#it's going down faster than real time so it won't actually take that long

[beautyswhereyoufindit]

Me last week: If I hadn't just taken a vacation, I would take Thursday and Friday off just to play Baldur's Gate 3 😭

Me now: The estimated download time is at 1 Day, 12 hours, so it'll be ready for Friday night after I'm done working!

[madridfangirl]

Escape

Jude Bellingham comfort blurb.

Summary: Literally the title. Jude finds an escape from ongoing shit with the people he loves the most.

(Characters from Star Crossed Lovers.)

.................................................................................

'Heyy you.'

'Heyy.'

Ananya was met with a glum face and a glum voice when she video-called her boyfriend. Last 2 days were nothing short of hell for him. She had been away for her cousin's wedding in India, but the Clasico had bummed her out as well. They had exchanged messages and had a brief call but the wedding celebrations didn't leave her much time to spend with Jude.

And when she saw the Balon d'or fiasco while scrolling through her insta at the airport, her first reaction was disbelief. She wanted to throw her phone at the nearest wall. The travesty and scandal of the whole thing was beyond comprehension.

But she got her reaction out of her system before reaching out to him, knowing he would be 10 times as upset. Just last night he had sent her images of the fully done up suit, along with the classy watch (which she had picked). He had been so excited for the podium finish, to actually attend as one of the best players in the world and not an 'upcoming' player anymore. The post-event party was going to be epic too. But alas - the universe conspired against them real hard.

'How are you?'

'How do you think?'

He responded curtly, then checked his tone immediately.

'Just blah.'

'I know. Me too.'

'When did you see?'

'Just now when I reached the airport.'

She was about to board the connecting flight to Madrid.

'You?'

'Been a few hours.'

'You didn't tell me?'

'Didn't know where you would be. Didn't wanna upset you also.'

Upset was a massive understatement for what she was feeling right now. She wanted to burn down the world. Not just as Jude's girlfriend, but as a Madridista more.

But, she told herself what's done is done. She had to be strong for him. Both of them couldn't have a meltdown at the same time.

'Honestly thought it would be a good distraction from Saturday. But nahh. Man I still can't believe this is true.'

'Me neither. Part of me feels I'd wake up from this nightmare any second.'

'Yeah.'

'When do you go back to training?'

'Day after. Got tomorrow off as well now.'

'Hmm. Denise must be pampering you loads?'

First hint of a smile from the boy, as he thought of his mother fondly.

'Hotdog, pasta, cake, hugs - everything.'

'Awww. Didn't sing you a lullaby?'

She teased fondly.

'Won't put it past her.'

A half-smile again.

Jobe & Mark couldn't make it for the Clasico. Jobe's schedule didn't permit that. The brothers loved nothing more than to be there to support each other for big matches but the realities of their calendars barely permitted that.

Ananya hoped they had been able to make it. Would have been a massive comfort to Jude right now.

But Denise was a superwoman when it came to making Jude feel better & taking care of him. One of the best mums in the world.

Ananya had seen their bond up close for an year now. So she knew he was in good hands.

'She's the best.'

Ananya smiled genuinely at the screen.

'Don't know what I'd do without her honestly.'

He paused for a moment.

'And, without you.'

'Oh you'd walk around the streets crazy if it wasn't for me.'

She shrugged, grinning.

Jude smiled. The kind of smile that recahed his eyes. The ability of this girl to uplift his spirits, just by existing, befuddled him so much.

'How long till I see you?'

'Three hours. Boarding in 5 and coming straight to you from the airport.'

'Come sooner.'

She shook her head fondly at the screen.

'Unless you suddenly turned into Tony Stark and discovered a portal through time & space, not possible to come faster than a plane.'

'Such a nerd.'

'Proud of it.'

'Seriously, come soon.'

'Close your eyes. Take a nap. I'd be there when you wake up.'

Colour drained from his face at her words. He had barely slept AT ALL last two days. Even Denise's cuddles hadn't helped.

'Yeah, will try.'

'Jude, look at me.'

He looked up immediately.

'It's done. It sucks but it's done. Nothing will change it. Don't let it burn you from the inside. Last 2 days were shitty but we can only go up from here, yeah?'

'Easier said than done.'

'With you. 100%. It'd feel shitty for a while but hey, next 1.5 days, lets shut out the world and focus on what's dear to us, what's important, yeah? There is more to life, we both know that.'

'Hmmm.'

'I'll be there by lunch time. Should I get some Toblerone?'

'Yeah.'

'Cool, see you soon baby.'

'Come soon.'

'I'm coming.'

When she landed in Madrid and checked her phone, there were 5 missed calls from Jude. and a message to call him back as soon as she saw it.

Alarmed, she rang him up immediately.

'Hey, where are you? Don't leave the airport.'

'What?'

'We are going to Corsica for a day.'

'WHAT?'

'Mum and I are at the private section of the airport. There is a car waiting for you on arrivals. Sending you the details. Take that & come here. We fly out in 15.'

'Back up. What the hell are you saying? This doesn't make any sense.'

'Makes all the sense. I don't have training tomorrow and you have an off tomorrow. We'll come back early on Wed morning. 2 nights in Corsica. Resort is booked and the flight time is 1.5 hours. I researched, dove. Planned to the T. Now stop wasting time & get here.'

Ananya couldn't register anything he was saying. Freaking out hard at the idea of taking a holiday together with his mum. Sure they had stayed together at his Madrid house many times and she had even visited the family in theri Birmingham home during the summer and she had a good relationship with Denise.

But a holiday with your boyfriend's mum was a big step.

Of all the reasons she had to freak out, she chose the silliest one to voice out loud.

'I don't have any clothes for Corsica.'

'You'd be with me. Why do you need clothes?'

'JUDE.'

'Relax, she's not with me right now. On the phone with dad. Complaining I've gone mad. Her exact words - come get your son he's driving me crazy.'

'I'm with her on this.'

'Did you find the car yet?'

'Yes but Jude..'

'Dove I need this. Can't be here right now. Can't even be in this city. Need an escape. Need you guys. Please?'

There was no way on Mother Earth she could have said no to that voice and those words.

'Ok.'

The plane took off exactly 10 mins later. Ananya insisted on wearing a mask while boarding - the relationship was not public and if there was any chance she was seen with him (Jude insisted it won't happen coz private terminal) then at least they won't get her face.

'Why Corsica?'

'Remote. Pretty. Haven't been there. And you said it's on your list right?'

She had seen the place in a movie and told him about it. Months ago.

'Yeah. But...'

'You shouldn't be the one having to plan all this right now. We should be taking care of you.'

'You are. By being with me right now.'

He leaned down & kissed her, something she was still getting used to in the presence of his family. It had taken Jude some time to understand that PDA worked differently where she came from, and both had gravitated to a midway here.

They landed soon, on a private airstrip of a luxury resort.

Ofcourse.

Ananya didn't even dare to think how much a place like this would have costed. Coz it was luxury personified. Grand sea-facing villas. Normally, she would have told Jude this was too much. But now was not the time. The boy had the right to do whatever he wanted right now.

Instead, she focused on the clear blue waters in sight. And wondered if the place would have a shop to buy at least something appropriate.

The staff walked them to their villa. While Ananya admired the white marbles and fancy chandeliers all around.

'This is us. And that's you, mum.'

Ananya walked in. And kept walking. The place was never ending. Two bed rooms. Three washrooms. Private pool. Sea-facing deck. And a bunch of other rooms she couldn't even understand the purpose of.

'You took 2 villas?'

'Yup.'

'Why? This place can fit a village.'

'Why do you think?'

He said without missing a beat.

'Seriously?'

'I meant what I said about the clothes.'

He said matter of factly, while adding the wifi password to his phone. Leaving his girlfriend gaping at him.

'You can take off that mask now.'

'Oh yeah.'

She had forgotten about that. So lost in this place, and in him.

When his brows furrowed while gaping through his phone, Ananya interved.

'Gimme that.'

'What?'

'No phones while we are here. Let's try that?'

That didn't seem like a bad idea. He did want to forget about the world outside, atleast briefly.

'What should we do then?'

'Lets watch a movie? Ask Denise if she'd be up for it.'

'Naah she's cranky. I literally dragged her out of bed mid-nap. Not knocking on her door now she'll be mad.'

'Cool then we can watch something. On the deck maybe? Sea breeze would be nice.'

'Or we could do some other things. On the deck also if you want.'

She just shook her head at him in exasperation, and he knew it meant a no. But he also knew a no was only for now. She won't keep him waiting for long, not when she wanted to make him feel better.

Honestly, he just did it to get a reaction from her, something he enjoyed a fair bit.

Not having the constant buzz of the phone next to him helped a ton. As did the soothing air. The serenity seeping into his pores.

They watched a random rom-com, with Jude's running commentary on how cheesy it was.

'Please, have you seen you? You are cheesier.'

'Take that back.'

'Nope.'

'Name one cheesy thing I do.'

'Kissing me through the phone?'

'That's not cheesy.'

'Yeah sure.'

The bickering went on, as the movie kept playing in the background.

Denise sent her a quick 'how's he doing?' and she responded with an 'ok.'

After the movie, they did do a few other things he wanted. Not on the deck though, no way she was going to allow that.

It was time for dinner. The resort had set up a table sea-side for them.

'I literally have nothing to wear Jude.'

'Wear my jersey. I have it somehwhere.'

'What a great idea to not draw attention.'

But wearing one of his oversized shirts was the only option. With her jeans.

How badly she hoped she had a dress with her right now. Especially in a fancy ass place like this.

But the shirt, which made her look like a homeless person, will have to suffice. She tucked it in, doing the best she could.

'Don't tell me you're gonna wear a mask here as well.'

'On the way, yes. On the table, it's already dark at the beach.'

He raised his hand in surrender, knowing she'll do what she wanted.

They reached the table and Denise was wearing a supremely elegant dress. And Ananya wanted to jump in the deep waters.

She glared at Jude sideways, and he avoided it pointedly, starting a random conversation with his mum.

Jobe face-timed shortly, and Jude took the phone to show the scenery to Jobe. Denise watched them from a distance, content.

'How was he last 2 days?'

'Oh bad. Very rarely have I seen him like this.'

Ananya hummed.

'But he looks better now. Your being here helped.'

Jude had learnt the matter-of-fact mode of speaking from his mother. He was a carbon copy in this department, and in many other departments.

The said boy returned to the table then, giggling at something Mark was yelling in the background. About Jobe not finishing his dinner.

'I'm 19 dad. 19.'

'19 year old boys don't need to eat anymore.'

'Jobe - why aren't you eating?'

Denise chimed in and Jobe looked distraught.

'You guys - seriously?'

'They're right. You shouldn't skip meals, not on a school night.'

Jude added with a straight face

'Shut up, loser.'

'You're a loser.'

'Ananya - if you love me, you'd make him sleep on the floor tonight.'

She was happily sipping on wine, which she choked on when she heard her name in the middle of the family conversation. And in the context with which Jobe said it.

Her mouth opened and closed like a fish, unable to string words together, but Jude stepped in to help.

'Who said she loves you?'

That did not help.

'Ananya - tell him you love me.'

'Ummm...'

'Alright stop it boys. Jobe - you have training tomorrow. Go to bed now.'

The ever disciplined Denise made her presence known.

'Gosh you guys. I'm 19. NINETEEN.'

'Still a teen.'

'I hate you, bro.'

'Right back at you, bro.'

They hung up shortly after, with another firm nudge from Denise.

When they were wrapping up, Denise took Ananya to the side.

'He hasn't slept in two days.'

'Yeah I figured.'

'Should we give him something?'

'No I think today maybe different. Let me try. Otherwise lets do that tomorrow.'

'Yeah ok. Just....can you check....'

'I'm on it, Denise.'

She smiled reassuringly at the worried mum. And the mum smiled back.

After the usual activities that night in bed, Ananya sighed softly as she was half-laid over Jude's chest. The shirt from earlier laid crumpled over the floor.

'Told you clothes are not a problem.'

'Oh shushhh.'

The sound of his giggle gave her such joy.

'Can I ask you something?'

'Ofcourse.'

'How are you? Truly?'

'Babe...'

'Please? It's important to talk, Jude.'

He was quiet for 2 minutes.

'Hasn't fully sunk in yet. Either thing.'

'I get it.'

'Makes me question a few things.'

'Like?'

'Like how good I am?'

Jude did not like such vulnerability. But the words just started flowing when he was with her.

'You don't need the validation of THOSE people to know how good you are.'

'What about my people?'

'Like?'

'Club. Coach. Squad.'

'Sweetheart - they know more than your family & friends. They are the ones who put you on this pedestal last year.'

'Am I still there though, on that pedestal?'

'What do you feel?'

'Things have changed.'

'For the better or for the worse?'

'A bit of both sometimes. Don't know how to explain.'

'No I get it.'

'Hmm.'

'And I think you should talk to him. He loves you, you know that.'

It didn't need to be said that they were talking about Carlo.

'It can get messy if I do that.'

'Do it nicely. It'd get messier if you don't. Jude, if your head is not in the right place, you think we have a real shot at winning everything?'

'Am I talking to my girlfriend or a Madridista?'

'Both. And both are telling you the same thing. So listen to both.'

'You know I'm not great at these conversations.'

'That's crazy. You're great at addressing things head on. Just do that.'

'Mum said the same thing.'

'See? I knew it.'

'You're so like her sometimes.'

'Like how?'

'Like how smart you are. How correct.'

'Yeah - well - I'm smart can't help it.'

She giggled and he pulled her up for a sloppy, messy kiss.

'Tell me it'll get better.'

'It's you. You will not rest till it gets better. You will turn the world upside down to make it better. And well, it's Real Madrid. No one can keep us down for long.'

'You really should work at the club you know. They'd love you.'

'My dream job. But my current one pays a lot more.'

'Hmmmm.'

As she laid wrapped in his arms, Jude felt a sense of contentment that had evaded him last 2 days. He thought his world was crumbling down, while his world was right there in his arms. And next door. And in Sunderland. And in Birmingham. The pieces of his heart were around him to make him whole again. Ultimately, that's what mattered. This was the most important thing. And he will turn the world upside down till he gets to the very top of it, again. Which was his rightful place anyway.

............................................................................

Written in 2 hours. Not edited at all.

Just me talking to myself, anything to distract from this mess.

Hope you like it.

[demonsword586]

Abyssos pp headcanons! (Just the nobles)

I apoligise this took so long. I been super busy with school ending. But anyway,I am free now and the continuation of the cock theorizing should go faster now. Anyway,please enjoy your penis and don't forget to take care of yourself!

Bael

- Very similar to Beel's. This was actually one of the first things he changed on his body to be more like Beelzebub.

- Speculating from that one time where it was said Bael can change back to his usual appearance before he tried being like Beel and that he looks way diffrent normally....Does that mean he can change his body with magic?

- That would explain how he manages to look so similar to Beelzebub. But you know what else that means?~

- A changing penis. I think he can change his body at will,meaning he can change a specific part of himself,meaning he can make a monster co-....I apoligise for that.

- But yes,he can change his pp but not by a lot. Just small details though. For refrence,if he wanted to change the size he can do so but only for a few cm. That goes for the color,shape and size. But he normally stays on what Beelzebub is having.

- The vains are semi-visible on the shaft and balls (he's a pent up man,okay?),21 cm kicky-wicky. Also has a slight curve going upwards.

-The color is just a tad bit lighter than his skin. He probably tans but with his undies on so it leaves a mark on his whole lower region. It's actually quite goofy at the first sight but after awhile it becomes a bit charming.

- Has a tattoo of 666 on his shaft,located on the right side of it.

- Suprisingly smells very manly. His scent is strong and musky but not unplesant. It's the kind of scent that makes you feel reasurred. (He's an alpha.)

- The best thing about this cock is it's owner. Bael prefers being slow and sensual. If he changes his size this particular night,he will also adjust his pace accordingly. (However he only shapeshifts it if he is not too tired and with a lot of pleading on your part.) He is however...always trying to make you enjoy sex to the fullest with taking everything very intimadly. He may or may not be taking his frustrations out that way. Bael won't finish unless you are an absolute mess under him.

Amon

- Damn,this man got his whole gaying instrument out in the open. Seriously,how thin are those clothes? No underwear? Why? So Beel can have easier access when he-

- Anyway from the penis silhuette,I assume he is on the leaner side. He is very smooth and the shape is...slightly bulkier in the center but going towards the end and on the beggining he gets slimer.

- His tip is shaped like a mushroom. Slightly bigger than his shaft. Very good for streaching out begginers too! His tip can make you feel a little more prepared for when he sinks more of himself inside of you but still suprise you with the thicker part of himself. ❤️

- Now this thing looks like it can come up to his belly button,so you know damn well he is long. I am guessing between 17-19 cm.

- When out in the open,his rod stands lazily in a 90° angle. You know how normally a very hard cock can stand on it's own againt the owner's pelvis? Well unfortunatelly Amon is so out of energy,even his wiener acts like it's being overworked. Normally. If he had a very good day with Beelzebub or with you,heck if he got both of you in the same day,his energy is restored and the little Amon works better than before. Seriously,he can get HARD hard,please be carefull.

- He keeps a steady bush down there. Of course he trims it but only after it starts to annoy him. Now for that to happen,it takes a long time. His pubic hair is really soft and fluffy! Almost as fluffy as his hair. And of course the carpet maches the drapes.

- Now you know how he sells his hair for tailors to make clothes out of it? Well he does the same with the lower hair. He can take good care of his hygene so there is no real issue. Now you know how Stolas got a sweater made from Amon's hair? Well he is working on making him a matching pair of pants. Working very hard...

- Going a step back to the pp,I belive his tip is a slightly darker shade of magenta. The kind of shade that may seem a little swollen,but in reality that is just his usual color.

- He doesn't have any tattoos or piercings down there since he belives the only person that can pierce or tattoo him,is Beelzebub. But he has to do something really impressive for his king to tattoo him and he is a bit too shy to ask for another piercing,even though he dreams of his king putting a frenum piercing on him. However the only other person he would allow to put something as intimate and devious as this on him,is his darling.

-Also please don't forget to warm his pp in cold nights.

Stolas

- ....sir that is a rifle,please take it out of your pants.

- He seems to be quite big if we are judging from his bulge. However we have to account the angle and anathomy. His pp should be located where the darker patch ends and a lighter starts. You can also see a glimpse of his ballsack under it. Now if we follow those details,his dick isn't really that big. He just keeps it against his thigh. Abyssos devils don't seem to be wearing any undies,so I can understand Stolas's pp placement. With pants this tight,his penis is probably sticking to his thigh like glue.

- In other words,I think it's 22 cm

- It's shape is a bit flaccid. He doesn't have any curves on it. It's a pretty nice penis. However he does have a mole on his shaft. It's on the upper part of it,just a little bit under the head. It's actually a little cute when you look at it,but don't tell him that. He is afraid of having his penis called cute.

- Speaking of head,his has tiny bumps around his head. They are very tiny,aeound 3 or 4 mm. But they do their job right. Sometimes after he cums,once he pulls out,his head helps scup up the semen and the small bumps can give extra stimulation.

- His head is also a very pale pink color,almost the same as his skin.

- For some reason,his musk is a bit sweet,especially when it comes to his bodily fluids. His precum smells quite pleasant,almost like some kind of baked good. It even tastes sweet! His cum tastes almost like vanilla and gives the a yummy scent of it too. Amon says,it's because he's eating too much sugar.

- There is one very freaky thing about him tho... His pubic hair is feathers. Instead of a nice patch of black hair,he has a nice bush of baby,black feathers. They're very small and soft. It can be hard not to just kneel infront of him,pull down his pants and just go straight to ruffling his little feathery puff. It's like petting a fluffy bird! He will however,try to shot you. So please keep the pubic petting in the bedroom.

- Has a reverse prince Albert piercing. He actually got it along with his nipple piercings from Beelzebub. After Stolas asked him if it would be okay,Beel just laughed. It's been awhile since he saw a devil be so bold on his first piercing sesson,so he allowed it. So yea,while he could make his life easier with the check ups by just opening his pants,he doesn't wanna look like a weirdo with his cock out in public.

Naberius

- ...dog penis

- Okay hear me out here.

- The shaft is pretty normal if we ignore the two visible bumps towards the end of it. It's head is sharp unlike a normal human one.

- The only human part about it,is that he still has humanish foreskin covering it.

- His meat stick is on the pinker side. It looks a little goofy when you see him naked since his genitals are so diffrent from the normal,kinda buffy him.

- Yes his dog form does have 3 penises,stop asking him about it.

- All of them are on the shorter side tho. Around 16 cm each. They are however....pretty thick.

- It's a well known fact that he has three. You know how he towers over everything while transformed?...Well try to imagine how the people under him feel like,especially the ones under his legs.

- No one is really sure ig he keeps them in his human form as well and no one dares to question him about it. They don't wish to be tea-bagged.

- Hairy~

- One of a few devils with a thick bush. His bush is bushy. His hair is light brown and curly. It's also very soft. Very fur-like if you will. He does shave it every once in awhile but his hair grows back quickly. Especially after he transforms and with how much trouble Abyssos is having with the angel attacks,he has to transform a lot.

- Yes,he does keep the 3 wieners in his human form but only for about half an hour after transfroming. The other two also slowly grow back.

- His cum is a bit thicker in consistency. Not only that but there is quite a lot of it. His balls are fuller as a result. They look a little bit swollen and each ball stand out more. His load shooting is also a bit more powerful. I mean it,he has some kind of powerdrill in there. His cum can shoot up from his pp.

- His balls are also fluffy. They have a soft coat of fur on them.

[umlewis]

race winner lewis hamilton is interviewed during the post-sprint press conference [part 2/2], china - march 22, 2025 (transcript under the cut)

Journalist: "Jon Noble from The Race. Lewis, congratulations. You're in a totally different place with the car this weekend, compared to the last one. How do you explain that step change? Is it that the set-up's kind of improved? Is it you're more comfortable and know what's needed from the Ferrari's pace, and how much is down to track characteristics, that it's a front-limited track?" Lewis: "I don’t know. It's just like every time you get in the car, you're learning more. I would definitely say just last week, for whatever reason, I really didn't feel comfortable in the car Friday. Saturday was a little bit better, but I think set-up wasn't where I really wanted it to be. And I think, really, last weekend I kind of… I still am sitting back and letting the guys do what they do. I need to observe how they like to operate, rather than imposing, 'cause maybe what I've done in the past won't work. So I've just been basically in that area. And then coming into this weekend, straight away on Monday, I hit Riccardo up and said, 'These are the things that I want to start with this weekend. This is more the direction,' and I'm much happier with that. That's something I had tested back in Bahrain, and we kind of veered off from there. So there’s been a couple of changes. But yeah, from the moment I started driving yesterday, I felt more one with the car. And even through this race, I'm still learning. 'Cause I didn't get to do the long run in Bahrain, I didn't get to do the race run in Bahrain, so the race last week in the wet was my first long run in the car. So that was actually my first proper long run, really, of any significant amount of laps. So I'm learning along the way still, just how this car, how to maneuver the tools in order to make the car work the way I want it to work. So I'm really happy with how it came out, given that that is the case, but now I've got a much better knowledge now of what the car likes and what I need to do to make it faster." Interviewer: "Thank you, Lewis. Next one."

Journalist: "Molly Hudson from The Times. Lewis, you mentioned in your TV interview the detractors that you've had, whether it was last week or maybe last season as a whole. How satisfying is it to be sat there in first place again, and what is it that's making you click here that maybe didn't last season?" Lewis: "Well… Yeah, I mean, I'm not really talking back to them or anything like that. It's just that… We live in such a strange time in the world. People just love to be negative at any opportunity. Even with the smallest things, they’ll just be negative about it, and I think that's just the difficult time that we're living in. I see certain individuals… And, again, I don't really read the news, but I see bits here and there, see people that I've admired for years just talking out of turn. Clearly some of them really just making uneducated guesses of what's going on, and like I was just saying, just a real lack of appreciation of just… It is not easy, moving to a new team that works completely differently, completely different characteristic of car. You don’t just jump in and it's good. I mean, look at… It is true, if you look at Seb, you look at Fernando, they did a great job when they joined the team in their early phases, but to build long-term success with the team takes time to build and that's what I'm trying to do. I'm not trying to jump-start it; get ahead of myself. I'm just taking my time to build with this great team. There's so much potential in this team. But for us to be at the second race already and have that experience… This is a track I've gone well for many, many years, so you've got to take that a little bit, but in general I've been feeling really good in the car. And as I'm learning more of where the car likes to be set up for a track like this, for example, when I get to another track that's like the last one, I think I have a bit of a better understanding of where to put it." Interviewer: "Thank you. Next. Alex."

Journalist: "Alex Kalinauckas, Autosport. Another question to Lewis, please. You said you got in the car a little bit extra early ahead of the start today. I just wondered, what were you thinking at that stage? What were the team's pre-race expectations? And then also, when did it become clear that you were on to a winner today? Thank you." Lewis: "Well, I felt unusually calm in myself. I would say definitely moreso than usual. I'm generally a relatively calm person, but I think today there was a stillness in me that I haven't felt for a long time, and [laughs] I didn't know if that was going to be a good or bad thing; if I'm dormant or just ready. But also, I've got… Ange and I, it's a new first… Ange is still getting used to things. This is her first sprint for ages, so even for her, we came to the grid and we happened to be there a little bit early and I was like, shoot, we were earlier than normal. And yeah, just the timing, I was like, I'm going to get in the car. And it actually worked really nice. I got time to spend talking to the engineers from the car. I think really from the moment–the good start that I had, I was really happy with the start –and then a couple laps in, I kinda felt that I was managing. So I felt like I had the car beneath me, but of course the two behind were pushing quite hard and I could see Max was getting close in certain places, so I didn't know. And also the graining actually started appearing quite early. I don't know how it was for you guys, but already four or five laps in, you kind of already see it, even though we were managing. So I didn't know where that would go, but the fact is I think all of us were experiencing the same thing. So once I got calm there, kind of like after lap six or seven, I kind of got into my stride and that was that." Interviewer: "Thanks."

Journalist: "Phil Duncan, PA. Lewis, I appreciate after the race you said that now’s the time to keep calm. But obviously, great win. You were seven seconds clear of Oscar and everyone's saying that McLaren's the car to beat this year. So that must give you real confidence that you're in this championship fight." Lewis: "Well, look, we’ve just come from a race where we finished tenth, so there are so many factors to really take into account. So I guess we just can't get ahead of ourselves of that one result that we just had and be like, yeah, now we're… The car felt good today, and yes, managed to finish ahead of a McLaren and a Red Bull, but that doesn't necessarily mean… Look at qualifying. It’s very, very close, sSo not making the mistake's going to be key. But I think we seem to be there or thereabouts this weekend, which is really good. I hope that that continues. But again, from track to track, we'll have to wait and see. We saw last week we didn't have that. So I'm hoping that… There's a lot of learnings from last week that we applied already to this week and the car has been in a much better place, so I hope that we can keep it there. And if we can, then yes, that makes me happy."

[stvrkeysgal]

can you keep a secret? - felix catton (2/3)

summary: fake-dating, basically (and also, felix falls in love with you along the way because why not lmfao)

pt. 1 | epilogue | masterlist

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚　˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

"for the last time, y/n, you'll be fine. my family won't hate you. just be yourself, yeah?" felix rests a hand on your thigh, squeezing the soft flesh gently to assure you. the drive was awfully long, much to your delight. you didn't want to arrive in saltburn at this point, in fears of being hated or rejected by felix's family, which felix tried to shrug off and clear from your mind.

"we're here." felix declares not long after. your heart starts to beat faster than earlier, at the same time your mind does nothing to assure you that everything's fine.

your eyes widen at the sight before you, a huge mansion you can mistake for a palace. saltburn, as felix called it. "your house is a fucking palace," you tell felix as your eyes scan around the whole place. sure, you expected felix to have a mansion of some sorts, but this? this was way beyond your expectations. which made you more anxious about meeting his parents.

for a fake girlfriend, you seem to be more nervous than... a real one.

"you'll get used to it," felix says before the doors swung right open. a butler, you assumed, was waiting for you and felix.

"felix, we've been expecting your arrival today," the butler announces. you didn't know if it was his tone or apperance that made you feel uneasy around the man, but you tried your best to look at ease.

"duncan! so good to see you," felix pats the man— duncan, on his shoulders and gave him a smile. "and this is y/n, my...” felix trails off, as he scratched the back of his neck and tried to find the words to introduce you as his—

"girlfriend?" duncan finishes for him. the man stares at you, his face devoid of emotions. once again you try to smile at him, but nothing happens.

"yes, my girlfriend." felix replies before taking your hand. "i'll take it from here, please do tell my parents i arrived. but leave the girlfriend part out," duncan ends his statement with a polite nod before looking at you. "let's go?"

ᯓ★ 𐙚⋆ ࣪. ⩇⩇

felix gave you a tour of the whole place first. the whole time you observed the place in awe, and felix who looked so proud of his home.

"and this," felix drums his hand against the doorframe. "is your room." it was no surprise that the room— like any other area in the place, is fucking classy.

you stepped in after felix, sighing as you took in the surroundings. "thank you, felix." you looked back at him before sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"thank you so much for agreeing, y/n. i owe it all to you." he smiles at you. "do you want to rest for a bit? you look tired."

now that he'd mention it, you were in fact, tired. and quite uneasy knowing the fact that in a few hours time, you'd have to act as felix's girlfriend.

"i am, actually." you mutter. "right, well... dinner's at 6PM, and you need to dress up. i mean it's stupid, who the fuck needs to dress up for dinner when-" felix cuts himself off when he notices your worried expression. "what's wrong?" he asks.

"i'm scared, okay? i don't know how i'll be able to pull this whole thing. even if i'm not your real girlfriend, i'm still afraid of your mom and dad's judgement. i'll have to deal with their criticisms for as long as i'm here." tears formed in the corner of your eyes, while you tried your whole best to not let them fall.

"i told you it's going to be okay. i may not know or relate to what you feel, but i hope you remember that my parents' judgement won't matter because you're you. nothing they say would change your personality. and you have a good one." felix holds your hand and caresses it with his thumb. the action somehow calmed your nerves, and you could say it helped.

it was to your surprise when felix used his free hand to wipe your tears, which you didn't realize that fell anyway, despite your hardest efforts to maintain from falling. "okay," you whisper softly. that response was meant to assure felix, but somehow it felt like you were assuring yourself too.

you can do it, you're helping a best friend. nothing more, right?

・*:..｡o○

it was time for dinner, and holy shit. felix wasn't kidding when he said that his family dressed for dinner, because his mother and sister were dressed in shiny dresses that could fit as an outfit for an event.

you were sat beside felix, thank god, or else you would've decided to walk out on dinner on the spot and never show up in saltburn again.

your heart started pounding again, totally not helping with the clashing thoughts in your mind. felix could sense your anxiety from under the table, which he managed to ease by placing a hand on yours. he looks at you with a smile, before whispering, "you're good. my mom seems to love you."

which is true, elspeth surprisingly seemed to like you. she would smile every time you accidentally look at her. hell, she even showered you with compliments the first time she saw you.

"well, aren't you a beautiful lady!"

"you have such lovely eyes, i could see why you you got felix."

"you have a lovely smile,"

the same went with felix's father, james. he approves of you. if anything, the pair thought you and felix looked great together. which lifted the weight from your shoulders, since you won't have a hard time pretending.

you could say that felix was right, it's all going to be okay. it was just your thoughts that kept you uneasy and nervous.

✭・.・✫・゜・。.

"we nailed it!" felix greets you with a toothy grin as soon as the pair of you were back in your room. he held his hand out for a high-five which you gave to him. "i told you it's going to be okay. now, get that frown off, and replace it..." felix touches your eyebrows, trying to flatten it.

"...with a smile." felix smiled, and you can't help but mirror his exact expression. how can you not, when his happiness is contagious?

"see? you look better when you smile."

✭・.・✫・゜・。.

"felix, i wanna go there!" you point to a chanel store. it was your... sixth shop today? maybe seventh but felix couldn't care less.

he took you out for shopping today, as part of the deal you two made.

"you like that one?" felix points to a black purse that's on display. "holy shit, you have good taste," you say in disbelief. you rushed to the area where the bag was and grabbed it, your actions earning an amused smile from felix.

"you look like you're enjoying yourself."

"damn right." you reply with a grin.

the last store you and felix went to is a bookstore. felix knew how much you loved books, so he suggested you go to one. you insisted on the fact that saltburn has a huge library, but felix didn't listen and took you to buy books that you would actually be interested in.

it's no surprise that you picked out a lot, which he didn't mind paying for. what he did mind though, was the alarming amount of bags he now has to carry.

"i think you should help me here, lovie," felix ends his plea with a grunt. the sudden use of nickname had you blushing, but you tried your best not to mind since you two were... pretending.

you just rolled your eyes at him playfully before grabbing three of the bags he's carrying. "all good?" he answers you with a nod.

the final destination for today was a small coffee shop, one that felix liked visiting when he's on summer vacation.

it didn't surprise you how much felix can be quite simple despite his personality at oxford. that was one of the things you loved about him.

"i love this coffee shop, i always go here when i want to get away from farleigh and venetia," felix states while chewing on waffles. "yeah, the place is nice. i like the decor too," you reply.

"thank you by the way. for all this stuff you bought for me, i just hope your parents won't say anything against all this." felix shrugged your statement off and chuckled. "my parents don't mind if i spend money on stuff. especially stuff for you. they'd even be more thrilled that i'm spoiling my girlfriend."

you scoffed at his comment, dismissing him and went back to drinking your coffee.

it turns out that being felix's fake girlfriend wasn't that bad.

・．.・・．.・

the henry's, which are the catton's close friends were coming over for dinner today. as expected, you and felix were to act like you two were dating.

felix informed you of this three days ago, giving him enough time to introduce you to each of his family's friends. one of them was a girl, who was paired up with felix once by his mother.

a weird feeling bubbled up in your stomach at the mention of her.

felix sensed your suddenly grim expression so he tried his best to assure you that him and the girl were now over.

the henry's are sophisticated people, to no surprise. the way they interacted with the cattons seemed so... practical. which caused you to feel uneasy once again.

at this point, feeling like you didn't belong happened ever so often to the point when you can't even bring yourself to go to the family meals sometimes without felix.

and as usual, felix noticed your slightly frowned face, which he tried to fix by holding your hand.

and again, the action worked.

"don't be afraid of them or whatever they try to say to you. whatever happens, i'm here. okay?" felix whispers gently, his words calming down your nerves. you looked at him and nodded, meanwhile gripping his hand tighter to ease your anxiety.

the two families were now engaged into a conversation they found interesting, all ears pricked up at what each other had to say. until one of the henry's decided to talk to felix.

"felix, my daughter's kind of... lonely lately. would you be kind enough to accompany her sometimes?" it was the mother of felix's old fling who spoke. the girl smiled at felix, practically batting her eyelashes at him which made you feel nauseous. (duh, because you're supposed to be the one doing that to felix.)

usually felix would try to put on a fake smile and approve because of his single status, but now...

"uh, about that. i already have a girlfriend, i'm off the hook."

elspeth's eyes brightened at the mention of you. "right! she's here, actually. y/n, darling, would you be kind enough to introduce yourself to everyone?" elspeth asks.

"i'll do it," felix interrupts. he clears his throat for a moment before continuing. "this is y/n, my girlfriend. now before all of you even ask, we met in oxford and we've been together for months now. hopefully that's enough information to keep me away from set-ups, right?" everyone chuckles at the remark. everyone except felix's old fling.

you eventually learned that the girl and felix had been a little close at childhood, knowing that their parents are too. sudden jealousy burst out through your whole mind at the idea of her being original.

hold up, you were not supposed to feel this way.

the girl would sometimes glare at you, which didn't go unnoticed by felix. he just told you to let her do whatever she wants because he'll be there to protect you.

for the remainder of the dinner and the post-dinner activities, felix kept you close to him, making sure you won't leave his side. he even had you sit on his lap one time, which was probably for the better since his ex-fling didn't bother to look at you anymore.

now, to make the whole "fake-dating" thing more convincing, felix would sometimes hold you by the waist and kiss your cheek after talking about something. from the corner of your eyes you saw elspeth and james, and technically farleigh and venetia smiling at the sight of the two of you.

you smiled at them before focusing on what felix was whispering this time.

"earth to y/n, are you even listening to me?" he asks. "i am, but can you repeat it?"

"i said, we're nailing the whole thing. you're a great fake girlfriend," felix reaches out to caress your cheeks this time. you found yourself leaning in closer to his palm as the touch was comforting.

"and you're a great fake boyfriend," you reply back.

you didn't know if it was the heat of the moment or you just got carried away when you kissed felix's lips softly. not too short, but the kiss was short enough to keep him wanting more. "do that again," felix whispers, his eyes half-lidded as if he's under a spell.

you complied and crashed your lips against his, no longer caring about the people surrounding you both. "is that good?" you ask.

"that's probably the best kiss i've ever had my whole life."

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚　˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

a/n: I AM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SOOOO LONG 🥹 i just had the first week of vacation so i only had the time to finish this part when it started. anyways i hope u love this part because i rlly lost my braincells trying to figure out what's the best plot for this one LMFAOOO

(p.s: i know this is not the best attempt at fake-dating but pls bear with me)

taglist!

@captainlunaxmen | @elordistar | @tsofo26

@rueluvsharry | @fuckshitslover

[seetangus]

How about azula realizing she really likes the reader after they take a life-threatening injury for her?? Love me some angst

Fiery Care - Azula x Reader os

[masterlist]

Azula x gn reader, tw: blood, heavy injury

1.340 words, please tell me if you find any mistakes!

I hope I got the request right, enjoy :)

No-one had prepared you for this. Rocks were being thrown at you by an earthbender, accompanied by the combined magic of a waterbender, the treacherous, disgraced prince, some incompetent boy with a sword and the Avatar himself.

You had trained firebending a lot, because, even considering that you were born into them, one only got accepted in the upper circles of the fire nation if one was a good fighter, but normally you were kept far away from any actual, real fights by your family, as they valued you - or rather your appearance; they wouldn't want their "little prodigy" to enter the service under the fire lord with any "flaws" that originated from missteps in battles.

However, you had insisted on taking part in this battle for a very special reason.

< • ◇ • >

A few hours earlier:

Azula walked, or rather marched, through the courtyard, straight towards you. That was a very rare sight and an unnerving one too, as you had long been plagued by strong unrequited feelings towards the princess. You quickly arranged your armour to look even more orderly and clean than it already was, acting with a nervousness and anticipation that would have told anyone who saw you that it was not just, like with anyone else, fear, that Azula ignited in you, but also some much warmer feelings.

Well, it might have told anyone, but Azula wasn't anyone, was she?

Her two friends who always escorted her probably knew, but that was no matter to worry about as they seemed pretty reasonable and pitied you, because of your feelings, to a degree at which they didn't feel the need to worsen your emotional state anymore by telling Azula about your feelings.

Now Azula stopped pretty close in front of you - she could probably feel the heat your reddened face emitted, but she did not seem to care.

"Y/N. Our scouts have tracked down the Avatar. We will leave in a few minutes to confront him and his companions. Father says it would be a good first fight for you, but honestly I don't care wether you accompany us as it likely won't make any difference. So you can stay here if you want to."

With much more energy than fitting you immediately responded that there could be nothing more delightful for you than joining her in battle. Ty Lee grinned at you from behind Azula, making you blush even harder.

Azula seemed unimpressed at your enthusiasm, but you didn't care. What mattered was that you would be close to her - or at least closer to her than normally - for a little while.

Also, you should be able to convince your parents to let you go if you mentioned that the fire lord himself thought that it was a good idea.

< • ◇ • >

Well, maybe the reason you took part in the battle wasn't even that special. You wanted to impress Azula, that was about it. A pretty dumb thought, if you thought about it - she was more or less infallible, how was one, especially you, to impress her?

However, there was not much time to think about such matters, as the attacks coming from the people you were facing seemed to become faster by the second.

You dodged a fire bolt the filthy traitor prince sent towards you and melted a stone that flew towards you mid air, freeing you up for just one moment of looking around the battlefield.

The first thing you noticed was dramatic. A whip made from sharpened, magical water made its way to Azula and she, who was in any other moment completely aware of her surroundings, was just preparing to defend against an attack from the Avatar-boy - she could get killed by that whiplash!

From one moment to another, your brain was deactivated and your protection-instincts, and maybe a bit of love, took over: in an enormous leap you rushed over to Azula - for one moment, everything was red and pain, but soon relieving darkness enclosed you.

---

With an enormous wave of wind, the Avatar ripped two small trees out of the earth, throwing them at Azula. She laughed at that pathetic attempt to seize her, igniting the wood with such fire that only a drizzle of ashes arrived at her position. But that ominous rain not only consisted of the remains of the burned trees, but also of blood.

She quickly looked around herself to see from where the scarlet liquid could originate - the first thing she found was the origin of the terrible act: the waterbender-girl was retrieving a thread of water she had been bending for it to become sharp and deadly into the bottle she always carried around.

Continuing her search, she found, or rather stumbled upon you. You laid unconciously besides her feet, your shoulder bleeding furiously. Considering that you hadn't stood there a few moments ago and in which direction the whip had been flying, it did not take long for Azula to realise the whiplash had been meant for her.

Driven back by a continuously growing amount of fire nation soldiers, the Avatar and his partners fled the battlefield, giving Azula an oppertunity to lean down to you and inspect your barely breathing body further. The more she realised what had happened, the more irrational feelings rushed through her head.

Naturally, everyone would sacrifice themselves for her, right? She was Azula. She really should not feel bad for you, it had been your duty to save her. In fights, things like these happened. You had to live (or not, in some cases) with it.

Yet, she could not help telling the healers who soon arrived to be extra careful with you if they did not want to experience her wrath.

She also couldn't keep herself from waiting outside the healer's tent, anxiously expecting the moment you would leave it. You would leave it, after all. She demanded you did. There was simply no way you couldn't.

And, what was maybe the worst of all, your face did not want to leave her mind. The face she had seen so many times on the courtyard and that she had always taken for granted - and that had not lost any of its beauty even when tainted through your own dark blood.

Given the size of your wound the process of healing was a long and exhausting one, but each day Azulas hope of seeing you again grew with the increasingly positive reports of the healers she ordered them to bring her.

Quite a few times had Ty Lee told Azula, in a very subtle manner, that it was quite unusual for her to think about someone this much. To care about them, even. That it almost seemed as if she liked you.

Naturally, Azula refused to give such assumptions any credit. Romantic fantasies like this were for children, and she was the very confident princess of the fire nation, not some toddler, wasn't she?

Of course she had to admit that she valued your wellbeing a little bit more than everyone elses, but her liking you? How absurd. Ridiculous, even.

Anyways, the only thing she seemed to do the following days beside worrying about you was to emphasize that she did not in any way worry about you at all. Oh, she couldn't wait for the day you left the hospital so that she could ask you some serious questions about what you did to make her think about you.

When the day of your releasememt from the hospital came, though, any questions were quickly forgot. Alone the sight of your face made her see everything she could have ever asked for.

You too could not believe your luck when Azula was the first person to greet you after leaving the hospital; her inviting you to sit beside her at the royal dinner that evening exceeded all your dreams.

She stepped closer towards you, and your heart fluttered when you saw the same look in her eyes that you had been giving her for a long time.

[ctheathy]

WRITE ME REDSON X MALE READER 😭 DID I DO IT GOOD NOW!????

Red Son General Headcanons

Redson x Reader

General+Fluff Headcanons

Author’s note: Nuh uh you did absolutely TERRIBLE😡. I should just solve the problem and ban you from my account right now. You even went against my rules dipshi- [The requester and I are friends, don't cancel me]

Possibly OOC, but I tried. I had to depend on the wikipedia for information cause I've never even watched Monkie Kid to begin with. This was really just an exception for a friend of mine.

Redson/Reader [Romantic Tendencies]

[Gender-neutral Darling|Female Darling|Male Darling]

Potential ⚠️TWs⚠️ :

!Male Reader! • Paranoia

The level of priority towards reputation are often known to depend on a rank one was born into or the image they created for themselves over the course of time, which in this case is undoubtedly high... Redson has been shown to hold a lot of family pride and takes any chance to prove his authority over his subclasses. It's safe to say the the demon bull is likely going to have some difficulty swallowing his ego to allow emotional connections to grow and much less legitimise a romantic relationship with someone from the group he has grown acquainted with.

He can also be known to be rather petty and too prideful to accept his flaws. So if happens to be something that irritates you, you're definitely going to end up having one or more squabbles with the son of the Demon Bull King. Especially when it comes to Redson having a fierce temper and such, resulting in him trying to lecture you and get a completely insignificant point across. But I also believe you'd be more capable of keeping him in line instead of if you were to just go along with his behaviour. But it can also cause in a feast of awkwardness, as there have been several occasions where you embarrassingly have to hold Redson back from lashing out at a laughing MK and Mei for calling your arguments a lover's quarrel.

Though even with his high-and-mighty and hostile nature, it is important to remember that as long as a bond is formed, he won't ever actually harm or even remotely think of hurting you. Like, at all. He can be a bit bigmouthed at times, but many of his words should regularly be taken with a grain of salt. He is quick to snap at anyone from time to time, but I believe your presence would definitely keep him tame to a certain degree, as your mere existence just happens to soothe him. So on the bright side, you might be able to kick him off his high horse for the first time during his five hundred years of life.

I can picture Redson having grown up under a domain of regulation where females are generally and more often treated extra delicately due to being more ‘fragile’, so you can expect him to behave firmer, a bit more rough yet open to his real self a lot faster than if you were a female. He'll see you less as a ‘target’ for a lack of better term, and more as a comrade. Plus, if you were to give him the approval he lacked from his parents, it wouldn't feel uncomfortable as long as you have had the opportunity to create a connection. Though primarily, I cannot view intimate scenarios as anything other than plain awkward for a little while. You're gonna have to be the one initiating the hugs with him and give implications to get more touchy feely. Though when surrounded by eyewitnesses, he'll often still end up shooing you away ...you'll perhaps, just maybe absolutely get to hold his hand at most.

I mean, when's the last time you've seen somebody behaving sappy and all goo-goo with the literal son of the Demon Bull King out in the open? He just cannot allow it! Not only for the sake of his dignity, but also to keep up his image so you'll continue seeing him as an almighty demon who has an unnerving amount of political power over any lower rank. As far deep down, hidden within... he wants to appear and be so much more special to you than he'd be willing to admit.

If you were to lack in durability, fighting abilities or overall weapon skills, I can see Redson going out of his way to strictly teach you his ways of strength individually. Not necessarily in a sense to get you to his level, but in order to give you the capability to protect yourself. He would always be there to protect you with ferocious security at a moment's notice [and scold you afterwards for getting yourself in a dangerous situation], but he cannot help but doubt his abilities to ensure your safety at times. Along with fearing for the worst that one time he might not be there to save you. And this singular thought might just be what it takes to make him evaluate how he actually feels about you.

[studentbyday]

a meditative november.

Sometimes courage is in forcing yourself to stick with your plan to go slow, progress gradually, and trust in the future, rather than throwing yourself into the deepest end out of desperation to “get ahead,” knowing full well you won't be prepared, which would unnecessarily heighten the chances of failure at something you truly value and don't want to play with.

I've been having to remind myself of this all summer and all semester. It's actually not UNrealistic to go slow to go far. And deep down I know this, but the world we're in sometimes makes us feel so pressured to live fast...sometimes even before we're ready. Which may lead one down the rabbit hole towards the whole concept of sink or swim and survival of the fittest, where if you know you can't immediately speed up because you know you'd sink, you think you're just not fit for life. Nothing could be further from the truth, and it's a real advantage to have that self-awareness, to know your current limits. The time you spend now slowly growing and exploring other ways to get to your dream (even if it may seem to take you further away from it at first) will make you so much more experienced, resourceful, inventive, mature, and ready in every sense of the word than those who choose to hurry.

There are undoubtedly merits to living at a faster pace and I'm sure we're all well aware of it in this world we live in. But what I'm trying to say is that there are also equally valuable merits to living at a slower pace, and for some of us, that's what we need. And so we should give ourselves permission to do that when we can in order to thrive long term. To hell with the societal pressures to do otherwise.

[imagine-shenanigans]

I've got severe brain worms from @391780 's fic Into Your Veins, and now I'm thinking of all the different scenarios where the 141 are also monsters in the apocalypse. like. obsessively. Also fat/chubby reader because mmmmmm yaes <3

Also this is basically just rambles and ranting over ideas for like, however long this got i didnt actually check teehee

We already have vampire simon so I won't touch on that because that is Specifically Their Brain Worms but I can't stop laughing every single time over the sunflower seeds incident (and every other similar one).

//

Soap as a werewolf is soooooo funny to me. Like he's constantly in this battle of "Don't swallow don't swallow don't swallow" whenever he rips a zombie in half with his teeth in wolf form and then confusion as to why people would think he's possibly infected. "Wdym I'm infected I'm just a little guy. I'm so cute. I wouldn't ever do anything. Smiles." He can't cover distance like Ghost or Gaz can, and sure he doesn't have the same authority that Price does, but he's a damn good soldier, and he's got some of the most sheer brute force on the team. So when Price tells him to start scouting in an area for survivors, he does! He's very thorough, combs over the area with a precision that would make most soldiers weep with jealousy.

He ends up scenting reader before he sees them, watches their little house from a distance. He's not patient like Simon, but he does watch reader for awhile, watches them surviving, all on their own in this little plot of land. Ends up watching your plush hips sway as you set out the laundry to dry. He's mesmerized, as he watches the sweat drip down your skin while you reinforce a few of your traps, go over the house with a fine toothed comb. You can't see him in the shadows, but by god is he seeing you. (And your ass - god he can't stop staring.)

He's not nearly patient enough to wait, so he waltzes right up, thinking his charming smile and accent is enough to win him some brownie points. He's halfway through a pickup line, maybe, when you level a shotgun at his face, completely unamused.

He's in love.

You refuse to go with him, but Price gave him orders and there's no WAY he's letting you go, not after he's seen your thighs and imagined himself using them as earmuffs. Not after he's thinking of a cute domestic life, providing for you like a good mate, and look at how precious you are, threatening him and -

and you shoot him.

Right in the chest, and thank god for the fact that it takes more than a few bullets to kill him because he's tearing through his skin in an instant, bones cracking and sinew melding as he quickly drops into his wolf form (which, jesus christ he's fucking HUGE) to help ease some of the pain and kickstart his healing process. He snarls right in your face and snaps your damn gun in half with his teeth before he tells you he'll be back in a week. (later, he feels bad, certainly, but only for frightening you)

You freak out, because JESUS CHRIST WEREWOLVES ARE REAL TOO????

Johnny's back in a week as promised, after spending a few days in bed and eating anything he could get his hands on all while gushing about the pretty little soft thing he's bringing back. He even goes out of his way to bring you a gift!!! He hunts down a deer on the way through the woods near your home, bringing dinner so he can butcher it and you can cook it because of course he's bringing you back for practical reasons but if he's going to court you no you don't need to know that.

You're gone when he comes to the home, every last item packed away and shoved into the back of the car he'd seen you drive. He's furious that his hard work will go to waste, so he helps himself to the rest of what you've got in the house and decides to store everything away for when he's on his way back to base. Fights his urge to track you down only for long enough to be practical, and then he's on the hunt.

It doesn't take him long to find you - he can run faster than your car can go cautiously while trying not to attract attention from a horde of zombies, and even though he's living he doesn't attract the same attention from the freaks that you do in a car with a gun. He tracks you down in no time flat, smiling as he taps on your window where you're parked inconspicuously to catch a few minutes of sleep.

When you scream, he laughs and waves, threatens with one clawed hand to slash the tires if you don't come out. Practicality wins in this case, and he has a long talk with you about coming back with him. He's sure he's just about convinced you when you slap him, throwing something at him that has him howling in white-hot pain. He can hear your apologies through sobs as you push him and he tangles with whatever you've thrown at him, trying to get it off in a blind panic, and you've driven off before he can stop you.

When he finally has a moment to breathe, the damn thing off of him, he realizes you'd tied together a small net of necklace chains - silver. necklace chains.

He's as angry as he as endeared, really. It's a game now, of fetch, of tag, he's not sure - he just ends up changing pace, gently herds you back in the direction of the base like a cattle dog. You're furious when he finally pops your tires when you're a good two days away from the base, just hefts you up on a shoulder and pats your ass while he walks with you. He's so smug about it too, and by all accounts, he's won your hand in marriage by finding you, whether or not you agree yet.

//

Now, I'm not as familiar with Gaz as I'd like to be (because I got introduced with Ghoap stuff for my entry into the fandom) so please pardon if my characterization is off but I do love him dearly and eat up all content I end up seeing of him.

I'm slightly biased with Gaz being a harpy because I just love the idea of him being a bird of prey like a peregrine falcon (and i think its bluegiragi who has the monster au of him as a harpy?) or a shifter of some sort like a panther or a cheetah (i'm biased towards cheetah actually, because I love the pictures/videos of cheetahs getting emotional support golden retrievers).

Since my idea for this isn't EITHER of those options, please consider reader putting spike traps on the roof for a bird Gaz like stores put up on their signs. He gets real angry about it for a couple days and then figures out exactly how/where to land so he can perch on your roof anyway, scaring the shit out of you when he's just sitting there, chin in his hands, with a shit eating grin when you go to make sure everything's alright on the roof.

Anyway, for this I'm actually thinking fae Gaz - he's been living amongst humans for as long as he can really remember. He's not a changeling, but his mum was fae and she loved his dad. He's visited the fae realm once or twice (and, as convincing as his mum is when he visits her, he nearly forgets about the time dissonance every single visit - none are as bad as the first time, when he had no clue about it, and ended up being gone for fifty years.)

He's sent to greet you when Ghost majestically fails, and Cap'n doesn't quite want to set Soap loose on the poor reader (yet). Ends up falling in love with how clever you are, soft hands slipping into gloves as you pile leaves over the thin nets over the punji pits and bear traps. He's military trained across multiple decades, he's seen all kinds of war (even though he's still relatively young in comparison - he stopped physically aging somewhere in his twenties, but he's barely been alive for like, fifty years) and he's seen all kinds of tricks.

He watches you pour over old books that you've either scavenged or already had, learning how to make simple, but effective traps. The older types of traps are such a clever idea when combined with new ones. The type doesn't matter much to zombies, but the combination of different types will keep humans (and others) on their guard.

He really really really intends to talk to you, instead of lingering in the shadows like a creep.

You end up seeing him, and through sheer luck (or wit, Gaz isn't honestly sure) when he asks that you give him your name, you say; "Give me your name first."

He's stuck at that one, because Gaz has spent years talking around subjects but this pretty little human just points a shotgun at him and demands his attention. He can't even think to talk around the reason he's there when he changes the subject awkwardly, and you insist on his name.

He can't give you his name, his power, not even his nickname, so it ends with him awkwardly leaving.

He's the absolute butt of the joke when he gets back to base after slipping into the trees (so embarrassed that he doesn't take the time to make sure you can't see him do it) and goes straight back to base utilizing a mushroom circle and the sheer willpower to not get distracted as he slips between realms. Makes a week long trek into an hour's worth of walking.

When he returns, he knocks politely, eyeing the newly replaced doorknob.

When he touches it, out of curiosity, he's gobsmacked to find out you've either found a new knob, or cast the old one in cold iron. He touches it three full times in complete disbelief, watches the skin on his hands grow irritated and blister.

You smirk when you open the door, make some shitty joke that he's pretty sure is a twilight reference that would make Ghost furious, and then you tell him you figured it out pretty quickly.

In comparison to Ghost and Soap, his romance is altogether extremely easy - he just keeps visiting every single day, calls you a nickname when you won't give him an actual answer.

He admires your caution, and falls just a little more in love when you call him something stupid like mushroom man.

In the end, what ends up convincing reader, I think, is that he fully gives them his name. It's akin to a proposal, and Gaz isn't quite sure how he feels when you don't realize it as you roll his name - Kyle Garrick on your tongue, testing it. You ask if you can keep calling him Mushie Man and some other stupid nickname and he laughs, presses a kiss to your temple for it. Says it's only fitting, and whispers your full name like a prayer.

He lets you stay in your home a little longer, as long as you need really, laces a misdirection hex into the branches that'll really only work on humans. He comes by every day, no matter what.

When you finally agree, he grabs your face and kisses you like you've given him the sun and stars and hung the moon just to illuminate his way.

//

For Price, I'm going to say dragon price because mmmm hot. Anyway I like to think it's a little bit of everything.

Ghost is the first - you find out really quickly that he fucking hates the counting trick you pull, so you're sure to carry a pocket full of something small just to piss him off if he gets too close. When you don't make eye contact (whether intentional or because you hate it) he's absolutely bewildered that this Soft Little Thing in the woods has so effectively blocked him from getting his job done initially that when he complains to Price, he puts his foot down. Says if Price thinks is so funny, he should send Johnny or Gaz out, see if they can do better.

And Price, sides hurting from laughing so much, agrees to make it Soap's problem next.

Soap returns, a net-like burn across his forearm from where you'd thrown tied together necklace chains at him. He's pissed, whines and moans for hours about how bad it hurts, and Price just snorts and tells him Shouldn't have tried to drag them out, then.

When intimidation and brute force don't work, Price lets Gaz have a go at it.

The man is practically radiating smugness as he goes to win, and Price is crying with laughter when Gaz comes back, his hands blistered and pride bruised. He clears his throat and says I think ah, I think they've just gone ahead and put every guard on the house they can think of. He does not tell anyone that the human ended up catching him in a net for half an hour afterwards, chiding him for the full thirty minutes about trying to open someone's door without asking.

(But Price knows.)

He ends up saying he's going to go deal with it himself to "Show them how it's done."

Really though, he's absolutely smitten with the idea of you. He knows that, given the time and will, his boys would absolutely bring you back - but he doesn't want that anymore. He has to see for himself the cute soft little human in the woods that's managed to catch all three of his best soldiers off guard because all three of them underestimated you.

He can't very well let anyone on base know (especially the civilians) what he is, so he waits until the dead of night to start flying - only does so when he's well past the point of being seen, even if it means he has to fly in his hybrid form, which is a little awkward when he doesn't do it as often.

He's a perfect gentleman when he walks up to your home at daybreak, letting his form go back to human.

He avoids every trap, tripwire, and camera that Simon and Johnny and Kyle had all warned him about so you don't have to spend your precious time and energy fixing them. He knocks on the door and waits until you open it, introduces himself as Captain John Price, love.

Apologies for the heavy handed attempts of his men as he stands on your doorstep. When you slam the door in his face he simply sighs and knocks again. And again, and again, until you finally relent and open the door back up.

He smiles, and asks if he can come in - you say no, and he smiles.

Love, if I wanted to I could push past you, I'm asking to be polite.

You freeze at that, trying to think, trying to evaluate. You're clever, he thinks with a pleased hum, half lidded eyes staring down at you. You sigh, and relent, finally - knowing that whatever battle that you'd be fighting uphill could at least be done over the breakfast you were starting to cook, and you didn't want to waste it.

Something twinges in John's chest as he sits at the table, and decides, like the rotten, greedy bastard he knows he is, that you're his. And not his like the rest of the people he's got, but his. You'll be his, no matter how long it takes him.

He lets you cook in silence, enjoying the mundane domesticity of it all, tucks into the plate of food gratefully, and feels like he's home.

After breakfast, John takes the time to ask you questions. About your past, about your hobbies outside of survival, how many things you've got that'll be coming with. When you remind him you haven't agreed, he chuckles and smooths a hand over your hair and reminds you that he hasn't asked.

You finally ask him what he is, and he blows a mote of smoke at you, watches the realization hit you before you go blank. A fucking dragon? You ask.

A fucking dragon, he responds.

John is extremely amused when you tell him to wait on the doorstep, and you go upstairs for something. When you come back down, you hand him a box full of jewelry (he almost laughs when he notices the amount of silver chains missing.)

He hands you the box back and curls a finger beneath your chin, calls you a silly girl/boy/pet and tells you that not all the stories are true. In this case, they are, of course- but he doesn't need to tell you that he hoards people, not things. That his hoard is every single person on base - doesn't tell you that his most treasured parts of his hoard are the three strong men who work directly with him, that he intends to keep them for as long as he lives, which will still be a damn long time coming, even if he's been around since before the middle ages.

You'll be his favorite of all though, he thinks.

He gives you a week, but tells you that his boys will keep an eye on you, make sure you're still there every day until he personally comes to escort you home. When you remind him, stubbornly, you are home, he laughs, and presses a kiss to your forehead while you stand there, bewildered.

In between that moment, and when you get back to base with him, I can't decide if its better if he ends up singlehandedly destroying a small horde of zombies with fire breath as the pits you've got full of traps fill up, or if it's better if he shows up with a box truck and a few men and they all end up moving you out of the house without asking. Maybe it's a mix of both - you decide!

But regardless, it ends exactly as he wants - you, tucked up into his lap as he reads reports and issues orders. He skips the dating and goes straight into being your husband - makes some sort of quip about being far too old (fashioned) to entertain the thought and goes straight to being married like "it used to be." Even though for a dragon he's still kinda young, hasn't even hit his comparative forties yet, actually. Even though it doesn't really matter, because as far as he's aware dragons don't die of old age so much as they die of other factors beyond their control. It's why he's so carefully cultivated his life towards survival thus far.

John lets you do whatever you want to keep you busy, the only real stipulation is that you come home to him at the end of the day. He's even quite respectful, really. He never touches you without your consent, aside from placing soft kisses on your temple or forehead, or cuddling up to you in your shared bed. (Which you say you only entertain because he's warm, and there's no heating in his room. But really, you love it when he holds you, and lets you hold him with no questions asked, all under the pretense of being half-asleep.)

He acts like he has all the time in the world for you to come around - and he does.

You'll be awfully sore later when you realize he's bound your life to his, even angrier when your teeth adjust and you can start seeing better. He'll pretend not to notice the changes at first to see what you think, and then he'll help you through all of them, cooing and sighing and rubbing into sore muscles as you learn how to control changing into your half-dragon form. Maybe in a couple hundred years you'll figure out how to fully transform into a dragon - maybe not.

[post-punk-revival]

Time loops could be scarier.

They're always a day or less. They could be longer though. A time loop could be a full year. Imagine if, at the stroke of midnight on December 31st, 2024, you look at the calendar, and it says... January 1st, 2024. Nobody else seems to notice.

Everything is how it was 1 year ago, on January 1st, 2024. Events that transpired over the course of 2024 now have yet to do so. Likely you are surrounded by different people in this room, or alone when you weren't a second ago. Probably you are in a completely different room. Maybe your new favorite movie or your favorite song no longer even exists. Everything is how it was on January 1st, including the weather, your friends, your life, and even your own body. If you lost or gained weight. If you got a tattoo. If you transitioned in any way. If your health got better or worse. It's all back.

Imagine if you had a health episode in 2024 and now it hasn't happened yet but you know it's coming. You can't exactly stroll into a hospital and tell them what you need them to do several months before you need it. You're going to have to suffer again. The countdown would be agonizing. If you left your job, congrats, you've got your job back! Even if you quit. Even if you found a better one. If you moved out of a shitty situation, you're back. If you cut out shitty people, they're back. If you made great new friends, or even found love, they're gone.

If you lost someone since January 1st, they're back. What if a friend died last March? To look into their eyes again, it feels like a miracle, a blessing. What a gift you've been given, even if they don't understand why you embraced them, or why you're crying. You're crying, of course, because you realized you have to lose them all over again. And over again. And over again.

You're 90 years old. You're 150 years old.

It's not like a 24-hour time loop. There are consequences, consequences you feel for far longer than a day. People whose reactions and emotions would feel far more real and important if they were suffering for your actions for months. There's no fun Groundhog's Day montage of reckless abandon. You can't just up and take off in your car to see the world. Maybe you think you can for a fleeting moment because you've got a whole year to do whatever you want!-- but no, you can't just do whatever you want actually, you only have so much in savings and it especially won't cover 12 months if you lose your job. And you still need food and a roof, because otherwise you'll die, and if you die, the loop resets. So you have to go to work. You have to go to your job day to day. You're in a damn time loop and you're at work. Typical.

You're 200 years old. You're 1,00 years old.

You can't convince people you're in a time loop. Of course, already impossible enough to do so in a 24-hour time loop. But a 24-hour time loop teaches you every conversation and every event much faster. Can you remember every intonation of every word of every conversation you had 11 months ago? Can you sit people down and beg them to understand without looking insane? Without being institutionalized for a full year? Because you'll be feeling that one. Your family will be feeling that one.

It's not the classic time loop question of "how long until despair starts to creep in?" anymore. The answer is right away, of course. The new question is, "how long until you can't even feel that anymore?"

You're 1,000,000 years old. You're 3,000,000 years old.

Maybe eventually you do learn how to have some fun. Study the news intensely. Maybe on one loop you do a little prophet scam, predict some events, do a little Back to the Future, make some bets, now you're having fun, now you're rich. Steal, swindle and cheat your way into a few millions and now you've gamed the system, you can travel the world, you can quit your job and live it up. Now you're on a roll! Now you've got that classic Groundhog's Day montage romp going!

You don't know how old you are.

Maybe eventually you are able to convince people. Now you do know every conversation. Or your portent knowledge of the year's random and natural events is enough. Prevent your health episode. Save your friend's life. You convince your loved ones at first, but eventually you'll be able to get the whole world convinced. Governments. Scientists. Physicists. Plead for help, and they believe you. Maybe they can even try to save you with the five or six months you have left after the process of convincing them.

But at the end of the year, none of it matters.

Because on January 1st, it'll just be January 1st again.

[sorcerous-caress]

👉👈 uhm could you maybe release a snippet of those fics? Please? 🥺

I’ve deleted and rewritten this ask like 5 times because I’ve never in my life requested smut let alone something like… well that.

-The Ex-Lurker

Anon I am very sorry to inform you that these snippest are as real as santa. I never work on more than one or two fics at a time. And even when I do, i immediately post them the second they're finished.

There is no easter bunny, no queen of England and no Shadowheart degradation snippets.

I have requests for Shadowheart degrading people that i plan on posting after I actually write them, which I have not.

Instead, have this piece I've written just for you as an apology for leading you on <3 i will do it again.

Shadowheart degrades you

[ Smut, degradation, overstimulation, nb!reader, Dom!shadowheart ]

The sound of your voice was all you could hear in the room, raw, breathless, and needy. Hearing the desperation in your own moans made you close your eyes in embarrassment.

"What's wrong?" Shadowheart's soft voice came from above you. Her hand went down to caress your head on her lap.

You choked on your own reply, your body squirming and twitching as yet another orgasm was forced out of you. Her hand between your thighs now drenched with your cum.

"Is it too much for your brain? Is that what this is about?" She didn't even give you a moment to rest before hand started moving again, the same brutal pace that she's been forcing onto you for an hour.

"If only you could see how pathetic you look right now." She didn't take her eyes off of your fucked out face on her lap, she seemed to revel in making you feel that burning shame of being watched.

She still had all of her clothes on, not a hair out of place, while you laid naked below her. She didn't even break a sweat while she continuously toyed and abused your most intimate areas into overstimulation.

"Just how many times did you make a mess already, and you're still cumming?" She stopped overstimulating you long enough to give the inside of your thighs a light slap, making your body jump as a loud whine escaped you.

She laughed, she was laughing at you.

Immediately, you felt yourself getting pushed to the edge of another orgasm, so fast too, you were really losing your mind.

"That pretty head of yours will probably be empty by the time I'm done with you." She caressed your head again, "you won't have any other purpose after. You'll be completely useless."

You were so close, you didn't care about your dignity anymore. You just wanted relief.

"Maybe I should invite all of our friends here, give them front row seats to your little show." She let you grind against her hand, cooing and chuckling as you made another mess, covering the insides of your thighs in your own cum.

But she didn't stop, instead, her hand went back to the same brutal pace if not faster.

The pleasure was too intense. It became too much and borderline painful. Your cries were ignored by Shadowheart as you begged and pleaded for a rest.

"A bitch in heat, that's what you are." The hand on your head pulled your hair in a painful grip as she brought your head closer to her face.

Her hand never stopped, you were full on crying from the burning pleasure. You couldn't control yourself, you couldn't control your voice and you couldn't stop from cumming endlessly on her hand. This was your punishment for overindulgence.

Isn't it her job to cleanse people of their sins as a cleric? Then consider this your atonement for being the whore that you are. For all the lust filled thoughts clouding your brain.

"Say, thank you." Her hold tightned on your hair, "thank me for treating you like you deserve to be treated, and I might let go."

Your nerves were on fire. You barely registered your own words as you thanked her as loudly as you can between your cries. Thanking her for giving a dirty pathetic whore like you the chance to repent and get cleansed.

Both hand let go of you, you head was dropped back into her lap.

"Turn around." She looked at you in disgust, "ass up, face down."

[never-afters]

"soon" you mean never?

Hi, anon! The moment I woke up this morning, your message was among the first things in my notifications. And, well, that's one thing of incorporating my username to my writing.

I've thought long and hard how to answer your question to make sure I don't come off rude or anything, but I've also just been busy the whole day as I was out and about doing my fieldwork so in any case, I apologize for responding late. To answer your question, no, I definitely do not mean never. Sure, I don't update weekly, because what will I even say? Hey, I added *insert random wordcount here*, I've been busy though so writing has been slow. Because I'm telling you, if I do that I'll end up sounding like a broken record.

And I think I've been clear that I said this is not my main project or whatsoever. It's a hobby, something I do when I have time or when I need to relax from real life and my academics. I do not get paid from this because as I said, pure hobby, an outlet I use for the creativity (or what's left of it, anyway) in my head.

To actually give a reason, I will be going into more personal details of my life. First, my university life is not easy, and I think none of us have it easy, may it be in the academe, work, or life in general. I study anthropology and it's a program heavy with lots of readings and fieldworks, so the time I could use for writing, I save for reading classics and doing fieldworks instead. Secondly, one of my parents has been hospitalized and I'm taking care of 4 siblings and 7 pets. The responsibilities are shared, sure, but the burden can be heavy when you try to juggle your life, academics, and social relationships, add to that the hobby you're supposed to do to have fun. And third, I, myself, am not as healthy as one would normally be. I have three life-long illnesses that make me weaker than most, hence why I can't stay up late to find the time to write and why sometimes, I just don't have enough energy to think and move.

I hope that is enough of an answer to at least put you at ease that I'm working on it, albeit not as fast as the other creators you follow. Maybe you didn't mean to be rude, and some part of me do understand. However, the other is just a teensy weensy bit hurt as well. Kindness and understanding goes a long way, you know? Also, I know I haven't really good with setting deadlines for myself but I know that I get things done at the end of the day. My day-one readers know me. It's sad that the old demo disappeared alongwith dashingdon shutting down, but at least know that my story will come back.

If you can't wait, then that is fine. There are hundreds, maybe even thousands, of stories you can read instead. I am not forcing you to stay and wait 'til I get mine finished for public access. I do not ask you to believe my reasons as well, but I know that I have been honest with disclosing such personal information here to at least let you know the reasons why I'm quick with any progress. I will include proofs, but I don't want to disclose even more sensitive information that will risk my privacy.

Still, thank you for being interested in my story. Some part of me will take this as a compliment, anon, because maybe you're just so excited that you're starting to feel impatient. So then again, I apologize, but sending a message like this won't make me write any faster. Anyhow! Have a good night, or day, or afternoon, or whatever timezone you're in! :)

Have some cute heart urchins from the museum I visited today in my country! :D

[kedreeva]

Hello, good day/evening/whenever you see this haha, I had a couple bread questions if that's alright?

I love the idea of My Own Infinite Bread Beast. But I've also had sourdough bread from like the store (never fresh though) and I don't really like it that much cuz it's too... sour. Does fresh homemade sourdough taste the same? Or if it does, are there things you can add or change to change it that you know of? I know you've made cookies with it so I'm hoping it doesn't lol, but I wanted to ask before getting too invested in a bread project

The short answer is yes, it still tastes sour.

The medium answer is that it doesn't taste AS sour because most mass-produced "sourdough" isn't made from fermented yeast, it's made with vinegar and ascorbic acid.

Which means the longer answer is it CAN taste sour but it doesn't taste AS sour and it's not the same KIND of sour. The cookies don't taste sour because there's a thousand pounds of sugar, butter, vanilla/almond extract, and chocolate offsetting any sour taste. Bread doesn't have that, it's usually just flour, water, starter (which is flour/water + yeast), and salt. Some breads may have milk, eggs, butter, or even sugar in them, but a plain loaf is just 4 ingredients so there's not a lot to disguise the flavor.

That being said, real sourdough is "sour" because the yeast you're keeping ferments. It takes about a day for it to ferment when it's kept appropriately warm. You'll notice the texture will rise from a thick kinda lumpy "pancake batter" consistency to an air-pocked sticky thick stringy gluten-y texture, and then down into basically a liquid again, as it ferments after feeding. When you make bread, you're supposed to mix the dough using "active fed starter" which means you feed the starter, and when it rises and becomes that air-pocked consistency, it's active. This process can take anywhere from 2 to 8 hours, depending on temp and your starter's general activity level, but if you use the yeast as it STARTS to feed as opposed to when it's STOPPING feeding, you may get a less sour loaf.

The wetter your starter, the less sour it will be (if you mix it to be more soupy than lumpy). The longer you let it ferment before feeding, the more sour it will become. The kind of flour you use matters, too- whole grain flours will make a more sour loaf, all-purpose (unbleached) will make a less sour loaf (I've heard adding a little oat flour can also help, but I wouldn't feed it on oat flour). If you lower the cold rise time (the longest rise, usually something like 10 hours, so most people do it overnight or even in the fridge, but if you let it rise in a warmer area it will take less time and ferment less), you'll get a less sour loaf. You can add honey to your loaf to cut the sourness. You can add baking soda, which will lower the acidity and make a faster rise time (so less time to ferment). You can feed more often, which will cause less ferment or at least divide it so there's less fermented leavings. If you leave it for too long and you get a clear layer on top, that's alcohol. Try to dump off as much of that as you can before feeding (I mix it back in, because Sark likes it sour). When you make bread, using colder water can lower the sourness since the yeast won't be as active.

There's a LOT of things you can try, and see what works for you. Ultimately nothing may work if you just don't like the flavor. BUT if you've only ever had storebought and aren't sure you've ever had actual sourdough, it might be worth a shot. The starter isn't expensive (in fact you can get some from Carl's starter for the price of postage for an envelope), and you just need any kind of glass jar to keep it in. I like having two, so I can pour it into a new jar every day instead of getting crusty dried starter on the side, since you have to discard half the starter every day, but you don't HAVE to have two jars. And it doesn't even have to be good jars or anything. You can go to the dollar store and get whatever small but tall-ish vessel (remember it rises), and just cover it with plastic wrap and a rubber band while you're experimenting. If you have a mason jar (or your parents do or a friend does) or a glass cup or something it'll work for an experiment in "do i like this?"

Anyway, I hope you try it. Having a bread beast is fun.

[crmsnmth]

September Sky Chapter One, Part 6

I smiled to myself. I didn't know the bar at all, but I also knew all but jack shit about Walker's Point. Hell, I was still learning things about my own neighborhood. It didn't really matter though. I'd get to hang out with my friend. It'd been about two months since the last time we hung out physically. And it'd be kind of cool to see Alana again too. We use to hang on the edges of the same circles in high school, and I had a massive crush on her for a really long time. But I wasn't a very smart teenager, and resorted to the childish way of telling a girl you liked them. I mocked her relentlessly. I was in the first grade again, pulling the hair of the girl I liked.

ME: Yeah, I should be to get a Saturday night off. I never do, so it shouldn't be a problem. I'll probably have to go in Sunday to do the numbers and stuff but fuck it. It'll be worth it. It'll be a good time. I haven't seen Alana in fucking years.

It was Tuesday, and I always had Tuesday's off. My schedule was pretty routine, and it rarely changed in any way. I really could go in pretty much whenever I wanted, and just because I dressed and thought in that punk rebellion feeling, didn't mean that I didn't take huge pride in my job. I had worked my way up from a dishwasher back in Oconomowoc. And now I was the kitchen manager and lead line in Milwaukee. I liked the work. And the workplace is where I've made the few friends I have in Milwaukee. I couldn't make real friends on the campus because nothing forces me to talk another human being. Work does. Plus, the money was ok. I didn't worry about much. My bills were paid and if I really wanted something, I got it. I was comfortable.

It was 3:35. Time to make my way back across the bridge and up to the campus. I left, and about fifteen minutes later I was sitting on a table in the campus cafeteria. I won't lie, I hurried here. I could have slowly walked and still would have had time, but for once, I wanted to be somewhere. I had my headphones and was listening to Green Day's Kerplunk! album. I sat there, mumbling along to '2000 Light Years Away" and letting my eyes scan the cafeteria. I didn't really expect her to show. So I hoped for the best, and prepared for the worst.

It was running on 4:30 when I decided she had done the sensible thing. It sucked, quite a lot actually, and I was bummed about it. I couldn't really be upset with her though. It was the smarter choice. I sighed heavily, and stood up. Only for my iPod to fall to the floor, yanking my headphones off and under the table. I bent down to pick them up and head back home.

"So, are you always dropping something?" A perfect voice asked from behind me. I grabbed my stuff and jerked back up.

"What can I say? You can find some pretty rad stuff on the floor," I shot back. I was only half joking. My mouth moves faster than my brain a lot of the time, and because of it, I can come off as a horrible insufferable sarcastic smart-ass.

"I bet," she laughed. I could listen to that laugh forever.

"So coffee or?" I asked. Dammit, gain control of your words, stupid.

"Would mind something a little stronger? It's been a rough day, and I could use a drink." She looked at me with her bright shining eyes. It was only then I noticed the tired look. The dead and waiting look of a college student. A college student who actually cares about school.

"No, that's cool. Whatever you want to do. Where did you want to go?" I asked. I knew a few bars around Riverwest. I may not like people, but I do like music, and there's a lot of live music in the bars of Riverwest. And I liked a drink, like anyone else. Maybe a little more. It knocked out the anxiety. I preferred to smoke weed though. No hangover. And it makes me eat. Another thing I just never really do.

[abubblingcandle]

Personal life bitch so putting it under the cut

I adore playing flag football. It's the perfect sport for me. It's quick bursts of pace not endurance, it's cerebral and being athletic helps but you can make up for not being athletic with strategy, it's also relatively unknown so I can legitimately say I play for the 4th best team in the country and have tried out to represent my country. It keeps me fit, it gives me friends I actually see in real life. This is my 6th year playing women's, and I am on a break from playing in the mixed 2nd tier.

However I am now 80% sure the women's captain is fatphobic (the 20% doubt might just be that she hates me personally as I am the only overweight person on the team). She refuses to play me consistently and will not (or can not) justify why not and if there was another nearby women's team I would quit.

Evidence:

She won't play me in the position I like playing even if there is literally no one else - For those of you who know American Football, for three years I played QB. The starting QB on this team is better than me I will freely admit that. But even when the usual starter isn't there it's like I'm not in contention. And her excuse was "you perform better without stress and I thought QB stressed you out". I wouldn't have kept asking to play it if it stressed me out. The reason why she thought it stressed me out was because I had a panic attack at a game day because one of my own players shouted at me that I was shit and I would cost the team games if I was that shit, during a warm up when I had not thrown a football in 8 months and I slightly over threw her 🤷 Today starting QB, back up QB, rookie QB all not at training. Coach asked who wanted to throw, I said me. I threw in the drills. Game time - she picked someone who didn't want to play QB with a fucking rotator cuff injury over me, citing that she needed me to get some practice at receiver. I then played 15 plays at most (12 or so minutes out of 1hr playing). Last game day the only QB went down injured m, I lept in saying I'll do it! Gave the ball to someone who hadn't played the position before.

When I ask why she isn't playing me she gives bullshit excuses - "you need to practice at that position" I've been playing it for a year, "you haven't been at training" I've been at training more than you have even though it takes me an hour and a bit to get there over it taking her 5 minutes, "be confident and understand all positions" I have played all positions in competitive matches and am a qualified coach, "it's a tactical decision" so what's the point of me being here then

She can't ever come up with anything I can do to improve - every time I ask for advice to improve the response is either "you did well" or "don't worry about it". Which makes me think she can't see a way for me to be better or she doesn't want to say lose weight and get faster because she knows that is a shit thing. Like if you think I'm a weak link and the only thing I can do is be faster then fucking tell me and I'll fuck off

The problem is that she is a coach and is the long term partner of the head coach. So I can't bitch to him about it.

I really don't want to quit but I think if it's the same this season (likely going to be worse as we have more players) then this might be my last season as a flag player which breaks my heart

EDIT - Can't believe I forgot about this. We're installing a new defence and this was my first play in that defence. Fact that you need for this to make sense we have a player called Laura and a player called Lauren, it'll be relevant later. I asked for clarification on what I should do and she said "stay in the middle and get in the way", sure I can do that. That is actually my fave place to be on defence. Play starts, Lauren cuts and runs into the middle. I drop back to get in the throwing lane and get in the way of Lauren. As I do that Person Who Hates Me shouts "cover Laura" who was going late out wide. I had already committed to Lauren and was so confused as I couldn't tell if she said Laura or Lauren and so stuck with Lauren in the middle. Ball went to someone who was open deep. Soon as the play is over she comes over and shouts "in that sort of play you should have stayed and then gone wide with Laura". My response, "ok, my bad next time I'll go with the runner across late". Another player comes in to debrief about why the player that caught was open and Person Who Hates Me just kept repeating, "I should have been on her but I had to go with Laura because Candle was in the wrong place!" over and over and it made me feel so shit. Like I acknowledged that at my first time of doing something I did the wrong thing (despite it being clearly the right option based on what I was told to do) so there's no need to be such a bitch about it

Ok I'm done now

[silyabeeodess]

FusionFall Headcanons: Great Ironjaws

The concept art for this monster reveals that it stretches at around 3 meters in length; however, its tail makes up around half of this size and, with its more skeletal structure, makes the Ironjaw smaller than it can appear at first glance. Nevertheless, it is a terrifying beast to face, noted to have "the strongest bite of any creature in Fuse's army."

Known to be eager killers, these monsters take every terrible story you've heard about bull sharks swimming inland and crank them up to 11. Given that sharks in freshwater areas are rare--nevermind in a largely closed-off source of water like Leaky Lake--it could even be said that these stories might be the inspiration for the Ironjaws' very existence. Fuse would learn early on that, while humans are the dominant species on Earth, they are still undeniably weak to/fearful of sharks. If he was going to create a fusion monster on any of Earth's species, it would those that others at the top of the food chain naturally avoid.

The biggest threat of the Ironjaw isn't actually how vicious it is, but how deceptive it can be. One look at it is enough to strike terror in many, but on the battlefield, most won't know they're facing an Ironjaw until it's too late. While they have a different structure, these monsters are known to mimic the Cogfish; moving their bodies in a similar way, copying the grinding sound of metal parts, and taking advantage of dark/murky areas. A number of fusion fighters have been tricked into thinking they've crossed paths with an injured Cogfish only to learn the much more frightening truth all too late, swiftly caught in the teeth of this monster.

The Great Ironjaws seem to be made from a wide variety of both wood and metal scrap pieces, from plating around the face, to saws forming as gills, to an almost trunk-like core. This mess of sharp material alone can make them dangerous to engage with, shielding any clear weakness with a hard, barbed armor. It can also throw off Earth's forces, as most people with some knowledge about shark attacks would typically aim for the gills, eyes, or nose as a means of defense. Doing so with the Grear Ironjaw would likely only result in further injury.

In their description, they are said to attack by "grabbing onto their prey and dragging them underwater." This method isn't too different from other aquatic fusion monsters. It is notable for those surrounding Leaky Lake though in that, unlike the Cogfish, the Great Ironjaws can stand being in the water for long periods of time without suffering the same damage. They were fashioned to be much sturdier, while the Cogfish were moreso just readily available thanks to the origins as decorations.

The Ironjaws also utilize the "bump and bite" method of attack exhibited by real sharks, in which they charge at their target while clamping down on them with their fangs. From there, they can easily tear a person apart by jerking their heads as a means of sawing away at their victims. However, due to their size often matching an adult human's, drowning is simply an easier and safer bet. It allows them to pick off teams one-by-one with its members unable to save each other easily. It also makes it harder for their victims to fight back while weakening them at a much faster rate.

A Great Ironjaw's biggest weaknesses are their fins and tail. As hardened as their bodies are, these are often only supported by thin beams, again referring to their more skeletal structure. Breaking these beams will inhibit the monster's movements. After that, it is best to attack the less shielded parts of their bodies covered in wood. The section where the tail connects to their abdomen is particularly vulnerable, as it is more prone to tearing and the insides are more exposed once the spine-like beam is snapped off.

Medics tending to the Resurrect 'Ems around Leaky Lake often note that, despite their limited numbers, the Great Ironjaws can leave the most scarring impact on their patients due to the brutality of their deaths. Another reason is that it's difficult for them to respond to the way they died. After falling to a fusion monster once, a soldier will replay the scene in their head. This allows them to come to grips with what happened, as well as give them a chance to think of how they could've reacted in the fight and survived. By the time they're ready to rejoin the battlefield, their strategy will have greatly improved. For monsters like the Great Ironjaw though, not only is there the existence of pre-existing fears, their attacks are often too swift, too sneaky, and too overwhelming to know how to counter.