#being with them in whatever happened that led to their deaths she may have some form of memory problem from the accident(?)

[laugtherhyena]

3:23AM, time to post Hatamori fankid and retreat back into my hiding hole

[outlivealie]

There are many lines and moments in The Wicked Years that live rent-free in my mind.

One such scene being Rain's reunion with Glinda at the end of Out of Oz, and there's the last thing* Glinda says to Rain:

“Oh, Rain,” said Glinda, when the girl was almost out the door. “One more thing. About Tip. You may think that a story should have a happy ending—” (p. 544).

Rain interrupts before she can finish what she is saying, not wishing to discuss it, and stating aloud that she isn't looking for happiness or an ending.

Now with Maguire's writing holding a tendency towards multiple interpretations, or purposefully left vague enough to leave it up to the reader (as his almost constant refusal to clarify attests to), I don’t feel too bad in viewing this with a Gelphie tilt. Though considering that Glinda’s dialogue and thoughts almost always turn towards her, I don’t think that is too unrealistic of me.

So, what was the rest going to be?

All things considered, and with her previously trying to console Liir - while mentioning doing the same for Elphaba - it stands to reason it would have been her trying to do so again (despite being well aware none of them will accept it). Perhaps to say that not all stories have a happy ending, even if you think they should. Considering she is led to say this in regards to Rain and Tip, it is not a stretch to assume that she may be thinking of herself and Elphaba and what she may have once envisioned for the future.

Naturally, the lines directly before this one are Glinda bringing up the possibility of Elphaba coming back – which is by now a common rumour/belief amongst people:

“... Maybe Elphaba will come back one day, or maybe she won’t, but in the meantime I have known you. That will see me through, I do believe.” Elphaba is not coming back, thought Rain, but she couldn’t bring herself to say it. Not to an old fool like Glinda.

A part of Glinda still hoping, perhaps, for that happy ending in whatever shape it may be. Even with all the decades that have passed since Elphaba's death, and even more since their original parting and the end of whatever they did have. One could even say that she is still... holding out...

Then Elphaba does come back. Maybe. In death or a dying hallucination or something altogether quite impossible.

And, considering what follows: now I haven’t read the Another Day trilogy (yet), but have it on good authority that the ambiguous endings for two couples are now happy endings. At least for one, the end for the other now a hopeful one. So maybe, just maybe, something apparently impossible did happen - which is another discussion entirely.

*I know some people believe it is Rain releasing Glinda from her cell at the end, and I won't dismiss other people's theories, but that is not one I believe.

[monstatron]

THEY’RE HEEEEERE! the full designs of faline and layla, the main characters of my upcoming monster romance novel “hunted heart”!

check under cut to read more!!

Hailing from a nomadic extraterrestrial species, the Neura, known as the “Harvesters” amongst humans, Faline was once a feared matriarch of her kind. She had led dozens of attacks, though she realised that a life of killing was not one of fairness or nobility. She refused to bend the knee to the Neura's cruel ways. After being outcast for rebellion, Faline returns to the Neura’s ancient hunting grounds in search of redemption.

Earth.

For Faline, Earth is a second chance.

Hundreds of years ago the Neura had plummeted a Victorian Earth into a post-apocalyptic state. Humanity now lives in a primitive world separated between clans. During her first days on Earth, she encounters a young human boy, Orion, whom she manages to save from falling to his death. Little did Faline know, he would be kidnapped just days later. It’s been five years since she saved that boy, five years since she came to Earth.

Five years and she still remains lost.

That was until she had encountered a farm. Unknowingly she had stolen some crop from it, only to be met with the brutal strength she had never before seen in a human.

After losing Orion, Layla, a herbalist now lives alone with caution outside of these clans, trading and doing whatever is necessary to survive. She holds the weight of her life in the city, desperately trying to find any clues as to what happened to her son.

She cared little about the consequences for attacking a Neura when the time came.

This had led to tension between the two of them, but Faline had found a certain fascination in Layla. She just wouldn’t give up on that human that had the courage to drive a knife into her shoulder.

After learning that Faline had encountered her son five years ago, Layla, although sceptical, decides to allow Faline to stay with her. Now, they stick together in hopes of rescuing Orion from the city. In the time of their begrudging alliance, they find comfort in one another.

After so long, they’ve learned how to feel once more. Layla learns to open up her heart to others, or at least Faline, and Faline learns what it means to truly have a heart.

Even when they inch closer to their goal, all is far from well: little does Faline know, she isn’t the only Neura on Earth, and Layla learns that the leader of a powerful city may be hiding more secrets than they could have ever imagined...

[maythevoidnotscreamback]

My outrage given voice: Tsuna owes Vongola jack-all!

Seriously. All Vongola’s done is turn his world upside down.

His father hadn’t been seen or heard from, at least to his knowledge, for so long (two whole years, according to Tsuna) he thought him dead before finding out that he’s alive and well as the head of CEDEF. And he’d never have found out otherwise if Vongola hadn’t come along, or more specifically if the three heirs hadn’t been killed off. Like, the guy told Nana to tell Tsuna that he’d gone off to “become a star” which could have a lot of connotations to Tsuna but he chose to believe the guy had died. Like, granted, it could be considered callous that Tsuna never thought that Nana would’ve been hella more depressed if Iemitsu was dead if she really loved him as much as they portrayed but you gotta remember that the kid is embarrassed, not mortified or even hurt, when Nana calls him Dame (pronounced dah-may, not day-m goddammit!) in his presence to his crush. Not to mention, being a teen, he might not have the emotional maturity to parse such things; it could've been different if he ever saw him as a full-grown man. As it is, he was probably of the opinion that Nana, if she was told, had gone into denial that Iemitsu was dead to the point of delusion, using whatever life insurance he had to keep them in comfort, because she’s mentally unsound in some manner or another and he didn’t want to make his house feel uncomfortable by trying to get her to ‘snap out of it’. Or, alternatively, he’d rather the guy was dead than having run off on he and his mother for whatever reason he might or might not have had. It probably hurt less - if he wasn't indifferent by that point - to think that way.

“Well, what about his friends?” I hear you ask. “Sit down, shut up and let me tell you.” I’d reply.

Yamamoto only started to take notice of him ‘cause of Reborn’s DW Bullet shenanigans and even then the incident with the roof, something I’ve seen others acknowledge as inevitable, - check out FFN's Reidluver's "It's a Mafia Life" for one such example - something that would’ve happened even without Tsuna’s ‘advice’, might’ve simply ended with the kid dead. Yes, Hibari might’ve been able to prevent it if only to keep the school’s reputation intact but the fact that Reborn had to shoot Tsuna twice to keep them both alive even with Tsuna buying time by talking to him, that they fell cause of the shitty fence, instead of an air mattress for just such occasions means that Hibari might not have been able to prevent Yamamoto’s death. Maybe by catching him as some people (Reidluver) would write but that would all depend on how the guy fell. He was planning to jump/let himself fall, meaning he’d be going down head first, if not in some form of belly flop, so Hibari catching him could’ve led to further injury for Yamamoto, serious injury for Hibari, a comatose state or even paralyzation if not death for one or both of them. As much as Hibari is acknowledged as the Demon Prefect, he's still a human being who hasn't ignited his Flames by that point. But Fanfic will be fanfic so...

Hibari only cared for him as a student of his school and nothing more. He was the Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee and yet the only times people were punished it was over stupid stuff. Like crowding, uniform violations and noise. Or just annoying the guy. Not bullying, abuse of authority and/or lack of academic support. In a school he was supposed to be "making better" by taking over; however that's meant to be taken.

Gokudera only became aware of him because he was the Decimo-to-be and even then that was because Reborn called him in to ‘test’ him. If not for that, Gokudera wouldn’t have even been in Namimori in the first place, most likely would’ve never gone to Japan at all unless for a job or to honor his mother’s side of his heritage. Lambo’s almost the same in that he was literally following Reborn so if he wasn’t there Lambo wouldn’t have been either. I-pin was there for a job and was only allowed to stay because Fon trusted Reborn to look after her as part of Tsuna’s house guests. Fuuta also only went to Tsuna because the Decimo-to-be, after the other candidates were killed off, is “number one unable to refuse requests”. Same thing with Haru, she only became interested in Tsuna because she saw him with Reborn and even then she was of the opinion he was being a strange type of abusive toward the 'baby' that hung around him.

Sasagawa didn’t even know he existed until, just like Yamamoto, he saw Tsuna do something amazing while under Bullet Influence. His sister, Kyoko, was aware of him but only as Dame-Tsuna and even then she didn’t really do anything but look cute. I don’t think we have any proper evidence that Kyoko ever interacted with Tsuna before that day Reborn showed up. That Dame-Tsuna could have gained that crush on her because of the Idol/Celebrity Effect, not because she helped him or was nice to him once or twice. She was cute, she seemed kind from a distance, she was popular, she was "too good for him" but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t admire her from afar. That’s what he’d been doing for a while and while he got demotivated when he found out she might be ‘taken’ by Mochida, that’s not that uncommon for other people to do. He wouldn’t be the first and he’ll never be the last to experience such a thing in the world. It’s only because of Reborn that she even wanted to be his friend, which could’ve been because of the whole ‘he tore Mochida’s hair out during their “duel”’ so she might’ve thought to use him to keep others away when Hana couldn’t. Like, just because someone seems nice or kind doesn’t mean that’s their true face or nature, as pessimistically paranoid as that outs me to be.

Chrome would’ve simply been dead. No if’s, ands, or buts about it. She only survived because of Mukuro. Who only went ‘looking’ for her because he was in a Vendicare Isolation/Sensory Deprivation Tank. And even then, that’s only because he was caught escaping a second time, to get Ken and Chikusa out while acting as bait, after Tsuna had defeated him after the first time he broke out. If Mukuro hadn’t gone after Tsuna, didn’t need to because of a combination of Fuuta asking for his protection and the Ninth’s sons being dead, he might’ve stayed free with his group or found himself killed before long. I say ‘might’ve’ because once he’d fought against people who actually knew what to do with their own DW he might’ve been discouraged with his plans but then... he might not’ve too. Who knows? I certainly don't.

Xanxus might've stayed in the ice until one of his 'brothers' had succeeded Nono. That is, if he weren't killed off, of course, due to would-be/might-be prevention of a later threat depending on what their actual relationships were like. 'Cause we don't know how the Vongola Bros felt for one another. Were they good to each other; for a given definition when in regards to the mafia? Power-hungry? Uninterested in the Throne? Did they love one another or were biding their time or indifferent toward one another or just plain rivals that respected one another? As said, we don't know. It's speculation and HCs whenever they come up in various fics. And we don't know what might've happened to his Guardians in the Varia in such circumstance either. They might've tried fighting, or laying low until they got their Boss back or they might've died for one reason or another because the new Don didn't want to risk another coup - hostage situation only works for so long before something needs to give - under his reign. Who knows?! We don't.

Reborn's a freelancer, so if he'd never even known about Tsuna, let alone met him to tutor him, he'd never get out from under his shared curse. Just died from it, if not in a blaze of glory as a final 'fuck you' to the System if not The Man in the Iron Hat as the Arco knew him as. Said System might have even continued passed the current generation of Arcobaleno if Tsuna hadn't been made aware of his... connections in regards to his blood.

The Shimon probably would've never come out of their Isolation/Obscurity as a Family; because the reason they even got their Long Lost Rings back - their power source that's apparently stronger than a third of the Tri-ni-Sette, one of three corner stones to the continuation of All Life on Earth! (just... what?!) - is due to the shenanigans with the Ten Year Bazooka. They'd never have learned their own history/origins - or even that Daemon Spade was alive and the reason a good portion of their Family was dead - if not for that.

TLDR: I really wish people would stop making Tsuna a pussy in regards to his friends. Specifically those moments where 'you'd be nothing without Vongola' might come up when he tries to live his life the way he wants to live it. Because it's blatantly not true. What I've put above are just bits and pieces, I'm sure others can find more, of why it's not Tsuna who needs Vongola/the Mafia, but that it's Vongola/the Mafia which needs Tsuna.

[invested-in-your-future]

Volume 9 gets a lot of criticism (deservedly so) for its message that seeking to grow and change yourself is a bad idea, but the more I think about it the more I think that the rot begins all the way back in V3 and its beginning of rejection of aspiration.

Volume 2 contains the scene in which Oobleck probes WBY on their motivations and goals. It's one of the best scenes in the entire show, I think, especially when paired with the subsequent scene in which they talk to one another about their discussions. Each character is presented as having ambitions, even if those goals are thinly sketched (Yang) or if they aren't entirely sure how to achieve them (Blake). They all have room to grow, but there is somewhere they want to grow towards.

That changes in Volume 3. The last thing that Penny says to Ruby is that she wants to stay at Beacon, and that she has a plan to make it happen. But before we can learn what that plan is she is killed as part of the villains' scheme. Pyrrha also gets the opportunity to talk of her own ambitions, and of how she has become conflicted between her sense of destiny and her attachment to Jaune; but then she dies to, having neither destiny nor Jaune, the whole thing amounting to nothing.

At which point the surviving characters pretty much give up on having personal goals in the same way as they give up on having growth. Blake leaves fighting for equality to her father and Ilia to get on with off-screen, Weiss makes some reference towards redeeming the Schnee name in Volume 9, after several volumes of not caring about it either way, Yang abandons whatever vague plans she had for her own life, they all become completely content to be led about by the plot, following Ozpin's direction, going where they're told and doing only what they need to to stop Salem.

Even the resurrected Penny, who in the early volumes had her own goals and took steps to achieve them, becomes a passive figure, stumbling into the Winter Maiden's powers and having things done to her until we're asked to believe that the only choice she ever made was to die.

It may seem as though I'm talking about two different things here, on the one side ambition and aspiration, and on the other side personal growth and change, but I think that the two are linked together. After all, how can you grow and change when you have nothing to grow towards, and the characters have had nothing to work towards for several volumes now except for the resolution of the main plot.

I don't think it's as clear-cut.

Penny's death is framed as a negative thing—her aspirations cut short by the scheming of others. Sure, there's an ironic undertone because in a way Penny get's to stay at Beacon—forever, but the show makes it clear that it's not her fault. The show expects you, the audience, to be angered by what happened to her—to relate to what Ruby is feeling.

Pyrrha's fate is also very specific case in that the grand destiny is not necessarily her aspiration but an expectation forced upon her by Ozpin. Pyrrha already had her aspirations, trying to be her own person, and Ozpin's tales play into her morals and ideals—out of desperation introducing her to the world hidden away to use her as a pawn to stave off whatever chaos Ozpin is afraid of. Pyrrha thinks this is her destiny, but is she sure of that? She is torn, derailed from her life, and thrown into a world she has no way of understanding.

It's not a story of children being punished for their aspirations.

Volume 3 is the story of dreams—hopes of aspirations, bright futures, ideals, and fairytales—torn apart from the hands of the next generation by the "real world" and the sins of their forefathers.

Because the world refused to change and instead turned a blind eye to preserve the status quo rather than to rock the boat.

This sets up lots of great possibilities for the future.

The narrative urged the four protagonists to move forward, to face their past, cautioning them to not dwell in ignorance, to not avoid dealing with their flaws and issues.

The leads are shaken, their ideals and beliefs questioned, the things they were running from catching up to them.

As you said, "How can you grow when everything is taken away from you? How do you get back up?"

How does the world get back up after the status quo breaks—can it?

How do characters "keep moving forward" when everything they were was invalidated or taken away?

This is reiterated over and over again in the narrative—and in the show's soundtrack, like the Opening songs.

This is V2 lyrics OP, remember?

"Now it's time to say goodbye

To the things we loved

And the innocence of youth

With a doubt in our minds

Why we chose this life

And at times we can't help wondering

Were we born to fight and die?

Sacrificed for one huge lie?

Are we heroes keeping peace?

Or are we weapons pointed at the enemy

So someone else can claim a victory?"

There's still hope to find a future where the characters are more than tools but for that future they have to stop clinging to naivety and grow.

Yet the Volume 3 lyrics crush that hope, smothering it with tragedy and despair.

So what's next?

This is what the show going forward should have been after the Fall of Beacon—introspection, retrospection, reflection, and growth, juxtaposed with division, chaos, miscommunication, and decay.

What does it mean to be a Huntress? What does it mean to live?

Is there worth within humanity despite its destructive nature and tendency to (figuratively and literally) breed hatred?

Yet instead this is where the issues start—with Volume 4, and your read is pretty much correct from then on.

Jaune is the Hero Man, Ruby is the Eyes-Girl, Yang is the Punchy-Punchy-Puns-GIrl, Weiss is there to take the Ls, and Blake is there to tell everyone how it's actually the Faunus fault.

Instead of exploring what this shakeup means for those characters and whether they can find a way forward, overcome the tragedy, and grow as people, the show relegates them to chasing the Four Relics, forgoing introspection.

Because, as one of the VAs said, having Yang actually have to face what happened and heal and grow "would be boring".

The show is hellbent on freezing the consequences of Fall of Beacon or ignoring them as it focuses on prolonging itself.

So the characters turn into puppets—pieces moved around through the plot points, so the specific story beats can happen.

They have to get through Mistral, so they...do that without any real introspection or growth.

They have to go to Atlas because, of course, that's the next Kingdom and Atlas has to fall, so here we go; that happens.

Characters don't get to react, to grow, to change.

Why is it that way?

Because the writers are afraid to have characters upset the status quo.

Because they have no idea where they want this story to go.

They likely had some vague scribbles from Monty Era—as it's popular to meme a concept of a plan and nothing more.

So they couldn't commit to any direction except for prolonging the show without losing viewers.

They can't resolve the Yang and Blake subplot because it would mean disappointing either Sun or Yang fanbases—cue them having these utterly awkward, meaningless interactions that skirt this huge tragic event that happened and then continue to skirt anything they ever do even if it's to kill someone. Not to mention the show's really obvious intent to queerbait without a resolution. Let's be frank: V9 kiss only happened as a desperate marketing move to drum up the clicks and to exploit the LGBTQ+ community—if the show wasn't falling apart financially, RT would have been more than happy to keep the Blake/Yang/Sun situation in an ambiguous limbo.

They can't really resolve Ruby's eyes deal because they likely have no idea of what happened to Summer—after all, they had no idea what Raven's purpose was, hence sidelining her to lounge in her bandit camp offscreen. And Jaune already got all the subplots Ruby should have gotten anyway.

They can't really resolve the Weiss family privilege issues because, "Ohh, we've got to wait for Atlas to fall." Then, "Whoops, we have no time—remember we never did get to it, so let's reference it in Animal Talking Land and the DC Spin-Off Movie."

So that's the result—Volumes Four through Nine, where characters go through the motions of advancing the plot, but their character arcs are frozen right at the end of V3.

The show commits the ultimate sin of having a plot for the plot's sake, rather than having plot-driven characterization. And it keeps piling up plot devices—Salem's evil council, relics, two gods, a realm of talking animals, another god above two gods, etc.—as quick ways to get to the story beats they want and extend the show.

Because there is no plan, no growth, no will to move forward—not within the characters or the set-up, but within the writers, the staff.

[elainsgirl]

Just going to drop some theorizing that my friends and I have been doing in GC over elriel especially since there were question in a previous AMA i think you might love this.

it's come from late night tumblr stalking and wild conversations so you might have heard some of it already because it's not completely original. i'll try to say all sources to give credit

theory from highbabyofthenightcourt:

(she went on to talk about the book of breathings and found a quote)

and this one quote which made sense to me

"life and death and rebirth" -feyre coded

"Sun and moon and dark"- nesta coded

"Rot and bloom and bones"- Elaine coded

hello sweet thing, hello lady of the night, hello fanged beast and trembling fawn. Love me, touch me, Sing me.

her theory is that there is three phases to connect to the sisters

feyre's journey was to find love, not just for rhys but for herself and for life "love me"

Nesta's line "touch me" could be an indicator of how she reclaimed her body through touch, through connection. (WHICH WOULD EXPLAIN THE SEX FILLED BOOK!)

(Elaine's comment kind of confuses me because for one it says "Hello fanged beast and trembling fawn" is it talking about just elaine here? because she did use azriels shadows. is she part of him and he is of her? or is she secretly also a fanged beast.) but she eludes this comment of "sing me" could be linked tot he shadow singer! we have no way of knowing until the book is out

life, death, and rebirth:- feyre (human, death, fae)

sun and moon and dark- nesta ( sun could be rage, moon could be pain, and dark could be atraxia)

rot and bloom and bones- Elaine (rot of her old self, bloom into something new and bones we won't know until the next book.)

now onto soemthing i just happened to notice myself from reading a depiction of when Elaine was rescued by Ariel. there was a huge foreshadow in the description alone.

the comment consisted of this "the two of them having to be physicaly seperated by Rhys"

it brought up the thought this is exactly what happened in the bonus chapter. rhys had to seperate them.

then i realized "who is azriels biggest obstical for the next book?"

it's his own high lord. his loyalty and love to his own brother.

who was luciens biggest obstacle? his own highlord, and suffice to say he did not do well in holding his own and standing up against him which in turn led to the event of elaine being turned.

how would elaine ever want a spineless mate?

i think azriels test to overcome will be going against his hgihlord and having a spine. it connect rhy's villianous behavior becoming more apparent rhought the books and sets up the motions for us the readers to relish and revel in his humbling.

i think azriel will show elaine he is not lucien and will not just follow whatever orders he's given at the detriment to other people.

Hey 🫶

oooh im always down to talk about elriel theories,

starting from, “fanged beast and trembling fawn” - I think this could be referring to Elains powers. “Trembling Fawn”

As for “fanged beast” - either Elain can shapeshift which was potentially hinted at in acofas when she asks Amren about choosing her body, or a more unrealisticc crack theory approach is that each Hl has a beast form. If Elain is the one to revive Dusk and become a ruler off it - then wouldn’t she also be given a beast form like the other Hls? It could also be metaphorical. Elain has two sides - the sweet, gentle, gardener Elain and the savage Elain will do whatever it takes to save the people she cares about such as kicking the hounds of Azriel, warning Feyre about Tamlin and stabbing Hybern in the neck for Nesta - all acts one may not have expected from someone like Elain.

As for the line, “love me, touch me, sing me” - this I believe is how each sister needs to feel loved or communicate their love. Rhys showed Feyre true love, Cassian and showed their passion/love through physical touch and as for elriel, sing me could be how Az shows his love for Elain - Ik there’s some theoried of Elain “dying” and Az will be the one to bring her back, in some mythologies this can be done through singing a song to a God and pleading them for their lovers’ life.

Good catch, in acowar - Rhys is the one that takes Elain off Az. And in the bonus he again, seperates Elain and Azriel. Now again, you can look at it metaphorically. Rhys representing a higher power that separates Elriel - maybe the cauldron. Potentially Koshei.

Omfg I love this parallel. Lucien couldn’t stand up to Tamlin, even for his mate - he was still by Tamlins’ side in acowar and only left when Feyre was going. He didn’t take initiative or do much, wanting to see if she was worth 🤢 fighting for. Yet w Azriel? “You can’t do that” - said to Rhys when he immediately pulled rank. Azriel deciding to go against Rhys and be with Elain will be a huge moment (I dont think they’ll have a secret or on going private relationship) something Lucien couldn’t do. And I think for Elain it will a significant moment too, someone wanting her so much they’re going against their HL. She means *that* much to them. Two characters choosing each other over power.

[mariuspompom]

It has been said before so many times but I'll say it again. Rhaegar was one of the most, if not THE most important role model in Dany's life, even, especially, beyond his death. She never met Rhaegar, yes, but it is his legacy that is guiding her both consciously and subconsciously throughout her entire journey, from the very beginning, standing alongside her father's shady legacy that she prefers to ignore than to confront because of fear of what it may entail for her and her cause. GRRM put THREE Targs ahead of Dany, each of them with a VERY heavy baggage. Aerys and Viserys were despicable people and she could have easily, EASILY delved into that sense of blind entitement and authoritarianism that they most certainly inspired. But alongside them, she chooses to hold onto Rhaegar's memory or legacy or imaginary or whatever the hell you want to call it, and she chooses to lead with that. She literally identifies herself with him, it's her face she sees inside his helmet. She desperately holds onto him, the only family member whose legacy is even remotely positive, based on the opinions of multiple different sources. What Dany wants the most is her family back, her home back. She is an orphan, she is alone, she has nothing left but her name and the dream of who that brother was and what she could be in his place, where she could succeed where he failed, in the same way Jon could succeed where Ned failed (the parallels are so strong). To have this taken away from her as well, to have Rhaegar's legacy smeared in the way the fandom does, is not only a direct attack to Dany but also extremely boring and repetitive, in all its fake "deconstructive"/"subversive" glory. Oh so you mean that her entire family were just monsters, one was an abusive loser, the other a psychopath and the third one, the only one that is presented as good, turns out to have been a machiavellian pedophile forcefully impregnating women for scientific experiments. So, Robert's initial thesis as presented in the very first book is not only confirmed but completed with new even more hideous information. And you call that subversive.

Just, no. What happened to nuance, I wonder? What happened to "oh this character had strong virtues but also some fatal flaws that led to his downfall, among other external factors"? You call the "Rhaegar forcefully impregnating unwilling women in order to use them and their babies as pawns to an imaginary war" a nuanced and subversive take in the context of asoiaf of all possible media? Really? Be for real.

Not even delving into the fact that Rhaegar being the only character of his generation actively interested in the prophecy and not in purely personal political gain is actually one of his main redeeming character traits, if not the most redeeming one and literally sets the thematical tone for the entire book series because that's PhD level for most people here.

[charlie990]

BEYOND THE VEIL

Disclaimer: Genshin does not belong to me. I do not promote any wrongs committed within this fanfiction. Whatever happens in this story stays within the bounds of fiction and should not be attempted in real life. Content Warning: Swearing, Blood, Graphic Violence, Death, Criminal Activity, Original Character

[ MASTERLIST | PROLOGUE | CH1 ]

PROLOGUE | FROM ASHES TO ASHES

The job was done. The target was neutralized and placed in a body bag for interrogation by her clients; he was stashed unconscious at the back of the van. The getaway driver was waiting for her to get on so he can drive them both off the scene. But man, Kim was tired of this. This same Goddamn job over, and over and over and over and over again. She didn't even care that she did this guns blazing, when she always planned and worked so meticulously when working these dirty jobs.

She felt nothing.

No haste.

No thrill.

No hatred.

No remorse.

Nothing.

A haggard sigh escaped her dry, cracked lips, muffled by the balaclava wrapped all over her head and further by the steel visor of her helmet. The woman opened the passenger seat, met with the rough barking of her accomplice for this contract. "What the fuck are you doing gawking around like that!? You want to get us arrested!?" The man's scowl bore into her own, but the contractor was unfazed as she lazily batted her gloved hand at him.

"Fuck off, just tell the client that I did my job, I'm staying here." "Wait, what!? And you're throwing yourself away just like that!?" Kim slammed the van's door with a grim chuckle at his words, sauntering off again to the bank's side alley door as the driver's increasingly irritated rants became more distant.

All the armor, the equipment, and the guns on her being were heavier than she remembered. Were the effects of the countless scars and healed wounds on and in her battered body taking their toll? Was the night wearing her down? Perhaps it was both, but Kim never mulled deeper about it.

Her scowling blue gaze swept her surroundings through the glass slot of her helmet visor. The walls of the office cubicles were shredded with holes, with some even have chunks fallen down to the carpeted floor. Even through the steel and cloth wrapped around her nose, the woman smelled the waft of gunpowder and iron in the stagnant night air.

A ragged chorus of distant sirens filled the air. Tires screeched from the back door she came from; sounds like the driver saved his own skin-

The contractor stopped, the thump of her boots halting on the floor littered by splinters of drywall. In the corner of her limited vision, she spotted a glimpse of red beyond the ruined door that led to the teller counters. With a lazy swing of her right foot, the bullet-riddled door fell apart in chunks and splinters.

Kim only stared.

Three out of the eight tellers were unfortunate, slumped on or behind their respective spots on the counter with their hands over two of their many bullet wounds. They were lifeless, their blood splayed across the counter, on the wall behind, and pooling on the floor.

The contractor pursed her lips and looked away, a bitter taste filling her tongue as she brushed past the door and onto the bank's main lobby. She was no stranger to death. After all, the woman's first foray into the underworld was shooting a buckshot shell at a convenience store clerk about to pull out a gun on her. Even then, she pulled the trigger when the goon who dragged her along for the robbery shrieked right at her ear.

But that?

Those three tellers did nothing wrong to her. They weren't even remotely close to being targets of her client's contract.

They were collateral.

Kim could've just chosen to shoot at the ceiling to intimidate everyone to submission. Hell, she could've just went quiet with all this. But then she really decided that nothing is worth caring about. Not even the lives of innocents.

By the next morning, people may have lost a friend.

Three in particular may have lost a lover.

Families may have lost a member.

Parents may have lost a child.

Children may have lost a parent.

And it was all her fault.

She had become the person she had swore to destroy since that night.

Heh. Perhaps she made the right call to stay behind in the carnage she created, and face the consequences of her actions.

The woman strode slowly across the large, opulent lobby of the bank, filled with the distorted wails and flashing lights of stopped police cars and ambulances at the road outside. The massive windows that served as the lobby's walls were all shattered, lying as shrapnel on the carpet that crunched beneath her boots.

The contractor raised her free left hand to shield her eyes; there was a spotlight beaming with blinding intensity from the night sky, accompanied by the drone of helicopters high above. The moment her right leg was passed by a searchlight, all lights and eyes locked onto her form.

Kim clenched her eyes shut, raising her left hand to shield her helmet's vision slot. The tinnitus that had subtly and constantly plagued her ears since she started this mess, worsened when a voice blared from a megaphone amongst the police.

"This is Cincinnati PD. Drop your weapons, and stand, down. Drop your weapons, and stand, down."

When her vision adjusted to the numerous blinding lights on her, the contractor saw a multitude of standard police officers and SWAT units, all pointing their firearms at her from the cover of their vehicles surrounding the bank.

The armored's vision blurred and blurred into a haze of white with dots of black, red, and blue. The ringing in her ears completely filled her hearing, driving a nail of insanity through her skull. Kim could feel her breath hitch, her knees wobble beneath herself.

The woman looked down, vaguely registering the shining steel of the M60 in her right hand. The clamor of muffled voices rose in then midst of her tinnitus when she weakly raised the LMG-

Bhump!

The contractor heard a dull bang through the ringing right as something punched onto her plate carrier, sending her tumbling onto her hands and knees on the pavement.

Bhump bhump!

Two more dull bangs as she raised her left hand onto her chest; her plate within her vest was shattered. Another punch hit Kim on her left shoulder, and her corresponding arm went numb and fell limp as she was knocked down further onto the floor. Through ragged breaths and weakening joints, she managed to turn her helmeted head to see a gaping crater on her shoulder that stained her armor and clothing an ominous blood red.

Heh, even in death, she felt nothi-

Kim's left eye saw black.

Her right eye saw a haze of white and blood red.

She couldn't feel herself. She couldn't hear anything.

All went to black.

... It felt as if her eyes were both closed and open.

... From an abyss, warm, faint, hazy flashes filled her vision. The deafening silence started to fill with quiet, muffled churning. Her entire being felt both heavy and light, bobbing up and down in a fluid that she couldn't feel. Like a boulder, floating underwater tied to a buoy.

... A ringing. It started as a quiet, shrill hum that grew louder for each passing moment. Her tinnitus followed her to, wherever this, place, was.

But when it worsened, the churning also grew louder and crisper. The haze of her vision cleared. A cacophony of millions of voices, and different, uncountable faces flashing in mere split seconds.

And then the flashing faces stopped, showing only the visage of one woman. Dark brown eyes, rounded like those of a doe, stared kindly into her very being. Her lips parted into the warmest smile she had ever seen.

Her heart stirred from dormancy, and the sound of its pulse filled this void and drowned out the voices that rang in her hearing.

"Charlie-"

Blue. A deep, dark blue. Her gloved hand was outstretched up to the heavens. The sound of rolling waves and cawing seagulls high in the sky filled her ears. All her senses were back.

Kim's lips quivered as she let her right hand fall limp with on her chest, the bones of her hand thumping as it hit the ceramic under her vest. She took deep breaths, her chest laboring against the inside of her plate carrier. Her vision blurred, and the woman uttered to herself.

"... Why...?"

"... Why am I... crying...?"

[magesforthedas]

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE END OF VEILGUARD!

Okay, something has been spinning around in my head for a bit now. When I was doing the Shadows of Minrathous quest, you go to the "Anvallenim". Now, my elven Rook commented that Anvallenim is elven for "womb"- unfortunately I accidentally triggered other dialogue, and didn't hear if she added to that statement.

And like? I was thinking that the Anvallenim was a part of the deep roads, but then realized I may have made that connection because of the darkspawn. What I feel more sure about is that they are tunnels underground, that the Shadow Dragons use to transport escaped slaves.

Later, we find out that there are catacombs spanning what, the entirety of Minrathous? Wasn't some of that architecture elven-looking, or am I crazy? We know that the Tevinter Imperium basically just modelled itself after the Evanuris's kingdom. I thought, was Minrathous was built on top of one of their former cities? But no, Minrathous was built BEFORE the war with the elves. But there's an obvious elven name, too ...

And if that particular (?) section of the catacombs was called the womb by the ancient elves... Could there possibly be ties to Ghilan'nain? And the "birth" or her creations? Or related to the "birth" of something else?

****Also, pointing out that the elves are said to first notice the "quickening", the loss of their immortality, around -2850 Ancient= around when the veil was put up?

-The Old gods are said to begin whispering to humanity in -2800, 50 years later= the Evanuris reaching out from their prison through the fade/dreams?

-In -1207 Ancient, Darinius becomes High King of Neromenian, uniting the Neromenian and Tevinter tribes; then in -1195 he unites the remaining and declares himself the first Archon= Darinius was a high priest of Dumat, the first Old God to awaken and the start of the First Blight (though that wouldn't happen for another 800 years), as well as a prodigal Dreamer AND his mother was a priestess of Razikale, Ghilan'nain's "Old God" = obvious influence from the Evanuris through their personas as Old Gods?

Which of the Evanuris was Dumat I wonder? The first mage ever recorded to use blood magic was also a priest of Dumat, who said the Old God taught him himself. The constellation for Dumat is also tied to Mythal, interestingly enough.

-In -981 Tevinter and the elves go to war. Now, it definitely feels like the Imperium has been led to function like the Evanuris, and they tried to conquer a lot of land. But the elves in particular have been targeted, enslaved for centuries. Did the Evanuris hold a grudge, and lead the Imperium to that?

-Pre-Veilguard I guessed pretty close to the truth about the Evanuris being the ones to trick the magisters to release the blight, because of looking at a bunch of those dates, particularly the 50 years between elves lifespans shortening and the old gods whispering.

-ALSO fun fact, Andraste was born the same year the first blight ended. She was also a mage. OMG crazy thoughts I'm having literally as I type this: if the Old Gods aren't "gods", what if what transfers from darkspawn to darkspawn, until it goes into a grey Warden to actually die is a little piece of whatever Evanuris was linked? Nowhere does it say who killed Dumat: "Records do not say who exactly gave up his soul to destroy Dumat, for many Wardens struggled against him, and the Archdemon's very death throes slew seven or more of them."

And OMG THIS: "Elderath (Andraste's father) also fathered another daughter, Halliserre, with his advisor on matters of alchemy. Andraste would later suggest that her father's consort whispered of the Old Gods. While the circumstances of Halliserre's birth were frowned upon, they were not uncommon; Halliserre was welcomed into the family line, though not the family home. Her mother's fate remains uncertain, though she was likely killed or exiled by Brona."

What if Andraste lied? What if she was listening to the old gods, or if she was a bastard child and actually HAD an Old God soul, like with Morrigan.

What if the Evanuris created the Maker and all that, OR only one of the Evanuris to work against the rest, AND/OR even more crazy ... What if whatever else is connected, controlling, WHISPERING to the blight ... Is the Maker? What if the Maker is whatever was talking in the secret ending cutscene??

Okay I'm really crazy now, I'm sorry. Probably none of this is right cuz I'm grasping at straws here, but it feels like this (the start of this before I derailed, The Anvallenim) is some sort of puzzle piece, I just don't know where to put it (or if I'm putting it in the right puzzle)

I also should be asleep hours ago but this thought WOULDNT STOP BOUNCING AROUND!! I relate to Bellara a lot sometimes.

[squishedbeanios]

My theories for sg s3!!

Okay so, with whatever that went down from the full trailer (absolute cinema btw got me HOOKED) I can’t help but have a few assumptions as to what’s going to happen to our characters.

#1

For one thing, whatever the Shaman lady had said to Gihun prior to him lashing out and attempting to choke her. I’d like to think she either taunted him (using her unique way of speaking) about the failed rebellion and the death of Jungbae, or that she claims to Gihun that she senses the spirits of the dead - namely, the players that died in S1 and his now dead close friend - being massively disappointed in him in getting revenge and SOMEHOW with her shaman-like abilities, deadnames (not rlly a dead name per se BUT YGWIM) the numbers of Sangwoo and Saebyeok in the 2020 games and rubs that fact in his face. Honestly, I think another guess might be that she must have mentioned Youngil (Inho) but tells him she senses that he attracted the wrong person that ultimately led to the failure of the rebellion, and Gihun snaps which led to the choking scene. (How tragic must it be for Gihun to be proven wrong and that the Shaman lady was in fact not lying at all)

#2

Now, player 202. This scene is most likely during the ‘laser tag’ game, and emphasis on background characters usually indicates a significant role that they would play toward the main cast. In this case, I’d like to think that player 202 discovered Junhee before Myunggi (333) finds her, or even AFTER, maybe after he distracted any players so that she can escape to safety.

Seeing as to how she wore a blue vest later on (if I can recall correctly), perhaps some sort of conflict between them would happen and Junhee might have to convince him not to attack her, or she might feel resigned as she believes she won’t be able to survive. This could be a moment of ‘humanity’, where 202 might help Junhee out somehow (regardless of the colour of her vest), or a moment where Gihun or someone from the main protagonist gang somehow manages to find Junhee in time and help her win the game. I think it would be spectacle for the VIPs, especially the female VIPs this year.

I believe this could be around the time where Junhee’s water breaks and goes into labour, and catches the attention of the female VIPs instead. In turn, they might want to excuse Junhee and give her special treatment by telling Frontman to discreetly help her (knowing Inho and his principles of equality in the games, it’s highly unlikely, but to entertain the VIPs may be somewhat of a motivating factor) but again these are just speculations and I’m probably reaching too far.

The addition of female VIPs is definitely intentional by HDH, and I’m so thrilled to see if they have any motives besides watching the games as a source of entertainment. Certainly highlights the fact that cruel, merciless people of higher power come in many shapes and forms, namely gender for this context.

#3 MY FINAL AND LAST THEORY:

In the same ss in theory #2, we hear a snippet of a conversation between mystery voice and Gihun, and though it shows a scene of 202, I don’t think it was him speaking at all. If anything, I reckon that it was Daeho instead talking to Gihun, hence the disbelief in Gihun’s voice as he says “What are you doing?”, to which the unknown voice replied with “What do you think I’m doing? Playing the game.” It could be during the laser tag game where Gihun finds Daeho, and instead of trying to work with Gihun, Daeho might try to attack Gihun instead out of desperation. I KNOW IT SOUNDS CRAZY, but just think! They could have had a conversation about the death of Jungbae when Gihun was forced back into the dorms inside the coffin prior to this, and of course Gihun would definitely blames himself. Daeho, poor sweet man Daeho, also blames himself the most for this, but perhaps a small part of him wanted to deny that fact, to suppress the immense remorse and guilt because if he doesn’t, the cold hard facts of him not delivering the extra magazines due to his PTSD played a part of the rebellion failing.

He might have wanted to tarnish those emotions, and so he tried to take it out on Gihun, which Gihun accepts, because as we know he’s actively suicidal and wholeheartedly believes he deserved to die. This I believe throws Daeho off his decision, and maybe sacrifices himself for Gihun or even one of the main protagonists during the game. To right his wrongs, and finally have the courage to overcome his trauma in his own way. honestly I could go on and on, but these are just some of my far-fetched theories for season 3! One thing’s for certain, the season would rip my heart out to shreds and politely toss it into the gutter with all the confrontations and emotional rollercoasters it will force me to ride on. (I would relish yet despise every moment of it HAHA)

[feinbergs-fanatics]

HI TELL ME EVERYTHING ABOUT YOUR OCS I WANNA KNOW EVERYTHING

BWAAHHH I HAVE TOO MANY OCS AND TOO MUCH OC LORE TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION PROPERLY!!! BUT I GUESS I CAN TRY???

i can use this as an excuse to expand on ms god killer maythennion?? i suppose??

so strap in for my funny bunny (pic below just so you know who im talking about)

so may is called the god killer for a very good reason, but before we get into that i have to talk about where she comes from. she wasnt always a shapeshifter, she was initially a bunny and thats why her most common appearance is one. how she became a shapeshifter is a mystery ... but i can tell you about the time before/after that.

she belonged to a cult led by a god named zhyl-rah (important to note that gods did not have crowns yet, yes i know this contradicts canon I dont care) who was considered the god of death before narinder was born. they lived on a different landmass from where the land of the old faith was, i dont have a name for it yet, but this particular domain was called the winterpine forest. anyways, may didnt believe in zhyl-rah as much as everyone else did, and often got herself in trouble because of it.

she ran away one day. no one knows where she went or what happened, but when she returned, she had a crown, and she was Not the same. she spoke to eleer, her brother, before leaving again. eleer never saw her again, but shortly after, he found a crown and became eleer-rah.

what ACTUALLY happened is that she left to the lands of the old faith and found a weak god wandering by herself, named uvini. may figured out that you can trap the souls of gods in obsidian, and use their power by holding whatever shape the obsidian is. she kills uvini and traps her in the coral crown, giving her the power to kill other gods.

so thats what she does. she kills gods and traps them in crowns, then buries the crowns deep in the earth to prevent more gods from appearing. she aims to be the only god left, as she received a prophecy saying there would only be one left.

i should mention that having a crown as opposed to being a normal god makes you stronger, so when the bishops find their crowns, she has more competition. this is why she hasnt just killed them off.

i had some more lore that would tie into the game itself... but i need to finalize that so ill get into it later. tell me what you think :] and thanks for asking about my ocs!!

[wordy-little-witch]

So like. I have my ongoing first (yayy) but smth that is just. Clinging in my brain, making me think and loop and vibrate is that like.

Earth, Sun and Solar have been through the absolute ringer lately. And Earth just recently had to cope with the complicated loss of a brother while trying to help her other brother and whatever-association-Solar-has. Now Lunar has gone down that same path of destruction that led to Nexus's death.

I really don’t think it's that much of a stretch to say she'd probably have a panic attack over it before going fucking frigid.

Because Sun has to kill Nexus.

And while she is more than aware that there are things in the past that have happened that she is not privy to, I don't doubt for a moment that she has been able to at least piece together some things. She's not a licensed therapist, and there are many things she doesn't handle properly in that regard, but I really love the idea of her actively making efforts to improve her methods and knowledge.

So she has been attacked by Lunar (truly attacked, not just insulted, not just threatened). She knows Sun is Not Well Right Now. She knows he hasn't been truly well in a very, very long time - if ever. She knows that Nexus's death has damn near broken him in a ways she doesn't know if she can fix.

But she knows her brother. She knows he hates being kept in the dark, hates being coddled and lied to, treated as weak or ineffectual. She has to tell them, has to warn them, just in case-

And honestly? She also just really wants her brother.

She's still angry at Moon - (Sun's vacant stare, oil slicked face, broken voice as he begged for a brother that wasn't there, nearly catatonic but for his heartbreak, and Earth is a pacifist, is a lover, not a fighter, but she wants to hit someone, wants to scream and rage, wants to tear the foundations from the very ground itself, so instead she wraps her arms around her big brother and they cry together) - she's still furious but there is no space for that now.

Yes, Moon has made an effort and she tells herself that it is good, that it is growth, but the terror in her heart at the thought of what it took to get there, what could have happened, what she suspected WOULD have happened if not for the precious timing, burns. She's making an active effort to be kind, because it is her choice to do so, her own decision and desire, but she can feel the cracks ((ones she wonders if Sun has learned to live with, ones she seethes at the idea of)).

She is hurt and scared and she wants Sun, she wants Solar, and she wants Monty - so Moon gets a tentative allowance.

She is hurt and scared and she's fucking terrified because this damage in her is bad enough, but it may completely shatter Sun, already so raw and brittle. There is no winning, no good choice, only a lesser of evils, and Earth wants to protect him but she can't. Not from this. Not from Lunar.

She's so tired of looking for protection from a brother, it hurts and it burns and she wants to lay down, wants to cry, wants to scream and sleep, but there is no time to do that because if she stops, that's it, that's the end, and she fears if she pauses for even a moment that she may do something poorly advised.

Usually her hugs are big, warm, enveloping and comforting - she acts as a wall between the world and her ward for however long is needed. She had planned for it. Sunny needed support, and she was going to give it to him, but the moment he opened the door and she met his gaze, something within her snapped.

Her optics clouded and a pathetic sound screeched from her voicebox, and somehow she went from in the doorway to being pushed down onto the couch. Warm hands, so gentle, so painfully sweet despite the horrors they have held, cup her cheeks and thumb away tears and she clings, trying to calm her breathing until he hoarsely asks her, "what's going on, Earth?"

And she falls into pieces, lunging to cling, her fingers tangling in his ruffled skirt, face buried into his shirt, as she wails. She hates herself for it. Sunny just holds her tightly, rocking gently. Even burnt out beyond measure, he pours from an empty cup and she sobs all the harder for it.

It takes time to get the words out, and she finds her syntax trees stuttering under the force of her emotions. Solar comes in at some point, joining them and coaching her through breathing exercises, grounding techniques, and she cannot find the words until Moon - she ignores how her grip tights almost painfully, distantly grateful that it is fabric in her fingers instead of metal, because she suspects she may have dented it at best - offers to hook the display port.

And the image she practically throws through the connective port casts a horrible silence across the room, the entire house, damn near the whole world. It is her desperate grip on Sun that keeps him from falling as his knees buckle, ivory optics wide and unseeing. She pulls him closer, coiling around him, offering and seeking comfort in equal, bitter measure.

Moon swears, and she can only barely pay attention to anything beyond the whirlwind in her chassis, hair sparking with static, until she hears those words. "Go" and "lab" and "be back later"

And she chokes on a wail.

"Don't go," she begs, holding Sun closer, even as numb gold-and-gunmetal hands try to press into her own arms and shoulders, clumsy and trembling, but she turns to the smudge of blue, voicebox burning with the force of her broken sounds, "don't go-"

"I won't be long" is the response she gets, not the one she needs, not the one Sun needs, but it is given casually, distractedly. "I need to find him."

After that, there is a blur, a cacophony of sound before a familiar baby blue shirt is pressed against her face and she shrieks with the force of her wailing as Solar holds her and Sun together, two broken beings held in place by bloodorange and ochre, a low timbre that she can't understand past the force of her servos and fans working desperately to keep her conscious.

Between one breath and the next, green and violet slips into her side, and someone tries to pull Sun from her arms, earning a rare growl from the habitually placid woman before she and her brother are simply enfolded between two bodies, tethered in this riotous typhoon of grief and terror and panic and sorrow.

Earth cries in Monty and Solar's arms, clutching her brother to her chest, and thinks to herself that they will never fully heal from this.

[loflr]

Punishment within a Loving, Obedient Female-Led Relationship

Hi, Brian here.

I have already talked about the way we handle discipline in our FLR. Diane is training me, and whenever my behaviour falls below the level that she expects, then she takes steps to correct that and get me back on track. Punishment is only required if the woman's corrective action does not have the desired effect, or if the man's disobedience has been serious. For example, if I was late with dinner she would probably just scold me and warn me not to let if happen again. If it did happen again, then she might consider punishment. The question of a wife punishing her spouse is quite an emotive one, and I wouldn't be surprised if some couples skip this part of FLR entirely. I personally think that some form of punishment is essential as a component of FLR, especially during training.

I'll first repeat something that I said during the post on training, we are not long into our FLR dynamic, and because I have been so eager to please, training has not been much of an issue, with disobedience even less so. Basically, she tells me what to do and I do it. The only situations we have encountered where punishment might have been necessary have been for very minor shortcomings which would not have really warranted much more than light scolding, if that (well, I would say that, wouldn't I). So, if I'm going to write a post about punishment, having never actually been punished, then it's all going to be a bit speculative. Just as with the training post, Diane will read it and let me know if she agrees with what I've written, or if she has something else in store for me. Whatever she says, I will pass on to you all. Another thing to mention is that this is all new to us and we are a pretty vanilla couple. I have no idea how comfortable Diane will actually feel being in the position of punishing her husband. She is becoming more and more assertive as our new relationship grows, but it wouldn't be at all surprising if this was something that she found very difficult.

The first things that I should emphasise are the questions of consent and boundaries. Punishment without consent is abuse, and if one of you ends up in prison, then you may have a whole new set of complex personal relationship dynamics to learn! I have come across the term "CNC", or Consensual Non-Consent, which sounds very risky to me. This is essentially giving someone permission to punish you beyond the point at which you can tell them to stop. In this case, your only protection against abuse, and possible harm, is your trust that your partner loves you and would not intentionally harm you. Having been married to Diane for 50 years, I would probably take that risk, but I don't think that this is something that I would advise generally.

I have empowered Diane to train me, which may involve punishment, at her discretion. However, that does not mean that she can pummel me half to death with a rock if I forget to wash the dishes! I have given her consent to punish me, but only within specific boundaries. In reality this means, "up to" a certain severity, as there isn't really any such thing as a lower boundary, or a minimum, in respect of punishment. We are living a kink-free FLR, and between us we have agreed that I will not be subjected to corporal, i.e. physical, punishment, but there are other "red lines" for me. For instance, I would not allow myself to be punished in public, or in front of her friends, and neither would I perform demeaning or distasteful tasks; I'm not going to lick the toilet clean if I forget to make the bed, nor would I allow my mouth to be washed out with soap for swearing, which I think is quite a common non-physical punishment in the FLR community. Any punishment necessarily involves an element of humiliation, but in our case, this must always be private, and does not extend to verbal humiliation or insults. We all have our own boundaries, and those are mine. As I have said several times, we are a pretty vanilla couple.

So, bearing mind that my wife has not yet needed to punish me, I'll make a start and talk about how she "might" punish me. It will be interesting to see what she makes of this little lot. I have put the suggested punishments in an order of severity, with harsher punishments used to address progressively worse disobedience.

Scolding: I already mentioned this in the post on training and in that post I gave an example of quite a severe scolding. I truly believe that this would address most of the day-to-day disciplinary requirements between us. I can’t know, because it hasn’t happened yet, but I would feel humiliated and embarrassed at being scolded, sad that I had disappointed Diane, and determined to follow her instructions to make sure that I was not disobedient again.

The only downside that I see to this form of punishment is that it would take a considerable degree of assertiveness from Diane, and she might find it difficult. Still, she has been know to be quite fiery in the past.

Adult Timeout:  While I was chatting to Diane last week she mentioned that she had an idea for a way to punish me, if necessary. This would involve being sent to the bathroom and made to sit there quietly for however long she decides. I can't remember whether this was to be done naked or clothed, but in the scenario which she came up with this would be happening at night time, so I would be alone in the dark. I was chatting with a follower of this blog the other day and he called this the "Denial of her Presence". It does make a lot of sense: if she is cross with me then this gets me out of her sight, and I want to be with her but I can't be.

However, I think that this would only be useful as a relatively light punishment, just one notch up from scolding. It seems to me that it lacks visibility, with the offender being alone in a separate room, out of sight and out of mind. Much better, I believe, to know that he is being watched.

Corner Time:  I do not think that it is possible to rely solely on scolding, and the most obvious punishment that I can think of is corner time. This certainly seems to be about the most common non-physical punishment spoken about with the FLR community. What exactly does this entail? After a scolding, the man is sent to either stand or kneel in the corner of a room, facing the walls. Obviously, he will have no phone, TV or any other distractions, and is not permitted to speak. The woman can choose whether he is to stand in a different room or the same room as her, and there can be various additions, such as placing his hands on his head, or putting a finger on his lips (appropriate if it was his mouth which has got him into trouble). The woman decides how long he must remain in the corner, which can be anything from a few minutes up to several hours (in which case she should allow toilet breaks, within reason). Quite apart from the inconvenience of being unable to use his phone or watch TV, being made to stand in a corner in silence like a small child on the “naughty step” is extremely humiliating and gives the offender plenty of time to consider his behaviour.

Corner Time Plus: In this punishment the humiliation factor is increased by making the man remove his trousers and underwear. The purpose of exposing his bare bottom is not to inflict physical punishment, but to increase the humiliation and embarrassment associated with the experience. Silently thinking about his behaviour while facing a wall with his bare bottom facing outwards will certainly focus his attention. I can't speak from experience, but I would imagine that this would start to be very embarrassing after a few minutes. He will be acutely aware that she can see the embarrassing situation that he is in.

Remember that punishment is intended to be an unpleasant experience, with the goal of correcting disobedience. If it is fun for the man, then it becomes absolutely pointless. There is no reason why a couple cannot engage in “funishment” as part of their relationship, but it should be kept separate from punishment inflicted as part of the disciplinary process. It is not uncommon for men to enjoy receiving punishment from a woman, but if a husband is deliberately disobedient in order to be punished, this completely inverts the dynamic, and becomes female led in name only. This is sometimes referred to as “topping from the bottom”, a phrase borrowed from the BDSM world.

So, I can think of three, non-physical punishments, suitable for correcting a disobedient husband. I wonder what Diane will think of these, or what other delights she might dream up.

I will keep you posted on her response, but if anyone out there has any ideas, then feel free to let us know.

Brian

[marinas-ashtray]

Four: Kennedy

I had originally written a long-winded and boring entry about Ethan's friend's party, but something much more interesting happened on Monday that I'd rather post. But the events of the party are slightly important.

Orin and I spent basically the entire time dancing on each other. I was entirely sober, having been sipping on the same white claw the entire night. Orin, however, had soared through 6 beers and 4 shots of something (I wasn't paying attention) with Ethan. Ethan got pulled away by some friends for a game of beer pong. This left me and Orin alone.

We went into the overstuffed living room because Orin desperately wanted to dance. It was hot and loud, the room smelled of sweat and beer. The room was only lit by shitty LED strip lights. Orin and I moved toward the back of the living room, near the TV there was a small space where we danced. And by 'dance' I mean Orin leaned against me, my back pressed against his chest, his arms around my waist, and we swayed to the beat of whatever song was playing.

It was nice but a little weird.

We eventually reunited with Ethan, who was also very drunk. He was completely done with the party. He asked me for a ride home, but by the time the three of us reached Orin's car, they were both asleep, so they both crashed at my place. I originally set them up in the guest room across the hall from me, but they both migrated to my room, and they slept on the floor. My mom was unhappy about it, but them having a safe place to sleep was more important to me than her being upset with me.

That's basically it. If anyone would like to know more, I'm willing to share, but that's the gist of the remaining Saturday post-game.

Here is the entry I have written from Monday, which I put off posting. I wanted to be sure that I wanted to post it. I have decided that although what I learned is not the biggest deal in the world and may be slightly overreacting. :

Yesterday, Sunday, Orin drove himself and Ethan home and my mom chewed me out in front of Chris and Andy about finding them in my room. 

Nothing happened, they just slept on the floor.

But apparently that's still a crime punishable by death in this house.

Today, I met up with Orin before class. He was leaning against the side of the science building, one foot up on the wall, hoodie half-zipped, cigarette dangling from his fingers like he was born to be in an indie film. He greeted me with a side hug and offered me the cigarette, raising it to my lips.

Of course I took it. With his arm still around me, I leaned forward, touching my lips to his fingers and took one long drag. I reveled in the burn of the smoke in my throat and chest.

He looked down at me, concerned and gentle. 

“You grounded?” He asked completely seriously.

“Dude,” I exhaled, tendrils of smoke curled between us, “I’m twenty, I’m not grounded. She just said that we need to set boundaries.” Using the hand that was around my shoulder, he tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. 

Orin winced a little. “Oof. That’s worse.”

“Tell me about it.”

He took the cigarette back, dragging from it like it was the only steady thing in the world. After that we headed towards our class. We just had to walk a few yards across “the grove” which is a large yard that students hang out at, it’s surrounded by the library, the bookstore and a few small restaurants. Behind the library was the humanities building, the one we were heading to.

He held the door open for me, and I led us up the stairs and to our classroom.

We sat in our normal seats and pulled out the same paper we were doodling on last class. Some combination of aliens, cats, and stick figure tragedies, and passed it silently between us. 

We arrived just before the professor, he came in, hunched and held a coffee in a shaky hand. Not much of note occurred in this lecture so our doodles grew in complexity. His aliens now had mustaches and were fighting my stick figures. 

But then, about half way through lecture the professor mentioned our project. 

“You must pick an event that occurs in the time period we cover in this class” He croaked out “You and your partner must then write a shared six page paper and an accompanying powerpoint which you will present. You will need to send me your topics by the end of the week for approval.” 

Orin and I looked up from our doodles and gave each other a concerned glance. We had not once talked about our project. It’s only been a week so we weren’t too far behind but we needed to start. 

“You must use at least six sources, three of which must be physical documents or books found in the library.” He wrote this last sentence on the board, underlining that three must be physical documents. This meant no bullshitting, ai, or skimming. We actually had to sit and search for evidence. 

Orin leaned over and whispered excitedly “Oh my god dude we can do the JFK assassination!” He was far too excited. 

“Dude, are you Lee Harvey Oswald?” I laughed back “Why are you so excited?”

“The CIA just released a ton of classified documents about it, we have so much material to work with!” He looked thrilled, like we’d just been handed front row seats to a conspiracy convention. And honestly? I couldn’t say no to that face.

“Fine,” I said, trying not to smile. “But if you get us both on a watchlist, I’m blaming it all on you.” I poked him in the shoulder.

“So worth it,” he grinned, dramatically leaning back, like the poke actually hurt him.

That was it, we had our topic. For the rest of class, we passed notes back and forth, sketching out rough ideas and tiny bullet points. Our plan was set: head to the library after class, find actual books like actual students, and start pulling quotes before we lost the thread entirely.

The musty old book scent filled the library. I’d forgotten how quiet it could get in there, like everyone was holding their breath at the same time. Orin and I had claimed a table near the back, tucked between the history shelves and a rattling old radiator that kicked on every ten minutes like clockwork.

I had a leaning tower of books in front of me, some already open, others still waiting to be cracked, and was flipping through the index pages for anything even remotely useful. Most of it was dense and dry, filled with black-and-white photos of grim men in suits and timelines written like phone books.

Orin, on the other hand, had completely abandoned the analog world. He was hunched over his laptop, earbuds in, eyes flicking fast over the screen. The glow lit up his face in this eerie way, like he was a vampire lit by moonlight, which honestly wouldn’t have surprised me at this point. He’s so skinny and pale, it would explain why he’s so odd.

I glanced up from a book about Cold War intelligence leaks. “You’re not exactly living up to the physical documents part of the assignment.”

He didn’t look away from the screen. “I’m scouting. I’ll catch up with the dusty stuff in a second.”

I rolled my eyes and went back to highlighting a quote about Warren Commission controversies, when Orin suddenly sat up straighter.

“Hey,” he said, pulling out one earbud, “have you ever heard of something called ‘The Resilience Council’?”

I frowned. “No. Is it a government agency?”

“That’s the thing, I don’t think so. It was mentioned in one of the CIA’s recently declassified docs, just in passing. No explanation, no acronym breakdown. Just… The Resilience Council all capitalized and everything. It was grouped with other intel-sharing groups but not like… official ones.”

Now he had my attention.

“You sure it wasn’t like a code name or something?” I asked, leaning closer.

“Maybe,” he said, eyes scanning again. “But it showed up in a few other documents too. Nothing big. Just little references. Meetings, memos, classified briefings where someone from the Council was present, but the members are never named. It’s like... background noise.”

“Creepy,” I muttered, pushing my book aside.

Orin grinned, clearly loving the way my curiosity was kicking in. “Right? I was just looking for stuff on the assassination and now I’m spiraling.”

“So what do you think it is?” I asked.

He shrugged. “No clue. But it’s giving secret society. Like a government shadow committee no one talks about.”

I bit the inside of my cheek, thinking. “Is it related to JFK at all, or are you just conspiracy-surfing now?”

“There’s one mention of them being involved in ‘crisis continuity planning’ in ’63,” he said, tapping the screen. “That’s the same year as the assassination. Could be nothing. Could be everything.”

I stared at him. “Is there anything else? What role did they play in it if they're being mentioned in documents that were kept secret for decades?” I leaned in closer to the laptop. 

I reach over him and start scrolling the list of released files. 

“Dude look, this file is from before his presidency. Why is it grouped in with the assassination case?” I click on it and it looks like some kind of receipt or tax… thing? But The Resilience Council is mentioned.

“They funded the Kennedy Party ten million dollars.” Orin pointed to a transaction. 

“Government Agencies can't fund politicians.” 

Orin didn’t answer right away. He was staring at the screen like it had just blinked at him.

“This doesn’t say they’re an agency,” he muttered. “Just... a presence. Look at this line.”

He scrolled down, highlighting a footnote at the bottom of the document. It was almost an afterthought, stuck between legal jargon and funding summaries.

“Per Ashroot oversight, the RC’s financial channel remains viable for outcome optimization. No conflict reported.”

My brow furrowed. “Ashroot?”

“No idea. It’s not a department. I already searched.” His tone was sharper now, more focused. “It only pops up in these declassified docs. But it’s capitalized. Intentional. It’s something.”

I leaned over, eyes scanning faster now. “So this ‘RC’, Resilience Council, they're moving money through unofficial channels, tied to... whatever Ashroot is?”

“That’s what it looks like,” Orin said. “But here’s the thing, this next doc’s from '63, right after the assassination.” He flipped tabs, opening a new file. It was a partial communication report, most of it redacted.

Still, there were a few lines of legible text:

“Ashroot Phase IV: activity suspended due to external breach. Dallas operation failed containment parameters. LHO not included in original risk matrix.”

I didn’t realize how tightly I’d been gripping the edge of the table until my knuckles turned white.

“Dallas operation?” I echoed. “That’s not how people talk about an assassination.”

“I know,” he said. “It’s written like a field test went wrong.”

We sat in silence. The radiator hissed again, like it was catching its breath.

Something in me shifted then, not quite panic, but a small, subtle unease. The kind that whispers instead of screams. I stared at the word Ashroot, and behind my eyes, Rae’s voice surfaced: Sleep deprivation. Subliminal messaging. Said it was for ‘cognitive development.’

No. That wasn’t connected. But something about this reminded me of what she was talking about. I kept the thought to myself.

“It gets weirder,” Orin said, pulling me back. “The Resilience Council shows up again here. Not a government body. Not an agency. But they’re always present. Like…like consultants you never hired but still show up to every meeting.”

“And this Ashroot thing,” I said quietly. “It has phases.”

He nodded. “Phases and oversight. So it’s organized. It has structure. Like a program.”

I stared at the screen, heart thudding.

“What kind of program?” 

We dug for a little bit longer but found nothing. Nothing that answered any questions. We took notes on anything that mentioned Ashroot or the RC but there wasn’t much. 

Despite our curiosity, we pulled ourselves away from that rabbit hole and focused back on our project for a few hours. After two hours of grinding, we decided to get food. 

We made our way to a cafe that was directly next to the library. It was much warmer than the library and smelled like fresh bread.

"What are you getting?" I asked Orin

"Tuckey club, feeling adventurous." He said, pulling out his wallet "You?"

I shrugged "I dunno, may the caprese sandwich, sounds yummy."

Orin steps forward to place his order. "Turkey club, caprese sandwich, and two medium drinks." He was ordering and paying for me, too. I hadn't asked him to; he just did it to be nice.

"I would've paid for my own stuff," I said, walking over to him, but he didn't acknowledge it.

Once we got our food, we headed out to the grove. The crowd from before class had dwindled, but there was still a decent number of people out and about. Orin and I sat under one of the many large trees that blocked the sun. We both leaned our backs against the hard bark.

"You remember that manhole I took you to last week?" He asked before taking a large bite from his sandwich.

I grabbed mine from the bag and slowly unwrapped it. "Yeah, the one in the woods?"

He nodded and finished chewing. "Yeah, I was wondering if you would like to go explore it? Like open that shit up and see what's hiding under it." He wiggled his eyebrows like the idea of exploring what was most definitely just sewage was enticing. This is what I was worried about happening on day one when he offered me that fist bump. I never should've done it.

"Only if Ethan agrees to go too." I knew Ethan would say no, and this way I didn't have to be the bad guy.

"You promised." Orin nudged me.

"No, I didn't we just fist bumped, that's not a legally binding contract."

"Dude, it totally is, it's one step below a pinky promise." He sounded offended and flabbergasted.

"If you get Ethan to agree to go too, then I pinky promise we can go on Thursday. Deal?" I extended my pinky to him.

With his signature wide, goofy smile, he accepted.

I will update you all on Thursday, after the exploration of the tunnels!

[mikaela-granger]

The Long Wait (Season 2) Chapter 9

A Night to Remember (Sean’s POV)

Fandom: Grimm

Pairing: Sean Renard/OFC

The Long Wait Masterlist

A/N: Lorelei and Sean take another step in their relationship.

Sean Renard had a lot on his mind. The past few weeks had been, interesting to say the least. He had found himself looking more into the deaths of the Burkhardt siblings’ parents. After the feds investigation had led to interest in both Burkhardt and Lorelei, due to DNA matching someone closely related to them, Sean had wondered whether their mother was still alive. He was certain that the Burkhardt’s had something to do with Catherine Schade’s death. Hopefully, they hadn’t found out about his involvement behind the scenes. However, neither Lorelei nor Nick had treated him any differently, so he was assured that they were still none the wiser. He’d also received a visit from an old…friend. Sean hadn’t trusted Mia, however had played nice hoping he could get some information out of her. She had eventually shared some information, not a lot but some. And then, he had received a call from Adalind, wanting to know who was responsible for her mother’s death. He had tried to ask her about what she had done to Juliette, she told him he would be having some fun. It didn’t take him long to realise what she was talking about. He had begun to find himself thinking about Juliette, a lot. Almost as much as he thought about Lorelei. It was obsessive and Sean knew it wouldn’t end well.

With Catherine dead, and Adalind refusing to provide information, Sean had visited the spice shop run by Lorelei’s friend Rosalee. Although Lorelei had mentioned that Rosalee was out of town, apparently the blutbad, Monroe was holding down the fort while she was away. Sean figured the blutbad would be able to ask Rosalee for help, if he couldn’t help Sean. Sean was desperate for a cure, especially after he found himself sneaking into Burkhardt’s house while Juliette was in the shower. Before doing anything happened, he had left, although his emotions had been running wild. He had almost hit a guy with his car and then punched the guy. As expected, Monroe had been unable to help Sean straight away and Sean told him he would return the next day. Monroe had started asking questions, including if they had met before. Sean deflected and left quickly after that. On returning the next day, the only good news was there was something to dampen any physical aspects, although without more information or the other party being involved, it would be harder to treat the emotional aspects. One thing Sean did learn was that the symptoms were going to get worse, uncontrollable, especially for anyone who may stand between himself and Juliette. Sean realised that could be Nick, and although his relationship with Lorelei was secret, if Juliette found out, Lorelei could be in danger.

Sean was in a dilemma. He was not ready for Burkhardt to find out about his true identity, including that he was the one to wake Juliette. But if he wanted a cure, he needed to be honest with Monroe. However, being honest with Monroe meant bringing Juliette on board. And he had no doubt Monroe would tell Nick, and Lorelei. They would no doubt work out everything. The last thing he wanted was for Lorelei to find out about his obsessive thoughts about her brothers’ girlfriend. Sean also wasn’t ready for Lorelei to find out about what he had been up to. The role he had played in her aunt’s death, Adalind targeting Hank, and whatever else he had done. He also wasn’t ready for her to find out about him being half wesen. Sean feared losing Lorelei. And he couldn’t allow that to happen.

The day of his birthday, Sean entered Lorelei’s apartment using his key. Lorelei had insisted that since they were dating, Sean didn’t need to knock. He was welcome to come in. It warmed his heart to know that Lorelei trusted him so much. For his birthday, Lorelei invited him over for a special dinner, including his favourite foods. Sean was just happy to be able to spend some time with his soulmate. Sean was experiencing some guilt as his obsession with Juliette grew. The only time she wasn’t on his mind, was 1. whenever he thought about Lorelei, and 2. whenever he was with Lorelei.  Sean knew something had to be done, but he wasn’t yet ready to be honest with Monroe. Once he was, questions would be asked, and Lorelei would find out. Everything.

“Happy Birthday!” Lorelei said, moving away from the kitchen to greet him.

Sean felt his breath leave his body, as he took note of what she was wearing. A simple yet elegant black dress, that fell a few inches above her knees, with a low-cut neckline. He could see the necklace he had given her nestled in her cleavage. She was perfect. So beautiful. So smart. And all his. Sean found himself overcome with emotion and swept his soulmate into his arms, kissing her deeply. “Thank you.” He said once they had pulled apart.

After a wonderful meal, including a cake, Lorelei handed over a gift. “I wasn’t sure what to get you, but I remembered you mentioning this book. And the fact you lost the first edition copy you had.”

“You found another first edition?” Sean asked once he had opened his gift.

Lorelei nodded. “I found it in a thrift shop. They had no idea of its worth.” She explained.

Sean was touched. She knew him so well. Well, not completely, if Sean was honest. He knew had to tell her soon, before she found out from someone else. However, Sean was terrified he would lose her. It had been driving him insane, the thought of Lorelei leaving him. He had been racking his brain, trying to come up with a way to ensure that didn’t happen. Sean would do anything to keep her by his side. Anything.

“I love it.” Sean told her, leaning in to kiss her.

Lorelei smiled, as she pulled back. “I’m glad. But I have something else for you.” She said, biting her lip. Sean looked at her curiously. Lorelei shifted, straddling his lap as her arms came around his neck. His hands came to rest on her hips, feeling her warmth through her dress. Lorelei kissed him softly, before her lips drifted across his cheek and down to his neck.

Sean groaned, his grip on Lorelei’s hip tightening. “You, uh, mentioned something else.” He said, his head leaning back to allow Lorelei better access.

“Mmm.” Lorelei hummed before pulling back to look Sean in the eye. “Me. All of me.”

Sean looked at her, trying to determine if she meant what he thought she meant. She was starting back at him, biting her lip, looking a little nervous. “Are you sure?” He asked, wanting to be sure.

“I am.”

That was all Sean needed. Wrapping his arms tightly around her waist, he stood up, taking his petite soulmate with him. She squealed in surprise, holding him tight as he carried her towards her bedroom. Sean had been waiting for this since he first met her. Never had he desired someone as much as he desired Lorelei. That desire had only grown as their relationship had grown, first as friends, and even more after revealing that they were soulmates. And now they were taking the next step in their relationship.

Once they reached her room, Sean gently laid her down, kicking his shoes off before he laid on top of her. Holding himself up, he kissed her, gently at first before becoming more passionate. Lorelei held him close, her hands running up and down his back.  Her hands eventually moved to the front of his shirt. Lorelei made quick work of the buttons, and Sean shrugged the shirt off, throwing it somewhere behind him. Their kisses continued heating up. Still using one arm to keep himself hovering above Lorelei, the other trailed down the side of her body, coming to rest on the side of her legs. Sean took a moment to marvel at the softness of her skin before his hand slid up her leg and under the hem of her dress, his thumb gently rubbing the inside of her thigh. Lorelei had one hand on his back, while the other was gently running up and down his bare chest. Her sighs and moans were going to straight to his groin.

At one point, Lorelei shifted both hands to his chest and pushed, managing to flip his onto his back. Sean stared up at her as she straddled him. “You’re a little overdressed.” He commented.

Lorelei smirked at him. “I agree.” She said, before reaching behind to unzip her dress. Sean helped her lift it off and she threw it behind her, joining Sean’s own shirt on the floor.

Sean stared up at her in awe. The white lacy bra and panties she was wearing were a stark contrast to the black dress. A part of Sean found it ironic she was wearing white as she gave herself to him. Lorelei was truly the light to his dark. He quickly flipped them back over, hovering over Lorelei as he kissed her tenderly. Sean pulled back and stared deeply into her eyes.

“I love you.” He told her earnestly. And he did. Not just because she was his soulmate, but for who she was as a person. Lorelei was smart, hardworking, and incredibly kind-hearted. Sean had never truly loved another before. He hadn’t even been sure if he was capable of it. But then Lorelei entered his life.

Lorelei smiled softly up at him. A hand came up to rest on his cheek. “I love you.”

Sean had never been so happy; he thought his heart was going to burst.  He leant down and kissed her again, trying to pour all the love he had for Lorelei into the kiss. Slowly, he moved his lips across her cheek and down to her neck, before continuing further down. Placing gentle kisses on her chest, Sean slid his hand under her back and quickly undid her bra. After silently checking with Lorelei, he removed the bra and threw it. Using his mouth, he kissed and nipped at her breast, while his hand took care of the other. Lorelei whimpered and moaned, one of her hands coming to rest on the back of Sean’s head, the other gently rubbing his shoulder. He briefly switched sides before trailing his lips down her abdomen, kissing her toned stomach as he continued down.

Lorelei’s hips bucked wildly, when Sean placed a tender kiss on her covered clit. Sean brought his hands to the edges of her panties, and after a nod from Lorelei, he slid them off before removing her shoes.

Sitting back, Sean took a moment to appreciate his soulmates perfect body before he bent down to place another kiss on her clit. Lorelei’s hips bucked again, and this time a strangled moan joined them. Sean’s lips moved lower, and he licked Lorelei’s pussy, moaning loudly at her taste. If Sean was honest, he didn’t really go down on women often. It was too intimate for him. However, he wanted to get Lorelei off once before he entered her. It was her first time after all. He needed to get her ready for him. And Sean was rather large. He knew the first time would hurt, but that didn’t mean he shouldn’t do whatever he could to ease his soulmates pain. Sean considered kissing, licking, and nipping at Lorelei’s pussy. He also used his fingers, scissoring them inside Lorelei as he prepared her. Lorelei’s moans and sighs were music to his ears, and it didn’t take long for her to come.

As Lorelei recovered from her orgasm, Sean joined her at the head of the bed, holding her close. He pressed kisses to her hair and face, taking her natural scent. Sean realised Lorelei had recovered enough when her hands moved to his belt. They worked together to get his bottoms off. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw him. She licked her lips before her gaze returned to Sean’s face and she smirked. Sean felt his member twitch at the look she gave him.

“Come here.” Lorelei said, reaching out for him. Sean fell forward as Lorelei’s legs opened, allowing him to slip between them again. Lorelei pulled his face to hers, kissing him hard as she wrapped her legs around his waist. She pulled back, her hands cupping his face, and she stared into his eyes. “I want you.”

Sean kissed her gently before shifting to grab his member, guiding it slowly in. Lorelei winced slightly and Sean paused. “Keep going.” Lorelei whispered, stretching up to kiss him. He continued slowly, fighting the urge to push it all in at once. God, she was so tight. Her silky walls felt like heaven on his hard cock.

Finally, he was in completely. Lorelei was taking deep breaths as she adjusted to his size. Brushing her hair out of her face, Sean rested his forehead against hers. “Are you ok?” He asked softly.

Lorelei nodded. “Yeah, just give me a moment.” She said, her voice a little strained. She shifted her hips a little, and Sean had to fight to urge to not react. Letting out a breath, Lorelei opened her eyes, her blue eyes meeting his green ones. She smiled, that beautiful full smile that reached her eyes, the one that Sean loved. He returned the smile, unable to stop himself from kissing her again. He broke the kiss off gasping when Lorelei clenched herself around him. Glancing down at her, he was met with a smirk. The little minx, she knew exactly what she was doing.

Sean took it to mean she was ready for him to continue. He stared moving, slowly at first before increasing the speed as Lorelei moaned, tightening her legs around his waist. Sean kept moving, grinding his pelvis against Lorelei’s. The sounds she was making was driving him wild. Her hands were clawing at his back as he continued, his pace increasing. At one point, he grabbed her leg, bringing it over his shoulder so he could enter her more deeply. Sean buried his face into her neck, groaning and moaning loudly as he continued rutting into her. Sean could feel his own release approaching. And from the sounds of it, Lorelei was close as well. One of Seans hands drifted to her clit, rubbing it gently to help bring Lorelei closer to her release. Lorelei stiffened and Sean felt her walls strangle his cock as she came. That sent Sean over the edge. Face buried in the pillow; he came feeling his face shift as he woged. Together, they rode out their release.

Sean collapsed, making sure he didn’t put his full body weight on Lorelei. Both were breathing heavily to calm their racing hearts. Lorelei’s hands were gently stroking his back. When Sean was certain his face had returned to normal, he pulled back slightly, staring down into his soulmates beautiful face. She smiled tiredly up at him, a relaxed and satisfied expression on her face. Sean brushed the damp strands of hair out of her face before kissing her gently. “Are you ok?”

Lorelei nodded, her hand coming up to cup his face. “I’m…wonderful.” She said breathlessly.

Sean couldn’t stop the large smile that crossed his face. He gently removed himself from Lorelei, before laying back against the pillows, draping a duvet from the end of the bed over them, pulling Lorelei towards him. She rested her head on his shoulder, one leg draped across his, one hand gently stroking his chest.  The pair lay there in contented silence. Lorelei drifted off to sleep, however Sean couldn’t sleep. How could he? He was in his soulmates bed, after making love to her for the first time. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, breathing in her scent. Sean gently brushed his hand down her side, his hand coming to rest near her flat stomach. Brushing his thumb against, he couldn’t wait to see her belly swell with his child. The ultimate product of their love for each other. Something else to tie them to together for the rest of their lives.

Sean frowned. That may never come to fruition. Especially when Lorelei found out about his manipulations. When, not if, as Sean knew the truth would come to light. And possibly sooner rather than later. And than what? Would their love be strong enough to overcome it? Sean sighed, pulling Lorelei closer to him. It had to be. They were soulmates, they were meant to be together.

Sean woke before Lorelei the next morning. They had shifted as they slept. Sean’s front was pressed against Lorelei’s back, his arm holding her tightly. When Sean realised where he was and what had occurred the previous evening he had sighed in contentment. He pressed a kiss to Lorelei’s shoulder. She stirred, turning around to face him. A sleepy smile on her face as she looked up at him. “Morning.” Sean said, pressing a light kiss to her mouth.

“Mmm, morning. “She said, draping her arm across his chest as she snuggled closer to him. “What time is it?”

Sean held her tightly, pressing his lips to her forehead, before he checked the clock on her bedside table. “Just before 8.” He replied.

“Wow, I haven’t slept in til 8 for a while.” She peered up at him, a small smirk crossing her lips. “Guess I needed the extra sleep.”

Sean chuckled, pressing another kiss to her mouth. “I guess you did. What are your plans for today?”

Lorelei sighed. “Not much. I should probably take Molly for a walk at some point. How about you?”

“I thought about spending the day with my beautiful soulmate.” Sean said with a smile, which Lorelei returned.

“Sounds like a good plan.”

Eventually they decided to get up, especially when they heard Daisy howling from outside the door. After feeding the animals, Lorelei cooked up some bacon and eggs. Sean headed back to his place to shower and get changed, while Lorelei did the same after taking Molly for a walk. Sean let himself back into Lorelei’s apartment, as she came out of her room, freshly showered.

“I was thinking we could visit the Japanese Gardens again, before it gets too cold.” Sean suggested.

“I’d like that.” Lorelei said. “Although, before I forget.” She grabbed a box of medication from a basket near the microwave and downed one of the pills along with a glass of water. “Birth control.” She answered Sean’s questioning gaze. “I love you, but I am not ready to have kids just yet.”

Sean felt a smile creep across his face. “You want to have children with me.” He asked, hoping the answer to that question was yes.

Lorelei came over and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Yes, I do. If, you want that as well.”

“I do.” He stated, letting his arms fall to her hips.

Lorelei stood on her tip toes and gave him a quick kiss. “Great. Give me a couple more years, and we can get onto that.”

Sean smiled down at her before she pulled away to grab her purse. As they headed out the door, his gaze drifted towards the box of birth control.

A/N: Another spicy scene. I hope it was ok. Not my strong suit, but I hope its enough for the horny bitches out there.

Next Part

Taglist: @zoexme

Banner by @cafekitsune

[puckish-rogue]

I will forever be endlessly fascinated by the way Julius decides to pin everything that happened by the end of the first game entirely on the Boss. Like ignoring the various plot points that were more or less dropped in the sequel, it's kind of amazing how the man seemingly refused to take any accountability for what the Saints had started to turn into during their first iteration. For a man who was the founder and leader of the gang it sure seems like the kid he saved on the street was the real MASTERMIND behind everything.

To paraphrase a post I read that led me to think about this in the first place; people have a tendency to take what Julius said at face value. They just willingly accept the idea that the Boss was just "always like that" and Julius was not only justified in putting them into a coma, but able to see their true colors. But I highly doubt that. I mean, if you pay close enough attention to the first game, there's plenty of material that can lead you to believe that whatever "good intentions" he may have had in forming the Saints to being with was misguided at best and self-serving at worst.

Whatever "valid" reasons he may have had in dropping his flags with the VK's means jack shit as soon as you realize two things during a mission with his former friend/former leader of the VK's Ben King; the first is that Julius lies to everyone's face about coming from the Row, as he originally hailed from the neighborhood of Sunnyvale. The second is that the speech he gives towards the Saints is a direct copy of one Ben had given. Julius wants the same kind of power his best friend had. He wants the recognition, the respect, and everything that comes with running the biggest and baddest gang in the city.

With my specific portrayal of the Boss I've always said that before joining the Saints there was just something fundamentally wrong with him. Something that had been brewing for years and was finally able to be released by the time he wound up in the gang, acting as a sort of catalyst. Does this mean Julius was right all along? Maybe to an extent. But in no way can I say he was justified entirely. Because for a man who seemingly regrets the way things turned out, he sure as hell seemed pretty fine with everything the gang had done prior to his arrest. I mean shit, even the death of one of his lieutenants was met with a "she knew the risks of this life".

And it's not only that, but I can only imagine that the fallout from disbanding the Saints was pretty fucking bad. People getting arrested, murdered, and who the hell knows what else. Not to mention the large power vacuum that was ultimately filled up by three new gangs during those five years. Everything had basically gone to shit just so Julius could save his own ass.

Which brings me back to the Boss. Or I suppose Django to be specific. Make no mistake, I don't excuse anything he or the gang does. For all the ways in which I make him likeable there is no changing the fact that he is a villain protagonist through and through. But that's not going to prevent me from talking about frankly ridiculous it is that Julius could have the audacity to blame everything on him. That he could so easily try and assassinate his golden boy via explosives all because he saw him as both an ultimate evil and expendable.

I'm sure the man's had moments where he questions what he's done. Where he wonders if he made the right choice. And I know for sure that at least in my interpretation of the series and what I consider canon on here, Julius will convince himself time and time again that he was correct. That it had to be done. That the kid needed to go. It's fine. He's fine. It's all over now. There will come a day where the ghosts of his past will stop haunting him, and he can finally get that peaceful night of sleep he's desired for so long now.

Unfortunately for him some spirits are just that restless.