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avacoleman · 3 months

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when the lights go out || a firstprince fic

summary: Henry Fox’s career is in crisis and his dating life isn’t faring much better either. After a chance encounter with a charming man becomes memorable for all the wrong reasons, Henry throws himself into his next assignment: writing the memoir of a beloved C-list actor. Henry, however, knows Alex best for the role he played as his random, awkward one-night stand. Henry enters their professional partnership keen on keeping their relationship just that. But after Henry confesses that their hookup was less than spectacular, Alex concots an arrangement that Henry is unable to resist. In addition to ghostwriting Alex’s life story, Henry will teach him a thing or two about satisfying a man. As they spend months out on the road together, they must decide if the connection between them is yet another story worth telling.

chapter 4/8 || rated e || read on ao3 *updates every tues. and fri. *

Denver, CO Rocky Mountain Expo Henry thanks the powers that be for allowing Pez to crash the tour for the next two days. And by that, he means he cannot thank Alex enough for arranging for Pez to join them at Rocky Mountain Expo in Denver. He figures it might’ve been him mentioning one too many times how much of a Crescent Valley fan Pez was that Alex perhaps took pity and worked some magic behind the scenes to get him to fly out. Whatever it is, Henry is immensely grateful. He hadn’t realized just how much he missed Pez’s presence. Certainly they’d kept up well with FaceTimes and texts over the last few weeks, but there’s nothing quite like genuine face to face connection with a person– especially when that someone is none other than Percy Okonjo. At his side now, Henry watches Pez drink it all in. The convention center, like every other stop so far, is brimming with people from all sorts of fandoms. It’s chaotic and exciting, all baselines for a guy like Pez. Alex had left from their hotel earlier than Henry so that he could attend the scheduled fan breakfast and Henry could be available to get Pez sorted. It’s such a small thing, but it was almost as strange being apart from Alex this morning as it has been to be away from Pez these past couple of weeks. Henry hadn't realized just how dependent he’d grown on Alex’s company.

Henry’s phone buzzes in his pocket as he and Pez visit different vendors in Artist Alley where creatives sell their custom made pieces. He takes a look at the screen and sees a text from Alex.

Alex everything going well with you and pez?

Henry smiles and notes the time. There’s still thirty minutes before Alex’s panel and having the experience firsthand, he can just imagine Alex behind the scenes, keeping busy to work out his excited energy.

Henry Indeed. Would it be alright if I brought him round to meet you now? Or would after be better?

Alex now pls!

“We’re being summoned,” Henry says, pocketing his phone again.

Pez doesn’t need any more prompting and Henry leads them through the crowds to get to the hall Alex’s panel is being held. He’s surprised but pleased to find Alex already waiting for them by a private set of doors. Henry’s heart does a funny little swoop seeing Alex standing there, greeting them with a smile.

“Alex. I wanted you to meet Pez.”

Alex beams his thousand-watt smile at Pez.

“I feel like I already know you. Henry talks about you all the time. Nothing but good things, I promise,” he says.

Pez looks more and more like the Cheshire Cat as his smile overtakes his face.

“Alex Claremont-Diaz, as I live and breathe,” Pez says in a scarily good Southern debutante accent.

“You’ll have to forgive Pez. He has consumed far too much American media from the time he was a small, impressionable child. I fear the damage cannot be undone.”

Alex laughs. “It’s paid off pretty well. That sounded authentic as hell. You could give me a run for my money.”

Pez, unshakable formidable Pez, actually giggles at the compliment.

“You’re a charmer. Go on now. Keep saying more nice things. I won’t object.”

Henry watches them go, riffing off each other as if they’ve known each other forever. It feels like Henry has entered into an alternate universe of some kind, watching his worlds collide.

“I’m sure you guys must’ve made plans, but if you’re interested, I’d love to take y’all out for dinner tonight,” Alex says.

Pez’s eyes light up. “I’m sure we could shuffle a few things around,” he says, looking at Henry for confirmation. He nods and Pez smiles.

“We’d be delighted. Dinner sounds positively lovely. Thank you,” Pez continues.

Henry turns to Alex. “We could all meet back in the hotel lobby at quarter to 7 perhaps?”

Alex nods. “Yeah, that’d be great. Things should be pretty hectic at the expo today. I’ll look into making reservations nearby afterwards."

Voices carry a bit louder from inside the hall.

"I should probably get back," Alex says. "But have fun you guys and enjoy the panel. Pez, it was really nice meeting you. I will absolutely be expecting a truckload of embarrassing stories and any overall dirt you might have on Henry, so start brainstorming now,” he says with a wink.

Henry already rues turning them into co-conspirators.

Pez smiles and wiggles his fingers at Alex before he leaves them to head to the greenroom. The moment Alex rounds the corner, Pez does an unseemly victory dance right there in the corridor.

“How can you possibly stand being around him all day every day without wanting to jump his bones? He’s even more attractive in person. That’s just unnatural. Dare I say, it’s supernatural.”

Henry touches his hand to his forehead.

“Come on. Let’s go grab our seats. They’ll be starting shortly.”

~*~*~

The secret of his true dynamic with Alex haunts Henry like a tell-tale heart. Each time Pez mentioned Alex’s name after the panel and now back here in their hotel room, Henry feels as if he could choke on the secret.

“I’ve hit rock bottom,” he says, apropos of nothing as he and Pez watch an episode of Crescent Valley on his laptop in bed.

“Welcome! There’s plenty of room down here,” Pez says, yanking Henry to rest his head in his lap. “Come now, tell Auntie Pezza what ails you, my darling.”

Henry sighs and hits the spacebar, freezing the show. It’s a small mercy that it isn’t a scene with Alex. He’s not so sure he’d be able to get through this conversation with Alex’s face right there in front of them.

“I think I’ve made a mistake.”

Pez’s fingers scratch lightly against Henry’s scalp.

“My dear Henry, you’re a writer. I need you to put your fancy degree to good use and elaborate for me, love.”

Henry looks away, unable to maintain eye contact for what he’s about to say.

“Part of me is falling for someone that I shouldn’t. Maybe ‘falling for’ is a bit too much. I need more time to parse it, but I feel…different sometimes.”

Pez’s hand stops combing through his hair.

“Hang on now. You haven’t met anyone new recently that I know of. I mean, there’s that secret midnight hookup back in New York and of course, scrumptious Alex. The latter would be bonkers, but it can’t be the former. You never got his info.”

Henry bites back on his lower lip. Pez is so close to the mark.

“That’s not exactly true. I sort of…ran into him the next day.”

“Have you any Advil here? I swear you’re giving me a headache talking in riddles like this. You had lunch with Alex the next day and then came straight home, no?”

Pez’s eyes grow wide, realization sinking in. Henry sits up and not a moment too soon as Pez’s hands fly to his mouth and he muffles a scream.

“No! Oh, my god, wait. No. There’s just no way! You don’t mean to say…Alex is Javier?”

Henry looks down at his hands, suddenly very fascinated with them.

“Well, now, that just shattered all my illusions. Pity he wasn’t good in bed. As fit as he is…hmm.”

“He wasn’t good that first night, no. But since then…”

“Since then! ” Pez shrieks, completely scandalized. “Grab the smelling salts! Get me a lounge chair! I’m going to pass out, I swear it. This is simply too much for me to take,” he says, putting a hand over his heart.

Pez shakes his head almost cartoonishly.

“Do you mean to tell me you two have been shagging this whole time?”

“Not the whole time,” Henry says reflexively. “Look, Pez, you cannot say a word to anyone, do you understand?”

Pez’s face grows serious, all his theatrics subsiding at the drop of a hat.

“I give you my word. You know that. I wouldn’t tell a soul.”

Henry nods. “No, I know. I’m sorry,” he says, rubbing anxiously at his temple. “I’m just…there’s so much riding on this, you know? The book, my contract. Most importantly though, he’s only out to his friends and family right now. This isn’t even my secret to tell. But, heavens, Pez, I feel like I’ve been dying keeping this in. Things are so good with us. I’ve been loving being on this tour.”

“Well, I should think so,” Pez says, smirking a little. “If I were spending my nights tangled in the sheets with none other than Alex Claremont-Diaz, I’d be having the time of my already fabulous life too.”

Henry shoves him gently.

“You’re horrible, but I’ll admit, that’s been an added bonus. But honestly? I simply like being around him. He’s clever and funny and smart and infuriating in the best ways at times…I don’t know. It’s been fun getting to know him.”

Pez’s brows furrow a bit.

“Are you sure you can handle this, Hazza? It actually does sound an awful lot like you’re falling pretty hard here. I assume you two have struck up a deal of some sort with guidelines?”

“It’s just casual. Platonic even. I’m merely giving him pointers in the bedroom and by the time I leave from the tour, that’ll be the end of that. We’ll both move on from this,” Henry says.

Pez doesn’t look entirely convinced.

“I don’t think you can put a hard deadline on feelings. No offense, but casual has never quite been your factory setting.”

Henry shakes his head. “It’s fine. This is so unlike me. I’m only being silly now, getting swept up in the secrecy of it all.”

Pez grins. “That I can understand. This is terribly salacious. I’m eating it up with a bib and a spoon.”

Pez hums and taps his chin. “Now, let’s back it up just a taste for one moment, honey. When you say he’s improved since New York…”

Henry buries his face in his hands and groans.

“Oh, come on! You’ve got to give me something here,” Pez insists. “You’ve been sitting on an absolute treasure trove of a secret for weeks now!”

Henry looks up and takes a deep breath.

“He…takes instructions very well. He’s a rather quick and adept learner. An enthusiastic one at that.”

Pez’s smile grows even wider which Henry didn’t think was humanly possible.

“I’d absolutely hate you if I didn’t love you so much. I’m dying. Good on you though.”

Henry laughs at the absurdity of Pez’s praise.

“Anyway, I needed to tell someone before I popped, so thank you for indulging me.”

“No, no. Thank you, my dear, for this cup of delicious, piping hot tea. I’m all the more excited for dinner now, to get to know the kitten who has gotten my best friend so smitten.”

~*~*~

After an incredible dinner at one of the trendiest restaurants Henry has ever been to, Pez insists they keep the night going with drinks downtown. It’s truly a marvel to see how easily his best friend is able to be at home anywhere, even a place he’s only now visiting for the first time.

From the moment they entered the club, Pez took his place on the dancefloor like a king holding court among his subjects. He dances with perfectly good strangers, cozying up to a few of them. Henry is already wondering if he’ll have to arrange to sleep elsewhere tonight.

He shakes his head to himself as he reaches for his drink where he and Alex sit in a corner booth, away from the crowd but with a perfect view to see it all.

“You told Pez about us,” Alex says out of the blue, a statement not a question.

Henry bites nervously on his bottom lip, stunned. He thinks back to dinner. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He actually thought Pez did a good job of hiding the fact that he was in on the secret. Yet still, Alex clearly picked up on something.

“I did. I’m sorry. I promise, he wouldn’t tell anyone. Subtly may not be his strong suit,” he says, glancing over Pez with his bubblegum pink hair and flashy sequined jacket, an all-out blur on the dancefloor, “but discretion is. He knows you aren’t out. He’d never in a million years breathe a word of any of this.”

Alex nods and smiles. “If you trust him, so do I. Honestly, I’m not worried. In all fairness, I told my sister and Nora.”

Henry can’t even begin to absorb that information or the possible implications of it. It’s just enough to know that this dynamic between them felt worthwhile enough for Alex to tell the two closest people to him.

“And do they think us mad for this?”

“Actually, no. They damn near threw me a party,” Alex says, reaching for his beer and laughing to himself. “Your fan club increased by two automatically.”

Henry lifts a brow. “Am I to assume you’re a member too?”

“Sweetheart, I’m the president. The founding member.”

Henry smiles demurely and shakes his head.

“Once again, I must say, you do wonders for my self-esteem. Thank you.”

Alex eyes him curiously.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course,” Henry says. “What’s on your mind?”

“How the fuck are you single? Not that I’m actually complaining because, selfishly, there’s no way in hell we’d be able to do any of the things we’ve been doing since New York. I’m counting my lucky stars and all that jazz, but still. It’s absolutely crazy to me that you aren’t seeing anyone. I’m sure that’s a conscious choice on your part. It’s got to be. A guy like you wouldn’t have any issues finding a boyfriend if you wanted one.”

Henry rubs the back of his neck.

“I don’t know what it is. Perhaps I’m too closed off.”

“Bullshit. The night we met, you opened up to me. You were so easy to talk to. I felt like I’d always known you.”

This brings Henry up short. He’d felt that same connection with Alex too, but to hear the man echo the sentiment almost identically to how he’d thought about it is slightly disorienting.

“I think we’ve established that night was a special case. It was different with you. I was different with you than I normally am with literally every other guy I’ve pursued. I don’t know why. I just felt comfortable so it was easy, for the first time in God only knows how long to open up. It was a fluke.”

“Or fate,” Alex says. His eyes widen and he blinks twice quickly. “I’m like…I’m not trying to say we’re soulmates or anything,” he stammers. “I just mean, I don’t know. It’s rare for me too to click with someone like that. I think there’s something to be said for two people like us just happening across each other then crossing paths again the very next day. What are the odds of that?”

Henry is quiet as he mulls over Alex’s words.

“I don’t mean to freak you out. Shit, just forget I said anything.”

Henry shakes his head.

“You didn't. I think you might actually have a point and I don’t know what to make of it.”

He searches Alex's eyes then looks away, back down to his laptop.

“Anyway, to answer your question, I suppose I’m single because it simply isn’t my time right now. I’ve never truly been lucky in that department. Our night aside, I really do have a tendency to guard myself.”

“Why?” Alex asks. “There’s so much good in there. I could see it on day one. That’s what drew me to you in the first place.”

“So it wasn’t just my dashing good looks and accent?”

Alex cocks his head to the side and gives him a look.

“I’m serious. I’ve been seeing it ever since. You’re depriving people, Henry. Most of all, yourself and I think that’s the worst part in all of this. It’d be a shame to never share that.”

Henry’s brows furrow. In a way, hadn’t he been letting Alex in this whole time? Henry realizes belatedly that maybe it didn’t count. After all, none of this was actually real.

If only his heart knew that.

“Shall I get us another round?” he says, rising from his seat, suddenly needing to be away from this suffocating booth.

Alex runs a hand through his hair.

“Fuck. Henry, wait. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“You didn’t,” Henry says, perhaps too quickly. He tries again, setting his hand down on the table.

“We’re good. I just…I need a moment is all. Besides, I should probably get Pez a large glass of water before he passes out.”

Alex’s knuckles touch the back of his hand. It’s so subtle and faint, any passerby wouldn’t even notice. But that small point of contact becomes the sole focus of Henry’s entire world.

“You’re sure we’re okay?” Alex asks again.

Henry stares back at him.

“Always.”

~*~*~

Columbus, OH GalaxyCon Day 1

Another week, another time zone and Henry is convinced tour life might actually be the death of him.

When they arrived in Ohio yesterday evening, Henry had felt a bit off. He ignored the feeling, not wanting anything to put a damper on the upcoming con and Alex’s excitement over it. He’d be joined again by his castmates and was looking forward to the big dinner they had planned before they were all parting ways again.

Henry liked how pumped Alex got ahead of and during cons, the way he’d light up at the prospect of seeing familiar faces in the crowds and new ones alike. Since the announcement, Henry has noticed the uptick in fervor from both Alex and fans. The last thing Henry wants to do is give Alex any cause for concern or worry.

He gets through most of the morning at GalaxyCon pretty well until close to noon when Alex’s panel is set to start.

“You okay?” Alex asks. “You look a little pale.”

“Yeah, I think all this traveling is catching up to me.”

Alex puts the back of his hand on Henry’s forehead.

“You feel warm, Henry. You must be coming down with something.”

Henry can hear the worry in Alex's voice.

“I’m fine.”

“I can literally see and feel that you aren’t.”

Henry can hear fans being let into the hall. Maybe all he needs now is just some time away to sit alone with some peace and quiet.

“If it’s alright with you, I’m going to pop back to the hotel and get some rest.”

Alex’s lips and brows are pinched with concern.

“Of course it’s okay. Do you need anything?”

Henry shakes his head. “Don’t worry about me. You have your panel to focus on. I’ll be fine.”

Alex doesn’t look convinced and Henry can see the debate he’s having with himself.

He touches Alex’s arm lightly. “I’ll check in with you later. Go have fun out there with your friends.”

Almost on cue, the rest of the cast starts to line up behind the stage. Henry watches them go past but Alex doesn’t budge.

“Go, Alex. I’ll be fine.”

Alex sighs and nods, finally accepting defeat.

“The second we’re done here though, I’m calling you.”

“Fair enough,” Henry says. “I’ll be as good as new by the time you do. You’ll see.”

~*~*~

There’s an annoying pounding sound that makes Henry’s already aching head feel worse as he opens his eyes.

“Henry, let me in,” he hears faintly.

Henry groans and rolls over in bed, instantly regretting the move. His vision feels like a dizzying kaleidoscope. He shuts his eyes again and takes a breath before looking around his room.

He doesn’t know how long he’s been knocked out, but the sun is no longer in the sky and that’s telling enough.

“Henry?” the voice calls again. There are three more quick knocks on the door. “You’re freaking me out. Open up.”

Alex.

Henry sways as he gets to his feet. It takes a moment for the room to stop feeling like it’s spinning before he walks over to the door and opens it.

On the other side, he’s met with an anxious looking Alex who takes a deep breath of relief.

“Thank God. I was about to get hotel security.”

“I’m fine,” Henry says.

Alex’s face is incredulous. “You look like shit which I never thought was possible. No offense,” he tacks on. “Shaan has been calling you. I’ve been calling you. I thought you’d passed out though, by the looks of things, I’m guessing that’s exactly what happened. You’re sick.”

Henry rubs at his left temple.

“I need…to sit. You…can keep talking if you want,” he says, stepping away from the door and back into the room.

Behind him, Alex scoffs and presumably comes inside. Henry hears the door close, but it feels like it’d take too much effort to turn around and confirm.

He sits on the edge of bed and wraps the covers around himself like a cocoon.

“I wanted to ask you some more stuff for the book. I just need thirty minutes more. You can go. I’ll set an alarm,” he says, fumbling around the nightstand for his phone but he soon abandons the task when he forgets what he’s searching for a moment later.

“Forget the book. Do you know what day it is?” Alex asks as he approaches his bedside.

“It’s Friday,” Henry mumbles, the comforter falling from his shoulders.

“Okay, yeah, technically. But it’s also Opposite Day. So, I will be doing the polar opposite of everything you suggest.”

“Alex. How is that— in any way, shape, or form—different from any other day of the week for you?”

Alex grins, his nose scrunching as he does so.

“You may have lost the ability to breathe through your nose, but it’s nice to know your sass is still firmly in place.”

A wave of nausea hits Henry just then, holding him back from making another quick retort. The discomfort he feels must register on his face as Alex’s smile disappears and concern quickly takes its place instead.

“Come on, seriously, lay down. Please let me take care of you.”

Henry’s tired body responds at once as if it’d been waiting for the command to allow him to finally give in. He settles in on his side and Alex is right there, pulling the comforter over him.

Henry’s surprised as Alex crouches beside the bed, their faces on level as he brushes damp strands from Henry’s forehead. His fingertips are soft against Henry’s skin where they lightly graze him. Alex’s eyes track the movement of his own hand, but Henry can’t look away from the other man's face, taking stock of the way his lashes cast shadows on his cheekbones and his perfect mouth parts slightly.

“I’ll be right back,” Alex says softly. “I’m going to find the nearest pharmacy and grab a few things for you.”

“I just need to sleep it off.”

Alex scoffs. “Christ, and I thought I was stubborn. I might’ve finally found my match.”

Those words shouldn’t have the power to make Henry’s heart leap. He chalks it up to his sickness for the temporary delusion that Alex could mean anything more. They aren’t a match, even if they’ve been proving to be compatible in virtually every regard. He’s simply not the kind of person Alex actually settles down with.

It’s far too much to think about now; perhaps even when he isn’t feeling like Death warmed over wouldn’t be the best time to attempt dissecting all his complicated feelings.

“You’re the hottest nurse I’ve ever had.”

Alex winks. “If only I’d had time to get a uniform. You’ll just have to use your imagination, sweetheart.”

“A literal interpretation of a fever dream, huh?”

Alex smiles and strokes Henry’s hair again.

“Speaking of dreams, get some sleep while I’m gone.” Henry watches Alex snag his keycard from the nightstand. “I’ll let myself in when I get back. Call if anything changes while I’m out, okay?”

Henry nods, but already his brain is starting to shut down, his eyes too.

He feels a gentle hand against his cheek and what he thinks could be lips on the crown of his head for a brief moment before sleep overtakes him.

~*~*~

When he opens his eyes again, Alex’s back is to him as he sits at the front of the bed. An episode of The Golden Girls is playing on the television and Henry thinks, surely, this fever is playing tricks on his mind.

He sits up slowly and Alex turns at once just as the show breaks for advertisements.

Alex smiles and gets to his feet, going over to the table in the room. Henry sees two tote bags there that Alex begins to unload. The haul is serious, complete with cough medicine, throat lozenges, vapor rub, and even soup and orange juice.

It warms Henry’s heart to see the care that’s gone into this, but he can’t imagine this is how anyone would want to spend a Friday night.

“You’re sweet for this, Alex, thank you,” he says, sniffling a little. He clears his throat.

“You’re going to get sick if you hang around much longer though. You should probably go. I can take it from here. Honest.”

“Do I make for such poor company that you’re giving me the boot already? I’m borderline offended.”

Henry lets out a breath, the closest thing he can muster to a laugh, and gets into bed again, pulling the covers over himself.

“Of course not. I’d just feel even worse if you caught this because of me.”

Alex brings the container of soup over and sets it on the nightstand.

“I’m from Texas. We’re built strong. And besides, I always prepare for the con circuit. At this point I’ve probably got more Airborne than blood running through my veins. I’m good and I’m staying now shh, commercials are over.”

Henry shakes his head to himself as Alex focuses back on the screen and sits beside him now on top of the covers. Henry studies his profile, the sharp angles on a still soft face.

“You must be starving by now and if you aren’t, that’s all the more reason to eat. Here, try a bit of the soup.”

Alex leans over him and grabs the circular plastic container and takes the lid off. Vapors rise from it and it hits Henry then just how hungry he really is. Alex dips a spoon inside and brings it to his lips.

“I can feed myself. I’m not a baby,” Henry protests.

“No, but you’re acting like one. Now shut up and let me take care of you, dammit,” Alex grumbles.

“Your bedside manor could use a bit more work,” Henry says, but he obliges, leaning forward and taking a sip.

Alex’s eyes look anxious as he watches him.

“Is it good? I went with chicken noodle, a tried and true classic. But if you want something else, I could always—”

“It’s perfect, thank you. You’ve done more than enough, Alex. Seriously.”

He lets Alex coddle him and finishes the soup before taking some cold medicine and orange juice. They watch more TV though Henry doesn’t really pay attention to anything on the screen. His body feels drained again and he's glad Alex had been stubborn and insisted on staying. It’d be an even more miserable scene if he were alone.

He tucks in on Alex’s side and rests his head against his chest.

“I’m really glad you're here,” Henry says after a moment. He listens to the steady drumming of Alex’s heart as the man cards his fingers through Henry’s hair, his dull nails gently scratching against his scalp. It’s enough to lull Henry; he feels himself quickly losing the battle to fatigue all over again.

“There’s no place else I’d rather be. Get some more rest, sweetheart,” he hears Alex’s voice say quietly as he begins to drift. The final word hit Henry’s ear a bit differently. It’s not as if Alex has never said it to him before, but this time, it sounded sincerely affectionate. Romantic even.

His exhaustion and delirium must be at an all-time high and working together to make him conjure up the term of endearment Alex has never uttered in that particular tone before.

~*~*~

Columbus, OH

Day 2

“You missed the cast dinner,” Henry says almost accusatorily, setting his plate of breakfast and mug of tea down on Alex’s table the next morning in the hotel's dining hall.

“Hi, sunshine. Good morning to you too. Slept well then?” Alex replies, popping a grape into his mouth.

Henry frowns as he takes a seat.

“Alex, I’m serious. I just realized you were supposed to meet up with everyone last night.”

Alex shrugs and plucks another grape from the bunch on his plate.

“And yet the world is still spinning. The sun is still shining. It’s not a big deal. I see them all the time and you needed me more. It wasn’t a hard choice to make.”

Henry feels his face warm slightly at the sentiment.

“You didn’t have to sacrifice your night for me.”

“It wasn’t a sacrifice. I wanted to be there for you. It’s as simple as that.”

Henry pulls out a chair and sits.

“Well, thank you. I appreciated it.”

Alex smiles. “You look good today. I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

“Me too. Considering the fact that you bought up half the pharmacy, my immune system didn’t have a choice but to get itself in order. How much do I owe you?”

“And here I was thinking we finally moved past this. I’m not accepting any form of payment or payback for last night,” Alex says, spreading cream cheese on a bagel.

Henry smiles to himself.

“You’re infuriatingly stubborn.”

“I might’ve been told that once or twice before, yes.”

Henry laughs and decides he’s better off shifting gears.

“What would you like to do today? Are any of your castmates still in town?”

Alex shakes his head.

“Nah, not for long. They had early morning flights and should be at the airport by now if they aren’t already in the skies.”

Henry bites his tongue to avoid apologizing again.

“Perhaps we could hang out then? Maybe we could get lunch or do something fun before we kiss this city goodbye too.”

Alex grabs his phone and types something into it.

“Have you ever done mini-golf before?”

Henry laughs.

“No, I can’t say that I have.”

“There's an adventure park near here. Mini-golf, go karts…you in?”

“Are you an adrenaline junkie?” Henry asks, taking a sip of his tea.

Alex eyes him for a moment.

“I’m a fan of most things that get my heart racing. Surely you must know that by now.”

Henry tries and fails not to look affected. Usually Alex saves flirtatious talk like this for their lessons, when they’re in the privacy of one of their rooms.

He figures he’s overthinking it. Anyone passing by would simply think it’s an innocuous statement. Only Henry knows the deeper meaning of his words. It excites him, having this secret hiding in plain sight.

“That makes two of us then. I’m game.”

~*~*~

They unwind after a day of adventure in Alex’s room watching Crescent Valley. Alex gives Henry behind the scenes commentary on what it was like filming on the show and he takes advantage of the insights, letting his phone rest between them as they lay side by side in bed, recording all the stories so that he can add more color to the book.

Henry creates a new voice note and puts the show on pause, switching over to his running notes document.

“Can you talk to me about your journey learning about your sexuality?” he asks. “It’s such a key part to the memoir, I’d love to hear more about that.”

Alex pulls in a breath and Henry feels a bit guilty about switching gears so suddenly. In contrast to how easy it was for Alex to share on-set anecdotes, he seems unsure of where to start now.

“It used to be a distant, vague thing in my head. The first concrete period of time I can pinpoint is freshman year. I played lacrosse in high school,” Alex says. “And I was damn good.”

Henry can picture it easily, Alex in uniform, a complete rockstar on the field. He’s patient as Alex parses his thoughts.

“I’d get super competitive with guys I thought had an edge on me. I can’t really describe it. But sometimes I’d reason, if I could beat them, they’d be impressed and I’d get on their radar. I really don’t know how to explain it,” he repeats. Henry can hear the frustration. “I guess I was seeking some kind of validation. I wanted them to notice me and not just as an athlete.”

Alex sighs.

“I’ve only genuinely hooked up with one guy other than you. I’ve gotten wasted at parties in L.A before and I’ve made out with some dudes, but it was always something I could explain away like, I was drunk or just doing a bit. Messing around, you know? But then I’d think about high school and the way one of my teammates and I would kinda orbit around each other. It wasn’t…the same with him. With Liam,” Alex sighs and Henry doesn’t miss how soft Alex’s voice gets when saying his old teammates name.

“I didn’t get that competitive streak. It was different. More real. With him, it was like we were on equal ground.”

Alex shakes his head, toying with his fingers.

“We were good friends. We’d hang out a lot after practice or games. We kind of fell into it. I almost don’t even remember how or when I noticed it for the first time, the way we’d hold each other’s gaze a little longer than was needed. Or the way we’d make excuses to casually touch either other in almost stealthy ways. I guess it doesn’t really matter. Point is, it eventually came to a head. We’d be so hopped up on adrenaline after lacrosse most times and one day, one thing led to another and the next thing I knew, we were making out in my room.”

Henry studies Alex’s profile, sees the deep furrow of his brow as if, years later, he’s still trying to understand his actions.

“The first time it happened, I thought that’d be the only time. We were both kinda spooked by it, to be honest. After he left though, I couldn’t stop thinking about it…about how much I actually liked it and wanted it again. For fuck’s sake, I got off thinking about him and our kiss that night. That was the first time I ever got off thinking about a guy.”

Alex sighs.

“I saw him the next day at practice. At first, we kept our distance in the locker room. We went out on the field with everyone else, and played our parts well. Then he showed up at my house afterwards totally unannounced and it became a recurring thing after that. If we celebrated a win or if one of us had a shitty day at practice...we’d keep seeking each other out. It was mostly always just kissing. But every now and then, we’d touch. Nothing over the top. Hell, we’d mostly just get ourselves off together. I think I was too scared to touch him like that. It would have made what we were doing too real somehow.”

Henry listens on quietly, fully present in this moment with Alex.

“We… I chalked it up to goofing around. Just boys being boys or whatever bullshit I used to convince myself it meant nothing. Liam is actually engaged now to a pretty great guy. We’ve talked since high school, you know, about everything. I thought we were just messing around, but he told me how serious it was on his end, even back then. He’d always felt different than our classmates. He always knew this truth about himself even though he was afraid to say it out loud. He genuinely liked me as more than a friend.”

Alex frowns and collects his thoughts.

“Looking back on it, I feel like such an asshole. Liam had real feelings for me and I know now that I was attracted to him, but we were in two totally different headspaces when we were hooking up. Each time, it was reaffirming something for him. He knew fully that he was gay. For me, at the time at least, it just felt like a way of getting off and having fun. He felt like an exception to everything, an anomaly. I still went out with and hooked up with girls regularly, you know. I didn’t know what it actually meant about me that I was in fact drawn to both.”

Alex runs a hand through his hair.

“I’m glad he and I have had the chance to talk things through. And I’ve apologized to him several times, but it hardly feels like enough. I should have been more careful. I should have seen what that really was. I never meant to hurt him.”

Henry inches forward, his heart breaking as Alex looks at him with wet eyes.

“You’ve done all you can since learning the truth. It wasn’t intentional and I’m sure he knows that. Liam isn’t upset with you, right?”

Alex shakes his head.

“No, but he’d have every reason in the world to be.”

Henry places a hand on Alex’s.

“You can’t beat yourself up over this. You’ve made amends. You were just kids back then. This isn’t easy. You’ve got to give yourself some grace.”

There’s a distant look in Alex’s eyes as he blinks his tears away.

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right and logically, I get that. Still, I can’t fully shake it. I can’t help but to wonder what my life would have been like if only I would have realized what it meant that I kept going back to him. Because I really wanted it with him specifically, but it felt like a one-off, like no big deal, you know? If I thought a few guys were attractive, I saw it as just having eyes and being observant. It didn’t feel like some life-altering thing. But in reality? The things I was doing with Liam, the things I wanted to do with him but didn’t have the courage to say…that was a huge turning point and I totally missed it. Sometimes, it almost feels like I was robbed. But it was my own ignorance that kept me in the dark for so long.”

Alex shrugs and looks away and Henry’s heart shatters at once.

“Anyway, that’s a conversation for me and my therapist. I won’t bore you with it any further now,” Alex laughs, but Henry can hear the pain in it.

He stops the recording. He’s asked enough of Alex tonight.

“It’s never a bore, a bother, or a burden. You can always talk to me. Even if I weren’t tasked with writing out your life’s story, I’d want to listen. I…perhaps it’s improper, but I sincerely do consider you a dear friend, Alex.”

Alex quirks a brow.

“Given the things we’ve done to each other’s bodies, I’d say friendship is the least improper territory we’ve waded into.”

This time Henry laughs as he concedes.

“You’ve got me there,” he relents.

Alex smiles softly and reaches for Henry’s hand.

“I appreciate it though. The offer and…you know, you in general. You’re helping me in all sorts of ways, it’s actually kind of crazy. I don’t know if I’ve even said thank you yet, for any of it. But I am grateful for everything.”

“You’re welcome. It’s nice to know I can be useful,” Henry says, aiming for levity.

But Alex’s face is serious as he shakes his head and laces their fingers.

“It’s beyond that, Henry. You’re essential to me. I don’t ever want you to forget that.”

#rwrb fic #red white and royal blue #firstprince #henry fox mountchristen windsor #alex claremont diaz #userthai #tusersonia #tuserpaige #usernicholas #usersteen #tusersilence #userjamiec #lookstevie #kimmy writes

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moochalove · 1 year

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camgirl yae miko and ei(separate) where they're usually alone fucking themselves but one day they decided to have reader to fuck them instead

So, it's a date?

Thank you for the request anon! I hope you enjoy it. I assumed the reader was fem? Please correct me if you wanted gn or male reader!!! I wasn't really feeling the smut so I'm sorry if this isn't what you wanted I also don't really how to write camgirl so I hope this will suffice.... Please Enjoy.

This takes place like in a more modern time. LIKE MODERN TECHNOLOGY EXISTS BUT ITS STILL TEYVAT CURRENT TIME! hope this makes sense :(...

word count: 3,046

WARNING: SMUT!! MINORS READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!

You sat down on a nice padded chair, pulling your book, notebook, and pen out you placed them down. You skimmed through the book, another romance book about teen lovers with unexplainable powers. Maybe Miko would like this one? Hmmm… You only knew her for a few weeks, sure you've had multiple book discussions before but you could never really tell if she was enjoying these little sessions as much as you did. While skimming through the pages you're startled by a hot breath swirling itself around the shell of your ear, gasping sharply you turn and see the culprit herself, Miko. "M-Miko?! A warning would've been nice?! You nearly scared me to death…" she placed two drinks down on the table, "What's that? I can't play a harmless prank on my dearest Y/n?" Deeply blushing at her remark, you grasp the shell of your ear. "I-its fine… I guess…" you mumble turning the other way and smiling softly. "Ah, there's my shy book partner, hehe." Clearing your throat, you take a sip of the drink she brought you both, "Mmm this flavor is new. What kind is it?" "It's an aromatic blend, preserved Sakura petals, boiled and brewed especially for you." you took another sip, tilting your head, "For me?" she smiled slyly, "Yes, I commissioned them to make this special brew for us today!" blushing you stare into the cup, a reflection of you flustered self makes itself known. Ahhh how you wished to confess your true feelings towards the sly kitsune, her soft, slender fingers combing through your hair, looking up you see her sneaky smile… ahhh a dream that would be "Y/n? Are you even listening to me right now?" Eyes widening you look up from your cup sweating bullets you gulp before asking what she had said. With a playful sigh, she combs through her thick silky her she looks at you endearingly, "I was asking if you wanted to go on a date in a few days. Of course, if you don't want to then-" "YES." you shout shooting up from your seat towering over her. Slumping back down as quickly as you did up, "Ehem… I mean, yes, Miko. I would love that." She giggles at how quickly your demeanor can change when you get excited. "Good. We'll settle the date after our meeting." "Oh yes- the books!" you pick up the book you were currently reading and hand it to her. "Let's see what we have here…'

It seemed like her gaze lasted on you more than it did on the panels of the book.

"And that's why I think the mc should end up with their childhood best friend!" You close the book with a loud 'THUD' "That's a nice point but don't you think this newly introduced bad boy would make much more sense? He can help the mc unlock her true potential with her powers. Plus I think they would make a lovely couple!" Miko retorted, "Agh, you're missing the point here…" Hanging your head in disapproval she giggled as she took one final sip from her drink. "Whatever you say Dear… Ah before we wrap this up how about we settle on a date and time?" smirking playfully she watched as you fiddled with your hair. "Well when are you free?" you asked avoiding eye contact, "I'm free this Saturday. How does that sound?" sitting there you wonder if you have anything planned. "Hm, Yes- I should be free. What time works best for you?" "5:30 sharp." you make a mental note of the time, "Where should we meet?" "The Grand Narukami Shrine. All the other shrine maidens should be off duty by then, so we'll have the whole place to ourselves. Does that sound good?" "Yes of course.” you replied full of glee. She picked up her empty drink and bowed, "I hope to see you then. Farewell, Y/n."

Today was the day! Your first official date with THE Yae Miko. Sure, you knew nothing about her but this would be the perfect opportunity! Slipping on your cute frilly dress you were sure Miko would like, a pair of Mary Jane heels specially imported from Mondstadt, you slipped your purse over your shoulder. Making your way over you begin to compile a list of things to talk about, her hobbies, favorite foods, favorite color if she's ever been on a date with anyone else? No, scratch that one. Oh well, you had a whole hour to think of funny jokes, interesting topics, etc.

You finally made it up the mountain, gosh you were hoping she had a few snacks prepared because you were starving… Oh? Looking around you notice she wasn't there to greet you, well it's not like she ever said she was… You walk around the shrine buildings and she's nowhere to be seen. Maybe she's inside? You open one of the doors and you hear faint moaning… Miko? Oh no. What if she's in trouble? You rush in quietly turning the corner and…

Oh my god. Yae was hunched over her tongue lolling out as she rode her above-average-sized dildo. She covered her mouth with her free hand while the other fondled her breast. All you could do was stand there in shock and watch. Was the head of The Grand Narukami shrine really doing this? ON THE SHRINE GROUNDS? WHAT IF SOMEBODY FOUND OUT? Wait, that's the least of your worries right now… You glance at her again, she's wearing a harness that squeezes her perfectly shaped breasts, a drop shoulder sweater that leaves her chest exposed, and pretty pink garter belts that hold up her sheer stockings that were a size too small for her voluptuous tighs. Oh, how you dreamed of them around your head… Miko's small laptop went off with a 'ding' noise, she let out a small 'Thank You' as she began to ride the toy faster, wet noises and whimpers echoed against the walls. After a few more thrusts she slammed her hips down with a loud whimper as she came undone on the toy. Getting up and off of it she looked into her camera and read a few things along with a handful of usernames. "Ah Thank you for all the generous donations~! I'll be taking a quick break for now, please leave some suggestions on what you want me to do next. Like should I try the new Mitachurl toy I just received in the mail? I'll be back!" with a quick press of a button she muted herself and her screen changed to a pretty pink and a 'Stream starting soon~!'

Yae got walked over to you smiling slyly, "So my dearest? How did you like the show? Surely that was enough to get you worked up and ready." Taking a small step back you struggle to speak, "Miko I- I thought this was gonna be a date? T-this is…" you turn away with a deep blush. "This is- Gonna be one date to remember wouldn't you say, Y/n? Please, I saw the way you eyed me down like a lustful hound. C'monn it won't be that bad~" she pinned you against the wall and nipped at your neck, "You know you want this, Y/n. You can't hide your true intentions from me silly~" You could feel her electrifying gaze on you. Letting out a deep sigh you agree. "Fine, only because it's you." Yae smiles happily clasping her hand together before she began to hastily undress you. "Let's get this pretty dress off and oh my! Where did you get these shoes? They are sooo cute! Y/n, dearest, you're gonna have to take me shopping sometime!" you let out a quick 'haha of course' before she pulled your cute lace panties down. "Oh my~ someone is excited~" she stared at your cute little pussy before taking your last piece of clothing off.

"Okay, so here is how this is gonna go, we're gonna have a bit of fun edging each other until we hear a 'ding' when we hear that 'ding' that means we can make each other cum, then rinse and repeat with different toys. Got it, Love?" you nod before a question comes to mind, "Wait- will everyone know it's me, or like am I gonna get publicly shamed?" Yae is glad you're so smart, "No, this stream is strictly for those who make great donations to the shrine. So you won't have to worry about any of your friends or family seeing this. Now, let's start~"

The stream starts back up and you lean into Miko shyly hiding your bare body. "Ah, I'm back everyone, and with a guest! Please welcome our lovely guest today, "Ai." Okay, that clearly isn't your name, it's just some random name Miko made up to protect your identity (even though you'll be seen naked on camera…) "H-hello everybody!" you wave shyly at the camera a little camera shy. "Let's see… How much have we ma- Er, I mean… Which toy got the most votes, let's see!" Yae scrolled around and pulled up a poll, "Mitachurl" was the number one. "Oh~ It seems Mitachurl is the winner of this round!" she opened the box next to her and pulled out this massive toy. Was she really gonna fuck you with this? Surely not, right? THIS COULD LITERALLY SPLIT YOU IN HALF… Taking out a bottle of lube she poured some on it before she turned towards you smirking, "Okay Ai, just go ahead and lay back… Let mommy take care of everything~" Gulping loudly you lay back whispering some prayers.

Circling the tip around your clit she pressed a few kisses to your neck whispering, "If it ever becomes too much you have to tell me, okay?" you nod agreeing to do so. Pouring some lube onto your genitals she rubs a few more circles into your pussy, slowly inserting it into your aching hole. "Mmmffmm~" you cover your mouth biting onto your middle finger as your legs lifted up slightly. "Oh, my~ Don't shy away from me now" Placing wet kisses into your neck she pushes the dildo in your wet hole "MmmMMMmmm s-so big-" you feel a burning sensation throughout your lower region, nipples perking up as Miko suckles on them. "Okay Ai, I'm gonna put it in fully." nodding you brace yourself for the burning and splitting sensation, "okay, I'm ready." With a quick thrust, she slams it into you, thrusting it in and out slowly and harshly. "M-Miko! Its hurts- oh fuck~" Miko shuts you up with a deep passionate kiss, using her free hand to rub circles into your clit. Everything felt overwhelming, the pain began to fade away and pleasure made itself known. LIKE REALLY KNOWN. The thick and long dick was rubbing against your sweet velvety walls and all you could do was squirm and let out sweet little whimpers, practically begging Yae to fuck you faster and harder. Yae hummed softly as she looked over to her newest comments, still thrusting the toy in and out of you, "Ah thank you all for the sakura petals! If we can get a sum of 25,000 mora by the end of the night, I and Ai will take some lewd photos for you all! If you donate an extra 1,500 mora you may request us to do anything for these photos! Remember 25,000 mora and an extra 1,500 mora will we do anything you request!" she smirks before turning her attention back to you. "Please… Go faster Yae… Please~" she slows her paste, "Ah ah ah" pulling it out of your seeping wet hole she smirks, "It hasn't even been 10 minutes my sweetest sakura~ We have to go a biittt longer~ Cmon I know you can hold out a bit longer~" she pulls out another toy, a small egg-shaped one, with a click of a button it starts vibrating. Quickly holding it against your clit, thighs shaking as your tongue lolls out as you pant loudly, "Ohhh that feels s-so good~!" Spreading your legs apart further as you push your waist into the air to try and feel more of the harsh vibrations, Miko leaned over and placed her supple breast into your mouth, you weren't sure what to do so you began sucking on it. "Ah you dirty girl~" Now this turned some on some weird old guy and with a 'ding' you smiled happily, you could finally cum.

With a quick 'Thank You' Miko set the vibrator on max while she pulled herself up and put on a belt, buckling the Mitachurl onto her pelvis, and with a swift movement she slammed her hips into you. "OH MY GOD~!" she pulled her legs over her shoulders as she tried to get herself deeper into you. Pushing you into a mating press she began plowing into your aching cunt, "You like being mommy's little bitch, huh?" grabbing your hair she forced you to look into her deep purple eyes. "Yes, m-mommy~ Nnnghhh you're so big~ Go on and fuck my slutty little pussy~" Lapping at your neck, biting and kissing your neck she marks you as hers. 'DING' Miko lets out a surprised gasp, the vibrator toy she keeps on her puffy pink clit starts vibrating at max speed. Looks like someone donated a shit ton of my money to set that off. "My my… Looks like one of you sick old fucks really wanted the most out of this, huh~ Mmmm yes that feels so good~ You dirty old men better stroking your dicks to this, hahh… Play with your pretty red tips, oh yeah~ Just like that~ Oh you're so big aren't you?" Turning back to face you she places a quick wet kiss on your lips, "Ai I'm pulling out real quick." Gasping for air as she got up and off of you for a second, once she pulled out you whimpered. "Ah~ I'm so happy we reached our goal of 25,000 mora~ Thank You all! Since I'm so nice I'll go ahead and turn on the second camera!" Reaching over she clicked the camera to 'ON' She looked at the screen and moved it accordingly to face your neck and pretty supple breasts. "Okay, let us continue~" Aligning the dildo into your hole swiftly, hips slamming into you. Eyes rolling up you can feel the big slimy tip kissing your cervix, walls squeezing around the veiny dick. Yae's tits bounce against yours, and both of your tits are squishing together perfectly. "You like that, Ai~ You like how my big monster cock fucks you good, huh?" Nodding as you claw at her back desperately, "Yes~! Fuck me harder Mommy" Miko can feel herself coming undone, she was whimpering. "Yes~! Let mommy fuck your sluty little pussy… hah…" Your pussy was so done with being edged it felt like you were about to cum, finally. Biting down on your lower lip, and shutting your eyes closed everything felt heavy. Pussy quivering, clit heavy and puffy from all the stimulation. Swiftly she pulled out of you. "Hold on baby girl…" Discarding the strap she pulled the vibrators off both of your puffy red clits she scooted closer to you as she spread her legs. Slamming her hips into you, you began scissoring. "Mmmmffnnnmmmghh yes yes YES~ Just like that~ Bet your gonna cum all over this slutty pussy, huh~?" Miko turned towards the camera, "Yeah, you dirty old men better stroking your tiny dicks to this, yeah? Just like that, oohhhfuucckk~ What's that? Are you gonna cum? Just keep stroking, just like that." With a loud whine you came, "FUCK MOMMY~ IM CUMMING~ FEELS SO GOOD~" It felt like a water balloon burst, you squirted all over her pussy, and she pulled back as she placed her wet mouth onto your cunt. Slurping up all your juices, tongues circling your clit, you came again. It felt like your juices wouldn't stop pouring out. "Oho~ I can't believe I landed myself a squirter~ Oh how lucky am I?" You fall back, limp and sore, she wasn't done yet though. Crawling over you she placed her cunt over your face, "Open up~" you opened your mouth, tongue ready to be used. Grabbing onto a nearby pillow, Miko began riding your face. Your tongue flicked back and forth inside of her feeling her gummy walls on your tongue. "Hnnghhh~ You're so good for mommy, come on make her cum in your mouth. Show me you deserve it." Taking this as a challenge you start lapping at her puffy pink clit and placing wet kisses on it. Moaning into it Miko could feel the faint vibrations as straddled your face harsher, "Yesyesyes so good~" It felt like her pussy was fluttering. Finally, the cord in her snapped. "OHFUCK~ YESYES YESYES!! YOU'RE SO FUCKING GOOD FOR MOMMY, MY GOOD GIRL~!" Lapping up at her cum. It was sweet, not wasting a single drop.

Miko wobbled off of you as she caught her breath, "A-and that concludes today's stream! I- I hope you all enjoyed it~ Again thank you all so much for the donations. Alright, Ai, it's time to say goodbye." Struggling to get up you face towards the camera and flash the camera the cutest smile you can muster up, "T- Thank you all~ I'm so happy I was able to be part of the stream. I hope Ms. Yae Miko invites me on sometime again." Bowing out of respect you clasp your hands together and then lean against Miko closing your eyes. It seems like you were falling asleep, oh well you can't find the strength to walk off-camera… The last thing you heard was Miko saying her thank yous and goodbyes.

"Y/n, let's go get you washed up." The kitsune lifted you up like it was nothing, walking over to the bathroom. Being placed into the warm water felt nice your limbs relaxed as you let out a contempt sigh. "Sorry if I was too rough on you, those old perverts like to watch it rough." "It's okay, I don't mind." Huffing she smile dumbfounded before she poured the warm water onto your head…

"Y/n, are you comfortable?" "Yeah… I am so ready to sleep." She wrapped her slender arms around you, nuzzling into your neck, and inhaling your scent, "I'm glad. Good night, sweetheart." Humming in response you drifted off to sleep…

The Empresses Concubine

CW!! Raiden has a cock! +more pure smut

The Raiden Shoguns divine gaze was not to be spared lightly. If she were to look at you, you should bask in her divine presence as that meant she has picked you to be a one her concubine. Out of all people, you were chosen. This will be no easy feat but you did your best to satisfy the gods “special” request.

Naked with nothing but heels, leash, and a collar on you hold onto a piece of furniture, you are spread out before her, all your pride and shame have flown out the window. Her slim fingers trail down your back down and around the plump of your ass before she places a harsh slap against it.

Yelping out you try to contain your whimpers, she ghosts her fingers over the red hand marks laid on your ass. This goes on for a period of time before she demands you bend over the railing of her balcony. With a yank of your leash connected to your collar you’re already bent over, a whole nation- under her control- is bellow you. You’re praying no one is looking up to their gods abode- seeking answers to their prayers they shall not find, but a bitch a of concubine ready to serve the almighty shogun.

Her tip is leaking with precum as she pulls your leash, making your arch back as far as it can go. Stroking her massive cock with a couple of veins popping out, she slides the slightly violet tip into your cunt. It’s a tight fit, but she’s sure she can squeeze all her mass in- no, she will. She needs to feel your spongy walls around her cock, needs to feel your warmth milking her dry as she pumps it in and out of you. Needs you to feel her twitch inside of you after she dumps her load into you for the nth time, only to flip you as she spreads you legs as far as she can before she takes you missionary. The way her big balls slap against the bottom of your pussy, slick from your sopping wet hole make a loud ‘plap plap plap’ noise every time she thrusts balls deep into you. The way you make her feel from the tip to the base a sweet and beautiful bliss she’s been chasing for an eternity- an orgasm that makes her wail as she bites into your neck to subdue her loud cries of pleasure.

While you can only babble loud cries begging and praising her to stop, for more, something in between. The string in your belly has long since snapped and all you can feel is an overwhelming pleasure inside- the way her pelvis rubs into your overstimulated clit, the way it feels so nice and warm all throughout your wet pussy, looking down you notice a ring of cum around the base of her cock. Oh how lewd this all was.

She thrusts one last time before picking you up and taking you to your now shared bed before lying you down (she’s still inside of you) then throwing your legs over your shoulders, she’s signing you praises on how she knows your body probably hurts from being stretched in a weird way but she’s gonna make you feel so so, so good if you just let her take care of you.

Once she starts thrusting again you can already feel yourself cumming. You, absolutely cock drunk, call her daddy. Oh and she’s 100% into it. Starting off slow she asks, “What was that, Darling?” you can try to hide all you want but she’s not gonna take no for an answer. “Did you just call me ‘daddy’?” if you nod you can bet she’s breeding you till the morning. All her other concubines will hear you yelling “daddy” over and over again all night.

You can be sure that you’ll be promoted from concubine to empress immediately after your night together. Oh, and you can be sure that you’re coming out pregnant and your mind absolutely broken from being fucked so good by the Raiden Shogun. Whether it be the puppet or Ei, you’re going to be fucked so well, just as a pretty/handsome empress should.

THANK YOU FOR READING!! :3

#yae miko #yae miko x reader #yae miko x y/n #yae miko genshin #yae miko x fem! reader #female reader #afab!reader #genshin smut #genshin x y/n #gensin impact #genshin x reader #dom!yae miko #sub!reader #raiden shogun #raiden ei #raiden ei x reader #raiden shogun x reader #raiden shogun x fem!reader

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more-than-a-princess · 7 months

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I haven't done one of these in awhile! A munday post: new month (and one of the best of the year), so why not?

My queue is currently empty and my to-write list is currently at five replies, which is...more than I'd like to tackle all at once. Between the usual medication side effects and the unusual uptick in how busy I am at work (though I'm hoping this might change soon, or at least some of my duties will get redistributed), I'm exhausted pretty often. Add in preparing for a convention at the end of October, trying to remodel two rooms in my house, and general adult responsibilities, and my writing energy isn't what it used to be.

That said, I'm trying to get on top of what I currently owe and I'd really like some new threads/interactions going so I don't get burned out on my current threads. All I ask is that you understand that turnaround time will be a bit slower on my end: interspersing aesthetic, art, and meme content with replies and posting IC content every other day has been a good system so far, so I'll be keeping with that. Additionally, sometimes I just need to turn on my do not disturb on discord so I can focus on replies to writing partners. With limited time, I often need to choose between chatting OOC and getting any IC writing done most days.

That said, so this isn't all asking for patience with replies, here's a little of what I wore at Dragon Con last month! I brought nine costumes and ended up wearing eight of them, which is a pretty good record for me. This was a five day convention (instead of many anime/game conventions, which are three or four days), which is the only reason why I could fit that many in. And while there are anime and video game panels, costumes, etc. at this event, they are definitely in the minority: it really is a pop culture convention run by fans, for fans.

This is one of my Nesta Archeron costumes from the book series A Court of Thorns and Roses! I love romantasy fiction and the SJM universe especially. This was just after the big Sarah J. Maas universe photoshoot, where there was probably 75-100 attendees! We needed a bigger shoot location.

And here is my Penelope Featherington costume from Season 2 Episode 1 of Bridgerton. I love her tacky star dress and while it's hard to see in this photo, this dress has hundreds of tiny rhinestones applied to the golden yellow lace. I did this by hand and it took about two weeks to do, off and on.

This is my reminder that I need to get out my rhinestone applicator tool to touch up some rhinestones on a gown for my next anime convention...sigh.

#more-than-a-princess musings #(A cosplay post? cue 'it's been 84 years' tita.nic meme)#(Which is fitting as I plan to do a Rose costume next year)#(I had enough suggestions to do one of her looks at DC this year that I had to add it to the list)

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wannabepapa · 1 year

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ngl u three r pretty damn cute. but if u want prompts i love when someones gotta birth quietly in the same room as ur baby daddy or other people. feel free to make it about u three if u want

Shit. Not tonight—not when we were supposed to be at this wedding for the next six hours. I thought it was braxton hicks that I had been dealing with for the last two weeks and didn't mention it. Except I was very wrong when I felt my first actual contraction wake me this morning. Luckily I was able to sneak out of bed not long after to the bathroom.

"You definitely picked the worst time little nugget." I mutter, a hand groping around my tender stomach. I had dropped days ago with no labor in sight. It wasn't uncommon for pregnancies to go past the due date so none of us worried when mine passed by. The wedding didn't seem like it would pose a problem at that point, now I'm not so sure. I knew I should have told Marin or E right after they woke up but we had hours before it was push time. First baby and all everyone said to expect to be in active labor before even thinking about going into transitional labor.

Sitting through the ceremony had been mildly uncomfortable—the cramping had gotten old as it took my focus away from the actual ceremony and left my stomach aching. I feel someone's head nuzzle against my neck, pulling me from my discomfort if only for a moment to kiss their head. A hand reaches over the apex of my bump and I see the little cuddle bug is E which elicts a soft smile. He loved the belly and the little nugget that made me turn into a beached whale so much. It was endearing to see how attentive and loving they were to the baby, especially after twenty weeks when the baby started moving.

"You okay?" they whisper low enough only I could hear. His hand rubs my belly absentmindedly—likely in attempts to rouse the babe from their slumber. Right as I was going to answer my muscles contracted, distorting my stomach as it squeezed my room terribly tight. My suit jacket had thankfully hidden how boxy it became though my restrained grunt raised E's and Marin's attention. Her hand founds its way to my protrusion quickly, snaking under the panels of my jacket to feel around curiously.

"Are these real contractions?" her tone is hushed but I can hear the concern lacing it. We had two whole weeks of false contractions that had us all walking on eggshells. Compared to what I was dealing with now those were a breeze. I didn't want to look Marin in the eye and lie—it felt so wrong to keep this from either of my partner when it came to the health of our baby.

"No" my stomach twisted with guilt. It was still early, I could pull this off. The climax of the contractions came and went to bringus back to the finishing of the ceremony. They graciously helped me stand from the folding chair as the newlyweds walked down the aisle with bright smiles and joyful laughter. Everyone clapped and hollered for their happy union before slowly they all filed out after the pair to head to the reception. More sitting and dreading of the next five hours pretending to have fun while my unborn child is rushing to be born.

Hour one was easy to play along in fake excitement. I was too big to go on the dance floor and everyone was milling about to greet everyone. Some friends and family came over to check on me, giving the bump a rub for good luck while gushing about how handsome I looked. This would be a piece of cake.

Hour two took a turn. I seemingly had a hot fash and had to shed the jacket to not feel as if I were suffocating. I looked a mess—shirt clinging to my chest thanks to the sheer size they became over the course of nine months and my back slick with sweat. Baby hairs were pasted to my neck and forehead, beading sweat dripping off me as everyone around was too busy dancing to pay enough mind.

E and Marin had been on the dance floor for the last half an hour throughly enjoying themselves. Every time they came in my line of sight, seeing them laughing and holding each other, made me wish to join them. With how cumbersome I became early in pregnancy there were many things we couldn't all do together—dancing being one of them. At home I would sit in my rocker surrounded by pillows while I watched them slow dance looking so in love. It was a dream.

"Shit." I groan quickly, gripping the edge of the table as my body was rocked again. Three minutes, that's not good. I could feel th frustration of the baby as they were crushed again, knowing full well I was going to get the crap kicked out of me for messing with their comfortable home. Both hands are rubbing circles around the tight orb begging for the pain to end so I could get to the bathroom. My body was slick with sweat and clammy from the stress of labor. Through the stabbing pain I force myself to stand, a hand holding my painfully low middle that threatened to topple me forward. No one was focused on me—they were all going about the hall, laughing gleefully as if there was nothing to care about. I out myself in this position so there was no pity.

Grunting, groaning, just about any noise you could imagine to come from me tumbled out as the slow penguin shuffled commenced to the bathroom. The pressure having built throughout the night brought tears to my eyes with each movement. My hips were on fire, a deep ache in my pelvis was going to drive me crazy. I felt both stubborn and woefully needy for help as my eyes scanned the dance floor for my lovers. Finally making it to the French doors to lead out to the hallway something inside me popped. "Oh shit."

Color drained from my face as my heart began pounding in my ears. No sight of them. They had to be somewhere, but where? Frantic hands reach for my phone in my soaked pants to send and SOS. I had to bite back an animalistic growl as the text was sent into the group chat. Hopefully one of them had their cell to see where I wondered off to. I couldn't stay here but I also didn't know if I could get out the door to make it to the bathroom. It felt like something was threatening to split me in half, the intense pressure building deep within as I grit my teeth to hold back. I barely managed to put my full weight against the door, unsteady feet trying to make purchase in the tiled hall to privacy. I came up short when my knees buckled just outside the door where I caught myself against the door jam. Tears were freely falling as I felt a burning pressure that forced my body to push. No baby. Wait for mama and daddy, please wait..!

I don't know whose arms hooked under my armpit to haul me from my hunched position or how I had suddenly been blinded by a harsh florescent light. No thoughts were important right now. I had staved off labor for too long. I needed to keep pushing now. I held onto whoever was my savior, using them as a counter weight to fall into a deep squat to push again. My clothes felt constrictive—were they this tight earlier today? I was being suffocated by my clothes with some stranger that has to witness someone giving birth. Poor thing.

"Lock the door Mar." Wait. I know that voice. My eyes, unfocused and blurry from stinging tears and sweat, look up to see E. My darling partner with his concerned face looking both terrified and focused all at once. In another moment I hear the lock of the door latch and clicking of heels rushing back to us. Marin— I take a heaving breath before a blubbering sob slips out with incomprehensible apologizes for lying. They both hush me gently, two sets of hands making work getting my sweat and waters soaked clothes off. This wasn't exactly in the birth plan but it didn't matter right now. I had both my partner—the loving parents to this nugget—holding me in their arms as we sway in place waiting for another contraction. I was going to be scolded later. That's okay, they're here now. I'm not alone.

My breath hitched as another burning urge to push overcame me that put me down in a low crouch again. E held fast with Marin kneeling behind me to rub my back, both whispering encouraging words as I put my all into this push. The baby's head was slowly inching its snail pace down my birth canal—I was so close. I could feel myself spreading farther than I thought I could handle. Whimpering and begging for it all to stop I felt soft hands press into my lower back to massage the aching muscles. It was euphoric, a kind gesture that gave me some more to anchor myself for this final push. Letting out a guttural scream I bore down with the little strength I had left, the baby rushing downward until their head fully crowned to spread me painfully wide. I gasped in surprised at the sensations—it was the worst I had ever felt but it was all worth it. We were having a baby. A perfect symbol of our love that would be the stepping stone of our huge family.

"The head, I see the head!" I hear her choked with emotions. She cupped the head with both hands while my body shook in effort. Now I needed to be careful. Little pushes, can't let myself tear and scare anyone. It took all my remaining focus and energy to only let myself push bit by bit. I felt the head bulging out of me, the nose moving and pressing down me, until finally it came to climax with the head finally popping free of me. "Oh my god look at all that hair..!"

In minutes the baby was out and whimpering when I collapsed into E's arms. I felt so empty now and weak. One second I was being cradled then the next I was resting against someone and something was put into my arms. No, not something, the baby. They were bundled up in my shirt wriggling and whimpering at the new world they were brought into. An absolutely perfect little being was in my arms, I was surrounded by the loves of my life who were crying and cooing at our first born, and everything was absolutely perfect. Except the hollow feeling in my belly that made me ache.

"I want another. As soon as possible."

#;ask and ye shall receive #g's writing #labor #polyamory preg #darling e #cutie pie #overdue birth #;do i leave it at this? yeah why not #;unless someone decides they want more then i'll continue from here #;sorry it took so long to write nonnie it has been a rough 2023 #nonnie #nonbinary pregnancy

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bagelthatwrites · 1 year

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Somewhere Sunrise (Begins Another Day)

Chapter 1: Unfortunate Mishaps

Summary: Reagan Ridley tries to be prepared for situations, but the job always manages to surprise her.

Especially when she's thrust into another universe, and stuck figuring out how to get back.

Fandoms: Undertale (2015), Inside Job (2021 Cartoon)

Notes: (thank you to my good friends @pastelkonpeito and @maddestmewmew for beta reading this chapter!! also another thank you to hen again for helping me improve the pacing !) Also this takes place briefly after part 2 of the show, and after the true pacifist ending of Undertale.

WARNINGS: blood mention, possibly death, also swearing

~~~

If you knew anything about Cognito’s head robotics scientist, it’s that she’s been on this job for over a decade.

The job came with many problems and risks, be it near death experiences, dealing with cover-ups and disappearing accidental witnesses, or nearly losing an appendage or two.

But out of everything Reagan Ridley’s done and been through, she didn’t think she would spend her last moments like this.

The machine had taken months to finish, endless all-nighters spent programming, and connecting wires, and checking and rechecking the blueprints to make it perfect.

The companion watch took just a few weeks to properly sync to the shiny, new transporter…

And it malfunctioned. And it took her with it.

~~~

It was a decently quiet night in the building, and the cool wind from outside somehow seeped its way through from the windows to the quite sizable space of Ridley Labs, though it never affected Reagan, as she was used to the drafty windows. Never got the damn things fixed.

Her best friend and co-team leader Brett Hand shivered, though, used to the rest of the building being room temperature.

As Reagan installed the last few panels onto the transporter core, Brett took a minute to look around the lab again.

It was in its usual state, messy but somehow organized enough. Fitting for her, isn’t it?

“Alright, we’re almost ready.” She lifted the welding mask and switched off the propane torch, turning to him. “Brett, do you have the watch?” “Oh- yeah.” He handed her the device. “So… what does this do again?” “Were you even listening the first time?” She muttered, and waved her hand dismissively. “Well, the old teleporter was broken and out of date, so I took the liberty of building a new one. This one syncs to a watch- the one I’m holding here- to take the wearer to and from their destination. The machine serves to make sure that the watch works as intended, and to actually choose your destination.” She patted the machine, and put the wristwatch on, adjusting it.

“You’re here in case something happens to me.” She pointed to Brett, and walked back over, putting her hands on his shoulders. “...If I’m gonna be honest, you’re the only person in this place that I’d trust if anything happened to me.”

“Awww… Reags!” He smiled bright, pulling her into a tight hug. “Me too.”

“Put me down, you goober, or we won’t be able to start the experiment!” She laughed out and smacked at his arm.

He placed her back down and she turned to activate the machine and the watch. “Alright. I’ll start with a decent location… somewhere just outside of DC.” She pressed a few buttons on the machine.

“But… what if you can’t get back? You might have to walk for a while…” Brett commented. He widened his eyes. “OR! I could come and pick you up!” She snapped her fingers. “Exactly.” She presses a button on the watch.

“Alright.”

The transporter vrrrr’d to life, and its sounds echoed across the lab in a pleasant symphony of machinery.

“It’s working!!” Reagan couldn’t hide her excitement, her eyes lighting up as a smirk appeared on her face. “Brett, it’s working!”

Brett squealed in corresponding exhilaration as the watch lit up in unison.

The excitement of the pair was short-lived, as the wristwatch elicited short shocks.

“Shit.” Reagan struggled to get the watch off, as she felt the teleportation tech do its magic. “I can’t- shit, fuck, it’s stuck! I can’t get it-”

And she disappeared in a flash.

Brett’s phone buzzed, and the call was from…

…Reagan. He sighed in relief and clicked to accept the call, only to see a screen of white.

“Reagan????”

Reagan comes on screen, hair whipping in the wind (wind????????).

"Brett! Are y-ou getting this tr-ansmi-ssion!?" The audio and video were cutting out, but Brett nodded.

"List-en to me! I d-on't know wh-er-e I am, but no m-atter WHAT, you have -to keep the m-achine running! I seem to- to h-ave gone to a- different area than intended-”

She pushed her hair out of her face and looked around, squinting in the foggy winter wonderland- if she remembered correctly… it was supposed to be… September.

Oh god.

“I-I.. I-’m th-ink in a di-ffere-nt uni-v-erse! And it's hailing b-" A piece of hail flew down and nailed the scientist right in the temple, causing her to fall over into the snow.

"Reagan? REAGAN!?" Brett brought the screen closer.

"Aw- SH-IT, I... there's sn-ow getting into the wa-tch a-nd I-" Reagan's eyes drooped slightly, and they both noticed blood dripping down her face from the deep cut, now very prominent on the side of her head.

“Shit- Th-this is go-ing a lot w-or-se th-an I th-oug-ht it wo-uld! If I c-an get th-e wat-ch to-”

…She couldn’t…

Reagan felt herself getting weaker. There was blood dripping down into the snow now.

The situation was getting worse. The situation was unsolvable.

"...Brett... if I don't su-rvive this... I j- just want you to know that I'm sorry... for ev-eryth-ing. You w-ere a... a good fr-iend." Reagan felt herself getting more lightheaded, and the watch glitched and crackled as the weather worsened the condition.

"Reagan, why are you apologizing..? Hey- no- listen, you'll come back, you'll be okay, I promise- REAGAN?" Brett teared up and clasped his hands worriedly. The transmission was almost lost.

"...G-oodbye, Br-ett." The screen cut out as white overtook the transmission video, and the small screen finally displayed "SIGNAL LOST".

"Reagan? REAGAN!" Brett called out, but no one answered.

He felt his stomach twist.

…She…

…

He failed to keep himself stable on the edge of the desk, starting to slide down and sit on the floor.

His heart caught in his throat as he choked up, tears falling, the lab now dreadfully silent.

~~~

“Oh goodness…. Frisk! Get the first aid kit!”

#the bagel writes #somewhere sunrise begins another day (the dream fic)#my writing #writing #fanfic #inside job #inside job netflix #reagan ridley #brett hand #only tagging reagan and brett rn since they make up much of the chapter #OKAY. *CLAPS HANDS* I'VE GOT A LOT TO SAY AB THIS #so this idea came to me in a dream (two?)- literally #the original context was that undertale had a netflix show??? and i thought that was funny #i had the 2 dreams around... late november/early december #and i've been thinking about them SINCE #this is gonna be multi chapter but i still have to plan out the rest of it since i dont have much planned out rn #but reagan's eventually gonna interact with the ut characters just because #i didn't tag this ut but the next chapters will since they'll actually have the ut characters in it #also this isn't necessarily shippy but idc if you tag this as brett x reagan #i'm intending on leaving it ambiguous though #OKAY THAT'S ALL. BE UPON YEE!!!!!!!!!!

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arwenadreamer · 2 years

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Arwena's JiB 12 experiences

The Jensen-Misha panel

Warning: This post is going to be both Misha critical and Misha positive, but most of all written by a J2 fan, so if you don’t want to read either, don’t read this post.

I was debating with myself whether to post this at all. I had it sitting in my drafts for a week now. While this is Misha positive, it is also biased, I know that. There is criticism on his past behavoiur. And I don't want to stir up any hate. Yet it is a part of my JiB experience, and I wanted to post all of those. So here it goes:

To be honest, I wasn’t exactly looking forward to that panel. The last Jensen-Misha panel we got at JiB 2019 was downright painful to watch. I did, though. I watched the whole panel, because there were so much heated arguments about this panel going around, and I wanted to built my own informed opinion, rather than getting it second hand from out of context posts. (Reminder: it was the panel where Jensen lost it and shouted “Destiel is real? Where? Where is it real?” and Misha at some point sat on Jensen who was lying on the floor and tried to “kiss” him. The one where Jared came in way early to Jensen’s rescue, and there was also this very sweet moment, half hidden behind a giant unicorn, where Jared was tucked under Jensen’s arm and looked up at him.)

Then there was one short incident on Saturday morning at JiB 12 that also didn’t seem promising for the panel. It was a very short moment, and I have not seen any videos of it so far, so maybe no one even filmed it. It was the end of Jensen’s panel, and Misha was on right after. I was sitting with a good view to the left hand steps up to the stage, the steps Misha had to take. Jensen was saying his goodbyes on stage and was walking towards the steps, but facing the audience. Misha was getting up the steps, aiming for Jensen, who, still not seeing Misha, still facing the audience, changed his path a little towards the front of the stage. Misha corrected his course, but was now really awkwardly not getting straight onto the stage but was almost out of room to get to Jensen to intercept him. Jensen still didn’t see him coming, so Misha turned him around with both hands and pulled him into a hug. It was just a short hug, but it was so awkward, because it was so unnatural. Not two people who see each other and sort of both signal to hug each other. (You know, like you do, how social interactions work.) It was so intentional from Misha’s side, not a spur of the moment at all, which was quite apparent. And it took Jensen completely by surprise.

So for obvious reasons I was prepared for the worst regarding the Jensen and Misha panel. I think I would have left the panel room if it had escalated like this, because I did not want my so far amazing JiB experience to end on a bad note. Especially since there would be no Jared to come in for the rescue and the panel would be slightly longer. (For those not familiar with JiB scedule: On sunday evening there is a Jensen-Misha panel that Jared is supposed to join after 30 minutes for a 15 Minute J2M panel that then is joined by the rest of the guests for the closing of JiB.)

But let me tell you: the panel was a pleasant surprise from start to finish! I genuinely enjoyed it!

If Misha acted like this all the time, I would be a much bigger fan of him!

The panel started with Jensen and Misha sitting with, if I remember correctly, a chair between them. It didn’t seem awkward, it just felt natural.

Both of them started talking and joking. I can’t remember in detail what was being said, but I had fun listening to them. There were a lot of “that’s what she said” jokes. And Jensen told a few dad jokes. (“Did you hear? They are not making 12 inch rulers any longer.”) They kept talking and joking, spinning the wheel. At some point Misha threw some rings (one of these childrens games where you have to throw the ring on a small pole) and Jensen assisted him by throwing the rings to Misha. Misha managed two hits in a row, then asked Jensen to do it too. Jensen declined and Misha didn’t push.

All this went on and on while people were standing in line to ask questions. Finally Jensen asked “Should we take questions?”, and they joked about that, but still didn’t take any questions. Neither of them. For another few minutes. By that time I had a feeling as if they were avoiding questions. But that is merely my feeling, not fact! Fact is though, that they took the first question after around 15 minutes into the panel!

The fan asked: “Misha, you wrote a poetry book. And Jensen you are being creative with your music. Do you two ever talk about your artistic projects with each other? Like your writing and your lyrics.” Something along those lines.

And Misha just said: “No!”

Silence. Jensen and Misha both sitting on their chairs, neither saying anything more. By this time Jensen has his head lowered, facing his lap, and obviously starts laughing, while Misha says to the fan “thank you for being so patient”, turns to the other side and says “next”. Jensen is almost cry laughing, then he lifts his microphone to his mouth, still laughing, and says:

“It’s funny because it’s true.”

He goes on: “This is such a simplistic answer! We have never collaborated, nor do we wish to.”

But then they do get into the question a bit more describing this hypothetical scenario:

Misha: “I imagine me showing up at your trailer, being like ‘Jensen I want to show you this’”, and then miming Jensen shutting the door into his face.

Jensen is laughing more and more and stands up to mime while he’s talking: “The trailer has steps, so Misha would be essentially standing at foot level, and he’d be ‘hey Jensen, I’m having a hard time with this line…” and then he mimes kicking him off the trailer with his foot.

Misha turns back to the fan: “That’s how it would go. So we don’t collaborate.”

Note: both were having fun answering that, and both sounded honest. Obviously, Jensen would not kick Misha. But they had fun painting this hypothetical picture.

The next fan asks something about Jensen going viral on tiktok with the Soldier Boy Blondie video. Misha has to ask what that is. He says he isn’t caught up yet on the boys. The fan explains that it is extra content for The Boy’s that actually isn’t aired in the show. Jensen says they did a lot of these and then adds: “I just did another one.” Smirkety smirk. (Jensen was smirking. I was cheering with joy.)

They then somehow go on talking about Kansas and Carry On My Wayward Son, and Jensen is like: “Yes, and I got to direct a Kansas concert!” Misha is like: “Really?” He genuinely didn’t know about Kansas being in a Walker episode singing Carry on. So Jensen tells that story in detail. He talks about how he tried to insert himself in a shot without the actors knowing beforehand. The cameras were on Jared and Odette Annable, and when the shot was done, he signaled the camera operator to keep rolling. He stepped into the frame and looked a Jared who knew immediately what Jensen was up to. He looks at Jensen like ‘What? Who’s this?’.

Jensen mimes all this, but Misha isn’t getting where he wants to go with this. He says in Jared’s voice: “You’re not in my show!” As if Jared’s face was confused for Jensen being in front of the camera.

Jensen corrects him. “No! And this is… see this is how good… like Jared just immediately knew that there was a pit going on.” (Whether he meant “...how good Jared and I work together” or “...how good Jared is”, or whatever, it’s so sweet!) Jensen then acts out his part. Like ‘Do I know this guy?’ But Odette, who was in the shot too, didn’t get the memo and was like ‘Oh, hi Jensen’. If that weren’t the case, there would be a nice little Winchester easter egg in that episode. Let’s just hope it will be in the gag reel!

Instead of taking another question now, they spin the wheel and drink something. Jensen tells another joke. “Of all the inventions of the past 200 years, I think the dry erase board is the most remarkable.”

Misha jokes about Jensen's jokes being embarrassing.

Jensen: “Listen! Jared wrote those jokes! He sent them to me!” He then smiles softly and says “When in doubt, blame Jared”. Lol. (I’m writing this here, because I have seen this statement taken out of context. Both to hate on Jensen and on Jared. In fact, it was a very sweet friendship moment. Jared sending Jensen jokes. Jensen, who usually isn’t telling jokes like these (that’s more Jareds resort), still telling them all in Jared’s absence. And the “when in doubt blame Jared” really was just loving, joking banter.)

After almost 30 minutes they finally take a third question. I didn’t completely understand it, but the gist of it is: “Did you talk about your new roles with each other?”

Misha: “No!”

Silence. People laughing. Seriously, it’s basically the same as the first question. Do you talk about your work? No.

Jensen: “There is very little creative collaboration outside of when it has to be necessary.” (Sounded serious, sorry, IMO it wasn’t even said in a joking tone.)

Misha: (joking) “We avoid it at all costs.”

Jensen: (now jokingly too) “All costs!”

That’s when Misha started putting his hand on Jensen’s shoulder, while Jensen kept answering. They go on joking about not taking creative ideas for The Winchesters from any cast member, and how they where making fun of that in the green room.

Jensen: “I kid. I don’t know -” Misha puts his hand on Jensen’s shoulder again and Jensen asks, looking shortly down at the hand (in a jokingly angry tone?) “WHAT?”

That was a short moment when I thought “uh oh”. But they took the turn and went on just as cool and relaxed as before, no one crossing any lines. Misha talks about how he called Jensen about his role in Gotham Knights, and asking for his advice on whether he should take it. Jensen then explains that the relationship that Misha or any of the other cast and he have is not necessarily about creativity, because everyone has their own talent and …. That’s when he is interrupted by Carry On playing and the rest of the cast coming up on stage. Which leads to Jensen speaking the words of Carry On while Rob is singing the parts. An amazing performance, completely spontaneous.

I feel like Misha got a very serious talk after the last panel and acted accordingly. Friendly, funny, not crossing any lines. If every Misha panel where like that,I would watch them all. (I also had a positive autograph experience whith him, but that will be a seperate post.)

Also, one thing they made crystal clear in that panel was: they do talk, but not all that often. And they don’t follow each other's lives all that closely. I mean, Misha didn’t even know about Jensen directing Kansas in a Walker episode. So Misha has neither watched Walker, nor has he followed Jensen’s IG, because I’m pretty sure he posted about that, nor any news regarding that on Twitter. Which is not a bad thing, just a fact. Their relationship is the same as with any other cast member. Friendly, friends, loose contact. Except for Jared. Jared sends Jensen dad jokes. And Jensen passes them on. That could be called creative input. :-)

For those interested, here’s the link to the panel part one. I can recommend the watch.

#arwenas jib 12 experiences #the Jensen Misha panel #Jensen Ackles #misha collins #anti misha collins #Jared Padalecki

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sheliesshattered · 10 months

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It feels like ages since I last posted an update for my Rhaenyra cosplay for Dragon Con 2023, but the last four weeks has been nothing but attaching the narrow trim to the seamlines of the overdress -- a tedious and fiddly process that had to be done by hand, and the trim had to be sewn down on both sides despite how narrow it is. I made good progress on it day to day, but the pictures were rather boring and similar week to week.

The nine vertical seams that have trim (no trim at center back, per the screen-used costume) come to a total of 447 inches. Sewing down each edge of the trim doubles that to 894 inches, or just under 25 yards of handsewing just to get the trim attached. At 7 or 8 stitches per inch, I figure that's something like 7000 itty bitty invisible stitches. Plus another two yards or so for basting the center front trim to make sure it was really centered once sewn down.

No wonder it took me four weeks, lol.

I still need to put the narrow trim on the edges of the sleeves, and I might get started on that today while watching Fourth of July movies (Independence Day and Hamilton at a minimum, maybe a few others), at least do the ironing to curve the trim slightly and baste it in place if nothing else. We're going to a friend's place for dinner and fireworks tonight, and while I certainly don't want to haul the entire (silk!) dress out of the house with me, taking one or both sleeves to sew on the ~30 minute drive over might not be a bad idea.

Besides getting going on the sleeve trim, now that the narrow trim is finished on the dress itself I've also been able to shift gears and start focusing on the wide neckline trim. I did a whole series of pinned tests to figure out what I wanted the center front to look like, how to make the pattern come together in the most visually pleasing way, and Jack helped me pick out the best option. Yesterday I trimmed the first two pieces to length and carefully handsewed the center front seam so the pattern matches up exactly:

The raw edges are currently just tucked under and pinned, and I need to figure out how much extra I want to leave -- enough so it won't fray or unravel, but not so much that the center front is weirdly puffy or stiff. This trim is at least partially polyester so I have been able to singe the cut edges to keep everything in place. I might be able to carefully do that on the center front edges, too.

After thinking about it overnight, I think I'm going to do this same treatment at center back, that mirroring of the pattern, and then just let the shoulder seams be whatever. The wig will mostly cover the center back, but eh I'd rather have the symmetry there.

So the next major task is getting all this neckline trim cut and placed, handsewn to the neckline of the dress and frayed ends all tucked safely away. It's going to be a bit tedious, especially at the shoulder seams, but hopefully it won't take me weeks and weeks like the narrow trim did!

Getting that wide trim in place is the last thing blocking getting the grommets in, so I'll be heading straight into that once the trim is even just mostly applied. There are things like the hem and the question of needing a modesty panel at center back that I can't even start on until I can lace the whole dress closed. And if it comes right down to it, I can cut corners on things like beading and the styling of the wig, or sewing a little bag to carry my stuff in. But the dress absolutely must have closures, or it's not really a dress, lol.

Given that, I think the order of operations is more or less: neckline trim, then grommets at center back and armscye/top of sleeve. Then hooks and eyes at the wrists, and a hem for the dress. Wig styling is probably the next highest priority, then the bag to carry stuff with me since the dress has no pockets. Then finishing the underdress, sewing on the large beads at waist and wrists, and then the tiny beads over the neckline trim. I've got one or two little adjustments to do to the jewelry that should probably come before the little seed beads on the neckline, but hopefully I'll be able to get to all of it in the next 8 weeks (!!) until I need to pack for Dragon Con.

I've also gathered basically all the components for my Harley Quinn cosplay, just waiting on one length of lining fabric to arrive -- but I'll talk all about that in its own post sometime soon here.

Eight weeks feels like hardly any time at all, especially given that I spent the last four weeks on what ended up being just one check mark on my rather long to-do list. But I am thrilled with how the dress is looking, and the narrow trim was definitely worth doing. It makes the dress look so much more like the screen-used costume.

Hokay. Time for movies and sewing. Here's hoping I can get through that to-do list in the next 58 days!

#RRD cosplay #my cosplay #my sewing #so much handsewing #so much #Dragon Con #Dragon Con prep #Dragon Con 2023 #Dragon Con 2023 prep #long post

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constantly-deactivated · 1 year

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Nancy Pelosi Hanged at GITMO

President Donald J. Trump was at Guantanamo Bay Tuesday to witness Nancy Pelosi’s execution, which took place at 10:00 a.m., JAG sources told Real Raw News.

The embattled president reportedly arrived at GITMO aboard a U.S. Marine Sikorsky VH-3D Sea King helicopter and was escorted to the execution site at about the time base staff pulled Pelosi from the six-by-nine-foot cell she’d been living in since arriving at Guantanamo Bay on 1 December. As reported previously, Pelosi was among a bevy of Deep Staters arrested after attending a taxpayer-funded, billion-dollar party honoring socialist Emmanuel Macron. Following a lengthy military tribunal, a JAG panel convicted Pelosi of treason and conspiracy to commit murder, sentencing her to hang by the neck until dead.

Camp Delta staff have called Pelosi an irascible prisoner, second only to the late Hillary Rodham Clinton, who, coincidentally, lived in the same cell ahead of her hanging in April 2021. Perhaps Hillary’s poltergeist inhabited the cell and haunted Pelosi, letting her know what awaited her, an afterlife of eternal damnation in limbo.

GITMO guards said a bellicose Pelosi spent her first week in confinement detoxing from alcohol withdrawal. Pelosi, they said, would sit shivering in a corner of her cell wrapped in a blanket, her mood shifting between melancholy and intemperate—sometimes catatonic, lost in her own thoughts, and sometimes untamable, screaming in fits of unbridled rage and even urinating on the cell floor.

But Pelosi couldn’t scream and shout when taken from her cage Tuesday morning, for the guards had spiked her final meal, waffles and two scoops of ice cream, with a sedative that left her conscious but subdued, our source said. Nonetheless, she was gagged and placed in arm and ankle restraints for her ride to gallows.

The sedative lasted only a short while—Pelosi was trying to free herself as Marines yanked her from an armored Hummer and walked her to the shallow flight of steps leading to the platform where a uniformed soldier awaited orders to flip the switch and a Navy Chaplain stood ready to give Last Rites.

And then Pelosi saw President Trump. Her eyes, our source said, narrowed, and she trembled in apoplectic fury, as the hangman fitted the noose around her bulging neck.

Beside Trump were Vice Adm. Crandall and a military cadre. Trump, our source said, whispered words into the admiral’s ear but was otherwise stoic and silent. Vice Adm. Crandall said he felt obligated to offer the condemned a final statement, and asked Pelosi whether she’d behave if he ordered that her gag be removed. He cautioned Pelosi that acrimonious outbursts would not alter her fate.

Nancy nodded, and the hangman momentarily removed her gag.

“F*** all of you, especially you. This is all your doing.” She was looking at President Trump. “I represent the real president. That’s not Joseph Biden and it sure as hell isn’t you. Kill me, and I’ll haunt you until your dying day.”

The admiral asked if she wanted Last Rites.

Nancy turned to the chaplain. “F*** you too.”

“I guess that’s a ‘no,’” the admiral said.

Finally President Trump spoke: “Good riddance, Nancy.”

Nancy Pelosi was pronounced dead at 10:07 a.m. EST, December 27, 2022.

For Trump, her death must have been a catharsis; she had plotted to murder not only him but also his family, including his youngest son, Barron.

Source:👇

https://realrawnews.com/2022/12/nancy-pelosi-hanged-at-gitmo/

I know people don't believe this website but let me say this... I've been following this site for a long time, I know they are classified as satire. But what do you think would happen to this site if they didn't? They have had their share of problems keeping it up and running as it is. Piglosi was executed yesterday morning and I could not access the site and this has happened multiple times, I lost track of how many times they were taken down. To me that says something. You can believe what you want but you better do your research on Piglosi when you see her on tv or whatever, because she is dead now. 🤔

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oceansidegraveyard · 8 months

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Yo I’ve never heard of Shapeshifters being predatory or a shitty company. This is really good to know, especially since I’ve mentioned them to others as a potential place to buy binders from. I’m guessing you bought a binder from them and it was a shit experience?

i made the mistake of buying two, actually.

the first was earlier on, it arrived very poorly made. the binding material was very weak, the print rubbed off within two weeks, and the seams began to split. but it was just barely workable, and i had no other options at the time, so i used it to pieces.

i tried getting one last year around this time thinking theyd be better, but arrived not only cut wrong - the front was much shorter than the back - but all the edges were live and unfinished. the binding panel sat over the stomach and not the chest. i ordered a racerback and got straps so thin they felt like they could rip with the slightest force. i got in touch with customer service and was offered a remake, which i took. i sent a list of everything that was wrong, my measurments, and even a photo of me wearing it to display how badly pieced together it was - only to be ghosted for SIX MONTHS. several emails pleading for a reply and i never got one, even after i asked for a refund instead. thankfully i purchased through paypal, and was able to file a claim - of which they suddenly appeared back out of thin air to apologize and send the refund.

the first incident being several years ago, and the most recent being last year, they have not gotten better over time. they are either seeking fat trans people desperate enough to try them out because they know how hard it is to get a binder in your size, or they are so incompentent in both constructing the damn things or their customer service when you need help that it isnt worth it. some people have gotten good binders and liked them, but theres several others like me - it isnt worth the gamble imo.

i try to speak up when theyre mentioned, but i usually get ignored, so thank you so much for hearing me out.

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evelhak · 6 months

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This. This right here is the biggest question of my life right now. How do you sell your work. Really feels like a slap in the face for a real person. (KnB is being the most relevant for me in the funny little side notes lol...)

*personal vent coming* (That little line really hit a sore spot for me.)

I knew it when I was an aspiring author, and was dreading the fact that authors have to take part in marketing their books these days, because I'm hopeless. It's not like I don't try but I'm so terrible. I know nearly every author complains being bad at this aspect of their work but honestly everyone I know does so well compared to me. I just have zero ability to establish a marketable persona for myself and especially to keep it up. It is so draining. Whether it is irl or social media I just can't do it. I have no energy for it. I have a good eye, I'm artistic, so I can come up with a distinctive look, I've been trying to match the worlds of my books and I feel like I do fairly well in the outfit department by now, so at least for the time I'm in a book fair or something I should be more eye-catching than normal. (Even though it doesn't seem to be helping too much. Last book release party was I think the first where a reporter came, and took pictures for a big magazine of the authors standing in line. Guess who was behind a lamp in the picture? You would only be able to tell I'm there if you already know and recognize me by the corner of my vest. And this always happens to me.) Besides the fairs are no more than a few days a year after which I need to recover for a week from all the social interaction. And it's not even the interaction in itself, it's the fact that I should be initiating it and "networking" which is a hell for me. It takes a tremendous toll on me to start conversations, and most of the time I just don't know how. There's a lot more to it why big events are draining for me but this is a big part. I do not know how to initiate casual contact and if I figure out how to, once, I'm pretty much done for the rest of the day. Except if I have a clear goal in mind? Like you wanna be critique partners? That I have no problem initiating even with someone I don't know much, because I clearly already know that we would be compatible from their writing or what I heard them say in a panel. But the whole casual socialising thing I just can't do. I also can't keep up with social media and that's where authors are obviously supposed to be these days (Tumblr is different lol we're all just hanging here) and I can't talk to a camera. (Well, not regularly, and the result really doesn't seem worth as much as it drains me, I am quite boring to watch.) And it's a constant big stressor for me because the pressure to do all this is so big. And I know that my ability to keep writing could depend on it. But in the end... my brain is my brain. If I fry it by forcing it to do what it isn't going to ever be able to do, then I definitely can't write because my brain will be fried.

I know I'll have to come up with a way of doing this that is introversion and autism friendly, but I really just haven't been able to come up with anything sustainable yet. Because there is no way around the fact that you need visibility. I've never worked that part out in my life for more than moments. I haven't figured out the socialising part outside people who know me well.

Well, I am planning to go study graphic design so I'm sure the whole marketing your work topic will be covered there, so I am thinking I'll get ideas there.

I haven't given up, I was just somehow a little sensitive about something reminding me about this while I was in my happy world, not reality. Because it has been a life long struggle.

I'm wondering if I should even post this vent now.

Oh well, maybe someone will relate to it. Or have a kick ass idea to throw at me, haha.

#still rereading knb #but i got carried away being reminded of my irl problems

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scribe-of-monsters · 2 years

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HOW I MAKE MY COMIC PAGES

I figured I'd make a tutorial while I'm working on some comic pages, I've been wanting to do it for a while but I haven't had time so!

Step 1: thumbnails

I like to do a tiny practice sketch of the page before I draw it, to get the dialogue and the posing down. These don't need to be detailed at all, just basic poses and expressions. I usually do them on notecards.

Step 2: sketch

Next I get my actual paper and do rough pencils, it's basically just the thumbnails again but bigger. Usually I adjust any posing or formatting issues from the thumbnails (for example, I changed the positioning of the speech bubble in panel 4 and repositioned Pisces's arm in panel 3) , but it's mostly just the guidelines for the full page.

Step 3: pencil cleanups

This is basically just erasing sketch lines and drawing in smaller details, I usually combine this step with #2 or just skip it all together, but I figured I'd mention it anyway.

Step 4: inking

I usually ink the margins and words/speech bubbles at the same time, before inking anything else, because they go on top of all the other stuff. Then I go through and ink the characters and backgrounds. Inking is where I add in the last details (I added the webbing between Pisces's claws and the scales on Wilbur's shoulders here). When I'm finished with the inking I go through and correct any mistakes with a white pen (a gellyroll size 10 is what I use, although my markers do turn out a bit faded when layered on top of it).

Step 5: character flats

Flat colors usually take me the longest amount of time to get done. I break it up into two steps: character flats and background flats. I also go through and color in everything that is the same color in each panel all at once, mostly so that I don't end up using the wrong marker on something. The character flats are pretty straightforward; it's just coloring in your characters. I do this step before backgrounds because I know what colors to use for it & I usually pick background colors depending on what I think will clash the least with the characters.

Step 6: background flats

This step is where things get complicated, at least for me. As someone who doesn't draw backgrounds very often and colors them even less, I usually have no idea what colors to choose. I know some people design their settings separately before making the comic at all, and I think that's a good method, especially for important or recurring settings that need a more fleshed out design, but it was more work than I wanted to put into this comic so I opted to just wing it.

I ended up going with some paler tones that wouldn't distract from the characters. The purple in panel 5 is an effect I sometimes use to add contrast, to make the page look a bit more interesting (and also my yellow marker was running out of ink). It's a trick I usually use to show emotion or highlight an important panel, but this time I did it in order to spice up the composition because I felt like I was using the same color too much.

Step 7: background shading

I do this step just to get it out of the way, probably hands down my least favorite of the bunch. I'm not an expert at shading backgrounds by any means, especially undetailed ones. I usually just splotch color on there until it looks okay, which isn't professional at all but it goes fast.

Step 8: character shading

For shading on the characters, I use a slightly darker shade of each color around the edges. I also add in highlights in the shinier bits with a white pen. This step goes by pretty fast. I save it for last because I find it relaxing, it's a nice way to wind down after the whole thing.

Final

After that I go through and add in anything I missed, and then it's done (finally-). I think this page took me around two days, cutting out all the week-long breaks I took between steps.

But yea that's my comic making process! And I kinda enjoyed making this tutorial, I might do more of these in the future :D

#my art #monsters of man #comic tutorial

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stillness-in-green · 1 year

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Chapter Thoughts: 375, Chaotic Confusion

Sorry for the delay on this and other writings, all. The holidays got very hectic very fast. I really only pushed this one out before another week or two went by because I took a day off to finish it and run some errands. I won't say this is the last thing I'll post this year—I should have at least some downtime during an upcoming trip to visit family!—but fingers crossed for catching up more in the new year, anyway.

That said, to make a start, RIP to Moonfish having any relevance post-Tartarus, apparently. Man, I'm so tired of previously consequential villains getting pulled out of mothballs because that's easier than coming up with a bunch of new ones only for them to be unceremoniously disposed of when the crowd scene they're in is over.

Like, did Toga even notice an OG League member was there?

(See below the cut for much, much more. I had a lot to say this week, though a regrettable amount of it is Stillness-brand finicky overlong breakdowns of easy-to-overlook plot holes or quibbles about grammatical omissions that change the tone of the material.)

O The descriptors of Toga’s evasion ability continue to be all over the place, to the point that I’m wondering if it’s intentional. I want over that in some detail in this post, so I won’t repeat myself here(1) save to note that the varied descriptions of lacking intent (Chapter 105), loving intent (Chapter 247), basically misdirection (this chapter), complex and nuanced (also this chapter), cannot fool heightened senses (Chapter 266), and limited in how many people can be fooled at once (this chapter again) do not add up to anything remotely cohesive to me.

Ochaco is, of course, just theorizing, so there’s no guarantee that she’s right, but I don’t really even follow her own internal logic. If Toga’s move is “basically misdirection,” what makes it so nuanced? Why would it being complicated mean it only works on a limited number of people?

If the contradictions aren’t intentional, then I wonder if it’s, rather, another case of Horikoshi running into trouble when he tries to overexplain things. Obviously some explanation is important, but even in this very chapter, there’ll be another, even worse, example of the kinds of problems that arise from trying to anticipate every question and answer it in advance.

O As @codenamesazanka mentioned here, it’s real good to see members of the League putting their faith in Spinner! His feelings get the job done, regardless of his quirk loadout. It especially suits Toga, who of course has an affinity for maidens in love strong feelings of admiration towards others.

O The chemical to attract Noumu feels like one of those things that raises more questions than it’s really worth. Like, wow, that sure is a thing that we’re going to see once and then literally never have come up again. I’d love to be surprised on that front, but like, it doesn’t even bring the Noumu stomping over in this chapter, just makes it throw one (1) volley at attacks at Tsuyu. Feels like it would have been simpler to just let Toga get the sip in. Or have the vial contain something acidic from Ujiko’s lab, or something with a foul taste, or anything that would buy Toga two seconds of breathing room and be less of a curveball than a one-off Noumu attractor that’s apparently highly water soluble, given that it seems to lose its effectiveness literal seconds after coming into contact with Tsuyu’s saliva.

That small gripe aside, I do like the idea of Toga having a decoy, for two reasons. Firstly, and more recently, she had front-row seats for the value of having backup doses courtesy of Kirishima using Mina’s helping of drugs on Gigantomachia.

Secondly, and further back, she was present for Mister’s big fancy marble misdirection at the training camp.(2) Certainly, this panel of her—

—looks more like someone who’s making a biiiig, obvious show of what she’s about to do than someone interested in successfully doing it. No need to dangle that vial several inches away from her own mouth if the plan was to ingest it! Sako would be so proud.

O I love that the word “miracle” is used to describe the Dead Man’s Parade. Yes, Dabi’s foresight, Spinner’s will, and Toga’s love did all combine to produce this result, and yes, it is a miracle, because if the fights ended here and now, all that would happen is that the villains would get dropped in jail, forgotten about, and likely eventually executed. The kids are all still too aligned with the status quo for me to believe it would go any different. So three cheers for the shake-up.

O I flagrantly adore Himijin’s wide-eyed expression when Ochaco calls out to her to try and lure her back with rabu rabu talk, and the way her eyes go narrow and she responds with resignation. She recognizes (or thinks she does) that Ochaco doesn’t actually want to have girls’ talk with her; it’s just a delaying tactic, the same thing Shouto tried on Dabi last chapter with the same lack of results.

(I note additionally that neither Dabi nor Toga fell for it, whereas All For One, despite reflecting on needing to meet back up with his vessel, was more than happy to dally about taking questions from Hawks. This is because AFO is a comic book evil overlord who can no more stop gloating than he can stop breathing.)

O Hawks’ internal monologue is the other place I had in mind when I talked about Horikoshi over-explaining things. Buckle up for a lot of quibbling, then consider:

1: There isn’t really a need for Hawks to be able to jump to this conclusion. Indeed, I should think it would be more effective if he had that heart-in-his-throat confusion about whether he missed a double somewhere, if this is a ghost, some kind of Noumu resurrection, or if Jin himself actually managed to survive somehow, only for a terrible understanding to dawn when the knives come out.

2: Toga was never noted as being particularly close with Hawks, so there’s no immediate reason to assume that he’d have found out about her quirk evolution during his infiltration. This might sound like selling him short—why wouldn’t word have gotten around where he could hear about it, after all?—save that we already have an example of the heroes lacking crucial information about what happened in Deika.

When Shigaraki unleashed Decay at the hospital basement, Gran Torino is surprised that it’s spreading to things Shigaraki hasn’t touched. His subsequent line—“This is the one thing we didn’t know about—his enhancements!”—implies an assumption that this is a result of Shigaraki’s surgery, not a change to his quirk itself. Ergo, proliferating Decay was not part of Hawks’ information communicated to the HPSC to help shape battle tactics.

Hawks did know about Twice getting past his mental block, but Twice’s capabilities were already a matter of record from his pre-trauma days, Hawks was around Twice constantly, and Twice was an inveterate chatterbox. Those things were not true of Shigaraki, nor were they true of Toga, which means it’d make more sense for Toga’s change, like Shigaraki’s, to have gone undiscovered until Ochaco told an adult about it after Toga informed her directly at Jakku.

Does it make more sense that Hawks would have found out about all of this during his infiltration, presumably because the MLA and Twice both would have been all abuzz about what happened in Deika? Well, yes, honestly. But there’s a lot about Hawks’ infiltration that starts to break down when you look at it critically, so it would perhaps behoove Horikoshi to stop drawing attention to it.

3: How and when exactly did Hawks destroy all of Toga’s stored blood samples? Doesn’t she usually keep those on her person or safe in a marble in Mr. Compress’s keeping?

Toga, of all the members of the League, is by far the most perceptive of her surroundings, see e.g. her being the first to note Slidin’ Go’s approach in Chapter 224. When she thinks, in her battle with Curious, that people are just a little bit kinder to high school girls, it’s suggestive of her having become exceptionally attuned—one might even say hair-triggered—to anything around her that might present a danger. Color me skeptical that she wouldn’t notice any errant red feathers flicking about, especially in the immediate wake of the sound of breaking glass, or that neither she nor anyone else would ask questions if she found her stores ruined.

4: Hawks’s line implies that he was so mindful of the possibility of Toga being able to use Twice’s blood that he specifically and personally went back to the ruins of the villa to clean up the scene of Twice’s death. This strikes me as a pretty big stretch, given that he was hospitalized for his egregious burns and then was running around with Best Jeanist checking on other people, like his mother and Endeavor, and exactly how long would Twice’s body/the bloodstains have been left alone after heroes secured the villa?

Did Hawks first regain consciousness in the medical tent in the woods around the villa and have to shake off a bunch of doctors plus Tokoyami to return to the scene of his crime before the day was even over? Or was it days later, Twice’s body long since recovered and dealt with in whatever fashion it was dealt with,(3) and all Hawks was doing was scrubbing and/or burning the patch of floor Jin bled out on?

Either way, it seems much simpler for this to get delegated to a specialized clean-up crew, except that, whoops, the HPSC was in disarray, so there wouldn’t have been one of those available. So if Hawks had to attend to it himself, be it hours or days later, then he should have known the body was left unattended for a period of time. And if that’s the case, then…

5: Why didn’t he foresee this possibility? He knows good and well that Dabi was still up and on his feet after Tokoyami got him out of there. Sure, Dabi was unlikely to have stray vials on his person, but the villa was a huge resort—it’s not so strange to imagine he could have rustled up a plastic cup(4) from somewhere.

Frankly, though, Dabi isn’t even the most likely culprit for a blood stash. Like, if he’d had that blood all along, why on earth wouldn’t he have given it to Toga on Gigantomachia?(5) Just spread Twices all the way from Wakayama to Kyoto!

The fact that that didn’t happen must have led to Hawks thinking he was in the clear once he cleaned up the body. But then, who could have gotten access to a stash of blood? Dabi was there, yes, but the much more obvious answer is Ujiko.

Ujiko had clearly been doing some work with Twice given the existence of Mocha, whose use of Double Mirko personally witnessed and survived to debrief about later. Ujiko’s lab was disintegrated before the heroes had a chance to recover shit from it, but the heroes do know that Shigaraki managed to spare a bunch of Noumu and deleter rounds from his initial Decay wave. Why not assume he managed to spare some blood vials, too?

Alternatively, consider that Ujiko left gifts behind for AFO in a backup location, including some kind of substance that triggered the latter’s Rewind—a Rewind he name-dropped out loud, in Hawks’ immediate presence.

Ujiko couldn’t have gotten access to Rewind until he got Overhaul’s sample from Shigaraki, well after AFO was imprisoned. AFO in turn couldn’t have gotten access to it until after he escaped from Tartarus, after Ujiko was taken into custody and the hospital destroyed. Ergo, Ujiko had to have left something in a secondary location AFO knew to seek out. Given that, why would it be such a stretch to assume he left some samples for Toga’s use, too? All to further the dream of the Lord of Evil.

That, in any case, is a more logical explanation(6) than Dabi having time to jet himself back up to Twice’s body, find some kind of way to get a useable blood sample from it, then travel all the way back down to wherever Skeptic had holed up to retrieve him before Gigantomachia managed to snatch him up, and then not give Toga the blood right then and there.

The fact that Hawks jumps to Dabi as an explanation and then ends his train of thought there kind of feels like Horikoshi wants to present Hawks as smart enough to the correct but farfetched conclusion rather than thinking about what conclusions Hawks might naturally come to given everything he knows.(7)

6: You know what else would have been super easy and avoided this whole thing? Toga wonders to herself if the heroes knew about Jin’s blood, and that’s why they put her on an island—just let her be right. Say that Hawks did have her put on an island just in case. It’s an incredible longshot, and he did everything he could to circumvent it, and probably they would have seen Toga’s Parade by now if it was going to be a problem, but—just in case.

Instead of being about Jin's presence or Toga's possession of his blood, have Hawks' shock and panicky, frantic jumble of thoughts be about the warp gate and what its appearance implies about what happened at Central Hospital.

Hell, that would even be a nice nod to the fact that, despite being a heteromorph himself, Hawks was not immune to badly underestimating the anger of the heteromorph protestors because he, with his isolated government upbringing, sick red angel wings, incredibly useful quirk, and conventionally handsome face, was never subjected to hate crimes over his quirk status.

To restate, then, aaaaall of these issues could have been avoided by not drawing our attention to them and then half-assing the explanation—exactly the same situation as Hawks and Jeanist’s awful expository conversation about how Hawks personally went and revived Jeanist in time for the raid during a time in which his wings were absolutely dripping with micro cameras.

There are so many ways Hawks could have reacted here that wouldn’t be trying to have it both ways: that the allegedly hypercompetent and incredibly meticulous Hawks completely planned for how to neutralize Toga’s powers but then is somehow shocked, just shocked, that the villains might have had a stock he didn’t account for.

The only thing I can think of is that it’s something in Hawks’ bias about the League. Perhaps he didn’t conceive of them as having the patience or strategic acumen to not use Jin’s blood at the first opportunity, or he thought of Dabi as too much a lone wolf to care about going back to Jin’s body. It would not be the first time he badly misjudged the League because of a blind spot in his own mindset.

However, even if either of those is meant to be the case—that he misjudged the League’s patience or Dabi’s camaraderie—neither clicks with him being so meticulous as to go back and clean up the blood traces Just In Case. If he really were that meticulous, then this shouldn’t have blindsided him to begin with.

As ever, I wonder if Horikoshi is overcompensating because he Has A Trauma from all those letters about Deku’s 1,000,000% Smash against Muscular.

…Okay, wow, where was I?

O It kind of feels like the last two pages should be reorganized a bit? I assume they’re in the correct order because the panels of Tsuyu throwing Ochaco have the faintest overlay of Flashback Filter, and Ochaco’s in that last array of panels, but it’s a bit silly to have that big dramatic panel of Ochaco and Tsuyu coming through the portal only to immediately cut to a flashback of how it happened.

It feels like the chapter could have used one more page. Cut from Kinoko’s dismay back to the beach to show the portal closing, have Tsuyu throw Ochaco through it, then back to the villa ruins for Ochaco coming through and pulling Tsuyu after her, ending with the row of character panels and the reporter image.

That aside, my congratulations and appreciation to Ochaco for her time and consideration in making sure Tsuyu stays relevant to this plot, rather than just using her for the yeet and leaving her in the dust which is what Deku would have done.

I wish them all the best in their pursuit of dialogue, but in the meantime, GET THAT FLYBOY, TOGA. GET HIS ASS.

I know I complained a lot above, but I really did enjoy this chapter on the whole, largely for what a great showcase it is for Toga being sharp as a tack while still being emotionally resonant. Here's to more of Hawks making all the wrong decisions next time!

...But also, I do have some more complaining to do first. None of the stuff below is on Horikoshi—indeed, there's one bit of potential plot I'm very excited about that I didn't talk about above because the potential foreshadowing was lost in translation. Further, plenty of the points below may not really be the fault of Caleb Cook. I don't know the style guide he's working under, nor what sort of editing passes for tone or voice get made on his work after he turns it in.

Whoever's at fault, however, I have an unusually high number of issues this week, so I just moved them all to the end in place of the usual Stray Notes section. I may keep that up going forward so as to better distinguish between criticism of a chapter's actual content and criticism of issues unique to the English release.

Translation and Rendition Quibbles

O ANAL-RETENTIVE GRAMMAR NITPICK ALERT.

“Coming to terms” feels like an unnecessarily clunky translation for the sentiment teinen is expressing—a feeling of resignation, reaching a state of understanding or acceptance. Even setting aside the Japanese, the English usage feels very strange, because “coming to terms” would typically be a verb phrase, a phrase that states the action the subject of a sentence is taking upon the direct object of a sentence. One “comes to terms” or “came to terms” or even “is coming to terms” with something or someone—subject, verb, object.

The usage here, however, is a gerund phrase. A gerund is a verb that is acting as a noun. Here, “coming to terms” is (along with “her rancor”) the subject of the sentence, with “completed” being the verb describing the action that subject takes upon the sentence’s object, “her transformation.”

While I suppose it’s not necessarily wrong, in that I understand the meaning, it doesn’t feel right, either—at the very least, it feels incomplete. Because the phrase in question so specifically begs for an object to be acting upon, using it as a subject in and of itself while omitting the object—the thing/person being come to terms with—leaves the sentence feeling vague, lacking crucial information. The reader can fill in that information based on the accompanying flashback panel, but it is, again, so much clunkier than just using a single word like “resignation” or “acceptance.” Heck, “resignation” would even give a nice little alliteration with “rancor.”

O It is very sigh-inducing that the decision not to do anything to retain the meaning of the -tachi in Spinner’s plea to save Shigaraki-tachi two weeks ago has now resulted in Kurogiri turning up echoing that he has to save Shigaraki and his allies without those words actually tying correctly to Spinner’s earlier words.

O Another case this week of punctuation woes. Togawice is supposed to have an ellipsis before she responds to Kurogiri’s question—she doesn’t have that answer on the tip of her tongue. For all that the narration claims that she’s completely become a villain at this point, she still hesitates before she gives an answer involving violence. The official release loses this nuance by having her seem to respond immediately.

O Another thing I think is interesting that gets obscured somewhat in translation is the verb Toga uses—kakusan, which means things like spread, diffuse, disseminate, scatter. This seems like a request that is not going to be met by Kurogiri dropping Togawice in a single location, so I will be extremely unsurprised if, within the next few chapters, we see a bunch more portals with a BUNCH more Parades pouring through them. She did say she wanted to start with Hawks, of course, but why stop there? There’s literally no reason not to dump self-replicating doubles through as many portals as Kurogiri has coordinates for.(8)

Aside from being strategically sound, it would also be a nice echo of Sad Man’s Parade coming to Shigaraki and Spinner’s rescue in Deika, though it remains to be seen whether it’ll be as loud and raucous as Jin’s Parade, or whether, being composed entirely of Togas-masquerading-as-Jin, it will be eerily silent.

O I mentioned this a few days ago, but Jesus fucking Christ, what is up with every translator in the usual pipeline who looked at this chapter apparently completely missing the very prominent and obvious “death” kanji in Toga’s version of the Sad Man’s Parade? It’s even in the furigana, which reads: saddo manzu desu paredo. I realize everyone and their mother is in a huge hurry to get this stuff out as quickly as possible for the clicks, but come on.

---------------- FOOTNOTES ----------------

1: I have in fact been over it twice, somewhat embarrassingly, but let it be said that I don’t have the best memory for what rants I have or haven’t been on, hence my occasional broken record harping.

2: She bailed before the big reveal, but she’d already seen the first part, where Shouji thought he got the real marbles back and Compress was flagrantly unconcerned, even stopping Dabi from going on the attack again to recover them. That doubtlessly was not the only time she ever saw Mr. C perform sleight of hand, either.

3: Which, incidentally, just begs for fanfic. What did happen to Twice’s body after it was recovered by the heroes?

4: Or a bloodstained handkerchief.

5: Looking for a Watsonian answer to that highly pertinent question, I’d venture to say Dabi knew the time for his broadcast was coming up and he didn’t want anyone or anything to distract from it.

6: It would lose some thematic resonance to have the blood come from Ujiko’s stores rather than being secured by a League member directly from Twice’s body, but it makes a lot more sense than Dabi running around back and forth through the chaos of battle like a video game character trying to secure all a level’s key items before he gets defeated by a hero, runs out of stamina, or the Machia Timer hits zero.

7: Terry Pratchett once wrote a mini-rant about detectives who use tiny clues to make huge, sweeping assumptions, Sherlock Holmes-style, when there are a thousand other possible explanations the detective conveniently ignores because the author knows those ones are wrong. Regardless of whether that's fair to Doyle and his imitators, it’s still the case that Hawks definitely did NOT eliminate every other possible factor to leave only the improbable truth.

8: Yes, I will consider this to be another example of the villains’ capabilities getting nerfed if it doesn’t happen, just like that massive underground organization full of heroes, politicians, and god only knows what other sorts of public figures they allegedly had that had zero personal impact on a single heroic character.

#bnha #chapter thoughts #toga himiko #flyboy the red #my writing #stillness has questions #dubbed salt #horikoshi's million letters trauma

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