#and it started off a lot of ship things that are taken for granted in other fandoms now

[whalehouse1]

So thankfully, I avoid most ships on this platform, but I’ve seen there’s apparently a lot of Zutara hate going on. So if you’re a Zutarian or new to the ship and just want to babble or fan out about it, my inbox and messages are welcome if you don’t have anyone to talk to. I’ve been in this ship since before the first Zutara week on Deviant Art happened. And if it’s to talk about Zutara I can guarantee at least 80% of us are fine with ppl just randomly screaming in joy about them randomly to us.

[sordidmusings]

Loose Lips (Buggy x Reader)

A/N: Fulfillment of this request! Thank you for making a request dear anon 💕 I really hope that it's what you wanted because it kind of grew into a whole thing 😬 also this is going to be this week's Thirsty Thursday!

@fanaticsnail brilliantly suggested this song for the fic!

Word Count: ~5.7k (~3.1k of smut 💀)

Warnings: Fem!afab!reader, NSWF very naughty indeed, praise, degredation, p in v, chop chop tomfoolery, overstimulation, creampie, dirty talk, dom!Buggy, jealous and heavily possessive Buggy, manhandling/forceful treatment, Gossip time with The Girls (probably ooc but let me have this), trashing your partner (he deserves it), allusions to gaslighting and emotional abuse, starts with humor then just needy but then devolves into lots of smut I promise 💀, some fluff at the end cuz I had to

~Come with me, and you'll be, in a world of endless perversion~

~ ~ ~ ••• ✦✦✦ ••• ~ ~ ~

Buggy had the most shit-eating grin, and it only grew wider with each word you said. He was sunk deep into his chair, feet thrown on the table in front of him, nursing his fifth beer. Taking another gulp, he eyed you over the rim of his tankard. You were only starting your third drink, but to his delight that was enough of a buzz for you to loosen up. Normally, you were quite the skittish little thing around him, and while it was cute he wanted to see and know more of you. He’s always been quite infatuated with you and wished that he had more time with you to sate his want for your presence (and to fuel his fantasies). Tonight, that wish was granted when you had seated yourself next to him instead of your normal drinking buddies on the crew. It may have been Mohji’s usual seat, but whatever you claimed in his presence was immediately yours to him. Mohji was also easy to convince with a warning glare and sharp nod to the chair beside Cabaji.

Speaking of your usual drinking buddies, one in particular had taken to giving Buggy quite the sour look. It only fed Buggy’s smugness more. He wasn’t exactly a fan of your boyfriend in the first place. His dislike was quickly turning into disdain as well with the picture you had been painting for him. It was filled with unappreciated gestures, expected caretaking with no reciprocation, and an absolute bulldozing of your emotions. Clearly, this man boy didn’t deserve you. Possibly not even a spot on the ship with how poorly he’d been treating Buggy’s favorite. That’s probably why said boy was looking so pissy and threatened over there in his corner with your friends. Buggy raised his drink in a sarcastic cheers to him while you were distracted with a joke Cabaji had made at your partner’s expense. When your chuckles tapered off, your face started to pinch with apprehension.

“I feel kind of bad. I mean, you’re his crew and captain and I’m just here bitching to you,” you lamented. Your eyes widened with a sudden thought and you groaned. “Oh no, I must sound like a bratty teen gossiping about their partner.”

“Sounds like you’ve already tried talking it out with him,” Cabaji said. At your shy nod, he continues, “Then fuck it - you gotta get it out.”

“I know, but it’s all so stupid and trivial.” You were hunching back into yourself, staring down at your fingers while they played with your glass in your lap. There’s a flick on your forehead, and your head darts up to see Buggy’s hand floating back to him.

“S’not stupid if you’re upset,” he asserts, much to your astonishment. Buggy always struck you as more of the “suck it up buttercup” type. Wait, he was; you’d seen him bark or laugh at pouting crew members more often than not. You had seen him give some comfort, too, but it was always for something inarguably large in scale. Unexpected sympathy from the torch you’ve held longest should have been enough for you to cheer back up, but the vicious fight you’d had with your partner this afternoon still had all your thoughts trending negative. The confrontation had been brewing for a long while, but knowing it was coming didn’t shield you from the hurt.

“Then it’s pathetic,” you argued. “I mean, only sad lovers in sappy plays cry themselves to sleep right?” You tried to play it off as a joke, but the laugh you used to chase it was hollow.

“You’ve been crying?” Mohji asked, worry showing in his face and voice. Next to him, Cabaji scowled and Buggy sat up straight, even placing his feet on the floor.

“Yeah but I’m just being dramatic; I’m a bit oversensitive,” you said, echoing the words your boyfriend had long worked into you.

“No,” Buggy bit out. “I’ve seen you stare down pirates twice your size, coming at you cussing and swinging. You passed the berating month when you got here, and that has had lesser pirates sob their way back off the ship. Hell, you’ve been stabbed and you were more concerned with your friends crying about it.” Buggy snorted and shook his head, distracting you with the way the blue hair swayed from his hat. His heavy leather boots plonked back on the table, rattling the cups and plates, and he shuffled back down into his seat. The look he gave you was bordering on offended. “You’re not dramatic or too sensitive.”

You think your heart may burst - did he really have such a strong opinion of your character? You may have sought Buggy’s presence out because you were upset and you feel protected around him, but you never would’ve dreamed that the outcome would feed your infatuation such a hefty meal.

“He’s been feeding you bullshit hasn’t he?” Cabaji butted in, tone full of contempt.

“He might have… been the one to tell me that first,” you answered hesitantly. Your brows furrowed. Did you really think that of yourself or had he thought it loud enough for the both of you? Was he the only one who thought it? You became stuck looking for answers in the dark liquid in your cup. Meanwhile, the looks Buggy gave your boyfriend had taken on a lot more accusation and threat than teasing.

“See now that’s pathetic,” Cabaji scoffed with a roll of his eyes. “A man who has to belittle his partner is no man at all.”

“Yeah, he’s probably scared ‘cause he knows half the crew would gun for you if you left him,” Mohji laughed. It got you to perk up a touch and giggle with him. Buggy’s hard expression eased at the sound and the sight of a genuine smile pressing at your cheeks.

“Ah, some actual attention would be nice,” you sighed wistfully. Your voice became bitter when you muttered, “Besides digs and requests for sex of course.” Buggy choked on his drink, causing him to pound on his chest in an attempt to recover quickly. The other two were hooting at both your partner’s and Buggy’s expense.

“He’s that bad that he has to beg for it?” Cabaji snarked gleefully.

“Unfortunately,” you grumbled, pouting into your drink. “I don’t really find him attractive anymore either.”

“Oh no, sweetcheeks,” Buggy admonished, “You should not put up with some manipulative brat who can’t even please you.” Beyond his distaste for seeing you upset and mistreated, his glee at the wedge between you and your partner left him feeling fluttery. He did have a small pit twisting in his gut though; why would you even go to him if you were barely attracted to one of his most handsome men?

“See, this is why you’re my favorite,” you sighed dreamily, smitten from hearing him send a pet name your way and from his persistent defense of you. Your words and the lovesick look you gave Buggy had him short circuit. He needed to grab at this train of thought and pull the whole thing from you.

“I’m your favorite?” Buggy rushed out. Cabaji and Mohji smirked at each other before looking back to see how this played out.

“Well, um, yeah it’s always been you,” you mumbled. Before you could stop it, your mouth kept moving. “I’ve always wanted you but felt stupid doing anything about it. You’re just really impressive with how well you run the ship and with your chop chop thing and how you don’t turn people away because they’re different and you’re always there for us when we really need you and also your hair is really pretty and you’ve taken really good care of me - um - all of us and you’re so strong and really hot doing like anything and I should-” you finally took a breath “-I should shut up.”

Buggy stared at you wide eyed, mouth agape. The duo next to him was trying to keep in their snickers and doing just an awful job of it. You took another gulp of your drink for something to do. Gods, you don’t think your face has ever felt so hot. You cleared your throat and said, “I think I should-”

“You’re breaking up with him,” Buggy told you. You blinked.

“I am?” you asked, not upset with the idea but confused at the sudden order.

“You are,” Buggy confirmed. His drink was placed on the table with a firm clunk, which his feet echoed on the floor. When he stood before you, you had to crane your neck up to see him with how he loomed into your space. His expression was one you’d never seen on him before; he looked ready to snatch you up and bite down. His sea-green eyes glimmered through the shadows cast across his face. He jerks his chin at the drink in your hand. “That’s your third right?”

“Yes, Captain, my um-” you gave an embarrassed smile “-my mouth gets affected far before everything else.”

“So you feel okay?” he checked one more time, eyes boring into your own and making you feel naked. 

“Yes, Captain.”

“Good,” he started, leaning even more over you and placing his gloved hands on your cheeks. The fabric felt soft and warm and you found yourself leaning into it. “Then you are coming with me.”

Buggy stepped back, leaving his arms with you. One moved around your back and the other behind your knees. They lifted you up and brought you to him in one smooth motion. You still yelped without any jerking, bringing attention to yourself from many of the drinking pirates crammed below deck with you. Flustered, you hid your face in the soft fur lining his coat. Buggy turned to his two highest ranked men. He took in their shit-eating grins and sneered back, mostly in jest.

Buggy moved his look over at your group of friends and most importantly your (ex-)boyfriend. While your friends mostly looked confused (and one giving a thumbs up), the idiot of the hour was livid. Buggy smiled slow and wide, making his canines shine threateningly in the flickering lamplights, and he detached a hand just to flick his fingers in a cheeky wave.

“Cabaji. Mohji.” They straightened at his tone. “Let that one know he’s no longer on my crew and he figures out a way off the ship by tomorrow night or I’m throwing him overboard.”

“Aye, Captain!” They both cheered, tipping their drinks his way.

“Now,” Buggy said softly. He turned and began walking in long strides, expertly weaving through the passing plates, flailing arms, and spinning bodies of his merry band of misfits. The gentle bob and sway of being in his arms managed to settle your scrambling heart and mind, if only a bit. He paused when he reached the stairs to the upper deck. The cheek he leaned down onto the top of your head calmed you even further. “You’re coming with me to my cabin to make up for lost time. Okay?”

Your heart thudded strongly and pressed up at your throat. Your eyes burned. He was still checking in? To give yourself a moment to get rid of the lump in your throat, you turned your head and gave a few soft kisses to the base of his neck. Even through his cravat, the action made him shiver. Finally, you answered, “Yes, Captain Buggy.”

The flight up the stairs and to Buggy’s cabin was much swifter and more impatient. Both of you found yourselves thanking the Gods for his devil fruit abilities when they let him open the way without sacrificing his hold on you. He refused to release you until he was kicking his door shut behind him and tearing off his jacket. You took the time to admire the way the muscles in his arms moved as he threw off his hat. His upper body popped up and flew to you so his legs could work at toeing off his boots. You welcomed him to you with open arms and grasping fingers.

Buggy’s grip around you was demanding, one hand fisted in your hair and the other fisted in your shirt. You happily listened to their directions, pushing further into him and offering him your lips. His decorated eyes closed and his painted lips dove to feel yours, only to stop just a hair short. 

“After this you’re mine.” His voice rumbled against your chest and his lips tickled against yours with each syllable. There was a jolt as his legs got back to his body, causing your lips to brush in the closest mimic of a kiss yet. You whined right against the brush of his red lips and pawed at the front of his shirt to ask for more. “Say it.”

“I’m yours, Captain.” The words were barely out of your mouth before he was stealing the breath from your lungs. The kiss immediately became open mouthed; he had needed to taste you since he set eyes on you and he had deprived himself of the chance long enough. It was full of dancing tongues, eager lips, and bumping noses and it was better than you had let yourself hope for. 

“You have any idea how long that fucker kept you from me,” he growled. His arms kept you to him in the fervent kiss but his hands flew off to start undoing your pants. Their movements were jerky and rushed and the tugging at your pants made the garment rub pleasantly across your skin. Your body felt alive with the taste of his lips, the pressure of his arms and the pulling of his hands.

“You’ll never think of him again,” Buggy promised darkly between kisses, while his hands began harsh tugs to get your pants and underwear down. When you were stepping out of them, he finally moved back far enough from you to let his hands work on ripping your shirt over your head. Buggy’s lips were back on you before your hair even had time to settle back into place. He nipped your bottom lip and kissed his way to your ear. His hands were making quick work of your bra. “I’m going to replace every bit of his touch on your body with my own.”

Shivers trembled through your body at the feeling of his words being breathed into your ear. The tingling sensation bouncing under your skin only intensified when his hands wedged between your chests and began thumbing at your hardened nipples. While he started walking backwards to the bed, you set on undoing his too numerous belt buckles. You needed to feel his skin on you now. At your unhappy moan, Buggy had his hands help you.

“Impatient?” he teased. He got another whine for his answer. At last, all his belts were undone. The thick one from his waist thunked onto the floor and his shirt followed soon after, pushed off by hurried hands sweeping from pec over shoulder. You hummed at the feeling of his chest hair against your palm and his muscles flexing and moving in your grip. Your arms then wrapped behind his neck, pulling him in to feel his chest press to yours. You jumped at the unexpected feeling of his chest hair teasing at your nipples, making them send pleasant tingles across your skin. His arms wrapped around your waist to pull you in just as tightly, making you feel caged and at his mercy. Groping hands separated from his arms to work at the flesh of your hips and ass, the fabric of his gloves causing extra friction.

Buggy’s lips had made their way back to yours, trailing burning kisses and red paint, and his prodding tongue slid back through your parted lips. Your hurried fingers pulled the bandana from his head and scratched across his scalp, setting his hair free. Blue waves cascaded down to tickle your arms and sweep at your cheeks. Your hands broke through the curtain of his soft hair to rid him of his cravat. While your hands continue seeking ways to touch him, his hands left you to swiftly yank each glove off. When his touch came back to you, Buggy moaned loudly at the feeling of your bare, flushed skin under his fingers and palms.

His hands massaged their way down to the backs of your thighs. While he sat himself down on the bed, he used this grip to pull you into his lap. You shivered and moaned as your bare pussy finally got some friction against the leather of his pants. Even through the thick material, you could feel his length twitch against you. An iron grip clamped onto your hips and set the pace of your needy grinding. “Fuck, sweets, you’re gonna ruin my pants. That wet already?”

“Can’t help it,” you whined. “I’ve wanted you so long.” You emphasized your words by grinding down more firmly against him, sliding easily through your slick on the supple leather.

“Fuuuuck,” Buggy groaned low, throwing his head back at the sensations sparking through him with each push of your hips. He pressed back into you with more insistence. “Wanted to take more time with you, treasure, but you’re making it fucking hard.”

He used his chop chop powers to stay attached to you again, separating from his feet so he could float you two to the center of the bed. The weightlessness and tipping of your balance shot adrenaline through you and had your weight increasing the pressure of his hard on against your clit. You dragged nails down Buggy’s chest in your bid for stability, earning a grumbling moan from him.

You may have been the one on top of him, but it was clear from his controlling hands and commanding lips that he was the one in charge. You’d let him keep that power forever if it meant you kept getting to feel his touch tearing into you and taste his skin and tongue and teeth. The smell of your own arousal mixing with the hazy scent of him emanating from his body and sheets had your muscles turning liquid, save the ones helping your hips lure pleasure from his. 

At the next drag of his hips across your cunt, you felt the pressure slide downward and leave you. Your thighs still felt his torso squeezed between them but the lack of support under your pelvis startled you and you began to pull back.

“No, no, sweet thing,” Buggy soothed, “Stay right here.” He trapped you to him with a hand to the back of your head and the other gripping the back of your shoulder. Your sense came back to you a little bit, reminding you of the chop chop fruit, and you relaxed slightly. Foggy eyes watched you as your muscles loosened and you eased back down for your mouths to meet again. The hand in your hair became a fist, urging you even closer, while the other disappeared. The feel of smearing makeup added to the delicious mess of the kiss, all wet lips and sliding tongues.

You slowly raised your hips up in the air, pressing your chest more firmly into his and relieving your thighs of the burn from keeping yourself hovered. Your elbows took the rest of your weight and your hands clung to Buggy’s shoulder and bicep. The air of the room sent a chill through you with how it contrasted to the wet heat you had presented. You weren’t chilled for long though; the draft of the room suddenly stopped reaching you and the bed dipped between your knees as a weight settled there. You felt knees nudging the inside of your own further apart and you happily let them, eagerly arching your cunt even higher.

“Such a good fucking girl,” Buggy growled against your lips. Warm skin met the back of your thighs then the plush of your ass. You let out chirping moans, muffled against his mouth, in burning joy when you felt the slide of his bare cock drag through your lips. “Such an eager little bitch for me; you ever go ass up for him?”

“No,” you panted. “N-no -hah- never, Captain.” Buggy nipped at your lips before he started his way down to your neck. You eagerly arched your chin up and out of the way, getting rewarded with a boiling hot lick across your pulse. Between his ravenous mouth and grinding hips, you were losing track of anything but the impulse to chase what feels good. And all of his touch ravaging over you felt so fucking good. 

The way your hips circled back into his had Buggy losing his mind - he needed to grab at every piece of you, feel you under lips and tongue and teeth and nails, and he needed to feel your warm swollen walls wrapped around him. A thought occurred to him and his mouth flung to your ear.

“Has he ever fucked you raw?” It came out as more of an angry snarl than real words. “Did you let yourself be his little slut?” Hips pressed forward meanly, nearly lifting your knees off of the bed with how he was forcing you to arch. “Answer me.” A hand clamped onto your jaw. Fingers released your hair to dig into the sides of your neck.

“No, sir!” you gasped, delicious pain bringing you back some clarity.

“My perfect girl.” You felt the grumble of his voice vibrate from his chest to yours. Your jaw was released. The punishing pressure on your spine eased as Buggy backed off, only to use his free hand to guide your hips back into greedy grinds. You wanted his handprint marked there forever, and Buggy wouldn’t disappoint. The grip controlling your neck jerked you to look him in the eyes. They were blurry and black with lust, looking like they would be quenched by nothing less than swallowing you whole. “Waiting for your Captain to be the one in your cunt? Already knew that you’re my whore?” The clumsy huffs and moans of “yes” that spilled from your mouth went straight to Buggy’s cock, each one making it throb against you.

“Let me.” His knees pressed at yours and you spread even wider, opening up enough for your clit to constantly rub between the base of his cock and his heavy balls. “Gotta be inside you - own every part of you.” His dominating grip on your hip forced the long grinds into tight circles weighted on your clit. Buggy tugged you down in a quick, needy kiss, tasting the whines on your tongue. “Fuck, give it to me; be mine and I’ll fuck you like this every day, buy you anything you want, do anything you want.”

You were so close already, head buzzing from his rabid pleas and the restricting grip into the sides of your neck. Your heartbeat had moved to pound between your hips, matching the rhythm of his hips grinding into you. If it weren’t for his hand at your neck, your head would’ve lolled forward to leave you drooling against his chest.

Buggy’s detached hand slid over your ass to guide the head of his cock to press at your twitching entrance. The moment he was lined up, his hand flipped down to cup your mound and grind the heel of his palm over your swollen bud. His head stretched you wider than you’re used to and you were already tripping over the edge when you felt yourself pop over the rim of his tip. “Gods, fuck, sweets, you feel like heaven.” He kept sliding in, the stretch not easing as he worked you open. “Never -nnngh- leaving this cunt.” The forearm around your back forced you into his chest even harder. “Gonna tie you up and fuck you all day, shit!” His hips finally met yours, rooted right above the palm still massaging at you.

The first drag back, full of his mushroomed tip pulling at your clenching walls, was your favorite thing you’d ever felt. You could only manage its deliberate push and pull, ending with a shove you felt pressing through your stomach, three more times. “Yes -hahh- yes, y-yes -nnnnghaahh- yes, yes, yes yesyesyes”

Bright pleasure tore up your spine to explode in your head and fizzle out through your every muscle. Your eyes screwed shut, your feet kicked up to clench by your jolting hips, and your fingers dug and trembled into Buggy’s skin. You shoved your head down, forehead pressing into the sweaty side of Buggy’s neck, open mouth gasping out hot air and high pitched moans. Distantly, you heard him darkly muttering, “Fucking hell, good slut, goddamn you’re perfect -mmmmnnhh- my perfect girl.”

Buggy’s grip on you became bruising as he held off on cumming with you. He’d just barely got a taste of the squeeze of your cunt and he needed more. He’d grit his teeth in desperation when he felt you milking him so soon after he had adjusted to the blissful feeling of sinking into you. Now he was absolutely sure he was going to steal you away and keep you forever. He needed to feel your pleasure and desperation at his touch every second of every day for the rest of his life.

“Such a whore, so eager to cum for me,” Buggy praised. He was brushing your hair from your face with shaky fingers, guiding you back from your orgasm. He continued his steady thrusts into you but eased up on his palm when your body went limp. You looked absolutely pathetic slumped against him, ass held in the air still being used for his pleasure.

“That stupid boy ever get you to sound like that?” he goaded. The closest you got to giving a response was a breathy “nuh”. Buggy kissed at your hairline and began picking up the speed of his hips. “That’s what I thought. Now be a good pussy and milk me dry.”

Buggy’s thrusts became punishing and insistent, chasing the blissful pulsing clench of your cunt that he felt at the end of every full stroke. The heel of his palm jostled your clit with each slap of his hips against you, slipping easily against you from how much he had you dripping. Even so, your nerves burned in a way that was just slightly too much. You arched harder to try and lighten the sensation but that only angled your hips so that he hit his hand harder on each thrust. Every impact felt like an electric shock, knocking a high and breathy moan from you each time.

“Sounds so good, treasure, keep singing for me,” Buggy moaned, breath tickling the top of your ear. He wanted to slow himself down to hear you longer, taste you longer, feel the hot wet plush of your pussy forever, but he couldn’t control himself no matter how hard he tried. His body clung to and plunged into you, driven by uncontrolled instinct. He needed to grab and consume you until he couldn’t tell where you ended and he began. He’d finally admitted to himself how much he was dying to see and own all of you. Now he had you blissed out and pliant against him and he could no longer stand living without knowing the feeling of emptying his cock into you.

“Captain,” you hiccuped, “C-Captain Buggyyyyy, ‘s too much.” You tilted your head up to moan and bite at his neck, needing something to ground you. The salt and heat on your tongue cut through some of the blinding haze. Your fingers kept digging at him to find  some kind of anchor in those slick, tensing muscles.

“You can do it, sweets,” he encouraged breathlessly. “Just -fuck- just be my good whore, just let me hahhhave my fill and I’ll -nnngah- help you rest.” You managed a weak “yes sir” between your moans and whines and Buggy’s hips managed to give you even more. Every nerve he touched inside you was scorching and screaming with the delicious friction and stretch of him pounding into you. Buggy felt the same searing bliss ripping through him, emptying his mind of everything but desire and possession.

Buggy groans, “So close! You’ve been soooooo fucking good for me, my perfect slut.” The hand at your neck had switched back into fisting your hair, so he could drag you up and moan right in your ear. The palm at your clit became a tightly circling thumb and your limp body jolted back to life, clawing, grinding, shaking, and gasping. “That’s fucking it, treasure, need you to cum again and -ahh- I’ll fill you up.”

You used whatever strength you had left to bounce back on his hips. Your used muscles were pounding and swollen, but the praising sounds and extra friction you got with each move had you never wanting to stop. You never knew how good it felt to be fucked hard enough for the force to ripple through the flesh of your ass and thighs and stomach and breasts and you’d do anything to keep feeling it. The crushing grip on your hip kept you steady any time you faltered from your trembling muscles and blanking mind. You don’t think you’ve ever felt like this, so completely insatiable, so deliciously overwhelmed, so voraciously claimed. The blazing signals shooting to your head from between your legs started to burn so bright that they were losing detail. That was until all four of Buggy’s fingers touched the very base of your stomach and pushed down hard. 

“Buggy! Buggy! Buggy!” You kept yelping, and his eyes rolled back from the sheer ecstasy of hearing you like this. You were already tight, muscles clamping down hard and winding up for your orgasm but this… There was a firmer pressure with each stroke, especially when he knocked as deep into you as you could stretch, and he was drooling at the fact that his fingertips could feel him fuck himself into you.

“So good, holy shit -hahnngh- you feel so fucking good, treasure, gonna cum,” Buggy was beside himself panting and groaning out for you. His fraying voice became biting and fierce, rabid with need and absolute command. “Need you to cum - cum for your Captain.”

“Yes, sir, yessir please please,” you sobbed into his chest feeling so close but also already over the precipice and feeling everything and numbing out. Your body was going haywire with how good and how much everything felt and you needed something to hold onto. 

“Good fucking girl, good -nnnngh- you’re mine, mine, mine-” Buggy’s voice was all gravel and possession and he chanted the only word he could manage when his balls pulled tight and his dick began to twitch. The clapping of his hips stopped, replaced with deep long grinds that had the weight of his jumping dick play with every inch of your walls and you were gone. You keened and sobbed out at the force of the feelings bursting through you and you could do nothing but quake in his grasp. The hot feeling of his cum pumping into you, cockhead tapping down at the push of his fingers on your stomach, had your eyes rolling back and your legs going limp.

Buggy was pretty sure he lost a minute or two there while he wasn’t able to think past hot, wet, and good. All he knew was that he finally got you and it was better than he ever imagined. His heart stuttered at the feeling of your panting breath cooling his chest and your sweet fingers clumsily trying to draw shapes on his skin. They kept falling limp between attempts due to the strength of your exhaustion, but you were adamant in your need to show him affection. His face split in a dopey grin. Buggy just knew you’d be the perfect little love and now you were his perfect little love. A smug snicker interrupted his heavy breaths from knowing he stole you away from that shithead, and he was going to make sure to pamper you so you’d stay and never have to cry to yourself again. 

Buggy nudged you to the side so that your spine would get some relief from arching. He couldn’t have just let you straight down without your hips being forced down under the weight of his past the edge of his torso. You weren’t allowed to go far though; he felt as if he’d tear apart anything that interrupted all your skin to skin contact. You hummed deep in relief at the change in position and nuzzled your face into Buggy as thanks. He kissed his bright smile onto the top of your head and began massaging a hand into your lower back. This time you moaned at the relieving feeling, earning a chuckle from him.

“Better?” Buggy asked. 

“So much,” you answered. Your eyes and muscles felt heavy and your bones were made of lead. Your breathing had become soft and slow and steady in tandem with his, beginning to draw you under with the promise of a fulfilling slumber. You managed to mumble, “Thank you, Captain,” before you were gone. A more lingering kiss was placed on your head this time. While your mind wasn’t there to receive it, your body felt it and shifted just that much closer into Buggy’s warmth.

Buggy sighed, thinking of the mess that the two of you and the bed were and how much work it’ll be to do the necessary cleaning up. A large problem was detaching you from himself and an even larger and more difficult one was mustering the will to remove himself from you. He gave in to the comfort of holding you, pulling a spare blanket from a basket across the room to lay over you both. Still in deep sleep, you hummed contentedly at the new comfort and warmth, melting Buggy’s heart further. He peppered a few more indulgent kisses onto your temple and hair before snuggling his cheek down into you. He’d decided a little nap wouldn’t hurt.

~ ~ ~ ••• ✦✦✦ ••• ~ ~ ~

[sapphicagenda]

I'M FINALLY BACK!!!!!!!!!!!

Chapter 15: It's Finally Bake Night

Whisks Worth Taking (a Bake Off AU)

Fandom: Warrior Nun

Main ship: Ava/Beatrice

Sub-ships: Camila/Lilith, Mary/Shannon

Rating: E (for eventual smut)

Chapter Summary:

Ava takes Bea on the perfect first date and things get steamy!

Teaser:

Each revelation that Beatrice offered about herself felt like a puzzle piece placed carefully into Ava’s hands. She took none for granted. She cherished them and determined to protect each and every one until she could figure out where they fit together.

So far, when it came to the picture they were painting of Bea’s romantic history, it seemed clear to Ava that none of the women from her past had ever taken the time to show the chef just how special she was. That made Ava even more determined to plan the perfect First DateTM.

There was just one problem, Ava thought as she peeled one of the hardboiled eggs that was part of her piecemeal lunch. Though she had lots of experience going on dates, she’d never had a classic “First Date” experience herself; the kind that culminated from weeks of growing attraction to someone you knew; the kind you hoped might be a beginning; the kind you hoped might lead to a happily ever after someday.

Keep Reading on AO3

Or start from Chapter 1!

[photogirl894]

Omg for the 1k celebration (congrats btw!!!) could I get prompt #2 from the physical affection list, "a tight, desperate embrace", with uhhhhh Tech x reader ;w;

(,,,I miss him-)

@captaingregorswife

I can definitely do that for you, friend! Sorry this took forever 😅

(I am part of the #TechLives movement, so this is going to reflect that immensely 😜)

**Slight season 3 spoilers, but really, it's nothing nobody doesn't know at this point**

"The Missing Piece"

2. A tight, desperate embrace

Pairing: Tech x fem reader

***

Nothing had been the same since Eriadu.

Since you and the Bad Batch had lost Tech.

There was a hole in the squad; a piece missing from the puzzle that put you all together. You all felt incomplete without him. Once he was lost to you, it seemed as though everything else fell apart after that.

Omega was captured soon after and Echo had gone off with Rex again. Hunter was driving himself crazy following every possible lead and scouring the galaxy trying to find Omega while you and Wrecker did your best to keep him sane. It was no easy task by any means. Hunter was beyond determined to find her.

Though, as fate would have it, Omega was the one who found all of you.

After months and months of searching, she made her way back to you along with Crosshair, much to all of your surprise. Yet it didn't matter. Omega was safe and Crosshair had turned his back on the Empire. While Hunter took a bit of time to forgive Crosshair for the past, you and Wrecker were quicker to since Omega trusted him. That was good enough for you. Even Echo reunited with all of you, even if it was temporary, to help on a mission. Things had gone well overall and the lot of you had returned to Pabu, things within your squad now on the mend.

The only thing that would fully heal your broken squad was if Tech were still alive...but sadly, you didn't think that was possible. There would always be a Tech-sized wound in all your hearts that would never heal.

His loss was still felt amongst all of you even when things were starting to look up. Part of why you all had gone on your previous mission was because Tech wasn't there. Omega had brought an Imperial datapad that needed decrypting, but without Tech to do it, you all had to go to an Imperial facility and plug it into a computer there so it could bypass the encryption in order to get the information on it. It was hard not having his knowledge of technology to help on missions, but you found yourself missing his many ramblings and even just the sound of his voice or his very presence in the pilot's seat of the Marauder...things you had all taken for granted before.

You'd had a soft spot for Tech for quite a while and his death had hit you pretty hard, but you never thought it would be this painful without him. It felt as though a part of you had died with him and had been left behind on Eriadu. The part of you that felt the happiest and most content. Tech had made you feel safe and even heard. You hadn't realized how calm his voice made you feel until it was no longer there for you to hear. You missed the feel of his hands taking yours to anchor you in reality when things got too rough on a mission.

You missed him and everything that he was. More than you ever realized you would.

One day, you and the squad were all aboard the Marauder enjoying a breakfast of hot moogan tea and fruit provided yet again by Shep, the leader of Pabu, and his daughter, Lyanna. Echo was still with you for a couple of days, which felt nice, at least. However, as you were enjoying the peaceful morning, Lyanna came running inside, out of breath.

"You guys! There's a ship incoming! We don't recognize it," she called out.

Concerned that danger may be approaching, you and the Clones all jumped into action, rushing out of the ship and drawing blasters, ready to fire in case it was the Empire. You all watched an unfamiliar vessel come into the planet's atmosphere and soar through the sky.

"That doesn't look like an Imperial ship," commented Crosshair.

"Still stay on your guard," Hunter ordered everyone as the ship soon landed on the platform just yards away from them.

You waited with great anticipation to see who was going to come out of the ship. Was it someone from the Empire? Or a bounty hunter? Or maybe just another refugee wandering the galaxy? It was hard to guess.

You were not prepared for who it actually was.

The ramp to the ship lowered down...and, with a slight limp, broken armor, cracked goggles and with a couple cuts and bruises on his face...out came Tech.

Your blaster fell from your hand and clattered to the ground. "Tech...?" you asked aloud in pure shock.

"I don't believe it!" Wrecker gasped.

Everyone else lowered their weapons, stunned at the sight they saw before them that they once believed was impossible.

He stopped at the bottom of the ramp, took in the sight of his whole family gawking in unbelief in him and simply asked, "What have I missed?"

That was it for you. Upon hearing his voice, you broke into a sprint towards him and practically threw yourself at him, pulling him into a tight, desperate embrace that made him release a surprised grunt.

"Tech! I can't believe you're alive!" you exclaimed.

Before he could answer, you felt another larger pair of arms encircle you both as Wrecker hugged the two of you hard. "You're really here...you're alive...!" Wrecker said, his voice trembling, which you understood completely. He had watched Tech fall with his own eyes because he couldn't keep hold of the railcar that Tech had attached himself to. Poor Wrecker had probably harbored so much guilt for so long over that.

"I thought that was obvious seeing as how I am here," Tech said, a little strained from being squeezed so tight by Wrecker.

"But how? How in the world did you survive?" you asked him as Wrecker let go and you pulled away from Tech.

Right then, Omega appeared and hugged him around the waist. "We missed you, Tech! We thought you were gone for good!" she cried.

He gave her a pat on the shoulder. "I have missed you all, as well." Then he looked to you and said, "To answer your question: that is not a story I can tell succinctly. It's...complicated," he replied.

"It's a story I'm sure we'll all want to hear anyway," said Hunter as he approached, a glad smile on his face.

Tech gave him a nod and then saw Crosshair beside him. "It's good to see you made it out, Crosshair," he remarked.

"Good to see you've come back from the dead," Crosshair replied, a small grin on his own face, too.

"Good to have you back, Tech," said Echo gladly.

Omega took Tech's arm, gave it a tug and stated, "Come on! Let's get on the Marauder and you can tell us everything."

"All in good time, Omega," said Hunter.

With that, they all turned away and started making their way back to the Marauder, but you stopped Tech for a moment by taking his hand. He turned to look at you and met your tear-filled gaze.

"I've missed you so much, Tech. I can't tell you how...miserable things have been without you...how miserable I've been without you," you told him, a couple tears falling from your eyes.

He reached up and lightly brushed your tears away. "There's no need to shed any tears for me, darling," he soothed you. "I am alive and I am here with you. That's all that matters"

"Our family is whole again," you said with a joyful smile.

And that, it was. The missing piece of the puzzle that was your found family had found his way back to you...and all was well once more.

If only this could've been how it really went...

Photogirl894's Physical Affection Prompts

Photogirl894's 1,000 Followers fics

[alaynestone]

You don’t have to post this if you don’t want. I just wanted to say I was one of those curious, openminded fans willing to entertain the idea of samjohn (mostly bc deanjohn feels so congruent with canon + there’s so much interesting meta on it that managed to convert me + incestuous households usually affect all of it’s members) but just like you said I was immediately put off by the blatant character assassination that pervades everything from fics to edits to the propaganda in that incest poll lmao.

I guess that’s the major difference - deanjohn requires little to no stretching of imagination bc it already fits seamlessly into canon, whereas samjohn almost demands ooc shenanigans to work.

I also just found the way fans talk about it nauseating for some reason, though that’s likely more of a reflection of my own personal triggers. I love digesting incest narratives, but the fetishistic angle of that blog really makes my stomach turn. That’s not a moral judgement on anyone else’s enjoyment btw! Just another reason why this ship didn’t resonate with me.

thank you for sending me this. it's clear that a lot of people feel the same way.

when i first joined fandom, the few j/s fics were straightforward evil!john non-con. not my thing, but i understood why it was written that way. then came the inexplicably popular fandom creation of "sexkitten sam" which continues to pollute the entire sam/dean fandom and of course extends to other ships too. i'm not even gonna get started on why that's "problematic" because that's not the point, it's not remotely in character. even as an exaggeration sam is not the kind of person to attempt to find agency in outward submission or objectification. he's very vocally not compromising his identity to please his family and especially john. dean is more like that so when you have sam acting like a fetishized pinterest aesthetic moodboard version of dean and dean acting like an old man from wattpad i'm understandably left squinting at the screen. then it's genderswapping sam and using that as a personality eraser because women are automatically submissive and naive and trad?

who is being converted by all this when it has nothing to do with sam, john or even dean? where is dean in all this actually? a core aspect of their family is that dean is closest to both sam and john who rarely had much opportunity to bond without him. there was a distance between sam and john throughout sam's childhood and adolescence. most of his parental needs were being fulfilled by dean even if that was never enough. their situation with their father wasn't the average one where they were simply 2 kids fighting for his attention.

for the most part j/s appears to be about "envying" dean's position in the family. it's about diminishing or straight up erasing dean and more notably about feminizing sam. either directly or otherwise. people generally seem to have big issues with the fact that sam is a man and confidently so. most of the annoying tropes in wincest fandom have this at their core. and of course in order for sam to be "the woman" dean needs to genuinely and authentically be the most stereotypical of cishet men. it's very transparent because right from the start the show poked holes at dean's performance of masculinity. it was very much the point. dean's gender issues could fill a book yet any alternative interpretation of sam and gender seeks to cast dean as the oppressive bigot who would never get it? stopping here before i get off topic but to make myself clear: in theory i respect headcanons i don't understand, but not when they spitefully exist to deny dean's depth in every possible way.

to return to my point about dean's pseudo spouse and mother position being enviable, it misses the point of how harmful john's parenting was to both of them. it's no coincidence that they both view themselves as the unfavorite. dean believes he's taken for granted, only valued for what he can give, how well he can perform his roles, how successfully he could play at being an adult even before he hit double digits. dean can't just exist and be himself while sam is uncompromisingly himself. because of that he believes john doesn't like him, never liked him, rejected him, didn't have time for him, didn't trust him enough with the family secrets, even when those secrets directly concerned him. as of season 1 he still has contempt for dean for what he views as unquestioning obedience to john and letting himself be molded by john. dean had to fight for every scrap of approval and affection and sam refused to do the same if it meant sacrificing his own needs and identity. not everyone reacts to abuse the same way and both characters are very much shaped by their different reactions to their environment. and any j/s shipper argument that is built on the idea that sam was the one john loved more is not only gleefully mocking dean's parentification but ignoring that sam being comparatively sheltered and treated like a son is yet another reason why john would not cross such a line with him. dean "gets it", dean lost mary too, dean is his partner and his confidant, dean can handle adult responsibilities, dean is loving and supportive, dean isn't making him confront his parenting failures, dean can't say no to him. like you said, it doesn't at all stretch the imagination to make j/d fit into dean's backstory. "you are not a child" - "i never was".

as i have been saying, any remotely ic exploration of j/s would have to follow both j/d and s/d. i can't believe in a universe where j/s is the only incest that happens in the family. i think a theoretical plausible j/s fic would have to not only accept but embrace its adjacency to the 2 ships that are compliant with the canon. but whether sam knows for a fact about j/d or not, there's no way he isn't severely impacted by the proximity to that relationship in a number of ways and that's a very compelling dynamic in its own right.

tldr i agree with you anon. people can read and write whatever they want but there's a big difference between incest subtext that is believable and just saying things in a way that's meant to provoke.

[barry-j-blupjeans]

If you're still accepting '101 ways to Say I Love You with Actions' prompts then 36. "Letting them lay across your lap to read." with anyone who takes your fancy would be wonderful!

36. "Letting them lay across your lap to read."

--

Lucretia has accepted a lot of things by now. She's accepted the fact that they don't (yet) know how to defeat the Hunger. She's accepted that she will probably never have a normal young adulthood. She's accepted that she's stuck rooming with Merle for now, who snores like an entire ogre in his sleep. She's accepted that she's probably gonna fuck up her wrists real bad with all this writing.

And she's accepted the fact that Magnus has decided that her legs specifically are the best place to read.

She's not complaining! Well, not out loud. Lucretia loves Magnus like a brother, but sometimes she does get the Cain Instinct. Magnus is big- much bigger than her, both vertically and horizontally. And he likes to read out loud. Never super loud, but if Lucretia was trying to read herself, Magnus's attempts at whispering under his breath were incredibly distracting. Lucretia was the type of person who could work in pretty much any environment if she gave it her all. That didn't mean she wanted to be in said environment, though.

It's never really been a problem before now. That being said, they had never been in a world with the largest library Lucretia has ever seen before now. This plane was completely devoted to learning and documenting new discoveries. In return for letting them study the Light alongside the crew, they had been granted full access to the library's services, including the books regular citizens were not allowed to borrow. Lucretia was consuming them at a lightning pace.

For the past few weeks, she'd come into the library first thing in the morning and start right where she left off. Often, another crew member would come with her. Barry and Lup, usually, if they had time between their work with the Light. Davenport preferred to check out books to read on the ship, and Merle had a temporary ban for tracking mud inside on three separate occasions (when it hadn't even been raining. Lucretia would have asked questions but by now she knew how Merle was.). Taako made a huge show of telling her that "reading was for nerds" and "I have better things to do", so Lucretia was content not bringing it up every time they came across each other on the shelves.

Magnus was kind of touch and go. Getting him to focus on something like this had always been a challenge, but with a world focused mainly on studies and books, he didn't really have anywhere else to turn. He had taken to setting up shop near Lucretia, and then next to her, and then quite literally on her. She had to move over to one of the couches because sitting at the table was not going to support both of them.

"Luce," Magnus said, poking the back of her hand. Lucretia blinked, looking away from her book.

"Huh?"

"I asked if you think they've invented fun on this plane," Magnus said.

"You're awful," Lucretia said, bringing her attention back to her book. Magnus squirmed.

"This is awful," Magnus said. "Do they even have sports? Is sport a thing? Is there a book about, I don't know, some physical activities or like, punching someone, or?"

"I'm sure there is somewhere," Lucretia said. Magnus groaned.

"I don't wanna read about it," he said. Lucretia was beginning to think she wasn't going to be allowed to read anymore. "I wanna do it."

"Who's stopping you?" she asked.

Magnus paused. He had his Considering face on, which was never a good thing. Lucretia might have just caused a terrible thing to go into motion. But after a long, tense second, Magnus rolled his eyes and said,

"I don't wanna right now."

"Fantastic," Lucretia said. "Great reason. Keep reading."

"I don't get why people enjoy it, is all!" Magnus said. "Like, the letters keep jumping around and it hurts my brain. And all of these are non-, uhm. Fiction? Non-fiction? Or is it-"

"Non-fiction is right," Lucretia said. "Also, is it like a dyslexia jumping around thing or like a, you can't focus jumping around thing?"

"I don't know what dyslexia is," Magnus said. "The letters are just wrong."

Okay. No. Lucretia wasn't going to be reading anymore. She put her (new, very fancy) bookmark on the page she was reading and shut the book, setting it aside. Magnus had already closed his book. He looked up at her expectantly.

"Okay," Lucretia said. "Tell me about the letters."

[multi-phantom]

SL GEM + SCOTT POV SPOILERS

I can never be normal about the ends of these series. If you think this is cringe go away 😊 [NOT A SHIP]

"Scott? Where are you?" Gem calls out to her last ally left, dread and desperation seep into her voice. Impulse had just died, she'd been too late. She couldn't be late again. "Where is everyone..." She mutters, eyes scanning over the battle torn terrain. A speck of telltale light blue peaks through the savannah trees, the faint sound of shouting and arrows following him as he runs in her direction.

The relief fades immediately as the bloody image of one of her best friends inches closer. "Scott!?" She shouts, rushing towards him and past the secret keeper.

"Gem you need to kill me!" He says, rushing towards her. He repeats himself over and over as if it's the only logical choice left.

"No- Why do I need to kill you?!" She says, helping him walk over to the secret keeper. His blood stains her hands a dark red. He sits down on a patch of moss, still breathing heavily. The air feels still here, like the secret keeper is granting them one last moment together. She can't kill him, he's her last Scott, her last friend left alive.

"I'm on two and a half hearts, if they kill me and get the ten-" Panicked tears prick in his eyes. Several patches of his hair have been stained an ugly greyish blue with his own blood. There are arrows sticking out of angry red wounds. Gemini hates the color red right now. Hates how it's taken over every valuable thing in this life. "I don't think I can do it. I think- I think you're gonna need to do it." Scott heaves. His gaze settles on her seriously, he knows exactly how she'd feel in this situation. He's had to kill his own allies before. He hates it, but it's better than the alternative.

"Scott-" Gemini says, on the verge of tears. This was not how this was supposed to end.

"Wait, before you do— here, take these." He says, pulling things out of his bag. An end crystal, his entire stash of ender pearls, the rest of his food, zombie eggs, and his power four bow. All of this stuff that he should be using to fight lays at her feet. She wants to refuse it. She wants to force him to fight, but at this point, that'd be crueler than death.

"Go on, gem, go. You got this." He says, nudging the sword clutched in her right hand. Tears pour down her cheeks like the raging river surrounding their home, she wishes for a moment that this was all one horrible nightmare. One terrifying dream. She wants to wake up back in those pink walls of her base with her two closest friends.

She settles for a pathetic "Thank you, Scott." as she tucks the items into her bag, save for the bow, which she replaces her near broken one with.

Gemini lifts her sword, if she has to kill him, she wants to make it quick. Her blade slices through his skin and bone, snuffing out the last candles of hope. Lightning strikes down in front of her. She gains ten hearts, but hers breaks as her best friend's body lies, cooling rapidly and lifeless. She cuts a layer of moss off of the secret keeper and covers his body in it. It's an unmarked grave, sure, but it's the most she has time for. He deserves this much. Fire tipped arrows rain down around her. An unmarked grave is better than no grave, and that's quite a lot more than what most people have after the last few days. She hopes he's at peace, or at least cheering her on from the other side.

The world around her seems to gray out around the edges. Her will to fight has been snuffed out. Three players remain. "Hey secret keeper..." She mumbles as she scrambles to the top of it for leverage. She starts raining down arrow fire at her enemy with Scott's bow. Every arrow should be his. The damage she deals is in his stead. It should've been her. Her heart's not in it anymore. Gemini takes a deep breath, before

"You wanna fight? Let's fight." She says, under her breath to no one in particular. Maybe it's to her opponents, maybe it's to the secret keeper. This game of dodgeball isn't going anywhere, she slides off the back of the secret keeper, landing in a roll.

"I don't think I can fight Pearl..." She says to herself. Shes already killed one ally, or now, ex-ally. "I think pearl wins this." Because if anyone has to win, maybe the person she'd fought alongside at one point could win for the both of them. She'd never liked Scar much anyway.

"Gem... Don't make me do this, Gem." Pearl says from atop a foothill.

"I don't know!" Pearl shouts back, desperation clinging to her voice. An arrow strikes Gemini through the side. She doesn't cry out. She ender-pearls away from her ex-ally as more arrows wizz by. She takes in a breath right as she's dumped into ice cold water surrounding the disheveled heart foundation. Her blood mixes with the water, yet the feeling of blood on her skin never leaves.

"I'm not making you do anything!" Gem shouts exasperatedly. "Pearl, what are you doing?!" She dodges under an arrow, sliding behind a tree.

She exits the water, just to see Scar rounding the pass. "Hi, Gem!" He says, all too sweetly. She slashes at him with her sword instead of returning the gesture. Pearl follows up close behind him, as she and scar exchange sword swipes.

"Two versus one? You guys are so gross!" Gemini snarks. She slashes and stabs at Scar, who dips away so Pearl can land another strike. Maybe she can wear Scar down at least. Secure the victory for someone else. Scar swings at her again and again as Pearl watches on, cheering her ally along.

"D'ya wanna sword this out with me Gem, or with Scar?" Pearl says, grazing Gemini across the face.

Gemini's blood splatters on the soft grass staining what was once green, red. She hates red.

A peaceful smile graces her face. She thinks she can hear Impulse and Scott somewhere, cheering her on.

Images of her old life flash before her eyes. Pink walls, easy laughter, the joy of existence, those first days of peace. She wants that again.

Lightning strikes.

[madtomedgar]

Why do so many JGY stans see him as “female-coded”? I get that he’s associated with his mother Meng Shi a lot in the narrative but to me it’s more like he embodies what she could’ve been if she had male privilege.

It's complicated and due to a lot of reasons and, I think, depends on what you mean.

Part of it is generic fandom nonsense that has been around since forever where the smaller/younger guy in any ship is the bottom/girl, and his actual personality gets overwritten to fit into fandom tropes. The narrative makes a big deal out of jgy being smaller and less physically powerful than the other members of his triad, people latch onto this with yaoi goggles, and it gets stupid fast.

Part of it is racism. There's been a trend lately, which i think started with kpop people and has breached containment, of (white, western) tumblr users seeing slim East Asian men with pop star makeup or long hair or purple lighting and deciding they must be feminine, gender non conforming, trans, non binary, ~gender~ or whatever. It's even worse if the guy is shorter and/or has a cute face. Zhu Zanjin has a cute face, his character is small, you see where this is going. And seeing East Asian men as feminine has a long history in anti-asian racism.

Part of it is ignorance/racism. Chinese masculine archetypes are not the same as western ones, and Chinese masculinity doesn't look like western masculinity. The scholar-official is a Chinese masculine archetype (I believe. I may be wrong about this, as I am not Chinese, so please take what Chinese bloggers have to say about this more seriously than what I am saying) and Jin Guangyao seems, to me, to be very much a scholar-official. His hat is extremely masculine/professional (like a necktie) but western audiences just think it's silly or related to his mom. His elegance, delicacy, lack of physical prowess compared to the others around him, read as effeminate to a western audience, but are absolutely masculine in his own context. This happens with nie huaisang a lot too, where because of his flightiness and artyness and specifically his fan, he gets read as effeminate. Fans, however, were a masculine accessory, specifically for the scholar or the artist, which, again, are masculine types. Feels very similar to how bookish Jewish men get read as effeminate by white gentiles, meanwhile The Pinacle of Manhood in Ashkenazi culture has, historically, been the Rabbi or the scholar. But yeah, a lot of it is people not thinking about him in context.

Part of it is that the way he is overlooked, forced to be So Polite to people who are approaching him with violence in order to survive, the people-pleasing, the deference, and, specifically, the way other characters read malicious sexuality into everything he does, when he is doing everything he can to not suggest that and how uncomfortable he is with that, the hypercompetence being taken for granted and overlooked, the working his ass off and getting no credit and then getting chastised when he points that out, the way he's subject to violence by people larger and stronger than him and told "well just don't make them mad," the way he has to be so careful about any hint of sex surrounding his public persona because that is all it will take for people to tear him apart, while not being an experience exclusive to women by any means, is extremely familiar to a lot of women, and so a lot of women and people who caucus with women relate to him in a very particular "oh same hat" kind of way. It's worth noting that none of the other male characters in the story really have this kind of thing going on. It's only him. Some have pieces of this but not the whole thing, so it starts to look specific to something inherent in the character, so.

Part of it is that his character gets a certain shitty treatment from a lot of fandom that you usually only see applied to female characters. Like. People really love to make him a Vamp, a Seductress, a Femme Fatale, a Manipulative Gone Girl Type, a Bitchy Sassy type, and read everything he does in this way. So many """"fix-its""" for him are some variation on "just keep him barefoot pregnant and in the kitchen," but it's "this time he is too busy getting dicked down to scheme," and like... it's weird? This is where you get people talking about the "jin guangyao specific misogyny." because like. He's not a woman, but fandom treats him like a Despised Female Character and it's very weird.

Hope that answers your question.

[epickiya722]

Ok so not exactly ship bashing bc i don't hate it per se, but not positive either, just something i was thinking

But i remember once when someone was asking some ppl why they didn't like bkdk and/or prefered other ships the response to kr//////bk were sometimes the usual "yea bc abusive" and then some actually caught my attention.

"bc Bakugou can start in a clean slate and be happy without his bad history with Deku"

And i never understood why this sounded weird to me, other than a feeling like Kiri was just being used as some kind of escape. What do you think of it? I'm actually curious

Honestly, I wish I knew myself, Anon. I don't have an answer, but I do have some thoughts.

First, that is just a weird thing to me because... to people who say "Bakugou and Kirishima can start with a clean slate", what qualifies?

Because it's not like their relationship started off like...

"Hi, I'm Bakugou!"

"Hey, I'm Kirishima!"

"Want to be friends?"

"Yeah! Let's be friends!"

*High Five*

No. It was completely opposite. They did not start off with a clean slate. Their relationship started off with Kirishima criticizing Bakugou's behavior and even calling him "unmanly". He did not like Bakugou at first.

Really the person he did start off a clean slate with is Midoriya. Granted, they were kids. But they were childhood friends before it turned sour.

Now, I don't hate KiriBaku. It was one of the first ships I gotten into and I still have a love for it. And I also have favor Midoriya a lot. He is my #1 favorite characters along with another everybody should probably know by now. I am also a multishipper.

With that said, in my earliest days of being in the fandom, I was taken back to see that some KiriBaku shippers actually didn't like BakuDeku, let alone Midoriya.

Why? Well, for BakuDeku, I get it. Ship rivalry and all that. Again, as a multishipper I just don't care for that. Feeling "threatening" by the presence of another ship, having ship wars and saying why this ship is better than this one.

Now dislike for Midoriya, I have no clue. But as I thought about it, and seen some things, I feel like it was because BakuDeku does an upper hand of having more content for them, history be damned. Maybe some people feel like Midoriya is a threat. After all, Midoriya may know a lot more about Bakugou than anyone else. They were childhood friends. And childhood friends is a popular trope.

Now, let's be real here, if Midoriya and Bakugou dated other people, it would be Bakugou who would have more of a problem than Midoriya would.

If Midoriya, in canon, acknowledges that Kirishima is Bakugou's friend, I doubt he would be upset if they dated. Hell, to be jealous would fly over his head because he's the type of person to want people happy. It's Kirishima, he likes Kirishima. He has a mutual friendly relationship with him. If Kirishima and Bakugou dated, Midoriys would root for that.

On top of that, Bakugou really didn't become a top concern for Midoriya until season 3. Before that, he was making his own friends and doing his own thing, including during their middle school days. By that time, Midoriya actually distanced himself from Bakugou. He doesn't follow him anymore. Midoriya was a loner. In fact, after season 3, he still just let Bakugou do whatever without having a say so or following him around. Bakugou always been visible to Midoriya, but he isn't that "possessive" or a "stalker" as some people think he is. Bakugou only became more visible to him because Bakugou made it so. Bakugou just always been Midoriya’s vision of victory and of course, he saddened by where their relationship ended up. He admires Bakugou, but he doesn't listen to his conversations or just "I know Bakugou better than you!"

Bakugou is always watching Midoriya, on the other hand. No, for real, he is always watching him. He almost always has Midoriya on his mind in some way. Even has followed Midoriya and Todoroki just to hear their conversation. It's how he even realized that Midoriya was holding a secret about OFA. If Midoriya disappeared for even 2 minutes, Bakugou would notice. Tells Midoriya to watch him during the Joint Training arc. Ran off with Midoriya at the start of the Paranormal Liberation Arc (says to get payback at Shigaraki, but we all know it was also he didn't want Midoriya to go alone).

It's like the moment Midoriya does anything Bakugou has to be there for it. Not for his own benefit, but because he is aware of the type of person Midoriya is.

He's not like this with anyone else.

He doesn't think about anyone else 24/7 for literally years because he has regrets and regrets he has voiced to Midoriya himself. He even has cried twice in front of Midoriya. He keeps a card, a heartfelt physical symbol of just how he wishes for their relationship to go back to the good times.

Now when it comes to Kirishima and Bakugou... I sometimes feel like people like it because Kirishima, while Bakugou's friend, works as his "tamer". Think about it.

There are people who only like a character when they're in a ship and go as far as to change that character completely through the other character's actions and words for the sake of liking said ship.

If you don't like one character, then don't ship the ship they're in!

Given that Bakugou has a lot of haters, what if some of those haters happen to like KiriBaku only when they can interpret Bakugou as being more "tolerable" because Kirishima can "tame" him?

Kirishima can handle Bakugou because he literally is a thick skinned person. His quirk is a visual gag of that. Anything Bakugou says or do, he doesn't take it to heart. But here's the thing.

He is not the only person.

Everyone doesn't take anything Bakugou says or do to heart. Even Midoriya who just brushes it off or has sassed him back.

I think people just take to shipping Kirishima more with Bakugou and not anyone else is because it is stated explicitly they have bonded (the Kamino Rescue).

That and circling back to the "taming" thing, there are moments where Kirishima does seem to be the one where he reels Bakugou in. Such as making comments like "ooooh, that doesn't sound very heroic" or "BAKUGOU, WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM".

Like moments where he directly scowls Bakugou.

Iida does the same, he's the first one to do it from Class A, in fact. However, there isn't a lot of BakuIida shippers compared to KiriBaku. Again, Kirishima is explicitly stated to be Bakugou's friend. That's not to say no one else is friends with Bakugou.

Here's a guess. Maybe people find that Kirishima can change Bakugou into something "better". And when I mean "better" I mean much less grouchy, angry, more friendly. Turn him into a whole different character to the point Bakugou would be recognized as some OC and not Bakugou.

Kinda funny considering since Kirishima did change himself. His personality stayed the same, but he grew into having a thicker skin, being brave and not hesitating, and changed his hair.

In a way, it's like... "I'm a new person, I created this new persona of myself... maybe I can do the same to someone else".

Which, let's be honest, would be toxic on Kirishima's part via fanon wise. Changing someone into someone else into what you want. Canon Kirishima may call Bakugou out or tease him, he wouldn't go as far as to dictate how Bakugou should be or even change him.

Again, like the rest of Class A, they don't let Bakugou get to them. Tease him about and whatnot, but Bakugou is Bakugou. If they were all the same person, that wouldn't be fun. Everyone is different in their own way.

So, yeah, I do think some people ship KiriBaku for the dynamic, which I see nothing wrong with that. I, myself, like the bond Bakugou and Kirishima have. It's different from their other relationships, and I like different. It's why I ship it. (And yes, I also like it platonically.)

However, other than the dynamic, I think some people ship KiriBaku because they may portray Kirishima as this person who can "change Bakugou into someone else entirely". Like making Bakugou someone else for their benefit because they don't like Bakugou as he is.

Sure, Bakugou is unpleasant at times. But it's not like he isn't aware. It's not like his classmates aren't aware.

If Kirishima didn't like Bakugou for how he is and is extremely bothered by his behavior, he wouldn't have befriended him in the first place and he would have tried to change Bakugou into someone else. Instead though, he just sticks to being his friend and having a laugh and sometimes scowling at his antics.

That's really all I have to say. Again, it's a guess and I won't even say I'm right. I'm not an expert on any shipper.

All I really am is some who happens to like ships and characters for how they are in this fandom.

[kellanved-ammanas]

TF2 Drabbles Demo/Soldier - Intelligence

Summary: would you be willing to write one about soldier being surprisingly smart? One where he starts saying tons of 'intelligent' things and the other mercs are surprised?

[A/N] Another instance where I took a plural and turned into focusing mostly on just one merc's reaction. These are drabbles though so that's kinda just how it's gotta be sometimes because doing something will all nine mercs, though possible to do in a drabble, depends a lot on the scenario, most of the time it's really difficult. This time I choose Demo because I really like Boots and Bombs, they're a real good ship.

~

“They will have moved their sentry gun, most likely to the other side. So we should take the long way around this time to get a better angle on it,” Soldier said as he and Demo exited Respawn together.

“Why would they move it?” Both he and Soldier had failed to take it out this time. Granted in part because they’d gone in not knowing were it would be but most of the time, the enemy Engineer didn’t change its position until he was rebuilding it after it got destroyed. There were few instances where he did move it while it was still intact but it didn’t seem worth randomly betting on.

“The enemy Spy just killed our Medic before we died and the Sniper took out our Heavy. So the gun will have been almost completely uncontested for longer than usual. The enemy will have taken advantage of that to move the gun to take us by surprise when we make it back there. We will take them by surprise instead and send the lot of them and the sentry gun to hell.”

They’d only been working together for a couple months but one thing had become clear about Soldier pretty much since the day he’d joined the team; intelligence wasn’t his forte. There was nothing wrong with that of course and Demo didn’t mind it at all but it was doubtful he was capable of being that aware of what was happening on the battlefield. Demo, himself, had been a bit too distracted by actively getting shot at by the sentry gun to notice if Medic and Heavy had died or not, let alone how if so. How would Soldier have noticed let alone been able to draw such quick conclusions? Likely he was just guessing and in his lack of intelligence was convinced of it.

Theoretically it might be a correct guess but if they approached from the ‘long way around’ that Soldier now wanted to, it would put them in a bad position to take out the gun. Which would most likely result in yet another trip through Respawn. Something Demo still wasn’t entirely used to and thus would rather avoid.

Soldier wasn’t giving him time to argue though as he rushed off, seemingly expecting Demo to just go along with his plan and follow. Fine, let him get taken out by the sentry gun then, Demo would go the usual way and, knowing where it was now, explode it by himself.

Except when Demo got there he was the one shot down by the sentry gun because it had indeed been moved to the other side. Soldier was right, perhaps as just a lucky guess or maybe he really was that tuned into everything going on around the battlefield. Thus maybe he wasn’t entirely stupid after all. Either way, Demo owed him a drink later to make up for not believing him.

[soundcrusher]

Of research and programming

Part five of my little story featuring @cuppajj's IDW version of Lord Imperious and my boy Quick Search is out! (And should something be off, please let me know. :3)

With that being said, enjoy!

Trigger warning: none? yea, I think there are none

_._:_._:_._:_._:_._:_._:_._:_._:_._:_._:_._:_._:_._:_._

Work.

If something in his life was slowly falling apart, Quick Search loved to throw himself into his work. It was calming in a way the little terminal could never describe.

Doing his work felt right, as if he was made, maybe even constructed to do it, while also helping him sort out his own thoughts. And Primus knows how scrambled they became, after discovering the death of the little medical drone, the talk he had with Imperious and the realisation that something was wrong with him. It was a wonder that he hasn’t collapsed from an overworked processor yet.

So, work it is, and Quick Search sure enough had a lot of work to do. After all, files don’t sort themselves out and research papers aren’t written by ghosts. Granted, he wasn’t a researcher, he was only there to keep the research preserved, but that doesn’t mean he can’t write little summaries for when his captain and crew return. They would find his little attempts useful, right? Or maybe writing and compiling their research was for nothing after all. His captain always hated it when he worked “beyond his programming”, but then again, Imperious said that he didn’t have to limit himself to what he was intended to do. He could do more than he was supposed to, and with how things were going, Quick Search must admit that he trusts Imperious more than his captain.

His new friend was, after all, not treating him wrongly. Not like most of his past crew and, sadly, his captain did. Quick Search still doesn’t know what he did wrong. Looking back at how his crew treated him, with all the kicks when he wasn’t working like they wanted him to, the harsh comments about him being nothing but a “tamed beast”, or how a selected few of them would look at him with disgust and anger, it made him question if he ever truly was part of the crew. And that in return made him wonder if his loyalty towards them and his captain was even right. But then again, the second he starts questioning things, his head hurts. So, he tries to keep away from those thoughts, despite them lingering in his subconsciousness like a ghost.

Either way, back to work and sorting out the written reports and pictures taken of a planet they visited when it was still untouched by sentient life, or at least the definition of sentient life his captain used. It wasn’t uncommon for his captain to be a little biassed when it came to what was life and what wasn’t. If he could decide, Quick Search was sure his captain would only count Cybertronians as ‘truly sentient’, or something like that.

To be honest, Quick Search disliked thinking about that. So, he quickly chased the thought away, before looking back at his work. Compiling everything about the planet in a nice little report, before creating a new file and moving everything he had in there. Finishing it up by giving the file a name, before saving it in his database and not the ships. After all, unfinished and top secret research is not safe when stored in the ship’s database.

Although, maybe Quick Search was a little bit too concentrated while working, because he hardly noticed someone was entering the ship, followed by the bridge. Only when he saw the outline of a shadow hovering above him, did Quick Search react by jumping and wiping around. All the monitors on the bridge went black, as he tried to make out if he was in danger or not, but when he saw it was just Imperious, the small mech let out a sigh of relief.

“You know… knocking would be nice.” Quick Search chuckled, before turning back around. Optics fixated on the big screen before him as it, together with all the others on the bridge, lit up again. Each one displayed different files, while Quick Search started to work on quickly sorting out the information of another planet. Never breaking concentration, not even as Imperious started to walk around the bridge. Or when the taller one would stop in front of a monitor. Hands braced on the console and claws tapping away on it, before Quick Search made the information disappear and Imperious would walk on to the next screen.

A few months back, Quick Search wouldn’t have worked so openly in front of anyone. Not when it involved information stored on his own database, but ever since Imperious helped him figure out how to better store his information, he’s been doing just that. Connecting to the ship by using the connection cable and his own to better use the monitors. It was easier to see everything displayed, instead of having to sort through things inside his mind. And having someone who understood what he was doing and could offer some advice or point out things he overlooked really helped him.

Sometimes though, it made him nervous. This was his database after all, there were some things he didn’t want anyone to see. Especially his captain! If he found out that Quick Search was saving things his captain deemed as ‘useless’, he sure enough would make him delete them! And that’s something he never wanted to happen, because collecting his little secret was hard work. Being forced to lose it again would break him.

“Hm… I can’t recall ever seeing this, Quick Search.” At the mention of his name, Quick Search looked away from his work and over to where Imperious was. Although, he was quick to abandon his post and walk over to his friend, as soon as he saw what Imperious was looking at.

“Th-that’s because….ehm… That’s m-mine…” Muttered the cybertronian quietly, as he looked down in embarrassment. “It’s a small collection I started. N-nothing special… r-really… I must have forgotten to put it back, or something. It’s just… my little secret…”

“Yours? As in, not even your captain knows that you’re having a little secret?” Asked Imperious, before tapping at the screen with one claw. Fixing the small cybertronian with a look that made Quick Search squirm, because for one second it wasn’t Imperious standing there, but his captain. Fixing him with a stare filled with disgust and disappointed at discovering his first collection. But with a shake of his head, the memory was gone.

His captain wasn’t here and couldn’t take his collection. And even if he got the order to delete his secret, Quick Search wouldn’t. He was allowed to be a little selfish. So, he made his keyboard detach from his back and get in place in front of him. Typing in a small command, before opening the file and showing Imperious his little secret.

“Music… Your little secret is music?” Quick Search nodded, refusing to meet Imperious’ eyes. “I… I’m not supposed to have anything of my own. My captain always made sure to tell me so. After all, a computer doesn’t need anything, but then… one of the drones helping the researchers with their recordings brought back sound samples. But they were different from the usual ones. They had rhythm, melodic words, and I liked that. So, I started a small collection!” With each word, Quick Search got more and more excited about his little secret. Opening files and showing Imperious just how vast his collection of music was. “And with each planet we visited, my collection only grew! Now I have music from all over the galaxy! Although… some of my collection is lost. My captain… he made me delete my first one as soon as he found out…”

Imperious looked at the Cybertronian next to him. Observing how ‘his friend’ would flinch whenever he mentioned his captain, or how his cat-like finals would flatten against his head, as soon as his mood dropped from excited to sad. “And that’s why you keep it a secret. But your captain isn’t here, he can’t make you delete anything, Quick Search.” He said, before looking back at the screen. “Some of those planets aren’t saved in the ship's database. Is there a reason as to why I can’t access their reports?”

“W-well… The ship’s database only holds finished reports and research from planets, after our captain looked over everything. He’s very… ehm… picky with what he wants to have safed and handed over to the research facilities and such.” Quick Search shrugged before pulling up the ship’s database on the monitor next to the one displaying his database. Showing Imperious the comparison between both, before pointing out some missing parts in reports the captain already approved. “Usually, when the report is approved, I should delete the information. Protocol demands it, but my captain said that it would be a waste of time and effort if we got rid of it. So, I’m storing and filing every last bit of research, information and such, while the ship has the censored versions.”

Imperious nodded. From what he could see in the ship’s digital library, when he did a little ‘research’ of his own, many reports were clearly tampered with. “I see, this also explains why some of the information I found doesn’t make sense. Also, your captain is terrible at censoring. Some of the reports I read are very contradicting, and are clearly missing some major information needed to understand certain cultural aspects of the planet.” He said, before quickly adding, “Not to sound disrespectful.”, even though he held no respect for Cybertronians, especially one as stupid as Quick Search’s captain.

“None taken. If I’m being honest, I don’t like the corrections the captain makes either. They’re too… I don’t know… They’re untrue. I mean, I already know that my captain is very biassed towards anyone that isn’t Cybertronian, but that bias shouldn’t be put into a scientific report or paper talking about the inhabitants and culture of an unexplored planet. It’s not right!” Quick Search stomped his foot in anger, before hissing and holding his head as he got another headache. “S-sorry… shouldn’t be talking… talking badly…”

“You have a right to speak your mind, Quick Search. You shouldn’t be apologising for that.” Those headaches were becoming a hindrance to Imperious’ plan. Despite Quick Search slowly losing the trust in his captain, it seemed like those headaches always made him turn around. A fail safe, or at least it seemed like it was one from what he could observe. And it seemed like the other one also noticed, if the way Quick Search would work around it was any indicator.

But still, Imperious had to come up with a plan, if he doesn’t want to lose his process. “Say, Quick Search, did you ever want to do something against your headaches? They seem to be-”

“They’re not normal, I know.” This was surprising. Seems like the small terminal was self-aware, or at least started to question why he would get them. “I mean… how normal is it to get a headache, just because you’re questioning your superior. My crew often did that, but never once did they get a headache. It was always me.” Imperious watched Quick Search’s expression shift from anger to resignation.

“What if I could help you?” Asked Imperious. Putting enough fake sincerity into his words, to hopefully sway Quick Search into agreeing to let him help. But from what he could see, his ‘friend’ wasn’t so sure about his proposal. “Maybe it is something like a virus, or a program that’s been affecting you. You Cybertronians can ‘catch’ a virus, can’t you? And with you having been stuck on this ship for a long time, who can say how great the damage is.” With each word, Imperious could see how Quick Search started to consider his offer. But he still needed a little push. “Just think about all the research you have in your database. If it is a virus, or something else that’s affecting you, who knows what it could do to it. Maybe it would even delete everything.”

“But… you would need a level four clearance to even access everything and an extra permission from me…” Muttered Quick Search quietly, to which Imperious only shook his head. As if those restrictions could stop him. Not when he’s been sneaking around and tampering with the ship and its security system for quite some time now. Of course, only when Quick Search was deeply in recharge or when he ‘helped’ him with it. Warm Energon mixed with Cybertronian Lavender sure enough could knock someone of Quick Search’s size out in no-time.

“I wouldn’t worry about that. Going from level three to level four shouldn’t be hard, and considering that we have known each other quite for some time now and are friends, it shouldn’t be hard for you to give me that little extra permission. Am I right, Quick Search?”

“Of course you’re right, but… A raise in security clearance still needs to be discussed with the captain and… wait… I never made you a level three… You shouldn’t even have a security clearance!” Damn it, looks like Imperious jumped the gun and shot off too quick, as humans would say it. Ah, but why should he worry? Quick Search might be experienced with writing small summaries, but Imperious was still better in using words to his advantage. And with a small gesture of his hand, he simply started to weave a net of lies. One that was convincing enough to get Quick Search to not only question himself, but also his memory.

“Oh, it seems like your memory is acting up. Can’t you remember, Quick Search? You gave me level three clearance a long time ago. And I believe I can even remember when it happened too.” Said Imperious, as he fixed the cybertronian with a look that showed concern on the outside, but inside, the Second-Born Intellect was laughing at Quick Search’s gullibility. “Remember when you were too exhausted to do any work around here? You asked me to take care of everything, while you took some time off to rest. And when I told you that I sadly could not, you gave me the needed clearance.”

“I… my memory has been lacking for some time now…” Muttered Quick Search quietly to himself, before looking up at Imperious. “I guess you’re telling the truth. You have the clearance, and how else should you get it, if not from me?” Hacking, but Quick Search didn’t know that. “… Appeal for Security Clearance four received and granted. We’ll have to change locations if you really want to help me. The bridge isn’t really suited to perform something like a processor scan or reprogramming…”

“Then by all means Quick Search, lead the way.”

[grimmusings]

@defectivexfragmented thank you for the tag, lovely! 💛

meet the mun.

— basics

NAME: Carrie PRONOUNS: she/her PREFERENCE OF COMMUNICATION: I’m comfortable with Tumblr DMs and asks. If we've done some writing/plotting together, I'm usually fine to share my Discord too. SINGLE / TAKEN: Aro? So that would look a bit different for me regardless, but not in any long-term partnerships.

— three facts

💛 I love bracelets. I’m probably wearing at least ten at any given time that I never take off. 💛 A friend asked my roommate what my favorite animal was for Secret Santa, and she said a zombie. I couldn’t have answered it better myself. 💛 My three favorite books (in no order) are The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater, Carry On by Rainbow Rowell, and Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant. (If you’ve read any of them, please come scream at me.) ((But you can always scream at me about anything you’re reading.))

— experience

Gather round, kiddos, it's story time! *leans back in rocking chair* I started roleplaying back in that apocalyptic landscape known as AOL/AIM, had a blast with character Myspaces, and suffered one horrific experience on Facebook that chased me off the platform forever. Then, there was the golden age of message board forums (a lot of town, college, Harry Potter, and my first superhero storyline--a fleeting fever dream where I wrote Natasha Romanoff, Johnny Storm, and Nancy Callahan) that died a fiery death with the crash of InvisionFree. RIP.

That's when I found my way to Tumblr groups, mostly supernatural and fairy tale. A few years later, I joined my first ever Discord-only superhero group, and it's been mostly comics ever since! Though I've been writing on Tumblr for around a decade, it was usually with storylines or a couple people I already knew, and this year is actually my first deep dive into Tumblr indie. It's been lovely so far. 🥰

— sub-genres

I love a bit of everything! Shipping, angst, found family, slice of life, fluff, smut. My favorite is probably AUs and verse-building though. I love changing the context for my favorite muses and seeing how they're the same or different, so throw me all your alternate Earths, zombie apocalypses, timeline changes, and what ifs.

— plots vs memes

I think they can go hand in hand! Memes are such an easy way to get interactions going when plotting hits a wall or writers are shy, but I’m highly likely to start building some plot around it in my reply too.

— long or short replies

😂😂 Even when I try to make my replies short, they often get out of hand. I don't even pretend to have control of my muses anymore. I am learning to like quick replies in the evenings when my brain is starting to fry, but I have to be in the right mood. A bunch of short things and texts take as much energy without the same return of more in-depth replies.

— best time to write

Morning if I have the day off, before my brain turns to mush, and at night on my phone before bed because it’s quiet/no distractions.

tagging (just fun, no pressure): @pleinsdemuses, @velvetnviolentviolets, @pctentialbreakupsong, @theking-blackheart-muses, @ssolessurvivor, @herosneednotapply, @zimnyayavdova, @tormentedsoldier, @marvelsmusings. @tru-neutral-good

[lucienne-thee-librarian]

Despoe 😏

When I started shipping it: I kind of knew about it in the background as a crack ship for awhile, but in earnest? A few months ago tbh when I sort of rediscovered secondhand the fact that the wonderful Jill Thompson Season of Mists mangas exist, with the help of people like you who also thought the pair was actually really cute so it wasn't just a "is literally ANYONE else thinking about this" situation. :) <3

My thoughts: God. Again it started as a crackship but it's become so real to me, I can't lie. They are unconventional but absolutely wonderful just as a concept. Let them be happy together. Let Despair have her human poet. It's what she deserves, goddammit.

What makes me happy about them: That they have a Gomez and Morticia Addams vibe, the fictional version of this real life poet dude writes morbid shit and Despair is the personification of sadness and yet she gets flustered when she notices him?? He genuinely sees inspiration and creativity in her and makes something where others see only darkness? Like in a weird gothic couple way they make sense. Also as I've said before there is really something genuinely deeply touching to me on a personal level about the idea that everyone has someone who loves them, including Despair. In her case of course she has multiple someone's, platonically in the case of her siblings but also with Despoe she gets romance. And isn't that what many people want, the hope that even at our lowest we'll still be lovable to someone?

What makes me sad about them: That they aren't technically canon anywhere else...but they're canon in my heart.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: So, yeah, there is SO LITTLE FIC of these two or Despair in general, I don't really gave an answer to this. I haven't yet been successful in even finding this pair of A03 yet. So...

Things I look for in fanfic: More. Of. It. This is a canoe of rarepairs.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: Okay SO yes I know I've said I'm over how a certain ship and character (cough Dr*mling ahem ahem) have taken over the Sandman fandom to the detriment or reduction of so many other characters to the point where it feels totally inescapable without tag filtering out 3/4ths of the entire fandom BUT. But. @softest-punk and their Hobsbandverse au is just. It's so good and everybody is given great dynamics and characterization in it, I will die on this hill. And Despair gets like, the most genuine love and appreciation as a character that I've ever seen outside of this tiny dedicated corner of you me and a very few others. But I haven't really seen any other ships for her period, let alone any that really compel me.

My happily ever after for them: Where Death grants him a similar exemption because she likes to see her sister happy (or as close as she'll ever get to happiness) so Despair gets to keep her boyfriend.

Who is the big spoon/little spoon: They trade off because Poe likes to be held and surrounded by his muse. But also, honestly, Despair doesn't get a lot of people who want to hold her. Basically the only people we ever see get close and physically affectionate with her in any way are her twin and Destruction. So she deserves to be the little spoon and I think she thus tends to get cuddled a little more often.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity: Poe writing as Despair inspires him and admires his work.

[juniwilson]

Let Go | Para

Featuring: Juniper Grimaldi w/ a few folks at her job; mentions of Chris & Atlas Grimaldi, Raj Veerapen, Emma Williams, Luna Zuniga-Smith, Riley Moore, Aldrich Palermo, Thomas Meier & Celeste Barbosa-Meier Location: California Academy of Sciences; San Francisco, CA Time Frame: Noon-ish, Mon. March 20, 2023 Notes: Kinda long-ish, but thank you for reading.

Juniper had been finishing up their lunch when their direct supervisor’s administrative assistant poked his head into the break room.

“Heyy, Juniper, when you’re done with lunch, Renee wants to see you.”

“Oh, okay!” Juniper replied, licking a sandwich crumb from the corner of their mouth. They balled up the parchment paper the sandwich had previously been wrapped in and tossed it in the waste bin, and then, after wiping down where they’d been sitting with a napkin, Juni grabbed their water bottle and left the break room.

For Juniper, things at work were finally feeling more normal, routine again. There hadn’t been the whispers or obvious indicators that she was just being talked about anymore. And while she’d still been away from work during the weekdays here and there, she was hard at work and staying in communication with her team as much as possible. Checking the time, she’d only had about 5 more minutes before her lunch would be over and it’d be time to get back to her coral reef report.

When they reached the aquarium director’s door and knocked, Juni waited for a response and then entered, a friendly smile on their face.

“Close the door and have a seat, Juniper,” Renee said.

The smile they’d entered with died on their lips. With their heart quickly launching into nervous thumps, Juniper did as they were told and took one of the two available seats across from their boss’s desk. Taking in Renee’s grave expression, along with the long stretch of silence after they sat didn’t put their mind anymore at ease.

“Juniper, I know there isn’t any easy way to say this, so I’m going to cut to the chase. We have to let you go, effective today.”

For an uncomfortable length of time, it felt like everything had stopped, including Juniper’s heart. But when she’d visibly reacted, she stammered, “I-I... what?”

Renee sighed and steepled her fingers on the desk. “We know that you work hard and that you love your job, but your frequent absences haven’t gone unnoticed.”

Her throat was starting to feel like it was lined with sandpaper as she whispered, “My absences?”

This time, Renee frowned, “Yes, beginning with Ship-Wrecked. You were granted an exceptional amount of time of leave to go on the show, mostly because of your incredible work ethic, how reliable you were and how little time you were away. But ever since then, you have missed a significant amount of work. The maternity leave was understandable and of course, by law that has nothing to do with your termination. However, you have taken an abnormal amount of time off for vacations, awards shows and other social events. Even this past weekend when you took time off Friday. It’s impacted the efficiency and morale of the research team.”

Every bit of lunch was quickly turning sour in Juniper’s stomach. She wanted to say that she’d only taken a half day off from work last Friday but she kept quiet, her gaze downcast while Renee went on.

“Between us, I love having you here. When you’re here. But there have been complaints and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried before more of those complaints had come. You know that a lot of our ability to educate, research, and maintain what we have here relies on donors. If The Academy were to grant the amount of time off to everyone that they’ve given you over the past year alone, we would have a major problem, and likely lose a lot of our funding.”

Silence stretched between them gain as tears began to well up in Juniper’s eyes. But they fought them as much as they absolutely could, swallowed thickly and finally managed to say, “I understand.”

Frowning again, Renee softened her voice, “Juniper. I’m going to say the thing I’m not supposed to say, which is that I’m sorry. I really, truly am. You’ve had major changes to your life since returning from Ship-Wrecked. Maybe it’s all been a lot more to handle or adjust to than you were actually prepared for. But if in, say, a year or so, you have a better handle on things, reach out to me, alright? Maybe we would be able to have you back. Or if you end up needing a reference to somewhere else... you have my contact information.”

A reference somewhere else didn’t mean much when a job like hers was hard to find, and the job she was aspiring to have would be even harder now that she’d been fired. But Juniper didn’t say anything. She didn’t trust herself not to burst out into tears. Or throw up. The latter was feeling more and more like a possibility the longer she sat there. And after giving a nod to Renee, her now former supervisor returned to a more business-like demeanor and continued telling her about clearing out her desk and seeing HR to collect her final pay. She’d heard it all yet it was sounding distant and underwater.

At some point, Juni had gotten up from the chair and left the office. Their steps were wooden and muscle memory seemed to be the only thing carrying them in the right direction. And when they got back to their desk, an empty box was waiting there. Tears silently spilled down Juniper’s cheeks. They could feel eyes on their back as they picked up the personal items at their work space: framed photos of Chris and themself, of Atlas, and of Eevee. Smaller photos taped to the side of their monitor and pinned to their cubicle walls: group photos with various siblings, a selfie of them, Atlas and Raj at the zoo; Riley, Aldrich, Chris and them at the wedding reception photo booth, a picture of them with Thomas, Celeste and their then newborn twins, and an old group photo with Monterey Bay Aquarium colleagues.

All of the photos went into the box, along with everything else personal at and around their desk: their framed AA and BS diplomas, scuba certification papers, work recognition certificates, a ‘thank you’ card signed by friends at the penguin exhibit, another ‘thank you’ card from a school group they’d given a tour to; a tube of lip balm recently gifted to them from Emma, seashells Luna had given them back on the island, and two small plush animals--a sea otter and a sea horse. The last personal item to be packed was their lab coat, which Juniper had tugged off at the sleeves, folded in half and shakily draped across the top of the box.

Juniper was about to pick up the box when bile began to rise in their throat. They bolted for the nearby bathroom, barely making it to an available toilet before losing their lunch entirely. They sobbed through the last few, painful dry heaves and thereafter, hands and lips trembling terribly while they knelt in the stall. It was a struggle to compose themself again; each time they thought they pulled themself together, Renee’s words of, “We have to let you go” echoed in their mind and pushed more tears from their eyes.

She had no idea how much time had passed before she was able to get to her feet again. She felt dizzy and her head was throbbing from all of the crying and vomiting. But she had to leave. It wasn’t a choice--wasn’t her choice. She had to get her belongings, collect her check, and leave as she was instructed. So she flushed, washed her hands and did her best to rinse out her mouth, and then kept her gaze down as she retrieved her box and walked out of her team’s office for the last time.

[agirlunderarock]

28 and 29 for the SW asks! 💛

HELLO Friend! Dude I love these questions and I refuse to let this fall into the abyss of my ask box-

28. If you could stop one character from doing one thing, who would it be and why?

Theres two very specific moments that I would want to step in and be like "NOPE- NO YOU DON'T" And surprisingly, they have nothing to do with Anakin. Its really hard for me to pick between these two moments, but I'd be very curious to know what would happen if they didn't happen.

The first is from the Phantom Menace when Padme is making her plea to the senate and Senator Palpatine is telling her to make call for a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum. I know theres a lot of talk about Anakin being groomed by Palpatine, but Padme was too. Padme learned a lot from him, and looked up to him as well. Getting her to call that vote is what led to him being elected Chancellor- he had absolutely no intention of letting her go fight a war. He was going start the civil war of the republic right then and there. He planted the seeds. The only reason Naboo wasn't the first causality of the war was because Padme is stubborn as hell and the tactics he tried to use to manipulate her just pushed her further toward compassion. So I just wonder, if she hadn't called for Vallorum to be replaced, and instead just went straight back home to fight her war how that might have derailed some of Palpatine's plans for a while. Clearly the war didn't start when he wanted it to, and had to wait ten more years- hell that might be why he started using the clones in the first place because so long as the jedi were protecting meddling children/senators it would be more difficult to start a war.

The second moment is in Attack of the Clones when Jar Jar moves to grant Palpatine emergency powers. I say this because unless I like brain farted some of the info- while the clones were made for the republic they were "commissioned by the jedi" so if Yoda really wanted to- could have taken a few ships gone in saved the folks in the arena and yoinked off planet. Right? Then like showed up at Palpatine's door step like "Huge ass army Separatist have-" and then it would go before the senate what to do about the clones and if they should really be their standing army or an investigation committee would be made to like figure out where they fuck they came from since this is all new to the jedi too- But like if Palpatine didn't have the power to bypass all of that I feel like starting the clone wars would have been a lot more difficult. Like I could be wrong and the only thing that would happen is that all the jedi + Padme die in the arena but like? I don't think so.

So yeah, my big "Bruh don't do it" moments have absolutely nothing to do with Anakin and everything to do with the political side of things in star wars and wondering if the politics in itself would be enough to ruin Palpatine's plans. Like just imagine he had this whole elaborate plan with back up after back up, but just as he's about to put it in action, he's finishing his final term, but if he has emergency powers then he can stay in office longer- oops no one moved to grant them, now his seat is taken by Bail Organa. Clone wars? What was that? I only know that time Bail purged all the corporate entities from the senate and thus prevented the separatist crisis from getting worse

I know its all supposed to be a a commentary about giving into personal emotions and politics and stuff but could you imagine?

That went on so much longer than it was supposed to I'm so sorry ;-;

29. Which character doesn't get enough credit or screentime?

Bail Organa purely for the reasons I described above. We get a lot of Padme bumping heads with other senators and going to Palapatine for help- and I know we get-

wait

I'm actually going to take a moment and like hate myself for saying this, BUT I think the potential this character had would have been really interesting. I think if he had been used as more than just a prop to make more Jedi/Politician ships and you know we actually got hear more from them and like minded people it would have been great! Its actually why I write Sas the way I have plotted so far

Like I can't believe I'm saying this about this weird stale piece of bread dude, but Lux Bontari- really Mina Bontari. I think Lux was a little too young still, but I think about Mina Bontari A LOT.

The Bontari's are the key to understanding why Dooku and the others have actual planets backing them, if we would have had more actual good time with them, we could have seen how they view some of the war crimes their generals commit are viewed. Like you can't tell me Mina agreed with the way Ryloth was handled, you can't. If she's friends with Padme, I HIGHLY doubt Mina would have liked the idea of using Twi'leks as shields to keep out republic troops. We could have had really interesting stories with them, or really just characters that aren't concerned with "preserving the republic" would have been nice. Something that shows just how freaking far Palpatine's manipulation actually goes you know?

but like if you want me to say a character that should just have more screen time in general? Hera. I love her, I love that she's not a force sensative character but she's doing the MOST. Or if I were being petty based off our conversation the other day lol- Boba Fett. Man deserved to be the star of his own show

And again I went on for too long, but if anyone else would like to do these questions themselves here's the full list!

[suethor]

SPN OCs....I am wondering I am asking I am listening

omg hey bestie..............saurrrr

ace winchester: sam's (older) twin played by crystal reed (i think? or phoebe tonkin); queer; womanizer.

she and dean are too alike for their own good, but she's a little bit worse at repressing her emotions. she's used to standing up for sam, and when he left to go to stanford, she was devastated, but they kept in touch and she visited him from time to time

spends most of her time reading in the backseat of the impala and listening to britney spears on her mp3 player

has a lot of tattoos, most of them are angel/demon/monster/nancy drew themed

shipped with a lot of people, but i think endgame is probably a fem!castiel (exploring queerness with cas as a vessel (cas is i think played by khadija red thunder)) or a different gq angel

her fic leans WAY more into the y2k early supernatural seasons vibe and isn't as gimmicky as the post s5 narratives

the end of the fic is sam going to law school and her and dean opening up a PI agency near where he settles down, where she occasionally helps sam out once he becomes a defense attorney and hunts monsters on the side

veronica "vex" vernon: witch; played by adria arjona

academic witch graduate student in demonology who deals potions to regular people on the side (yes like a drug dealer)

joins the winchesters as "field research" and stays for the found family sometime late in season 1

shipped with sam because she's also kind of addicted to magic and they heal each other ... <3

continues to deal drugs when she's on the road with the winchesters in order to supplement her income (her research grant money is used bailing dean out of jail)

kind of like the giles to dean and sam's buffy. but also the willa.

does not live out of a backpack like dean and sam do and so dean has to move all his shit out of the trunk to make space for her clothes and books

natalie chan: stanford student with a dark past; sam's college bestie; played by chase sui wonders

her mom, played by maggie q, was a hunter killed by azazel in the same way mary and jess were; she tags along with sam and dean after discovering jess' body

was a bit of a wild child but in a coping poorly way; she has an ongoing drinking problem that she learns to deal with

shipped with dean in a hookup to besties to lovers dynamic; they start off hooking up drunkenly after a night in a dive bar, but natalie feels SUPER guilty about it because of sam, so she doesn't say anything and they don't hook up again. but there's also a barrier of intimacy that's been broken down by it, and neither of them can bail like they usually do on their one-night stands, so they grow really close and eventually fall for each other.

super protective of other women, especially college students. when they're hunting and they run. into people younger than her, it activates something.

always covered in blood (#finalgirl)

bonus!!!! hbo!supernatural oc!!!!

jessica "monday" lunes: played either by amber midthunder, fivel stewart, or alexa demie (lol.)

taken in by john after her parents were killed by vampires, a few months before sam left for stanford

grew up with the winchesters from age 16 on; dean and john both call her "monday" or "my monday" because of her last name

the secret reason she was taken in that john doesn't reveal: she's a supernatural magnet. for whatever reason, the dead gravitate towards her—which is why her parents were killed. she also seems to have some sort of immunity, though—they never want to hurt her

suffers from terrible nightmares all the time; doesn't realize they're actually visions from nearby dead

john took her in both to protect her but also because he hoped that she might attract the thing that killed mary

fic condenses the seasons a bit so castiel appears sooner and explains to her that she has divine origins