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Luke's HAARP Time Warp: Part 5 Marion returns with vengeance. Based on a post by somethin fishy, in 15 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. They waited until the troops had pasted them before attacking. Pollyanna and Stella started shooting when they were about twenty meters behind the last of the soldiers. They were able to shoot two volleys before the soldiers even knew that they were under attack. As the soldiers were stopping to turn around Pollyanna and Stella dropped their third pair of targets. Now the odds were seven to one. Before the soldiers could charge the odds had become to six to one. As the soldiers started their charge toward the two women, they ran off the road and continued to shoot from the forest. Being in the forest allowed them to hide and shoot and the trees slowed the soldiers down. The odds were down to five to one by the time the soldiers had made it to the pair but now they were close enough to use their swords. Stella was the first to catch a blow when one of the soldiers struck her bow and cut it in half, but before he could strike again, Pollyanna shot him and Stella was able to draw her sword and cut down another passing rider. Now it was four to one but the problem for the women now was that the remaining eight were some of the best and most loyal men that Cecilia had. Stella had barely seen him but was able to yell out: “Polly Behind You!” As Pollyanna turned, one of the men drove his horse right over her and knocked her out. Normally, something like that would have killed Pollyanna but her armor saved her and now Stella was by herself. She continued the hack and slash at anyone who came close while working herself over to where she could protect Pollyanna. Stella hoped that Pollyanna was only knocked out and not dead, but had no time to check. Finally surrounded, the troop leader demanded Stella's honorable surrender. At first, she refused, but when she took in the full situation, she could see really didn't have a choice. She was outnumbered eight to one and Pollyanna was out cold. Hopefully by giving her honorable surrender, Stella could buy herself and Pollyanna some time for Marion to bail them out. Thankfully Marion knew where the two of them had been patrolling and Stella knew that Marion would be looking for them within only an hour or so. They had left a note, written in the group's code at the site where they had rescued the women explaining where they were headed. So, Stella surrendered. Stella and Pollyanna were both searched while most of the men searched the surrounding forest where they managed to round up all five of the other women. Stella knew better then to fight at the moment but the other women were fighting viciously. This was deeply amusing for the soldiers. The commander wanted to just kill the five women and take the two captured back to York. His men had other ideas; they were not about to waste five good pussies before they could play some. “Fine, you idiot's have an hour and then we kill them.” The commander stated. His authority over these men was still a bit shaky for he was a very recent transfer from Richard's former main estate plus an extra hour wouldn't matter and maybe he could get some information out of his captives; so, while his men started to rape the women, he sat with Stella and Pollyanna to have a talk with Stella. By this time, Stella had checked on Pollyanna and could see that she was only knocked out and should be coming to before long. The commander had watched this and was impressed. Stella went through checking Pollyanna in such a way that suggested that she not only knew what she was doing but had nerves of steel as well. “So, lass what be your name?” Stella just looked at him but didn't answer. The commander had expected as much for this clearly was not a weak woman. “Well, my name is Captain Hall, but you can call me Matt.” “Why are you letting your men rape those poor women? Don't you think that they're been through enough already?” Stella asked with enough venom to kill all the men. “Well, there are seven of them and only one of me, plus those men are mercenaries while I am not. Also, what kind of word is don't?” ‘Shit, didn't think that though' thought Stella. “Where I come from that is called a contraction. It is a combination of the words do not and by using contractions it makes speaking more efficient.” “Where are you from then? I have traveled widely in my many years and I have never heard speech like that.” “Well, I am from a far-off land known as America.” Stella knew that she couldn't tell the truth here so she made up a cover story using parts of Luke's story as her own. “America? I have never heard of such a land.” “It is far away after all. It lays far to the West, across the sea.” “Then how did you end up here then?” “Like you, I have traveled widely and I have been travelling almost constantly for many years. I have probably been to more places than you have ever heard of.” By this time Pollyanna was starting to come around so Stella went to her side to help. Matt quietly watched as Stella helped Pollyanna sit up and then do something with Pollyanna's eyes. Stella then checked Pollyanna's pulse and then checked her for broken bones. Eventually Stella decided that Pollyanna probably only sustained a mild concussion and she would be fine. While she was checking her Stella quietly told Pollyanna what was going on including the story that she was telling the commander. The other men were making enough noise to cover up their own conversation. Matt then started trying to get some information out of Pollyanna but all that she would say was that she was an engineer. Matt had heard of engineers, he had served with many large armies in his past, but he had never heard of a female engineer before. He guessed that it was possible after all one of his sisters had been very bright before disease had killed her and truth be told; it was his memory of her that had caused him to be so kind to these two women. After an hour the men's time was up. “Hey idiots, when you finish up with your current woman, kill her. We need to get going.” Neither Stella or Pollyanna said a thing for they both knew that if these women were kept alive then their secret would be revealed and they would most likely be killed. Within ten minutes, all five women lay dead and the men had themselves dressed and ready to go. The men then started showing interest in Stella and Pollyanna but the captain claimed them for himself. These two amazed him and he wasn't about to let them be used by some lowlife soldiers. When one of the men tried to grab Stella, she grabbed his wrist, flipped him over her body and stomped on his throat at the same time he was landing on the ground. Stella's aim was true and she crushed the jugular, leading to the quick death of the arrogant soldier. The other men, including Matt, took a step back at seeing this. Obviously, these were not women that you would want to piss off, and now with both of them awake and alert the odds were now three and a half to one and none of them were confident that they could win even with the odds in their favor. Matt quickly ordered that the women's hands be bound and to the women: “If you fight us anymore, I will have you ran through. Is that clear?” Both women nodded. “Good because the last thing I want to do is have you two killed.” Once the women were bound, the group continued on their way. Matt had the women put on horses and had one of his men keep hold of the reins to keep the women from doing anything stupid. Another one of his men rode next to each woman with their sword out and ready to use at a moment's notice. Matt wasn't going to take any more chances that these women try to escape. For hours, the group rode in mostly silence. There was some occasional talk between the men and Matt. Once in a while Matt would ask one of the women a question. Sometimes they answered, sometimes they didn't. The answers that they did give were always very short. It almost seemed that the women were waiting for something or someone. Matt had quickly caught on to this and had sent two of his men ahead to keep an eye out. Finally, the woods thinned out and they could see the city of York in the distance and Matt was relieved for these two women had been making all of his men and himself, for that matter, nervous as hell. Matt almost couldn't wait to get the women back into his small house that he rented in town. Through Matt's cloud of thoughts, a sound broke through, the sound of men being killed quickly. Matt snapped out of his thoughts and looked around. All the men with him were still alive, but it was obvious that they had heard the noise to for they all had their swords drawn and were looking into the woods. They had also sped up their mounts for right now all they wanted to do was to get back to the safety of town. Coming around the last corner, the group stopped in their tracks. There laying on the ground were their two advance guards and standing over them was a giant. The giant had a green overcoat on and the hood had been pulled over its face. Matt actually wondered if this thing might actually be capable of picking him and his horse up and slamming them both into the ground. Then the giant spoke: “Those two women belong to me and I would appreciate their return.” The voice was very calm and under these circumstances very unnerving. “They are mine now” growled Matt. Then speaking to his men: “Kill that bastard” “I believe the gentleman asked for his women back and it will be in your best interest to return them” came a female voice. All the men including Matt stopped and looked. Stepping out from behind the giant was another person that wore the same long green overcoat. Now that Matt was thinking clearly, this was the same type of overcoat that is captives were wearing. Again, the female voice spoke: “This is your last warning; release them and I might let you live. If you refuse to release them, then I guarantee that you will be dead within a minute.” “Who the fuck are you?!?!” spat Matt. He was getting pissed and he wasn't about to release the woman that had killed over half of his men. Ahead of him the two looked at each other and them back to Matt. At the same time, they swept off their hoods and Matt found himself looking at a fairly handsome man and a woman that could only be described as an angel or the goddess of beauty. Behind him, he heard a gasp. “What?” he asked the man who had gasped. “We should do what they say sir for that is Marion of York and therefore I bet the giant is the man named Luke. I am telling you now sir that we stand no chance against them.” Now Matt knew who they were for he had heard the tales and seeing these two in the flesh didn't doubt that the tales were true. Now knowing the two in front of him, he could guess at who his captives were. He also knew that if Cecilia heard that he released two members of Marion's group that he would die a very slow and painful death. As he was deciding what to do, Marion spoke “If you don't release my people by the time, I count to five, then I will have you killed where you stand. Of course, if you try charging then you will only die faster. My best archer is hidden in the woods and she never misses” This decided things for Matt and he told the men to put away their swords and untie the women. “But Milord, if Cecilia hears of this then we will all be dead anyway. I know not about you, but I would much rather die at Marion's hands then Cecilia's. For you know that Cecilia will torture us and kill our families where if Marion kills us then it will be at least fast and our families will hopefully still have a chance.” “You men know that you have a third option” said Stella. She urged her horse forward until she was in front of all the men and then she turned to face them. “You men can join us and serve Marion in her bid to oust the tyrannical Cecilia and bring peace and prosperity back to northern England.” All the men were staring at her like she was a ghost or had turned into a monster and their faces turned white as sheets. The seconds ticked by, the men under Matt's command were paralyzed for they had never expected this. From what everything that was said about Marion, they had expected to be killed very slowly. Eventually Marion stepped forward and came to stand next to Stella. “Choose now!” Marion snapped. This seemed to snap the men out of their paralysis. “The men who are willing to follow me need to get off their horses now. The rest of you will have ten seconds to get the hell out of here before I have you killed.” Matt was the first one to dismount. Something in Marion gave him hope and it was like she was an angel, with a halo surrounding her, that screamed “Follow me”. About half of his men followed suit while the rest decided to run. They had family that still lived in York and without them there to protect them, they would be dead within a month. Marion true to her word let the men go, but before they rode off, she stopped them. Handing them each a small pouch; she told them “Here, take this and make sure that your families get it before you meet with my sister. Make sure that when you report what happened that you do not mention it for, she will surely steal it from you. Now good luck and ride safe.” Marion stepped out of the way and let the men ride on. She then turned to check out her four new recruits. Chapter 21. The mood in Cecilia's castle was bleak to say the least. It had been going downhill ever since the raid that had killed Richard had happened. If there was any rumor that Marion had been sighted, Cecilia sent off a group of her men to investigate but that was all they ever were was rumors. In the meantime, Cecilia's grasp on reality started to slip. She was ever more fearful of the people turning against her. This fear lead her to institute loyalty oaths for all her men. She had also demanded that they all move their families into York. She made it clear that if any of them tried anything that went against her, that their families would be killed by either torture or being burned at the stake. She would use fear to keep everyone in line. At the same time, she raised taxes even further. Any household that couldn't pay were either forced to provide free labor for Cecilia's estates, or had to provide a young man for her army, or had to provide a young woman to help entertain the soldiers. If the household couldn't or wouldn't meet these conditions then the household would be destroyed. The men would be worked to death on her estates, usually in the mines, while the women would be forced into sexual servitude. They would be sent to one of Cecilia's brothels where their life span would be measured in months. For these women would be the ones to serve the customers that had social diseases or who had very kinky taste like murder or cannibalism fetishes. As long as they paid for the goods, Cecilia didn't care what happened to the girls. On this day, Cecilia was waiting on a gold shipment. It was money that she had made by selling the extra food that she had brought in with her taxes. The food was needed but she needed hard money even more. The shipment was under a strong guard and was led by one of her most trusted men; Captain Matthew Hall. He was extremely capable and extremely loyal. The only thing that bothered Cecilia about using him was that he had no family for her to have leverage over him. The captain was due back soon for he had sent a messenger ahead to tell Cecilia that he had the shipment under guard and was leaving London. He had even given her an approximate date that he thought that he would be back by. She got a message that said that some of the Captain's men had returned but not the Captain. Cecilia went to meet with them and there was only three that had returned out of twenty that had left. Furthermore, none of the money had made it back and this outraged Cecilia. She managed to just barely hold her temper in check while the men gave their reports. It seemed that Marion was back and her entire group that had escaped, had survived. She had ambushed the convey and had killed most of the guards. The only way they had survived was that they had played dead while Marion and her followers had looted the money, the arms, and armor from the dead. Cecilia exploded. Her damn sister was back and now had a lot of money. Cecilia had been expecting almost five thousand pounds from the sale of her extra food and other goods. The surviving men made their retreat while Cecilia was busy ranting and raving. “Was that a good idea lying to her like that” one of them asked. “You want to go back and tell her the truth? Plus, we did not exactly lie, we just left some things out of our report.” was the response “Besides with the money that Marion gave us, we can afford to buy food for our families for the next month.” This settled it for the three of them, after all Cecilia didn't need to be bothered by the embarrassing details of how they had been ambushed by only two women and half of the survivors had joined Marion. After Cecilia had worn herself out, with her tantrum, she called all her commanders together. The survivors had given her the approximate position of Marion's ambush and Cecilia was eager to get revenge and to get her gold back. It would take a couple of days to get the men ready to go. Cecilia gave her men just one day to get ready. She had almost three thousand men at her command and one hundred elite knights. She was going to send almost everyone out with the exception of about one hundred men that she used to keep order in town and guard the castle. Everything in town was thrown into chaos. Soldiers were busy gathering food and fodder for the expedition. They had to get all the horses and mules ready as well. Weapons had to be sharpened and uniforms had to be repaired. Some of the horses needed new shoes and a few saddles had to be replaced. Every civilian in town was put to work in helping get the soldiers ready to go. Cecilia had also ordered the gates of the town to be sealed. No one was allowed in or out without her direct orders and there were no exceptions. The preparations went on through the night, no one in town got any sleep and that included Cecilia for she was going over her commander's plans, gathering any and all intel on the forest in which it was said that Marion and her crew were hiding. She also talked to the armorers which she had tasked in recreating Tom's gear; to see if they might be able to add anything new to what Cecilia knew about Marion's likely hiding area. Problem here was that even after a month, her armorers were no closer to recreating the armor. Apparently, some mysterious process had been used to create it, and sorcery was suggested as the only way it could have been possibly done. After all, Cecilia had hired the most experienced armor makers around to make armor like Tom's and none of them could even come close. By dawn the next morning, everything had been done and Cecilia's army marched out of town. Their orders were simple. Comb every inch of the countryside until they found and eliminated the threat that Marion posed. They were ordered that under no circumstances were they to return until Marion's whole crew had been killed. Cecilia wanted Marion's head returned to her on a pike. She no longer cared about taking her or Luke alive. Within a day, the army had reached the final ambush site and they found plenty of evidence to show that Marion had been there. First there were plenty of tracks on the road that appeared to be from the right time. One of the men found a scrape of green fabric that appeared to be the same that Marion's crew was said to wear as overcoats. They also found the dead guards scattered around the site. Some of them still had the arrows imbedded in them. The three that had escaped were really amazed for they had been actually ambushed several hours up the road. After all the only ones killed here were the advanced guard and yet the bodies of all their companions were here. It didn't take them long to figure out that it was Marion actually cared about them, not Cecilia. After all Marion had risked detection to place the other dead men around so that they wouldn't look guilty. All three decided separately that as soon as they could, they would take their families out of York and join with Marion. That is if this wild goose chase actually ever ended and if they weren't killed by it. They privately acknowledged to each other that their chances of actually catching Marion ranked far below a snowball's chances in the depths of hell. The scouts had found five different trails leading away from the area and some of the tracks were from heavily loaded horses. That would be the pack animals. There had been fifteen of them in the convoy and none of them were found with the guard's corpses. In fact, no dead horses were found. The commanders sent groups of their scouts to follow every track. They were to follow them for the rest of the day and return tomorrow, unless they actually found Marion; then they were to report back while leaving some of the men to shadow her while the army got into position. The first scout was screaming within five minutes of leaving the main army. It was close enough that the commanders went to investigate for themselves. When they got there, they found that parties leader hanging by his feet from a tree and impaled on a bed of wooden spikes. A new leader was appointed for that group and they were strongly advised to stay off the trail and to keep alert. When the commanders returned to the army, they got word that one of the other parties had also walked into a trap. Only there, half the scouts had been killed for they had been bunched up and had walked over a camouflaged pit that contained a large number of sharp wooden stakes. Another group had lost two members to arrow fire. The arrows had come out of nowhere and no shooters could be found. This was going to be a very long and costly expedition, but they had their orders. They were not to stop hunting Marion until she was found and killed or Cecilia herself recalled the army. This is how the next week went. Some groups of scouts would see nothing and other groups would be ambushed and annulated. For the night guards it was far worse, for in the morning half of them would be dead; their throats slit and their armor and weapons stripped. The mood in the camp was getting worse and worse. It didn't take the soldiers long to learn that being assigned to night sentry duty was a death sentence. The disciple of the army started to break down despite most of the men having families back in York and being well supplied with food and drink. It got to the point where there would be groups of five or six men assigned to every sentry post. Finally, they got a solid lead. One of the patrols had sighted a large camp near a stream. In the camp they saw a very beautiful female bathing. They also saw bits of armor laying around and a couple of men moving around. The patrol reported back as ordered and the commanders got the army underway within an hour, and they also sent a report back to Cecilia detailing what was going on. To move through the forest at speed, they had to leave almost all of their gear behind. The men were spread out through the forest so that they could move easier. Deeper and deeper into the forest the army went. Occasionally a man would scream and then there would be silence once again. The booby traps that Marion's crew had set up were extremely ingenuous and very well hide; and they were taking a heavy toll on the men. After almost three hours, they reached the camp. There they found two men still in camp and they were quickly captured. These were two of the men who had deserted from the money guard detail. They had been sick so they hadn't been out on patrol with the rest of Marion's group. It didn't take them long to start talking. In fact, Marion had told them not to bother keeping secrets if captured. If there was something that she didn't want them to know, she simply wouldn't tell them. The army set about looting the camp as the two men were tortured. Everything from thin knives stuffed under fingernails to their balls being crushed didn't tell the commanders anymore then they had been told when the men were first captured. The torture went on for hours and still nothing could be learned so the two were tied to a stake and burned alive. The men that had been looting the camp didn't have any better luck. All they found were a couple of coins, some pots and pans, and an old horse. The commanders kept the army there until the corpses were completely burnt. The reason for this was to remind the men what would happen to them if they betrayed Cecilia and to send a message to any others that were thinking of deserting that if caught, they would receive the equal treatment. Late in the afternoon, the army started on its way back to their original camp. This time they moved much faster for they had no reason to keep quiet. When they got back to their campsite, they realized that they had fucked up big time. Spread around were the bodies of the one hundred men that had been left to guard the camp. All the horses and mules were gone. Along with all the extra weapons, food, medicine, and drink. Anything that couldn't be taken had been piled up and burnt. They did manage to find one of the men still alive and able to tell what happened. Chapter 22. The attack started just after an hour after the main army left. It was as swift as it was brutal. The attack started with arrows coming in from every side. Every time one of the men had thought that he had found a good hiding place, he would catch an arrow in the back. Not very many arrows missed their marks either. Within fifteen minutes half of the men were dead or injured. The rest had found some shelter by drawing some of the wagons around them. If any of them even tried to raise his head to look out, he caught an arrow to the face for his efforts. Eventually I saw a couple of people step out of the forest dressed in green. They approached the wagons and lit something, they held in their hands, on fire. They then tossed those objects onto the wagons where the fires rapidly spread through all the wagons. The men caught inside found that they had been caught in a death trap. Some of the managed to get out but they were cut down by arrow fire or by the two that had started the wagons on fire with swords. After the attack was finished, more people came out of the forest, also wearing green. They went through the remaining wagons looking for loot or survivors. After they swept the camp, they loading everything they could carry onto the pack animals and piled everything else up in the middle of the camp and lit it on fire. They then melted back into the forest.” “How many of those bastards did you see, laddie?” “I saw at least six and five of them were defiantly women. I also saw the giant that we keep getting reports of, and there might have been another man or two around but I could not tell. I was too busy trying to pretend to be dead.” At this the man started crying for he had just admitted that he had been a coward and fully expected to be executed for being one. Instead, the leading commander patted him on the shoulder, told him to get some rest, and that he had done a good job. “Why were you so lenient on that man sir? He obviously was a coward so why are you not ordering him to be killed?” Asked the second in command. He was a nobleman through and through and as such didn't hold any of the lower classes in high esteem. “Because you ignorant jackass; that man had watched as a group of one hundred men had been overwhelmed by a group that was less than a tenth their own strength. Plus, he has given us some really good and usable intel on Marion. Now a question for you: If you were her, where would you go after getting ahold of that much loot?” The second in command thought for a moment, “Not back to my main camp. Hauling that much loot will leave an obvious trail and the last thing that I would want to do was to led the army which I had just humiliated back to my main camp.” “My thoughts exactly. Now let's go see if any of the men know these woods.” After taking most of the evening to question the men, the commanders had a good idea of where to start looking in the morning. They made sure that the men had settled down the best that was possible and then they started writing the report to be sent back in the morning. That night, none of the sentries were killed; indeed, it seemed like the enemy had disappeared, but then again, why stick around when they had already gotten most of the valuable stuff. The army set off first thing in the morning. This time they left nothing behind but some smoldering camp fires. They started moving toward an area that was known to have a number of caves in it. As they moved, they came across signs that they were on the right track. They kept finding bits of armor and clothing that had been looted from their camp. As they kept moving, they eventually came across a bridge. It was built out of timber and was much heavier built then something that one would normally find in such a remote area. Going across it they could see fresh wagon tracks, probably no more than a couple of hours old; for it was now about midday. The army formed up to cross the bridge, for the small river that it crossed was moving too swiftly and had too high of banks to be forded. About half of the army had made it across when the bridge disappeared in a burst of light, sound, and smoke. The air then hung thick with the stink of sulfur, and the men that had been near the bridge were screaming in pain. Many of them had received nasty wounds from the wood that flew from the bridge during the explosion. Still more were now in the river and were starting to drown. The army then had to stop to not only rebuild the bridge but to tend to the wounded. This was going to prove extra difficult because the army's surgeon had been on the bridge when it went up. The commanders quickly began to organize the men. Some of them would tend to the wounded while others would start to use whatever tools they had to cut down new trees to rebuild the bridge good enough so the men on the far bank could retreat and link back up with the rest of the army. The army was working as fast as they could when men on the far side began to drop like flies for, they were being picked off by arrows. Every time they would rush to try and catch the shooter, more of them would die and they still couldn't find the shooter. Time and again this happened. After almost an hour, a bridge of sorts was in place and the men started rushing back across. By the time the last of them had gotten across, almost two hundred lay dead on the other side. The men now had had enough and demanded that they be allowed to go back to town where they wouldn't have to worry about being ambushed every time one of them would leave the camp. As the army started to retreat, they heard a trumpet sound from across the river and a woman dressed in green stepped out of the forest and into full view. She spoke to the army through something that magnified her voice many times over. “We thank you kindly for all the gear. I am truly sorry for all the men that we killed defending ourselves and I truly wish that we would not have had to kill any of you. To the commanders; be advised that if we capture any of you, we will execute you in the same manner that you executed my two men that you captured. Now in the interest of avoiding any more deaths, we have left for you a marked path back to York. There will be a red ribbon tried to trees about one hundred paces apart. As long as you stick to the path no further harm will come to you. If you leave the path for any reason you will be killed. I have left enough tents in a clearing next to a stream for your wounded to spend the night in. The army will camp at that spot and then you will continue on your way as soon as the sun is up and your campfires have been extinguished tomorrow morning. If you leave the fires burning you will be killed. As long as you do what you are told, then you will be back at the walls of York be late tomorrow afternoon. When you get back, tell Cecilia that Marion of York sends her regards and thank her for the gear. Now good day gentlemen.” With that the woman melted back into the trees. The men found the ribbons quickly enough and started following the path, just like the woman had said. When they got to the clearing, that she had talked about, they found tents, food, medicine, drink, and enough firewood for the night. The commanders didn't even have control over the men at this point as the only thoughts of the men was to get back to York without pissing Marion off any further. When the commanders ordered foraging parties out, the men flatly refused, telling the commanders that if they wanted to forage then they should go out themselves. The next morning the men put the fires out as instructed and continued on their way. Occasionally they saw one of the green ghosts watching them from the trees but it was never more than a glimpse before they were gone. By late afternoon they had made their way back to York, just like Marion had said. By the time they had got back they had been able to count their losses. Out of one hundred knights that started out, only thirty survived and none of them still had their horses. Out of almost three thousand soldiers, only eight hundred returned and almost all of them were terrified of the forest. The army had lost almost all of their gear including their pack animals. This was going to cost Cecilia a very pretty penny for many of those animals had been loaned to her and now she would have to pay for them. To make the matters even worse, the army's payroll had been taken when they lost their gear. Cecilia was beyond furious. Her army had failed spectacularly and large amounts of gear had fallen into Marion's hands. Furthermore, all of the men that had come back spoke admiringly of Marion. She could have killed them all but had given them a way out and had even given them food, drink, and a place to sleep for a night. As long as they did what she had said then they wouldn't be harmed and they weren't. Cecilia had the top commanders executed by impaling them. Some of the men that had spoken especially well of Marion were burned at the stake. The people in York then started to get rebellious and Cecilia had to crack down extra hard to keep order. She had only one option left to her and she took it. She called in her assassins. So far, she had avoided using them because they were expensive and their expense came directly out of her pocket. Furthermore, she had been trying to keep her reputation among the people of the upper classes intact. When her army was so soundly defeated; her reputation was shattered with the army. All told she had thirty assassins that she kept on retainer and she called all of them up. Their mission was simple, kill Marion and anyone that got in their way. The one who brought back Marion's head would get a five thousand pound bonus. Chapter 23. Marion's team was relaxing after a hard week. They had beaten back her sister's army, but had lost two of their own in the process. It wouldn't have been so bad if the men had been killed in combat but they had been murdered after they had been captured. This had taught Marion that no quarter would be given and none would be expected in this fight. Luke was massaging her feet for she was starting to feel the weight gain from her pregnancy. She loved when he did this and she could feel the tension leaving her body. Matt and Pollyanna were sitting by a fire talking quietly. They had proven to be a very good team and got along well together. In fact, Marion had started teasing her about them getting a room. This was always good for a round of laughs, including from Pollyanna even though she always turned red when Marion did this. Gabriel was in the process of making more arrows. She had shot through almost all that she had made. In fact, her shoulder was sore from all of the shooting that she had done. Alice was reading more on Luke's computer. She had gotten to where she could navigate through it without Luke's help and she was taking full advantage of it. Stella and Robin were on guard duty. Even though they had just defeated most of Cecilia's army didn't mean that they could let down their guard and in fact Luke and Marion figured that Cecilia's next move would be the try and hire assassins to sneak in and kill Marion. This left the last member of the group and his name was Bard. He had been one of those who surrendered to Marion when she had captured the money convoy. He didn't much like the idea of serving a female leader, but Marion was many times better than her sister. Marion was calm, approachable, outgoing, and listened to everyone in the group and their resent triumph had been the result of that. After all it had been Pollyanna's idea to blow up the bridge using some kind of devil powder. Luke had provided her with the means to blow up the bridge from a safe distance and do it at command. Alice was the one who came up with the idea to kill only half of the night sentries. She had almost been captured with the two men. She had been there that morning to take care of them. She had even washed up in the stream after she had tended to their medical needs. She had left to rejoin Marion only fifteen minutes before the army struck. She had watched as the men were tortured and eventually killed. Gabriel had been responsible for killing most of the scouting parties and had been instrumental in building the booby traps as Luke called them. Matt had provided them with insight into the army's commanders frame of mind and had allowed Marion to stay at least five steps ahead almost the entire time. Meanwhile Stella and Robin had kept the army under observation the entire time and provided Marion with hourly updates. Marion had the biggest role of all. She had held everyone together after her men had been murdered and it had been her idea to provide the army with a safe way out when they had gotten close to where the loot had been stored. They had moved it the night before. Bard was moved from his reminiscing by the sounds of horses entering the camp. Stella had come in and had a young man with her. He was also riding a horse but was blindfolded. “We caught him riding through the forest alone” explained Stella to Marion “he says that he has important news for you.” Marion nodded and the man's blindfold was removed. The man struggled for a minute with the light before he started. “Marion of York I presume” he continued once Marion had nodded. “I have come to tell you that Cecilia has hired thirty assassins to kill you.” Bard was stunned, but Marion didn't look surprised at all. “How do you come of this information young man?” “My sister is Cecilia's scribe so I know most everything that Cecilia does. Although I should mention that for some matters Cecilia uses a special scribe who is almost never seen in the castle and when he is seen; he is surrounded by a large group of very tough looking men. “When did her order go out?” “The day after her army returned.” “So yesterday” Marion stated. The man nodded “Is there anything else I should know? How it the town doing?” “The people are getting rebellious. Cecilia has almost reached their breaking point and with the defeat of her army, I doubt that it will take much more before the people openly rebel against her.” “Well thank you young man. Here is some money for your trouble of coming out here.” “No money is necessary milady. We all want that witch gone.” “Stella, Pollyanna, Matt” Marion said “See that this young man is safely escorted out of the forest.” Stella retied the man's blindfold and then lead his horse out of camp. After they had left, Marion returned to Luke and asked: “Well honey what do you think?” “I think that we need to get going and observe our young visitor from a distance. Something doesn't seem right. For starters, how many women do you know that can write outside of your group? Yes, he told us everything that we expected to hear but that's what bothers me.” Marion had a confused look on her face “The fact that he told us everything that we were expecting makes me suspicious” Luke stated. Marion thought for a second, “Bard” she continued when he looked at her “go with Luke to keep an eye on our young visitor from a distance. I don't want him knowing that there's extra eyes on him” Luke and Bard quickly gathered their gear and took off. They had to hurry to catch up with the others. On the way Bard and Luke talked a bit because Bard was confused, after all Luke and Marion had apparently expected this to happen. Luke explained that yes while the man had told them everything that they had expected to hear some things were bothering him. How did this man get out of York? The last they had heard the town was still on lockdown. Why did he have such a nice horse? Most of the horses that they had captured from the army were nowhere near this nice. How did his sister become Cecilia's scribe? Almost no woman knew how to write their name, never mind take dictation from someone. Granted all the women that had gathered around Marion could read, but that was because Luke had taught them and constantly encouraged them. Something here smelled rotten and Luke was going to get to the bottom of it. As they traveled, they would occasionally catch glimpses of the group ahead of them and this was close enough for Luke. As they were approaching the edge of the woods, they heard yelling and as they came around the last corner they could see why. Chapter 24. Marion continues growing but must suffer a loss. As Luke and Bard came around the last corner, they could see Stella was already down. They didn't know if she had been just dismounted or was hurt. Matt's horse had been shot out from under him and he was trapped under it. The young man that had come to the camp was in the process of wrestling Pollyanna's reins away from her and several men were coming out of the woods with bows drawn. Luke and Bard quickly dismounted. Bard wanted to ride straight to their rescue but Luke was worried about secondary traps. “Bard, think of it as fishing. You use some bait to catch some small fish. You then take the biggest of those small fish to catch much bigger fish. That is what Pollyanna and Matt are at this moment. They are the small fish that on their own would be a meal, but I think they're fishing for a banquet and they're planning on or are already using Pollyanna and Matt as bait. So, we are going to sneak up either side of the road while staying in the forest and looking out for more men hiding. If we don't find any, then we'll free Pollyanna and Matt.” Bard wasn't really convinced, but did as Luke planned. One of the things that Bard had learned was that to not trust Luke's instincts was beyond foolish. Within only minutes, Luke was proven correct. Both him and Bard had found other men in the woods. Fortunately, they all had their attention on the road, where Matt had been pulled from under his horse and Pollyanna had been brought under control. Luke and Bard worked the way up the road, silently eliminating men as they went. Finally, they got to where they could rescue their people. Together Luke and Bard had killed ten men and they hadn't even got the men holding Pollyanna and Matt who were by this time tied up. All this time Stella hadn't moved and Bard could see why; she had got an arrow through her throat. Bard was getting ready to start shooting these bastards with his bow when Luke stepped out of the forest with his handgun at the ready. This was the first time that Bard had ever seen it in action; he had heard the tales but thought that they were just that, tales. Now he was convinced. Within seconds, Luke had taken out all ten of the men on the road except one; he only wounded the man that had first came to their camp. Before Luke went to untie Pollyanna and Matt, he went to check on Stella. Before he even checked her pulse, he could see that she was dead. The color was gone out of her face and Luke could see the pool of blood under Stella and the fact that she was no longer bleeding was proof enough that she was dead. Luke knew that later he would be crying his eyes out, but right now he had more important things to do. Bard was untying Matt and Pollyanna so Luke took the job of interrogating the prisoner. Luke had only wounded him on purpose, he wanted the man to talk. “Okay this is how things are going to be; you are going to die, but how you die is up to you. If you tell me everything that I want to know then you will be killed quickly, but if you don't tell everything or you lie to me, then your death will be beyond painful and will last for days. Also, if your answers satisfy me then I will make sure that you get a church burial, but if you don't then your body will be cut up and fed to the hogs. You have until I get back to decide.” Luke went over to check on Pollyanna and Matt. While Pollyanna was just shaken up; Matt was in bad shape. When he got trapped under his horse, it had broken his leg bad enough that his leg wasn't anywhere near straight. “Luke what about Stella, you have to help her!” screamed Pollyanna. Luke just gave her a sad look. “No, no, it can't be! She can't be dead; damn it! Tell me that she will be fine!” “Pollyanna, I'm sorry but there's nothing that can be done for her. She was dead almost as soon as that arrow hit her in the throat for it looks like it also took out her spinal column as well. Even in my time that would be a fatal injury.” As Luke spoke these words, he shed a single tear. He wiped his face and turned back to his captive who was trying to get away. Luke would have been impressed if he hadn't been so angry. Angry at himself for not seeing the ambush sooner, angry at Stella for dying, and angry at the fuckhead who had led her into the ambush in the first place. At least Luke could get some revenge on this fucker anyway. “Well, are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?” asked Luke as he kicked the man's leg out from under him and then stepped on the man's shot out knee as he landed. “Fuck off!” the man yelled from the ground while trying to fight his way through the pain. “Figured as much” Then Luke put much more pressure on the man's shattered knee. After a couple of minutes, the man still was being stubborn so Luke moved his foot up and stepped on the man's balls. The way in which Luke had stepped on them had pinned them against the man's body, so that they had nowhere to go. He gradually stepped up the pressure until tears came to the man's eyes. “Well, you ready to talk now?” “Yes, please just stop stepping on my boys, please.” “How did you find us?” “I just dressed up in poor person clothes and rode through the forest until someone from your group found me.” “How much is Cecilia paying you?” “Three hundred up front and five thousand when we completed the job.” “We?” “Aye, there were thirty of us. Cecilia keeps us on retainer for people that crossed her.” “Were all these men in your group or are they just hired thugs?” “They were all in the group.” “How many other assassins does Cecilia keep on retainer?” “How would I know?” Luke moved his foot back to the man's balls. “Honestly, I have no idea. I do know that she has a large network that has a presence all over England.” “What all is she involved in?” now Luke was getting increasingly curious. “Assassins for hire, prostitution, sex slaves, counterfeiting, espionage, and anything else that she can make money using other people's suffering.” “Well, I think that I am about out of questions; Matt, Pollyanna, do have anything you want to ask?” “Why did you have to kill Stella?” snapped Pollyanna. “We had to let you know that we are serious; plus, she was just a woman so nothing much was lost.” At this Pollyanna lost it and, drawing her sword, beheaded the captive. She was still breathing like a bull when Luke came up and put his hand on her shoulder, a move which almost earned him a swipe with Pollyanna's sword. Seeing Luke, Pollyanna broke down and started crying as she wrapped her arms around Luke's neck and buried her face in his chest. Her and Stella had been very close and Stella's death was hitting Pollyanna particularly hard. As she cried, Luke gently moved her toward Matt who was still in need of help. Eventually Pollyanna had cried herself out and was able to help Matt. Together Luke and Pollyanna got Matt's leg set and splinted. They then helped Matt get sat comfortably against a tree while Luke and Pollyanna looted the dead. As usual they found plenty of arms, money, and other useful items. The biggest haul though was a piece of paper. On it, it detailed the assignments of the entire group of assassins, not just the group that Luke killed. Bard had been looting the dead that Luke and he had killed while coming up the road after he had retrieved their horses. The trip back was very slow due not only to Matt's injury, but Luke wanted to make extra sure that they were not being followed. Eventually they made it back to camp and managed to get Matt into the bunker that they used as a sleeping quarters/hospital. There, his care was handed off the Alice. Meanwhile, Marion was busy debriefing Pollyanna and Bard. Debriefing Pollyanna was especially hard because she really didn't want to relive that experience but Marion needed to know what had happened so that they could prevent it happening in the future. Then, it was Matt's turn. His take on the events of the day weren't as good because he was suffering from extreme pain in his leg. Luke had managed to make primitive aspirin from willow bark and this helped take the edge off of Matt's pain. Finally, Marion had a go at Luke but here it was more of Luke comforting Marion, while he told her everything his captive had told him. He also showed her the paper that Pollyanna had found on one of the dead men. They still had to be on the lookout for ten more assassins. Once everything was finally done, Marion finally broke down and allowed herself to weep for her friend. After all, this was someone how she had known before her father was murdered. All through this Luke stayed quiet right next to her and gently rubbed her back. The woman that he loved more than anything else even more than life itself and the mother of his child was having the worst day of her life to date. Worse yet was that Marion was also now responsible for the lives of eight other people if you counted her unborn child. This was something that she had never been prepared for growing up. Personally, Luke thought that she was handling things quite well, all things considered. As the sun set on the day, Marion made her rounds around camp. She checked on their horses, the booby-traps, the armory, and finally her men and women. This was the hardest. The mood across the group was almost uniform, absolute depression. They would need time to heal, but Marion was determined to bring everyone out of their funk. This had also helped make her own mind up; she would go back to the sleeping pad that she shared with Luke and fuck him senseless. While it was true that they made love almost every night, it had been a while since they had a good animalistic fucking and this was what Marion was in the mood for. Getting back to their sleeping area, Luke wasn't there. At first Marion wondered if Luke had assigned himself to night watch again, for he had a habit of taking an extra night watch if he was worried about being surprised. He usually did this when the conditions were ideal for someone to sneak up on the camp, like on damp nights. Tonight though, he just had to take a piss and he came back soon after Marion had gotten there. As soon as she saw Luke, she launched herself into him and started almost ripping his clothes off and she was trying to shove her tongue down Luke's throat. Luke had been taken by surprise at first but he caught up fast. Before long he was working at Marion's clothing. At least he didn't have to fight with bras anymore. With his large fingers, they had always presented a bit of a problem in the past, even as nimble as his fingers were. All he had to do was to unbutton her pants and push them down her shapely hips and then pull her shirt up and over her head. This was the hardest thing because she wasn't in any hurry to take her mouth away from his. Eventually, Luke managed to get her shirt off and they were now both naked. Luke started kissing his way down her long neck and this sent chills all through Marion's body as it always did. She was moaning before Luke even made it to her nipples which were more sensitive than they had been because of the baby. As soon as Luke started kissing them, Marion had her first explosive orgasm of the evening. The only reason that she managed to keep standing was that Luke was holding her up. As Marion recovered, she shoved Luke over so that he landed on his ass. She was on him like a cat and had pushed him onto his back. There she straddled him, her pussy leaking all over Luke's stomach as she kissed her way down his chest. She just loved to run her hands through the hair on Luke's chest. Luke then saw another reason for tonight to be more special than most for the Northern Lights had decided to make an appearance and were putting on a spectacular display. He didn't have long to look at then though for Marion was beginning to impale herself. “Ah; fuck me hard Luke! Fuck My Brains Out!” Marion yelled as she slid down his shaft of steel. Tonight, was one of those times that no matter what she did, she just couldn't get Luke's cock deep enough to satisfy her cravings. “Luke fold me up please, god damn fold me up and fuck the shit out of me” begged Marion. Luke was amazed that his sweet, wonderful woman was talking so dirty, but her wasn't about to complain about it because he was more turned on now than had had ever been. It felt like his cock was about to rip open from all the blood being forced into it. Luke then did what Marion had been begging him to do. He rolled over without taking his cock out of Marion. Once on top, he put her ankles up on his shoulders. In this position, Luke could pound Marion until she fainted. Not only did he dive deep enough to ram into her cervix with almost every thrust, but he also rubbed against her G-spot with every movement. Within seconds, Marion was yelling at the top of her lungs, in fact Luke had never heard her yell this loud before and she was usually quite a vocal love-maker. Marion could feel Luke's heartbeat through the veins on his cock and this sent her to new heights for this was something new to her. Usually, she could feel his veins rise up on his cock but she had never felt his heart beat. Then it happened, Marion had herself the orgasm of the millennium. She actually felt like her pussy was going to cause her to fly like some of the rockets pictured on Luke's computer. In fact, if it hadn't been for her pussy muscles clamping down and Luke holding on to her, she might have flown. As she was reaching her climax, she set Luke off as well. Luke thrust up into her so hard that he actually bruised her a bit, not that she cared. When he exploded in her, he shot nine white-hot shots of sticky cum into her; it was a new record for them. He put so much into her that when he pulled out, it looked like a white-water river flowing out of her cunt. Although, at first Marion had wanted to be fucked longer than this, she and Luke were at their limits and they barely got onto their sleeping pad before passing out for the night. To be continued in part 6, Based on a post by somethin fishy, for Sex Stories.

In this episode of the AIGA Design Podcast, Lee-Sean Huang and Giulia Donatello engage with George Aye, co-founder of Greater Good Studio, to explore the concept of 'pissed off optimism' in design. They discuss the balance between recognizing societal issues and maintaining hope for change, the importance of community among like-minded individuals, and the challenges of transitioning from designer to business owner. Aye reflects on his experiences with race in design, the principles guiding his studio, and the need for ethical considerations in design education. The conversation culminates in recommendations for media that inspire social change and a call to action for designers to engage with local nonprofits.Takeaways- Being a 'pissed off optimist' means balancing anger and hope.- Designers can create new worlds and challenge the status quo.- Community events can foster connections among like-minded individuals.- Race and identity play significant roles in the design profession.- Transitioning from designer to business owner presents unique challenges.- Saying no to certain projects is crucial for maintaining integrity.- Design should prioritize social change and community impact.- Teaching ethics in design is essential for future generations.- Breaking traditional design rules can lead to authenticity.- Engaging with local nonprofits can amplify design's social impact.Chapters00:00 Introduction to Pissed Off Optimism02:42 The Angry Hour for Pissed Off Optimists05:53 Reflections on Race and Design11:36 Navigating Leadership and Management Challenges17:08 The Importance of Saying No23:04 Designing Collaborative Cultures29:08 Redefining Performance in Design33:30 Aligning Business Goals with Social Impact37:44 Breaking Design Rules and Embracing Authenticity41:10 Transforming Design Education for Social Good46:53 Inspiration and Recommendations for Designers

Aye up, you lot. We've been, once again, busy and ill in equal measure, but now we're back and firing on at least one cylinder and ready to talk about that big old ball of cat: Penn & Teller. This episode, a kitten climbs on both Guy and Cat, wizards have been witnessed, tattoos have been had, Guy made a game, and we discuss the concept of internal validation, rather than being a constant void of neediness that both craves and resents praise, and also can be neither filled nor satisfied. It's great. Also, for a change, the comic is rather sweet. Guy's game: brainmage.itch.io/i-will-strangle-a-horse October 14, 1978 https://web.archive.org/web/20240625095541/https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1978/10/14

Great leaders know there's no one-size-fits-all formula. In this episode, Bill Scherkenbach and Andrew Stotz discuss practical lessons on how to connect with people on physical, logical, and emotional levels to truly get things done.  Discover why balancing “me” and “we” is the secret to lasting results—and why empathy might be your most powerful leadership tool. Tune in now and start rewriting your own leadership playbook. (You can view the slides from the podcast here.) TRANSCRIPT 0:00:02.1 Andrew Stotz: My name is Andrew Stotz, and I'll be your host as we dive deeper into the teachings of Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Today, I'm continuing my discussion with Bill Scherkenbach, a dedicated protégé of Dr. Deming since 1972. Bill met with Dr. Deming more than a thousand times and later led statistical methods and process improvements at Ford and GM at Deming's recommendation. He authored The Deming Route to Quality and Productivity at Deming's behest, and at 79, still champions his mentor's message, "learn, have fun, and make a difference." And the episode today is Getting Things Done. Bill, take it away.   0:00:41.5 Bill Scherkenbach: Okay, Andrew. We will get 'er done today. The reason I put that on there is that in many of his seminars, Deming said that, "I am not a businessman and not trying to be one." But you need to think about these things. And his approach really was to improving organizations was to put people who he thought were masters of his teachings into organizations, and they would be there full time to facilitate the transformation when he wasn't there, such as Ford and GM and a few other companies. There were a few of us who he trusted to be able to be there to get things done. And I'm reminded of the philosopher, the Asian, Chinese philosopher, Mencius, and I'll read it there. It says, "Don't suspect that the king lacks wisdom. Even in the cases of things that grow most easily in the world, they would never grow up if they were exposed to sunshine for one day and then to cold for 10 days. And it's seldom that I have an audience with the king. And when I leave others who exposed him to cold arrive, even if what I say to him is taking root, what good does it do?"   0:02:35.7 Bill Scherkenbach: And quite honestly, that's the lament of every consultant trying to get stuff done in today's world, in Western style management. And so one of the things in this slide, the framework for getting things done, for having fun learning and making a difference, is one of the two, I think, major contributions I do say that I've made to the profession of quality. And that is using this Venn diagram to be able to show that even though other people have used other terms for physical, logical, and emotional, that there usually have been holy wars being fought by people who say, "Well, emotional is better. That's how you get stuff done." And other people saying logic and other people saying physical. And in fact, I think in the last time we spoke, the three major gurus of quality were those ships sailing in the night. Dr. Deming was the epitome of logical thinking, whereas Phil Crosby was looking for the wine and cheese parties and the emotional sell part of it. And Joe Duran was looking at physical, how are you going to organize to get stuff done? Now, they all had their followers who were pretty much on those frequencies, and they reached people in other frequencies. I came up with this idea for the Venn diagram to show no hierarchy, I guess back in 1987, something like that.   0:04:49.3 Andrew Stotz: And for the listeners out there, we're looking at a diagram that shows one circle that says physical, that's interlocked with another one that says logical, and then there's a third, a Venn diagram, that third is emotional. And so those are the three pillars that Bill's talking about. All right, keep going, because you got stuff in the middle too, which is interesting.   0:05:16.1 Bill Scherkenbach: And the thing is that I based it primarily at the time in the mid-60s, there was a theory of brain structure called the triune brain. Now, and it was the limbic system, the neocortex, and the R-complex. And pretty much followed the logical, emotional, physical words that I'm using. Now, our understanding of the brain in the decades up through now, it's a little bit more complicated than that. But physical, logical, and emotional is in all of us. In our body, I mean, the latest looks at neural connections extend to your gut. And nerves are just about everywhere and connected, and that the way the brain works is still not even fully, not begun to be fully understood. Having said that, in order to get stuff done, this Venn diagram shows very, very simply that the intersection of physical and logical, I put as science. It's the logical explanation of physical phenomenon. And the intersection of logical and emotional is psychology, logic of the soul. And the intersection of emotional and physical is art. All art is is the emotional interpretation of sensory input, whether it's a great meal, whether it's a Mona Lisa picture.   0:07:27.9 Bill Scherkenbach: But what will make one person absolutely swoon will make another person barf. So it's all personal, but it's physical, logical, and emotional is in all of us. And in the center, we're looking at what Eastern philosophies call harmony, where all of these are working together. And Western philosophies would call them peak experiences. And it's where the whole can be a lot greater than the sum of its parts, but with some slight changes can be a whole lot less than the sum of its parts.   0:08:14.3 Andrew Stotz: Great. I like the harmony in the middle. That's the challenge, really. Now, just out of curiosity, is harmony the goal? Is that what you're thinking with that being at the center? Or what is the meaning of harmony being in the middle?   0:08:28.0 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah. When I apply this to the individual, harmony would be the goal. When I'm applying it to an organization, the larger an organization grows, the more you really need to use this overarching approach. And the reason I say that is, and it doesn't happen all the time, but most of the time when we're starting up a company, you want to surround yourself with fine people just like yourself. And so if you have a particular way of getting stuff done, you're going to hire people or surround yourself with people that are just like that, and everything is fine. But the more you grow the company, the more you're going to get people that are absolutely vital to your organization that aren't on those frequencies. And certainly, if you're in international business, you're trying to sell things to the world that in the larger the group of people, the more you have to be broadcasting on the physical, logical, and emotional frequencies. I mean, one of the first things that I did at GM when I joined was looked at the policy letters that Alfred Sloan wrote. And Sloan, it was very interesting because in any policy, Sloan had a paragraph that said, "make no mistake about it, this is what we're going to do."   0:10:31.8 Bill Scherkenbach: That's a physical frequency. In the Navy, it's shut up and fly wing. And so make no mistake about it, this is our policy. The second paragraph had, well, this is a little bit why we're doing it. And to be able to get the, and I don't know whether he was thinking that, but to my mind, it was brilliant. He was explained things. And the third paragraph or so in the policy letter was something that would instill the GM spirit, that there's something to do with the values. Hugely, hugely prescient in my viewpoint, but he's Sloan, I'm me, so he knew what he was doing.   0:11:29.9 Andrew Stotz: For people that don't know Alfred Sloan, he took over and was running General Motors at the time when Ford had, I don't know, 50% of the market share by producing one vehicle. And part of the brilliance of Sloan was the idea of building a lineup of different brands that went from the low all the way up to the high of Cadillac. And within a short period of time, he managed to flip things and grab the majority of the market share from Ford at the time, as I recall. Now, I don't recall it from being there, but I recall from reading about it.   0:12:12.3 Bill Scherkenbach: There you go. There you go. Yeah, having saying that, he offered those by buying the various little auto companies, littler auto companies to put that conglomerate together. But as people who have read my works, specifically my second book, The Deming's Road to Continual Improvement, this change philosophy is in there. And as I said, that's one of, I think, my major contributions to the field of quality. The other one being in a process model back in '86, we also were learning about Taguchi, Genichi Taguchi's approach to customers and the loss function, and he used the title or the terminology voice of the customer. And it occurred to me in our process definition, there was something called the voice of the process to go along. And so the voice, I introduced the voice of the process, and the job of anyone is to reduce the gap between the voice of the customer and the voice of the process. And I mentioned that because this matrix that we're showing now has physical, logical, and emotional, and the various process states that you could be in, there's a dependent state where you're completely dependent upon your customers or suppliers.   0:14:00.9 Bill Scherkenbach: There's an independent state where it's just you and an interdependent state. And I have that cross-reference with physical, logical, and emotional. In dependent state, it's essentially feed me, teach me, love me, do it for me, teach me, and love me. Now, in the independent, it's, I do it, I understand what I do, and I take great joy in doing what I do. And in the interdependent is, we do it. I understand how what I do helps optimize our process, and I take great joy in belonging to this team. And joy is the ultimate goal of what Dr. Deming had said for years, the ability to take joy in one's work. Now, I mean, every one of us starts out in life as dependent. It's feed me, teach me, love me, newborns, parents have to do everything. When you're a new employee, you might have some skills and understanding and emotion or pride, but this is how we do it in this company. And so you're dependent upon how you are introduced to that organization. But everyone tries to get out of that. Now, having said that, a pathology is there are givers and takers in this world, and some of the takers would just be very happy for other people to feed me, teach me, love me.   0:16:18.8 Bill Scherkenbach: My point or my philosophy is you've got to get out of the dependency and you have to balance that sense of independence and interdependence that is in each of us. Whether you're doing it or whether you're doing it in your family, as part of a family or a company or a motorcycle gang, whatever your group is, you're looking to blend being a part of that. Every human being looks to balance that sense of me and we. And in the thing we're finding in Western cultures, obviously, especially in North America or the US, we celebrate the me. It's the individual. And the team, we talk a good game about team, but mostly we're celebrating the me. In Eastern philosophies, they're celebrating the we. It's the team. It's not necessarily the, well, not the individual. The point is that in the Western philosophies, if you can't feel a part of a family or express that part, what we see in the US, there's a whole wave of people volunteering to belonging to organizations, whether it's sports teams, whether it's volunteer teams, whether the family balance. If you can't be a part of a family at work, you're going to go offline and do it.   0:18:24.9 Bill Scherkenbach: And the problem is your life suffers because you can't fulfill yourself as a person. In the Asian cultures, if you can't feel important as an individual, you go offline. Golf is huge in Japan and elsewhere, and it ain't a team sport. Calligraphy isn't a team sport. Karaoke isn't a choir event. There are ways to be able to express yourself offline if you can't feel important as an individual in your group. And so my philosophy is every human being needs to find that balance for each individual to be able to lead a fulfilled life.   0:19:28.7 Andrew Stotz: I'm reminded of a book by Dr. William Glasser called Reality Therapy, brought out in late '60s, I believe. And his philosophy was that part of the root cause of mental illness was that people didn't have one person they could trust. And that all of a sudden sets up all kinds of defense mechanisms that if prolonged end up leading to mental illness. That was a very interesting book, but the thing I took from it is that people want to connect. They want to belong. They want to be a part of it. They may act like they don't sometimes and all that, but we want to be in this interdependent position. And I'm looking at the bottom right corner of the matrix where it says, "I take joy in belonging to a team or this team." And that to me is, you know, that book helped me understand that it's not just the idea of, "Hey, we should all get along and work together." There is true value for a human being to be able to feel good about being part of a family or part of a business or part of a team. Something that just reminded me of.   0:20:53.7 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah. Where I'm coming from is that everyone needs to balance that pride that you take as an individual and as you take as a member of a team or a family. That the independence is not, the interdependence is not the preferred state. Everyone, even people who are celebrating team need some time out to be alone, to do whatever they need to do to hone their skills, improve their knowledge, get excited about things that they also do as individuals. So it's a balance that I'm pushing for.   0:21:51.4 Andrew Stotz: Okay, got it.   0:21:53.3 Bill Scherkenbach: Okay. So with that as a framework, I think there are a couple of mistakes, well, there are many mistakes that leaders make, but the two big ones are, is don't think that what works for you must work for everyone. Okay. And don't even think that the sequence that works for you has got to work for everyone. Change is not a predictable hierarchy. And I'll explain that further. Let's see here. Yeah, I can do it on this next one here. I've got the matrix again, and of physical, logical, emotional, and physical, logical and emotional. And if a physical person is talking to another physical person, they're communicating on a similar frequency. And so a physical person is going to say, "Okay, this is the policy." The mother will say, "Because I said so." However, that physical person is communicating, the physical person receiving that communication is going to say, "Aye, aye, roger that, consider it done."   0:23:43.6 Andrew Stotz: Loud and clear.    0:23:45.3 Bill Scherkenbach: Okay. If a physical person is telling a logical person, using those same things, these are the policy, you could be a dean at a college and you're telling your professors, "This is what we're going to do," a logical person would say, "They're ignorant suit."    0:24:11.3 Andrew Stotz: Suit, what do you mean when you say suit? You mean an ignorant executive? What does it mean suit?    0:24:16.4 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah, executive. Over here, they're called suits.   0:24:19.5 Andrew Stotz: Okay.   0:24:22.3 Bill Scherkenbach: So, no, but I'd be interested, you're logical, what would a logical person respond to a physical person who said, "Do this"?   0:24:34.5 Andrew Stotz: Yeah, I think without any logical backing, it's rejection maybe is what I would say is that ignorant, this guy doesn't know what he's talking about, he thinks just do it.   0:24:51.0 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah. Yep, yep, yep. Okay. So, and again, if that same physical leader is saying, "Well, get this done," to an emotional person, that person might say, "You Neanderthal, you don't, you don't feel what the value system is." Okay. So, I'm trying to come up with sayings or whatever that these particular people would be saying. So if the logical person tells the physical person, "We've got to do this," it could be, well, the physical person is going to say, "That's too academic, spray some paint on it so I can see it." So, and that's the diss. Logical person talking to another logical person, "Yep, I got it, I understand it, it'll be done." A logical person talking to the emotional person, "You're heartless," or, "Quit mansplaining," as they say over here. So, and again, an emotional person trying to talk to a physical person to get stuff done, the physical person's going to say, "There's no crying in baseball." And so, and the logical person will say, "That's too touchy feely," and the emotional person reacting to the emotional signal, "Oh, they really like me." So, I'm trying to use movie quotes there to express the feelings and the understanding and the, what to really get done.   0:27:04.4 Andrew Stotz: So, people really come from different places, and if we don't take that into consideration, we may, it's one of the things I teach, Bill, when I teach a course on presenting, and I say, "Are you more of a logical person or are you more of an emotional?" And half the audience will say logical, half the audience will say emotional, let's say. And I said, "If I look at your presentations that you create, they're going to be based around what you are, logical or emotional. The problem with that is that you're only going to connect with half the audience. So, you need to build the logical and emotional aspect into your presentation to capture the whole audience."   0:27:50.8 Bill Scherkenbach: Well, I would argue that you're missing a third of it because you didn't check for the physical folks. I mean, in the story I tell about what we were doing at Ford, our vice president of supply purchasing was listening to Dr. Deming and said, "Well, we need longer term contracts." And so he had his people talk to the buyers down through the ranks and we need longer term contracts. And at Ford, a longer term contract was a contract that was more than one year. And so, yep, there were classes. It's important to get it done. Everyone's enthused. We look at it six months later, no change. A year later, no change. And so we looked at, because some people react to physical stimuli. And so we looked at the policy. And in order to get a long term contract, then you had to go through three levels of supervisory approval. No person in their right mind is going to go through that hassle. So we changed one word in the policy and it changed overnight. So now if you need a contract that's less than a year, you need to go through three levels of supervisory approval.   0:29:48.5 Bill Scherkenbach: And the long term contracts were magically appearing. So there are physical people. That is not a pejorative. I know that the educators are saying, "Well, the logical and emotional, but physical is a very viable way of getting stuff done." That should not be a pejorative.   0:30:14.1 Andrew Stotz: So I think now when I'm looking at my teaching in presentation, when I think about physical and presentation, there's people that really like props. They like having physical things to bring up on the stage. They like people, "Hey, stand up and raise your hands," or "Turn and talk to the person next to you," or something like that. So maybe that's what I need to do is bring that physical into my thinking and teaching.   0:30:44.0 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah, I would recommend that. Find a way. There are many dimensions of physical. But you've got my second book. There are a bunch of ideas.    0:30:58.9 Andrew Stotz: Right here.    0:30:59.8 Bill Scherkenbach: Okay. Yep, yep, yep. Let's see here. Now we're going to go that transformation is not hierarchical. And this is hugely, hugely important. Again, if it works for you, don't make the mistake that it's going to work for everyone. And one of the sequences is everyone knows form follows function, form follows function. Physical form follows logical function. And in the automobile industry, if an automobile is to be fuel efficient, that's the function. It's got to have a jelly bean form. It's got to be aerodynamic. If the function of the vehicle is to carry passengers in comfort, the form has got to be a shoebox. Okay. And so that certainly form follows function. A screwdriver, whether it's the tool or the drink, the form follows function. If the function is to, no matter what the screw head is, you need to be able to screw it in or unscrew it, the form of it, you're going to give that head some leverage to be able to turn it.   0:32:36.9 Bill Scherkenbach: And if the function is to relax, you need to have a good vodka in the screwdriver, in the drink anyway. So if we look at how animals have evolved, a bird's beak is a prime example of over the years of whatever you want and whatever you want to say happened, the beaks went from blunt to very peaked so that they could get into a particular flower and be able to feed themselves. Dr. Deming used the example of what business are you in and the carburetor people went out of business because they only thought in terms of form. But if the function of the carburetor was, as Dr. Deming said, provide a stoichiometric mixture of air and fuel to the combustion chamber, then you might expand the number of forms that could be useful. So a number of examples of form following function, but function also follows form. The logical follows physical. And we're looking at it in the US government today. If your headcount is cut in half, you can't keep doing the same functions you were doing.   0:34:43.4 Bill Scherkenbach: You've got to figure out what your function is. So your function is going to follow form. Logical is going to follow the physical because you don't have the resources. In other times, when I was in Taiwan, I used the example of, if the price of petrol gets to 50 new Taiwanese dollars, the function of the automobile is to sit in the parking space because gas is too expensive to go anywhere. And again, the function of, I mean, if the function is security on the internet, one of the forms is the CAPTCHA. You have to identify, click the picture of all of the cars in this picture to prove you're a human. Next week, I'm going back up to Michigan to be with some of the grandchildren, but my daughter has toddlers, twins, that are 19 months old now. And whenever she is lying on the ground or on the floor, the twins sit on her. And I keep thinking of these large language models who are, that are in the AI approach to, she could be classified as a chair because her function is something for babies to sit on.   0:36:43.3 Bill Scherkenbach: And so it even applies in the AI generation. Okay, so now we come to seeing is believing. Physical leads the emotional. In Christianity, the doubting Thomas must see for himself. Some people don't really appreciate, it's not necessarily believing, but the emotional impact of going to our Grand Canyon or seeing something that is so indescribably beautiful and vast is, you have to see it to believe it or appreciate it, actually. The use of before and after pictures, if unless I see the before picture, I don't believe you did lose 150 pounds or whatever the before and after is, seeing is believing. Other, who is it? Thomas Kuhn in The Essential Tension wrote of Foucault. There's something called Foucault's Pendulum. It's a weight on maybe a 20 meter wire that back in the 1850s, he really was able to unequivocally get people behind the Copernican view that the earth really is rotating because that was the only explanation that this big, huge pendulum and the figure it was tracing in the sand, he had a spike at the end of it. Absolutely, okay, I believe the earth is spinning before the space shuttle.   0:39:07.4 Bill Scherkenbach: So, and yet, okay, seeing is believing, believing is seeing. Emotional leads the physical. Many times our beliefs cause us to use or see or miss seeing something I've said or quoted a number of things. The greatest barrier to the advancement of knowledge has not been ignorance, but we think we already know it. And so we're not going to even consider another perspective. Our friendships, our like of someone or dislike of someone can blind us to other qualities. The placebo effect, conspiracy theories, they're all believing is seeing. You believe in UFOs or unidentified aerial phenomena now, you're going to see a whole bunch of them based on your belief. And then there's feeling should drive reason. Emotional drives logical. You use your gut or intuition to make decisions. I mean, impulse sales, what's on the cap in any grocery store. You're going to buy the sizzle, not the steak. At least that's what they're selling, the sizzle. Political battles often play on the heart. So rescuing someone, emotional drives logical. If you see on YouTube, but even before that in the newspapers. I don't know if anyone remembers newspapers, but yeah, they would show pictures of someone running into a burning building and try and rescue someone or a crashed car getting them out before it explodes.   0:41:30.3 Bill Scherkenbach: If you had to think about it, you wouldn't do it perhaps, but the spur of the moment, the feelings driving over reason. Choosing a career for fulfillment and not the money. A lot of people do that and that perfectly fine. None of these as I go through them are a pejorative. They're perfectly, everyone uses, well, all of these at various points in time in your life. And last but not least, reason should prevail over passion. That logical rules the emotional, make a decision on the facts. Don't cloud your decision with emotions. Some of the ending a toxic relationship or diet and exercise. You're using reason. I've got to stick to this even though I'm hungry and sore. I've got to do this. And hopefully investing. You're not going to go for the latest fad. And there hopefully is some reason to investment strategies.   0:43:04.7 Andrew Stotz: And when...   0:43:06.8 Bill Scherkenbach: Go ahead.   0:43:09.1 Andrew Stotz: Let's just take one just to make sure that we understand what you want us to take from this. So seeing is believing and believing is seeing. And I think in all of our lives, we have some cases where we don't believe something and then we see it and then we think, "Okay, I believe now." And there's other times where we have a vision of something and we believe that it can occur and we can make it happen. And eventually we get it, we get there. So seeing is believing happens sometimes and believing is seeing happens sometimes in our life. And then some people may be more prone to one or the other. So what is the message you want us to get is to recognize that in ourselves, we're going to see it. It's going to be one way sometimes and another way and other times. Or is it to say that we want to make sure that you're aware that other people may be coming from a different perspective, the exact opposite perspective?    0:44:04.5 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah, it's the latter. This whole thing is really what management, how is management going about communicating. And if they think if what works for them is form follows function or feelings should drive reason, then they have to be aware that other people need to, might look at it the other way around and approach their communication. Again, and this goes to the voice of the customer and the voice of the process. Every one of us has an individual voice of the customer. And people, psychologists would say, "Well, that's internal motivation or motivation's internal." Many of them do. Having said that, it's management's job who manages the process to be able to, if someone is motivated by money, that's important to them, then management needs to talk on that frequency. If they want retirement points or time with their family or recognition in other ways, what will, and Deming mentioned it, what will, he gave a tip to someone who just wanted to help him with his luggage getting to the hotel room and gave him a tip and completely demoralized him. And so management's job is to know their people, they're the most important customers that management has if you're going to satisfy whatever customer base your organization is trying to meet. And so how to get stuff done, getting things done, this applies to all of it.   0:46:15.5 Andrew Stotz: Fantastic. All right, I'm going to stop sharing the screen if that's okay?   0:46:19.9 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah.   0:46:20.6 Andrew Stotz: Okay, hold on. So an excellent run through of your thinking, and I know for listeners and readers out there, you've got both of your books, but one of them I've got in my hand, Deming's Road to Continual Improvement, and also the other one, which we have right here, which is The Deming Route to Quality and Productivity, both of these books you can find on Amazon, and you go into more detail in it, in particular in The Deming's Road to Continual Improvement. Is there anything you want to say either about where people can go to find more and learn more about it, and anything you want to say to wrap up this episode?   0:47:04.1 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah, the first book, my second edition, is in e-book form on Kindle. You can get it through Amazon or Apple Books. And in Apple Books, that second edition has videos of Dr. Deming as well as audio. And a whole bunch of stuff that I put in my second book. And that's in e-book format, immediately available from Apple or Kindle.   0:47:37.0 Andrew Stotz: So let's wrap up this episode on getting things done. Maybe you can just now pull it all together. What do you want us to take away from this excellent discussion?   0:47:49.6 Bill Scherkenbach: As we began, if what works for you doesn't necessarily work for everyone else. And the larger your span of control, the larger your organization, you have to understand to be broadcasting on physical, logical, and emotional levels, as well as trying to help people balance their sense of individual and their sense of team and family.   0:48:22.5 Andrew Stotz: Great, great wrap up. And the one word I think about is empathy, and really taking the time to understand that different people think differently, they understand differently. And so if you really want to make a big change and get things done, you've got to make sure that you're appealing to those different aspects. So fantastic. Well, Bill, on behalf of everyone at the Deming Institute, I want to thank you again for this discussion. And for listeners, remember to go to deming.org to continue your journey. And also, you can find Bill's books on Amazon. And as he mentioned, on Apple, where there are videos in that latest book. You can get them on Kindle, on printed books. I have the printed books because I love taking notes. And so this is your host, Andrew...    0:49:12.0 Bill Scherkenbach: Yeah. But old people like that.   0:49:15.4 Andrew Stotz: Yes. We like that. So this is your host, Andrew Stotz, and I'm gonna leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Dr. Deming. And that is, that "people are entitled to joy in work."

AWON ONIGBAGBO LEE NI IPENIJA NINU AYE YII

AWON ONIGBAGBO LEE NI IPENIJA NINU AYE YII

Aye!!! Got a new episode!!! Click the link in the bio. EP 3: NFL Week 2 Reactions with my take on the Crawford vs Alvarez fight.

Aye, wotcha, marnin', welcome to Front End Chatter, wiv him, Simon Fitz-Martin, and him Hargreaves Gibbons, a reet pair of motorcycle journalists speaking into a wizardy recording device for the 216th time of asking, except nobody is. You get what you deserve.  Massive thanks to Bennetts, Britain's Best bike insurers, and bikesocial.co.uk, for their support of this podcast, and seemingly limitless reserves of patience and understanding at this most trying of times (and we really are trying).  And on this week's FEC (which week is that exactly?) we have:  • why Triumph's 2025 Speed Triple RS has got us so excited we're figuratively and, in Simon's case literally, standing to attention  • why Kawasaki's Ninja 1100SX SE Tourer is a genuine contender for 'Sports Tourer of 2025" as if that's an actual thing, which it isn't, really • why Yamaha's Tracer 7 GT is a genuine contender for "Sports Tourer of 2025 under 1000cc" as if that's also an actual thing, which it also isn't, also really • why BMW's R1300 RT is more like a sports tourer, with a longer tank range and as long as you don't do more than 400 miles in a day • how journalists have tested the patience of manufacturers (how many fingers have you got?) • why CFMoto's 450 MT is about to take over the world All this and not much more, come on, it was gone 9pm when we finished and I needed a lie down with a stiff one, it might not be the most physically demanding job but I don't remember that last time a plumber had to compromise his principles quite as often. Dahling.  Right, enough, go away, but not before you've summoned your thoughts, musings, queries, questions and hilarious stories of motorcycling mishaps and mayhem and committed them to an email to:  anything@frontendchatter.com We remain your effervescent amis Simon H Mufga Ride yer bike. You know it makes very little sense. 

Pharaoh and Lee are joined by Eric Rollerson Host of Aye who all gon be there Podcast to discuss everything that happened during the Week 8 Live Feeds of Big Brother 27 and Rate all the players!  #BigBrother #BB27 #AyeWhoAllThereApply to be a Podcaster for The Reality Kingdom!: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdgOiFRIvHcal8AJJcwBQ566jYv6QZ4UWIV_Q_FxkTd9rEo-w/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=109441473750135055348Check out Eric's Podcast!: www.youtube.com/@ayewhoallgonbetherepodcastCheck out Eric's Twitter!: https://x.com/rocknrollersonCheck out Eric's Bluesky!: https://bsky.app/profile/rocknrollerson.bsky.socialCheck out Eric's Instagram!: https://www.instagram.com/rock_and_rollerson/Check out our Big Brother 5 Rewind coverage!: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKZIt1enO6e35sCT9RZsckxCAAkf4ZEZM&si=n78LsJ8e4JwPbBIQCheck out ALL of our BB off-season content here!: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKZIt1enO6e2ggLoahvKzKrXwLl91LLvX&si=tKLXDEEbKjwBqVp2Use this Link to cast your VOTE for what show you want us to cover next For our Reality Rewind!: https://www.therealitykingdom.com/survey/reality-rewind-season-3/JOIN OUR #BBREWIND TWITTER COMMUNITY HERE!: https://twitter.com/i/communities/1738270226225971256Check out ALL of our #BBrewind coverage!: BB2: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKZIt1enO6e2HyrO5YOmI1qxdHB30G56x&si=NX1EohbDjSB3Bg-4BB3: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKZIt1enO6e3VnKTXqmWrnohIYTDlGtkl&si=SH5XRzNUfoNrl2roBB4: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKZIt1enO6e2pmDkziXBhrXL1VgYMBrTS&si=QT7Xjol0RpYkikshThank you so much for watching! We love doing this content for you guys so comment what you want to hear from us!If you would rather just listen, here's a link to the podcast version of our videos:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1m9KzqelQUOEZ8G2xnaMEy?si=5Q3_Kik-SHO844P8ZN_dRA&dl_branch=1Apple Podcasts: https://t.co/k5unAtBLn7?amp=1Follow Us: https://linktr.ee/TheRealiitykindom

Aye, come out ye black and tans and fight here like a man! The Republic yearns to be free, and it's up to every man to do his part. Murder, mayhem and general terror are the order: no cop or soldier loyal to His Majesty is safe. Michael Collins will see to that, boyo. Next week: back to the list with an arthouse flick! Questions? Comments? Suggestions? You can always shoot us an e-mail at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠forscreenandcountry@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   Full List: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/war-movies/the-100-greatest-war-movies-of-all-time⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/forscreenandcountry⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.twitter.com/fsacpo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠d⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Our logo was designed by the wonderful Mariah Lirette (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://instagram.com/its.mariah.xo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠) Michael Collins stars Liam Neeson, Alan Rickman, Aidan Quinn, Stephen Rea, Ian Hart, Brendan Gleeson, Stuart Graham, Gerald McSorley, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Charles Dance and Julia Roberts; directed by Neil Jordan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Geoff and Marie's Good Life: Part 2Lazy SundayA retired couple discover the perfect Sunday.Based on posts by Only In My Mind, in 15 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels.List of main characters.Geoff:   retired materials scientist. Mid-sixties. 5 foot 10 inch, ex amateur rugby player, still swims, runs and walks to keep fit. More than adequately equipped to satisfy his wife.Marie:   retired modern languages lecturer. Same age as her husband, Geoff. 5 foot 2 inch voluptuous build, with D cup tits and proportionate bum and hips. Shoulder length brown hair, brown eyes and olive skin inherited from her French grandmother.Angie:   possibly retired mathematician (may still be involved in intelligence gathering, she won't discuss her work). Early sixties. 5 foot 10 inch, slender athletic build. Firm B cup tits, brown hair and famously dirty mind.Mike:   research biochemist. Mid-fifties. 6 foot 1 inch, also rugby player. Good looking for his age.It had been a funny old weekend. It started on Friday evening when my wife, Marie, came home from catching up with her friends at our local and burst into tears. She was upset because she was getting laid and they weren't so she wanted me to have sex with them, but was afraid I'd refuse.On Saturday, she'd invited her friend, Angie, to our home for an evening meal, after which, along with a couple of bottles of wine we batted Marie's generous gesture back and forth.You must be wondering what the issue is: I'm a bloke, my wife actually wants me to fuck her friends and we're all retired over-sixties so no-one's getting pregnant; why am I apparently so reluctant to go along with it? Don't worry, even though I've already explained in detail in a previous story, It will become clearer. I haven't finished with the weekend yet.That Saturday Angie dissected my disinclination to be unfaithful to my wife, even with permission, and came up with a suggestion. Look, we were a bit pissed and she is really smart. She won't say, but I think she used to work for Her Majesty's Government at GCHQ as a cryptographer. Anyway, her idea was that the 'girls' visit us in pairs and I fuck one while the other has sex with Marie; then we swap. I know it sounds stupid but we were quite tipsy and it did actually make sense at the time. That left the elephant in the room. Sorry, that was a metaphor, no elephants were molested during the course of these events.Ah, yes the elephant: I had confessed to my wife and her friend that I didn't want to damage our newly repaired relationship by having sex with other women because I wasn't secure enough to accept her having sex with other men as part of a quid pro quo. But if my wife could tolerate us both having sex with the same women, perhaps the drunken idea was, actually, the genius concept that Angie claimed.One thing led to another and we all ended up together in bed. Angie discovered her inner lesbian and, with coaching from me, proved to be quite a gifted muff diver. My wife discovered that she wasn't repelled by another woman's touch, several times and quite vocally.But could Marie cope with me and another woman doing the deed? If you read my last story, you already know. She actually pushed my cock inside her friend for me! Then she played with Angie's tits and clit until she came. And did she come! Apparently, it had been a while and we both did some of our best work on her. In fairness, we were quite excited too and may have got a bit carried away but we did feel a bit guilty for reducing this athletic super brain to the mindless, limp, sweaty fuckdoll laying comatose on our bed.So to Sunday; I woke up about eight, with my erect cock lodged in Angie's bum crack, and not wanting to add sexual assault to my concerns, I turned over to face my wife on the other side of the bed. She was already awake. "Fancy a quickie?" She whispered. "All that sex last night and I still never got you inside me even once.""Okay," I replied quietly. "But then we have to make sure Angie isn't broken. We'll have to keep her if she is. It's not like we can take her back."Marie giggled, "She'll be as good as new: Better, in fact. A good meal, good company, good wine, great sex and probably the best night's sleep she's had in months. Now, are you going to put that thing inside me or are you planning to let it go to waste?"I reached up and started to squeeze her tits as we kissed. While Angie is tall and lithe with firm but small B cup boobs, Mother Nature endowed her bounty on my wife's chest. Full and ample D cups that have barely dropped since she was in her teens. They look even more impressive as she's only 5 foot 2, but they match her glorious round bum.Reluctantly leaving go of one tit, I snaked my hand down between us to sample the delights between her thighs. She sighed and shifted slightly to allow me better access. I could tell that she was already ready for me as my middle finger slipped easily into her cunt. I pondered for a second then came to a decision.I carefully moved the quilt that had been covering us and indicated that Marie should move to the middle of the bed, facing her friend. We managed as quietly as we could and renewed our love-making. I was able to get one arm placed so that I could attack my wife's bum and cunt from behind, while the other hand played with her tits.Once I realized that she was beginning to get impatient, I slipped inside her warm wet cunt from behind. They say that it's nice to go travelling and even nicer to come home. That's how I felt just then. I'd had incredible sex with another woman just a few hours ago but now, little Geoff was warm and comfy in his happy place. This was what I feared losing; why I'd been reluctant. It was just so fucking good!We just moved together in long slow strokes for ages, both just reveling in the feel of each other's bodies, neither of us needed the urgency of release. Eventually, Marie started to gasp quietly and then shuddered as her first climax washed over her. I paused for a few seconds as she caught her breath and then, so slowly, started our rhythm again. This was our version of the famous cocktail, The Slow Comfortable Screw.I was in heaven: one hand was kneading my wife's glorious tits while my cock was burrowing up and down her slippery love tunnel. Then Marie moved just a little to get comfortable, or so I assumed, until I felt a warm hand cupping my balls. Ah, Angie's awake. Marie had been moving to get access to Angie's tits.And so we lay there, me slowly fucking my wife who was, in turn, kissing her friend and fondling her tits while Angie returned the compliment as she stroked my balls as they moved back and forth between my wife's thighs. After a few minutes Angie moved her hand so that it was stroking Marie's clit and rubbing against my shaft as it moved in and out of her. Marie had already had one gentle orgasm but this double assault took her over the edge and this time I felt her cunt muscles spasm as she came hard.I still hadn't come, so I considered asking Angie if she wanted me to fuck her too, but she got in first. "Geoff," she looked at me a bit sheepishly. "I wanna be a real dirty girl for you. Please can I?"I tried to imagine what Angie could possibly find embarrassing after the previous night. This I had to see. "Go for it," I said. "Tell me what you want me to do."She turned to Marie who had flopped down on her back to wallow in her early morning warm post-coital glow. "Hey babe, can I suck your fella's cock?""Just as long as you do it quietly," Marie replied drowsily, and closed her eyes."Round here, stud!" She ordered. I complied, puzzled. Not that a blow job wouldn't be appreciated but why would that make her feel so awkward? She sat up and slid her legs off the bed. Even though I seen her naked the previous night; even though I'd kissed and caressed those small firm tits; even though I'd kissed her from her bum crack to clit, the sight of her naked, waiting to suck my cock as my wife lay naked next to her had me so hard it hurt.Angie took me in her hand and looked up at me, "I really need you to tell me when you're about to come. You'll see why."Then she focused on my cock: It's a nice one and we've always been very happy together and Marie says it's lovely to look at. Angie studied it for a minute then looked up at me and nodded. "Yes," she said. "It's just as nice as Marie described it."Is there nothing so intimate that women won't discuss it?Angie looked up at me and puckered her lips as if to kiss someone. She bent forwards and pressed my cock into the gap, squeezing as she went. I felt like I was fucking a virgin. As the head forced through her lip barrier her tongue came into play as the sensitive skin under the glans rubbed over it. She bobbed deep and slow covering me with her saliva.Now and again she pull me out and show me the strings of spittle connecting us. Then back in again, licking and sucking. She claimed that she'd abandoned sex after her second husband cheated on her. I'd always thought he was a fucking moron and the last twelve hours had proved it, this moment even more so. She was spectacularly gifted and seemed to have no gag reflex. This was warm, wet, tongue filled heaven with a side order of throat.After a couple of minutes I told her I was getting close. She took me out again and turned her head to Marie. "Hey, lazybones. Get up here next to me. I have a treat for you.". Marie stirred and sat up slowly as Angie took me back in her mouth and tried to swallow me. Marie sat and snuggled naked next to her friend and watched her blow me as I looked at these two, very different, beautiful women and wondered what I'd done to deserve this moment.I put my hand on Angie's head and told her I was about to come. She gave one final deep bob and then pulled me out. She emptied the saliva from mouth to lubricate me and the started to wank me as my wife watched. That aroused me even more and my hips jerked as I started to ejaculate. She pointed me at her tits and then Marie's as my semen spurted out. She caught the last spurt in her mouth.Marie was breathing heavily, Angie's surprise had got to her. But Angie wasn't finished. She turned to her friend and kissed her full on the mouth. Marie's eyes widened as she realized what her friend was doing: She was sharing my sperm in her kiss. It was my turn to watch as they pulled their mouths apart to display the sticky strings of my cum mingled with their saliva, then they went back to attacking each other's tonsils. They were so fucking hot!Eventually Angie straightened up and swallowed. "There, that was nice," she said. "I got to taste Marie on your cock when I sucked you, and tasted your cum for dessert."She looked to Marie who was still a little bemused. Angie absent-mindedly rubbed my semen into their skin, licking the thickest deposits from Marie's tits. "Kinky, eh? Told you I was a dirty girl."I bent towards Angie's left nipple and found a gob of cum that she'd missed. I scooped it up with my tongue and leaned towards Marie. She smiled and leaned into our kiss, both sharing and then swallowing my spunk.Angie watched us in dismay. "What the fuck does a girl have to do to shock you two?" She complained.Marie looked lovingly at her friend. "Angie. I've known you for nearly forty years. We've never said this before because it would have made our lives too complicated back then. But now; I want to say, in front of Geoff, Angie, I love you, and I know you love me too. You can't shock us, because we're okay with anything that gives you pleasure."Marie turned to me with a concerned expression. I stopped her by putting my finger on her lips. "It's okay." I said. "She's adorable: You can keep her." I scooted across to Angie and put my arms around her. "When Marie came home on Friday night, she cried because you and the others were unhappy. And that broke her heart because she loves you all so much. I realized then that her love for you didn't take anything from me. It just made her heart bigger.I kissed both my girls and headed for the bathroom. As I went, I called over my shoulder, "We need to sort out some ground rules before this turns into a nightmare of a clusterfuck, but in the meantime you two have my full approval to play nice."After my shower I went downstairs intending to make breakfast but stopped to call a friend first. "Hi, Mike; Yeah, I know, full of good intentions but never actually pick the phone up to call; Even now I'm ringing to pick your brain; Not over the phone, are you free this week?; Today?; Even better; can I treat you to Sunday Lunch at The Black Swan?; Perfect; Two o'clock, and we can catch up then; See you."I put the kettle on to make a cuppa for the three of us, if the girls ever came down, and some bread in the toaster for me. No full English for me this Sunday, I had a big lunch to come.When they finally arrived in the kitchen they were both looking flushed, with wet hair and wearing dressing gowns. Obviously, in an effort to economize on water they had showered together. I told Marie that I had to go out that afternoon to meet a friend and that we should probably talk about boundaries sooner rather than later. I left them to decide what they were having for breakfast and claimed my favorite chair to watch the news on TV in the living room. They joined me a few minutes later still drinking their tea. I switched the TV off and turned to them as they settled at opposite ends of the sofa.Marie started the conversation. "You were right, what you said earlier. Our relationship has changed again and I don't want to lose what we've only just recovered. Do you regret what we did last night?" She sounded uncertain."No! Not for a second," I said firmly. "But I need to be confident that when I am 'with' one of your friends I'm not making you unhappy and putting my marriage at risk."Marie looked at her friend. "What do you think Angie; can we make it work?"Angie shrugged. "Dunno. People stuff isn't really my strongest subject. Give me mathematical relationships and I'm your girl. If I was any good at personal relationships I wouldn't have two ex-husbands. Last night, apart from being a bit squiffy, the math was simple. You both gave me simple criteria that lent itself to Boolean logic: the wine helped too. Now, you're in the realms of, 'How will I feel if?' And I haven't a fucking clue what the answer to that will be.""Okay," I said. "Then I'll list my concerns and my thoughts on how to address them."First: We only have sex within your group of friends. I suppose it's possible you may want to include other people eventually, but everybody, and I mean everybody, would have to agree in advance."Marie made as if to interrupt. I held up my hand before she could speak."Sorry love, but please hear me out while I've got my thoughts in order." She nodded and sat back."Second: You and I each only have sex with other people with the other's full knowledge and consent. That means Angie can't come round for a quickie with you any more than I can pop round to Jo's for a quick fuck on the way to the shops."Third: I think that it would be a bad idea for one of us to be having sex when the other isn't. I don't think I would be comfortable having sex with one of your friends while you were alone. I'd rather you were with us."Fourth: You have five other friends who were part of your sex debate but only there are only two of them you really want me to fuck in addition to Angie. I want to meet them first " The girls looked at each other and then glared back at me. "Go on," I said. "What have I missed?""It's six friends," Marie said emphatically. "At least, if they want to: Angie, Megan, Lucy, Jo, Kate and Sam.""But three of them are married," I protested. "And one of them you've only just met!"Marie was having none of that. "Sam has left her husband and has started divorce proceedings; Megan's husband, Charles, is a lovely man but he's in his nineties and just can't perform and Lucy's husband is a complete twat who's only interested in beer and football. Do you know what he said to her when she suggested they should have sex? His exact words were, 'Who'd want to stick their cock into a wrinkly old snatch like yours?'""Angie," I pleaded. "Help me out here.""Sorry stud, you're on your own. Charles is impotent and Eddie is every bit the complete twat that Marie said he is. And now we've got the taste for succulent female flesh," she gave an evil leer as she winked at my wife. "We are as keen to get our lecherous hands on the lovely Samantha as you'll be once you've met her."I gave up. "In that case," says I. "Can I meet the other five of your friends first, please? It's just that I'd rather that my first words to those I've not met yet aren't, 'Hello, I'm Geoff; I'll be your cock for this evening'." The girls exchanged looks and nodded their agreement."Fifth:" I continued, "This 'idea', that now somehow appears to be a fait accompli, only came about because your friends have no sex partners. If any of them begin a sexual relationship outside this group then they drop out. It's not fair to their partners to continue."And last: for now at least. We never speak of this outside your friend group, and neither do the others. Now, those are my suggestions. You can disagree, amend or add as you think fit. This isn't a negotiation with winners and losers. I'm just trying to set out guidelines to stop something good from biting us in the backside.They settled back in their seats to think through what I'd said while I walked to the window and looked outside: It seemed like a nice day for a stroll before lunch so I suggested they join me, partly to let their newly discovered Sapphic libidos settle before I left them alone while I went to the pub. As I suspected, Angie had left a travel bag with a change of clothes in her car, just in case. I knew it was a set up last night! They went upstairs to change and came down together both looking great in light, floaty summer dresses that showed their figures off. Quarter of an hour later we locked up and strolled down the road together, chatting idly as we enjoyed the sunshine.Without really thinking about it, we ended up in the local park. Yes, that one. The one where I'd fucked Marie, out in the open, through the slit in the crotchless panties I'd bought her. The place where our sex life re-ignited, and the same panties she'd been wearing last night when Angie finger-fucked her.Angie made the connection too. "No fucking way! This is the park isn't it? Where you randy old bastards did the dirty deed! Show me the spot!" Marie took her hand and led her along the path that curved around to the far side of the lake. We came to the little shelter where you could lean and watch the ducks paddling aimlessly around and, more importantly, see anyone coming along the path.There was no-one there when we arrived, and Angie's face lit up as she imagined me taking Marie from behind at that very place only a few weeks before.Marie looked at me thoughtfully. "Angie is one of my 'special' friends, I'm here and you have my knowledge and approval. I think we meet all of your ground rules. Fuck her. You fucked me this morning and she blew you, so I think we owe her. Fuck her. Fuck her here and now, just like you fucked me.She stepped close to me and kissed me passionately, pulling my hand to her tits. I had no problem with that and groped them with the enthusiasm they deserved. Then she broke off and moved to Angie. She stood between her friend and the path and bent down and reached under Angie's knee length summer dress to pull down her panties. I'm certain from Angie's reaction that Marie copped a feel too.As Marie stood, she lifted the hem at the back of Angie's skirt to expose her slender, toned, walker's bum to me. "Go on, please Geoff. Fuck her for me. Then she moved to her new lover and they kissed. Hesitantly at first but then with real lust.As the girls locked lips, I unzipped and let my cock out of his cage. I moved forwards so he returned to the place he started his morning, hard and erect, lodged between her firm buttocks. I reached around and squeezed my hands between two pairs of tits in order to touch Angie's. She was bra-less and I hadn't noticed; I must be getting old.Marie grunted, "I've got these; you concentrate downstairs." So I did. I held Angie's dress up with one hand while the other moved between her thighs. She was already wet. I rubbed my index finger firmly over her tight little anus. She wriggled, but didn't pull away as I pushed the tip against the wrinkled sphincter.I told her, quietly, "Not this time, but soon, my finger and maybe more is going in here." She moaned into Marie's mouth. I moved my hand forwards, my finger sliding inside her damp little place that I had just got to know oh so intimately. She pushed back against me. She was ready, but we could take her a little further.Marie was kissing her neck and kneading her tits. I carried on finger-fucking her and rubbing my cock between her cheeks, and checking for pedestrians. She stiffened and I looked over her shoulder at my wife. She nodded; it was time. I put my hands on her shoulders and bent her gently at the waist and put my cock between her pussy lips. I moved him back and forth to get him nice and wet from the lubricant dripping from her cunt then I pushed gently forward.Angie pushed back to meet me and slowly I slipped all the way inside. Marie caught my eye. "This isn't love-making: This is dirty outdoor sex. Just fuck her and fuck her h

Hey, Charlie. Let's talk. It's the right talk. Charlie. Welcome. This is the Charlie James Show. Now we're talking. News talk 98 9. Talking to ORT. The police at The Carolinas. Welcome to the program on your Tuesday afternoon. Thank you so much for tuning in. What a wonderful, beautiful day we got going on outside. Gonna get even nicer tonight. Lows are gonna be getting down there. Upper fifties, early, or, low sixties. That's gonna be really, really nice. I I've got a question for you guys, to start the show off with. What are you people doing over there in Greenwood? What is the what is going on with you folks? And your earthquakes, what are you doing over there? You having you a big party over there or something? Everybody's jumping up and down? Can you believe the amount of earthquakes that Greenwood has had? This is from let's see. A cluster of small earthquakes has shaken communities in Greenwood County, South Carolina with the US Geological Survey confirming at least 13 quakes since August 19. 13. I know what it is. I know what it is. 13. That's Taylor Swift's lucky number. And now she's gotten engaged. You guys were just ramping up the whole engagement thing for I know I know you people. Most of the seismic activity was recorded near Koronica, an unincorporated community about seven miles east of Greenwood according to the USGS. 11 of the earthquakes struck within a sixty four hour span from August 23 to August 25 with magnitude ranging from 1.7 to three point zero. Two of the strongest quakes, a 2.9 and a three point zero, struck early August 23. Reports of shaking, were widespread with the three point o magnitude tremor, and that was felt as far away as Rhode Island where I was. I didn't notice any shaking when I was on Rhode Island, but, again, I was at Taylor Swift's house. Not technically. Not actually in her house, but I was there on the outside of her house. But, anyway, it's all Taylor Swift today because she and, Kelsey, got engaged. So I know nobody cares. I don't either. But, it's pretty amazing. South Carolina Emergency Management also confirmed another 1.7 magnitude earthquake, Northwest Of Corona around 05:04 yesterday afternoon. Didn't feel that one either. Man, that's a lot of earthquakes. You guys are going so we had a 2.2, 1.7, 2.9, three point o, 2.5, 1.9, and yada yada yada. Man, I'm telling you. Got a little got a little earthquake cluster going on over there in Greenwood. So y'all be careful out there, man. You never know when the big one is gonna hit. Well, the Democrat National Committee, the DNC, they're having their annual meeting this week in Minneapolis of all places, and they have done something today. They started out with this. It was a resolution to condemn the first six months of the Trump presidency. Let's now move to resolution number two, condemning the first six months of the second Trump administration discussion. Seeing no further discussion, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Resolution two passes. So they condemned the first six months of the president's administration, 47. Right? So what are they actually condemning? What are they here's and, boy, I tell you what, here's what what I always say, you just look at what they applaud. What is this saying? Your boos don't affect me. I've seen what you applaud. Look at what they applaud. Look at what they love to hate. Deporting criminal illegal alien aliens. They don't like that. Securing the border. Oh. Exposing government waste, fraud, and abuse. Oh, how dare they? Cracking down on crime in US cities. Oh, no. No. Can't have that. Securing peace deals. No. Banning men from invading women's private spaces, stopping the chemical and surgical castration of children, ending radical political indoctrination in schools, creating historic trade deals, bringing trillions of dollars worth of investment to The United States. These are the things that the Democrats do not like. They don't like that ...

Hey, Charlie. Let's talk. It's the right talk show. Charlie. Welcome. This is the Charlie James Show. Now we're talking. News talk ninety eight nine. The voice of The Carolinas. Welcome to the program on your Tuesday afternoon. Thank you so much for tuning in. What a wonderful, beautiful day we got going on outside. Gonna get even nicer tonight. Loads are gonna be getting down there. Upper fifties, early, or, low sixties. That's gonna be really, really nice. I I've got a question for you guys, to start the show off with. What are you people doing over there in Greenwood? What is the what is going on with you folks? And your earthquakes, what are you doing over there? You having you a big party over there or something? Everybody's jumping up and down? Can you believe the amount of earthquakes that Greenwood has had? This is from let's see. A cluster of small earthquakes has shaken communities in Greenwood County, South Carolina with the US Geological Survey confirming at least 13 quakes since August 19. 13. I know what it is. I know what it is. 13. That's Taylor Swift's lucky number. And now she's gotten engaged. You guys were just ramping up the whole engagement thing for I know I know you people. Most of the seismic activity was recorded near Coronica, an unincorporated community about seven miles east of Greenwood according to the USGS. 11 of the earthquakes struck within a sixty four hour span from August 23 to August 25 with magnitude ranging from 1.7 to three point zero. Two of the strongest quakes, a 2.9 and a three point zero, struck early August 23. Reports of shaking, were widespread with the three point o magnitude tremor, and that was felt as far away as Rhode Island where I was. I didn't notice any shaking when I was on Rhode Island, but, again, I was at Taylor Swift's house. Not technically. Not actually in her house, but I was there on the outside of her house. But, anyway, it's all Taylor Swift today because she and, Kelsey, got engaged. So I know nobody cares. I don't either. But, it's pretty amazing. South Carolina Emergency Management also confirmed another 1.7 magnitude earthquake, Northwest of Corona around 05:04 yesterday afternoon. Didn't feel that one either. Man, that's a lot of earthquakes. You guys got so we had a 2.2, 1.7, 2.9, three point o, 2.5, 1.9, and yada yada yada. Man, I'm telling you. You got a little got a little earthquake cluster going on over there in Greenwood. So y'all be careful out there, man. You never know when the big one is gonna hit. Well, the Democrat National Committee, the DNC, they're having their annual meeting this week in Minneapolis of all places, and they have done something today. They started out with this. It was a resolution to condemn the first six months of the Trump presidency. Let's now move to resolution number two, condemning the first six months of the second Trump administration discussion. Seeing no further discussion, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Resolution two passes. So they condemned the first six months of the president's administration, 47. Right? So what are they actually condemning? What are they here's and, boy, I tell you what, here's what what I always say, you just look at what they applaud. What is this saying? Your booze don't affect me. I've seen what you applaud. Look at what they applaud. Look at what they love to hate. Deporting criminal illegal alien aliens. They don't like that. Securing the border. Oh. Exposing government waste, fraud, and abuse. Oh, how dare they? Cracking down on crime in US cities. Oh, no. No. Can't have that. Securing peace deals. No. Banning men from invading women's private spaces, stopping the chemical and surgical castration of children, ending radical political indoctrination in schools, creating historic trade deals, bringing trillions of dollars worth of investment to The United States. These are the things that the Democrats do not like. They don't like tha ...

This week we're joined by Be's Brother, Tyler. Aye... y'all relax, he's married!

Dave's Journey Back To Nature: Part 2Dave Fits In Nicely, at the Arundel Naturist Resort.Based on posts by Big galoot, in 6 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories.My first impressions were of amazing greenness, green grass, green edges, green trees. To my city-boy eyes, this looked like the Garden of Eden, albeit a very unkempt garden of Eden.Jim came to greet us as the car stopped and it was obvious that he had had something like a stroke, walking with a stick and one hand held spastically into his side."Jim, this is David and Suzi, that I was telling you about. They've come to see if they would like to work here."Jim barely glanced at me before turning to Suzi and virtually undressing her with his eyes. "Young totty," is what I think he said, although it wasn't clear, Muriel blushed a bit before saying "Jim that isn't appropriate. You'll have to excuse him, the stroke has caused a bit of a change in personality as well as the more obvious effects. Jim was always a bit saucy but now seems to have no filter."I wanted to laugh, but was worried Suzi might be offended. Thankfully she took it in her stride, saying; "not to worry Muriel, I hear much worse at college, everyday; and at home. And by people who haven't suffered brain trauma." Giving me a look and causing Muriel to smile.Touring the Resort."Let me show you around the place and then we can talk about the job."There were sixty-five chalets, most were two-bed, but a few were three-bed. And only ten are owned by long term members, the rest belonging to the resort, and rented out. There was what looked like two outside swimming pools, which were covered, and various green areas where guests could walk, play games or grill a picnic. There were lots of hedges, providing privacy and working as wind breaks, and some lovely flower beds, all a bit overgrown, recently.When we finished the tour, Muriel invited us into a big brick lodge, near the front gates that turned out to be their home, as well as the reception hall. One of the two pools was situated near the lodge, as was the shower complex.Going into the lodge, she offered us soup that she had made earlier, which was delicious. After the soup, Muriel asked us what we thought of the place. We both said we thought it was lovely. We then talked about the job. I explained that I thought it was only for one person. She said that was her initial plan, but now thought it needed two as she didn't have the time, or energy, to both look after Jim and do all the administration that was needed and all the other work that was needed on the site.We explained that neither of us new anything about gardening, apart from cutting grass and maybe trimming. She said not to worry, as gardening was what kept her sane and she would continue to look after the flower beds. We then got onto the subject of nudity."Have you been nudist very long?" Muriel asked"I have, secretly for a few years, but only really got into it this last semester.""And I've only been doing it a bit less than Dave, but I'm really enjoying it." Suzi said and it was music to my ears."That's wonderful. We have a hot tub near the swimming pool. We could have a dip and talk about the ghastly subject of money, if you like."We stepped outside and over to the chaise lounges. I don't think that Suzi had ever been in too many hot tubs. I sure hadn't. They were a new novelty, until recently. Before we could say anything, Muriel stood up and started undressing. We both looked at each other a little shocked, but then shrugged our shoulders and stood up also.Muriel was naked in no time at all, wearing no underwear under her skirt, shirt and jumper. She threw her clothes on the chair and boldly stood there, almost inviting our stares as we undressed.She was a beautiful woman, average tits with a little sag offset by her perfect posture. One could debate if she was a B or C cup, only have her tell you she doesn't make her tits wear a cup, ever!She had long nipples, which seemed quite erect, as if she was enjoying this. Her belly was flat and she had almost boyish slim hips, long, toned legs, and a thick thatch of dark hair in between them. I think both Suzi and I must have been staring, as we seemed to have stopped undressing.Muriel just stood there with a friendly, open smile on her face; perfectly happy in her own body and space, and welcoming us into it without challenging or threatening us.I was the next to be nude, coyly removing my underpants as I had a semi stiffy, brought on by my excitement at the situation, but also enticed by the site of Muriel. I found it incredibly hot, having this beautiful and elegant woman look at me, and I was unable to stop myself getting harder and bigger."I can see you enjoy being naked." Muriel said to me, still smiling as she looked me up and down. I must have reddened because she said, "don't be embarrassed, you have a beautiful body and if I may say so, a very beautiful cock."I managed a croaked, "thanks."Suzi was standing in her underwear, watching the two of us. I'm not sure if she was waiting for our attention or gob smacked by the whole situation. As we looked at her, she slowly removed her bra and put her shoulders back, smiling, her gorgeous 34 B tits; I only know this from previously looking at her bra; jutting out proudly. Her nipples were as hard as I had ever seen them.I stood by Suzi to encourage her bravery, and I couldn't help myself, saying, "you're beautiful, Dear.""You truly are." Said Muriel; "now off with your knickers."This had the effect of making us all smile. Suzi relaxed a little. Then she wasted no time in removing her knickers, as she stood by the steps to the tub.. "Oh Suzi you're shaven, how wonderful. I've seen a few trimmed ones, but never one completely bare. I've thought about doing it a few times, but Jim is old fashioned and loves my big bush. Not that he's able to do much with it, these days. Do you mind if I have a closer look?"Suzi looked a bit uncertain but eventually said "no I, I don't mind at all." Muriel dropped to her knees, her face only six inches from Suzi's bare snatch.After what seemed like an age, she said, Can you put a foot up on the step for me?”Suzi did, then swiveled the bent knee outward, to accommodate Muriel's curiosity.“How absolutely wonderful, I can see your pink lips just sticking out, it's quite, quite beautiful." With that, she stood up, running her fingers through her own pubes; "Right! I've decided, this big old bush is coming off tonight." And then, with a throaty laugh,  she looked me in the eye and said; "don't worry, it's not part of your gardening duties."You couldn't help but like Muriel, she was so free and open."I'll go and get three towels and we'll get in" As she left us. Suzi turned to me and said; "well, what did you think of that?""She's certainly a force of nature, but I really like her." I quipped."I think you fancy her, more than just ‘like." Before I could say anything she continued, "I think I quite fancy her myself; her face being so close to my cunny. That did all sorts of things to me."My mouth nearly fell open, but before I could say anything, Muriel returned. She had three towels, three tumblers, and two bottles of white wine, and a small bag to carry them all in "I think we should celebrate what I hope will be a beautiful friendship. I would love it if you could stay in one of the chalets tonight? But if not, you can get a taxi easily enough, to take you back to the station." We both nodded and said we'd see how it goes."I left the back door open, so I can hear Jim if he needs me."Just then Jim peered his head out the back door, then say something. I didn't understand him, although I definitely saw fire in his eyes when he saw Suzi buck naked. Muriel heard him and just shook her head, then walked past us, obviously upset, I whispered to Suzi, "I think you make an old man very happy." Which got me an elbow in the ribs.Turning back to Muriel, she was crying, Suzi put her arm around her, and pulled her in for a hug, Muriel's head buried into her shoulder as tears and emotion flowed out of her. I marveled at how these two lovely women could comfort each other, clothed or not. I think it was the most beautifully natural and wonderful thing I had ever seen. My first instinct was to cuddle the both of them. But I was in my nudeness, plus my English male reserve, stopped me.After a while, Muriel lifted her head, trying to gather herself "sorry about that, I don't normally cry, I'm just being silly.""No you're not! You have every reason and right to be upset." Suzi said, rubbing Muriel's arm gently."You're very kind. It's just that I look at Jim and my heart brakes. He's never been the easiest man to live with, but he was so vibrant and full of life. And to see him like that, breaks my heart. He's only 54, but sometimes I wish he was dead, rather than the way he is." Muriel sniffed; "and then I look at this place falling apart and I feel I don't know how to cope."Tears started to flow again, and Muriel was visibly shaking, Suzi pulled her close, holding her even more tightly than before. She said; “Muriel, this is grieving. It's a process and letting it out is a mandatory part of grieving. It's a proof of how deeply you love Jim. Don't grieve alone.” I looked at them both with love, and I'm ashamed to say, a little lust. Their naked bodies were squashed into each other, making the whole scene somewhat erotic. They eventually broke and Muriel kissed Suzi on the lips, just lingering for a few moments before turning and walking off. I was stuck to the spot, completely shocked; wandering if this place and Muriel were way too much for us. Goodness knows how Suzi felt. As Muriel moved away from us I moved closer to Suzi."Are you ok?""I think so." She softly answered."That was unexpected.""It was, but it felt very natural and beautiful. There was such chemistry between us, as I held her tight, feeling her heart beating and feeling it slow as her breathing settled.” Then Suzi added; “ And besides, she might be a better kisser than you."We both smiled at this and followed on after Muriel.When we caught up with her, Muriel was standing on the decking beside the hot tub, which I had mistaken for a children's swimming pool. The cover was still on and Muriel seemed to be back to her old self, oblivious to what had just happened."This is where you turn on the heaters and the pumps for both the tub and the pool." Muriel said, pointing out a control panel inside a small concrete shed, "if we leave it covered it'll be warm enough in twenty minutes or so. I'll show you around a little bit more ."I put down the bag and we followed.Muriel stopped and looked down sadly at a very overgrown flower bed; "it all seems so overwhelming."'There is a lot to do, but you'll get on top of it, and we'll help you." Suzi said, and I nodded. I didn't know how much we were going to get paid, but I think an offer of bread and regular water would have sufficed at that moment.  Suzi is a very compassionate person, and her empathy drives her to those in need.Muriel took a deep breath to calm herself before saying, "you're both so kind."She paused, and then said; "well, no time like the present." With that she bent over and started pulling at dead leaves. I think she could have probably bent her legs and squatted down; but as it was she was bent at the waist, her bare ass pointed directly at us and her cheeks separated, leaving nothing to the imagination. We probably should have looked away, but I don't think Muriel wanted us to, her hairy pussy and butthole clearly on view. Her ass wiggled and winked at us as she flexed her muscles, pulling at plants.It was an amazing sight, and I would have imagined that I would be turned on by it, but as it was, I found it all too much, too in-your-face, as it were. After a few moments Muriel said, "David could you give me a hand with this one."I found myself bent at the waist next to Muriel, both of us with two hands around a plant that I later found out was called a lipstick plant. Our shoulders were touching and my left elbow kept rubbing off of her right tit and nipple, I'm sure she was leaning in more than was necessary. I found myself thinking of the view Suzi had of both of our behinds and this aroused me more than looking at Muriel's ass.Suddenly the roots gave way and we found ourselves nearly falling over backwards. I steadied myself first, and was able to grab Muriel's arm to stop her. As we straightened, my semi-erect tallywhacker banged against her hip.She looked down at my cock, and then up at my face. Smiling, she said; "I think you should wear shorts when you're clipping the hedges, could be dangerous to that big todger."We all cracked up laughing, and then Muriel looked at the recently pulled roots, "I think the vine weevils got to it. Shall we get in the hot tub now?"This was all wonderful, if not a bit strange, but I found myself still self-conscious about being aroused; and my cock sticking up, or out. I know it's silly, and not even something that I could do anything about. Looking back it was just remnants of the way I was brought up, and I was having to fight a mental battle with myself, not to put my hands over my sizable phallus.We pulled the tub cover off, and as I was folding it away, Suzi and Muriel were getting into the tub. I turned around just in time to see their asses, all goose-pimpled, go under the water. I was only twenty and my cock seemed to be hard or semi hard most of the time. And so it was that I was standing on the deck, my cock sticking out and upward, trying to act as nonchalantly as possible."Come on Dave, stop posing and get in the water." Suzi bantered.I wasn't posing, but Suzi loved to act like I wanted to be a sex symbol. The water was only just warm enough to be comfortable and Muriel said that it has a powerful heater, and would warm up after a while. She leaned over and turned the jets on. Suzi yelped and Muriel burst out laughing."Oh lucky girl, you're sat on one of the jets."It was my first Jacuzzi and I found it wonderful, laying back with my eyes closed as the water swirled around me. After a while Muriel pored some wine in clear plastic tumblers. We all said 'cheers'. I smiled at Suzi, basking in the wonderful decadence of it all, her cunny getting worked by the particular well-positioned jet.“Look over the greens and down that path to the chalets,” Muriel said. “Imagine what it can be, with just some good upkeep. So what do you think of the whole place?""I think I can speak for Suzi and myself when I say it is wonderful and that we are very interested in working here.""That's marvelous, I was worried that it was all too much or that my friendliness might be over-the-top, and might have scared you off."We both shook our heads and Suzi said it would be a great adventure.Muriel gave us more history and details. We asked whatever questions came into our minds. The wine was flowing and we were getting more relaxed and comfortable."I know it's all natural and not necessarily sexual, but do any difficulties arise around sex and so on?" I asked.Muriel smiled and thought, before answering, "When we first moved here, we were very liberated, Children of the sexual revolution, and free-love, and all that. To be honest there was a lot of peer pressure, I don't think everyone, particularly some of the women, were that happy sleeping around and having multiple partners. But no one wanted to stand out as square or old fashioned."We both nodded and Muriel continued."As time went on and the crowd changed so did the sex. Some couples continued to swap with others, but there was none of the free-for-all shenanigans that there had been in the past. Women want a man who will commit to them;  care for them. There's one old friend, she still comes and sleeps with Jim and me, when she's here. More with Jim, really, so maybe not anymore."We both sat captivated, and maybe a little taken aback by Muriel's story. She looked briefly sad and lost in thought before continuing."Any extra marital sex or swinging that takes place these days, seems to do so behind closed doors. We have had one or two domestic bust ups over the years; but for the most part anyone who's involved, seems to be so, happily. A couple has to be ready for these things. You can say you're okay with it, and you might even love getting to shag someone new; But watching someone fuck your partner can be more impacting that some are prepared for. I would be very careful getting sexual with another couple, if that couple hasn't previously been with others.” Last year we had two new couples visit us, who were confirmed swingers. They thought they'd see more of it going on. They liked the place and said; “If you ever wanted the business, we could arrange for ten or so of our friends to come with, for a weekend.”I thanked them and said we'd think about it, not ever expecting that I would. But our bookings are so down for this year, that I think I might have to phone them. What do you think about swinging?"Me and Suzi looked at each other, I don't think either of us had any idea what to say.Eventually Suzi managed, "Well, I suppose, if it's all consenting adults, then what people get up to is their own business. I don't think I would ever want to do it, but good luck to anyone who does. Sex is more than exercise and orgasms, for me. It's giving someone special, a part of who I am.”I nodded my agreement, not being able to think of anything to add."It can be very liberating, enjoyable, and even loving; with the right people. But with the wrong characters, it can be ghastly. I think your non-judgmental, live-and-let-live attitude is very refreshing, particularly for a young person. I would love it if you two would come and work here, please say you will."

Dave's Journey Back To Nature: Part 2Dave Fits In Nicely, at the Arundel Naturist Resort.Based on posts by Big galoot, in 6 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories.My first impressions were of amazing greenness, green grass, green edges, green trees. To my city-boy eyes, this looked like the Garden of Eden, albeit a very unkempt garden of Eden.Jim came to greet us as the car stopped and it was obvious that he had had something like a stroke, walking with a stick and one hand held spastically into his side."Jim, this is David and Suzi, that I was telling you about. They've come to see if they would like to work here."Jim barely glanced at me before turning to Suzi and virtually undressing her with his eyes. "Young totty," is what I think he said, although it wasn't clear, Muriel blushed a bit before saying "Jim that isn't appropriate. You'll have to excuse him, the stroke has caused a bit of a change in personality as well as the more obvious effects. Jim was always a bit saucy but now seems to have no filter."I wanted to laugh, but was worried Suzi might be offended. Thankfully she took it in her stride, saying; "not to worry Muriel, I hear much worse at college, everyday; and at home. And by people who haven't suffered brain trauma." Giving me a look and causing Muriel to smile.Touring the Resort."Let me show you around the place and then we can talk about the job."There were sixty-five chalets, most were two-bed, but a few were three-bed. And only ten are owned by long term members, the rest belonging to the resort, and rented out. There was what looked like two outside swimming pools, which were covered, and various green areas where guests could walk, play games or grill a picnic. There were lots of hedges, providing privacy and working as wind breaks, and some lovely flower beds, all a bit overgrown, recently.When we finished the tour, Muriel invited us into a big brick lodge, near the front gates that turned out to be their home, as well as the reception hall. One of the two pools was situated near the lodge, as was the shower complex.Going into the lodge, she offered us soup that she had made earlier, which was delicious. After the soup, Muriel asked us what we thought of the place. We both said we thought it was lovely. We then talked about the job. I explained that I thought it was only for one person. She said that was her initial plan, but now thought it needed two as she didn't have the time, or energy, to both look after Jim and do all the administration that was needed and all the other work that was needed on the site.We explained that neither of us new anything about gardening, apart from cutting grass and maybe trimming. She said not to worry, as gardening was what kept her sane and she would continue to look after the flower beds. We then got onto the subject of nudity."Have you been nudist very long?" Muriel asked"I have, secretly for a few years, but only really got into it this last semester.""And I've only been doing it a bit less than Dave, but I'm really enjoying it." Suzi said and it was music to my ears."That's wonderful. We have a hot tub near the swimming pool. We could have a dip and talk about the ghastly subject of money, if you like."We stepped outside and over to the chaise lounges. I don't think that Suzi had ever been in too many hot tubs. I sure hadn't. They were a new novelty, until recently. Before we could say anything, Muriel stood up and started undressing. We both looked at each other a little shocked, but then shrugged our shoulders and stood up also.Muriel was naked in no time at all, wearing no underwear under her skirt, shirt and jumper. She threw her clothes on the chair and boldly stood there, almost inviting our stares as we undressed.She was a beautiful woman, average tits with a little sag offset by her perfect posture. One could debate if she was a B or C cup, only have her tell you she doesn't make her tits wear a cup, ever!She had long nipples, which seemed quite erect, as if she was enjoying this. Her belly was flat and she had almost boyish slim hips, long, toned legs, and a thick thatch of dark hair in between them. I think both Suzi and I must have been staring, as we seemed to have stopped undressing.Muriel just stood there with a friendly, open smile on her face; perfectly happy in her own body and space, and welcoming us into it without challenging or threatening us.I was the next to be nude, coyly removing my underpants as I had a semi stiffy, brought on by my excitement at the situation, but also enticed by the site of Muriel. I found it incredibly hot, having this beautiful and elegant woman look at me, and I was unable to stop myself getting harder and bigger."I can see you enjoy being naked." Muriel said to me, still smiling as she looked me up and down. I must have reddened because she said, "don't be embarrassed, you have a beautiful body and if I may say so, a very beautiful cock."I managed a croaked, "thanks."Suzi was standing in her underwear, watching the two of us. I'm not sure if she was waiting for our attention or gob smacked by the whole situation. As we looked at her, she slowly removed her bra and put her shoulders back, smiling, her gorgeous 34 B tits; I only know this from previously looking at her bra; jutting out proudly. Her nipples were as hard as I had ever seen them.I stood by Suzi to encourage her bravery, and I couldn't help myself, saying, "you're beautiful, Dear.""You truly are." Said Muriel; "now off with your knickers."This had the effect of making us all smile. Suzi relaxed a little. Then she wasted no time in removing her knickers, as she stood by the steps to the tub.. "Oh Suzi you're shaven, how wonderful. I've seen a few trimmed ones, but never one completely bare. I've thought about doing it a few times, but Jim is old fashioned and loves my big bush. Not that he's able to do much with it, these days. Do you mind if I have a closer look?"Suzi looked a bit uncertain but eventually said "no I, I don't mind at all." Muriel dropped to her knees, her face only six inches from Suzi's bare snatch.After what seemed like an age, she said, Can you put a foot up on the step for me?”Suzi did, then swiveled the bent knee outward, to accommodate Muriel's curiosity.“How absolutely wonderful, I can see your pink lips just sticking out, it's quite, quite beautiful." With that, she stood up, running her fingers through her own pubes; "Right! I've decided, this big old bush is coming off tonight." And then, with a throaty laugh,  she looked me in the eye and said; "don't worry, it's not part of your gardening duties."You couldn't help but like Muriel, she was so free and open."I'll go and get three towels and we'll get in" As she left us. Suzi turned to me and said; "well, what did you think of that?""She's certainly a force of nature, but I really like her." I quipped."I think you fancy her, more than just ‘like." Before I could say anything she continued, "I think I quite fancy her myself; her face being so close to my cunny. That did all sorts of things to me."My mouth nearly fell open, but before I could say anything, Muriel returned. She had three towels, three tumblers, and two bottles of white wine, and a small bag to carry them all in "I think we should celebrate what I hope will be a beautiful friendship. I would love it if you could stay in one of the chalets tonight? But if not, you can get a taxi easily enough, to take you back to the station." We both nodded and said we'd see how it goes."I left the back door open, so I can hear Jim if he needs me."Just then Jim peered his head out the back door, then say something. I didn't understand him, although I definitely saw fire in his eyes when he saw Suzi buck naked. Muriel heard him and just shook her head, then walked past us, obviously upset, I whispered to Suzi, "I think you make an old man very happy." Which got me an elbow in the ribs.Turning back to Muriel, she was crying, Suzi put her arm around her, and pulled her in for a hug, Muriel's head buried into her shoulder as tears and emotion flowed out of her. I marveled at how these two lovely women could comfort each other, clothed or not. I think it was the most beautifully natural and wonderful thing I had ever seen. My first instinct was to cuddle the both of them. But I was in my nudeness, plus my English male reserve, stopped me.After a while, Muriel lifted her head, trying to gather herself "sorry about that, I don't normally cry, I'm just being silly.""No you're not! You have every reason and right to be upset." Suzi said, rubbing Muriel's arm gently."You're very kind. It's just that I look at Jim and my heart brakes. He's never been the easiest man to live with, but he was so vibrant and full of life. And to see him like that, breaks my heart. He's only 54, but sometimes I wish he was dead, rather than the way he is." Muriel sniffed; "and then I look at this place falling apart and I feel I don't know how to cope."Tears started to flow again, and Muriel was visibly shaking, Suzi pulled her close, holding her even more tightly than before. She said; “Muriel, this is grieving. It's a process and letting it out is a mandatory part of grieving. It's a proof of how deeply you love Jim. Don't grieve alone.” I looked at them both with love, and I'm ashamed to say, a little lust. Their naked bodies were squashed into each other, making the whole scene somewhat erotic. They eventually broke and Muriel kissed Suzi on the lips, just lingering for a few moments before turning and walking off. I was stuck to the spot, completely shocked; wandering if this place and Muriel were way too much for us. Goodness knows how Suzi felt. As Muriel moved away from us I moved closer to Suzi."Are you ok?""I think so." She softly answered."That was unexpected.""It was, but it felt very natural and beautiful. There was such chemistry between us, as I held her tight, feeling her heart beating and feeling it slow as her breathing settled.” Then Suzi added; “ And besides, she might be a better kisser than you."We both smiled at this and followed on after Muriel.When we caught up with her, Muriel was standing on the decking beside the hot tub, which I had mistaken for a children's swimming pool. The cover was still on and Muriel seemed to be back to her old self, oblivious to what had just happened."This is where you turn on the heaters and the pumps for both the tub and the pool." Muriel said, pointing out a control panel inside a small concrete shed, "if we leave it covered it'll be warm enough in twenty minutes or so. I'll show you around a little bit more ."I put down the bag and we followed.Muriel stopped and looked down sadly at a very overgrown flower bed; "it all seems so overwhelming."'There is a lot to do, but you'll get on top of it, and we'll help you." Suzi said, and I nodded. I didn't know how much we were going to get paid, but I think an offer of bread and regular water would have sufficed at that moment.  Suzi is a very compassionate person, and her empathy drives her to those in need.Muriel took a deep breath to calm herself before saying, "you're both so kind."She paused, and then said; "well, no time like the present." With that she bent over and started pulling at dead leaves. I think she could have probably bent her legs and squatted down; but as it was she was bent at the waist, her bare ass pointed directly at us and her cheeks separated, leaving nothing to the imagination. We probably should have looked away, but I don't think Muriel wanted us to, her hairy pussy and butthole clearly on view. Her ass wiggled and winked at us as she flexed her muscles, pulling at plants.It was an amazing sight, and I would have imagined that I would be turned on by it, but as it was, I found it all too much, too in-your-face, as it were. After a few moments Muriel said, "David could you give me a hand with this one."I found myself bent at the waist next to Muriel, both of us with two hands around a plant that I later found out was called a lipstick plant. Our shoulders were touching and my left elbow kept rubbing off of her right tit and nipple, I'm sure she was leaning in more than was necessary. I found myself thinking of the view Suzi had of both of our behinds and this aroused me more than looking at Muriel's ass.Suddenly the roots gave way and we found ourselves nearly falling over backwards. I steadied myself first, and was able to grab Muriel's arm to stop her. As we straightened, my semi-erect tallywhacker banged against her hip.She looked down at my cock, and then up at my face. Smiling, she said; "I think you should wear shorts when you're clipping the hedges, could be dangerous to that big todger."We all cracked up laughing, and then Muriel looked at the recently pulled roots, "I think the vine weevils got to it. Shall we get in the hot tub now?"This was all wonderful, if not a bit strange, but I found myself still self-conscious about being aroused; and my cock sticking up, or out. I know it's silly, and not even something that I could do anything about. Looking back it was just remnants of the way I was brought up, and I was having to fight a mental battle with myself, not to put my hands over my sizable phallus.We pulled the tub cover off, and as I was folding it away, Suzi and Muriel were getting into the tub. I turned around just in time to see their asses, all goose-pimpled, go under the water. I was only twenty and my cock seemed to be hard or semi hard most of the time. And so it was that I was standing on the deck, my cock sticking out and upward, trying to act as nonchalantly as possible."Come on Dave, stop posing and get in the water." Suzi bantered.I wasn't posing, but Suzi loved to act like I wanted to be a sex symbol. The water was only just warm enough to be comfortable and Muriel said that it has a powerful heater, and would warm up after a while. She leaned over and turned the jets on. Suzi yelped and Muriel burst out laughing."Oh lucky girl, you're sat on one of the jets."It was my first Jacuzzi and I found it wonderful, laying back with my eyes closed as the water swirled around me. After a while Muriel pored some wine in clear plastic tumblers. We all said 'cheers'. I smiled at Suzi, basking in the wonderful decadence of it all, her cunny getting worked by the particular well-positioned jet.“Look over the greens and down that path to the chalets,” Muriel said. “Imagine what it can be, with just some good upkeep. So what do you think of the whole place?""I think I can speak for Suzi and myself when I say it is wonderful and that we are very interested in working here.""That's marvelous, I was worried that it was all too much or that my friendliness might be over-the-top, and might have scared you off."We both shook our heads and Suzi said it would be a great adventure.Muriel gave us more history and details. We asked whatever questions came into our minds. The wine was flowing and we were getting more relaxed and comfortable."I know it's all natural and not necessarily sexual, but do any difficulties arise around sex and so on?" I asked.Muriel smiled and thought, before answering, "When we first moved here, we were very liberated, Children of the sexual revolution, and free-love, and all that. To be honest there was a lot of peer pressure, I don't think everyone, particularly some of the women, were that happy sleeping around and having multiple partners. But no one wanted to stand out as square or old fashioned."We both nodded and Muriel continued."As time went on and the crowd changed so did the sex. Some couples continued to swap with others, but there was none of the free-for-all shenanigans that there had been in the past. Women want a man who will commit to them;  care for them. There's one old friend, she still comes and sleeps with Jim and me, when she's here. More with Jim, really, so maybe not anymore."We both sat captivated, and maybe a little taken aback by Muriel's story. She looked briefly sad and lost in thought before continuing."Any extra marital sex or swinging that takes place these days, seems to do so behind closed doors. We have had one or two domestic bust ups over the years; but for the most part anyone who's involved, seems to be so, happily. A couple has to be ready for these things. You can say you're okay with it, and you might even love getting to shag someone new; But watching someone fuck your partner can be more impacting that some are prepared for. I would be very careful getting sexual with another couple, if that couple hasn't previously been with others.” Last year we had two new couples visit us, who were confirmed swingers. They thought they'd see more of it going on. They liked the place and said; “If you ever wanted the business, we could arrange for ten or so of our friends to come with, for a weekend.”I thanked them and said we'd think about it, not ever expecting that I would. But our bookings are so down for this year, that I think I might have to phone them. What do you think about swinging?"Me and Suzi looked at each other, I don't think either of us had any idea what to say.Eventually Suzi managed, "Well, I suppose, if it's all consenting adults, then what people get up to is their own business. I don't think I would ever want to do it, but good luck to anyone who does. Sex is more than exercise and orgasms, for me. It's giving someone special, a part of who I am.”I nodded my agreement, not being able to think of anything to add."It can be very liberating, enjoyable, and even loving; with the right people. But with the wrong characters, it can be ghastly. I think your non-judgmental, live-and-let-live attitude is very refreshing, particularly for a young person. I would love it if you two would come and work here, please say you will."

We continue our campaign to #EndNeurophobia, with the help of Dr. Aaron Berkowitz. This time, Aye presents a case of right hand weakness for 3 months to Vale. Neurology DDx Schema Aye Chan Moe Thant (@AyeThant94) Aye graduated from University of Medicine, Mandalay, Myanmar, and has been working with her mentor neurologist, one of only… Read More »Episode 410: Neurology VMR – right hand weakness for 3 months

ASETA

ASETA

From Texas to Tarmacking. From sourdough to Sligo. It's Istanbullocks. You've been warnedRay's lost in a fairy ring somewhere west of Galway, Morgan Freeman's reads a tennis poem ''Balls'' and segues into Sue Barker fantasies, while Liam Neeson is pitching Breaking Bread — a Ballymena crime drama about a sick chemistry teacher who illegally peddles gluten-free soda farls - any similarities with Breaking Bad are purely coincidental. Aye right!Jorma holds the fort in Crete with tales of Greek bureaucracy, how his singing could lead to a Welsh Bafta, and an Irish DJ argues with a Jack Russell about WB Yeats. Plus music from Gorilla Radio and a restraining order from a woman in Ballina, who's been the victim of lingerie theft.#ComedyPodcast #IrishComedy #Britishcomedy #Comedypodcast #SurrealHumour #LiamNeeson #MorganFreeman #SueBarker #Wimbledon2025 #BreakingBadSpoof #LibertyHillTexas #PodcastRecommendations #IndiePodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

ISUBU ENIYAN

Oh that's right. Lorne Michaels doesn't sound like Austin Powers— He sounds like Dr. Evil. Dead wringer. I don't know how I could mess that up. The Mike Meyers part? Was he both of them! I don't know— was he?? Jesus ChristS This is all your fault, Seth Meyers. Are you— a cinephile? Oh yeah. Of course. I love cinnamon. Idiot. So my insides get soft When I see your shadow Listen Everything glistens when it's golden Perhaps then If it isn't yellow She don't got a soul But she sure do got a body Dor dor nyc TRACY MORGAN OH YEA. I DID SOME WEIRD SHIT THIS MORNING. Tracy! What weird shit! I don't know! I just know it was weird! Wait, Tracy— what happened this morning. Well, the first thing was— I woke up. Yeah, after that. But not in my normal places that I wake up! What do you mean. Well, that was the first thing that was weird! I woke up in BROOKLYN. Why anything I like gets odd at Bedford And why Anything I like Just thinks I'm scum Imm succumbing to the numbness of the public And I love it But I love it cause I'm wholly made of love I don't even live here This place is filled with demons My home is filled with dead things The difference is the spirit We also come light hearted m We also formed from stardust I wonder what's SETH MEYERS finally gets out of the box, The problem is now, that he's marooned on what appears to be a desolate island. It's not entirely desolate, however— this is SUNNI BLU's island, on which there is a huge days long party Props for having a white mom I bed she adores you I can tell by your clothes And what you know That you're not Supposed to My mom Had no rules But was beautiful Suited me, But I'm not beauty queen Really I'd rather have a white mom I'd probably be discovered on Girls gone wild {Enter The Multiverse} If my Shazam can hear it bro it's too loud. Fuck this place. SETH MEYERS You blacked out under the Christmas tree. SUNNI Oh. I'm sorry— SETH MEYERS —but first you put up a Christmas tree. SUNNI Wow! #theblackout SETH MEYERS Yeah, i'm—seriously impressed, but.. SUNNI —-but what? Seth Meyers SETH MEYERS I—just don't understand how you got into my house. SUNNI Through the chimney, obviously. SETH MEYERE That's—I don't even have a chimney. SUNNI Yes you do! (He doesn't) Alternately: Or— (Didn't , previously, however—) SUNNI BLU has a CHIMNEY installed for an elaborate pranking, however, —DIE— ! Ok. —Due to the elaborateness of this prank, belligerent drunkenness then insued, which resulted in— SUNNI —well, were there presents? SETH MEYERS I mean; besides yourself? SUNNI Is what I'm asking! SETH MEYERS Yes! And they were really, very nice, but look— GOTH SETH ROGEN is killin it. Was this not about to be GOTH SETH MEYERS? By some awful Freudian slip, yes, it was— but that can't happen , Why not? Cause that guy's still locked inside a hot metal box. Actually, I'm not, Whaaaaa?? I'm like— on an island. Oh. Yeah. That's right. Marooned. On an island. That sucks. Yeah. So why can you hear us, like? I just figured imm hallucinating. Oh. Right, right. He doesn't know he's on the TV? I don't think so. Oh, I know I'm on TV, it's just— Shh. Let's get out of here before he— Actually, let's just turn this off. *off.* Phew, dodged a bullet there. Close one. Yikes. Thank goodness. This is getting meta. —aaand i'malone again. Christ CHRIST appears beside Seth Meyers on the island. Oh, it's you again. Hey, guy. What did you want? Out of the hot sticky metal box— but as you can see, I did that on my own. Hey, look— I get all my messages at the same time, alright? Do you not have a beeper or something? What year is this? Says the dude in the robe. Watch it. Fuck. Crisis. Speaking of Chrisis—is Jimmy Fallon Still suing me? Probably. I hope so, MEANWHILE Sorry but it had to be done Somehow I'm all for it I got holes in all my socks Like I got golf at 9 o clock I was bionic Now I'm supersonic Toxic for the hustle Russell brand up in this bitch Promote my brand up in this bitch Throw some hands up in this bitch Smoke some ham up on a sandwich Sand up in this castle Throw a flag up in this beach (bitch) Land Hoooooooooooooooooo Land hooooooooooooooo. Land ho Ho Ho Can applause I'm Santa clause I'm man; I'm a Possible Option for Drama Atlanta In a Cadillac In the Back with the Bosses and Models I got Bottle service Hold the phone My servitor say Already won an award And it just got awkward Cause I don't finish the song Tomorrow Flight to Auckland (Oy oy) I am her Boy toy We pick up some Mai tais Then she Ride on My thighs She just right A size nine And I like her eyes, Eyes, She don't want no ICE, Her life on the rocks already deported her twice From where I'm from (Aye aye) Some time this shit don't make no sense So I brought Christmas presents over Wearing cookie monster's— SETH. What. I had Cookie Monster's— uhhh— cookie monster's uh—! Cookie monster's what— Creepy puppet thing The actual puppet? YES! Why—? On my hand! What? IT WAS PART OF THE JOKE!! What! Oh NO, SETH MEYERS. What is happening right now . I don't know. I'm still drunk! But we gotta find Cookie Monster. What! The Cookie Monster fucking—c'mon. Let's check the chimney! I don't have a— CUT TO: …you built me a chimney. Technically, I had a chimney built for you, Seth Meyers, WHY. IT WAS PART OF THE JOKE. WHAT WAS THE JOKE! I FOUND YOU DRUNK UNDER MY CHRISTMAS TREE. It was MY Christmas tree! IN MY LIVING ROOM. [beat] This is just bad office politics. I'm your boss. I resent that. I also resent that. So—wait a second— as part of this “elaborate joke” you also stole a Cookie Monster puppet. I didn't steal it. I own everything, basically, pretty much. Okay— so wait, wait— what you're telling me is that when you came through the chimney— Yes— Which you built on my house— somehow within out my notice— —you take long vacations and your security system sucks— —that's— Also I hacked your security system. —for a joke?! …did it land? WHAT. I'm trying new bits. This scene is running long. —I'm gonna make some calls. Enter The Multiverse} [The Festival Project™ ] {Enter The Multiverse} L E G E N D S: ICONS Tales of A Superstar DJ The Secret Life of Sunnï Blū Ascension Deathwish -Ū. Copyright The Festival Project, Inc. ™ & The Complex Collective © 2015-2025 All Rights Reserved Wait something got kerfaufulled… No we're jumping parallel's it's this season's theme. What's the theme? THE REVERSE QUANTUM SIMULATION THEORY [REQŪÏSĪTE: The Experienxe] [postponed until further notice] Lulz

Aye, listen to Mannnn… Don't let the media noise or them red candles play with your spirit. See, the market ain't broken, it's being realigned. This is where the real ones separate from the tourists. Just like God allows storms not to destroy you, but to develop you, this economic tension ain't about tearing you down—it's about tightening you up. Interest rates up? Inflation stretching pockets? Tech stocks wobbling? Good. That's the pruning process. And remember—God don't prune what's dead… He prunes what got potential. So when the Fed talks, when the headlines hit, don't just react—reposition. Adjust your strategy, but don't abandon your conviction. Recalibration is a holy reset. This is where generational wealth is built—not in the hype, but in the hush. Everybody wanna eat in the bull market, but it's the ones who stay focused, patient, and spirit-led in the recalibration that walk away with ownership. Stay grounded. Stay educated. Stay faithful. 'Cause when the market comes back, it won't reward noise… it's gon' reward discipline. MARKET RECALIBRATION | Wallstreet Trapper (Episode 151) Trappin Tuesday's

Aye gang! In this episode we talk about Ironheart. FULL SPOILERS. What we liked and what we didn't like. Rob also tells a story about his experience at the Superman movie screening and more! Enjoy the episode! https://linktr.ee/IT_MOB.

Leaders are often poor listeners in the modern age.  To listen to our team members requires the allocation of precious time. Advances in technology, especially hand held devices, was trumpeted as unfurling access to more time for contemplative pursuits and work-life balance.  Is there anyone out there who feels they are now more ebullient, because of all the extra time the technology has thrown our way?  Probably not.  In fact, as the pace of life has sped up, we are more time poor than ever.  The mobile phone has become addictive and we are reaching for it almost every second of the day.  We carry it around, we keep it close and we are plugged in 24/7.  Leaders are probably the most time poor in society and so interactions with our team members becomes more and more transactional.  We want something from them in exchange for salary.  We want that report, that update, that meeting and then we rush to the next thing on our To Do list.  If we clocked how much time we spend we each day coaching our people, the results would be preposterously bad. Developing our people is one of the key tasks of the leader.  How can you develop people if you have little clue as to what is happening in their life?  Japan is especially tricky, because staff don't share much about their private lives with their colleagues or the boss.  For example, if someone is getting married, they keep it a secret until it is a done deal, so there is no possibility of the marriage plans falling over and them losing face.  This means as the boss, we need to make a bigger effort to engage our staff and understand what are the key things in their lives.  We need to see where we can help them advance their careers.  But time poor people struggle with this. I know myself, I have never been busier.  When things are going well you are busy fulfilling client orders. When things are bad, you are busy trying to get client orders.  There is no rest. Everyone working from home has made the whole communication piece more challenging as a leader.  My time poor status has been elevated even more negatively by the pandemic and its impact on business.  As bosses, we imagine we are listening to our staff, because we are too optimistic about our time allocations and priorities.  In fact, we are giving orders, checking on details and coordinating efforts across the team.  This is not listening, because the direction tends to be one way.  “Aye, aye captain” as a response from our staff is not communication.  It is a passive response to our barrage of demands. There are different levels of listening and if we are not careful we can get stuck down the bottom of the hierarchy, at pretend or selective listening.  With ideas, thoughts, decisions buzzing around inside our brains, like a lot of bees on speed, we can miss what is going on around us. People are telling us things, but we have not been able to break away from the thoughts occupying our minds.  Instead, we make sounds that appear to indicate we are listening, but actually we are in the pretend listening phase.  Or we may be filleting the white noise emanating from our staff member and seeking only the most highly relevant bits, ignoring the rest.  It as if instead of speed reading, we are speed listening, skimming through the conversation, picking out the plums and discarding the rest.  We want to move up the scale to attentive listening and empathetic listening.  I used to work with a younger colleague who would continue looking at his computer screen and keep typing, while you were talking to him.  After suffering from that bizarre and unnerving experience, I made a commitment.  Whenever people want to speak with me, I need to physically prop the keyboard up on my desk, turn my head to face them and look straight into their eyes, giving them my 100% attention.  I need to be fully present for what they want to say to me and do no filtering.  I need to relax and really listen to what they are  saying and also think about what they are not saying. Empathetic listening is extremely difficult, if you don't make the time to speak with the team members.  We need to know what is going on in their life. The only way to do that is to leap off the leader rat treadmill and spend time with them.  We need to take a leaf from the slow food movement.  We need an equivalent slow leadership movement, if we want to really hear our staff.  Slow down with people to understand their perspective, their emotions and their thinking.  We are listening with our hearts, eyes and ears to hear their needs. They are not making as many Japanese as they used to, so we will all be locked in a struggle to the death to recruit and retain staff.  It is a zero sum game. If you cannot keep the right people and your competitor can, then they can put you out of business. The boss ability to listen at the empathetic level is going to reflect the type of culture and environment, where people feel they can do good work.  Get this wrong and no amount of tech will rescue you.  

Shagbotttom SocietyVictorian Hedonism comes to life.In 13 parts, By BradentonLarry - Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels.The two girls held a whispered conference on the big bed, and then Sage was pushing Reyansh away. She said, "Hold on one sec, lover; I want to try something."There was a very quick rearrangement, during which Don never had to leave Felicia's sweet embrace. Then Sage was laying with her head hanging over the edge of the bed, as Felicia lowered her mouth to Sage's cunt and clit, which she proceeded to lick and suck. Felicia's ass was up in the air, and Don continued to fuck her from behind. Then Sage beckoned to Reyansh, "Bring that big boy over here."Eager to comply, he lowered his hard cock for Sage so she could take it into her mouth and then her throat. Sage held his hips to keep her from getting carried away, but he was free to fuck her throat, and that's exactly what he began to do, reaching forward to cup and squeeze Sage's tits in his hands.Don looked down to see his relatively thick cock sliding in and out of Felicia's tight cunt, Felicia's perfect ass, her slender back, the back of her head with her adorable pixie cut, Sage's taut abs and strong thighs, her breasts being manhandled by Reyansh, her beautiful throat as she let him use it, and Reyansh's dark, athletic body as he worked himself in and out of Sage. It was a beautiful spectacle!Don could tell from the way Felicia was moving her right arm that she was fingering Sage as she licked. It didn't take too long before one of Sage's hands went from Reyansh's hip to the top of Felicia's head, and then it was only a minute longer before Sage was writhing on the bed between Felicia and Reyansh as she had a long, intense orgasm. As she shook and trembled, Reyansh pulled his now dripping wet cock out to let her breath."Damn! That was a good one!" Sage breathed."It looked like it," Don grinned from across the bed.Sage sat up and grinned back at him, before curling up to grab Felicia's face and kiss her deeply. Reyansh got up on the bed behind Sage and coaxed her up onto her hands and knees. Then the two women were kissing in the middle of the bed as the two men fucked them from behind. No one was trying to come; they were just enjoying themselves kissing and fucking.After a little bit of this, Sage broke the kiss, and looked over Felicia's shoulder, smiled at Don and asked, "Are you enjoying her hot cunt, Don?""Oh yes!" he grinned. "Are you enjoying Reyansh's big cock inside you?""You know," she laughed. "I really am.""Good!""I agree, but I was thinking, You know how I had all those cocks fucking me earlier?""I do," Don nodded. "It was very hot!""Yeah it was! But I don't remember sweet Felicia here having more than one cock at any time.""Is that right?""Reyansh," Sage asked over her shoulder, "did you see Felicia getting more than one cock?""No, I certainly didn't."All through this exchange, Felicia had done little more than giggle and push back on Don's cock."Well, this won't do at all," Sage decided. "Stop fucking me and get over here and feed Felicia your cock."Don held still until Reyansh was in position, but then he went back to fucking little Felicia harder, shoving her forward onto the cock in her mouth and throat. Sage crawled over to him and kissed him deeply before bending down to reach under Felicia to play with her clit. Before they could get Felicia to the breaking point, though, Sage stopped and asked Don, "She's got a pretty tight little ass, do you think you can fit inside it?""I could certainly try," Don laughed.Felicia murmured her approval around Reyansh's cock."Don't be so quick, sweetie," Sage said. "You're going to have a cock in your cunt too."Felicia's murmur was more enthusiastic, and she managed to nod her head rather emphatically.In another minute, Sage had Reyansh lie on his back and then Felicia mount him, bending forward so Don could push his cock, slippery with Felicia's juices, slowly up into her very tight, very hot ass. Sage leaned on Don's shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Fuck her ass good, baby. Make her come between you two studs!""Yes, ma'am," Don grinned, and proceeded to begin fucking Felicia's ass intently. Long, slow strokes gradually became shorter and faster. All the while Felicia was rocking her pelvis between the two men and groaning with pleasure.Sage move around to get down on her hands and knees so she could kiss Felicia, who could do little but let herself be kissed."Do you like having those cocks fucking you?" Sage asked."Yes," Felicia moaned. "It feels so good.""Are you going to come on their hard cocks?""Uh huh," Felicia breathed. "Very soon.""Do it, baby!" Sage said as she stroked Felicia's pretty face. "Come for us!""Oh god, yes!" Felicia cried as her body began to spasm between the two men. She shook and clenched, her cunt and ass pulling and grasping at the cocks inside her.Sage leaned in again and kissed her deeply. "Good girl," she smiled. Then she looked over Felicia's shoulder and asked, "Did you come? No? What about you down there? No? Well! We'll have to fix that, won't we? You two were partners in the game, right? You met in Rendezvous, right? Very good. Don and I are partners too, so I think we should finish this swap right. Reyansh, I want you to give me your cum wherever you want, and Don, you come for Felicia."Don slowly drew out of Felicia's ass so she could let Reyansh get out from under her. He took her in his arms and asked her, "Where do you want me to come, Felicia?""Please fuck my ass some more, Don," she said as her hand went to his cock. "But let me ride you."In short order, Don was lying next to Sage. She had her legs wrapped around Reyansh's waist, while he held her wrists up over her head as he drove into her cunt. Don was holding his cock erect for Felicia, who was squatting over him, pushing her tight ass down over his flaring head and thick shaft. Felicia leaned back with her hands on Don's thighs and began to raise and lower herself on him.Reyansh was driving into Sage's cunt with abandon, grinding against her clit and surely bottoming out in her grasping cunt. He was looking into her eyes as he fucked her harder and faster. Soon, both of them were groaning and clenching on the bed next to Don and Felicia as Sage's cunt was eagerly pulling a flood of hot cum out of Reyansh's cock.Don found the fact that he was lying next to Sage as she climaxed on another man's cock intensely erotic. The thought that she was yet again getting filled with cum only made the situation hotter! Don began to arch his back to fuck up into Felicia's ass, and reached down to use his thumb to play with her clit. Then there was motion on the bed next to them, and Sage leaned across Don to replace his thumb with her mouth on Felicia's clit. Reyansh stood up on the bed and offered Felicia his cock to clean off.Don lay back and watched the beautiful woman riding his cock take Reyansh's cummy cock into her mouth and suck on it hungrily, and felt Sage's fingers against the base of his cock as she pushed them up into Felicia's cunt. Then Felicia was coming again, moaning around the cock in her mouth and pushing down on Don. This was all Don could take and he felt his body shoving up into her ass as his balls tightened and his cock swelled inside her. Then he was arching his back, pushing up on Sage and into Felicia as he erupted, pumping a geyser of hot cum up into her.Very slowly, assisted by Reyansh, a quivering Felicia fell backwards, letting Don's cock slip out of her. Sage immediately caught it and took it into her mouth, claiming the last of his cum for herself.When she managed to get up on one arm and look at Don, Sage smiled and said, "Another shower?"Don laughed, utterly smitten by the sleepy, well-fucked look in her eyes and her messy mane of red hair, and said, "Sure, but if you think you're getting more sex out of me, "She kissed him quickly and said, "We'll see about that." Then she was clambering over him and pulling him out of the bed. Reyansh was lying there cradling Felicia in his arms, and Sage called back to them, "Don't take all the covers; we'll be back."As the water poured over them, in a brief break in their making out and hurried cleaning, Sage looked up at him and asked, "So, out in the other world, um, are you seeing anyone?"Don chuckled, bent down to kiss her, and then picked her up. She threw her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist, sinking down on his cock. Don's hands gripped her ass and slowly raised and lowered her. He smiled and said, "Well, I have this relationship with Toshia that's gotten interesting, but, as you know, she's got a girlfriend, but, actually, I was thinking I would like to be seeing you. If you're free, that is.""I think we can work something out," she smirked. "I take it we're going to be swingers, or something like that.""That does seem to be the way things are going," he kissed her again. "How does that sound to you?""Hum, pretty damn good. Just remember, ""I belong to you," he nodded."Aye, and, for the record, in case you were wondering, vice versa," she said as she flexed herself against him, working up and down and grinding against the base of his cock.Don grinned, "Yeah, I worked that out.""But we share.""Right.""And if we get a chance, we're banging the hell out of Toshia," she said."Of course.""Good," she kissed him. "Now fuck me. I want to have one more orgasm before we go to bed.""Greedy girl," he smiled."Hell yeah!""There was a lot more sex on the Riverboat, and we spent some time at the Resort.""Did she really say that about me?" Toshia asked."I swear," Don chuckled."Uh, I do like the sound of that," she smiled. "But you were saying.""Yeah, we did the Jungle Room, naturally, and I showed her the Temple. She got gangbanged in the Grotto, which is a very wet area, as you might expect.""How many guys? In the gangbang, I mean.""It's not a competition, you know," Don laughed.Toshia rolled her eyes at him."There were about a dozen, plus me.""Yes! Still the champion!" Toshia grinned."Well, that was before her trials, so, ""Doesn't count," Toshia said."Seriously?""I have ruled. Okay, you can go on with the story."Chapter 7. Lady Primrose's EarringsAs he and Sage made their way to the Crimson Mountain, Don was acutely aware of their impending separation, and the fact that they might remain apart for quite some time. Accordingly, he made sure they had a variety of plans for meeting up, if possible, leaving messages, when the opportunity presented itself, etc. Passing through the Manor they would leave word with the Scholar, and then linger about there at least for a few days. Passing through the Resort they would both check in with the Sheriff and leave word with the Sage."I'll try to remember that," Sage laughed."Yeah, and I'm trying to get used to thinking of you as Evelyn," Don smiled.Don also told her about the Wizard as a potential ally whose home might be a good meeting place, and the Witches of the Glen who might be helpful. Of course, they also thought the Maidenhead might be useful, even if they couldn't be too sure it would long remain in Megan's control. In turn, Evelyn told him about a cafe in the bazaar on the far side of the sea, and they agreed to check in at the tavern on the beach and Ambrosia's when in the vicinity of Rendezvous.When they got to the locker rooms in the Hall of the Crimson Mountain King, they bathed, but Don made a point of retrieving the staffs the Wizard had given him and Shelonda what seemed so long ago. Stephanie had had no real experience with such things, and Nicole was positively averse to using any kind of weapon. Evelyn, though, had some martial arts training, though it was mostly in aikido, and definitely had no problem with weapons."Too bad we don't have swords," she mused as she spun the enchanted wooden staff in her hands. Having been made for Shelonda, it was just about the perfect size for Evelyn."God, you're hot!" Don grinned as he admired the way the muscles in her arms and wrists moved as she played with the staff."Oh, we should have gotten bows and arrows from the elves!"Don groaned, "Ugh, why didn't I think of that?"She laughed, "Well, you're not the only one who didn't.""On the other hand," he mused, "it doesn't seem like we're very likely to be called upon to fight anyone. Still, an unbreakable staff can be a useful tool.""Hard wood can definitely be good to get your hands on," she smirked.It turned out that, as long as they bathed and were naked, the red-robed servitors had no problem with letting them proceed into the Pleasure Dome and seemed to pay no attention at all to the staffs."Holy hell!" Evelyn breathed as they entered the vast chamber, momentarily stunned by the scale of both the room and the orgy going on in it."Yeah," Don nodded.They proceeded to the circular couch in the middle of the dome, Evelyn taking in the spectacle as they went."The king's throne is that away, but I want to see if we can just ride the sofa up," Don said. "But first, come with me. I want to have some time with you before we head up."He led her down to the base of the stairs, where they set their staffs off to the side, out of the way but close at hand, and made love for what might be the last time in a long while. Though a few of the other revelers offered to join in, Don and Evelyn kept to themselves this time. When they were finally worn out, they made a quick trip to the nearest fountain to clean up and then returned to the sofa. With their staffs across their laps, and their hands tightly clasped, they rode the couch up to the waiting room."Damn!" Evelyn grinned. "This is not safe at all!"

Don Meets Pamela, the administrator of the rings.In 13 parts, By BradentonLarry - Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels.Sitting down next to them, furthest from the throne, and next to Nicole, Don asked, "Have I missed anything?""Well," Nicole leaned over and pointed, "see that little woman there?" She indicated a truly tiny woman, who had long light brown hair, in an unruly mane, relatively long legs, and who seemed vaguely Mediterranean to Don. She was riding up and down on the cock of an athletic guy not too far from the foot of the stairs. "While you were gone, three different guys have come and gone. She was giving blow job after blow job and each one came on her face and tits.""Nice," Don smiled."Right?" Nicole grinned as her hand slipped into Don's lap and began to idly caress his cock. Looking down he saw that her other hand was already busy between Stephanie's legs."And see that cute young thing over there," Nicole nodded, drawing Don's attention to a girl with short hair who seemed to be Japanese or Korean, and no older than the Nymphets. She was wrapped around a tall, black guy who was standing, holding her ass in hands as he raised her and lowered her on his cock. "A minute ago, there was another guy behind her, Oh, here comes another one!"Don watched as a tall, fit Asian guy with quite a few tattoos came up behind the young girl and seemed to begin fucking her ass. The girl seemed quite happy to be sandwiched there, and Don couldn't help remembering back to the Disco in the Manor when he had been behind Shelonda in a similar situation. He noticed that his cock was very hard in Nicole's hand. He decided it was time he returned the favor.Don turned to Nicole, who met him halfway with an open mouth. As they kissed, Don's hand moved up the inside of her smooth thigh to her moist labia. Nicole twisted around to give him easier access, and Don's fingers slipped up inside her."Oh, it's about time!" Stephanie laughed, as she turned to get in on the fun. As Nicole leaned back against her, so that Don could get down between her legs, Stephanie proceeded to kiss the side of Nicole's neck and reach around to tease her dark nipples.Soon, Nicole was arching her back as Don's tongue focused on her clit and his fingers moved in and out of her eager cunt, and Stephanie sat on her face, grinding down on Nicole's now very talented tongue. Both Don and Nicole were diligent and soon both women had intense orgasms, but Don wanted to make Stephanie come too, so the women happily switched places. Don dipped his tongue into Stephanie's slippery, moist folds, as Nicole positioned herself over Stephanie's mouth.Intent as he was upon giving Stephanie her second orgasm, Don didn't notice that a rather large man had come up to stand in front of Nicole, who responded by sucking happily on the cock that was offered her. It was only when Stephanie had stopped writhing under his ministrations, and Don got up to move into fucking her, that Don saw the man in front of Nicole. Right away he noticed the stereotypical royal robes and the crown on the man's head.Don had no idea what the etiquette of this situation demanded, but his majesty seemed happily occupied at the moment, and Don was the only one of his group who hadn't come yet. So, with a shrug and a smile, Don reached down and pushed himself into Stephanie's waiting cunt. She kept licking Nicole's cunt and clit as Don shoved himself deep into her, fucking her intently, needing to come. Don found himself admiring Nicole's back and cute ass as much as Stephanie's thin, muscular body and heaving tits. Then Stephanie's exquisitely talented cunt was pulling him deep into a shuddering orgasm, his cock pumping cum deep into her. Don clenched, shook, and trembled there, slowly catching his breath.Then Nicole was trembling between Stephanie's mouth and the regal stranger's cock as her second orgasm had its way with her little body. The man Don had assumed was the king held Nicole's head in place as she shook and groaned."Oh, yes! Very nice!" the big man smiled. He slowly stepped back, and then said, "Normally, sex up here isn't allowed, but you three looked so nice, and your mouth so inviting, my dear, that we made an exception. We're allowed to do that, of course."Don had gently withdrawn from Stephanie, as Nicole also carefully moved off her face."Your majesty, King of the Crimson Mountain?" Don asked as he helped Stephanie to her feet."Yes, that would be me, or we," the man chuckled. He was about six and a half feet tall and rather broad, not fat, but just built quite solidly. He had red hair, naturally, and Don was a bit surprised to note that his cock seemed a bit smaller than Don's.The king moved over to his throne and sat down, slouching back in it almost immediately. "You should really go down and join the party now, though," he said with a dismissive wave of his hand."But I believe we have come to see you, your grace," Don said quickly."And see us you have," the king nodded."Well, yes, but, ""Your majesty," Stephanie said, after wiping some of Nicole's wetness off her face, "we have come seeking rings.""Rings?""Yes, majesty," Stephanie nodded, "black rings that let people come and go at will.""My pretty young lady," the king laughed, "you don't need rings for that. You may come and go as you will now.""But these are rings that enable one to leave Eros and come back," Stephanie smiled, apparently not in the least troubled by the king's evasion."Why would anyone want to leave Eros?" the king asked. "We don't even need to leave our pleasure dome often, and never leave our beautiful hall.""Well, your majesty," Don tried, "we have friends outside Eros and we would like to see them again.""Silly man," the king laughed. "You should seek to bring your friends here. We are sure they would enjoy our pleasure dome. It is, after all, a dome of pleasure.""That it is," Don nodded, not sure how to proceed. "But how can we bring them back here if we can't leave Eros to get them and then come back?""Oh, we're afraid we have no idea," the king shrugged.Stephanie decided on a somewhat more direct approach. She stepped up to the throne and leaned forward in front of the king, taking his mostly-erect cock in her hand and beginning to slowly pull on it. Don was a bit distracted by his view of Stephanie's long, firm legs and her tight as, as well as her cunt, from which some of Don's cum was slowly leaking. Stephanie smiled and said, "Your majesty, do you know anyone who might know about such rings?""Well," he smiled, "we do know an awful lot of people. We meet many, many people here." He was obviously enjoying what Stephanie was doing to him and was definitely enjoying the view of her breasts."Have some of those people come here before us, looking for rings?" she smiled."It's possible," the king nodded, "a long time ago."Stephanie began to slowly crawl up on the throne, straddling his lap. She leaned in close and asked, "Do you remember what you told them or what they did?""Hum," the king frowned, his eyes never leaving Stephanie's tits. Slowly he raised his hands to them."Think carefully, your majesty," she rubbed the head of his cock between her labia, teasing her clit with the spongy tip. Don's cum was coating the king's cockhead. She said, "It's very important.""Well, we do recall that we are supposed to ask something, " the king murmured as his hands squeezed her tits, and he pinched her nipples."Uh, that feels nice," Stephanie murmured, while continuing to tease herself and the king with what she was doing with his cock. "What were you supposed to ask?""We are supposed to ask if you know the secret," the king said quietly."The secret, eh?" Stephanie smiled. She pushed the king's cock up inside her at last, sinking down on him in one motion. Don and Nicole could clearly see quite a bit of Don's cum being pushed out of Stephanie's cunt to run slowly over the base of the king's cock and his balls. Stephanie leaned forward and kissed the royal mouth, and then began to grind herself against him. For several long minutes, as Don and Nicole just stood there watching, hands idly touching themselves, Stephanie just rode the king's cock, giving him a royal lap dance. The view of her tight, muscular ass and the bottom of the king's fat cock disappearing into her cunt was quite erotic. Finally, he was pushing up in his throne, groaning, and pumping his cum into her, where it mingled with what was left of Don's and began to run out over his balls. Stephanie smiled, kissed him on the forehead and then leaned in to whisper something in his ear.The king smiled, laughed, and said, "Why didn't you say so? Come right this way!""What did she say?" Toshia wanted to know."I didn't hear," Don said a bit coyly."You didn't ask?""I did, but she wouldn't tell me. I eventually figured it out, but that's for later," he smiled smugly."Annoying," Toshia scowled, "but fine, go on."With sudden energy, the king lifted a rather startled Stephanie off his lap and set her down. All his former apparent ennui was gone as he swept out of his throne and started down the elevated walkway. They quickly followed him back to the circular sofa in the middle of the vast chamber."Sit here and don't get up," the king commanded.They hurried to obey, and then Stephanie started to ask, "Now what, ?" but was cut off by the realization that the couch was rather swiftly rising through the air."Oh hell!" Nicole gasped, reminding Don how much she hated riding the flying carpet."A bit of warning would have been nice," Don laughed nervously. He looked up again and saw that there seemed to be an opening in the apex of the dome, directly above them. Don fervently hoped it was an opening, since the flying couch didn't seem inclined to stop or even slow down before getting that high.The others saw what was happening and seemed to be coming. By the time they reached the ceiling they were all holding each other's hands tightly.Chapter 5. The SeductionFortunately, what appeared to be a dark opening in the ceiling of the pleasure dome turned out to be an opening in the ceiling of the pleasure dome. Oddly enough, though, once they passed through that opening, they found themselves in a well-lit office, completely different from the over-the-top and dramatic Hall of the Crimson Mountain King they had just left. The circular couch was in the middle of an area flanked on three sides by oddly conventional chairs of the metal and plastic variety, the kind intended to be sat in for hours but designed to be uncomfortable after five minutes. There were potted plants in the two corners, and Don was pretty sure they were artificial. A beige carpeting covered the floor. It had vacuum track marks on it and there wasn't a speck of dust to be seen. The fourth side of the room was dominated by a large welcome desk, identified as such by a friendly sign that said "Welcome," behind which sat a middle-aged woman wearing glasses and her brown hair piled high on her head. She glanced up at them as they came to a halt, peering over the rim of her glasses, and then promptly looked back at the computer screen off to her right. For some reason, it was the slightly yellowed screens between them and the fluorescent lights in the ceiling that seemed most incongruous to Don.Don, Nicole, and Stephanie shared puzzled looks for a moment before Don got up and moved toward the welcome desk. A name plate identified the woman at the computer as Gladys, who he now saw was fully clothed, in a fashion that seemed to him to be most appropriate in the 1970s. Don found himself suddenly acutely aware that he was stark naked, and was a bit happy that he wasn't sporting a raging erection at the moment.Toshia couldn't stop laughing and let herself fall over in the booth. Don waited patiently, but with a smile on his face, until she pulled herself back up and laughingly said, "Please, go on.""Hello, um, Gladys," Don started. "We're here about, uh, getting some rings.""Case number?" Gladys asked without looking up."I don't think we have one," Don frowned and looked over to Stephanie who just shook her head. "No, we don't have one."Gladys rolled her eyes a bit and fixed Don with an exasperated, over-the-rims look before finally saying, "Names?"They told her and she typed them into the computer. Without looking back up, Gladys told them to "Have a seat. Someone will be with you shortly."They turned to return to the sofa, but it was already gone, presumably back to its place in the pleasure dome, so they reluctantly sat down on the plastic chairs, doubly uncomfortable in their nudity."This is not at all what I was expecting," Stephanie admitted."What were you expecting exactly?" Nicole wanted to know."Uh, definitely not this.""Yeah, I was thinking something a bit more majestic or mystical or something," added Don.They sat there in awkward silence for what must have been half an hour. This was easily the longest bit of completely idle time they had spent without anyone starting any sexual mischief. There was something about the setting, and Gladys's presence, that proved to be a wet blanket, or a cold shower. If Don had realized this was his last opportunity to have a threesome with these two women, he might have instigated something, but as it was, they waited quietly without much in the way of even conversation."Wait, what?" Toshia cut in."Yeah, this was the last time the three of us would be in the same room.""You never saw them again?""Oh, yeah, we ran into each other now and then, but never all at the same time.""Still, ""Yeah, but at the time we were each just dealing with what was going on at the time. It was only later that we realized we should have said goodbye and had one last fling."There was a buzz at the welcome desk, Gladys picked up an old-fashioned phone, listened for a moment, said "Yes, ma'am, right away," hung up the phone, and called out "Stephanie Ayers," as if there were more than just the three people waiting or as if Stephanie might have stepped out somewhere.Stephanie shot to her feet immediately and crossed to the desk. Gladys looked up, actually smiled, and said, "They will see you now." She gestured to her left, indicating a door that Don was quite sure had not been there before. There was a black plaque on the door with white lettering that said "Interviews."A bit nervously, Stephanie smiled and waved to Don and Nicole and went through the door.If anything, the mood in the waiting room was now even more awkward. Fortunately for him, Don was called in only about ten minutes later. He gave Nicole's hand a squeeze as he smiled and said, "See you on the other side, sexy.""Good luck, I guess, Professor!" she smiled up at him.Don stepped through the door to find himself in a rather unimpressive and entirely mundane meeting room. A long wooden table took up most of the room and gathered around the far end of the table were five black-robed, hooded figures. Don assumed they were watchers and realized he hadn't seen any of those mysterious folks in quite some time.To his surprise, the one at the very end of the table gestured toward the chair at the end of the table nearest to Don and said in a clearly feminine voice, "Please have a seat."Don was happy the seat he was offered was more comfortable than those in the waiting room, and he noted that Stephanie seemed to have warmed it up a bit for him. As he sat down, the woman at the other end asked, "Do you mind if we do without the hoods, Don?""No, of course not," Don answered, a bit surprised that he had been asked.As they each reached up and drew their hoods back, the one at the end explained, "The higher-ups insist on the hoods. They say it lends a certain gravitas to the situation, but we find it just makes things unnecessarily formal and uncomfortable."It turned out that the woman under the hood was an attractive black woman with her hair buzzed down very close to her scalp. She smiled warmly at Don and said, "Welcome, Don. I'm Pamela, and I'll be conducting this interview. My associates are here primarily as witnesses."On Pamela's right were an older gentleman with ebony black skin and short white hair and a white woman with short, straight dark brown hair. On her left were a young east Asian man with surprisingly light blond hair and another white woman with long, curly blonde hair. None of these "witnesses" said anything while Don was in the room."Pleased to meet you, Pamela," Don smiled. He took a sip from the glass of water that had been set there for him."You have an interesting file, Don," Pamela said, gesturing to a black binder on the table in front of her. "I was surprised that you didn't go home with Toshia.""I would like to be able to return here after I go," Don said.

Aye aye captain. BNXN is gearing up to take full control with his sophomore album CAPTAIN and in this episode of Artiste Hangout with Femi Makx we unpack everything you should expect. From the sound direction and standout features to the strategic rollout and current chart momentum this episode gives a full lens into what could be BNXN's most complete project yet.With collaborations from Rema Seyi Vibez Victony and the Soweto Gospel Choir and production names like Sarz Juls and Tay Iwar CAPTAIN is not just a statement it's a shift. We explore the themes the timing and what its performance might look like across platforms in Nigeria the UK and the global Afrobeats scene.This episode is for the real ones—BNXN fans culture heads and anyone curious about the future of Afrobeats. Lock in and hear why CAPTAIN might just set a new standard.

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 22 Andy answers the ladies most vulnerable concerns.. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. "So why me, huh?" Sarah asked her. "Why'd'ja choose me to play with you and Andy?" Piper bit her bottom lip, as if she was a tad nervous, before she shyly looked up at Sarah. "'Cause I'm kinda turned on with how you talk, Sarah, and I was kinda hoping you could talk to me that way while I was trying to make our man happy?" Despite all the massive confidence he'd seen Piper bearing almost the entire time he'd known her, she seemed almost nervous that Sarah would consider turning her down, as if her voiced desire was a step too far beyond the pale. Sarah licked her lips as her eyes widened. "I will totally fucking do that as long as you agree to just one fucking condition. If you don't, well, I can just go upstairs and leave you two to it." Andy was about to ask, but Piper beat him to it. "What condition is that?" "You can't, like, get fucking mad at me for anything I say, or anything I call you. 'Cause if I'm gonna fucking do this, then I'm gonna fucking do this, and I can't be all in my fucking head about you thinking I'm being mean or rude or shit. So you can't be all pissed off that I call you dirty things if you're fucking asking me to talk fucking dirty to you," Sarah giggled. "That cool, bitch?" "Not only do I promise not to get mad, Sares," Piper said to her. "I promise to like it." Sarah nodded. "Good, then why the fuck aren't you on top of that cock already?" Piper pursed her lips into a smile. "I was waiting for you to tell me I could, Andy." Sarah's hand swatted over and spanked Piper's ass with a loud smack. "He shouldn't have to tell you, you daft bitch. You wanted to fuck him, he totally didn't say 'not now' or some shit, so that means fucking time is on!" In the middle of Sarah's sentence, Piper reached down to grab his cock and get it aligned so she could slide right down onto it, straddling him to get his cock as deep inside of her as she could, her other hand resting on his shoulder. "That's a good girl," Sarah purred. "Don't you feel so much better without an empty cunt, you athletic slut you?" Piper nodded, leaning over to kiss Sarah again, although Sarah pushed her back after a few seconds, clearly intent on keeping her mouth free so she could talk to her. "I've had like a dozen partners, and not one of them made me feel like Andy does," Piper said, looking at Sarah's face. Sarah slapped Piper's ass again, this time even harder. "So why are you fucking telling me, bitch? Am I the one whose cock is jammed up your stupid snatch?" Piper moaned as Sarah's fingernails dragged against that reddening flesh, shaking her head, turning to look at Andy. "You feel so fucking good inside of me, Andy," she said to him. "Thank you for taking me in." On 'in,' she bounced down hard in his lap. "Thank you for saving my friend." On 'friend,' she did it again. "It's a shame you're on fucking birth control," Sarah teased, "because these are fucking breeding hips, and you'd look super fucking cute with a baby bump, but I guess you need to go and win your gold medal before we can talk about getting you bred like a proper bitch." Piper's tongue swiped out over her own lips, as she nodded. "I'll do it eventually," she said eagerly. "I'll happily bear your child, Andy, but I gotta do the Olympics first, to prove to myself that I can really do it." "You don't  " Andy started but Piper kissed him once more, jamming her tongue into his mouth sloppily, making sure to silence him. "Hmm, I think she likes the idea of you fucking breeding her, Andy," Sarah said with a laugh. "The idea of you pumping her fucking cunt so full of fuck cream that it's practically oozing out of her, so messy and sloppy, like a good little whore. You like that image don't you, Pipes?" The athletic brunette nodded quickly. "I do I do I fucking do so fucking much," she panted, as Sarah reached one of her hands in to pinch one of Piper's tan nipples firmly, giving it a twist, which made the girl groan huskily. "And yet, you're still fucking holding back," Sarah scolded. "You gotta fucking give in like a good girl, otherwise you won't get what you fucking what, what I know you think you fucking deserve, but you don't deserve it until you've ditched all those fucking fears and embraced who the fuck you are from now on." She gave Piper's ass another hard smack before sliding her hand around the athlete's waist, moving her thumb down to rub against Piper's clit, as Andy felt her start to tighten up even more around his shaft. "But I bet, I just fucking bet, that if you just let it out, let it all fucking out, you'd feel fucking better, and you'd get what a good bitch deserves." "Fuck, Sarah, you're so fucking good with those fingers," Piper whimpered. "Damn fucking straight I am," Sarah said. "But I'm gonna stop if you don't cut loose." "I'm, I'm fucking scared," Piper whispered quietly. "We all were, Pipes, but you learn to fucking let go and trust, not just in Andy but in the family, in all the fucking rest of us, that we've got your fucking back, that we're gonna fucking take care of you, so either you're fucking in or you're out, what's it gonna be, bitch?" "I'm in,” she cried, her voice shredded and frantic, clearly about to have an immense orgasm. "I'm in I'm in I'm so fucking in,” "Not fucking yet you aren't," Sarah said harshly. "Gotta let that last fucking guard down, gotta let that last fucking truth out. You'll feel better, bitch, but you gotta fucking say it,” "Andy Rook, I fucking love you!" Piper shouted before she kissed him hard, and she started to have a monstrous orgasm, her whole body violently trembling, and the spasms of her cunt around his cock forced his own release, as he started spewing arcing loads of steaming jism inside of her, the two of them locked together on top and bottom, the intensity of the orgasm cratering them out. As soon as it had passed, Piper buried her face into Andy's neck, laughing a little bit even as he could feel her eyes watering, tears of joy slipping from her face. "I thought I'd never say that to another person as long as I fucking lived," she whispered against his skin, "but I do, I fucking love you, Andy Rook." "And I love you too, Piper Brown," he said, stroking her hair with one hand, his other intertwined with Sarah's. They stayed like that for a minute or so before Piper started to giggle, turning to look over at Sarah. "I don't know how you do it," she said to the tall redhead, "sitting there watching and not demanding to get involved." "Oh I'm happy enough to wait my fucking turn," Sarah giggled. "But pretty quick Imma need you to get off of him so I can fucking get off." Piper's giggle burst from her as she nodded then leaned over to kiss Sarah. "Thank you for that," she told her. "I hate having to ask for help." "That's what family's for," Sarah answered. "But get a little, give a little, so Imma also need you to help me out here." The brunette climbed from his lap, and his cock was absolutely soaked with their juices, and while he was starting to soften, that feral look in Sarah's eyes told him he wasn't done yet, and made him begin to stiffen up again. "Whatever you need, Sares," Piper said, "I got you, boo." "I'll just need a helping hand," Sarah said, getting up off the couch. Andy tried to get up as well, but Sarah shoved him back down once more. "Who told you you could fucking get up?" she giggled. "I need you to stay there and let me run the fucking show this time, 'cause I'm a little fucking nervous, and I want to have the fucking control to do this how I think fucking feels right. I hope that's fucking okay with you, because if it isn't, well, I don't fucking care, now, do I?" Andy wasn't entirely sure what Sarah had in mind, as she turned away from him and moved to straddle his legs, but very quickly, it dawned on him what she was doing. "I can't fucking believe Emily did this shit before I did," Sarah said, reaching one hand back to grab his cock. Her position had her legs spread wide, as she moved to rub the tip of his cock along her cunt before dragging it downward, nestling it against the rosebud of her asshole. "Had to be fucking first to something, I guess." He could feel the tall woman getting his cock aligned right and then slowly started sitting down on it, his shaft pulsing in excitement as he felt her body, tight and a little unprepared, try and resist his cock's entrance before she finally seemed to lose patience with her own hole, as she pushed down to get the head of his cock inside of her ass. Her head leaned back, her eyes looking up at the ceiling, as a guttural, almost paleolithic, moan of pain and pleasure boiled out of her. "Fuck that's fucking big that's big holy fucking shit balls that's a big fat fucking cock and it's fucking going up my fucking ass oh my fucking God what the fuck am I doing?" "We can stop if  "   Sarah looked back over her shoulder at Andy with a wildness in her eyes that he'd never seen before, a deranged grin on her face. "Stop? Are you out of your fucking mind? This is the greatest fucking feeling I've ever fucking felt in my fucking life! Why the fuck would I want you to fucking stop?! I want fucking all of it!" she said to him as she pushed herself down onto his cock until he was buried as deeply as he could get inside of her backdoor, the tall girl's skin covered with a layer of goosebumps that made the fine red hairs of her arms stand on end, her body vibrating in orgasm as she did. "Jesus Fucking Christ, I feel like such an utter fucking whore and I fucking love it! You've got that big fucking cock jammed right up my fucking virgin asshole and it made me fucking cum just going the fuck in, so now you gotta fuck me or I gotta fuck you but somebody's gotta fuck somebody right the fuck now!" Piper had sort of been standing off to the side a little bit, and one of Sarah's hands shot up and grabbed one of the brunette's wrists, yanking her close. "Er, what, what am I supposed to be doing here, Sarah?" "You can fucking rub or you can fucking lick, but you gotta fucking work that fucking clit of mine while he's fucking my ass, so get fucking to it!" she barked, and the commanding tone to her voice made it clear the actress was not asking for input on the matter. The tanned athlete took one of her hands timidly down to rub against Sarah's cunt before moving to stroke her clit, as Sarah began to bounce up and down in his lap, one hand on the arm of the couch, the other on Andy's hip. In this position, Sarah had completely control of the tempo and the force with which she slid her ass down onto his cock, something he'd expected her to use to keep it slow and tender, but instead, Sarah was practically trying to break the couch, slamming her ass down into his lap as hard as she cold each time, while Piper was caressing her clit. "Fuck that's so fucking good oh my god why didn't I ever get fucked in the ass before I love this so fucking much but it's all your ass, Andy, Daddy, it's only ever your fucking ass, you're the only one to ever fuck me this way, and I fucking love that and I keep God! I keep fucking cumming over and over again, so please Daddy, please please please cum in my fucking virgin ass and let me fucking feel it, let me feel you own the last fucking bit of me no man's ever had, because I don't need any other fucking man but you because I fucking love the ever loving shit out of you you big cocked motherfucker you hear me I fucking love you Andy so fucking cum, cum right the fuck up my ass! Fuck! Fuck! Muph!" She leaned her head back at the end onto his shoulder, craning her neck so that she could jam her lips against his, as he felt Piper's other hand cradling his balls, squeezing them gently, and the sensations were all too much, as his body let loose another orgasm, flooding Sarah's rectum with a gusher of an orgasm as their tongues clung to each other before they both slumped back, his back against the couch, her back against his chest, both of them nearly too exhausted to move. Huginn, who had remained completely undisturbed by all of this, finally had had enough, and the black cat got up and hopped down the couch, moving to a different unoccupied couch, hopping back up, curling into a ball and settling down once more, a perturbed look on his face. Then Sarah began to feverishly giggle, waves of curved red hair over her face before she pushed them out. "Em was fucking right. That was totally fucking amazeballs. Thanks Pipes." Piper winked a little bit as she pushed a fingertip inside of Sarah's cunt, causing the actress to gasp a little bit in surprise before Piper slid the finger back out, lifting it up to her lips, licking it in front of the two of them. "We're definitely gonna need a shower before we get into bed," she said, and they all laughed at that. Chapter 38 In a rather unusual turn of events, Andy woke the next morning on November 18th to an empty bed. It wasn't uncommon for him to awake with only a couple of the girls still in bed asleep with him, but a totally empty bed was almost an unheard of experience at this point. He glanced at his Apple Watch and saw that it was around 10:30, which meant he'd definitely slept in a bit. Like most writers, Andy was generally a nocturnal creature, staying up late and getting up late, which had put his schedule at odds with some members of the family, but they'd mostly learned to make it work. He slipped on some boxers, pulled on his jeans and tugged on a t shirt,  this particular one a gift from some fantasy convention he'd been a guest speaker at,  and headed over to the balcony, stepping out onto it with a smirk. Down at the pool, most of the girls were nearly finishing their morning work out, being led by Sheridan, a sea of sports bras and yoga pants, doing the last part of their high intensity section of the workout, and Andy could vaguely hear Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby" being played from a portable speaker near them. (Andy still wasn't sure which bothered him more, the fact that they were listening to Vanilla Ice or the fact that Vanilla Ice opened that song with "Stop! Collaborate and listen!" and yet there were no signs of any collaboration going on. In fact, it didn't seem like Ice understood what the word collaborate meant. The writer in him just couldn't bear it.) Lauren and Taylor weren't there as he expected they'd gone in to work today, especially since it was Taylor's first day of working in months. He hoped that she fit in well with the 49ers organization, but at this point, he wasn't entirely even sure who was working there. Niko also wasn't working out as he figured she'd gone to work at the base today. He wasn't sure what her schedule was like these days so he trusted her to let him know when she was coming and going and when it would be important for him to know. She was more than capable enough to manage her own schedule. It was nice to spot that both Fiona and Moira were in the group, between Ash and Sarah in the front row of three, and both seemed to be in good spirits. Moira's unruly mass of red curls had been braided into a tightly woven tail that whipped behind her as she danced to the beat of the music, occasionally slapping against either Fi or Sarah, both of whom laughed wildly when it did. It made Moira look a little like a redheaded version of the original polygon model of Tomb Raider, now that he thought about it. The weather was still mostly overcast, and it looked like rain might even be on the schedule for later in the day, something he didn't mind one bit. California had mostly been in a drought for years, and any rain the state could get was seen as a blessing, particularly since they now lived in more densely wooded areas. The last thing Andy wanted was a wild fire to take his new home. He leaned against the railing, just enjoying looking over both the estate and his family before Sheridan finally spotted him up on the higher floor balcony as the song came to an end. She pointed to Andy to draw the girls' attention to him, as all of them turned to look at him. The words were out of his mouth before he even knew he was saying them. "Good morning, angels," he shouted to them. "Good morning Andy!" they shot back in matching cadence. "You know, you really ought to join us some mornings, Andrew," Emily teased politely. "Hmm. I'd be worried about making a fool of myself." "I can make sure we don't overwhelm you on your first work out, dude," Sheridan said to him with a wink and a grin. "Let's give it a go tomorrow, 'kay?" Andy groaned a little bit. "God help me. Okay, I'll give it a try, but no making fun of me!" All the girls made various catty comments and gestures as he rolled his eyes and headed back into the house. He had a little bit before any of them were back inside anyway, even if they were finished with their workout. While the pool house was being converted into Tala's workshop, it still had a large group shower room, and the girls tended to go and cool down in there before splitting off afterwards. A few of them would go and shower in their own individual bathrooms, but the majority of them enjoyed the communal experience, as it let them all continue to get to know each other. Andy headed down to the kitchen and found that Jenny had made him a mini breakfast burrito that was waiting with a glass of pineapple juice on the little kitchen island, Katie also sort of milling around the room as both women bowed to him when he entered. He'd tried to get them to stop doing that, but he'd learned that attempting to discourage his staff of anything generally only resulted in them doing it even more than they were originally, so he was trying a new tactic now,  let them burn themselves out on it and hope they'd stop on their own. "Enjoy your breakfast, sir!" Jenny said, moving around the counter before dropping down onto her knees. "I know I'll enjoy mine!" Her fingertips unbuttoned Andy's jeans and he was thankful he hadn't put on a belt this morning, as Jenny began to lick and suck on his cock, slowly running her tongue along it while her wife watched on, although there was an unusual expression on Katie's face, something Andy wasn't quite sure of. "What's on your mind, Katie?" he said, feeling Jenny's lips slowly push down around his length. They had told him before that they wanted to make getting their needed dose as low impact for him as possible, and had stressed that they enjoyed this sort of casual acquisition. "You look like you're worried about something." The Hispanic girl sighed and nodded. "I, I wanted to discuss something with you, sir, but I wasn't sure quite how to bring it up. Shit, I'm nervous even thinking about it now." Andy nodded, chewing a mouthful of his food before taking a sip from the glass to wash it down. "Look, you don't have to tell me anything, Katie, but if something's on your mind, you'll probably feel better if you just get it out of your head. No matter how much worse you think it'll be if you say it, letting it rattle around your brain like a cage full of bees is only going to be worse." "I suppose that's fair, sir," Katie said, chewing on her finger nervously. "It's just, this isn't the sort of thing I thought I'd ever say, sir, and it makes me feel strange. I think it's probably just part of whatever the treatment's doing to me, but it's, it feels like it's both a part of me and not a part of me, you know? Like some part of me I didn't know about but was lingering in the dark shadows of my mind the whole time?" Andy frowned a little. "No, I can't say I do know what you're talking about." Jenny's mouth popped off his cock as she made an exasperated noise from his waistline. "Uuuugh! Just tell him already!" she said, frustration in her voice, before she pushed her lips back down around his cock once more. "Sir, I think, I think I'd like for you to fuck me, maybe just the once, maybe just to see if maybe I might like it," Katie said, her voice sounded terrified that he would reject her or yell at her. "I mean, I don't have a problem with if both of you don't, but you certainly needn't do it on my behalf, Katie," Andy told her, as Jenny started to suck harder, as if to pull the resistance out of him. "You made it very clear to me when I arrived that you were a lesbian, though, and I wouldn't dream of asking you to change that." Katie threw her hands up, her eyes widening a little bit, almost in shock at herself. "That's just it! I am! I know I am! I've always thought girls were the only sexy things in the world! The idea of being with dudes just made me uneasy! I imagine I felt about guys the same way you feel about guys,  I don't want to be with that!" "Then why  " "I don't know, alright?! I don't fucking get it! Thinking about any other man just makes my stomach all queasy and nauseous, but the last few weeks, when I've been thinking about what it looks like when I see you fucking Jenny, I don't feel like I do when I think about any other man, and I don't understand what's going on!" The woman looked like she was about to cry, and Andy reached over and grabbed her hand, pulling her over towards him, his fingertips curling around hers. "I am never going to make you do anything you don't want to do, Katie," he said sternly. "But they did tell us that the serum was going to have some side effects, and that it was likely going to make some physiological changes to our bodies, some foreseen and some unforeseen." Jenny had eased off the speed of the blowjob a bit, but hadn't stopped entirely. "If you want to try actual sex with me, I'm not opposed to that, but  " "But you don't want me to think I'm doing it on your account. I'm not, sir, I assure you! I don't even know where these thoughts are coming from, but I told Jenny about a week ago, I had a sex dream with you in it, and we were fucking, and in the dream, it seemed like I liked it quite a lot," Katie sighed. "I know that doesn't necessarily mean anything,” "They say sex dreams generally aren't about sex." "But, but when you were taking Whitney the other day? I found myself getting wet, thinking about what it would be like, what it would be like to be her, to be getting fucked by you, and, and I think I want to try that at some point, not the tying up or collaring or anything but, but I think I'd like for you to fuck me once, just to see, just to see if I really do feel differently about you than I do all the other men in the world,” "And you're okay with this, Jenny?" he said, reaching down to stroke Jenny's hair back. Jenny nodded, popping her lips off his cock with a loud smack. "I still want both of us to be there any time you dose either of us, sir, but if this is a thing she wants to try, well, it would be unfairly judgmental of me to fuck you myself and not allow her to do so as well. 'Sides, she told me about these feelings long before she told you, and that's all that really matters." She smiled at him kindly, then lowered her lips back down around his shaft once more, her eyes still looking up at when she did. "Then it's fine with me, Katie," he said, looking back at the Hispanic woman, one of her hands being held by him, the other being held by Jenny from below. "Thank you, sir," Katie said. "For being willing to do that with me, and for not judging me because of it." "Katie, look. If you want to try it, that's fine. If you try it and you don't like it, that's fine. If you try and do like it and want it more regularly, that's fine. If you change your mind right before we're about to do it, that's fine. Whatever you want here, it's fine. I just want you to be satisfied with whatever decision you made, and I want it made because it's what you want, and not what you think I want, okay? I am surrounded by beautiful women, and I'm just trying to do everything I can to do right by all of you. So whatever you want, you just need to tell me." She nodded, before looking down with a smile. "You were taking your time because I was talking to him, weren't you, Jen?" The curvy girl between his legs giggled a little and nodded, then started thrusting her face into his lap faster and more intently, and Andy could feel that release building up inside of him, even as he finished the last bite of breakfast. He was more than a little taken back when Katie leaned in and whispered into his ear, "My wife's such a good little cocksucker, isn't she? Give us our breakfast, Master, that fucking load of hot cum right into her fucking mouth." The unexpected words made his cock throb and finally he pumped a few squirts of his cum into Jenny's mouth, as she shuddered at his feet. The woman kept her lips sealed just past the head of his cock while her fingers jerked along the rest of his length, making sure to milk out the last of it before she pulled her head back, keeping her lips pursed together before standing up and immediately kissing Katie, swapping that cum between them, Katie's form trembling as she leaned against Jenny, the Latina being held up by her wife for just a moment until the orgasm passed. Both women pulled from the kiss, licking each others lips for just a moment before turning to look over at Andy, almost as if they were ready for a second course right now. Katie winked at him. "You know, I know it's all chemical, but dios mio if that orgasm from tasting your cum doesn't leave one sweet ass high,” Jenny moved to tuck his cock back into his pants, zipping them back up and buttoning them, as she glanced over at Katie. "Don't forget to update the Needs Board, hun," she told her wife, who nodded in response. "Got it, babe. Anyway, sir, let me think about it, but next time, I think I'd like you to fuck Jenny with me there, and then fuck me with Jenny there, so I have some time to let it settle in my brain that I'm going to go through with it," Katie said to him. "You know, actually fucking a dude." "Whatever you want, Katie." "Thank you, sir. Oh, don't forget, you have a phone meeting at 2 with that director candidate, Erica Xiao." He nodded. "Good. Yes. Thank you for reminding me. I might have forgotten if you hadn't." Jenny snickered a little. "Em would've had your balls if you had." "She's got them anyway," Katie shot back. Andy arched an eyebrow at them. "Don't you two start." He drank the last of his pineapple juice then pushed the plate forward. "Thanks Jenny, for everything. I'm going to head to my office. Maybe send down lunch a little after one." "Yes sir. Also, don't forget that Miss Steele will be here sometime today." "Oh right," Andy said, chuckling. "Sometimes everything gets so busy, I can barely remember my own name, much less who's coming and going. Katie, can you set up a large portion of the back yard to fence off, so that Maya's dogs will have a place to run and play without us worrying about them getting into the pool if she wants to leave them outside?" "Miss Steele's got dogs?" Katie said, groaning. "Great. Now I get to start having to watch the backyard for landmines." "That's why I was thinking if we gave them their own area that's fenced off, at least we'd have it clearly marked that it's the part of the yard with occasional hazards, although Sarah insisted that Maya is known to always clean up after her dogs. Maybe put a bin outside for her to toss them all?" Katie nodded. "I can spend the day prepping the yard so we're not all worried about stepping in dog shit when we're walking in the grass." "Good on you." "Did Miss Washington said what kinds of dogs they were, sir?" Jenny asked. "Pomeranians, I think," Andy said. "Those aren't dogs, those are animated dustmops," Katie said with an amused snort. "And here I was worried they would be Saint Bernards or Rottweilers." As he headed down to his office, he was starting to run through the checklist of things he needed to do today in his head. He definitely wanted to talk to Moira now that she was up, but he figured he would let her come to him in her own time, as it had been so long since they'd really talked to one another. He would need to pair with Maya when she arrived, and he also needed to check on Lexi and see how she was doing. As much as he wanted to head over to Xander's and see his friend's new house and meet all the rest of his partners, Xander had asked him to wait until the weekend, so he would have more of a chance to get settled, both into the house and into the household. He was almost at the door of his office when his iPhone began to ring, and he fished it out of his pocket, surprised to see Phil The Younger a.k.a. Lesser Phil a.k.a. Phil Pak (not Phil Marcos), on the screen, as he answered it. "Heya man, long time no talk!" Andy said to him. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" "Nothing good I'm afraid," Lesser Phil sighed. "I'm not going to be able to make poker night on Friday. In fact, I may not be able to make poker night for a while, I'm afraid." "That sucks man. What's going on?" "Well, me and the family were relocated, so we're quite a bit further from you now, and the place where we're at is very strict on quarantine procedures, so if we came and saw you and the rest of the gang for poker, we'd have to quarantine for a week before we would be allowed back in to our house, so while we'll try and do it a couple of times a year, for the foreseeable future, it's probably off the table." "Where's they move you to that's got such strict guidelines?" "They're calling the place Valhalla Shores. They decided that they didn't want to put all their eggs in one basket and have New Eden be the only place for Level Fives in the Bay area, so they built a new one over closer to the coast. We're where Pacifica used to be, basically, although I think they tore almost all the old city down and put up this place, like a giant gated mansion community. It's a little snobby for my liking, personally, but you know how Brandy has always been in terms of keeping up with Joneses, so when the NSA offered to move us over to here, she made me jump on it immediately. It's mostly just spooks and techbros over here," he sighed. "You'd fucking hate it. I know I do, but it keeps peace in my household, and that's about all I can ask." "Wait, techbros and spies crossbreeding? That sounds like a horrible idea, like, just the worst. On the other hand, if your quarantine protocols are that strict, it might mean I never have to deal with techbros again, and that might make the whole thing absolutely worth while. Hey, can I recommend a couple of cockish investors over here in New Eden to get transferred over there?" Phil the Younger laughed. "You fuckin' wish, dude. Whole place is fucking creepy anyway. Brandy says some of the women are kind of Stepford ish, and she feels like they're definitely an in crowd and an out crowd and she has zero interest in joining the in crowd. They keep trying to get her to join one of their hot yoga classes, but she said they'd have to break her legs to get her to do that shit. I hope she was being figurative, but you know Brandy." "That I do. Well, we'll miss seeing you guys, but I get it. You're doing what you have to do to keep your family safe and sound. Keep us posted, but I appreciate you calling to tell me personally." "Copy that, man," he said. "See you on the other side." After Lesser Phil had hung up, Andy wondered how many actual community hubs had formed in the Bay area since the cultural rebuilding had started. He also wondered how hard it would be for him or any members of his family to leave New Eden, even for a short while. He'd been craving an animal style In N Out burger for nearly a year now, and while he could ask Jenny to make something equivalent, there was nothing quite like having the real deal. He was certain Niko would know what the current entrance/exit policy for New Eden was, and he resolved to ask her when he saw her. It couldn't be that strict, he realized, because Lauren had been coming and going to the training camp for over a week now. Maybe he could just get in the Tesla and drive down to an In N Out, assuming he could find one that was open. When he walked into his office, he saw that his two cats, Muninn and Huginn, were curled together in a bundle in his writing chair, the two forming a sort of gray black yin yang symbol. Also, as promised, atop of his desk was a brand new laptop, a silver MacBook, with a Post It note on top of it. It was from Whitney (he could recognize her meticulous handwriting) and said "Try it. If you hate it, we'll get something different. “w" As much as he wanted to move the two cats so he could sit down in the chair where he got his best work done, he decided it was okay to sit at the desk for a while, even though it felt way more formal, although he realized he wasn't doing much creative today, mostly just the assorted busywork that sprung up around the actual creative process. The new laptop was set up with access to his emails and had all of his writing transferred onto it, so he could consult back to other things as he started answering questions from his agent and his editor, losing an hour or so before there was a knock at the door. "Come on in," he said. The door opened and Moira and Fiona slipped in together, closing the door behind them. All of their possessions clearly hadn't arrived from cross country yet, because he noticed each of them was wearing one of his t shirts, the fabric hanging big and loose over them like an overcoat. Moira had on one of his Biffy Clyro shirts, which he found fitting, whereas Fiona had clearly dived way back into the depths of his closet and was wearing a Gin Blossoms t shirt. "It's good ta see ya again, Andrew," Moira said shyly, smiling across the room at him. "I've missed ye something fierce." "How are you feeling, Moira? I knew the serum can react strangely to people who've had complicated medical history, and I imagine dengue fever isn't the only strange bug you've picked up over your wild and crazy life." "I cannae tell ye how great I feel, Andrew," she said, starting to move across the room to him. "An' how thankful I am ye trusted Fi enough t' let her bring me in wit' her. Yer, nae mad, are ye?" He shook his head. "Look, Moira. We had a wonderful time together, but that was decades ago. But I've always trusted Fi, and if you and her were together before now, there's no reason any of that should change." "Of course it'll have t' change, ye big dummy," she giggled. "Ye know she's always loved ye, ye daft shite? E'en when I came inta her life, that has nae changed." "Except she's changed and I've changed, so maybe it has changed too." "You haven't changed that much, Andy," Fi said, "and neither have I. You still trusted me enough to offer me a place in your family, even when I had a condition I wouldn't tell you about." "Were ye surprised when ye saw me?" Moira asked him. "Well, I'd figured it out before I saw you. I figured it out as soon as I heard your voice, and that let me put two and two together. But I was very surprised when I heard your voice, yeah." "Surprised inna good way, I kin hope?" "Naturally, although I was hoping you were going to be happy with me, even with the weight I've put on and the hair I've lost," he chuckled. "I think ye look sexy, ya galoot," Moira twittered. "Hold me hands, Fi. It's all I kin do t' keep from havin' a crack at him right now." Fiona wrapped her arms around Moira's waist, shaking her head. "He's not going anywhere, Moira," she said with a kind ease. "Aye, an' neither are we, an' I don' wannae be too far behind the other gare ruls, an' two of 'em are already in th' lead." "One day at a time, love. One day at a time." "You two want to sit and have a chat?" Andy said. On the other side of his desk were two chairs, so he could entertain meetings in here if he needed, although the chairs held the cats more often than they held people. "Oh aye, let's have a chinwaggle," Moira said, slipping from Fiona's arms, moving over towards Andy's desk, but instead of moving to sit in one of the chairs across the desk, she moved to slide herself up and into his lap, her legs dangling over one of the arms of the chair. Fi then moved across the room, and moved his laptop to one side, so she could scoot her ass up and onto his desk directly in front of him, making sure not to knock anything off. "So tell m  " he started to say before Moira leaned in and kissed him hard, her body light in his lap, but the strength with which she pulled his lips onto her own was more than a bit forceful. "I bloody love ye, Andy," Moira said to him. "And Jaysis, do you smell fookin' amazin'." Andy grinned a bit, arching an eyebrow. "Sounds like you may have picked up a little bit of Piper's superpower along the way. I wonder if that's a side effect of the dengue fever antibodies you have in your system." "I cannae tell ye where it comes from, but Jaysis, you smell better'n any meal I've ever eaten in me life. I want ta breathe ye all day long,” She buried her face against the nape of his neck, as he looked to Fiona for sympathy, but saw only mirth on her face. "So, Moira, tell me what you've been up to since we last saw each other." "School," she said, pronouncing the word like 'skoo will,' "then more school, then residency, then Doctors Without Borders, at least until I ran in ta Fi again in DC. It's no tha' excitin'." "Doctors Without Borders, tending to patients in the middle of warzones? That's the absolute definition of exciting to me." "Then you're a fool," she giggled. "I mean, yeh, I was shot at now an' again, but that's a part o' life anyway, isn't it? I was tendin' to kids who needed doctors, an' while I loved tha' work, when I shacked up with Fi again, she wanted me to be safer, wha'ever th' hell tha' means." "It means you're saving lives without people trying to take yours, Mo," Fiona scolded, kicking the Scottish lass with the tip of her leather boot. "She's still undecided whether she wants to take up private practice here in New Eden, or if she wants to go and work in the hospital they're finishing up alongside the base." "In a few years, anyway," Moira said. "After I've given ye a son." Andy's head leaned back a little bit. "Little early to be thinking about stuff like that, isn't it, Moira?" "Like hell, Andy," Moira said, pulling her face back from his neck so she could look him in the eyes again. "You," she said, tapping his chest with a fingertip, "need children. I," she continued, tapping her own, "want tae have one or two before I get back to the medical life. So all we're doin' is just wastin' fookin' time until you get me ripe." "You still don't need to rush right into it, Moira," Andy said, stroking his fingertips against the back of her neck. "Take some time to get settled and comfortable here in the household before you go rushing straight towards the respawning finish line." "Spoken like a laddie who doesnae realize our clocks 'r tickin'," she grumbled. "But, aye, I'll do me best nae to rush it too much. And all the other gare ruls have bin sooo kind tae us. I didnae know what t' expect, 'specially wit' all th' famous faces y'got around these parts." "They're just people, like anyone else," Andy replied. "Think how I feel, trying not to let anyone down." "Ach, yer daft, laddie," Moira said, tickling him a flash. "Yer a good man, an' tha's all tha' matters." "Emily told us all about her experiences this morning, what with the poker game and how it felt being traded like cattle. She was horrified by what horrible things the few remaining men in power are up to, and Niko explained how she basically had to force you to get into the game to rescue Asha and her mother from Covington," Fiona said. "I'm sure that must've been quite taxing." "You had to risk people to win people, and while I certainly didn't want my ex as part of my life, I didn't want to consign her to a life with someone horrible either," he sighed. "I feel very fortunate that it all worked out in my favor, but it was such a gigantic risk." Fiona tugged his chair a little closer to the desk with her leather boot, shrugging. "Life's one colossal risk, Andy. You've always known that." "You think your mother's going to be okay with you being part of a polypod, Moira? I only met her the once, but she struck me as an especially stern Catholic." "When th' news comes out, she'll come 'round, 'specially since th' Pope's apparently okay wit' it, or so we were told a' th' base," Moira shrugged. "Besides, it saves me th' trouble from havin' t' tell 'er I'm shacked up wit' Fi here. She's still nae comfortable wit' 'th' gays,'" she said, making air quotes with her fingers. "Didnae know how t' break it t' her tha' her daughter's as queer as a two dollar bill." "I hope I'm not coming between you two," Andy said. "Nah," Fiona laughed. "We're both bi, and both need some cock in our life. Yours'll do. It was generally my favorite." "An' mine, although I didnae try tha' many." "Tell him how many, Mo." "I don' wanna." "C'mon." "Fi,” "Mo,” Moira sighed. "Fine, wha'ever. I've only had three cocks, Andy, an' yours was right smack dab in th' middle. Me first was a boy in school, and me most recent was another doctor jus' before I hooked up with Fi again. I generally prefer gare ruls to lads, but ye always felt, felt like home t' me." "She was worried that her piercings were going to put you off her," Fi said. "Between the nose stud and the pierced nipples, she told Niko that she felt too different than anyone else it sounded like you had in the family." "I'll admit, I'm not generally a big fan of excessive piercings, but the whole look works on you, Moira. I mean, if you'd had one of those septum piercings like a bull ring, I might have had some reservations, but who am I to tell someone what they do to their body?" Fiona giggled slightly. "I jokingly suggested she get one of her eyebrows pierced once and she slugged me hard enough that she almost dislocated my shoulder." "Do I look like I wanna join bloody Evanescence?" Moira growled. "Did you two decide if you want a bedroom to yourselves, or one each?" Moira shook her head. "We're wit' you, laddie, no matter where y' lay yer head down." "Although I was thinking I might turn one of them into an office for me to work, if that's okay," Fiona said. "Sort of like your little office here." "Yeah, of course," Andy said. "Whatever you want. At some point, all the rooms will be spoken for, but until they are, they're fair game for whoever wants them." "At some point, some of them are going to have to be nurseries," Fiona stressed. "Especially since you've already got two pregnant ladies in the house. How far along are they?" "A couple of months," Andy said. "So it's still early days, and we haven't really told many people outside of the family yet, since the first few months are the diciest." "When's th' big wedding gonnae be?" Moira asked. "Niko told me her family wouldn't give two shits if the wedding happened after the kid was born, but Ash said her family might have some issues with it, so she and I might have a legal ceremony beforehand and then when the world is open again, when I have the giant wedding ceremony, she'd be part of that too." "Seems a fair compromise," Fi agreed. "It would also mean you have someone to function as Head of Household if you were incapacitated and needed someone to make a decision on your behalf." "Don't go planning to have me put into a medical coma any time soon, Fi," Andy joked. "That's still a few months down the way." "Good thing you've got yourself a doctor in the house now, hmm?" "How're you two feeling about all of this? I know it's a lot to process all at once." "It's a lot of bloody names ta learn," Moira grumbled. "I almost want ta see nametags on e'eryone fer a few months." "You'll pick them up pretty quick," Andy said. "And I was smart or lucky enough to not get any two partners with the same first name, thank god for that." "I dinnae find out if they tol' you, Andy," Moira interrupted, "but jus' so ye know, my cycle's shorter than th' rest of th' gare ruls. They kin go about ten days 'fore they cannae think clearly, but I kin only go about six." "Nobody told me that, no," Andy said. "Any other differences I should know about?" "Nothin' ye need concern yerself with," she replied, kissing his cheek. "I'm sure all th' lasses have got their own quirks so ye need nae concern yerself." "Alright then, I'll try not to worry. Anyway, I appreciate you stopping by to say hello, but I do have an online meeting in just a little bit, so I hate to kick you out but  " "No no! You've got work to do, so c'mon, Mo," Fiona said, hopping off his desk, pulling Moira from his lap. "Let the man talk to the voices in his computer." Moira leaned down and kissed him one final time, resting her face against his for what felt like minutes before she smiled and pulled back. "I love ye, ye daft git." "Love you both," he said, as they slipped out of his office. The meeting went as well as could be expected, and Erica Xiao seemed like she might actually be a good choice for directing the first Druid Gunslinger movie, as she seemed to intuitively grasp the undercurrents of the story without having to explicitly call them out, something that was a refreshing change of pace from the first couple of candidates he'd interviewed. Of course, he didn't get the final say on who was directing the movie, but Working Title seemed to genuinely care that he liked the director, so that they would remain true to the books. They'd gone against authors' wishes before, and it hadn't gone well for them, so now they were trying to make sure the author approved of, or at least understood the reasoning for, any changes that were made in the process of translating it from a book to a movie. After that, he decided he needed to go and check on Lexi. Even though Phil had told him that her imprinting process time would take a bit longer, he thought it wise to swing by and make sure that she wasn't in any pain, but when he arrived by her door, he found Niko sitting on a chair in front of it, a Lee Child book in her hands. "Hey Niko," Andy said, approaching her. "I thought you were on the base today?" Niko shook her head, smiling at him as she tucked a slip of paper in as a bookmark before closing the paperback up, setting it on a table next to her. "With Lexi having a different reaction to the serum, Phil asked me to stay here and keep tabs on her, and report in what other irregularities she was going through, especially since I noticed a few right away." Andy's brow furrowed in worry. "How concerned should I be?" Niko sort of tilted her head a little. "That's just the thing, babe. I don't think you need to be at all worried, but you are definitely going to have a challenge on your hands for the first few days after she wakes up. I think letting Jenny help with that, though, would be a wise move." "What the hell does that mean, Niko?" She jerked her head over her shoulder. "C'mere and lemme show you." After sliding off the chair, she opened the door and they both stepped into the room, and Andy immediately started to panic, but he felt Niko's hand take his and squeeze it reassuringly. "She's fine, Andy, regardless of how she looks." "What, what the hell is happening to her?" There was a large growth on one side of her, a faded white swell over her body, and Andy didn't even know what exactly he was looking at. "She's healing," Niko said. "The reason you're going to want Jenny to help is that by the time she wakes up, I think Lexi's not going to have any scars left. It's almost like she's shedding the scarred layer of skin and replacing it with fresh, newly healed skin, like a snake molting. We've seen it in rare cases on the base. I told you early on that I knew the serum did some basic additional healing when it was first taken into the woman's body, but that level of healing varies a lot from patient to patient, more than anything else about it. When she was injected on the base, I knew there was a, call it ten to fifteen percent chance this might happen, that the serum might go into overdrive with her scars and began repairing the skin and the nerves, but I didn't want to get her hopes up in case it didn't happen, because we still don't know what does and doesn't cause the reaction." "And, and you're telling me her skin will just be back to normal?" "Whoa, easy there. 'Normal' is a very flexible word, and one that we don't like using on the base," Niko told him. "She's likely to be healed but considering all of those nerves will be freshly regrown, they are going to be hyper sensitive, and that means people are going to have to be careful around her, because it'll be easy to overwhelm her until those nerves have gotten accustomed to working again and they know how to moderate their intake. We also have no idea what it's going to do to her PTSD, if anything, and that's what we need to keep an eye on." "But, she is going to be okay, right?" "This isn't going to be a problem, Andy, but it's up to all of us to make sure that the repercussions of her sudden healing don't overwhelm her. But I think it'll be okay." Andy sighed, turning to press a kiss against Niko's cheek. "Is there anything else you aren't telling me?" "Honey, what I'm not telling you could fill up Levi's Stadium, but you just have to trust me that I'm doing it all with your best interests at heart, okay?" He chuckled, shaking his head. "You're lucky you're so cute." "It's one of my natural defense mechanisms," she teased. "C'mon, let's leave her be." They stepped back out into the hallway and Niko closed the door behind her. "I figured I should be here when she wakes up, so I can explain to her all of what happened, and prepare her for what to expect. It's the least I can do." She jerked her chin upward, to get Andy to look behind him. "Looks like you're up." Nicolette was walking down the hall, a soft smile on her face. "Just letting you know, Master, that Miss Steele's ride over just buzzed the gate and she should be at the front door any minute. Miss Washington and Miss Stevens said they would meet you there." Andy kissed Niko again before turning to walk with Nicolette towards the stairs, heading to the front door. "Showtime!" Chapter 39 It was with a little surprise that Andy stepped out of his front door to see a familiar electric blue Tesla parked in front of it, Phil helping Maya remove her things from his trunk. "Hello Maya," Andy said, walking down the steps towards her, seeing Emily and Sarah were already there, Emily talking with Maya while Sarah was crouched down next to the little carrier, giving the dogs inside scratches while cooing at t

Sunday Celebration Service Date: 22/06/25 Topic: Honor as Pathway to Blessedness Preacher: Rev. Dr. Ebenezer Okronipa   CHOOSING BLESSINGS Blessing and cursing are products of actions (Deuteronomy 30:19). You can choose the outcome of your life. PATHWAY TO BLESSEDNESS Be born again. Location and association. Godly living. Obedience to divine instructions (mastery of the word of God). Serving in the house of God. Prayer. Humility. Full of praise (Psalm 89:15, Jeremiah 30:19). Reading anointed books. Being a soul winner (Daniel 12:3). Giving (Malachi 3:8-11). Kingdom projects (Haggai 1:18). Helping others (Aye 20:35). Honoring father and mother. HONOR IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD Honor is a currency in the kingdom of God (Hebrews 7:7). Who you honor determines what comes to you. God chose your father (1 Corinthians 4:15, 1 Samuel 2:30). IMPORTANCE OF HONOR Recognizing and protecting from shame and ridicule (Genesis 9:20-26). Honoring those who are deserving (Romans 13:7). Honoring pastor and wife, parents, and husband. CONSEQUENCES OF DISHONOR Disgrace and obscurity (Proverbs 20:20, Proverbs 29:1). Heaven fights against dishonor. HOW TO HONOR Recognition (Leviticus 19:2). Thinking the right thoughts (Acts 28:1-7). Honoring with substance (Proverbs 3:9, Genesis 27:1-4). Listening gladly (Mark 12:35-37). Obeying instructions and advice (Ephesians 6:1). Honor upwards (Hebrews 7:7, John 11:2). Being present in meetings (1 Samuel 15:30). Making references (Acts 22:3). Honoring on time. BENEFITS OF HONOR Honor is a spiritual magnet for supernatural manifestations. Honor gives access.

We continue our campaign to #EndNeurophobia, with the help of Dr. Aaron Berkowitz. This time, Bayan presents a case of altered mental status to Aye.  Neurology DDx Schema Bayan Al Zoabu  Bayan is a senior medical student from Syria with a passion for neurology and a drive to make a difference in healthcare. From founding… Read More »Episode 402: Neurology VMR – AMS

ASE IGBEYAWO

 Karen Saves The Universe: Part 2Can a strange marriage survive?Based on a post by LingeringAfterthought, in 3 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories.I want you, Red. I need to make you mine; mine forever. I've never felt like this before; I know I never will again. Marry me." Cal pleaded."I;” Karen murmured, glancing around their group to make sure she wouldn't be overheard, "I don't know what to say. You're wonderful; and you've done so much for me, but this has all been so fast. We're still just getting to know each other; and half the time it doesn't even make sense to me why you would want me; but I; I just; can I just finish school?" she asked."How you can even think about school when someone like me is ready to give you everything you ever wanted, to take care of you completely, it's just crazy;” Cal murmured, sliding his hand up between her legs and brushing along the edge of her panties.Karen blushed and squeezed her thighs together, looking around embarrassed. "I just; I just worked so hard to get in. Juilliard's been my whole life for so long," she said, looking up into his eyes pleading.Cal looked at her through hooded eyes, "Keep looking at me like that and we won't be waiting for anything." His eyes heated as he pulled her closer, dominating her with a hungry kiss while she squirmed self-consciously. The couples around the table smirked as Cal grew even more bold in his explorations.When he released her, Karen hid her face in his neck as the others cheered. They were his friends, happy to see him happy. Cal glanced at a waiter nearby and gestured for more drinks for the table. The opening act on the stage below finished its last set, but the crowd refused to let the show end. Cheers filled the club, with the crowd demanding an encore.Castor, the lead singer, waited for the crowd to quiet with a grin, then his eyes drifted upward and his face lit with excitement. "Thank you, thanks guys, you're a great audience. For an encore, we'd love to give you a taste of our next album. We've been banging it out in the studio and I can't tell you how excited we are for it to be released. Problem is, it's got this insane keys part that can't be played by just anyone, but I think I see our studio angel in the audience tonight. Kare, baby; will you come help us out?" he asked, reaching upward to where Karen sat.Cal's friends turned to look at Karen in surprise. "You play? Like, for real?" Cal's friend Tony yelled across the table to her in surprise. Karen nodded in embarrassment, glancing at Cal.Everything suddenly froze as Karen rose and walked over to the table, standing over her younger self looking at Cal's face. "Look, you little dummy; look at it! It's right there!" she yelled at Young Karen."What's there?" Holland asked, craning his neck to try to see what she was yelling about."Cal, for all his big words, rich gifts, and grand gestures; he hadn't told his friends anything about me; because nothing of who I really was mattered to him. Only the things he wanted about me mattered to him ; that I was shy, and submissive, and just grateful to have someone pay attention to me. And here ; look at his face! It fell!" she yelled, gesturing to where Cal sat, leaning back in his chair."His face appears still to be attached, to me;” Holland said, doubtfully."It's just a phrase. His face didn't actually fall, but his eyes; look, he's still smiling, but you see it in his eyes. He's not happy for me. He's not happy because the moment stopped being about Cal and how he was the great boyfriend spoiling his new stupid girlfriend on her birthday. Once the moment became about me; that I was asked up on stage; that I could do something his friends admired; ugh, why didn't I see it?" she moaned."What happened?" Holland asked.Karen rubbed her eyes with her hand. "I was young. I was asked to do something. I was asked for help. I was a stupid ninny that had absolutely no ability to say 'no' without thinking the world would end; so, I went up and played with the band.""Oh; was that bad?" Holland asked."No, it wasn't bad. It was a great song. I played well and I was just tipsy enough to not feel all the eyes that were looking at me, making my skin crawl. And you know; some part of me; I wanted to do it. I wanted to show myself that I could play for people; outside a quiet studio," Karen admitted. "Everyone always went on and on about how I needed to get over being so self-conscious and how it would hold my career back. That, and part of me wanted to show Cal's friends that I was more than just another girl in the long line of girls that he had gone through; that I was worth something.""Sometimes I wish our crew would see that I was worth something more;” Holland said, ruefully."Yeah; it's hard when you're young. You're dying to show the world what you're worth, how you're special, but they mostly just need you to work hard and do as you're told," Karen sighed, looking around the club. "Some people will never see what's special about you. They see what they want and they really don't care about the rest. It's those people that see who you really are; without wanting anything from you; those are the ones you need to hang onto."Karen turned her back on the club and the room re-formed into her Newark apartment. The intercom buzzed and Dana rolled out of bed to answer it. "What's up?" she asked."Hey; um, I don't have my keys. Can you buzz me in?" Karen's voice shakily asked through the intercom. Dana frowned in confusion and pressed the button to allow her entry. Soon, she opened the door after Karen's tentative knock."What happened, Kare? I thought you'd be gone all weekend," Dana said, taking in her roommate's appearance. Karen looked unharmed, but her face was puffy and her makeup was streaked from crying and trying to wipe it away."I; uh; I played at the club tonight. Castor Graham was the opening act and he asked me to come up for the encore, so I did.""You played in front of rowdy drunk people? That's fantastic! How did it feel?" Dana asked, offering her back for Karen to lean on while she took off her heels."I was scared; but after a while it was fun. The keyboard was facing the crowd and after a while I looked out over the people and; they looked happy. They liked it. It felt good, then.""God, I wish I'd been there. I'm so proud of you! What did Cal and the entourage say?""Um; I; don't know," Karen blinked and looked around the apartment. "When, uh; when I um; when I got back to the table, they were all gone." Karen wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and cleared her throat."Wait, what?" Dana said, her tone darkening like a storm cloud, threatening imminent destruction. "Say that again. You get called up on stage to perform, you play in front of all those people; like the freakin' keyboard genius you are; and when you got back, those motherfuckers were gone?""I; I think they were gone? The table was empty from what I could see; and the, uh, the security guy; he couldn't let me into the area. He really only knew Cal, and um;” Karen choked and turned her face away, trying to breathe through it and stop herself from crying."Karen; that's not; wait, how did you even get home?" Dana asked, unzipping Karen's dress and grabbing a pair of yoga pants for her."Well, my purse and phone were gone from the table, so I couldn't call anybody and I didn't have any money;” Karen choked. "The security guy was really nice and said I could use his MetroCard if I returned it, so;”"Oh, Christ On A Crotch-Rocket!" Dana yelled, throwing a sweatshirt at Karen, who caught it and pulled it over her head. "Kare. You gotta stop dating this guy. He's a piece of shit. Trust me. I didn't know it when I sent you over there to play, but he's walking excrement;""It's probably just a misunderstand;""And believe me, I'm sure he'll come back with some half-assed explanation, because that's what they all do;""And he tells me all the time that he;""Yeah. He ‘tells ‘; you pretty stuff. He ‘buys ‘; you pretty stuff. Problem is, words and money are nothing to him. Where the hell is he when you're walking home in fuck-me club clothes from the train station and trying not to lose your virginity, huh? Kare. I know you've been through hell, but you are worth more than this. You need a guy that walks you down the sidewalk and puts himself on the traffic side; just in case, because that's who he is. You deserve that. Don't you get it?" Dana asked, taking Karen's hair down and brushing it out, gently."Cal isn't; it's probably just; something;” Karen whispered, biting her lips closed.Dana stopped brushing and wrapped her arms around her roommate, squeezing her hard. "There is real love out there, Kare; and if you don't deserve it, I don't know who does. Someday, you're going to meet a guy that actually loves you and it's going to blow your mind when the games and bullshit are gone. It's like; when a guy is in love, gravity changes for them, or something;”Holland jumped up and pointed excitedly at Dana. "She's right! When I met the Zendayans, my tongue swelled up and;""Are you listening to my story at all, or are you just fantasizing about pretty girls?" Karen huffed."Um; both?" Holland replied, smirking. "I mean, you and Dana were really pretty; and there's just one bed here, and;"Karen shot him an exasperated look and he shrank back behind the bulkhead. "Anyway;” she said.The room dissolved and re-formed, both girls sleeping in the queen-sized bed they shared, morning sunlight streaming in through the dirty window, when the buzzer sounded. "Day, c'mon time to go," a man's voice sounded from the intercom. Karen's head peered out from under the blanket and she ran over to the intercom, tripping over some bottles of wine that they (mostly Dana) had consumed the previous night, trying to rid Karen of her birthday misery."Um; she's almost ready!" Karen replied, then ran to the bed and shook her hungover roommate awake. "Day, someone's here for you; they say it's time to go."Dana grunted and turned over, away from Karen. "Go do it for me; just say you're me again," Dana grumbled into her pillow.Karen swallowed nervously, but gamely grabbed Dana's dress, quickly got ready, and ran out the door. Upon leaving the building, she stumbled into the guy waiting outside. "Um; I'm ready! I'm ready! Dana Stevens. Thanks for waiting;” she panted.The man gave her a quick considering look, then walked her to a large extended-cab pickup truck that looked ridiculously out of place on the streets of Newark. "Miss Stevens," he said, opening the passenger side door and offering his hand to help her up into the vehicle."Thanks. Thank you;” she said, precariously climbing up the runner board in her heels until she settled herself up onto the seat."Just wait there, a bit," he said, after closing the door. Walking back to the building, he selected a key from his collection, opened the building door and walked in. Not long after, he emerged from the building carrying Dana over his shoulder and carrying a bag stuffed haphazardly with clothes. Opening the door behind Karen, he dumped Dana unceremoniously into the back seat and tossed the bag of clothes on top of her. Dana, still in her pajamas, put the bag under her head and turned away from the sunlight streaming into the cab."Dean, this is Karen. Karen, my brother Dean," Dana mumbled, as she draped a pair of sweatpants over her head to block the light."Oh; um, sorry," Karen said, flushing red as she glanced over at Dean's face. "I didn't mean to; um, I'll just go;""Lock the doors, and get us out of the city, Dean. She's coming with us," Dana ordered. "She's on asshole detox!"Karen jumped as the truck's doors locked and Dean wordlessly pulled out into the street and started out. She clasped her hands in her lap nervously. She hadn't packed anything. She had no phone. She didn't have time to let Dana drag her to West Virginia for a visit. Dana had been trying to talk her into coming with her to where she had grown up with her grandparents, but in the excitement of her birthday, Karen had forgotten the trip was this week. She knew better than to say anything, though. Dana wouldn't care, and Dean; who knew what Dean Stevens the brother would think. He didn't say much, but he obviously knew better than to argue with hungover Dana, which was something they had in common."She knows where we're goin?" Dean asked, checking his mirrors as he merged onto the freeway. Dana grunted in assent. "Why ain't she singin' it, yet?" he rumbled, seemingly amused."Because She's Not A Drunk College Kid, Idiot!" Dana howled, holding her head in pain.Dean smirked and started humming "Country Roads" to himself."I hate you so much;” Dana growled, pulling the bag of clothes over her head again. Dean only laughed.After a few miles of road, Karen looked at her roommate in the back seat, and unbuckled her seatbelt. She began to turn to lean over the front seat when Dean reached over and pushed her back down and pointed at her seatbelt. "Um sorry; I just;” Karen trailed off, horrified that she had done something wrong. She couldn't finish her sentence and sat back down, blinking back tears as she put her seatbelt back on.Dean glanced over, looking her up and down for a moment. With a sigh, he put his turn signal on and pulled off the road into a gas station at the next exit. "Do what you need to do," he said, curtly.Karen jumped up, turned around and loosely buckled the seatbelt across the sleeping Dana's hips, then turned, sat down again, and buckled her seatbelt. "Thank you," she mumbled. Dean turned to the back seat where his sister continued sleeping and his face softened. He looked at Karen a second time, sitting with her hands in her lap again, clenched like she expected a tongue-lashing from him for delaying the trip. His eyes drifted down to her feet, where her cold toes were turning pink in the strappy, uncomfortable-looking heels she wore when she came running out of the apartment building on his sister's fool errand. Reaching back, he grabbed a pair of thick socks that had fallen out of the bag of clothes and tossed them to her. Smiling gratefully, Karen removed the strappy heels and pulled on the warm socks as he pulled out onto the road again.The road stretched on. The scenery gradually becoming more rural, the traffic less crowded. Karen found herself relaxing and breathing more slowly as the land passed by. She occasionally glanced at the gas gauge and compared them to the passing road signs to try to discern when they might be pulling over to refill the tank. The third time she did it, Dean shook his head. "Bedford, hon," he chuckled. "You know, you could just ask me. I might be a longshoreman, but I don't bite.""Not like Dana, then," Karen replied, biting her lips so she didn't smile."Hm. Sounds like a story," he said.Karen nodded. "The first time we met, I was waiting to audition for our agency and I was almost going to leave, I was so scared. Day asked to see what I was playing and I handed her the music. Instead of looking at it, she took my hand and bit me. Said it was 'for luck,'" Karen said, laughing to herself."It worked, too. Kare needed to get of her head. She plays better when you throw her off balance, first," Dana said, rising to a sitting position and running her fingers through her hair."Is that so?" Dean asked, looking over at Karen."Yeah. I think too much. My teacher always said I played things perfectly, but he could hear me thinking about it the whole time. Day's a true performer, though. She doesn't think at all - she plays with her feelings, and that's what an audience connects with," Karen said, smiling proudly at Dana."Thoughtlessly playing with feelings; sounds about right," Dean said, chuckling when Dana punched him in the shoulder. "Speaking of, we're coming up on Bedford. Let me know if you need anything."Dana growled at this but said nothing as Karen blinked in confusion. Soon, Dean pulled off the interstate into a gas station and up to a gas pump. Dean hopped out of the truck and began filling the tank. After noticing the bug-splattered windshield, Karen changed back into her strappy heels and walked over to where the island held the squeegee and mop. Dean watched, bemused, as she diligently scrubbed the dried carcasses of insects off the glass while dressed to the nines. Karen finished and climbed back into the truck, only to have Dana grab her shoulder and start whispering in her ear and pointing at the convenience store. Karen, appearing distressed, blushed and said something back to Dana, who gestured emphatically.Dean kept watching as Karen seemed to screw up her courage, took her purse, and walked quickly into the store. He shot his sister a flat look. Dana only grinned, stretched, and put her feet up on the front seat. Shaking his head, he followed into the store."And what would you be needing all those for, hon?" the guy at the till asked while ogling Karen, who looked like she wanted to disappear under the rug."Um; it's uh;” Karen stammered."I need to ask for state regulatory purposes," the guy continued, as he put a large box of condoms on the counter and rang it up."They're for me," Dean said, as he tossed some drinks, chips and cookies on the counter. "Uncut and hangs to the left. Anything else the state needs to know about my cock?" The till guy cleared his throat and began ringing up the additional items and bagging them without further comment. Annoyed, Dean grabbed the bagged items in one hand and took Karen's hand in the other and left the store. "You know, you don't have to do everything my little sister tells you," he said under his breath as they walked to the truck."Then why'd you buy them? Seems like you can't tell her 'no' any more than I can," Karen replied, a little surprised that she had the guts to argue with him.Dean laughed, "I don't want her knocked up any more than you do." He helped her up into the truck and tossed the bag of items to his sister.Dana went digging through the bag and retrieved the box. "Wait a minute, these are just regular. Didn't they have lubricated?" she complained. Karen swallowed uncomfortably, searching for an answer as Dean pulled her seatbelt out and buckled it around her."Don't need lubricated if the guy does his job right," Dean said, grinning at her cheerfully. "Raise your standards and you won't need so many, either.""Hum; lower yours, and maybe you'll actually need some," Dana retorted, opening the package of cookies. Karen just shrank in her seat and covered her flaming cheeks as they pulled back onto the freeway.The scenery turned into wooded hills with mountains growing in the distance. Steering down the curved roads, Dean sighed quietly, a peaceful smile on his face. Karen leaned forward in her seat, trying to see everything as it passed, excitement lighting her face. Dana had fallen asleep again.Near evening, Dean turned the truck down a long, dirt road and reached behind him to shake Dana awake. "Watch for him, Day;” he said. Dana sat up, suddenly alert and scanning the darkening woods around them."What are we looking for?" Karen asked.

 Karen Saves The Universe: Part 1Desperate aliens kidnap a Karen to save their world!Based on a post by LingeringAfterthought, in 3 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories.On the starship Onan, the Priamites dubiously watched the screen display the creature. Dr. Fehr's algorithm had brought them trekking across the galaxy to a smallish, blue planet around an unimpressive star. While there was no denying the power emitted by the angry, festering organic matter before them, the thought of containing it and bringing it back to Priam was daunting. Still, the fate of their world hung upon the success of their mission."Do we have; uh; audio yet, Lieutenant Cavill?" Captain Hemsworth said, pausing briefly to joylessly ejaculate into his cumsuit, which quickly reclaimed the essence he emitted and channeled it into one of the suit's containment pouches to be resorbed as nourishment.Ever since the people of Eros had unleashed their horrific weapon on them, the Priamites orgasmed almost constantly. The Eros Curse, which seemed like a gift at first, became a tool of enslavement and oppression as the great Priam civilization devolved into listless people who passed the time sitting and staring at nothing in particular. Even special holidays were simply spent gathered in each other's' houses, grunting intermittently. The children of Priam, spared by the curse of Eros by living in growth pods, were never exposed to the disease or its effects until the seemingly arbitrary age of 18, so at least there was no trouble with the censors. The demands of orgasming so frequently took its toll on the Priamite's bodies. Dehydration, muscle spasms, and fatigue were common. The effects on the mind were worse. It wasn't until the invention of the cumsuit, which not only reclaimed the fluid loss and prevented dehydration, but also reduced arousing sensations until the wearer was nearly numb, that it was possible for them to journey out into the stars in search of a cure.Guided by the ancient journals of the revered Dr. Fehr, the Priamites had come to a small planet where it was foretold that there was a force of great and terrible power. It was hoped that this force could be used to break free of the cruel Eros Curse, but time was running out. Even wearing the cumsuits, the crew of the Onan, who were the most stoic, intellectual and sexless men of Priam, felt themselves progressively weakening to the Curse. It was only a matter of time until they lost all sense of duty and simply went adrift through the universe."No audio yet, Captain. The resonant frequency is so shrill that if we don't modulate the pitch; uh;” Lieutenant Cavill replied, closing his eyes and shaking as he orgasmed, then collapsed and stared blankly at the control panels as he recovered.Another crewman took over at the panel, "Captain, I can give you audio, but only for a short time. Even on their planet, they; they; oh; oh fuck;” the replacement said, stiffening as he spurted inside his suit, then shook his head to clear it and looked to their leader for orders. Captain Hemsworth braced himself in his chair and nodded for him to activate audio.A horrendous braying screech filled the bridge, “ No Idea Why You People Can't Even Take An Order Right! I Ordered The Cobb Salad With Extra Avocado! I Don't Care If It's Not On There Or Not! Fix The Damn Menu! I Have Been Coming Here For Over 15 Years And I Know For A Fact That You People Had Cobb Salad On There Two Years Ago When You Were Called Baker's Pie;"Another voice interjected, soft and conciliatory, "Oh, yes, ma'am; I see the confusion. The Baker's Pie that was here went out of business. This restaurant is Snooker's, now, so we don't have the same menu, but our club salad is very similar to;""Are You Actually Interrupting Me? Get. Me. A. Cobb. Salad. Extra Avocado! Do You Understand? Extra Avocado! Mucho Amortado! Comprendo Estupido?"Even in that short interlude, most of the Onan's bridge crew had begun bleeding from their ears and collapsing onto the deck. Captain Hemsworth, a man of rare tolerance and stamina, struggled past their unconscious bodies to the control panel and lowered the volume until it was barely audible. "Computer, disburse caffeline into bridge life support systems, 15 parts per million," he mumbled, leaning on the control panel for support as the strong stimulant hissed into the room. He didn't like to use the drug, because the heightened energy it gave often led to periods of prolonged involuntary masturbation, but he couldn't afford to waste time for the crewmen to awaken naturally. Not when conditions were so dire on Priam.Lieutenant Cavill groaned and rose weakly, climbing back into his console chair and checking the readings. "What happened, Captain? Our scans showed a primitive civilization on the planet without any meaningful defenses. What was that? Some kind of weapon?" he asked.Captain Hemsworth did a double-take at the crewman in wonder, but he said nothing. All around him, he watched the rest of the crew slowly getting to their feet and going back to their positions. All the men were alert, aware, and focused on their duties. Several of them were talking to each other; in full uninterrupted sentences. No one drooled, no one's eyes rolled back; not one of them stared off into space, as if dully re-living the curse that had infected their brains. He, himself, had not even felt the urge to sexually relieve himself once, even with the high levels of caffeline in the air. Indeed, he had not felt anything below the waist; not since he heard that voice. He doubted whether he would have the urge to orgasm ever again. They had finally done it."That was no weapon, Cavill; it is what we came here to find. It's the cure that Dr. Fehr told us was here all along. Contact High Command and tell them; tell them we found it. Tell them we have found; The Karen.The man-eating woman.After straightening out the incompetent waiter on her order, Karen Carmichael excused herself from her prayer group's table and walked to the restrooms, incensed. What kind of man actually cries when taking an order for a salad? Probably gay; or whatever kids were calling themselves these days. Was there such a thing as "gay" anymore, when people "identified" themselves as whatever the hell occurred to them? What was the point of picking a sexuality when people didn't even have a species anymore?Of course, Travis the Waiter had to play the victim about it, too, making the entire restaurant gawk over at their table like they were monsters. He probably knew they were a nice church group and went out of his way to make trouble. Sure, they all scream for "tolerance," but their types couldn't wait to attack nice people of faith like her who showed the world what it was to be decent and pure of heart. Well, he could just kiss his tip money goodbye! Tipping had gotten ridiculous anyway; a generation of whiny babies feeling entitled to extra money just for doing their jobs. ‘If ‘; they did their jobs. She couldn't even get a salad; and, by God, if the Manager didn't make things right, her Yelp review on this place would burn a hole through people's screens!Karen pushed on the door to the restroom tightly clutching her can of pepper spray, because sexual predators were always trying to rape women like her in public restrooms, and she nearly screamed when the door opened. Wet paper towels were everywhere. The garbage bin was overflowing, and some slob had splashed water all over the sink area! Now, she'd have to make the Manager take care of this, too! More drama, when she just wanted to have a nice lunch with her friends. And, of course, the Manager would just try to ‘handle ‘; her; as if she was some unreasonable bitch just for wanting to use a facility that wasn't absolutely disgusting! Then looking near her, but not at her, the Manager would apologize in that fake-nice voice and offer to comp her meal; offering her even more of what was bad in the first place. Managers and their fake apologies. They weren't sorry. The soulless jerks never meant it. They just wanted her to go away; acting like she was a scamming thief instead of someone who just wanted to be treated decently.She settled on the toilet and tried to calm herself. Lately, half the time she wanted to cry, or scream, or tear out her hair; but it wouldn't matter. Nothing would change. Everything changed around her, though. Menus; her children; hairstyles; prices; everything changed. It felt like everything had just left her behind. She looked everywhere for the things she used to love, but she couldn't find them anymore; and if she did find them, they weren't the same as they once were. Nothing made her feel her joy like she used to. That was it. Maybe she was done; that her turn at having any real joy was over. Now, the only time anyone tried to make her happy, or even looked at her, was when she screamed at them.Karen opened her eyes to a rattling sound at the door of her long, handicapped-bathroom stall. "Occupied!" she called out. To her dismay, the dial holding the sliding bolt turned all by itself and the door unlocked. "Hey! Get out!" she yelled, grabbing her pepper spray and holding it in front of her while she tried to stand and pull up her yoga pants."Nice human; good human;” a vaguely disembodied male voice said as a dark, hooded figure in a bizarre form-fitting spacesuit stepped into her stall holding what looked like a staff with a flexible loop affixed to the end of it. It slowly stepped toward her, as cautiously as one might approach a spooked animal. "Human want a nice piece of kale? Yes you do! Yes you do! Who's a good human?" it asked, holding out a curly dark green leaf to her and shaking it temptingly."What the hell?" she yelled, fumbling with the pepper spray can and trying to figure out how to make it work, just as the loop at the end of the staff went down over her head and around her neck, cinching tight.Karen choked, clutching at the loop with one hand, trying to loosen it so she could breathe, and with the other she emptied the can of pepper spray into the hooded face of her attacker. She struggled wildly, but the staff with the loop effectively controlled her and prevented her from landing any punches or kicks on her attacker. As darkness started creeping in on her vision, the last thing she saw was the figure deeply inhale the cloud of pepper spray and hold its breath, then say in a choked voice, "Ready for transport, sir; and man, they've got some good shit down here;”The forgotten leaf of kale fell down next to where Karen's cheek was pressed against the filthy bathroom floor, and with what she feared was her dying breath she choked out, "I want; to see; the; Manager;”Karen's ne victim."I used kale, Sir. Worked like a charm. It's one of the most nutritionally dense materials on the planet, so naturally, it was irresistible," a larger Priamite said to Captain Hemsworth, as he stripped out of his protective suit in a small enclave, bathed in an undulating light.Captain Hemsworth nodded. "Good work, Commander Momoa. Decontaminate for a full four cycles and I want protective measures in place for all personnel. God knows what this thing is capable of when it wakes."Karen heard garbled voices nearby, but kept her eyes closed and tried to steady her breathing. What had happened? The air smelled odd; almost crackling with ozone and energy, like a storm coming. The ambient sounds of the room told her she was not in Snookers anymore. Probably human traffickers. She saw a whole show about it. The bastards kidnapped her and were going to sell her into sexual slavery; except that she wasn't a teenager. She was 51 years old. Nobody would pay for sex with her, much less risk a felony conviction for it. Any ransom demands sent to her husband were going to have disappointing results, as well. So, what was going on? Why was she here? The kids were in college and wouldn't even notice she was gone until Christmas came. Her friends; her passive-aggressive competitors, if she was being honest; they'd just assume she left in a huff and stiffed them on the lunch check. The cold, hard truth was: nobody cared about her anymore and she knew it. That meant, if she was going to get out of this, she would have to do it herself. Her cheek hurt where it had hit that disgusting bathroom floor and she reached her hand up to touch it. The voices yelped in alarm and Karen opened her eyes to see two figures backing away from the enclosure she was imprisoned in."Who the hell are you, and what have you done with my purse?" she yelled, pushing herself to her feet. She walked toward them, crossing her arms and glaring. "I want whoever is in charge over here right now! I mean it!" she yelled, pointing as she walked toward them. One of the figures screamed, clutched at his ears and doubled over, staggering around the room dramatically. The other, larger one she recognized from the restaurant bathroom was in some tanning-booth-looking-thing, half naked and gorgeous in a likely-sexual-predator kind of way. Rather than flailing around the room, he seemed to have gone into a catatonic trance. God, people were useless. "You! Himbo!" she shouted, pointing at him. "Where is my purse? Did you even think to get it when you kidnapped me, or am I going to miss my Ozempic shot? I hope to God you assholes have good lawyers!"The beefy kidnapper in the tanning booth wobbled, then vomited loudly. Karen snorted as he slid down to the floor, unconscious. Pathetic. The smaller figure dove toward a panel on the wall next to her enclosure and pressed a few buttons and she heard the ambient noise of her room change, like it was encased, somehow."I've muted it. It's become even stronger than before;” Captain Hemsworth gasped, helping Commander Momoa to his feet again."How are we going to get it back to Priam? We could choke it out again every time it awakens; give the privilege out as a reward to the crew?" Commander Momoa suggested eagerly."No," Captain Hemsworth said, coming closer to the force field separating him from the angry Karen still yelling and pointing from inside the enclosure. "The cumulative effects of throttling it constantly might affect its functioning. We need The Karen at full power if we are to rescue Priam. We need to keep it conscious. We must feed it, provide it breathing gasses, and keep it clean; it appears to be constantly decaying. That reminds me ; cleaning duty goes to Ensign Holland. He's still on my shit list after the incident with the Zendayans.""Aye, sir."Captain Hemsworth cleared his throat and pressed another button on the side panel. "Hail Karen, bringer of blessed flaccidity, destroyer of abhorrent lust, and banisher of all erotic thought. We are men of the planet Priam. We mean you no harm. We come to you seeking aid, and we come in peace. Actually, until we found you, we would come almost constantly. It was disgusting. Everything was sticky. You see, our enemies from Eros sent us the most perfect pornographic images disguised in an innocent-looking email attachment. Once they were seen, they could not be unseen. They were burned into our brains, cursing us with perpetual arousal. The first wave of Priamites were taken by surprise once they activated the link. The next wave fell victim when the first wave posted the link on their social media because it was just so unbelievably; anyway, after the rest of our population fell out of curiosity or boredom, our civilization was nearly destroyed. We have been searching the stars for a cure, but to no avail. Then, just as all hope seemed lost, we found you; we heard your voice; and our loins finally withered. You are now a guest on my ship, The Onan, en route to my homeworld Priam. There, we will deliver your noxious, strident sounds to everyone, freeing them from their intransigent arousal. Then, after we are assured that all have been cured, we shall return you to your home."At this, Karen made an unpleasant face and began breathing on the clear wall of her enclosure, fogging it. Then, she quickly wrote a short message. "What does it mean?" Commander Momoa said, squinting at the squiggling lines she had made.At this, the computer made a chirp and began speaking, "The message, from the American dialect of the language English translates to: Why didn't you just make a recording?"Captain Hemsworth's shoulders slumped and he closed his eyes with a sigh. Commander Momoa's eyes went wide and he clapped his hand over his face in exasperation. "Fuck;” Momoa said in realization. "A recording;”"Dammit. We didn't have to take her at all, did we?" Captain Hemsworth groaned.Karen glared at them and wrote another word on the wall. As certain as Captain Hemsworth was that he did not need or want the translation, the computer was already on the job. "'Dumbasses,'" the computer cheerfully intoned, "a colloquial phrase, plural of the insult 'dumbass,' meaning 'a foolish or stupid person.'""End translation. Yes, Karen, if we had thought to record your voice instead of kidnapping you, this might have been a much shorter story, and considerably less inconvenient, but as it is, we are closer to Priam than Earth at this point, and our course is set. We will bring you to Priam and then return you home. Perhaps kidnapping you was not the most well-considered solution, but I defy you to think clearly after constantly watching porn for eons and let me know if you do any better."Karen's new calling.Great; as if getting old wasn't insult enough, I've actually become an intergalactic sexual repellent, Karen thought to herself as she paced around her cell. A lifetime of trying to do things right, and this is what it gets me. She wasn't so surprised that there were aliens in the universe, or that they had somehow weaponized porn, but that with all their advancements they were still so stupid!Sighing, she closed her eyes and listened to the ambient sounds of her cell. Life had been so noisy, the last 30 years. Everyone needing her, pulling on her for one thing or another. No peace. Lately though, with the kids gone and Cal; otherwise occupied; life had gone silent. The silence that she had wished for held no peace when it finally came. It just reverberated with the memory of things that had left her behind, making her anxious to fill the emptiness with noise. Nothing came to lure her mind away from the silence, no pleasurable temptations; her duties were done and it felt wrong to do, or even think about, anything else. My god, she had been kidnapped, was flying through the galaxy, and was surrounded by beefcake aliens and she was still thinking about that stupid loose tile in the master bathroom; she needed to get it fixed before the house was sold.A slight sound outside her cell drew her attention. "Who's there?" Karen asked, softly, opening her eyes.A wide-eyed figure peered around the edge of her cell, moving with cautious curiosity. It seemed younger than the other ones. It moved with a sense of barely-restrained eagerness, adorable and earnest. It also held a curved sort of wand in its hand."Honey, if you're here to anally probe me, I'll pass. I already had a colonoscopy this year, I'll have them send you the records;” she murmured, not expecting an answer.After a pause as the figure listened to the translation, its large eyes got even wider. "Is that how you poop?" he asked."What?" she asked, looking more closely at the young alien."I'm supposed to clean your cell when you poop; but you haven't pooped yet; wait, do colonoscopies make you poop?" it asked, scandalized.Karen closed her eyes and shook her head, "No. Colonoscopies put a small camera up your ass so that we can pay a doctor to do what we were afraid aliens like you would do to us if we got drunk in cornfields too much. They don't make us poop. In fact; well, never mind;” she trailed off, embarrassed.She still had vivid memories of her first colonoscopy earlier in the year, drinking gallons of preparatory laxatives, and the resulting quality time with her phone on the toilet. It was an odd experience; not awful, but not one that she could talk to anyone about. Her friends only talked about their kids and their successes, or whose husband cheated on them with some young thing, viciously salivating over their friends' misery with barely concealed glee. Forget about talking through her fears about it with Cal; that wasn't something he was interested in. Not anymore.After the procedure, she had been scared and disoriented from the sedation. For whatever reason, Cal hadn't shown up to give her a ride home. The stupid clinic wouldn't let her leave until someone could drive her home and take care of her. She just sat there getting more and more anxious. Eventually, she called an Uber and begged Xabiib the driver to pretend to be her neighbor; or just someone who cared about her. She spent the ride home trying to say his name correctly while he chuckled and repeated it for her. It was so horrifyingly embarrassing. It's one thing to have no one care about you, but another thing to have the whole world know about it when you were helpless and confused.Tears had rolled down her cheeks and she absently wiped them off with her hand. The young alien sat up and craned his head to look at the liquid on her hand. Karen snorted, "At ease, Holland. It's not poop. You're not getting anything out of me unless you have some heavy-duty magnesium supplements or yogurt."Holland's eyes went wide, "Are humans telepathic???" he gasped. "How did you know my name? Wow, that's so cool! Do it again! What am I thinking about now?"Karen suppressed a smile. Closing her eyes, she pressed her fingers to her temples and swayed from side to side, mysteriously. "I see something; something in the mist; something about; could it be; no, it makes no sense. Is it; a Zen; Zendayan? Does that make any sense to you?" she asked.Holland dropped his curved instrument in shock. "Yes! Yes! We just met them! We negotiated with them for supplies! I was there to carry stuff and; and;” he paused, shrinking in on himself a bit. "They are so beautiful. The Zendayans? So beautiful; and super nice; and just; like wow; I was supposed to just stand there until they were done with the talking and bowing and stuff, but they were just like so beautiful.""Well, what happened?" Karen asked."Captain introduced me and I bowed to them. I was feeling dizzy because, you know, their beautifulness just keeps radiating off them. Then; then; the most beautiful of them; she smiled." Holland stared at nothing, immersed in the memory, then wobbled, tipped over, and lay on the floor staring at the ceiling.Karen bit her lips in amusement. "I see. What did you do then?""I; I; I started talking and then I just couldn't stop because I was just trying to say how beautiful she was and how it just made my mind explode when she smiled and then I might have peed on the floor.""Oh dear," Karen said, cringing in sympathy. "We don't always put forward the face we want to when we are in our feelings, do we?" she said, quietly."Yeah; I've been cleaning poop ever since;” Holland sighed. After a while he sat back up, picked up the curved instrument and began twirling it in his hands. "So, like; what about you? Have you always made horrible noises?" he asked.Karen huffed, but then she saw the oblivious earnestness in Holland's face and sighed. "No; I wasn't always; like this. In fact, until about 30 years ago, I made beautiful noises. I was a pianist," she said."But, wait, they said you were a female;” Holland said, confused."Pee, an, ist," Karen repeated slowly. "I played the piano. It's an instrument; I was a musician. I was a student at Juilliard. It's a school on Earth; it was like a dream to even get in. I was on a scholarship, living in this shoddy apartment with my roommate Dana;” she trailed off, thinking about those days when everything seemed possible."Wait! Are you remembering?" Holland asked, breaking her reverie. "Can I remember it, too? Nobody wants to remember with me ever since the Zendayans, so I'm just left with my own memories and it gets so boring.""What are you talking about?""Well, it's kinda like; um; let me just show you. Computer, scan The Karen and project her memories," Holland ordered. A humming noise filled the room and a beam of light shot out of the wall and passed over her several times. Suddenly, her cell transformed into her shoddy apartment in Newark, New Jersey."Oh my gosh; it's just like it," Karen gasped looking around."Humans dream of getting into this?" Holland said, scrutinizing a cockroach scurrying along the floor."No, silly. This was our apartment across the river. We lived here when we weren't at school. Dana and I moved off campus in our second year. We took jobs on the side through an agency. That was when;” she sat down and a phone in the apartment's bedroom began ringing.A long, pale arm reached out of a pile of blankets on the bed and grabbed the phone. "Hullo?" Dana mumbled. A voice on the phone sounded irate. "Yeah, I'm almost there," she said and hung up.

After a wee heatwave there for a couple of weeks at a balmy 21 degrees, the taps are back on. Aye it's probably gona rain till September now, but fear not intrepid listener, Glesga Da brings you his guide to surviving the Scottish weather!Also, he really did run that car to 208k miles

We continue our campaign to #EndNeurophobia, with the help of Dr. Aaron Berkowitz. This time, Aye presents a case of behavior change, headaches, and blurry vision to Vale. Neurology DDx Schema Aye Chan Moe Thant (@AyeThant94) Aye graduated from University of Medicine, Mandalay, Myanmar, and has been working with her mentor neurologist, one of only… Read More »Episode 395: Neurology VMR – Behavior change, headaches, and blurry vision

To be, or not to be? Aye, there's the central question at the heart of the classic work “Tommy Boy” the 1995 broad comedy starring the late Chris Farley. This movie is more than a work of staggering childish genius. It is also a sophisticated adaptation of “Hamlet,” as in, the Shakespeare one. Joining Tess for a close reading of “Tommy Boy” through a Shakespearean lens is the comedian and podcaster Lisa Chanoux @LisaChanoux. Listen to BBC's “In Our Time: Hamlet” Listen to the Hardcore Literature podcasts' Hamlet episode. Follow Pop Mystery Pod on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @popmysterypod Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker. Produced by Tyler Hill. Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d.Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPodFollow Tess's other podcasts Lady to Lady and Toxic: The Britney Spears Story wherever you get your pods. Make sure to leave us a review! And tell a friend about the show! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Aye captain!!!This week we be spinnin a yarn about shirts -a- puffin, low talkin maidens and tassel wearing news anchors….If you think you can help, call 5-SEINFELD-6 Be sure to follow us on social media and please, leave a five star review anywhere you can! Or not… the ball is in your court. But seriously, 5 stars would really be great.You can also Join our discord and yada yada yada your brains out.All it takes is a monthly donation to “The Human Fund”https://patreon.com/Ruiningseinfeld?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_fan&utm_content=join_linkFind us on Instagram:John (@surrealfeld)Adam (@seinfeldepisodes) The show (@ruiningseinfeld)www.ruiningseinfeld.com Coming soon!Here's to feeling good all the time.*This is the order we follow… https://thetvdb.com/series/seinfeld/allseasons/dvd

In this episode of The Skeptical Shaman podcast, host Rachel White (of TOTEM Readings), chats with the lovely Mark Phillips of The Mind's Aye: medium, psychic, and avid student of all things Woo! Not only does Mark have a beautiful Scottish brogue-- and the arcane abilities of mediumship and psychic communication-- but he has also been attending incredible classes and workshops at the real life Hogwort's: The Arthur Findlay College in Great Britain.Mark shares his awesome journey to accepting his own psychic abilities, and how he gave (and continues to give) himself permission to pursue his Woo passions. Mark is a prime example of an otherwise "normal" person with a day job and a family that also wants to help clients connect to their dearly departed-- and to the other side!Rachel's LINKS:Rachel's Website: https://www.totemreadings.comTOTEM Readings Substack: https://totemrach.substack.comRachel's Other Links: https://linktr.ee/totemrachOur Sponsors' LINKS:The TOTEM Flower Essence Deck: https://a.co/d/gw16LsGThe TOTEM Tarot Deck: https://www.amazon.com/TOTEM-Tarot-Deck-Rachel-White/dp/0578980126The TOTEM Flower Essences: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TotemReadingsATXTOTEM Spiritual Transformation Coaching: https://www.totemreadings.com/coachingTOTEM Business of Woo Mentoring: https://www.totemreadings.com/business-of-wooMark's LINKS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themindsaye/Please note: The views and opinions expressed on The Skeptical Shaman do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, protected class, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything. And remember: sticks and stones may break our bones, but words—or discussions of religious or spiritual topics-- will never hurt us.

Hist Gia Worthy (@classicallygia) is joined by the podcasters of "Aye, Who All Gon' Be There?!" (@AyeWhoAllThere) to discuss the mergatory episode of Survivor 48. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aye up, like. It's us! Doing this! This week we discuss taking snuff, revisit the topic of how much personal responsibility should be considered compared to systemic forces, how Cat would shame a man on a train, and how Guy tried to stop someone from working in the arms industry. We also discuss Guy's recent Revelation, which genuinely shocked Cat's little socks off. 07/10/1978 https://web.archive.org/web/20170715031647/https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1978/10/07

Episode description: We continue our campaign to #EndNeurophobia, with the help of Dr. Aaron Berkowitz. This time, Sebastian presents a case of confusion to Aye. Aye Chan Moe Thant ( @AyeThant94 ) Aye is a physician from Myanmar and now working as a clinical research team member at the Department of Neurology, Washington University in Saint… Read More »Episode 386: Neurology VMR – Confusion

In the middle of recording this podcast, I realized that the microphone wasn't plugged in. Aye yai yai! So I had to go back to the top and start again. That's what happens with modern technology, sometimes things go smooth and sometimes, well, it's back to the drawing board. For today's podcast English lesson, let's look at some idioms and phrases that we use to talk about doing something again from the beginning. We'll start from scratch! Join my Podcast Learner's Study Group here: https://learn.myhappyenglish.com/transcriptVisit my website for over 3,000 free English lessons: https://www.myhappyenglish.com/

Aye, You Hired Me!

It's nearly spring. And at Trader Joe's, that means new products popping up like flower buds after an early thaw. In this episode of Inside Trader Joe's, we're getting up close and personal with a baker's dozen of our favorite new (and returning) things for spring. Looking for Easter candy and treats? You'll find them here, and you'll be impressed not only with how they look, but how they taste. A new Mini Sheet Cake that happens to be gluten free? Oh. Yes. Potato chips made with Irish potatoes and butter? Aye. A new blend of greens to elevate your salad game and a pasta sauce that's simple, elegant, and extraordinarily delicious? Well… yes. Would you believe a wine made with oranges? You should believe, and you should try it. One last thing… no bunnies were harmed in the making of this episode. Transcript (PDF)

No we did not in fact go all out as suggested and lost to a pretty determined Hull City after Patto had.. a moment.. resulting in our first loss in the league at home this season, and likely the end to any hope of automatics without assistance from the rest of the division. What's the crack? Aye that was shite. The mistake was shite and the response was also. That being said, does this present an opportunity to build momentum for a playoff run? Wembley or bust; we're doing it the hard way again, lads and lasses. Think of the scenes though. Patto and that fumble; he's not exactly helped himself there but why isn't he taking command of the situation or his area? Does he need real competition? If it ain't broke; The way we've set up all season has got us this far, so is it fair to say we need to simply find our rhythm again, get back to basics even? If it's all about the sides above falling to pieces to let us pass, it's probably best we ignore all that now and focus on ourselves isn't it. Aye it is.Ha'way the Lads!#SAFC #EFL #EFLChampionship Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Listener discretion is advised (language). References: Abdo WF, Heunks LM. Oxygen-induced hypercapnia in COPD: myths and facts. Crit Care. 2012 Oct 29;16(5):323. Bonilla Arcos D, Krishnan JA, et al. High-Dose Versus Low-Dose Systemic Steroids in the Treatment of Acute Exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Systematic Review. Chronic Obstr Pulm Dis. 2016 Feb 17;3(2):580-588. Fawzy A, Wise RA. Pulse Oximetry Misclassifies Need for Long-Term Oxygen Therapy in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2023 Nov;20(11):1556-1557. Goldberg P, Reissmann H, Maltais F, Ranieri M, Gottfried SB. Efficacy of noninvasive CPAP in COPD with acute respiratory failure. Eur Respir J. 1995 Nov;8(11):1894-900. Jennifer T. Thibodeau, Mark H. Drazner. The Role of the Clinical Examination in Patients With Heart Failure,JACC: Heart Failure, Volume 6, Issue 7, 2018, Pages 543-551. Kartal M, Goksu E, Eray O, et al. The value of ETCO2 measurement for COPD patients in the emergency department. Eur J Emerg Med. 2011 Feb;18(1):9-12. Ni, H., Aye, S., Naing, C. Magnesium sulfate for acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2022 May 26; 2022(5):CD013506. Pertzov, B., Ronen, M., Rosengarten, D. et al. Use of capnography for prediction of obstruction severity in non-intubated COPD and asthma patients. Respir Res 22, 154 (2021). Pu X, Liu L, Feng B, Wang M, Dong L, Zhang Z, Fan Q, Li Y, Wang G. Efficacy and Safety of Different Doses of Systemic Corticosteroids in COPD Exacerbation. Respir Care. 2021 Feb;66(2):316-326. Tyagi D, Govindagoudar MB, et al. Correlation of PaCO2 and ETCO2 in COPD Patients with Exacerbation on Mechanical Ventilation. Indian J Crit Care Med. 2021 Mar;25(3):305-309. van Gestel AJ, Steier J. Autonomic dysfunction in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). J Thorac Dis. 2010 Dec;2(4):215-22. doi: 10.3978/j.issn.2072-1439.2010.02.04.5.

Episode description: We continue our campaign to #EndNeurophobia, with the help of Dr. Aaron Berkowitz. This time, Aye presents a case of double vision to Vale. Aye Chan Moe Thant ( @AyeThant94 ) Aye is a physician from Myanmar and now working as a clinical research team member at the Department of Neurology, Washington University… Read More »Episode 379: Neurology VMR – Double Vision for One Day

Aye, look—Fear ain't nothin' but a mental block, a limitation we place on ourselves. It's like holdin' a bag full of liabilities when you should be stackin' assets. The key to Diminishing Fear is exposure—educatin' yourself, takin' calculated risks, and leanin' into discomfort till it don't shake you no more. See, fear thrives in uncertainty, but when you put knowledge and experience on your side, that fear starts shrinkin' like a bad investment. So stop playin' defense with your life—start movin' with confidence, ‘cause closed mouths don't get fed and scared money don't make money. Diminishing Fear | Wallstreet Trapper (Episode 130) Trappin Tuesday'sBEST OPTIONS COURSE EVER: https://www.optionswithtrap.com/

Episode description: We continue our campaign to #EndNeurophobia, with the help of Dr. Aaron Berkowitz. This time, Dr. Sebastian Green presents a case of generalized weakness to Aye. Neurology DDx Schema Aye Chan Moe Thant ( @AyeThant94 ) Aye is a physician from Myanmar and now working as a clinical research team member at the… Read More »Episode 372 : Neurology VMR – Generalized Weakness