#and hopefully it's a relatively minor problem.

[orcelito]

Waking up bright and early to call the place soon after it opens Just In Case... only to find they're full up for the day :')👍

But they do have an appointment available tomorrow morning, & it's b4 when my shift starts. So. Tomorrow.

Guess I do still have a day off. We'll see if I can mentally use that haha

[piastrinorris]

Happy to Help

Pairing: Keys x f!Reader Genre: smut (18+, minors DNI) Word count: 3.7k Summary: Forgetting you'd spoken to customer support from your favourite game leads to something getting sent to the wrong person. A/N: Listen, I know there's a set-up for potentially more. I would like to write potentially more. But nothing puts a writer off more than demands for a part 2, okay? For now, enjoy my first ever Keys fic. :)

Welcome to Free City Customer Support. We appreciate your patience. Connecting you to a member of our team…

Keys: Hi there! What seems to be the problem today?

You: hi, my screen is like. frozen dead. can't do anything, can't click anything. can't alt-tab out, can't ctrl-alt-delete. but i made a lot of progress between save points and idk if it can still be salvaged

Keys: Oof, yeah, that's the worst. Hopefully we can get you back up and running. Real quick, are you sure it's not your internet? I mean, you seem like you know your way around a computer, just worth double-checking, if it's your network then there's not a lot I can do.

You: yeah, sorry, should have added that. everything else that connects to my internet is working. i have an error message if that helps?

Keys: Yes! That's amazing! Can you send me it, please?

You: it says "error 72816: attempting patch repair"

You: there was a spinning buffering wheel in the corner but it gave up the ghost about twenty minutes ago.

Keys: Interesting. I don't remember making that error message, let alone what would trigger it. Are you sure that's what it says? No typos?

You: you wound me.

You: jk jk sorry this is a Very Professional Customer Support Exchange. no, definitely no typos.

Keys: Hahaha, don't worry, I've read far worse messages from people today, that made me laugh!

Keys: This is a little unorthodox but I'm wracking my brain here and I can't think of another solution. If I give you my work phone number, would you text me a photo of your screen?

Keys: Usually, I'd ask for an email of a screenshot, but, well…

You: yeah sure, whatever gets me out of this purgatory.

Keys: Super appreciate your patience here. My number is: 

Keys: [redacted]

Keys: Okay, got it, deleted the message with my number so it won't show up in chat history, in case you're wondering. Data protection and all.

You: the professional techie guy with the techie-ass nickname being cautious about cyber security? groundbreaking.

Keys: Haha! You got me there!

Keys: Oh! Wait! Are you registered as a beta tester?

You: no?? i didn't know that was a thing??

Keys: Yeah, all ours are internal and I don't recognise your username in our database, now that I've pulled it up. I think you must have just slipped through the cracks, let me look into the code of our new test area and see if I can boot you back out.

You: ooh, are you gonna come bursting in through my door with a swat team to erase my memory, too?

Keys: I'm just a "professional techie guy" here, not a Man In Black, haha. 

Keys: Hey, I see you!

Keys: In this code, I mean.

Keys: It's showing up that there's an unauthorized player.

Keys: That's what I meant.

You: well yeah, didn't think you were in my walls or anything

Keys: Just making sure! Didn't want you really thinking I was stalking you or anything.

Keys: Still don't remember making that error message, but that's another mystery, I guess.

You: ooh, maybe the game's becoming sentient and it's outgrowing us all!

Keys: There's that imagination again!

Keys: I'm gonna reset your position to your safehouse, hopefully also keeping your progress intact? If this doesn't work then a hard reboot is unfortunately the only other way.

You: you're a doll.

You: AHHHH IT WORKED I'M BACK AND I STILL GOT A SICK ASS BIKE WAITING FOR ME IN MY GARAGE

You: THANK YOU SO MUCH AHHHHHH

Keys: Pleasure's all mine, glad I could help. Please reach out if it happens again! Or if you have any other issues!

You: will do. so long, techie guy. thanks for everything!

Keys: Happy playing!

— — — —

It's been a relatively quiet Friday evening for you. Nobody's made any plans to go out, and you're unsure yourself whether you have the energy to. You've pretty much spent your whole day gaming, so you should probably fill your social battery a little, but do you really want to go to a bar by yourself?

You glance over at your phone and smirk at it. There is that guy you've been talking to… Maybe you'll send him something to spice the night up.

Once you've done your hair and make-up to add to the whole look, you find your cutest set of underwear, put it on and take a couple of selfies until there's one you're especially pleased with. Your muscle memory has you tapping three message contacts down, where he always is since you've been texting friends all day, and sending the photo on autopilot with the message: Hey, you.

You giggle with delight when your phone chimes almost immediately after - you've really got this guy whipped, huh - but are surprised to see you've apparently forgotten who else you texted today.

[8:23pm] Keys: OH

[8:23pm] Keys: OH NO

[8:23pm] Keys: I think

[8:23pm] Keys: You've sent this

[8:24pm] Keys: To the wrong person

[8:24pm] Keys: I'm so sorry I saw that!

[8:25pm] You: that's okay, i don't mind that you saw it. :)

[8:25pm] You: besides, burning the midnight oil, still being at your work phone?! don't they have out of hours customer service?

[8:29pm] Keys: I… Might have lied about this being my work phone. I normally have one, but it's getting fixed so I thought I would get away with saying it was a work line to help you out.

[8:30pm] You: and then i went and accidentally sent you an unsolicited lewd. sorry.

[8:36pm] Keys: It was just a shock, is all!

[8:38pm] You: well, since we're both here, and since you haven't deleted the photo yet despite how quickly you deleted your number from the chat log earlier, *and* how long it's taking you to reply, what do you think?

[8:40pm] Keys: Oh god, you're so right, I'm so sorry, I'll delete it now.

[8:40pm] You: don't!

[8:40pm] You: like i said, i want your feedback on it now.

[8:41pm] Keys: Oh! Well, it's very nice.

[8:41pm] You: nice?! ouuuuch.

[8:42pm] Keys: What do you mean? Nice is a compliment!

[8:43pm] You: yeah, from your grandma when you've given her a birthday card. c'mon, i can take it. tell me what you REALLY think. :)

[8:50pm] Keys: I… I think you're very attractive.

[8:51pm] You: there you go! it's super adorable that you're stammering over text, btw.

[9:01pm] Keys: [image attached]

[9:01pm] Keys: It felt weirdly unbalanced that you at least didn't know what I looked like, too.

[9:02pm] You: well damn, no wonder they call you keys, because you are just my *type!*

[9:02pm] You: get it?

[9:03pm] Keys: …That was cheesy as hell.

[9:03pm] Keys: But I like cheese :]

[9:03pm] You: oh yeah? give me your cheesiest pick-up line 

[9:13pm] Keys: Are you made of copper and tellurium? Because you're CuTe!

[9:13pm] You: i award that 🧀🧀🧀/5. you could be cheesier.

[9:19pm] Keys: Okay, fine.

[9:20pm] Keys: Are you Google? Because you have everything I'm searching for.

[9:22pm] You: 🧀🧀🧀🧀. are YOU google because i'm feeling lucky. ultimate cheese has no comeback. c'mon, you're so close.

[9:26pm] Keys: Oof, okay, give me a sec.

[9:28pm] Keys: Although really you should never use Google if you can help it, they already datamine so much information out of you that the less you use any Google product, the safer you are. I use DuckDuckGo myself, but you should really do your own research when it comes to cybersecurity rather than just blindly trust someone, even if they are a professional.

[9:28pm] You: keys.

[9:29pm] Keys: Right. Sorry.

[9:38pm] Keys: If you were a grade, you'd be A+, because I want to take you home and show you to my parents.

[9:39pm] You: okay, that wins. maximum cheese for keys 🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀

[9:39pm] You: next ranking category: 🌶️ 

[9:39pm] You: let's see what you got, hot stuff

[9:45pm] Keys: What?! I can't just send you stuff like that! That's so forward!

[9:46pm] You: keys you've seen my tits

[9:46pm] You: i think we're past that

[9:55pm] Keys: Accidentally!

[9:55pm] You: and all the time you spend scrolling back up to it is "accidental", too?

[9:56pm] Keys: …How could you tell?

[9:57pm] You: every now and then you take a little bit longer between messages. just assuming you're scrolling up lol

[9:56pm] You: like i keep saying. i don't mind at all. you don't have to be shy around me

[9:58pm] Keys: Well, since all my cards are apparently on the table so obviously…

[9:58pm] Keys: Do you work at Subway? Because you just gave me a foot-long.

[9:59pm] You: ????? talk about 0-60! also i think that deserves negative 🌶️ for the psychic damage it caused me to read

[10:00pm] Keys: You just turned my software into hardware.

[10:00pm] You: what happened to "that's so forward", eh?

[10:01pm] You: but, credit where it's due, 🌶️🌶️. normally a 🌶️ but from you it's like a 2.5/5

[10:01pm] Keys: Your outfit would look great on my bedroom floor.

[10:01pm] You: oh

[10:02pm] You: oh my god

[10:02pm] You: oh you sweet boy, you're googling them, aren't you

[10:02pm] You: or whatever you use instead

[10:04pm] Keys: Some of us need the extra help! We're not all as smooth as you.

[10:04pm] You: sure you are, baby, you just need to get comfortable

[10:05pm] Keys: But I'm already on my bed!

[10:05pm] You: not just in that way! try taking something off

[10:06pm] You: and then send me proof 😇

[10:11pm] Keys: [image attached]

[10:11pm] Keys: ;]

[10:12pm] You: taking off your glasses doesn't count, dork!

[10:12pm] Keys: [image attached]

[10:12pm] Keys: like this?

[10:13pm] You: holy fuck

[10:13pm] You: hi you're hot

[10:14pm] Keys: Hahaha, thank you? I still don't feel any more charismatic, though!

[10:15pm] You: well, going back to your line about being like a good grade you wanna take home… does that maybe mean you also want to pin me up on the fridge?

[10:18pm] Keys: Well, the fridge isn't very sturdy. I think I'd rather do that against the wall.

[10:18pm] You: okay now *that’s* hot

[10:18pm] You: and what would you do with me once you'd pinned me to the wall? 

[10:24pm] Keys: I'm not very good at all of the imaginative talk stuff that sounds sexy. Even using the word seems like the total opposite of what I'm trying to do.

[10:25pm] You: not at all, sometimes bluntness is the sexiest thing of all.

[10:29pm] Keys: Well, I'd really like to kiss you. All over, actually. 

[10:29pm] You: *all* over?

[10:31pm] Keys: Yeah. The way you were posing made your neck look amazing.

[10:32pm] Keys: Oh god, now I sound like a vampire

[10:34pm] You: i promise you don't, that was my intention when i took it lol. besides, vampires are sexy as hell. i'd love it if you kissed my neck

[10:34pm] You: would you touch me?

[10:35pm] Keys: Wouldn't I be holding you against the wall?

[10:36pm] You: true, but there's other ways. like, you could put your leg between mine to keep me in place

[10:37pm] You: mmm, and then i could grind against your thigh while you keep this little promise of kissing and touching me *all over*

[10:37pm] You: does that sound good?

[10:41pm] Keys: Oh god yes

[10:43pm] You: and then that leaves my hands free to touch you, too. i wanna play connect the dots with those cute little moles of yours

[10:47pm] Keys: Oh my god

[10:48pm] Keys: that made me want to trace them myself for some reason and that felt so good

[10:49pm] You: you're touching yourself AND not paying attention to grammar anymore? for lil ol' me?

[10:49pm] You: that deserves a reward, i think 

[10:51pm] You: [image attached]

[10:51pm] You: i seem to have lost my bra, come over and help me find it?

[10:58pm] Keys: holy shit 

[10:58pm] Keys: can i just say what i'm thinking and then you can tell me if i'm going to far 

[10:59pm] You: i think you mean *too, nerd boy, but yes, i'd love that

[11:06pm] Keys: sorry typing is getting difficult at the moment

[11:11pm] Keys: i want to hold them so bad. they look amazing, especially with your nipples so hard

[11:11pm] You: when you say typing is difficult, are you touching yourself right now?

[11:12pm] You: because now i'm playing with my nipples and wishing it was you

[11:13pm] You: tell me, baby. you want me to rub them? squeeze them? you wanna come over and suck on them?

[11:17pm] Keys: i want to feel them get hard. want to touch them while i kiss you

[11:17pm] You: attaboy! i knew you had it in you

[11:19pm] You: they're so sensitive now. and humping my pillow as if it’s your leg isn't enough, can i touch myself for you, please?

[11:23pm] Keys: oh god yes please do

[11:23pm] You: are you okay to call? i have a feeling both of us are getting preoccupied now

Your phone lights up with the name "Keys Freecity" and you immediately put it on speaker, letting the phone rest on your pillow next to you. "Well, hey there."

"Uh, hi." His voice is shaking and his breath is hitching.

"You know, you never told me if you were touching yourself or not," you point out.

"I - I am," he stammers out, and you purr back.

"God, I wish I was there to do that for you. Or at least to watch. I bet you look so fucking good right now. What are you thinking about, then, huh?"

"I was, uh… Thinking, about… The way you look up in those photos… And…" He falters out, but you hear the faintest groan, still.

"Aw, you want me to suck you off, baby?" You tease. "Thinking about me looking up at you? My lips wrapped around your cock? Mmm, I bet it's so big I can barely fit, huh?"

"I… I mean, it's not the sandwich I promised earlier, but… It's definitely bigger than… Average," Keys explains, and you don't hold back on the moan that hearing that news elicits from you.

You still laugh softly at his joke. "Yeah, I could tell, baby. Fuck, when are you coming over and splitting me in half already?"

"God, I wish I could," he replies in a strained voice. “Also, it’s really - hot when y- you call me that.”

"Yeah? And how do you like it, baby? You wanna fuck me on my back, so you can keep watching me as you play with me? Or you wanna be the one to lay there and take it while I bounce on your dick? Or d- do you wanna just - bend me over and - fuck me senseless, huh?" As you finally give into temptation, sliding your hand beneath your panties and finally giving your clit the attention it's been craving for far too long, your breath hitches and your voice gets weaker.

“Oh, god, I… All of it, god, please, I don’t care, just want you,” he groans through the phone.

“I want you too, baby, you sound so good,” you croon sultrily, rubbing yourself in faster, tighter circles. “Are you close, hm? Gonna cum for me? I wanna hear you get off so bad.”

“Wanna - wanna get off for yo- with you, want you, please,” he whines.

“Mmm, tell me one more time, baby. What are you thinking of now?” You ask as you sink a finger inside of you. “Thinking of fucking me, yet?”

“Mm - mm-hm,” Keys whimpers. “You - You on top of me, talking like that and - and riding me, treating my cock so good.”

“I’d treat you so good, baby," you groan, adding another finger. "And you'd fill me up, wouldn't you? Fuck me - oh, right there," you whine as you curl your fingers to hit just the right spot. "Oh god, Keys, need you inside me."

Something about you saying his name short-circuits his brain. You just about hear his strained string of moans and profanities through the phone, picturing in your head how that sweet face of his must look - eyes glassing over, lips slightly parted, chest heaving. Maybe you’d fuck him with his glasses on. Maybe they’d be clouded over, knocked askew on his face as you bounced up and down on his dick. “Did you just come for me, baby?” you coo, your shoulders tensing and toes curling as you feel your own release building.

"Mm-hm, yeah, made - made a real mess of myself, shit," he half-laughs with exhaustion.

“That’s my good boy,” you smile dazedly, your core convulsing around your fingers. "Want me to cum for you, too?"

"Oh, shit, you haven- where are my - God, fuck, yes, let me hear you s… Say my name," his voice shakes with the effort he's trying to exude confidence into his tone, betrayed by the immediate, "please," that rolls off his tongue.

Closing your eyes, imagining that look on his face again, pressing your phone flush against your ear as if it pulls him closer to you, you finally leg out an, "Oh, god, Keys!" before finally feeling yourself gush down your fingers, past your hand, even. Breathing heavily, you pant, "Shit, baby, I think you made me squirt."

"Is that a good thing?" he asks meekly.

"Very. You doing good, now?"

"Very!" He repeats back to you, breathlessly, making you laugh. "Sorry I was so… Pathetic, I guess. God," his voice muffles as though he's rubbing his face while he talks. "But it did sound like you were into it a little," he points out with a lilt in his voice.

You grin, "I sure did, but if you wanted to do it again, but more… Confidently, I'd be more than happy to do that again. If you wanted."

"I've never really done… Any of that before, like, at all," he starts, and you interrupt him with a laugh.

"Yeah, no shit, Mr Subway!"

"Ah, like I said, that's not entirely untrue," he laughs awkwardly. "But I've especially never done anything with a total stranger, much less someone I helped through work, um, they can't - you wo- please, don't -"

"You mean this isn't standard practice for Free City customer support?" You tease sarcastically, before adding in a serious tone, "I won't tell a soul. Besides, I like having you as my dirty little secret."

He chuckles, "Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah. Maybe the next time you're feeling up to it, we can video call."

"N-Next time?!"

You hurriedly add, "If you wanted, you sounded like you did, if this is the first and last, that's totally -"

"No! I mean, yeah! I mean… If that's… Cool," he stammers.

You smile, "It's very cool. Just gotta be a little more confident. Isn't there something you do when you need that extra boost? Like, surely in the game you gotta be a little more self-assured around trolls and hackers and shit, right?"

He groans, "I was hoping you wouldn't ask about that."

Grinning wickedly, you poke further. "Well, now I have to know. Who are you in the game? Have I ever seen you?"

"I… I play a cop," he admits, sounding as though he'd rather the ground swallowed him whole. "It's usually me and my buddy, and he's - he's a rabbit."

You light up. "Shut the fuck up, you're Dirty Stripper Cop?!"

"Oh god, the players call me that, too?! It's bad enough that Mouser does," he groans in despair.

"No, this is perfect. You just let me know when you’re ready to bring… Dirty Stripper Cop to our little talks, and I’ll be waiting,” you bite back a laugh as you repeat his character’s nickname in the hopes that he’ll still take your offer seriously.

A moment of silence exists between the two of you before he pipes up, “...And what if I still want to talk to you, without… All of this? I mean, if that’s all you want, then I guess, but… I dunno, you still seem really cool, and you made me laugh today, even at work when it felt weird in my cheeks to start smiling. But if this is all you want with -”

The rest of his words get drowned out as you move your phone away from its position to look at your dating app notifications. Keys has apparently not been your only option tonight. And you’ve never been one to commit. But something tells you that this was the best offer you’re getting. And the next one will be. As will the one after that, and that’s not even set in stone, yet. But you’re hoping to guarantee it.

As you return your headset to your ear, he’s still rambling. You cut him off with a simple, “Keys.” He shuts up quickly, and you continue, “I - I meant it. I wanna talk to you again. Maybe more than just this, I dunno, I’m bad at this sorta stuff. But… You’re cute. In more ways than one. And if you wanna keep talking, I’ll try. But that’s all I can promise.”

“That’s enough for me! I’ll, um, I’ll text you in the morning, then? Or is that too soon?”

“I honestly wish I could tell you,” you admit sadly. You hope it gets through to him that your reservations aren’t on his part.

Thankfully for you, he doesn’t seem so keen to give up. “Alright! Well, I suppose I got some cleaning up to do before I get some shut-eye. Um, so I’ll talk to you, tomorrow… At some point. Um, goodnight!”

“Goodnight, baby.”

[andy-wm]

Why Jungkook made an explicit version of SEVEN, and why we should be thanking him for it.

The answer to the first question is short:

Because he wanted to.

THAT'S IT, AND IT'S ENOUGH.

It's his song, his career, his voice, his time. It's his choice. He doesn't need OUR approval and he certainly doesn't need our permission.

I think we should be thanking him frankly.

Not just because he made a sexy song although I think it's more sweet than sexy personally but also because it's started so many conversations that I think we need to have.

And that's what is really on my mind, The conversations we need to have, not just about JK and his artistry and his choices, but also about ARMY. About us as human beings.

Let's start with him...

JK's Adult Life:

First thing for me is that JK is UNQUESTIONALBLY an adult. But he's a (relatively) young adult in an industry that's very judgemental, controlled, and tightly scheduled.

He may have money coming out of his wazzoo and millions of adoring fans, but he has limited personal freedom. It's sure as hell not an exchange I would make. I'd choose an average income and the freedom to walk down the street hand in hand with my guy without making headlines - every day of the week.

The fact that he has any kind of personal life is cause for celebration in my eyes. And like the 19+ version of the song, it should be his choice.

I hope it is what he wants it to be. I hope he does have s3x every day of the week if he wants it (and I'm quietly cheering him on) but I don't need to know. I'm not going looking for any information (gossip, let's be real) about that aspect of his life because it's none of my business.

JK's Artistic and Creative Choices:

The songs he sings, the photos he poses for, the choreo for his dances, the words he speaks... these are his creative expression. To an extent they reflect who he is as a person, but largely they reflect a concept or story he wants to tell with his music. I would really hate it if he started creating work with the aim of pleasing someone else (ARMY, or the media, or any other entity). To me that would mean he had lost his self-belief, and that his spirit was broken. It would be a sign that he was more motivated by fear of rejection than by his own desires and creativity.

Personally I love that he trusts us and shows us so much of himself through his art. If that ever changed, it would be a sad, sad day indeed.

Cool, that was easy

Now let's talk about ARMY - and for the purposes of this discussion, I'm talking about ALL OF ARMY but mostly in relation to JK.

ARMY - Our Diverse Fandom:

The fandom has a beautifully broad demographic. I love that about us. Of course it means we have differences, but if we acknowledge that and we respect each other's right to those differences, we are all good.

And because we are all fabulously unique individuals, it's a given that not everything JK (or BTS) creates will appeal to every one of us.

BUT...

We can support their right to make creative choices without engaging with the things that don't work for us.

If some ARMYs are uncomfortable with explicit lyrics, they can scroll past/skip/block songs that are outside their comfort zone.

If some of ARMYs are minors, their parents can supervise their media consumption (because that's their job as parents).

If some ARMYs feel that songs about making woopie aren't their jam, they can instead listen to other songs that are more to their taste.

Magic! Problem solved!

Not really...

We really do need to talk about S3X

ARMY, we are humans:

Most humans have s3x. As adults (hopefully), when we are ready (hopefully), and if we want to (hopefully).

So what's the big deal about an adult making a choice to sing about that? We were all fine with him singing about 'loving you seven day a week' but when he clarified what that meant, suddenly there was a crisis.

Is it the word F**K? Because if it is, that word is everywhere and it's honestly just a word. He's sung it before. RM sang it, YG sang it, JM sang it. And let's be real, Letto's lyrics were far more explicit and she didn't say that word once.

WARNING: REAL S3X TALK COMING UP.

Is it because he's explicitly telling us that he's sexually active? Did we forget he's an adult? Where do we think he learned to move his hips like that... yoga?

For the ARMYs who are shocked that JK is sexually active, where do you think you came from? We humans don't reproduce like flowers. You were also concieved. Your parents, your grandparents, your great grandparents, have all had s3x... probably many, many times because s3x isn't only about reproduction. It's also about human connection, pleasure, stress relief, and being an adult.

In his live, JK told us that he doesn't consider the explicit lyrics to be 'dirty' and that's awesome.

S3x positivity is healthy both physically and emotionally. Seiously, considering how much of our humanity is linked to this instinctive need, it would be so much better if we weren't conditioned to feel shame about it. If we were instead taught to talk about it comfortably, to express our desires, to understand our bodies, and to protect our rights.

I could go on and on about this (and about control, the patricarchy, and body autonomy) but let's just say that JK is right. It's not dirty, its not immoral. When consenting adults choose to do it with someone they trust it's f**king awesome.

If the term sex positive is new to you and you want to find out more, please do. It could make all the difference in the world to your happiness as an adult. There are many websites you can look at to get more information. This is just one.

Even if nobody else is going to, I am going to say THANK YOU JK for this opportunity to talk about s3x. It's an important part of being human!

*I'm censoring my language so the ratings police don't block this post.

*as always, opinions expressed here are my own.

[dawns-beauty]

Hi, sorry to bother you again. I'm the Breton clothing person from a couple of months back. Since then I've discovered Marvelous Designer (and to a lesser extent Blender) and started trying to plug the gap on my own. I'm starting with hats because the bone weighting is less scary. But I'm having a weird implementation problem with my bycocket hat, where it's visible in third person pnly if the camera is sufficiently far away. When you zoom in the hat disappears:

I'm not sure why this is happening? I cloned the merchant hat and I have my DismembermentSkinInstances set up as circlet, which matches the ESP. As far as I know, Skyrim doesn't have LOD models for clothing (and certainly not at this relatively minor change of distance).

I asked on r/skyrimmods, but haven't had a reply. I've never had much luck with the Arcane University, and I don't really know where else to go for help. Would you mind taking a look?

I might have a solution for you? To be clear, I don't actually know much about modeling, and pretty much just do whatever just works, so sorry if this sound like complete nonsense.

Anyways, I have the same issue happen to me a lot, but I typically use Outfit Studio for my editing, so I am not sure how well it will translate to the programs you use.

Basically, in OS at least, there's a set of coordinates for your mesh. Usually it's 0,0,0 (though it can also be something around -.0003, -1.5475, 120.3436 for headparts.) What I've found is that this coordinate number needs to match the Translation value in NifSkope, or it will disappear at angles like your hat. Maybe open your mesh in NifSkope and give that value a look?

Hopefully something there makes sense!

[edutainer2022]

This turned out sadder, than I expected. Oh well... Virgil gets to contemplate Renaissance art as Scott finds a baby in the earthquake debris. John makes a brief, bit meaningful appearance. There be angst and melancholy, and lots of Earth and Sky love.

CW: mention of earthquake and destruction; mention of a minor character death in an earthquake

BABY BLUES

Their tech would undoubtedly blur the image for security purposes, but Virgil made a point to commit the sight to memory. It didn't get more awe-inspiring or symbolic than a figure in blue, ascending into the air from the smoking pile of rubble and ashes, a small bundle cradled in a sure arm, against the backdrop of a cloudless sky, the blazing sun providing a natural halo around the stunning visage. It made Virgil think back to the stained glass windows and frescoes he got see for the first time in Rome, dragging his grumpy brothers around and pulling every favor and blackmail chip to see more of what Renaissance had to offer to an aspiring artist.

Scott landed next to Virgil, killing the jetpack, and the bundle in his arms made its presence known with a wail, breaking the spell. A baby! The sole survivor, apparently, of that building collapse in an earthquake. A baby boy, to be precise. He made it, thanks to his mother throwing herself over the crib. The crashed ceiling didn't leave her any chance. Rendered quiet in the face of an abject tragedy, that hit them all close to home, Virgil concentrated on assessing the baby for possible injuries and smoke inhalation. That was a bit of a problem as Scott was yet to relinquish the hold of the child. Parallel to Virgil's ministrations he knew John or Eos would be already running the database checks for any relatives, hopefully a father or grandparents. The first sweep came up empty fairly quickly - the owner of the demolished house was never married nor had any close relatives listed. The baby boy's birth certificate registered no information on the father, but did give them a name - Jeffrey. Jeff. Talk about symbolism.

Miraculously, the medscan flashed nothing more aggravating than yellow - baby Jeffrey escaped the ordeal relatively unscathed. Still, they had to get the child to Two's infirmary and then to a nearest hospital STAT. Babies were extremely fragile, especially in a danger zone like this. Virgil reached to transfer the now somewhat quietened baby to his hold, but, to his surprise Scott wouldn't let go. He shifted the small weight to one arm and with a flick of one hand slaved One to TB2 controls to fly in formation, turning on his heel and marching to the green bird, a baffled Virgil in tow.

Virgil busied himself with fixing a tiniest oxygen cannula on the fussing boy, as Scott materialized once again with a blanket and a bottle of formula, picking the baby up. They kept all kinds of supplies in Two, for all kinds of rescuees, of course, still Virgil found himself pausing in surprise again. Scott waved him away to pilot, his focus completely on the now happily munching little Jeffrey. Virgil turned one more time before leaving for the cockpit, catching Scott features soften and glow the way he only remembered the biggest brother look at a much younger Alan.

Virgil's heart constricted at the weight of everything their brother gave up, was still giving up every minute of every day, to be what they all and the whole world around needed of him. Part of his mind wandered into the forbidden territory of calculating if they could successfully baby-proof the villa. Or maybe not so forbidden? They had the resources and the manpower of responsible adults (well, almost) at home now, right? It takes a village, they say. Well, they did have a small taskforce of people completely dedicated to making sure Scott got every ounce of happiness and fulfillment he deserved, regardless of his take on the matter. It could work. Safely in the cockpit, Virgil pinged John over an isolated channel.

Baby Jeffrey was placed in the pediatric ward for an overnight quarantine and observation. Virgil hung out nearby, as Scott stayed, transfixed, by the huge bay window, overlooking the rows of tiny beds. Two would need to leave soon to pick up Gordon and Alan in their pods - the earthquake mission was almost wrapped up - but there was still time. He certainly didn't want to startle or hurry Scott away. Not now.

A cry down the hospital hallway disrupted the quiet reverie. Both Virgil and Scott turned their heads in the direction of the sound as a young man, not much older than Scott, practically flung himself at the IR Commander and sobbed. Virgil's first instinct was to regroup for danger, but there was no menace in the stranger's fierce hug - only relief, gratitude and sadness. The man couldn't seem to stop weeping on Scott's shoulder, a jumble of frantic thankyous and I'msorries muffled by the IR uniform. The man was baby Jeffrey's father. John was exceptionally good at data analytics and cross-reference. A part of Virgil, he wasn't particularly proud of in that moment, wished he weren't. But it was just as well. They had a huge spat with a then fiancée and broke up - she never got to tell him they were expecting. John examined the data through the late mother's social media and financial records, ran the numbers and identified the man in the neighborhood, thankfully, unaffected by the earthquake. The guy was shaken by the grave news, but extatic to meet his son and adamant to step up. Which he did immediately, rushing to the hospital and pouring out all the emotional turmoil to the leader of IR who saved his baby. Virgil nudged Scott away by the elbow, gently, as Jeffrey's Dad took over the vigil by the ward. Where he belonged.

Gordon reported they were ready for the pick-up, and generally ready to leave that particular disaster behind them, but Virgil still lingered where Two and One were parked in the field. Scott was yet to say anything after they left the hospital and was staring up at the sky. It was the kind of wistful gaze that usually filled Virgil with dread - as if Scott was not all there, missing something up, amidst the endless blue, as opposed to staying on sturdy earth with them. Virgil summoned all the courage he could and ventured to speak first:

- You can have that, you know? - he nodded in the general direction of the hospital, the baby they left behind. Virgil found his conviction strengthen, as he spoke. - You CAN. If you want to, you can start a family. We'll all help!

Any adoption agency would fall over themselves if Scott Tracy as much as blinked their way. And any child could not be luckier to have Scott Tracy for a father. If Virgil ever believed in anything, that was their biggest brother was born to be a Dad. He only wished the biggest brother in question shared that faith.

Scott shook his head slightly, in cadence with some unvoiced thoughts, his eyes not leaving the skies:

- I shouldn't. I should've known better.

Virgil took a sharp breath for a vehement contradiction, but the wrist-com blinked blue - John was inquiring their ETA to the original danger zone.

Scott looked back down on him with a rueful smile, that threw all Virgil's panic stations into red alert:

- Go, pick up the Tinies, Virgie. Go!

For the second time that day he was reminded of the art in Rome, when looking at his brother - the serene bliss and detachment of martyrs and saints, captured in marble.

- Aren't you coming, Scotty? Let's go home. Please! Please!

Virgil found his voice cracking into a plea, small and scared, as his hands moved to clasp, almost spasm, around his brother's. He wasn't above adding the biggest, teary puppy eyes to a litany of begging, in an irrational hope of compelling Scott to follow the cue. If they could just go home now, it would be alright. It will all be alright from there.

Scott returned the gentle squeeze of the hands and shifted his eyes back to the sky:

- It's okay, Virgil. I'll stay at Gran Roca tonight. I need to talk to Mom.

***

Fifty two thousand miles above John mused, not for the first time, that Open Comms was, by far, the best of their protocols - that, and the compatibility of all their crafts with all their properties - as he gave Eos instructions to reposition Five over the family estate and to prepare the space elevator for a trip down. Noone was wallowing and mourning a self-professed lost chance at fatherhood alone tonight.

[gimmie-a-sammich]

To Rule Them All | Chapter 14 | A Bit of Reassurance

Pairings: Idol!Ateez/???!Ateez x Fem!Original Characters

Summary: Alexis is about to have the summer of a lifetime traveling the country with some of her best friends following one of her favorite groups, Ateez. Little do they know, there is more to this group than meets the eye. Take a trip into the dark as they navigate a world unseen.

Genre: (18+ Minors DNI) smut, angst, fluff, supernatural vibes 

Chapter Warnings: super fluffy, just some nice conversations between the pairings

Word Count: 6k

read here on AO3

To Rule Them All masterlist

previous chapter | next chapter

note: lots of POV switches on this one!

**

*Yeosang and Wooyoung*

Yeosang and Wooyoung’s playful bickering had ceased by the time they got into Yeosang’s room. Their silly little arguments never lasted for long, nor were they usually something serious. Wooyoung immediately made himself comfortable on Yeosang’s bed, slipping off his shoes and grabbing onto one of the pillows. Yeosang started going through restaurants on his phone, muttering slightly about how he should’ve had Hongjoong order food for them as well.

“Sushi?” Yeosang asked quietly. That had been the only option that remotely sounded good to him, and he knew that Wooyoung would typically go for that.

“As long as you get some onigiri.”

Yeosang smirked. It was too easy. He knew all of Wooyoung’s favorites, letting him quickly place their order. “Alright… 37 minutes. Are we still wanting to go live?”

Wooyoung didn’t sit up or open his eyes, only clutched the pillow against his chest. “Yeah, it would probably be a good idea. We haven’t done that in a while.”

Standing up from his seat in the armchair, Yeosang walked over to his bed. Wooyoung didn’t budge until his best friend ripped the pillow from his hands. He sat up in hurry, opening his eyes to glare at Yeosang.

“Are you going to tell me what your problem is with Christie?” Typically he wasn’t this direct, but the behaviors of the two of them this evening made him feel like he needed to address their conflict. He had a gut feeling that Alexis had the same question judging by the looks they exchanged when she was picking out outfits. Wooyoung and Christie were just relentlessly at one another, going far beyond teasing at this point. 

Snatching the pillow back out of Yeosang’s hands, Wooyoung rolled his eyes. “I don’t have a problem with her. She seems to have a problem with me.” 

This time it was Yeosang who rolled his eyes dramatically. “It looks like it's a mutual thing, Woo. You’re picking at her.” 

“And she picks at me, so are you going to have the same conversation with her?” Wooyoung narrowed his eyes at Yeosang. 

Yeosang sighed. Stubborn as always. He knew he had to tread relatively lightly. There was no part of him that wanted to be between his best friend and the woman he was extremely into. Maybe he would have a conversation with Alexis and how she felt about things. Hopefully his assumption on her feelings was correct, but he didn’t think she wanted her best friend at odds with Wooyoung either. 

“Maybe. But could you at least make an effort for me, AND for Alexis?” 

At the mention of Alexis, Wooyoung’s steely gaze softened considerably and he began playing with the edges of the pillowcase. “Yeah, sure, Yeo.” He had more he wanted to say, but chose not to. Causing an argument over this was unnecessary, especially right now. 

There was a brief silence between them. They’ve never had a conversation like this before, but they’ve also never been in a situation this complex. Something was different with all of their chosen ones, that much was true. Never had any of them been so protective over someone outside their group. 

“Think Sannie is going to be able to behave himself?” Yeosang finally broke the silence. 

Wooyoung relaxed back onto the pillows again, snickering slightly. “Keeping his dick in his pants? Absolutely not. Feeding somehow? He’ll be fine. We both fed last night, and neither of us had an issue when we had Alexis in the backroom in Fort Worth. I’m not going to lie though��� it was different. I had a harder time keeping myself under control. We haven’t actually fed in so long. I really don’t know what would happen if we accidentally did.” 

Yeosang was in thought for a moment. It had been decades since they even considered feeding in person. He also wondered what it would be like in the heat of the moment with Christie, especially with how things felt with her. But, only feeding in dreams was a part of their rules for a reason. 

“Yeah. Things are…”

“Different,” Wooyoung finished the sentence for him. “And our dumbasses didn’t think to talk to Alexis about any of this beforehand.” Exasperated, he ran his fingers through his hair. “She asked me about everything today. I felt like an idiot. Warned San that the conversation was coming too just so he’d be prepared.”

Yeosang hadn’t seen him worked up like this in an extremely long time, but couldn’t help laughing at his poor friend. “You guys really didn’t think to discuss anything with her beforehand?” 

Wooyoung smacked him with the pillow, a scowl lingering on his face. “And I’m sure your smartass did?” 

“Absolutely I did. We talked about it before Christie got here, and actually talked about it today more in person.”

Raising his hands to deflect the subsequent hits, Yeosang continued his deep laughter. This only caused Wooyoung to become more frustrated, making each hit of the pillow more forceful. Eventually Wooyoung pinned Yeosang to the bed, straddling his chest so the poor man had no chance of escape. Finally Wooyoung somewhat tired out, slamming the pillow on his face a final time and leaving it before he got off him.

“It helps when you think with your brain, not something else,” Yeosang teased. 

This time, Wooyoung looked legitimately offended. “If you think I’m just in it for that you’re wrong.” He wouldn’t make eye contact with Yeosang, instead stared blankly ahead for a moment. He shook his head as if shaking out the thoughts running through it before grabbing his phone. “Sannie boy just texted me. Asked if we would run to Alexis’s room and grab some things for her. Christie is supposed to be getting everything ready, then we would just need to drop it off in his room. Said to give her a few more minutes though ”

Yeosang checked the order status for their food and put Wooyoung’s reaction to his joke out of his mind. The lack of smart ass response was a little concerning, but anything that involved Alexis had Wooyoung acting differently. Actually though, the timing for everything would line up well. “Honestly that’ll work out perfectly. We can grab whatever, then when you take it to San's room I’ll run and get our food from the front desk.”

Wooyoung stretched across the bed once more, locking his hands behind his head and letting his eyes flutter shut. Per usual, Alexis was running through his mind. Part of him wanted to astral project just to check in on her date with San, but the two had made an agreement prior that their time with Alexis would be just that- their own time. He would never admit to Yeosang how worried he became during his conversation with Alexis. The only person he didn’t downplay it to was San, who instantly became just as anxious. It had taken Wooyoung the entirety of Alexis’s shower to convince him not to come barging in to speak with her.

Yeosang was just as quiet, wondering how Christie’s time with Hongjoong was going. It wasn’t too hard to tell that she was slightly more comfortable with him than their Captain. He was just as worried as Wooyoung, only his concern was about Christie and Hongjoong’s conversation about this dynamic. Not that he planned on saying that to Wooyoung.

The same wonder went through both of their heads though.

Why were they so different? 

“Christie just texted me. She has all of Alexis’s things. Plus, food is like… six minutes out,” Yeosang mumbled.

He stood up first, offering out a hand to pull the grumbling Wooyoung off the bed. Together they walked to the door.

“And Sangie,” Wooyoung said, playfully nudging his shoulder, “I’ll try to be on my best behavior.”

“Promise?” Yeosang stalled with his hand on the door. 

Wooyoung threw his head back laughing. “You should know better than to ask that.”

Once again they bickered down the hallway, jokingly punching and running into each other the entire way to Christie and Alexis’s suite.

*Hj&Christie*

The door closed softly behind San and Alexis, leaving Hongjoong and I to ourselves for the first time. I couldn’t help but giggle at the amount of boxes he was unloading. I thought I kept the giggles under my breath, but was quickly proven wrong when I was met with Hongjoong’s raised eyebrow. 

“Little hungry are we sir?” I teased,  gesturing to all the containers on the table. A smile appeared on his face and his laugh echoed through the room.

“Sorry, I’m used to ordering for everyone. I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I thought getting a variety was best…” he trailed off at the end, a small amount of blush tinting his cheeks. 

“Thank you, I’m sure everything you got is delicious. I didn’t eat much this morning. We only grabbed a couple snacks and coffee at the airport. But surviving on caffeine and chaos is something that we are all quite used to.” I was babbling, and the moment I realized it I snapped my mouth closed. I’m sure Hongjoong didn’t want to sit and listen to my meaningless ramble. 

“Shall we then?” he giggled again, and I nearly melted right on the spot. 

I could only manage a nod, not trusting anything that could potentially come out my mouth. With only a smile, I handed over the plates and chopsticks, helping Hongjoong pop open what seemed like an endless amount of containers. He really did get a variety of food, but there was no way we would be able to eat all of it. 

Honestly speaking, dinner was a quiet affair, only filled with scattered comments about the food and requests to pass a specific container. The awkwardness of us being alone steadily began to creep in. 

“So, Yeosang and I had a bit more of a discussion earlier about everything. I wanted to check in and just see if we all were still on the same page with what’s happening. We’ve talked about it, but talking is one thing and watching me kiss Yeosang is another thing.  What I’m trying to get at is I don’t want problems or jealousy to become an issue. Honestly, I would head straight home if something-” I stammered out, but was cut off by Hongjoong placing his hand on mine. The action took me by surprise, but it was short lived. Quickly he pulled it back to rest on his own leg, tugging at the fabric of his jeans. 

He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. When they reopened, they were locked onto mine.

“I’m good. We discussed everything first before we even brought it up to you. I suggested dinner tonight so we could talk in person in case you had any concerns. And, I wanted time just to ourselves to get to know you better. I was more shocked tonight by Yeosang letting you kiss him that long, not that you kissed him in front of me. I’m happy you two are getting along so well. Was I a little jealous that it wasn’t me? Yeah… but I can wait. Good things take time, and I’m not one to rush. Well, I don’t want to rush you,or this,I mean.” As he spoke, his voice progressively became softer, just like the way he was looking at me. Now his eyes were searching for my reaction. 

I gave him my best smile. I really wasn’t expecting him to respond in this way and had to blink away stray tears that formed. He and I had gotten off to a rocky start, but with every conversation my hesitation with him shrunk. Leaning towards him, I placed my hands on those toned thighs and placed a kiss in the exact spot I did with Yeosang. 

“How’s that for a start?” I teased. 

“Well I’m certainly not going to complain at all. But…” I don’t know what wave of confidence came over him. His hands reached for either side of my face, holding me in place so he could bring his perfect lips to mine. 

It took me a second to gather myself from the shock. This kiss was nothing like San and Alexis’s first. It was soft and sweet like the moment we were in. Hongjoong made no move to deepen it, just kept those plush lips against mine before our smiles interrupted it, a slew of giggles escaping both of us.

“Now that was a little unexpected,” I whispered. His face was still dangerously close to mine. His eyes were a much warmer brown than I thought they were. I could easily lose myself in them. 

With a quick peck he pulled away, running a hand through his oreo hair with a giant smile on his face. “I couldn’t help it… I’m sorry. But not really.” For a moment I caught a glimpse of that stage persona glinting in his eyes. “I do have a question for you. Many questions, actually.”

“Ask away…” I shrugged, still feeling a little blissed out from our somehow perfect first kiss. 

“When you put that necklace on Alexis she had this look on her face. I don’t think anyone but me noticed… is it important to you or her?” His gaze was extremely thoughtful. How he noticed something so small was beyond me, but it also didn’t surprise me much. 

“One of the most important pieces I own actually. Since it’s important to me, it’s also important to her. It was my Papa’s evil eye that I inherited a few years ago. I have Alexis wear it whenever I think she needs extra protection… she's just as much a part of my family as I am hers. Same goes with Nikki and Thea.” 

“You and your Papa must have been very close,” Hongjoong said softly, reaching for my hand and giving it a small squeeze. He turned it slowly, rubbing his fingers over the lettering along my one wrist. “And you have tattoos… how many?”

“Ahh… nine currently, with more planned. You’re right about me being close with my Papa- that tattoo is his and my Mama’s signatures. I wanted to always have a piece of them with me.” 

He reached for my other hand. Instantly his fingers traced delicately over the dainty sun and moon tattoo. “And this one?”

I turned my wrist so he could have a clearer look, trying to ignore the goosebumps brought out by his touches and the way he was studying the artwork. “Alexis and I both have this one, only her sun is colored in instead of the moon.”

“Why a sun and moon?” His reply was as soft as the brushes along my skin.  

“That’s an easy one. She’s the sun to my moon, two halves of a whole. There’s a running joke that we are soul mates and…” my answer was cut short by my phone going off. I tapped the screen, seeing that it was San who texted me. Picking it up, I read the message quickly. “Please excuse me for one moment. I’ve just been given a very important mission. Once completed I’m all yours.” 

After sending off a quick reply, I went straight into Alexis’s room. We had somewhat put it back together after the choosing outfit fiasco, but her clothes were still piled messily in her suitcase. I grabbed some of the stack to sift through on the bed. San really was thinking of everything when it came to my dear Sunshine, and asking me to get some things for her only solidified how much I liked him for her. I settled on one of her cutest pajama sets and my personal favorite, the matching green short and crop combo. San would HAVE to appreciate her in them. I also grabbed some comfy clothes for tomorrow so she wouldn’t have to parade around in her pajamas. Once I grabbed all the clothes she needed I placed the remainder back into her suitcase and did my best to rezip it. Her and I would tackle reorganizing it tomorrow. 

Movement caught my eye once I was in her bathroom. Looking in the mirror, I saw that Hongjoong had made himself comfortable, leaning against the doorframe. He was watching me intently. 

“And I thought I moved quietly,” I half laughed. I made quick work of grabbing what products I thought Alexis would need for this evening and the morning. With those secured I snuck past Hongjoong, not missing the way he watched my body as I slid by. 

“You two are really close aren't you?” Not once did he take his eyes off me, even when the only thing I was doing was loading up Alexis’s things into a small bag. 

“Celestially bonded. We clicked instantly the day we met. Nikki, Thea, and Alexis are my family. Together we’ve been through hell and back, and I couldn’t picture my life without them,” I responded without any hesitation.

He nodded with a smile, looking deep in thought for a moment. There was a brief silence between us. I was dying to fill it, but Hongjoong beat me to it.

“You feel the same way about them as I do about my members.”

“You mean loving them more than anything? Absolutely,” I said as I made my way back into the central room. I shot off a text to Yeosang to let him know that I had everything ready to go. San had been clear in his text to give everything to him and Wooyoung.

When I turned back around I found Hongjoong still standing in the doorway. With the amount of content I’d watched I assumed I knew all of his expressions, but the one he was giving me was unlike any I’d seen before. After a bit of thought, though, I realized I had seen it before. It was the same fondness he looked at his members with. My cheeks flushed, hopefully not dark enough that he could see. I settled myself back on the couch and once my face cooled I patted the seat next to me, encouraging Hongjoong to come back. 

He obliged, walking towards me with a cheesy smile. The moment he sat down my phone went off once again. This time it was Yeosang. 

“We have a few minutes before Yeo and his feral gremlin reappear,” I said, only half joking.  

“Feral gremlin? Is that what you’ve been calling Wooyoung? It’s certainly fitting.” His laugh was infectious. The man was even holding his sides, nearly doubled over from how hard this fit was. And damn, did he look gorgeous. 

Just as I opened my mouth to speak, a knock sounded at the door. Hongjoong made his best effort to quell his laughter, but was failing miserably. Still giggling, he made his way to the door, swinging it wide open.

“Hey guys.”

****

*Thea, Yunho, & Jongho*

I’d spent most of the day with Jongho since Yunho went to help with whatever at the venue. Jongho was the sweetest while keeping me company. Alexis and Christie forewarned me about Nikki’s mood earlier, so I already had it planned out to avoid the smoking dragon as much as I could. None of us could figure out what had her acting like this, but we collectively decided that it wasn’t cause for too much concern yet. 

Regardless, when I got into the suite, which was amazing I might add, I only said a brief hello to her. She and Mingi were both awkwardly silent at first, which threw me off completely. Nikki seemed stressed, for lack of better words. It didn’t surprise me in the slightest when they both left shortly after I arrived. I didn’t take it personally. We would all be having a lot of togetherness over the next couple of months anyway. I only briefly stopped in to see Alexis and Christie, and I didn’t even see Alexis. Christie and Yeosang were unpacking, and Alexis was already in the shower getting ready for her date. I’d pester her for all details about that tomorrow. 

Once I finished unpacking, Jongho and I took over the living room area to watch a movie. I didn’t assume that Nikki would be back to the room anytime soon, but even if she did she would go back to her room right away. 

By the time Yunho knocked on the door with dinner, Jongho and I were on our second movie and tangled together quite comfortably. Of course he finally made a move and we had been sneaking kisses frequently during each one. It was him who sighed at the knock while I reluctantly detangled myself from his arms to open the door.

“Hey there, princess,” Yunho said the instant the door opened. Per usual, his smile was huge, those big puppy dog eyes sparkling down at me. Once he stepped inside he took my face into one of those giant hands of his, dipping down to place the sweetest kiss atop my forehead. Damn did I love this nine inch height difference. 

“Took you long enough,” I teased. “Here we were thinking you’d forgotten alllllllllllll about us.” 

“That would never be an option,” he retorted, smirking while his eyes glimmered more. 

“I don’t know about you two, but I’m starving,” Jongho grumbled. He paused the movie and sat back up on the couch. He already cleaned off the coffee table and moved my blanket to the edge of the couch for more room. 

With a laugh, Yunho placed the bags of takeout on the table. We had collectively decided on poke bowls earlier in the day, and since Yunho was out and about with Hongjoong and Seonghwa he volunteered to order. I’m sure it was one of the staff members who actually went and picked it up, not that it mattered. 

I sat down between the two of them, letting Yunho divvy out the bowls and chopsticks. Of course, I crisscrossed my legs, tucking them underneath me. It was my absolute favorite way to sit. The three of us were stuffing our faces, all the while chit chatting and giggling. Conversation with them both was very easy. Sometimes it was a little alarming just how easy everything really was, but I put that little thought out of my head like usual. I was one for living in the moment, not one for overthinking. I left that to Alexis and Christie. 

“Now, for a bit more of a serious conversation…” Yunho said suddenly between bites. “I know we’ve both talked to you about being here and everything, but… do you have any concerns? Any questions?”

I couldn’t help but laugh, covering my mouth so bits of rice and salmon didn’t fling out. Jongho raised an eyebrow at me while Yunho looked at me somewhat confused.

“I’m sorry,” I said quickly, waving my hands in front of me. “That came off rude. I’m entirely, wholeheartedly, and completely okay with all of this.” 

This time Jongho laughed. “Well that was easy. You really don’t have any questions though?” His hand slid onto my thigh, eyes filled with the teeniest bit of concern and worry.

Setting down my chopsticks and bowl, I grabbed both of their hands. I could tell this took them by surprise, but they each gripped back tightly. Yunho’s completely enveloped my much smaller hand, his thumb tracing over my knuckles softly. Jongho kept his fingers tightly laced between my own. 

“Right now, no. You’ve both been very clear on what’s going on here. If there’s no problem with both of you seeing me, I have no problem with seeing both of you. Simple as that,” I said calmly, but with a sense of firmness I hope they both noticed. “There are much weirder things that could be going on than this. But, if I ever do have questions or concerns, I promise I’ll bring them up to you right away. Deal?” 

Both were beaming at me. Jongho’s smile was of course large and gummy, my absolute favorite, Yunho’s bright and white. The relief that washed over them was evident and I could see them both become more comfortable with my acceptance in person. 

Yunho took this moment to lean over and kiss my temple. “You really are something, Thea.”

“I would like to add one thing. With this sort of arrangement I don’t want there to be jealousy, so-”

“Won’t be a problem, darling,” Jongho said hurriedly, cutting me off before I had a chance to finish my statement. He tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear and placed his own kiss quickly before continuing. “We know what we are getting into, just as much as you do. Major instances of jealousy won’t come up, we can both promise you that.” 

I glanced over at Yunho, who was nodding in agreement. “Jongho’s right. Was I a little jealous that Jongho got to spend all day with you while I sat at the venue listening to Hongjoong and Seonghwa bicker about everything? Absolutely. Am I jealous over what you two might have done in that time? Absolutely not.” 

I searched his eyes for any spark of a lie or a shred of insincerity, only to find nothing but genuineness. It didn’t appear that either were telling me what I wanted to hear, but only time would tell if that really was the case. Regardless, being with both of them was a once in a lifetime possibility. Who was I to question them when they were the ones who set this entire thing up. 

“Then I think we’re all in agreement then,” I said, squeezing both of their hands with a huge smile. “But the same goes for you both- if there are questions or concerns on your end just ask. Okay? I’d rather everything be out in the open in a relationship.”

Jongho snickered. “A relationship, huh?” 

I rolled my eyes, unlacing my hand from his and pushing him softly. “You know what I mean, baby bear.” 

“I do have a question,” Yunho pipped up. “Well, two actually.” 

I raised my eyebrow up at him. “Do ask.”

“Do you have plans tomorrow? Because I would enjoy nothing more than spoiling you all day.” 

I’m sure my grin was huge. “My day is all yours, Jeong Yunho. And the second question?”

“Are you ever going to tell us who the other idol was?” 

“WHAT IS THE POINT OF A NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENT IF I TELL YOU!?” I threw myself on top of him, playfully smacking him. He had been relentlessly asking me since Hongjoong let it slip after we signed his contracts. “You should be happy that I’m able to keep a secret like this, since you know, you guys ALSO made me sign an NDA.”

 Jongho continued cackling beside us, Yunho laughing just as hard. He was doing nothing to stop my advances until he grabbed onto my hips and pulled me onto his lap. 

“She has a point, Yu,” Jongo agreed through his laughter.

Yunho nuzzled into my cheek before kissing it tenderly. “You’re right, princess. But tomorrow. It’s a date.”

****

*Nikki, Mingi, & Seonghwa*

It wasn’t like I enjoyed being this grumpy with everyone. I HATED having to lie and it was slowly starting to eat at me. Christie and Alexis definitely knew there was something up, but neither had brought it up with me just yet. They were usually good about letting me work shit out like this on my own, but if they did bring it up I don’t know how I would be able to weasel around it. Somehow I would have to figure out how to get out of my own head before I let this whole thing implode on all of us. 

When Mingi came over he thankfully understood what was going on. I had been pretty honest with both him and Seonghwa surprisingly. I wasn’t one to share my feelings like this usually, but they were the only two I could talk to at this point. 

We spent most of the time just laying on my bed listening to music. He didn’t push me much in terms of physical affection, happily accepting any that I offered. Even if all that affection was me leaning on his shoulder with his arm wrapped around me and sneaking kisses every once and awhile. Silence with him was already comfortable, even though the brain was anything but quiet. 

Thea must have been warned of my mood since she only yelled hello when she came into our suite. Jongho came in not ten minutes after her. She was so excited when he got there, and I instantly felt even more guilty that she had no idea what he was. I jumped up ready to go the moment Mingi suggested that we go to his room, nor did I fight him when he held my hand the entire walk. 

Once again we sat in comfortable silence, only this time he snuggled against me the instant I laid down on his bed. We laid there together, lazily kissing every so often while he played with my fingers in his giant ass hands. He knew better than to ask me too many questions about my thoughts, which I very much appreciated considering my mind was racing. 

“Hey, Seonghwa is on his way back… he’s grabbing something for us to eat and he’s going to come straight here,” Mingi said after he checked his phone. His arms returned to me right after he shot off the text. “Maybe he’ll be able to get you out of your head.”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t get started on all this soft shit, I know it’s only been a couple of weeks but you should know better than that.” My voice didn’t give away how I really felt. 

Mingi pulled me closer, chuckling softly. “I’m not getting started on anything. But you are in your head.” I chose not to answer, making Mingi sigh before he kissed my forehead. 

Seonghwa showed up about fifteen minutes later with a paper bag of takeout. I wasn’t sure what he had gotten, but whatever it was smelled absolutely delicious. Mingi stood up first, making his way to the small table immediately once Seonghwa placed the food on it. I lingered on the bed, but did get the will to sit up, placing my hands on either side of me on the mattress. 

“I’m glad you’re finally here, Nikki,” Seonghwa said, gliding over to me on the bed. His hand went straight to my cheek when he leaned down, the hold on it just as soft as his lips on mine. “How are you?” 

“Absolutely peachy,” I said, making no effort to hide my sarcasm. The corners of Seonghwa’s mouth twitched upwards, eyes staring at me fondly despite my sass. 

Mingi’s head shot up from the take out boxes, smirking slightly. “I don’t know if you can tell, Hwa, but someone’s in a mood.” 

The two exchanged a look. Mingi was definitely trying to make light of the situation, but neither were doing a great job of hiding their lingering concern. Since they told me what they were both had been checking in on me frequently about it. I just felt so freaking guilty. But I also felt worried. 

“Does it have something to do with being here?” Seonghwa asked quietly. He offered his hands out to me, pulling me off the bed once I took them. 

“We are not having therapy hour,” I muttered. Seonghwa stepped backwards, pulling me along with him. A faint smile never left his face. Why he was smiling at me was beside me, but his face was too damn pretty for me to care. 

Mingi pulled a chair out for me once Seonghwa and I were close. “Not therapy hour, just making sure you’re okay, flower,” he said. Somehow his voice dropped an octave. 

When our conversations were contained to video calls and texts it was much easier to fend them off. Now with Mingi’s boba eyes and Seonghwa’s damn dragon eyes staring at me it was a hell of a lot harder. 

“WellI can’t say I’m too thrilled about having one of my best friends being on a date with a literal sex demon and having no idea about it,” I stated flatly, crossing my arms. They wanted to know what was going on in my head so badly, they might as well hear it. “And the fact I have to constantly lie to all three of them. They know something is up with me, and I guarantee it won’t be long until they ask about it. Wanna take a bet on who it’ll be first?”

Seonghwa sighed. “I know it’s not… ideal. As much as I wish it was different, it can’t be. I’m sorry I don’t have a better answer for you. You know San would never do anything to hurt Alexis. None of us would do anything toward any of you. We’re the same guys, Nikki. All Mingi and I want to do right now is try and help, but you have to let us know how.”

Gods I hated conversations like this. I hated the expectant looks on their stupid handsome faces. I hated how in this moment I had to be somewhat vulnerable with them before I lost my damn mind. 

“Yeah, but who’s to say he isn’t going to feed accidentally? That he isn’t going to lose control?” The questions slipped out before my brain had time to process. Damn me and speaking before I thought things all the way through. But I was worried about the Sunshine. 

Mingi shook his head soundly. “San won’t lose control.” 

“And how do you know that?” I shot back quickly.

One of Seonghwa’s hands went straight for my chin, turning my head and forcing me to look him dead in the eyes. “Because we know San.” Just like his stare, his words were firm. “Everyone is only feeding in dreams. I know we keep saying things are different with all of you, because they very much are, but we are all doing our best to stick to that rule, no matter how hard.” 

“I just got a little excited with you,” Mingi nudged me. My lips cracked with a smile at the attempt to lighten my mood. Suddenly his mood shifted, becoming a little more somber. He ran his fingers through his hair before continuing. “The idea of feeding in your dreams now is weird to me since you know what we are.”

“You mean old as shit, cursed pirates?” Both he and Seonghwa laughed at my joke, but the other half of Mingi’s statement was sticking out to me. The idea of him and Hwa coming into my dreams and feeding really seemed like an intrusion now. I would know what was going, or so I would assume. “But… what if you didn’t have to feed in my dreams?”

Seonghwa’s face turned bright red. “Are you- are you implying what I think you are?” 

“I mean, yeah. The thought of you guys coming into my dreams now seems weird since I know what’s going on. I already have to be worried about you guys just lurking about all invisible and shit, so it would be nice to know that at least my dreams were safe.” I shrugged. 

“We already promised we wouldn’t project out to check on you… that was only when we were learning about you guys,” Mingi affirmed.

“Can we take a step back? You were just worried about San accidentally feeding on Alexis, and now you’re saying you want us to feed on you in real life?” Seonghwa interjected, still a little flushed. 

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

Mingi and Seonghwa exchanged a look I don’t quite know how to describe. A smug smirk made its way onto Mingi’s face. Seonghwa even cracked one. Slowly, both turned to face me with hungry eyes, both flashing red for a split second.

“Then we need to lay out some new rules, my flower.”

note: soon what exactly Ateez are will be revealed...

[uboat53]

I've had quite a few discussions on the topic of gun control lately, as those of you who follow me may be well aware, and, in doing so, I've found that I keep running into the exact same mental blocks and misconceptions in the pro-gun people that I debate. In the interest of not repeating myself thousands of times more in the future, I figured I'd write this out once so I can refer to it instead. Hopefully it'll be helpful to others in similar discussions as well.

A. "If we outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns!" or "It doesn't matter what laws you put in place, criminals will always be able to get guns"

It should make them really easy to spot then! Seriously, though, where do illegal guns come from? There's lots of people today for whom gun ownership is illegal, minors, felons, domestic abusers, etc, and yet lots of those people are able to get guns anyways. Let's take a look at how that happens.

First, there's the ones that just slip through the cracks. When a gun is sold by a licensed dealer, they check the NICS system is supposed to flag any reason why a person should be denied a firearm. The system is notoriously spotty; a 2014 study found 7.8 million outstanding warrants in state records but only 2.1 million in the NICS system [1], for example. For this reason, lots of people who should be prevented legally from owning guns are still able to buy them from licensed dealers.

Secondly, there's straw purchasers. Basically, a person with a clean record buys the gun from a licensed dealer and then either gives or sells the gun to a person who cannot legally purchase it. There's no hard figures on how often this happens, but a 2010 study showed that up to 20% of firearms dealers were willing to participate in a straw purchase [2] and a 2011 study found that more than 2/3 of firearms dealers had experienced attempted straw purchases [3].

Thirdly, there's the fact that, if you buy a gun from someone who's not a licensed dealer, 31 states require no background check at all and many others require a background check only for certain types of weapons [4].

Finally, there's plain theft. An estimated 380,000 guns are stolen every year according the NIH [5] and a quarter of licensed gun dealers reported experiencing firearm theft in the previous five years [3].

So where do illegal guns come from? Overwhelmingly, they come from legal guns!

In other words, if we were to outlaw guns entirely, it would be incredibly difficult for outlaws to get guns in the first place. Of course, we're not even talking about outlawing guns at this point, just closing a lot of the gaps I mentioned above. Either way, I hope this clears up why that's a bad argument; illegal guns are primarily coming from holes in our legal system of selling guns and closing those holes can, in fact, make it more difficult to get them.

B. "It's a slippery slope…"

This is basically the argument that any regulation, registration, or licensing requirement must be just the first step to total confiscation of all guns. This pretty ridiculous on its face and, for a great example of this, let's look at cars.

Every single car is required to be registered and every single driver is required to be licensed. Cars are also the subject of tons of regulations from speed limits to insurance requirements to manufacturing requirements like airbags, seatbelts, and crash tests.

Yet, despite all of this, cars have not only not been banned and confiscated, they are overwhelmingly the most common method of transportation in the United States with almost 92% of households owning at least one car [6]. There's no reason to believe that it would be different with firearms.

C. "There are 2.5 million self-defense uses of guns per year"

This statistic gets thrown around a lot so it's best to know where it comes from and all of the problems with it. The 2.5 million number comes from a study by Dr. Gary Kleck in the early 90s [7]. Kleck relied on a relatively small sample of self-reported self-defense incidents and extrapolated to the larger population. More recently, Dr. William English did a much larger survey with similar methods and came up with a number closer to 1.5 million [8]; lower, but still substantial.

The problem, though, is that these are all self-reported self-defense uses. The National Crime Victimization from 1992, around the same period Kleck conducted his study, concluded that there were likely only 65,000 defensive gun uses based on a much larger sample [9]. There's also been a good deal of research into what kind of incidents gun owners report as self-defense [10] and, when you investigate the actual circumstances of those incidents, it turns out that a lot of them, likely the majority, are not actually self-defense uses, but illegal escalations [11].

Also interesting, and indirectly related, is some research that shows that gun owners may actually be MORE likely to lose property in the event of a crime than those who use another type of weapon [12].

In other words, the number of times that gun owners use their guns to illegally intimidate other people likely outweighs the number of times that they use their guns in self-defense, but both are being reported as self-defense uses in the Kleck and English surveys.

D. "Only guns prevent government tyranny!"

This is pretty much the universal statement that gets thrown out once other evidence is debunked, and it's also provably wrong. Here's the thing, the number of privately owned guns has no correlation to the freedom or lack thereof in a country and, in fact, every single country that is freer than us has much stricter gun control laws.

It doesn't matter, by the way, which definition of freedom you use. I tend to use the ranking put together by Freedom House [13], but you can use any of them.

One argument that does get thrown around is the one put together by Dr. David Koppel in his study of the relationship between private gun ownership and liberty in which he concluded that greater gun ownership was associated with more freedom when gun ownership reached a high level [14]. However, it deserves pointing out that he reached this conclusion by averaging large categories of countries and including the United States, a statistical outlier in gun ownership, in the highest category of freedom. If one were to re-run his same study without the United States, his conclusion is no longer accurate.

It's also worth pointing out that he doesn't compare the United States to other countries in the highest category of freedoms, lumping them instead into a single category as "the top quintile of liberty". This is comparison, which I recommended above, would also show little correlation between gun ownership and individual liberty in a country.

E. "Why all the focus on guns, why aren't you trying to ban knives too?"

So this is the standard "whataboutism" argument that those opposed to gun control will resort to and the answer is simple: guns are much more powerful means of killing than just about any other instrument you can name.

Quite simply, there are more than twice as many homicides in the United States by firearm as there are by every other method combined [15]. Unless the argument is that the vast majority of murderers in the United States are deliberately choosing a less effective method, it seems that the people doing the killing think that this is the right tool for the job.

However, you should know that there's no need for such hypotheticals or data because, in the end, the person making this argument already knows that it's a false equivalence and there's an easy way to smoke them out. All you have to do is say something along the lines of "oh, so it won't be a problem if we ban guns because you'll be perfectly happy to use <> for self-defense since it's equally effective, right?"

Trust me, they'll choke very quickly and make it very clear that they are very aware that guns are more effective at killing people.

Sources

[1] https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/bjs/grants/250533.pdf [2] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11524-010-9489-6 [3] https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/19/6/412.full [4] https://www.findlaw.com/consumer/consumer-transactions/private-gun-sale-laws-by-state.html [5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5385318/ [6] https://www.forbes.com/advisor/car-insurance/car-ownership-statistics/ [7] https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/carrying-guns-protection-results-national-self-defense-survey [8] https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3887145 [9] https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/incidence-civilian-defensive-firearm-use [10] https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/hicrc/firearms-research/gun-threats-and-self-defense-gun-use-2/ [11] https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/6/4/263 [12] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0091743515001188 [13] https://freedomhouse.org/countries/freedom-world/scores [14] https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1090441 [15] https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-8.xls

[jedi-luca]

normally I just roll my eyes and situations that are as one sided as this, but it's painfully hard to watch.

you can't accuse people of bullying and then have no proof. the only ounce of evidence you have are the anons disagreeing with you in ways that are (mostly) respectful. even then, you can't exactly confirm that they're coming from the people you've accused. your lack of evidence also puts you in a relatively compromising spot. i, like most of the other people that have sent asks about this situation, are assuming you're advocating against 18+ blogs blocking minors and as an adult that's extremely weird, disgusting, and explicitly illegal depending on where you live! until you provide evidence of either person you're accusing of bullying, people are going to continue to assume that.

i don't even have to doubt you're an adult because immaturity doesn't magically disappear when you turn 18 and the way you talk reeks of someone who never got told no before their prefrontal cortex finished developing. idk if you've actually been blocked by either person or have just woken up and decided to make your immaturity everyone else's problem, but people having strict boundaries and not wanting to interact with you isn't bullying.

sent this off anon so you'd stop being a freak and recognize real people are perceiving this and hopefully you'll be ashamed of yourself. 😕

I love how you’re trying to make me the bad guy and saying I want minors reading my stuff when this clearly isn’t about minors you all just want to use it as a guise.

I’m sure you crawled out Cthulhu’s ass. Respect on not going anon tho even tho judging by your response you we’re definitely one of the ones sending hate. But go off sis.

[jamieaiken919]

✍️💞🏷️🌦️📝 For the ask game, maybe both for Codz and Mst3k perhaps?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA HI @shinmiyovvi IVE GOT ANSWERS FOR THESE FINALLY!!! I’m gonna put it behind a cut just because it’s long, but HERE WE GO!!!

So first up we’ve got Call of Duty Zombies, and my always beloved Edward!

✍️: Overall, how does the fandom trait you? Are you a beloved character, or hated? Are you popular, or a minor side character? Anything in between?

I hope the fandom traits me well… I’ve already seen what happens when they don’t lol. Hopefully I’d be relatively popular, considering I’m stuck in with the main crews.

💞: Aside from with your f/o, who else would you commonly be shipped with? Why?

UH. EXCELLENT QUESTION LOL. Maybe Takeo???

🏷️: What is you and your f/o’s ship name?

Fox and Bun! Or The Fox and The Bun in longer form lol. I’m the fox, he’s the bunny!

🌦️: Would you be accompanied by mostly fluff or angst fanfics? Both? Explain why.

Ooh, good question… hopefully fluff! I’m not and angst type of person- I’m the one that hopefully brings a little bit of light to the whole situation, and I hope that it would translate into how others perceive me.

📝: How would your story in canon go? How would you influence the events of the original story?

UM. I haven’t actually thought a whole lot about me being in their story, honestly. I spend so much time with my modern AU that I haven’t thought about it the other way around! BUT- I’m definitely an American, warped from my modern day back to their time and universe, and stumbled upon by the ultimis crew. I carry on with them on their adventures until the primis crew comes across us, and through thorough convincing I tell them to ignore the stupid fucking book and work together to defeat the real problem. Oh yeah and the Richtofens fall in love with me of course lol.

AND NOW- Mystery Science Theater 3000, and my sweet Mikey Moo!

✍️: Overall, how does the fandom trait you? Are you a beloved character, or hated? Are you popular, or a minor side character? Anything in between?

I really hope I would be trained well… I’d kinda have to be a main character by design, so I really hope I’d make a good impression on the fandom.

💞: Aside from with your f/o, who else would you commonly be shipped with? Why?

OH IVE GOT AN IDEA FOR THIS LMAO. I’m gonna say either Dr. Clayton Forrester or Observer! (he’s also nicknamed Brain Guy lol)

🏷️: What is you and your f/o’s ship name?

Space Age Love Song! (which is the title of a song by the band A Flock of Seagulls- huge thank you to @maninthebox242 for thinking of that!)

🌦️: Would you be accompanied by mostly fluff or angst fanfics? Both? Explain why.

FLUFF. Mike and I are both awkward little beans and that alone lends itself to fluff galore. Add in the fact that we’ve got two wisecracking little robots as roommates and that lends itself even more to the fluff!

📝: How would your story in canon go? How would you influence the events of the original story?

SO. A lot of this isn’t gonna make much sense without knowing the backstory of the show, but I’ll give the cliffsnotes version lol- after Dr. Forrester’s assistant leaves him, he’s in search of a new assistant, which is where I come in. I’m mostly in the background though, so Mike doesn’t see much of me during his communications with Clayton. It’s only when Clayton’s mother Pearl starts to come around that trouble starts to happen. She thinks my presence is softening her son, and despite his protests, she takes it upon herself to send me up to the Satellite of Love to be a part of the MST3K experiment. This is when Mike and I first properly meet, and we almost immediately start harboring tiny little crushes on each other. Of course, Crow and Servo are in complete disbelief over this lol. But as we spend more time on the SoL together, we grow closer too. And the little crushes turn into big crushes lol.

[scribbledquillz]

Anxiety rambling under the cut.

I don't like having to make posts like this because I inevitably end up feeling like I was somehow trying to manipulate people into telling me I'm not a bad person. But sometimes the anxiety brain rips the wheel out of my hands and leaves swerving all over the road, and this is definitely one of those moments. Getting things out tends to help so here goes.

I realized this afternoon that - despite doing my best to research and plan my script and plot with the right care towards a certain minority group - I've still managed to inadvertently include at least one, possibly two depending on perspective, tropes that are. Not cool. The "silent native" one specifically. Add that to the fact that there's a situation in the plot done by the main antagonist that is EXTREMELY messed up (and never presented to be anything BUT messed up and vile) and I'm basically in panic mode over it.

I'm trying to tell myself that I caught it. I'm fine, I'm fixing it. I've added an additional scene that lets the characters have more voice in the story and gives a more direct perspective on why one of them reacted to something with anger and (mild) violence (injury to and threat toward the life of their child). I've also settled on a way that will allow them to be shown to be speaking in a different language than the other cast members, at least until I've been able to build up interest with my prologue and (hopefully) raised enough money to cover the cost of first a sensitivity reader (which I'd planned to do from the start) and then potentially a translator who can help me have their speech translated to a dialect appropriate for the region they would feasibly be in. Coast Salish, Halkomelem specifically.

But anxiety being what it is, I can't stop rotating a hundred more what ifs around my head.

What if there's another huge problem you aren't seeing? What if your fix isn't good enough? What if you've got to go back and redo the last six months of work? What if even after bringing in a reader, translator, etc it still isn't enough and the internet rips you to shreds for being an entitled white lady trying to tell stories you shouldn't be?

Given the context of the story, where it takes place, what it involves, it only makes sense that this group of people I'm worrying about (which technically aren't homo sapiens, but are an extremely close evolutionary relative) have a lot of similarities with the indigenous populations nearby. It wouldn't feel right or genuine to try to make them something else. And I swear on everything I'm doing my best to make sure I approach this story with the right respect and consideration it needs.

But omg if I fuck this up... My first writing project I've actually managed to see this far... Jesus I don't know if I could handle that.

[electricbluebutterflies]

17. Masturbation (mutual or otherwise) for Garcy?

Another very late crosspost, at this point who even knows what's hidden in my drafts. NSFWish and also on ao3.

The damned door won’t lock.

Lucy has tried to adapt to the nuances of living with half a dozen other people in a space she suspects was never designed for this many occupants, she has made every compromise she can, but the utter lack of privacy occasionally gets under her skin, especially when she deeply wants it. She’s in a mood and has no easy way to resolve it – at present there are no viable partners for her as far as she’s aware, and getting herself off will be a better time anyways. But she barely even sleeps in her room because someone had the brilliant idea to put her in closest proximity to the shared living areas, she is absolutely goddamn not doing this where she’s actually spent most of her nights over the past few months, and-

The more out-of-the-way bathroom is the best option she has, but even that isn’t necessarily good enough. The lock is known not to work, this isn’t exactly a new problem, and the shower curtain is practically see-through and-

Screw it, her options are either this relatively minor risk or acting on a crush she intends to take to her grave. Accidentally getting walked in on, if it happens, will be less awkward.

A few unnecessary moments of trying to fight the door lower her mood a little, but not enough to change her plans for the afternoon. It has been a long couple of days, and that problem of a crush has started taking up far more of her mind than she can justify, and-

Would it kill her to do something about it, to yank that tree of a man down to her level and make it abundantly clear that she sees how he looks at her and she has no complaints about it?

It probably would, she thinks as she decides to take advantage of her situation and draw a bath. She should know by now that she can’t make good choices. Why start now?

Warm water, theoretically waterproof vibrator, distracting thoughts… she doubts she’ll actually get off, but she’ll get rid of some of this unfortunate tension in her body, hopefully calm herself, hopefully get somewhere. She’s always been efficient, no reason to tease herself when she’s not sure how much time she even has, and there’s barely a daydream in her mind as she puts her device on a medium setting and  it’s not enough but it’s something, it’s not-

Oh goddammit.

The door opens just slowly enough to give her a moment to hide the vibrator under her body and remind herself that innocent violations of privacy are completely normal and she’s pretty sure everyone has at least seen her naked from the waist up before and-

Lucy is not fond of living any erotic cliches, and the sudden presence of the subject of most of her recent fantasies – now currently standing as if turned to stone in the doorway, and definitely looking at her – is decidedly overrated. More awkward than not, and she isn’t sure-

“I walked in on something,” Flynn says, not a question and accent heavier than she’s heard in a while.

“You did.”

Perhaps this is how it has to be, she thinks. She has no inclination to cover herself, nothing to be frightened about, nothing-

“I can-“

“Or you could stay.”

Oh, if she’d thought he’d been turned to stone before, this is something else entirely. No one else has ever looked at her the way he does, like she is divine but not delicate, and-

“What do you want me to do?”

Ravish her, she wants to say, but that feels like asking too much. Anything involving touch would be too much, she’d probably kill him just by kissing with tongue, but-

“Watch me. Close the door, block it, and watch me.”

He does as she asks, and she can see the power she has over him and someday she will use that in the bed that somehow holds both of their bodies. For now there is this, her inhibitions forced down and her eyes closed, nothing below her breasts visible above the waterline, the low buzzing of her vibrator muted by its surroundings and her own noises barely audible. She’s always been quiet, and that has been convenient these past few months, and-

To her great surprise, she falls apart with a sudden gasp and her free hand clawing against the edge of the bathtub, and it’s not quite a great earth-shattering orgasm but it’s still more than she expected out of this and for a few moments everything is very bright and very warm, and-

“Are you alright?” he asks, and it still surprises her how occasionally protective he can be.

“Better now. That felt right. I… could you help me get out?”

She’s not enjoying this as much as she probably should, but she feels his eyes on her now fully exposed body, looking respectfully but still looking, and maybe they’re not as hopeless as she’d thought. Maybe…

“What do you want?” he asks again, low and uncertain.

“You, eventually. I’m just not sure…”

He leans down to kiss her forehead, and she is unafraid, and-

“Take your time.”

[montrailsblog]

The PS5 has been available since November 2020, but people are reporting new problems with their console every day. These PS5 issues are no minor inconveniences either because they're becoming genuine concerns for new PS5 owners. While Xbox Series issues have been relatively harmless, the ones PS5 is experiencing were actually terrible, to the point people had to return them. Here are ten of the worst problems on PS5.

1. The PS5 Randomly Uninstalled Disc Game

This console has problems with disc games in particular. The PS5 owners discovered that the game automatically uninstalls once they remove the media from the console. This is highly inconvenient because it is pretty time-wasting to repeatedly install games you want to play.

Sony tried to solve this issue by applying numerous system updates. While the problem wasn't solved completely, it has stopped bothering some users. Hopefully, Sony will soon bring a system update that will solve this issue once and for all.

2. PS4 Games Are Unplayable on PS5

Sony has claimed that all the PlayStation 5 owners will be able to play the game from the previous generation via backward compatibility. However, users have found that some PS4 games have been labeled unplayable.

After that, the system asks you to buy those games from the store if you wish to play them. We weren't certain if this was an error or a way for Sony to grab some extra cash for some time. Fortunately, it was the latter; this issue can be ver remedied by restoring the licenses of your PS5.

3. Dual Sense Stick Drifting

Since long ago, the stick drift issue has been a significant problem for consoles. Unfortunately, the PlayStation 5 has problems with its new Dual Sense controller. Therefore, the controller's thumbstick registers input without the user actually touching it.

That causes the cursor to drift across the screen. It sounds like a minor issue, but it can be seriously annoying. You might try to update the console, and if that doesn't help, reset the controller. There is a small hole in the back of it right below the PlayStation logo you can use for resetting the Dual Sense.

4. Overheating

Overheating is one of the crippling issues following Sony consoles for a while. The PS5 is not an exception, as numerous users reported the issue with the system temperature being way above average. The Xbox users have reported a similar problem, but not on this level.

The heating issue with PlayStation 5 was so severe that users got error messages saying their console was too hot to be functioning correctly. Sony has put the problem down to users blocking the specially designed vents. They also suggested many solutions, including not keeping PS5 in a closed space.

5. PS5 System Crashing

Some PS5 users have reported experiencing system crashes that result in long error reports, causing their games to crash and their system interface to slow down. In severe cases, this error can cause the system to fail to start up again. If you are experiencing this issue, the best course of action is to contact Sony and report that you have a faulty system. However, there are several methods that you can try to solve this issue. One solution is to restart the system, which can help to clear any temporary system errors that may have occurred. Another method is to disable the Rest Mode of your PS5, as this feature has been known to cause issues with system crashes.

Rebuilding the PS5 database can also help fix this issue. This method reorganizes and rebuilds the system's database, which can help resolve any issues causing the system crashes. Additionally, updating the system software to the latest version may fix any bugs or issues causing the problem. Lastly, factory resetting your console is a last-resort solution that will restore it to its default settings.

[thessalian]

Thess vs Office Gripes

I don’t have a lot of gripes about my job now that I’m basically working from home unless there’s someone direly needed to help with the phones. But I do have a few.

Today’s minor annoyance actually involves that “unless there’s someone direly needed to help with the phones” thing. Scruffman emailed while I was doing some of the other fiddly bits of bullshit that make up part of my job (more on that later) and said, “Hey, I’m away on the 14th and 15th of February; can you come in those days to help with the phones?” Which, I mean, I haven’t been into the office in about a month and I’ll have been on my birthday-present-to-myself week off the previous week so I should be in relatively good shape for that. So I said no problem, pending any fuckery with the buses (no strikes slated for that week yet, but I refuse to get complacent). He emails back saying, “Great! Can you call me on the 10th for an update on things?” Which ... no. No, I cannot. I can see why he wants that, because it has been awhile, but a) I really don’t see what can have changed in that time, b) I don’t see why something like that can’t be an email, c) it is my week off, d) it’s not even the nearest date to his going on annual leave so why bother when something might happen on the Monday to change everything up, and e) IT IS MY BIRTHDAY. So I told him I had plans. And I do have plans. Admittedly my plans are to sleep in, accept birthday wishes, potentially plan things for the various D&D stuff I’m running that weekend, have sushi with my mother, and watch the last three episodes of The Legend of Vox Machina S2 (hopefully with a little watch party with @true0neutral if that’s a possibility). None of those things technically preclude me ringing the office, but I do have plans, so I’m not really lying, and I don’t want to. So I recommended the 13th (Monday) or, if it had to be on my week off for some reason, the 9th. No, I don’t work on Mondays, but I’d rather have a work conversation when I’m gearing up to actually go to work the next day rather than dumping it into the last few days of my week off. He said fine, 13th is good, but he wants me to call “as early as I can” because he’s leaving at 3pm. I am technically off the clock on Mondays and am frankly doing him a favour so I kind of resent working on his schedule, but as long as I call before 2pm, I’m sure it’ll be fine.

And then there’s the Temp thing, which was an annoyance today but gets its own category because it’s a year-spanning bit of aggravation. Temp is still fobbing off the difficult typing onto everyone else. I know she wants to blow through things quickly to reduce the queue, but so does everyone else who types. Granted there are not many of us at this point, but still. It’s frustrating as fuck to see a typing queue sorted by date typed where everything is dictated from, like, 3pm yesterday except for the one long piece of dictation from one of the more frustrating-to-type-for techs timestamped 11:30am. I do my share, even when there’s a whole big clump of long ones all in a bunch, so she should do the same. There’s also the line drawn between “short and simple”, “longish but not that bad”, and “overly long and frustrating”, because she and I draw them in different places. For me, it only really qualifies as “long and frustrating” if it’s hitting the five-minute mark. For her? She’ll go to great lengths to avoid any typing that’s not under two minutes, and she’s apparently not much into any of the ones that go over a minute, either. So I get a lot of the “longish but not that bad” bits and pieces that she just kind of leaves lying there. And one or two is fine; they happen. Thing is, those two-three minute dictations add up, so I get more overall typing if I want to get a decent number of dictations out of the queue.

That on top of the fact that I had to take an hour out of my typing groove for more of the fiddly bullshit I was talking about earlier. I mean, I don’t mind pulling up recent reports on what is now the main system; it’s actually easier these days, since I can just copy/paste NHS numbers into the search field and get it done that way. What I don’t like is having to dig up old reports from as much as five or six years ago, which you only get on the old system. See, I do still have access to the old system, but that’s on the remote desktop, and I can only access email, and thus the details on what I need to search, for on the main desktop. And that’s still honestly fine with a larger monitor where I can do a split-screen between the two. Thing is, I have a laptop screen, and not a very large one. Copy/paste doesn’t work between the two desktops, and split-screening it makes it really hard to read. So I had to write down eighteen NHS numbers so I didn’t have to do any alt-tabbing. (There’d be a lot of alt-tabbing, too; NHS numbers are ten digits long so remembering a whole one without checking wouldn’t exactly work.) Of course, some of them came from a different hospital, whose reports are on that system technically but on a segment of it I can’t access because I was never given the right permissions for it, since we were migrating off it anyway. Which meant I had to let that old POS patient record system grind for awhile until it found the reports for those patients, only to find that none were the ones I wanted. At least the lady who was asking for them is nice; she always sends me a nice little thank-you email when I’ve sent her stuff. I don’t have the heart to tell her that she’s screwed up at least one of those NHS numbers and really needs to provide more details about what reports she wants exactly so I’m not sending her a half-dozen reports because I don’t know whether she just wants the surgical histology or if she wants the diagnostic core biopsies too.

Also, there’s still the typing queue. I mean, consider. First hour of my day was fighting the old system for reports. Then I got the long and fiddly typing. Plus I had to send at least four emails to techs because they screwed up a thing. The footpedals they use for switching on the recording aren’t great and they keep forgetting that, so sometimes they cut off important words or measurements. Or, worse, they forget to step on the footpedal and lose the whole body of the report, which happened at least once today. The dumb part is, I recognise more of the errors than most because I have a lot of the basic reports on a kind of auto-fill system where I can just type in a keycode, press tab, and the entire report’s basically there bar changing some measurements and maybe a description or two. But things like how the specimen orientation works, the inking protocols, that kind of thing - that’s all there at the press of a few keys. So I notice when they, say, lose or forget to dictate the inking protocols. And I email them going, “I noticed that you usually say [THING] but [THING] was missing from your dictation this time; was that intentional?” I inevitably get back, “Ooh, shit, yeah, forgot about that; thanks for being vigilant”. (I guess this is why I got “exceeds expectations” on my performance review last month.)

Anyway, point is that digging up reports and correcting techs’ work and typing the long irritating shit takes time, as does the negotiation of my going into work for a couple of days next month. That’s time where I am not typing. And yet, despite my working my ass off with the time I had, despite Temp only taking the quick and simple reports, despite everything ... we weren’t out of yesterday’s reports by the time I logged off today. I don’t know what the hell kind of dawdling she was doing, but if she’s going to take just the short reports, I want them to vanish fast; otherwise, what’s the point? I look at this and I feel bad about being off on annual leave tomorrow ... but I’m owed it and I will take it. I’ll just dread what the typing queue will look like on Tuesday. We are looking for a new full-time staffer for this kind of thing, but they’re starting with internal hiring and it’s not like we can spare the people we already have. One of our part-timers is looking at the full-time position, but then who does the work she does when she’s part-time? Where’s the woman who’s still apparently on maternity leave? We lost two staffers and we’re only replacing them six months or more later, and with only one person. What the fuck?

Still. Long weekend. I will try not to have The Guilt over it.

[arthuriangodel]

HEY THERE (AGAIN.)

[It’s a minor improvement, but the writer has taken a little more time with the handwriting—it’s slightly neater than the last letter.]

Thank you for the tips—honestly, they almost feel kind of obvious now that I think about it. You can tell I’m not an athlete, although I did play a little as a kid. Soccer, though, and I don’t really think that counts. When you’re a kid, you’re mostly concerned about having a good time and chasing your friends around. Winning’s kind of secondary. (This is probably why they put me in the goalie box. I didn’t mind, although I’d say I let more goals pass than I did save our team from ‘em.)

I just do my best for my dorm, because we don’t really have a lot of sporty types to spare for Spelldrive. I’m not very competitive, so I’m not sure how much help I am, but it’s kind of fun. I didn’t really touch a broom before I came here, so I’m still playing catch up sometimes. I’ll put your words to use and let you know how it goes!

I wish I had a better answer for holiday traditions, but in truth, I’m usually working. It’s not that I don’t slow down to enjoy it, but it’s a busy time of year for my folks and I do my best to pitch in. I get my kicks in where I can: my dad’s usually leading the charge for decorating the shop, and I don’t really have an eye for it, but I get to set the holiday playlist up. I go out of my way to find the most obscure things I can. Shakes things up in between the classics, and I like watching customers pause for just a second to actually pay attention to a little background noise. It makes for a good conversation starter if they’re waiting, and mitigates a bunch of grumpy people hearing the same song over and over wherever they go.

Ah, that’s probably not the answer you had in mind. We do slow down a bit, closer to the new year. My folks’ anniversary is at the beginning of spring, so a lot of times they tend to defer bigger celebrations until then. Having to run a business does mean that we don’t really see a lot of relatives or have many underfoot during this time, so it’s kinda nice that our house is quieter than most. They never mind when me or my siblings have a friend or two over for dinner who wants to escape their families for a little bit.

Ha, how’s that for rambling? I can punt the question back to you, but I’ll add one to it: how do you feel about holiday food? Do you get sick of it immediately or look forward to it all year?

(I think I fall on the latter. I get sick of the flavors, let’s say, but I’ll always eat stuffing.)

SIGNED,

???

(P.S. I did try to take my time writing this one. Any improvements on the handwriting?)

Hello again, little sprout! Haha, if you wanted to make this a rambling contest, you could've just asked. I would've entertained you with all the words and conversation topics for days. I've seen your handwriting and yes, I can see the effort you've placed with the letter! A bit of thoughtfulness certainly brings more of your character in the letter.

As for the tips, it’s no problem at all. A teacher's duty to help their students see things that they may sometimes overlook, after all. Soccer has been popular during my boyhood as well, but we called it by football since it was mostly about kicking a ball with our feet. Hopefully my tips can be of good use to you for your future spelldrive endeavors!

Your business sounds like a bakery or a crafts store, especially if the holiday season is your busiest time of year. A very wonderful idea on mixing some of the classic Christmas and holiday songs with more modern songs as well. Once you hear a Christmas song enough times, there is bound to be a lot of discomfort. My little Rose is slowly making me turnaround from that opinion due to her school concerts, but the original fact does stand.

That said, having a business certainly sounds like a relaxing profession. As for inviting your friends over, it certainly sounds like an exciting moment. Hopefully those times were joyous and that your friends were able to get that brief respite! :)

Holiday food is certainly an entertaining experience, especially when it comes to different cultures! When people celebrate Christmas differently and you have the ability to travel more, there are many interpretations of the holiday. For some, there is no snow on Christmas, and Christmas is in the middle of summer. And then there are others who celebrate different holidays outside of Christmas altogether. Though I usually partake in the classics like chicken and cake, my little Rose and her guardian always send over latkes around this time, as well. I always wondered how the ghosts are always able to send it without spoiling...

Aside from that, I feel like holiday food is like every other food in moderation: too much of a good thing and it goes bad, so I usually don't eat much holiday food once the leftovers are finished.

Be sure you're keeping yourself warm in this weather, little sprout. The last thing is for you to get shriveled by the frost! And I look forward to meeting you in person, soon.

Sincerely,

Godel

[snekdood]

While this is obviously not universal, I sometimes think that a lot of the hateful behavior we see from supposed activists could be greatly reduced if they weren't just jumping into the most grandiose movements and "fights against the man" right off the bat.

I had a similar thing back when Trump was elected and we suffered through his presidency; I was incredibly angry and wanted some sense of comfort, and thus went to a website where there were other people like me where we could rage and be angry against Trump.

But the big problem I came to realize overtime was that this didn't really help my anger at all in the long term; I was just feeling burnt out, and arguably just as helpless and powerless as before, on top of also still being pretty angry. So I had to narrow my focus down immensely; I ended up focusing all my focus on one specific set of bills that I would oppose.

And truthfully the experience was really humbling, because even as relatively minor as my contribution was in the grand scheme of things, it still took an immense amount of work, research, and understanding the nuances of the situation to be able to achieve anything. You basically can't rush things, or expect grandiose glory and be praised as a hero when you're doing something that's necessary, but hard and easily overlooked. And overtime I had to shift my focus from merely hating the bills to actually standing for something, standing for the people who would get hurt by those bills instead of using the fight for my anger.

We're STILL fighting against those particular sets of bills to this day, years after I narrowed things down, but having that knowledge to some degree kinda made me much more cautious about bigger, more grandiose things like Free Palestine and the like.

Because really I think a lot of the people going into that movement are doing what I did with Trump, but whereas I was relatively safe because Trump was such an unambiguously evil man, and thus couldn't really cause that much damage (hopefully), the I/P situation is infinitely more complicated and far easier to indulge in our worst impulses and bigotries, and people are so fixated on finding something to blast their anger and powerlessness at that they're making a far costlier mistake as a result.

i dont feel like i have anything meaningful to add. you said it best

[sleepymarmot]

The previous post was only partially a joke. When I tried to go to sleep last night, I kept seeing diminishing blue bars: my own magicka bar and my teammates' floating health bars.

I have to say that the process of grinding a vet DLC dungeon was more fun than I'd expected. Maybe I would have started it sooner if I knew. Dungeons are nice when everyone is more or less on the same page and knows what they're doing.

Some minor annoyances:

Half the time or even more, my teammates ran (not even sneaked!) past the unnecessary trash packs without catching their attention, and when I followed them hugging the wall just the same, the pack got aggroed. What's going on?

Trying to line up your entire team so that you could hit them all with a single Combat Prayer is like Arcanist before there was Arcanist. On a related note, I am humbly requesting ranged dds to stand next to the other dd and ideally close to the boss's ass, and not somewhere in Australia. Especially in this dungeon, where not only the second but also the first boss seem to punish standing too far away. This is also why the "freeing Lyranth" section quickly became very annoying to me: everyone is just running around the entire arena in that one.

I am once again frustrated with the bar swap system. A relatively common situation: a teammate is at ~10% health; (optionally: I hit my burst heal hotkey and nothing happens;) I look down at my skill bar and see I'm not on the one that has the burst heal; I swap bars; I press the burst heal hotkey; by that time, the teammate is long dead. I guess Sorcerers don't have this problem, but my vet dungeon character is a Templar. I haven't seen any guides specify that you should put a second burst heal on the other bar for this purpose, so what am I missing here?

Throughout the last four days, I ran the dungeon enough times that my sticker book for it is now at 70%. I didn't get a single mask style. Saw it drop for my teammates about four times.

Last night, I saw it being sold for 5 million, but wanted to grind it out a bit more. Two hours or so before the end of the event, I didn't have much hope in my rng anymore, and bought the cheapest one I could find for 5.5 million. I have no idea how the price is going to change in the coming months, and I didn't want to be left maskless if it doesn't pop up in IA for months and rises back up to 20+ million on the guild traders. Hopefully the style comes to IA sooner than later, and the price neither rises nor falls too much. I already saw a TTC listing for 1.5 million five hours after the event, and had to close the page to stop it from making me feel like I made a big mistake. I should be able to earn back these millions soon enough either way.