#two of them are technically under the same contract for the same people

[henreyettah]

Going to a convention as soon as possible is a physical and spiritual need actually. Need that nerd air to keep myself going through these tough times (being an adult with three jobs)

[gallusrostromegalus]

Hi! I see your OC Oscar LeColéreux is studying Patent Law. as someone who is literally right now studying patent law, I can tell you that (in the USA), that's not a thing. to be a Patent Agent or a Patent Lawyer, one must first have a technical background (i.e. a degree in science/engineering). Patent Lawyers then go to law school, Patent Agents don't. regardless, both must pass the Patent Bar Exam, administered by the USPTO. this permits them to assist in Patent Prosecution, the process of applying for a patent, including appeals and post-grant proceedings before the USPTO's PTAB. Patent Lawyers can also represent patent holders through litigation in federal court. now that my trap card activation is over, what is Oscar's technical degree in? will he go to law school?

So all of The Lads (All the dogs in this post) have completed their undergrad degrees and are in grad school. They're in the same fraternity, which is to say: they're all renting the same house near campus and convinced a national engineering fraternity to count them as a chapter and help them with the rent and groceries.

Oscar's undergraduate degree is in Materials Science Engineering and he was planning on becoming a research chemist but quickly discovered he liked arguing with people and picking apart contracts more than being exposed to major industrial hazards. He's currently in the law program at College University along with his fellow engineer-ishes.

(more under the cut)

Oscar, Alexander, and Issac are all have proper engineering undergraduate degrees and are following engineering-related pursuits. Ewan is cutting it fine with an interdisciplinary engineering degree and now getting fully into the humanities. Ujin shouldn't even be there because his undergrad was in education, but that guy could talk the devil into piety so convincing the frat rep that his presence benefited the organization was a breeze.

It should be noted that this is a fantasy universe where the world is populated by anthropromorphc talking animals, so they are not, strictly speaking, in the united states of America, so I can play it a bit fast and loose with the laws and academic processes. They are, functionally, in the furry version of Danville from Phineas and Ferb: not a fixed geographic location, but a small city with any geographic feature or cultural center or political issue is required for the story.

College University is likewise an academic institution so much as an excuse for the characters to spend time together, like how nobody in Ouran High School Host Club ever goes to class. They've got a sportsball program and a law school and the art department regularly explodes and anything else that might be needed for the narrative.

The world itself doesn't even have a name, but of various anthropromorpic universes, this one leans more Beastars than Zootopia- there's birds, reptiles and even fish people, social tensions that arise from the radical differences in body types and break along different axes of power than you might expect, and the whole thing is a metaphor before it is a setting. To resolve the two big problems of any anthro universe:

Where does the protein come from? There are animals in this universe, some of which are farmed or hunted. There was an outbreak of Anthropomorphization that caused the existence of these animal-people like 50,000 years ago. There are no humans, except in the speculative fiction written in this universe. The issue of "What counts as a person?" regularly comes up for debate, and is often a political wedge tool, so the definitions of personhood vary widely across time, location, class and culture.

How does everyone continue their genetic line? Any Anthro can produce issue with any other anthro (barring individual fertility issues), but they are rolling the dice on what kind of creature the resulting offspring will be. Two rabbits are most likely to produce more rabbits, but there's a solid chance they'll produce a chinchilla, a lesser chance of having a swan, and a remote-but-still-possible chance they'll give birth to a hybrid anthro like a rabbit-duck, and an even remoter but still possible chance of making a hybrid with species not seen in either parent, like an eel-horse. Ujin's parents are rats. Most of his siblings are rats, except for his oldest sister, who is a marbled polecat. The more disparate the two parent species are, the less predictable the resulting offspring. An elephant can marry a trout and have a baby tyrannosaur. A notable exception is hybrid/hybrid pairs, which consistently produce single-species offspring, usually from the selection of species available in both parents. A hybrid/single-species can produce superhybrids, (sometimes called Tribrids, but this process can continue well past just three species). Another OC in this universe is a Jackayote, the result of the union between a Jackalope (jackrabbit/pronghorn antelope) and a coyote. 2.1: Nobody in-universe calls themselves by breeds or subspecies. Most of the time they identify more with a broader taxonomic group: all The Lads are all Canines, as are what we'd call wolves, foxes, jackals, tanuki etc. and being more specific than that is pedantic and weird. Knowing your specifc specific species is only important for your medical history or if you're going to have kids. In fact, touting around your specific species in public is seen as over-sharing and kinda suspect, like a guy who is a little TOO into his ancestry. Some groups will distinguish themselves if there is a notable practical difference: Fruit Bats include the Fruit so that a well-meaning host doesn't accidentally serve them crickets, and bears are the same because there's a big dietary difference between polar and panda bears. Cats typically call themselves "purrcats" or "roarcats" because Max, a 4'11" Purrcat has very different accessibility needs than her Roarcat cousin Tony (tiger, 7'2") Birds can be outright secretive about their species, with "singers" keeping their exact taxonomy a secret except among other birds. Birds of a feather flock together, and there's strength in numbers for this historically persecuted group.

--- Anyway, the real answer to this ask is that you probably shouldn't worry too much about the greater worldbuilding here, because all of this is in service of a smut comic.

[bunny-jpeg]

Hi love can I get a tiramisu with a side hot coffee (w baby trapping) made freash by Max Verstappen ty 💛

bakery menu (complete)

want to submit your own order? then hit up the menu! i have tons of items to choose from and i'd love for you to check them out! any driver is available (must be 18+, duh) so please feel free to throw your orders my way <3 i love the way your mind thinks, lovely anon. that's one way to get competition off the track! i hope you love the fic!

tiramisu (“my little slut to ruin.”) + coffee (rivals au) served by max verstappen (formula one)!!

cw: smut/pwp, driver!reader, rivals au, baby trapping, (technically) unprotected sex, jos verstappen jumpscare, missionary & mating press,

max knew the hunger of racing. it was almost a blood lust. it was a fire in the belly of a driver that pushed them to such limits that it would kill some. formula one drivers were all striving to be the best. max knew this quite well, spending years in a shadow he could never escape. he yearned for approval but it always came to him like a bitter pill. but, not you. you were the track's princess, praise came to you on a silver platter.

and it annoyed the hell out of max. many prayed for his downfall both on a driving level, but also on a personal level. people wanted him to fail, but those same people wanted you to fly high to a second world championship.

so when he saw his own father smiling at you and give you a firm hand shake followed by a pat on the back after a spectacular win. max knew there was one thing to do.

make sure you never stepped foot on the track again.

"c'mon, schat." max said as he leaned against the doorway of the motor home on the track. he saw you walk by back to your teams. he crossed his arms and watched you on shaky legs.

you made a face, "treasure?" you laughed, your voice bounced a little down the row of motor homes for the weekend, "max verstappen, do you forget who i am?"

he snickered, "currently you look like a shaky deer. why are you in heels, you never wear heels?" the two of you butt heads often. you seemed to get under each other's skin often enough.

"it's called going on a date, max. have you heard of those? plus, shouldn't you be fucking some grid bunny tonight? we are on your home turf, might as well trap some poor girl with your bastard."

he laughed louder, "funny. were you having a night on the town? i bet you opened your legs to whatever manager you could find. whoever would give you the biggest contract." his words were biting and so were yours. while it was always better to catch flies with honey than vinegar.

it was easier to catch a rival with vitriol than kindness.

you got your heels off and threw them one after the other towards him before you stopped over bare foot to get in his face. you got onto the small porch and he was all smiles.

"do you have-"

"of course. after all, you're not the first grid bunny of the weekend." then pulled you into the motor home with a slam of the front door. before you could chew him out for that term being used towards you. he had you pressed against the door of the motor home with your leg wrapped around his hip and his large hand pushing up the already short skirt of your dress.

he had no interest in any of the fans with his face plastered across their fat tits. while the women of his home country were beautiful, his eyes were set on the snapping jaws of another driver.

his lips down your neck, teeth grazed across your pulse point and it made you shudder. nipples grew hard under his touch. he started to grope your breasts and you moaned out loud in the near empty motor home.

clothes were shed, leaving you vulnerable. it was a surprise that you made it to the bed. for a brief moment as you dragged him to the bedroom, max thought he was going to breed his future wife on the linoleum wooden floor. and max may have wanted you bred asap but, he wasn't going to hurt your poor elbows and knees. his wife deserved the best, you were going to be doing a big thing. giving birth to the next legend of the track.

"schat." he said softly his mouth to your ear. his strong arms wrapped around you and pulled to his chest. his hands then went to your breasts where he groped the flesh, near bruising them. they were only going to get prettier once you got pregnant. he felt lucky tonight.

"max. fuck." you groaned before you managed to pull yourself away from him and get onto the bed. you propped yourself up on your elbows as you gazed at him. he eyed your beauty as he got closer to you and the bed. his cock at full attention.

oh yeah, you'd never step foot in a car again after tonight. well give it a few weeks and then you'll be off the track for good. he got between your legs on the bed. he got those lovely thighs around him as he continued to gaze at your figure.

"pretty thing." he said, "should i be worried that another man touched you tonight? or were you a good girl?"

you looked at him, "you're not my husband. max. you don't own me."

max smiled before he leaned over you, his bare cock almost slipped into your slick hole as he grabbed a condom from the box in the nightstand. you were trying to get out from under him before he slipped in without protection. a condom was what you thought was your savior. but, max had pricked little holes in it earlier, when he found out you'd be back to the track late.

you watched him get the condom on, the low light made it almost impossible to notice that there were small tears int he tip of the condom. with enough force of his hips, max could probably tear through it. you held onto his forearms as he rubbed his cock up against you for a few moments before he sank inside your sweet cunt. it made him groan and feel a heat in him.

"perfect little thing. i bet you thought about me while you were out. thought about all the thing i'd do you that's why you came in here, right? because you knew you'd get that cunt fucked out."

you felt your ears burn as he continued to rut against you. you dug your short nails into his arms as he thrusted against you. his cock was like a bully, just like the rest of him. but it made your toes curl as you laid under him.

max verstappen was your rival and now he was too busy gorging on your cunt like he owned it. like you were a couple. but, little did you know. the plan was going well in max's mind. it wasn't a difficult one anyway. he just needed his achy, thick cock inside of your gooey cunt and finish inside of you. the rest was biology's doing so he could take his hands off the wheel for that.

and if you weren't pregnant there was a whole other leg of the season plus the off season to really make sure it took. but, you strived for perfection, it was written in your dna. so you'd be good and take him the first time. let his baby sprout in your sweet womb. no need to think about racing when you're caring for his child.

"jij bent de mijne." he said like a promise as he picked up the pace. his cock shoved into the softest parts of you. for such a bitch on the track, your pussy was gummy soft and just pulled him in.

you whined and arched your back. max enjoyed the heavy rise and fall of your pretty breasts. oh, you were beautiful. maybe he was lucky, giving you a baby now. not allow anyone else on the grid to get a taste of you. because you were the kind of woman that men got addicted to.

he picked your hips up further and started to really work at it. your legs were over his shoulders while he fucked you with such vigor that you couldn't find it in you to grip onto the covers under your back. your toes curled while he pounded into you. heat flashed across your body and you felt like you were on fire.

you panted and moaned while max was determined to breed you. you'd be such a pretty mother to his children. did you think he was stopping at one? no. because with you he was going to breed champions and that fact made pleasure lick up in his stomach. he watched you squirm a little as you neared climax and it made max hot all over.

yeah, it was only right that he bred you. keep you off the track and at home with the kids. no need to step on anymore toes in formula one. retire with grace and raise his kids. put that hot feminine body of yours to good use, grow them well in your soft womb. be good for your husband.

he leaned further, pushing you further into yourself to kiss you hotly on the lips once more. he felt your cunt tighten around him as you panted heavily. he had you in a full mating press as his cock bruised your sweet insides. poor thing, marked forever by your rival. the kissed between you two were hot and left heat dripping through your body. his cock felt heavy between your legs. pushing you to your limit. that was a good future mrs. verstappen. you climaxed, he watched bliss crossed your face as you tensed up then relaxed. your heart hammered in your ears as you laid under him, knees to your chest and over his shoulders while his leaky blunt cock head hit against you.

he came soon after, but even when he stilled to a stop. he kept the position to make sure every last drop knew where to go. now wasn't the time for mishaps. he knew that the condom was fully torn at the tip. there was nothing protecting that pretty cunt of yours.

sorry, schat, that was the game. and as max looked into your dazed eyes, he thought that you didn't mind. when he put your legs down and got you on your stomach.

you whimpered a little and he shushed you with heated kiss. he didn't even try to pretend he changed the condom before he was back to being inside of you. you two had a long night together.

max hungered for a lot of things, but as he listened to your sweet whimper and moans, he hungered for one thing. your cunt happily drooling down his cock.

-

"think he's going to do it?" max asked, his arms crossed over your rounded middle. his head on your shoulder as you both watched your eldest son do a second lap on the track.

you looked at him and replied, "of course he will. he's our son." your son, remko was eight now and had taken to the track like nothing else. maybe max's plan didn't work when he made you retire years earlier due to being pregnant with your son. you would eventually step on the track again, first watching your husband win three more championships and now your son taking an interest in it.

you turned back to your son as he hugged the curves of the track. you worried your bottom lip a little. it was a little too much hugging for your liking. you rubbed your lower back. maybe it was the pregnancy emotions getting to you. making you worry.

your career ended after two championships. something you held with pride. you were married to max now, had a son and expecting another in a few short months. as max rubbed your middle and kissed your cheek. you did get one thing out of it though, a promise from your young son that while he would race under the verstappen last name, he'd happily race under your country's flag.

so while you couldn't bring your nation joy, you'd be nothing but smiles when your son held the flag high in due time. some would've considered that max trapped you with a baby (or rather two). but those same blue eyes and charming smile still lured you in. even though you had your doubts about that night being an 'accident', there was nothing you could really do now. both your boys needed their father.

"i love you." max said, hand wide across your swollen middle.

you looked at him, your rival turned husband. as your son crossed the finish line for his practice, you kissed your husband on the lips. the time of the laps were called and you said to max, "i love you too." then watched your husband pull away to congratulate remko on a good practice.

knowing your luck both of your kids will be in racing. and you knew if max had his way, the entire future grid would have the verstappen last name. <3

[mjldx7]

Sorry I must...

Okay so random idea that hasn't left my mind.

SVSSS Rival Idol Groups.

So, two groups. Cang Qiong and Hua Huan.

Cang Qiong- Yue Qingyuan, Shen Jiu, Shang Qinghua, Mu Qingfang, Qi Qingqi, Liu Qingge

Hua Huan- Tianlang-Jun, Luo Binghe (tried to join Cang Qiong at first but was denied), Zhuzhi-Lang

Both- Shen Yuan

Now let me explain, both groups work under the same major company but have rivalries between the two of them for various reason. They share a studio but try and time things so they don't meet up.

Now, Shen Yuan joined the industry a bit late and there was an issue in his contract. Due to this issue he was technically apart of both groups. Could the company have fixed this, sure, but did they, no. So, Shen Yuan switches between the two groups.

Shen Yuan is of course not limited to his wifebeam only by svsss standards of course so he has both these groups wrapped around his finger (even if he doesn't really know).

Problem 1: Sharing a favorite idol between the two groups causes parts of the rivalry problems

Problem 2: The types of work now done.

Hua Huan's group is more known for darker themes within thier music, think like a mix between dark romance and heartbreaker stuff.

Cang Qiong is more pop based.

Pretty big difference between the two, oh does is cause problems tho for the other groups.

Cang Qiong sees Shen Yuan acting fucking seductive as hell in any sorta Hua Huan music/videos etc. Hua Huan sees Shen Yuan acting like a whole entire angel in anything Cang Qiong films. Both groups knows how Shen Yuan actually acts of course but God damn if the switch up doesn't kill some of them. (R.I.P. Liu Qingge after seeing Shen Yuan do anything suggestive in a Hua Huan video)

Okay, so background info down. Now to the idea plaguing my mind for the past week. "SIX the Musical". Cang Qiong had decided to do a fan film stunt for a musical voted on by fans. This is how it goes.

Mu Qingfang plays Catherine of Aragon -> sings "No Way"

Shang Qinghua plays Ann Bolyen -> sings "Don't lose your head"

Yue Qingyuan plays Jane Seymour -> sings "Heart of stone"

Qi Qingqi does the song "Haus of Holbien" as a joke for the most part but still kills it

Liu Qingge plays Anne of Cleves -> sings "Get down"

SHEN YUAN plays Catherine Howard -> sings "all you wanna do" (if that doesn't kill far to many people with the dancing involved to match the song then I don't know what would)

Shen Jiu plays Catherine Parr -> sings "I don't need your love"

It goes great-ish! Only a couple nose bleeds from the fans.

(OH YEAH, forgot to mention but in any song you know damn well that Qi Qingqi is playing an male characters. Fake mustache and everything, "Oh so I have a little flirt with the footman [get down]" and Qi Qingqi is there fake blushing acting like the footman while Liu Qingge is still acting)

Oh and in Haus of Holbien you know damn well the lyrics are taken into account of for the group. "You bring the corsets, we'll bring the cinches, no one wants a waist of nine inches" you know damn well someone is being forced into a corset screaming and kicking (shen jiu). "Try these heels, so high it's naughty. But we cannot guarantee that you'll still walk at 40" Mu Qingfang is struggling for his life trying to get up while wearing like 5-6 inch heels.

(Also added note, I am aware that some of the things with like Qi Qingqi's part sounds off. The idea so that she could still be involved was to put Haus of Holbien as it's own song with it's own singer and different choreography for the songs then the typical from the musical)

[mariacallous]

In the span of just weeks, the U.S. government has experienced what may be the most consequential security breach in its history—not through a sophisticated cyberattack or an act of foreign espionage, but through official orders by a billionaire with a poorly defined government role. And the implications for national security are profound.

First, it was reported that people associated with the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had accessed the U.S. Treasury computer system, giving them the ability to collect data on and potentially control the department’s roughly $5.45 trillion in annual federal payments.

Then, we learned that uncleared DOGE personnel had gained access to classified data from the U.S. Agency for International Development, possibly copying it onto their own systems. Next, the Office of Personnel Management—which holds detailed personal data on millions of federal employees, including those with security clearances—was compromised. After that, Medicaid and Medicare records were compromised.

Meanwhile, only partially redacted names of CIA employees were sent over an unclassified email account. DOGE personnel are also reported to be feeding Education Department data into artificial intelligence software, and they have also started working at the Department of Energy.

This story is moving very fast. On Feb. 8, a federal judge blocked the DOGE team from accessing the Treasury Department systems any further. But given that DOGE workers have already copied data and possibly installed and modified software, it’s unclear how this fixes anything.

In any case, breaches of other critical government systems are likely to follow unless federal employees stand firm on the protocols protecting national security.

The systems that DOGE is accessing are not esoteric pieces of our nation’s infrastructure—they are the sinews of government.

For example, the Treasury Department systems contain the technical blueprints for how the federal government moves money, while the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) network contains information on who and what organizations the government employs and contracts with.

What makes this situation unprecedented isn’t just the scope, but also the method of attack. Foreign adversaries typically spend years attempting to penetrate government systems such as these, using stealth to avoid being seen and carefully hiding any tells or tracks. The Chinese government’s 2015 breach of OPM was a significant U.S. security failure, and it illustrated how personnel data could be used to identify intelligence officers and compromise national security.

In this case, external operators with limited experience and minimal oversight are doing their work in plain sight and under massive public scrutiny: gaining the highest levels of administrative access and making changes to the United States’ most sensitive networks, potentially introducing new security vulnerabilities in the process.

But the most alarming aspect isn’t just the access being granted. It’s the systematic dismantling of security measures that would detect and prevent misuse—including standard incident response protocols, auditing, and change-tracking mechanisms—by removing the career officials in charge of those security measures and replacing them with inexperienced operators.

The Treasury’s computer systems have such an impact on national security that they were designed with the same principle that guides nuclear launch protocols: No single person should have unlimited power. Just as launching a nuclear missile requires two separate officers turning their keys simultaneously, making changes to critical financial systems traditionally requires multiple authorized personnel working in concert.

This approach, known as “separation of duties,” isn’t just bureaucratic red tape; it’s a fundamental security principle as old as banking itself. When your local bank processes a large transfer, it requires two different employees to verify the transaction. When a company issues a major financial report, separate teams must review and approve it. These aren’t just formalities—they’re essential safeguards against corruption and error.

These measures have been bypassed or ignored. It’s as if someone found a way to rob Fort Knox by simply declaring that the new official policy is to fire all the guards and allow unescorted visits to the vault.

The implications for national security are staggering. Sen. Ron Wyden said his office had learned that the attackers gained privileges that allow them to modify core programs in Treasury Department computers that verify federal payments, access encrypted keys that secure financial transactions, and alter audit logs that record system changes. Over at OPM, reports indicate that individuals associated with DOGE connected an unauthorized server into the network. They are also reportedly training AI software on all of this sensitive data.

This is much more critical than the initial unauthorized access. These new servers have unknown capabilities and configurations, and there’s no evidence that this new code has gone through any rigorous security testing protocols. The AIs being trained are certainly not secure enough for this kind of data. All are ideal targets for any adversary, foreign or domestic, also seeking access to federal data.

There’s a reason why every modification—hardware or software—to these systems goes through a complex planning process and includes sophisticated access-control mechanisms. The national security crisis is that these systems are now much more vulnerable to dangerous attacks at the same time that the legitimate system administrators trained to protect them have been locked out.

By modifying core systems, the attackers have not only compromised current operations, but have also left behind vulnerabilities that could be exploited in future attacks—giving adversaries such as Russia and China an unprecedented opportunity. These countries have long targeted these systems. And they don’t just want to gather intelligence—they also want to understand how to disrupt these systems in a crisis.

Now, the technical details of how these systems operate, their security protocols, and their vulnerabilities are now potentially exposed to unknown parties without any of the usual safeguards. Instead of having to breach heavily fortified digital walls, these parties  can simply walk through doors that are being propped open—and then erase evidence of their actions.

The security implications span three critical areas.

First, system manipulation: External operators can now modify operations while also altering audit trails that would track their changes. Second, data exposure: Beyond accessing personal information and transaction records, these operators can copy entire system architectures and security configurations—in one case, the technical blueprint of the country’s federal payment infrastructure. Third, and most critically, is the issue of system control: These operators can alter core systems and authentication mechanisms while disabling the very tools designed to detect such changes. This is more than modifying operations; it is modifying the infrastructure that those operations use.

To address these vulnerabilities, three immediate steps are essential. First, unauthorized access must be revoked and proper authentication protocols restored. Next, comprehensive system monitoring and change management must be reinstated—which, given the difficulty of cleaning a compromised system, will likely require a complete system reset. Finally, thorough audits must be conducted of all system changes made during this period.

This is beyond politics—this is a matter of national security. Foreign national intelligence organizations will be quick to take advantage of both the chaos and the new insecurities to steal U.S. data and install backdoors to allow for future access.

Each day of continued unrestricted access makes the eventual recovery more difficult and increases the risk of irreversible damage to these critical systems. While the full impact may take time to assess, these steps represent the minimum necessary actions to begin restoring system integrity and security protocols.

Assuming that anyone in the government still cares.

[forcemeanakin]

Right where you left me.

•WARNINGS: Angst. Situationship. May trigger people with abandonment issues or that have intimacy problems. Not technically cheating, but it may be triggering. Anakin's a douche bag.

Pairing: au!Anakin Skywalker x you!reader.

Summary: Anakin decides to pursue things outside of your relationship, breaking your heart in the process.

Word count: 1.7k.

A/N: NOT PROOFREAD, english is my second language, so please be gentle. If there are any mistakes, pls let me know in private so I can correct them, thanks :) Also I have a serious issue between differentiating “in” and “on” situations, so bare with me lmao.

☽⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯✳⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯✺⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯✳⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯☾

You ran into the coffee shop, in a hurry, which is a normal state for you and your continuous tardiness. “Fuck.” You muttered under your breath as you forced the door open with unnecessary strength. 

Anakin must’ve been waiting for half an hour now. 

On your tippy toes, you scanned the room, looking for the golden curls to stand out from a booth. 

Bingo. 

Trying to hide your excitement, you rushed to the table where your -relatively- new thing was waiting for you. You cursed your bag for making so much noise and told yourself off for packing so much shit. Maybe there was no need to bring all the stuff with you, but you couldn’t help yourself in your excitement to show Anakin all of the activities you had planned for you two and the remaining part of the summer. 

“Hey.” You whispered loud enough for him to listen to you, but your shortness of breath didn’t go unnoticed by him. He gave you a toothless smile as you sat down in front of him. “I’m sorry I’m late, I was at work and my manager-” You didn’t finish the sentence, instead, your face let him know everything he needed.

“Don’t sweat. I haven’t waited long. Five minutes to be exact.” He checked his phone carelessly. 

Oh. 

“Training ran long?” You hoped.

“Oh, no, just ran a little late.” He shrugged his shoulders. Like it was of no importance. 

At least you felt ashamed for being late. He didn’t seem to carry the same guilt.

Sometimes Anakin did this thing that stung your heart a little. His number one priority had always been him. And when you agreed to try things with him, you knew that was implied in the contract. Part of you had been hoping that you were going to be the reason that changed. 

So far, you had failed in your mission. 

“Oh, right.” You tried to fake a smile. 

“And how’s life outside of work, baby?” 

And just like that, your heart felt a little lighter and spark returned to your face. Especially when he reached out to hold your hand and play with your fingers. Especially when he used that nickname that you loved and you hadn’t heard in a while from his lips.

“It’s fine. My summer classes are always boring.” You rolled your eyes, chuckling at the end because he knew how much you hated to take extra courses. 

“I told you to give yourself some time off in the summer.” He raised his eyebrow.

“I know, I know…” You huffed. “Actually, I’ve been working on that.” You smiled, turning to your bag and taking some of the things you packed. 

Tickets for one of your favorite movies, that he insisted he wanted to watch with you. It made you smile so hard when he had proposed that plan, given that he was aware how much that franchise meant to you. 

You also took out some coins for the local fair, the one you two had walked by and promised to do that as your next date. 

The brand new control for your gaming console you had just bought to join him in video games because he said he wanted to share that without you. He seemed pretty excited to do that as an activity together and he even listed all of the games you might like. 

And right when you were about to take the keys of your summer house out, to hint him that you were ready to take the next step in your relationship, he stopped you. 

Anything intimate always made you nervous, even when you two were in the middle of it. It was a very vulnerable space for you and Anakin was your first in many things. It was normal for you to still be adapting to it. 

But you wanted to try. For you.

For him.

As a more experienced person than you, Anakin had needs. Needs that you sometimes failed to meet. That even though he was patient, you could feel how your lack of confidence sometimes bugged him. Not in an explicit manner, just… the occasional huff when he tried something experimental in bed or when you started to psych yourself out of the make out session. 

Any other person would have already left, but Anakin was your friend first and he was well aware of your uptight personality way before the two of you agreed to be friends with benefits. He knew what he was getting into and he was actually glad to help you experiment with that part of yourself you normally hid.

So your demonstration of being an organized and planning psycho was nothing new to him.

“Hey, hey…” He slowed you down, barely gazing the things on the table and fixing his eyes on yours. “Before you get started, I wanted to talk to you.”

His serious tone alerted you. But you weren’t surprised. Something inside of you had been alerting you all weekend. You thought it was your well-known anxiety. However, this felt unusual. Like his habitual ghosting and lack of response for the past few days meant different things this time.

“Sure.” You took a deep breath, trying to make it not so obvious. “Go ahead.” You nodded with a little smile trying to appear serene. 

“So, sorry for not replying to your texts this weekend. I was out in nature, thinking and connecting, you know?” He tilted his head, his eyes looking for some compassion out of you.

“Yeah, yeah, of course.” You rushed the words when the silence dipped between you two, part of it your fault because you were too worried with your sinking heart. 

You could understand a little impromptu retreat, you only wished it wasn’t right after you did some pretty intimate stuff back at your house. That last day you two crossed more boundaries than ever before. And even though you highly enjoyed it, his absence after that had you feeling nauseous, making you overthink and regret your decision of not giving him your virginity right in that opportunity. Maybe he would have shown more interest if you would have-

“So…Uhm… I think we should stop hanging out.” 

Your heart was down by your feet when he pronounced those words. You tried with all your soul to control your trembling hands that lied in between his palms so he didn’t notice how he was ripping you apart. Your irregular breath threatened to put you on blast but you managed to keep it on the low. 

“It’s not about you, seriously. I love hanging out with you and spending time with you, among other stuff.” He chuckled lightly, but instead of following his action, you released the breath you were holding. “But I’ve been talking to this girl and I just want to make sure that everything is working out with her. Emotionally.”

The sting in your eyes only grew bigger as you realized how embarrassing and heart shattering this moment was for you. Your cheeks felt hot and tight, something you tried hard to disguise with a breezy exterior. 

Like a flash, you remembered the day both of you talked about the rules of your agreement. You kicked yourself mentally when you reminisced of the moment where both of you agreed to let the other one know if they wanted to pursue something with someone else. You had said yes, in the expectation that his constant checking in on you and daily talks was enough proof of interest. Meaning that he would not be looking outside of your “situationship” .

And you agreed, because that was your case. You were interested enough. 

“You let me know if you want to see another guy, okay?”

You could almost laugh at such stupid idea. Didn’t he know?

“I think it’s better if we stop talking, so I can figure out things with her.” He scrunched his nose, like he was running out of words.

But how many words do you actually need to let someone know you don’t want them? He didn’t need much more. You’ve gotten the message. 

“It’s nothing definitive, but yeah… Let me know if you have any questions.” He gave you a side smile, still fidgeting with your frozen-in-place fingers. 

That took you out of the slow motion trance you were in. 

“Y-yeah, okay.” You took your hands out of his quickly, blinking quickly into realization. You started to rush everything back in your purse, screaming the word “Stupid!” over and over again in your head while you carried on with a calm expression. “Do not worry about me. No questions on my part. Thanks for letting me know.”

I guess.

“Totally agree with not talking anymore.” You finally stopped for a second after pushing all of the items on your tote bag. He seemed to be analyzing your expression in search of any sign of real approval, because your shy and cold body language wasn’t reassuring him. So you put on your bravest face and forced a smile. “I hope everything turns out great with her.” 

Speaking those words felt like hot iron was passing through your throat. 

He gave you an honest smile and got up, taking his jacket with him. “Thank you. And thanks for understanding.”

You stayed frozen in place, your purse on your lap with your hands clutching it so hard you could feel your nails through the fabric. You limited yourself to nodding quietly and letting the side of your mouth curve slightly up. 

“I’m sorry I can’t stay-” He began explaining his sudden escape. 

“Don’t be. Don’t worry about me. ” You dismissed. “I’ll just stay and have lunch.” You took the menu and fixed your gaze on the listed items, anything that wouldn’t be his eyes. 

He excused himself off the table politely, leaving you all alone and speechless. You glued your eyes to his back until he exited through the door, begging silently that he would turn around and say something else. Something that would pull you back into his life.

It seemed like that wasn’t his plan.

“I know I shouldn’t look for you for sexual stuff, but can I contact you for friend stuff?”

The text arrived that Saturday at 1am, 5 days later, erasing any progress you had done. 

The day of his usual drunken nights. 

Right around the time he used to get bored and there wasn't anything left to smoke. 

Exactly at the time he would always contact you. 

And you?

You were still at the restaurant. Unable to move.

Every day since that day. 

Right where he left you. 

[sssssssssw234459]

Rhaenyra is the legitimate heir in a feudal monarchy

My history classes are finally useful lol. Anyway, this is kinda short, simplified and with wikipedia as my main source because honestly I don't feel like getting into a full argument about it as it is just a fictional world and all. But I needed to write this because there is a misunderstanding about how feudal monarchy works (although technically there are some major differences between Westeros and medieval Europe tbh). Also my english kinda sucks sorry.

To be simple: oaths are very VERY important in a feudal monarchy. We see the apparition of feudal monarchies around the 9th century after a few kingdoms' territorial expansions in Europe. The main issue of such large territory is that it required soldiers everywhere to protect it, and these soldiers needed a "leader" to defend the territories the king couldn't protect himself, someone to make sure the new conquered territories would stay under the king's rule. However, to make sure these new "leaders" would stay loyal to the king, they had to pledge an oath to him, thus becoming his vassals. Later, these vassals will themselves have vassals under them that have to swear oaths to them as well. The whole feudal hierarchy mainly existed through oaths as it is based on that the king could give his vassals lands, territories and castles (ect...) to protect.

"The obligations and corresponding rights between lord and vassal concerning the fief form the basis of the feudal relationship.[1]" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feudalism)

"Before a lord could grant land (a fief) to someone, he had to make that person a vassal. This was done at a formal and symbolic ceremony called a commendation ceremony, which was composed of the two-part act of homage and oath of fealty. During homage, the lord and vassal entered into a contract in which the vassal promised to fight for the lord at his command, whilst the lord agreed to protect the vassal from external forces. Fealty comes from the Latin fidelitas and denotes the fidelity owed by a vassal to his feudal lord. "Fealty" also refers to an oath that more explicitly reinforces the commitments of the vassal made during homage; such an oath follows homage.[35] Once the commendation ceremony was complete, the lord and vassal were in a feudal relationship with agreed obligations to one another. The vassal's principal obligation to the lord was to provide aid or military service." (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feudalism#:~:text=Classic%20feudalism,-See%20also%3A%20Feudalism&text=In%20broad%20terms%20a%20lord,of%20service%20to%20the%20lord.)

"It was sworn between two people, the feudal subject or liegeman (vassal) and his feudal superior (liege lord). The oath of allegiance was usually carried out as part of a traditional ceremony in which the liegeman or vassal gave his lord a pledge of loyalty and acceptance of the consequences of a breach of trust. In return, the liege lord promised to protect and remain loyal to his vassal." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fealty)

In the United Kingdoms:

"The oath also specifies that this same oath to the king, is equally sworn to his "heirs and successors", in the plural, rather than a single heir and successor (...) in the event that any one of them should accede to the throne. Thus, the pledge of loyalty to the Crown made in the oath does not end at the death of the current monarch. (...) The oath of allegiance was performed to King Edgar (c. 944–8 July 975).[4] The oath was certainly in use as of the date of John, King of England's Magna Carta, signed on 15 June 1215." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_Allegiance_(United_Kingdom))

In a Fire and Blood:

"Disregarding the precedents set by King Jaehaerys in 92 and the Great Council in 101, Viserys declared his daughter, Rhaenyra, to be his rightful heir, and named her Princess of Dragonstone. In a lavish ceremony at King’s Landing, hundreds of lords did obeisance to the Realm’s Delight as she sat at her father’s feet at the base of the Iron Throne, swearing to honor and defend her right of succession." (page 393).

"The ancient master of coin, who had served King Viserys for the majority of his reign, and his grandfather, Jaehaerys the Old King, before him, reminded the council that Rhaenyra was older than her brothers and had more Targaryen blood, that the late king had chosen her as his successor, that he had repeatedly refused to alter the succession despite the pleadings of Queen Alicent and her greens, that hundreds of lords and landed knights had done obeisance to the princess in 105 AC, and sworn solemn oaths to defend her rights." (page 430).

These are the same kind of vows the Kingsguard swear:

"Then as now, the Sworn Brotherhood of the Kingsguard consisted of seven knights, men of proven loyalty and undoubted prowess who had taken solemn oaths to devote their lives to defending the king’s person and kin." (page 428).

The "solemn oaths" term is used in both cases for Rhaenyra's inheritance and Kingsguard's vows, which is very interesting.

Anyway, it is mentioned two times the lords and landed knights swore an oath to her. From a feudal perspective, Rhaenyra is a legitimate heir. For people who want to say "oh but Tyland said he had swore no such oaths!" 1) oaths like that are supposed to be on behalf of your house and doesn’t cease to exist if your king dies, 2) technically Tyland is only the brother of the Lord of Casterly Rock anyway so it makes sense it’s not up to him to swear the oath in a feudal monarchy, though it still applies to him.

Anyway, in a feudal monarchy the king is powerful but he doesn't even have all powers… so he does need the vassals' approval. In Fire and Blood, all the lords who are vassals to the king Viserys I swore an oath to Rhaenyra and recognised her as heir. She is legitimate.

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

Jikookers need to stop with the performative concern, over-rational thinking and constantly policing of other people because they're under army's and taekooker's surveillance honestly armys and tkks can suck a dick ain't nobody in this entire world more delusional and less in touch with reality than them so I won't let any of them tell me shit for saying that jimin and jungkook are together when we literally had PICTURES OF THEM LEAVING TOGETHER

Omg, they pissed me off so bad for the past week. At least half of them should shut up and shouldn't get to enjoy a thing after their behavior. It's not enough that jikook antis were harrassing everyone who dared to say they saw KM in multiple locations, you'd also get some jokers either behaving high and mighty and calling all those people liars and clout chasers, or acting like some 12 year olds, desperate for evidence. Until they receive evidence and then they're faux outraged.

Why is there some consensus that we should pretend Jimin and Jungkook are not celebrities? Not just that, it looks like they went to Europe with staff and cameras after them. In public spaces. Do these people realize that by giving hints and then explicitly talking about where jikook were, that technically falls under privacy violation as well? Based on their logic. So, posting the photos or not is just the same, after the entire twitter knows already.

It gets to a really absurd point in which no one is actually making sense cause they live in this bubble in which they make their own rules and new guidelines for the social contract. Based on the reactions, you'd think tmz got up in a tree and took some shots of those two having sex in a hotel room. Get a grip, yk??

Just yesterday, someone was in a restaurant in the middle of nowhere and posted some photos of their partner and in the background at the other table it was Meryl Streep with her family. And I looked at the comment section and mostly everyone was sharing the excitement of seeing her out there in some unexpected place, but they were also asking if the chicken was good, lol. No threats, no performative concern, no weirdness. Just the usual "I saw a movie star out in the wild, this was amazing and everyone else is sharing my excitement". Of course things can get weird, no doubt about it, but we can't ignore the context and the specifics of each situation. We gotta use our head from time to time.

[hard--headed--woman]

Hey! After talking about not just a lesbian but a lesbian couple yesterday in my post about Elisa y Marcela, I will do the same thing today ! This time, the two women are american. Their names are

Donna Burkett and Manonia Evans !

"I did not believe the government had any business telling me who I could marry."

This sentence aptly describes the convictions and state of mind of the two women in 1971.

This year, indeed, Donna Burkett and Manonia Evans applied to a Milwaukee County clerk for a marriage license, decades before their state legalized homosexual marriages. At the time, their story made the rounds of the national media and newspapers, attracting the hatred of some and the admiration of others. Such a bold move at a time when homophobia was so rife was bound to get people talking! They were the first same-sex couple to do such thing.

Aged 25 and 21 respectively, the two women had met in a gay bar. After being refused a license, they filed a federal lawsuit claiming that the denial of marital benefits, including inheritance rights and joint tax filings, did not afford them the equal protection granted by the Constitution. The complaint read, “The legal increments of marriage ought to be shared irrespective of generic differences, to wit: mutual fulfillment and happiness and the equal opportunity to share in the benefits of the law as those in heterosexual unions blessed by the civil marriage contract.”

Federal judge Myron Gordon dismissed the suit over "technical legal issues".

Meantime, Donna and Manonia still wanted to get married, so they invited 250 family and friends together on Christmas Day 1971 for a ceremony officiated by Joseph Feldhausen, a gay Russian Orthodox priest, in Milwaukee. Some members of their family, like Manonia's parents, were not present, not accepting this union, but the two women were OK with it, saying that it's part of life when you're gay.

Their wedding also made it to the news.

The results of their newfound fame were not positive ; the young couple’s friends shunned them, Donna lost her job, and Manonia got kicked out of school. Manonia’s father, a preacher, said he’d rather see his daughter dead than homosexual.

Unfortunately, the strain took its toll and eventually, Donna and Manonia split up. Both of them spent the rest of their life fighting for gay rights. Some years ago, Donna, who isn’t married even though she now has the right to, said that she doesn't care anymore, that she's happy with herself, but glad that young homosexuals can marry who they love. The two women haven't seen each other in many, many years.

It sounds like a very sad story indeed; their attempt to obtain the right to marry failed, their coming out caused them a lot of problems, and they ended up separating because of it all.

But this story and the determination of these two young women has encouraged many homosexuals to fight for the right to marry, and has definitely helped this cause achieve its goal.

Although their lawsuit was ultimately unsuccessful, the argument they used – equal protection under the Constitution – was cited by U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb more than 40 years later, when she overturned Wisconsin’s ban on same-sex marriage in 2014.

I personally love this story and think we should all remember it, as it is important in global lesbian history, and is so interesting and inspiring!

[we-are-not-a-number]

Tldr; Biologists would be amused by Trump's executive order wording, if it wasn't in law erasure of trans and intersex people and the dangerous precedent that it sets, as it lacks a foundation of basic biology and legally declared every American as female.

Clearly, this order is not fully informed by current biological science,” said Dr. Richard Bribiescas, president of the Human Biology Association.“It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female,” reads the order. “These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality. Under my direction, the Executive Branch will enforce all sex-protective laws to promote this reality.” Trump’s action is part of the GOP’s yearslong efforts to stoke fears about transgender people and push them out of public spaces. In effect, the order means the U.S. government will no longer provide any money or contracts to groups or people that it considers to be “promoting gender ideology.” Federal agencies will now only issue passports and visas that offer “female” or “male” sex markers, and these will be based on the person’s assigned sex at birth. The order also bans taxpayer money from being used for gender-affirming care.

The executive order punches down a particularly vulnerable community; trans people only make up about 1.6% of adults in the U.S. But on a more technical level, the way it’s been written is so embarrassingly ignorant of basic human biology that it would be laughable if its effects weren’t so harmful.

In its strangely constructed definitions of “female” and “male,” the order states that a person’s gender is defined by the size of a “reproductive cell” at the moment of conception, a stage when all embryos are phenotypically female. In other words, it appears that Trump just declared all Americans are femaleThis language, which is the basis for interpreting the entire executive order, is so sloppily written that it could end up being grounds for legal challenges. “There are many reasons why this Executive Order is legally vulnerable, and the definitions themselves are just one part,” Karen Loewy, senior counsel and director of constitutional law practice at Lambda Legal, a legal group focused on LGBTQ+ rights, said in an email.So how badly did Trump officials butcher their attempt to lump everyone into two sexes? Did the president really just make us all women? HuffPost reached out to seasoned biologists around the country to help make sense of Trump’s definitions of sex, gender and “reproductive cells.” They don’t know what he’s talking about, either.

“Lots of folks are wondering the same thing!” Dr. Francisco Diaz, director of the Center for Reproductive Health and Biology at Pennsylvania State University, said of the Trump White House’s understanding of how biology works.Embryos are “neither male nor female” by Trump’s definition, Diaz said, since there are no germ cells present at conception. Germ cells are reproductive cells that later become eggs and sperm, and that are set aside early in embryonic development. “How about men after vasectomies? No germ cells there, are they still male?” asked Diaz, who is also an associate professor of reproductive biology at the university. ”Are postmenopausal women still female?”

“Not a super tight definition!” he concluded. “The ‘at conception’ wording seems forced to define personhood as beginning at conception and not really to define sex.”

Republicans for years have tried to legislate their personal beliefs about life beginning at conception. They’ve introduced versions of a bill called the Life at Conception Act 13 times since 2011. These efforts have almost certainly influenced the “conception” language in Trump’s latest executive action.

Dr. Richard Bribiescas, an anthropology professor at Yale University and the president of the Human Biology Association, said the order’s definitions of “sex” and “gender” ignore all kinds of variations that take place in human development. “Woman/man, boy/girl are gender identities that do not necessarily align with biological characteristics of sex,” he said in an email. “Genders are components of human variation that are influenced by culture, identity, and many other non-biological factors. To illustrate the difference between sex and gender, we can talk about male/female chimpanzees (our closest evolutionary relative) but it would be non-sensical to discuss chimpanzee women, men, boys or girls.”

Trump’s definitions of “female” and “male” are also flawed, said Bribiescas, because he is tying them to something called “anisogamy” in biology, or the observation that females of some species, including humans, tend to produce larger gametes (the reproductive cells that come from germ cells) compared to males.Anisogamy is not a universal rule in biology, he said. But Trump’s executive order defines females as people belonging to the sex that produces “the large reproductive cell” and males belonging to the sex that produces “the small reproductive cell.”The size of a person’s gametes is “just one characteristic among many (ie., genetic, hormonal, developmental, physical) that is used to describe sex,” Bribiescas said. “Clearly, this order is not fully informed by current biological science.”

This executive order “is highly problematic from a biological standpoint because it overly simplifies what we know to be an incredibly complicated developmental process,” said Dr. Josh Snodgrass, a professor of anthropology and global health at the University of Oregon. “It’s just not that simple from a genetic standpoint, and then becomes even more complicated with time under the influence of hormones, environmental exposures, and social experiences.”

Snodgrass, the past president of the Human Biology Association, noted that Trump’s order also doesn’t account for people who are intersex, which means they are born with genitals, chromosomes or reproductive organs that don’t fit into the typical male/female sex binary.“This reads to me as coming from people who desperately want the world to be simple — for sex to be a simple binary and for us to return to some imagined time when this was more broadly accepted,” he said. “The problem is that it’s not only science that shows us that human biological variation is more complicated, but other cultures do and have also appreciated this for thousands of years.”

Snodgrass added that there is one more thing missing from the executive order that belongs in all conversations about sex and gender: empathy. “The authors of this executive order seem like they are trying to twist science to fit their worldview, but that this worldview is painfully out of step with reality,” he said.

[thetempleofthemasaigoddess]

Being a native of Foosha Village and falling for Shanks would involve...

Shanks x reader (moodboard)

Sorry if the timeline is a bit wonky, I wasn't able to determine how long exactly the Red Haired pirates spend on Foosha nor how much time passes between the beginning of Luffy's adventure and him getting a bounty, at least in the Live Action continuity...

*****

🏴‍☠️ Being Foosha's resident doctor, you have known Luffy since he was a baby; he is usually in good health, but sometimes you are called to treat a small wound or a bruise he sustained while he played... or got into trouble as usual. You quickly grow fond of the child, who in turn comes to consider you as a sort of older sister. He routinely eats at your place when the Partys is closed, and you insist he regularly attends the village's school, pointing out even a pirate needs a basic education.

🏴‍☠️ One day you are called to the village's little harbour; a pirate crew has docked that morning, some members of the crew have come down with a sickness they cannot diagnose, and the captain has insisted none of them go ashore lest they infect the villagers. Privately you have your misgivings about their presence, in case your visitors are the sort of people who depredate defenseless villages and indulge in violence and bloodshed for the sheer pleasure of it, but as a doctor you have sworn to assist any person who needs it, so you take your bag, introduce yourself once you have reached the ship, and are admitted on board.

🏴‍☠️ You are quickly brought to the captain, and so you find yourself face to face with Red-Haired Shanks, one of the most famous pirates of the Four Seas... even though he doesn't look particularly glorious at the moment. He explains that the first signs of the sickness appeared three weeks ago, when a few of his men started coughing and complaining of chills even though it was summer, and soon many of them were struck down with the fever that, in the confined spaces of the ship, quickly spread to the whole crew, even though the captain ordered to confine the sick in their quarters... and then to do the same to the healthy ones, to protect them. There had been no one capable to treat the men, since the ship doctor had been killed in a scuffle with another crew two months ago, and since then they had not acquired another yet.

🏴‍☠️ "Not the wisest decision of my life, I know; I should have realized that a doctor is vital for a crew, more than a cook or even a navigator. I thought we would have more time, because we hadn't needed one in more than a year... please, help us." he says; he is lying on his cot, clearly weak and in pain for the fever, but there is an unquestionable, unquenchable energy in his eyes, the desperate fire of his force of will that has led him to become one of the most respected and powerful pirates of the Four Seas, burning as bright as his red hair "I will pay you well, you have my word, and I promise we came to your village to rest for a while and search for help; we don't want to hurt anyone. No, take care of my men first; some of them have been in pain for weeks. Save them, I beg you."

🏴‍☠️ The desperation in his voice, the sincere worry of a captain who deeply cares for the men under his command, would be enough to dispel your qualms, if you had any. You immediately start attending your patients, and are relieved to realize they are suffering from red fever, a technically fatal illness that can nonetheless be quite easily cured, that a few men probably contracted on the last island they visited and then spread to the rest of the crew. The number of patients to treat causes some difficulty, but fortunately Foosha's apothecary is well-stocked with the ingredients you need to prepare the medicine, and Makino and a few other women offer to assist you as nurses. It takes a few days, but soon Shanks and his men are on the road to recovery, the least sick already back to health.

🏴‍☠️ Shanks is immensely relieved for your help, and thanks you profusely; as he promised, he offers to reward you handsomely for your service, and seems impressed when you insist to accept your usual fee and nothing more, plus a compensation for your assistants. "I am a doctor." you simply explain, shrugging your shoulders and sincerely convinced there is nothing heroic, or even just commendable, in what you did "I swore to help whoever needed it, pauper or King, hero or bandit; you and your men were sick, and I could treat you. End of the story." "Nevertheless, I really appreciate your help, doctor; meeting you was a blessing from the Gods." Shanks says; he is back on his feet, his already familiar straw hat on his head, and you find yourself smiling back without realizing. He has a very nice smile. "I was happy to help; and please, call me (name)."

🏴‍☠️ As promised, Shanks and his men create no disturbance in Foosha; rather, they take such a liking to your little village that they decide to stay for a while, to rest before resuming their travels. The villagers quickly grow fond of them, and soon Shanks and his crew become part of your community, as if those men hailing from the four corners of the world had always been there. You are, for obvious reasons, one of the first they come to know, and you learn to appreciate their company... especially the captain's.

🏴‍☠️ Once he and his men no longer need your assistance as doctor, you would have no reason to seek Shanks' company, nor he yours; still, you end up meeting every day or almost, all of it because of (or thanks to, you'll think back later) Luffy. Becoming a pirate has always been your young friend's dream and aspiration, and predictably Shanks, an expert captain and famous corsair, quickly becomes his idol; he follows him around, hanging off his words, begging to know about their travels and adventures, which Shanks is always happy to. Soon your young friend become a sort of mascotte for the pirate crew, a younger brother they all like and are happy to entertain.

🏴‍☠️ You are in the habit of going to the Partys every night, both to relax after work for a drink and spend some time with Luffy, and the pirates have likewise selected the bar as their favourite meeting point, which means that without either of you realizing (or wanting, which doesn't mean you regret it, or even try to avoid it) you and Shanks quickly become acquainted well beyond the simple relationship between a doctor and an one-time patient.

🏴‍☠️ The first opportunity you have to really bond happens during your village's yearly festival: there is music, food, dancing, even a firework display, and the pirates are obviously happy to join the celebration. You are sitting alone in front of a bonfire, having gotten momentarily separated from your friends, looking at the couples dancing as you vaguely reflect on your duties for tomorrow, when suddenly Shanks appears next to you. "You don't like dancing?" he inquires after you have greeted each other, as he slides on the bench next to you, a jug in his hands; you shrug, admitting that you actually do, but you haven't been invited by any of the men present. "Oh! Then they don't know what they're missing." Shanks seriously comments; he drinks a sip from his drink, leaves it on the bench, stands, and offers you hid hand. "Shall we?" he asks. "There is no need, really! You don't have to..." you hurry to explain, and he determinedly shakes his head. "I know I don't have to; but believe it or not, I enjoy dancing, and I am told I am pretty good at it. Come on, it is a night of celebration; let's enjoy it."

🏴‍☠️ You could point out that from what you have seen the pirates don't need a special occasion to revel and have fun, but you gladly accept Shanks' hand and let him lead you to the improvised dancefloor in the village's square. Shanks takes one of your hands in his, gently rests the other on your hip, and a moment later you are moving together in time with the music, and Shanks had not lied, he is actually a very good dancer, and you can't help smiling as you follow his steps, noticing that the red of his hair is even brighter than usual thanks to the light of the bonfire, and his smile brighter still. In the end, the rhythm changes to a slow dance, and Shanks gently circle your waist with an arm, just like all the men around you are doing with their partners. "Is this... all right?" he asks, suddenly uncertain, and you nod, intimately surprised of how all right it is, as you silently rest both of your arms on his shoulders, your hands overlapping behind his head. Another smile passes between you, a smaller, more intimate one; you suddenly feel shy, and giddy, and you wish this moment would never end.

🏴‍☠️ Unfortunately it does, in the end, when Shanks' men reclaim his help for a prank they are pulling; he then takes your hand and kisses the back. "The men of the village don't know what they are missing, you are a very good dancer." he says, and then the other drag him away, and you remain there, suddenly alone, and wondering why you feel so warm in the face, while the party goes on around you. Sleep eludes you that night, and when you finally dream, it is of him, still unsure whether what you are feeling is simply due to the moment of intimacy you shared during your dance... or this is something more lasting, and deep.

🏴‍☠️ You are still thinking about it that night, as you nurse your usual drink at the Partys, so lost in your thoughts Makino asks if you are all right. Before you can answer, "Is this seat taken?" someone asks pointing to the stool next to yours; it is Shanks, smiling at you, and you smile back as you nod, and he asks Makino for some dinner, his leg brushing against yours under the counter as he sits. Once more, you are quietly enjoying each other's company; as he eats, Shanks look at you out of the corner of his eye, and when your gazes meet and you realize, he smiles, not exactly unabashed but still not shy, open in his interest, and it is not the first time a man looks at you, but still, you feel yourself blushing... and, you discover, it is not an unpleasant sensation. Not at all. He asks about your job, and you reciprocate inquiring about a few places he and his crew have visited, and that you have always dreamed of seeing, even though you have never left Dawn Island, and have lived in the village your whole life. You doubt anything you can have to say could be of interest for Shanks, but he seems sincerely taken by your conversation... until his leg touches yours under the counter once more, this time not by accident, and you feel all the blood, and the warmth, of your body rush to your face.

🏴‍☠️ "I have made you uncomfortable. I am sorry." Shanks says after a moment, misinterpreting your silence for discomfort, and you quickly shake your head; you can see Luffy approaching on the street behind him, ready to demand his idol's complete attention, and you hurry to take advantage of the little time you have left. "Not at all. I... I am glad we had a chance to talk. I like it. I... I like talking to you." "And I like talking to you, (name). Really. You are... a really good person."

🏴‍☠️ After a while you decide it is time to go home. "See you tomorrow, Makino." you say as you take your bag and stand, and in a moment, Shanks has done the same. "I'll walk you home." he proposes, more as a request than as an order, and you are suddenly a young girl again, because your heart skips a beat. "But Luffy..." "Luffy is with the others, they can take care of them for a few minutes; there'll be no problem... unless you'd rather go alone, that is."

🏴‍☠️ Two minutes later you are walking side by side along the village's main street; you have slipped your arm under Shanks', his happy smile making you unconcerned about the gossip that will probably spread in the village as soon as someone sees the two of you together. You don't talk much, still enjoying each other's company, but Shanks uses his free arm to return the greeting of a few people who cross your path. "I love this place." he says after a while "The people here are so friendly and kind, I feel I could stay here forever."

🏴‍☠️ Usually a compliment paid to your village would please you; still, those kind words feel like someone had spilled a bucket of cold water on your head. "But you will not, right?" you realize, thinking out loud "You are pirates, the Sea is your home, and a stay in a town or village a simple vacation. You have been here for about two months; you'll probably leave soon, right?"

🏴‍☠️ Shanks' silence, and the touch of guilt in his dark eyes, is answer enough; he tries to meet your gaze, but you avoid him, suddenly feeling the stupidest, naivest woman of the East Sea. After a minute spent looking at your feet you hear Shanks softly calling your name. "I'm fine, don't worry..." "No, I mean... I think we're here, aren't we?" he asks, and your embarrassment deepens when you realize that you had indeed reached your house, and were it not for him you would have walked past it, and kept going until you crossed the whole village. "I'm sorry, I... I am so dumb..." you mumble as you begin searching for the keys in your bag.

🏴‍☠️ Shanks remains silent until he sees you open the door; he is serious, more serious than you've ever seen him, but his eyes are full of sadness. "I am sorry." you repeat, not quite sure what you're apologizing for, and he shakes his head. "I should be the one apologizing." he gently says; you're standing on the doorway, face to face, and you're torn between the impulse of closing the door, sparing yourself another moment of pain... and the desire to take advantage of the little time you have left, and invite Shanks in. You know he'll not decline (... right?), and it'll probably make it harder to say goodbye when he and his men will leave, and you're usually not one to let your feeling dictate your actions, but...

🏴‍☠️ "I better go." Shanks says, sparing you the need to decide, and for a terrible moment you think he means he's leaving Foosha right now, but he simply takes a step back, a sweet and concerned smile on his handsome face. "I am a pirate." he gently says "This is the life I have chosen, and... I will keep living it until there is life left in my body. I am not saying it is always easy, nor that I have never been tempted, but I could never live on land, no matter how... how good the company would be." "I would never ask you to." you assure him; the simple idea of a man who has probably lived a pirate life since he was a boy and has become one of the most notorious captains in the Four Seas, leaving everything behind for you, after having known you for two months, is risible, of course, but still, why can't you help feeling the tiniest bit disappointed? "Your men need you, and being a pirate is in your soul. You could never be happy otherwise, and... I want you to be happy, Shanks."

🏴‍☠️ There is nothing else to say, and after a quiet goodbye Shanks depart, and you remain looking at him through your window as you mentally chastise yourself, because how could you be so stupid to catch feelings for a man who you'll never have? You have only known each other for a few weeks, and the sooner he leaves the sooner your heart will begin healing, but you already fear you will never forget Shanks, not even in a hundred years.

🏴‍☠️ You begin avoiding him as much as you can, which means mainly avoiding the harbour and the Partys (you tell Makino this is a particularly busy period for your practice, not wanting her to think it is because of her; she looks at you, clearly unconvinced, but accepts your explaination) and hoping whatever feeling you have developed will soon start dissipate, like crushes often do, until... until one day Luffy shows up at your home, crying and more upset than you've ever seen him. "It's not me; it's Shanks." he says when you, terrified, start checking him for wounds or injuries "You need to come now, (name), he... he..."

🏴‍☠️ He wouldn't have looked for you if the patient were beyond helping, but Luffy is too upset to explain what exactly has happened to the captain, which can only increase the terror in your heart; you run to the harbour as quickly as your legs can carry you, and when you reach his cabin on the ship, Shanks, lying on his cot and surrounded by his closest friends, smiles, clearly pained but happy to see you. "Hey, here's my favourite dance partner." he says "I am fine, don't worry..." He clearly isn't, and your legs amost collapse under you when you see what has happened to his left arm; you are able to remain calm and focused as you clean the wound to avoid infection and then bandage it, while Shanks looks silently on, his eyes full of warmth and pain, not necessarily for himself.

🏴‍☠️ "What has happened to you?" you ask in the end, sitting on a stool Luffy has brought you before leaving with the others; Shanks quietly answers telling you all about the child's kidnapping, him intervening and having to fight the Sea King that inhabits the waters around the island, and this is when you start crying, overwhelmed by the courage and generosity of the man in front of you, who has paid such a terrible price for it. What will he do now? You know how tenacious and strong he is, but will he be able to fight and lead his men without an arm? You have already treated this sort of wound, and you know it might keep paining him for the rest of his days; what if an enemy takes advantage of his weakness and he can't defend himself...?

🏴‍☠️ "I am all right." he gently says as he uses the hem of his cape to dry your tears, and you feel more guilty than ever, because he has just gone through a terrible trauma, and still he is able and willing to comfort you "Truly; Luffy is safe and this is what matters. It is just an arm, I have a spare one to use..." "How can you joke about it?" you ask, crying and laughing at the same time, and then you have thrown your arms around his neck, sobbing and hating how useless you feel, and Shanks holds you tight with his arm around your waist and his cheek against your shoulder, feeling your very presence more soothing and healing than any opiate or medicine he could have taken. "It is so good to see you again." he whispers; you can both feel your hearts beating as one, a sensation whose beauty and sweetness you cannot describe in words "I know you've avoiding me. No, no, it's ok; I know why you did it, and it's probably for the best, even though I have missed you..."

🏴‍☠️ You don't answer, quietly enjoying the peace and comfort Shanks' presence always brings you despite the heartbreak; there must be dozens of men on the ship around you, but you are alone in the tiny, sparsely furnished cabin, enjoying a fleeting, precious moment of intimacy. In the end you turn your face to meet Shanks' gaze, and you do not vocalize your feelings, but he understands them all the same, and a moment later your mouths meet in the sweetest, most intense kiss of your life. Shanks moans, his lips avidly caressing yours, and a moment later you are running your fingers through his hair, and you want him so much your heart is about to burst.

🏴‍☠️ When you finally part, five minutes later, neither of you is smiling. "I don't want to cause you pain." Shanks says, deadly serious; his hand is holding yours, his thumb caressing the back "We are meant to leave in three weeks..." "And you will; I will not beg you to stay, and I know that saying goodbye will be harrowing; but it'll be anyway, since I can't stop thinking about you." you admit with a sigh "I want to be with you, Shanks, be it for a day or a year; if, ehm, you want to be with me, and I know you are in pain, and obviously as a doctor I am not supposed to date my patients..."

🏴‍☠️ You are blabbering, as usual when you are nervous, but Shanks is quick to put an end to your speech kissing you soundly once more, holding you as if he never wants you to go. You lie down on the cot together, your legs entwined and your bodies pressing against each other, but after a while you are forced to stop and change position, because a moan of pain warns you your side was pressing agains the stump of his arm. "My poor darling, I am so sorry for what has happened to you." you murmur, but Shanks smiles, and gently kisses your forehead. "Luffy is safe and you are here next to me." he says "As far as I'm concerned, it was a small price to pay."

🏴‍☠️ You and Shanks are determined to make the most of the little time you have, so you are nearly inseparable for the next three weeks. You don't want to neglect your work, since your patients need you, but if you are not at your practice, you are with him. You sleep in his cabin (the cot is tiny, but squeezing together is not a problem for the two of you) make sure his wound is clean and neatly bandaged, and walk with him on your favourite beach, enjoying his quiet, solid presence next to you, his beautiful smile, and the way he has to circle your waist and lead you in a dance when you least expect it, making you laugh. Luffy reacts with disgust the first time he sees the two of you sharing a kiss, but he is happy for you, secretly thinking you and Shank deserve each other - and for the future young King of the Pirates there is no better compliment than this.

🏴‍☠️ Before you become intimate for the first time, Shanks asks you to make sure you don't get pregnant, and you comply, privately thinking you wouldn't mind having his baby, were it not unfair to both to keep father and child separated, quite the opposite, because a child with his smile and eyes would alleviate the solitude you know you will suffer once he will have left. You feed him food with your fork at the Partys, fall asleep lulled by his heartbeat, and sit next to him at the end of the wharf, your legs dangling and his arm around your shoulders as you look at the sun setting behind the horizon, and wish your time together would never end.

🏴‍☠️ It does, unfortunately, and on one clear, warm morning, Shanks and his crew prepare to leave the village. Luffy is inconsolable, even after Shanks gifts him his most precious possession, his straw hat, with the promise to ask for it back when the young boy has become a great pirate; you, on the other hand, feel pain and heartbreak beyond words and tears. The two of you have spent the whole night making love, with an intensity and an abandon you had never experienced before, and he looked as grief-stricken as you feel while he whispered his feelings in your ear and promised he would never forget you, but still, your heart is full of doubts and anguish while you walk to the harbour to say goodbye to the man who has, in true pirate fashion, stolen your heart. He lied about your affection to comfort you, an unpleasant voice whispers in your ear. He has a woman like you in every town and port his ship visits. He will forget your face in less than a month and in two he won't remember ever meeting you. Worst of all, he will die soon, battling another pirate crew or drowning, and you'll cry for him for the rest of your days...

🏴‍☠️ A few of the pirates you have gotten to know in the last months say goodbye to you and you wish them good luck, having gotten sincerely fond of those brave, freedom-hungry men who have chosen such a dangerous way of life and can face any enemy with a smile on their faces. In the end, you and Shanks find yourselves face to face, and "Please, do not cry; I am already desperate, your tears would kill me." he softly begs as the tips of his fingers caress your cheek, and you shake your head: you can't help being sad, you admit, but you knew this moment would come and do not regret being with him, even just for a few short days, and no matter what the future has in store, you will keep him in your heart forever. "Just promise me one thing: find a doctor for your crew, as soon as possible; I can't stand the idea of you and your men travelling without someone taking care of your health." you ask him, and for the first time since you met, you see Shanks hesitating. "I will, I promise; but..." "But?"

🏴‍☠️ "But, I was hoping I wouldn't need to look for a doctor; that you would join my crew and fill the spot. I... I know it would change your life, and I won't lie to you, it is a dangerous life, especially for a person who is not a trained fighter and even if we would all do everything we can to ensure your safety. We have known each other only for a few months, but it would make me the happiest man on the Sea if... oh, forget it, it was a stupid idea, how egotistical can I be asking you to leave everything you know and love for..." He is mumbling, and looking at him in that moment, unsure but hopeful, all your doubts and fears disappear like snow at the first light of spring; he cares about you, he really does, much more than simply because of the advantges your presence on the ship would provide the crew, but since he could never renounce his way of life to be with you, he feels unworthy of asking you to do the same. How could you ever doubt him?, you wonder while tears of happiness begin falling from your eyes... and how can you say no to him?

🏴‍☠️ "Oh, Shanks... nothing would make me happier; I'd leave in a minute if it meant being with you." you sincerely answer "But I can't. I am the only doctor in the village, and it would take months to request the capital to send another one here; I can't in all conscience leave my patients without anyone caring for their health. And there is Luffy; he needs me, at least for a few more years. Believe me, I... I am not simply looking for an excuse; I really want to be with you, but..." "I know." he interrupts you, and the reassurance about your feelings for him doesn't make your refusal easier to accept. "I know what sort of person you are, how much you care for the people of the village; I wouldn't expect any less from you." You sigh, wishing for a moment you could actually disavow your professional oath and forsake the people you have promised to take care of, and follow the man you love towards whatever fate awaits him. You are doing the right thing, professionally and towards a boy you love as if he were a child of your body, but the prospect of losing Shanks forever makes you feel as if you were renouncing a part of you...

🏴‍☠️ "You know, it... It doesn't have to be forever." you tentatively add wringing your hands, a moment after one of the men has called to Shanks to tell him they're ready to go "It will be a few years, but one day Luffy will be old enough to take care of himself, and in the meantime I could instruct a new doctor for the village or ask for one to be sent here. And then, once I'm no longer needed... I-I could come. To you. I mean, I wouldn't ask you to wait for me, if you... met someone else, or if simply your feelings changed..." "I will." Shanks immediately answers; he's looking at you as if no treasure he could ever find would compare "I'll wait for you, and you'll wait for me, and once Luffy no longer needs you, I'll come back for you. And from then on, no one and nothing will ever separate us."

🏴‍☠️ The promise is sealed with a kiss, that you and your lover share on the harbour in full view of the crew and the villagers, and there is no need to say you love each other, because a look of Shanks's warm eyes is enough to reassure you and he can read the same feelings in your gaze. A few minutes, and you are looking at the ship disappearing into the horizon with Luffy by your side, not bothering to hold back your tears while a stubborn, fierce hope fills your heart.

🏴‍☠️ Ten years pass, slowly, often excruciatingly so, but at least you can keep busy instead of spending days and nights crying over your lost love. You focus on your work, finding gratification and sincere joy in taking care of the people you grew up and live with, and helping them when they are sick or wounded; five years after you said good-bye to your lover, two girls who have just completed their studies at the village's school ask for permission to follow you in your work, and you gladly take them on as apprentices. You write to the libraries of the larger towns in the island, asking for books written by ship doctors or that would help you specialize for your future responsabilities as a member of Shanks' crew, and follow his adventures in the papers.

🏴‍☠️ The news of your and Shanks' promise has somehow spread to the village, and save for Luffy and a few of your friends, most of the people think you are wasting the best years of your life, and should have never believed in him. "He said that to make fun of you, or at least to comfort you and make you think he actually cared." they say "He's a pirate, (name), he must have a woman like you in every harbour. By now he has probably been with ten others." "Even if he actually cared, ten years is ages to spend waiting for someone! What if he dies in the meantime? And even if he returned, are you sure you want to live such a dangerous life?" "Don't you want to marry and raise a family? A pirate ship is no place for a child, and in ten years you'll be past marriageable age; there are many good men here in the village..."

🏴‍☠️ They mean well (most of them do, at least), but you don't listen, and while you miss Shanks more and more every day and sometimes even wish you had forgotten duties and responsibilities to follow your heart, because whatever length of time destiny will allow you to spend together you will have still wasted ten years, you never waver, sure in your heart you have made the right choice, and you don't care how naive and idealistic you would sound if you said it out loud, you know he's also thinking of you, saddened by the distance between you and nonetheless carrying on, knowing nothing and no one will stop you from being together once the time is right. The idea of becoming a pirate is both terrifying and exciting, and had you not met Shanks, you would have been happy to stay in Foosha forever, single or otherwise; but now you know he is your destiny, and you will share whatever future and dream he will pursue, because you know he will always be worthy of your devotion.

🏴‍☠️ On the other hand, you do miss him. Fiercely, desperately, a feeling which is hunger (why is his warm body not flushed against yours when you wake up? Where are the avid and sloppy kisses you had already become dependent on, and that now you cannot do without?) and jealousy (is another woman flirting with him in this very moment? Touching him, smiling at him, catching his attention even if just for a moment? And how can you discover her name and city or village of residence, to go and teach her not to touch what belongs to others?) and protectivity (what if something happens to him and you're not there to take care of him? Has he found a doctor like he had promised you?) all in one, that becomes a permanent presence inside you, from the moment you wake to when you go to sleep... and sometimes even longer. His smile, his kind and determined voice, the subtle energy and power his very figure emanated... you even miss his cold feet, and that affectionate but vaguely annoying way that he had to pull your hair to get your attention. Deep in your heart, you know he is also thinking about you, that he remembers his promise and is honoring it, no matter how difficult it might be; but however pleasant and productive your days are, no matter the joy you feel in being in the company of your friends and in successfully treating your patients, his absence is still a weight in your heart, a dull but persistent pain that before long becomes as familiar as the colour of your hair of the medical coat you wear at your practice. You have not stopped eating (that would be bad for your health!) and you are not going to wither away like the protagonist of a romantic novel whose sweetheart has deserted her, but you miss him, deeply and desperately, and every time your eyes fall on a red-haired head, your heart skips a beat...

🏴‍☠️ Luffy is, as you expected, the only one who fully believes in Shanks' promise to you, just like you trust the pact the captain and the child have made about Luffy's future and the straw hat; you never told him he, and his well-being, is one of the two main reasons why you elected to stay in Foosha, because a child doesn't deserve to feel guilty for the choices of an adult, but Luffy is much smarter and more perceptive than he is given credit for, and in the end it is you who, exactly ten years after saying goodbye to Shanks, he tells he is finally ready to leave the village to pursue his dream... and you need to do the same. "I know you have stayed here to look after me, (name); and I appreciate it a lot. But now I can take care of myself, and I'm leaving to find a crew and become King of the Pirates. You have to go too; don't you want to see him, after all these years? I'm sure he missed you a lot too; find him, become his doctor, and say hi for me."

🏴‍☠️ You do. After an heart-felt goodbye ("Don't lose the first-aid kit I gave you! And please, Luffy, I don't need you to remind you to eat, but don't get cold!") you prepare a small luggage and your doctor's bag, entrust your practice to your apprentices (who by now are more than up to the task, and who you know will take as good care of the villagers as you did), and your home's keys to Makino, and leave. Part of you still can't believe you are actually doing it, that you are leaving everything you knew and loved behind, the village you were born in and all your things at home, to pursue a life you are probably unprepared for and that could cost you your life, but you don't care, and whatever happens, you know you won't regret the choice you have made... the choice to follow your heart.

🏴‍☠️ The only, but not negligible, difficulty you have to face is that you have absolutely no idea where Shanks is. Your deal was that he would come back to get you in Foosha once Luffy no longer needed you, but since you have no way to contact him, you can't ask him to meet; the most reasonable choice would be to wait for your young friend to make a name for himsef, either earning a bounty of fighting the Marines, so that news of him having left the village and become a pirate would reach Shanks, who would then know it is time to make good on his promise, but not knowing how long it would take, and determined not to waste any more time, you decide to take the matter in your own hands and go to Shanks yourself... even though you have no idea how, and where to find him. According to a by now weeks old newspaper article you had read, your lover has been seen in a certain island across the East Sea, so you buy a ticket to reach it, hoping to still find him there, or at least that he had left word of where he would head next.

🏴‍☠️ Ten days of navigation later, the ship has to make a stop along the way to resupply; you are walking down the dock as you wait for the captain to call the passengers back on board, trembling with excitation and hoping you and your lover will soon be reunited, when your eyes casually fall on a man walking down the pier, unhurriedly but with the sort of determination that leads anyone who crosses his path to give way. You have never met him, but your lover has told you about him, and you would have recognized him in any case, because Dracule Mihawk, the greatest swordman in the world, is not the kind of man you can mistake for someone else... if only for the enormous sword, as long as he is tall, hanging from his shoulders. Normally you would have no reason to approach him, not last because Mihawk doesn't seem the sort of man who tolerates being bothered without a good reason, but Shanks has told you the two of them know each other of old and are, if not exactly friends, at least good acquaintances; could the swordsman know where your lover is? Could he tell you, if you tell him you are also a friend of Shanks and he is supposed to meet you anyway?

🏴‍☠️ To approach him requires all your courage, since Mihawk, while perhaps not unnecessarily violent like some other pirates, is the most intimidating person you have ever met; but finding Shanks is more important than anything else in the world, and if you are to become part of the crew of an important pirate like your lover, you need to find your courage and learn to face danger with your head held high. So you reach him, and ask him if he knows where your lover is. "I mean him no ill will; actually... we are also good friends. I... I come from Foosha Village, my name is (name)..." you begin, stammering under the piercing gaze of the swordsman when suddenly he interrupts you. "You are the doctor, I gather. The one who remained at the village to care for the boy who had eaten the Devil Fruit." "Y-yes! It is me!" you exclaim, surprised and immediately flattered; Shanks has told him about you! "We had agreed to meet once Luffy had... well, I am looking for him now, and I am heading to the island where he was last seen but since you have known him for a long time, I thought that perhaps you know where he is..."

🏴‍☠️ Mihawk, apparently indifferent to your blabbering (he's probably used to people being nervous in his presence, and how could they not?) points out he is not Shanks' father nor a member of his crew, and as a consequence he is not in the habit of keeping an eye on his movements. "But coincidentally, I know where he is; in fact, I had in mind to meet him myself." he adds, before mentioning a semi-deserted island much closer to where you are than the one your ship is heading to "If you leave now, you can reach him before nightfall." It is the best news you have ever received, and you thank the swordsman profusely, forgetting for a moment how intimidated you are by his very presence. Mihawk simply nods, and then offers you a folded piece of paper. "If you meet Shanks, will you give him this for me? I think you know the person it concerns." he asks, and your eyes open wide as you open the bounty poster... Luffy's bounty poster! You haven't had access to newspapers during your journey, but it seems that in the few short weeks since he left the village your young friend has already made a name for himself, earning the attention of the Marines and, as a consequence, a remarkable bounty; you wouldn't have expected anything less from him, you think, your heart full of pride and happiness. "I thought Shanks would appreciate seeing it, given his interest in the boy." Mihawk points out "Will you give it to him, when you meet him?"

🏴‍☠️ Of course you promise, happy to save Mihawk the effort of going himself after the precious informations he gave you. Your heart pounding, you are quick to go back to the ship about to depart, retrieve your belongings and run, quickly telling the captain you have changed your mind and won't be continuing your trip with them. The smaller island you have to reach is very close but, you discover after asking around, there are no regular vessels that reach it, given that it is almost uninhabited (which is probably why Shanks and his men have chosen it as their base) but you are able to find a fisherman willing to get you there. And so, soon after dark, you finally lay foot on the same ground your lover is walking on, closer than you have ever been in ten long years...

🏴‍☠️ ... and you are immediately surrounded, a number of heavily armed pirates pointing their weapons at you, ready to shoot at the first sign of danger. "Don't, please! I mean you no harm, I am a friend!" you hurry to explain, recognizing a few of the pirates who were already in Shanks' crew when you first met and hoping they also remember you "I am (name), the doctor of Foosha village. Many of you were sick with red fever and I was able to help you, remember? I need to speak with Shanks, he's waiting for me... sort of..." Fortunately it works, and many of the pirates you had met ten years ago welcome you as a friend, still remembering what you had done for them, and lead you to their beach camp, where Shanks and the others are resting after an impromptu party.

🏴‍☠️ Ten years have passed, and still it takes you less than a moment to recognize the man sprawled in a hammock, even before the red hair and the lack of his left arm are visible; the handle of your bag slips from your fingers and falls on the sand. You must look horrible, you suddenly realize, tired after a long day of travel and with your hair tussled by the wind, and this is the sort of situation you would like to look your best for, but you don't care, you care about nothing in the world but the man in front of you, still lost in his hangover dreams.

🏴‍☠️ "Shanks." you murmur, theoretically too low for him to hear, but he does, even before his men can wake him up and tell him he has a visitor. He lifts his head, gingerly standing from the hammock, and in the darkness descending on the beach, he sees you, and for a full minute that's all he seems able to do, looking as if he can't believe his own eyes. "... (name?)" "H-hi." you stammer, suddenly shy and even scared; you have trusted him, and the bond between you, for ten years, confiding that what you shared could resist the test of time and that your lover would keep you in his heart like you have kept him in yours, but suddenly, now that the moment of truth has finally come, all your certainties seem to desert you. What if the people at the village were right, and you have wasted ten years of your life for a naive, romantic dream? What if Shanks has forgotten the promise you two shared? Even worse, what if he has decided to renounce it after time and distance ended up attenuating his feelings for you? You could go back to Foosha and resume your old life as village doctor, a good and productive life, but you know you will never survive the disappointment... "It's... it's good to see you. I came, ehm, I don't know if you remember what we had agreed to do once Luffy..."

🏴‍☠️ "You are here." Shanks murmurs, as if thinking out loud; suddenly sober, he stands and walks up to you, still disbelieving and at the same time delighted beyond words "I can't... you came. You actually came." "Yes, I did. I know we had agreed you would return to the village, but I have trained two new doctors, and Luffy has left to become a pirate, and you wouldn't believe it, he has already..." He stops you, not in words but with a hug; Shanks' arm has circled your waist, pressing your body against his, and it is all so familiar, from his scent to his touch to the sound of his voice, that suddenly you can't control yourself anymore, and you start crying, out of joy, out of relief, out of the simple and visceral pleasure of being with him, once more, with your captain, your lover, your Shanks. "I have missed you so much." you murmur, and his delighted laugh is music to your ears; Shanks presses his forehead against yours, still holding you close, while his crew rejoices all around.

🏴‍☠️ You walk together on the beach for a while, away from the camp, silently enjoying each other's company, until Shanks asks you about Luffy, who must have left the village since you did too, and you show him the bounty poster, that your lover observes with delighted pride. "I can't believe you asked Mihawk for directions..." "Well, I am not saying I wasn't trembling with fear, but I wanted to find you, no matter what. I... I have never stopped thinking about you, you know? And please, tell me you haven't spent ten years journeying through the Seas without a doctor." Shanks smiles, and explains that they actually found a doctor soon after departing Foosha, a capable man who took good care of the crew for ten years... and who just two weeks ago decided to leave, having met a special someone on an island they had docked at, leaving the position vacant. "I let him go, because I have never forced anyone to be part of my crew, but I had no idea you would come... Curious, isn't it? As if destiny had decided it was time for us to meet again, as we had promised."

🏴‍☠️ You shrug, mostly uninterested in assigning responsibility: whether it was destiny, or simple coincidence, you are together once again, not because of a concatenation of events but as a result of your own choices. You did what you thought was right, and now you are free, and determined, to follow your heart. "I came to join your crew, as you had asked me to do ten years ago." you tell Shanks, turning to face him; those words do not need to be said, but you want him to hear... to know that for a whole decade, you have never let him go in your heart "To be your doctor, and your lover, if you'll be mine. What do you say?" Shanks doesn't immediately answer; his hand touches your cheek, gingerly, as if he feared you were just a mirage about to disappear if he only looked too closely. "How beautiful you are." he murmurs "My (name)... ten years ago, I told you meeting you was a blessing from the Gods; I didn't know how right I was. I have never stopped thinking about you; I was sure Luffy would leave the village soon, since he is almost a grown man, and I was ready to come to you as soon as I was certain he didn't need you anymore. But now you're here, and I'm never letting you out of my sight."

🏴‍☠️ It is a promise and a declaration in one, nothing less than what you expected and the only thing you would have accepted. Shanks' hand finds yours; the night enveloping the beach hides a kiss that tastes like homecoming and cheap rhum, your lover's body welcoming you in the warmth and security of his embrace. From now on, your life together begins; from now on, you're part of the Red-Haired Pirate crew.

[femnoah]

TDWT supernatural au part 4

Masterpost

They get told that this is a reward challenge! Aka, no supernatural creatures trying to kill them for an entire challenge! How gracious of Chris. Instead, if they all complete the challenge, they get to talk with his cousin who will hopefully provide more answers

Heather still wants to make an alliance with team Victory since she and Leshawna didn't fight in Germany. Instead the two are off to the side plotting. Turns out that finding out the guy you were into is centuries older than you is a great bonding exercise.

The challenge pretty much goes the same way in cannon except with more contestants participating. They're all thankful for the lack of near death experience.

Team Victory and Team Chris win the challenge

Since all teams complete it though, Jerd (I think that's his name) gets to give them some more info!

So he explains the different categories

Normal humans- just that, humans that haven't been touched by the supernatural world in and way

Humans impacted by an outside party- things like possession, demon or angel contracts, spirits or even a thrall.

Humans who were turned- bitten werewolves and vampires or those who were cursed.

Humans with supernatural blood- can often come across as generational talents or actual powers depending on what they were descended from. In Chris' case, he can attract or repel supernatural entities below a certain level by putting them under a thrall, hence why they weren't getting attacked before but are now. Jerd can sense traces of entities, and what category they are in as long as there is nothing blocking it. He tells them that a couple of them feel like they are of blood but he cannot tell who until he activates his senses.

Those who were never human- some were never human in the first place, like born werewolves and vampires or even unicorns. They never feel the need to eat human food, instead relying on other sources like vampires and blood.

"wait, so were you born or bitten Al?" Owen asks.

"that is an incredibly rude thing to ask amigo but I'll have you know that I was born this way" Alejandro states proudly

"Okay Lady Gaga." 'Noah' quips, getting a glare in response.

He does the whole sensory activation thing before looking at the teens horrified "what the hell did you all do?!"

So, plot twist! A significant amount of the cast has been marked by Fae

If it were only one or two of them, he'd be able to tell them who have been marked or what they are. However, most of them have been marked.

So, 'marked' - the Fae have very specific rules and if broken, the ones that break them become the fae's pets/prey/property and essentially 'marked'. It's like a supernatural tag. An eel wouldn't want to steal a shark's meal after all, it would be eaten as well.

Because of this, the marked become a lot more resilient as not even death itself wants to mess with the Fae and most supernatural creatures (when not under another's thrall) would avoid the marked unless they were purposefully looking for a fight.

It's because technically speaking, the marked belong to a Faerie and if someone or something were to damage a faerie's property, well that'd be rude and therefore breaking a rule. Of course this can be avoided if the being is given explicit permission by the Faerie.

This is why a lot of the cast has survived situations that they shouldn't have survived.

The whole fairy thing in media is practically a trap to get people to lower their guards

I wonder how many Fae rules you know, I'm leaving it vague for suspense.

Jerd mentions that thankfully, none of them have given their name to one yet, it would be obvious if they did because the Fae are incredibly possessive creatures.

"if you give a Fae your name, you give them your identity, you give them you. They own you in every way that matters and there's nothing that can be done about it until the Faerie is bored and gets rid of you"

"Do you mean kill?" DJ asked, looking like he was going to be sick.

"no. To be able to die means that your soul transfers somewhere else, often the afterlife or reincarnation -less likely it roams the living world as spirits. Your soul cannot be transferred if it is owned. They either keep it or get rid of it. And by get rid of, I mean it no longer exists. You will no longer exist. The Faerie would quite literally have control over you and can do whatever they please"

It left them all in stunned and horrified silence that was only broken by Izzy humming while doing whatever she was doing in the background.

"I think I'd rather be a spirit than never exist" Tyler gulped sounding terrified.

"I don't know what I'd prefer" Courtney added looking uneasy.

"yeah. I can't blame you girl... That last spirit guy was totally insane!" Leshawna exclaimed

"you mentioned them being non-humans, so do they drink blood like vampires?" Courtney questioned, bringing them back to the interrogation.

"The Fae primarily feed off of chaos, they feed off of strong emotions and chaos -nothing physical. Hence being at sites of and the cause of misfortune"

"I thought that some Fae were kinder than others, like in fairytales" Gwen commented, slightly confused.

"There is chaos in both Love and War child, despite their inability to lie, the Fae are known to manipulate situations to their advantage and skirt around the truth. Morally speaking however, they're all the same. You follow their rules or help them, they will reward you. You break their rules or insult them, they will punish you. But in general, they do not participate directly in mortal affairs unless it's for any of the previous reasons."

"Do you think one of us might be a Faerie?" 'Noah' questioned, she looked almost concerned.

"I do not know, it could be entirely coincidental, they could be one of you or they could be watching your every move from another position but either way, just remember that wherever you find chaos, a Faerie will be involved." With that all the contestants turned to look at their resident chaos-bringer.

Meanwhile Izzy was playing an intricate game of the floor is lava. When they looked back Jerd was gone.

What the majority of the cast are aware of so far:

DJ- werewolf

Leshawna- human

Lindsay- guardian angel

Tyler- human

Alejandro- vampire

Owen- human

Izzy- human?

'Noah'- human

Courtney- human

Gwen- human

Cody- human

Heather- demon contract

Sierra- human

Chris- Djinn blood

Chef- human

Sooo, any guesses for any of them, there are clues scattered between all the different posts for the fates of different contestants and what they are ;)

[sloanesallow]

Big Brained

There's nothing wrong with being feral for one's husband, right? Sloane can't help it, especially when Sebastian shows off that big, sexy brain of his. ✨Sebastian Sallow x F!MC Tags: NSFW! MDNI! Sexual content, oral sex (m receiving), exactly one spank, and some Sebastian dirty talk. 2.5k words [Read on Wattpad] - [Read on Ao3] - [tumblr masterlist] Reblogs, comments, and kudos are always appreciated! ✨

The last place Sloane wants to be is the Ministry of Magic.

She has managed to avoid a permanent place at Whitehall, despite Minister Spavin’s constant and personal invitations for her to join their ranks. Her answer is always no—she does not want a career in the wizarding world’s government, preferring her freedom and whatever anonymity she has left. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for her husband, who is technically under their employment, contracted to work as a curse-breaker with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

At twenty, Sebastian is young, but incredibly talented, and one of the Auror’s greatest assets. He is usually in some far-off destination, exploring ancient tombs and collecting artifacts with a rag-tag crew, helping to chase down Dark Wizards and undo any havoc caused. Sloane travels with the group as an unofficial healer, treating mysterious and mundane wounds while researching remedies both magical and muggle. They are a dynamic duo of sorts, and the Ministry knows that the Sallows are a package deal, the bond inseparable—unbreakable. 

After spending the last three months in the Austrian wilderness, they are back in London to receive a new assignment. Sloane spends the morning checking in on their dusty flat and shares a few cups of tea with Poppy in the local shoppe before venturing back to the second floor to find Sebastian. Even though he is rarely in-office, the Aurors keep a room clear for his use, tucked away from the hustle and bustle of what she calls the ‘bull-pen’.

Sloane can hear a few familiar voices as she approaches the open door, peeking her head in to see Sebastian in the middle of a fervent discussion with two of the officers who accompanied them in Salzburg. The other men don’t seem to notice her presence, but her husband acknowledges her entrance with a quick glance, the corner of his mouth twitching up before he refocuses his attention.   

“Have the scouts reported back?”

“Yes, sir,” Jeffries, the older and more skeptical Auror replies. Sir—Sloane sees the subtle pride in Sebastian’s expression, even if the title causes her to bite back a laugh. Jeffries continues, “the rumors about increased activities on the Nordic coast are true. Intelligence suggests a small, but powerful group of heretics are attempting to locate bloodrunes, magic the Ministry hasn’t encountered in…centuries.”

That you know of, Sloane muses to herself as she idly peruses the nearby bookshelf, overflowing much like the shelves at home.

“Bloodrunes require significant power to activate,” Sebastian states, not bothering to specify if this knowledge is based on first-hand experience or not. He leans over the map spread out across the desk and traces a finger along the supposed site. “There are probably laylines that can be disrupted, but I won’t speculate until I see the area for myself.”

“Perhaps we should wait before sending a team—”

“Wait for what, exactly?” Sebastian interjects, raising an eyebrow in challenge. He straightens his posture and crosses his arms. “A blood sacrifice? Neither of you studied ancient magical tribes, so I won’t fault you for your ignorance, but the last time runes like these were activated, it triggered a tidal wave that destroyed the sea walls along the Nordic coast. Thousands of people were killed.”

Sloane glances up from the book she is pretending to read and feels only a little shame for ogling her husband when he is in the middle of an important conversation. But she enjoys watching Sebastian showcase his intelligence—he’s always been a little cocky, and rightfully so—he won’t back down when he knows he is right. With his coat discarded and sleeves pinned up, she can see the way the muscles in his arms flex as he waits for either man to respond.

“Alright, Sallow, you win,” the other Auror, Bartie, sighs. The red-headed Weasley is a few years older than her and Sebastian but is far more trusting than the rest of the old guard. “What do you need from us?”

Sebastian shrugs, trying not to smirk when he gets his way. “Whomever the department can spare, really. Preferably those who are proficient in more than just defensive magic. A liaison for the local communities as well, to safeguard them from harm.”

“Should I contact St. Mungos—”

“That won’t be necessary,” Sebastian waves off Jenkins’ inquiry. It should be known by now that the only healer needed is Mrs. Sallow—Sloane. The Aurors give curt nods and Sebastian flicks his gaze to where she is standing. “Now, if you’ll excuse me gentlemen, but I believe my wife has been waiting long enough.”

She smiles somewhat bashfully as the two men finally notice her just as they are being shooed out of the room. Jeffries is indifferent, but Bartie offers a polite smile and wave before leaving.

“Looks like we’re off on another adventure, sweetheart,” Sebastian says when they are alone, re-crossing his arms as he leans back against the desk. Sloane is already swiftly crossing the room, practically launching herself onto him as she swallows his surprised laughter in a kiss. He quickly hooks his arms around her waist, holding her steady as she presses up on her toes to meet his height the best she can.

“Mmm—hello,” he manages, pulling away with a breathless grin. “You’re certainly in a mood.”

“Yes, sir,” she simply replies, catching the glimmer of excitement that passes through his coffee-colored eyes. Sloane touches her heels back to the floor, smoothing her hands across his shoulders and chest, playing with the straps of his suspenders. “Is that so bad?”

“Not at all,” Sebastian hastily shakes his head and gives her hips an appreciative squeeze. “I’m usually the needy one, is all.”

“Well, I can’t help it when you show off,” she explains, undoing the first two buttons of his shirt. “I love your big brain.”

Sebastian’s brows twitch up at the word big, but before he can make a lewd comment she palms the front of his pants, and he croaks instead. He recovers quickly, hands snapping up to firmly cradle her face as he captures her lips in a kiss that speaks volumes of his hunger for her. Sloane matches his enthusiasm, tugging at his suspenders until they are hanging at his sides. As she flicks open the clasps of his trousers, he fumbles for his wand, muttering the necessary spells against her lips to slam shut the door, waiting for the audible click of the lock before tossing it aside.

It isn’t very often that Sloane is in control, and she takes full advantage of catching him off guard, not-so-gently pushing him back until he topples into the cushioned armchair with an oof. He watches her with a mesmerized expression, shifting to accommodate as she kneels between his spread legs. She continues with removing his trousers, pulling them down along with his underwear until the fabric pools around his ankles.

Sloane wastes no time, finding satisfaction in the way Sebastian’s breath hitches as she wraps one hand around the base of his cock, already hard from her teasing. She leisurely strokes him, pushing up his shirt so she can trail a path of wet kisses across his navel, hipbone, and thighs. Her thumb brushes over the sensitive head, spreading the gathering of pre-come as he shudders, breathing already labored. With a coy glance up through her lashes, she slowly takes him into the warmth of her mouth.

Sebastian’s fingers quickly thread into her hair, tugging at the ash-blonde strands as her lips slide down his length until she feels him against the back of her throat. She sucks in to create a perfect seal, repeating the up and down motion a few times before leaning back to swirl her tongue around the tip.

“F—fuck…” Sebastian groans, his head lulling back. Sloane steadily increases her pace, humming until the vibration prompts him to slide open his eyes to watch her head bob in his lap. Her fingers continue to stroke where her lips can’t reach, her other hand softly fondling his sac in a way that has his hips bucking up involuntarily.

She keeps her eyes on his face as it contorts with pleasure, brows furrowed deeply as he resists the urge to unravel too quickly. It’s thrilling for her to see him at her mercy, incoherent murmurs of praise falling from his lips as she eagerly coaxes him to the edge. His grip tightens in her hair, pressing against the nape of her neck, a telltale sign he’s close.

“Slo—Sloane,” he gasps, voice strained. “I—oh, fuck—I’m—”

The rest of his sentence dissolves into a strangled moan, his body tensing and cock twitching against her tongue as he spills his release. Sloane swallows it all, remembering to breathe through her nose as she takes every last drop he has to offer. Sebastian slumps back, in a daze as Sloane pulls away with a wet pop and self-satisfied smirk. There’s a lopsided grin on his face as he silently admires her, affectionately sweeping the hair from her face before brushing the pad of his thumb across her wet lips.  

Even though Sloane can feel the slick of her arousal within her undergarments, she is content enough to wait until they return to their London flat for reciprocation. Seeing Sebastian so boneless and completely sated is satisfaction enough. She slides her hands across his thighs, gently massaging the remaining tension away.

“Ready to go home?” she asks, already imagining the evening ahead. A long bath, a hearty meal, and the comfort of their marital bed—not that they’ll be doing much sleeping.

Sebastian gradually sits up and Sloane pushes herself to stand, ready to help him right his trousers and gather his belongings so they can leave before more Aurors—or heaven forbid the Minister himself—stops by for another chat. But Sebastian shakes his head and the devilish gleam in his eyes is all the warning she has before his hands are on her, spinning her around to bend her over the desk.

“Seb!” the protest dies on her tongue as he hoists up her skirts, tucking them around her waist. Sloane sucks in a breath as he cups her, fingers pressing firm against the dampness of her knickers. He makes an appreciative sound, applying more pressure where she needs it the most, but just as she pushes back against his touch it’s gone, and all she can do is whimper at the loss.

“Don’t worry, darling,” Sebastian coos, peeling the delicate fabric away to expose her naked flesh. “I’ll take care of you.”

She lets out a surprised squeak when he playfully smacks her bare bottom, even more heat pooling in her gut as her legs tremble. Sebastian huffs a soft chuckle, this time smoothing the skin over with a gentle touch.

“More?” he asks, the deep timbre of his voice causing her to shiver.

She nods, barely remembering to speak, “yes.”

“Yes…?”

Sloane flushes—even after all these years, Sebastian can so easily fluster her. “Y—yes, sir.”

“Good girl.”

Perhaps some lingering naivety makes her believe he’ll simply take her like this, but no, her husband clearly has other plans for her. His hands slide up the back of her thighs until his thumbs are spreading her open, teasing her silken folds and entrance.

“Is this what I do to you?” he rasps, sliding two fingers through her arousal before slowly sinking them into her as she lets out a shuddering sigh. The way she flexes around him as he leisurely pumps in and out betrays just how impatient she is for his offer of pleasure. When she lifts her hips to meet his ministrations, Sebastian presses his free hand to her lower back, keeping her still.

“I said I’d take care of you,” his voice is gruffer than before, and she bites back a whine when he removes his fingers. “Do you want me to stop?”

“No,” she breathes, shaking her head. A part of her realizes this is Sebastian’s way of showing her who is really in charge, now.

“Do you want to come around my fingers?”

Sloane shakes her head again, fighting the urge to squeeze her thighs together for the slightest ounce of relief.

“No?” Sebastian feigns surprise, amused by her startled moan when he slips his fingers back inside her anyways. “My, my…you are needy today, aren’t you?”

All she can do is moan, disrupting the parchment on the desk as she grasps for purchase.

“Well,” he says in a sigh, curling his fingers to press against the spot that makes her vision blurry with stars. “You’ll have to use your words, my love. Tell me what you need.”

Sloane bites down a little harder on her bottom lip, her entire body now hot and prickled with goosebumps. She used to hate when he prompted her like this, attempting to coax filthy words from her lips and make her beg. But she really is too indigent right now to care, glancing over her shoulder to meet his wicked expression.

“Sebastian, I swear to God, if you don’t—”

“Isn’t it a sin to swear to God?” he muses, acting as if he isn’t knuckle-deep inside her. “My Sloane is much more polite than that.”

Insufferable tease—she huffs in frustration, but the warm swirl in her gut is a stark reminder that she loves it, loves him.

“Please,” she starts, deeply exhaling. “Shut up and fuck me.”

Sebastian tries to hide his delight but fails, laughing as he shifts to properly stand behind her, nudging her stance a little wider so they are properly aligned. “As my lady wishes.”

There is little teasing after that, Sebastian nudging his hardened-again cock against her before snapping forward to fill her in one fluid stroke. Her sharp gasp is drowned out by his deep groan and it’s very clear neither will last very long. Almost immediately, he sets a quick pace, the friction an agonizingly wonderful burn. Sloane can feel her legs shaking, straining as she stands on the very tip of her toes, Sebastian holding her up by the waist and hips to meet his thrusts.

“That’s it,” he grunts, not bothering to keep any sort of rhythm. He folds his body over hers, his free hand grasping her right wrist, pinning it to the desk as he bares his weight down. “Just like that.”

Sloane whimpers her approval, the warmth of him holding her down a comfort she never expected to enjoy or need. He ruts his hips against hers until they are both frantically crying out, core fluttering around him as he spills again, this time deep inside her heat.

It takes several moments for them to float back down to reality, Sloane sighing as Sebastian rests himself a little more comfortably across her back. He nestles his nose against her neck, affectionately sweeping through her sweat-matted hair as he presses a few lazy kisses to the shell of her ear.

He repeats her earlier ask with a breathless chuckle, “ready to go home?”

She hums her agreement, the two unhurried as they fix their appearances and attempt to tidy up any mess. As they leave the offices hand-in-hand, Sloane thinks to herself that maybe, just maybe, the Ministry of Magic isn’t so bad after all.

[again-and-then]

after reading the newest chapter i still don't understand why lucifer allows the overlords to keep there souls as i can guarantee that there are a lot of sinners under contract that want to be redeemed but there under contract by a overlord and we have angel dust as proof and sorry but there reasons are stupid as one not wanting to interfere with Sinners is dumb I thought Charlie wanted to redeem sinners how can you redeem them if half of them can't come to the hotel,two not wanting to make enemies bitch you have lucifer on your team and we saw how he was when Charlie was in danger,and three you and lucifer are pacifists and sure Charlie is a pacifist but lucifer is clearly not as we both saw episode 8 and the beatdown lucifer gave adam and if Charlie didn't stop him adam would've been a golden puddle and this isn't a hate post just a observation I made after reading the story and i hope in the future either lute or angel dust tells this to Charlie or lucifer to make them take this more serious

So, this is one of two asks I have gotten that more or less ask the same questions: why don't Lucifer and Charlie just quickly fix everything?

Lets go through this, shall we?

First of all, Charlie is trying to make Hell better. She has power but she's nowhere near her father in ability and authority (yet). As a Princess, she has rank but not necessarily a lot of authority. On the small scale, she is going what she can for Sinners and trying to give them chances to improve. Technically speaking, (and this might sound harsh but its true) as Lute pointed out in chapter 20, everything Charlie is doing with the Hotel right now is effectively practice for when she eventually ascends the throne and has authority to enact large scale change in the way she wants to.

you and someone else pointed out that Charlie has considerable power of her own but is limited by her Pacifistic tendencies.. yes, you are correct. This is intentional. My version of Charlie is fully aware of her own power and the fact that she could rule as a tyrant if she really wanted but she addressed this in chapter 17. Using force to stop people from committing sin isn't going to actually make people change. To redeem themselves, they have to choose it for themselves.

Secondly, Lucifer and contracts.

this really goes into the same discussion as Charlie. Lucifer gave mankind free will, he remains the champion of free will. Long ago he decided that so long as the Sinners respect a few basic laws, he was going to give them the freedom to govern themselves rather than dominate their lives. They might be in Hell but at least they are free. Lucifer still remains convinced of this hands off approach and has bound himself to non-interference so long as those basic laws are upheld (for example: don't hurt his family). Lucifer is an int3eresting character to have in a story but I am not going to use him as a Diabolus Ex Machina to solve every issue, otherwise there would be no story.

as for contracts, neither Lucifer nor Charlie can do anything about contracts even if they wanted to. Despite the fact that it seems contradictory, Contracts are a function of free will. Yes, a person under contract is giving up their agency to a degree but all contracts were signed by choice. They are legally and magically binding agreements that were entered voluntarily, thus cannot be removed with a flick of the wrist. sure, many contracts are entered due to shitty circumstances or coercion but none are made by force or without some level of consent.

could Charlie take the throne and decide to just start murdering every overlord to free people of their contracts? Yes, but she doesn't want to because that's not the kind of ruler she wants to be and the mass killing of sinners is exactly what she's trying to stop.

[stargazer-sims]

Maybe public character development is going to be my new thing for 2025.

I don't usually make sims and then develop characters around them. I usually do it the other way around; making sim avatars for characters that I've already created independently from games or other media. With Scout and Gabe, I'm already seeing them as entire characters now, though, and thinking of them independently from their avatars, so I guess creating characters this way isn't significantly different than the way I usually do it.

One thing I haven't really done before however is to develop a character as publicly as I'm doing with Scout and Gabe. I'm going to be doing a lot of info-dumping with them, I think.

Scout already has a backstory. It's under the cut, so anyone who may be sensitive or who just doesn't want to read an enormous info-dump can skip it easily.

A lot of this will make more sense if you also check out the first half of my Aliens & Science Babies post.

Scout was born on Sixam, or more technically he was born on board his parents' ship on the way back to Sixam. He was an "oops" baby, and his mother was somewhat annoyed when she found out his father was pregnant with him, as she felt that having a child would interfere with their careers and future missions. His father was equally unhappy about it and blamed himself for being careless. He largely tried to pretend his pregnancy didn't exist until he quite literally couldn't ignore the fact any longer. An unmedicated birth in space was not what he'd envisioned, but ready or not, Scout arrived.

Scout's parents are diplomats. His mother is an interplanetary negotiator with a high-ranking position in the planetary government and his father is a lawyer & contract analyst.

For the first eleven years of his life, he lived on Sixam and was raised by a series of professional caregivers, some of whom he tolerated and some of whom he despised. When he was eleven, his parents were sent on a long-term mission to Earth, and they decided to bring him with them, assuming there would be full-time care for him there as well. Needless to say, there wasn't the same sort of child-rearing service available on Earth, unless they wanted to hire a full-time nanny. Consequently, they ended up having to parent him themselves,which was something they hadn't previously done. Things did not go well.

Scout effectively ran away from home when he was thirteen. For a period of about two years, he lived with his friend Gabe Devereux and the rest of Gabe's family. Scout and Gabe had met at the the local pool shortly after Scout's family came to Earth, and they initially connected over their love of the water. Gabe remarked on it because love of the water is rare for Sixamish people, and the majority of them avoid pools and large natural bodies of water, never mind learning how to swim and dive. Gabe and Scout became very close, very quickly. As far as they're concerned, their friendship is for life, no matter what.

Gabe is three years older than Scout, but Gabe has a sister who is Scout's age. When Scout was living with them, he and Gabe's sister Annabelle learned all about boy bands, middle school crushes, social media, fashion and makeup together, and Scout came up with his human camouflage and his human name.

Scout's "real" name is Evren'azak (the name in the Sixamish birth registry), and his common name is Evren. He hasn't used his Sixamish name in over ten years, though, preferring to use his Earth name, Scout Ryder McCoy, instead. He also prefers to stay camouflaged in his human disguise all the time. He almost never shows himself without his camouflage.

Gabe hasn't always had the best relationship with his parents, and he moved out of the family home when he was 18 and Scout was 15. It was around this same time that Scout's parents made an effort to get back in contact with him. They'd been working on arranging a marriage for him for when he'd turn 16. Scout is polychromatic like his mother, and he's tiny. Males like him are considered extremely beautiful by Sixamish standards, and it was easy for his mother to find a female willing to bond with him.

Scout wasn't against the idea of bonding until he realized the female his parents intended for him was in her late 20s. He wanted to marry someone his own age and he dreamed of marrying for love. He didn't dislike the female his parents had picked for him, but he wasn't particularly interested in spending the rest of his life with her.

Gabe and Annabelle's parents were scandalized when they learned about Scout's arranged marriage. They were even more horrified when they found out that his parents had already "given" him to her (meaning they did not object if Scout and his "fiancée" had sex before marriage). Mr. & Mrs. Devereux thought Scout was too young to be sexually active, and much too young to be getting married.

As for Scout, he discovered that he was ready for sex, physically if not necessarily psychologically. His "fiancée" taught him things that he didn't even know were possible. Soon, he wanted to experiment and he quickly became addicted to physical pleasure. They didn't have much of a relationship beyond the physical aspect of it, but in typical teenage style, Scout was recklessly enjoying himself anyway, heedless of any potential consequences.

That is, he was having a great time until he fell pregnant.

He absolutely panicked when he found out he was pregnant. The first person he ran to was Gabe, who promised he'd do whatever he could even though he had no idea at the moment what that might be. Scout eventually told his fiancée too, and she immediately told Scout's parents. They, of course, insisted that Scout and his fiancée should perform the bonding ritual as soon as possible.

Scout had no intention of marrying or of raising a baby with her. He fled straight back to Gabe, and the two of them plotted to run away as soon as possible. They decided they wouldn't tell anyone until they got to where they were going and had settled in somewhat. They'd only contact Gabe's parents, and no one else.

Gabe's parents weren't thrilled when they finally found out their son had run off with his then sixteen year old pregnant friend, but they said they would try to be as supportive as possible from a distance. Scout and Gabe agreed that was as much as they expected, and they were grateful that Gabe's parents promised to keep everything they knew to themselves.

For the first several weeks, Scout was afraid to leave the tiny bachelor flat Gabe had rented for them, paranoid that his parents would find him and force him to go back and get married. After a while, when it became clear that his parents weren’t coming and probably didn’t even know how to find him, he began to relax. He started to realize he actually enjoyed being pregnant too; loving how it made him feel both mentally and physically and how heightened his enjoyment of food, sex and other sensory experiences was.

Meanwhile, Gabe found a job as a bartender and was able to support them. Scout was able to do several short-term online jobs to earn some money too.

Scout had already decided he wasn’t going to keep the baby. He and Gabe decided that after he or she was born, they’d drop them off at the hospital or a Sixamish clinic, preferably anonymously.

Scout gave birth in the flat, essentially unassisted because Gabe was at work during most of his labour. Gabe arrived home to find Scout on his knees in the middle of the kitchen floor, already pushing, biting into a towel so he didn't scream out loud. Both of them were clueless, but Scout thought he’d handled himself pretty well. Just like they’d planned, Gabe took the baby and dropped her off at a Sixamish clinic.

Several days later, when Scout was feeling well enough to travel, he and Gabe took off again for a new location. That was going to be their “final destination” so to speak, as they’re still there, living at the hotel, and considerably more well off than they were eight years ago.

Scout is currently 24 and Gabe is 27. They’re far less clueless and naive than they once were, and they’re closer than ever. They don’t consider themselves an official couple and they aren’t monogamous, but they are definitely together.

Gabe is a bartender and assistant manager at a nightclub, and Scout is a vlogger/influencer and part-time host at the nightclub. However, Scout’s main “mission” is a surrogate carrier. He’s done it twice at this point, and is currently waiting to be matched with a new client family.

[candyhoiic]

Hazbin Hotel Roleswap Au but my Take on it (Part Two)

Part one: Featuring notes on roleswap Lilith, Lucifer, Charlie, Vaggie, and Angel Dust.

Alastor

Just like the original world, Alastor’s rise to power happens overnight, but unfortunately for him it doesn’t stay that way for long. While he still maintains his rank as an overlord, his powers are significantly reduced after his initial rise to power. 

However, given his quickly gained infamy many sinners aren’t willing to test his limits. With most believing he’s still as powerful as the day he arrived or even more powerful now that he has souls under his belt.

What they don’t know is that Hell has cursed him with constantly needing to feed his powers more soul in order to maintain them. But as he feeds on souls, his magic starts to grow resistant towards its own power source. Leading him to need even more souls just to maintain the same power level. 

Slowly but surely causing his powers to dwindle. With there being simply no way for him to collect the amount of souls he needs to keep up with his power’s growing demand for souls.

He was given this curse due to his greed for power while he was still alive. While he was still a serial killer like original Al, his moral code was more self-serving than what I believe original Alastor’s were. He killed people not because they were bad or rude, but because they were in his way to rise to the top of the entertainment business or they simply made his life more difficult. If they happened to be abusers then that was just a happy coincidence. 

Anyways due to the limits of his power, he eventually made a deal with a higher level entity. To which they supply him with souls in return for his own. The catch? Well there’s a loophole to where they don’t need to give him the souls on a silver platter; they merely just have to provide him with a plethora of opportunities to obtain them. It doesn’t matter whether he actually manages to obtain the soul or not, they still technically uphold their part of the deal. 

When he fails to obtain enough souls he can always borrow some of their own powers. For a price of course. So, nowadays there are so many extra clauses to his soul contract that it’s about a mile longer than its original length.

Vox was one of the souls the entity presented Alastor the opportunity to obtain. However, Alastor grew to genuinely like Vox and therefore became reluctant to follow through with his original plans. All of this unbeknownst to Vox, who ended up collecting feelings for him.

The two of them became unlikely friends and during their friendship Vox slowly became a better overlord than Alastor. Vox made soul owning look like an art form catching onto the finer details and using them against others. While Alastor approached soul owning with force and oftentimes an undignified hunger due to his curse.

The entity saw Alastor’s own fondness for Vox, and didn’t care for how happy he made him. They also saw their relationship as a weakness. So, gradually they started feeding Alastor less and less opportunities. As well as made sure to pick harder targets for him. Ultimately, leading Alastor to ask the entity for some of their own power. 

They agreed to it but only if he showed them how grateful he was by finally taking Vox’s soul. The soul they had been oh so gracious in presenting Alastor with all those years ago only for him to spit on their offer by becoming ‘friends’ with Vox instead.

Alastor initially refuses due to valuing Vox’s friendship and knowing this would break it forever if he took his soul. But he only grew weaker from there with the entity refusing to alter the proposition, and only sending him enough opportunities to fulfill their initial bargain. 

It wasn’t until Vox was dangerously close to becoming even more powerful than him that he attempted to take his soul. He was desperate and partly delirious due to the significant power drain he was experiencing during their confrontation. 

He said anything and everything to knock Vox off his game and gain the upper hand. It worked for a while with Vox having not seen this fight coming, and being more focused on trying to reason with Alastor than actually fight him.

It wasn’t until Alastor ended up proclaiming that he never actually cared for Vox and was only raising him like a pig for the slaughter. While simultaneously, revealing- at least partly- that he needed souls to maintain his power that Vox finally started fighting back.

Feeling betrayed, the Tv demon stopped holding back his punches and went more on the offensive. The entity offered no extra support to Alastor until the very end, and only then to wisp him to safety once it became clear Vox had won the fight.

This effectively ended the two's friendship and led to Vox going missing for seven years.

The entity revealed soon after that they never expected Alastor to win the fight and from there on they became more willing to feed Alastor more souls to get his powers back up. But not before making it clear that they wouldn’t react as kind the next time Alastor decided to play with his meal.

This also made Alastor fully realize the deep shit he was in, and that despite their deal he couldn’t trust the entity to give him the souls he needed. 

He also recognized that he had ruined one of the good things Hell had given him and desperate to at least know where his friend was, Alastor had his shadows look for Vox, and while the entity was well aware of it, they did nothing to stop him finding amusement in the fact that the man who proclaimed he couldn’t love was acting like a worried lover over an insignificant picture box. 

Alastor wouldn’t find Vox but he did find his own opportunities to get two powerful souls under his belt. Gaining him business partners of sorts, but never friends, never again.

Husk

Much like the original Husk, he still sells his soul to Alastor. Their deal took place in a private section of Husk’s casino. With them having done deals with each other in the past; usually deals that didn’t have such high stakes. They had also gambled souls with each other too, but this particular time, Alastor was out for blood as it took place shortly after the confrontation between Vox and Alastor.

At the time, their fight hadn’t reached the public with neither Vox nor Alastor disclosing the fight. Both of them took precautions to wipe out any evidence or witnesses of the battle through various means. 

Alastor played Husk like a fiddle acting his usual self until it became clear he had the upper hand. Mainly accomplishing this by underhanded tactics such as slipping drugs into Husk’s drinks so he would lose count of how much he had to drink. While Husk was thinking this was just another friendly gamble between two overlords on good terms.

By the time he realized he had nothing left, not even his own soul Husk was already too sloshed to properly react. He blacked out shortly afterwards, and by the time he woke up Alastor was still there.

Unlike the original Alastor who I’m sure gloated to kingdom come, this Alastor was quick to lay ground rules and acted as if this was just a business transaction and that he didn’t just betray a ‘friend.’

Alastor makes it clear that Husk will still maintain his overlord status. With only him and Alastor knowing Alastor owns his soul. Putting a secrecy clause in their soul contract. So, any other soul simply believes the two formed a partnership as they were close enough that them forming a partnership didn’t surprise anyone.

To save face, Husk willingly agrees to the clause and keeps up the appearance of them both still being good pals. Although they still butts heads in private.

Still in public Husk and Alastor can be seen cracking jokes with each other like old pals. Usually the jokes are at each other’s expense.

Husk doesn’t know Alastor is on someone else’s leash this time around.

He also swears off alcohol after what happened between him and Al, which is ironic since he still owns a wide range of casinos and bars across pentagram city.

At first, other sinners would ridicule him for it openly, but after both him and Alastor making an example out of them, it became clear that the only one allowed to make fun of him was Alastor. So, now sinners just accept the fact that the overlord of gambling and alcohol ironically doesn’t drink.

There have been times where Husk falls back into old habits but it never lasts. As long as Alastors around Husk can’t help but feel sick after even a lick of alcohol and it’s not caused by the drink itself.

He’s unclear; rather Alastor regrets all the shit he’s put him through, but he doubts it would make much of a difference either. Husk is even more untrusting of others because of it.

He ends up meeting Angel Dust shortly after the other overlord starts helping Vox with the Hazbin Hotel. With him scoping out the hotel, Angel Dust was the first one to notice him.

They don’t get off on the right foot much like the original timeline, but mainly due to Angel Dust’s own aggression towards him, knowing him for being one of Alastor’s lackeys.

Despite the difference in their relationship and personalities compared to the original timeline, the two’s relationship still develops similarly to canon. 

Husks ends up hanging around the hotel more than intended especially after he and Angel get closer, but he never officially gives a reason as to why he comes around in the first place. He sure as hell wasn’t going to mention Alastor.

Vox doesn’t trust Husk at all, but knows Angel can handle himself and if it comes down to it, Vox is sure he could squash the other ‘overlord.’

Niffty

Niffty is well Niffty. She’s still pretty much her same chaotic self only this time she has more power! Oh my! 

Like the original universe, Alastor still owns her soul. Although their soul transaction was on much more pleasant terms than Husk and Alastor’s with Niffty practically jumping at the opportunity to give Alastor her soul. Did I mention she’s a little more delululu in this one?

Well anyways! Niffty was heads over heels for Alastor’s bad boy persona the moment she saw him, and was amenable to do just about anything to get closer to the allusive radio demon. Including trading in her soul. Surprisingly it was her idea to form a soul contract between them with her being a smaller overlord at the time.

Although she didn’t just want to give her soul to Alastor to stay close to him, but also because she had no interest in managing all the souls she had under her control. She just wanted to make and design clothes, but due to the high demand for her clothes needed the extra hands her souls provided her with. However, she really had no interest in everything else that came with being an overlord.

So, she made the deal to hit two birds with one stone, she gives Alastor her soul and in return she gets to be closer to him, and she doesn’t have to worry about anything but her true passion: fashion!

Much like Husk, sinners still believe she’s an overlord with her soul intact. It was more surprising to hear the two forming a partnership, but no one actively questioned it.

Niffty gets along with Alastor surprisingly well even though she has issues with keeping her hands to herself, and she isn’t shy about her interest in him.

While Husk tolerates Niffty at best. He acts indifferent towards her most of the time knowing being mean to her would only encourage her. Niffty finds Husk boring because of it.

Nowadays, Niffty is a more known ‘overlord’ with her face and fashion line being seen throughout Hell ( mainly on posters since Alastor doesn’t care for tech and therefore she doesn’t either ).

She still enjoys cleaning but she keeps her interest in it more lowkey.

She doesn’t know the history behind Vox and Alastor, but when Vox comes back into hell’s power structure, she forms an interest in the new bad boy in town.Vox doesn’t carry the same sentiment, seeing through her cutesy persona and knowing just what she usually does with the sinners who grab her interest.

He does find it funny to make Valentino and her be in the same room though. Vaggie doesn’t approve of it, labeling it as inhumane treatment.