borealwrites

[borealwrites]

Welcome to Kinktober 2025!

As there wasn’t an official Kinktober prompt list last year, we’ve put together an unofficial one for 2025, along with an AO3 collection. The graphics were all made by @latte-cucumber, and she's also made a banner that you’re welcome to use for your Tumblr Kinktober posts:

More information

Kinktober is an October prompt challenge that’s been running in one form or another since 2016. There are three prompts for each day in October, and the challenge is to use one (or more!) of the prompts to create something for that day. If you don’t want to use any of the three daily prompts, you can swap them out for the bonus prompts at the bottom of the prompt list.

Our askbox is open for questions about how the challenge works or what the prompts mean.

Prompts

Masturbation – Orgasm Control – Incest

Coming Untouched – Ageplay – Kidnapping

Threesome – Nipple Clamps – Alien Abduction

Voyeurism – Sounding – Hypnosis

Finger Sucking – Wax Play – Dacryphilia

Outdoor Sex – Humiliation – Intoxication

Blindfolds – Chastity – Bloodplay

Webcam – Figging – Cages

Exhibitionism – Shibari – Tentacles

Oral Sex – Punishment – Consensual Non-Consent

Come Licking – Handcuffs – Somnophilia

Sex Work – Kneeling – Sissification

Dildos – Dom Bottom/Sub Top – Medical Play

Omegaverse – Possessive Sex – Choking/Gagging

Semi-Public – Object Insertion – Sex Pollen

Remote Control – High Protocol – Fire Play

Messy Sex – Service Kink – Anal Hooks

Size Queen – Dom/Sub – Genital Torture

Creampie – Sensory Deprivation – Electricity

Mirror Sex – Golden Shower – Dubcon

Rimming – Forced Orgasm – Monsterfucking

Quiet Sex – Crawling – Gunplay

Biting – Praise Kink – Enemas

Anal Sex – Gags – Noncon

Double Penetration – Impact Play – Pillory/Stocks

Lingerie – Cuckolding – Sex Robot

Hair Pulling – Animal Play – Gangbang

Multiple Orgasms – S&M – Needle Play

Body Worship – Omorashi – Full-Body Bondage

Breeding – Fucking Machine – Degradation

Hot Tub Sex – Foot Fetish – Writer’s Choice

Bonus prompts:

Aftercare

Fisting

Wall Sex

Sugar Baby

Uniform Kink

Free Use

Temporary/Permanent Marks

[borealwrites]

reblog if you’re okay with people writing fanfics of your fanfics and/or fanfics inspired by your fanfics

[borealwrites]

✨ Today, everything is perfect!

Flash Fiction Friday is here and it's time to get creating!

✨ New to FFF? Let us fill you in!

Flash Fiction Friday is a fun writer event that’s meant to inspire, share and connect writings of all genres and writers of all ages. It’s designed to make people want to write, especially if they’re feeling blocked. Everyone and everything is welcome!

We always do our very best to keep the prompt’s genre open, entertaining, positive and encouraging.

Write between 100-1000 words. It can be any genre, in any text format and 18+ is fine by us, just please tag accordingly.

Use this Friday’s theme in your text. Any way you see fit.

Post on your tumblr blog and remember to tag us at @flashfictionfridayofficial​!! So we’ll see it, read it and reblog it!!

Deadline is 24 hours after the prompt has been issued (12 pm CET).

And then, next Friday, we’ll mention your work in a showcase post on our main blog before our next prompt drops.

Please post your entries as regular posts, not screenshots — or provide the text as a regular post as well. Let’s keep everything as accessible as possible!

We ask you to tag your works with any appropriate content warnings and let the reader know what they’ll find before they get the chance to read your work!

If you have a question, check out our FAQ page! If your question isn’t on there, don’t hesitate to ask!

You don’t need to ask for permission or need to get added to a list to join in. Just write, have fun and don’t forget to tag us!

We do not condone fiction, asks or comments that glorify: direct hostility, unconstructive critique, LGBTQIA+ hate, slurs, racism and/or general no-no behaviors.

If you want to be closer to the epicenter, you can come chat on our open discord: https://discord.gg/rUWCE8a

✨ We also introduced our very own Wishing Well, a place for you to whisper your prompt suggestions into. And we’ll listen! Check everything about it out HERE.

✨The Masterlist with last week's entries will be posted shortly!

Go check them out and consider supporting your fellow FFF writers with some likes and reblogs!

✨ And now, the new prompt!

[#FFF310 Could Have Been Worse]

This prompt has been brought to you by @cocoamoonmalfoy, thank you very much! Is it a heist that did not turn out well? A bad grade that could have gone better? Tell us what happened and the consequences of "could have been worse"! We want to know all about it, be it explosions or weird cakes! Get writing now, go go go!

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The Collective <3

[borealwrites]

by far the funniest thing about reading fanfiction as a political professional is that I can always tell exactly who has and hasn't been to a fundraiser or gala based on how they write them

[borealwrites]

Hey guys, there is only TWO WEEKS LEFT to SIGN UP for the KakaIru Maze Challenge 2025: Missions, before the event kicks off on 1st July!

If you haven’t done so yet, you can SIGN UP HERE; and if you’d like to know more about the event, please go here.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions!

We look forward to preparing your maze!

[borealwrites]

✨ Don't lie, we know you want to write!

Open up your laptops, get out those pens! FFF is here and it's time to get creating!

✨ New to FFF? Let us fill you in!

Flash Fiction Friday is a fun writer event that’s meant to inspire, share and connect writings of all genres and writers of all ages. It’s designed to make people want to write, especially if they’re feeling blocked. Everyone and everything is welcome!

We always do our very best to keep the prompt’s genre open, entertaining, positive and encouraging.

Write between 100-1000 words. It can be any genre, in any text format and 18+ is fine by us, just please tag accordingly.

Use this Friday’s theme in your text. Any way you see fit.

Post on your tumblr blog and remember to tag us at @flashfictionfridayofficial​!! So we’ll see it, read it and reblog it!!

Deadline is 24 hours after the prompt has been issued (12 pm CET).

And then, next Friday, we’ll mention your work in a showcase post on our main blog before our next prompt drops.

Please post your entries as regular posts, not screenshots — or provide the text as a regular post as well. Let’s keep everything as accessible as possible!

We ask you to tag your works with any appropriate content warnings and let the reader know what they’ll find before they get the chance to read your work!

If you have a question, check out our FAQ page! If your question isn’t on there, don’t hesitate to ask!

You don’t need to ask for permission or need to get added to a list to join in. Just write, have fun and don’t forget to tag us!

We do not condone fiction, asks or comments that glorify: direct hostility, unconstructive critique, LGBTQIA+ hate, slurs, racism and/or general no-no behaviors.

If you want to be closer to the epicenter, you can come chat on our open discord: https://discord.gg/rUWCE8a

✨ We also introduced our very own Wishing Well, a place for you to whisper your prompt suggestions into. And we’ll listen! Check everything about it out HERE.

✨All your amazing works from last week can be found HERE.

Go check them out and consider supporting your fellow FFF writers with some likes and reblogs!

✨ And now, the new prompt!

[#FFF309 Two Truths, One Lie]

A game between friends, an ice breaker between colleagues? Or is something more sinister going on beneath the surface? What lies are being told, what truths are coming to light? Betrayal and backstabbing, or loyalty and trust? What direction will you take your story in? We want to know! So get writing, go go go!

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The Collective <3

[borealwrites]

July Break Bingo 2025 Sign Ups Open!

You may have noticed that the main JBB blog is suddenly gone. This is an issue we've been having with tumblr for a while (a couple blogs for our other events also disappeared). We're waiting to hear from tumblr staff about getting it back, but for now we'll be using this one. Hopefully it's temporary, but if not, at least we still have a tumblr blog where you can reach us! Now, onto the main event:

It’s that time of year again: another round of July Break Bingo!

Sign-ups are open now and close on July 7th!

This is an extremely customizable bingo that you can curate to your every need, spanning all fandoms and mediums, with a broad range of prompts. You can opt out of Romance, Whump, NSFW and various other options (including the FREE space, if you just want all of your squares to be prompts).

As always, we have the usual bingo card sizes:

a 5x5 card (with 5 alternate prompts)

a 3x3 card

a 1x5 card

We’re also bringing back the more unique sizes that we added last year (4x4, 6x6, 7x7, etc.) for those who are members of our Discord server. Feel free to join if you haven’t yet already and would like to choose some of those other card sizes!

If you have any questions, our FAQ can be found here, or you can ask us on our tumblr or Discord server.

The sign up form can be found here. This event is 18+ but you’ll have the option to opt into or out of NSFW as you like.

We would love to have you join us!

[borealwrites]

✨ Not writing has a price, are you willing to pay?

It's Flash Fiction Friday! That means it's time to write, write, write!

✨ New to FFF? Let us fill you in!

Flash Fiction Friday is a fun writer event that’s meant to inspire, share and connect writings of all genres and writers of all ages. It’s designed to make people want to write, especially if they’re feeling blocked. Everyone and everything is welcome!

We always do our very best to keep the prompt’s genre open, entertaining, positive and encouraging.

Write between 100-1000 words. It can be any genre, in any text format and 18+ is fine by us, just please tag accordingly.

Use this Friday’s theme in your text. Any way you see fit.

Post on your tumblr blog and remember to tag us at @flashfictionfridayofficial​!! So we’ll see it, read it and reblog it!!

Deadline is 24 hours after the prompt has been issued (12 pm CET).

And then, next Friday, we’ll mention your work in a showcase post on our main blog before our next prompt drops.

Please post your entries as regular posts, not screenshots — or provide the text as a regular post as well. Let’s keep everything as accessible as possible!

We ask you to tag your works with any appropriate content warnings and let the reader know what they’ll find before they get the chance to read your work!

If you have a question, check out our FAQ page! If your question isn’t on there, don’t hesitate to ask!

You don’t need to ask for permission or need to get added to a list to join in. Just write, have fun and don’t forget to tag us!

We do not condone fiction, asks or comments that glorify: direct hostility, unconstructive critique, LGBTQIA+ hate, slurs, racism and/or general no-no behaviors.

If you want to be closer to the epicenter, you can come chat on our open discord: https://discord.gg/rUWCE8a

✨ We also introduced our very own Wishing Well, a place for you to whisper your prompt suggestions into. And we’ll listen! Check everything about it out HERE.

✨All your amazing works from last week can be found HERE.

Go check them out and consider supporting your fellow FFF writers with some likes and reblogs!

✨ And now, the new prompt!

[#FFF308 The Price of Peace ]

How did the peace come about? What was the cost? Were lives sacrificed to prevent the killing of thousands? Someone psuhing their emotions deep down to prevent fighting within their family? Is the peace worth the prices that have been paid? Or is the price not paid and so peace doesn't prevail? You write the stories, you create the answers! We want to hear them, we want to read them! Get writing, go go go!!

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The Collective <3

[borealwrites]

i hope you write (i hope we both write)

[borealwrites]

CW: past animals eating/killing people, past murder, I think we’re good for content warnings?

“How can you trust me to sleep beside you,” Kakashi knows he shouldn’t ask, but he has to, has to know. “I’ve killed lovers before, as they slept next to me, I’ve killed people who trusted me—”

A gentle press of Iruka’s fingers to his lips is all it takes to quiet him.

“You let your nindogs sleep next to you, do you not? And haven’t they killed others?” It’s infuriating how Iruka sounds like he’s laughing.

“That’s different, I’m their summoner, they would never—”

“Kakashi,” this time Iruka’s tone is sharp and serious, it’s the same tone that makes thirty unruly pre-genin and rooms full of twitchy jounin freeze, “I can name no less than twenty shinobi who were killed by their own summons outside of mission parameters, it is not different at all.”

That gets Kakashi to close his mouth, because he does, too. One was a a great uncle of his, torn apart by his own wolves before Kakashi was even born. Another was a Kumo missing-nin who had been devoured by her boar summons before they brought the scroll she had stolen back to the Anbu squad who had been tracking her. That sight still featured in some of Kakashi’s nightmares.

And yet Kakashi has never been worried. Summons turning on their summoner is rare. Kakashi trusts his ninken, Kakashi loves his ninken, and even if they did turn on him, he’s sure it would be for a good reason, like the good of the village, or Iruka’s safety.

Oh.

“…I don’t think the village deserves that much loyalty,” Kakashi whispers, half worried that the walls might hear him. “I don’t deserve your love.”

The hand on his head is gentle as Iruka pulls him to rest his head on his shoulder. “It’s not about deserving, Kakashi. I’m giving it to you, and to the village, because I want to give it. The village will take my loyalty until I have nothing left, but it’s up to you to accept my love.”

That wasn’t fair of Iruka, to place it on him, but he’s always been like that. Always pushing Kakashi to open up to him, to take instead of give, to set down the weight of his guilt for an afternoon—for an hour��to just be.

“What if I hurt you?” The words are out before he can stop them, whispered into the crook of Iruka’s neck. He feels the shrug more than he sees it.

“Then I’ll scream at you and chase you away and cry in the bathtub once I’m alone, and you’ll have the ninken make sad eyes at me until I forgive you and let you back in? I don’t know, we’ll figure it out when it happens.”

Kakashi both hates and loves how Iruka makes it sound so easy, like it wouldn’t tear Kakashi apart, but maybe that was okay. Maybe it could be that simple, and maybe it was okay for him to stay here, warm afternoon sunshine painting the world gold as he rested against Iruka.

“I guess that wouldn’t be so bad, as long as you loved me after.”

Neither of them spoke, but Kakashi hoped that Iruka understood his own declaration. From the way a soft kiss was pressed against the crown of his head, he thinks it was.

[borealwrites]

Fandom Free Bingo: Untamed Edition!

Please Note. Following implications of the behaviour of a certain previously-credible author and its affect on the queer community, we will no longer be reblogging fills from within the Harry Potter fandom. We never wanted to make this a political environment, but this has gone beyond politics. The money raised by this woman through HP is actively going into fighting against the rights of trans folks, and we refuse to support anything related to her or her works. While I understand this may be upsetting to some, the mod team here is entirely under the trans* spectrum, and we would rather not have to engage with anything to do with her. Trans rights are human rights.

Note: From the end of May, we will no longer be reblogging fills from Plurality Edition Cards. The AO3 collection will remain open indefinitely, however, and any Tumblr post that fills Plurality or earlier prompts and any prompt from a later edition will still be reblogged on those grounds. This means that posts covering exclusively Plurality prompts or earlier will no longer be reblogged <3 

Now, on to June! It's time to get outdoors with Untamed Edition and National Great Outdoors Month!

- Turnaround time is hopefully no longer than a week. If you've been waiting longer than this, please feel free to reach out! - Feel free to interpret the prompts however you wish - the world is your oyster! <3 Note: Terms with a stereotypically applied gender (e.g 'Princess', 'king') are not gender-restricted! Some things are just hard to make gender-neutral, especially in limited space. Gimmie those boy princesses and nb kings to your hearts content. <3   - No restriction to one prompt per fic/chapter.   - You can merge this event with others, so long as the other event permits this.   - Please mark rating clearly, and use CW where applicable. Posts not adequately marked will not be reblogged. We love you folks, and all the work you produce, but we get a lot of reblogs and have lives outside the event - we don't always have the time to be chasing down ratings or fandoms ;-; - Use the tags #FandomFreeBingo and #Fandom Free Bingo: Untamed Edition, and tag @fandom-free-bingo on tumblr for a reblog - don't forget to also add in the pairing/characters, rating, the fandom and the warnings in the tags please <3   - Untamed Edition sign ups will run until June 30th, 2025. Feel free to post after this date, however - works will be reblogged until May 31st, 2026, and the Ao3 collection will be open indefinitely.   - A maximum of FOUR cards per participant.  - This season we are offering BOTH 5x5 and 3x3 cards - please let us know which you would like!     - All media forms, fandoms and original works are welcome!   - You can request square changes twice (of any number), for up to a week after the card is issued.   - Be respectful to other participants. - Be kind to us!   - Ao3 collection can be found here!

We also have a Discord!

@thebigbangblogproject

Sign up here!

[borealwrites]

Calling all KakaIru creators! Kakashi hasn't returned from his most recent mission, and in his absence, all the new missions that would have gone to him have been dumped on Iruka, instead!

Iruka needs help getting through all the missions and finding Kakashi to drag him back to Konoha; and he is seeking a talented creator to guide him through and conquer all the prompts blocking the path to Kakashi.

If not, well… there’s no telling how much more work will be dumped on him! Oh, and Kakashi's safety is important, too!

So if you think you’ve got what it takes to aid Iruka in tackling all the MISSIONS Tsunade is throwing at him in Kakashi's wake, please SIGN UP HERE to join him on his adventure!

And you’d better hurry, because sign ups close on 30th June! If the journey is put off any longer, it might be too late!

Mazes will be handed out by 1st July, and the creation period is from 1st July - 15th September. We ask that you don’t post anything before then!

Mission Details:

You will be given a maze that has Iruka at the beginning, and Kakashi at the end. The goal will be for you to help Iruka find his way to Kakashi. To do this, you must figure out the path to reach him. But there’s a catch…

Scattered throughout the maze will be different symbols, which mark a trap or other danger that Iruka has to face to continue on. Each symbol represents a different prompt, which will be listed in a key below the maze; and the only way Iruka can get past is for you to make a creation for the prompt that is blocking him. 

Once you have finished creating something for all the prompts along the path, Iruka will reunite with Kakashi, and you will have completed the challenge! 

Guidelines:

If there are multiple paths on your maze, you can choose whichever route you like to get to Kakashi, even if it’s the long way around!

You do not have to draw the path you’ve decided to take, you only have to create something for the prompts you come across along it. 

You can make creations for as many prompts as you like, but you must get all the prompts along the path to Kakashi to win the challenge.

Minimum requirements: 100 words for fics, completed sketch for art. 

Chapter fics don’t need to be complete to count!

Creations will be accepted in any language! 

If you finish your maze, you can contact mod @kakairu-shrine​ for another one to do!

Rules:

All content must be created for this event – old/ recycled work will not be allowed.

This is a KakaIru event, so all works must be endgame KakaIru.

Triggering, sensitive & NSFW content must be tagged appropriately. If it isn’t, we will not share it. 

Where to post:

Kakairu Rocks Forum: SFW content in the Fanworks section, and NSFW or triggering content in the Lemon Bar (You must be a forum member, and 18+ to have access to the Lemon Bar).

We have an AO3 Collection you can post to, which will be open until 20th September; and we would like you to use the tag KakaIru Maze Challenge 2025.

Tag us here on Tumblr with the prompt your work is for, and/ or use kakairu maze challenge 2025 in the tags.

All tagged work will be shared by us, and a masterpost will be created at the end of the event!

If you have any questions about the KakaIru Maze Challenge, please don’t hesitate to contact us!

[borealwrites]

☁️🌈 Hello! Welcome to Pride Month Prompts for 2025! 🌈☁️

Years ago I made a Pride Month Prompt list for a group of friends. It was a huge success and a lot of fun. Since then I have been asked to do it again repeatedly, especially as I run @mermay-forever now... so I've decided why not? 🤷😏

Pride Month Prompts is a daily prompt event for the entire month of June. The focus? Creating loads of content focused on the LGBTQIA+ community!

❤🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🤍🖤

We need to be loud and proud! 📣💪So let's celebrate the way we can at home in fandom spaces! 🎊

You can find all the important information and the prompt list for 2025 below!

First ➡️ Please do take the time to read our Standard Blog Rules found HERE!

We hope you enjoy our prompt list this year and have fun creating any ideas it sparks! 🤗

🏳️‍🌈 Pride of 2025 Prompts: 🏳️‍🌈

1. Parade or Protest

2. Design

3. "Are you just going to watch?"

4. History

5. Fake Relationship

6. Growth

7. Spectrum

8. Hair Styles

9. Concert

10. First Kiss

11. Boat Ride

12. Criminal

13. Letters or Photographs

14. Sharing a Bed

15. Category: Gen

16. Body Paint

17. Hot or Cold

18. Faint

19. Food Truck

20. Redecorating

21. Flags or Symbols

22. Pet

23. Low-key

24. Wardrobe

25. Self-esteem

26. "Am I the first person you've told?"

27. Achievement

28. Barriers

29. Karaoke

30. FREE

📩 Are you unsure how you can participate? 🤔 Check out the FAQ post HERE and hopefully I've covered most things, but feel free to ask if you still have questions! 👀

Pride Month Prompts of 2025 AO3 Collection

🙏 Please remember to tag and MENTION (@) us when posting to Tumblr so we can reblog your PRIDE Month content! 👩‍💻

Happy creating! 🥳

[borealwrites]

D/s and Emotional Needs

This post is basically a transcript of a speech I give to newbies to the D/s scene all the time IRL. I figured it might be useful not only to people curious about kink IRL but also to smut writers here on the smut writing website.

For the purposes of this post, I am sending specific physical acts out of the room. Right now they don't matter, because you can meet an emotional need through any number of physical acts. So when I say that there are many ways to dom and many ways to sub, I am not referring to many kinds of physical acts. I mean that there are many emotional needs that doms and subs bring to scenes, and those can change the scene more than the choice of physical acts that will occur in that scene.

I say this to newbies to the scene because they tend to have a narrow view of the motivations and needs that bring people to D/s, biased by both the newbie's own preferences and the depictions of D/s they've seen in media. The same is true of people who write kink fic. Kink fic is very biased to a narrow subset of the wide range of emotional needs that people might bring to this kind of play.

It's really important to understand this in D/s IRL because a mismatch or miscommunication about these needs can lead to a bad scene. For example, let's take the approaches of sub-as-beloved-pet and sub-as-object. If a dom treats a sub as a beloved pet when what they really want is to be treated like an object, then a sub who went into a scene needing to be ignored, or at the very least the illusion of being ignored and disregarded, is suddenly in the spotlight of a lot of intense attention and affection. Again, I will note that both of these scenes could potentially involve the same physical acts, just approached differently. Let's say it's a service submission scene where the sub is naked and cleaning the room for the dom. Sub-as-beloved-pet would get frequent praise and lots of patiently repeated instructions, while sub-as-object would get one detailed instruction at the beginning and no reinforcement except a punishment if they get part of the instruction wrong.

I'm going to go through a bunch of different styles of dom and sub, with the emotional needs that underlie them. This list is not exhaustive. I'm sure there's more I haven't thought of or encountered, so feel free to reblog with additions. It may also be a bit dom-biased because I'm a dom, but I think that might be for the best, because the emotional needs of doms are generally less understood than those of subs.

Various consensual kinks discussed below. Kinkshamers in the notes will be blocked with extreme prejudice.

Dom-as-control: This may seem obvious or even trivial, but it shouldn't be dismissed: many doms are motivated by an emotional need to have some part of their life where they have total control over what is going to happen. Something that I love about this style of domination is that I always know exactly what will happen next (except if there's some emergency, safeword, or other issue to address.) There are no wild cards in a controlled D/s scene except for those I explicitly allow (like if I ask a sub to choose which whip I'll beat them with.) This is also a reason why I personally have a very hard time switching; I have difficulty with the uncertainty of not knowing what will happen next. It should be noted that this style of domination is fairly incompatible with the bratty style of submission, as the brat is constantly throwing wild cards into the scene.

Sub-as-blankspace: The other side of this coin is the sub who needs to not have to think anymore. They've spent all day deciding what to wear and what to eat and which toothpaste to buy and they just want to stop. This is a very common motivator. This sub needs specific and clear commands from a dom, without too many steps, or else needs to have a well-established protocol of kneeling and service that they can do by pure muscle memory. This sub does not want the dom to offer them a choice of whips they can be beaten with, because that forces them out of the blissful blankspace of not needing to choose.

Dom- or sub-as-service: The same emotional need can sometimes motivate domination or submission! Many people dom or sub out of a desire to please their partner. It's about taking on a defined role that you know will meet your partner's needs. It feels good to be needed, after all. This motivation for D/s is generally the best understood by the public, especially as a motivation for doms. It's generally more socially acceptable to want to control and torment people if you're doing it selflessly in order to please them. A big part of my motivation for making this speech to people, and for writing this post, is to point out that this is far from the only style of domination, and pleasing their subs is far from the only emotional need that doms might have.

Dom-as-whumper: I'm using this terminology because of the website I'm on. I'm not into whumpfic, but I recognize in people who have a visceral need to see their blorbos whimpering and bleeding the same need I have to tear apart a cute kitten with my bare hands, or to crush a sub beneath my booted foot. It's the cuteness aggression approach to domination: sometimes your sub is so cute your hands itch with the urge to destroy them. This is where domination and sadism bleed into each other; this style of domination does not work well for the sub who wants to submit without being hurt or humiliated.

Sub-as-object: Subs who like to be treated as furniture, robots, or objects are often motivated by a need to enjoy a sexual or kink situation while being free of attention and scrutiny. Obviously, some baseline level of attention is needed for BDSM safety; the dom needs to be able to notice if the sub is injured or upset. But beyond that baseline, it can feel very freeing for a sub to be turned on, blissed out in subspace, crying, drooling, whatever, without anyone closely watching or listening to them, so long as they fulfill whatever their purpose as an object is.

Sub- or dom-as-flex: Both doms and subs can be motivated by a need to feel competent. I definitely feel awesomely powerful and competent when I do a style of domination that requires specialized skill, such as hypnosis. Submission can also provide a feeling of competence: look how long I was able to stay kneeling on the hard floor! Look how perfectly I cleaned the room, exactly as Mistress told me to do it!

Dom-as-troll (or mad scientist): The sibling to this kind of dom is the writer who thinks "wouldn't it be fucked up if....?" and then writes a freaky nasty little horror story about it. A great thing about D/s is that you can have a thought like "wouldn't it be fucked up if I tied up my sub and then ate their favorite snack right in front of them?" and then you can just do it (provided you know your sub likes to be tied up and tormented.) Then you can find out how your sub would react to your terrible ideas and laugh evilly at the results. The emotional need being served here is the goblin part of your brain that wants to break things just to see how they shatter. All you need to do is find someone who wants to be broken.

Sub-as-brat: Brats are often discussed as a single type of sub, but in my experience, there are two rather different emotional needs that drive brats. Some people are brats because they need the assurance that they can act out all they want, and it won't derail the action; the dom is strong or skilled enough to subdue them no matter what nasty tricks their goblin brain gets up to. Other people are brats out of a need to live in a predictable and fair moral universe. Those brats want a very clear system of rules and punishments for those rules. Then they test the rules, and they get meted out exactly the punishment they were promised. Within the world of this scene, the world is fair, and the same misbehavior will always face the same consequences, something that rarely happens in the real world. These types of brats are rather different, because the first kind of brat doesn't care as much if the consequences of their misbehavior are inconsistent, while the second kind cares a lot.

Sub-as-beloved-pet: Or beloved child, if they're an ageplayer. I find that subs that like to be a beloved puppy are driven by an emotional need to be loved, treasured, and supported unconditionally, even if they make mistakes, even if they behave messily or clumsily, even if they look silly, because that's how a good pet owner should treat a pet. There might be discipline involved, but the discipline is very supportive and patient.

Dom-as-nurturer: Some doms are motivated by a need to be in a nurturing role that their non-D/s life may not allow them to fulfill. For example, a man who wants to express affection and tenderness to his partner but has a hard time doing so because of the way he was raised may be able to unlock that ability if his partner plays a sweet puppy and he's playing the puppy's doting owner. Basically, the D/s scene creates a little world and a set of roles in which it's expected and normal for the dom to be nurturing, even if that's not true for the dom outside of that scene.

Dom-as-enfant-terrible: The other side of the coin is a dom who needs to be in a role where they can be unreasonable, demanding, and selfish, a role that their non-D/s life may not allow them to fulfill. For example, a mother who spends all day thinking about her family's needs may relish the opportunity to center her own desires without worrying if she's being "too much." She can be impatient and fussy and demand the sub do things over and over until she's satisfied, all of which she can't do when she's working as a teacher or other caring role.

Dom-as-artist: I think this is a hugely under-appreciated motivator for doms. Many have a need to be creative and imaginative that they fulfill through domination. I've been to workshops and demos at kink conventions where I've been awed by another dom's fiendish creativity. I once watched a hypno dom with a sub who got off on being afraid, and he hypnotized her and crafted an extremely elaborate horror scene in the room, filling it with menacing shadows and phantasms. This is where I'm contractually obligated to link A Dom DM because this is where domination overlaps a lot with game running and game design.

Sub-as-aesthetic-object: The flip side of this coin is that many subs enjoy being an aesthetic object or canvas for a dom's art. Very often these are subs chasing a need to feel beautiful, or at least enjoyable to look at. Subs who want to be aesthetic objects may enjoy wearing special outfits during scenes, or being posed in sexy or appealing positions. Subs in this kind of scene may enjoy letting go of worrying about whether they look good to the dom, because the dom is shaping them to their own preferred aesthetic, whether that's via poses, makeup, shibari, or something else.

Sub-as-sexual-creature: A lot of subs enjoy being called sluts, offered up for free use, or otherwise being hypersexualized. Why is that? Well, our society has a lot of shame and repression around sex, and it can feel much easier to relax and enjoy sex if it's couched in the fantasy that you have no choice because you've been reduced to a purely sexual creature. The sub has an emotional need to give up responsibility for choosing to have sex and be sexual, because that responsibility is a heavy weight to carry.

Dom- or sub-as-taboo-breaker: This is a huge motivator for both doms and subs. We all live in a society, and sometimes we feel a need to break the rules of that society. Both domination and submission provide opportunities to do so. It's taboo to piss yourself as an adult, but a watersports scene creates a space where it is acceptable or even desirable for a sub to break that taboo. As a dom, I personally get a huge taboo-breaking thrill from slapping a sub across the face. There's something about the sheer disrespect of it, and the memory of being scolded for doing it as a child, that fills me with impish glee.

Dom-as-hunter/sub-as-prey: For the hunter to catch the prey, there must first be a chase, or at the very least an ambush. This need not be a literal chase (we sent physical acts out of the room, remember?) but it is a dynamic to hunter/prey-flavored BDSM: the hunter has to earn it. This fulfills an emotional need for both dom and sub: a dom who struggles with feelings of unworthiness can feel like they've earned their partner's submission, and a sub can feel that the dom cares enough to put in the effort to catch them. Hunter/prey also allows dom and sub to explore some pretty dark emotions within the safety of consensual kink, such as fear, obsession, and consumption.

Dom-as-shadow: I mean shadow here in the sense of shadow work. Many doms take inspiration from people who bullied them in school (and many subs enjoy re-enacting scenes of childhood bullying in a safe and consensual context.) There is a real emotional need served by claiming the power of those bullies for yourself. Those childhood cruelties can be utterly transformed by the change of context. For example, the catty whispers and sneers of straight girls who bullied me for being queer comes out very different when I perform those same catty sneers as a genderfucky adult.

Sub-as-lesser-being: While some subs like to be beloved pets, and others like to be disregarded objects, some like to be pond scum. There can be a real freedom that comes from occupying a role of being disgusting and horrible. Nothing good or useful can be expected of you, and nothing you do will ever earn praise, and so you're free from worrying about or pursuing any of those things. Sub-as-lesser-being is also a space to explore difficult emotions like shame and humiliation in a safe context.

[borealwrites]

Reblog if you’re grateful for your commenters <3

[borealwrites]

editing is so funny because it's like "damn, i wrote 'before' two times within three paragraphs. they are going to stone me in the town square for this"

[borealwrites]

☁️🌈 Hello! Welcome to Pride Month Prompts for 2025! 🌈☁️

Years ago I made a Pride Month Prompt list for a group of friends. It was a huge success and a lot of fun. Since then I have been asked to do it again repeatedly, especially as I run @mermay-forever now... so I've decided why not? 🤷😏

Pride Month Prompts is a daily prompt event for the entire month of June. The focus? Creating loads of content focused on the LGBTQIA+ community!

❤🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🤍🖤

We need to be loud and proud! 📣💪So let's celebrate the way we can at home in fandom spaces! 🎊

You can find all the important information and the prompt list for 2025 below!

First ➡️ Please do take the time to read our Standard Blog Rules found HERE!

We hope you enjoy our prompt list this year and have fun creating any ideas it sparks! 🤗

🏳️‍🌈 Pride of 2025 Prompts: 🏳️‍🌈

1. Parade or Protest

2. Design

3. "Are you just going to watch?"

4. History

5. Fake Relationship

6. Growth

7. Spectrum

8. Hair Styles

9. Concert

10. First Kiss

11. Boat Ride

12. Criminal

13. Letters or Photographs

14. Sharing a Bed

15. Category: Gen

16. Body Paint

17. Hot or Cold

18. Faint

19. Food Truck

20. Redecorating

21. Flags or Symbols

22. Pet

23. Low-key

24. Wardrobe

25. Self-esteem

26. "Am I the first person you've told?"

27. Achievement

28. Barriers

29. Karaoke

30. FREE

📩 Are you unsure how you can participate? 🤔 Check out the FAQ post HERE and hopefully I've covered most things, but feel free to ask if you still have questions! 👀

Pride Month Prompts of 2025 AO3 Collection

🙏 Please remember to tag and MENTION (@) us when posting to Tumblr so we can reblog your PRIDE Month content! 👩‍💻

Happy creating! 🥳