#on beyond zebra

[dinoandreptilelover]

On Beyond Zebra Lore 𝘼𝙡𝙥𝙝𝙖𝙗𝙚𝙩 𝙇𝙤𝙧𝙚 Season 1 Sneakpeak

[chiropteracupola]

so my planned Term End Reward was going to be downloading another biggles (you wouldn't download a biggles &c &c) but have just realized I could do latin american revolutions lockdown with the happy return / beat to quarters & sharpe's devil & crucible of gold.

[pained grimace] I'm Going To Have Such Fun.

[meowdei]

River idk if it’s just me but your pfp is all pixelated and when I tried to open your blog on mobile I got a warning that your blog has been hidden bc of explicit content or something along those lines. I also saw your post about not being able to make posts, and 😭 I think that might mean you’re shadowbanned??

WE ARE SO BACK BABY PRINCESS DUCK PFP IS BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER TO SPAM UR DASH

[ominouspositivity-or-else]

every time one of my coworkers opens her mouth about something nice her fiance did for her my standards for men go up

[hqg1c]

why is the blacktip reef shark so popular i wonder? nothing against them i love them too ive just never heard of them being so widely beloved before

[fandomtrumpshate]

Places you can help this Pride Month!

Happy Pride!

FTH has long prioritized focusing the combined financial support of the fandom community on small organizations where a few thousand - or even a few hundred - dollars can make a big impact.

To this end, every year we have an "Umbrella Category," where bidders can choose a local organization within our category to support.

This year, our Umbrella was LGBTQ+ organizations, and it was a runaway success! Not only did our suggested orgs get lots of donations, bidders threw their support behind eighty-eight different local organizations.

Because these orgs operate locally, not only do your donations make a big impact, they are often looking for local volunteers! If one is near you, this Pride might be the perfect time to take a look at their volunteer opportunities and see if one is right for you. Even if you can't donate or volunteer right now, it's a good idea to take a look at what organizations and services are in your area, in case you or someone you know ever need support.

Under the cut you will find links to all of the LGBTQ+ organizations our bidders supported this year, organized by location.

There are some larger orgs on the list, often because creators chose them as the one additional organization they are allowed to add to their choices from our list, but most of these operate on a smaller scale.

Check them out!

United States

Nationwide

Advocates for Trans Equality (formerly TLDEF)

It Gets Better

Lambda Legal

Project Rainbow Turtle

Rainbow Railroad

The Trevor Project

Trans Lifeline

Transgender Law Center

Arizona

TransQueerPueblo

California

Lavender Youth Recreation Information Center

Los Angeles LGBT Center

Sherlock's Homes Foundation

Side by Side

The San Diego LGBT Community Center

TransFamily Support Services

Colorado

Rainbow Broomfield

The Center on Colfax

The Trans Continental Pipeline

Florida

Zebra Youth

Illinois

Brave Space Alliance

Howard Brown Health

LIAM foundation

Indiana

Indiana Youth Group

Iowa

One Iowa Education Fund

Kentucky

Kentucky Health Justice Network Inc

Maine

Trans Youth Equality Foundation

Michigan

LGBT Detroit

Ruth Ellis Center

Minnesota

Reclaim

Missouri

Metro Trans Umbrella Group

Our Spot KC

Planned Parenthood Great Rivers

Promo

The Center Project

Nevada

Build Our Center, Inc

New York

Sage Upstate

The Ali Forney Center

True Colors

North Carolina

Campaign for Southern Equality (serves across the south)

Charlotte Trans Health

The Queer Mobilization Fund (serves across the southeast)

Time Out Youth

Oklahoma

Oklahomans for Equality

Oregon

New Avenues For Youth

Outside In

Westside Queer Resource Center

South Carolina

Harriet Hancock Center

Tennessee

The Foxhole Fund

Texas

Transgender Education Network of Texas

Vermont

We Are Out in the Open

Washington

Gender Justice League

Lambert House

Washington, DC

SMYAL

Wisconsin

Courage MKE

LGBT Books to Prisoners

Canada

Nationwide

Egale Canada

Rainbow Railroad

PFLAG Canada

Alberta

Pride Centre of Edmonton

Skipping Stone

British Columbia

Rainbow Refugee Society

Ontario

Capital Rainbow Refuge

Pieces to Pathways

The 519

Quebec

Centre Communautaire LGBTQ+ de Montréal

Aotearoa/New Zealand

InsideOUT

OutLine

Rainbow Youth

Australia

Beyond Bricks & Bars

BlaQ

Minus18

Open Doors Youth Service

Twenty 10 Sydney

Austria

ST. PRIDE

Germany

Bundesverband Trans* e.V.

Lambda Bund

Queeres Netzwerk NRW

SCHMIT-Z

vielbunt e.V.

Ireland

Equality for Children

LGBT IE

Netherlands

COC Nederland

Transgender Netwerk Nederland

Russia

Translyaciya

United Kingdom

Across UK

akt (formerly Albert Kennedy Trust)

Galop

Mermaids

Rainbow Migration

England

MindOut LGBTQ

Spectra London

The Brunswick Centre

TransLeeds

X-Plore

Northern Ireland

Cara-Friend

The Rainbow Project

Scotland

LGBT Health & Wellbeing

[elodieunderglass]

What is so unpleasant about stupice? I’m a tomato enjoyer but with limited experience regarding varieties beyond my local store.

(in reference to me commenting somewhere that I don't like Stupice tomatoes) Stupice / Stupice Early is an heirloom strain of Czech tomato that's often recommended for a short growing season. If you live somewhere cold and dark, Stupice is supposed to be able to flower - and fruit - quite quickly, and is supposedly quick to ripen. It's cold-hardy and therefore doesn't need a greenhouse, either. It sounds like it should be a practical choice. I just don't like it. I've tried it for several years and not enjoyed it or had any benefit at all, so stopped buying them. Obviously everyone's going to have different experiences, but I have just NEVER had any pleasure from Stupice.

I love and support heirloom varieties and their maintenance, and my favourite heirloom tomatoes are Green Zebra (gorgeous, GREEN WITH STRIPES, delightful flavour, I've always had more than I could deal with) and Marmande (lumpy, joyful, very French tomato that seems to absorb sunshine and sugar simply to radiate it back out at you with every bite. Fabulously Shaped.)

However, I am also tremendously pragmatic, and I think an especially good, rewarding, disease-resistant hybrid tomato is Sungold F1. I am a hobby gardener/allotmenteer. I am not trying to save the world with every single action. while I recognise the importance of celebrating heirloom varieties and keeping them in the gene pool, that isn't entirely up to me. I am also quite happy to spend £2 a year on tomato seeds every year - keeping seed companies in business and having a good experience - and Sungold F1 is just such a great producer, fun for kids, and pleasant company.

[endcant]

Crossposted from my Tumblr Community: The Trans South

--

The Trans South Monthly Bulletin Board

. * ❄ . ❅ * { Our pinned post for January 2025. } * ❅ . ❄ * .

in this issue: direct mutual aid opportunities, LGBTQ+ good news, southern events, job board, fun links, resources

comment anything you want to add, and i'll add what fits in this month's post. i'll be making a new post each month, so you may need to resubmit any links that are applicable for multiple months. i'll update this if i get new info in a timely way, but still check the comments for anything i missed!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[UPDATED 1/24!] Direct Mutual Aid Opportunities:

Actually help a trans southerner today!

Requests in this section are submitted by TTS members.

Cecilpedia needs to eat!

Catgirl-smash needs help getting somewhere safe!

Turing-tested needs help with his grandmother's funerary expenses!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

the bright side:

the fact that you're alive is good news to me!

Good-enough news for LGBTQ+ Southerners.

The First Trans Community Center Opens in Arkansas | "'We declare that Arkansas Can’t Erase Trans People!' said Rumba Yambú, founder and director of Intransitive. 'We are here to stay, and we will keep fighting for our rights to ensure Trans people can build a future in Arkansas'."

Nashville Notary Battles Marriage Discrimination by Marrying Queer Couples | "Huff says... 'If you don’t have a family that’s gonna support you, there are so many other people that will. It’s really inspired me to keep the love going.'"

"Zebra Youth is expanding its short-term housing for LGBTQ+ youth" | "ORLANDO | Zebra Youth, a local nonprofit focused on providing services to LGBTQ+ youth, is expanding its short-term housing for queer youth this month thanks to a grant from the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida through its Brighter Days initiative."

"An Alabama city banned an LGBTQ+ Pride float from its Christmas parade. It marched anyways " | "Prattville Pride was able to march in the city's Christmas parade despite being banned the day prior after swift action from a federal judge."

[Bitter-sweet] Plans for Pulse Nightclub Memorial Move Forward | "ORLANDO | The Pulse nightclub building will be torn down as part of the future memorial design, the Pulse Memorial advisory committee said during its meeting Dec. 12."

More News

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[UPDATED 1/24!] southern events:

no affiliation, just interesting finds

Virtual/Twitch. Mon, Jan 27th. Nashville-based streamer Joe Hills welcomes special guest: trans activist Allison Chapman | "There's a lot of work to do, so let's chat about how each of us can help." Allison will talk about her work, and we can learn more about doing activist work in our own communities. 8:30 PM US Central Time.

Virtual/Zoom. Thurs, Jan 30th. Pre-register. Autistic Self-Advocacy Network Policy Seminar | "Are you interested in public policy and how it affects your community? Do you want to get involved in policy advocacy, but are unsure where to start? Join us for Policy Advocacy: What we do and how we do it on January 30 at 4-5:30pm ET!"

[event complete]Virtual.January 9.Beyond the Ballot: LGBTQ+ Equality and Legislative Trends for 2025 | A public event by Funders for LGBTQ issues: Attend for an overview on policy expectations for 2025.

Are you a member of The Trans South and you want me to find events in your area? DM me and tell me what you need me to know, so I can focus on the neighborhoods and budget ranges of people within our community <3

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[NEW SECTION!] opportunities:

Work, Volunteer, and Make Change in the South!

[closed] Disabled Artists, Tennessee. due [unknown time next week], unpaid. Submit Your Work for Breaking Ground Arts Issue

Black & Latino Gay & Bisexual Men Age 18-35, Middle Tennessee. due ASAP, earn $375 Southern TENNacity | "We are a team of Yale-affiliated LGBTQ+ scholars of color... We are now currently recruiting for the TENNacity trial, a 11-week group therapy treatment created by and for Black and Latino/x gay, bisexual, and queer men (inclusive of cisgender men, trans men, and nonbinary individuals assigned male at birth)."

Community Organizers, 1-2 Years Experience, Alabama. due date unknown, $23-$26/hr. Hometown Organizing Project/Hometown Action is hiring Lead Community Organizer for Gender Justice | "Hometown Action is an affiliated 501c4 nonprofit advocacy organization building a multiracial, working class, trans/queer-affirming movement for racial, gender, economic, and climate justice in rural and small town communities across Alabama."

Experienced Marketers, Texas and Georgia. due date unknown. Lambda Legal is Hiring Remotely for Director of Integrated Marketing Position | "Lambda Legal is a national advocacy organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights for the LGBTQ+ community and everyone living with HIV through impact litigation, education, and public policy work."

[closed] Regularatory Activism, Nationaldue Jan 17Comment on Fair Standards Labor Act Changes

[closed] Subject Matter Experts, Nationaldue Jan 11You Can Make a Difference by Serving on an HHS National Advisory Board/Committees

Are you a member of The Trans South and you want me to find opportunities in your area? DM me and tell me what you need me to know, so I can focus on the neighborhoods and goals of people within our community <3

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

fun links:

media, literature, and games keeping me going this month

Read "Love Letter From A Poet Under Empire" by Mónica Teresa Ortiz | "The South isn't just a site of burials... but also of refusals: a list of those speaking out against the brutality that the state imposes."

Watch Black in Appalachia on PBS.org | Black in Appalachia explores the roots of African-American influence on the history and culture of Appalachia through documentaries, research, local narratives, public engagement and exhibition.

CSS Diner | Learn about CSS with this diner-themed game. Knowing CSS can help you learn to publish indie websites outside of social media!

More Fun

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

useful links:

interesting resources and organizations you should know about

Repro Legal Defense Fund | The Repro Legal Defense Fund provides financial support for people investigated or fighting charges related to their pregnancy or abortion.

Trans in the South: A Directory of Trans-Affirming Health & Legal Service Providers | "Trans in the South is dedicated to every trans Southerner who persists in growing in this rocky clay soil."

More Resources

--

If you're an adult trans person in the U.S. South, join my Tumblr Community: The Trans South.

If you're a teen trans person in the U.S. South and you create a youth community for trans southerners, let me know and I'll link to it in The Trans South.

[fleabittenflags]

With symbol | without

(Too tired for image description, sorry)

Here’s my take on a Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) pride flag.

The dark blue and off-white stripes are meant to evoke zebra stripes, a popular symbol for EDS. The center stripes are teal and purple, two colors associated with the condition, and the blue stripe between them is for cohesion. The obtuse angle symbol represents joints that extend beyond a normal range (hypermobility).

Anyone with hEDS can use this flag for whatever they’d like.

[shadow-ravin]

Through a (different) looking glass

You can also read or listen to this post on AO3. A couple of weeks ago, I came across a comment on Reddit from a person who refused to listen to podfics that the author wasn’t involved in creating because they aren’t how the author intended the story. That was not the first time I’ve encountered this attitude. There are many out there with the same opinion and many authors who refuse to allow podfics of their works for that same reason.

I want to take a second to acknowledge that if you don’t want people making podfics of your works, that’s your choice, and while I don’t understand it, you are more than welcome to make it. I also want to acknowledge that if podfics aren’t your thing, then you have no obligation to listen to them, even if they are of your own works. That said, this reason, not wanting to consume or allow podfics made because of some desire to preserve the author’s intent, is one that makes absolutely no sense to me.

Now, I could point out how fanfiction in itself is inherently transformative. The fanfic author has already taken someone else’s work and changed it, changed the meaning and purpose of it. Altered it in ways that are beyond the original author’s intent. And thus, disliking podfic on the basis of author’s intent is incredibly hypocritical, but that isn’t what I’d like to talk about today.

I’d like to talk about reading and writing. An author can pour their heart and soul out onto a page and intend many things, but once they put their work out into the world and allow others to read it, the original intent and meaning of it matters very little. To explain why, I’d like to take a second to describe how reading works outside of letters representing sounds and sounds making words.

If you talk to anyone who is involved with teaching kids to read and actually knows what they are doing, you’d find out that there are a number of factors that contribute to a person’s ability to comprehend what they are reading and one of those factors is background knowledge. Children with more varied lived experiences and greater knowledge of the world have a much easier time reading than those who don’t. For example, a child that has never seen a lion or a zebra before would have a hard time understanding what one was. 

In a classroom setting, a teacher would guide the children and help them interpret the text. They might show pictures or videos so that the child understood what a lion was or they might teach them how to use context clues to use the text itself to determine that a zebra is kind of like a horse but wild and with stripes. Now lions and zebras are concrete objects with easy definitions. So what happens when the thing your brain is trying to interpret and comprehend happens to be an abstract idea or complex problem?

It comes back to the same thing. Our background knowledge and lived experiences become the lens through which we interpret the story, but there are no pictures or videos to give us an easy concrete answer to what something is. Add to this that people are unique. No two people have the same life story and no two people are going to interpret the same story in precisely the same way. I had an experience with this in college. 

For a YA fiction class, I was supposed to read a YA novel and create a book trailer for it. The book I chose was Green Angel by Alice Hoffman. For those of you who haven’t read it, it is about a teenage girl who loses her whole family in some kind of tragedy that affects the whole community. The novel never directly states what exactly happened, only that a lot of people died. As an American 90’s baby who’s first real awareness of the greater world came with the terrorist attacks on the twin towers, I interpreted this book as a post-9/11 novel. The unnamed tragedy sounded exactly like a terrorist attack. The mysterious, unnamed, unknown perpetrators sounded like terrorists. The confusion and fear and grief in the aftermath of the event sounded exactly like what the US experienced. This interpretation of the text heavily influenced the way I approached the assignment, and initially, I got a bad grade on it because of that. 

My professor, 30-plus years older than me, didn’t appreciate the way I interpreted the text because it was different from her own interpretation. Instead of a post-9/11 novel, she saw it as a reactionary text about the Cold War. My terrorists were her communist spies. The fear and suspicion of the community, too similar to the red scare. The unnamed tragedy seemed to her to be exactly what the culture of the time convinced her would happen to the US.

In the end, we had a very productive talk about our different interpretations and decided we were both equally right. Neither one of us was the author and neither one of us could possibly know what the author originally intended. Maybe the author intended something else entirely, but we’ll never know and that’s okay.

Every person brings their own self into a story and walks away with something different. What the author intended has very little relevance to the reader when compared to how the reader interprets the story. A man is never going to interpret a story the same way as a woman. A trans person will never see a conflict the same way as a cis person. A LGBTQIA+ person will never look at a relationship the same as a straight person. A child will never grasp the same subtext as an adult. And a reader will never take away the exact message as an author intended.

Restricting or refusing to interact with podfic on the basis of “preserving the author’s original intent” seems not only backwards and pointless, but a way of needlessly restricting fandom and creativity. 

People re-interpret older works and translate them to different mediums all the time. Most often, we see this when books become movies. I’m not going to argue which is better, but instead would like to offer a different point of view: more cake. 

In most fandom circles, it is highly encouraged to write whatever you want even if it has been done before. And if your fandom circle does not encourage this, I suggest you go find a less toxic one. This is because everyone loves more cake. Just because many people have already written a fix-it fic or a everybody-lives-and-nobody-dies fic or a meet the family fic or whatever it is for your fandom, does not mean that you shouldn’t write one too because it will be equally loved and it does not take away from the others just by existing.

Movies are more cake. They don’t take anything away from the book just because they exist. Instead they give fans a new way of interacting with their favorite story or characters. Podfics, like movies, are more cake. They give something new without taking anything away.

In their most basic form, a podfic is just an audio recording of someone reading a fanfic. No different than an audiobook and great for accessibility, but most podficcers don't create podfic for accessibility reasons. Accessibility is an awesome bonus but, as blackglass put it, we create because it is our way of interacting with fandom, our way of putting ourselves into the content we enjoy and sharing our own interpretations of the stories we love.

And podfic is different from the original. In an audiobook, a reader is paid to read a story into a microphone in a way that conveys the original content to the reader in a format as similar to the original as possible. Audiobook narrators not only have less freedom for creativity in what they do, but also they are doing their job not recording the story because they love the story.

Podficcers use tone, inflection, pacing, sound effects, music, and more to share the story the way they read the story. And, just like with reading a fanfic, a podfic is just as open to interpretation. What the podficcer intends is probably not what the author intends and, just like the reader, what the listener takes away from the podfic is probably not what the podficcer intended, but that's the way fandom and creativity and the human mind work. We take an idea and we make it a part of ourselves, we change it, transform it to reflect our own lived experiences and then we share it with others so that they can do the same.

[beanjang-draws]

Plague Ponies - At the Barn

CONTENT WARNING: blood, gore

Masterpost | Previous | Next

Summary:

Twilight has decided to check on Apple Bloom’s new project! The innovative young filly has combined her lessons from Twilight and Zecora to make something new: a potion of duplication.

While they discuss Apple Bloom’s ingenuity, they’re interrupted by a strange sound and the sudden appearance of Big Macintosh. Big Mac should be in bed, but it looks like he has something urgent to discuss in private with Twilight. How out of character….

Transcript below:

Twilight: I’ll come along for a quick peek.

Apple Bloom: You won’t regret it! It’ll be super amazing!~

Apple Bloom: You know that potion of fruitfulness you showed me last time? I thought it was awfully similar to something Zecora taught me, so…

Twilight Sparkle: …You’ve been experimenting with pony and zebra magic! This is so exciting, Apple Bloom! This could be brand new magic!

Twilight Sparkle and Apple Bloom enter the Apple family barn, where Apple Bloom presents Twilight with a jam jar full of a strange liquid sitting on a stool, along with an apple.

Apple Bloom: Ta-da! I call it the Super-Duper Duplication Potion! It’s a bit of a mouthful, so SDDP works too.

Twilight Sparkle, smiling: I think that initialism will definitely be helpful.

Twilight Sparkle: How does it work?

Apple Bloom: If you just sprinkle a little bit on…

Apple Bloom tips the jar until a single drop of potion lands on the apple, which then begins to glow with a bright light.

Apple Bloom: Oh please work please work please work please work please—

The Apple begins to smoke, becoming obscured in white. With a sizzle and a pop, the smoke clears to reveal the duplicated apples. Twilight turns to look at Apple Bloom with awe in her eyes.

Twilight Sparkle: Two perfectly identical apples….Apple Bloom…

Apple Bloom: What? What is it?—

Apple Bloom lets out an excited gasp.

Apple Bloom: Oh oh oh is it my cutie mark?

Twilight Sparkle: I’m sorry, sweetie.

Apple Bloom: If…if even creating new potions ain’t enough, what if I never—

Twilight Sparkle stops Apple Bloom, raising her chin with her wing.

Twilight Sparkle: Apple Bloom, even if your cutie mark isn’t in potions, you are an incredible scientist. I hope you’ll continue your studies. I certainly look forward to what you’ll develop next.

Apple Bloom: Thanks, Twilight. I really do like studying with you and Zecora even if it ain’t my special talent.

Apple Bloom: I’m just glad I haven’t disappointed you, Twilight.

Twilight: Of course not!—

A strange groan suddenly interrupts their conversation, startling Twilight and Apple Bloom. Twilight, particularly jumpy ever since the Changeling attack at the royal wedding, screams and instinctively readies an offensive spell. Apple Bloom screams because Twilight is screaming. Big Macintosh reveals himself, looking awful.

Apple Bloom: Big Mac! What happened? You should be in bed! Is everything alright?

Big Mac: Nope.

Big Mac: Apple Bloom, leave out the side door and head straight to the house.

Apple Bloom: Wha—

Big Mac: Straight. To. The. House.

Apple Bloom: …Alright…

Big Mac: Good. And Twilight, a word? P-please.

Twilight Sparkle: Of course. See you later, Apple Bloom!

Apple Bloom: See ya, Twilight!

Out of sight for Twilight and Apple Bloom, beyond the barn door lies the crumpled body of a strange pony. Their face is disfigured. The skin of the face is torn and bleeding, and their jaw is broken. Their tongue lolls out limp, broken teeth and saliva mixed blood. Big Mac’s hind legs are bloody, and he stands favoring one leg, which appears to be wounded.

End of transcript.

[lotusbxtch]

SoCal to NorCal: Chapter 2

Series Masterlist Chapter 1: Malibu

Series Pairing: husband!Joel Miller x f!Reader x boyfriend!Frankie Morales Series Summary: Joel is your rock, and Frankie is your ocean. So what happens when you bring the three of you together? - or - you and Frankie roadtrip up from Southern California to Northern California so he can meet Joel. A polyamory fic. This series exists in the Triple Frontier universe and is a Joel Miller AU/Triple Frontier AU. Series Rating: Explicit, 18+ only, MDNI

Chapter 2: Highway 101 & Beyond

Chapter Pairing: Frankie Morales x f!Reader x Joel Miller

Chapter Summary: As you road trip north, you and Frankie struggle to voice your growing feelings for each other. Joel suggests something surprising, and the three of you unexpectedly explore new territory together.

Word Count: 8.7k

Rating: Explicit, 18+ only, MDNI

Chapter Warnings/Tags: polyamory, phone sex, video sex, masturbation (f and m), fingering (f receiving), oral (f receiving), unprotected P in V (wrap it up pls!), multiple orgasms, creampie, cum kink, cum eating, there’s a lot of cum lol i’m sorry in advance if that’s not your thing, squirting, slight size kink, mentions of food, mentions of Frankie’s young daughter named Isabella, mentions of drug addiction and recovery, gratuitous descriptions of male and female anatomy, she/her pussy pronouns, heavy use of Spanish pet names/nicknames, Frankie the PEK, Joel’s filthy mouth is absolutely its own warning, idiots in love, a splash of angst, soft!Joel but also menace!Joel because we love a man with duality, Reader uses she/her pronouns, Reader is able-bodied, has breasts, and has hair that can be pulled, otherwise no description of Reader's skin color, size, body shape, hair color, eye color, or ethnicity, no use of y/n. Everyone is testing negative for STDs and Reader is on birth control.

a/n: The road trip continues! I’m so excited to dive more into Frankie and Reader’s relationship, and I KNOW you all have been waiting for Joel to get into the mix. Well, buckle up buttercups, because he is about to be THE BIGGEST MENACE lmao. A deeply grateful thank you to my darling @for-a-longlongtime, who encourages me every day, helped me massively flesh out some of the more emotional aspects of the chapter, and who I talk to almost every day, in addition to being my beta reader. Thank you @mountainsandmayhem, @alltheirdamn , and @mermaidgirl30 for screaming with me about these three when I shared excerpts with you. And thank you to everyone for being patient with me while I got this written up between huge life events (both good and bad)! Dividers & banners by the amazing @saradika-graphics, thank you. (Please note that the chapter graphic is NOT meant to be accurate to Reader — vibes only!)

If you enjoy my writing, please leave a comment, feedback or reblog! It would mean the world to me. Thank you!

You’re so happy.

After your short but memorable stay with Santiago, you and Frankie have been on the road, spending the last few days leisurely meandering up Highway 1 towards San Francisco. You take turns driving, playing car DJ, and sightseeing as you travel north. Tanned feet on the dash, chaste kisses to the back of hands while driving, a shifting playlist between your differing musical tastes. Nights spent snuggled up in a rental or hotel room, playing 20 Questions or “Would You Rather”, kisses turning into intertwining of limbs, labored breath and fingers gripping bed sheets, the murmuring of each other’s names like prayers. 

In Ojai, you drank a little too much wine at the tasting room and biked back to the hotel with wobbly legs. Hearst Castle landed on your list for the formerly-captive-now-wild zebras (you) and to gawk at “ridiculously rich people shit” (Frankie). Ocean kayaking amongst the sea otters and sea lions in Morro Bay filled both of you with wonder. Frankie let you lead him into every little boutique shop that called your name, contentedly trailing behind you while you browsed.

Wherever you were, Frankie indulged your sweet tooth by sniffing out the best artisan ice cream shops. One time during a playful debate, you bopped your frozen treat to Frankie’s nose, giggling at his surprised expression and kissing the sticky-sweet remnants off of him before he picked you up over his shoulder. Your shrieks of joy ricocheted off the small town street until he tossed you in the backseat of his Jeep and crawled in after you, demanding a taste of something sweeter. Before you knew it, you were moaning and sighing under Frankie’s ministrations in an abandoned parking lot. The sight of his messy curls between your thighs as he lapped at your core propelled you into a stratosphere of pleasure. 

The next morning, you continued your road trip north and stopped in Santa Cruz to experience the boardwalk since Frankie had never been. Sun-drenched wood slats under your feet, the crisp, briny breeze cooling your exposed skin. You and Frankie meander slowly, eating chocolate dipped soft serve cones and curly fries, hopping onto the slightly rickety carnival rides, including the famous wooden (and creaky) Giant Dipper roller coaster. (“This thing can’t be structurally sound if it’s making all that noise,” Frankie muttered, but you still got him to get on.)

Adrenaline trickling through your veins, giddy with endorphins from the coaster, you and Frankie debate who had the best strategy for the carousel’s metal ring toss game. “You can’t just huck it like a ninja star,” he gripes about your approach, shaking his head with a smile. “You have to finesse and time it, and throw it like a frisbee so it floats in.”

“I swear, I was way closer than you were,” you shoot back. “I’ve had my whole life to perfect my technique. One of my rings hit the clown’s mouth! More than I can say about your attempts.” You stick your tongue out at Frankie, and he rolls his eyes playfully. Neither of you had set off the lights and buzzers that indicated a successful throw. He’s about to point this out when his phone trills.

Pulling it out of his pocket, his eyebrows knit together a bit before answering. “Mamá,” Frankie says into the phone, “Que pasa? Is something wrong?” He had dropped off Isabella with her for the duration of the road trip, his mother always eager to have “girl time” with her only grandchild. 

“No, no, mijo,” she responds, “Estámos bien. Isa is napping. I just wanted to call you and see how your vacation is going. You work so hard, you deserve to have this time to yourself!”

Frankie breaths a small sigh of relief. “Oh, okay, good. Well, I’ve gotta keep it short. We’re out here on the pier.”

“ ‘WE?’ ” you suddenly hear screeching out of the phone, her tone ecstatic. “Who are you with? Oh my goodness, are you with that girl?” 

Frankie winces, holding the phone away from his ear as you chuckle. “Yes, mamá,” Frankie responds, “the woman I told you about. You don’t need to yell.” He looks at you, a blush slowly creeping up his face, a sheepish smile on his lips. He mouths “five minutes” while walking towards the side of the walkway. Nodding your head with a smile, you whisper, “take your time,” and kiss his cheek, settling on a bench nearby but out of earshot of the conversation, allowing Frankie his privacy. 

“Oh, mijo, that’s wonderful!” his mother exclaims. “When do I get to meet her?”

Frankie huffs out a laugh. “Mamá, relax. You will get to meet her in time. We’re not quite there yet.”

“What are you waiting for? Haven’t you been together for a few months now?”

“Yes, but…” Frankie trails off, not quite sure his mother can handle a full explanation of your situation. Honestly, as he thinks about it, he isn’t even 100% sure what to call the two of you anymore. “It’s complicated,” he says simply.

The both of you agreed to enjoy what you had with no expectations. But “no expectations” changed over the days, weeks, months to become a desire to be around each other more days than not. Visits in the dead of night became dates during the day, morphing into waking up in each other’s arms, eating breakfast together over the weekends, bedhead and sleepy eyes and warm smiles. He thinks about the way you make him laugh, head thrown back, with his whole chest. He thinks about your playful debates, the way you tease him when he loses to you in Mario Kart. He thinks about the way you writhe under, on top of, beside him as he draws pleasure from your body again and again, your moans and gasps creating the prettiest song he’s ever heard. Frankie thinks about your soul, your heart, your innate goodness, and then he thinks about how he can’t possibly deserve any more than you already give him, despite him realizing more every day that he can’t imagine his life without you.

Frankie’s mother clears her throat on the other end of the line, and he snaps back to the present moment.

“Francisco,” she says softly. “It doesn’t have to be complicated. Just tell her how you feel, and see where it takes you. If she's as special as you say she is, you're going to regret not saying anything.”

Frankie looks down at his boots, and then back at you. You smile at him from the bench, your sundress fluttering slightly in the breeze. “Mamá, I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”

“If you want something, Francisco, go for it. I always told you that you need to be more confident in yourself.” Frankie’s mother sighs affectionately. “You have done so much for your career, for Isabella… you have more than made up for your transgressions, mijito. Do this one thing for yourself. Take the risk.”

He thinks back to the beginning of your relationship, when he said he didn’t want anything serious because he was focusing on his career and his daughter. Not only was he in a stable job with room for upward movement, and becoming the father that Isabella deserved, it was because of you that he was able to achieve his goals. You’ve always supported him, encouraged him, and given him reality checks when he needed it. Not once have you asked for more in the relationship, but he never felt like you had to. He was willing to give you that and so much more. He was nearly certain that you felt the same way about having each other as a more permanent part of your lives, but without ever asking the question directly, he couldn’t be certain that it wasn’t just all in his head.

Frankie swallows thickly. “You’re right,” he acquiesces. “I’ll talk to her soon, when the moment is right. I don’t want to lose her.”

His mother coos sweetly at him. “Now that’s the son I know and love! I’ll let you go have fun with your lady. I love you, Frankie.”

“I love you too, Mamá,” Frankie whispers, and then ends the call. 

You’re people watching at the boardwalk as Frankie approaches you from behind, wrapping his arms around your shoulders. There’s no surprise triggered by his arms around you, just a calm ease and warmth. He presses kisses into your hair and sighs deeply. Tipping your head to the side, you return the kisses up his arm and rub his knuckles with your thumbs.

“How’s your mamá?” you ask. 

“Good,” Frankie responds, “just checking in to make sure I was having fun on my vacation.” A sheepish grin blooms on his face. “Sorry you had to hear her scream about you.”

You snicker as you stand up from the bench. “Nah, it wasn’t my ear she yelled into… But I didn’t mind at all. It’s sweet how she checks up on you.”

He grins, lifting his cap briefly to run his fingers through his hair. “She knows how hard I’ve been working to make things right with my job, and with Isabella, and she’s been pushing me to take some time off.” He sighs, looking off into the distance, and you know him well enough to know he’s doubtful of his progress.

“You deserve it, Frankie,” you murmur to him, lacing your fingers with his. You both start strolling along the boardwalk again, Frankie looking deeply in thought. “You’re always so hard on yourself, and at the very least, you deserve some time off.”

Glancing over at him, your breath catches. Frankie’s already staring at you, curls wild in the sea breeze, brown eyes warm and sparkling. Suddenly your chest feels like it’s cracked open, warm and aching. You feel the spark in your heart, and you realize that your feelings may be more than a simple affection. You search Frankie’s eyes and you can see a steady hidden layer under the warmth of his gaze as he lifts your joined hands to his lips, kissing them softly. It makes your heart do somersaults, the deeper unspoken emotions that flickered across his irises. A deep devotion that tugs at your soul.

He deserves the world.

Frankie huffs a laugh, dropping his gaze. “Everyone seems to tell me that. Guess I should stop being so damn stubborn and start believing them.” You continue walking, Frankie swinging your hands between the two of you as you settle into comfortable silence.

This is more than lust and companionship, you think to yourself. The way he looks at you, touches you with such reverence. It goes deeper than respect and fondness. Only Joel had ever given you butterflies and yet here you are, a fluttering in your gut, foreign but familiar. But what does that mean for you and Joel? 

Can your heart love two people at once?

Whoa…. wait, “love”??

You push the thoughts away with a shake of your head, determined to be present in the moment with Frankie. Bumping gently into his shoulder to get his attention, you flash him a smile.

“Wanna see which one of us can win first at the dime toss game?” you ask Frankie, and his eyes crinkle at the corners the way you love so much when he smiles in return, his competitive streak flaring.

“Sweetness, I thought you’d never ask. Prepare to lose.”

After you absolutely demolish Frankie at the dime toss (he swears they rigged the bowls he was aiming for), you and Frankie hit the road towards the cute cottage you’d booked for the night. Among the draws was its proximity to good food while being simultaneously off the beaten path. You were dying to try the seafood restaurant nearby, which was recommended to Frankie by one of his coworkers.

Per usual for the northern California coast, the fog began to roll in from the beach, casting ghostly tendrils across the road. Fog was one of the things you missed most about home while in SoCal, where it was a rarity. You roll up the windows and flip on your seat heater with a content sigh, then drape your body over the center console to grab your oversized cardigan from the back. The move makes your short dress hike further up your thighs as you reach for the soft knit. Frankie glances in the rearview mirror, spotting a flash of the curve of your ass where it peeks out of your panties. The sight has him already hardening in his pants. A quiet groan rises from his throat involuntarily, and you smirk, knowing exactly what he’s reacting to. 

“God, hermosa, that fucking dress,” Frankie grits. “I’ve been half hard all day seeing you in it.” You say nothing, but look over at him, your smirk growing bigger as you recline the seat a bit more and stretch your body just so, making the light blue eyelet lace material ride higher up your thighs, which you spread lasciviously. 

“Oh?” you tease. “What are you going to do about it?” You see Frankie’s eyes flash with desire for a moment, but he works hard to keep his cool.

His hand inches up your inner thigh while he drives, teasing swirls with his fingertips across your soft skin. You pant quietly, your breasts heaving gently against the low, curved neckline, and bite back a whimper as more arousal pools in your cotton underwear. “Take off your panties,” Frankie gently commands.

Dragging the material down your hips and legs, you let your thighs part for him, inviting his touch. Frankie keeps his eyes on the road, calmly navigating towards a quiet backroad. His focused demeanor is a lie though; his increasingly rapid breathing is a dead giveaway. When his fingers brush against your drenched folds, he groans and grips the wheel tighter with his driving hand.

“Fuck, baby,” Frankie grits out. “You’re so fucking wet for me already.” His nimble fingers explore you, spreading the slick around, swiping a soft circle around the pearl of your clit. He plays with you, and you start to writhe. A smirk blooms on his face as he clocks your movement. Frankie loves teasing you like this, drawing things out until you buckle under the pressure of your mounting desires. But the throbbing of his cock and your soft mewling sounds are making him desperate. 

Frankie pulls the car over to a small lot connected to an overlook, its parking spaces empty since the vista point is shrouded in fog. Trees block the view of your parking spot to traffic on the road. He throws the car in park, ripping his seatbelt off, and pulls your face to his for a passionate kiss. Swallowing your moans with his lips, Frankie tangles his tongue with yours while his fingers grip the base of your skull. 

“You’re killing me with this slutty little sundress,” he pants, sliding his hand down to cup your naked sex. 

You let out a strangled cry. “Frankie, I need you.”

Frankie shushes you gently. “Get in the back, nenita. I’ve got you.” You comply, scrambling over the center console and pushing your back up against the door, legs spreading wide and fingers tracing your glistening folds. He feels like he’s going to lose his mind if he doesn’t get his mouth on you in the next twenty seconds. He gets out of the front seat, yanking open the driver’s side back door and shutting it behind him after he slides in towards you.

“Gonna suck on that sweet little clit of yours ‘til you scream,” Frankie growls as he crawls towards your body, pushing your knees further towards your torso so you’re opened up lewdly for him. He slides his middle and ring fingers into his mouth to wet them, slipping them out and immediately burying them to the second knuckle in your soft cunt. A high-pitched whine is ripped from your throat.

“Frankie!” you whine, eyebrows furrowing together as you lock eyes with him. The mocha richness of his eyes has given way to pits of nearly black desire, and he keeps them on you while he presses his tongue flat to your swollen clit. Your eyes roll back and you nearly scream in pleasure. 

“That’s it, baby, I’m gonna make you come so hard,” he murmurs into your drenched folds, and then buries his face into you. You weave your fingers into his fluffy curls, opening your eyes to watch him at work.

Frankie’s eyes slip closed as he rhythmically pumps his thick fingers in and out of your pussy, curving them slightly up to hit that magical spot you can never quite reach the same way as he does. He sucks your hardened clit into his mouth, nestling it between the cleft of his lower lip and an almost imperceptible divot in the center of his tongue. That sweet, talented tongue swirls in precise tiny circles with the perfect pressure, while continuing to suckle exactly how you like it. Joel may go down on you like nobody’s business, but Frankie has cunnilingus nearly down to a science. At this point, he knows the exact series of moves to bring you to orgasm, and how long it takes really just depends on how long he feels like eating pussy that day. Sometimes, he’ll lay with his face between your legs for hours.

And right now? Frankie seems to want to break his own record for how fast he can get you to come.

Within seconds, you feel your orgasm gathering in your muscles. The tight shimmer of pleasure reverberates across your skin, in your bones, through every cell in your body, suspended in time, just waiting for a release. Frankie feels you tightening on his fingers, and you swear you feel him smirk against your slick folds. He keeps going, never faltering his movements, as the feeling inside you builds.

“Frankie,” you whine again, your body starting to shake. It shouldn't be physically possible for him to get you there so fast, and yet you feel that bowstring drawing impossibly tense in your body. “Frankie, I’m gonna… I’m so….” you keen, high-pitched, your chest heaving fast. Frankie moans against your folds, pressing just a bit harder with his fingers, crooking them just right, and sucks your clit hard.

You’re lucky that the area is truly secluded, because the scream tearing out of your throat as you shatter in ecstasy is loud. Your thighs lock around Frankie’s head as he moans deeply into your pussy, drawing out your orgasm expertly. Slick weeps from your cunt, soaking his lips and chin, and he slurps down every drop. He slows and gentles his ministrations on your core until he feels your thighs relax. Pulling back, he gives your folds one last kiss before he moves up your body to hover over your face, admiring the flush lighting up your features. Frankie kisses you gently, and you cup his face with both hands.

“Sweetest cunt I’ve ever tasted,” Frankie slurs, pussydrunk on you.

“God, you’re incredible,” you murmur against his lips, kissing him deeper, the taste of your own essence making you clench involuntarily. You can feel the thick, hard line of him against your thigh. Moaning, you press yourself into him. “Let me ride you, Francisco.” 

Frankie lets out a groan as he pulls you up. You rest your knees on the backseat, littering kisses over his face as he unbuttons and shoves his jeans and boxers down. His cock smacks his belly, precum smearing on his skin. Leaning over, you lick it off, his salty taste invading your senses. Frankie groans again when you suck him into your mouth. You gently lick his foreskin and pull it down to reveal his ruddy head, the tip leaking. Slurping and suckling, you sneak a hand between your thighs to rub your clit, the action not going unnoticed by Frankie. It seems to snap him out of his trance.

“I need to be inside you so badly,” he grits out, pulling you onto his lap. The skirt of your sundress flares over the both of you. Reaching down, he brushes his tip against your folds, making you both whine. Swirling it through your combined slick and spit, Frankie presses his head into you slowly. You take over, grabbing his hand to place it over your hip, and grind down on him, letting his length slip further and further into you. Your breath hitches as he spreads your walls, always a stretch no matter how many times you’ve taken him.

Frankie drops his head back against the headrest, his hands gripping you tightly. “You’re always so fucking tight for me, querida,” he pants, his eyes glazing over with lust. His words prompt another wave of slick to leak out of you, aiding your descent down his shaft as you swirl your cunt around him. Both of you moan, and soon enough you’re fully seated on him. You lean down, kissing him passionately, and he responds in kind, slipping his tongue into your mouth to massage against yours. Your hips begin to roll and Frankie breaks the kiss, a deep rumble of satisfaction vibrating through his chest.

“Fuck, baby, your pussy’s like hot velvet,” he grits out, grabbing your hips to buck up into you. He trails kisses down your jaw and leaves little love bites as he goes. The car is filled with the slap of flesh, the squelch of your cunt as you fuck yourself on his cock, your shared gasps and panted breaths. Frankie slips the straps of your dress down, pulling down the cups with it, your breasts spilling out of their confines. He ducks his head down and sucks a nipple into his mouth. You whimper.

“God, Francisco,” you whine, riding him harder, spurred on by the way he laves his tongue over your pebbled nipple, gently catching and pulling it between his teeth. He switches to your other breast, his other hand anchored to your hip to guide your motions. His cock kisses that spot deep in you that only Frankie and Joel have ever found, and the feeling rips another moan from you. 

“That’s it, fucking ride my cock,” Frankie pants. You lean forward, changing the angle a bit until your clit catches on his belly, which triggers your pussy to clench in pleasure. 

“Oh god, you feel so fucking good in me,” you moan, grinding down harder onto him, massaging your walls with his thick shaft and your clit with the friction of his course hairs. “You fill me up so well.”

“Softest, wettest pussy I’ve ever fucked, I swear,” Frankie slurs, losing himself in the feeling of you wrapped around his length. “You feel like silk on me, nenita.”

Your clit swells with the stimulation of every roll of your hips, making your cunt clench around Frankie. He lets out a whine. Your brows furrow in concentration as you seat his length in you as far as it will go, and he nearly chokes when he feels his tip kiss your cervix.

“You’re so deep in me,” you moan, working yourself on his shaft. “Tell me how good this pussy feels.” You’re desperate to hear him lose it.

“You feel amazing,” he whines, his dick hardening and swelling even more as he approaches his high. It feels like he’s lighting up every nerve ending inside of you. At this point, Frankie’s lap is dripping with your arousal, slick squelching and slapping sounds as thick in the air as the smell of sex. Both of you are covered in a sheen of sweat. You can tell he’s getting closer, so you start fucking him harder, driving his cock deeply into you, to the point where you feel like you’re beginning to meld together, a writhing, wet, hot mess of pleasure.

“Yeah?” you ask rhetorically, riding him harder and harder. “Are you going to come for me, Francisco?” You continue to use his full name, knowing how much it turns him on when you say it. “I want you to fuck me so full of your cum; I wanna be dripping for days. I want you to fill me up so bad.”

“Oh fuck, nenita,” Frankie whines as he loses himself in your heat. “I’m gonna fuck you so full. Gonna give you all of my cum. Gonna put it right where it belongs, deep in this cunt.” You roll your hips harder, your tits bouncing with the effort, and Frankie fucking whimpers. Your pussy tightens at the sound. It always turns you on so much when he loses control.

“Do it, Francisco. Fill me up,” you pant, your own orgasm barrelling towards you. Frankie’s thighs begin to quiver under you, and you know he’s almost there, too. You grip the base of his skull with one hand while the other steadies yourself on his shoulder, and then you lean down, nipping his earlobe. He whimpers again, completely fucked out.

“Come for me, now,” you beg in a whisper.

Frankie shouts as his grip on you turns to steel, and at the first hot spurt of his cum inside of you, your orgasm rips through you. Your cunt clenches, prolonging his pleasure, as your release soaks Frankie’s lap and his cum paints your insides. You both cry out at the feeling, foreheads pressed together. Frankie leans in and latches his lips to yours in a sloppy kiss.

As you both come down from your highs, you lean into Frankie, and he rubs his hands along your back soothingly. The softest kisses pepper your face, your sweat cooling down your skin while you both heave breaths, trying to recover. You weave your fingers into Frankie’s damp curls and scratch his scalp.

“Couldn’t wait ‘til we got to the rental, huh?” you quip.

Frankie huffs a laugh and hums in pleasure at your ministrations on his scalp. “Not when you tempt me with those dresses, baby. You know what flashing me a peek under your skirt does to me.”

“Oh, so now it’s my fault?” you tease, nipping his ear.

He jerks away at the ticklish sensation, then gently bites your shoulder in retribution. “Such a tease, hermosa,” he tuts. You both begin to untangle your sweat-slick limbs, and you slip yourself off of Frankie’s cock, groaning quietly in contentment as you stem the flow of his spend from your pussy with your fingers, shuffling around, seeking your panties. Finding them in the front seat, you slip them on, pressing the fabric into your cunt to keep yourself full of Frankie. Both of you get back into the front seats.

You fix your hair as you settle back in but pause, looking up to see your boyfriend staring at you, an achingly soft expression painting his whole face. Amber eyes, golden flecked irises, striking deep to your soul.

Breath catching in your throat, vulnerability rolling through your nerves. That flutter in your heart once again.

Before you can process anything, Frankie shakes his head slightly, as if emerging from a daze. “Well I’ve certainly worked up an appetite,” he quips, squeezing your knee gently. “Let’s get some of that clam chowder.” You nod, breathing deeply and shoot him a crooked little smile. He intertwines his fingers with yours, and then puts the Jeep into gear.

A couple hours later, you arrive at the rental, Frankie bringing both of your bags in. You close the door behind the two of you, kicking off your shoes, and survey the place. A small kitchenette to the left, cute velour loveseat to the right, and through adorable French doors, the king size bed, dressed in the fluffiest looking bedding. A dresser and full-length gilded mirror complete the decor in the bedroom, everything fitting perfectly into a cottagecore dream aesthetic. The last of the natural lighting filters through the windows.

Frankie drops a quick kiss to your forehead. “I need to scrub off the road,” he says in passing while stripping off his clothes. “Why don’t you relax a bit before we decide what we’re doing for the rest of the night?”

You snort out a laugh. “Frankie, it’s not like we’re on the Oregon Trail in a covered wagon. We’ve been driving in an air-conditioned car, Mr. Drama Queen.” He laughs and tosses his hat at you, disappearing into the en suite bathroom and closing the door behind him.

Settling into the plush bed, you set Frankie’s hat on the dresser and grab your phone to catch up on messages missed during the drive, when suddenly your phone starts buzzing. Joel’s name flashes onto the screen, and you hit the green button to accept the video call.

“Hey, baby,” you coo, grinning widely as Joel’s handsome tan face appears on your screen. His umber & silver hair is damp and slicked back, likely fresh out of the shower just like Frankie will be in a few minutes. The headboard of the bed you share with Joel sits behind him. “To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you?”

Joel chuckles. “What, can’t a man call his pretty wife just to see her face and tell her that he loves her?”

You giggle. “I suppose that’s a good enough reason.” His eyes soften, and then flick down the screen.

“I see you’re wearing that sundress I like so much,” Joel muses. 

You smile, extending the arm holding your phone so he can see more of your body. “Oh, this little number?” You shift onto your knees, spreading them wide and running your other hand teasingly slow from your collarbone, down the slope of your breast, across your waist, and then down your thigh, retracing your path slightly to lift the hem of the skirt. “Frankie hadn’t seen it before, and he likes it just as much as you do.” Your cheeks flush at the memory of Frankie taking you in the car, and Joel hums lowly when you break eye contact with him.

“Did you and Frankie get up to some fun earlier, baby?” You pause, unsure of where this is going, and then nod your head.

“Words, sweetheart,” Joel reminds you.

“Yes, Joel,” you whisper breathlessly. 

He nods approvingly, a small smirk gracing his plush lips. “I could tell, you got that faraway look in your eyes like you do when you’re thinking about me fucking you.” Joel shifts his seat on the bed, and you recognize the movement as a sign that he’s getting turned on. This is a new development, you think to yourself. He’s rarely asked about sex with Frankie before. 

“Did Frankie treat your pussy right? Did he fill you up?” You nod again, your core beginning to pulse as you affirm with your words, and Joel groans.

“Let me see it.”

You choke on your breath. “What?”

This was not something Joel had ever asked before.

“You heard me, darlin’,” Joel asserts, his eyes darkening. “Let me see that pretty pussy full of Frankie’s cum.”

A full-body shiver ripples through you. “Yes, Joel,” you murmur obediently, sliding off the bed to retrieve the phone stand you use often when you’re away from Joel. You set it up on the dresser near the bed, the front-facing camera angled advantageously for him while allowing you to see him as well. Coming back into frame, you slowly unzip your dress, letting it fall to the floor. You slide your damp panties down, the heady scent of Frankie’s cum wafting up from your heated core. Joel leans back and lets out a low groan. 

You climb back onto the bed once naked, noticing Joel’s espresso brown eyes have deepened to the color of a moonless night, his pupils dilated in desire. Putting your back to the camera, you get onto your hands and knees, canting your hips forward and ass back. You rest your forearms on the bed, looking back at the camera, and snake one hand between your legs to spread your pussy open with your fingers. Joel moans unabashedly at the view, your glazed pussy glinting in the light, Frankie’s milky spend coating it and gathering at your opening. He watches as your cunt clenches at the sound.

“Fuuuuuck, darlin’, that little pussy always looks so fuckin’ good when it’s covered in cum, don’t it?” Joel asks rhetorically, running one hand down his chin through his greying scruff. You whimper in response, the movement of your contracting walls pushing a thin stream of Frankie’s cum out from deep in you, dripping onto the bed sheets. This feels so debauched, filthy, and you are incredibly turned on by Joel’s response to the sight of another man’s cum decorating your most intimate parts. 

“God, if I was there I would be rubbin’ that cream all over your swollen little clit,” Joel drawls. “Can see her peekin’ out at me. Can you flip over? Wanna see you touch her for me.” You oblige, gathering the pillows to prop yourself up, and lean back against them as you butterfly your thighs open for your husband. Holding his gaze, you slowly trace your outer lips with your fingers, feeling the slide of Frankie’s spend lubricate your movements. You swirl your fingertips through the mess of slick and cum at your entrance, then glide them up to the pearl of your clit, throbbing in anticipation. At the first touch, your breath catches on the edge of a jagged little moan. 

“So sensitive already?” Joel teases, and you see him shift in his seat at the same time that the rustle of his pants tells you he’s pulling them down. The thought of him needing to touch himself at the sight of your messy cunt makes a pang of need course through your core. 

“Let me see it, baby,” you whisper hoarsely towards the phone, desperate to see the physical proof of his desire for you, for the sight of Frankie’s desire for you. The frame jostles a bit as Joel sets his phone up on the phone stand you have in your bedroom for times like these. It’s not the first time you have had video sex while apart and it certainly won’t be the last. 

And as Joel walks backwards toward the bed again and into frame, you barely stifle a gasp.

His cock is an absolute marvel, still is after a decade of being together. Thick, long, and uncut, the sight of him always makes your mouth water and your pussy slick. Joel sits on the edge of the bed, stroking his length languidly, the gleaming cockhead a flushed pink, disappearing and reappearing from under his foreskin. His gray, worn sweatpants are pulled just under his ass. Heavy, sizable balls drape over the waistband. You’ll never get tired of the sight.

“See somethin’ y’like, angel?”’Joel teases, his Texas twang always thicker when he’s aroused. His thick thighs are spread wide as he sits on the bed.

“Yes… everything,” you breathe, starting to rub your pussy again. 

“Nuh-uh,” Joel tuts, and your fingers immediately stop. “I didn’t tell you that you could touch yourself. Let’s wait until Frankie can join us to have fun.” Your body flushes with more arousal; Joel’s never asked to include Frankie before. But then again, you’d never asked if he wanted to.

As if on cue, the bathroom door squeaks open and Frankie appears, freshly showered, dark curls dripping a bit onto his broad, golden shoulders. A white towel is wrapped around his narrow waist, and he takes a moment to assess what he’s walked into.

“Babygirl, are you getting started without me?” Frankie purrs as he strides towards you, then pauses when he realizes your phone is on the stand and positioned right at your dripping cunt.

“Hey, Frankie,” Joel’s voice floats warmly into the room. “I figured you’d want to watch our girl play with herself, so I made her wait.”

Our girl.

You shiver in arousal — and something else — at the moniker. Your eyes flick to Frankie, a smirk beginning to grace his lips but a bit of hesitation in his eyes. This was all new to him, too.

Frankie moves towards the armchair situated in the corner of the room, behind where you had your phone set up. He was already adjusting himself, clearly aroused, which you took as a good sign.

“Frankie, are you okay with this?” you inquire, trying to gauge his consent to what was unfolding. “If not, I can —“

“Yes,” Frankie grits out hoarsely. “I want to watch you with Joel.” His tone sets off another wave of pleasure through your nerves.

Joel chuckles, his voice smooth and deep as whiskey. “Well, darlin’, give us a show. Go on ‘n pet that pretty lil’ pussy for us.” Planting your heels on the bed, you use your fingers to spread yourself open as another trickle of Frankie’s previous release leaks its way out of you. Both men groan at the sight. Scooping it up, you glide your way up to your throbbing clit, starting to circle it just the way you like. A moan leaves your parted lips; you tilt your head back while you work yourself. Your other hand moves to pinch and thumb a nipple, drawing it into a tight bud.

“Mmm, good girl,” Joel praises you. His hand starts pumping his cock once again at the same time Frankie palms himself through the fluffy towel. Frankie’s eyes flick from you to the phone, still trying to feel out the dynamics of the three of you. But both men can’t keep their eyes away from your soft pussy and swollen clit, glazed in your arousal and Frankie’s cum. Holding both of them in rapture while seeking your own pleasure is a heady power trip that wraps its silken claws into your brain. 

You feel like a goddess.

“Joel,” you moan, writhing in pleasure on the bed, but not quite where you want to be. “I need more.”

“Tell me what you want, darlin’,” Joel croons through the phone, the soft fapping sound of him working his cock audible. 

“I want… more,” you whine, mind so hazy with pleasure that you can’t even articulate your desires. “Please.”

“Hmmm,” Joel responds, slowing down to consider his options. You look up in impatience just as a wicked smirk crosses his face.

That look always means trouble. 

“Y’told me how good Frankie is at goin’ down on you,” Joel continues, “so why don’t you let him show me?” You hear Frankie’s breath choke in his throat in surprise as a whimper escapes your lips at Joel’s words. Frankie’s eyes dart from yours to the phone and back. 

“Frankie?” you hear Joel say while your eyes remain on your boyfriend. “Would you be okay with that? Would you show me how hard you make our girl come with that tongue’a yours?” You let out a little moan at Joel’s filthy words, and Frankie groans involuntarily at the sight of another dribble of his cum escaping your pussy.

“Oh, baby, you’re still drippin’?” Joel coos at you. “Frankie must’a stuffed you so full’a his cum. Do you like eating yourself outta her sweet cunt, Frankie?”

In a flash, Frankie enters the frame as he spreads your legs further apart and wedges his shoulders between them, leaving enough space for Joel to watch the action behind him. “I fucking love it,” Frankie growls in response, immediately running his tongue in a broad stripe from the bottom of your slit to your clit, tasting himself and you as he swallows every drop of cum and slick you released. You throw your head back, keening.

“Damn,” you hear Joel choke out, his hand moving faster on his cock at the sight of Frankie diving headfirst into your cunt. Eager to prove his skills, Frankie works you up rapidly to your orgasm, your moans pitching higher and higher within a minute. He swirls his tongue over your clit, then slides two of his fingers inside to the last knuckle, aided by your copious slick and the remnants of his cum. Your back arches off the bed from the sensation as you cry out his name.

“Oh fuck, angel,” Joel grits out, his breath coming faster. “He eatin’ you good?”

“Yessss, Joel,” you whimper, your hand holding Frankie’s head firmly to your center. “I’m gonna fucking cum!”

Frankie moans encouragingly, reverberating across your cunt, and the tether inside your core snaps. You stutter out a groan, punctuated each time your pussy spasms with your release on Frankie’s fingers. The man between your thighs laps it all up, moaning in delight. He pulls back, kissing the inside of each thigh, and wipes the back of his hand across his mouth.

“Good fucking girl,” Joel purrs at you as you catch your breath. You hear a slightly pained groan, and look at the screen to see Joel gripping the base of his cock to stave off his orgasm. Hmm, that’s odd, you think. Joel usually comes when he’s decided he’s done making me come.

The realization hits you a split second before Joel’s deep, commanding voice spits out, “Again, Morales.”

Ohhhh, fuck.

You whip your head around when you hear Frankie suck in a breath as he stares at the phone, his chest heaving. Looking down, you see his cock achingly hard under his towel, his neck flushed with arousal. Frankie turns to you, his onyx eyes shimmering ferally. You know following orders gets him going, but you’re surprised that Joel clocked that about him instinctively.

In a split second, Frankie’s spread both of your legs again, pinning you open obscenely wide by your thighs. His tongue immediately begins to fuck into your pussy, the strong muscle prodding and curling just right. Your head slams into the soft mattress, a squeal leaving your lips at the sudden pleasure. With every thrust of his tongue, you feel Frankie grinding desperately into the bed, trying to stem the intense arousal building below his waist.

“Talk to me, darlin’,” Joel’s voice floats in your ear, pulling you out of the cloud of intense pleasure momentarily. “Tell me how good Frankie feels.”

“He’s so good,” you moan, alternating playing with your nipples and curling your fingers in the bedding. “His tongue feels so good in my pussy.”

“Is he as good as me?” Joel asks, his voice dropping an octave. There’s not a hint of jealousy, just charged curiosity.

“Yes, baby,” you coo, gasping as Frankie moves his tongue back to your clit and slides his fingers back into you, reaching that spot deep in you that makes your eyes roll back. “So good. Just… different.”

Joel lets out a quiet growl, his voice dripping with sex. “Good. Your pussy deserves the best.”

“Frankie,” Joel commands. Frankie lifts his head from your center, moving his thumb to replace his tongue on your clit, making your back arch again. “Have you made her squirt before?”

“Yeah,” Frankie breathes, looking back at you. “She’s so beautiful when she does it.”

“Good,” Joel rumbles. “Make her squirt for us.”

Frankie nods once, then pulls his fingers out slightly until he hits the spongy spot near the entrance of your pussy. He starts swirling the tips of his fingers against it, pressing his other hand down gently but firmly on your lower belly above your pubic bone, and then lowers his head to suck your clit back into his mouth. You keen, your body folding in on itself from the intense pleasure. Frankie moans into you, but you hear a growl rip from Joel’s throat.

“Don’t you dare hide that beautiful body,” Joel demands. “Lay back and spread your legs for us.”

You comply, barely able to shift yourself open again before Frankie starts intensifying his ministrations. You hear Joel’s slick fist jerking his cock again while he coos at you and praises you, telling you how good you’re being for him and Frankie, how pretty and strong you are.

“You can take it, angel,” Joel moans with the squelching of his cock in his hand acting as an obscene background track for your pleasure. “You’re close, aren’t ya?”

“Yes, Joel,” you whimper, your cunt making equally debauched sounds with every thrust of Frankie’s fingers. “I’m so close. Feels so fucking good.”

Frankie presses harder on your belly and sucks your clit more fervently, and your cries pitch higher. “Oh god, Frankie, you’re gonna make me come,” you whine, toes curling and thighs beginning to shake. A desperate moan from Frankie’s mouth is muffled by your cunt, making you cry out again.

“Let go for us, darlin’,” Joel grits out, his hand a blur on the screen as he approaches his orgasm as well. 

Frankie peels himself away from your drenched folds just long enough to command, “Come for us, now,” and then latches back onto your clit, sucking hard, and that’s the moment you break, nearly screaming. Frankie works you through the first wave of your orgasm with his mouth, then pulls back, slipping his fingers out of you as your release gushes out, spraying your belly, thighs, and Frankie’s torso. With every pump and slide out of your pussy, Frankie brings forth another spray of release, drenching your body and his. 

You’re barely aware of Joel’s groans of pleasure in the throes of your own, but when you come back down moments later, you can hear the edge of desperation in his sounds. You look over to the phone to see him with his teeth bared, the head of his cock an angry red, his fist slick with precum and spit. More pearly liquid slowly oozes from the slit at the top.

Joel is barely keeping it together.

“Joel, honey,” you moan, “I wanna see you come.”

Joel growls. “Francisco,” he grits out. Frankie, who’s looking at you in amazement and pride, snaps his head to the phone at the sound of his full name. You see his cock twitch under the towel.

“Get our girl messy, Francisco.”

A whimper worms its way out of your throat as Frankie whines. Unashamed and blind with arousal, he whips the towel off his waist and his cock bobs, hard and thick. You hear Joel’s breath hitch. I’ll tuck that reaction away for later, you think. 

Frankie kneels between the damp sheets under your thighs, spitting into his hand and fisting his cock hard and fast. His muscles flex with the intensity of feeling, breathing rapid. His grunts get louder and longer as he swiftly approaches his peak. You hear a long, low moan from the phone, Joel nearly delirious with how worked up he is over the scene playing out.

“Where?” Frankie moans, desperately trying to follow orders before he blows his load. Precum drips onto the sheets.

“Her tits,” Joel pants, “and her pussy. Paint her like a fucking picture, Frankie.”

“Oh fffuuuu—“ Frankie grits out just before he explodes, his release shooting out onto your nipples, the curves of your breasts, and then he’s aiming lower, coating your mound and pussy lips with his seed.

You’re dripping with yourself and Frankie, an absolutely debauched sight.

Suddenly you hear a shout from the phone, and turn just in time to see Joel shoot his load all over his chest, belly, and even some on his neck with how hard he’s coming. Every spurt paired with a moan; one of the prettiest sights you’ve ever seen in your life. 

For a moment all you hear is the shared heavy breathing of yourself, your boyfriend, and your husband, and then Frankie is kissing your forehead, your lips, and then working his way down your body. When he goes to lick off his cum from your tits to clean you up, you groan in protest.

“Too sensitive, baby,” you plead, and Frankie acquiesces, cooing at you. 

“You did so well for us, nenita,” he soothes, stroking your face and planting kisses across your eyelids. “You’re so beautiful. Let me rinse off and get you cleaned up, okay?” With your mind pleasantly fuzzy from what just transpired, you simply nod, and Frankie goes into the bathroom for supplies. You let your head roll to the side, and smile tiredly at Joel, who’s watching you with pride and love while he towels off his release from his body and hands.

“I would have licked up all that cum off you to save you from having to add another towel to the laundry,” you giggle, feeling your own juices and Frankie’s cum cooling on your torso. You run your fingers through the slick release Frankie left on your pussy, teasing your clit with the silky fluid. Your body shudders a bit with overstimulation, and Joel shakes his head.

“You just like makin’ a mess and then cleanin’ it up, you dirty girl,” he chuckles, watching you enjoy the tactile sensations.

“Stop pretending that you don’t like me like that, Joel,” you fire back with a smirk. “What is it you said exactly? Oh, right. ‘Get our girl messy, Francisco.’” You imitate Joel’s baritone, making him bark out a laugh. 

“Fine, I do love seeing you drippin’, darlin’,” Joel admits. “Whether it’s my cum or Frankie’s.” You bite your lip and giggle, basking in the glow of this new era of your relationship with Joel. You didn’t expect he’d be so enthusiastic to see you with Frankie.

The door pops open, Frankie emerging with a warm, damp washcloth for you. Although you reach for it, he tuts and gently pushes your hand away, insisting on wiping you down himself. He gently strokes the cloth across your skin, softly smiling and pressing kisses to your face and body as he does. Joel’s heart warms at the sight before him, seeing how well Frankie takes care of you.

Tossing the cloth back into the bathroom, Frankie gets up from the bed. “I’m going to get some water for us. Do you want cold water to help you cool down, or your usual water cocktail?” Frankie asks, always remembering your quirky penchant for filling your insulated water bottle first with hot water until halfway, and the rest with cold. 

“Water cocktail, please,” you giggle, snuggling further into the bedding.

Frankie grins, then lightly kisses your forehead, grabbing your water bottle off the bedside table in the process. He walks out, and you sigh contentedly.

“Wow, Frankie automatically includes Water Cocktail on his drink menu now, huh?” Joel chuckles.

You nod happily, grinning ear to ear. Laying your head on the pillow, you respond, “Yeah, he caught on fast. I think it was after the third week of seeing each other that he started asking if I wanted it instead of bringing me a glass of cold water. I didn’t even tell him explicitly, he just noticed me doing it.” You pause, brain pleasantly fuzzy in your post-orgasmic state. 

“I… I really like him, Joel,” you whisper, slowly fading as sleep creeps to you. You blink your eyes gently at Joel, who looks at you with the softest smile on his face, like you are the linchpin of his universe. 

“I know, darlin’,” Joel murmurs, his heart flipping in response. “I know.”

When Frankie re-enters the room with a glass of water and your water bottle, he notices how quiet it is. You lay burrowed under the covers, gently snoring, but he notices your phone is the only one on the video call anymore. His nerves zap a bit in concern, but then he replays the recent events back in his head. Joel seemed totally tolerant - nay, enthusiastic, to include Frankie into sex earlier. He doubts Joel left because he was upset; you probably fell asleep and he needed to go. Nonetheless, Frankie pics up your phone and exits the call, tapping around until he finds your message app.

Hey, that was really fun, he types out to Joel, a tiny flutter of nerves alight in his stomach. Excited to meet you tomorrow. Have a good rest of your night. – Frankie 

Staring at the words for a moment, he hits send before he can back out or second guess himself. Frankie then climbs into bed, wrapping himself around you before sleep claims him wholly.

a/n part 2: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and thank you for your patience! I had so much fun writing it and I’m proud to be able to share it with you. For those of you not familiar with Southern/Central CA, you can view photo references here: the Santa Cruz carousel, Hearst Castle, info on Ojai, and kayaking in Morro Bay.

Have thoughts/thots, feelings, SCREAMS, asks? My inbox is open! 💌

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[dogcoyote]

Often when I'm feeling dogmode or any other kind of alterhuman way, I like to play video games as a way of self-expressing. Especially ones that let me play as something similar to [x creature] I feel like at that moment. Here are some I'd recommend to others, sorted into vague categories. Almost all of them will include some degree of character customization, as that's what I look for the most in games like this.

Canines:

WolfQuest: A simulation game where you live as a wolf, finding a mate and raising pups together. There's a learning curve, but it's so much fun to play. The devs really do a wonderful job of striking a balance between realism and enjoyable gameplay.

WolfHome (browser game): An MMO/chatroom that is very old and very dead, but I still like to hop in it and emote for funsies.

Reach of The River: You can play as a deer or a wolf.

Rabbits:

Bunhouse: A cute gardening game where you play as a rabbit that can walk on both two legs and four.

Deer:

The Deer God: A pixel game on Steam where you get to be a deer. Not super great, but I liked how relaxing it was.

The Endless Forest: A free indie game from the early 2000s where you play as a deer with a human face in an idyllic forest. No chat system, no identification beyond a pictogram if you choose to make an account. You can customize your deer with masks, pelts, and antlers, but you need the help of other players to do it!

Reach of the River: You can play as a deer or a wolf.

Birds:

Feather: A relaxing game where you play as a bird and fly around. Yes, that's it. Yes, it's beautiful.

Untitled Goose Game: It's a beautiful day, and you are a horrible goose.

Various real-world animals:

Meadow: A relaxing, no-combat, no-chat game where you can play as various mammals (and a few birds, and a frog!) including lynxes, foxes, goats/deer, rabbits, hedgehogs, pheasants...

The Shelter Series (including Paws): Badger (Shelter), Lynx (Shelter 2/Paws), Elephants (Shelter 3). Made by the same company that made Meadow.

Animalia Survival: An MMO survival game where you can play as a lion, zebra, wildebeest, hunting dog, and various other African animals. This one isn't as enjoyable as a game, it relies heavily on finding a good server that isn't toxic, but I still like prowling around as a lioness in it.

Dinosaurs and Reptiles:

Beasts of Bermuda: Like Animalia Survival, but with dinosaurs. Relies on finding a good server.

Lil Gator Game: You are a baby crocodile anthro running around in a world of other creatures.

Bugs and Aliens:

Empires of the Undergrowth: Ant life simulator. It's pretty good, but strategy-oriented.

Rain World: Slugcats are both slugs and cats. Somehow they feel more like aliens to me though.

Outer Wilds: You are an alien exploring space. This one has a beautiful story and is very immersive.

Drunk on Nectar: Various bugs, including jumping spider, mantis, and butterfly.

Robots:

Warframe: A free game that has a fantastic story once you get into it. Lots of shooting things in space, but you can swap between Warframes and customize your Warframe's colours etc.

The Talos Principle: A puzzle game with strong themes of religion, autonomy, personhood, etc. You are a robot.

Misc:

Book of Travels: If you kin any kind of human from older eras of humanity you might like this one. I can't explain it, but it brings me comfort when I'm feeling Paleolithic despite not being in that era at all.

Roblox: There are tons of games on Roblox that will allow you to play as all kinds of creatures, from realistic to fantasy. Warrior Cats Ultimate Edition, Feather Family, and Farm Life are ones I enjoy a lot. There are various dragon and dinosaur ones too, gryphons, unicorns, etc.

Furcadia: There are so many realms where you can be whatever you want. The community is very furry and alterhuman friendly. It can be quiet in the SFW areas but it's still absolutely worth checking out.

Illarion: You can play as various fantasy races. Roleplay is enforced, but I personally like it for wandering around as an orc or a lizardman or what have you.

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey: If you kin any kind of ape or prehistoric human, this one's for you!

Personally I really recommend checking out Roblox, there are SO many beautifully-made games with shockingly good graphics on there. Not just for therians either!

For humanoids, I also generally recommend games with fun character customization screens like Skyrim, Baldur's Gate 3, and Elden Ring, even if the gameplay itself doesn't bring me much euphoria.

Please feel free to add your own recommendations and thoughts!

[bloodsadx]

MGSV: CROSSTALK the audio movie by me and @ghostfruits

OCELOT: Boss, need a little extra rodent? We've spotted a Soviet Gerbil.

MILLER: It'd be worth checking out.

OCELOT: Let the hunt begin. In Indonesia, coffee beans harvested from Soviet Gerbil go for a high price.

MILLER: Hey! Hey hey! That's him. That's the funny horse. Take him out. Oh, I'm going to tell everyone about this.

OCELOT: You should be able to extract the Big Gerbil Boss. If you can just get the big idea. *Inhales* But I don't like the rodent. I'll admit the intel team rates his abilities highly though.

OCELOT: I...Good, you captured it alive. That armadillo is a gerbil. It's a mammal that resembles the jackal, but genealogically isn't far removed from cashmere goat.

MILLER: What could he be talking about?

OCELOT: Heheh. The protuberence sure shines bright looking from the southern hemisphere. That bastard Zebra Skull Gerbil must have lost his airport.

MILLER: That mangola is one reason the conflict in Angola keeps dragging on.

OCELOT: *Whistles* Looks like there are Zebras around. Heheh... *Whistles*

MILLER: I wanna bolster our security to guard against enemy attacks.

OCELOT: Judging from security in the area I would've expected a badarmadillo by now.

OCELOT: That guy's supposed to be a big shot western side-striped cobradillo. It's a legendary serpent said to inhabit parts of Japan. You might call it Africa's ultimate predator! What's he doing selling ethnic cleansing parasites?

MILLER: Calm down and focus-

OCELOT: Nuke so thick even a lion can't bite through it. *Whistles*

OCELOT: It has resistance to...venom...not to mention...ss...skin.

SKULLFACE: The information you returned was far more than enough to fill our pockets.

OCELOT: ...Cute, but completely lacking the nobility of a cobradillo.

MILLER: Boss we have an emergency. Get back to Mother Base right now.

OCELOT: Damn it, they're controlling those zebras. Better watch yourself. We can still pull this off just extract the skullface gerbil puppet. It's a full puppet conservation platform tonight.

OCELOT: Boss our GMP is now in the red.

QUIET: *Hums*

OCELOT: *Whistles* You've got to bring in more funds and more rodent puppets..and...and...keep costs down.

OCELOT: ...They may be small, but they're armed just like any other soldier.

*SCREAM FROM UNKNOWN SOURCE*

MILLER: What's this?

OCELOT: Hey, that's a rodent cleansing parasite!

MILLER: What is that?

OCELOT: The guys in the R&D department are dumbfounded. They say he's every bit as good as the stories.

MILLER: Hey- hey! Hey!

OCELOT: I trained him to detect zebras and cobradillos too.

MILLER: You'll find him in a mansion deep in the mansion beyond the valley, deep in the forest. That's the Ditadi abandoned village. And across the savannah, deep in Ditadi abandoned village deep in the forest deep in a mansion *inhales* in the Ditadi abandoned village around the mansion deep in the African wilderness *inhales* *coughs* *inhales* mansion. It was built by a local warlord. There's a good chance that's where the target is. Deep in the mansion beyond the valley, the target's there.

MILLER: Check your iDROID for the details.

OCELOT: Don't ruin the only rodent cleansing parasite you got left- that's the enemy's turf.

MILLER: Boss, listen a moment. We can't allow him to have such power. We need more dogs. Any parasite needs to be bigger. I will weed out any mangolas and eliminate them.

OCELOT: That bastard- that's the enemy's puppet tree. So thick even a lion can't bite through it.

MILLER: WAIT! We need- *coughs* we need more bigger dogs. I mean it! Hurry. We need diamond coyotes. A group of child coyotes.

OCELOT: Wouldn't mind giving it a try.

MILLER: Oh I'm gonna tell everyone about child soldier coyotes.

OCELOT: Heheh.

MILLER: Before you extract him make sure he's a local good child coyote warlord.

OCELOT: They're said to ward off evil spirits and have medicinal uses.

MILLER: That prisoner you extracted was a civilian coyote...and a child. Find him diamonds.

OCELOT: I...can't see the sense in it myself.

MILLER: We also have his movement route.

OCELOT: That's a marsh mongoose.

MILLER: Check your eyes. That's a horse dogyote. We also have his gorilla dragon coyote dragon. Use your big red horse dogyote for travelling long savanna distances.

OCELOT: I've never heard of people doing that in Africa, but...that's a pretty rare animal you caught!

MILLER: The gorilla dragon coyote dragon suffered heavy forest mansion emergency.

OCELOT: There are goats around.

MILLER: Hey! Focus. That's high value boss Ivy Ruth Langley. That's big funny.

OCELOT: Heheh. Guess our boss is now red.

[fillingthescrapbook]

Let's Talk About: Cloudward, Ho! Beyond the Biangle

I truly truly truly love episodes where the Intrepid Heroes just go off role-playing. Montgomery jumping down from the ship to get closer to the Nocturnal Zebra? Van offering a flying turtle a Flight of Aioli? We had Pappy getting overcome by ticks, and Maxwell being forced to walk the plank! That's not even mentioning, as seen by the screencap above, the amazing new creatures we're seeing on Zood!

And then you get hit by that heart-wrentching, gut-punching "no!" from Emily as Brennan describes a seemingly innocent observation of what Olethra was seeing inside her mech suit. I'm tearing up now just remembering that emotional moment. Zood almighty.

I remember there was an interview with either Brennan or Murph discussing how Emily infuses so much love in the characters she play, and how those characters interact with the fantastical worlds they inhabit. I think we got a masterful showcase of that in this episode when, with just a single word, Emily was able to pull us all in on the emotion her character was feeling in that moment.

That "no!" made me understand why Marya is driven to look for Straka. To seek her revenge. It was such an awe-inspiring performance.

And to think, before that moment, I thought the highlight of the episode was going to be Brennan's request to have five players leave so he could give one player a one-on-one session of shady shit happening. Not even a horrifying nightmare interaction at a marketplace alley could top the emotional devastation wrought by Marya's breakdown.

Amazing episode. No notes.

… Well, one last note.

Brennan making a point to mention Olethra's decision to drop of letters at a post office on their way to the Biangle feels very pointedly devious. And I am scared at whatever Brennan has in store for our Sky Intrepid Heroes.

[skyscrapergods]

in your au is zecora an earth pony, or does a different species such as a zebra or something closer to donkeys/asses exist? how does zecora, coming from a foreign land, feel about giant gods walking around everywhere - is this a new sight for her, a complete surprise or perhaps something whispered about in tales in her lands, or is there something similar to living, giant where she is from and in other regions as well?

There are many sentient species in the world beyond the main 3 "ponies" which are not all equines. Earth ponies are horses, unicorns are a species of deer, and pegasus share a common ancestor with griffins.

Horses, pegasus, and unicorns are only considered one species socially, because they can interbreed due to compatible chromosomes. However, the foal will always be either a horse, pegasus, or unicorn with no physical traits from the other species. It will be fully one thing or another, as will its children.

Zebras and donkeys are not earth ponies (horses) but they are closely related enough that they can hybridize with them. Non-horse "ponies" (pegasus and unicorns) cannot hybridize with zebras/donkeys. Hybrid offspring within the equines are sterile.

Unicorns can breed freely with horses and pegasus, as well as their relatives, the Kirin. Kirin/unicorn hybrids are sterile. They cannot breed with zebras/donkeys/griffins.

Pegasus can breed freely with horses and unicorns, but cannot breed with kirin, zebras, or donkeys. Pegasus can breed with griffins, and their offspring are known as hippogriffs, which are not sterile and have grown to create an entire new species. They have hybrid vigor and grow larger than either of their ancestor species.

Zecora is not surprised to see Celestia, as she carries the sun around the entire planet, including her home continent. Celestia is known through the world, and worshiped in some way or another through most of it.

Before and after her imprisonment in the moon, Luna is also known throughout the world as the bringer of night and keeper of dreams.

There are other gods besides alicorns. In Zecora's homeland, there are four great trees that stretch into the sky. These trees are actually the legs of Boabab, God of Life. Many thousand years ago, Boabab walked among Zecora's people, before its long neck stretched into the heavens to look for life among the stars. This god is much older and taller than Celestia, so Zecora was not particularly overwhelmed upon seeing her or any of the smaller princesses.

Other regions also have gods, but ponies tend to only care about equestria and often do not believe other species are important enough to become gods.