#but like... super minor things that were again more of a writing issue than her acting

[optiwashere]

That new Fallout TV show reminded me why I avoid a lot of video game fandoms lol.

Dick jokes in my Fallout? Please ignore the porn star quest line in FO2 or the variety of crude sex jokes in every single game.

Anti-war, anti-fascist, anti-nationalist, and anti-capitalist rhetoric? Well, there's surely no thinly veiled satire in the first... all of the games (other than 3, probably) that deals with the inherent absurdity of capitalism in the face of nuclear war, touching on such topics as genocide, human experimentation, isolationism, and tribalism.

[smutstevington]

Resensitized (part 3) | Eddie Munson x Reader

Summary: You're dating your pornstar roommate. Everything is great! Well, except for the jealousy you're trying not to feel. (part one, part two)

Word Count: 4K

Warnings: 18+ MINORS DNI, Pornstar!Eddie x fem reader (no use of y/n), pwp and lots of feelings, reader tries being a soft dom (and succeeds), she’s jealous but also kinda into it. mild degradation, unprotected p in v, oral male receiving, fem self-gratification, he really do be begging for her, once again Eddie is a simp, playful banter, things get super romantic because that's all I know how to write

A/N: GUYS I FINALLY WROTE IT! So many of you wanted part three, and I really hope it meets expectations. This one is a bit different than the others because reader tries something new. I tried to take all your suggestions into account! Anyway, I think I am going to end this series, but thank you so much to all who read and enjoyed ♥️

------------------------------

It had been one week since you and Eddie decided to start dating, and it was working fine. Actually, it was easier than any of your previous relationships. You were already best friends, and you were already living together, so it’s not like you got tired of each other or were surprised by much. You spent more time together now, setting nights aside for movies and sex and cooking dinner together and having sex and grabbing a drink and then having sex. 

Yeah. You had sex a lot. The two of you were kind of crazy for each other, but it wasn’t like your relationship was only about sex, it just happened to be what you were doing a lot because you’d been doing all the other stuff already. You had a lot of sex to catch up on, and you took that seriously.

And when he wasn’t home….

Okay.

Was it fucked up that sometimes when you were alone in your room you watched your roommate’s porn videos to get off?

….Probably.

But did you care? Nope!

You tried not to think about the psychology behind it. It was probably something like a cuckolding thing, or whatever. It didn’t matter who he slept with on camera, because he slept with you off camera, and it was amazing. 

But then one day you stumbled across a video of him with a woman who looked remarkably like you, and that was the first time you felt that dreadful sting of jealousy. And then after that, you found out he had made a video with her recently, and that’s when your envy got much worse.

Fuck. 

You didn’t want to be jealous. You wanted to be the cool girl who was dating a porn star and didn’t feel weird about it, because you knew going into it that this was his job. You knew he was a porn star when you moved in and became best friends and you definitely knew when he offered to use his porn-star skills to blow your mind. And you knew when you went on a date, and when you had sex again, and when you agreed to keep dating. You knew it the whole time, and you told yourself over and over again that you could date him and not be jealous about how he was fucking other women at work during the day and coming home to you at night, but the truth was - 

Okay, this woman looked just like you. That’s fucked up! 

But you recognized that this was your issue, and you couldn’t possibly tell him this, because this was his career. He made good money from his work. If you told him you felt weird about it, you knew he’d feel at least a little pressured to re-evaluate his job or quit altogether, and you didn’t want to be that guy. But you also didn’t want to stop dating him, so…

It was time to quietly suffer just a little bit and hope he didn’t notice.

Besides, you’d be sitting at home feeling jealous or whatever while he was at work, and then you’d hear the front door open, and suddenly he’d be climbing on top of you and desperately reaching for any part of you to hold and squeeze and touch, and he was moaning and gasping into your mouth like he’d been suffocating and you were his only source of oxygen, and then it didn’t matter anymore if you were jealous, because you couldn’t think. 

The first thing he wanted when he came home from work was you. How could you ever complain?

-

“Something fucked up happened at work today.”

Um. Not really what you’d wanted to hear when Eddie got home, but okay. It was supposed to be one of your date nights, but then he came home from work looking…forlorn? Distracted? Nervous? You couldn’t tell.

He didn’t say anything at first. He just went straight to his room, and then to the shower. He used showers as therapy, basically. That’s what you’d figured out over the course of your lease thus far. Anyway, one of the perks of dating a porn star was that, when your partner came home looking sad like that, your first thought wasn’t “oh God, he fucked someone else.” Cuz, ya know, duh. That came with the territory. You hadn’t really talked about what cheating would entail, or if your relationship was exclusive, but he wasn’t seeing anyone outside of work, and you weren’t seeing anyone outside of him.

He satisfied you more than enough, so…

There was, of course, the one thing that did worry you. You were still feeling that burn of jealousy in your stomach about that video of him with your look-a-like. You repressed the feeling as much as you could, but it was still there, and you couldn’t help but wonder if his mood was related.

“What happened?” you asked. He shrugged, and you noticed his wet hair was leaving spots on his old t-shirt.

“Well, it was -” he stopped himself, palming the back of his neck. “It was while I was - uhh, you know. With someone else.”

You swallowed. “I figured,” you said.

Okay, it was gonna come to this eventually. He’d never been explicit with you about his work, and that was fine. Obviously you weren’t completely in the dark, thanks to your secret night-time habit, but he never told you about what it was like to be with someone else. It wasn’t like you were offended, it just wasn’t something you needed to know. You weren’t sure how you’d feel if you did know, and now you realized you were about to find out.

“Is it weird for me to tell you about it?” he wondered.

You stared at him, and you were pretty sure your expression would have been funny if you were looking at yourself and not panicking on the inside.

“I’m not sure,” you responded. “Probably. Tell me anyway and let’s find out.”

There was a shared nervous smile between the two of you. You couldn’t wait for the tension to dissipate. You had to know what was making him act like this.

“Okay, so -” he began, pacing the living room floor and avoiding eye contact. In all the time you’d known him, he rarely avoided eye contact. It was actually incredibly intimidating how much he stared deeply into your eyes when he talked to you.

Aaaand incredibly hot when he did it while having sex with you. Anyway.

“I couldn’t get off,” he continued. “And I’ve told you that happens pretty often for me, but this was even worse than usual. Like, I was nowhere close. So, that was frustrating, and then I - I started thinking about the other night. I started thinking about…you.”

He stopped pacing, but his gaze remained on the floor. Your eyes widened.

Oh.

“Did it work?” you asked. Something in your voice must have tipped him off that you weren’t angry - and you weren’t - far from it, actually. His eyes lifted to meet yours, and the tension in the room shifted to that of a different kind.

“Like a fucking charm,” he replied.

Oh.

If someone had told you before you met Eddie that this kind of thing would have gotten you hot and bothered, you would have been confused. You still would have been confused as you were feeling it, but you were too turned on to even focus on the confusion.

It was bad enough that you sometimes enjoyed watching him with other women, and now you were wet at the thought of him fucking someone else and having to think about you to enjoy it?

Wait, no. Actually, you were pretty sure that the second part was objectively hot.

“Well, you were right. That is fucked up,” you said. For a moment, his face fell. His eyebrows scrunched together, and concern flooded his expression again. He walked toward you to take your hands in his, bringing them to his lips.

“I know,” he said, kissing down your wrist. “Fuck, I - I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m sorry -”

“No, no,” you interrupted, sliding your hands from his grasp up to either side of his face. “Don’t be sorry. I don’t really understand what I’m feeling, but for whatever reason I’m very, very into this.”

Eddie raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

“Seriously?” You nodded, hungry.

“Uh-huh.”

What you had was electric and powerful. It was like you were magnetically drawn to each other. Your lips quickly found his as your hands tangled in his wet hair, pulling it the way you knew he liked. You bit and nipped at him, resenting that you had to be gentle. You didn’t want to be gentle this time. You wanted nothing more than to ruin him. 

Because you had ruined him, clearly. You’d ruined all other women for him. You both knew it. 

You felt possessed by something so much bigger than the two of you. A deep, instinctual desire - an unstoppable desperation. You walked him backwards until you reached the couch in the living room, then pushed him until he was sitting down. He stared up at you, slack-jawed and panting, his swollen lips pink and shiny, his eyes dark and wide. 

You slipped your shirt off over your head and let it fall to the floor. He reached for you, but you shook your head. You wanted to undress for him, this time. Your fingers slowly trailed down your exposed stomach and to the button of your jeans, working them undone. He watched your every methodical, deliberate, tantalizing move, and you could see the shape of his hard dick growing beneath the fabric of his pajama pants. He palmed himself as you slid your jeans down your legs and kicked them off. Next came your bra, and then your underwear. 

You were standing fully naked in front of him, which would have been enough to drive him insane, but then you slowly got on your knees.

“Ohhhh, Sweetheart,” he drawled, his breathing getting more and more erratic. “What are you doing to me?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?” you teased, tugging at his pants until they were past his hips. It took some squirming on his end, followed by giggles between the two of you, but then you were pushing his legs apart to get between them and leaning over to suck him off.

“Fuuuuck me,” he whined as your lips found his tip. His head fell back, his eyelids drooping. 

“I will,” you replied, coy. “But I want to try something first.”

The first time you’d hooked up, he’d told you he’d always wanted to try degradation and being a bit more of a sub, but since then you’d only ever fed into the kind of stuff he did at work. He focused a lot on your pleasure - and he always enjoyed himself too, but still. You wanted this time to be different.

You wanted to own him. 

“Anything,” he muttered. “Anything you want, it’s yours.”

He was taking to being submissive quite well, wasn’t he? And you were doing pretty well at the soft dom thing. 

(You may or may not have done some research on the subject)

“I’m the only one that can make you come, right?” you asked as you teased his cock with gentle licks and kisses. He groaned and moaned at your touch, then nodded viciously. “Okay. This time, I don’t want you to come until I say you can. Deal?”

He nodded so fucking fast you worried he would get whiplash. It was kinda cute how red in the face he was. He looked as if he was going to burst. 

And then he said something you didn’t expect.

“Am I - am I dreaming?”

You pulled away from him and sat back on your knees, looking up at his face and waiting for him to break and explain the joke, but he didn’t.

“What?”

“Am I - fuck, never mind,” he said with a sigh. “I don’t fucking care if I’m dreaming, just - just don’t stop, baby, please. I - I - don’t stop.”

God. His begging really did something to you. You smiled, and then your smile turned to a smirk as you decided to resume your work. The lust within you took over again, and suddenly you were climbing on top of him, straddling him, grinding against him until his eyes rolled back into his head.

It felt good for you too, of course, but that wasn’t what you were worried about. 

Degradation. That was the word he used when talking about what he was interested in. You also knew that sometimes, fantasies didn’t feel the way you thought they would when they actually played out. You were slightly worried about this next part, but figured it was worth a shot -

“All those women and I’m the only one that can get you off,” you said as you continued rocking your hips against his erection. “You’re not even inside me and you’re a fucking mess.” 

His mouth was open in a silent scream, his eyes fixed to the ceiling. 

“Please fuck me,” he muttered, his voice barely audible. “Please, please fuck me.” 

You’d gotten tested for STI’s the day after you and Eddie agreed to keep dating, and everything came back clean. He was routinely tested as well, so…no need for condoms, really. Especially with you on birth control. The main reason you still sometimes used them was for easier cleanup, but considering how often you two had sex, it was far more convenient to go without and suffer the consequences as they came (pun intended).

You lifted yourself high enough to line him up with your entrance, then slowly sank back down. Immediately, he was melting beneath you, which only made you wetter for him. You slid him into you until he bottomed out, then stilled.

“Remember,” you whispered against his lips. “Don’t come until I say so. I wanna come first.” Immediately, his hand dove between the two of you as his fingers went to find your clit, but you grabbed him by the wrist. “No, I want to do it myself.”

And so, Eddie watched you. He watched as you touched yourself while bouncing up and down in a steady rhythm, progressively getting faster and deeper until you were clenching around him. It took everything in him not to grab you and fuck into you harder and faster. Never in his life had he tried so hard not to come, and that’s why this was all so pleasurable. 

When your moans sounded just the way he liked them to and he felt you get warmer and wetter around him, he nearly lost it. He almost spilled into you, but managed to hold off by digging his nails into the meat of his thighs. 

For your second orgasm, you let him use his fingers while you rode him, telling him exactly what to do. And after you’d settled, and your mind centered back in your body, you realized you’d put him through enough.

“Okay,” you exhaled. “I got mine.”

Eddie was so completely fucked out. He looked like you probably should have, but you still felt in control. It was a nice contrast to all the other times he’d had you screaming and whimpering his name. He didn’t even react - he seemed to have no idea what to do next.

“Aww,” you said, running your hands through his hair. “Did I fuck the thoughts out of that pretty head of yours? Come on, I know you know what to do next.”

“You want me to -?” he began. His voice was weak and hesitant. “You want me to fu - I mean, now?” Instead of answering, you slid off his lap and got on all fours beside him.

He was fucking you within probably about three seconds.

He grabbed your hips and pulled you into him, thrusting into you over and over again, faster and harder and causing all kinds of noises to echo in the room. The sounds of skin and desire, all culminating into something that sent you spiraling into orbit.

You almost didn’t notice when he spoke again.

“Tell me to come,” he pleaded. “Tell me I can come now.”

You were well past the point of teasing him, so instead you gave in.

“Do it,” you permitted. “Come inside me.”

So, he did. He filled you and continued fucking you until he couldn’t stand it anymore. He wrapped his arms around you and pulled you up so your back was against his chest, then left desperate kisses on your cheek, neck, and shoulder - wherever his lips would reach. You felt his heavy breathing, the rise and fall of his ribs, the warmth of his skin. He wished the feeling would never end - he wished he could spend eternity doing just this, and then he wished he had several other eternities to spend doing nothing with you. He loved every moment. He was so far fucking gone into loving you. Perfect, beautiful, intoxicating, you.

-

There was a box of tissues on the coffee table, which ended up being a lifesaver in terms of cleanup. Of course, the two of you had to work together to reach over and get the box without toppling over. Then, you both wandered silently to your room, knowing that you’d be far more comfortable cuddling on a bed. 

He held you so close to him it almost felt more intimate than sex.

“That was -” he began, his tone calm and warm. “That was the first time I’ve done that.” You giggled, angling your neck to kiss him quickly before returning to lay your head back on his chest.

“Was it as good as you hoped it would be?” you asked.

“I still can’t really think straight, so yeah,” he replied. You laughed again. “Where’d you learn to do that?”

You bit your lip, the anxiety returning just a little bit. 

“There’s a lot of great info out there on the internet,” you responded. He chuckled, then kissed the top of your head.

“I know, I’m involved in a lot of it,” he said. And then he said something else, and your heart stopped. “You know, when you said - ‘Did I fuck the thoughts out of that pretty head of yours?’ - I was thinking about how that question was kind of familiar.”

You were so glad your ear was to his chest and it wasn’t the other way around, because he absolutely would have been able to hear your pulse rising. 

“It’s a common thing for people to say when they’re doing the degradation thing,” you quickly replied, hoping he’d drop it but knowing he wouldn’t.

“Oh, I know,” he continued. You could hear a smirk in his voice. “I’ve used that line a lot.”

Now your heart was beating so fast, you wondered if he could feel it pounding in your chest somehow. You sat up, noticing the way he was looking at you as if he was saying - Gotcha.

“It wasn’t -” you sputtered. You weren’t sure why you were even attempting to keep this from him anymore. “It’s not like you came up with it, Eddie. It’s - that’s -  it wasn’t -”

“Baby,” he said with a light laugh. “I’m just teasing you. But, your reaction is veeeeeery suspicious.” 

You were blushing so hard it burned your cheeks. Meanwhile, he was completely amused by the whole situation. 

“Okay, so I’ve watched more of your videos!” you confessed, probably too loudly. And then, the words kept flowing before you could stop them. “Sue me! My boyfriend is fucking other women and sometimes I get curious, and sometimes I think it’s hot - although, to be fair, I only focus on you, obviously. Except for when you’re paired with the woman who’s basically my twin, and then I just get - ugh, whatever. It’s not a big deal.”

He was grinning, practically giddy, and it drove you crazy. 

“Boyfriend?” he asked, chuffed. You rolled your eyes.

“Shut up, you’re obviously my boyfriend,” you shot back immediately. “Is that seriously all you got from my whole confession?”

“What do you think I am, your priest?” he teased. He put his arm around you to pull you back into him. “Don’t get any ideas, by the way. No way I’d ever do religion roleplay. That’s off limits, even for you.”

You had to admit - the phrase even for you gave you butterflies. 

“You’re not into the whole, ‘forgive me, father, for I’ve been a bad bad girl’ kind of thing?” you asked, allowing yourself to tease him back. He chuckled, running his fingers through your hair.

“Ah, so you do watch porn that’s not me,” he replied. You couldn’t help but smile at his joke, but you playfully smacked him on the arm in retaliation. 

“Of course I do,” you answered. “Not that kind though, don’t worry.”

“Hey, I don’t kinkshame,” he said, putting his hands in the air. “But that’s one you’d have to go find with someone else.”

“I don’t want anyone else,” you said back. Your words were decisive and stern. “Come on, let’s just be honest. I like you. I want to be with you. And I really try not to get jealous, and I don’t want to be jealous, but sometimes I am. Because I want to be the one for you. Like, that’s why I jumped you today. I know it’s your job, and I don’t want you to change your life for me. But yeah, I get jealous sometimes. And, like, this is less serious, but I wanna be able to bite you and not think about whether or not I’m leaving marks for someone else to see. For your partners or thousands of viewers to see. I just - I don’t want to feel this way, but I do.”

Eddie’s hands returned to your hair. He sighed, but it wasn’t a sigh of disappointment or anger - it was something else.

“You wanna mark me up, huh?” he responded. “Tell me more about that.”

You hated it when he got evasive like this. Lately it had been happening more and more.

“Oh my God,” you groaned. “Yeah, I do. I’ve been holding back, you know. I’m a biter.” Eddie’s eyes lit up.

“You’re reeeeeally fucking with my refractory period, baby,” he said. You rolled your eyes.

“Eddie, focus,” you told him. “This is serious.”

His last wall came down. You could practically see it happen.

“I know,” he said at last. “I know it’s serious, and - and I don’t want to be with anyone else either. Like, I’ve been really struggling with work and thinking about how I can get past it, but I can’t. And then they paired me with someone who - yeah, it’s freaky how much she looks like you, I agree - but I promise it was just weird for me, because she wasn’t you. No one is you. I don’t want to be with aaaaanybody else, honest to God. I just - I love you, okay? I’m in love with you.”

Of all the things he could have said - of all the things you wished for - all the things you hoped he’d say - this was better than all of them. This was - this was everything.

“You’re in love with me?” you echoed, your voice small and quiet. 

“Afraid so,” he replied with a slight smile. “Genuinely, it’s terrifying. I’ve never - Sweetheart, you’re it for me. You gotta know that.”

For a minute, you didn’t know how to respond. You wondered how long he’d loved you - how long he’d known that you were what he wanted. You thought about yourself, and how your feelings for him were clearly there, but love? You hadn’t considered being in love with him, and yet the moment he told you he loved you, it was as if all the puzzle pieces came together.

“I love you too,” you told him.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

You continued cuddling and talking after that as you discussed what you were going to do next. More specifically, what he was going to do next. He’d have to take a pay cut and switch to solo stuff, but he had enough saved up to get by. There was also the option of you joining him for a video, but that was a question for another day.

You had time to think about it. In fact, it was possible you had your whole life.

________________________

@welc0me-t0-hellf1re @nope-thanks @names-were-taken @teary-eyed-egg @mvnsonluver @msgexymunson @micheledawn1975 @mimsthebannished @joantje @mrsjellymunson @oh-my-grace @libbyhermione @agrownupgeekgirl @vintagehellfire @spikedhe4rt @stardustingold @bebe07011 @magicalchocolatecheesecake @tlclick73 @astridflowers @whisteriaremembers @martaboj92 @the-side-blog777 @demeterlindavis @starheartseddie @aysheashea @ima1986 @hideoutside @spicedandicedtea @wheezyhyperfixates @jesssssmaybankk @dulciscreatura @maximus2354 @maxstecc @bmunson86 @strangerfan3691 @alana4610 @callsignraver @roanniom @thecomfortgoth @ali-r3n @alaskasbarfjournal @whothefckissofia @youwantagoodbhloe @eddieslooneymoonie @thirstypastelnacht @ungracefularchimedes @silky-luxe @aurora-austen @ysmmsy @emma77645 @bl4ckt00thgr1n @starryeyedpoet17 @buckymydarlingangel @kellyxo1 @cryingglightningg

[uppercase-disgrace]

I haven't 100%d the game yet but one thing about Detroit: Become Human that has bothered me since I finished my first run is Alice being an android

It definitely feels like one of those things the writers just pushed in to surprise the player, which I don't super love (Connor has no idea that there were two androids in the Williams household even though he has access to all deviant android information, Todd never throws the fact that she's an android in her face while he's abusing her even though he'll throw the fact in Kara's face, Alice spends the entire game complaining about being cold/with people saying that she feels hot like she has a fever and then the player finds out she's an android and none of that ever comes up again, she eats human food throughout the game even though supposedly she has no need of it) but it does bring up some ideas around Android deviancy that I find really interesting.

Children do not obey their parents. That's just a fact about children, and in order to be an accurate copy, Alice has to disobey Todd, at least in minor ways. So Alice must have a certain level of planned deviancy/disobedience to be effective as an android child replacement. But that brings up an even more interesting question- did Alice ever deviate when she ran away with Kara?

I don't think that telling Kara what Todd did to her to deactivate her counts as deviation. I also don't think that running to her room counts as deviation - that's a pretty normal action for a child to take. Disobeying humans isn't deviating- not following your program is. I think in the version of the story where you mess up the quick time event and Alice shoots Todd instead of Kara, Alice is definitely a deviant. There's no way Cyberlife programed her to be able to hurt humans, no matter how an abused child would realistically react to their guardian bring attacked.

But any other version, Alice could totally be following her programming. Once Kara shoots Todd, the only guardian Alice still has is Kara. She treats Kara like a mother figure and obeys whatever she says. Even when they're breaking the law, Alice never deviates from her programming to behave differently than a child would in that situation. And honestly, Alice's attachment to "right or wrong" could be just another way that her programming shows up- not enough to stop the adult in charge of her, but enough to give a nod to Cyberlife's programming.

And honestly that's one of the things that frustrates me about the "Alice is an android" thing- there's no way to know for sure that she even truly loves Kara, or if she's just following her programming. And since as far as we know, androids don't really "grow up", Kara will always be taking care of a child who may or may not have chosen to love her. It's just a really frustrating writing choice that causes more issues than it fixes.

[shallyouobeyme]

Drip

Yandere!Wednesday Addams x reader (GN)

Summary: When Nevermore Academy wants to improve their relationship with Jericho high school and Wednesday, you and the other students go out to spent time with the Jericho High students, Wednesday doesn’t seem too happy when one of the normies shoots his hot with you…

! Minors Do Not Interact !

TW: Murder, Blood, Yandere content, dark content, icky guy, I do not condone this, this is fiction

Day 7 of my Yandere Writetober, tomorrows word is Toad so any ideas are appreciated

When Headmistress Weems announced the cooperation with Jericho high school, everyone was a bit wary. It wasn’t a secret that the locals - the normies - weren’t the biggest fans of Nevermore’s students, so they figured that tensions would arrive. Still, most of the students were kind of excited, after all the cooperation meant a day out in the town in groups that are matched to groups from the Jericho high school, along with a play staged by the Jericho high Theater club.

You were actually kind of happy about the event, you understood the distaste normies had for you and your friends - after all, before you figured out that you weren’t like the regular people you grew up with, you had also thought vampires, sirens, werewolf’s and the such were monsters from fiction and nothing more.

Wednesday did not share your enthusiasm, it was no secret that she wasn’t a big fan of people in general, much less normal people, but for some reason she was even more annoyed than usual by this happening.

Enid - obviously - was just super excited to go into Jericho, be able to hang out with her friends (the normies that would be coming along were a necessary evil), and watch a play - everything was better than school. It was quickly decided that Wednesday, Enid, you and Xavier would form a group - Wednesday had insisted on Xavier being in your group and you had no issue with that, since Xavier was like a brother to you, actually he was kind of your brother since his father had taken you in as a child after you had found out about your true nature and your family had cast you out.

As the day of the trip to Jericho approached, Wednesday became even more grumpy than usual, and a lot more clingy. For some reason Wednesday had ought you the person that she allowed physical contact with, even before you had entered a relationship, - often even being the one to initiate it - much to the chagrin of Enid who’d just love to cuddle with her best friend (it didn’t help that Wednesday always pulled you aware from her when Enid tried to cuddle with you instead). Now almost every free second Wednesday was by your side, while she was having her writing time she insisted you stay in her room and usually lent you the thing to entertain you, but now she insisted you sit beside her and do something quiet while she writes. When she was playing cello, you had to be there to listen and when you were sharing a class, you sometimes found her hand holding yours under the desk.

You had no complaints about that though, Wednesday was your girlfriend after all, but still you wondered what was happening in her head to make her so annoyed.

When the trip finally happened, your group was assigned that of three local Jericho cheerleaders and a guy who was very disinterested in the whole thing. The eight of you left in a random direction, no one being very talkative and the air filled with tension. Enid tried to make conversation with the cheerleaders, but they just gave one word answers and rolled their eyes. You wanted to help her out, but you were basically surrounded from both sides, Wednesday on your right, sending death glares to everyone who dared look at you, and Xavier on your left, his arm protectively around you trying to hold a nice conversation with you.

Once you were a good distance away from the teachers, the cheerleaders nodded to each other and then stopped walking.

“So, yeah, we’re off, we’ll just meet again here before we have to go to that stupid play, okay? Good,” one of them said, not waiting for an answer, and then all three of them took off into the direction of a few stores, leaving you there slightly dumbfounded.

The guy who was part of the local group also turned to you, seemingly seeing you for the first time as he looked you up and down, his gaze turning somewhat hungry, like a starving man seeing his next meal. He was somewhat tall, but not taller than Xavier, his brown hair gelled back and his brown eyes cold when looking at the other members of your group, but what you really noticed was the scarf he was wearing, which had an interesting cow print in black and light blue. Usually you’d have been able to admit that he was relatively good looking - not your type, but definitely aesthetically pleasing - but something about the way he looked at you and the others made him seem entirely appalling in your eyes.

“Well, I’ll be off as well, but you pretty lady-“ he stepped closer to you, and you could feel the murderous energy around you, but neither Wednesday, nor Xavier did anything (yet), “-could come with me if you like. How about you show me just how freaky you Nevermore girls can get?”

“No, thank you, I’m not interested,” you sighed, now definitely also annoyed, and rolled your eyes. The guy shrugged and then turned around to leave.

With just the four of you left you all decided to go head to the cafe to enjoy some quality time without anyone else, but halfway there, Wednesday claimed that she needed to check something for an ongoing investigation and before you could ask which investigation since you hadn’t heard about any murders or similar recently, she was off, leaving the thing with you. The friendly hand happily sitting on your shoulder, mostly hidden by your scarf (given to you by Enid).

After a while of enjoying some hot drinks in the cafe, the three of you who were left over decided to go through some shops to see if you could find anything interesting and before you knew it, the time you had more or less agreed to meet with the cheerleaders with arrived and you waited for them at the spot they had left you at.

It only took five minutes for them to show up, but there still was no trace of the guy and Wednesday. You waited and waited, but when there was barely any time left to get back to their High school the cheerleaders suggested leaving and just hoping that the other two had already gone to the school. Slightly worried for Wednesday you agreed, believing in your hope that Wednesday was too sharp and honestly too petty to let anything happen to her.

You arrived at the assembly hall and sat down in your assigned seat, the one on your right still empty, and listened to the headmaster of Jericho high and headmistress Weems go on about how important the friendship between the two schools was, etc. etc. etc. It was honestly very boring so you were very happy when suddenly the seat on your right was filled and the thing climbed down your arm and towards Wednesday who was already grabbing your hand. You smiled at her, making a note of it to ask her where she had been later, and sent her a small air-kiss, when you noticed some red lint - probably from the red chairs you were sitting on - stuck to her collar, but before you could reach out to swipe it away, a scream echoed through the hall. Then more followed. Immediately you looked forward to where the play was about to start where the backdrop of the play had been started to be wheeled down, only to reveal a body hanging from the plastic tree, blood dripping from his opened neck, his opened wrists and who knows where else, slowly joining a puddle on the ground that had been hidden by the curtains before.

Panic started to rise, but the only thing you could focus on was the scarf still hanging around the victims neck. Black and light blue cow print. It was the guy, the guy who had hit on you. He was…dead.

For a second you were completely frozen, but then something compelled you to look to your side, more specifically at Wednesday’s collar. You had thought the red against the white was lint, but now you knew better. That was blood. Your eyes wandered from her neck to her face and there you found a satisfied smirk dancing on her lips.

A cold shiver went down your spine, your hand starting to sweat, but Wednesday didn’t let you let go, instead she grabbed you even tighter as she smiled at you.

She wouldn’t let anyone take what was hers after all…

[pedrostylez]

The Gray: Chapter 2

pairing: Joel Miller x fem!reader

rating: 18+ (no minors please)

chapter summary: After encountering Joel, you've agreed to help him with his revenge on your current partner, AJ. Days go by and you finally think you know how to fix your super suit when AJ corners you to ask what happened with Joel. Joel is slowly becoming obsessed with you but won't admit it to himself

word count: 2.4k

warnings etc: mean!Joel, super!Joel, eventual smut, pet names, violence, mentions of SA, and abuse. Hints at the beginning of SA, please read with caution. Masturbation, thoughts of smut, NO USE OF Y/N.

A/N: Please read the warnings and understand that each chapter will have its own separate set of warnings as well. Be mindful, and control your own reading experience. I've been struggling with how I want to write these chapters so bear with me as I get it figured out!

Your thoughts are in red, Joel's thoughts will be in blue

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me Marianne, the guy is a fucking–”

“Don’t say another word, Joel.” She hissed, pointing to her door for him to leave. “Go back to your quarters and forget about being AJ’s partner.”

Joel laughed ruefully, shaking his head and opening the door. “You can forget about me being anyone’s partner, I’m not working for you or this corrupt corporation ever again.”

“I’ll brand you a villain if you think about leaving the Organization, Miller.”

He paused, turning back to her and scoffing. “Rather a villain than the partner of a rapist, Marianne.”

When Joel quit the Organization, he was known as the rebel. He wasn’t the first and was surely not the last to go against the grain of the all-mighty Marianne. But what he didn’t expect was the Organization to target him so heavily. 

He went into hiding as quickly as possible, having his own place underground with security cameras being his only luck as all heroes seemed to look for him. Villains took it as an opportunity to try and find him to get back in Marianne’s good graces, or to cause more disturbances that would be blamed on Joel instead of them. 

He was everyone’s scapegoat. 

He became obsessed with the cameras he had put up when he got the suspicion that AJ was fucking around. He snuck around town, placing discreet cameras all over the city and in abandoned buildings, watching them from his hideout all night long and then going back to his assigned living unit for the morning to make appearances. It ended up helping him catch what his old partner was doing in the dark. 

In ways he missed being part of the Organization; having sponsorships and helping people were some of the positives, even if no one could tell that he liked it with the permanent scowl on his face. Ten years down the line he started to feel differently when the media was on him constantly. He was the go-to hero; always stopping the bad guys, always bringing the money back to the bank–the works. As time went on, he found that things weren’t so black and white, and now he had evidence of it.

When he brought it to Marianne, someone he thought he could trust, she scowled back at him for the first time. Instead of being rewarded for finding the internal issues with those supposed to serve the public, everyone in the organization turned on him. He became an outcast quickly, becoming the rebel and having to stay hidden. 

Eventually, he gave up on trying to show the public and the organization what was really going on, only coming out to make those that hurt him hurt worse. He used his connections to corner AJ when possible, cause issues for the Organization, and continued to be bitter, angry, and spiteful as he moved about the world. It wasn’t the life he thought he would lead, but now he was content with it. He was still called upon by those that knew his reasoning-just to find the truth, no matter how ugly.

Now he was out of practice, not having seen AJ for two years and he had a nagging worry deep in his stomach that he might not be as talented as he was before. 

Your plan was simple: act like you had to figure out how to get home from the fight, complain to Marianne that AJ left you again, and gather information for Joel in exchange for help escaping what was becoming clearly a death sentence. 

Joel’s plan was less simple: figure out how to protect you so that you would give him the information he needed to get revenge. 

He had basically dropped you in the alleyway, half conscious again and slinking away without another thought. 

“Then let me teach you, sweetie. I’ve got a few things up my sleeve.”

“What do you me–” Your sentence was cut short with the impact of Joel’s blow to your face, immediately knocked out. 

Joel sighed, catching you and hauling you over his shoulder to bring you to the same building he found you at. 

He watched you from the shadow, shaking your head and grumbling at how he was an asshole for knocking you out after shooting you; as if you didn’t have other injuries to deal with. He sighed heavily, slinking quickly back to his hideout to watch you on the cameras during the end of your walk home, shoulders sagging with relief as you stepped into the main street that led to the headquarters. He hoped Marianne and AJ wouldn’t grill you too hard. Joel wanted to tell you that he wouldn’t let AJ hurt you before you left the alleyway, but he knew he couldn’t promise that while also sending you back to the lion's den.

Watching you on the monitors for the next few days became a habit he couldn’t break. Finding himself still on the couch, opening his eyes and dragging himself over to his cabinet that had rows of cereal, making a bowl and sitting down right as you were entering the main drag of the city. He would watch all day, eventually moving to the couch until you returned to your living quarters and would pass out, doing it again the next day. 

He found that the best way to protect you was to keep an eye on you, watch for any sign of distress, and hope that the issues from the rooftop would die down enough that he could send you a message. A bit too out of practice old man, how are you going to send her a message? 

Joel found himself dreaming about you and thinking about them during the day. He assumed it was because he was watching you intently if not more than AJ and Marianne now. He was not willing to admit that it could be an obsession.

He dreamed of how he had shot you, blood seeping out of your leg onto the blue fabric covering your smooth legs. The groan that left your lips when he stepped on your wound. The way your eyes traveled up his arms as he crossed them, waiting for you to answer him. How the blush crept up your neck when you were caught. The way he wanted to press his lips to the heated skin–

The dreams always made him jolt awake, sometimes sweating from how intensely he saw you and sometimes with something harder below the belt. You’re a weak man and she’s a pretty girl. It’s normal. When that happened, he always groaned and typically ignored it but this morning it wouldn’t go away. 

In fact, today it got worse once he sat down at his table, eyes on the screen and spotting you immediately. You were running through the crowd, looking to be late with your super suit less pristine than usual. Your zipper had a larger pull, circular in shape typically hidden behind velcro up at your collarbone, but today was lower showing the plumpness of your chest. 

Milk dribbled out of Joel’s mouth from the shock, spoon full of cereal in mid-air and dripping onto his table. You accidentally shoved into someone, smiling spreading across your face and biting your lip as you apologized. He recognized who you ran into-Robbie, flying abilities. He watched Robbie blush like he was in middle school, eyes glancing down at your fallen zipper and then back up to your eyes quickly. You lucky fucking bastard. 

As soon as you were there you were gone, disappearing into the headquarters building. Joel grabbed his remote, clicked the pause button, and rewound. He watched you bump into Robbie in reverse, stepping back out from your living quarters, and then pressed play. 

He was ashamed of himself for only an instant before his eyes were trained on you again, glued to the zipper. His cock stirred and he rubbed himself through his pants briefly before deciding he needed to take care of this in the shower. He could think of this and his dreams there. 

Running late into the office was not your favorite thing to do, however, last night you couldn’t get any sleep. It had been five days since your encounter with Joel and you hadn’t found any information that you thought was worthy to give to him. You spent the first day perusing the archives, trying to see if anything was there. No one asked you about the issue of Joel showing up the night before–only a voicemail from Marianne asking to see her in her office later in the week. 

After the archives, you played nice with some of the older heroes, asking for advice which didn’t really give you anything. You mentioned heroes that had been fired and if there was an opportunity for that “I want to make sure I do everything right!” “Oh don’t worry, you’re the current favorite. You won’t fall from grace.” when you didn’t get anything, you spent another two days in the lab, working on your super suit issues. 

Today you thought you were on the right track, having a dream of a specific method that could be of use and had overslept while having the vision. You rushed into the elevator going down and did a double-take when you saw AJ standing there. 

His face was blank, nodding at you and pressing the elevator button for the lab floor. “I’ve been looking for you.” He said quietly as the doors closed. His eyes glanced down at you before looking at the wall. 

You scoffed, crossing your arms and feeling your fingers brush against the zipper. You glanced down to see it was not in place and sighed. “That’s interesting since you left me on that roof to be shot and figure a way out myself.” You grumbled, looking over at him with sharp eyes. 

The elevator dinged after an uncomfortable silence, stepping out into the hallway and moving towards the lab. You didn’t need to speak to AJ now; you wanted Marianne to be present later for the planned meeting about this. Keep moving keep moving keep–

AJ’s hand wrapped around your upper arm making you internally wince. “Where are you going?” He hissed, pulling you through the hallway. You thought he was going to stop at the alcove just outside one of the offices, but continued on into the women’s bathroom and shoved you toward the sink. 

You grabbed at your arm, looking down to see if he was going to leave marks. Your super suit was able to help for life or death injuries, as well as debilitating ones, but you typically found bruises on yourself from being clumsy in the training room. You worried this would be another. “What the fuck, man?”

“What the hell happened the other night?” AJ asked, pacing back and forth in front of the door. “Where the hell did Joel come from? I thought this was just for media, but he got there and I–”

“You abandoned me.” You seethed, gripping on to the countertop. 

AJ paused his pacing, turning his head to you slowly with a smile forming. “That’s what you think happened huh?”

His voice had gone dark, chilling you to the bone but you stood your ground. “That’s what happened. And he shot me and I had to talk my way out of it. You let Joel fucking shoot me, ran in the opposite direction and didn’t even check to see if I was still alive. I should go to Marianne right now–”

He started laughing, leaning against the door and crossing his arms. AJ was in general attractive; not your type but you could see how people swooned. He was a fan favorite, and you had been told that your looks with his made you the perfect team, a perfect “pretty pair”. How he spoke now did not match his looks. You wondered briefly what Joel’s issue was with him besides just not getting along. “We have the meeting later but I wanted to see what you would say first. You tell her that Joel was there and she will just ask you where you were the whole time. Sure, you were pathetically bleeding out on the roof, but she will want every detail spelled out for her to make sure you aren’t lying. Do you want that?”

You kept your mouth shut, eyes glued to his as he pushed himself off the door and started taking steps toward you. 

His smile fell as he reached you, hand reaching up to the back of your head and pulling your hair to force you to look at him. You winced, scowling up at him. “You could just get on your knees now and prove to me that is what happened. And I’ll back you up with Marianne when she asks us later about this. I ran as part of the plan for the cameras and didn’t realize until too late. Joel shot you and ran after me. Easy.” The gruffness in his voice sent an uncomfortable shiver up your spine, fear coursing through your veins. Is this what Joel was referring to?

You felt the blood drain from your face, your mind going blank at his suggestion. No. Please don’t. Your eyes shut, wanting to stop tears from even forming. “Get your fucking hands off me.”

AJ didn’t let go of you for a while, watching you react to him to see if you would break. When you didn’t he sighed, stepping away from you and out the bathroom without another word. 

You counted to 60, letting yourself feel the terror in your chest before moving out of the bathroom and headed back to your assigned living quarters. Working in the lab could wait for another day.

Joel felt relaxed after his shower, finally at ease and tension gone as he stepped out in fresh clothes. He glanced up to the screen, doing a double take at seeing you back in the street so soon after going into the Organization headquarters. The look on your face struck a chord deep in him as if he had seen that look before. Pale, hair messed up in the back even after you smoothed it down with your hand the whole way back to the other building. He wasn’t sure if he could see tears starting to form in your eyes as you run into someone again, but this time moving past them quickly and not giving them a second glance. 

Joel knew that AJ was either on to you, or would be soon.

[sleepy-moron]

Honestly the biggest things that I would actually be properly upset about if byler isn't canon is the fact that it's just frustrating writing for Mike and annoyingly heteronormative writing for Will

If there's really no deeper motivation to Mike's actions other than not knowing how to say I love you to his girlfriend and acting super weird and shitty to his best friend and his girlfriend because "reasons" and we never get more elaboration on what those reasons are it's just bad writing. This is just his season three character arc again but with the added Will angst and the obligatory " I love you but only in a friend way" scene because he's not gay taped on to the end of it. It's boring and repetitive and makes Mike a super one dimensional character and not particularly likeable.

If they just wanted Will to be gay they should not have done it this way. I get needing to heavily use romantic conventions on scenes with him and Mike because the audience was not picking up on Will being gay before this but it's still mildly irritating. That's not my biggest issue thought. What I do have a problem with them taking one of their two confirmed gay characters and having them have an unrequited love storyline be basically their entire plot for two seasons. Considering the amount of bs Will goes through over the course of this series this kind of gayngst™ is honestly just in bad taste in my opinion.

The only other character who has explicitly been in love with someone that does not reciprocate is Steve, and they literally wrote in Robin to be a new love interest for him (until Maya suggested Robin being a lesbian) in the next season that gets introduced in the first episode. Heck Dustin gets a girlfriend right at the beginning of the season and Suzie barely shows up at the end but they at least set up her existence and we get to see her more this season. If they wanted to give Will a new love interest they could have literally established any somewhat nice character in California that could go on to become his love interest and it would have taken barely any screen time. Or if his love interest is supposed to be in Hawkins you could have had him be another freshman in the hellfire club or just any other guy the party's age that we get to meet at any point this season.

The longer they wait to introduce a new love interest the more obvious it becomes that this character only exists so Will isn't alone.....and if he is just hung up over Mike for the rest of the series that's just flat out shitty to do to half of your gay representation.

I don't want to hear the "oh but it's more realistic for a gay kid in the eighties to be in unrequited love and to never get over it because gay people were super rare and didn't get to be happy in relationships back then" excuse from anyone about this. Stranger things is a tv show....tv shows aren't realistic, and one of the ways they show off this lack of realism is the fact that multiple people meet and start dating the love of their life before they graduate high school because having these characters stay together is more narratively satisfying then them breaking up and all going on to marry random people we never get to know well. If Mike and El stay together and Lucas and Max are still together as adults (Dustin and Suzie are also included but I could see them not staying together because this ship is pretty minor) it's shitty to not do this for a gay character "because realism" when they do something just as unrealistic for basically every other character.

This got very rant like real quick so I'm going to stop now, but this is why I'd be frustrated if byler is one sided. It has nothing to do with the marketing (which is frustrating but somewhat understandable) or me being upset because my ship isn't canon. It's because denying Will of a storyline basically every other main character gets solely because he's gay is heteronormative and a really frustrating trend in media that I am extremely tired of.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Yes, my response gave you the impression that I was trying to be rude. I apologize if this came across as harsh. I didn't mean to be rude to you.

Regarding Lila, it seems deliberate that we know very little about her. While initially, we were introduced to Lila as someone who constantly lies, there was some information presented that many believed to be true until it was revealed to be another lie. Until she became the main antagonist, the writers focused primarily on the part of the story that explained her hatred towards the main lead and her path to becoming the next main villain, creating a sense of mystery around who she really is and dropping hints (And just because we don't see the final picture doesn't mean it doesn't exist. The whole Adrien is Sentimonster storyline was connected to what happened with Emilie, as it explains why she used the Peacock Miraculous, which, in turn, explains her fate) about that for the audience. It follows a similar formula to the Agreste arc, which took 100 episodes to answer why Emilie used the Peacock Miraculous. I guess that they will unveil more about Lila in the next story arc when she receives a greater focus in the plot. Mysteries are one of driving forces of the show.

I would also like to add that don't expect the 6th season to resolve most of the storylines. It's the beginning of the next story arc. Everything you'll be asking for in the next season could simply be stretched over 4-5 seasons. It really seems that many people were expecting the 6th season's story to be similar to the 4th season of Kim Possible.

In any case, I'm not trying to offend you in any way. Maybe I could have expressed the previous message better, but it is difficult to do when disagreement with other people's opinions can sometimes be interpreted with different emotions. I see why everything that happened in the fandom came to be that it is very divided

Thank you for apologizing and rewording:

So like. My point with my frustrations isn't so much that 'this hasn't been explained yet because it's the beginning of a new arc'.

It's that

1.) Lila is a character who has been here for five seasons, but was basically absent for two of those seasons, and is now being dragged in as someone super important with no real buildup to this. Until we got the reveal in the final two minutes of her last episode before the finale, she was just a barely-a-threat meangirl who appeared every other season and has less character development than the minor classmates. Going from that to our new Big Bad who is going to be in every episode is quite jarring when any of the previous episodes could have been used to make her more of a threat and to show her ambitions are far higher than just 'lies to make friends before she moves again'.

2.) It's part of a chronic problem that ML has where plot points just.... appear out of nowhere. Adrien being a Sentimonster wasn't even really hinted at until Season 4(we had a few cryptic scenes in Season 3, but that's vague). Felix didn't appear until Season 3 after years of TA saying he'd never show up. Kagami being a Sentimonster and Tomoe being involved with Gabriel's supervillain actions didn't exist until Season 5. Chloé's whole arc and motivations were clearly changed halfway through writing the Season 3 finale. Zoé didn't exist until Season 4. The characters ages get retconned all the time. There are things all throughout the previous seasons that directly contradict these new plot points.

It's incredibly frustrating because, at times, I can see where they want things to go. But it just.... wasn't planned out and despite having time to adjust things (According to the dates on the scripts, Season 4-5 were being written while Seasons 2-3 were in pre-production and things could be altered), nothing is done about this issue.

[theimperiumchronicles]

Hi there buddy, my name is Athena. I'm coming to say hi, see how you're doing and this is a chance to ramble about your wips. Have any of your wips been influenced/inspired by podcasts or any other media?

Hi Athena :)

YES! Thank you for asking <3

All of them!! So...let's start at the beginning...take a seat...get a drink and a snack...this will...you know what, get that drink and a snack and I'll break this down so you can go potty in between WIPS. Otherwise you'll be doing the potty dance and trying to read faster and you might skip something...and no one wants that. *grins happily* We'll start with The Imperium Chronicles (@theimperiumchronicles )

Okay - the original concept started as an RP a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time ago with some super cool and super good friends of mine. We used Cassandra Claire's Mortal Instruments book series as kind of inspiration, but there were parts of her mythos we thought were crap and her characters were too young and we HATED the whole chalice thing....so we kept a little and threw a WHOLE LOT out...and came up with the original crew - Abriella (who was an existing char of mine that I tweaked and was known as Brie then), Cruz, Dez, Talon, Talia, Raguel, Arioch, Char (she's dead and we're gonna leave her that way), and Deacon. Some people wrote more than one. None of the characters were actually based on characters from Claire's stories, we more based it one her setup and if you saw our stories then and some of the old stories I wrote for Brie, you'd recognize it. It's been almost 20 years now...she's evolved some.

NOW...the obvious inspiration for the current arc is kind of the Bible - 4 Horsemen and all. But again, there is a twist on it. Mainly because having done some Biblical study, I am aware that what we have today is at best the English translation from the Latin from the Greek from the Aramaic...or something along those lines....there may even be a few other translations thrown in there. In some cases there were multiple meanings for one English word. For instance when Jesus is walking on the water the more accurate translation is NOT "Fear not, it is I". It IS "Fear not, I AM." Why does this matter? Because God was know as The Great I AM. He was declaring his divinity within the statement but what seems like a minor translation issue is a HUGE one in context. Sooooo....I've used this to my story's advantage. In no way is my story related to reality or religion in any way, I'm just using something that is real in my fiction.

ALSO...Leandre, Andronicus, Orpheus, and Thenasus are completely and wholely based on the BBC Musketeers series, save the last season which IMO sucked balls. They are even based on the characters that share their FC. Leandre is my blorbo baby...Tom Burke *swoons*. ANYWAY...completely inspired by...blorbos were born watching the series while writing Abriella stories. Demanded they be born and allowed to participate. So, here we are.

Thinius...yep...he is alive and kicking because Imagine Dragons seems to write songs that just inspire the fuck out of the entire The Imperium Chronicles gang. And they demanded Dan Reynolds be a FC of a character as such. Don't ask where his personality come from other than when I saw them live in NOLA, it came to me watching that man literally bounce around for over 4 hours on stage like the Engergizer Bunny.

Kellen got his FC before I saw Shadow and Bone, but he became more formed and his character changed some afterwards. The plot didn't but he absorbed some of the elements of Kirigan that Ben played, elements that I had been struggling to figure out with Kellen. It was tied into the world building for Uffern, and as soon as he grabbed onto those tiny details, everything fell into place for Uffern and all the others who live there...including Korben's curse. z

POTTY BREAK...I'll start @bendingthelaws after I finish eating my lunch

TAG LIST - @ceph-the-ghost-writer @saltysupercomputer @careful-pyromancer @late-to-the-fandom @autumnalwalker @perasperaadastrawriting @fearofahumanplanet @jessica-writes22 @dogmomwrites @mjjune @verba-writing @blind-the-winds @shipping-through-eternity  @outpost51 @inkspellangel @blind-the-winds @sunset-a-story @writingmaidenwarrior @clairelsonao3 @toribookworm22 @there-goes-thefighter

Please let me know if you would like +/- From the list

[childofaura]

I know you don’t want to talk about Engage anymore and this would be a different from the typical asks you get but if you’re one of the writers for Engage how would you improve the main Lords (Alfred, Diamant, Ivy and Timerra), Céline and Alear in terms of character writing and if possible design as well?

Oh I have no issues actually talking about Engage; I’m actually happy to talk about it. I just don’t want to play it again, hahaaa… ._. I feel like I’d have enjoyed the game more if the gameplay changes were upfront.

Ok so this one’s a good question because I thought about what I would really do to modify the characters to maybe be a little MORE than what we got. Not that they were bad but more that they were lost potential. BUT I will be honest: I did miss a lot of supports between characters, so if I say something should be changed to a different thing and it DID happen in Engage, don’t be afraid to call me out on it, peeps!

Right off the bat though: I wouldn’t change anyone’s physical design except for Alear and some minor details on Ivy. Everyone was pretty much properly designed to the aesthetics of their kingdom. The only thing I’d change for Ivy is that black cover in front of her face that has a specific name I can’t recall. It was a very neat touch to show how she hides her emotions, but it made cutscenes SO DAMN ANNOYING because her face was so obscured. I’d simply give her one of those mourning veils to only go over her eyes, with adornments on the sides. That way it’s not super distracting for cutscenes but you can still hid her face. I’m pretty sure one of the mage classes in Fodlan has those. I’ll get to Alear at the end because she needs a complete overhaul.

Now in terms of character writing, I’m putting a read more because this could get lengthy.

Writing.

-Alfred and Celine

For Alfred, I actually don’t think his personality needs to be re-written, but more that his timing in the story needs to be switched and his personality traits need to be enhanced. So I feel like in Lythos Castle, instead of Alfred, Etie, and Boucheron, it should have actually been Celine, Chloe, and Louis. And have the reason for them being there that Celine needs Alear’s help because of the rise of the Corrupted making a march towards Firene Castle or something. Then once you arrive there, you’d find Alfred trying to fend off Corrupted to protect his mother, but quickly becoming winded and gasping from exhaustion (because it bugs me that Alfred seems to magically not feel the effects of his sickness until his literal shortened life-span caused by it); thus begins the level of trying to save Alfred with Celine. You hit two birds with one stone because Celine seeking out Alear shows a more protective side of taking action, and you see Alfred being hindered by his sickness. Celine as a character is fine… but if they just emphasized that she’s the one looking out for her brother more, it would have been better.

-Diamant

I do like Diamant the most out of all the main lords, but there’s still issues I would want to change when it comes to his character. I think Diamant’s problem is that he’s too perfect and well-rounded as a character, without any kind of real growth or conflict. Sure, he has a fear of magic, but it very rarely shows itself in a clear manner. It would have been cool to see Diamant rushing to save Morion from Hyacinth, only for Ivy to come in with magic and see Diamant frozen with fear. But mainly, I think Diamant should have maybe had some kind of conflict with Morion. Diamant’s shown to be much more compassionate with his relationships to the other nations, and having him maybe clash with Morion over his invasion attempts with Elusia could make Morion’s capture that much more painful for him, thinking about how his last conversation with Morion was an argument, and how maybe he was wrong about being diplomatic with Elusia. And then it would create some conflict with Ivy when Alear spares her, and then as he sees Hyacinth die to Sombron he regains some of his sympathy again.

I ended up doing a lot of comparison to previous princes like Xander, Ryoma, and Dimitri. I think if Diamant had some kind of personality flaw or some growth to overcome, he could have filled out his potential.

-Ivy

Not much to say about her, just that if they simply removed that creepy obsessive line she has with Alear when you first battle her, she’d have been better. Maybe make her more bitter about the Divine Dragon siding with the nation that keeps invading Elusia.

-Timerra

I sadly and honestly can’t say much about her. I dropped her the moment I recruited her and gave Ike’s emblem ring to Zelkov. But I’m sure she’s fine.

I think for Alear, I’m gonna tackle her character change when I make my post about Veyle. I had a huge story revision I wanted to see involving both her and Alear, while keeping their basic story points. But that’s pretty much what I had in mind for character changes.

[writingwithcolor]

Gingerbread man as golem

@yaronata asked:

I would like to write a character who is Jewish and uses a Golem. She's based on the D&D class of the artificer which looks magic but isn't, because they produce all their effects with inventions, like the "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" quote. Her story is that her very Jewish town was under attack from a terrible monster when she was little. Her Rabbis made a Golem to protect the town, and it succeeded but was torn to pieces in the process. She was fascinated by the Golem and as a kid didn't see a big difference between it's sentience and person's so was really thankful for its sacrifice like you would a person's sacrificing their life for you. They thought all the pieces had been devoured by the monster before it died, but she went looking and found the piece used to animate the Golem, which she, kinda misunderstanding called its "heart". She kept the piece and grew up to be an incredibly skilled cook, specialising as a baker in the town. I imagine she would make a lot of really good food for the Jewish holidays, or to break fasts on ones like Yom Kippur or Tish'abav. But she also made a town specific holiday to honour the Golem's sacrifice and the town still being alive, because I feel "we are not dead woo" is a big theme for Jewish holidays from my research, so it could fit, for which she invented ginger bread men to be the golem, and gave them little "hearts" of fruit or honey, and you're meant to eat them limb by limb like the beast did before eating the heart. This would be the inspiration for using the "heart" piece later to make her own giant gingerbread Golem to help her save the world.

These are my questions 1) would it be considered bad or disrespectful for someone who isn't a Rabbi to make a Golem, or is this method of taking an animating piece someone else made disrespectful? 2) Her journey will take her far from her town and her Jewish family and friends and she will likely travel with gentiles. Would it be disrespectful for a Golem to be used to protect a lot of gentiles and one Jew in the course of saving the world? I don't want to fall into the stereotype of someone putting all their effort into valuing and protecting very specifically the group that in real life is oppressive to them. 3) While she is not using magic and is actually mimicking its effects with technology she invents, is this drawing too close to the line of "magical Jew"? 4) I like to "play test" my characters in ttrpgs to really get a feel for them before I write. Would it be disrespectful to play a Jewish character when I am a gentile, and would it be disrespectful to play a Jewish character in a setting where there are demonstrably real gods other than the one of Judaism?

I really like this character idea and I think it's cute and fun and rooted in Jewish culture but I really want to make sure it's respectful and as good as I, a gentile researching on the internet, thinks it is. Thanks so much! Have a nice day!

My answer to this is very complicated because there are things I both like and do not like about this premise. First of all, I love the idea of a cookie golem, and I'm even imagining the magic word that brings him to life (EMET/truth) would be written in icing. And I'm okay with the part about how she found a piece of the old golem and used it to build a new golem, because that makes sense for a golem made from a baked good when you think about how people use sourdough starter to make a new batch of sourdough.

However, here are the thing that make me cock my head to the side like my little sister's German shepherd:

1. re: "magical Jew" - that's not a trope I've ever heard of. Remember, marginalized groups don't receive identical disrespect across the board. It is indeed a trope to use Black people or disabled people as supernatural plot devices who exist only to further the stories of white main characters or able-bodied main characters. But I can't say as I've ever seen anyone using Jewishness that way. Usually if we are someone's one-dimensional plot device it's as someone's lawyer, fixer, "money guy", etc, not a supernatural force. So this isn't something you have to worry about.

2. I have a certain level of discomfort with you playing as a Jewish character just because playacting as a marginalized culture you're not part of strikes me as off, but I understand that that's how you gain insight into a character you're about to write so it's more of a writing exercise than anything else. (I wonder if D&D regulars from marginalized groups have written about this -- I've only played a few times casually with family so if I did run into this type of discussion in my social justice reading I wouldn't have absorbed it. If anyone is curious I played first as Captain Werewolf, and then switched to playing as Cinnamon Blade because lawful good was too hard. :P )

3. I would prefer you omit the detail about eating the cookies piece by piece symbolically, for two reasons: a. it unintentionally evokes Communion by having appreciative people consume a baked good symbolic of an entity who sacrificed his life for theirs, and b. focusing on the details of flesh consumption reminds me too much of Blood Libel (yes, a gingerbread man is in the shape of a person but how many of us actually think about it literally, the way this act would cause?)

As to your first question: I'm fine with her making a golem even though she's just a rando. Second question: I see what you're saying and maybe it could be more okay if it's really clear how well these gentile folks are treating her? And questions three and four are answered above.

I really do love the idea of a giant gingerbread man golem. Cookie golem T_T <3

--Shira

I would like to second Shira’s point about not ripping apart the gingerbread cookies. I honestly would prefer they were used as decoration, and other cookies eaten instead, since that part just feels so not-Jewish to me, but I don’t have golem-specific issues other than that. It seems like you have already been doing a lot of research, which is appreciated.

As far as the ttrpg/DnD aspect… I bounce back and forth on the topic of playing characters that are so very different from our experiences, other than in fantasy-related ways. However, I am aware that a lot of people will play with, and experiment with gender in game, and learn something about themselves in the process (the number of trans players of ttrpgs who tried out their gender in game before they were out is high). It’s different with Judaism, and even more significantly different when it comes to things you can’t convert into, like various actual, real-world races. But because people do sometimes experience growth from experiences like this, I’m hesitant to dissuade players completely. I do urge you to, at a minimum, bring the same care, research, and willingness to learn, that you brought to this question.

--Dierdra

This sounds like a creative storyline that you could have lots of fun with 😊

At first I was confused by this part:

She also made a town specific holiday to honour the Golem's sacrifice

But then you really got me thinking about different types of Jewish holidays and how they come about, so thank you for that!

Because it’s often the little details that either make a story super powerful or kind of nonsensical, I think it would be a good idea to decide what type of holiday is being created here:

A full-blown chag with restrictions on labour and halachic obligations? These are commanded in Torah and new ones can’t be added.

A minor yom tov with halachic obligations but no restrictions? These were instituted by the rabbis prior to the destruction of the Temple, so again new ones can’t be added.

A public holiday or equivalent? This would usually be declared by the Knesset in Israel, and filter to the rest of the Jewish world from there.

A community-based yom tov with specific customs only for people in the know, such as certain Chasidic groups celebrating the birthdays of their deceased leaders? I asked around, but no one can really tell me how these holidays get started, which is probably a good indication that they arise quite organically from a group of people who all just feel that it should be celebrated. Probably not created by a single person, as such.

Something she runs from her bakery, not religion-based, but more like a day of doing special products and deals the way many small businesses do on their anniversary?

Now, if the people of a modern-day town were actually saved by a real live Golem, that would arguably be the most overt miracle for many generations, so there would be a decent chance of options 3 and/or 4 happening. It’s entirely plausible that there could be special foods for this day that become a tradition, including Golem cookies. People who directly benefited might also return to the site where the Golem fought the monster and recite the prayer, ‘Blessed is Hashem, Master of the Universe, Who performed a miracle for me in this place.’

Alternatively, if it’s important that your MC created the holiday, something like option 5 might be the best. Hopefully this will still fulfil what you need: you describe her as incredibly skilled, so I can imagine the day when she goes all out on the Golem cookies being one of the most exciting events of the year for the townspeople, just because her baking is that good. Plus, they already have a personal stake in the Golem’s sacrifice, so I definitely think it could be a thing without being an official holiday. Also, if she is outside of an all-Jewish environment, don’t forget that she would have to decide whether to commemorate the anniversary in the Hebrew calendar or the local one.

Coming back to the cookies, sorry if we’re getting a little repetitive on this point! But I don’t see the cookies being torn limb from limb as part of a celebration. First of all, this doesn’t sound like a very celebratory thing to do, to say the least. Can you imagine explaining that to a three-year-old on their first Yom HaGolem? They would be terrified! (I don’t read this suggestion as accidental anti-Semitism so much as getting carried away with a metaphor, which I’m sure as writers we have all done!)

But also, it’s worth pointing out that our commemorative foods aren’t usually that literal. If you think about hamantaschen, maror, or apple in honey, they’re all symbols. That’s not to say that having Golem-shaped cookies is a problem, as this sounds like just a bit of fun that the MC is having and not something that is directly at odds with Judaism or Jewish culture. But it’s worth bearing in mind that the more literal you go from there in terms of tying the cookies to the event they commemorate, the less culturally aligned your holiday food becomes.

Finally, about the Golem protecting non-Jewish people: I like this idea! There’s a stereotype that we only use whatever is at our disposal to help ourselves and other Jewish people, so a Golem being created by Jews but helping others as well is a big plus for me. Of course, as has already been pointed out, this would be an odd choice if her Saving The World team were anti-Semitic or otherwise disrespectful to her/her community, but I don’t think you were headed that way!

-Shoshi

I have to come back in here just to squee over the phrase “Yom HaGolem.” Well done :D

--Shira

[buck-nialled]

3:1 - B. Barnes Imagine

NOTE: this is my first time writing for bucky or sebastian stan in general so feedback is appreciated! please let me know if you like this and if you'd like to see more. THIS DOES CONTAIN SMUTTY UNDERTONES TOWARDS THE END, MINORS DNI

TAGLIST: I just added sebastian stan/characters to my taglist form so if you already filled it out before just message me and I'll add you to this one.

three times bucky was clueless with technology and the one time he used it right

Despite spending most of his less-than-average life inside of a giant freezer and aging up to triple digits—if we’re speaking technically, your boyfriend still gained many physical benefits compared to most men his age. For one thing, he is still alive and breathing—a huge accomplishment, if anything, maybe even a record. The physical appearance and athletic ability he still maintained were not a downside either. As far as anybody is concerned, James Buchanan Barnes appears like any other millennial/super-soldier/metal arm-bearing person.

With exception to the fact that the man himself can���t even call you on your phone without needing assistance. That sentence is way less sad when taking into account that he was not alive for the upbringing of touch screens and AI’s, which happened to be waiting everywhere around the complex to aid him and his various, enigmatic asks, such as:

“My phone died. How do I revive it?”

“What did I win a free iPad for?”

“Friday, what does the word ‘bih’ mean?”

Once speaking the last one, he is left unanswered, and Friday is alerting you in the living area moments later.

“Y/N, Mr. Barnes is needing your assistance with a text you sent. He would like a definition of the word ‘bih’ but I cannot find it in my dictionary.” The AI asking for your help in babysitting Bucky on his phone earns a snort from you.

“Thanks, Friday. I’ll go help him.” You heave yourself up from the couch cushion and march towards his bedroom--technically, it is both of yours now. After reaching the entrance, a smile crawls onto your lips at the sight before you. The hefty Miriam-Webster English dictionary splayed open on your lover’s lap as he flips through pages, reciting miscellaneous words his eyes land on in search of the one from your message.

“Big, bin, bio…” Seconds later, he is slamming the book shut and tossing it aside. A loud thud resounds across the room as you watch it land on the hardwood floor. When you glance back up to announce your presence to Bucky, you see his gaze already transfixed on you. A quiet huff comes from him, and his eyes avert from your figure in the doorway, his cheeks becoming tinged with an opaque red. It was no puzzle that the sergeant despised calling for help, even on the minuscule tasks, like how to turn the flash of his camera off or define a slang term unbeknownst to him until your message was delivered to his phone.

“A little birdy told me you needed help.” You cross your arms over your chest, leaning against the doorframe with a satisfied smirk. You were one of the few and trusted Bucky had learned to open up to in the time that you have come to know him. No matter the issue, or how long it took for you to wear down the stubbornness on his tongue, the plea would sound eventually.

“I just don’t know what this word means.” He grunts. “Is it a typo?”

A line of giggles fall from you at his hopelessly confused expression--eyebrows furrowed, pupils appearing lost in thought at this simple “code word” he couldn’t crack. It made you want to swaddle him in the softest blanket and cuddle him until eternity.

“That’s because it’s not a real word,” you begin through laughs. The scrunch on his face only deepens in its perplexity. “‘Bih’ is short for...it’s short for bitch.” You shrug. His mouth parts in revelation.

“So you...you think I’m a…” he turns his eyes down to the pixelated string of messages…”thick female dog?” You snicker.

“‘Thick bih’ is a compliment, Buck. It just means I like your body a lot.”

“Oh...thank you?” He casts his eyes up at you once more, quirking a brow.

“You’re welcome.”

“Anyways...now that you’re here. I emailed you a photo.” He shoots a wink in your direction. Almost as though you two had traded faces, the confused look transferred over to your wrinkled forehead and tilted head.

“Oh...okay. I’ll check it later.”

You thought nothing of it, and let his statement slip your mind. It was not until later that you decided to scan through your emails with Wanda, who mentioned something mission-related in your inbox that she demanded the two of you look at and study. As you skimmed through to find it, you deleted several junk emails and starred some important ones. When you landed on the electronic mail your boyfriend mentioned earlier and clicked on it, your breath left you at the large photo of his considerably-sized girth.

“Woah! Woah!” Wanda squeals, reaching her hand up to shield her eyes now tainted with the sight of your man’s junk. The early afternoon comes back into your mind, with you against the doorframe, Bucky throwing the dictionary and demanding a translation of your text, and the wink he threw at you.

Of course, the wink. It should have been obvious what the intentions behind his email were at that point, but then again it really shouldn’t have. Because who sends nude photos over email?

“Oh my god,” you breathe out, now wearing red cheeks. You turn to face Wanda who is already out of her seat and facing away from the computer screen, calling back to you in a desperate scurry to her room, “We’ll just talk later!”

“Bucky,” you enter the bedroom with a growl minutes later, a rather great contrast to what you were feeling earlier in the day.

“Hey, doll. Did you ever open my email?” He was seated on the edge of the bed, eyeing something on his phone. He quickly pockets it, allowing you his undivided attention.

“Yeah, and Wanda had something to say about it too.” The comment came out through gritted teeth, but he deciphered every word. His blue eyes enlarged, petrified.

“She was with you? Wh-why’d you let her see it?” He almost squeals in his fit of mortification. Serves him right, you think to yourself. He won’t have to face Wanda and apologize to her later.

“I didn’t know when you said “picture” earlier you meant a nude! Who sends a dick pic over email, Bucky?” Silence follows your outcry until his deep voice pipes up moments later.

“Is that not normal?” He is fiddling with his fingers, clenching his teeth in anticipation of your answer. Which is an expected:

“No.” The man in front of you turns feeble, wearing a humiliated face that turns your insides to mush. The twenty-plus minutes of lashing you were practicing in your head on your walk to the room disappeared as he turns his face down.

“I’m sorry, doll. You know...you know I’m not good with this stuff.” A sigh exits your lips as Bucky is approached by your consoling figure. You take a seat beside him on the bed and a comforting hand takes place on his metal shoulder, with you leaning your head down on the flesh one, closest to you.

“I know, Buck. Just warn a girl next time...with more than a wink.”

“In 1943 that was considered a warning.” The two of you chuckle.

“You know what, better yet...” your hands are flying to his pocket before he can stop them. He barely utters the question before you’re fingertips are tapping across the screen.

“Hey, what’re you--”

“You should really put a lock on this thing.” You chuckle. “A thumbprint, passcode...something.”

“You can do that?” His ludicrous question has you fighting a roll of your eyes. Shaking your head, you wait a few moments for the application to install on the device, and smile triumphantly when the neon yellow square pops up on his home screen. The white ghost in the middle of the icon stares back at him when you place the phone back in his hands.

“There you go.”

“What is this?” He clicks the app to find out for himself, only to be met with the options of logging in or creating an account.

“An app that’s appropriate for sending nudes.” Shivers trail down his spine from your whisper against the shell of his ear. He hums, admiring the screen for a few seconds and taking no further action to make an account.

“You need help, don’t you?”

“It’d be appreciated.”

Since that encounter, your significant other has learned the basics of social platforms and how to properly exploit each one for his needs. Ignoring the one week where he discovered Snapchat filters and send photos of himself in every single one nonstop, the most common one you two have grown to use is the messaging application. It was efficient and easy for him to understand.

Until he, much like when he used Snapchat, discovered something new. And that something new was emojis. After receiving a Snapchat notification from him, which could no doubt be holding either a photo of him with the dancing weiner or his actual one, he shot you a text message from across the compound.

did you see my chatsnap? 🌚

You chose to disregard the blatant, incorrect name and reply:

yes, buck. I get notifications

and WHY THE HELL DID YOU SEND THAT EMOJI??? 😫

what? it’s just a moon 🌚🌚🌚 see?

I can see it’s a moon Bucky. Why did you choose that one?

It’s nighttime. and I’m smiling. It fits.

It’s creepy is what it is

It’s just a moon! 🌚

STOP SENDING IT! 😖😖

fine.

🌝

🤦‍♀️ that’s not what I meant

it’s not my fault you’re scared of the moon, y/n 💅

You chose to change the subject then, no longer holding the desire to stare at the infamous “molester moon” or bucky’s new use of emojis in a sassy manner

please tell me the snap you sent isn’t of the dancing hot dog again

I could tell you that

but I’d be lying if I did.

🙄

🌝 I think this one's my favorite

The third time Bucky struggled with the new-age doodads surrounding him, his rage was at an all-time high. But his reaction is justifiable after discovering it was purely out of fear.

“Do you know what the weather’s gonna be like tomorrow?” He mumbles as the two of you were longing on the bed, his head resting comfortably in the crook of your neck and shoulder.

“Not sure, why?”

“Was thinkin’ we could go to that café. The one with the jukebox.” His head bounces with your body as you let out a few light laughs.

“Because it’s the one piece of technology you can actually use?” He pulls away from you defensively, a frown smeared on his face.

He whines out. “I am not that bad with technology?” You roll your eyes and reach for your phone on the bedside table, clicking the button on the side.

“Hey Siri, what’s the weather look like tomorrow?” You ask aloud, cueing Bucky to furrow his eyebrows.

“Let’s see...the weather tomorrow—“ you were unable to hear the rest of the AI’s sentence due to the sight of Bucky springing out of bed and tugging the set of sharpened knives from his pants.

“Whose there? Who the hell said that?”

“Bucky—“

“I think the complex may have been hacked. Come on, let’s go get Bruce o-or somebody.” He stutters out in a panic, tugging your body behind him in a protective manner. Siri was still activated on your phone, which was now lying on the bed.

“I’m not quite sure I understand—“

“Who the hell are you?!” He demands in a loud voice.

“Bucky, Bucky…” you rest your hands on both his shoulders, urging him to calm down. “It’s just my phone.” After the quick reassurance, he feels his shoulders slump.

“Oh...oh…I knew that.” He puts his knives away, following you as you crawled back into bed. Before fully getting beneath the covers, he sheathes himself of his trousers and top, leaving him only in a pair of boxers.

“Sure you did.” You reply.

“I did.” He insists, before covering both of you with your comforter. Before succumbing to a much-needed rest though, he reaches over and grabs a knife left on the floor, tucking it beneath his pillow.

Just in case.

The following morning, Bucky is no longer paranoid that the complex was hijacked and broken into. Rather, his mind was on a package he ordered online (AND ALL BY HIMSELF, a large victory if you ask him) that, according to the tracker, is one stop away. When you peeked your eyes open to admire him beneath the covers basking in the morning glow, his mischievous smile lit something warm inside you.

“What’s got you so smiley?” You yawn through languid blinks. He only responds with a shrug, aiming to keep the box a secret.

“Big day ahead, why don’t you go start us a shower. I’ll meet you there.” He smirks, blue eyes flashing with something cunning. At this point, you were even more curious.

“Big day? I thought we were just going for coffee?”

“When I’m with you, it’s always a big day.” His raspy voice is sly, metal hand even slyer as it glides up and down your hip.

“Alright Barnes, you win. See you in a minute.” You press your lips to his for a short few seconds and heave your body up from the bed to venture to the connected bathroom. As soon as you crack the door behind you, Bucky leaps from his spot in the sheets and nearly stumbles to the ground, his foot getting tangled in part of the bedding. He wastes no time scurrying to the front door, nearly nude and praying to God nobody would cross paths with him. Seeing the package laying on the doormat in all its glory--Bucky swore he heard angels singing hymns from above. Taking it into his grip and hustling back to his room took little-to-no time. When he slipped inside of the bathroom, he found you removing your hair from the messy knot you threw it up in the night prior, the rest of you bare.

He dropped his boxers and followed you inside the transparent cube, soon to become fogged with the warm steam and your panting breaths if he is lucky enough to pull another round from you.

Spoiler alert, he got lucky. Twice.

Whilst getting dressed, he halts your attempt at wiggling on a pair of leggings.

"I have a surprise for you." He says, waltzing over to the package he haphazardly threw on the bed in his eagerness to join you in the shower. The package lies in your hands seconds later, Bucky delivering you a nod as permission to tear it open. Once you do, your jaw unhinges at the packaging.

The small, pink sex toy stared back at you in all its glory. You could only muster a few blinks at it, wondering how your boyfriend managed to deliver this to himself all on his own yet still strains himself in trying to change his profile picture.

"Wha--how..." you are at a loss of words, to say the least. His piercing blue eyes grow dark at the sight of you holding his surprise.

"It's a big day today, because..." he snatches the packaged toy from you, beginning to open it, "you're gonna wear this out for me today. And I'm gonna control it." Your eyes grow big at his explanation before they dart to the now unpackaged vibrator.

"There's no remote." You point out, and gasp as Bucky holds up his phone for your eyes to see. The application which connects the controls of the vibrator to his phone stares back at you dauntingly.

"Figured I'd give this wifi-powered one a try. But, you know how I am with technology so...it may take awhile for me to get the hang of it," his tone is sultry as he mumbles, and it sends chills through you that directly target your privates. His eyes bore into yours, still holding that look of playfulness from earlier.

"Finish getting ready, doll. I'm ready to take this thing for a test drive."

[bruhlsbees]

kachow— (???)

okay, but, reader usually being extremely clingy and super lovey-dovey. and always calling Alex, or maybe Niki pet names, never by calling him by his name. and one day being distant and calling him by his name and he's just so confused??? and wonders wtf he did to upset her, but she's just playing w him and waiting for him to call her out on her attitude???

kachow || niki lauda x fem!reader

summary: after a week of being ignored you act out during a press conference to get niki's attention

pairing: niki lauda x fem!reader

word count: 2,519

warnings: smut smut smut, reader acts like a brat and niki likes it, orgasm denial, overstimulation, fingering, oral sex (f receiving), slight breeding kink, y'all this freak nasty what can i say, minors dni, 18+, nsfw

a/n: this is my first time writing for niki and i had a lot of fun!! makes me even more excited to write my niki fic!!

Niki Lauda was a serious man.

Things always had to be better than perfect for him, especially on the days where there was a race or press conference - those days, and the days leading up to it, it felt like a miracle if you could grab his attention for more than five seconds. He was so worried about making sure that he was in the right mindset for the race that he would forget about everything else, including you.

And this time was no different. The past week you woke up alone, went to bed alone, and most hours when he was free and home, the time he could’ve been spending with you, he was on the phone strategizing with Clay or someone else on the team about the track he would be racing on. So to say you were pent up was an understatement. Not only were you irritated over the busy week that left you alone, but you were also jealous - jealous of your husband’s career that let fans see him more than you - and to be truthful, you were horny as hell.

Were you thrilled when it finally hit that the love of your life was a formula one racer? That the tracks he raced on could be dangerous? No, absolutely not. You never thought that you would marry someone whose profession was racing, but it was Niki, and for some reason - the two of you clicked. But what kind of wife would you be if you took his passion away from him? Not a rather empathetic one.

But you had enough. A week was far too long and when it finally came to the day of the press conference, you decided that it was time for your husband to get the short end of the stick, to taste your anger.

Your attention had been fixed on the clock hanging up on the back wall for the past forty-eight minutes...drowning out the reporters, fans, and Niki, you sat in your thoughts to pass the time by, not bothering to keep up the doting wife facade.

It was noticed quickly, however, by those attending the press conference - although it wasn’t until Niki grabbed your thigh under the table causing you to jump that you realized they were talking to you.

Leaning forward, your mouth bumping against the microphone, the harsh ring from contact echoing the room. You shot back a little, adjusting the microphone before clearing your throat.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that.”

Laughter erupted through the room, causing you to smile weakly before listening to the reporter’s question.

“Mrs. Lauda, it’s been noticed that this week, and today especially, you have looked particularly down. Is there a reason for this? Is there a Baby Lauda on the way? Are there any issues in the bedroom or just in general between you and Niki?”

You, joined by Niki and the rest of his team that sat up in the front along the table all fell back in shock, surprised to hear such a bold question from a reporter.

It was a bad idea, you knew it, but you were so upset by the week, the reporter, everything that it just slipped out, without a second chance to stop yourself.

“I hate to be the one to say it, but it doesn’t look like Baby Lauda will be coming anytime soon,” When the murmurs began to pick up, you smiled glancing over at Niki who looked at you confused before continuing on, “As you all know my dear husband is incredibly busy with the season. He’s gone most of the day to make sure he wins and by the time he gets home I’m already in bed,” You paused again, smiling wickedly at the crowd before finally finishing. “There are no issues because there is nothing going on in the bedroom to begin with-“

“Alright, thank you Mrs. Lauda! I think that’s it for questions today. Thank you all for coming!” The mediator of the press conference rushed, standing now up at the main podium in the middle.

The awkward clapping picked up over the room while the rest of Niki’s team departed. You followed in suit, keeping in the back while the rest of the team went through the dressing room and out back towards the bus. Before you could take a step out of the dressing room, you felt a sudden tight grasp on your arm. Spinning, you looked and saw Niki in front of you, face red and seething.

“Are you ill? What the hell was that? Do you know how bad that just made me? I’m going to look like a horrible husband! Is there what you want?” He shook your arm violently, tugging you back towards him each time you tried to pull away.

“Answer me, dammit!”

You jumped back slightly from the sudden outburst that came from Niki. Of course you knew that it made him look back, but it wasn’t anything detrimental to his career…was it? He kept his gaze locked on you, waiting for you to respond. What Niki hadn’t been expecting though was the smirk that toyed on your face.

“I’m sorry, but I’m lacking the sight to see what is so funny?” His eyebrows were knitted right together, his nostrils flaring.

“Nothing funny at all, Niki. I was just thinking, you know, if you’re so worried about what the stupid press thinks, why don’t you prove them wrong?” Your free hand ran up Niki’s chest, toying with the buttons of his shirt before your eyes flicked up towards him.

At this point he didn’t look angry anymore, but pent up, frustrated with what had happened but also because it took two to do the devil’s tango - and he was missing you, whether he would admit it or not.

Then it hit him, what you were doing. Messing with him to get his attention. Niki had to admit, it was a smart move, but he was smarter and if you were thinking that you would get away with it and what you wanted, you were wrong.

His own smirk toyed on his face before he looked around the dressing room. Nobody was around and they had a few minutes to spare - because after the stunt you pulled everyone knew not to interrupt with whatever argument between the Lauda’s would spew. It wasn’t the most private, but he would make it work.

“Prove them wrong? Is that the image you are painting for me now? Niki Lauda the bad husband?” He tugged you closer to him, your face only inches away from him, you could feel the air that came from his nose hit you in the face, “Is that what you want?”

“What makes you think you weren’t already a bad husband?”

The only thing you heard was the ringing in your ears. It was deafening, the silence between you two after your joke. Your face slacked though after a while, thinking maybe you went too far.

“Niki, I-“

Before you could get your apology out, Niki grabbed onto your face with one hand, squishing your cheeks together before pulling you with him towards the couch. He turned you around and pushed back onto the couch, watching as you fell back with a huff. Niki grinned down at you before sitting on his knees, pushing your legs open.

“I’m a bad husband, yes? Bad husbands don’t let their wives feel satisfied, do they?” His thick accent was muffled in your ears by the sound of your own whimpers, watching as he reached his hands under your dress and hooked his fingers around the band of your underwear.

Niki pulled your underwear down your legs, growing frustrated when they got tangled with your heels before muttering something under his breath and tearing them into two, tossing the ripped fabric off to the side. Your mouth hung open, glaring now at him.

“Why did you- oh!”

You fell back into the couch when you felt his mouth on your cunt, his hands gripping onto your thighs to keep them open as you tried to close them around his head. Your hands were gripping the sofa cushions, moaning out as you felt Niki’s tongue swipe up and down.

As he continued to eat you out, sucking at your clit until your legs were shaking around him, your eyes began to fill with tears, feeling overstimulated with everything that was going on. Your hands sank down from the couch and down where Niki was in between your legs, your fingers running through his recently washed and styled curls.

“Niki...baby…” Your eyes rolled back into your head, whining as your climax began to rise. If you weren’t so high from the mind blowing head that Niki was giving you, you might have been able to get a cohesive sentence out.

Smirking against your cunt, Niki pulled away to look up at you, your own wetness dripping down his chin, hitting the spot on his chest that was exposed from where he didn’t button his shirt up. While he stared up at you, he took the time to slowly run his fingers along you, his thumb pressing down at your clit to rub in circles while his index and middle finger sank into you.

Hiding his grin from you, Niki turned and pressed a kiss to your thigh, biting down on the soft flesh before moving up, pressing his forehead against yours to keep your gaze locked on him.

“What does my pretty disobedient wife want? Does she want to cum around my fingers? Make a mess all over this disgusting couch?” His own ragged breath was picked up, his warm breath against your cheek as he moved his face to press against your ear, his teeth nipping at the spot behind your ear, listening to you moan and wither under him.

Your hips began to buck forward into his hand, desperately begging for more. Your hands were gripping at the front of Niki’s shirt, face pressed against his as you tried to listen to him. You didn’t want to cum around his fingers, but around his dick - his wonderful dick that you had missed all week.

“No, Niki...I want your...your…” Before you could get your words out your body flinched, toes curling as you felt your orgasm rise even more. You were so close, yet felt so empty at the same time. This wasn’t what you were thinking would happen, you were hoping he’d fuck you good, not tease you.

Usually Niki would help you out, finish your sentences for you, but he wanted to tease you good, give you a taste of your own medicine. He waited and listened, continuing to fuck you with his fingers while you desperately grabbed onto him, whimpering and whining out so pathetically.

“Say it and maybe I’ll give it to you...but only if you ask nicely.” He teased, kissing down your neck, using his left hand to open up the front of your dress, pushing your bra up roughly before latching on to your right nipple, sucking down hard.

At this point you weren’t sure how to get it out. Your words were stuck in your throat and he was overstimulating you at this point, but when he latched onto your other nipple, gripping at your right breast with his left hand, you finally had enough.

“Niki, please, oh please just fuck me already!”

Your desperate plea slowed Niki’s motions to a stop, his fingers coming to a standstill and his mouth pulling away from your breast, looking down at you.

“Am I a bad husband?” He asked, staring into your own eyes. You shook your head, your hands coming up to his face.

“No, Niki, you’re a wonderful husband...the best husband.” You breathed, leaning forward to kiss him. He didn’t kiss you back, not wanting to think he was so easily won over, but smiled against your kiss, feeling you pull away before he adjusted his spot above you.

“Say it again,” He demanded, beginning to pull at his belt and tug his pants down enough to pull his now hard dick out. “Tell me that I’m a good husband.”

You felt his dick rub against your cunt, his tip teasingly sinking into you before pulling out just as quick. Wrapping your arms around his neck, pulling him close to you until his forehead hit yours again, you held his left cheek with your left hand, your right hand in his hair.

“Niki, you’re a good husband.” The quiet confession seemed to finally be enough for Niki to give you what you wanted. Snapping his hips forward suddenly, with one solid thrust he was in you, pounding you into the couch as he grunted, his hands at your hips to keep you locked onto him.

The feeling of his dick in you now was enough to send you over the edge. Clinging onto him while he rutted inside of you, the sound of his hips connecting with yours and your own wetness slapping against both of your skin filled the room along with the sounds of your moans and pants. It was rougher than usual, hurting only slightly, but you enjoyed it.

“Look at you, my pretty wife so drunk off my cock.” You heard Niki say, leaving wet kisses along your cheek and jawline, his own thrusts slowing as his legs began to shake.

You whined at the comment, moving your face to bury it in the crook of his neck while you came. Before you could sink your mouth onto his shoulder, he grabbed your face in his hand and pulled you back.

“No, you’re going to look at me when you cum. I want to see your pretty face while you cum around my cock.”

The tears continued to fall down, although you were not sad - you were hitting your breaking point, the tension in your stomach practically suffocating you. But you obeyed, locking eyes with Niki’s that were darkened by his pupils, his honey irises outlining his eyes.

He must have been close too, given how sloppy he was becoming. Niki kept his eyes locked on you as his pace quickened again, going faster than before until he let out a final grunt, cumming deep in you. You reached your own orgasm only seconds later, moaning as you clung to him, hugging him tight as your legs wrapped around his hips, shaking still from the intensity of your orgasm.

As you both came down from your high, Niki kept his position on you, not moving while he caught his breath. You pulled back from him when you felt him finally move, pulling out of you slowly, grinning down at the sight of you.

“I think we will have some news for those reporters here soon,” He said suddenly, your head tilted to the side in confusion. He shook his head, leaning forward to kiss your forehead before finally getting up to get around.

“I think Baby Lauda will be coming sooner than we expected.”

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Gale Reviews: ML Season 4 Episode 3: Gang of Secret

(Spoilers below)

-So they just beat a villain, and Ladybug is acting SUS. Like she doesn't Want to leave yet. Hmm

-Chat noir YOU SLICK MOFO. (I dare not ruin it, because I am laughing at it)

-She is still not over her break up. So I guess Lukanette stans, get whatever remains of your juice while its there.

-Ladybug ... sweetie. Do you need a hug? Cause you look like you need a hug.

-Chat noir realizing his idea was NOT very smart after that.

-Ladybug ruining experiences for a LOT of couples today

-Chat noir trying to help, but Ladybug aint telling him

-They are going swimming now. Chat noir for once, is not thrilled about hanging out with Ladybug... thats a YIKES.

-She has goggles and a towel, so she did go swimming.

-The Kwami see her in pain, QUICK, TEAR DOWN THE PHOTOS.

-She said no tho, but clearly sad about it.

______________

-So Alya is giving the girl posse the rundown on Marinette. Claiming she is lovesick.

-Rose thought they were cute, and Juleka says nothing. Is it wrong that I want Juleka to have an opinion? Whether positive OR negative

-Juleka is like "Yea, he is sad." shows picture of sad Luka. Though to be fair, that is a decent pic of him.

- So Alya is LAST to know. Double ouch.

-Marinette was crying in the bathroom, baby girl no!

-MARINETTE OMG! HOW DOES SHE HAVE THAT?!

-Alya out here trying to be a good friend. By showing Marinette she has support. (She aint even mad that she was last to find out. She is more concerned about her friend)

-THEY HAVE A SECRET HANDSHAKE!

-They calling her now

-She didn't answer. She is too sad

-So she won't detransform and talk with tikki. Can I PLEASE give her a hug. She needs it.

-Yo... Marinette has zero concern for herself and only detransformed when she thought it was causing strain on Tikki.

-Mylene offering friendship bracelets. Never change dear.

-Okay so are they witches now?

-Alix is like 'Can I not be in a ritual, Id rather give her some juice'

_________________

-Marinette sad cause Ladybug can't have a boyfriend. Cause even if she dated Adrien, it would be the same as it was with Luka.... Tikki knows that aint true but can't say why. UGH! This is pain

-Did Tikki just confirm Kwami can't fall in love? NO! MY CHEESECAKE!

-OH S***! So now she gonna be Perma ladybug?!

-So the girls showed up as soon as ladybug left. This isn't good.

-And of course Marinette is TOO GOOD at making s***, so they curious about the new dollhouse

-OH S*** THAT WAS CLOSE!

-And things going to s*** in 10, 9, 8

-Oh no... this... this is not good. Marinette sweetie no. No please.

-Look can we take a second and APPRECIATE HOW HARD ALYA AND THE GIRLS ARE GOING FOR MARINETTE! Did the writers see all of the alya salt and say 'Yea f*** that noise'? Cause I feel like they did.

-Okay so I know Marinette just didn't want to expose her secret... but damn girl... THAT was harsh.

-Marinette literally going scorched earth for being Ladybug... Okay, this episode PHYSICALLY hurts me. SHE DOESNT MEAN IT GIRLS. PLEASE DONT HATE HER.

-Shadowmoth could you not. Like seriously?! COULD YOU F***ING NOT! MY BABY GIRL IS IN PAIN AND I WILL GO THROUGH MY SCREEN AND [Redacted]

-And then you'll have to f*** sideways.

-So first 5 way akumatization

-So can we talk about how the last 3 akuma were after the secrets of Marinette. well 2, but the other one was Adrien. But still. A Lot of Hawkmoth saying 'F*** this individual in particular'

-THEY JUST WANT HER TO STAY THEIR FRIEND! OMG I CANT EVEN BE MAD.

-I wish I could understand Juleka. Can someone please just translate with what she is saying. It was funny in truth, but I want to know

-OH Timebreaker and Horrificator are BACK. Yay, I missed them

-Just realized how AMAZING their Gang of akuma are. Like damn, thats like a super team of evil. Yea sure

___________________________

-Not to nitpick, but Marinette, you should have led with that box.

-TRIXX IS GONNA USE HIS POWERS OMG FINALLY! A PURE KWAMI POWER. We haven't seen that since Plagg.

-Damn that was a really boss illusion trixx. But question, how was that out of control? Like if anything, that was BETTER then when the user used it.

-Trixx makes a really good point. WHY DOES HE NEED A HOLDER AGAIN?!

-OH, HE WAS LYING. EVERYTHING LOOKS F***ING BANANAS.

-Trixx is now my second favorite Kwami.

-PLAGG! MY SON! HE IS IN THE EPISODE! I MISSED HIM. Also, surprisingly knows.

-Plagg cares about other Kwami.

-Adrien just chilling, watching tv. XD

-Timebreaker casually committing murder

-Hold it, Okay so why are so many people in school right now? Ivan is there, chloé and Sabrina? Oh my tomato son too. Can someone tell me wtf is up with this school schedule?

-Fragrance/Reflekta Power combo is amazing.

-Wow, this gang is MEGA DANGEROUS

-So yea Ladybug. Maybe... idk... TALK WITH CHAT NOIR ABOUT YOUR PROBLEMS!?

-So they really gotta plan this time.

-Ladybug smart to disarm Ladywifi.

-Ladybug trying to get lady wifi to fight the akuma. This is touching

-SHE DID IT! ALYA BROKE FREE! LIKE A MOTHERF***ING BOSS.

-No, shadow moth, you's a b***

-Loving this Alya- Ladybug friendship

-Chat noir looking boss by fighting 3 akuma at once while on the phone. Chat noir Leveled up.

-So Ladybug can now pull the miraculous out of anywhere because she has guardian status. Thats a cool trick. Makes it much easier.

-Thats a secret tho, Alya got trusted with a big secret.

-RENA ROUGE IN THE HOUSE!

_______

-And Chat noir is captured... but in his defense. He did have to fight 4 at once this time. So that took longer than usual. So no shame kitty. You did well.

-Lucky charm is an inner tube

-Clever illusion. POINTS! Using the goal of the akuma to distract. Alya gets gull points!

-WOW! REALLY CLEVER ILLUSION.

-Ladybug suave catch of rose tho.

-So that was probably the best Group akuma attack since Heroes day (and honestly it probably tops it)

________

-Marinette patches things up with her friends. That is a relief. She was able to somewhat explain her issues up to the point. Without spilling the details.

-Marinette has some really good friends.

-Alya knows that not everything has been told... Hold on DONT TELL ME.

-Oh wow, Marinette is breaking down.... My poor baby girl is hurting real bad.

-OH S*** SHE SAID IT! SHE TOLD HER! SHE TOLD ALYA!

____________________________________________________________

wow this episode... This one hurt. This one hurt a LOT. But also, it was really good.

Okay so, 10/10.

I haven't been this enthralled with an episode in a long time.

Are there one or two nitpicks? Absolutely.

Do I wish somethings were not mentioned? A little bit.

Am I glad Alya knows? Out of everyone, she is the second person I wanted Marinette to tell.

(The first one being chat noir, but lets face it, we kind of knew that won't be happening for a while.)

So can Alya salt stop now? Cause Alya CLEARLY showed how much of a motherf***ing boss she is.

But damn I didn't feel this emotional since Chat blanc.

I DONT EVEN CARE THAT THE AKUMA WERE REPEATS.

That was OBJECTIVELY, one of the best episodes in the entire series.

This made me rethink my favorite episode. THATS HOW GOOD IT WAS.

Season 4, You keep doing what you are doing. Your writing (minus some very minor nitpicks) has been pretty damn good.

[atopfourthwall]

Ive only recently gotten into classic Star Trek so I don't think I can properly answer but what is it specifically about Discovery and recent Star Trek that classic Trek fans hate?

Putting this behind a cut because... it's a lot.

Well, first of all a big rejection of it is just on an aesthetic level. Up until the 2009 movie (which was considered a reboot, even with time travel elements), Star Trek tried to treat the original series and how it was portrayed as pretty sacrosanct. Sure, they might occasionally make jokes about goofier aspects of it and discard some of the stupider stuff (like how in the final episode, penned by Gene Roddenberry himself, that women weren't allowed to Captain starships), but how TOS looked? That's how the 23rd century looked. Buttons and multi-colored outfits and boxy computers and smooth, undetailed ships WAS what was appropriate for the time. When Scotty came back in TNG, they had him on the holodeck and it was the TOS bridge. When DS9 traveled back in time to that era for an episode? They went onto the Enterprise and visited it. When in an Enterprise 2-parter we had a TOS-era ship? It looked like a TOS ship. They even did a 2-parter on Enterprise to explain why Klingons had smooth foreheads when later (and earlier) they didn't. Star Trek up until then cared about maintaining that continuity of appearance. But Discovery is set in the TOS era... but nothing looks like TOS. Even when we got the Enterprise and those uniforms and we saw inside the ship, it was an upgraded form. The only logic I've seen people try to argue about WHY it doesn't look like it actually did was "Well, audiences won't accept something as cheap as TOS being futuristic." Well, then you've got a few responses there: -Don't set in TOS era, then. -That's horseshit, because audiences from the 90s through the 2000s accepted it just fine. Even a piece of dialogue from DS9 explained it perfectly: "I LOVE 23rd century design." It LOOKS cheap, but it was just the aesthetics of the period. And the Enterprise 2-parter it still looked good in HD. Hell, arguably it looked BETTER in HD because they knew how to light it and create mood and its own unique flavor. -It's even more horseshit because people are STILL going back and watching it even today, as indicated by you saying you've started watching it, so clearly it's not that much of a barrier. But what's even more egregious is the TECHNOLOGY. You might be able to accept updated aesthetics if at least matches what was present during the period... and it doesn't. Holographic displays and communication (holodeck technology AT ALL, frankly - it's possible it was there, but TNG seemed pretty adamant that the holodecks were fairly new, very impressive technology), weapons not looking or acting like they traditionally did, Enterprise and Discovery having R2D2-style repair droids that certainly did not exist in TOS, the wrong sound effects being frequently employed, replicator technology for good-looking food instead of food dispensers that gave out marshmallows and cubes, and honestly the tech level shown in Discovery looks just as advanced - if not MORE advanced than seen on TNG 100 years later. And this is a minor thing, but despite the attempt to make the future LOOK futuristic, from a cultural perspective, the future looks... way too damn similar to now. The excessive swearing (it was said in particular in Star Trek 4 that while they certainly did cuss, it was less common and they sure as hell weren't dropping F-bombs), a party on Discovery that looked like a rave (when previously it seemed like the most popular music and culture of the 23rd/24th century was considered fairly high-brow entertainment [classical music, Shakespeare, great works of literature and plays, etc.] - and while you could certainly argue that that snootiness and love of that stuff is a problem with Star Trek and a sign of how sterile and homogenized it is, THAT is the future they presented and a character in Voyager loving some of the goofier parts of 20th century culture like jukeboxes and old sci-fi serials was considered unusual), and just the general way people talk betrays the idea that the writers aren't thinking about how society changes in the future. It's just the modern day, but with cooler technology. But hey, let's set aside the general aesthetics - some people aren't going to mind that and find

ways to handwave away a lot of stuff (even Discovery season 2 TRIED to handwave away stuff like the holographic communications, but did a piss-poor job of it). This brings us to the problem of the WRITING. And the problem with the writing is a big Michael Burnham-shaped indentation. To be clear, I don't mind Michael as a character or her actress - there are interesting aspects to her, centering a Star Trek show around the science officer is a neat idea (though that means you should probably NAME IT AFTER HER and not around the ship, because it suggests this is a standard ensemble group and not JUST her)... but the actual execution is that it feels like the entire universe bends over backwards for HER. She has a unique relationship with a beloved longtime character that is retconned in. She has unique relationships with several important characters to the point where the fate of billions of people hinges on her and the decisions she makes. She is presented as almost always correct about everything, and those that oppose her are often wrong, naïve, or active enemies. Now, this is less of an issue in the third season - but that has its own unique problems - but in the first season, the resolution of two major storylines (mirror universe and the Klingon war) revolves around her and her relationship to the Terran Emperor and Lorca. In season 2, her mother trying to help or save her is the basis of the ENTIRE friggin' plot with time travel and the like, with special knowledge and history having to do with her and everyone ready to abandon their lives for her so she won't be alone when she has to go to the future when arguably they barely know her (the timeline of the show is debatable). Season 3 has a few different problems with her - the first is that she keeps being involved in things that don't concern her (why is she going down to Trill?) and she keeps violating orders. Now, her violating orders is a problem throughout the entirety of Discovery - in fact, it's kind of the instigating factor OF the series. And arguably, other Star Trek characters are guilty of that and they face no consequences, just as she faces none... and yet it's the brazenness with which it happens, and in those other series it's arguable because the series tries to avoid excessive continuity changes for its episodic nature, so the status quo MUST return to normal... but Discovery is pivoted as one of MAJOR continuity, so her lack of consequences (and indeed eventual PROMOTION) is baffling to the point of frustration. Now again, let me be clear here - she is not a bad character in and of herself. Honestly what it shows is that being the science officer on a starship is not where her talents lie. She should be in a position where she has a lot more freedom to act and not in a major command structure... but being in that command structure, what we see in season 3 is that she lacks the discipline, emotional maturity, responsibility, leadership qualities, and general other traits necessary to be a Captain. Only once during season 3 did she display such a quality - putting the safety of the Federation above a friend and colleague... but other times she will happily disobey orders and put herself and others in harm's way, creating potential new problems. Now, again, Star Trek is rife with characters doing that... but usually not the Captains. And, in fact, when this happened once on DS9 with one officer disobeying orders and putting their own personal feelings above the greater responsibility, it was made VERY clear that the incident would mean that they would never be able to command a starship because of the unofficial reprimand. What's even more frustrating about her is that the character is ALWAYS shoved to the forefront so much to the point where we just get sick of her. SHE is the one giving log entries (usually pretty piss-poor ones, at that - very flowery and nonsensical and kind of dumb) and not the Captain. SHE is the one given so much focus and how the plot of the episode affects her. Barely anyone else gets any focus episodes - I STILL can't

remember the names of some of the secondary characters because they're so rarely said, and a PTSD-related plotline in season 3 for one of the secondary characters basically gets resolved OFF-SCREEN. Michael would be fine if we actually had a chance to miss her... but we never do. Arguably one of the best episodes of the show is in season 2, when it focuses on Saru and his people because Michael DOES take a back seat. It's his story and his development and problems relating to him and his people. And even if, again, we forgave the idea of so much focus on her even in plots that aren't about her... she never seems to really change that much. She'll TALK about how she's changed, but I see no real difference in the way she acts (MAYBE season 1 to 2, where in season 1 she was stiffer and more Vulcan-like, but that's it). But hey, let's assume that's not a problem for you - you really, REALLY like Michael and are fine with so much focus on her. Simply put, the writing of the rest of the show... is just kind of dumb. The ship is powered by magic mushrooms that let it teleport everywhere because the universe has super fungus capillaries throughout it that nobody can see and also it's magic and can resurrect the dead. The time travel plot of season 2 doesn't make any sense when you sit down and diagram it. Well-established Trek lore is just kind of sprinkled in, but now in ways that doesn't match what it was before or at least in ways that completely recolor how it's supposed to work, because it needs to serve THIS plot. Everyone remembering a murdererous monster fondly after she leaves because "Hey, she was coooool." The explanation for the big mystery in season 3 is just fricking stupid and one of the two big reasons why I've finally given up on Discovery, because it's just so absurd, doesn't match how anything works, and just feels like the writers giving the middle finger to the audience because they care more about "YOU MUST FEEEEEEL THINGS!" instead of it making sense. And indeed, there is certainly a balance to be made of plot vs. emotion-driven storytelling - some stories are dumb, but are forgivable because the character writing and emotion are so strong that they override how goofy the plot is... but sometimes a plot is just so dumb it overrides anything I'm SUPPOSED to feel. And it would help if I already liked the show, already gave it some benefit of the doubt... but I don't and it hasn't done enough to impress me. A little thing that's a problem with ALL of current modern Trek shows is that whole sprinkling lore thing - I don't think a single episode goes by in ANY current modern Trek series that doesn't have a random reference to classic Trek lore. A name, a line of dialogue, etc. It comes across like the creators don't trust you to enjoy it on its own merits, but want you to like it because "Hey, remember thing? We know about thing! Like us because we mentioned thing!" But hey, I recognize that these are things that other people may not have any problem with or just disagree in general. But for me and my family, these are the big ones that keep us from enjoying it. Hell, my brother and dad still watch it for hatewatching purposes, but I was done after season 3. I gave it plenty of chances to impress me, and while each season MARGINALLY got better as it went along, I'm tired of waiting to actually like it and to stop feeling like it thinks I'm a fucking idiot. If other people still like it, great - it clearly appeals to them in a way that it doesn't appeal to me and they are free to enjoy it. Other people probably have their own issues, but this long, rambly bit is the major stuff for me.

[risjime]

WILD AND FLUORESCENT

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT

with: iwaizumi; gn!reader; alisa as your roommate

content: slightly nsfw content (18+), fluff at times, literally about meeting and having sex, reader receives oral (but it’s not super descriptive)

wc: 1.9k

a/n: i truly hope you enjoy reading this, i’ve been writing it for a little while now! feedback, reblogs, comments and anything of the sort is always appreciated!

it wasn’t a fairytale beginning. not that you ever really wanted that, but a meet-cute, an accidental encounter, perhaps? no, not the way you met iwaizumi hajime. meeting him was wild. it was fluorescent.

you had a shitty week, and you were nothing short of ready to let loose this friday night with your best friend, alisa. the two of you had plans to hit up your favourite club, which wasn’t too far from your shared apartment. VIVID was new and growing insanely popular in the area, it quickly bested all of the other clubs you’d previously frequent. luckily, you had close ties with the owner, so getting in was never an issue.

as you walked up to the entrance, you could already feel the distant bass radiating through your veins, reviving you instantly. you needed this more than anything today. you let yourself relax as the music grew louder, before alisa grabbed your hand, running with you toward the building.

you made your way to the front of the line, the bouncer greeting you with familiarity and allowing you to pass the velvet barrier. bright, neon streaks of light were immediately visible, flooding your vision, but all the same exciting you as if it were the first time you were coming here. alisa headed straight to the bar, looking back to you with a grin. it was practically tradition for the two of you to share a quick round of shots before jumping to the dance floor.

when you moved to the floor, you really felt yourself letting go of the pent up stress that bottled inside of you throughout the week. you watched as your best friend started dancing with another girl nearby, and you shared a knowing look, followed by bright smiles. you knew you’d be getting that "don’t wait up!" text later in the night, judging by how close to two were getting. deciding to give them some space, you moved to the centre of the floor. you let your head fall back, as your body became one with the pounding music.

then, you saw him.

he was already looking at you. you watched as his grip tightened onto his drink in hand, completely ignoring the words of the man standing next to him. he breathed in a visibly sharp breath, daring to hold your gaze as your eyes raked over his appearance. he was dressed casually with dark denim jeans and a simple white tee that clung tightly to his body. like several of the others inside of the club, there were two neon stripes painted on his cheeks, yet his appeared to shine brighter.

he looked like he wanted to approach you, but his eyes revealed hesitancy, so you decided to move a little closer in hopes he would get the hint.

he smiled, biting his bottom lip as you neared. he passed his drink to his friend, whispering something to him, earning a smile and look in your direction in return. you turned around, resuming your motion in harmony with the pulsating music, wordlessly inviting the stranger to dance with you. and he did.

you felt him carefully approach you from behind, and when you pushed closer into him, he allowed himself the luxury of moving his body with yours. you pressed against him as one of his hands wrapped around your waist, the other coming up to cup your ear so that his honeyed words could be heard clearly, "you’re breathtaking."

heat rose to your cheeks as you turned around to face him. he looked at you with a wide grin, your faces only inches apart, working in an effort to single each other out amongst the crowds surrounding you. when he leaned in again, his breath tickled your ear, sending a chill down your spine despite the feverish temperature, “what’s your name, sweetheart?”

you angled toward his ear, telling him your name before boldly placing a trail of hot kisses along his neck. you could hear his soft sigh as he melted into your touch, his hands reaching to rest against at the back of your head. you moved up to his ear, asking sweetly, “yours?”

he could barely remember the question he asked you as you pulled away, your face coming into his field of vision once more.

“hajime,” he spoke loudly against the music.

“hajime...” you repeated softly. it was nearly inaudible, but it sounded like sugar coming from your lips, and he wanted nothing more than to hear it again.

you looked up to his eyes, which were trained on your lips. you’d pulled away much too soon, both of you were thinking it. he craved more of your touch. so when he leaned in, pulling your body against his, as his lips drifted toward yours, you grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him close, catching his lips on your own.

you could feel his smile as he kissed you back, racing his hands along your body, the kiss only making you feel hotter.

sure, it wasn’t the first time you made out with a stranger you met on a night out. and it certainly wouldn’t be the first time you took things further than that. but you hadn’t felt this immediate of a connection before him.

hajime felt beautiful.

you pulled away, resting your forehead against his chin, the two of you steadying your breathing. he let out a gentle laugh, “wow.”

you moved back to look at him, raising a brow, a smile teasing at your lips, “wow?”

he cupped your cheek, eyes looking into yours, “a good wow.”

the music came down slightly as the song transitioned. it was your one opportunity to continue your night with the handsome stranger, before he became nothing more than a distant memory.

“do you-” you laughed a little, suddenly shy at the thought of being alone with him, “would you like to-”

he caught on to your proposal, and decidedly made things easier for you, “i’d love to.”

you headed outside, hajime’s hand in yours as you texted alisa your whereabouts. “i’ll call an uber, just one second,” you told him as you switched apps.

“or i could give us a ride?” he looked at you with a grin.

“oh sure! where’s your car?” you asked, following behind him.

“this would be my... car,” he emphasized the last word with a laugh, as he stopped in front of a motorcycle.

as if he couldn’t get any hotter.

“but if you’re uncomfortable, we can always take an uber instead-”

“no, this is perfect,” you latched onto his arm excitedly, and he rewarded you with another wide grin in response.

hajime, simply put, grew more interesting with every second you spent with him. and even so, you felt secure, so you wrapped your arms tightly around his torso when he asked you to. you gave him directions to your apartment, after he made sure several times that you were okay doing so. he was thoughtful, which was something that set him apart from all the other guys you’ve met in the past few months.

as you soared through the streets, tucked safely behind hajime, you found felt even more electrified than you did at VIVID. he drove the motorcycle like a pro, and you were captivated by the sight. surely, the image would be etched in your memory forever.

the closer you got to the apartment, the more your mind drifted. you were itching to feel his skin against yours. so was he.

you hardly shut your front door before hajime had you in his arms, lips already on yours in a heated kiss. he leaned you back against the door, delicately but determined. you stretched your arms around his neck, pulling him impossibly close, flush against your body. he started working his way down your neck, lips settling at your collar bone. his arms traveled down to your thighs, hands prompting you to wrap your legs around his waist as he lifted you up.

“second-” you let out between heavy sighs, “door on the right.”

you felt his smile on your skin before he lifted you off the wall, carrying you to your bedroom.

he gently set you down on the bed, crawling on top of you as he pulled his shirt above his head, and you took the opportunity to do the same. he gravitated towards your heat as you ran your nails along his muscled figure. his kisses trailed further down your body, eliciting a soft, appreciative moan from you. he stopped to admire the noise briefly, before returning his lips to your skin, sucking sweetly at the same spot in hopes of hearing you again, his eyes looking up to you every few seconds. he didn’t want to miss anything, this moment with you, the only thing on his mind.

when he neared your waist he stopped, looking at you for approval, and with your eager nod he quickly worked to strip you completely. his mouth protruded into your space, sucking you, now desperately as he wanted more of you. you rewarded him, cursing his name through heated pants. he only worked harder the more you praised him, chasing the sound of your voice.

he removed himself all too soon, causing you to whine at the new distance. haijime flipped you around so that your front laid on the bed, his body following behind yours. his lips found their way to your ear, “don’t worry, angel, i promise i’ll make you feel amazing.”

you woke up to a half-empty bed. last night was unbelievable, hajime made you feel things you didn’t know you were capable of feeling. but the short story was that you met at a club, you had sex, and that was all it would be. you quickly pulled and oversized tee over your body before exiting your room, greeted by a luscious aroma coming from the kitchen. curiously, you peeked across the hall, and when you heard two voices speaking, your wonder only grew. you tiptoed to the kitchen, spotting alisa’s blonde hair and...

“hajime?”

he turned around, greeting you with a smile, “good morning, sweetheart.”

alisa quietly stood up from her seat at the dining table, a teasing smile on her face, “i think i’ll give you some time alone.” she pulled her coat on and walked out your apartment door, leaving the two of you in silence.

“i didn’t think you’d still be here,” you sputter out, a little abrasively, but you were genuinely surprised.

“i’m sorry if it’s an overstep,” he moved to lean against the counter, “but i couldn’t find myself able to leave without saying something.”

he looked down for a moment, pondering carefully over his next words, “i couldn’t forgive myself if i didn’t at least give it a shot.”

you crossed your arms and raised a brow, asking him to elaborate.

“i’ve never felt a connection so strong with anyone before,” his eyes moved back and forth between the kitchen tiles and your eyes, a pink blush creeping across his cheeks. “i was wondering if you’d, maybe, like to go on a date sometime?”

your eyes trailed along his body, thinking over his question. here was this wonderful man in front of you, he was thoughtful, sweet, and passionate. and he wanted to take you on a date. there really was only one thing you could say.

“i’d love to, hajime.”

taglist (open): @readywhorenot @ilhvm

© risjime | do not repost! reblogs are appreciated ♡

[bullworthdrabbles]

Women in Bullworth: Zoe Taylor

TW: discussions of sexual abuse, trauma, CSA, Mr. Burton's ped* bullshit, self-harm, and other not-great stuff.

This one is super long and full of hard stuff to talk about don't read if you are not in the right headspace.

Oh boy, this one is going to be one of the hardest to write for me because I love Zoe and I know so many who love her as well. Then, there’s also a lot of triggering content in her story that needs to be discussed but hits me very close to my chest. This will likely be very long and particularly scathing due to just how frustrating Zoe’s story (or lack thereof) is to me. As a victim of CSA, this particular post is going to be very hard for me to discuss and will take me a long time to fully articulate. I’m sorry for how long it has taken me to write this, but I needed many breaks and to rant to several friends in order not to type all of this in all caps and through various curses.

Before I really discuss the tropes and stereotypes like I usually do I need to discuss the fact that as I write this series I’m seeing the unfortunate pattern arise of Rockstar sloppily using sexual violence against women in their stories without doing their research, taking the time to consider the consequence that happening would have in someone’s life, and just what message they are sending with how they tackle these kinds of stories. Sexual abuse and teachers using their power to take advantage of teens and minors is an unfortunate reality that does happen in high schools. I can understand the idea of wanting to discuss this issue when your game is set in high school where these things can happen, but this type of story is horrific and to do it justice requires a sensitivity Rockstar simply didn’t deliver.

The bully wiki and the game itself states that Zoe was expelled from the school for reporting Mr. Burton's sexual harassment and based on the previous missions involving this disgusting man we know Zoe isn’t the only victim. Does he ever get held accountable? Does he face any sort of punishment despite Jimmy quite literally being a witness and having evidence thumbtacked to his wall of Mr. Burton's disgusting behavior that he made Jimmy also take part in? No, not really, he only gets “fired” at the end of the game, and by “fired” I mean you still see him walking around the school like nothing happened, still saying the same shit and having access to underage girls. If it was just the lack of accountability I could interpret this as Rockstar taking a very bleak but realistic look at the situation. I could maybe think they were trying to show the disgusting truth that victims are almost never believed even with a mountain of evidence stacked against the perpetrator. They could be showing that it takes so much traumatizing bullshit just to try to get justice only for nothing to happen.

However, they messed up this story almost comically which makes me think it was just a cheap way to get her out of the school because they clearly didn't think about how abuse and a violation of someone’s bodily autonomy would impact an actual victim. I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t simply flip a portapotty onto the person who harassed and violated my bodily autonomy. I'm not a generally violent person, but I do think about harming my abuser in incredibly violent ways because of how much bullshit he has put me through. Rockstar never has her dealing with the side-effects and real mental toll this kind of abuse does to a person unless it’s time to make it a funny mission. Turning real horrific trauma into nothing more than a motive for a prank. Then there’s the dialogue of her talking about liking older guys, which I want desperately to believe is Rockstar trying to insinuate that Zoe is coping with her trauma via hypersexuality. Hypersexuality is a common unhealthy coping mechanism for survivors of sexual trauma, they purposely seek out sexual encounters as a way of reclaiming power and bodily autonomy sexually. It can also be seen as self-harm behavior if the survivor is having lots of purposely unprotected sex. But Rockstar clearly didn’t do enough research into sexual trauma responses, much less the basic realities of surviving sexual trauma, so I highly doubt that they even considered this when writing these lines.

Unfortunately, Rockstar was just trying to make her a “not like other girls” stereotype, I bet you thought I wasn’t going to bring it up but sadly I am. Zoe is one of the better-written female characters, but that isn’t really saying much when all the other girls are just cardboard cheap conflict and plot devices. We actually know a lot more about her background than we do the other girls, does it really change that she doesn’t serve much of a plot-significant role? Nope. Does this change the fact that Rockstar once again used sexual trauma as a cheap mission fodder? Nope? Is she allowed to be more than just a health pack, quest giver, and reward? If you think her being the “girl the protagonist gets with at the end” counts maybe, but to me, nope.

This was hard for me to say as it was a hard pill for me to swallow, but literally, all of her traits that separate her from the other girls are just so they could make her a “Tom-boy” and “not like other girls” stereotype. They don’t make her a fully formed unique person where her past, experiences, and traumas actually impact who she is as a person. No, they needed a final love interest for their protagonist so they just took his character traits and story and made some similar dialogue as the dialogue for Gary ( we can all admit there was something going on before the betrayal between those two) then slapped it onto another ginger, now with boobs. The funny thing is she doesn’t even seem that interested with Jimmy until the very end, their whole relationship seems forced and rushed so Rockstar fucked even that up. They clearly had a lot of ideas they wanted to touch on but because of their own unwillingness to take the time to flesh her out instead, we got...well everything I said before.

I’ve said it a thousand times and I will say it again, a lot of these problems could have been avoided. Rockstar could have taken their female characters seriously, could have written them well if that was one of their focuses, but it wasn’t. I love this game and I love a lot of these characters but I feel that even if this game provided me years' worth of comfort and entertainment, it should still be called out for its issues and how it mishandles very serious and sensitive issues. I hope this series and my thoughts on these characters made you think about your own writing and works you see making similar mistakes. I can tell that none of these errors came from a place of malice, but deep ignorance and works that perpetuate said ignorance can send harmful messages to people. I hope by shedding light on this I may make you re-examine the messages you see surrounding female characters in media and their stereotypes. Thank you for reading my incredibly long rants.