#can u tell that being employed has killed me.

[theautisticwriter]

Love Letters: Yandere! Helluva Boss characters X G/N Reader

Characters- Blitzø, Moxxie, Millie, Loona, Stolas, Asmodeus, Fizzarolli

Show- Helluva Boss

Genre- romantic, yandere

Summary- Mini love letters from your not so secret stalkers admirers!

Warnings- swearing, pet names, yandere themes, mentions of planned kidnapping, stalking, delusional characters, unwanted attention

Word count- 1.5K

Extra notes- I have a Hazbin Hotel version of this uploaded as well!

key: f/l = first letter of your name, y/n = your name, n/n = your nickname

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By this point you know who it is y/n, I’m the only person COOL enough to send u romantic as fuck letters like the old people do

Sorry for eating the food u made last night, when i was raiding ur fridge it looked so fucking good (and it was, who knew u could cook :P). i left u a pony as a replacement, u can’t eat it but it’ll make u think of me ;) and that pony cost me a FUCK ton of money, collectors addition and shit. i know, bad fucking ass right??

the stupid shitty loud alarm u installed didn’t work when i came in, ud be much safer with me and loony. that’s the plan anyways babe, u have NO idea the fucking creeps that live down here, they’re all fucking animals and ur…not, a fucking asshole i guess.

i drew you smth (it’s the thing stuck on the back of the envelope with the glitter glu)

^glue

it’s me and u holding hands, like other couples do. we’re better than those corny fuckers tho, hence the crowns on our heads.

ignoring my texts, BLOCKING ME (still upset about this BY THE WAY) and then ignoring my very nice letters is kinda a dick move f/l, but it’s whatevs. everything is almost ready for ur move in. i cleaned up n everything :D

from the only bitch worth ur time,

blitzø

<3 (ignore that, moxxie threw a gun at me and my hand slipped, might fire him)

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Hiya sweet cheeks!!!

It’s Mills here, just checking in! Via letter! Ain’t that just the fanciest little thing? Mox said it’s the best way to show thought and care to someone, so here’s all my thoughts and care, just for you!

How’ve you been? Good I hope, I’ve been just peachy thanks for asking! My Ma and Pa are super excited to meet ya one day, they’ve even started planning the wedding! Now I told them to slow their horses down, and not the overwhelm ya, we’ll get to that don’t you worry darlin.

Im just so excited to write this letter for you! Ain’t it so romantic?? I’m practically squealing in delight at the thought of you opening this and swoonin’, that’s what you’re doing, right?

Now i’m writing this on my break, and my boss really needs me back in the game! I got employ of the month! Most amount of kills, with the best and bloodiest results baby!

Until next time sweetheart,

Your Mills! ♡

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Hi y/n,

It’s Moxxie here, I was a little nervous to send this letter to you, but I always try to follow my heart, and my heart was telling me to communicate with you in the most romantic way I know how due to our current circumstances of being so far away. It’s hard, for the both of us i’m sure, but we’ll be okay y/n.

As much as I don’t get along with my father, he has been helpful with my preparations for your arrival. It’s a big deal, moving in together. I’m sure your anxious, I am too, but in the best way possible. Love is pure, and can make somebody feel whole, it’s a wonderful feeling. I never want that to be taken away from me, and you are the source of all my love. That’s why we need to be together, being only half a demon isn’t good for the soul.

We can do lots of fun things together as well, like go to the opera, or to musicals, or I can show you my shooting skills. My boss says that I have a pretty good shot, which is the biggest compliment he’s ever given me. And we can do things you like too, marriage is equal of course. Obviously, this will all happen later done the line, you’ll need time to adjust, and I understand that. I understand you.

I’m running out of room on my page, but I will write to you again tomorrow. Please respond? Just once, y/n? It’d be nice, to hold something from you since I can’t hold you yet.

All my love,

Your Moxxie <3

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Uh, hi?

Wait, you don’t put ‘uh’ in letters do you? Or put wait whilst you think, fuck shit fuck

Sorry, I’m new to this. Normally I just send a text to people but, your phone is off at the moment I think? Or you lost it? Or you blocked me?

Either way, I’ll send you these stupid letter things until it’s back on. So, uh, what are you up to? Blitz has been up my ass about meeting you, heads up, when I come get you and bring you to our room he’s gonna go all psycho dad mode and integrate you, but he’ll back off after a while. He’s a dick sure, but he does want me to be happy. And your, likeable or whatever, so i’m sure you’ll get along.

Once you get comfortable at home with me, Blitz said you could work with me at I.M.P. You’ll be like the co-secretary or something. You won’t be put in danger, I won’t let that happen, you’ll just get to sit with me. We can watch things together, if you wanted.

I guess i’ll see you soon, how do you end these?

See you,

Love from,

Regards?

Bye y/n,

Loona.

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My dearest y/n,

I hope this letter finds you well. I yearn for your presence here, besides me. It’s quite lonely without you, I will admit my dear. It would be oh so wonderful if you could write back. I understand you may be preoccupied with your current activities, but I can’t help myself from desiring a response. I know, it’s selfish of me to expect you to reply to my letters when you’ll be here with me shortly, but I can’t keep my thoughts at bay at the moment.

Your face is a constant in my mind, night and day, asleep and awake, your voice in my mind calms me when I need it most, your smile brightens the bleariest of moments and so on. You can imagine the difficulties I’m facing with no response from you, but that’s alright. If you can’t write back to me dear, I won’t pressure you. Your time is precious, and we will have all the time in hell quite soon. Isn’t that exciting?

I can give you the life you deserve n/n, any luxuries or mundanities you wish for will be handed to you on a silver platter. Or a golden one, if that’s more to your liking? We can properly discuss the specifics once we are together. How thrilling, the though of you and I together at last.

We truly are written in the stars!

Yours until the end of the sky and then some,

Stolas.

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Hey there baby,

It’s been a while, huh? I’m sorry if you feel neglected babe, it’s so hard keeping in contact with you when you’re so far away hun. Wouldn’t it be so much better if you were here with me? Sure I’ve got a lot of meetings, being a sin and all, but I’d be at your beck and call n/n, you could even be my new excuse to leave those awful “business” discussions. They barely talk business with me, it’s just complete bullshit babe.

I know the lust ring can be intimidating, we have quite the reputation, but I assure you, love is not a foreign concept to me. Romance is one of my most favourite things! Though that’s a secret, let’s keep that between us, yeah? That side of me is reserved for you n/n.

It’s so boring over here without you, I feel like i’m just lounging around and last time I checked, I was the lust sin, not the sloth sin. We’d have so much fun together babe! Can’t you picture it? Even if you can’t yet, I can wait. Having you near me will be enough, you are enough just as you are.

Sincerely yours,

Asmodeus (Ozzie) xoxo

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Heya cutie!

Letters are a lot harder to write than I thought they’d be y’know? I’ve rewritten this like 16 times already, sheesh. It just feels so awkward, I can’t see your reaction to my words which means I can’t fix any mistakes I’ve made :(. I’m sure I haven’t made any though! Right? This letters going really well so far and is definitely wooing you, right, y/n?

Hah, I’m asking questions as if you can reply right away. Silly old me, I don’t know what i’m worrying about! We’re meant to be together. I know it’s super sappy, but we’re like soulmates. Soulmates are bound to be together! That’s why I’m bringing you home soon, I can’t wait! I’ve got sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo many awesome tricks to show you!

And, the best news, I quit my job!! ༘⋆-ˋˏ ༘⋆-ˋˏ This means, we will have a LOT more time with each other, and you don’t have to worry about Mammon being possessive over me, because fuck him! I’m my own clown! Or, well, your clown.

I can’t wait to see you! This is going to be great for us, I pinky promise :P

Love from,

Fizzarolli !!!! ༘⋆!!,-!ˋˏ!!!

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[landoslvr]

MRS TELEVISION | a. frederick

summary: a scroll through your internet presence as 'mrs television'. [social media AU.]

pairing: fem!reader x arthur frederick (arthurtv)

faceclaim: bri kerr

notes: first piece for mrs television out of the wag universe. bri is gonna be the main fc I use for mrs television, hopefully you like it!

liked by arthurtv, arthurfhill and 1,129 others

yourinstagram helped out on someone else's video for once, chris finally let me leave the dungeon!!!

view all 92 comments

user she kills me

user hottest producer award goes to...

chrismd_10 drinking on the job?

yourinstagram constantly

user she looks peppered in the 3rd slide

user first risky pic from y/n ever on the 6th slide

georgeclarkey thanks for the candid of me and my man 😌😌

arthurtv please someone get him away from me

user y/n's friend is inhaling that guinness 🫢

arthurtv great photography for the 1st and 3rd pictures, big fan!

yourinstagram humble as ever mr television

liked by georgeclarkey, wroetoshaw and 1,398 others

yourinstagram lots of fun at work recently, constantly mixing business and pleasure 🥂 chrismd thanks for keeping me employed even if I drink at work

view all 120 comments

user I can't tell if shes joking about drinking at work 😭

user its definitely a joke, most bts has y/n yelling at chris to pull his head in lol

user she keeps him in line!

yourinstagram have been going on 15 years

user we thank you for your service 🫡

arthurtv no jerseys at the match???

yourinstagram the nerve!

chrismd_10 who's that handsome fella in the last slide?

miniminter leave the md clutches and come to sidemen

yourinstagram throw in talia and you have a deal

georgeclarkey you drunk

yourinstagram seems to be the new normal now, just embracing my new brand (like you and your Invisalign ads)

georgeclarkey too far

liked by callux, arthurtv and 1,781 others

yourinstagram more of a traveller atm than a producer! enjoyed spain very very much, definitely swipe to the 8th slide to see what arthur classifies as a front flip

view all 328 comments

arthurtv it's called being flexible, you wouldn't know anything about it

yourinstagram your six-year-old sister does a better front flip than you

arthurtv leave flora out of this

user guys stop flirting in front of us 😭😭 the false hope hurts

georgeclarkey always appreciate meeting a fan

yourinstagram die

calfreezy that photo was sacred y/n

chrismd_10 I feel ashamed, embarrassed

willne the absolute cheek

user why is no one talking about how good y/n looks in these pictures??

faithlouisak Im thinking the same thing?

user literal island princess

user is that danny aarons in the 5th picture 😭😭

yourinstagram dont even ask how he got the invite

chrismd_10 we're still not sure tbh

liked by callux, arthurtv and 1,901 others

yourinstagram filmed a very *cool* video this week 🌨️

view all 234 comments

arthurtv again, who is your photographer???? such raw talent is exquisite

yourinstagram im very close to letting him go actually, you can have him!

user arthur being the first to comment on her posts fuels my mrs television heart really, give us something guys

user I love them at my core I can't lie

user she is just so pretty

chrismd_10 get back to work

yourinstagram I literally just want to breathe chris

user someone make chris let y/n go, she needs to be a free woman

bezhinga faiths phone is dead but she says 'u look leng'

yourinstagram I love you faith kelly x

liked by callux, arthurtv and 2,193 others

yourinstagram very good friends! (happy one year doofus)

view all 401 comments

user A WHOLE ASS YEAR???????

user who even are they????????

user I feel like I have been swindled here miss l/n

user can we finally call her mrs television??? shes more than chris' producer now, she's one of us

arthurtv best friends for life! (I love you very much)

user I can't tell if im going to cry or faint tbh

user why is he always playing chess, arthur PLEASE

yourinstagram I'm asking this question all the time?

chrismd_10 I take credit for this relationship btw

yourinstagram how so?

chrismd_10 if I hadn't sat with arthur in class and then dragged you into our group project, I like to think this wouldn't have happened

georgeclarkey I love all of the fans so much but please stop sending me these pictures of my fiancé wrapped around another woman

user GEORGE PLEASE

[fox-mulder-gets-pegged]

Been spending my time lately thinking of a House MD au where, through a series of accidents and lies and a bet he didn't rly intend to win, House ends up as a registered foster parent (he's still addicted to Vicodin and his normal dickish workaholic self but for some reason he cleared the requirements and trust me he's as stunned and mildly concerned as everyone else is).

Through further Shenanigans™, he ends up accidentally getting handed fostership of not one, not two, but three hellish but brilliant kids:

1. This total smartass 16 year old named Robert Chase who yeah he's a bitchy teenaged boy and a former rich kid and Australian with enough mommy and daddy issues to reawaken Freud after his dad dipped and absconded all parental rights and his mom drank herself to death, but he's also got a nice car left over from his rich kid days and an eye for detail and weirdly enough his best friend/mortal enemy (some other teen named Eric Foreman) and his on again off again girlfriend (Allison Cameron, totally won't last if u ask House) both work at the hospital as a candy striper and after school in the cafeteria respectively so House can get all the inside gossip from Chase. Plus Chase has no problems breaking and entering into patient's homes which helps bc since he's not employed by the hospital Cuddy can't complain as far as House is concerned.

2. A 14 year old girl who only answers to Thirteen (House knows he could look her name up in her file but honestly it drives Chase nuts that she won't tell him her real name and that's good enough for him) and who's dad was declared unfit after the death of his wife to Huntington's devastated him. She's a total nightmare, snarky and quick witted and freakishly smart even tho she puts most of those smarts towards things like shaving Chase's entire head (eyebrows included) bc he's trying to grow a sucky teenage mustache, and trying to take House's wallet bc she keeps calling him Old Man and he informed her he's actually only 25 but the stress of fostering has aged him prematurely and she's like 95% sure that's a lie but she wants to check his license and make sure bc everyone lies. She loves tormenting Chase by telling him his best friend and/or his girlfriend is hot and asking if they're single.

And 3. This 6 year old boy named Lawrence Kutner who's weirdly cheerful considering his parents got killed in front of him. He's way too chatty and excellent at puzzles and the only morning person in the entire house and therefore frequently tries to make breakfast (he likes to be helpful and he hasn't burned the place down yet so House doesn't feel the need to stop him). Once he told House he was gonna build a Death Star in the living room and House said lol sure go ahead whatever, only to return home from work to discover Kutner called himself out from school and has a huge wooden frame made of broken furniture in the living room. House rly can't argue since he did say go ahead. Benefits of fostering a 6 year old are 1. The babes love it, 2. Free excuse to leave work early/come in late/not show up at all, and 3. Justification for buying juice boxes and Ritz crackers. The neighbor kid Taub is his go to babysitter bc his mom volunteered him forcibly and Taub is lowkey praying that babysitting Kutner could lead to an in at Princeton Plainsboro once he graduates high-school and finishes medical school (it won't, House doesn't believe in nepotism unless it benefits him).

The adventures of House and his Foster Ducklings mostly revolve around being a Found Family, but do involve frequent plots such as:

House fired his brand new fellows again (he tosses em every three or so months, he hasn't found The Right Team yet) and will sometimes bring his foster kids in, hand em doctors coats, and tell patients that they're just a bunch of medical savants here to consult yes even the 6 year old he's actually Harvard's youngest graduate ever.

House sends the kids to break into a patient's home. They refuse. House tells them the first one to find black mold or lead paint or a dead animal or whatever gets $20. They agree. Chase drops Thirteen and Kutner off at a bus stop across town and drives over himself so he can get an hour and a half head start (ultimate fuck them kids moment, however Thirteen did steal his wallet so guess who's paying for lunch and their taxi ride to the patient's house? Net loss.)

Cuddy demands House does his clinic hours. House sends his foster kids to do his clinic hours for him. Tfw you go to the free walk in clinic for a sore throat and a cough and your doctor is a 6 year old boy who keeps asking for help with spelling whilst filling out your chart.

Wilson babysits them one (1) time since House doesn't trust Chase not to throw a party or sell his foster siblings on eBay if left as the one in charge. He wakes up with a big strip of hair poorly bleached right down the middle. Chase crushed up stolen sleeping pills and mixed them into a juice box, which Kutner 'innocently' offered to Wilson. Thirteen was going to bleach and dye his whole head blue (for practice, she wants to dye her hair but she's certainly not gonna fuck up her own hair until she has the method down) but Wilson woke up pretty quickly due to years of House drugging him. Wilson has not offered to babysit again.

Anyways this is my House Foster Ducklings au which I'm thinking about actually writing. Thank u 🫡

[wangxianficfinder]

Fic Finder

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1. Hello, I've been struggling to find a fic, which is Annoying me since i think it was fairly popular.. all I remember is that WWX was helping out JGY and liked him, up until he ran in on him trying to kill Rusong, since he had health-monitoring talismans on people he cared about.. There was also a big reveal where he ran with Rusong to Lotus Pier, and Huaisand with I think XXC and SL came to warn JC that WWX is alive, and WWX started laughing? Please help, it's driving me crazy xD @yumehbby

FOUND! Unbreakable Heaven, Luminous Earth by carolyncaves (M, 96k, wangxian, canon divergence, graphic depictions of violence, Secret identity, sharing a bed, literal sleeping together, suicidal thoughts, angst w happy ending, blood & injury, hurt/comfort, caretaking, fluff, power imbalance, JYL lives, not everyone dies au) sounds like Unbreakable Heaven, Luminous Earth by carolyncaves; most of the scenes described happen in chapter 10.

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2. Hello I need to employ the services of your fic finder! There’s this fic I read not that long ago with thief!lwj and assassin!wwx and they were living their best domestic life together while also not knowing about the other’s occupation until lwj was kidnapped by the wens for stealing from them and then wwx went to bust him out. I remember there were three chapters, lwj pov, wwx pov, and lwj pov again, and I feel like it was a relatively newer fic but idk. I do know I found it on this blog but I cannot for the life of me find it again. I loved it and I wanna read it again so fic sleuths help me pls I’m desperate

FOUND! all the problems we could solve by Stratisphyre (T, 20k, wangxian, modern, getting together, fluff, humor, violence, meet-cute, identity porn, thieves au)

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3. Hi! I am looking for a fanfic where wwx was resurrected but in a different body than MXY not long after LWJ was punished. WWX went to Cloud Recesses to find A-Yuan but found a wounded LWJ lying in Jingshi. Oh and WWX had a curse that was preventing him from being happy because every time he felt happy, he began to bleed from his forearm that would result in him dying. And i think that he was resurrected in Nie OC body??? I'm sorry for any mistakes in grammar and thank you !!! :)

I remember 3. It also involves lwj being infected with resentful energy which is preventing his healing and wwx gets rid of it. He gets caught by lxc who decides to protect him, and the terms of his curse is he can never be happy.

FOUND! A Storm of Laughter in the Stillness of the Jingshi by OnlyMeAndMyBones, 2nd in series (T, 74k, wangxian, LXC & LWJ, LXC & WWX, angst w happy ending, hurt/comfort, injury, recovery, mental illness, depression, PTSD, rehabilitation, slow burn, empathy, guilt, forgiveness, suicidal thoughts)

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4. Was wondering if u can find me this omegaverse fic which happens during modern setting , wy and lz are both alphas and roommates and in the fic everyone was telling wy he shouldn’t room with lz because alphas are super territorial but wy is like nah we are besties and it’s kind of dark lz as lz ends up using drugs? I think to change wy into an omega tho wy doesn’t realise it’s because of lz.

FOUND? the twisting of secondary genders by HeavenlySkyfarer (E, 7k, wangxian, modern, ABO, non-con secondary gender modification, extremely dubious consent, dead dove do not eat, forced heat, baby trapping, dark LWJ)

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5. Hi was hoping u can find this modern au fic and it’s like sushe’s POV if I’m not wrong and hes not really a piece of shit but the setting is in University and wangxian is doing long distance and sushe kind of into lz but doesn’t believe he’s in a relationship until wy shows up on a motorcycle at their uni

I think #5 of the fic finder (the Su She POV one) is Mine by kippalittlefox, but I guess it has been deleted! It was a a sequel to cicer's 'You've ruined my life (by not being mine)'. The ao3 URL ends with /works/24860230 if anyone wants to try webarchive

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6. A modern au where wwx is sick and meant to call jyl but texted Lwj instead. The text was- Omg I'm dead I'm dying I'm gone... beautiful light of my life, save your baby bunny, I need soup

FOUND? The curious dating rituals of one Lan Zhan (as observed by Wei Ying) by Scrippio (T, 7k, wangxian, modern, College/university au, fluff)

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7. Hi! I’m looking for a Wangxian fic i read a long tiem ago, but I can’t remember the author or title, and was hoping you could help! I’m pretty sure it’s a modern friends to lovers au? Wwx keeps taking random pics of lan zhan and making puns that rhyme with hanguang jun. There’s at least one scene involving a martial arts class at a Chinese community center i think, and wwx might be involved in environmental activism? Anyways, thanks for the help!

Not FOUND might be ❤️ save a sword, ride a socialist by sysrae (E, 33k, wangxian, modern w magic, college/university au, fake/pretend relationship, single parent WWX, homophobia, light angst w/ happy ending, idiots to lovers, fluff) . If not OP might enjoy it

FOUND! Out of the Bin and Into Your Heart by Alaceron (T, 27k, WangXian, Modern AU, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Oblivious WWX)

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8. Hi! I had previously asked for a series of some 20+ fics which was about emperor lwj taking in wy as concubine after lqr and elder keep pressing him about it, much to lqr and elders' dismay. I got the answer from here, but i forgot to save it :(. Now i can't find that post here . Help me out pls

FOUND? The Concubine Mo Chronicles Series by Enigmatree (T, 79k, WangXian, Royalty AU, Prince LWJ, Concubine WWX, Mild Hurt/Comfort)

FOUND? The one where WWX is not LWJ's concubine AU Series by Lookingkindofdumb (Varied, 89k, WIP, WangXian, Non-Cultivator AU, Emperor LXC, Concubine AU, Rumors, Humor, Politics, Extended family chaos)

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9. Hi ! Can u find me a fic? The summary is basically future wy transports to the past where everyone is basically stuck in this cafe and they solve their emotional trauma and after that is solved both wys go back to their own timeline and everyone lives and no one dies

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10. Hi there! Thank you so much for your great work!

I am looking for a fic that I am pretty sure was a Tumblr thread fic. In it WWX was kept with other prisoners in water and then Wen Ning was killed by water being poured over his face covered in paper.

It was not finished when I read it and I have not run into it again, so I really hopes it was continued.

Everyone's help is greatly appreciated!

is either by @besanii or @sarah-yyy

FOUND! Rebuttable Presumption by @/sarah-yyy

FOUND! Shattered Mirrors by @/besanii

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11. Hello there! I'm looking for a fic I just read but can't even find the post that recommended it -_-

It was in a modern setting but the same universe and lan zhan doesn't remember wei ying when he meets him as a substitute cultivator at the jiang clan. Turns out he was cursed with a mark behind his ear that made him forget wei ying completely. The curse was to cure a japanese h-something disease which was basically being super love sick and puking up flowers? @iwannhaveacoolone (do you mean Hanahaki? - Mod C)

FOUND! long have you been alone by martyrsdaughter (E, 56k, WangXian, Modern with Magic, Modern Cultivation, Amnesia, Curses, Hanahaki Disease, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Workplace Relationship, Light Angst, Sexual Content, Mild Painplay, Overstimulation, WWX Has a Breeding Kink, Light Bondage, Mild Gore, Mild Breathplay, Brief Mentions of WWX/Others and LWJ/Others, other relationships are past tense and off screen exclusively)

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12. Hii i dont know how to use tumbler properly so i decided to ask here. I am looking for two wangxian fanfcis.

A) The first one begins with wei ying and lan zhan's death - mo xuanyu's core is not strong enough to help wei ying reach immortality just prolongs his life. lan zhan decided he does not want immmortality if wei ying is not with him so lan zhan shares/sustains wei ying and himself with his golden core until he runs out of energy and they die toghether in the jingshi. However, next thing you know they are in the past. That is all i can remember

on the first one. I read it on ao3.

B) The second one i don't remember much - just that there is a part in the fanfic where wei ying finds out about lan zhans scars and how he got them. They end up in the cold spring/cold pond and wei ying somehow heals all of lan zhans scars using energy? while there. Not sure if it is spiritual or resentfull? After i know Lan zhan ends up in front of the gusu lan elders i don't remember why ther find out that wei ying has cured him/healed his back scars because they are gone - his back is smooth again and wei ying appears in front of the elders to threaten them no to hurt lan zhan. I am not sure how long is the fanfic but i know it doesnt revolve around this particular thing. Also read this one on ao3.

I am sorry for the errors in spelling english is nit my first language. Thank you in advance for finding the fanfics. @dacika98

12A)

FOUND? in case of fire, break glass by Jenrose (T, 65k, WangXian, Time Travel, Established Relationship, Hurt/comfort, Everyone loves/nobody dies)

12B)

FOUND? This one sounds like Silver & Gold by beeswaxing  (E, 162k, wangxian, post-canon, de-aging, fluff & angst, happy ending, fix-it of sorts, family bonding, established relationship, non-sexual intimacy, BAMF WWX, pining, protective WWX)

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13. It's been a while! It's boyfriend! (Hello again! - Mod C)

There's a fic that I have been trying to find for a while now and I forgot what it is about. All I remember is this:

- Madam Yu good so is the rest of the Jiang

- I think it's something about time travel fix it

-The Jiang Family + Wei Wuxian talking about Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling's weird naming of dogs and then they said something about Sect Leader Jiang naming the Sword suibian. Someone in the group said it runs in the family to which Jiang Cheng refuted it by saying his name and Yanli's name were good names. Madam Yu just laughed and said that it was her who named them and not Jiang Fengmian.

I'm sorry that's all I remember but anyway thank you in advance!!

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14. Hi, the fic i am looking for takes place post-canon. I think the focus point was A-Yuan trying to find out more about his past and coming to terms with his wen family and how they were treated by the other clans.

There is a scene where he sits on a roof with Jin Ling and they drink together. LSH talks about having problems with forgiving people he loves and JL gives him advice? I think they also apologize to each other and JL tells him to talk to Jiang Cheng.

Pretty sure I read it on AO3. The scene is just really stuck in my head and I would love to reread the fic bc I love A-Yuan trying to navigate the impact of all those relegation at the end of Canon have on his life. @fangirl-oracle

Hi, #14 was "history" by tongzhi on AO3. I found an old save of ao3 tabs and it was there, but thanks for looking <3

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15. Hello! I'm searching for this one fanfiction but I forgot what tags it had (I'm a doof I should've marked it read later sadge)

It's about WWX annoying LWJ so much that LWJ used the silencing spell on him not because WWX was breaking the rules, but because he was annoyed and the spell was too strong for him to break cuz it was put on out of strong emotion.

((I also remember SS saying something like "Oh the Great and Powerful second jade made a mistake, not feeling so great anymore don'tcha" or something along that lines))

Pls help me because I am lost at fic finding😭

FOUND! Couldn't Scream Couldn't Shout by mermorgie (T, 42k, WIP, WangXian, Not for jc stans, i tried to not bash jc too much but like, Muteness, Sign Language, references to selective mutism, Homophobic JC, canon jc characteristics, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Anxiety Attacks, Pining, LWJ is a Panicked Gay, Supportive Sibling LXC, JZX Tries, LQR Tries, Protective JZX, Scheming NHS, Bisexual, JZX, LWJ is Bad at Communicating, WWX Has ADHD, Autistic LWJ, WWX Has a Fear of Dogs, Jiāng Family Bashing)

~*~

16. Sorry to Bother, but can you find a fic for me? All I remember from the story is LWJ and WWX live in Gusu. One day LWJ goes to teach and WWX talks to A-Yuan and Jingyi. WWX told them he wanted to demonstrate his latest innovation, but before he could do so LWJ came with a letter from JC. The letter says that JC asked WWX for help to investigate "something". Then it was discovered that there was a man who practiced demonic cultivation and there was "something" that supported him. At the end of the story WWX managed to seal the "something" in a rock with his life force so that the "something" would not be able to escape. Thank you(⁠✿⁠^⁠‿⁠^⁠) @hjgn1010

FOUND! Hating Separation by thelamespaceace (T, 60k, WangXian, JC & WWX, Post-Canon, Case Fic, Yunmeng Shuangjie, Reconciliation, Miscommunication, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Cultivation as Plot Device, Brotherly Love, In-Laws finding common ground, Angst with a Happy Ending)

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17. Hello, I'm looking for a fic where Wangxian is Princes in a modern world. It involves a social media post (insta/twitter/something?) from WWX and create gossips between Yunmeng and Gusu? WWX being oblivious as usual but in the end Wangxian is together. I think it has very amazing profiles with pictures in it for each Royalty/Kingdom/Palace and news/gossip/media articles in it. I think there's Nie Mingjue/Wen Qing/Jiang Cheng in it, maybe triangle love or political fake repationship?

FOUND? A Clear (Mis)Understanding by devinokaze (T, 73k, WangXian, XuanLi, Modern AU, Social Media, Royalty, happy fic, Fluff, Just some light reading, Humor)

~*~

18. hey i've been looking for this fic i read a while ago that i just cant find again.

I don't really remember what it was about but it was modern au and i remember there was a scene where wei wuxian meets lan xichen and then he's like "wow he is so perfect it makes me seem like a gremlin haha" and then lan wangji pulls out his phone and starts showing him embarrassing pictures of lan xichen like a live laugh love poster in his and meng yaos living room and a picture of him being extremely drunk at his engagement party bc he made an entire photo album with embarrassing pictures of lan xichen to show people.

I don't remember anything else tho, sorry, but maybe that sounds familiar to any of you. @razzleberryicedtea

FOUND! OMEGA GRAD STUDENT GETS PREGNANT: YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT HAPPENS NEXT by attackofthezee (noxlunate) (E, 21k, wangxian, modern, ABO, past WWX/Other, mpreg, omega WWX, alpha LWJ, unplanned pregnancy, graduate school au, pining, falling in love, kid fic, fluff)

~*~

19. hiii i have this fanfic i forgot the tags to 😅 in the ff wwx and jc were motorcycle racers and lan zhan was a sponsor i think. in one of the races wwx gets into a accident because of jin zixun and his motorcycle slams into him and gets him into a hospital. i remember a baby jin ling being really worried and same goes to a-yuan. i hope you can help me and thank you so much!!! @vicleey​

FOUND! Let's you and me go on a ride by rinsled05 (T, 21k, wangxian, modern, racing au, bikers, motoGP, romance, falling in love, love confessions, brotherly love, fluff, hurt/comfort, love at first sight)

~*~

20. Hi can you help me find a wangxian fic wherein wei ying got save from falling of the cliff and he didn't die, he live with his master in the mountains he has been given another name because he got an amnesia

FOUND? The Porcelain Lotus of Yunmeng by The Feels Whale (miscellea) (T, 16k, wangxian, JC pov, amnesia, JC & WWX reconciliation, LWJ pov)

iirc involves Baoshan Sanren and Lan Yi saving him. He either had received a core from a Wen remnant or bssr transferred her own. He learns to cook while having amnesia and wears clothes that have talismans sewn into him that disguise his appearance.

FOUND? Until The End by abCEE (M, 365k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, war changes people, resulting to OOC, no pinning, Established Relationship, Mpreg, Good Uncle LQR, a little grey LWJ, a bit of JC bashing from LWJ, BAMF JYL, 16 years of yearning, mainly CQL verse but has scenes from the novel as well, LSZ is WangXian's Child, WWX Has a New Golden Core, Canon Rewrite, Happy Ending, Fix-It of Sorts)

~*~

[debbeh]

can u tell me EVERYTHING u know abt negatus??? like im serious i need u to go absolutely ham i need this to take me three whole days to read it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT

yall are not gonna believe who just forgot to press save...

Anyways, you asked for this and here it is...

Negatus's full name is James E. Negatus

It is implied that he has at least one child

He has pjs with houses on them

He cannonically has at least two stuffed animals

Admiral Anous attempted to burn one of them (Toby) but pissed off Negatus enough to get axed in the chest and thrown into a freezer instead

Negatus is very boastful, mostly in an attempt to impress and be liked by others

He's generally smart but tends to overlook major flaws in his plans

He had 381 demons, most of which he killed when they failed to win a tournament, which he wanted to win because he thought that would make people like him

the remaining demons are Rita (the Negatus simp), Niel (the Rita simp), and Jeff (the dumb one)

Negatus usually calls his boss, Imperatrix "your eminence" but behind her back calls her bossy boobs

when his demons fail him he calls them cretins

He once sent his demons on a teambuilding retreat and joined when he saw the instructor was hot. He failed to remember however, that he killed the instructor's parents and most of her village

When he thinks Imperatrix is dead he plans to stage a coup, creating his famous logo and planning the new layout of Yonderland (Negataland) which just so happens to be an exact replica of the Mona Lisa.

When Imperatrix does die (spoilers), Cuddly Dick takes over, who throws Negatus in jail. Debbie breaks him out of prison but not before he establishes himself in the prison library. He and Debbie totally have a moment together before Negatus finds out she's married.

At this time too, we learn about Negatus's rough childhood and how he was forced to eat his pet dog Scratchy which his father baked into a pie

meanwhile the Elders are being forced to do the same with their new pet rabbits but Negatus is there just in time to save them

Negatus serves as a spy for the Elders after this but eventually goes back to working for Dick and betraying Debbie.

Finally in the Christmas special, Negatus catches Chompus (the monster that eats everyone's presents every year) and goes to steal more presents from Yonderland as well as Debbies house.

Here, there's a Grinch moment where Negatus sees Debbie's daughter who makes Negatus feel bad for stealing her presents and he FINALLY has a full redemption arc.

Negatus usually wears his leather outfit complete with black eyeliner, black nail polish, and occasionally red lipstick

for attending (sneaking into) a meeting with the overlords, he wears a red version of his helmet (the same thing + some red fabric) plus some more lipstick and a cape with camping badges on it.

since he tends to brag a little too much, the overlords are convinced he actually did kill 2 or 3 megadragons and he is invited to hold a seminar on being evil... and he accidentally kills everyone there

Negatus is totally in love with Debbie as on multiple occasions he has described her as pretty and eaten deodorant when she says to him "I see you in a totally different way now" (approximately 2 seconds before telling him she's married)

One time he dressed up as "Dirty Ernie" (a name he made up on the spot) to kidnap Debbie. Dirty Ernie's outfit is basically just gross clothes plus big overcoat, fingerless gloves, a very stained beanie, and what appear to be some white converse shoes.

This is the episode where he learns he's really good at football (⚽) and that his father was not proud of him but his new friends (that he will betray in .3 secons) including Debbie are proud of him. This is also when Debbie kisses him on the cheek and his reaction is fucking adorable

Negatus, when employed by the Elders as a double agent, had to basically be a maid for the other overlords who loooooove picking on him

Negatus my be dumb but his demons are (usually) much dumber

He uses the font of oris to observe things but mostly (and very frequently) uses it as a bathtub

he lives in his lair which is completely staffed. The main rooms include the throneroom, cells, bedroom, kitchen, well leading to a treasure room, and completely unguarded back entrance.

He had all the hallways painted different shades of grey (they are all the same and he frequently gets lost).

He has emergency electric lights just in case the candles fail.

he once bought a mech suit to kill Debbie and the Elders but overloaded it with so many weapons that it shut down and he fell over. Good news, the hair dryer still works

Negatus’s mech suit is actually made from miscellaneous kids toys and a sled. It was also Farnaby’s dream to get to be in a mech suit and has mentioned that the voice he does in this scene was to mock how airline pilots talk.

This is all I can think of and Stats has killed my brain so there u go 👍

[blaiddfailcam]

Idk man. It felt a bit like you were being all git gud about this guy and then when someone said “is it really owning someone when it’s two on one with two strong builds?” And though the guy was real rude and uncalled for in how he said it, I don’t see how policing victories like that is much worse than mocking someone as a tryhard for losing a really stacked fight

This is such bizarre discourse. But sure, I'll oblige.

I think if I messaged someone directly and told them "LOL I OWNED U SO HARD," that would be pretty shitty. But I'm just posting a dumb video to my personal account where my counterattack looked cool, lol. I use this blog as a journal, and this particular exchange was gratifying because I got to showcase how lethal my dumb playstyle can actually be. If I sounded like I was gloating, I was, because I know I suck as a competitive player and it feels good to defend a host who's clearly not very skilled.

I didn't think it was necessary to include all three minutes of the invader, whom I observed as quite capable and skillful, baiting other cooperators and the host to that same old pinch point beneath the cliff behind the tomb, then killing everyone who dared to follow them. I also didn't include the two following times they invaded this exact same host, did the same thing again, eventually killing me as well. If what I was doing was "bullying," I don't think invaders like them would continuously and purposely seek out challenges against entire teams, would they?

Moreover, I'm actually a pretty sympathetic player, often to my detriment! If I can tell an invader doesn't stand much a chance without booking it to a den of mobs for backup, I tend to take the backseat. (You can see at the start of the video that I was kind of just goofing around, then debating what setup I wanted before deciding on a clean, simple counterattack.) I don't seek out gank squads, either—I just send my summoning sign to the wind, whether for PvE or PvP. Whatever the host's goal, they're employing my service as a cooperator, so I simply follow suit. Ideally, I prefer a good fight club, but some invaders at the First Step aren't about that and will try to take on everyone at once. And what can I say? There's something very liberating about hunting someone down as a pack, lmao.

Lastly... it's how the game is designed. There's no way to be an "unfair" player unless you're clearly using cheap exploits or glitches (which as of late, a good number of invaders are mysteeeriously invincible). Ganking has always been a thing, and while I normally avoid partaking in it, it's not like it's an accident that From forgot to address. Elden Ring gives solo invaders vastly more tools to effectively deter gankers, which I always found fascinating. For as much honor anyone wishes to preserve, there are no rules in the game against a gank. It's just a game, after all—the invader can simply try again, as this one did, I imagine because they enjoy the challenge.

The person who responded to my video has kind of irked me before with comments about how my playstyle is "wrong" or giving me backhanded compliments (?), and I got kind of sick of it. I don't care to be The Perfect Player, or even renowned for my alleged skill with a focused build. I'm just enjoying the game for the silly stuff I can pull, then celebrating to myself. I'm not sure how that's offensive to anyone, unless they're upset with From's approach to PvP and invasion in general. Regardless, I think it's much more rude to share someone's video and swear at them for playing in a way they don't like, lol. Do you know how much nonsense I see people post and simply move on with my life, because it doesn't actually affect anyone?

I'm not sure how I'm supposed to make it up to everyone. Merciless, if you're reading this, sorry I killed you twice, and also thank you for giving me the opportunity to feel like I accomplished something. Let's get a drink.

[1eos]

Miss kendra do u mind me asking more about laylas family? I know she has at least one sister thats pro kill the angel state (sexy and valid) but are they all like that? And does dante have a family? Love your ocs so much ❤️

omg 💖😁 i don't mind at all!!!!!!! no laylas family is not all on the same page. its a bit of a mess actually. she has 3 siblings total. sister brother sister and then layla's the baby

zinnias the eldest and she's pro angel state only bc she likes the comfort of the status quo. the don't rock the boat eldest sister. and she has this mindset bc HER life is perfect and she thinks other ppl can have perfect lives if they just make peace with how things are.

rion (they call him io) is the middle brother. he starts out pro angel state and actually wants to be an angel cop thinking he can be 'one of the good ones'. and we know how that goes 😭😭😭😭 my plan is to have him uhhh realize that's not it and eventually change sides bc he means well

yarrow is the middle sister and she's against the angel state but is still pro gods which puts her at odds w layla who doesnt trust anyone who's ascended to godhood. yarrow thinks they can reform the system

and honestly the siblings who eventually push towards being anti the angel state would be more powerful together but layla and yarrow cant see eye to eye bc yarrows scared of layla after the Incident. and their manipulative hateful mother pits the four of them against each other frequently. laylas gone no contact tho. she's free

oh and they also have a very relevant maternal grandparent. [name still pending] he was like rion and thought he could change the angel society from within and as he got older he saw the truth and is now not a fan of the angel state and encourages his grandchildren to be #freethinkers. and the reason why laylas basically a wandering quasi employed 20 something at the start of the story is that her grandfather thinks its great that in a world where the angels want to tell u what to do at all times that a young person can just do whatever and figure out what they want to do themselves

as for danteeeee. they have one sibling. [name pending] but im thinking its a twin bc a thing abt dante is that he was born w reduced magical capacities so he can't do much magic without blowing himself up so he siphons magic off layla who has TOO much magical power and is at threat of blowing HERSELF up (their relationship is very symbiotic you'll learn)

anyways politically the twin is......they look out for themselves first and foremost 😭😭😭😭 they revel in passion and fighting and 'killing intent' so for the most of the story theyre trying to kick up conflicts in kinda-hell? (demons live in like the suburbs of hell? its not grotesque at all but if you go beyond city bounds u will just be in actual hell. they make it work) and you'd think they'd hate angels on principle and they kinda do but they're much more neutral abt it. demons are relatively harmless unless provoked

anyways socio political things aside dante only has one biological full sibling but he grew up in a big intergenerational family where all the cousins were raised like siblings so he's got at least 5 little 'siblings' that he's basically helped raise since they were itty bitty babies so theyr'e actually really good w kids and it shocks everyone

[isp-annafer]

I feel like Seth investigation into the conspiracy to Begin to start suspecting something in empire too. which might lead him to contacting Edelgard? Because there's two conclusion I could draw if he found out the council was collaboration with another group. First was that The massacre situation was made with the help from the empire, alliance or the church. That would made him keep close eyes on the authority of each state. Which might lead him to noticed that some suspecting shit was going down in the empire royalty. Which I don't know, Edelgard suddenly dropping out from the radar and reappearing with different personality plus white hair? That in the same decade, both kings of two kingdoms just got off from their power? That's conspiracy if I ever see one.

Plus, he must have known her too when she was in the kingdom. Maybe even form a secret alliance. Can't imagine him being too religious.

Seth: Suspicious things are afoot here, and it is definitely fucking up my next decade.

On that note, yes Seth finds it very alarming that two kings of different countries have suddenly either been deposed or killed, PLUS, if you count the Von Reigan heir being killed in the Alliance as somewhat of a royalty, then you have THREE killings of a country's leader/next-in-line to take into account.

Of course, Seth can go the conspiracy route of suspecting there's a fourth party out there orchestrating ALL those deaths, but those sound like some kind of, haha, i dont know, convoluted b-rate royalty drama. No way that happens IRL, right? RIGHT???

(God, please dont tell him it is. He has already so much stress to deal with, f u c k.)

Unfortunately, I dont think Seth will contact Edelgard. Take note of worrying changes, yes, but no contact. The paranoia of a power controlling her every move stays his hand, and as much as he suspects something horrible is afoot in the Empire, he has his own family and kingdom to protect first.

Also the thought of young Dimitri dragging Edelgard to meet his 'cool' older cousin delights me. Edelgard likes him well enough, but in a, oh nice to meet you, sort of way. Its only after all the shit she goes through that she looks at him in a new light. What had once been a Second Prince's Bastard is now a King. Someone who had once been known as crestless actually isnt. Either:

1) he was also an experiment of the TWSITD, and, perhaps, one of their lackeys now that theyve given him enough power to take the throne for himself or

2) the rumors are true and he had consciously kept it hidden for one reason or another. Had he seen the unfair disadvantages the crestless faced against those with crests and had staged his own, personal protest against it by hiding his own? Did he realize he would likely have been pitted against Dimitri if he had revealed he had a crest? Did he really reveal his crest as a grab for power, or as a way to shield Dimitri from the backlash of the massacre and his father's murder?

Either way, Edelgard finds him interesting.

What are the education system in Fe3h anyway? Because it seem like Seth major opposition and sabotage would come from the Council and nobles. But he still need support and power of some kind other than from Rodreig. As a King, the most powerful kind of support would be from the citizens themselves. I also can't imagine him liking the nobility system that much. So maybe he slowly transfer some power to the common people? Giving them education like reading, writing and math? Employing them in some governmental system? Giving them some trading business that they would own? A union headed by themselves with his support? Because if he does that, not only people would love him, he could also transfer some power own by the council to the people, which would make his job easier.

Truly, one of the most powerful assets the King has is his popularity with his people. Unfortunately, Seth came into power at the death of who had been, i think canonically, a very loved King, and with the rather awful rumors surrounding him in his ascension, he's not exactly popular with both his citizens AND most of the council right now.

He'll have to start gaining the people's trust AND Rodrigue's allies trust. All those years being generally standoffish to other nobles has come back to bite him in the ass. There's his Father's allies too, as few and sometimes as suspicious as they are, but theyll at least support his rule.

And as much as he doesnt like the noble system, it wont be very easy weakening the system down at the moment. It wont make him very well liked with the nobles, especially those who dont trust him, and with the people themselves-- that's up in the air. Seth can try to convince them, but setting up an entirely new system, especially with the Kingdom in such a fragile state, would be very hard for him at the moment. And that's IF people will go along with it. A change like that is scary and will likely take years or decades to put into place.

Gotta think about it more. Hmmm.

If there's no school in the kingdom, maybe he can make one. A Royal school, that enroll royalty and nobility, teaching literature, art, Knight, manner and so on. Which could gave him the sneaky excuse to build one for the commoner too. Plus, reduce the church influence.

I actually read a novel involving such school. Apparently, the founder of the kingdom made such school, which is also a dorm, to get the noble children sometimes away from the family. They can't deny going to school as there's both advantage, such as connection, education and courting from such school, and social pressure. Getting them away from family influence and under the influence of a Royal found school would enable them to subtly change the children mind to what they want, instead of what their family say.

Also the fact that the founders actually planned to have commoners slowly enroll into the Royal school more and nore, such as scholarship privilege for their skill. which would eventually change the social status of the kingdom and make the noble system disappear and make it more democracy.

I think there's a magic school mentioned in-game. Plus, I imagine there's some basic classes provided by the churches there, but no major school.

Setting up a school will take time that I dont think Seth has. Maybe he can give it as a suggestion to Dimitri once he has the crown. For now, if Seth does plan on making a school, he can just set up the foundation of it and leave the actual establishing to his younger cousin, lol. Can you imagine Seth being sneaky and like, requiring each household to have a book of Sothis or whatever its called, and so of course if they all have books, they have to know how to read it, so the churches + Seth have to set up lessons in each town and village, and if theyre already learning Reading, then we'll just add in Numbers and History as well, and OH, if theyre already here, maybe we can set up a system in which Masters or Artisans looking for a student or apprentice can look into the kids already there to see if any of them are interested--

You get the point.

And im pretty there the only school like that in Fodlan is the Academy itself, except its under the church's purview so, Welp.

So. Dimitri being in Seth shadow, protecting him but giving him self doubt. With Seth teaching Dimitri ruling, his success and mistake, preparing his would be close subject. It would be clear to all in the know that he truly intended to hand over the crown and is preparing Dimitri for it. If Seth really is very good at this King thing, maybe even they would begin to think sometime that it's fine to continue this way. The only thing that would stop them from suggesting it to Seth would be that he absolutely hate responsibility and is preparing to run off and enjoy a slacker life. Maybe even some off hand comment that since he's very good at being king, he should just continue it, would be meet with either murderous glare saying he absolutely hate being king and is going to run once things go to ready. Or maybe some confusion and reply with if he really looks like a king with large amount of swear word. Because really. What kind of king curse like a sailor in public?

Dimitri and Seth's relationship is my favorite part about this story. Dimitri protected by and stiffled by the shadow of an older cousin that he undoubtedly loves and is loved by in return. All the complicated feelings about the hidden Crest and the fact that Dimitri not feeling like he's worth the crown nd the big shoes Seth will leave him when he gives the crown to Dimitri. Love it.

Seth will have to simultaneously make it so that he'd be a horrible king, but also an effective one so that Dimitri will want to take the throne after him, but also doesnt think he did a shit job at it. He doesnt want to be stuck with this job til someone murders him, thanks.

[ashesandhackles]

The Abandoned Boy And His Problematic Fathers: Snape with Voldemort & Dumbledore

"He and Voldemort and Snape, the abandoned boys, all found home here..” - Forest Again, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

This comparison line of Harry, Snape and Voldemort being abandoned boys is not an accident. There is an intentional parallel being made between three of them - not only in terms of their parallels with the Hallows (as Tumblr has astutely pointed out), but also the commonalities in their upbringing. Given that Harry empathises so deeply with both of them, I am going to argue one of Harry’s attributes was present in all of them. We know that as an abandoned boy with lack of male authority figures to model after, Harry strongly craved a father. Here is a meta by u/metametatron4 that tracks Harry’s feelings about James (and Snape) through the series.

In Voldemort’s case, Tom believes his father to be the magical one and keeps his father’s name until he could no longer prove that it was his father who gave him his “special” lineage. He goes as far as searching Hogwarts records for his father because in his mind, his mother was “weak” to die. Once he is forced to concede that his mother is the magical one, he chooses to emphasise her ancestry in a paternal sense - “Salazar Slytherin, greatest of Hogwarts four”, tying himself up in grandeur. He also killed his father and his own paternal side of the family, his source of rage and shame. He sheds his father's name and becomes someone else, only known by his "special" magical lineage - cutting off that undesirable part of himself. Voldemort’s reaction to both his parent’s abandonment is to be special in every way, and choosing to discard love and seek power and control - a place where he is not rejected at all.

Snape is different from both Harry and Voldemort is that he specifically rejects his abusive father, having known him. As a child, he is seen wearing his mother’s clothes, only with an overlong coat that might belong to his father on a hot sunny day. As per Pottermore, he occasionally got whipped - so one can assume the coat is to hide that. Harry identifies strongly to Snape wearing overlong clothes that don’t quite fit him - a clear sign of neglect, if anything else. The fact that he wears his mother’s smock (and is willing to comfortably wear it in private with Lily in the scene before Hogwarts express) is an interesting detail to me. It feels like a rejection of his father and a sense of identification with his mother. With a person who he is comfortable with, he cuts an "impressive figure" with his smock. We see this detail pop up again in his textbook - where he is proud of being “Half A Prince”, emphasizing his magical lineage, his refuge in a violent, neglectful home.

Snape rejects his father (implied to be a violent man) by also rejecting hypermasculinity - as he tells sneeringly to James Potter: “If you’d rather be brawny, rather than brainy-” and by mocking “foolish wand waving” and how Potions is much more complex than that ("bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses" - thanks for some sensual imagery, Snape :D). His skillset, with the exception of Sectumsempra, is further testament to his rejection of hypermasculinity: Potions (a witches’ brew), spying (again, noted to be something women were famous for in war), branches of mind magic such as Occlumency. He is also strongly associated with mother figures - Eileen Prince (by his own admission), Lily Potter, Narcissa Malfoy. He has a feminine Patronus, in memory of his love and devotion to Lily. The insults also thrown his way are also emasculating: “Snivellus” “a lapdog”, and Dumbeldore’s own “a basket dangling on the arm of Lord Voldemort”. So if he rejects his own father, who does he look to as a male figure to model himself after? After all, he does discard the smock quite eagerly when he gets on Hogwarts Express - so he is keen to perform masculinity.

But we see that teenage Snape and Adult Snape are entirely two different personas. Teenage Snape is anxious, twitchy and walks around like a spider. He swears, he is barely in control of his emotions, is often rendered incoherent when he is emotional and lashes out. And he lashes out in ways that is reflective of a power dynamic he models from home: he feels small, so he will look for someone else to make feel small.

Adult Snape, save for being around Harry where he regresses, is the opposite. He glides when he walks or "swoops like a bat" and if you see him in scenes apart from Harry’s, he is very in control of himself and his jabs are intended to discomfit rather than lashing out. (See the Bellatrix scene in Spinner’s End).

We don’t know too much about this phase of life - we can only speculate. Adult Snape has choice words to say when he witnesses Harry's lack of control over his emotions. He may have been speaking of himself: "Fools who wear their heart proudly on their sleeves, who cannot control their emotions, who wallow in sad memories and allow themselves to be provoked so easily - weak people, in other words - they stand no chance against his powers!"

Speculation aside, what we do know is that teenage Snape shows signs of unstable identity, insecurity - all prime for grooming into a cult. He also shows a disorganised attachment style. His caregiver, his mother is too preoccupied by her own abuse to be there for her son - we see this in glimpses Harry sees in OOTP: " woman cowering" where a man shouts at her, and a young, neglected Snape cries in the corner. Children born in homes like this have trouble regulating their emotions, simultaneously displaying tendencies to aggressively lash out or show disassociative symptoms. Both of which Snape displays. Statistically, this is also seen more in low income households where economic instability and resulting domestic instability creates an unsafe environment for the kids to safely form ideas of their identity, or express emotions in healthy ways, modelling instead out of behaviour seen at home.

I believe Voldemort, as the man who has experimented with boundaries of magic in ways no one else has, is an attractive father figure for someone like Snape ( and Barty Jr. as well). After all, Snape spends his spare time inventing hexes, making great shortcuts to Potions. He has a genuine thirst for learning and is inventive and original. In SWM, we see that he has written far more longer answers than anyone else, he is poring over his paper after exams. Voldemort, as a man who pushed boundaries, is an attractive mentor who shows him a new path. Joining a cult not only gives you power and protection (one he desperately needs because of his social inferiority and as someone who is relentlessly bullied), but it also gives you an identity.

Cults usually instill a homogenous, stable identity centered around charismatic leader. Cults turn your unbearable feelings (sense of rejection, social inferiority), and externalise it and manage to a higher purpose. A cult acts as a safe container for people who cannot understand their trauma or overpowering feelings. As a boy with an unstable identity, it is easier for him to project on Voldemort and re-enact an attachment that he has rejected in early childhood: the one with his father. Voldemort also reinforces a world view that the system had taught a half blood working class boy with nowhere to go arrives at: "There is no good or evil. There is only power and those too weak to seek it".

And then, Voldemort does something Snape doesn't believe a father figure could do, something he cannot conform to or abide by - he threatens the only relationship in his life that he puts on a pedestal. To ensure Lily Potter’s survival beyond asking Voldemort (who he no longer trusts to keep his word), he goes to Dumbledore. Why doesn't he trust Voldemort to keep his word? We don't really know, but given the dynamics we see at play in the first chapter of DH, where Voldemort employs Legliemency to confirm the information from Snape, the trusted spy who at that point had killed Dumbledore - it is safe to say ruling through absolute control can only take you so far. Contrast this with his later scenes with Dumbledore, where Dumbledore trusts him with magic he does not trust himself with: "I am very fortunate that I have you, Severus" .

But before we get there, we see their first scene. In his very first scene with Dumbledore, there is a power dynamic established. He visibly shrinks from Dumbledore’s judgement: “you disgust me”. He is also "stricken" when Dumbledore says "perhaps we sort too soon" - indicating a need for Dumbledore’s approval and validation. (Dumbledore’s own reaction to Snape is interesting - he doesn’t express this kind of strong disgust with Fenrir Greyback in HBP, for example. Perhaps he sees something of himself in this man who lost his way?)

Their next scene together is a grief stricken Snape, who has turned his misery and self loathing inwards and wishes to die. Dumbledore is cold, harsh: “What use will that be to anyone? If you truly loved Lily Evans, your way forward is clear”. Once Snape accepts the path of atonement Dumbledore lays out for him, Dumbledore is demonstrably gentler with him and is even exasperated that Snape asks him to keep “the very best of him” between them.

Once Dumbledore becomes his new father figure, Snape’s loyalty to him is absolute. He will back up and defend Dumbledore where it is not even required - when people accuse Dumbledore in GOF of being unfair, Snape is quick to say: "Don't blame Dumbledore for Potter's lack of respect for school rules. Potter has been crossing lines ever since he first came" (Defending Dumbledore and insulting Harry, he has a talent lol). And at the end of GOF, he shows his Dark Mark to Cornelius Fudge, essentially outing himself as a former Death Eater, to back up Dumbledore's claims because Fudge was insulting him. Even in front of Bellatrix, he emphasises: "Dumbledore is a great wizard, yes he has - the Dark Lord acknowledges it".

He is also resentful of Dumbledore's trust in Harry with secrets that he is not privy to. He enjoys being Dumbledore's closest confidant..("why may I not have the same secrets?" "You trust him, you do not trust me"). It's a less intense version of Harry's "This isn't love, this mess he has left me in. He shared a damn sight of what he was thinking with Grindelwald than with me”. He angrily tells Fake Moody that Dumbledore happens to trust him and he "refuses to believe" he gave permission to search his office. Similarly, he tells Umbridge "jerkily" to ask Dumbledore why he doesn't have the DADA job. Snape is offended at any suggestions of Dumbledore's lack of trust in him.

He also has a similar disillusionment like Harry's with Dumbledore - "you have used me. I have spied for you, lied for you, all intended to keep Lily Potter's son safe and now you are telling me he is being raised like a pig for slaughter". All of this and yet, just like Harry, he chooses to do what Dumbledore would have wanted of him. He goes as far as committing a sort of patricide, just like his former father figure (who did it for different reasons) on the wishes of his current father figure.

And ultimately, he chose Dumbledore's plan of Greater Good rather than Lily's fierce intention of keeping her son alive. It’s also interesting that Dumbledore, a queer, non conforming man is what Snape ultimately chooses as a father /mentor to his path of atonement.

There is a cyclical projection of father among all three boys: Harry inadvertently projects a desire for a father figure on Snape when he wishes that the Half-Blood Prince was his dad. (Read more about Harry’s relationship with Prince in wonderful meta by @thedreamermusing here) Snape projects a wish for a father figure by projecting on to Voldemort. Ultimately, both of them project this desire onto Dumbledore, and it is Dumbledore who ends up being the ultimate guide and father figure for both of them, guiding them through their respective roles in the war.

Thank you to @thedreamermusing and pet_genius for the inputs for this post 🌻 here is a suggested reading from pet's treasure trove relevant to this meta: Death Eaters As A Cult.

[dastardlydandelion]

my thoughts on fear street 1666 now that i finished scrubbing all the toilets, got to go home and watch it

holy shit. that movie. wow. 

it wasn’t as fun as the other two. didn’t employ the same campy tropes. didn’t present itself in a flourish of period typical style. while i enjoyed the first two films paying homage to classic horror tropes and making the most of the stylish side of their respective environments, i am v grateful and relieved that 1666 *wasn’t* as fun as the other two and actually presented the horror of puritan fanaticism and witch accusations more srsly. imo it portrayed that grave, twisting dread that the subject matter calls for. i appreciate that bc i think i would’ve been uncomfortable if they attempted to do smth more campy with the time period given what we already knew abt the circumstances of sarah’s death even before the film. 

more of me blathering on and on abt fear street 1666 under the cut: 

the twist actually worked on me this time. they actually got me on this one, u guys. i rly watched this franchise believing sarah fier was possessing ppl and wreaking her vengeance on the town, but this whole time it was the fuckin’ goodes. nick, i never liked u, i think ur more interesting than i did before before when u were a generic as generic gets asshole, so now ur somewhat more interesting but even bigger of an asshole than i gave u credit for. ur literally the worst asshole of assholes, ur a walking infected hemorrhoidal rectum of a human being. 

don’t get me wrong, i always thought sarah was going to be portrayed sympathetically. i never doubted that. my theory was that sarah was going to be a sympathetic villain. i thought 1666 would’ve revealed why she cursed shadyside. i figured she would’ve cursed her townsfolk for turning their backs on her, maybe, or hurting/killing hannah, or using her for her witchcraft and then getting angry if it backfired on them, or smth like that. i thought we were going to watch a story abt sarah’s descent into darkness and while she’d defo be a tragic villain, she rly would be the person behind the possessions...but it wasn’t even her. she and hannah were just vulnerable to the town’s suspicion and persecution bc they were queer women who didn’t behave the way society wanted them to behave. and they were blamed for evil actually wrought by heterosexual men in power, and when sarah realized there was no way out of it, she took the blame upon herself so hannah was spared and she cursed only the goode family?? 

THAT IS SO MUCH BETTER. FUCK. THAT IS SUCH A BETTER STORY. kudos to this trilogy for being more intelligent than it ever had to be, when it could’ve just skated on the notoriety of the fear street series, the style, and billing notable cast members. 

so yeh, i defo 100% appreciated the goode men from wealthy sunnyvale being revealed as the true villains. i actually got my wish of nick getting killed in the face. i love that sarah possessed deena to do it herself!!! and deena!! oh man, i love deena so much. she was wearing a homebrew vest to protect herself made of fear street novels + duct tape, u gotta love it. ig she wanted to prepare herself since sam stabbed her at the end of 1994. on that note, she’s v active in this film for someone who has a fresh abdominal stab wound and i mean, the situation defo calls for it, but i hope she remembered to properly dress it and take a couple ibuprofen or smth. shit, i’m gettin distracted again. okay!! 

i loved errything that went down in the mall. i adore that josh and adult ziggy got more time to shine. i was so! so! happy at martin’s inclusion on the action. he deserved that after the way nick treated him in 1994. our occupations are also p similar so i defo relate to martin on that front. i loved it all the neon and blacklight stuff at the mall. that part was v stylish, that was p cool. spraying the killers with the blood so they kill each other!! yes! that was perfect!! it was incredibly practical and enjoyable for me, as a gore fan, to watch. 

i liked the sticky note on the wall at the end from deena and josh’s dad, that he had a job interview. i wonder if this is bc the curse of shadyside has been lifted with the end of the goodes?? 

yk, i feel like now knowing what we know abt the actual evil, i gotta wonder how much re-watch value there is to be gleaned from this trilogy. for example, in 1978, nick liked ziggy and didn’t want her to die. he performed cpr on her even tho she’d been stabbed a fuck ton of times and tbvh, the chances of success of resuscitation depending on what exactly it is was ziggy succumbed to seem v slim. at first i attributed this to a suspension of disbelief bc this is fiction (and to be fair crazy do happen sometimes irl, ykw, sometimes reality can surprise u) BUT now i’m sittin here like...was the cpr successful bc nick’s deal with the devil gave him the power to do that?? did his bargaining of others’ souls and offering them up for possession grant him the ability to have some control in that situation somehow? at least more than a normal human being should?? idk. it’s a thought. 

what else, what else? 

i feel like outta the three, 1666 had the most tension overall. i was p gosh darn emo abt the relationships. deena and sam’s relationship i’ve cared abt since the beginning but the contrast of them getting the opportunity to have it and be together, in parallel to the way sarah and hannah’s ended just moves u. or, it moved me at least. sarah tells hannah they’ll go somewhere and kiss in broad daylight before kissing her in almost total darkness, and then the film ends on deena and sam kissing in the sun. i was also glad deena and josh’s sibling relationship got touched on a lil bit more. thought it was cute that she tried to cook for him and produced smth that just dead ass looks inedible. i also thought it was sweet that ziggy reunited with nurse lane. she can do that now, she can leave her house without fearing the return of the curse, and she deserves it. <3

i’m impressed with the trilogy overall. each movie easily could’ve been an r-rated goosebumps episode and imo all were certainly better than that. i feel like each film was better than the previous, but personally enjoyed each one. some things were p predictable but i think much of that is intentional. 1994 and 1978 were clearly paying homage to classic slashers and familiar horror tropes. i personally didn’t find the predictability off-putting bc i recognized what they were trying to do, and felt the quality in the other elements made up for it. i was genuinely shocked by the actual villain reveal, i personally didn’t predict that. again, i always thought sarah was going to be sympathetic and i never liked nick at all, but i didn’t suspect sarah was just. dead ass *not* going to be a villain or that he was going to be the big bad. 

really dug the style of these films. loved that we got an interracial lesbian couple who made it thru the trilogy without either the predatory lesbian trope or the byg trope happening. i liked most of the characters we got to know and the only character who *rly* grated on my nerves was the villain who got stabbed in the eye. 

gosh, i want more fear street movies!! if i had to pick one outta any of the slashers featured, i’d want to see ruby lane’s story. i would like to see this production team milking the most outta the environment in the 50s, the style of the 50s, music, and whatnot. i enjoyed nurse lane even tho she was super bad at murder, so it’d be cool to see her again and who she was before her daughter got possessed and killed 7 ppl. also, ruby sings when she kills?? 

that’s weird and creepy and neat. totally down for it. 

[thelowlysatsuma]

alright dipsticks, hear me out

taz balance au where everything is the same except that lucretia and barry have each others’ farspeech frequencies

it all starts about a year after lucretia voidfishes the plane. she’s poking around goldcliff, hoping to find some way to con some rich shit into paying for her gigantic moon base, when she runs — literally runs headfirst — into some bespectacled nerd in denim

barry, for his part, doesn’t know why this complete stranger is offering to buy him lunch as an apology for spilling his Fantasy Starbucks all over his oldass shirt, but he sure as shit isn’t complaining. especially when something, something about this kid feels so... familiar

in a spur of the moment decision, lucretia gives him her farspeech number. barry doesn’t think anything of it at the time

...anything, that is, until he’s rising, spectral and flickering, over his battered corpse, and he begins laughing hysterically, tears glimmering in long-gone eye sockets. he may not have lup back, but he’s got his little sister.

so they start texting. is barry furious at lucretia for what she’s done? sure, a bit. but he understands her logic, and his temper is soothed when she point-blank tells him that she’s going to help him find lup. they may be working against each other as far as the relics are concerned, but if lucretia can locate at least one more shred of her former family, then by god is she going to. barry understands, he thinks, and so they help keep each other a little less lonely over a long ten years

lucretia keeps barry updated on how the other birds are doing, as best she can. they rejoice together as magnus and julia take back raven’s roost, and when glamour springs is shadowed by a mass poisoning barry has to do everything up to physically restraining lucretia from beating the ass of whichever motherfucker did that to taako. wait, he tells her. physical pain is temporary. a lich, on the other hand, is in a prime position to make some douche’s life a living hell. lucretia grins and offers to fund his plots in any way she can.

barry, for his part, keeps lucretia up-to-date on the search for lup. they have matching little cork boards in their respective offices, each filled with maps and theories and half-baked what-ifs. they aren’t any closer to finding out what happened to her, but they will. they have to.

speaking of things happening, barry is the first one to find lucretia after wonderland. he hadn’t been able to reach her for a month, and so when he feels the enormous surge of pure magical despair explode outwards from the felicity wilds, he transports himself there as quickly as he can. he finds his baby sister at the centre of a mile-wide crater, twenty years older and countless sacrifices poorer, and he holds her as gently as he can without physical hands, and makes her promise to never deal with wonderland again. fuck, he’ll get the animus bell for her, he doesn’t care. he just can’t see lucretia in that state ever again. (never again, that’s what they told themselves, in a group huddle late one night the dawn of cycle 66. he’d failed her once. he couldn’t do it again.)

as she builds up the bureau, lucretia starts getting questions about her best friend on the stone. lucas asks her point blank who it is one day early in their acquaintance, and she answers “b- uh, b-j” “that tells me basically nothing. what does that even stand for?” lucas demands. “uh,” lucretia says, “🅱️amazing jrace”

thus begins a fine tradition of bureau employees trying to get any info they can on the mysterious “bj”, including his actual name. so far some of the top answers they’ve gotten from madame director include “bitchin jackass” “burger joint” “beetlejuice” and “banjo jimboree”. once, robbie asks her if he’s her secret lover, and lucretia has to summon a bucket before retching in disgust, which puts paid to that particular theory fairly succinctly

barry, for his part, adores these rumours. he keeps asking if lucretia will lift the lich barrier, just for a day, so he can come and stir up even more shit. lucretia, while admittedly very tempted, denies.

when he finds out that lucretia has been telling bureau employees that the red robes are evil, barry is understandably insulted. the next group of regulators that touch the ground are covered in fantasy cheez whiz for the duration of their mission.

lucretia gets him back by replacing all the denim in the jeans at his base with silly string. barry moves bases, and the prank war escalates

(no one has the courage to tell madame director that her hair has been turned rainbow at the last candlenights party. privately, lucretia thinks she looks bitchin)

every now and again, lucretia will text barry in a panic. these texts tend to look like this:

“barry.” “barold aid me” “barry I fucked shit up real good this time” “barry” “barry” “barry I was at the fantasy Olive Garden and the waiter said ‘enjoy your meal’ and I said ‘you too’ barry kill me n o w “

barry can and will mock lucretia mercilessly for this. he also insists for weekly video updates on fisher and junior.

he also has biweekly fantasy skype sessions with davenport

booyah: I saw a woman so beautiful I started crying???

bear-old: oh mood

booyah: and then I hired her and her son (who’s a little bitch) to work on my secret moon base and I think I’ve made a terrible mistake???????

bear-old: oh my fucking god this is why I don’t trust you to stop the apocalypse

when the thb start working as reclaimers, barry demands weekly updates on them, as well. it goes about as well as you’d expect

booyah: magnus ate the philosopher’s stone

bear-old: he fucking w h a t ?

booyah: he used the glutton’s fork, and he ATE the philosopher’s stone. taako and merle used stone skin and stone shape to get the damn thing out. happy fucking candlenights.

when barry finds out that taako’s DATING the fool who’s been chasing after him wile e coyote style for over a decade, he loses his s h i t. he and lucretia have a girls’ night where they bitch about taako and eat shitty chocolate to cope

bear-old: you HIRED a BABY???

booyah: he’s ten! that’s plenty old. and he’s certainly competent, seeing as he found my organization when even you couldn’t.

bear-old: creesh please. please do not Irreparably Fuck Up A Small Child

booyah: hey, at least I’m not the one who threw him off a moving train!

bear-old: I never threw anyone off a

bear-old: lucretia

bear-old: who

bear-old: who in your employ threw ANGUS MCDONALD, a LITERAL CHILD, off of a MOVING. VEHICLE?

booyah:

booyah: taako

bear-old: fucking fantasy CHRIST

(they have quite a few girls’ nights eating shitty chocolate and razzing on taako, actually)

team sweet flips goes to the director’s office one day to give a status report and find her red-eyed and coughing. she says she has allergies. the cute cat video barry just texted her on her stone, however, begs to differ

lucretia preps the boys for refuge, yes, but her mind is filled with texts and tomes and the letters “l u p” carved into a bureau wall. she passes countless sleepless nights with barry on the line, trying to decipher what it all means

but they emerge from the woven gulch unscathed, and that can only mean one thing: wonderland

she doesn’t tell barry where she’s sending them. she can’t let him interfere out of some misguided attempt to save her from the place. her texts grow few and far between

she doesn’t have to tell barry. he knows

the day they get sent out, as lucretia breaks down in her office, surrounded by a dizzying vastness that could envelop her very being if she would just let it, her stone buzzes.

four words: I’ll keep them safe

and then?

well, then it’s the end of the world

(but when lup emerges from her decade-long cage, phantasmal and resplendent, lucretia and barry share a look)

(and when the hunger is consuming the only home she knows and she’s flying out in one last attempt to face is, barry is on her stone)

(and when the dust settles and they’re finally, finally free, when the world hears a story and a song and former and current bureau employees alike learn just how important the mysterious “bj” really is, when lucretia looks at the wreckage of her life’s work and home and family — when all that happens, barry is the one to beckon to her with open arms.)

(they’ve been beside the other for a hundred and ten years, after all. that’s not gonna fucking change now.)

anyways yeah folks barry and lucretia texting au play with me in this space

@littlemisscritical @thatcoldfeeling and you know what? @herbgerblin what the hell

[kikyozoldyck]

ENTROPY

PAIRING: senju tobirama x uchiha!reader SUMMARY: the gradual decline into chaos WARNINGS: swearing, degradation, dirty talk, cheating, cunnilingus, mildy dubious consent (just bc verbal consent isnt given), 

"Even a simpleton could see the way that Senju dog looks at you."

Madara's smooth, dry voice stops Tobirama just before he rounds the bend to the corridor hosting your medical ward. His spine locks, jaw clenching with unease.

"Dearest elder brother, I feel it prudent to remind you that he is a married man." A short, meaningful pause, your voice lilting through the torch-lit air. "And that his wife is employed at this very hospital."

Madara scoffs, and Tobirama's gut churns.

"It is how the Senju are," your brother spits, his voice echoing gently throughout the unusually silent halls. "A Senju has no true lover, as a beast has no true mate. Why do you think he and Hashirama differ in appearance so?"

Fists bunched at his sides, Tobirama rounds the corner, his shadow breaking harsh and abrupt against the torchlight.

"Lord Senju." You blink at his entrance, only mildly startled, your dainty hands falling from Madara's newly healed abdomen, your chin rising. "Are you in need of medical aid? I was just finishing with my brother. I shall be with you in a moment."

"It would seem I injured my shoulder in the last battle. Thank you," Tobirama nods, then, not knowing why he feels the need he calls you by your first name.

(Or perhaps knowing why but being unable to admit to it.)

Madara stands, eyeing Tobirama with barely contained fury as he does so. Your fingers twitch in empty air as you turn your gaze toward him. "Elder br—."

"Watch yourself, Tobirama." Madara's voice comes out low and tight. "That is the Lady of Uchiha with whom you assume such audacious familiarity – my sister."

"Of course, Madara." Tobirama inclines his head in deference, but there's an air of boldness to it. "I wouldn't dare presume familiarity with anything of yours."

"Elder Brother," You say again, your voice soft and warning, this time laying a hand on his arm.

Tobirama glances at the motion with a knowing smirk, before his gaze alights on you once more. "Apologies for any transgression, my lady."

Something in the way his mouth forms the words seems strikingly inappropriate — brazen in its fondness. You have to tighten your grip on Madara's arm to keep him from lunging.

"Touch my sister — even look at her again with those foul eyes of yours — and I'll have your head, Senju, do you understand me?"

Tobirama blinks steady, unfazed eyes at him. You suck a sharp breath between your teeth, "Madara, please."

Madara snarls once more, his tenebrous eyes purposely set to Tobirama's, letting the silence speak for him. He takes his leave before any of you can say more.

A steady silence pervades the corridor in his wake, the flicker of torchlight licking heat at your backs.

"Sit, Lord Senju." You finally tell him and gesture to the newly empty cot, "remove your coat as well."

He shrugs out of his coat, folding it over the backs of one of the empty chairs, and takes a seat.

"Thank you for your aid, Lady Uchiha." He says as he does so, "I imagine you have been quite busy as of late and are eager to return home."

"It is no detriment. As I have said before, you are my compatriot, it is my honor and duty to assist you. Though, as your compatriot, may I offer you some advice?"

Tobirama blinks at you, catching the unbidden heat in your eyes, the slight flare of your nostrils, the heavy rise, and fall of your chest.

"I welcome any counsel you may offer, my lady."

"As thrilling as it may be to a brain as small as your own, you must stop goading my brother on." You tell Tobirama, pausing for a moment, hands moving to smooth over imaginary wrinkles in your skirt, "one day, he will strike you down where you stand. He's killed better men for less."

"Lady Uchiha, I must admit I am quite flattered by your concern." Tobirama narrows his eyes, a rare smile finding itself on his lips, "but you may rest assured. I'd sooner fear my own shadow than your elder brother."

"You jest," you frown, stalking off to the side and crossing your arms, "but every morning when he wakes, he lights a candle in hopes for your death."

"And you?" He asks, his voice heavy with something unfamiliar even to himself, "Do you light candles with such morbid intention?"

"No. Why would I?" You huff your incredulity, arms uncrossing as you stalk back to him. "The war is over, our two sides have become one. Battle prowess such as yours would be a shame to lose."

"I killed your brother. That is why Madara despises me so, is it not?"

"It is." You concede, "but I have come to learn the reason Izuna has died while you live, and it has granted me peace."

"And what, may I implore, is this reason?"

"The souls of good men are the finest spoils of war."

He stops, rears back. "Am I not a good man?"

You seem to hesitate a moment, mouth opening and then closing.

"No. Lord Senju, you are not."

"May I inquire what lead you to this conclusion?"

"To begin," You step closer, and gesture towards the space between you, "you are here with me feigning a medical emergency instead of with your wife, in your marriage bed."

"And why," It comes out more like a warning than a question, and he can see how your shoulders straighten at the tone, "do you think that is? "

You look off to the wall. "Honestly, my lord, I am unsure. I do not presume to understand the intricacies of your marriage. "You reply as he stands, your eyes drifting cautiously back to his.

His chest hums with his frustration as he steps even closer, close enough to reach out and grasp you if he so pleased.

(Does he?)

"What does your dearest elder brother say?" he snaps, sneering the familiar phrase with vitriol so acute he can taste it on his tongue.

He can see the muscles in your throat work as you swallow. He's close enough to you to hear it.

Tobirama runs a hand through his hair roughly, his jaw tight with aggravation. "Surely, you have sought his counsel on the matter?"

You seem almost ready to speak it, and then something passes over your face that he doesn't recognize. You're stepping back, out of his proximity, head shaking, and he moves before he can stop himself. He grabs for you, catching you by your arms and dragging you back against him.

He's just so tired of this quiet, violent game between the two of you.

"Tell me," he growls, and the feeling is heady in its fervency.

You stare him down, mouth a harsh frown. You don't resist his hold — though you both know you easily could — you don't ease into it either. “He says that you lust after me."

(Distantly, he understands that it's shame he should be feeling, perhaps regret, maybe even indignation if it weren't true.

And that's the hindrance, though, is it not?

Because it is true.)

Somehow, it's only keen anticipation that fills him. Were he a good man, he'd stop right now — this very instant — and return home to his wife, slip into their bed and never think of this night again.

(But were he a good man he would have never deemed to so fervently crave what he shouldn't in the first place — namely you.)

Tobirama draws a slow breath in through his teeth, glancing down to your plush, parted lips for a single, illuminating moment. He almost curses himself because when he looks back up, there's the imperceptible widening of your eyes and the gentle quickening of your breaths.

He pulls you tighter to him. "What else?" he bites out, because fury is easier, fury is an acceptable smokescreen. And he finds that wrath is an effortless cover for desire.

(He doesn't let himself think too long on why that is.)

"Lord Senju, you are being —"

"What else?" he barks, suddenly aflame, and he isn't sure whether it's ire or desire that truly lights his bones this time.

"What is the matter with you?" You squirm in his grasp, scandalized. "Unhand me right now, you scoundrel."

But you aren't looking him in the eye, and your struggle is half-hearted at best.

(If he looks closely, he'd be able to see the faint dusting of pink coating your cheekbones, the girlish flutter of your eyelashes, and the tight curl of your shaking fists.

But he can't.)

He's too busy watching how torchlight catches along your collar bone above the modest cut of your yukata. "What else?" he rasps out, tongue flicking out to wet his lips. He suddenly realizes this was a mistake, a mistake he can't find in himself to undo. He's glancing back to your face, catching the sharp cut of your widened eyes against his own.

"Nothing that is of any importance to you." You arch against his hold.

"Now, Lady Uchiha, we both know that is untrue." Tobirama scoffs, stepping into you. You stumble back with the motion, and he follows. "Tell me what depraved things your elder brother whispers in your ear about me." 

It's a challenge, he knows, and even still, he's alight with anticipation at the prospect of such vulgar words staining your lips. His cock stirs even at the thought, his control wavering dangerously as he holds you, presses into you, guides you slowly back to the cot.

He watches as something steels in your gaze, and you stop your backward tread, mouth firming into a thin line.

"He says it's your Senju blood that gives you such unsanctified cravings."

Tobirama barks a laugh, the fervor high and vibrant in his tone. It overtakes him. "My Senju blood, hm?" His hands flex along your arms, sliding lower, slipping toward your waist with more surety than he's touched even his own wife with. He's delirious with it suddenly – this potent hunger, this violent fury. As he watches you glower up at him, he thinks that perhaps he isn't the only one. He thinks this because you don't voice your protest when his hand settles at your midsection, his fingers gripping at your waist like a threat. "Then what is it, Lady Uchiha, that grants you your own…unsanctified cravings?"

You push at his chest, your outrage splashing along your cheeks. "If you think that I would crave an unprincipled miscreant like yourself, then you are truly twice the fool I thought you were."

"I assure you, I am not stupid." Tobirama's fingers curl into the fabric of your yukata, holding you flush against him. "And though I may not possess the demon eyes of your clansmen, I am far from blind. I've seen the way you look at me. I've felt the way you covet me. Deny it if you please, Lady Uchiha, but the truth is known."

You bare your teeth, your wrathful hiss breaking against the heavy air between you like a deadly promise. "I have never —"

"Never what? Never entertained the idea?" His hands are trembling fiercely at your sides, his lungs struggling under the weight of his own aphrodisia. "Never touched yourself to the thought of me? A married man. The same one who slaughtered poor Izuna."

"You truly are a bastard," your eyes narrow dangerously.

(The snarl that leaves him has your mouth parting, your throat flexing beneath a soft whine, one so sweet he fears he will fall down dead if he never hears it again. He wants to catch the hitch of your breath between his teeth and drag his tongue long and slow against your untouched throat until you're whining low and breathless at his ear.)

He wants it so violently he's shaking with it.

(It's such a pretty little picture. The Senju Lord. The Uchiha Lady. Surely this was his brother's intention when founding Konoha was it not?)

"You needn't be ashamed," he breathes just above your mouth, walking you back until your legs hit the cot, "it is only natural for a whore like yourself to be plagued with such…sordid thoughts."

You stare him down with a heat so intense that it has him hardening instantly.

"That is why your brother frets, isn't it?" he whispers lowly, like a threat, like a promise he's spent too long trying not to break. "Any dutiful brother would, what with a sister who lusts like a bitch in heat."

(And here's the truth of it all:

You never say no.

You never still his hands — though you so easily could. You never do anything but mold into his embrace — even when you're glaring at him so malevolently. Even when you're holding the cut of your words behind a practiced tongue.)

You lick your lips, ignoring the avidity with which he watches your mouth. "Lord Senju." There's still anger lining your tone, still, bite behind your words. But there's something else there too, isn't there?

"Your brother has declared me a beast," he slips a hand boldly up your side. His thumb brushing the edge of your breast so barely it could be called a mistake. His fingers sweep languidly along your collarbone – a thrum of possessiveness to the motion. "So perhaps I shall fuck you like one, hm?"

You gasp against him, your body rocking into his zealously even as your nails dig crescents into his arms with your indignation. He holds his hips to yours, his desire apparent. You don't quite collar the moan that leaves you when you bite down on your lower lip. A beast he may be, but you're the one gripping him to you. You're the one not letting go.

It sets his skin ablaze, his body racked with instant heat, a coil of desire anchoring low and sharp in his gut. "Lady Uchiha," he says on a dangerous exhale, the hand along your chest dragging up your throat to grip your jaw in his haze. His hold is firm and unrelenting, his fingers digging into your skin. He brushes a thumb along your parted lips, eyes trained to the motion. He pants raggedly above your mouth. "You never quite told me what your brother has accused me of – what vile thoughts I must entertain." Another swipe of his thumb.

You drag a heated breath through your lungs, chin tilting high.

(And it really is an easy guilt to bear, he thinks – this desire, this shameful hunger. Easier now that he can see the same sinful need in your eyes.)

Tobirama licks his lips, his thumb pressing harder at your bottom lip, the edge of your teeth grazing his skin and your tongue — your tongue, right there —

"Or will you tell me that a lady of your stature cannot repeat such utter filth?" Tobirama groans, dipping his thumb just past your lips, feeling the wet heat of your breath splashing across his skin. "That this prim and proper little mouth of yours could never speak such blatant obscenities, hm?"

Something darkens in your eyes. A sharp clarity – a single flare in the shadows of the medical ward, and — instantly — Tobirama knows there is no going back now.

Slow and sure, with your eyes never leaving him, you press your tongue to the pad of his thumb at your mouth, your lips parting in invitation. You never blink. The groan that leaves him echos through the empty room, his hips bucking into yours unconsciously as he dips his thumb into the heat of your mouth. You take his thumb between your lips, curling your tongue around his knuckle and sucking long and slow, drawing back until you release him with a dull pop.

He's staring at your spit-shined lips, transfixed, panting, drunk on his own arousal.

"He told me that beasts such as yourself take what they want."

It's all the confirmation he needs.

The hand along your hip moves to the obi of your yukata, tugging impatiently.

Your hands slink deep into his hair as you move your mouth to his cheek, your breath hot and wet at the shell of his ear. "He told me that you'd part my legs without hesitation – that you'd take your fill again and again and again."

Tobirama snatches the loosened material of your yukata from your shoulder. Tearing holes in the diaphanous silk in his hurry to press his mouth to your bared shoulder with a feral bite. You throw your head back, a keening cry breaking from your lips.

"What else?"

"He told me you'd fuck me without restraint."

In a single, furious swipe, he drags the torn fabric from you, leaving you in your hadajuban. You step from the fabric easily, and then your hands are pulling at his breastplate shirt, helping him loosen it, dragging it over his head, and then doing the same with his tunic. His hands still halfway through, unlacing his breeches, his cock straining against the fabric. You grab him by the face, leveling your gaze to his, your flushed chest rising and falling so quickly he's lightheaded at the motion.

"He told me that you'd ruin me for any other man — mark me in ways too vile for me to even fathom."

It overtakes him – this insanity, this desperation so stark and vibrant it lights his tongue with delirium when he kisses you, hard and needy and wrong. So wrong, it's got him crashing into you. His large hands dug into your hair, teeth-gnashing against yours, tongue hot and wet in your mouth as he falls into you. He collapses you to the cot, a fumbling mess of limbs and gasps and yes, please god, yes.

He's already rucking up your hadajuban. Already palming at your thighs, shoving his hips so roughly between yours that the cot creaks beneath the strain.

"Say my name," he pants against your bruised lips, licking at them like a starved wolf.

You arch against him, one hand dug into his hair, the other fisting in the bedding at your head. 

Tobirama snarls into your mouth, biting down on your lip, rutting into you, his cock achingly hard against the slip of your underclothes. "Say it," he demands again. This time harsher – this time with the kind of desperation that has him bracing his forehead to yours, panting at your mouth, gripping at your hips with bruising fingers.

You dart your tongue out to taste him, licking into him, up along the roof of his mouth, and slowly back out. He wraps a hand around your throat, urging you face to the side, his teeth sinking into the skin just below your ear. You keen at the brutal swipe of his tongue along your sweat-soaked skin.

"Say it," he releases your neck with a hiss, fingers scrambling for your underclothes. He drags them down past your knees, and you raise your hips instinctively, letting him claw them off of you.

Your voice catches in your throat, arms sliding around his shoulders to keep him to you. Finally, you whisper: "Tobirama" Then, his fingers are dipping into your cunt so abruptly and unexpectedly that you arch off the bed like a strung bow, mouth parting in a silent cry.

Tobirama groans your name into your neck, fingers sliding out just enough to plunge back in, swift and brutal. Again and again, without mercy. "How wet you are." He hums, appreciatively, "is it all for me?"

"Yes," you whine, tongue flicking out against his ear. Tobirama growls into your skin, fucking you harder with his fingers. You cry out, a broken sob catching, nails digging into his shoulder blades, his scalp.

Tobirama pushes his cock into the mattress for some relief, for any kind of relief, aching and tight and breathless. "Will you — will you allow me to taste you?"

You nod dizzily, and then he's dragging his body down the length of you. His mouth setting kisses over your shoulders, your collarbone, stopping for a moment to bite softly at your nipples before trailing down your stomach. Before you can even breathe his name, before you can also process the pressure of his palms pulling your dampened thighs apart, Tobirama buries his face between your legs and swipes his tongue slowly up your soaking cunt, harsh and firm and greedy. He moans into you with abandon, desperate to be deeper, to have you rutting against his mouth like an animal.

"Fuck!" You shout, one trembling hand latching onto his head instinctively. His hips jerk at the sudden break in your composure, at the breathless grunts leaving you.

He opens his mouth over your dripping cunt, dragging his tongue up and down your slit once more, sucking at your folds, your clit, lavishing in the ambrosial nectar that seeps from between your thighs. He moans into your heat with a hunger that shakes you. Rutting into the bed in time to his licks, eating you out like a man absolutely fucking starved, your slickness coating his lips and cheeks, his chin drenched in your juices.

He tongue fucks you so roughly, so sharp and hard and ravenous that your hips are arching up off the bed. You chase the heat of his mouth, grinding down on his tongue, the heavy, ragged sound of his breathing lost beneath the gush of your slickness. His fingers dig into your hips, dragging you into him, keeping your cunt flush against his mouth, his tongue licking you up with a deep-seated groan, drowning in your harsh pants. 

He's completely and utterly lost in you, so absolutely soaked from your sopping cunt, the taste of you, that pungent, slick taste of you and he can't get enough, can't fuck you deep enough with his tongue, and so he dips two fingers into your heat, groaning at the broken sob that drags from your lips, curling his fingers tight and sharp, anchoring you through the violent shudder that racks your entire body, teeth catching on your clit, pushing deeper, eating you out so loudly and obscenely he thinks he may just cum from the sounds as you fuck yourself on his mouth. You twist your fingers in his hair as your thighs tremble at his ears, and he has to look up at you, has to watch you fucking his mouth, wild and shameless and so sinfully wet he's close to drowning in you.

He has to see if you're watching as this Senju beast eats your cunt with hunger so savage he could cum into the bedsheets right there.

Tobirama catches your gaze through the sweat-damp fringe of his hair, your eyes sharp and brilliant and intent on his own, your bare chest rising and falling heavily, your lips bruised from where you've bitten them too harshly, and he watches as your head falls back against the pillow, your hips arching higher, angling off the bed, and the sheets are soaked beneath you, and yet somehow, through the haze of his own mindless moans, and the broken, breathless whines spilling from your mouth, and the slick, loud flush of his tongue along your cunt, over and over – he hears it.

A murmur at first – hesitant, low. And then louder, surer, until he recognizes the sharp edges of your voice, your begging, your fervent commands.

"Fuck me, Tobirama. Please. Oh, Gods. Oh, please." A desperate groan leaves you as you curls your fingers in his hair, grinding against his mouth shamelessly. The sheer vulgarity of the words coming from your mouth makes his cock unbearably harder. "Fuck me like the beast you are. Please."

Tobirama stops abruptly, his breathing ragged, fingers going still where they're buried in your cunt, coated in your slick, arousal. You howl at the interruption, arching impossibly sharp, clawing at his scalp, your gaze whipping down to his. "Why have you—" you pant, eyes gone wild and unfocused, cheeks flushed. "What are you —"

You blink down at him, your face going pale as you realize what you've said, and Tobirama stares at you, still impossibly hard, still ready to finish you off with the brutal swipe of his tongue against your trembling cunt, until he catches the firm press of your lips, the sharp glint in your eye as you keep your heated gaze to his, the way you pant without shame, without regret.

You won't take it back.

And suddenly — blindingly — Tobirama realizes that he doesn't want you to.

Something splinters in him, clawing its way out his throat, thrumming dangerously through his veins. He slips from you, ignoring the way you whimper in his absence. His hands fumble for the half-done laces of his breeches, dragging them down his thighs, his cock springing free, already seeping at the tip, already harder than he's ever been. "Come here," he snarls, one hand hooking around your ankle and dragging you down the rickety cot.

You yelp at the jarring motion, moving to rise but got his mouth is on your breast, smearing your slick over your flushed skin. His teeth scrape a nipple so sharply you cry out before he clamps down on you, sucking eagerly—his other hand palming at your other breast roughly. There is no forgiveness in his touch, no mercy behind his tongue. Your whines only grow louder.

"Tobirama," you pant, tugging at his hair, "please."

He moans long and low along the slope of your breast, his tongue swirling over your nipple once, twice, almost languidly, before releasing you. You have only a moment to catch your breath, reaching for him, but he only shoves your hands away, grabbing at your thighs.

His hands dig into your hips with a savage need as he tugs you, turning you to flip over, one of your calves dragged over by his calloused palm. He's urging you, guiding you, steadying you as you stumble along with your knees, your hands bracing against the sweat-drenched sheets, and it's a graceless claw of limbs as he yanks you back against his throbbing cock, your palms slipping along the bedding, the wet slap of skin jarringly loud in the room, his following groan drowning out the blood rushing in his ears.

(Distantly, he recognizes how pliant you are in his hands, how eager your moans, how you allow him to touch you with all the sinful ferocity he's denied himself these many moons.

He knows now – even if you'll never say it – he knows now he isn't the only one.)

Tobirama winds one hand around your hip, and then further, fingers fumbling for your engorged clit. You bite off a shriek as he pinches the nub, bucking into you from behind. You push back into him seamlessly, tilting your head back so that your sweat-soaked hair catches along the back of your bitten neck, spilling over your other shoulder.

"How could I ever deny a request spoken so earnestly?" he growls along your shaking spine, fingers slick along your folds.  He bends over you with a fierce single-mindedness that blacks out any other thought but heat and wetness and you. Tobirama drags a greedy palm down the length of your back, curving over your ass, kneading the flesh, fingers bruising as he bites down on your shoulder blade. "It would be my pleasure to fuck you, my lady, in fact, I believe I may be honor-bound to do so."

You cry out, arching against him, pushing your sodden cunt into his hand.

"You like that, don't you?" His cock slides against your folds, coated in your slickness, so fucking hard it's near painful. He pushes the tip into the heat of your cunt, a sharp breath sucked between his teeth. And then you release a huff of impatience, reaching between you to wrap your delicate fingers around the rest of him, hurriedly guiding him into your dripping cunt.

Tobirama releases a low, shuddering groan, buried suddenly and deeply inside you, his teeth catching along your spine. "You are so, ngh, warm, so tight." He pulls nearly completely out, a heated hiss breaking through his barred teeth, before plunging back in, slamming into you so hard you rocks with it, a soft gasp clawing its way out of your lungs. He places a hand along your back and pushes you down, one of his knees nudging yours apart until you fall near flat to the thin woolen bedsheet, braced on your elbows, his other hand trapped between your cunt and the cot. He grinds into you, even deeper than before, rubbing at your clit desperately.

You groan his name – a wet exhale breaking against the sheet by your face.

"You like a beast between your legs, don't you?" he growls above you, lowering himself until his chest is pressed flush against your back. "What would your brother say were he to walk in now and find his darling sister being so thoroughly debauched?" he gets out on a choked gasp. His hips crashing into your own, "and by the man who killed Izuna, no less."

"Fuck you," you spit, glaring over your shoulder, gaze heated and dark, "what, ngh, what of your wife? What would she say if she found you reveling in the taste of my cunt? I somehow doubt you fuck her with half as much ferver."

"You would be correct. My wife is no whore. Therefore, she needn't be fucked like one." Tobirama bites down on your shoulder, silencing you but for your moans. "You, however…"

In a pique of indignant fury, you push uselessly back with your weight on your elbows. Even as you arch into him, even as you suck your lip tightly between your teeth and moans.

Tobirama drives into you with a punishing pace, his cock slamming into your slick cunt as he rubs at your clit, his hand still caught between your body and the cot. "You need it. It is truly all you are good for. How long have you wanted this, whore? How long have you wanted me buried so deeply in that tight little cunt of yours, that pretty little Uchiha cunt – it is so full of my cock, so fucking — nggh. Only I can satiate that starving little cunt of yours, you know that, don't you? Only me. Only my Senju cock can make you feel this way." Tobirama winds a hand around your throat, fingers clawing up your jaw, searching for the wet heat of your mouth, again. His weight bears down on you fully, pressing you completely into the cot, into his fingers, the pool of your slickness drenching the sheets and his hand alike, and it's like he can taste you again, his tongue pressed to the roof of his mouth with his moan. Two of his fingers curl over your lip, your ragged pants hot against his flesh, and you curve your tongue around his fingers instinctively, taking them into your mouth.

He fucks you even harder then, the groan dragging from him. His teeth sink into your shoulder, as he nearly cums right then as he grunts out your name. "Yes, that's it. You would take my cock between those pretty wet lips just as eagerly, would you not?" A breathless grunt escapes him when you suck that much harder on his fingers. He drags a struggling breath through his lungs, dips his tongue to the mark of his bite at your shoulder. "Of course you would. I suppose the only real question is where you would have me cum? Would you beg me to paint those lovely breasts of yours? Your face? Or would you, perhaps, have it down your throat? So that you may swallow it all up? "

You hum around his fingers, your cunt drenching his other hand, and he can feel you tightening around his cock, his pace ruthless. "That's it, whore. Louder for me. Let the whole village hear you. Let them all know how the pious Lady Uchiha so eagerly spread her legs for me. Let them know how you let me cum inside you — like only a beast would. Come on, let them know how that pretty little Uchiha cunt aches for me and me only. How absolutely fucking soaked you are for me. Louder. I want them all to know when I cum inside of you."

You rut against his hand, your tongue sliding between his fingers with every thrust of his cock inside you.

"You're so tight, so wet – so fucking wet – allowing me fuck you this way as you suck my fingers.” The graze of your teeth along his fingers is warning and promise in equal measure, and he can't stop the rush any longer, can't stop it even if he tried. "I want you to cum for me. I want you to cum around my cock. I want to hear you scream when I spill inside you when I fuck you like the beast I am," he snarls at your ear, rubbing out an orgasm from you so hard. So violent, you actually scream around his fingers in your mouth.

You buck back against him viciously, one hand ripping the sheets from the bed with trembling knuckles. At the same time, the other reaches back for him blindly, nails digging into his hip, holding him to you. He's buried inside you so deep, his vision inks black for a terrifyingly delicious moment.

Then he's cumming with a roar. His breathing is hot and choked against your matted hair, panted out in broken grunts as he spills and spills and spills, fucking you even still, feeling the slick, hot gush of his seed seeping from your cunt as his thrusts even out, slowing with his exhaustion, until it becomes a languid, breathless rut against you.

Your moan is long and low, your voice hoarse. You squirm beneath his crushing weight, and Tobirama barely has the sense after such a furious orgasm to slide off of you. His fingers slipping from your mouth beneath a trail of saliva. He feels you jerk and shudder when his other fingers pull away from your overstimulated clit, dragging your wetness over your hip as his hand retreats.

Tobirama's chest heaves, his breathing sharp and ragged as he blinks back to clarity. He glances down at the tattered remains of your yukata. The Uchiha fan the stares back at him from the ultramarine fabric he's now defiled beyond repair. He turns his head to watch you, finds you staring steadily at him, your flushed cheek pressed against the bare cot, your sweat-soaked hair plastered to your neck and back. You're breathing ragged as well, cheeks flushed, fingers curling into the air.

Something startlingly like possession flares in his gut. He reaches for you, fists a hand in your hair as he drags your mouth to his, taking it roughly, licking into your mouth with a selfish sort of need. He breaks away panting, eyes fluttering open to watch you. He keeps his fist in your hair, his mouth close to yours.

You wind a hand up to his jaw, curving your body into his, and there's something covetous about how you splay your hand over his sweat-drenched throat.

"You should return to your wife, Lord Senju." You tell him, the promising flex of your fingers along his neck all he needs to understand.

He nods, eyes never leaving yours. "Yes, and you to your brother, Lady Uchiha." he agrees, pressing his mouth back to yours. He kisses you hard and slow, shifting over you, trapping you beneath his weight, one hand already hitching your thigh up around his hips.

-- entropy is also a rlly great song by daniel caesar

[absurdthirst]

Hi! First of all u write amazingly 😍 second, if u take request, can u do a pedro x reader or a character between Fish and Whiskey, where the reader is his girlfriend and has a pasr of abusive relationship, eating disorder and self hafming and he show her how he loves her body and soul? If u can lot of fluffy and smutty 🥺 thanks so much in advantage!

Amazing

Some folks might say that Jack Daniels was a bit too brash. Some might say that his abrupt manner of speaking when getting down to business meant that he had a cold heart. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

His heart ached that Y/N kept those secrets from him. That she jumped in his presence when he surprised her or flinched at loud noises. His teeth clenched together at the thought of this delicate flower being mistreated by her ex.

He hated that she pretended to eat. Eyes begging for the meal that he had put in front of her, but her fork just pushing the food around on the plate. Making it appear that she was eating.

He saw through the flimsy excuses for the marks on her body. He knew what the pale silver discolorations were. Saw the embarrassment in her posture as she rushed through her explanations.

She didn’t know what Jack did for a living yet. Unaware that he was an agent with a secret organization. His job was carefully observing and spotting falsehoods. He hated that had lied to him, even as he understood why she had.

Her ex was a piece of trash. He had taken a beautiful, vibrant woman and beaten her down. Made her feel worthless and unloveable. He’d seen it before, but with Y/N it made him want to track the son of a bitch down and kill him.

She reminded him of himself. During those dark days following his wife’s death. The utter sense of self loathing and despair that aimed at herself. But she didn’t see what he did. She didn’t see how wonderful she was.

He was careful with her. More careful than he’d ever been in his entire life. For a man that faced death countless times, his hands shook at the prospect of causing her to shed one tear or have one moment of doubt.

Her called her his angel. She had originally scoffed at it. But she had no idea how true that was. How giving him someone to love had melted away the bitterness and hatred he harbored in his soul.

He spoke softly. Making sure to warn her of his advances. Testing the waters before pulling her close to his own body. Asking permission for the right to claim those perfect lips for himself. Her sigh as they had their first kiss had made him feel like he’d saved the world. Because she was becoming his world.

He’d employed his momma’s tactics. Observing the foods she had a weakness for and was continuously bringing them to her. Fussing over how she was wasting away. That if she didn’t eat, how could she possibly have enough energy when she finally let him make love to her all night long.

His grin had been unrepentant when she’d blushed so prettily and smacked his arm. Telling him to stop lying. There was no lie in his words. He ached to worship her body like he was a lowly subject to a perfect goddess.

That day finally came. Y/N had hesitantly told him that she wanted him. He could see the fear of rejection and weariness in her eyes.

He would take his time even if it killed him. And he thought it might. He’d cautiously taken her hand and pressed it against the straining length of him, begging to be released from it’s confines.

“Every time I’m with you, this is what you do to me.” He murmured.

Y/N had snatched her hand away, stammering an apology. “I-I’m so-sorry. I-I”

He’d realized his mistake. “Shhhhh. There’s nothing wrong with that. I’m a man who waits for the best things to be freely given.”

She relaxed a bit. His hands running up and down her arms. “Baby, nothing is going to happen unless it’s what you want.” Jack assured her. “You just let me know. But I want to show you just how amazing you are to me. Will you let me?”

Earnest brown eyes won her over. She had nodded shyly and Jack knew that he’d won the lottery. He would cherish the prize like no other.

She’d bloomed under his touch. The whispers of hair from his mustache tickling her skin. The reverent praises sung into every body part he kissed. And he made sure to kiss them all. He gentled his rough hands. Caressing and fondling rather than groping.

Every moan and gasp fueled his desire to show her more. Show her how perfect she was. He’d swallowed her mewls of pleasure as his fingers dipped into her slit, prolonging the wracking orgasm he’d given her.

Only when she was boneless, totally drunk on his affection did he give in to his bodies demands. He wanted her on top. Wanted her to see how hotly his gaze ran over her body. How much control she wielded over him. When she finally sank down on him, his guttural moan of her name rang throughout the room.

It wasn’t a fast fuck. This was sensual. It was intimate. Jack had never seen anything more beautiful than Y/N riding him, her confidence growing with every swivel of her hips as she drove him crazy.

He could have cum when she’d smiled impishly at him, halting all movements and making him beg. His angel’s wings were unfurling. He rasped out her name, hoarse and needy as his eyes begged her for mercy.

With that, she broke free. Riding him hard, she pushed herself onto him. Not for him. No, she was chasing her own bliss. Eyes closed and head thrown back, she clamped down on him with a throaty cry as she came.

That sight pushed him over the edge. Thrusting up hard, he whimpered her name as the roar of pleasure crashed down over him, shuddering and quaking under her as he filled her with hot ropes of cum.

Her breathless laugh joined his exhausted chuckles as she collapsed against him, sweaty and sated.

Jack groaned as he felt her clench around him in aftershocks. “Angel, you are absolutely amazing. Never forget that.” He murmured as he held her close, their hearts beating in unison.

MasterList

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[melodiouswhite]

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde rewritten - Ch. 61

Chapter Sixty-One: Everyday life

.

“Ah, Dr. Faust!”, Dr. Lanyon said, “You're here for your appointment?”

“No, I want to learn how to dance ballet”, the German doctor retorted sarcastically.

Lanyon mock-gasped: “What, you can't dance ballet???”

“I don't need it in my everyday life, so why would I learn it?”

“Point taken. Do sit down. So, tell me, how have you been?”

The alchemist arched an eyebrow. “Do you want a typically English answer, or-?”

“An honest one.”

“Breathing is unusually hard lately”, Dr. Faust told him. “Must be the asthma and the permanent after-effects from smoke poisoning.”

“If you don't mind, smoke poisoning from what?”, Lanyon queried.

“The Thirty Years War. Everything was on fire back then. Then there were the witch hunts – I can't even remember how many times they tried to burn me at the stake.”

“Oh my god!”

“The 17th century was that brutal, Dr. Lanyon. Don't mind it.”

“But I do!”, Lanyon protested. “And don't act so nonchalant! If you're not traumatised after those horrible experiences of war, I seriously have to question your humanity!”

Dr. Faust sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose: “It's long in the past. And I'd rather not talk about it to you. I may be able to look into your mind and hear your thoughts, but that doesn't change the fact, that I hardly know you.”

Trust issues. That was something Lanyon was more than familiar with.

“You're right”, he gave in. “Let's talk about it no longer. Right now, the more pressing issue is the surgery.”

.

Lady Summers was filing her therapy protocols.

A tedious task, but it had to be done.

More than often it took hours to sort everything into her abundant folders, of which some were thicker than the others. The countess always sorted her folders alphabetically and the protocols and notes inside them chronologically.

The one she was working on right now was the newest folder of her friend Victor Frankenstein – it was one of the biggest ones in her archive. After all, he had been alive for almost 130 years, she had known him for over forty years and the man had a lot of issues, some of them impossible to get rid of. Victor was a complete mess (and kind of a tool) and most of it he had brought upon himself. Sometimes Lady Summers couldn't help but question, why they were still friends. Probably pity and a tad of sympathy – they had been through the same torture all those years ago.

With a sigh, she finished filing the newest of her notes and protocols. She would need a new folder for Victor's case and he already had six of them.

All of her friends had several folders, even Dr. Jekyll, who had been her client for only a few months (then again, he had more problems than most of her clients).

Lady Summers closed the file, put it back into the shelf, went downstairs and prepared to go out.

It was Monday evening, when she would habitually visit the local police stations and prisons.

Not because she liked going there, but because the police liked to spare themselves the trouble of actually doing research by employing her mind-reading abilities. They tipped her handsomely for her service and that was the only reason, why she cooperated with them.

But that didn't stop Lady Summers from taking her frustration out on them for not using their own brains. Really, was it too much to ask, that they just did their job and deduced their cases without the help of a civilian?!

Her butler helped her into her jacket, cloak and shoes, Aoimoku handed her her parasol and they went on their way.

Marie would handle everything in the meantime.

When the three arrived there, Lady Summers gave a curt nod to the porter, before entering the building.

Almost everyone in the room turned to look at her and there was some mumbling from one or the other.

“Good evening, inspector Grumman”, she greeted the oldest of them.

Then she turned to the youngest man in the room: “I see, you're new. Well, good evening, officer Joyce. I hope your wife is feeling better?”

She almost laughed at how the young man stared at her for solid five seconds.

But then he recovered: “U-uhm, yes. M-my wife is feeling better, thank you. But how did you know my name and that she was sick?”

She smiled sweetly: “I'm Lady Summers. It's a pleasure to meet you. Anyway, inspector”, she turned back to Grumman. “I assume you have new-”

“Oh, good evening, Lady Summers!” Another inspector stepped forward and she withheld a groan, when she recognised D.I. Blackwood.

“How good to see you, Milady! If I may say, that's an exquisite dress! You look queenly toni-”

“Yes, yes”, she interrupted him, “words are cheap and so are your attempts at flattery. Let's get started, shall we?”

.

“Thank you so much for your time, Dr. Jekyll”, the woman sighed in relief. “You truly are one of the best physicians I have ever met.”

“Oh, stop it, Madam!”, Jekyll chuckled. “One of these days the flattery will get to my head and I can't possibly let that happen! Who knows, what that would do to my judgement! Anyway, you don't need to worry. It's just a common cold. Be sure to keep warm, drink lots of herbal infusions (peppermint, sage, lavender and ginger, mixed with honey, do a world of good against a sore throat), rest as much as you can and be sure to air the room regularly. But if it gets worse, be sure to send for me. Have a good day and get well soon!”

The woman nodded and saw herself out.

Jekyll took five minutes to air the room, before calling the next patient in.

“Good morning, Mr. Blake”, he greeted the man. “Oh dear, I see the pollen season is taking its toll on you.”

Before the man could answer, he sneezed violently into the room.

The Doctor couldn't help but frown. “Mr. Blake, how many times do I have to tell you to please sneeze into a handkerchief or into the crook of your elbow! It's common decency!”, he added pointedly, when the old man opened his mouth to nag.

This is going to be a long, long, week.

.

“Alright, Sir Carew”, Utterson spoke to his elderly client. “Is there anything more you have to discuss with me?”

“No, no”, the old politician chuckled. “This is all for now. Thank you kindly, Mr. Utterson. You're always such a big help.”

“It's always my pleasure”, the lawyer replied. “Before you go, I heard that you're going to retire from the Parliament?”

“Ah, yes”, Sir Carew confirmed. “I'm beginning to feel my age, I must admit. I'm planning to retire into the country, once I am retired and my daughter has got married. And once that day comes, I would be happy, if you could assist me in ordering my possessions.”

“I will gladly do so”, Utterson promised. “How is your daughter anyway?”

Carew smiled: “Ah, she is as darling as ever. To be fair, it worries me how many suitors she has. You can never know, if they just want your daughter for her beauty, if they truly love her.”

“Well, I have no children, so I can't really relate”, Utterson stated.

For a second he wondered how an old man like Sir Danvers Carew could have such a young daughter (she was not quite twenty), but then he remembered, that Carew had adopted her.

Maybe my own memory is getting rusty.

“By the way, how is Lady Summers?”, Carew inquired out of the blue, startling the other. “After all, she was quite ill used at the royal gala over a month ago.”

“Oh. Her Ladyship is fine”, Utterson told him. “In fact, she visited her father-in-law in Cornwall earlier this month. She returned to London a week ago, you can visit her yourself, if you wish. I'm certain she will be delighted to have tea and crumpets with you.”

“Oh, wonderful”, the older man cried in delight. “Really, that baron was such an animal towards her! She could have died from internal injuries!”

“Hm, she had the good fortune of several capable physicians being there as well”, the lawyer pointed out (wishing Carew would stop talking about that accursed gala already).

“Indeed. The Lady always had fortune on her side – then again, fortune favours the bold. And speaking of them, how are they? I seem to recall, that they are intimate friends of yours?”

“You could say that”, Utterson confirmed, albeit apprehensively. “We have known each other since our school days, so we're very close.”

“Well, give them my regards and my thanks for being such good friends to you and to the countess. And while you're at that, won't you give my thanks to that young brown-haired man, who saved my daughter from that scoundrel's clutches? What was his name again …”

“Mr. Hyde”, the lawyer supplied.

“Right! Anyway, give him and Dr. Jekyll my thanks. As Lisa's father it put me quite at ease to see two gentlemen help my daughter out without ulterior motives.”

Utterson nodded. “I will let them know next time I meet them. Have a nice evening, Sir.”

Then he saw his client off.

He didn't ask, whether Carew remembered, that Hyde was the very same man, who had almost killed him the year before and if yes, how he was feeling about that.

I will just have to ask Lady Summers, he decided. I pray she will be willing to enlighten me, because something about this is making me anxious.

[inheritorofmemories-archive]

Let’s talk about The Old Guard’s OST

And I don’t mean the songs because I don't have that many opinions on them and I'm sure other people can talk about that better than me, but the music that was written for the movie by Volker Bertelmann and Dustin O’Halloran.

Note: I'm only gonna talk about the instruments, themes and parallels, not really about scales or that kind of more technical details, for the sake of saving time.

Okay so here's an analysis by me, a music nerd that can't help but overthink everything they like. Featuring lots of appreciation for minimalist music and cool symbolism.

Why is the Old Guard’s soundtrack so good and so fitting?

The whole thing is under read more because it’s long

 .

First, the composers.

I don’t know Bertelmann, but I’ve listened to some of O’Halloran’s work (he did The Hate U Give ost). He also worked with Johann Johannsson in the past a big name in the composer and movie soundtrack world (he did Mother!, Prisoners, Arrival amongst other).

O’Halloran cites Arvo Pärt as a big influence in his music. It’s almost all thanks to him and his work that the ambient and minimalist music was born, he’s a huge name. Minimalist and ambient are (to oversimplify it) simple tune, with as little notes as possible, little melody repeated over and over, soft percussion, it embodies the idea that “the less the better”.

What I’m trying to get at is, ambient and minimalist are now very related to the film soundtrack world because by essence ambient is making feel things with less, and that suits the need to uplift images with music that’s not overpowering. (Go listen to Max Richter’s work, he’s one of the first minimalist that was employed in the movie industry, and the Waltz with Bashir ost is amazing.)

Which takes me to this: The Old Guard’s ost doesn’t read like an usual action movie, or super hero movie ost because they used ambient instead of big brass and powerful electric sounds like you’re used to. And that’s what makes it so good for this film. 

.

So, let’s get to the actual ost. We’ll do it chronologically.

The ost has 24 tracks that amount to 46 min, for a 2 h movie that is in the norm. And the thing is, every instrument has a purpose, is assigned to someone or something and when you listen to it, you can understand that the composers tried to push along the director’s intention with the music.

The movie start with shells falling on the ground and Andy’s speech in complete silence, you’re thrown into the movie: it’s serious and it deals with the character’s emotional drive. Then, bam! “We were born alone” comes on and that solidify this idea.

The first track is The Old Guard, and it gives us a couple thing: the team’s music is composed of synthesizers, long notes held over some soft percussions. There’s piano in this track, and the piano=emotions, memory. But we figure that out later.

We find those elements again in the second track, Hotel. This time the synths are more present because Andy is watching the news and feeling bad about it. And the third one, A New Mission feature synth that are more agressive, since they’re on a mission, and what we assume are their peak coordination as a team. They’re as complementary as you can get for the South Sudan mission, that’s what this part show us.

One element that’s import to note: those three tracks all have choirs, faint in the first but in the third they peak, and you can actually hear them really well in the movie. Choirs are the marks of the Old Guard, of the team, and as soon as they dream of Nile, we won’t hear choirs anymore because the team isn’t complete, they need to find her.

This brings us to Nile. The end of Double Bubble and Nile tells us something else, Nile is the strings, and violon. When Andy leaves to get Nile, there’s string with her synth, because she’s her mission. We hear them when Nile speaks to the children in Afghanistan, and when she dies there’s strings and piano.

That’s when we understand that the piano is memory and emotions. There is piano mixed with heavier percussion for Quynh’s track The Iron Maiden, the memory and pain with a typical Old Guard’s instrument, and percussion are great to show the exhilaration of riding with Andy and the fear of being locked in the iron maiden.

In Booker’s track when he talks about his children in the cave, They Grow Old, we also have a piano, because he’s remembering and also feeling grief and sorrow.

And in What If We Don’t Live Forever? when Andy is sitting in the car after Celeste took care of her wound, we hear piano again, because she’s reflecting on Lykon’s death and her own mortality.  But, interesting details, strings join at the end of the track. Has Nile started to influence her character? Who knows, but I’m saying it.

And we have the piano again when Nile drive away when Andy and Booker go to Copley’s, because she’s thinking of her family and feeling guilty about the man she killed and feeling overwhelmed over her new immortal identity.

Also, when Joe and Nicky are taken and there’s only three of them left driving to the mine, we have almost no percussion and very soft synth, because the team isn’t complete, so why would the Old Guard's signature music be?

We do, very quickly, get their music when Nile look at Copley’s board and understand the role Andy and the Old Guard had in humanity, track Montenegro.

Nile get her own song moment with “Going Down Fighting" as she go save the team, and when she frees them, We Won’t Give Up mixes synth with her strings.

And to keep on with the awesome symbolism, in The Old Guard Attack (that moment before the explosion where they take down like 10 mercenaries together) over the sounds we get for them from the first three track there’s strings, Nile’s instrument. The team added her to their music, she’s accepted just like she accepted them with Montenegro when she came back for them.  That’s what we call very cool composition people.

And remember what I said about the choirs being gone? How for the entire movie, after they dream of Nile and Andy yeet herself jump from the train they’re nowhere to be heard? At the end for You Are Going To Help Us, they’re back. Because Nile has chosen her way,  she’s an Old Guard now, she’s part of the family so she gets to have the Old Guard music too.

Just listen to The Old Guard and You Are Going to Help Us, the first and last track. They are very similar in melody and structure, but in the second one you get more prominent strings. Again, Nile’s instrument. Is it subtle enough yet?

I’ve skipped some tracks because once you expose the idea it gets repetitive to mention it from all tracks it appears in, but you get the idea.

Seriously if you have time try to give it a listen, it’s actually really nice. Tho, fair warning, I’m the kind of person that listen to movies and games soundtracks for fun all the time and geek out about ambient music, so...

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And finally, to come back to what I said, and why this ost is so good, I need to talk about the whole atmosphere Gina Prince-Bythewood gave to the movie.

I talked a bit about it here (long post too, sorry), but the movie isn’t all big explosions and SFX and actions in your face. It’s gritty, dark, and incredibly realist. GPB said she used blood pocket for the Kill Floor scene (The Old Guard - How to Shoot a Shootout- Netflix, at about 3:30 she talks about it) because she needed the gore realism of blood spraying out of them. That’s why there’s no fancy light, neons and colors nor very symmetrical or intricate photography but washed out lights and very minimal outstanding feature and even coloring unless it’s to make a point (there’s a post about centering subject in the shot in The Old Guard going around, like Nile in the elevator at the end, very cool). It’s also why they used wide angle for the camera and the “shaky cam”, the camera that’s moving along the characters with lot of shakes because it’s on the cameraman’s shoulder (think documentaries and things like that, again, grounded and realistic film) and not smoothly like you would see in a Fincher movie for example.

It’s also why the most sober ost works so well. It’s not like John Wick with the guitars of Tyler Bates and Le Castle Vania electro, or the Avengers big brass and epic musics. Not, it’s soft, it’s barely noticeable and it only pushes for more emotions, it doesn’t artificially force any on you. The plot and actor’s acting do that for you.

That’s why I think the ost fit so well, no matter that some people think it’s boring or non existent. That’s the goal, to have a soundtrack that uplift without shadowing, something that's just as dark and neutral and gritty as the photography and themes of death, immortality, humanity, etc.

That being said, go listen to some ambient, it’s nice.

[newstfionline]

Friday, April 9, 2021

The $50 billion race to save America’s renters from eviction (Washington Post) The Biden administration again extended a federal moratorium on evictions last week, but conflicting court rulings on whether the ban is legal, plus the difficulty of rolling out nearly $50 billion in federal aid, means the country’s reckoning with its eviction crisis may come sooner than expected. The year-old federal moratorium—which has now been extended through June 30—has probably kept hundreds of thousands or millions of people from being evicted from their apartments and homes. More than 10 million Americans are behind on rent, according to Moody’s, easily topping the 7 million who lost their homes to foreclosure in the 2008 housing bust. Despite the unprecedented federal effort to protect tenants, landlords have been chipping away at the moratorium in court. Treasury Department officials have been armed with nearly $50 billion in emergency aid for renters who have fallen behind, and are racing to distribute it through hundreds of state, local and tribal housing agencies, some of which have not created programs yet. The idea is to get the money to renters before courts nationwide begin processing evictions again.

A court filing says parents of 445 separated migrant children still have not been found. (NYT) The parents of 61 migrant children who were separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border by the Trump administration have been located since February, but lawyers still cannot find the parents of 445 children, according to a court filing on Wednesday. In the filing, the Justice Department and the American Civil Liberties Union indicated slow progress in the ongoing effort to reunite families that were affected by a policy to prosecute all undocumented immigrants in the United States, even if it meant separating children from their parents. Of the 445 remaining children, a majority are believed to have parents who were deported, while more than 100 children are believed to have parents currently in the United States, according to the court filing. The government has yet to provide contact information that would help locate the families of more than a dozen children.

N Ireland leaders call for calm after night of rioting (AP) Rioters set a hijacked bus on fire and hurled gasoline bombs at police in Belfast in at least the fourth night of serious violence in a week in Northern Ireland, where Brexit has unsettled an uneasy political balance. Youths threw projectiles and petrol bombs at police on Wednesday night in the Protestant Shankill Road area, while rioters lobbed bricks, fireworks and petrol bombs in both directions over the concrete “peace wall” separating the Shankill Road from a neighboring Irish nationalist area. Police Service of Northern Ireland Assistant Chief Constable Jonathan Roberts said several hundred people gathered on both sides of a gate in the wall, where “crowds ... were committing serious criminal offenses, both attacking police and attacking each other.” He said a total of 55 police officers have been injured over several nights of disorder. The recent violence, largely in pro-British loyalist areas, has flared amid rising tensions over post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland and worsening relations between the parties in the Protestant-Catholic power-sharing Belfast government.

Biden seems ready to extend US troop presence in Afghanistan (AP) Without coming right out and saying it, President Joe Biden seems ready to let lapse a May 1 deadline for completing a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Orderly withdrawals take time, and Biden is running out of it. Biden has inched so close to the deadline that his indecision amounts almost to a decision to put off, at least for a number of months, a pullout of the remaining 2,500 troops and continue supporting the Afghan military at the risk of a Taliban backlash. Removing all of the troops and their equipment in the next three weeks—along with coalition partners who can’t get out on their own—would be difficult logistically, as Biden himself suggested in late March. “It’s going to be hard to meet the May 1 deadline,” he said. “Just in terms of tactical reasons, it’s hard to get those troops out.” Tellingly, he added, “And if we leave, we’re going to do so in a safe and orderly way.”

One in six Latin American youths left work since pandemic’s start (Reuters) Across Latin America and the Caribbean, one in every six people aged 18 to 29 has left work since the coronavirus pandemic began, forcing many to abandon their studies, a report said on Thursday. The precariousness of employment for young people rose across the region, according to an investigation by Canadian charity Cuso International based on data from a U.N. commission and a poll by the International Labour Organization. “It’s extremely difficult for young people to access the labor market due to issues around specialization, lower wages, and poverty,” the advocacy group’s Colombia director Alejandro Matos told Reuters. More than half of those who stopped working since the start of the pandemic were let go by their employers, the report said, while others saw their businesses close and those employed in the informal sector could not work due to lockdowns.

Myanmar ambassador in London locked out of embassy after speaking out against military (Washington Post) Myanmar’s ambassador to Britain, who has spoken out again the military coup in his country, said he was barred from the embassy in London on Wednesday by officials loyal to the military junta. “They are refusing to let me inside,” Kyaw Zwar Minn told the Telegraph. “They said they received instruction from the capital, so they are not going to let me in.” Kyaw Zwar Minn told the British newspaper that when he left the embassy during the day, colleagues and officials linked to the military stormed the premises and kept him from reentering that evening. In early March, the ambassador, a former military colonel, spoke out against the military’s detention of the former British colony’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi, drawing criticism from the junta that had orchestrated her ouster and praise from the British government for his “courage.” The London-based ambassador was recalled, according to Myanmar state television, after he posted a statement on the embassy’s Facebook page demanding “the release of State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint,” but he did not return to Myanmar.

Merkel tells Putin to pull back troops as Kremlin accuses Ukraine of provocations (Reuters) German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday to pull back the Kremlin’s military buildup near the border with Ukraine, while he in turn accused Kyiv of “provocative actions” in the conflict region. Ukraine has raised the alarm over an increase in Russian forces near its eastern border as violence has risen along the line of contact separating its troops from Russia-backed separatists in its Donbass region. Russia has said its forces pose no threat and were defensive, but that they would stay there as long as Moscow saw fit. A senior Kremlin official said on Thursday that Moscow could under certain circumstances be forced to defend its citizens in Donbass and that major hostilities could mark the beginning of the end of Ukraine as a country.

China builds advanced weapons systems using American chip technology (Washington Post) In a secretive military facility in southwest China, a supercomputer whirs away, simulating the heat and drag on hypersonic vehicles speeding through the atmosphere—missiles that could one day be aimed at a U.S. aircraft carrier or Taiwan, according to former U.S. officials and Western analysts. The computer is powered by tiny chips designed by a Chinese firm called Phytium Technology using American software and built in the world’s most advanced chip factory in Taiwan, which hums with American precision machinery, say the analysts. Phytium portrays itself as a commercial company aspiring to become a global chip giant like Intel. It does not publicize its connections to the research arms of the People’s Liberation Army. The hypersonic test facility is located at the China Aerodynamics Research and Development Center (CARDC), which also obscures its military connections though it is run by a PLA major general, according to public documents, and the former officials and analysts, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. Phytium’s partnership with CARDC offers a prime example of how China is quietly harnessing civilian technologies for strategic military purposes—with the help of American technology. The trade is not illegal but is a vital link in a global high-tech supply chain that is difficult to regulate because the same computer chips that could be used for a commercial data center can power a military supercomputer.

Indonesia landslides death toll rises to 140, dozens missing (AP) The death toll from mudslides in eastern Indonesia has risen to 140 with dozens still missing, officials said Wednesday, as rain continued to pound the region and hamper the search. East Flores district on Adonara island suffered the highest losses with 67 bodies recovered so far and six missing. Mud tumbled down from surrounding hills early on Sunday, catching people at sleep. Some were swept away by flash floods after overnight rains caused rivers to burst their banks. On nearby Lembata island, the downpour triggered by Tropical Cyclone Seroja sent solidified lava from a volcanic eruption in November to crash down on more than a dozen villages, killing at least 32 and leaving 35 unaccounted for, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency.

Reversing Trump, Biden Restores Aid to Palestinians (NYT) The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it would restore hundreds of millions of dollars in American aid to Palestinians, its strongest move yet to reverse President Donald J. Trump’s policy on the protracted Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The package, which gives at least $235 million in assistance to Palestinians, will go to humanitarian, economic, development and security efforts in the region, and is part of the administration’s attempt to rehabilitate U.S. relations with Palestinians, which effectively stopped when Mr. Trump was in office. The restoration of aid amounted to the most direct repudiation so far of Mr. Trump’s tilt toward Israel in its decades-old conflict with the Palestinian population in Israeli-controlled territories.

Royal rift ends (NYT) Jordan’s King Abdullah II said on Wednesday that the “discord” that has roiled the kingdom for days has “been stopped,” signaling a resolution to a rare royal rift that resulted in the house arrest of Prince Hamzah bin Hussein, the former crown prince, and the detention of several Jordanian officials who were accused of plotting a foreign-backed coup against the monarchy.

Conflict and COVID driving record hunger in DR Congo, warns UN (Al Jazeera) A record 27.3 million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are facing acute hunger, one-third of the violence-wracked Central African country’s population, largely because of conflict and the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Nations has warned. The DRC is “home to the highest number of people in urgent need of food security assistance in the world,” the World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization said on Tuesday in a joint statement, describing the scale of the crisis as “staggering”. “For the first time ever we were able to analyse the vast majority of the population, and this has helped us to come closer to the true picture of the staggering scale of food insecurity in the DRC,” Peter Musoko, WFP’s representative in the country, said. “This country should be able to feed its population and export a surplus. We cannot have children going to bed hungry and families skipping meals for an entire day,” he said.

Beware The Carpet Cleaner (The Guardian) Parkinson’s disease is the fastest-growing neurological disorder in the world, and the US is experiencing an explosion of cases. In the last decade, the number of Parkinson’s cases in America has increased 35%, and a neurologist at the University of Rochester Medical Center thinks over the next 25 years it will double again. Most cases of the disease are considered idiopathic—without a clear cause. But researchers now believe one factor is environmental exposure to trichloroethylene (TCE), a chemical compound used in industrial degreasing, dry-cleaning, and household products like some shoe polishes and carpet cleaners. TCE is a carcinogen already linked to renal cell carcinoma, cancers of the cervix, liver, biliary passages, lymphatic system and male breast tissue, fetal cardiac defects, and more. Several studies point to a link between Parkinson’s and workplace exposure to TCE. The US Labor Department issued guidance on TCE saying exposures to carbon disulfide (CS2) and TCE are presumed to “cause, contribute or aggravate Parkinsonism.”

‘Tantalizing’ results of 2 experiments defy physics rulebook (AP) Preliminary results from two experiments suggest something could be wrong with the basic way physicists think the universe works, a prospect that has the field of particle physics both baffled and thrilled. Tiny particles called muons aren’t quite doing what is expected of them in two different long-running experiments in the United States and Europe. The confounding results—if proven right—reveal major problems with the rulebook physicists use to describe and understand how the universe works at the subatomic level. “We think we might be swimming in a sea of background particles all the time that just haven’t been directly discovered,” Fermilab experiment co-chief scientist Chris Polly said in a press conference. “There might be monsters we haven’t yet imagined that are emerging from the vacuum interacting with our muons and this gives us a window into seeing them.” If confirmed, the U.S. results would be the biggest finding in the bizarre world of subatomic particles in nearly 10 years, since the discovery of the Higgs boson, often called the “God particle,” said Aida El-Khadra of the University of Illinois, who works on theoretical physics for the Fermilab experiment.

Unlikely chauffeur (Foreign Policy) Kevin Rudd is best known as a former Australian prime minister. Last Tuesday night in Queensland, he was mistaken for an Uber driver. The former Labor party leader became an unlikely chauffeur when a group of revelers—described as “tipsy” by Rudd’s daughter—piled into his car as he sought parking at a local restaurant. Rudd obliged the passengers, reportedly driving half the journey to the town’s main drag before being recognized by his would-be customers. “Four young Melburnians getting drenched in a Queensland subtropical downpour at Noosa last night with no Uber in sight … So what’s a man to do?” Rudd later wrote on Twitter.