#february is almost over post fabricator go go go

[stellar-collective]

Fabricator proceeds to walk in the next morning like “darling you are going to be FURIOUS when i tell you what happened at that party.”

[snowthedemonfox]

So we got some screenshots for Ep 3, and I'm going to talk about some things I've noticed + some theories

I went off for over an hour in the bunnydoll burrow's VC talking about everything I noticed, but I'm realising writing it all down would be a smarter move, cause I know I'd forget it. If I've missed anything you think is important, let me know! I'll edit this post with new notes.

Let's start with the first screenshot, because that just makes the most sense:

The elephant in the room is the realistic human hand. I don't doubt this is the scene that has some level of blood and gore in it. We can't see what the hand is connected to, but whatever it is, it seems to be taller than Pomni and Kinger. They're both looking up, and the camera angle is facing down towards them both.

We can see 2 heads hanging from the wall behind Kinger, and what we can assume to be a 3rd behind the desk behind the hand.

One of these heads, as many have pointed out, seems to resemble Pomni. The face is entirely white, what I can assume is an eye seems to be the same size as Pomni's, and you can see that familiar looking hair on the side.

Even the other two things we see look like other members of the cast!

The head to the right of Kinger looks like Ragatha. It's got the hair, and even the face looks to be made of actual fabric, like a real doll. It seems whatever these things are, they're meant to look like more 'horror' versions of the characters.

(Side note, but if I had to guess, if Glitch releases a 3rd sticker sheet for episode 3, I wouldn't surprised if we got a new set of icon variations for the main cast. But instead of candy, we get these horror versions instead. I think that'd be cool, and I really hope that's what happens.)

You could even go as far to say the 'human' hand we're seeing is from the horror version of Kinger. Like I said before, the camera is looking down at them. Why would it be looking down? Because whatever's looking at them, is attached to the wall.

Moving onto other details in the room, we can see there's a chair behind Pomni with some kind of light on it. At first, I thought this might have been the tape recorder from the February trailer, but you can see the tape recorder is on a desk, not a chair.

And while there is a desk in the room, whatever is on there doesn't look like a tape recorder. It looks more like a photo, or some kind of radio.

The giant 'M' on the rug. We know the ghost lady's name is Martha Mildenhall, so this probably implies she owns the mansion the gang are exploring. Why would she need their help, though? Maybe whatever force is moving the hand in the screenshot, is some kind of 'evil' ghost, and that's why Pomni and the others are there to help. There's evil ghosts inhabitating the mansion, and Martha needs help to get rid of them. It's simple, it's your basic video game quest, it seems like a normal adventure plot that Caine would come up with.

There seems to be something behind the chair, but I can't make out if it's a door, some curtains, or some kind of closet. The lighting isn't doing me any favours. Either way, I doubt it's important to the episode, probably just background decoration.

As for my other thoughts that aren't as related to the screenshot itself, I do believe that everyone is going to be split up. Obviously Kinger and Pomni are working together, but I'm still not sure if Jax would be hanging with Ragatha & Gangle, or if he'd be off doing his own thing. As for Zooble, I'll get to them later.

And this might just be me looking into things too much, but it almost looks like one of Kinger's eyes is focused entirely on whatever is behind the camera, while the other isn't focused at all. Like he's half paying attention to the 'danger' he and Pomni are in.

But that's really all I have to say about the first screenshot. Let's move onto the main event:

Again, let's get the obvious out of the way: new Zooble design! They've got some new parts, like the arms, unicorn horn, and the blocky yellow and pink thing, but also some old parts, like the bluish-green ring, and their classic black and white antenna. So far, I like this design! I'm happy to see that they've decided to mix things up a bit. Not my favourite design, but still decent. They've got good taste.

Before I talk about Zooble and Caine, I first want to talk about the location they're in. At first, I thought this might've been Zooble's room, but looking closer, it's obviously not. Then I thought it was that little desk area at the end of the dorm hallway.

But nope, the hallway has different plants, picture frames, wallpaper, and no chairs to be seen. The plants we can see look similar to those seen in Caine's resturant realm from Ep 1, so I think I can safely guess that this is a new location, made specifically for him and Zooble to chat.

Speaking of that, I think that's going to be the driving point of Zooble's character development this episode. Something is going to convince them to join the future adventures, and it seems this will be that something. We know thanks to the AMA, that Zooble not going on adventures is important to their character, so having their episode focus on this topic makes sense.

What I can assume happened to lead up to this interaction is this:

Caine announced the adventure, and just like in both Ep 1&2, Zooble immediately expresses that they are not interested, and walks off. Caine can't really do anything about it yet, so he focuses on everyone else. Explains the rest of the adventure to them, and sends them on their way.

He then catches up to Zooble before they reach wherever they planned on going, and teleports them both to this new room. It looks almost like some kind of waiting room, or a room where they're both supposed to talk things out. It's got the comfy chairs, wall art, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a little table between them.

Zooble, obviously, is not impressed. They don't care about Caine's adventures, and want nothing to do with whatever he has planned for them in the meantime. Caine, on the other hand, just wants to figure out why Zooble doesn't want to go on his adventures. He spends so much time figuring them out! Just for the humans! Why won't Zooble participate!?

This very likely evolves into an argument between the two. I like how Caine is clearly angry in this screenshot. It's nice to see him show some more variety when it comes to emotion!! Zooble doesn't care for whatever Caine is saying, and Caine just wants to understand why they don't care.

Something happens, maybe they do talk it out, maybe something else, but by the end of the episode, Zooble decides that maybe going on a few adventures isn't that bad. I think it's way too early to guess what happens in that huge timeskip, but for now, this is the best I've got.

I feel Zooble's arc in this episode might touch on a few topics, like how while they might think staying by themselves all day and doing their own thing is better for them, isolating themselves isn't doing anyone any favours, and that, for lack of a better term, going 'outside' every once in a while can't hurt.

... and that's pretty much all I can think of to say regarding these two screenshots! I'm sure we'll get to learn more as the episode release gets closer, but I'm excited to see how things turn out!! :3

[obitez]

After the Fire

For @bucktommywinterfest

Round 6: Post-holiday Blues

Rating: G | Word Count: 702

Warnings: None

Additional Tags: Established relationship, Fluff

Buck liked to keep his place clean - nice and tidy. Everything was organized and everything had its place. It was one of the first things Tommy noticed about him, after his beautiful body, his charming personality and deep caring heart, that was.  It wasn’t that surprising, Tommy thought, considering the very open-concept layout his loft had and the fact you could see his bed from the front door. Anyone who lived in a place like that would need to clean up after themselves constantly.  When Halloween had come around, Tommy had noticed the lack of Halloween decorations around the place and managed to convince Buck to put some up. The same thing happened come Christmas time.   By the time Christmas Eve came around, Buck’s loft had a nice, relaxing, cozy Christmas theme going on with Christmas lights, window stickers, stockings, some throw blankets, and a little Santa napkins holder on his table. Tommy had worked hard to decorate his boyfriend’s place with Christmas decorations, and if he had to say for himself, he was successful in doing so.  Which is probably what made the sudden clean up so jarring to Tommy.  It was three days after Christmas that Tommy went back to Buck’s place after he just finished his shift to find that Buck had pulled out the storage boxes they had gotten for the Christmas decorations they had bought for his place last month.  “What’s this?” Tommy asked as he watched Buck scurrying around the apartment.

“Hey!” Buck smiled at him from where he was reaching for the lights they had strung up around the kitchen. “Just cleaning up.” “Cleaning up?” Tommy repeated, slightly confused until he noticed that by ‘cleaning up’ Buck was taking down most of the Christmas decorations. As his gaze traveled to the living room, Tommy noticed that most of the decorations over there had already been taken down and put away. “As in… putting the Christmas decorations away?”  “Yeah,” Buck shrugged, as he pulled the last bit of Christmas lights down and started winding them up in his arms. “Christmas happened three days ago, so… should clean up now, right?”  Tommy blinked, and he felt like he almost had to take a step back. It seemed his boyfriend was one of those people that took down all of their decorations right after Christmas. He needed time to process this information.  “But… it’s only been three days,” Tommy said, still in somewhat of a daze.  “Yeah,” Buck shrugged as he set the string of lights in one of the storage boxes. “What’s that look for? How long do you leave your Christmas decorations up?”  Tommy blinked, and then blurted out. “Until New Years- at least!”  “What do you mean by ‘at least’?” Buck asked.  Tommy was silent for a second, his right hand fidgeting with the fabric of his pocket. “Until like… mid January.”  Growing up, Tommy’s grandmother was a devout Catholic who always insisted on keeping the Christmas decoration up until Candlemas with the argument “the Christmas season only starts on Christmas, before that it is still Advent.” Tommy had accepted that reasoning growing up, and didn’t put an argument with the very opinionated woman. But as an adult who hadn’t been to Church since he was nineteen, he thought leaving things up until February was a little excessive and always ended up taking them down sometime around mid January. And all that being said, Tommy thought the people who removed their Christmas decoration on the 27th or 28th of Decmber were absolutely insane.  Tommy guessed he would need to put his boyfriend into that ‘insane’ category now. Shame. Tommy looked up from where his gaze had traveled down to the floor, looking up at Buck’s face that had a mix of shock and disbelief painting it.  “Evan?” Tommy said his name tentatively.  Then Buck sighed and dropped the Christmas lights onto his kitchen countertop. “Fine,” he said.  “Fine?”  “The rest of the stuff can stay up until New Year’s, but then it’s coming down,” Buck said as he walked over to Tommy and wrapped his arms around Tomm’s torso in a hug.  Tommy smiled as he wrapped his arms around Buck as well. “Okay, deal.”

[henrysglock]

Local Man Uses The Cyclical 27-Year Torment Nexus To Try And Change His Fate [EPIC FAIL COMPILATION]

You probably guessed that this is the time-travel post I've been slaving over. You'd be right. This is the newest and most formal iteration of my long-standing time loop theory (I have drafted flowcharts back from February that actually predicted a dimension/time fuckery event in 1943 in relation to Brenner, which was made canon by TFS). So...Let's just dive right in. Note: I'm planning to keep calling TFS Henry "Henry" here just for simplicity's sake.

Now, fair warning: There are a few big "bear with me"s in this post. I promise they make sense, I just need you to hear me out.

It all started with Henry's self-proclaimed superhero name: The Stardust Spider.

Some of you may have seen my original post about The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars (here).

Before anyone says "Oh, but that album didn't exist yet", a reference in 1959 about a Bowie album that wouldn't be recorded until November of 1971 is in keeping with TFS's habit of directly referencing things from the '70s that "don't exist yet".

However, all that aside, there's a specific piece I want to return to, because it bugs the living daylights out of me.

There was a cut song that was meant to go on the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars titled "Shadow Man":

For obvious reasons in relation to Henry in The First Shadow, this song already stuck out.

Specifically, though, these few stanzas hit me weirdly:

You should call and see who answers For he promises to come running Guided by the truth For the Shadow Man is really You Look in his eyes and see your reflection Look to the stars and see his eyes He'll show you tomorrow, he'll show you the sorrows Of what you did today You can call him foe, you can call him friend You should call and see who answers (see who answers) For he knows your eyes are drawn to the road ahead And the Shadow man is waiting 'round the bend ('round the bend) Shadow man is waiting up ahead

The Shadow Man is you from the future. He's waiting up ahead to show you the the truth/the consequences of your actions.

Considering that the TFS version of Young "Henry" has a direct connection to both the Shadow and Dimension X from a young age, and he also experiences what seem to be Vecna-type visions, this becomes particularly interesting to me...Especially seeing as said fates are not only possible for future "Henry", but also canon for future "Henry". (See: Vecna guy vs Mindflayer guy)

So, when I see an almost comical number of lines in TFS relating to rewriting known, undesirable endings (here are a few of my favorites):

And when we revisit some of the on-film classics:

I start to think it's time we revisit the concept of time-travel and trying to change your own fate.

It's always hard to know where to start with posts like these, so I'm going to kick things off with the technical aspect: The Cycle.

Something I've talked about in the past year, mostly on Discord, is this concept of a time loop. Not just any old time loop, though. A 27 year cycle, specifically.

Not 20, not 30...

Now, we all know the TFS timeline is messy as hell and doesn't actually align with anything that's possible in filmed canon...or within its own time span, even.

For example, the attack on Mr. Newby happens both some point after October 1st, 1959 and before November 20th, 1959...but the papers for the incident report it on March 20th, 1958:

The timeline we're given also largely fabricated, as I pointed out in relation to the newspapers with dates that don't actually exist.

However, much like NINA, the sequence itself being fake doesn't mean the events didn't happen. It's just not happening in the time frame we're told it's happening in:

It's a set of real events, just portrayed on a different time scale.

So, with all that in mind, I want to lay out a timeline, starting from Season 4 and moving backwards in time:

— Vecna opens the rifts, and El opens a gate to Dimension X in NINA, both in 1986. The March 1959 Creel Murders occur exactly 27 years before the Rifts and NINA's Dimension X gate open in 1986...at which point the Mindflayer is shown to be active.

— Mothergate opens through to Dimension X at some point between November 1983 and October 1984, this being somewhere between 16-28 months prior the Rifts opening. The paper about the attack on Mr. Newby, dated March 20th, 1958, is released exactly 610 days, or 20 months, prior to the Creel murders on November 20th, 1959. It's not necessarily the exact dates that are important here (again, these dates are relatively unreliable), but the gap between the dates.

When put in accordance with filmed dates (i.e. setting the release of this paper exactly 610 days prior to March 22nd of 1959), the paper for the attack on Mr. Newby would have been released on July 20th, 1957. This would be in line with Edward Creel's move to Hawkins in the spring of 1957...while also occurring 27 years before July of 1984, at which point Mothergate is open, and the Mindflayer is active.

This July date is especially funny to me considering we get "throwaway" lines like this...with shots in filmed canon from summertime:

Top: Joyce and Jim beginning their investigation into the attic attack. Hopper Sr. is questioning why Joyce and Jim are investigating, rather than attending school. Bottom: Alice and Henry with the rabbit death scenes in filmed canon, the setting showing full foliage and both children in summer clothing. "Is it summer break?" I don't know. You tell me, Chief.

Per TFS, Henry went missing in a cave system near his home town of Rachel, Nevada (hold that thought) at some point in the year prior to the attack on Mr. Newby. We've been told that Dimension X was involved in this event in Nevada, something happened there that left "Henry" altered physically. He was also flayed at some point around this time.

This all coincides with Henry's dramatic mood shift from a "normal and good" boy to one suffering from Mindflayer-induced psychosis. This change happened in tandem with the Nevada incident, dating back 10 months prior to the attack on Mr. Newby:

If we set Henry's initial disappearance in line with filmed canon like before, it becomes September of 1956, which is just over 27 years before Will's disappearance in November of 1983, at which point we know at least one gate is open.

We also have 1952, at which point TFS Henry would be 7 per his age as a 14 year old/freshman in play canon. This exists in a 27 year interval against 1979, when El opens the original gate that sends One to Dimension X, where he subsequently shapes the Shadow into the Mindflayer.

Here comes the first "hear me out".

My questions are:

Since Henry/Vecna/The Mindflayer/etc. in general don't show any capability for opening gates before 1986, then how the hell is the Mindflayer possessing anyone in 1959?

How did "Henry" get involved with Dimension X in Nevada in the 1950s?

Unless, by some chance:

Dimension X exists all the time simultaneously (i.e. it's a space outside time)

The gates exist simultaneously across time and space in the Right Side Up in 27 year intervals. By which I mean: A gate that opens in, say, 1983 would exist simultaneously in 1956, so on an so forth.

There's the disappearance of Captain Brenner and the USS Eldridge in 1943, which would, interestingly enough, align with 1970, the supposed year of El's conception.

Then, 1952. Now, I'm not sure what's special about 1952, when TFS "Henry" was 7, because they don't actually say what happened to make that year important! They make a point to show it to us, though, meaning something happened...we just don't know what. All I can say is that 1952 does exist in a 27 year interval against El's 1979 gate. Hold that thought.

Those addressed, let's fast-forward 4 years: 1956/1983.

Now, to be fair, there is some uncertainty in my mind about whether this specific gate incident stems from Brenner's involvement with Project Rainbow in Nevada pre-1957*, or if it stems from Mothergate in 1983, or if they created some kind of wormhole between the two locations 27 years apart...but that's a concept I need to explore more thoroughly in a another post.

In short, though: Did a singular El open a singular Mothergate? Did El open mothergate? Did Mothergate actually open on November 6th, 1983...or are we just supposed to assume it opened the same night Will went missing/the demogorgon came through? We're never given a concrete date for when Mothergate actually opened.

* In TFS, Brenner claims he's dedicated his life post-1943 to Project Rainbow with the goal of finding Dimension X, and that he's doing so in pursuit of knowledge regarding the circumstances of his father's death in connection with the Philadelphia Experiment. The USS Eldridge, Brenner Sr.'s ship, disappeared into Dimension X briefly on October 28th, 1943. "Brenner Sr." was the sole survivor. "He" returned to the Right Side Up with a completely unique blood type, supposedly altered by his travels into Dimension X. This is what ultimately led to him succumbing to his injuries, due to his body rejecting all forms of blood transfusion. Brenner Jr. tells us that about 10 months prior to Henry's first stay in HNL, a scientist from Project Rainbow escaped Brenner's lab carrying a container of a dangerous material, and ended up near the same Nevada cave system Henry disappeared into. We don't know how or when this material was collected, or what it was, but we know they found Henry's Captain Midnight spyglass next to a body (identity unspecified) with no trace of that dangerous material. We get no further detail about the Nevada Disappearance.

Anyway, someone opens a gate in the fall of 1956 and/or 1983 (my money's on it being directly linked to an El in 1983 either way). No matter who did it, though, someone opened a gate at both time points, showing us this 27 year link between the 2 dates, 2 key locations.

"Henry" goes missing in Nevada in 1956, and ends up involved with Dimension X...Which aligns with the choice of song surrounding this version of the Creel family while they move into their new home:

Coincidentally, 27 years in the future, so does Will, in Indiana. Their experiences are linked across those two spaces via that 27 year period.

We know that regardless of the gate in Nevada...Mothergate, at least, stays open until from fall 1956/1983 to fall 1957/1984. That covers exact time frame that the adjusted dates for both Henry's accident with the boy in Nevada and his accident with Mr. Newby fall in (as well as Will's time between his disappearance and his flaying).

The closer we get to Will's flaying in 1984, and the closer the Mindflayer gets to crossing through Mothergate, the more TFS Henry sounds like One (post-1979) while he's possessed in 1957, the more strangely he behaves in general (almost as though the Mindflayer is more enmeshed in his everyday life/closer to the surface), and the stronger the possession attempts seem to become overall. He begins giving nightmare visions to other people, namely tormenting Virginia with spiders and her past. He has his final and most powerful "Vecna" vision on the night of the attack on Mr. Newby.

Any kind of reciprocal gate irt Mothergate in the '50s would have gone unnoticed, since the papers in TFS indicate that HNL wasn't established until Brenner showed up to take Henry in.

Mothergate closes briefly, only for a gate to open in July 1958/1985 in the underground location of the future Starcourt Mall. This, in 1958, is during our unaccounted-for 20 months between the attack on Mr. Newby and the Creel murders. (Something rattles about this and the scene where Henry nearly makes full contact with the Mindflayer, when he has a handful of duplicate lines re: his 4.07 monologue self, but I don't have sufficient evidence to make that claim with any certainty.)

That gate closes, until Vecna opens gates in Hawkins in March of 1986, and El opens a Dimension X gate briefly and simultaneously in both Hawkins/Nevada in September of 1979 (September of 1952) and Hawkins/Nevada in March of 1986 (March of 1959) during NINA, concurrently...at least one of which may have gone unnoticed, since the Rainbow Room and the surrounding labs seems to have been abandoned entirely after 1979, and HNL as a whole has once again been abandoned after the events of 1984 ("unnoticed" and "abandoned", I say as if the building isn't still being surveilled by Brenner/Owens et. al...I just mean that the building isn't in use by the government at that point in time.)

We're shown the Shadow activating all the way in Russia due to one or multiple of these events. 27 years earlier, in March of 1959, the Mindflayer once again becomes active, per TFS's adjusted dates. Chaos ensues.

At this point, "Henry" starts swapping between sounding like his young self and sounding like his 4.07 Monologuing Adult self again, doing that kind of "I've seen the future" foreshadowing talk with Joyce that his visions did with him:

Here, he also sounds distinctly like ST3 flayed Billy, specifically in the way of the scene with El in the cabin when "Billy" outlines the Mindflayer's plans for her, her friends, and all of Hawkins while crying.

The rest is, well...history. Whatever fuckery went on, it doesn't seem to have made much of a difference. After all, TFS is a "canon event", meaning it had to end the way it did.

Remember those thoughts I asked you to hold?

TFS being a "canon event" means it had to end with Henry in the lab alongside baby El...thus completing our loop, which starts again with the events of 1979/1952. A 27 year loop. TFS may be indicative of a time loop.

Hence:

Out of place dates from the 1970s start to bleed into the 1950s: - A town like Rachel, Nevada, which wasn't established until 1978, now exists circa 1952-1959 after El opens a gate to Dimension X circa 1979 in Nevada circa 1986 via NINA, which exists...about 40-50 miles from Rachel.

- An album like Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (November, 1971) or a song like "Chuck E's In Love" (April, 1979) gets referenced circa 1957-1959. - An article about a "younger, more handsome" alien clone of Elvis appears in a 1959 Weekly Watcher paper about the Creel murders, despite Elvis having been 24 at the time...making this an article more likely to have appeared in the '70s or later, likely sometime around Elvis' death in 1977.

2. The Shadow is always depicted as the fully formed Mindflayer circa 1956-1959, despite the shaping event happening in the 4 years between 1979-1983:

3. Henry has Vecna-type visions, despite being the only vision-giver we know of circa 1957-1959.

4. 6 different guys later in the HNL massacre: 2 with the original baby El, 2 with teen El via NINA, and 2 in an as-of-yet unseen product of NINA's Loop (see: the final scene of TFS).

All this laid out, some questions remain:

Why do Henry's visions show him the genuine, terrifying reality of his future?

Why are these visions generally lacking in coercion?

Why are Vecna chime sounds heard before the major supernatural events that deal with visions, even though we never actually see the clock? (They're heard before Virginia in the attic, before the attack on Mr. Newby, before the Creel murders, and in the basement when Henry monologues at Joyce while viewing the corpses of his family.)

Why don't these chimes play when the Mindflayer alone is present, e.g. when no visions occur? (See: Henry contacting the Mindflayer in the lab)

And we don't really get an answer to any of these. Not an easily spotted outright answer, anyway.

But what's really fascinating, which I mentioned just a second ago and takes me back to the top of this post, back to the "Stardust Spider" and Shadow Man, is the fact that despite occurring concurrently with the possession attempts...none of these visions contain an ultimatum. There's no "If you don't obey me, I'll hurt someone you love", no "I'm showing you what's going to happen if you don't obey me", nothing of the sort.

The closest we get to coercion is the bathroom vision, when Henry fights off a possession attempt in the school bathroom and ends up in a vision regarding Patty. When "Patty" starts to talk to him about his future, about how Henry's going to kill her and so many others, Henry says "you're not Patty...what are you?" Then he gets into a physical brawl with her, which is surprisingly well matched. Vision Patty encourages him during that fight, saying things like "That's it!", "We want the same thing!", and "We can have her!"

Those seem like pretty straightforward "the Mindflayer's encouraging Henry to kill" encouragements, right?

Yeah, at first glance. However...lets read that back right quick, but with Moral Objectivity Goggles on this time. Henry openly, verbally identifies that Vision Patty is "not her, not Patty", but is, in fact, something else. He does this multiple times before he lunges at "not Patty", and he is subsequently encouraged by not-Patty...who tells him they want the same thing. That's not suspicious at all. The motives here are definitely crystal clear and totally aren't conflicting in any way.

There's the straightforward surface aspect, and then something else piggybacking on it, complicating it. Hold that thought.

Other than that instance, the negative parts of Henry's visions are all just...information. They're showing him what will come to pass...almost like they're motivating him to fight the Mindflayer. Hold onto that thought too, it buddies with the previous one.

Henry's freaking out about Prancer because he's getting close with Patty, and he's worried he'll hurt her?

His vision informs him that he's going to kill more, that he's going to hurt things, that he's going to kill Patty if he stays around her and/or gives into the Mindflayer's desires. And then it happens. All of it. He kills more animals. He hurts things and people, the pets and lab animals, Mr. Newby, and Inmate 58361 being prime examples. He gives in to the Mindflayer's desire to kill and kills Virginia. He does, by the extent of his perception, kill Patty in the accident.

The same goes for his vision in the attic. Henry's up in the attic using his powers to find someone/snoop on them, fearful of opening himself up for a possession attempt?

The vision version of Patty's mother catches Henry and tells him she "wants to tell him a secret" while his body is being puppeted to attack Mr. Newby. The next time the curtain rises to show us the inside of Henry's mind, he's seeing himself as Vecna, strung up on the tentacles and strangling people with them...just like the end of Season 4. Once again, he's seeing the future that will come to pass...should he fail to fight the Mindflayer off.

We can tell it's a vision, not what's physically happening in reality, because: a) Henry's watching himself in the attic from the stage below. b) It's got the messed up red lighting c) They show us reality just moments before, not a tentacle in sight and without Henry on the stage there observing:

d) The ending of the vision doesn't match with reality:

At the end of this vision, Henry passes out both in the void and IRL, while the vision version of Henry remains crouching. That is a different guy, entirely separate from IRL/Void Henry. There is at least one other person in the visions who is not a product of the vision itself.

Remember those thoughts from a bit ago that I asked you to hold?

Well. This also happens to be the sequence where we not only get Vision-Patty repeating Henry's own words from just after Prancer's death ("It's not real. It's not real. It's a nightmare") back to him, a phrase IRL Patty has never heard, but we also get:

Visions Patty telling Henry how to fight and evade the possession, as if she knows what she's doing ("It's your dream, remember? Anything is possible").

Vision Patty telling Henry she loves him as the last-ditch effort when his "good dream" memory of the real Patty fails to save him from the possession.

These are both things IRL Patty wouldn't know or think to say, since IRL Patty fully believed that Henry attacked her of his own volition out of malice, and she needed to be shown a drawing of the Mindflayer by Mr. Newby in order to abandon that belief.

IRL Patty's behavior is not the behavior of someone who a) knows the ins and outs of Henry's situation with the Mindflayer, and b) coached him through overcoming a possession attempt a little while earlier. It's just not.

Just like before, we're seeing contradictions and complications between vision-selves and IRL selves, along with a sense of piggybacking within possession attempts, wherein the vision serves as motivation for Henry to fight harder in resistance to the Mindflayer...while the Mindflayer is possessing him.

It's starting to become my favorite thing in the world: A pattern of behavior.

In summary:

Henry's are visions are visions of his future, and they're being shown to him by someone.

They are separate from, but piggybacking on, the Mindflayer's possession attempts.

The purpose of the visions isn't solely to torment Henry or coerce him into doing the Mindflayer's bidding. In fact, the content of the visions seems curated to make Henry fight harder in resistance to the Mindflayer.

So if, for example, Vision Patty ≠ IRL Patty, but she's acting against the Mindflayer's best interest/in support of Henry...then...

I think my answer to the questions of "who", "when", and "how" should be at least somewhat clear by this point:

Someone...from the future.

Specifically, someone from 1979-1986 who has access to the gates from the Dimension X side, someone with both vision-giving and time-related abilities who's directly connected to the Mindflayer/the Hive Mind, but who has a vested interest in countering the Mindflayer, saving Henry Creel, and trying to change the course of the future.

A traitor. A spy, if you will.

"A spy...from the future?"

[gestures at the Signs] Yeah, you heard me.

A spy from the future.

So, on that note: The point in this section wherein I ask you to hear me out.

I get the feeling TFS Henry is being told and/or shown what will come to pass in the future by himself...the Mindflayer.

And you're probably going "How do you figure that one, James? Isn't the Mindflayer a villainous force?"

I mean, yeah. Of course it is. However...

There are clearly multiple forces at play within the Mindflayer (hive mind!), and TFS shows us that Henry Creel wouldn't choose to be a villain.

Thus I think the visions in TFS are situations where, as in the 4.07 rabbit scene, things look really damning on first view. They play on our empathy using small, visibly-frightened, helpless victims and shocking, violent circumstances to guide us into making the assumption that everything about the situation is inherently malicious.

We're shown this poor little guy, "Henry". He's 14 years old, he clocks in at 5'5", he's skittish/scared of (ha) his own shadow, and he's geeky to the nth degree about comic books (just LOOK at that Captain Midnight salute? What an cute little nerd). He's immediately lovable. He's also, we find out rather abruptly, plagued by horrific visions and murderous fits of possession.

The immediate response is to go "He's being psionically tortured by some sick, sadistic son of a bitch who hungers for nothing but blood and control", just like Nancy and the ST fandom collectively did with Young Henry's rabbit scene...only to be proven wrong about Henry's intentions via TFS.

I mean, does anyone (anyone who's able to read this post, anyway 🤭) look at TFS Henry, filmed Young Henry, or even Orderly Henry and go "Yeah. He totally wanted what he got, and if he had the chance, he definitely wouldn't try to save himself from that fate"?

No.

TFS Shows us that "Henry" was a terrified, traumatized boy who wanted it all to stop. He's kind, brave, and stronger than he seems. We're also shown that he's capable of overcoming the Mindflayer to issue warnings to people he cared about (i.e. telling people to run, or prophesying dangers he'd seen via the visions). He was trying to survive with next to no help while causing as little harm as possible. He was a good kid, and he certainly wasn't evil.

So, all that said...I think that, via the Shadow's hive-mind capabilities, Henry's "fronting", in a manner of speaking, in order to show this version of himself the future. Probably as a warning, probably as motivation to fight the Mindflayer, and all with a nice side-dish of "here's how you fight this thing off so that my current future doesn't become our future" before someone else tapes over the figurative laptop camera.

[coughs, drops this Brenner-Mindflayer collage on the table in front of you, and then scurries away]

With that said, I'd like to loop all the way back to the top of this post: The "Shadow Man" may be Henry from the future. He's waiting up ahead to show his younger self the true outcome of his choices.

We all know how TFS ends, though. Hence:

[EPIC FAIL COMPILATION]

This brings me to my final "bear with me" point: The matter of the strange double-agent vibes from the UD in every season.

I'm not sure if anyone else outside the unholycule has noticed this, but in every season there's at least one instance of the UD just...offering up information.

"It does?"

Yup! Let me explain.

On first glance, we look at things like Nancy's vision and even El's vision with Billy in the cabin, and we go "Oh, it's because [insert "the bad guy's cruel/he wants to scare her/his hubris will be his downfall/all serial killers want to be known for their crimes" etc here]"...but maybe that's not the case.

For example: Vecna told Nancy his backstory, and then he immediately went

"Oh hey, so not only am I revealing my identity (Which may help you find out more about me via lab records later on, things like...maybe a list of my abilities, or my weaknesses, like the fact that I have a nut allegry. Allegedly.), but I'm also gonna give you a sneak peek of my apocalypse plans. For free. As a treat. Don't use these to prepare or anything. I'm totally not giving you a head start".

Terrifying, yes. A taunt and a threat on surface view, yes...but also showing his hand. "I want you to tell Eleven everything you see" Why. Why would he want that. He may be confident in his plans, arrogant, even...but he's not that stupid.

I'm serious, though. Check it out in comparison to Henrys visions of the future. The pattern is patterning:

We can track that back to El's cabin scene with Billy, wherein he tells her she shouldn't have looked for him, warns her that they all can see her, and that they're going to be coming after her...and he cries about it. That's vision Billy. That's someone else who piggybacked into El's mind from Billy's mind. That's not real Billy, just like how Billy in Max's vision wasn't the real Billy. The person giving El that vision warns her. Why on earth would he tell her that they can see her, that they're coming for her? That's sensitive information! It would be smarter to let her think she's safe and use that false sense of security to catch her off guard.

In fact, this pattern patterns so well that I'd like to argue this: Henry's TFS visions, Nancy's vision, and El's vision are all the same type of behavior displayed in NINA's chess scene, just in different contexts.

Henry ("Henry") gives some kind of scary prophetic information ("He and the others are going to attempt to kill you", "I would very much like to show you where I am going", "You're going to kill me, aren't you?"), and then we're left to question if it's a scare tactic, manipulative misinformation, or helpful inside information.

It's not that the Mindflayer or Vecna can't hide things from people (see: "Somewhere he didn't want me to see")...like, say, the fact that the Mindflayer is now able to see El, or that Vecna's planning to open 4 gates with his 4 kills.

It's always this miraculous "Huh! Weird info-dropping behavior from the UD's side. Shouldn't look that gift-horse in the mouth though. It's probably just a writing oversight or a shoehorned exposé, so really there's no need to question it." situation where it's just...information that's offered up with no real explanation.

Some of my favorite examples:

...and it's all topped off with Max's line:

"He's been telling us his plan this whole time".

That is to say...You're telling me:

The first message from the Upside Down isn't any of the messages that are concretely Will's, but instead it's the one that's a repetitive Henry line...and it's conveyed in a distinctly not-Will style? A message that saves Joyce, something that's definitely not in the UD's best interest given her tenacity in finding her boy...but is definitely coming from the UD nonetheless?

Will, who fell total prey to the Mindflayer in less than 3 days, was not only able to figure out how to defeat the Mindflayer, but was also strong enough to convey it in Morse code? The Mindflayer, who is able to keep secrets (see below), just...let that information slip?

El, who acknowledges that the Mindflayer is more than able to hide things from her, is suddenly released into Billy's memories and allowed to find the source unimpeded?

The Mindflayer, as Billy (Remember: not actually Billy, because Billy can't give visions or invade minds), is telling El that because he's able to see her now, she shouldn't have looked for him? The Mindflayer, which was supposedly building the Fleshflayer to track El down and kill her? Suddenly he's telling her she shouldn't have done the thing that allowed him to find her more easily?

Vecna's giving up all the information about himself and his plans before he's even gotten the 4th gate open, despite him being so secretive about it up until that point?

Henry's visions in TFS are going to scare him into resisting the Mindflayer, making it less likely that he's going to upgrade to killing humans, i.e. the very thing the Mindflayer wants him to do?

None of that makes any damn sense...until we hit this last point:

Orderly Henry is known for giving inside information about "Papa" to El with no clear motive other than getting her to leave the lab.

Now, if you know my page then you know Em's been talking about double meanings in phrasing recently (see: this post about "who"s and "what"s).

So, with that in mind, I'd like you to chew on this:

"He's been telling us his plan this whole time." vs "He's been telling us His plan this whole time."

By which I mean: "He's been telling us some other man's plan this whole time."

[Mike voice] Superspy.

As a parting thought, I made it all into a nice, neat set of collages:

Not to mention this final, parting bit:

[rikki-roses]

Fluffy February Day 13: Splurge

SWTOR

Pairing: Early Setra Rowan/Theron Shan

Time period: After Yavin IV, before Ziost

Thinking Setra would wear something like this:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part of Theron wondered if he was going crazy, taking this big of a risk.

Part of him didn't care.

Officially, he and Setra were Just Friends, going to the gala/post-Yavin IV celebration together because neither one of them had a +1, and their respective superiors had brow-beat them into attending. Unofficially, they were in a situationship; way past friends-with-benefits, but both too attachment-adverse to take the next step and make things official.

The gala, then, was the perfect excuse for them to get drunk and dance together in a public setting without eyebrows being raised. Not they were lacking in together-time; Setra had already spent a weekend at Theron's apartment since Yavin, on top of almost-daily texting.

And thus, Theron was doing some last minute shopping. Setra had already sent him a picture of the dress she'd bought - a purple ombre cocktail dress still on the hangar - allowing Theron to match his outfit to hers.

Theron was walking through the shopping center, that night's outfit slung over his shoulder having been purchased and tailored, when a glittery purple object in a jeweler's window caught his eye. Normally, Theron would pass it by without a second look.

Normally, he didn't have a situationship that he was catching feelings for.

Making a snap decision, Theron went into the jewelry shop. One could splurge every now and then on their lady friend, right? Especially when her Codes forbade her from splurging on herself.

The purple object that caught his eye turned out to be a choker - rose-gold metal chain, with a single amethyst sphere. Way more money than Theron had ever spent on a gift for another (and honestly more money than he usually spent on himself, outside of food and building speeders).

Theron bought it anyways.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For the first time, Setra had found a formal dress that didn't make her want to crawl out of her skin.

She had wanted to wear one of her casual dresses - they were infinitely more comfortable - but her crew (along with her sisters' help) had bullied (lovingly, of course) her into going shopping in their latest attempt to find her something fancier that she wouldn't promptly make disappear after wearing once.

And now she may have finally found it. The fabric was soft, some sort of silk blend. It also didn't show any more skin than her "normal" dresses did.

Even so, Setra had spent most of the morning communing with the Force in mental preparation for that night; she hated (as much as a Jedi could, anyways) large gatherings. She hadn't wanted to go to the gala that night, but Master Satele had been firm. She had, however, taken the time to actually "do" her hair - her pigtails were down, and she'd used some hair product to make her short curls more pronounced.

On the upside, when she messaged Theron about it he had revealed he was in the same boat, and suggested that they go together. As "just friends", of course. Wink wink.

So now she waited at Annie and Aric's house, along with Vy'reni and Kira (who, unlike Setra and Theron, had no qualms making their relationship public - much to the Council's continued dismay). Setra had given Theron the address earlier so he could meet them.

There was a knock at the door, and Setra quickly answered, revealing Theron. Setra slowly moved backwards to let him in, thoroughly checking him out. He looked amazing. She was suddenly glad she'd sent him a picture of her dress; Theron had done a great job color coordinating. Setra struggled to keep herself from blushing.

And then Theron got a good look at her.

His mouth dropped.

She lost the battle to the blush.

They barely took the time to ensure the others weren't watching before Theron pulled her in, his hands firmly on her waist, her hands firmly on his chest.

"Please tell me you're keeping this one." Theron's voice was low, almost husky.

The corner of Setra's mouth curled up. "I was thinking about it, actually. It's the least bad formal dress I've tried."

Theron simply kissed her in response, Setra eagerly reciprocating.

They broke the kiss after a long moment, and Theron had her turn around and close her eyes. She wasn't expecting the cool metal that came into contact with her neck. She opened her eyes when Theron gave her the go ahead.

Only to find a rose-gold metal choker with an amethyst pendant hanging around her neck. It looked like it cost more money than almost everything Setra owned, minus the few pieces of horn jewelry that her adoptive parents had purchased for her over the years (also, ironically, the only other jewelry she owned). But, it also went perfectly with her dress, and would match well with most (if not all) of her more casual outfits, Jedi robes included.

For a brief second, she panicked; her Codes discouraged both frivolous spending and attachments to objects. It had been one thing for her parents to purchase horn jewelry for her, since it was directly tied to her Zabrak heritage, but this?

But then she saw the look in Theron's eyes - the sparkle of hope, the desire for her, the eagerness to do something nice for her. The glimmer of fear that she would reject the gesture.

She did like it, cost and attachments aside. And it touched her beyond measure that Theron had thought fondly enough of her to do this.

"It's beautiful, Theron. Thank you. I think I can wear it with just about everything I own. Do I want to know how much you spent?"

"More than either of us is used to spending." But, I figured you were worth splurging on."

She quickly kissed him in thanks as the others called for them.

[j4xotto]

Despite what people might think, Valentine’s Day was actually one of Jax’s favourite days of the year. He loved all the cheesy conventions of the holiday, the string of romcoms he could always count to be on at the movies, the candy chocolate hearts, and even the sight of red roses lining every street corner in NYC, the price dropping the closer it got to February fourteenth. The fact that he wasn’t able to love his significant other openly never dampened his enthusiasm for the holiday. Sure, it stung a little that he couldn’t join in on the Instagram posts and parade his loved one in front of the world, but it never stopped him from splashing out on an armful of roses for his loved ones, whether that be his Mum or Annie.

Guilt washed over him as he thought of Annie, who’d been keeping him at arms length ever since the revelation he’d been spending their favourite holiday with another girl. No matter where Jax was in the world, he had always made a point of coming home to Annie so that he could spoil her rotten. They’d spend the holiday curled up under blankets, watching When Harry Met Sally, or his best friend would put on her prettiest red dress and he’d take her out. Jax knew, perhaps more than most, just how lonely Annie could get, and this time of year only seemed to exasperate it. Her Dad adored her but also sheltered her, which meant dating was generally a no-go. And because Annie was one of the most beautiful people he knew, inside and out, he never for a second wanted her to be lonely.

Scrolling through his Instagram, he was relieved, and a little tickled, to see Elias’ face plastered all over Annie’s feed, as well as her story. It alleviated a little bit of pressure on his chest to know Annie wasn’t alone.

“Didn’t think he had it in him.” Jax mumbled, his thumb double-tapping over Eli’s face. Although, if he knew Annie, he could almost be certain she had been the one to make the first move. Either way, he was sure Eli was over the moon to have the girl of his dreams on his arm.

“What was that?”

Lifting his head, Jax noticed his uber driver had his eyes trained on him in the rearview mirror, having mistaken Jax’s words as meant for him. The man flushed a little in embarrassment, shaking his head as his driver moved his eyes back to the road.

“Just talking to myself, sorry.” Jax apologised in his soft, Australian lilt. Running his clammy hands over the fabric of his jeans, Jax thought about Sephy. Lovely, agreeable, funny Sephy, who’d said she\d spend the day with him despite the fact he was certain she could have any man, any man at all as her Valentine. And why was he nervous? It would be funny, if it weren’t so pitiful, that the one Valentine he got to show off happened to be a woman he wasn’t even really dating.

For about the fourth time in their short drive, Jax felt the other man’s eyes on him.

“Sorry to ask, man. You look so familiar to me, are you Jax Otto?” he asked, a smirk playing at the corner of his lips.

A high, nervous laugh fell from Jax’s lips as he shoved his hands in his pockets, fumbling around for his phone. Not for the first time, Jax wondered exactly what had given him away. Sometimes it was that people couldn’t recognise Jax outside of his race suit, outside of the car, even. Other times people heard the accent, the dark crop of hair, the too-nice clothes and made the connection, much to Jax’s dismay.

“Uh, yeah. That’s me.” Jax stated, trying to inject some enthusiasm into his voice. As Jax grew more nervous, however, the man behind the wheel grew even more animated.

“Oh, man! I can’t believe I’m driving Jax Otto, wait till my wife finds out - she loves you, Jax, just loves you.”

The city whooshed by as Jax nodded good-naturedly, tapping out a text to Sephy to let her know he wasn’t far now.

“Tell your Mrs I say hi then, won’t you?” Jax said, leaning forward to clap his driver on the shoulder. “Can you just pull over here? This is me.”

The uber screeched to a sudden stop outside of Sephy’s Brownstone. The whole thing was so new that Jax and Sephy had never stepped into one another’s apartments, the man was half afraid he’d get lost on the way there. Jax looked down his phone, as though to make sure this was the right address. He had half a mind to step out onto the street, walk up those steps and call for her himself.

“Jax, man, is that your girl?”

Lifting his head, Jax was filled with a sudden quiet reassurance at the blonde head of hair ducking out from behind the door. A small, pleased smile crossed his features as his hand found the car door handle, spilling out onto the street to greet her.

“Yeah, that’s her.”

[whennnow]

Project Catch-Up and the Event That Wasn't

April 7, 2023

[Image ID: a seated profile-view photo of Alex dressed in a blue and white Regency ensemble.]

My goodness, this year is flying! While I have been very motivated to plan (or at least dream of) some sewing projects, the motivation to actually sew has been... minimal. I've managed a few projects, though!

I made a second bodice from Decades of Style's "Boardwalk Duet" pattern. The fabric is a printed cotton from the stash I inherited from my grandmother, and the lining is a light blue cotton from my own stash. I had actually cut out the pieces last summer before I moved, but I didn't sew it until early February this year. It was a quick project, though - came together over three or four evenings.

Next was a 1940s "camiknicker"/slip from a Mrs. Depew Vintage pattern. That was made from a weird but almost silky pink polyester fabric from my stash. That was also a pretty quick project that I worked on in the evenings the week of Valentine's Day.

Last, but not least, I altered my Regency petticoat. The hem was, originally, a mere 45" around, which made it difficult to walk. I added another rectangular panel and a triangular gore and DOUBLED the hem circumference! At 70", it now fits perfectly under the 72" hem of my dress. The combination of the triangular gore and concentrating most of the waistband pleating toward the back means that the whole thing swishes wonderfully behind me as I move, while maintaining the narrow silhouette.

I've known my Regency petticoat would need altering basically since I finished it and realized how narrow it was. I would have kept putting it off, except that I received word of a Regency ball happening sort-of close to me!

Ok, it was advertised as a Jane Austen Ball. And it's an hour's drive away. But a ball is a ball, and there was the opportunity to learn English Country Dances, AND costumes (or at least formal attire) were highly encouraged, and tickets were only $15. Yes, please!

I ironed my white dress, altered my petticoat, and picked out my accessories so I knew I was prepared.

The day of the event was a windy one - gusts of 30-50 mph! But I really wanted to go, so I got dressed and spent the better part of an hour on my hair (hair and makeup are my biggest weaknesses). Meanwhile, I'm getting texts from my parents about store signs being blown down and from my sibling about the awning at their job being "not where it's supposed to be," and from friends about their power being out. I'm seeing neighboring houses missing shingles and gutters. And, I'm sad to say, I chickened out of driving in that wind.

I had checked the weather for the area where the ball was being held and the winds were no better there. Driving an hour in that wind just seemed too dangerous, not to mention driving back hours later while I was tired and the winds were worse.

So I stayed home.

I was already dressed, though, and determined to make the most of it, so I threw together a little photoshoot!

I'm bummed that I missed the event, but glad that I stayed safe and got these lovely photos!

Now, if things go well it won't be three months until my next blog post, so until then,

Stay warm. Stay safe. Stay healthy.

[hotmentransformed]

Alone on Valentine's Day

Sean and Tommy were roommates who had become close friends over the years. They shared everything from their favorite Netflix shows to their deepest fears, including the fact that they both hated being single on Valentine's Day. Although they were both gay, they were mutual friends, with no attraction to each other.

On this particular February 14th, Tommy decided to have a night in with Sean to commiserate about their single status. Rather than go to the bars and cruise for some curious straight man, Tommy thought it would be better to just hang out at home and watch a stupid rom-com. In the kitchen, he poured them both a glass of red wine. In Sean's drink, however, Tommy poured a vial of special white powder that he had bought online. After the powder had completely dissolved in the burgundy liquid, Tommy returned to the living room and handed Sean his glass. They settled in on the couch to watch a rom-com.

As Sean took his first big gulp of the wine, he felt a strange sensation in his body, almost like an electrical current running through his veins. At first, he thought it was just the wine making him feel a little lightheaded, but as the sensation grew stronger, he began to worry that something was seriously wrong.

He felt a sudden and intense heat spreading throughout his body. He broke out into a sweat as his muscles began to tingle and twitch. He felt an unusual energy coursing through his veins, like a current of electricity flowing through his entire body.

Sean looked down at his body to see that he was painfully erect. He shifted his gaze to his arms and gasped as he watched them bulge and expand in size. His biceps swelled, and he could see thick veins snaking across his newly defined forearms. His chest heaved with each breath, growing broader and thicker as his pectoral muscles expanded. He could feel the fabric of his shirt stretching tautly across his shoulders and chest. With one final heave, his shirt gave way, exposing his massive chest, which was now adorned with intricate tattoos.

He felt an intense pressure building in his legs. He could feel his muscles contracting and expanding, growing thicker and more defined with every passing moment. His thigh muscles swelled, pushing his dick together and sending waves of pleasure throughout his body. He could feel his calf muscles bulging outwards, growing more prominent with each passing second. He unconsciously flexed his legs, and his quad bulged out from his skin, ripping his pants and leaving him exposed in his underwear. His cock had grown considerably and was still throbbing and swelling.

As the transformation continued, Sean's skin began to bristle with hair. He could feel it prickling up all over his arms, chest, and face. His once baby-smooth skin was now covered in thick, dark hair, giving him a more rugged, masculine appearance. His cock had grown massive, straining against the front of his pants. He began thrusting into it, moaning in delight. With a deep shudder, he shot out ropes of cum which shot through his underwear, leaving a dark, wet spot. In a post-orgasmic bliss, Sean panted, trying to catch his breath.

Looking back at his massive body, he felt stronger and more powerful than he ever had before. He flexed his arm, and a huge bicep bulged out from his skin. He was amazed at the sight of it, never having seen anything like it before. Tommy couldn't take his eyes off Sean. The transformation was incredible to watch. Sean's once lanky frame was now bulging with muscles, giving him a more rugged and masculine appearance. He had never found himself attracted to Sean before, but now Sean had somehow transformed into the perfect man for him.

As Sean sat there, basking in the incredible feeling of his newfound strength and masculinity, he looked toward Tommy, whose jaw was agape. Sean smirked at his boyfriend, and his massive dick twitched in his pants. He leaned over and began to make out with Tommy. Sean guided Tommy’s hand to stroke his massive cock, as he moaned in pure ecstasy. Tommy’s hand was wet with the sticky substance, but he didn’t care; he had the man of his dreams on his couch, and he couldn’t be happier. Neither of them would be alone on Valentine’s Day ever again.

[scarerjh]

Peri-menopause/Post Apocalypse

Joel Miller x f!You One Shot.

Summary: You’re on patrol with Joel (ooh I rhymed), get stuck in a cabin until morning, a little bit of body warmth trope, a little bit of one bed (cabin) trope, with a sprinkling of idiots in love. Also S.M.U.T.

You were on holiday when it happened, in a foreign country celebrating your twenty tenth birthday that had been in the February. Now it was about 6 weeks until your twenty thirtieth birthday and you were hauled back into your memories as you trotted behind Joel quietly as you did the late patrol.

You had survived 20 years of an apocalypse, and in a foreign country. The first of your five friends on holiday with you hadn’t even survived outbreak day, you’d had to dispatch her yourself, your other friends never looked at you the same after that, and you didn’t feel the same. You had a few memories that made you smile though too, you almost chuckle thinking about Alice as you looted the shops to get what you needed before trying to head out of Austin, the first city on your planned road trip. Alice had picked up boxes of condoms saying, “you never know,”. “I’m pretty sure an apocalypse is contraception enough right now,” you had retorted.

Like many around you in Jackson, including the stoic man in front of you, you’d done things you never thought yourself capable of to survive; you carried the guilt of being the only survivor amongst your friends, and carried the sorrow of not even knowing if your family was alive, and you weren’t sure you would come to terms with never knowing. Without evidence there was always hope…and hope fucking hurts.

You’d been in Jackson for about four years, your skills as a medic being a huge bartering tool to get them to let you stay. Somehow, you’d managed to carve out a life, and for being in an apocalypse, things were peaceful when not on patrol. In Winter, days like today, patrol was usually quiet too.

 The snow started falling and at first it was pretty despite there already being more than enough on the ground. Within the hour a snowstorm seemed to be settling in, so you sped up, needing to get to the checkpoint and return to Jackson ASAP.

At the cabin you signed the book for the two of you as Joel checked everything was secure, it was a basic little place and would often require ongoing repairs, especially in Winter, despite this, it was still a shock when you heard the crash of wood and a gruff curse. To your right Joel stood covered in a new dust of snow, the door to the cabin at his feet.

You both tried your best to make the cabin secure with what basic tools were available, but it was rotten, and the top hinge was completely unusable.

Joel stood with his hands on his hips surveying the door and caught you bouncing on your toes blowing on your cold fingers.

“Okay, we’ll make ourselves a fire and set in for the night until the mornin’ patrol come,”

“Shit, it’s going to be freezing,”

“We’ll be alright, I’ll build a fire, you grab any blankets you can find. We’ll make do,”

You were never averse to spending time with Joel, but you were averse to returning to Jackson with fewer toes than you left with. Every scrap of fabric in the place was hunted down and you started building by the fireplace before you set up the stove.

As Joel worked on building the fire you watch his broad back shift, and his big hands handle the logs and kindling. His jeans pulled taut over his backside, showing off its gentle curve.

“I thought you were brewing coffee,” Joel spoke over his shoulder, pulling you away from your leering.

“I am,”

“Well, I ain’t hearin’ it,” his tone was teasing.

“Well, someone needs to hurry up and start the fire so I can use the flint for the stove,” you retorted.

The teasing in your friendship with Joel was a recent development, starting just a few weeks ago, and you liked it, really liked it. Since his arrival in Jackson he had slowly opened up to you as he settled in, and you observed the change keenly, like a lot of other singletons in Jackson. He was slowly getting used to not needing to be on alert all the time, his resting bitch face started to soften around the edges, and he was slowly becoming more sociable. He was still very much a calculated man, but every so often, and increasingly so, his guard was lowered around you, telling you once after a few whiskeys that he felt at ease around you, even safe.

The two of you were similar in some ways, both a little stubborn, both keeping your social circles small, and both too stupid to admit your attraction to the other, assuming it was one sided.

You saw all the single people in Jackson and how they looked at him, you were one of them. He was strong, handsome, and extremely capable, surprisingly soft spoken, and very polite. Every single person in Jackson seemed to want to solve the mystery that was Joel Miller. You think you’re ahead of the curve though, but that has led to unrequited feelings, and though you technically haven’t been rejected, you haven’t been brave enough to even try to blur that line between you. There were younger and prettier people than you in town, and he could have his pick, so why would he pick you?! You were discovering lines on your face, a little weight to your belly. If you weren’t sweating like a nun in a cucumber patch, you were looking like an idiot because you couldn’t think of the right word. You weren’t exactly feeling like a catch.

 Joel was pleased with his work, the door to the cabin barricaded with what furniture was available, a fire starting to take hold, and the bubbling of coffee behind him. He found himself smiling at your sass, it was one of his favourite things about your friendship, well, about you really. He never had any qualms about undertaking any kind of detail with you, but patrol was his favourite. Just the two of you sharing stories from before outbreak day, and plenty of them about days since. Being not too dissimilar in age you remember a lot of the same things. Your silences together were comfortable, you worked well as a team whether you were hunting or fighting. Somehow you made his coffee taste better, and despite hating it, you would sometimes steal a few sips if you were cold. He never failed to be both enamoured and amused as your nose would crinkle as you gasped after swallowing the bitter liquid. Joel thought you were so sweet, but you would never go for someone like him. Since becoming settled and opening himself up to the possibility of as close to a normal life as possible this new world could afford he’d started developing a niggle in his stomach, it started when he met you and has only got worse since. He found his gaze lingering on you, felt a tightness in his chest when you laughed, and a tightness in his jeans when you would strip to your tank top and fan yourself in one of your ‘tropical moments’, a thin film of sweat glistening on your skin that he wanted to lave with his tongue. But you were too kind, too bright, too beautiful to want him. He felt you could see his tainted soul when your bright eyes held his gaze.

“You havin’ some?” Joel offered up his cup of coffee.

“If I get desperate,”

“You don’t know what you’re missin’ darlin’,”

“I know very well what I’m missing,” you wiggled your socked toes near the fire. You spend the next hour idly chatting before making sure the barricade was holding before settling down for the night, zipping your sleeping bags together so your body heat would carry you through the night when the fire died. Sharing a bed or a sleeping bag wasn’t new to either of you so there was no embarrassment as you both got comfortable, ensuring your weapons were in reach before bidding each other goodnight.

Some of your most restful nights outside the walls of Jackson have been laid up against Joel, his warmth and musk lulling you towards sleep; eyelids suddenly heavy and muscles relaxing, sinking into the makeshift bedroll. Your slumber came so quickly you didn’t notice Joel pressing his lips softly to the top of your head.

Joel noticed it was an unsettled night for you, tossing and turning, but you remained asleep, so he just assumed you were uncomfortable. If you weren’t having a nightmare there was no reason for him to wake you. If he did, you’d probably kill him with a spoon.

A thud startled Joel awake, and he felt you curl into him, a small moan rising from you.

“Sssh!” came softly from your lips.

“It wasn’t me,” his voice was dry, and low from sleep. He felt you stiffen in his arms at the thought of an intruder or infected. His arm instinctively pulled you tighter into him as he surveyed the room. There was nothing and no one in the room besides the two of you and he started to relax. “Think your boots just fell over darlin’,”

As you both relaxed your sleep addled brains took a moment to register that Joel’s bare hand laid firmly in the middle of your very bare back. The realisation was almost in unison and you both looked down under the covers. Somehow during the night, you had stripped yourself of everything but your knickers.

“Oh fuck!” you clung onto Joel to try and hide yourself while he oscillated between amused, embarrassed, and turned on.

“The fire ain’t even that warm,” you could hear his amusement in his tone, but couldn’t see the struggle in his face with yours buried in his chest, cheeks burning furiously.

“It’s you!” you thump your fist into his chest.

“Wha…?!”

“You’re like a furnace, I must have started with a hot flush,” you look down at yourself again and Joel’s eyes follow suit, his gaze being met with your cleavage, your breasts pressed tight to his chest. He couldn’t stop the small groan that escaped his chest and his hand curled into a fist at your back. All he could think of was pushing is face into your soft flesh and inhaling your scent.

The sexual sound of his groan, the tight fist at your back lit a fire in you, and your pussy started to throb. You snapped your head up so quickly, trying to get a read on him that you headbutted his chin, his head reeled back as you swore in tandem.

"Oh fuck, Joel! I’m so sorry!” you instinctively rise and cradle his face in your hands surveying the damage. His eyes were watering slightly but he was otherwise unscathed. Having slid up his body Joel was very aware of you pressed against him, thigh almost encased by his own, breasts sitting high on his chest, so close he could probably just about reach their soft swell with the tip of his tongue. You watch Joels’ gaze fall to your cleavage, bounce up to your eyes before focusing on your lips. His warm hands squeeze your hips, and when you speak his name it’s a breathy question, one which he understands immediately, nose brushing against yours.

“Yeah,” he utters before your lips make contact. A shiver of adrenaline ran through you, causing you to inhale deeply through your nose because no way in hell were you letting your lips leave his. A small grunt parts Joel’s lips and you take your opportunity to delve your tongue into his mouth. His hands leave a blazing hot trail up your back as you shift to straddle him under the covers, his hips bucking immediately as your hot core presses against his hardening cock.

“Fuck…wanted you for months,” he spoke with your earlobe perched delicately between his teeth.

“Really?!”

“Yeah, you’re so fuckin’ beautiful,” he looks up at you. “I tried to stop it, tried not to let you in…” he squeezed two handfuls of your backside.

“Let me in?!”

“I…I ain’t…fuck…I tried not to let you in,” his words may fail him, but his actions don’t as he places your palm over his heart as it heaves beneath his ribs. You crash your lips to his once more, kisses becoming feverish and sloppy, both of you fumbling with the buttons of his shirt as you grind against him, whimpering at the feeling of his hard cock caged in his jeans. Forcing you to sit up he pulled his shirt and t-shirt off over his head, both of you erupting in goosebumps as the cold air hits your warm skin.

“Oh shit darlin’, you’re so pretty,” he took the opportunity to gaze upon your bare body, palming your breasts gently, feeling your nipples tickle against his palms. He lowered his head to suck one nipple into his warm and wanting mouth, delighting in the gasp that rises from your throat. In this position his denim covered cock hits your clit just right and you begin riding him like that, slipping your fingers into his soft curls to anchor yourself against him. The undulations of your hips were as frustrating as they were relieving for the ache of his stiff cock.

“Joel…” you whimper as you get closer to your release, your soaked pussy clenching around nothing, the coil in your abdomen about to snap.

“Mmm, that feel good darlin’?”

“Yeah, oh fuck Joel, I’m gonna cum,”

“Cum all over me darlin’, I got you,”

“I want you inside me, want you to fill me up,” you wrap your arms around his neck and speak against his lips as you near your precipice.

“I will baby, I promise, but you gotta cum for me first, ‘kay? Cum for me and I’ll give you anythin’ you want,” He kissed his way along your jaw as you clung to him and your breaths stuttered, he buried his face in your neck laving your skin with his hot tongue as he listened to all of your sweet moans and whimpers in his good ear. You break against him, hips bucking, and a torrent of filth pouring from your lips, punctuated by moans of his name and calls to the almighty as lightening spread through your body.

“Oh fuck Joel,” your hands snake back into his hair and he throws his head into your touch as you gently scratch his scalp. You rest your forehead against his, a stupid, satiated smile plastered on your face.

“Good?” his eyes twinkled and his lips curled.

“Great!” you held his face in your hands and kissed him softly.

“That was so goddamn sexy, seein’ you come undone like that,”

“Let me see you,” you run your hands over the broad expanse of his chest.

“Yes ma’am,” he smiled as he rolled you both over so you were laid on your back. Everything seems to slow for a moment as you look up at him; the light from what’s left of the fire dancing across his strong features. As your fingers wander gently over his brow his eyes close at your delicate touch.

“I can’t believe you want me too,” you air your insecurities, not actually meaning to do so out loud. His eyes spring open, his gaze holding yours as an incredulous look sits on his face.

“Why wouldn’t I want you?!” he asked as though it’s obvious.

“Because I am currently feeling like an aging, sweaty mess. There are so many women in Jackson, younger, perkier, you could have your pick,”

“I think you’re overestimating my appeal,” he chuckles self-effacingly. “Besides…” he dips his head and lowers his voice to a low growl “…I have picked. Why would I want a girl when I want a woman…when I want you,” he punctuates his sentence with a strong roll of his hips. “You’re so fuckin’ beautiful, I can’t promise I’m gonna last but I wanna be inside you, feel ya squeezin’ me,”

“I want it Joel, I want you inside me. I need to feel you, need you filling me up,”

“Yeah?” he looks up, eyes dark and studious of your features as he unfastens his jeans. You both shift so he can shuck them down enough to free his aching cock.

“Oh fuck, you’re going to feel so good,” you take in the heft of him and lick your lips.

“Think you can take me darlin’?” he asks in a gentle tone, rubbing his length along your soaked folds as he hooks your sodden panties out of the way.

“Yeah, just…slowly,” you give him a little wink. He notches the head of his cock at your entrance and watches for any signs of discomfort as he pushes in achingly slowly. Every ridge and vein of his cock, every adjustment of your soft walls around him was felt keenly. Your back arched into him as he became fully seated within you, his hands ran up to cup your breasts as you moaned in unison. “Fuck, you feel so good,” your hips squirm beneath him.

“Hold on sugar, jus' need a minute,” his twinkling eyes showed a playful warning.

“That’s three terms of endearment and it’s not even dawn,” you tease.

“Would you like me to stop?”

“No! I really like them, they sound so good in your Texan drawl,”

“Well then sugar…darlin’…sweetheart…” he began to plant sweet kisses over your face and neck with each word, finishing on a drawl filled “honey piiee,” as he smiled into the crook of your neck making you giggle, and he gasped as the action made you clench around him. His response was to grind his hips into yours.

“Move for me Joel,” you slid one leg up his side to further open yourself to him.

“I’m not gonna last darlin’,” you saw the worry flash across his features.

“I don’t care, I just want to feel you, want to watch you cum for me,”

“Goddammit.” He lunged forward and pushed his tongue into your mouth as he finally started moving his hips. His grunts, your sighs, the sound of skin on skin, with the wet sound of your pussy taking him was a beautiful, pornographic symphony.

“Oh god, oh god you feel so good, fuck,” you pant into his ear as you hold each other close, sweat slick bodies sliding against each other.

“Ngh! Feel so good sweetheart,”

“Fuck yes, your thick cock is perfect. I want you to cum for me Joel, let me see you,” his hips speed up, balls slapping against your backside and his brow is furrowed in concentration.

“Keep talkin’” he stutters out.

“I’ve got you, cum for me baby, give me that big cock and then paint me. Cum all over me,”

“Yes…yes…” he quickly slipped himself out and fisted his slick cock, thick ropes of cum decorating your stomach as he swore and groaned through his release. He looked wrecked, and so fucking sexy, features slack, dark eyes hooded, a thin film of sweat highlighting all of the curves and divots across his chest and shoulders. He supported himself at arm’s length as he caught his breath, shivering as your fingertips danced across his torso.

“That makes two of us,” he chuckled. “Give me a minute and I’ll get you cleaned up,” he rested his forehead against yours.

“You look incredible,” you sit up and kiss him, wiping the disbelieving look from his face. “You do, so strong, so handsome…so fucked,” you grin.

“No need to worry yourself,” you grab a t-shirt and wipe yourself off.

“Hey! That’s mine,”

“So was the mess,” you both chuckle, then soon he’s laid you down and wrapped himself around you, sighing softly as your fingers play in his hair.

[doctorbeth]

A teddy bear story

 Hi all!  I hope you are all safe and doing well!

As I have mentioned, this year has been crazy busy in the hospital (which is good, because it keeps me from paying too much attention to the rest of the world), but of course, as you’ve seen, that means my posts have slowed down tremendously.  But I promise, I’ve been storing up stories and I do want to share them with you all!  So, even though the hospital is still quite full (I have patients booked into the fall), I wanted to take a short break from sewing and share a few new tales (and tails) with you. :-)  I’m going to write up a bunch, and schedule them to come out over a few weeks, so keep your eyes open. :-)

I’m working backwards through my patients, so first up is a teddy bear who went home just last week.  His person wrote to me back in February.  He’s over 30 years old and she felt he could use some tlc.  Here are the diagnosis photos she sent:

Not too bad, but clearly well loved.  I offered several treatments, from just recovering his missing footpads and stitching his wounds, to transplants for bald spots, lining if the bald spots were acceptable but reinforcement was desired, full recovering, and of course a spa.  His person opted for full recovering and a spa, as well as a new nose and eyes.  A bed was reserved for his hospital arrival, scheduled for mid-June.

Teddy arrived and started care with a spa.  It’s always best to clean before other surgeries.  While plushies don’t need to worry about infection, it is better to match furs to cleaned fur, and to be sure any stitching doesn’t tighten surface dirt or keep old stuffing in place.  Here he is in his bubble bath:

He’s a little guy, so the tub was more of a pool for him. :-)

Next, his person had to choose his new fur.  There were many options:

The first choice was the top one, and surgery proceeded.  Once stuffed and recovered, he needed a heart for a bit of his old stuffing.  Here’s that being made and put in:

Next decision, what fabric to use for his footpads and inner ears.  They had once been a smoother, darker fabric.  I found several nice solids, but I also had one with stars which was an almost perfect match to his original color:

His person loved the stars!  So that’s what we used.  Here he is fully recovered in his chubbiness approval pics.  His spine is open so I can adjust his stuffing....

Chubbiness approved!  Just needed to add his smile back....

And those ribbons were options to replace his old bow.  Again, his person chose my favorite, the sparkly one on the bottom.

Here he is all closed up, ribbon on, ready to fly home cross country:

Sparkling with a glitter ribbon and stars!

His person wrote:

He looks even better than I could have imagined!

[kpopjust4u]

Febraury Filth Fest - Day 9

Post Date: 9th February 2023  Pairing: Wooyoung x GN!Reader Content: Smut - Oral Fixation WC: 508 TW?: Switch!Wooyoung/ Switch!Reader/ Reader has a bad habit of biting the skin off thier lips/ Best friends to friends with benefits/ Lip biting and neck/ Clothed foreplay

February Filth Fest Masterlist                         Prompt list

Well, that’s the thing with Wooyoung. You got to love him, but by god does he get on every single last nerve in your whole body?

He’s your best friend, yet you could throat-punch him when he’s screeching at the top of his lungs just because you didn’t give him the last slice of pizza even though he said for you to have it.

“Will you shut up?!” You groan, massaging your temples, trying to get into a zen mindset before his face meets the floor.

“How about make me,” His voice is quieter and softer, but he has sexual temptation behind his eyes.

“Woo-“ You stop yourself, staring at him blankly, in utter surprise when your body reacts differently to his brattiness.

With that, you couldn’t help but resort to biting the skin off your lips from the nerves that thrive through your body, hands almost shaking from how much this has affected you more than usual.

Is it wrong to be attracted to your best friend? Is it bad that in his moment, you’re ready to pounce on him because his softer, seductive voice sends shivers down your spine and sends arousal to pool at your core?

“Don’t bite your lip, that’s my job,” Wooyoung whispers, thumb caressing your bitten lip, with a smirk plastered over his face.

It was impossible to find out why your relationship as friends has now taken a sudden turn, but now you’re laying under Wooyoung, hands linked with his above your head whilst his teeth pull at your bottom lip, making you whimper at the slight sting.

"Now you've shut up," You purr with a choked breath, his lips addictive and god, did it feel so good for your lips to be against them.

"Now you've stopped biting the skin off your lips, I've been begging you to stop that for ages," He bites back, a playful tone in his voice with his eyes glued to your lips, biting his own.

Rolling your eyes at him, you attempt to do it again, but instantly regret it when his teeth dig into the sensitive spot on your neck, "Behave," he growls against it, kitten licks to soothe the bite.

"Make me," You bite back, making him moan in your ear, and you're sure you've soaked through your jogging bottoms onto his thigh.

The both of you glare at each other, not knowing who's going to react first, but to Wooyoung's surprise, you break the silence first.

"You're quiet again," You lick your slips and watch the change in his breathing pattern quicken, smirking to yourself as he licks your lips, tongues touching and bringing you in for another heated kiss.

"Everytime you bite your lip, I'll lick and bite them," He grunts, knee firmly pressed against your heat, making you gasp at the contact.

His words send you over the edge as you palm his hard cock through his shorts, a spot of precum darkening the fabric, and you wink, "I'll need something to keep my mouth occupied then, don't I?".

~

Tags: @scuzmunkie, @ateezreactionsandscenarios, @whatudowhennooneseesyou​, @trashlord-007, @fanfictrashlord-007, @icyllic​​, @atinytinaa, @toxicccred , @cherryxsang

[morganaspendragonss]

if night falls in your heart (1/?)

yes, it's the long-awaited hypothermia/plane au which i've been, ahem, 'writing' since february. and, yes, you read that right. there's going to be multiple chapters. god help me. a million thanks to all the anons who have been asking about this fic and also to my wonderful betas @moviegeek03 and @tarlos-spain who were there when i was having crises and helped me push through the difficulties. it's because of them that you're getting this fic today and not in another few months. warnings and words counts will be posted for each individual chapter. title from start a riot by banners inspired by these asks ao3 | 2.4k | hurt/comfort, blood and injury, heart condition, hospitals

His heart feels like it’s about to beat out of his chest.

It’s the excitement, he’s sure, and the fact that he’s been dancing for a while.

He’s okay.

He could do with some water though. 

There’s no air in here, not with the mass of warm bodies moving and constantly pressing up against him.

The water pitcher is across the room, and it feels like he’s moving through treacle as he crosses the impossible distance towards it.

But then, suddenly, he’s there, and his hand is shaking as he reaches for the jug.

It’s too heavy, though, and it slips out of his grasp immediately, the shattering barely reaching his ears as a wave of dizziness overtakes him.

TK gasps, and then the world goes dark.

*

The first sign that something is wrong is the tremble in TK’s arms as he hands Jonah back to Gwyn. Carlos tries not to worry too much because things like that happen these days; TK’s recovery has been going well, but he still gets a little shaky after significant exertion, and dancing around with a baby for nearly an hour definitely qualifies.

But his face is too pale and his breathing too shallow, which immediately brings all his fears back.

The sound of glass breaking into a million pieces silences the room, and Carlos whips around just in time to see TK wavering in place, empty fist still outstretched as the water jug lies in jagged shards at his feet. He runs, but, short though the distance is, he doesn’t make it before TK crumbles.

He crashes to his knees, heedless of the broken glass, and his hands are hovering over TK, ready to shake him, when he spots it.

The pool of blood slowly spreading out from TK’s prone form, and the shard piercing all the way through his shoulder.

“Capt—” he starts, but she’s already there, gently moving him out of the way to bend over TK. Carlos lets himself be pushed back, even as it reminds him of the hospital, of gloved hands shoving him out of the room as TK lay there dying.

But, that time, the doctors had closed the curtains when things became too serious. That time, Carlos had sat in a waiting room chair, having to imagine all the things that could be happening inside Room 308 of West Park Memorial’s ICU.

This time, he has a front row seat as wires are connected to TK’s chest and the Lifepak emits a series of rapid beeps, as Tommy rattles off endless stats and Nancy inserts an IV into the back of TK��s hand.

Carlos can almost feel the snow whipping around them, can almost hear the wind howling, and the pain on Nancy and Tommy’s faces say that he’s not the only one. Distantly, he’s aware of Grace ushering the twins outside, of the crew’s hushed mutterings, of Tommy’s instructions to Nancy intermingled with firm pleas to TK.

But all he’s really, truly conscious of is the way TK’s blood stands out against his white shirt and the paleness of his face.

He’s pushed even further back when Judd and Paul descend with the backboard, and Carlos is stuck on his knees as TK is loaded into the ambulance. His eyes fix on the blood staining the newly-laid flooring, watching as it starts to creep towards the fabric of his dress pants, and he almost jumps out of his skin when a gentle hand lands on his shoulder.

“Come on,” Gwyn says, helping him to his feet. “We need to be there.”

Carlos nods and takes a step forward, before his eyes find Owen’s and he stops abruptly. “Owen—”

“Owen’s going to follow us in the car,” she replies, her tone suggesting that it was less of a choice on Owen’s part than an order on hers. Any other time, Carlos might question it, or at least offer to stay back himself, but Tommy is shouting at them to hurry up if they want to ride along, and the thought of being away from TK now has him almost tripping over his feet in his rush to get to the ambulance.

Tommy smiles gently at him when he gets in. “His stats are returning to normal,” she says. “They’ll run some tests at the hospital and we’ll get this figured out, I promise.”

Carlos wants to believe her. But TK is still unconscious and this isn’t supposed to be happening at all, he’s supposed to be better—

“I… We just got him back,” he whispers.

Tommy nods, leaning over from her position by TK’s head to squeeze his knee. “He’s not going anywhere,” she says, but the look on her face tells Carlos that she knows it’s another promise she can’t be guaranteed to keep.

Still, Carlos nods; he needs this one thing to hold on to.

Gwyn slides in next to him, the space really too tight for the both of them, but none of them seem to care. Her eyes are shiny and her lips tremble as she tries to smile, even when it’s clear that, like him, she’s barely holding it together. And when she offers her hand, Carlos doesn’t hesitate to take it, gripping on tight as the doors slam shut and the ambulance starts up.

*

TK is awake by the time they’re let back to see him, thoroughly disoriented and clearly in extreme levels of pain. The doctors have put him on some non-opioid based medication, but it evidently doesn’t hold a candle to the stronger stuff, if the creases on TK’s face are anything to go by.

They’ve also given him a nasal cannula; yet another reminder of those long days when TK’s recovery had been anything but certain.

Carlos had been so relieved when TK had started to fight that day — he’d thought, naively, that they could only go up from there. And then the doctor had arrived, and she’d pulled him straight back down to Earth.

“This is a positive sign,” she’d said, in a tone that Carlos just knew meant a ‘but’ was to follow. “But the next few days are crucial. He is beginning to fight back, but the effort of waking up would have been immense, and it would have put significant strain on his heart. We’ll need to keep a careful eye on his vitals just in case he begins to backslide.”

Carlos can’t forget the terror those words had sent through him. The idea they could get this miracle, only for it to be snatched away just as quickly… It didn’t bear thinking about.

“How likely is that to happen?”

“It’s not impossible. His chances are significantly better than they were a couple of hours ago, but we need to wait and run a few more tests before getting too comfortable.”

But TK had proved them all wrong, and he had made it back to his old self.

Only, now… Well, TK may not have died, but it still feels like the miracle is fading in Carlos’s grasp.

It’s crueller this way, he thinks.

“How are you feeling, babe?” he asks, sitting gingerly on the edge of the bed. He reaches out and rubs TK’s hand — the one not immobilised — with his thumb, then gently brings it to his lips.

TK sighs and his eyes flutter shut, though the pained lines remain. “Tired.” A breath, and he moves the hand Carlos was holding to his chest, fingers brushing the edge of the bandage on his shoulder. “Hurts.”

“I know. I’m so sorry, baby.” Carlos retakes TK’s hand but he’s forced to look away as tears fill his vision. It’s not going to be long before the doctor walks through the doors to tell them TK’s prognosis, and he has no idea what he’s going to do if it’s bad news.

If TK isn’t going to get better this time…

Carlos won’t be able to handle it.

“Babe?”

Carlos immediately looks over at the sound of TK’s weak voice, brushing away his tears with his free hand. He knows neither that nor the wobbly smile he tries will do much to disguise his pain, but he’s just hoping that TK won’t be able to see it in his current condition.

But of course — of course — he’s wrong.

“Are… Are you okay?”

He strokes a hand over TK’s head and gently kisses his temple. “I’m fine,” he lies.

Carlos knows TK sees through him, but he’s spared the effort of arguing when Gwyn and Owen walk back into the room, followed by Doctor Patel. They both look drained, faces drawn as they come to flank TK, Owen giving Carlos a solitary pat on the shoulder.

Doctor Patel looks around at all four of them and sighs softly. “I have good news and bad news,” she says. “The bad news is that it seems TK’s heart suffered more damage than we originally thought. The results we’re seeing so far indicate that his EF number is significantly below normal, which means he’s at higher risk for heart failure, arrhythmias, future coronary problems… What happened today was a mild demonstration of this.”

“Mild?” Gwyn interjects, a sharp edge to her tone. “He collapsed, he—”

“Mom.” TK’s breath of a voice cuts her off and he squints up at her in something resembling reproach. “Let her talk.”

Doctor Patel smiles sympathetically at Gwyn. “I understand, Ms. Morgan. I imagine it will not be much comfort, but TK’s current state has more to do with his shoulder injury and the blood loss stemming from that. His collapsing is a concern, but it is in line with what we can expect to see with conditions such as his, though, of course, we will need to do more tests to determine the extent of the damage. In layman’s terms, what happened today was akin to a minor heart attack, but it could have been much worse.

“I advise you to proceed with great caution, Mr. Strand. Fortunately, the good news is there are treatment options we can pursue, but they’re not foolproof. Depending on what your results say, we may need to consider changes to your lifestyle.”

With that bombshell dropped, Doctor Patel nods at them and leaves the room. Carlos sighs and slumps in his chair as she goes, partly in relief that it wasn’t worse, and partly in despair that it could have been.

And, worse, still could be.

He holds TK’s hand between both of his and squeezes as tight as he can, as if, somehow, it will keep TK alive.

*

“I’m taking him to New York,” Gwyn announces on the day of TK’s discharge. They’ve all been sent out to the waiting room as the nurses run some final tests, and both Owen and Carlos turn to stare at her. Owen looks tired and there’s a tick in his jaw that speaks for the argument that’s soon to follow, while Carlos can’t summon up much more emotion than confusion and a surge of the worry that’s been lingering ever since TK first fell through the ice, if he’s being honest with himself.

Jonah, for his part, quietly continues trying to chew on Gwyn’s hair.

“I think it would be good for him,” she continues, expertly sweeping her hair away from Jonah and replacing it with a toy. “Besides, I have a contact in Manhattan, she’s the best cardiologist in the state and I think she should take a look at TK. I don’t trust the doctors here.”

Owen lifts his gaze to the ceiling in a gesture Carlos can only partially sympathise with. Owen hadn’t been here when the doctors had said there was nothing they could do, and a bitter, undoubtedly unfair, part of Carlos has to wonder if another doctor might have been able to. Plus, after all this, he really wouldn’t mind a second opinion on how TK really is. A third and a fourth, too; anything so long as he gets the reassurance he craves.

It’s the New York part Carlos is getting stuck on.

“Could we not just take him to another doctor here?” he puts in quietly, though he almost regrets it when Gwyn turns her gaze on him — he should really have learned by now that arguing with Gwyneth Morgan is not a good idea.

“It took the doctors here months to find out about this,” she says. There’s a sharpness in her look and tone that Carlos knows isn’t directed fully at him, but it’s still intimidating to be on the other end of. “TK could have died. I want to be certain that my son is going to get better this time, and I’d rather trust somebody I know than a stranger.”

“Gwyn,” Owen starts, “he’s… TK needs to rest. Is it really a smart idea to drag him across the country so soon after — everything?”

“It is if it means he lives,” she snaps, and, just like that, the argument is over. Carlos can read the defeat on Owen’s face as he sighs and slumps back in his chair, teeth worrying at his lip as he stares at the closed door to TK’s room.

“As long as he’s safe,” he agrees eventually, and Carlos can only nod.

As long as TK’s safe, he thinks he’d do anything.

*

TK is suspiciously quiet when they’re allowed back in to see him. He seems apprehensive at the thought of leaving the hospital, and he surprises everyone when he agrees to Gwyn’s plan without any protest. Carlos frowns at him, reaching out to rub his tight shoulders, though Owen beats him to the question.

“Son, are you okay? Did the doctors say something to you?”

TK’s eyes flick to his father, and his weary smile is less-than convincing. “No, I’m good, Dad. It’s… It’s nothing. I guess I just thought all this was over.”

Owen nods and runs his hand over TK’s head. “I know. I know, but you’ll be okay. Things will turn out, you’ll see.”

TK hums noncommittally, and even Carlos wishes he could borrow some of Owen’s apparently unfailing optimism. But he’s not going to make the mistake of being too positive again; they’d all done that once before, and look how it had turned out. 

He desperately needs to believe that TK is going to be okay, but he can’t think yet that there won’t be more surprises down the road. Really, Carlos is certain there will be.

He just hopes they won’t be as bad as this one.

[fatehbaz]

On the southwestern end of the Tohono O’odham Nation’s reservation, roughly 1 mile from a barbed-wire barricade marking Arizona’s border with the Mexican state of Sonora [...] [a] small black mast mounted with cameras and sensors is positioned on a trailer hitched to the truck. [...] [T]he Border Patrol’s monitoring of the reservation has been a grim aspect of everyday life. And that surveillance is about to become far more intrusive.

The vehicle is parked where U.S. Customs and Border Protection will soon construct a 160-foot surveillance tower capable of continuously monitoring every person and vehicle within a radius of up to 7.5 miles. [...] The system will store an archive with the ability to rewind and track individuals’ movements across time — an ability known as “wide-area persistent surveillance.” 

CBP plans 10 of these towers across the Tohono O’odham reservation, which spans an area roughly the size of Connecticut. Two will be located near residential areas [...]. To build them, CBP has entered a $26 million contract with the U.S. division of Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest military company.

Tohono O’odham people used to move freely across these lands, [X] says, but following years of harassment by Border Patrol agents, many are afraid to venture far from their homes. [...]

[T]he U.S. borderlands have become laboratories for new systems of enforcement and control. Firsthand reporting, interviews, and a review of documents for this story provide a window into the high-tech surveillance apparatus CBP is building in the name of deterring illicit migration — and highlight how these same systems often end up targeting other marginalized populations as well as political dissidents. 

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The towers on Tohono O’odham land are part of a surge in wide-area persistent surveillance systems across the borderlands. Elbit Systems of America has already built 55 integrated fixed towers in southern Arizona, which company executives say cover 200 linear miles. According to information provided by a CBP spokesperson, the agency has also deployed 368 smaller surveillance towers, known as RVSS towers, in areas ranging from south of San Diego to the Rio Grande Valley, as well as along parts of the U.S.-Canadian border. [...]

In February [2019], Congress allocated $100 million for integrated fixed towers and mobile surveillance systems, a sign that the towers may soon expand to new locations. According to [BB], senior director of Customs and Border Protection at Elbit Systems of America, the company’s ultimate goal is to build a “layer” of electronic surveillance equipment across the entire perimeter of the U.S. “Over time, we’ll expand not only to the northern border, but to the ports and harbors across the country,” [BB] said in an interview with The Intercept. “There’s a lot to be done.”

In November 2016, a company representative offered a system of wide-area persistent surveillance sensors to police monitoring Dakota Access pipeline opponents. Elbit’s description of its product, known as GroundEye, touted it as “a paradigm shift in defense and security surveillance,” owing to its “ability to move ‘Back-In-Time,’ to simultaneously track and trace the movements of one or more objects.”

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Border militarism [...] has, in turn, created new profit opportunities for technology and defense firms. [...] Elbit Systems has frequently touted a major advantage over these competitors: the fact that its products are “field-proven” on Palestinians. The company built surveillance sensors for Israel’s separation barrier through the West Bank [...]. In 2016, Israel became the first country to deploy autonomous vehicles in a border area, which were also created by Elbit. [...]

CBP is by far the largest law enforcement entity in the U.S., with 61,400 employees and a 2018 budget of $16.3 billion — more than the militaries of Iran, Mexico, Israel, and Pakistan. The Border Patrol has jurisdiction 100 miles inland from U.S. borders, making roughly two-thirds of the U.S. population theoretically subject to its operations, including the entirety of the Tohono O’odham reservation. [...] In 2017, as companies built prototypes for [the president’s] border wall in San Diego, CBP stationed one of its RVSS towers nearby to monitor political opposition, citing the “emerging threat of demonstrations,” records show. The tower deployment lasted for eight months beginning in September 2017, according to a federal contract tender posted online [...]. CBP also frequently “shares” its aircraft, including surveillance drones, with other U.S. law enforcement agencies. [...]

That potential is further underscored by a March 2018 email exchange, obtained via open records requests [...] Border Patrol Agent in Charge [CMS] of the agency’s Rio Grande Valley sector, emailed more than 30 other supervisory agents to invite them to a “Large Scale Protest Response Seminar.” The leader of the seminar was [PL], the former sheriff of Cass County, North Dakota, who served as the leading architect of the militarized police response at Standing Rock. “The current political climate, uptick in demonstrations and social media campaigns, along with the immigration debate almost ensure that RGV will have large scale protests,” [CMS] wrote

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[NJD], a Tohono O’odham tribal member who is writing her dissertation on border security issues at the University of Arizona, says many younger people who have been forced by economic circumstances to work in nearby cities are returning home less and less, because they want to avoid the constant surveillance and harassment. “It’s especially taken a toll on our younger generations.” [...]

The tribal nation’s traditional land extended 175 miles into Mexico before being severed by the 1853 Gadsden Purchase [...]. [NJD] says the constant surveillance has profoundly disrupted the cultural fabric of the Tohono O’odham people [...]. Residents say agents have administered beatings, used pepper spray, pulled people out of vehicles, shot two Tohono O’odham men under suspicious circumstances, and entered people’s homes without warrants.

“It is apartheid here,” [OR] says. “We have to carry our papers everywhere. And everyone here has experienced the Border Patrol’s abuse in some way.” [...] “I don’t feel safe with them taking over my community, especially if you look at what’s going on in Palestine — they’re bringing the same thing right over here to this land,” [NJD] says. “The U.S. government is going to be able to surveil basically anybody on the nation.”

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Will Parrish. ‘The U.S. Border Patrol and an Israeli military contractor are putting a Naitve American reservation under “persistent surveillance.”’ The Intercept. 25 August 2019.

[loousir]

Matching Styles {Damien Bloodmarch}

Damien Bloodmarch x Male Reader

Game: Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator

Warnings: Casual boyf flirting, changing the readers outfit, I honestly still really like this one

Masterlist

Originally posted on February 28, 2021

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Damien and I were sitting on his couch, cuddling close to eachother and the fire on this rather chilly afternoon. I was thinking about how things have been lately when I closed my eyes and leaned into him more. I smiled as he rest his head on my chest and his hand that wasn't around my waist on my thigh.

"(Y/n)?" I hummed at Damiens words to let him know I was listening. "Could we go up to my room for a moment." I looked up to him before sitting up a bit. "Is there a specific reason?" I asked as he stood and took my hand, standing me up as well. "Well yes, but I can't say til we get there." I tilted my head slightly as he took me up the stairs to his "quarters", not once letting go of my hand.

We walked in and he closed the door behind the both of us. "This will be a little bit strange but I must ask you to close your eyes and let me... Uhm... C-change you..." My brows furrowed as I looked to his shy eyes. "Oh-kay..."

I closed my eyes and blushed as he walked around me. He fumbled around with what sounded like clothes before approaching me again. His hands were gentle as he raised my arms and slipped off my shirt. "Do you mind if I... Re-remove your uhm... Trousers as well?" I put my arms down and nodded. "You'll have to eventually I'd assume..." I blushed brightly as he tossed away my shirt.

His fingers gently brushed against my abdomen, making me blush more if possible. He carefully unbuttoned and unzipped them, pulling them down. His long hair gently brushed against my leg giving me goosebumps. I stepped out of my pants and he tossed those to the side as well. I blushed more and covered my chest from the cold air.

"I'll put the bottoms on first then the top." Damien said as he walked behind me. I heard the pants shift, the button and zipper clacking together softly as he picked them up. He had me step into them and pulled them up to about my mid thigh before asking me to pull them up till they're comfortable. I did and he zipped and buttoned them for me, adjusting a few things before moving behind me again.

The fabric felt soft but when I shifted they felt like leather pants. They weren't tight by any means but they were well fitting, almost as if they weren't even there. He stood behind me and asked for me to slip on what I could only assume was a button up. I put it on and adjusted the wrists and shoulders to be more comfortable. The wrists had the same fabric cuffs as his typical white button up.

He slowly buttoned the shirt together, making me smirk a bit. "Savoring the view for a moment longer my dear?" My eyes were still closed when he didnt respond. I felt him come closer and rest his head on my shoulder. "It's a sight I don't often see." He mumbled before pulling away again. I smiled as he adjusted the other extra fabric around my chest and messed with the collar a bit before going behind me once more.

"All you need to do is ask and you can see it more often." I teased and I knew it made him blush since he stepped away from me and spoke.

"It will be just this and shoes then I'll tell you when to look. Also could you tuck in the shirt please?" He said making me act almost instantly. "I'll need a little help making sure its right." I said doing my best to make it even everywhere. He came back over to me and helped finish tucking in the sides but hesitated on the back and front. "Damien?" He hums. "You know it's alright if you touch me..." I paused.

"A-are you sure?" He asked quietly. I blushed and nodded. "If you dont want to then that's fine-" "No I... Just didnt know your boundaries about those... Areas." His hands gently tucked in the back of the shirt first, making sure it laid looked flat while also slightly squeezing what I have which I leaned into. He carefully removed his hands and moved to the front side and a bit more cautiously tucked it in.

Once finished, he moved back behind me again and helped me put on what I could only assume was a coat. It was heavy and hit the back of my knees once on properly. He walked around to the front and buttoned two buttons, holding the coat together before fixing the collar and resting his hands on my shoulders. "I'm going to back you up to the bed so I can put on the shoes."

I laughed slightly and smiled. "Alright." He gently pushed on my shoulders, making me back up slowly. Of course, when I hit the bed I lost my balance and fell backwards. Making me grip onto Damien and take us both down. He was between my legs while I held his hips, both of us pressed against eachother. I blushed again and kept my eyes closed as he helped me sit back up.

"Sorry." "I apologize."

We both spoke at the same time making me laugh which made him laugh. "We were equally at fault there." I said resting my head on his rib area. He gently ran a hand through my hair, making me lean into him a bit more before pulling away. "Okay okay, let's put the shoes on so that I can see you again."

He pulled away and kneeled down, signaled by the soft thumps on the floor. Damien put my right on first, telling me they were boots rather than shoes. He zipped and buttoned up the inside and messed with something before doing the same with the other foot. Damien stood up, grabbed my hands, pulled me up, and walked me across the room. He stood me so I was facing a specific direction and fixed the ruffles around my wrists before backing away.

"Ok, you can look now."

My eyes unintentionally fluttered when they opened and I was both shocked and happy to see what he had put on me. The shirt was just like his and the pants were a nice, slightly shiny black fabric. "Pants are a bit more modern dont you think?" I asked looking over to him. His eyes were staring downwards before they looked up to me. "Just a tad yes. I have another pair more accurate just incase I didnt like how they look but..."

"I like how they look too." I said looking back at the mirror and down to my shoes. They were a nice slightly shiny black as well with gold accent buttons. The coat was long and the main color was a deep maroon red with black accents. The inside was black as well and the buttons were the same gold as the shoes. I turned myself to Damien and walked over to him.

I pulled him into a tight hug and a very passionate kiss. He returned both gestures and a few moments passed before I pulled my lips away from his to speak. "I love it. And I love you." His face held a blush as he looked into my eyes. "I'm glad you do. And I love you too." He leaned up for another kiss to which I gladly returned.

---- 1280

[dongsichenged]

here’s a really comprehensive overview of how things shook down in the c-fandom by reddit user u/visible-following-50 (as of 11pm CDT 8/24/2021)

I wanna provide some C-ent perspective on this:

Overall all accusations concentrate in the period between August 2019 - February 2020

PART 1: Monday 23th 10-11pm The scandal first erupt on Twitter but reached Weibo around 10pm. There were instantly 10+ gossip accounts who were sharing the screenshots with no translation, fresh from Twitter. It took a bit for users on Douban to translate them and reshare them on Weibo. The gossip accounts definitely got tipped off, since they posted about it all at the same time.

Fans tried to look for proof the pictures, the screenshots, the audio and the timeline were fake. Apart from some small fans, most of his big fans asked Lumis to not share unverified debunks... they had previous experience sharing things too early only to find themselves ridiculed, so they pretty much just spend the whole night looking for harder proofs and keeping his trending topic on the entertainment list and not the main one. I am PERSONALLY quite confident, the company knew already what was going at that point. His trending topic never reached the main board... it was the #1 on the ent board for the whole night... people are guessing it was company’s doing...

As for the debunking proofs. I can confidently say, none of the proofs given and shared by small fans were solid proofs. That’s why his big accounts in China never started to share massively those posts. Twitter instead was more vocal in believing them.

1/ Pictures: the finger one is the fishiest one. It looks extremely not like his finger. But the three selfies, no fans managed to find where they come from. The only possible guess they come from leaked Kakaotalk. 2/ Audio: the fans found one part of the audio coming possibly from Bubble, but there’s a slight change in tone and the second part of the audio still is missing from Bubble. People use it as a debunking proof, but we can’t say for sure 3/ Timeline: the alleged nights they spent together did in fact coincide with the nights Lucas was in Seoul, just a very packed agenda. Like August 28th, he just landed in Incheon from Dubai at 5-6pm and supposedly spent the night with her right after. September 9th, he took a flight from Shanghai to Seoul, landed, spent the night with her, the day after directly took a flight to Dallas for SuperM concert. Technically all possible, also technically could be fabricated to match his schedule perfectly as second half of 2019 Lucas schedule was known to everybody due to SuperM and the amount of flights info. Beginning of December he was in China despite her claims. That is the only part we can be 100% it’s not true, since we have receipts of Lucas being in Beijing doing fanmeetings.

As for the gaslighting, asking for money and being rude to her, we have no proof whatsoever, since all the Wechat shared just show Lucas saying I love u and trying to meet up with her.

At this point, 99% of his fandom in China still believed in him and many spent the night not sleeping, to clear his searches, battle with antis and so on. His group mates akgaes also spent the night shitting on him.

PART 2: Tuesday 6pm The whole day went by with Lumis still clearing his searches, with anti inventing new rumors (they shared a dick pick of him quickly proven to be fake) which had Lumis and different members akgaes fight, but nothing big in comparison. After Jalapeño teaser dropped people were excited and we received also info Lucas and Ten have booked flights for China on Sept 10th. Then at 6pm a new girl came out, again, the news instantly shared by 10+ gossip accounts on Weibo, spreading the visibility.

The second girl is a Chinese girl claiming to have been contacted by him after a fansign (she provided receipts of her fansign participation) and supposedly met up in ShengYang. The girl had no pictures just a bunch of screenshots. She claimed they had sex with no protection and him lying saying he hasn’t had sex in a year and similar stuff.

Overall by this time, most of fans still didn’t believe her since she provided no pics and all the Wechat conversation were seen as not strong proofs (they can be easily photoshopped)

PART 3: Wednesday 8pm The third girl posted on her weibo account (with no personal info), the final blow. With pictures.

She supposedly got his contact by sending him a message via airdrop once she found him on Bluetooth during an offline event. They quickly added each other. They “dated” or more correctly they FWB for a period where she asked multiple times whether he was single, but supposedly the timing overlapped with the two previous girls, hence why the third girl decided to expose him, cause she felt cheated.

She accused him of cheating, badmouthing his members (they don’t work enough, one of them stole one of his fashion gig), not liking Keep Running (too much pressure from seniors).

Keep in mind none of the above accusations are found in her shared screenshots, as she said these are part of their conversation while drinking.

She provided 3 pictures: one of him sleeping (which many fans suspect to be a picture of him sleeping on WayV dorm due to matching sofa and Bella’s toy) and two pictures of him with drinks and sigarettes (the fishy part is that his hairstyle doesn’t look like his hairstyle in end of 2019. Edit: it could have been Moonwalk period hair.). While girl #1 selfies could have been Kakaotalk profile pics, these pictures look 1/ not photoshopped 2/ taken without him knowing.

At this point, Lucas big fan accounts broke down... this girl pictures were the final blow. While some fans still finds them fishy and claim it could have been staff selling their pics (which allegedly happened before between staff and sasaeng), after 24 hours of radio silence and continuous rumors, no sleep and constant fighting, his fancafe and his most high profile fans gave up and believed the accusations. Please note his solo stans only believe that he did sleep around, no mentions of badmouthing or his personality.

Lucas’ image among Chinese fans is definitely purer than what Ifans think of him. If Ifans think him being sexually active is nothing strange, for C-fans him sleeping and especially with fans, multiple at once, was too much to handle. Also many felt like at this point, regardless of whether he’s able to disprove the accusations, his image in China is ruined forever. SM not saying anything was too much to handle.

PART 4: Tuesday 10pm onwards.

With the fancafe leaving and many big fans leaving, the rest of Lumis saw this as a sign these big fans knew more than them, had some sort of proof from SM that the allegations were true. Rumors spread like fire among fandom and many fans quit due to fancafe quitting.

Fancafe quitting trended at #3 on Weibo main board, that single Weibo post had over half a million likes.

The rest of the night, Lucas trended with various hashtag, all on main board, between 3 to 15 in terms of positions. The same day a TV presenter was ousted for r*pe.

One of WayV most famous sasaeng shared on Weibo that Lucas does have an habit of flirting back when you send him something via airdrop. This sort of backed the possibility of the third girl story of how she met Lucas.

The rest of the night we still had some small rumors spreading of people saying that he does flirt with fans, he does look like a fuck boy, he was already a player before debut and so on. To be honest, I wouldn’t care about these since they all sound like people jumping on him.

Some WayV and almost all solo fans of the other members started to ask for his removal from the group. Many believe the accusations (since again, after 24 hours no solid debunking has been offered) while some others in any case think his career is done and his image will only tarnish the group.

As you can see, all of this play out very quickly. A bit over 24 hours and we are yet to see any response from SM.

Currently the remaining Chinese Lumis (a new fancafe opened to substitute the old one) are mostly just waiting for some confirmation or debunking from Lucas or the company itself. On Weibo they just basically gave up on digging for more proof themselves (apart form some small individual fans)

[icequeenbae]

Stay with Me (m) | BBH

Pairing: Baekhyun x Reader

Long-distance relationship, established relationship, grumpy Baek, smut

Warnings: explicit content, unprotected sex, upset sex (is there such a thing), oral (f receiving), consent is not explicitly stated but implied

Word Count: ~2.6k

Summary: Baekhyun was upset because you had to leave again. His frustration made things escalate to an unexpected extent. He might’ve just wanted to make you late for the plane though.

© Please do not copy/ post on other platforms without permission.

Let’s celebrate my first ‘writing comeback’ anniversary together ❤❤❤  [February 17, 2020 – forever]

Author’s Note: Soooo… This was actually the first fic I wrote after many years of my writer’s coma. Wasn’t going to post it, but it’s important to save the date. A year ago during a business trip I was listening to Baekhyun’s ‘Stay Up’ in the backseat of a cab, and it suddenly got to me in a very new and profound way. As soon as I got to the hotel, the doc was created. Countless sleepless nights later, I can admit that I haven’t really stopped writing ever since.

Baekhyun isn’t just my bias or my favourite character to write, he’s so much more special to me than that. I’m not sure how long this journey is going to last or where it leads me, but so far he’s gifted me with one full year of this magic. He’ll always have a precious spot in my heart 🤍

Okay, done with the sappy times now (no). As usual – big thanks to @baekshoney​​​ for having a look, and I hope you guys enjoy this little oneshot!

This was one of those days. One of the days you hated, and Baekhyun didn’t do much to make it better for you. On the contrary, he was sulking since early morning. First, because you’d left him alone in bed and he woke up being cold. Then he just kept getting annoyed with everything. Why were you having coffee for breakfast again, when you should sleep on the plane? Why weren’t you packing snacks, when the airport food always made your stomach upset? You should’ve definitely worn one of his hoodies, since none of yours were warm and comfy enough, did he have to remind you?

Yes, this was the day you had to fly back home, leaving him behind once again. Which was exactly what brought his tsundere ways to the surface. He was just… upset.

‘Baby, it’s not the first time I’m going home, I’ll be fine,’ you grinned at his grumpy expression and poured him a cup of coffee as soon as he sat his butt down on the kitchen stool.

Baekhyun wasn’t exactly subtle in how he felt about you going away. The two of you had been doing this ‘long-distance thing’ since the very beginning of your relationship. You’d met during your first ever trip to Korea around two years ago and instantly clicked – just like that – not spending a single day without at least a quick message exchange with one another.

It was tough at times. There was no way for you to see each other more frequently, and you were often apart for months. Granted, you were keeping in touch religiously – texting every single day, having video calls every other night (whenever you could manage the schedules and time zones), posting ambiguous pictures on social media only for each other to understand. Still, you missed each other so terribly…

‘I don’t understand why you have to go anyway, you can just stay here with me,’ Baekhyun grumbled, eyeing the kitchen floor with a frown. You pursed your lips to contain the coo about to fly out of your mouth at how cute he was, pouting and complaining. Like an angry little bird. Before you could stop yourself, you reached out your hand and ruffled his already messy bedroom hair.

The way his nose scrunched up meant he wasn't in the mood to be playful. You sighed and leaned on the corner of the kitchen table.

‘You know I have work to get back to, Bae, I can’t be on vacation all year long.’

He was being rather childish about your departure, especially when you were already fully dressed and ready to go. The only thing stalling you was that Chanyeol, who insisted on being your ride to the airport today, hadn’t come to pick you up just yet, giving you some time to smooth over your boyfriend’s feathers.

Truth be told, you were only holding up the appearances for him. It was very possible that you were even more upset about having to go than he was. In fact, every time your week or two together were nearing an end, you felt nauseous at the thought that you wouldn’t be able to see his face, or hold his hand, or feel his warm breath on your skin, or kiss the tiny mole on his cheek.

In all honesty, you were... a mess. You only displayed yourself as calm and collected during your goodbyes because you knew his moodiness was merely a tactic to conceal his pain. So, you tucked your own feelings away to make it a bit more manageable for him. In reality, you broke down as soon as you arrived home and walked into your lifeless apartment. Each time, you had to find excuses and avoid talking to him via video messengers during those initial weeks, pretending to suddenly be swamped at work. You realized that seeing your eyes all red and puffy from crying every night would most definitely break his heart and worsen his longing. That you knew, because seeing him unhappy was excruciating. You wanted more than anything to deliver him from any further suffering.

It took all of your self-restraint not to reach out for his warm embrace or let the tears flow freely. He’d probably not let you go then, always telling you to just stay with him anyways. But you were both adults and had commitments, although hundreds and thousands of miles apart.

As your eyes were beginning to prick from observing his state and getting overwhelmed with your own feelings, you decided it was safer to move out ten minutes early, despite the call from Yeol not coming through yet. Anything to not let Baekhyun see you cry or cling to him desperately the way you wished to in that moment.

‘Well, you can pout all you want, I’m going to get my stuff,’ you said in an airy tone trying to elevate his mood slightly.

‘No.’

He stopped you in your tracks, grabbing your wrist. You gazed at him, confused as to what he meant. He was still looking down, eyebrows knitted together and chest heaving with almost anxious breaths.

‘Bae?’

‘No,’ he repeated, softer this time, but still not making eye contact with you. Instead, he tugged at your wrist and pulled you closer to him. You felt his grasp weaken until your wrist was free, however, your waist was not. His arms snaked around it, and he pulled you into himself, basically nuzzling his face into your chest.

‘Baekhyun?’ You squeaked, doing your best to fight off the goosebumps that littered your skin immediately after the contact. Your body never once asked for permission to react to him, and this time was no exception. His right hand traveled down your spine to the curve of your ass as his nose nudged one of your breasts. You shivered, grabbing at his shoulders, and he suddenly growled, knowing, sensing that your nipples had already perked up underneath the fabric of your bra.

Although he was trying to put you into one of his many oversized hoodies all the time, it was summer, so you were wearing a sundress (like any sane person would). Lucky for Baekhyun, this type of clothing made it even easier for him.

He rose from his seat and hoisted you up so abruptly that you only managed to yelp and grab at his neck for balance. You were then placed on the empty side of the dining table away from the leftover breakfast. Looking down at where your boyfriend’s hands were, you watched him frantically pull your dress up, before coming to your senses and trying to stop him.

‘Bae… What are you doing? Yeol is gonna be here any minute, we can’t just f…ugh!’ You cried out in surprise as he yanked your hips forcefully up to his face, completely ignoring your words. There’s no way he was going to...

‘Baekhyunie, please stop, you know I’m going to be late, what is…’ He didn’t even let you finish your rant, leaving a trail of insistent wet kisses upon the sensitive skin along the panty line while leading up to your protruding hip bone. Breath caught up in your throat, you couldn’t get the rest of the sentence out even if you wanted to. Did you really want to? With his head right there between your thighs, his dark burning eyes looking at you – completely immobilized by him – in the most intense and intimate way possible. His lips were glistening after he ran his tongue over them habitually, and when he leaned in and licked at your still clothed center, you belatedly realized that you weren’t even breathing. The realization only came with the wheezing gasp you’d let out, when your legs wrapped around his head as if on cue. Like fuel to the fire, your responsiveness only spurred him on. You didn’t even have time to realize that your boyfriend had already moved your panties out of the way when his impatient lips were on you again.

‘B- Baekhyun…’ You muttered, reaching your hand down to give pushing his head away a feeble try. ‘We can’t do this now, please stop... the airport…’

His ears seemed deaf to your reluctant pleas as he only employed more of his tongue to make you lose the last bits of your sober mind completely, melting and thrashing underneath his touch. He eased one of your thighs off of his shoulder, pushing it up and spreading you out before diving back in, paying no attention to your increasingly disheveled state.

At this point you could only sob, speech incoherent, all attempts to push him away or close your legs futile. And that alone made him grow feverish with the need to be inside you, to feel you once again before he had to let you go.

He was really good with his mouth, as usual, so by the time one of his hands left your thigh to tease you a little further with his long deft fingers you were so ready to take more that you barely registered the burn of two digits sliding inside. You were still a little sore from the night before, which you’d spent making love for hours on end, knowing that you won’t be touching each other anytime soon. But that was meaningless now.

His tongue expertly swirled around your clit, while his wrist found a familiar angle that always made you get vocal. Your back arched instantly as you cried out his name, barely grasping that you were still tugging at his soft locks and possibly causing discomfort. It was clear that your release was mere seconds away with your legs shaking and inner muscles clenching, and that was exactly where Baekhyun wanted you. Aching for his touch, needing him as much as he needed you. Just the two of you, caught up in the act of lustful desperation.

He’d worked his tongue diligently, almost pushing you over the edge by sucking on your most sensitive spot for just a second, and... then you suddenly felt him pull away.

‘No, no- what?’ You could barely form sentences, let alone complain, but your frenzied tone made his already rock-hard flesh twitch. His pants were down in seconds, and there wasn’t even a thought of pausing to get a condom on or cool off a little bit. You were both on the verge of getting overwhelmed by this passionate longing when... your phone suddenly lit up, indicating an incoming call. Before you could snap out of the moment you were having, Baekhyun had you flat on your back, all slick and ready for him to push inside. And that he did — in one quick and rough movement, filling you up and giving you no time to even make a sound before his hips tested you out with a couple of low amplitude thrusts. The table moved slightly, soft clanking of tableware falling on deaf ears. Meanwhile, Baekhyun grabbed onto your hips, lifting your ass in the air for more control over the penetration.

‘Baek, I swear… You have like 2 minutes before Chan-’ A vicious thrust reached further than before, definitely getting your friend’s name out of your mind for good. And anything else for that matter.

Baekhyun snapped his hips as if he wanted to get as deep as humanly possible, as if he wanted to literally ruin you, and you could only scratch at his forearm while losing yourself in the feeling of his hips colliding with yours and the delectable sounds the action produced.

‘Baby,’ Baekhyun suddenly breathed out hoarsely, eyebrows knitted together as if in pain, ‘I can’t hold it off-’

Hearing his voice so strenuous and somehow vulnerable, you threw your head back and closed your eyes, spreading your legs further apart to allow him to better angle his powerful thrusts.

Your limbs were starting to grow numb and the veins on your neck popped when you moaned, and that’s when Baekhyun let out a strained ‘ah’, holding you in place by the hips to give you his erratic final thrusts.

In that moment you felt like something snapped inside you. Your core was tight around your lover’s cock, your body shaking in pre-orgasmic bliss, and you’d never experienced it this way. You felt so full and content in this moment when he was still moving his hips and groaning stiffly above you, riding out his high. There was nothing else he needed to do to take you along. The sensation of his warmth inside you made you pulsate, wailing so loudly that Baekhyun had to cover your mouth with his palm. He kept going for a bit to prolong your orgasm and let you slowly come back to your senses.

Your eyes stared vacantly at the kitchen ceiling and your throat was dry, although Baekhyun’s hand was still clasped over your mouth. When both of you managed to catch your breath, you just gazed at each other for a few long moments. You were so spent that you couldn’t even read the semi-blank expression on his face. He slowly slipped his palm off of your face, still hovering over your body.

‘Baekhyunie…’ You murmured, touching his cheek gently. He was usually lowkey annoyed whenever you went on to kiss the little mole on his face instead of his lips. This time, however, he only lowered his head further to let you do your thing. You pressed your lips to the tiny dot on his skin, leaning back onto the table to find his eyes with your own.

‘I love you,’ he suddenly whispered in a broken voice, then cleared his throat and started over. ‘I really want you to stay with me.’

It was… bittersweet.

You winced, feeling him pull out, and accepted his help sitting up. Holding your boyfriend close by the shirt, you nudged his nose with yours and looked up to his sad dejected eyes.

‘I know, Bae,’ your voice sounded as uplifting as you could manage. ‘I will find a way to come see you on tour in the next couple of months, I promise.’

Baekhyun was about to say something else if not for the sudden ring of his phone that made both of you snap out of your tiny little world.

‘Dang, I bet it’s Yeol. Pick up!’ You pushed your boyfriend towards the phone and eased down from the table, grabbing the tissues to clean up quickly.

‘Yes,’ Baekhyun responded.

‘Are you two fucking?!’ Your nose scrunched up at Chanyeol’s vulgar shout.

‘Yes?’ At this you paused and smacked Baekhyun’s pec for the shameless (yet truthful) response. ‘Whoa- feisty. Chanyeol-ah, better hang up before you hear her- Ow!’ He raised an arm to defend himself from your playful hits.

‘You realize that if you do not come down in ten you’re most likely missing the flight?’ You heard Chanyeol reply after a frustrated sigh.

‘Not a problem for m-’ Baekhyun was interrupted by your yell.

‘We’re gonna be down in ten, please check the fastest routes to the airport, Yeolie!’

You ran out of the kitchen barely catching Baekhyun’s grumbling as he repeated after you.

‘Yeolie. Why the hell does she even call you that. It’s not like you- What? Shut up, you bastard!’

You smiled to yourself. At least his friends knew how and when to mess with him. If you weren’t there… They got him. He'd be okay. And with that you were happy for now.

A/N:This piece was my reintroduction to writing, and I’d love to hear any type of comments you have^^  Thank you guys for all the interaction and amazing responses so far, I cherish each and every one of them. You're the best <3