me one (1) netflix!geraskier mistagged as gerlion post away from blacklisting the tag all together

third batch of the senVerse doors entities ft. the rooms !!! (+void/glitch)

yes i like to believe void and glitch are the same entity. they can go by as both names - it'll know you are referring to them :] but for now, i'll refer to them as void

headcanons down below vv !!

the Rooms is in a different dimension, but is connected to the Doors' hotel by a (metaphorical) tether - via the skeleton door. curious light can roam between the two dimensions, but guiding light cannot go into the rooms

void is not a very well-known entity in the hotel. not much is known about it either, other than the cubes it leaves. but they do say rumours of speaking the name of an enigmatic entity will immediately summon them to your location

its dark purple cubes are sparsely scattered across the hotel. there are more in the rooms dimension. perhaps it is what the entity uses to listen in.

curious light is actually younger than the three entities that reside in the rooms. so more or less its them who are taking care of curious light, rather than the other way around like its blue counterpart

curious light so clueless. confused silly mf. bro doesn't know what it's doing (/affectionate)

curious light is very openly affectionate with the rooms entities :] sometimes they like to gather in a room and just pile on top of each other (void sometimes joins but only when the rest are completely unconscious)

A-60 is difficult to calm down. its flames never seem to stop flickering, nor does it stop running around in circles

the intensity of the flames reflects on the emotions of A-60. the more vigorous the flames, the more hyper (or angry) A-60 is

its flames feel hot but they don't actually harm you!! it mostly feels like smoke more than anything really

when it does expel all of its energy, it falls unconscious wherever and stays that way for a few days. then it'll return to its hyper state. rinse and repeat

A-90 is very attached to its stop sign. do not take it away from A-90 (bad things will happen).

occasionally A-90 enters a 'state' where it will teleport in random areas of the rooms, and if it finds an entity it will tell them to stop moving. its mouth shape takes on a different form, most similar to ambush's. why it does this, no one really knows. fortunately the rooms' entities abide by this - it's not really harming anyone. they'll let A-90 do its thing until it calms down. no one's tried to move either. they don't want to.

A-120 has blocks of very dense material to weigh it down. no one really knows why its there, perhaps as a safety precaution? it is very slow because of it, but it pushes forward anyway (go lil guy!!)

A-120's face never wavers in a very unsettling way. even when it feels other emotions; sad, angry, disappointed. it will always wear the smile.

its tone of voice doesn't help either - it speaks in a very flat, monotone voice (robotic almost). its speech also seems to be limited; reduced to very simple words, rarely coherent sentences

funfact it was pretty damn difficult to figure out a direction for both A-90 and void/glitch .. like i did Not know what to make them as.

i settled for making A-90 similar to one of my older ocs (an axolotl/shark-esque creature) combined with a lollipop lady(?) and void .. honestly i just drew a line and added fancy stuff.

void probably wont make an appearance again due to how torturous i made drawing it be like. god i hate drawing crystals why did i do this to myself

!! please do not repost or use without permission !!

Ok ok ok I'm very new to the human kink thing but I'm wondering if there's some kind of planar effect associated with it??? Like I can just imagine the idea of star elves and other eldarin who come from the feywild and spent their whole lives being so immersed in magic that if they ever encounter a non-spellcaster human for the first time it's just like wow. this mf has zero magic about them. I wonder if it's a strange sensation, like noise cancelling headphones, and that lack of magical energy might feel relieving or sexual for them. Idk if it's exactly dnd canon but I've always imagined magic aligned entities to be able to sense magic like a buzzing in the air, so a lack of that buzzing would be entirely wild for them. Either way, magical radio silence = sexual exploration for eldarin and I fully support it

(also I love love loveeeee your work and your dnd theories and fun inquiries have led me to learn so much more cool lore and it's shaped some of my interspecies interactions in-game as a DM so tysm for everything you do 💜💜)

Wait really? I inspired some of your moments as a dm? Omfg please tell me I'd love to listen if you're willing to share <33. Thank you so much for the praise!

Also I love your theory! I hold similar ideas, that concept is too cool to pass on.

I've seen one similar to its concept in a game called "Echos of the Fey"

So elves in this game, average elves not just eladrin, are all born with magic. Because all magic comes from the fey and all elves share a connection to it.

Humans can learn magic too by using the hammer method and seeing what sticks on the wall, but they can never connect to the fey.

And the fey is exactly like you described. It allows to elves to effortlessly connect to each other, feel and sense each other's presence before seeing each other. It allows parents to feel when their children die and allows lovers to sense when their elf partner is in danger.

Elves can share their emotions through the fey too, they don't need to use words or explain things. They can let the other person feel exactly what they're feeling.

It was described as a constant song, a different melody from each elf in the sanctuary they all lived in. Going on at all times. And sure one elf can supress their own song but they can't stop hearing others'.

You can also speak words into the other person's mind using the fey. If they give you permission to dive deeper into their soul, you can even tell if they're lying about something or being honest.

But again, all of this only applies if the two people are elves. Even sorcerer humans wouldn't be able to feel it or connect to the fey.

It's also why elves seem cold or detached to humans, they are so used to the fey and the immediate connection and trust it gives them in other elves, that they don't bother to learn how to properly express their emotions with words or facial expressions. As a society, their inner personal relationships are always reliant on the fey.

In that game, one elf does move to a human settlement and he describes it as radio silence. That sometimes when he's around so many elves, he wonders if his ideas are truly his own or simply from other elves through the fey.

That being near humans gives him more individuality, forces him to work hard to establish trust with someone rather then immediately earn it. To learn to express his emotions rather than assume the other person can feel them.

It is radio silence. There is no music except for the ones humans deliberately play with their instruments. Even then, anyone can misinterpret its meaning with no definitive answer.

In that game, there are no other races besides humans and elves. And no sub-races for elves, they're all high elves.

But that theory still holds up if we integrate it to dnd! With some adjustments. It explains why elves are so reclusive, why they prefer the company of other elves over other races, and why two elf strangers seem to almost click immediately.

The fey is a constant overstimulatation, like getting constant ads in a video. Some elves learn to tone it out while others are so fed up with it that they'd rather lose their own magic than stay connected to it.

Which is why those ones would move to human cities, would prefer the company of humans and find joy at how expressive they are, at the long trials each friendship has in order to earn their trust.

For once their mind is clear, no meddling fey making them feel other's emotions or hear their thoughts. Only their own thoughts in their brain, everything they feel is truly their own.

Except when another elf is nearby.

But again, each elf can choose to suppress their own presence in they fey, just not others'. So, I like to think that elves in human cities came to a collective agreement to supress their own presence in the fey to not bother each other, also to not make the humans feel left out.

Anyway, exposition over, time to talk about the actual kink.

So remember that dog drawing contest meme? This one?

Where, yes, the second drawing was so beautiful and amazing, but the first place one held an undeniable charm to it.

I think that's how eladrins and star elves view humans.

Ofwjofwjofjwks now hear me out!

They're so used to everyone around them brimming with magic, for other fey creatures' appearance to change drastically through the season, wearing the ocean waves aa a dress or growing a cherry blossom tree as hair.

Imagine a human in comparison, how simple and plain we would be, how utterly new and adorable in their views.

Simplicity has its merits, if done right then it can be as beautiful as complexity if not more.

A human, devoid of any magic and only wearing their own body and clothes as decoration, would be beyond this world for elves and eladrins, literally.

There is another game i played that had human wizards talking about the fey world and the dangers of it, i don't remember its name.

But the main reason why humans were told to avoid the fey world and never go there, is because their souls shine bright like a beacon amidst it.

Every person and creature in the fey world knows magic beyond our comprehension, and all of them know how to hide their souls and lock it. Like installing anitmalware and a firewall on a computer with proxy to prevent tracking.

Humans are the boomers who uninstall system 32.

Our souls are just up for grabs, literally on a silver plate for any fey who comes waltzing in and tricks us into some verbal contract. We have no magic to detect them or to prevent them.

Humans don't last in the fey realm, everyone wants them. Even the most talented wizards who live there, never stay for long or always take a break every now and then.

You are literally the lighthouse, siren and mist amidst the fey sea.

To an elf who is tried of the magical noise, you're like a comfort blanket. Warm and makes them ignore the world outside.

They're beyond infatuated with how much you steal all of their brain's attention, focus all of their scattered thoughts on you or the simplest of things.

How you express your joy with laughter, how you spent time cooking a meal, how tears collect down your face when you cry, how you tap your feet or click your tongue.

Primal life in its purest forms, the most bare form a soul could ever take.

You're the most simple shape, and for that, you are loved, adored for how much you hold. How easily you adapt, a white light containing a rainbow inside.

Humans fit anywhere and everywhere, even in places they're not supposed to. They still tried and will keep trying forever, that's why they keep stepping to the fey realm and keep attempting on befriending the elves or building houses there.

It's hard not to be blinded by their light, let it outshine everything else around them.

In a sexual context, I think elves and eladrins would be so used to magical sex or soul connections that with a human they get to experience having their soul grounded into earth.

The simplest touch of fingertips trailing up their skin, the silence except for the occasional gasps and groans of the human. For the first time their own moans are so clear to their pointy ears, they're forced to drown into their own emotions and melt into the bed.

And the humans seduction and pleasure somehow clicks with every single race, somehow surpasses so many cultural barriers. Experiencing pure pleasure with all the small awkwardness and discomforts, being acutely aware of the pillow under their head or the drumming of their heartbeat.

It's how humans don't need magic to thrive, have fun or give pleasure. How these things are second nature to them, you could strip them of all of their fancy science and magic and even then they'll still find a new way to climb up.

That's the human condition That's the human spirit, to care in the face of uncaring world. To love despite your own limitations, to be kind to something you can never understand.

Every wizard who has ever lived in the fey realm speaks of it fondly, like an old friend. Despite the countless attempts on their life, despite the times they almost lost their mind. Humans see beauty in everything, dangerous or soft.

And they infect others with their softness, make the elves and eladrins addicted to their comfortable silence. So much that they wonder how did they ever live before in the constant noise and buzzing.

Humans are like a vacation you go to when the polluted cities start to drain your soul, they're the fresh water running rivers through the dandelions filled fields.

And so many long to live there, to abandon their apartments and start over there. But they're afraid to steal the humans' light from them, to infect them with their magic and poison the waters.

So only a few go down there at a time, for a vacation length to an eladrin is akin to a lifetime to a human.

Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated (2010-2013)//Stranger Things (2016-)

elaboration on this post (How Stranger Things will end, how the Duffer Brothers stole the plot of scooby doo)

i’m going to type this up in an organized list so i sound like i’m making sense but:

TL;DR:

Basically, the timeline will reset. Everyone will play an essential role in defeating Vecna who is the reason for all of this. Will started the whole chain of events when he got taken into the Upside Down and survived, and survived being possessed by the MF/Vecna. It could have been anyone, but it was Will. The timeline split there and will go back to normal once Vecna dies because he is the reason for it, and killing Will will do Nothing. Stranger Things ripped the rest of this off of Scooby-Doo and I have no reason to believe they won’t take the ending, too. In Scooby Doo, once the Evil Entity (pictured) was destroyed, it reset the timeline so that it was like it never existed and only the gang remembers. I think this true for Stranger Things. It’s annoying to have more than half the cast forget the whole show ever happened, but it’s either that or they die forever if the timeline doesn’t reset. Everyone will get their happy ending after a lot of anguish, and I think that for a minute you might think that only Will and Eleven are left alive, but it’s okay because everyone comes back.

1. Evil Entity = The Mind Flayer/Vecna:

The Evil Entity (EE for short) is canonically an alien called the Anunnaki (which I’m aware are like deities in older civilizations, but i’m looking at them how they’re explained in the show). There are good and bad ones, but whatever, this is the worst one. He, first of all, looks like the Mind Flayer. Also, the vines are very reminiscent of the Upside Down--especially in season four. Second of all, lives in another dimension. However to get there, you need to get through several dimensions and there are different gates. The EE’s power source lies in the crystal sarcophagus that it was trapped in, and cannot leave the dimension until it no longer needs that power. The Mind Flayer cannot leave the Upside Down (as seen by the possession of Will Byers and how Vecna was looking to open up gates. Its power source is implied to be Vecna or the Upside Down). The EE’s goal is also to destroy and rule the world, and in a way meld his world with the real one. Also, it is said that the EE manipulated the current mystery incorporated (as well as the previous ones) to set him free. This may give insight as to why Will Byers was chosen. Perhaps Will wasn’t the first one to be taken into the Upside Down, and maybe the fact that he survived was the reason Vecna possessed him later in season two. And also why he isn’t leaving him alone. This leads into my next point:

2. Possession:

While the EE’s possession is not exactly the same as the Mind Flayer’s, there’s still enough there to be called similar to it. Mainly in physicality. It wraps its vines the same way the MF wrapped its tentacles (or whatever) around Will. Going up and around the body before literally going in the mouth ( :( ). While the EE’s form temporarily became Pericles (the parrot) before the EE took over again and made Pericles’ form part of its new corporeal form, the Mind Flayer/Vecna used Will as a way to have a corporeal form in the real world. By going through Will, he was able to gain information about what was going on (I think, season two is kind of a blur for me). Basically, both the Evil Entity and the Mind Flayer use others to gain something. As written above, maybe the reason Vecna took Will wasn’t calculated to begin with. Maybe he was trying to find someone he could use on the outside. Barb was also taken by the demogorgan, but died. So many Will was taken, but didn’t die, and it’s why Vecna still haunts him.

3. The cracks, the destruction, and the demogorgan:

This is less analyze-y and more just look at it. Shot for shot ????? The one single crack and then the BIG CRACKS. Even the far away shot ? And then the town is on fire ? Am I talking about Scooby Doo or am I talking about season four of Stranger Things? You can’t even tell. They look so similar it’s kind of creepy. The way the world breaks the same way !!! I was only going to put one of them in the post (the cracks) but then they zoomed out and it literally looked like when the four gates opened in the end of season four. The demogorgan and the other annunaki are also kind of similar. They both have weird mouths and are rather mindless and serve the bigger guy (MF, EE). They also both scream a lot. It’s just the same kinda vibe of evil foot soldier. 

4. The Gates:

This hadn’t even occurred to me until right now. Vecna killed four people and opened four gates to get into this world, right? Four chimes, the clock, all that. The planispheric disk showed the gang the location of four keys, four keys to open four gates to get to the Evil Entity dimension (the last dimension). There were even tunnels that were being dug to find where the first door was, just like in season two.  There were four gates in ST, and there were four gates in SD. Both eventually led to the destruction of their town, and perhaps the world as they knew it. Instead of the four gates being caused by the four deaths, they were connected to the elements. But the same number, and the same outcome, makes me think it will eventually lead to the same ending. 

5. The signs

I may add the pictures for this in a reblog as I refuse to update to the new post editor on browser. They show the sign of “Welcome to Hawkins” a few times, including one time in season three when it was defaced to make it say “Welcome to Hawkins Hell.” In Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated, the ever present sign of their town always reads “Crystal Cove: The Most Hauntedest Place on Earth.” But when the timeline resets the sign changes to “Crystal Cove: The Sunniest Place on Earth.” The destruction of the EE threw everyone into a timeline where the EE never existed, and therefore everything the Evil Entity ever touched never happened. The signs were not the only thing that changed because of the timeline, but it is a stark parallel between the two. And now we talk about...

6. Timelines and lack thereof because my god

In Scooby Doo, once the Evil Entity was defeated, it was like it was never existed. So, not only did the signs change, but everything changed. There was no disk, there was no madness  the previous mystery incorporated(s) and others fell into because of it, it was all changed to what it was supposed to be (or goes back to what is “normal.” It is a question of what world is the “correct” one and was there ever supposed to be a correct one? What alternate universe is “right” and which one is “wrong” and who are we to decide? Anyway, back to timelines). I think Vecna, like the Evil Entity is the reason for all the crazy stuff happening in Hawkins. Henry Creel caused a shift in time when the Creels moved here, and he developed his powers in Hawkins. Why not anywhere else? I don’t know, but for whatever reason, it all started in Hawkins and it all started with Henry Creel. Think, without him, nothing would be the same. The lab would not exist, Will would never have gotten taken, nothing would have happened. This makes me kind of sad because it therefore means Eleven wouldn’t exist in Hawkins, but I think that through the power of friendship (tm) the timeline will shift so that they’re all together in this new timeline, and only the party (El, Will, Max, Lucas, Dustin, Mike) (maybe not Max, but she’s still their Friend in this new timeline) remember the previous timeline. Like in Scooby Doo, once the timeline resets, everyone will be alive. All of Vecna’s victims, Eddie, Billy, Bob, etc. Because Vecna/Henry Creel will have never existed. There will have been no reason for the lab to be started. Everything will be “right” and they have created a world without monsters, without the Upside Down. Theoretically, the Upside Down still exists, but without the existence of powers, and Henry and Eleven with powers, there will be no way to access it, and the Upside Down itself will revert to how it was before Henry got there. Much like how when Crystal Cove was reset, all of the mysteries they solved never happened because it was all because of the Evil Entity, manipulating the town and everything in it. Everything will be erased and rewritten. This also ties into why the Upside Down is frozen in time, it’s because when Will was taken there, the timeline officially split. While Henry is the reason, Will is the catalyst. When he got there and survived in there, the Upside Down got confused, and it stopped in time. Because ever since then, the original timeline in the first episode was stopped, and now we’re in this timeline. Alternatively this could mean Will has to die but that’s sad and I don’t believe in Will Byers dying so they kill Vecna, properly, somehow, probably Eleven and Will will do it, and then everything reverts back to “normal.” Maybe they think for like, five minutes, Will and/or Eleven is gone/never existed, but they do and everything is fine. Because in Scooby Doo everything turned out fine. Everyone was FINE.  I do think a lot of people will die, specifically the teens and the adults (probably Steve, Nancy, Jonathan, Joyce, Robin, maybe Hopper, but I don’t think they would kill and bring him back twice), before the timeline is reset, but once it is reset, they’ll all be back and happy and in whatever relationship the Duffers deem “correct” (probably incorrectly, but at least they’re alive). I don’t know whether they will reset the timeline so it picks up where season five starts (potential time skip) or to back to season one when they’re all twelve and they’re all playing DND in Mike’s basement but Eleven and Max are there too for some reason. 

6. The Heart

I really do enjoy starting sentences with “in Scooby Doo” so I’m going to keep doing that. In Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated, the gang goes to the Yucatan to find the “heart of the jaguar” which is a spear made by the original original mystery incorporated gang. This is the only thing that is said to be able to defeat the Evil Entity, but it breaks and it turns out the true heart of the jaguar is the FRIENDSHIP of the gang. Anyway, we’ve something similar. They claimed that Mike was the “heart” of the group, when lbr, he is not. If it’s anyone it’s Will, but that’s a different post. They all make it up together with their friendship between the Party. Will and Eleven will probably be the ones to end Vecna at the end with finality, but they will not be able to do that without the help of the others and the friendships, and other relationships with the other characters. Since Stranger Things is not actually Scooby Doo, it will probably extend beyond just the party. Eleven with Hopper, Will with Joyce and Jonathan, Dustin with Steve, etc. It will all culminate in the party working together to defeat Vecna, and Eleven and Will killing him in the end. Because they’re the heart together, not Mike who is stupid. 

Lesson 13 gave me brain damage

Spoilers below~

So like- has it been established that this person was either Lilith or Raphael?

Because back then, when this person appeared was when we got the ring of light- (other than the lesson 15-16 where Lilith had also helped us at least once, but the tone of the dialogue doesn't seem like her-) so I assumed that it was Michael

NOW that these dialogues dropped like a nuke, gave me slight discouragement with the "Michael is nightbringer" theory even though there were some hints that pointed at him.

But why does Michael have the ability to speak to the MC at this very moment and yet talk as if him and Nightbringer aren't one in the same?

Unfortunately for little ol' me, my little brain needs more time to process the new lesson </3 because sometimes, Barbatos is pointed to be nightbringer (with how he was sus during the song opening, with the dimension/timeline chaos with him being capable of it, and then the opening that Solomon narrated)

Sometimes it was pointed at Michael, (bc of the vague hint that Nightbringer is pretending to be a demon, and Solomon has mentioned Michael almost sounding like one. Add to note that he and Lucifer were considered polar opposites where Lucifer was called the Lightbringer, and it was just common sense for Michael to be called Nightbringer. Or where he wished the MC happiness, and this may be his way of carving the path for them.)

Sometimes Solomon (the mf is shady with how he narrated about the demon that helped Adam, he benefits with the current circumstance, Nightbringer wants to reach the goal of making the MC get their pacts with the brothers back, similar to how Solomon instructs them to gain back their trust and remake their pacts, and some of Nightbringer's dialogues seem similar to Solomon's way of talking. Let's not forget that he could bring night or most probably another term for chaos/war to ensue. Thirteen mentioned his soul changed, and it could be another hint.)

But the thing is- Barbatos is loyal to a fault and swore to himself never to mess up again, which contradicts him messing up the timeline for the MC's 'happiness'.

Solomon contradicts at times, he wouldn't want to bring harm to the MC so if it were him that caused all of it to begin with, it's like a huge gamble even for a sorcerer like him. So why would he bring the MC into such an unstable world of the devildom if he thinks this is where their happiness is? Wouldn't it be natural, that as a human, he would be selfish to try and believe that the MC's faith lies with humanity?

And Michael, recently talked to the MC like he and Nightbringer are two different entities. So it also contradicts what we know of Nightbringer TT

But what we could assume:

1. Nightbringer may not be a demon

2. Nightbringer is still strong enough to turn back time/create a world altered to their liking like some sort of stage for the MC to play in

3. Nightbringer could be BarbatosxMichaelxSolomon's lovechild /J

One of the funniest things I saw an anti say one time was when they were comparing Henry and Will’s drawings of the MF and making fun of Henry’s drawing in comparison to Will’s saying it was “cringe” and “fail” and Will’s was superior. Super cringe moment for the antis, imagine comparing the artwork of two emotional and sensitive little boys depicting the exact same thing with high accuracy and deciding one of them is “cringe” and “fail” because he doesn’t fit your perfect “good” victim ideal, wow. 

But this accidently got me thinking deeper, looking at the two drawings at the fact that they’re both extremely accurate illustrations of the MF but they’ve used different mediums and slightly different perspectives. Will seems to have used pens and his drawing is kind of more... He’s almost kind taken a comic book esque approach and it shows Wills depiction obviously chilling in Hawkins, as he saw it-- but Henry’s drawing -- And heres the thing -- Henry’s drawing was done with charcoal showing the midnflayer in an environment that very much resembles the one he found it in as an adult, but what particularly struck me about Henry’s drawing besides that is that the point behind using the charcoal is to be able to create the effect of the particles the mindflayer is made up off.  

This is going beyond him just drawing/imagining a “black shape” that kind of looks like a spider because he’s weird and he likes spiders. Henry did his best to illustrate not only a “shape” but near the exact texture of the mindflayer. 

Why did Henry apparently know it was literally comprised of dark misty particles and he took the time specifically to find a medium and tool that would allow him to visually represent this as accurate to ‘realty’ as possible? 

Because we can believe that maybe this was just some random thing from Henry’s imagination all despite being quite obscure and specific (which is precisely why I can never personally believe he just made it up on his own), and when Henry found the MF in the upside down he just used his powers to form it into that creature purely from his own imagination in childhood

BUT to actually accurately depict its physical body as made up of dark mist/particles? 

How could he have possibly known that if the MF wasn’t in fact somehow (possibly subconsciously) comminating with him in the Creel house all those years ago? 

And ofc I’m once again thinking of the lore of DnD regarding DnD Vecna and “The Serpent” (thought to be a mysterious god-like entity that gave Vecna his powers, essentially): "An entity known only as the Serpent speaks directly to Vecna. Others—daring to call themselves wizards, magicians, and sorcerers—manipulate the tiniest aspects of the Serpent and call it magic. But Vecna speaks to the Serpent, and the Serpent speaks back."

If it isn't to much trouble, could I get some hcs for eyeless jack with an s/o who's a demo like him, but they are a head strong confident alluring feminine entity

Eyeless Jack with an SO That's Also a Demon

[F!Reader]

[Warnings: I make,,, suggestive references? It's not blatantly NSFW, but minors DNI]

[AN: Nov. 30th, 2021: after this do not send creepypasta/MH requests please!]

Jack loves you for a plethora of reasons, but your physical nature is definitely at the forefront.

As a demon, you're alluring in every sense. Not quite a succubus?? You don't feel off sexual energy but there's something about you that's absolutely divine feminine.

I don't know what your body looks like lmfao so I'm not going to say you're an hour glass with a big bust and wide hips - we love all body types in this household, just know that the divine feminine comes in MANY different forms and the body you have is that alluring femininity. It attracts Jack just because you exist the way you do.

Your confidence is what attracted him initially tbh. Jack is drawn to people like him, and he's admittedly very cocky.

I don't think you're cocky, you just understand that you absolutely are stunning.

Jack likes that you aren't frail and mentally weak because honestly, he likes that pushback in a relationship. Beings that are headstrong, can fight him on things, he really likes that. Keeps him interested.

Honestly the two of you get into playful arguments because he knows you can handle yourself just fine against him. Most likely, you're witty and intelligent with a sharp tongue?? OHOH that makes him MELT.

Jack finds your demonic nature gorgeous. He's already biased towards liking demons, but a demon of your caliber??? Incredible.

He knows other beings are attracted to you because you drip intoxicating energy.

I think he also likes having someone similar to him because it's just like, a mutual understanding. Makes him feel a little less alone in this world.

Flirt with him. He doesn't blush because Jack is an overly confident mf but like, it makes him feel nice. The two of you flirt and tease each other constantly. Makes its way into many situations, and honestly you're one of the only people who can pretend to top him and him actually enjoy it.

Literally you could choke him in multiple ways and he'd find that hot.

Idk what else to say other than get Jack a demon SO.

Small Gods: Lazy Mornings - 5

Lazy Mornings:  A Captain America Fanfic

Lazy Mornings Masterlist | More Small Gods PREVIOUS //

Buy me a ☕ Character Pairing:  Steve Rogers x F!Reader

Rating: E

Word Count:  1696

Warnings: smut (MF, vaginal sex)

Synopsis: Steve Rogers has trouble taking time for himself.  When his friends set him up with a person with a very unusual skill, perhaps he can learn that the quiet moments are just as important as everything else.

Chapter 5

There was something a little magical about the way the sun crept through the curtains as Steve slowly woke.  It fell in a clear beam over the bed, and dust motes floated in it, glowing brightly like they were alive and filled with their own kind of magic.  From the beam the light diffused through the room, blanketing in a soft white haze that made everything seem like it was wrapped in cloud.

Steve had slept well.  Better than he could ever remember sleeping before.  It was the good, deep, restful sleep that most people just long for.  There was no urgency to waking either, so he did it gradually, appreciating the scent of coffee, linen, and fresh-cut grass, along with the warmth of your body pressed against him.

You slept so close to him - practically buried into his side.  Sleeping with another person usually brought with it some minor discomforts that were a trade-off to the intimacy of sharing such a space with another person.  Hair that got in your mouth.  Awkward arm placements.  Overheating from the shared body temperature.  Accidentally getting kicked in rather tender areas.

There was none of that with you.  The bed which would normally be too soft for him to be truly comfortable was somehow perfect.  The air temperature was cool, but the bed was perfectly warm in that way that made it hard to leave.  The way you tucked in against him felt like the two of you were made for each other.  Like two pieces of a puzzle, or Lego bricks.

You made a soft sound and your arms tightened around him.  “Good morning,” you mumbled, in a sleep-heavy voice.  “Will you stay?”

Steve hummed and pressed his cheek against the top of your head.  “Mm-hmm.”

He wasn’t even quite sure what he was agreeing to.  Now?  Forever?  He didn’t know, but either way that answer felt right.

You hummed and nuzzled at his neck, kissing his throat and gently grazing your teeth over his skin.  “Good,” you whispered.  “I have plans.”

He pulled back and looked down at you, smiling a lazy smile.  You looked ethereal in the soft morning light.  You returned his gaze and reached up and ran your finger along his jaw so that his morning stubble scratched over your fingertips.  For a moment that’s all either of you did - just lay there gazing at each other - and then he broke.  He leaned in and kissed you deeply.  Your arms wrapped around his neck and you pulled yourself tightly against him.  There was a slowness to your movements that seemed to translate to a deeper intimacy.  There was no rush.  No desperate need.  The two of you took your time to just kiss and caress each other’s skin.  He ran his hands over you as you raked your fingers through his hair.  Your hips moved slowly against him so your cunt rubbed against his morning erection.

The pressure of your body against his, the warmth that radiated from your skin, and the way his body buzzed under your fingers, made that lazy, cozy feeling start to blend into his desire and need.

He kissed your throat and massaged your ass as he slowly rutted against you.  Your fluids dripped from your cunt and coated his cock.  He hummed and when the head of his cock caught on your entrance, he pushed, slowly sinking into the warm passage.  The movement was met, not with a moan, but a soft contented sigh.

He rolled so he was on top of you and the two of you began to move together.  He rolled his hips penetrating you deeply, taking his time to feel every ridge and contour of your internal walls.  You counter, arching your back and rocking under him and clenching around him. The kissing was a constant tender caress.  Lips against lips and necks, collarbones, and chest.  It added to that soft buzz inside him, and the world became fuzzy and far off as the two of you made love.

“You feel so good, Steve,” you hummed against his throat.

He moaned in response and brought his lips to yours.  You nudged him and he rolled over so you were straddling him.  You broke the kiss and sat up, closing your eyes and letting your head loll back as you twisted and circled your hips while staying seated on his cock.  He watched you, mesmerized by the way your body moved as you rode him.  He ran his hands over your breasts and down your sides, letting one settle on your hip and the other over your pussy, working your clit with his thumb.  You moaned and moved a little faster, your lips parted in silent pleasure.  Your cunt began to clench and flutter and with a deep moan, you came, your body seizing up.  Steve grabbed your hips and began to thrust up into you, chasing his own release.  When it came, it was like his orgasm washed through him like a wave, he closed his eyes and groaned as his muscles clenched and he spilled inside you.

You stayed sitting on top of him for a moment, just letting yourself relax and come down from your orgasm high.  As your breathing returned to normal, you climbed off him.  “I’m going to make breakfast,” you said, grabbing your robe and sliding it on.

Steve stretched and watched you leave the room as he debated what to do.  He hadn’t ever had breakfast in bed, and he couldn’t pretend that it wasn’t comfortable right where it was.

His need to be up and participating in the world ended up winning out, and he dragged himself out of bed.  He tried to keep in the spirit of the lazy morning though.  He used the bathroom and pulled on his boxers and t-shirt before coming out to find you.  The kitchen smelled of coffee, bacon, and maple syrup, and you stood at the stove singing to yourself.  He came up behind you and wrapped his arms around your waist as he nuzzled into your neck.

“Really giving yourself to it, huh?”  You asked.  “I can feel it.  Makes me feel a little more real.”

“If that’s all it takes for you to feel that way, I’ll have to do this more often,” Steve said.

You laughed and turned, kissing his cheek.  “If you really want to spoil yourself, the paper should be on the doorstep.”

Steve let you go and went to the door.  Sitting on your welcome mat in the hall was a copy of the New York Times.  He picked it up feeling a little bewildered.  Since waking up from the ice he’d seen newspapers being sold, but he’d never known anyone who bought them.  He’d been dropped into a world of leading-edge technology where the new was delivered digitally in an instant.  It was all tablets and holographic screens in his world now.  Having an actual honest-to-god newspaper felt a little like he was stepping back in time.

He took it to the reading nook you had by the window and reclined back on the window bench, pulling the plush blanket you had sitting there over his legs and unfolding the paper.

It was strange how strong the scent of fresh-cut grass was, even though he wasn’t sure he could smell it as much as he formed the idea of it in his head just from being around you.  If he looked down through the window, it was just another busy New York street below him.  You lived across from Central Park though, and looking right ahead he had views of trees and grass he could sink into the illusion of a Sunday in the suburbs with neighbors mowing their lawn while he took his time to read the paper.

“Don’t you look comfortable here,” you said, bringing over a tray.  Sitting on it was a plate filled with pancakes, eggs, and bacon, a mug of hot coffee, and a glass of orange juice.  He shifted a little and took the tray, placing it over his lap, and you took a seat in the wingback chair beside him.

“You’re spoiling me,” Steve said, picking up his coffee and breathing in the aroma.  “You’re not eating?”

“When I have someone who’s really giving themselves over to what I have to offer, I don’t actually need to eat,” you replied.

Steve surveyed you, raising his eyebrow.  “Thor always needs to eat.”

You laughed.  “Thor and I are slightly different entities.  And I don’t pretend to understand it.  I am feeling it very strongly from you right now though because this is not something you let yourself do very often.  It’s nourishing.”

“For us both,” Steve said and started to eat.  He took his time to savor it all.  It wasn’t the best food he’d ever had, but it seemed to hit the spot exactly.  The coffee was hot and brewed just how he liked it, bitter but not burned.  The eggs were sunny side up but the white had cooked through while the yolk was still runny.  The bacon was salty and crispy and mixed with the maple syrup on the pancakes perfectly.

“Do you think we can actually work long term?”  Steve asked as he ate.  “We seem to need such different things.  And what would happen if I stopped fighting and just retried?  Would that affect how this worked for you?”

You shrugged.  “To answer your second question first; no it wouldn’t.  Eventually, you’d stop appreciating the lie-ins and it’s really in the desire and appreciation of them that gives me my power,” you said.  “As for the first, I couldn’t say.  No one knows what the future brings or how long people can stay compatible.  It’s working now, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Steve agreed, and sipped on his coffee thoughtfully.  Maybe he needed this.  A reason to balance his life so he took something for himself once in a while.  Maybe appreciating the quiet moments more would help him get through the chaos of his everyday life.  Maybe his friends had been right, it was time for him to get a life too.

// NEXT

Heart-Shaped Box (Michael Langdon x fem reader)

Summary: On your way out of the Satanic church, you and an inexperienced Michael share an intimate encounter.

Warnings: smut, dirty talk, slow burn, choking, oral sex (female receiving), sassy reader.

Word count: 3.4k

A/N: thanks to everyone in the ahs/cody fan base for being so kind and reading my shitty writing :) youre all dope mfs

i only did minimal editing so i hope there arent too many mistakes !!

~~~~

You exhale a long sigh when hanging up your cloak in the empty church. You take in the atmosphere of the church; you’re going to miss being a Satanist. You finally felt like you belonged somewhere, felt like you finally had a home, but things changed once Michael came along. Everyone was on their toes, trying to one-up each other, it was first grade all over again and everybody was the teacher’s pet. Part of you blames yourself for succumbing to the desire of having external support, your own little dysfunctional family. But you blame Michael. He ruined everything for you, and you didn’t want to be apart of his crusade.

You take a seat on the first bench, observing your surroundings for the last time. The mood lighting from the lit-up candles, curtains hanging on either side, the walls painted an ominous blood red, the upside-down cross hanging above the alter… God you’ll miss this place.

Dress shoes click on the polished wooden floors and you stand from your seat, preparing to bolt without having to engage in conversation about why you’re leaving. You know the rest of the members would give you great shame for not kissing Michael’s ass. Fuck him. Fuck the people at this church. They all claim to be different, evil, but they’re just like God-fearing Christians. As soon as their “saviour” came, they kissed his feet. Not you.

You brush past the person who walked in, keeping your eyes glued onto the floors. They grab your arm and you stop, still not turning around to look at them. A sick feeling turning in your stomach suspects you already know who it is. “It’s… y/n, right?” the man asks. His indistinguishable smooth voice sings your name like a lullaby and your heart drops. He hasn’t said two words to you before, the closest you’ve gotten to speaking with him is exchanging glacial stares, so how did he know your name?

“Michael,” you reply. “Sorry, uh, Mr. Langdon,” you redress him. “How do you know my name?”

“You can call me Michael,” he says, “I like to know all the people who have been worshipping my father.” He pulls you by the lacey fabric of your dress, trying to turn you to meet his gaze. You spin around and hold your head high. His body is twisted towards you, carrying himself confidently. He doesn’t scare you, even if he is a head taller than you... and the antichrist.

Your eyes meet his, the candles in the room give him an intimate lighting on his porcelain skin. His blonde feathered hair done to perfection, as always. The princess always has to look damn good, doesn’t he?

“What’re you thinking about?” he asks, cutting your observation short. You open your mouth to speak, but he holds up his finger. “Let me guess… coming up with an excuse on why you just hung up your cloak and were about to leave my father’s church,” he guesses.

You’d rather affirm his assumption than explain what you were actually thinking about. Of course everyone in the church had a crush on Michael, but they openly admitted it. You’re a little more stubborn. You hold your hands up in vanquish, “You got me.” You walk backwards, hoping to leave the conversation as is. “I should head out then,” you add, but Michael takes a step toward you with every step you take back. You stop, annoyed by his tenacity. Maybe he’s more like you than you thought.

“And why is it that you’re leaving?” his voice is surprisingly warm. “I’m not what you expected I’d be? Unsatisfied with my leadership?”

Michael’s never grovelled for anything, not even a lousy reply; you smile at his zeal. “I just don’t want to swim too close to… a drowning man,” you respond, hesitantly choosing your words.

“Oh?” the word immediately slips from his lips, an eyebrow cocked. He turns around to the alter, his silky black cloak flowing behind him. Michael reaches under the podium to grab a chalice and a bottle of merlot. A little inside joke your church had, mocking the blood of Christ in Catholic churches. He fills the glass with wine and hands it over to you, “A drowning man, huh? Did I strike a nerve?”

You take a sip of the bitter beverage, somehow the flavour is both pleasant and unpleasant. When you look at him as he awaits your answer and meet his deep blue eyes, it’s hard for you to answer truthfully. “Nope, no nerves struck,” you lie, taking another big gulp.

“You’re not a very good liar,” he quips. He takes a step back from you and walks around the benches, your eyes follow him around the room. Dragging his feet across the floor, eyeing up the church just as you were. Even as he’s just being observant and not really doing anything, Michael holds a certain hostility to his presence. “What have I done to displease you? I’d like to know,” his voice echoes.

You glance around the room for anything to save you, he’s stopped in his tracks to watch you squirm under his influence. You look at the exit of the room, then back at Michael. “Look, I was just planning on leaving,” you explain with a passive shrug.

He steps away from the exit. “You can if you’d like. I’m only curious… and I wouldn’t want you leaving my father’s church on a bad note,” he answers. He walks towards you and you back up closer to the alter, it feels like he’s intentionally closing in on you to make you feel threatened. You won’t let it work. “Again, just so there are no animosities,” his voice is lower, “what have I done?”

You take the last sip of wine, realizing your lips haven’t parted from the glass for nearly the entire time. It’s much easier to tolerate Michael with a drink in your hand. Although you could easily put it back under the podium, you decide to hand the empty cup back to Michael. At first his eyebrows furrow in confusion, then a moment passes and his lips twist into a cunning smile. If he wants to act dominating, you will too. “You know where that goes,” he says in a mere whisper.

“So do you,” you retort, the alcohol giving you an extra boost of courage.

He walks past you, brushing you with his cloak as he goes and ignoring the cup you hold out to him. You smile to yourself, biting your lip from calling him stubborn. You thought that you were the most obstinate person you’d ever know, but Michael might take the cake. Two can play at that game; you purposely put your cup in the wrong spot.

Michael takes a seat on the alter, still waiting for your response. You sit across him on the first church bench. “It’s not anything you’ve done, it’s what you’re not doing,” you finally respond. He stops fiddling with the pentagram necklace hanging on his chest to glare at you, you got his attention. “Oh, please,” you roll your eyes, “I haven’t seen so much angst in a grown man, you’re practically a child.”

He scoffs. “I don’t think you’d speak with that conviction if you knew what I’ve been through,” he spits.

“Obviously losing people isn’t fair, but you’re literally the antichrist and you’re hiding behind the fact that your friend died,” you rebuttal. You shiver at the thought of all your losses, now this church is also going to be added to the list.

He’s shaking his head, dismissively rolling his eyes at you in dissatisfaction. He’s so much like you, it makes you hate him even more. This boils your blood; maybe it’s the alcohol, but his bullheadedness is sending you over the edge. Before he can answer, you want to ruffle his feathers a little more. “I can’t take over the world because my friend died and daddy doesn’t love me, boohoo,” you tease. “Grow up, we’ve all lost people.”

He takes a moment before responding to you, his eyes trailing down your body in disgust. You freeze under his stare. Then his frigid gaze falls back onto yours. “Maybe you’re just too stupid to realize how miserable you should be,” he responds callously, “Does a dumb harlot like you have no bounds?”

You clutch your legs together, his blistering words cause a tingling in your core; he’s never spoken to anyone like this before. Michael can come across as a contemptuous dick, but he’s never purposely been disrespectful. You try to answer him quickly, making sure he doesn’t notice that he knocked the wind out of you. “I’m far from a harlot, Mr. Langdon,” you keep yourself composed. “Tell me, with everybody’s heads up your ass, do your shits just fall out?”

You’re rewarded with a laugh. “You’re a snappy little thing,” his voice is small.

“I’m merely a confident woman refusing to kiss your ass.”

“You’re merely a confident woman who squeezes her legs together when being degraded by a man,” he barks back, no uncertainty in his voice, “I see how you tense up every time I’m around. Every time you’re on your knees praying to my father, praying to me.” You cement in your seat by his sudden bitterness, taken aback by his personality change. “You’re ashamed of your sexual desires, pretend to be a pure flower, but deep down an insatiable little whore.” Baffled by his vulgarity, your mouth opens to respond, but no words come out. You’ve never been muted by the words of another person, it irks you. He dusts off some of his cloak, still sitting pretty like he hadn’t broken his customary tone. “Have I made an erroneous observation, y/n?” he asks, still refusing to look at you.

Your first instinct is to shrug, but he doesn’t see. He finally stops tending to his clothing and pays attention to you again. You feel a smirk stretch across your lips without your consent, almost like a dark entity moving through you. You’re done trying to piss him off, you want to try something else. “Okay, I’m a whore… and?” you challenge him. He cocks his head in confusion. “I don’t see your hands under that cloak, how do I know you’re not relieving some of your own tension?” your voice drops seductively.

“Impossible,” he snaps.

“Impossible,” you mock him. “Why?”

“Because there is no tension,” he explains, shifting in his seat. You don’t reply, you just watch him uncomfortably try to adjust to the situation. Frustration washing over him when you don’t give him the satisfaction of a response, he stands from his seat. You follow suit.

You step closer to him, his eyes locked onto the floors but find yours in an instant. The cerulean lit by the dancing flames of the candles beside him. You’re only inches apart from each other, Michael makes no effort to step away. “Maybe I was wrong about you, Michael,” you whisper. You take another step closer to him, his body lightly grazing yours. He leans into you, pressing his pelvis against your belly. “Maybe all you need is a good fuck,” you bite your lip.

You feel him growing hard against you. He raises an eyebrow. “How are you doing this to me?” his voice is softer than before.

You exhale a laugh almost mockingly. “You don’t need to question it, Michael. Just find the courage to reach out…” your voice low. You run your hands down your body and lightly massage your breasts, a soft moan escapes your lips, “and touch.”

He leans down, his full lips press against yours. You feel him fumbling, so you take the lead. Giving gentle kisses and slowly making them deeper, you run your fingers through his luxurious blonde locks, pulling slightly. He follows your lead, his hands caressing your back and pulling your body into his even tighter. It takes Michael only a few moments to learn how to kiss before he wants to devour you.

His kisses become aggressive and his tongue pushes its way into your mouth. Regularly you’d enjoy being dominated in such a way, but you’re not letting yourself lose control over Michael. You liked having him at your fingertips.

You pull away from his burning hot body and walk to the other side of the alter. He freezes in place, collecting himself from the kiss. You smirk at the lipstick you’ve stained on his mouth. “Did I do something wrong?” he questions.

You shake your head, “No.” He steps towards you again, reaching out to you for more like a bratty toddler. “No more touching,” you order, “and I want you on your knees.”

He grins. “Aaand what makes you think that you’re in charge?” he asks.

“Because you want pussy,” you suggest. He laughs sardonically and you feel your heart sink into your chest. “Seriously, I think you need to learn to be a bit more flexible with your superiority.”

He pushes some of your hair behind your ear and you shift your head to the side, trying to enforce your no touching rule. “I don’t bend,” he retorts.

You step back from him and reach under your dress to shimmy off your panties. He watches your every movement, greedy to have more of you. “Well, everybody knows what happens to things that don’t bend,” you shove your panties in his mouth.

He spits them out. “I’m the fucking antichrist,” he seethes.

“A shitty one at that,” you spit back.

The force of his hand suddenly gripping your throat hitches your breath. Your hands grab his and he squeezes your neck tighter. “You think I’d take orders from a doe-eyed harlot like you?” his blood boiling. You feel yourself soaking from his words, recalling a sick fantasy you’ve had about this exact situation that you’ve concealed deep in your subconscious.

“Then just kill me,” you test his bluff. Now might not be the best time, but you have nothing else to lose. “Do it,” you press.

He squeezes harder one last time before his hand goes limp along with any faith you had in him. You try to discreetly gasp for air, taking in sharper breaths. “That’s what I thought,” you tease him even more. His nostrils flare out in anger and it makes you smile to yourself.

“Show me,” he lowly moans.

You take a seat on the first church bench, still trying to regulate your breathing. “Show you what?”

“Everything.”

You lean back on the bench and he takes a seat on the alter in front of you. You shake your head; a part of you just wants to leave now and be done with the church, be done with him. But a greater part of you wants to taste every inch of his body. To stick around and feel Michael inside you. This part dominates you, and again you feel yourself being possessed by the dark entity.

You reach down and brush your leg with your fingertips, taunting him by lifting the fabric of your dress only to let it drop back to your shins. “You want a peak?” you ask him. He doesn’t say a word; he only watches your hands. You take his silence as admission to reveal yourself to him.

You squeeze your legs together and lift up your dress, opening your legs up to expose your drenched cunt. Michael drops to his knees in defeat, crawling closer to you on all fours. His necklace hangs in front of him, oscillating like a pendulum. He comes so close that you feel his warm breath against your thighs, intensifying the tingling, rather sending an ache through your core.

When your fingers make contact with your throbbing clit, you let out a deep moan. Giving yourself one last rub before withdrawing your hand from your dripping pussy, you suck yourself off of each finger. Michael only watches you, no longer wanting to reach out in momentary greed.

“Do you want to taste it?” you breathe.

“I do,” his voice is faltering, no longer sounding menacing, instead overflowing with lure.

You lift your legs onto the bench, spreading them as wide as you can. “Then show me how hungry that pretty mouth of yours is.”

He starts on your thighs, wasting no time with each open-mouthed kiss he gives. His mouth inches from your pussy, he disregards it to suck on your thigh. You gasp at his hostility, fervently sucking on the inside of your thigh and leaving a love bite. It makes you want to question where he learnt to do that.

He lays his tongue flat on the entirety of your aching cunt, his lips wrapped around yours and he sucks on your folds. You try keeping in your moans, but they escape bit by bit. You feel yourself getting lost with each lick and every suck brings you closer to God. “Michael,” you groan his name.

He buries his tongue deep into you and a moan escapes your chest, you arch your back and impulsively try to close your legs. He pushes your legs apart again and continues to eat you as if you were his last meal. His moans vibrating into your sensitive cunt sends goosebumps all throughout your body.

Your breath gets caught in your throat as you feel yourself starting to come. “Micha-” you can’t finish saying his name, you interrupt yourself with a pornographic moan. Your moans echo through the church, it crosses your mind that the people walking by this cheap backwater building could probably hear you as well. You don’t care, if anything, the uncertainty turns you on even more.

You come undone, screaming all the moans you were previously neglecting. Michael’s glossy eyes look up to you, begging for your come. “You’re so fucking good,” you sigh, your fingers pulling his hair again. The way his tongue ravages your cunt restores the modicum of faith you had in him, if only he brought the same kind of dedication to world sovereignty.  

You try to even out your breathing, but fail every time he gives an unexpected lick. Your legs are trembling, you feel your whole body acting on every little whim. Even the sounds you’re making refuse to be silenced. You’re no longer in control of your own actions. You grind yourself on his face and he presses your hips hard against the bench, putting you in your place for messing up his rhythm. You finally feel yourself coming onto him, screaming his name one last time. Continuing to ride out the transitory ecstasy, your pussy incoherently spews your juices and Michael attempts to drink down every drop he can.

The wetness from your soaked cunt pools on the bench, but Michael ignores it to finish off with gentle kisses along your thighs again. “Michael, please fuck me,” you hear yourself beg. Even if the tables have turned and now it’s you pleading for him, you’re too detached to care. “Fuck me like the whore I am,” you continue, emotionally divorced from the words leaving your lips, the only goal is to appear irresistible to him.  

“No,” he responds, wiping your lipstick from his mouth. You study his expression hard, now wondering if it was you that had done something wrong. Why wouldn’t he want to fuck you? You’ve gotten this far… “Y/n, just because we came this far, doesn’t mean we have to rush things,” he explains.

You shut your legs, “Did you just hear my thoughts?”

You’re both interrupted by somebody entering the room; the priest of your church, Hannah, saunters in wearing her red robe. Your visceral reaction is to stand from your seat, but Michael stays on his knees. You step away from the bench, leaving behind the mess you two made. “What’re you doing here?” she asks.

“Just leaving,” you mutter, beelining to the door before anybody can stop you. A voice booms in your head, not your own, but Michael’s. His familiar, smooth voice leaves you a message. Tomorrow. Same place, same time. I’ll give you what you need.

You want to question how he can project himself into your head, too, but it would be redundant to keep inquiring his powers. You look back, he doesn’t pay you attention, he’s busy putting your cup back under the podium. You smile to yourself while exiting the church.  

Stranger Things: Resurrections (bringing back Billy...)

Since the Harringrove fandom has begun to demonstrate an amazing resilience to certain outside forces (thank you fandom <3 <3), I threw together a list of (some) resurrection precedents and possibilities, all “borrowed” from other actual media/TV/film canons adapted and applied to one Billy Hargrove: (Please do feel very free to add, expand, use, WRITEALLTHEFICS, etc. at will).

‘We Can Rebuild Him’: Still stuffed with remnants of the upside-down in his blood stream, the Russians scrape Billy up on their way out and rebuild him. Because alien world super serum goes a long way in building a super soldier (and unlocking more gates).  (Late 80s bonus points if they rebuild him with metal and wire that renders him part crude cyborg). (Re: Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier, Captain America).

Old School Resurrection: Unable to accept that Billy is gone, Max and Eleven tap into the upside-down to bring him back to life. Suddenly re-thrust into his old life that still includes systematic abuse at the hands of his father and the responsibility of facing up to all his past mistakes (including all the lives he took while possessed), Billy’s not exactly grateful to be back. (Hardcore 80s points if they forget to get Billy out of the coffin first, thereby making him have to claw his way up to the surface alla every 80s zombie film). (re: Buffy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer).

Super Powers Save the Day: Another secret child product of the MKUltra style lab experiments, Billy’s powers of cellular regeneration take a minute to repair that much damage, but revivify him in the morgue in a crazy cool special effects scene where he zips back up his body…(Also canonically explaining how a kid who gets shoved around by his father that often manages to still remain unbruised and shirtless as much as he does). (80s bonus points if filmed like a late 80s body horror film). (re: Clair Bennett, Heroes).

Cloning: Having been “impregnated” by the mind flayer (first with the ‘Alien’ face hugger reference, and then with the strange moment of the alien tentacle pushing into his chest…), Billy tries to kill the monster by sacrificing himself. Only the US government isn’t too keen on letting that kind of alien biotechnology go. They scrape up Billy’s body and clone him—a process that maintains the alien DNA that they can then harvest (and making Billy “patient zero” in their new attempts to use human hosts to create more).  Now confined to a laboratory cell, Billy has to fight to regain his own autonomy, not an easy feat when the military-industrial complex has labeled his body as government property. (Meta-Homage bonus points on account of Alien IV being one of Winona Ryder’s films…) (Ellen Ripley, Alien IV: Resurrection).

The Fake Out: Having made enemies of everyone in high school and knowing he’s in danger from both the law and his family (aka Neil), Billy takes the opportunity to fake his death. And yet, he can’t seem to stay away from Hawkins and the people he secretly cares about. (Re: Alison Dilaurentis, Pretty Little Liars).

Stranger Twins: Billy comes back as his brunette twin cousin to move in with the Hargroves and inexplicably looks exactly like him and might actually be him, because Hawkins is a weird dreamscape space (re: Laura Palmer, Twin Peaks)

Conspiracy!: With his body already broken and dying, Billy sacrifices himself to save Eleven, only to turn up (8) years later in a maximum security prison as a pawn in a larger government conspiracy (Cold War 80s bonus points for just being a larger government conspiracy…) (re: Micheal Scofield, Prison Break).

Deal with a “Devil”: Feeling guilty that they couldn’t save him, and unable to comfort Max, Elle uses her astral projection powers to make a deal with the Mindflayer or some other entity in the upside down to bring him back, but like all para-supernatural contracts, “the devil” wants to make a deal…(80s bonus points for really playing up any element of the “Satanic Panic” crisis) (Dean Winchester, Supernatural).

Time Travel: The alien tentacle pushed into his chest created a gateway that sucked his consciousness into the future, creating the dopple!Billy that greeted him in the upside-down, setting off a strange time line of events in which future Billy has to travel back in time to the 1980s to warn of or even jumpstart the Mindflayer takeover, as such a series of events is actually the only way to ultimately defeat it. Sacrificing his past-self to kill the monster, the ‘Billy from the future’ finds himself stuck in 1980s Hawkins, a changed man haunted by the things he’s seen (and the things he will see). Only now that this apocalypse has been averted, the things he can see in the future keep changing, not all of it for the best... (Essentially rendering Billy “The Party’s” Seer.)  (The Terminator (kind of)).

Alien Parasite: Closing The Gate weakens the Mind Flayer, but it doesn’t kill it, leaving the MF trapped inside the body of seventeen year old Billy Hargrove. Now both need the other to continue to survive, and Billy needs to learn to find some kind of harmonious compromise with his other-worldly parasite (Eddie Brock, Venom).  

(More theme-borrowed than direct references:)

(Psychic) Coma: After the events of the mall showdown, Billy is left in a coma with a healing fractured mind. The only problem, his psyche effects the world around him as it processes all its demons. As the gang gets sucked into the weird hellscape of Billy’s internal life made manifest on the streets of Hawkins, they must help him fight all his monsters before his lifetime of aggregate trauma destroys the town.

The War isn’t Yet Won: Billy’s demise was greatly exaggerated. The calvary came in, the ambulances scooped him up, and he’s fine now—physically. But the experience changed him, has left Billy quiet and hollow. He can still feel the mind flayer everywhere, phantom crawling over his skin. There’s only one other person who can even begin to understand—Will Byers. Everyone thinks the two former MF meat puppets are simply suffering from PTSD, but Will and Billy know better. They’ve seen the future; what the Mind Flayer has in store. The two form an unlikely alliance as the only two in town who know the war isn’t over.

(My personal head cannon for Season Four):

Nightmares on small town streets: After the events of season three, the gang starts dreaming: weird twisted nightmares that seem more vivid than the waking world. What’s more, they all meet up in their dreams: Will, Steve, Eleven, Dustin, Nancy, Lucas, Max. etc. who all physically went to sleep in different towns/places, find themselves in a sick simulacrum of Hawkins at night. What’s more, is that when they call each other up the next day, they all remember it: they were there. Soon it becomes clear that this dank space is even more dangerous than they ever could have anticipated. Whatever happens to them in the dream space follows them through to the waking world. And something is after them. They need to figure out how to defeat the shadows, but until they do, there’s only one solution: don’t fall asleep. (Meanwhile, Max and Eleven see Billy in the dream world, seemingly living at the Hargrove’s house and caught in a robotic glitch cycle of abuse at the hands of a nightmarish hybrid of the Mindflayer and his father. They become determined to bring this Billy back with them, unsure if that’s even possible, but Max refuses to leave him there. But waking him up and pulling him out is a much bigger task than they can handle alone. They bring Steve.).

(i.e. I actually do really want a Nightmare on Elm Street season…).

(And really, if all else fails, we saw *one* Billy go down, yes, but what about *second* Billy…?)

Juniper Publishers- Open Access Journal of Case Studies

Challenges in the Management of Metastatic Soft Tissue Sarcomas: where are we going?

Authored by Luca Paoluzzi

Keywords

Keywords: Soft tissue sarcoma; Next generation sequencing; Larotrectinib; Tazemetostat; Check-point inhibitors; Leiomyosarcoma; Liposarcoma; Undifferentiated sarcoma

Abbreviations: STS: Soft Tissue Sarcoma; LMS: Leiomyosarcoma; LPS: Liposarcoma; UPS: Undifferentiated Pleomorphic Sarcoma; ASPS: Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma; PEComa: Perivascular Epithelioid Tumor; DDLPS: Dedifferentiated Liposarcoma; NGS: Next Generation Sequencing; TMB: Tumor Mutational Burden; MFS: Myxofibrosarcoma; TRK: Tropomyosin Kinase; ES: Epithelioid Sarcoma

Introduction

Soft tissues sarcomas (STS) are a heterogeneous group of diseases with more than 70 entities described in the last WHO classification [1] and 13,040 estimated new cases in the US in 2018 [2]; the most common subtypes, excluding gastrointestinal stromal tumors, are represented by leiomyosarcoma (LMS), liposarcoma (LPS) and undifferentiated/unclassified sarcomas. Four new drugs have been approved by the FDA for the treatment of metastatic STS since 2012: olaratumab in the first line setting, in combination with doxorubicin; [3] pazopanib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitorfor all subtypes but adipocytic tumors [4]; trabectedin for LMS and LPS [5]; eribulin for LPS [6] (the last three drugs were all approved for after prior chemotherapy).

During the last several years it has become progressively more clear that different subtypes of STS may respond differently to distinct treatments; one of the oldest examples in this regard comes from angiosarcoma that is known for its sensitivity to paclitaxel; additional examples include alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS) for its sensitivity to tyrosine kinase inhibitors and, most recently, to check point inhibitors; malignant perivascular epithelioid tumors (PEComa) that may respond to mTOR inhibition with drugs such as sirolimus or inflammatory myofibroblastic tumors to crizotinib and so on.

Immunotherapies based on check-point inhibitors are currently revolutionizing the way we treat multiple malignancies. The first demonstration of efficacy of immunotherapy in cancer actually comes from a patient with a neck sarcoma, back in 1891, who had a complete response after injection of a culture of streptococcus erysipelas [7]. Two recent prospective phase 2 studies explored the activity of checkpoint inhibitors in STS: the response rate was 18% (7/40) for pembrolizumab alone [8], 5% for nivolumab alone (2/38) and 16% (6/38) for nivolumab plus ipilimumab [9].

During the last few years, next generation sequencing (NGS) has shown the potential to impact the diagnosis and treatment of STS positively; a retrospective analysis of 5,635 patients worldwide included 56 different histologies; subjects have been profiled for 405 cancer-related genes in the DNA and 265 gene rearrangements in the RNA; 1165 fusions and more than 60,000 mutations were found; up to 42% of patients had some type of alterations that made them eligible for a targeted therapy in the context of a "basket" trial such as the NCI-MATCH trial [10].

Additional useful information from NGS analysis is represented by the tumor mutational burden (TMB); TMB has been associated with response to check-point inhibitors in multiple malignancies such as melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer. In an analysis of 100,000 human cancer genomes, sarcomas generally have showed relatively low TMB, but cases with high TMB have also been reported [11], this information may be of particular interest in less frequent histologies for which genomic data is very limited.

A comprehensive and integrated genomic characterization of adult STS has been recently published by the Cancer Genome Atlas Research Network [12]: 206 sarcomas, representing 6 major types were analyzed through a multi-platform molecular approach. Copy number changes with low mutational loads and only a few genes highly recurrently mutated were noted across all subtypes (TP53, ATRX, RB1). Generally, deletions and mutations in tumor suppressor genes were more common than amplifications and mutations in oncogenes. Specific pathway activation with distinct molecular subtypes associated with clinical outcomes were found in dedifferentiated liposarcoma (DDLPS) and soft tissue LMS; furthermore, a study of the tumor immune microenvironment through DNA methylation and mRNA profiling revealed immune cell infiltration in genomically complex DDLPS, LMS, undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS) and myxofibrosarcoma (MFS). Of note, objective responses to check-point inhibitors in prospective clinical trials have been reported in the aforementioned subtypes with 4/10UPS and 2/10LPS responding to pembrolizumab, 2LMS, 1MFS, 2UPS out of 38 patients responding to nivolumab + ipilimumab, 1LMS out of 38 patients responding to nivolumab alone. Additional histologies that showed responses in these trials included one angiosarcoma treated with nivolumab + ipilimumab, one ASPS treated with nivolumab alone and one synovial sarcoma who received pembrolizumab [8,9].

Classically, cancer patients have been enrolled into clinical trials based on specific histologic and age criteria. Basket trials with a focus on peculiar genomic characteristics are now inducing a paradigm shift in the treatment of many cancers; rare cancers such as STS will especially benefit from this new trial design because of the obvious challenges in developing prospective studies in uncommon disease.

One of the most successful examples in this regard is the clinical development of larotrectinib, a potent and selective small- molecule inhibitor of tropomyosin kinase (TRK) proteins. In a cohort of 55 patients with 17 different types of cancers including 18 patients with STS, larotrectinib showed objective responses in 75% of patients with 7 complete responses. Of note, two pediatric patients with locally advanced fibrosarcoma were able to undergo limb-sparing surgery with curative intent after preoperative treatment [13]. Other stories such as the development of MDM2 or CDK4 inhibitors for dedifferentiated LPS, have been less successful so far, but multiple target therapies are in clinical development. Additional treatment strategies include targeting the epigenetic cellular machinery; one example comes from the use of EZH2 inhibitors in INI1 negative tumors such as epithelioid sarcoma (ES). ES is notoriously a very aggressive and chemo-resistant STS subtype for which only surgical resection has shown to be potentially curative to date. An ongoing phase 2 multicenter trial is exploring the activity of the EZH2 inhibitor Tazemetostat in patients with INI1 negative tumors including ES; preliminary results presented at the 2017 ASCO meeting showed one partial response in ES [14]. Interestingly, one transient partial response to nivolumab and pazopanib has been noted in a patient with ES in a recent retrospective series [15].

Conclusion

In conclusion, new genomic tools and trial designs are refining the diagnosis and treatment of STS increasing the knowledge on these heterogeneous diseases and providing new hope to patients.

For more articles in Open Access Journal of Case Studies please click on: https://juniperpublishers.com/jojcs/index.php

By Suresh Sadagopan The going has been tough for debt mutual funds since the IL&FS debacle in mid 2018. This triggered a crisis of confidence and it affected NBFCs and Housing Finance Companies (HFC) in the financial sector. Banks were reeling under the NPA problem already and they had virtually stopped lending to NBFC/ HFC and real estate sector as also to many other businesses with higher risk like MSMEs and other corporates which had cash flow problems/ mismatches. Financial entities and businesses were facing problems while trying to raise loans/ capital and their cash flow problems which impacted their ability to pay back past loans.Such tightening, cashflow problems of the businesses and other issues caused some defaults like it happened with DHFL, Vodafone, Zee Group etc. Many other names have cropped up due to the subdued economic situation, the caution of the banks in view of their high NPAs and the stress they themselves were going through and the problems. This affected retail and institutional investors alike and risk aversion started manifesting.The situation hence was difficult at the start of 2020. Then the corona crisis struck and all hell broke loose. A tough situation got worse as a lockdown was announced and the ability of companies to continue their business was hit badly. On top of that a moratorium was announced, which meant that borrowers need not pay the monthly instalments for some time and can defer it. All this produced panic in the debt markets and many papers turned illiquid. So the exit path was closed for those holding those illiquid papers. And Franklin Templeton had to shutter six of their schemes due to this.There has been a lot of coverage ( mostly adverse ) on debt MFs in the past two years. In this piece, I would like to examine if debt mutual funds are still a good option for investors to consider.About Debt MFsLet us first look at the fundamental premise. Debt MF schemes of various hues invest across durations, credit ratings and ownership profiles. In that sense, Debt MFs taken as a whole, represent the entire debt markets. What happens in the debt markets are bound to impact Debt MFs as well.If there is a liquidity crisis or a credit event, it will impact the debt market as well as Debt MFs, which is a participant in the debt markets. However, depending on which segment of the debt market or which paper gets affected, a set of schemes exposed to that segment/ papers will be impacted.In such unusual times, debt market turbulence can be expected even going forward. That needs to be managed well. Advantages of Debt MFsDebt MFs are great vehicles to manage that. Let us examine the advantages that they offer.Fund Manager oversightA fund manager and his team is always managing the fund as per its mandate and closely monitoring the underlying investments. They are well qualified and are retained to oversee investments on an ongoing basis. They are experts who take necessary actions in the schemes they manage. This ensures that the underlying investments are good as they take appropriate & timely actions in the schemes under their watch.DiversificationDebt fund schemes typically have between 10 to 40 underlying papers, which are chosen as per the fund mandate. Hence, one gets advantage of such excellent diversification even if the amount invested is small. Even in the event of a default or any other trouble, the exposure is a miniscule percentage, to the extent of the holding in those papers only. This is in stark contrast to a direct hit an investor would suffer, if one is holding the exposed paper.Funds across the spectrumDebt funds straddle the entire spectrum of duration, credit play, different management strategies, sectors and themes etc. There are funds for investors who want to invest for the very short-term like overnight funds, liquid funds; there are medium and long-term funds; there are credit risk funds, dynamic bond and corporate bond funds; there are gilt funds, banking & PSU debt funds etc. Hence, an investor can precisely zero in on what s/he wants and invest in the precise category & fund they want to. LiquidityMany debt instruments may not be liquid by its very nature. However, they can be sold in secondary markets. But liquidity may not always be there. However, if one goes through the MF route, the investment is totally liquid. There could be a time period in which there can be an exit load. Beyond that it can be redeemed freely without any penalty.Price discoveryThe NAV is published in the case of debt MF, on a daily basis. Hence, one would know what the value of the investment one has done in a debt MF, at every point. When one cashes out, it will be redeemed on the day’s NAV and one would get the money in a couple of days. Price discovery may be difficult for papers held directly by retail investors as some of these papers don’t trade much. TaxationGains in debt MFs are subject to capital gains treatment, as against the income treatment for most other debt papers. For investments held for a period of up to 36 months, short-term capital gains treatment would apply, where the gains would be added to one’s income. For investments held beyond 36 months and sold, Long Term Capital gains treatment will apply. This leads to better tax adjusted returns, especially when it is beyond a thirty six months holding period.QuantumSome of the papers are available in quantities which a retail investor will not be able to invest like multiple of ten lakh rupees or more. Debt MFs help retail investors participate in opportunities that are otherwise out of bounds for them.Non availability to retail investorsSome papers are placed privately and are not available at a retail level at all. The interest rate also will be higher than what typically a retail investor may get. Again, a Mutual Fund would be able to buy these and a retail investor would be able to participate in these opportunities.Income setup Income can be set up from a debt MF through Systematic withdrawal. The withdrawal in a year needs to be less than what the fund would generate, to be able to sustain. This allows a person to set up the amount of income they need, in the frequency they need. This can be stopped, varied, restarted, withdrawn in a lumpsum manner etc. In the case of many debt instruments, either one has no flexibility in setting up the income they need, or cumulative and regular income cannot be set up at all.The allure of debt MFs has no way dimmed due to the recent happenings. They continue to be one of the best options in the hands of the retail investors. However, one should select the sub-categories and funds with caution as per the needs, invest in them & monitor them. If this is difficult, one should seek professional help.(Suresh Sadagopan is the founder of Ladder7 Financial Advisories, a financial planning firm based in Mumbai.) from Economic Times https://ift.tt/3fx2j8Q

shlooting and rpgs, Celestialvania

so, looter shooters (shlooters) and rpg leveling were recent thoughts of mine for this little celestialvania game i had, which drew influence from bl2, pokemon, and hld for gameplay base, but with a more jojo-stand esque usage of teams/abilities. 

i’ve started to realize that pokemon combines the two: what pops up in rng encounters is what you can level and customize via moveset. bl2 takes the (more or less) opposite approach, the rng loot that you can find have static stats and passives; what you level is yourself as a character. generally, through the game, you level your character just based on what seems appealing, in terms of overarching gameplay style or just down one of the three trees for that sick capstone, and if you happen to loot some good rarity gun that fits your skill tree at the moment, then awesome. it’s really only lategame, where you’re starting to get the legendaries and legit loot, that you might consider respeccing your build around specific guns, shields, class mods, grenades, etc. Ok wow, I need to punctuate because holy shit. 

So I guess what I need to figure out going onwards is why exactly BL2′s system is so good. I think part of the reason is the need to constantly find new equipment as you rapidly outgrow it in harsher levels/environments, and there’s that sentimental point of finally replacing a reliable gear that carried you through a significant point of the game. I guess that’s really Pokemon’s strength, then, in that you’re supposed to become attached to specific Pokemon and never outgrow them, only deepen your bond as you level them to the last of the game’s content. We’re gonna ignore PVP connotations for now, because I don’t think a game with network connectivity or PvP is anywhere near what I’m able to do for game-making right now. So, loot shooting is kind of a different “badge” of devotion, of showcasing a rare as fuck loot that you can only get by farming untold hours, defeating shit hard bosses, or farming shit hard bosses. 

There’s also a reverse timeline of where the rng comes in. BL2′s is at the “end”, where either you get the drop or you don’t, and getting it marks the end of your struggle and the beginning of funtimes. Pokemon’s rng is at the very beginning, and is a lot less black and white with all the varieties of stats and their combinations affecting viability. Pokemon therefore has the problem where rng actually kinda fucks with the sentimentality they have going if you become the kind of person that catches tons of a Pokemon until you find one with the stats/nature you want. The most common solution to mitigating the bad feeling of having a bunch of captured nobodies seems to be sacrificing them towards your main a la Gachas (Love Live, Granblue Fantasy, Puzzles and Dragons), but that still just feels horrid (lol Pokemon Go).

So lets talk a short bit about my game idea, tentative name Celestialvania. (I came up with the idea after seeing a gorgeous two story wooden house at twilight (the dark, late, basically night, good kind) when out on a walk. It was actually hella close to my house, but I never noticed because it was so concealed by shrubbery and tall trees. Wanna say it had a Victorian style, but I’m pretty sure that’s wrong as shit, but idk what else to call it. Tall and woody with tall and thin 2nd story windows (really all i could see of the house) and a tall pointed roof.) Cosmic horror/occult naturey vibe. Context is a spaceship of sorts sailing to a distant location, but old and traveling enough to the point where it’s basically just a piece of Earth, suburban and foresty and all, with an artificial sky. Come some shenanigans, night permanently falls with the failure of the sky, and its up to you as some plucky racially and genderly ambiguous teen to band with your hot and queer and plucky and cheer squad to do shit, whether its meeting up in the Asian restaurant one’s parents own that’s conveniently the only store in the entire downtown that still has power, beaning monsters in the local forest, fighting a great beast / really tall trench-coated occult looking humanoid mf at the highschool football stadium, or realizing that the old local church is actually a really large elevator to the 2nd world under your own, where “stars” are just laid out in a flat grid and named as cartesian coordinates and they’re much more urban and casually high tech than you are. Also a sea that’s the cooling vat for the main power, but contamination of the sea with creatures that feed off this thermal and otheryadda power has lead to darkness and some shit developing in said darkness. Anyway the point is I thought of some damage types for rock paper scissors pokemony style, with planetary (default physical), gravitas, constellation, nebulous, solar, and nautical. The point is I want you to be able to assemble a “team”, like in Pokemon, but the combat is more like Hyper Light Drifter or dare I say it Dark Souls. While you still have an “active” team member like in Pokemon, the rest of the team still gives passives and gameplay affects to yourself. Hence “Jojo stands”.

The main issue I had earlier that I’m hoping to figure out, typing all this out now, is how to flesh out a design of capturing members for said team, as they’d be cosmic entities of varying creature-ness and cosmic type. Like as in, what would be the factors that’d be rng-ey. BL2 is rng in two factors, more or less: passive and stats. Rarity classifications/colors are basically just a tier system for this rng gear. BL2 stats are Damage, Accuracy, Fire Rate, Reload Speed, and Magazine Size. Oh I guess a 3rd factor is weapon brand, because each has special factors there too, from Torgue’s rocket ammo on assault rifles and shotguns to Jakobs lack of full automatic but fire rate limited only by manual trigger pull speed. I started thinking up type interactions, but that’s honestly probably another post because this one is getting long. Still wondering though if this answer will just come to me as I flesh out the interactions of the types more and more. It all feels like it can’t exist or begin development without other pieces already in place, but it feels like those pieces are relying on every other too.

But then I did raise a good point. Stats. What sort of stats does my game want? Shit, what stats does Hyper Light Drifter even have? Time to do some research. That’ll hopefully help a bit with my question of hitboxes. Dark Souls is sick because of how good the hitboxes are with swing timing and range in a 3D atmosphere. So many times, sick victories against enemies are pulled off by swinging and landing your hit while they’re also in the middle of a heavy ass swing. I’m not sure how to equate that in a top down pixel-ey game. I thought about “hard-coding” damage timing with animations of attacks, as well as actually just using 3D models but just stuck to a top-down view a bit like how 2D fighters like Dragonball Z Fighters and Guilty Gear Xrd do 3D. It might definitely be out of my scope for now though. Actually fuck that it very well might not be. Downloading a trial/buying permanent license of Gamemaker in a week, after apprenticeship deadline for Disney. Man, I gotta be working on my portfolio. Like, immediate one. I want to make this game work. I guess this is one new use for this blog, but random smarmy writings are always welcome. I just hope they come from a better place now, though we’ll really have to see if I can even reach my previous spot of self-authenticity to work on improving it while in a living environment with my parents. Feels like an excuse typing that out. Need to sleep and wake early and start fuckin animatinnng groaaar.

Why I never want to be comfortable

Comfort, to those who can afford it, is an important aspect in a sizeable number of people’s lives. In this editorial I intend to explore the aspects and nature of comfort, why do we feel the need to be comfortable all the time? Is the ability to not function properly under “discomfort” just a perception of the human mind? While one person’s definition of comfort may be relaxing in their bed at home with a hot cup of coffee and binging their favourite Netflix show, another person might just rather prefer to be wedged in a tent covered in a sleeping bag in bone chilling temperatures and extreme conditions. Is comfort purely a construct of the human mind? Do we have the ability to live comfortably anywhere in any situation?

The first thing to understand is that the notion of a state of comfort is subjective, each and every person has their different notion, and this idea of comfort that we all hold in our minds is created by our upbringing and the amalgamation of different experiences in our lives.  

In a general sense, there exists two levels of comfort, the conscious or self-aware level of comfort that we strive for, and comfort of the subconscious. Consciously we may look for things which give us temporary pleasure or self-indulgence, this could be categorized as a form of escapism, allowing ourselves to wallow in certain comforts in order to escape certain realities. An example of this could come in the form of using food, drugs or sexual intercourse. The false sense of satisfaction that one can get from these comforts can rewire us to observe true accomplishments as too difficult, or requiring too much effort. Our subconscious level of comfort is usually uncomfortable when we are consciously indulging in comfort. It is important not to label comfort as any activity which gives us some kind of positive reaction, true actions which develop the mind and provide us with true accomplishments have feelings that are not related to comfort. The subconscious level of comfort is the unrest in one’s mind when they indulge in activities which are not conducive to development of ourselves. Our subconscious is aware of what is right and wrong for us, we all merely have different levels of touch with our subconscious.

The idea of comfort has become a distraction It is easiest to be in a state of  “comfort”. Comfort is a state of mind that should ideally be indulged in limitations. The entire notion of comfort would not exist at all without the opposing idea of discomfort. Only once we are able to experience a feeling where we are not at ease or things around us do not happen the way we want, do we know what our definition of comfort is? The spectrum of discomfort that different people have experienced is proportional to the level of comfort that one desires. To put it in the form of an example, a child living in poverty would have experienced great levels of discomfort, from the bed they sleep in to the struggle of their daily meals every day. A person of upper middle class origin may think about the size of the bed they sleep in, or the type of food being served. The nature of comfort is entirely different in both situations, what might appear comfortable or even luxurious to the underprivileged child may be undesirable and unliveable to the latter. Once we have labelled ourselves as “uncomfortable”, our ability to be productive and content are both hindered, by this constant feeling of discomfort. The more we focus on these feelings of comfort, the more rigid we become in the idea of comfort. Here arises the idea of the “comfort zone”. Once an individual has attained the comfort zone, our abilities and potential of growth is hindered greatly. When in our comfort zone, a person will ideally look for comfort in every situation that they come across. They will limit themselves to experiences they have only had before that did not produce any challenges or discomforts. Once in this state, the positive feedback and learnings that we gain from new and challenging experiences, is as proportional to the discomfort levels a person might allow themselves to feel. There exists a balance and exchange of energy in every action we do. Once we limit ourselves to challenges and unpleasant experience, our pleasant experiences do not yield much value either.

The comfort zone does not consist of a fixed type of action or want. We each, just as we have our own definitions of comfort, have our own comfort zones. In my personal experience, physical pain or ease has never been a priority of being comfortable. The concept of the subjectivity of pain is an equally large topic, but to put it simply, pain is something we all experience, on emotional and physical levels. When we are put out of our comfort zones, we experience pain in both realms. It is almost simple to say that the more levels of pain we experience in our own subjectivity, the more our own threshold for pain increases. Experiences that hurt teach one the most about life, of course we must allow ourselves to separate from the emotions and feelings of the experience and focus on the reasoning learnings from what we experienced. This is because when we are able to have another experience, similar in whatever sense one can relate pain to, we now have the ability to deal with the newer experience in a better more knowledgeable way.

Do we each have the ability to be truly comfortable in any situation? The answer is both yes and no, because no matter how much we try we will always have our own conclusions of what is comfortable and what is not. It is our responsibility to place ourselves into situations where we feel the latter. Stagnation is dangerous, it is easy to reason with oneself that one’s threshold of feeling discomfort is higher than others, this too is highly subjective. Any rank we might assign to the numerous things we might be able to live with and handle is purely fictional, a construct of the human mind. In truth, it seems more realistic that each and every action and experience, no matter how small, holds the same level of importance in the development of our mind. The difference being that at times, we are unwillingly forced into uncomfortable spaces and situations that can aggravate our feelings of discomfort and throw us off. The logic is simple; we fear things which are unknown and which we are not used to, once we can put ourselves in these situations, our knowledge increases and our familiarity does as well. This kind of state of mind which in the practice of zenwould be described as “The Beginners mind” would help us in any and all aspects of life. Approach anything with an open mind, do not think about what one already knows, because in reality we know nothing. Do not focus on things which are unpleasant and remember that it is unpleasant only because one perceives it as unpleasant. It is daunting to think about the idea, the idea that anything which we dislike or find unpleasant is because of issues within us, and not the other entity. We have the unconscious ability to absorb any reaction and choose how we might want to react to it. A negative reaction can only further spur more negativity from oneself and from the original entity. A positive reaction might affect both us and the other person in a positive way. Emotions such as hatred, dislike are all important in our definitions of comfort. We believe that we should ideally be surrounded by the things and people we like, limiting ourselves further as one dives deeper into the comfort zone. When one breaks free from this, the very label we attached to a feeling, comfort or discomfort is irrelevant. In conclusion, perhaps it is not about being comfortable or uncomfortable about anything. The very notion of comfort and discomfort is created from the human tendency to want to categorize and label everything. If we can allow ourselves to see things from a more objective point of view and absorb these understandings, perhaps the stormy seas of our minds may learn to settle as well, and one can see much clearer when the storm has cleared. By Nikhil MF

Basic guide to what is mutual fund ? and how it works .!

Basics of Mutual Funds in India

Mutual Fund is a financial means that allows multiple investors to ‘pool’ their capital in order to put together an enormous savings corpus. This money is then invested by investment experts called Fund Managers who have deep knowledge about financial markets and investing in share market. 

The joint fund is invested in different asset segments like debt, equity, and liquid assets etc. The capital is referred to as ‘Mutual Fund’ because all gains or losses, risks, and returns associated with the investments done with the savings are jointly shared by the investors in accordance with their contributions.   

First, we should understand these two entities:

Company: A company is created when a group of individuals come together with the intention of doing business. Every company must have a distinct title

Shares: It is your contribution or share within a company that can be in the form of minute ownership. For instance, if you own 50 shares of  $ 100 each for XYZ Company, it means you have invested that much amount and now you own that much share in the company.

A person who studies the market and analyses the performance of company can directly buy or sell shares and invest in the stock market. But for people do not have good understanding of the market and cannot take good investment decisions themselves, Mutual Fund comes as an excellent option.

Just as you own shares in a company, Mutual Funds (MF) have ‘Units’ in the company. If you invest $ 5,000 in XYZ MF and the cost for a unit is $ 10, you get 500 units of XYZ MF. As the MF grows over the time, the cost per unit also grows proportionately.  Let us assume the initial corpus of a MF was  $100,000,000 and the cost per unit was $10.  After one year, the investment grew to $ 134,000,000, so the cost per unit will then be $ 13.40 approx.

Following are some unique terms associated with mutual funds that every investor must know:

Offer document –It is the formal document that summarizes the essential aspects of the fund. The document contains terms and conditions of the fund, the objective of the investment, the asset segment that the fund will be invested in and other details like performance history of the fund, who will handle the fund and the risks involved.

NAV (Net Asset Value)– It is the price per share or cost per unit of the fund. The NAV varies depending on the performance of the fund. Units are traded at the current NAV or the value at the time of buying/selling.

NFO (New Fund Offer): It is the new fund/scheme introduced by an AMC in the market. You can purchase units of the new funds at the offer price.

Types of Mutual Fund Schemes

The different types of mutual funds are classified on the basis of their structure, asset segment and investment objective.

Categories based on Structure:

Open-Ended Funds:The units in this fund are open for redemption or purchase throughout the year. The redemption or purchase is done at current NAVs. These funds proffer liquidity to investors.

Close-Ended Funds:The units in this fund can be bought only at the opening offer period. To support liquidity, these funds are listed on a stock market.

Categories based on Asset segment:

Equity Funds: These funds invest in shares/ equity stocks of companies. Though these are high-risk funds, they tend to generate higher returns.

Money Market Funds: These funds invest in liquid instruments such as CPs, T-Bills etc. They are reliable investments for people who want to invest excess funds for immediate but modest returns.

Debt Funds: These funds invest in instruments like debentures, government bonds and fixed income resources. They are reliable investments and offer fixed returns.

Sector Funds: These funds invest in a specific sector of the market. For instance Banking funds invest only in companies that associate with the banking sector. Returns are linked to the success of the sector and risk involved is dependent on the kind of the sector.

Hybrid or Balanced Funds: These funds invest in a combination of asset segments. The percentage of equity may be higher than liability in some cases while it is just the opposite in others. In this way, risk and profits are balanced out.

Tax-Saving Funds: These funds invest mainly in equity shares as investments in these funds are entitled for deductions specified under the Income Tax Act. The risk involved is quite high but you can get exceptional returns if performance of the fund is good.

Index Funds: These funds invest in tools that mirror a specific index on the exchange in order to represent the performance and profits of the index like buying shares that represent NASDAQ, NYSE .

Fund of funds: These funds invest in additional mutual funds. Profits depend upon the success of the objective fund.

Categories based on Investment objective:

Income Funds:These funds invest money mainly in fixed-income tools like bonds and debentures with the intention of providing wealth protection and regular income to investors.

Growth Funds:These funds invest money mainly in equity shares with the intention of providing wealth appreciation. They are risky funds that are ideal for investors who can afford long-term investments.

Liquid Funds:These funds invest money mainly in temporary or interim tools like COMMERCIAL PAPERS’s and TREASURY-Bills(T-bills) with the intention of providing liquidity. They are low risk funds with modest returns.

Advantages of Mutual Funds

As mutual funds continue to gain popularity in India, numerous new funds and plans are launched in the market on a regular basis. Some of the advantages of investing in Mutual Funds are:

Risks diversification:As the fund is invested in various securities, the risk gets diversified. The prospect of all the stocks performing poorly all at once is very less. Losses incurred on a few stocks are compensated by gains on others. This eventually minimizes risks.

Organized investments:Mutual funds clearly specify the assets that are being targeted for investments so investors can direct their savings to various asset segments in a structured manner. The investors also gain access to schemes that were otherwise inaccessible to them like foreign securities.

Professional supervision:Mutual funds are supervised by fund managers of AMCs. The managers utilize their financial investment knowledge to diminish risks and increase profits for investors.

Reasonable investment alternative: MF is reasonable investment alternative for people who do not have considerable capital to endow in equity or tools that need a big investment. Moreover, the transaction cost is extended over multiple investors thereby reducing individual costs.

Asset alternatives:Different kinds of asset alternatives are open for investors to choose from like debt, equity, hybrid sector, fund of funds, and index funds etc.

Tax benefits:There are many funds/plans that have been created to work as tax-saving tools like equity linked saving schemes or ELSS. Investments in these plans are entitled for income tax deductions.

Easy acquisition and redemption:Except for the lock-in period, funds can be purchased and sold easily at the current value or NAVs.

Excellent returns:Mutual funds provide excellent returns on long-term investments as investors can branch out risk to increase overall returns.

Safe investments:All MFs fall under a regulatory which makes sure that the transactions are according to the regulations. This adds an element of security to the dealings.

Flexibility:Several MFs offer flexibility by allowing investors to switch between plans/ funds to gain superior returns.

SIP advantage:SIP (Systematic Investment Plan) lets investors put in small sums recurrently as an alternative to lump sum investment thereby attracting investors from different income levels.

Disadvantages of Mutual Funds

Though MFs come across as excellent investment options for all, there are some disadvantages associated with them as mentioned below:

Costs and Risks: Unstable market conditions can generate variations in the cost of the investment. Additionally, there are expenses related to mutual fund investments that usually do not crop up when purchasing individual securities directly.

Zero power: Investors cannot control the investment as fund managers take all the decisions. Investor can just contribute funds.

No assurances: There are no assured returns because mutual funds invest in equities as well as debt. The profits depend upon market conditions.

How to invest in mutual funds

Mutual funds are easily accessible to investors.  People can invest in them in the following ways.

Direct:Investors can apply to a plan themselves by contacting the nearest AMC(asset management company) office or by logging on their website. Forms can be obtained or downloaded from the website and submitted at the office. The applications can be submitted online too. Online processing has become popular for reasons such as:

Convenience: Funds can be applied right from one’s home or office.

Comparison: There are numerous online financial service providers that can help view and compare funds and plans from different companies.

Cost-effective: Investors can circumvent agents so the investments become cheaper as commissions are not included in the purchase cost.

Choice: All the relevant information including brochures is available online for reference. This allows investors to make informed decisions.

Professionals:These are agents who reach out to investors in order to provide information about different funds offered by a company. They help in the process of applying and dealing with issues like redemption, transfer of units, termination etc. The agents usually charge up to 6% as their commission. This fee is included in the buying value of fund units.

Mutual Funds offer several advantages but it is the responsibility of the investor to make reliable investments. You must choose funds bearing in mind your investment objective, liquidity needs, investment duration and affordability to make the most of Mutual Funds.

Entry 7: On The Smartest Guys In The Room

I just spent my Sunday watching a documentary Ms. Pia suggested titled "Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room". It's obviously about energy company Enron and its demise.

I have seen Enron stocks on our reports when I started working last 2012. Our team was handling distressed products or products that are undergoing liquidation and bankruptcy. Some famous names included Lehman Brothers and MF Global. I didn't have any idea what Enron was back then, but I was already seeing stories about it online.

The documentary was almost two hours long and it's a well composed documentary because it was using basic terms that even people who aren't in the financial industry can easily understand.

Enron went into several projects and tapped into different markets, some of which failed and resulted in them being buried in debt. However, they were reporting profits thru the use of mark-to-market accounting treatment and special purpose entities (SPEs). I have mark-to-market deals on our reports everyday so I can say that it isn't a bad thing because we reflect these in our ledgers as "Unrealized" -- meaning the profit or loss is not yet realized and no cash has come in yet. I believe Enron didn't do that, they just basically declared these "paper profits" in the financial reports. I don't have much experience on SPEs, I was only able to handle one on Lehman from my previous company.

Going back, what I can ultimately say about the Enron scandal is that -- it was so well orchestrated. It's amazing how well they came up with these strategies just to show that Enron was gaining while all the while they are getting piled up with debt. They even tapped into the California rolling blackout last 2000 and 2001, it was amazing how they thought of that and at the same time, disgusting. It's like they have no moral compass really. The way the traders would talk on the phone is disgusting, I don't think they have any remorse for what they did then. It's unexplainable how they even manage to sleep at night. These traders are the very definition of ROGUE.

Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, and Andy Fastow are even worse because they allowed this to happen. And as long as there is approval from an authorized person, nothing will stop. What bothered me most was that anyone who tried to question Enron would lose their jobs, would be called an "asshole", or would be questioned back. It was a lot like martial law.

At the end of this grand scheme, it was ultimately greed that led to Enron's collapse. It's quite a waste to see these people who are visionaries to be driven by greed and by the lavish life to make such unethical decisions. It's the macho culture and the willingness to keep the stock prices up that drove them to this. It was also the loss of responsibility to their stakeholders and to the community. Enron was an energy giant but they turned a blind eye to the ripple effects of their actions. It was like they were in denial the whole time. When the article on Enron being overpriced came out, Skilling just said that Fortune magazine was in a competition with this other magazine company and they had to make Enron look bad because the other magazine was stating otherwise. I couldn't believe the level of denial from that. How difficult is it to declare losses and start to work on it? I experienced a significant loss when I was still with Deutsche Bank last 2015, it was devastating but it was the truth. We all knew what was coming because our CEO didn't try to hide it from us. It's unbelievable how Enron has managed to lie to everyone, it was a lie on top of another lie on top of another lie until it was a tangle full of lies.

We can all take a great deal of moral lesson from this incident. Enron could have been a great company had it not been for greed that drove the company downhill. Hopefully a fraud as big as this doesn't happen anytime soon.