful couple the Committee has in Japan.

Kazuhiko Hiraoka–He’s a journalist. Kazuhiko is known by many people for putting out good articles. The dude’s popular.

Tsukiko Oda–Although her band is more popular than Tsukiko, fans know her name. She runs the most popular fringe band in the world so a lot of people will at least recognize her name.

Akemi Nakatani–In the chess playing community, Akemi is an all-star player. He is out known that well aside from that. Nothing really much to add on here other than Akemi would actually want to be popular.

Miyuki Kobyashi–She’s a famous urban legend, but not a lot of people believe she’s a real person. Although the people that she helps certainly do have faith in the onna-bugeisha and insist that she’s real. Miyuki would much rather stay in the shadows though.

“Satoshi Nakajima”–Nope. Only in the deep underground will you hear the name Satoshi Nakajima. Considering the Committee is everywhere, they find Satoshi this way.

Namita Nakahashi–Another well-known student with the general populace. She holds parties with celebrities so her name is bound to get out there. Her parties get a lot of coverage in the news and many people want to go to them for real one day, even though only the elite of the elite truly can.

Yasu Matsuhita–Another Ultimate that is not well-known. They’re only known by people that go to their father’s shop. A person that works for the Committee just accidentally found out about Yasu’s talent one day. That’s right, Yasu was only found because of luck.

Minato Ueda–They’re literally only known by their friends and the Committee. But, because Akita had to keep saving their ass, they got very well known in the Committee. The Committee was, like, hey, this person is good at ‘traveling,’ let’s make them the Ultimate Traveler!

—

DiOS:

Shiro Amari–To those who keep attention to the music world, Shiro’s name pops up a lot. He is quite popular with those who care about classical music. Helps that Kazuhiko loves writing about his concerts, boosting his popularity.

Mei Yamazaki–Mei is an idol of sorts in the gaming world. She’s very, very loved in her niche. Some people even worship the very earth that she stands on. Outside of that, however, she’s really only known because of her ties to Akita.

Ayamu Tachibana–He literally works graveyard shifts really well. Ayamu’s ain’t gonna be the most popular guy in the world. :P Of course, people that actually known the guy adore him, especially employers. Because em graveyard shifts.

Asuka Takano–Once again, well known in the community that likes sports. She’s known to be super chill with her fans so that also helps with her popularity. Though, surprisingly, Asuka is another student they got because they happened to be at the right place at the right time.

Jun Fumimoto–Because the general public doesn’t exactly care about stage managers that much, Jun is another one found within a niche. In the niche of people that really, really care about theatre, Jun is like a godsend. He’s a lot like Mei with the fact that people worship the very ground they stand on.

Etsuko Abe–Oh dear lord. This girl is certainly a…controversial person in the psychology field. And, because of that, a lot of people in that field both love and hate the name Etsuko Abe. It also helps that she also created a new type of therapy and wrote lots and lots of papers. Say what you want about Etsuko, but she’s passionate about her work. Really passionate.

Ryoichi Homura–He’s a demonologist, most people don’t even know those exist. He’s…um…something. I love my horrible demon son (and now people are scared about Ryoichi).

Emilynn McKay–She’s a MCKAY. End of story. Emilynn is known everywhere, especially because she won’t stop almost dying and then making horrible meme jokes.

Saitou Katatake–Well, I’m not gonna spoil the introduction of this character because it’s funny as Hell but I’ll talk about non-spoilers. Saitou is known for his dueling around the world, and he’s actually one of the more popular students in the cast.

Ichiko Miyashita–Another Ultimate that was picked up because of being in the right place at the right time. Ichiko is literally known nowhere because, like Takara, she either uses an alias or is an anon (they have infected the cast). She also doesn’t like the spotlight that much either.

Himura Sachihiro–Another obsure Ultimate. Like Takara and Ichiko, he likes using an alias. He only uses his real name whenever he wants to (yes, Shiro knows he is, and his real name). In the music world, he is only slightly known, but those who know him know him quite well.

Sachiko Isobe–In her village, Sachiko is very, very popular. But, since mikos don’t really get popular now in cities, Sachiko is only popular in her home village.

Kitsu Natsuki–He’s like the Flo from Progressive of this world. XD Okay, not really, but he’s famous because he’s everywhere in commercials. Kitsu is an actor, so, of course, he’s famous.

Natsuki Sumeragi–Slightly less popular than Kitsu because she focuses on a niche. She’s a voice actor, so, for characters she voices, Natsuki is well known. You betcha Emilynn and Mei are secretly fangirling whenever they’re in the same room with her.

Osamu Imai–He’s literally a personal assistant. Osamu isn’t known at all outside of his employers and people thinking about whether or not to hire him. He works with the Committee a lot so that’s how they known about him.

Mizore Kurushima–Only well known inside the Committee. She’s just a mathematician that’s really, really good at her job.

Yuu and Yuki Akimoto–Known as the freaks of the Sakura Circus. They’re known by locals and people who visit the circus for their musical skills.

#long post #Committee Saga #Forest of Despair #Despair in Our Stars #Full cast #even the DiOS boys #now peeps are really scared for my horrible demon son

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womenofcolor15 · 4 years

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Companies Like LeBron's iPromise, Starbucks, Target & Facebook Are Putting Their Employees’ Financial Needs First During The Coronavirus Crisis

Thankfully, there are a few companies who are looking for their employees during this Coronavirus crisis. Deets inside…

Millions of Americans are out of a job as the Coronavirus continues to spread like wild fire across the nation. Sadly, some workers will not see a paycheck since almost everything is shut down. However, there are some companies that are looking after their employees financial needs.

In accordance with social distancing guidance from the CDC and public health authorities, we are temporarily closing stores in some locations, and moving the majority of our company-operated stores to a "to go" model across the U.S. and Canada. https://t.co/U5M01tcwDL pic.twitter.com/9Y9AD50pPw

— Starbucks News (@StarbucksNews) March 15, 2020

Starbucks has committed to paying all of their employees for the next 30 days whether they work or not. Employees have the option of working or not working. The company has closed all of its U.S. locations with the exception of drive-thru and delivery orders, so money is still coming in. As for the Starbucks workers who aren’t working – they don’t have to worry about not receiving a check for the next month. Woot!

Thank you to the healthcare workers and first responders working tirelessly to keep our communities safe.

Inspired by the generosity of our partners (employees), we are offering all front-line responders a free tall brewed coffee at participating stores in the US. pic.twitter.com/e7Z8aRCtMt

— Starbucks Coffee (@Starbucks) March 26, 2020

Also, Starbucks is giving away free coffee to first responders and healthcare workers who are literally putting their lives at risk to fight the pandemic. Through May 3rd, "any customer who identifies as a first responder or frontline worker supporting our healthcare system" will receive a free tall brewed coffee, either hot or iced.

And it doesn’t stop there. The Starbucks Foundation is donating $500,000 for care packages and medical equipment for U.S. frontline responders.

Gotta love a company who looks out for their employees AND customers.

Target is another major company making sure its employees are good during the crisis.

Target’s investing more than $300 million, including increased hourly wages, a new paid leave program, bonuses and community assistance for local, national & global organizations responding to the pandemic. More here: https://t.co/bu1y3JjMPC pic.twitter.com/lKc9beRxkU

— Target News (@TargetNews) March 20, 2020

Target will invest more than $300 million in ADDED wages, a NEW paid leave program, bonus payouts AND relief fund contributions, according to its website. Woot!

Every full-time and par-time hourly employee who work in stores and distribution centers will receive a $2-per-hour increase through May 2nd. U.S. team members who are 65 or older, pregnant team members and members with underlying medical conditions will receive 30 days paid leave.

“With each passing day, it’s clearer how indispensable our team is to communities across the country as our guests cope with the coronavirus,” says Brian Cornell, Target’s CEO. “Increasing their compensation for a job incredibly well done and ensuring continued compensation for those who need to care for themselves and their families is a reflection of our company’s values and simply the right thing to do.”

Also, Target will be giving $10 million to expand relief and assistance to team members who need need extra resources during this challenging time.

The $10 million donation—Target’s largest ever to a single relief effort—will support efforts in four areas:

Team Members – $1 million will go to our Target Team Member Giving Fund to assist team members who are most impacted. On top of that, Target will match up to an additional $1 million in contributions from fellow team members who wish to assist their colleagues in need. The fund was created in 2018 to help our team members weather unexpected financial hardships. Since then, it’s already helped hundreds of team members and their families through life-threatening illnesses, natural disasters and more.

Local Communities – $5 million will be committed to state and local community foundations supporting nonprofit organizations addressing the greatest needs in their area, including vulnerable populations such as underrepresented communities.

National Organizations – $3 million will support national nonprofits such as Feeding America and others, assisting with response and recovery for affected communities.

Global Response – $1 million will support organizations such as UNICEF and others, helping provide critical medical equipment and supplies to regions around the world.

Yep, we’ll gladly continue dropping our coins in Target.

Small businesses are the heartbeat of our communities. To help during this time of crisis, Facebook is offering $100M in cash grants & ad credits for up to 30k small businesses in over 30 countries where we operate. A note from our COO Sheryl Sandberg: https://t.co/fUVJkVUbZo

— Facebook (@Facebook) March 17, 2020

Facebook will be giving each of its employees a $1,000 bonus to help during the Coronavirus outbreak. The funds are meant to help employees who are working remotely to set up their home offices or it could be used for things like childcare. The company is also offering $100,000 million in cash grants and ad credits for up to $30,000 for small businesses in over 30 countires.

Here's a note from Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg:

As the COVID-19 outbreak escalates, our focus has been on keeping people safe and informed by making sure everyone has...

Posted by Sheryl Sandberg on Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Facebook has about 45,000 employees worldwide. The $1,000 bonuses are only available to full-time employees, not contractors, a source tells CNN.

Earlier this month, Facebook announced they will still continue to pay hourly workers, such as janitors and cafeteria workers, their regular wages despite reduced working hours.

Also....

Talk about a Taco Tuesday to remember! With the help of Akron Family Restaurant, @LJFamFoundation, our IPS Staff, & @Chase volunteers we treated 343 of our IPS families with a hot taco dinner for 5 delivered right to their doorstep. #GreatAmericanTakeout #WeAreFamily pic.twitter.com/Il0RfyXKgP

— I PROMISE School (@IPROMISESchool) March 25, 2020

By now you know, LA Lakers baller LeBron James LOVES Taco Tuesdays. So, the NBA baller and the LeBron James Family Foundation linked up with Akron Family Restaurant to feed 340 students - who attend LeBron's I Promise School - and their families some tacos! They were treated to chicken and beef tacos, rice, beans and tortillas with all the fixings to make Taco Tuesday a memorable one. It was a double blessing since the restaurant was affected by the Coronavirus outbreak as well.

USA Today reports:

Akron Family Restaurant co-owner Nick Corpas said he got a call last week and was excited to help. He started making his orders almost immediately and began prepping for the meals on Monday. He and restaurant employees arrived at the restaurant at 6 a.m. ET Tuesday to cook and assemble the meals.

He said they finished around 4 p.m., and LJFF volunteers parked cars outside the restaurant. Adhering to social distancing recommendations, the volunteers remained in their cars while workers and volunteers placed the food in trunks.

Each serving tray provided food for four to five people -- enough for more than 1,300 people to have dinner.

Yasssss! King James is always looking out for his hometown and we love to see it.

BONUS:

Premiering April 6 on @Quibi! #IPROMISE documents our challenging, emotional, and rollercoaster year one of the @IPROMISESchool... told by our kids from Akron in 15 powerful episodes. You're going to want to see what it takes to create real change. pic.twitter.com/UzhxnadTG0

— LeBron James Family Foundation (@LJFamFoundation) March 25, 2020

Quibi is gearing up to release the "I Promise" documentary series, which documents the day-to-day trials, triumphs and life-changing impact of the school staff, students and families during the first academic year inside the I Promise School that opened its doors in 2018. It'll show King James’ efforts to close the achievement gap in his hometown of Akron, Ohio through the eyes of the students. It's produced by SpringHill Entertainment (LeBron's production company with his homie/business partner Maverick Carter) in association with Verizon Media’s RYOT and Blowback Productions.

Why? LeBron was a public school student from 1st – 8th grade. He was a student deemed “at risk.” He was one of our kids. It was because of the people around him, his schools, the Akron community that helped him & his mom through the rough times. pic.twitter.com/3pv4d9B3LL

— I PROMISE School (@IPROMISESchool) March 26, 2020

Peep the trailer below:

youtube

“The goal of the school is for these kids to feel like they’re superheroes.” ~ @KingJames

See inside our walls and inside our students’ lives for the first time ever. #IPROMISE premieres April 6 on @Quibi. pic.twitter.com/SX0qtUu5Yn

— I PROMISE School (@IPROMISESchool) March 25, 2020

"I Promise" premieres April 6th on Quibi.

Photo: Papin Lab/Shutterstock.com

[Read More ...] source http://theybf.com/2020/03/26/companies-like-starbucks-target-facebook-are-putting-their-employees%E2%80%99-financial-needs-fir

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siodymph · 7 years

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Science Bros Day 7

And here it is! Last prompt! This whole week has been such a blast! Honestly it really rekindled my love for science bros, I didn’t realize how much I missed writing for these two! And now this week has even inspired me to flesh out my day 4 prompt into a full fic! And it’s wonderful to read some many different stories and see such cute art everywhere again! You guys are just so great and wicked talented!

And while “Yours” may be the last official prompt, I’m still going strong, and will begin publishing some of the request that I’ve received. And if there’s any ideas you’d like to see me write feel free to send them my way! I’ll keep going till the 21st !

You can read this story under the cut or on my AO3! Hope you enjoy!

word count: 4058

It was a Monday morning and the Banner/Stark family was getting ready for a new day and a new week.

Bruce had several of his lectures this late morning until the afternoon and a few labs in the evening so it would be a full day for him. Tony was organizing all his blueprints, his research, to bring it all back to work with him. And their two oldest had school. It had become a ritual of sorts when they had the time in the morning for Tony and Bruce both to go see them off at school before going their separate ways to their own jobs. Bruce got two lunches together as well as one for himself while everyone went about their morning routines in the kitchen.

Tony had their youngest kid, little Kennedy, in one arm as he brought several holographic blueprints all around their kitchen back into a tablet with the other hand. Bruce always loved the awestruck look Kennedy would get on her face, entranced by all of her Daddy’s holographic work. Today she would be going with Tony to work over in the Stark industries. Tony’s reasoning was always that having a cute little tike in the room made it surprisingly easy to make deals and get through long-winded meetings but Bruce always had a feeling he did it just because he liked to bring her with him to work.

Ramona, their oldest at 11, had her nose in her workbook. Just like her adoptive fathers she was brilliant, but especially like Tony she had a bad habit of putting off busy-work she didn’t like till the literal last minute. So she scribbled out a half-assed homework assignment for her English class as she drank a bowl of cereal straight from the bowl, forgoing a spoon as she hurried.

And their middle child at 9 and only boy, Aiden, came quietly down the stairs. He seemed upset about something. He barely made a peep as he poured himself a bowl of cereal and sat down next to his sister. Bruce wanted to ask him what was wrong but he had learned with Aiden if you were too sudden or direct with him, he’d shut down. So Bruce stayed back and waited. Aiden would open up in his own time. When he did speak up, Bruce made sure to let him know he was listening.

He came over Bruce and leaned heavily onto his side. “Hey Papa? Can I skip school today? I don’t feel good.”

Near instantly Bruce brought his hand to feel Aiden’s forehead. He felt fine, no fever. But he did still seem really upset about something. After several mishaps it had become a family rule to only ask Bruce to miss school. Tony would always say yes and let the kids go to work with him instead. And while both of them had crappy experiences with the American School system, Bruce still wanted their kids to at least try going to school. As long as nothing was wrong of course.

“I’m not sick.” Aiden admitted honestly. “I just don’t feel good.”

“Well then how do you feel?” Bruce tried gently.

“I don’t know. Bad? I just want to miss school for one more day, please Papa?”

Bruce wanted to say yes. But he also wanted to understand. There wasn’t much he could do for Aiden unless he knew what was hurting his son. “Maybe. Can you explain why you don’t want to go to school?”

“You remember Thursday?”

“Yes.” Last Thursday Bruce had to go meet Aiden at the principal’s office after he got in a fight with a kid in the fourth grade. He hadn’t hurt him badly but still made an awfully strong impression on the kid, all his friends and his very angry mother.

“All Friday I kept seeing him. We didn’t fight but I could hear them laughing when I wasn’t looking. I felt really mad all day.”

Bruce felt himself getting mad but he tried not to show it. “Do you want me to go in and talk to your Principal about it?”

“No!” Aiden shouted, panicked. “They don’t actually mess with me. They’re too scared to now. If they got in trouble things would only get worse…”

Sadly Bruce could understand that, in 30 years the public education system still impossibly mishandled bullying in their schools.

“This whole weekend though I didn’t see him. I felt fine. And I want to feel fine today too.”

“Aiden.” Bruce said sighing. No way in hell he’d ever put his children in harm’s way. But he hated to think that a place meant for him to learn and grow had become a place he hated. A lot like himself. “Aiden? You know we’re really alike, you and me. I had a lot of anger issues when I was a little older than you.”

“So what did you do?” Aiden asked.

Bruce tried to think back on his own experience, something that would help Aiden understand. “Well, it doesn’t just disappear, your emotions. It’s healthy to let things go but sometimes it’s hard to know if you’re really letting something go, or if you’re just swallowing it down. Letting it bottle up inside you. If that makes any sense at all.”

“I guess. Our teacher always is telling us to forgive and move on.”

“She’s coming from the right place. But sometimes it’s hard to just drop the way you feel. Even if everyone around you assumes you should. And it’s ok. You’re allowed to feel upset about a situation or a person.” Bruce continued, not wanting to give Aiden the wrong idea. “However, it’s not fair to act out on the way you feel just because you’re upset and no one else is. You can defend yourself, but it’s not nice to hurt others deliberately.”

“I know that, Papa. I just don’t want to feel so bad all the time.”

“Well I found the best thing to do is talk to people. Talk to someone you trust about the way you feel. Or if you don’t feel comfortable talking you could try keeping a journal. You could write in it whenever you’re upset and when a problem you have is resolved. Finding an outlet to channel your emotions into can be very helpful. Do you understand Aiden?”

“Yeah Papa.”

“Do you still want to miss school for today?”

“… Can I? Just for today.”

Bruce sighed in defeat. “Hey Tony, you got room for another kid today?”

“Always do!” Tony said beaming and ruffling up Aiden’s hair. “I can take you down to the workshop when Kennedy’s taking her nap. That’s how you really learn, working out in your field, gaining experience! Hey Ramona!”

“Tony no-“

“You wanna skip school too? We can do a field trip!”

Ramona considered it, but in the end she shook her head and shoved her homework into her book bag. “I can’t. I have a spelling test.”

“Well you know if you’re sick on a test day, you can always take it the next day. And you get an extra 24 hours to study.”

“Tony!”

“I’m kidding!” Tony said, kissing Bruce on the cheek as he collected up his laptop and scooped up Kennedy back into his arms. “You sure sweetie?”

“Yeah I’m good.” Ramona said, strapping on her backpack.

“Alright. We’ll drop you off at school, then we’ll head out to work.” Everyone began grabbing their things and heading for the front hall. And Bruce took a tiny moment just to watch them go. Smiling. He had a family. Bruce Banner truly had a family.

Tony gave him a teasing look, swinging the front door open rather dramatically. “Hello? You coming big guy? We don’t have all day!”

“Yeah, I’m coming!” He said, looking down and grabbing his keys before leaving for the day.

Bruce was ready to follow them all out the door when something strange happened. And the illusion began to crack.

Bruce!

He could hear Tony saying something. When Bruce looked up, he was already down the hall with the kids. But his voice sounded like it was directly in front of him.

“Bruce? Are you feeling alright?”

Bruce! Bruce, come on! You gotta snap out of it!

Tony’s voice was right there in his face, and it sounded so different. Frantic, maybe even scared. And he knew the truth was there. Standing in plain sight. A part of Bruce had known the whole time. An inkling in the back of his mind. He’d just hoped it had been a trick. That he was just feeling paranoid over nothing.

But he was fast realizing the truth. And everything began slowly fading away.

He felt himself stumbling back. He needed to get out of here. But he never wanted to leave!

“Papa?” Aiden and Sophia looked at him with eyes full of fear. Kennedy started crying.

Come on! I know you can break out of this!

He wanted this to be real. He felt like he was being torn apart. Please, just let him keep this.

BRUCE!

But he couldn’t. Because Bruce Banner didn’t have a house in the city with houseplants in every room and garden boxes in every window. Bruce Banner didn’t have an esteemed position with one of the biggest universities in the country. Bruce Banner didn’t have a healthy hold on his emotions. Bruce Banner didn’t have kids. And he never would have kids because it was too dangerous. Bruce Banner had horrible powers and many people wanted him caged or dead.

And as Tony and their children raced towards Bruce, he felt like he was falling backwards. He looked at them all one last time and closed his eyes.

When he opened his eyes again it was all gone.

He was lying on his back. On an alien planet. And Tony was right there, staring down at him and looking extremely relieved.

“Thank god, knew you could do it!”

Bruce let Tony pull him upright. There was a migraine pulsing in the front of his head but he still forced himself to wake up. All around them it seemed like other members of their group were in similar states. Some recovering with headaches, others still lost is some sort of trance. The red aura of the Scarlet Witch was hovering over everyone. “What the hell happened?”

He remembered everyone being split into two groups. Bruce was in one and Tony was in the other. And from the looks of it something had gone horribly wrong in Bruce’s team.

“We’re not 100% sure yet. But from what we collected, one of Thanos’s lackys got into Wanda’s head and used her powers against her. It’s like she was hacked. Those alien guys are still trying to calm her down.”

Bruce could see the Scarlet Witch several yards away. She was completely trapped in her own powers. Eyes glowing a bloody, deep red and she was openly sobbing. She was crying out incoherently and Bruce could make out her brother’s name in her words. She was completely unaware of the people surrounding her, trying to help her. One of the alien woman with a set of antenna on her head grabbed Wanda’s arm and began crying too.

“Pepper told me everything she knew. Wanda was showing everyone in your group their desires. Like the really big stuff. And from the look of it she’s been seeing her own desires too.”

His desires… It truly was an illusion. Just a trick of the mind. None of it was real.

“Hey Bruce? You ok?”

Bruce? Are you feeling alright?

It would never be real.

He found himself getting up fast. Tony was at his side asking him if he was really alright to keep going. Bruce said he was. But he couldn’t look directly at Tony. Whenever he did he kept seeing flashes of that other Tony sketching out some blueprints in a kitchen. Or that other Tony holding their kids by the hand. Tony actually relaxed, truly happy and utterly carefree. A Tony that wasn’t real, couldn’t be real. At least not the Tony he knew right now.

But he couldn’t afford to let that distract him any more than it had. Their team was in trouble and needed his help. Now.

So he tried to swallow down the turmoil of feelings coursing through him. Tony tried to talk to them as they went but Bruce couldn’t bring himself to truly listen to him. He still couldn’t look at him. He felt like he was lagging behind his body a few steps. Everything was going so slow and they had work to do. He and Tony went separate ways to try reviving as many of their teammates and friends as they could. And as they all came back to their senses, regrouped and prepared to head out, Bruce’s mind and heart refused to go numb.

Bruce isolated himself as much as he could once they were on the Guardians’ ship. Some sort of small storage space. He needed to be alone. He needed to find a way to shut his brain off.

Every time he closed his eyes he could still see it. The house. The kitchen. Tony with the kids. God, his kids. That had to of been the cruelest part of all.

He just wanted to forget the whole thing. Stop thinking entirely. But his mind wouldn’t stop. Nothing he did would make it stop. He couldn’t let the image go, it was seared into his mind. And his brain kept going and going, it felt like white static in his skull.

When he heard someone come to the door he was ready to snap at them to leave him alone. Just give him a minute! But he held the words back when he saw it was one of the alien women, Mantis. In the time Bruce had gotten to know the Guardians he’d learned Mantis was a well-meaning but shy and soft-spoken person. And he’d feel bad for yelling at her for no reason. So instead, as she stepped into the small storage space he’d let her come in.

“Hello. Mantis, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct.” She said. Bruce had been willing to let her in, but when she sat down on the floor across from him he tensed. “Are you ok? You stormed off after the attack. Many people seemed concerned about you. Especially with the whole mind-manipulation you were caught under.”

“I’m fine. I just needed some time alone. To get my head on straight. I’ll be alright in a couple minutes.” Bruce said, trying to gently get Mantis to leave.

But instead, much to his dismay, Mantis didn’t seem to pick up on his suggestion and scootched a little closer towards him. Looking rather excited for someone sitting on the floor of a storage unit with Bruce Banner. “Perhaps I can be of assistance then!”

“Uh thanks, but that’s not necessary-” Bruce tried, but Mantis quickly brushed him off.

“No. You see, this is the sort of situation my powers were made for! I have the ability to feel another’s emotions. To help others understand! All I need to do is touch their skin with my hand and I can know them. I can do this for you! If you’re willing of course.”

She held her hand towards Bruce and he thought it over. The idea of someone knowing exactly how he felt seemed very invasive to him. And usually he handled his own emotions himself where he couldn’t bother, upset or hurt anyone else.

And yet despite that he still found himself rolling up his jacket and offering his arm to Mantis. Curiosity was a cursed thing.

As soon as Mantis’s hand touched his shoulder she doubled over shuddering. Bruce feared for the worst when he saw her antenna began to glow green and she drew a shuddering breath. But she didn’t grow any worse than that and slowly pulled herself back up.

“Oh… Oh my goodness…” Mantis gasped, trying to compose herself. She looked back to Bruce looking like she was about to either start sobbing or screaming. But she kept talking in between shaky breaths. “You’re mourning a dream. You’re yearning for something, but it’s so painful! It’s broken your heart so many times. But it still aches. And it infuriates you so. It’s… It’s so much!”

She pulled her hand away and hugged it on her chest as if it had been burned. It took all of Bruce’s willpower not to get up and leave when Mantis turned towards him with such pity.

“Do you feel like that all the time?”

Bruce shrugged, trying to ignore that direct look. “Not all the time. Not as often.”

“Oh…” Mantis said. She looked like she wanted to touch Bruce again, but she pulled her hand back. “I’m sorry you feel like that Bruce. That hurt.”

“You don’t have to apologize, it’s not your doing.”

“I understand. But I still wish I could help more. You’re feeling so many different emotions at once.”

Mantis didn’t continue right away. She paused for a moment, trying to collect her own thoughts. And a weird-feeling silence took up the space before Mantis worked together what exactly she wanted to say. “There was some strange things in your feelings. I sensed a great loneliness in you. But not only that, you had this acceptance for loneliness too… Perhaps you should go talk to some of your friends? I know you hold a lot of compassion for them and they care for you too. The woman with red hair, the woman with red hair who’s also molten hot, the man with lightning. And especially the Iron Man.”

“Ok that’s starting to sound more like mind-reading.” Bruce said accusingly.

“Oh, no. I didn’t pick that last part up in your feeling. No, I saw it seeing you and your friends’ battle and in the aftermath.” Mantis added. “Many of them did seemed worried about you.”

Bruce sighed. He was beginning to wonder if Thor and the others pushed Mantis to come in here to try and help him. He rubbed at his face. “Ok. Well can you go tell them I’ll be out soon? I just need a little more time. Alone.”

This time Mantis accepted what he was saying. And with a quiet “Of course” She got up and made her way back into the hallway.

“Thanks for your help.”

Mantis stopped before leaving completely, confused. “I don’t understand. I got so overwhelmed when I tried to read you. I wasn’t able to help you.”

“You did try. And even if it’s not everything, it was… nice, I guess, to put a name to some of this… stuff.” Bruce offered, and gestured to his head as he spoke.

Hopefully that had been the right thing to say. Mantis straightened up a little and smiled from the door.

“Ok. I’ll leave you be for now then. Are you going to speak with anyone else?”

“I will, don’t worry. I think I’ll go talk with Tony later. Iron Man.” He owed his boyfriend that much. He was a huge part of the vison after all. And he’d been avoiding him for half-an-hour now because every time he looked at his he was reminded of that fake Tony in his dream. He owed him an explanation at least.

He finally left the room after a few more moments alone. As he walked through the ship he saw the damage done. Today’s attack had hit harder than any physical tactic waged against them. Moral had plummeted. And Bruce felt helpless as he saw the state of everyone in his group. Nat seemed like she still might be in a trance, she starred numbly out a window at the stars. One of the Gaurdians, Gamora, sat by her side giving her an understanding look but didn’t say anything. Thor acknowledged him as he passed but his lips were firmly pressed into a tight frown and his hand clutched at a hammer no longer there. Several people were still crying. Wanda especially so. And Mantis was going from person to person, trying to help people the best she could. Giving council to those willing to accept it.

He found Tony down in the workshop-station. The one run by an ornery but brilliant raccoon. But Rocket wasn’t in there at the moment. Nobody else but Tony. He was hard at work repairing one his busted gauntlets on the Iron Man suit.

Bruce knocked on the wall as he came in, “Uh, hi?”

“Hey you!” Tony called out in a slightly forced voice as he looked up from his gauntlet. He pulled off a pair of goggles so he could see him better. “What’s up?”

“I was just looking for you. Everyone seems really… worn from today’s fight.” Bruce said.

Tony sighed and began to let that front he’d first put on slide. “Yeah. Looks like our buddy Thanos isn’t above psychological warfare. Are you doing ok? Cause everyone was forced to see some pretty messed-up stuff.”

“Yeah, I’m ok enough. That’s… That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about. My vision.” Bruce came closer and sat by Tony’s side.

“You don’t have to tell me what you saw if you don’t want to, Bruce.”

“I know…” Bruce said. Tony didn’t respond so Bruce kept going. “I didn’t have my powers… We had a family. We were all eating breakfast. They were getting ready for school.”

He watched as Tony’s closed his eyes and rubbed at his eyelids. “Shit. I’m sorry Bruce.”

“It’s not your fault. It was my own mind that was manipulated.”

“But I know how much you like kids…”

He heard Tony sigh. And neither of them said anything. He quietly turned to look more closely at him. The real Tony Stark. In the florescent lighting and his own exhausted state, Tony almost looked ashen. And with them fighting every day Tony’s hair had gone a long time without any dye and had really started greying along the sides. He was thinking hard about something. Probably overthinking. And whatever it was it wasn’t good from the way he looked towards his broken gauntlet with such a resigned acceptance.

“… Do you think we could ever do that? I mean, if we somehow manage to survive all this and save the world. You think when we get back to earth, we could ever do that?”

Bruce didn’t know what to say. Yes. He’d wanted something like that for years, decades now. He’d always wanted to be a father. But he would never be able to give them a safe home. Any kid they might take in might always be in trouble just being in proximity of him. And that was even if any adoption agency would ever like the likes of them adopt kids. But he had finally mastered his powers, he found peace with the other part of himself. But there were also so many other obstacles in their way than his own powers.

“I don’t know. I’m really sorry. I want to but I just don’t know.”

He felt Tony, gently hug his shoulders. And he spoke softly. “Hey, it’s ok. It’s alright. Honestly. I mean, who even knows if we’ll ever get back to earth!”

Tony laughed, but there was a grim look in his eyes. And Bruce found himself mirroring back that sad, sort of humor. “We don’t even know if we’ll live long enough to see the end of this war.”

“Yeah, you’re right. So I’m gonna say this. And I’ll probably tell you every day we’re still alive cause I’m dramatic like that, you know.” Tony said, he held Bruce by both so hid shoulders so they were looking face to face. Then slowly moved closer as he spoke until their foreheads were touching.

“No matter what happens I’m staying right here. I’ve never regretted choosing to be with you and I never will. I love you, Bruce Banner. I’m yours.”

Bruce pressed his lips softly against Tony’s trying to convey everything he was feeling. And he felt Tony smiling against him as he pulled away.

“And just in case you wanted a reminder. This? This right here? This is real.”

“Yeah… I hoped so.”

#sciencebrosweek #science bros week #science bros week 2017 #science bros #day 7 #yours #im really happy with this one

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imadmouhcine7 · 5 years

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Olivia Colman: 20 things you didn't know about the Oscar-winning actor

En route to Tinseltown glory, Norwich’s finest has devised a royal theft, endured on-stage disaster and been given odd career advice

1 she accomplished the voiceover for the andrex “be kind for your behind” ads in 2013. “i did ask if i ought to get paid in dogs,” she revealed. “they stated no.”

2 her first career plan become to go into coaching. before turning her sights to performing she trained as a primary-college teacher at homerton university, cambridge. “i wasn’t terribly devoted, and i would were a horrible trainer.”

3 as a job-looking graduate she was advised through a computerised careers-recommendation programme she would make a super hgv lorry motive force – “because i’ve were given 100% spatial attention. i’d be able to back them into tight parking spots.”

four throughout her university years she auditioned successfully for the cambridge footlights troupe, in which she met david mitchell and robert webb – in whose sitcom peep display she went directly to megastar as sophie chapman.

five after graduating she labored as a purifier and secretary (“now not a very good one”).

6 her practise for the function of carol thatcher (margaret’s daughter) in the iron lady worried near scrutiny of her appearances on i’m a movie star… “to get her voice proper”.

7 in her 6th-shape years, colman attended the same school, gresham’s, as stephen frears (and benjamin britten, wh auden and sir james dyson).

8 she gained two and a half of stone to play the cake-guzzling queen anne for her oscar-winning flip in the favourite. (“it was liberating and exquisite.”)

9 she is an endorse and member of the anti-press intrusion institution hacked off, installed within the wake of the 2010 cellphone-hacking revelations.

10 in 2006 she played one half of a naturist couple trying to organise a bare wedding in the mockumentary confetti – which she has described because the worst enjoy of her existence. “i might have felt better about it had i been conscious how a good deal became absolutely going to be on display.”

eleven in a high-profile production of hay fever in 2012, along phoebe waller-bridge and jeremy northam, she got the giggles after forgetting her lines on level. “west give up audiences haven’t paid to look that. i felt absolutely horrific.”

12 another on-level mishap turned into wetting herself when appearing opposite david mitchell. “we were doing the miser and there have been lots of short changes and david by no means pretty controlled to get his bow tie inside the proper place. it have become too much to endure.”

thirteen rest room paper definitely performs a massive position in her lifestyles: she were given her husband to scouse borrow some from buckingham palace when they have been there for a proper dinner. “he were given squares of lavatory roll, just to say, ‘we were given it from buckingham palace.’”

14 she deployed an underneath-skirt sponge as a receptacle for emma stone’s fingers while filming a intercourse scene within the favourite. “it was a big, wet sponge. so emma went up my leg and she or he went, ‘ugh!’”.

15 her first call is sarah [Caroline Olivia Colman].

16 she had to argue with wikipedia to get her listed age changed after she spotted it became incorrect by means of eight years. “i said, ‘it’s actually upsetting me which you’ve made me 8 years older than i actually am.’ they said, ‘we’d need to see a beginning certificates to prove it’, and that i went, ‘whose fucking start certificates have you looked at in the first location to make me 8 years older!?”’

17 the man or woman she played within the night time supervisor became not in the beginning meant to be pregnant. but she was pregnant whilst filming, so the writers incorporated it into the script. additionally they incorporated lots of chairs within the sets, so she didn’t should get up all day.

18 she once (and in all likelihood nevertheless does) have a clown klaxon as her cellular telephone ringtone.

19 she met her husband ed when they had been each forged in a student theatre production (of alan ayckbourn’s table manners). he gave up appearing early on, and is now a creator.

20 her canine is called alfred, lord waggyson.

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greggory--lee · 7 years

Text

The Meaningless Melancholy

The prejudice of being called as the only loyal member of the organization is the chief impetus of corporate sycophancy. This account is an endeavor to examine whether this force will forlorn the values of organizational behavior or it will prove as a mechanism to deprive the corporate culture with social and humane values. The department of human resource which is considered as the apex court for an employee in any organization is only a façade or really has something to share with the employee. If a lexicon is not able to tell you the correct meaning then it is you who will decide where to march after that.

On 30th Sep.2006, I completed my ‘Teletech-life’ of around 18 months. I had witnessed many ups and downs among the different generation of workers. The new genre of workers used to replace the older one after every 3-6 months. However, this mountainous attrition rates were comparatively low among the higher level of workers viz. – Quality auditors, Trainers, Team leaders and so on. After some sort of managerial level changes, the management started to focus on the low level of attrition. Salary discrepancies, growth prospects, expectations mismatch – these were some areas where the management started to face challenges. The two controllable areas – growth prospects and expectation mismatch; the management done well by adopting some major changes in ‘IJP’ (internal job posting). On the question of salary discrepancies and other facilities, the management found ‘uncontrollable’ due to heavy inflation of wages in the market. However, the think-tanks of management realized the right notions of helplessness in this regard. Being a domestic call center, Teletech was providing all those facilities which the other call centers were unable to offer. Still, the wave of high attrition could not be stopped. Despite IJP proved to be a good ointment but the wound then shifted to higher level too. There was something which was missing in the whole pyramid of management. I realized it later when I quit the job with a cyclone in the womb of my heart.

The month of September, I was transformed into the duke of dolorous. I was completely into the jaws of Nihilism. My reputation on the professional front was metaphor into a ‘man of tantrums’. I was running unhappy with the suffocation in the working atmosphere. My challenges on the front of daily works seemed to be an addition in the struggle of ‘just and unjust’. The humiliation which I suffered during August to September was nonetheless the condition of proletariats in the USSR during Czarism. I drew the feeling that I had no right to vociferously advocate for my own basic rights which I had been refrained from despite of continuous fiery remarks (which has been discussed in Memoir: Partial or impartial). On September 16th I received a welcoming mail from my new boss – Abhishek Dasgupta (Training Assistant manager) to get the new hired batch trained at 11.30pm to 7.00am. It proved to be a fresh blow to the ongoing fire. I had been continuously fighting to get my shift changed. Indeed, I had been doing evening shift since January. My point was not a shift problem but highlighting the contradictory measures adopted by my bosses especially in my case. During my days in training and quality, not only I was a constant performer but entitle to occupy a specially protected space in the whole Teletech-family. This fact had not only been endorsed by my bosses but accepted by my colleagues and juniors as well – then or till now. I demonstrated my protest to my immediate boss and then fiery exchange of words left me with the only option to resign. I thought of resigning immediately but pondering over the work-power crisis of the organization, I decided to give some time to find a suitable replacement for me. I put down my paper on 18th September citing the last working day on 30th September. Probably somewhere I was in the hope that the management would realize the fact file. However, with myself, I started to train the new batch in the lost atmosphere of night. Alone and long nights were covering my agony with abnormal feelings.

10 days were completed with the alone nights that I could not see the faces of my bosses. I was ejected into such a world where there were no windows to peep out. God knows what all mistakes of mine attracted this black sentence for me. On 29th September I went ahead to meet my root boss “Chitra Rekhade” as 30th was her week off. After my sleepless night I went to see her in the morning at 10.30am. Chitra ma’am asked me – “what have you decided finally…” I answered without any prior preparation – “I do not have any option to go back due to the unprecedented stretches of my story…” She coyly offered me to join the other site of our organization in Gurgaon (in NCR region) with the addition – “one should not play the gamut of resignation”. I declined her all the offers in the light of my self respect and reiterated the glimpses of my thoughts. Finally, she asked me to meet our employee relationship executive, Draksha Kalim, for the exit interview.

“Exit-Interview” was inducted in the work line of the organization realizing the fact of ‘something missing’ factor couple of months ago. The interview was conducted and I bluntly told all the things which all happened to me. Draksha, being a nice being, persuasive and realistic realized that my resignation could be avoided. She then told me to come on 3rd October in order to complete the further formalities. After that she stood and went to discuss the issue with her manager “Dheeraj Saxena”. Till that time. I was no more in direct contact with that fellow as he was new to the organization. I did not have any idea about him. I left the office with burdened heart and calculating the end of my odyssey.

On 30th September, my last eve with my training batch was quite memorable. My beloved trainees gave me a wonderful farewell along with my assistant Ravi who was supposed to replace me. My last training batch, in fact, consolidated my scattered and beleaguered heart.

On 3rd October, I reached in the office around 1pm. I straightly went to Draksha. She received me with her usual pious smile. Hardly could I finish my conversation with her, I heard a voice from back – “Hey you… Come here”. Such an embarrassing tone – I shocked and moved back. It was Dheeraj Saxena who was calling me. I went to him with cool mind and a ray of smile. “Why are you spreading a rumor that you have been asked to resign. Everyone is saying the same. Even Chitra is also worrying over the issue. Although she tried her best to retain you but you declined and it was you who volunteered by own self to resign.” – He alleged. My taciturnity left me spell bound. He again added – “I afraid this attitude of yours will be fatal in getting the next job.” However, in this context I would like to borrow the ideas of a German philosopher, Hegel that the issues become political at a particular time and place. What a splendid referendum I received from the Apex court. If all these allegations were to be poured on a outgoing loyal companion of the organization then I pooh on my immature decision which prevented me resigning all of sudden on 18th September itself ignoring the management in crisis or whatsoever. Was that exit interview aimed to strengthen the relations and getting mileage? Despite of examining the legality of my frustration and overcoming those, the whole episode got a new twist. However, no complaint……

While analyzing the annals, I was manifested the key things which are very natural in a human behavior – simple but overruled. The first, the department of Human resource should be out of the periphery of organizational politics as it becomes quite difficult to adopt a judicious acumen at critical point of time. Second, the essence of “exit-interview” should be aimed to get the self criticism and sue the “something missing” factor rather than a tool for organizational mileage. The loyalty is not the thing to be displayed but to be felt from inside. The fragrance of loyalty travels through the nervous system of organizational body. It seems that sycophancy helps one to reach at height but it is nothing but myopia of thought process. The speculations of Dheeraj saxena over my next voyage of job was defied in couple of days after my resignation. I got many offers from unmatchable brands in the market with far rewarding and lucrative than that of Teletech. But I denied the offers as my destiny calls me for something else. However, my analytical mind is still occupied with the vigorous feeling to solve the conundrum that if the lexicon turns out to be wrong then which one is left to be consulted in order to satiate the hunger.

Source by Ritesh Kumar

Source: http://bitcoinswiz.com/the-meaningless-melancholy/

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