#i think after 2+ years we've earned it

[gracien-maybe]

ok but do guys realize how insufferable dorian is gonna be when he and orym finally get their shit together and confess??? SO many pet names, love ballads, constant doting, we're gonna go from crumbs of content to a whole ass wedding cake i can feel it

[lizthewriter]

you make everyone disappear / theo nott

PAIRING  theodore nott x reader

SUMMARY you were lively and blooming with life. he was quiet and teeming with tragedy. it was a match made in heaven. theodore nott takes you on your first fake date and you find yourself enjoying it much more than you thought you would. part 3 of the get him back! series PART 1 PART 2

QUOTE  "see you in the dark, / all eyes on me, your magician, / all eyes on us, / you make everyone disappear and," - so it goes... by taylor swift

WORD COUNT  1.6K

WRITTEN  6.5.2024

the door slammed in your faces and you were left unbearably close to theodore. you didn't know what to say - i mean, you knew you had to make it look as though you really were dating, but you didn't expect him to go to such an extreme. "you did really good with the flowers. very believably," you said in a rather constrained tone. part of you had been flattered by such a gorgeous bouquet, but the other half of you knew it was all for show. why did you feel so sad?

"oh, you're welcome," nott responded, his expression oddly frozen, as though a realization had set in. he failed to remember that you still saw all his actions as fake when in reality, they were more real than you would come to realize for a while. this was going to be harder than he thought. "i picked out a restaurant i think you'll find rather pleasing."

theodore held out his hand towards you, gesturing for you to hold it. those deep, dark eyes yet again drilled into your head. you couldn't help but slide your fingers through his, however ignoring how fast your chest suddenly began to beat. you were just nervous, that was all, you told yourself.

he led you downstairs, out of the dorming building - you earned shocked stares from one of your classmates who was working the front desk that night. you smiled softly as he grabbed his phone and furiously begin to type. soon enough, this would be the talk amongst most of the students in your year, and mattheo wouldn't be able to get away from the gossip about you and theodore.

as you passed people walking into the dorm, you leaned your head against theo's arm and let out a content sigh. theo tensed at your sudden closeness, his face turning red, his thoughts dissolving into nothing but broken words. gods you're so in love with her, but you need to get a grip, nott.

considering your university was rather close to the city streets, filled with restaurants and places to go, you would have thought you were walking. you were shocked to see a *limousine* parked *outside your dormitory* with the driver *opening the door for you both.* theodore smirked at your shocked expression.

"come along, my darling," he said, pulling you with him towards the limo. you followed him in hazy awe, mouth still wide open. you entered the limo after him and the driver closed the door for the both of you. holy shit was this fancy.

-

the restaurant he had taken a reservation was in the high end of town - you couldn't *imagine* seeing anyone else but perhaps a few of his friends here, because as you glanced at the menus a waiter was carrying around at the entrance, you were sure you saw some fancy steak prices for upward of $200.

"ah, mr. nott. we've had your reservation prepared for the last half hour. please, follow me."

theodore's hand was still firmly in your own. you wondered why nott had chosen such a place - it was very fancy and if they wanted mattheo to be bombarded with whispers of your new relationship, they certainly wouldn't originate in a place none of your classmates would find you. so why - oh. you saw him. in the corner. with that girl.

so that was why - he must have known.

"theo, what kind of beverages do they have here?" you asked loudly, pulling on his arm, wearing a pout on your face. you ignored how mattheo turned away from his girlfriend and stared at you. you had used his old nickname on purpose, of course.

theo intertwined your arms, pulling you closer to him and leaned down so his breath tickled the hair on the back of your neck. "whatever beverages you'd like, my love."

you felt your face dissolve into a deep red. why was he standing so close to you? why did he whisper like that in such a low tone to you? you couldn't seem to form words, unable to understand why you were acting this way - of course he was doing that, all to be convincing. stop deluding yourself into thinking he likes you. besides, you barely know him. and what you do know is that so far, he's only annoyed the hell out of you so why are you feeling like this?

"here you are, mr. nott," the waiter said politely, holding open the door to a rather empty room. as you entered, you found it to be a luxurious dining hall with oak walls and golden garnishes. it was entirely empty, sparing one table at the center of the room set up for two. fancy linen draped the table, expensive china sat at each placemat, and a bottle of moscato was already bathing in a sea of ice cubes. how had he known your favorite drink?

"please, sit," theo said, rushing forward to pull out your chair.

"oh!" you exclaimed, your face still rather warm. he pushed in your chair as you sat down and joined you at the opposite end of the table. he glanced towards the waiter. "thank you for setting this up - please allow us ten minutes to read through the menu before ordering, alfred."

"of course, mr. nott." the waiter left promptly.

-

theodore couldn't discern reaction. were you pleased, were you uncomfortable? perhaps he should have told you in advance where he was taking you. or maybe he should have asked? he was about to spiral into only a world of anxiety when he heard a loud pop! you had opened the bottle of moscato and began to pour a moderate amount for the both of you.

"you like moscato?" you asked him, taking a sip from your class and smiling softly as you savored the taste.

honestly, he preferred more musky liquor, like whiskey, but he didn't mind the taste of something more fruity. he only nodded on response and took a small sip from his own glass.

"why is this room so empty? do they not have enough patrons to fill the restaurant?" you asked casually, slipping your finger under one of the menu pages and flipping it open.

"oh no, i just reserved the entire room for the next two hours." he didn't understand why you looked at him with such a shocked expression. did that displease you? he thought you would like the privacy a bit more . . . and it would be easier to talk without the combination of other voices in the room.

"theodore - that must have been insanely expensive," you told him, guilty eyes darting towards the menu and then back to him.

"oh no, please don't feel like this was anything of an expense. it is but a speck in the vast desert of my father's fortune. please, order whatever you'd like," he assured you. he watched as you bit back a smile, pulling the menu towards you and glancing down at it. "and please . . . call me theo. only my father calls me theodore."

"okay, theo . . . i suppose we should take this time to get to know each other better." you had a wide, mischievous grin spread across your face. he rolled his eyes playfully, knowing you were going to be highly amused with yourself during this interrogation. he gestured for you to go ahead. "first off, what are you majoring in and why?"

"i'm majoring in mediteranean history. i've always appreciated many different subjects: philosophy, psychology, sciences, criminology, but history had always been my favorite. i hope to work in a museum one day," he explained to you, all quite truthfully. he raised the glass to his lips once more.

"you don't want to go into fashion, like your father?"

he tensed at your question, his hand holding the glass still, the rim still resting upon his dark lips. him and his father . . . their relationship was complicated. once his mother died, his father had no love left for him.  he had never had what most other children had - caring, compassionate parents. no his father was only further angered upon hearing about theo's passion in history. you're no greater than a starving artist. you must as well be the speck of dirt on the bottom of my glorious shoes.

"no, fashion is quite boring, in my opinion. my father would prefer i take over the buisness once he retires but he had to digress once he realized i didn't want too." his tone was dismissive - he wanted to move on to another subject. you took this to mean he was upset with you, didn't enjoy speaking with you, and didn't want to be here. you slumped in your chair.

upon noticing your sudden lack of interest, he leaned forward and tried to engage with you in a softer tone. "i'm sorry, i didn't mean to come off as rude - my father and i have a strained relationship. it tires me just speaking of it. you can ask me more questions, i don't mind."

you sat foward, scrutinizing his expression. he tried to look as assuring as possible - you suddenly sat forward with that wide grin of your again and began to interrogate him. his favorite color? green. his favorite novel? pride & prejudice, he revealed, quite ashamedly. his favorite movie? gone with the wind. you went back and forth - any question you asked, he asked you in return. it wasn't long before you found yourselves deep in conversation, laughing over newly-made inside jokes, debating over controversial topics.

you were lively and blooming with life. he was quiet and teeming with tragedy. it was a match made in heaven.

TAGS @rosieandthethorns @thaliasworld96 @lovelyygirl8 @moony-artemis @thesecretmansion @thecraziestcrayon @amongemeraldclouds @readingthingsonhere @darkenwolfie @jaxyy219 @empath-bunny @always-reading @xmadigurlx @mypolicemanharryyy @prettyb1tchsblog @hoeforvinniehackerrr @luckylzclerc @pandalovingcats @theyb @annaisabookworm @starsval @niktwazny303 @starsfortaylor @jetblackpayne @gillyweeds @alwayslatetothefandoms @simp-for-fantasy

[thisisnotthenerd]

the ratgrinders' potential levels

cannot believe i was right about the xp reqs. the bad kids & the seven get 'special treatment' (milestone leveling and saving the world), while others have to work with xp. which tells you a lot about why people fled during prompocalypse.

ok getting into the algebra now: the rat grinders have gone into the far haven woods every day for the last two years, for 3 hours after school, and 9 hours/day on weekends. presumably they keep this up during the summer.

they have supposedly defeated 80,000 or more of three types of creatures: rats, spiders, and twig blights. there are some variations to what these could be, so here's a list of what this could encompass, assuming the ratgrinders are not facing creatures over CR 1.

giant rat: CR 1/8, 25 XP

swarm of rats: CR 1/4, 50 XP

giant wolf spider: CR 1/8, 25 XP

swarm of spiders: CR 1/2, 100 XP

giant flying spider: CR 1, 200 XP

giant spider: CR 1, 200 XP

ice spider: CR 1, 200 XP

twig blight: CR 1/8, 25 XP

needle blight: CR 1/4, 50 XP

thorn slinger: CR 1/2, 100 XP

vine blight: CR 1/2, 100 XP

razorvine blight: CR 1, 200 XP

thorny: CR 1: 200 XP

the full list is a little difficult to do calculations on, so let's condense it. assume a quarter of the 80000 creatures were CR 1/8, a quarter were CR 1/4, so on and so forth.

how much xp would they earn? how much would they level for the amount they ground? grinded? for?

critical assumption here: in the games i've played, we've always done milestone or zeroed out xp with each level, i.e. after earning 300 xp to get to level 2, you have to earn 900 xp to get to level 3, not 600. this analysis assumes that you have to earn the next levels xp reqs on top of your current total. i'm including the xp chart here to clarify:

level 1: 0 XP, +2, total 0 XP

level 2: 300 XP, +2, total 300 XP

level 3: 900 XP, +2, total 1200 XP

level 4: 2700 XP, +2, total 3900 XP

level 5: 6500 XP, +3, total 10400 XP

level 6: 14000 XP, +3, total 24400 XP

level 7: 23000 XP, +3, total 47400 XP

level 8: 34000 XP, +3, total 81400 XP

level 9: 48000 XP, +4, total 129400 XP

level 10: 64000 XP, +4, total 193400 XP

level 11: 85000 XP, +4, total 278400 XP

level 12: 100000 XP, +4, total 378400 XP

level 13: 120000 XP, +5, total 498400 XP

level 14: 140000 XP, +5, total 638400 XP

level 15: 165000 XP, +5, total 803400 XP

level 16: 195000 XP, +5, total 998400 XP

level 17: 225000 XP, +6, total 1223400 XP

level 18: 265000 XP, +6, total 1488400 XP

level 19: 305000 XP, +6, total 1793400 XP

level 20: 355000 XP, +6, total 2148400 XP

if we went cumulatively, based on the number of creatures the bad kids have defeated, they'd be getting up there in xp. we know they've had opportunities to defeat creatures outside of the quests that we've seen, given the oneshots. thus, i'm going with the second explanation, because otherwise the ratgrinders would be 19th level, and i don't think they are, because it would make any pvp setups super unbalanced, which are neither fun to play nor watch. this puts them on a little more even ground and emphasizes the amount of work it takes to xp grind to level against milestone leveling.

for the CR 1/8s: assuming roughly 20,000 creatures, they'd get 25 XP per, which means 500,000 xp. that's cumulatively enough to get to level 13, on just those creatures. divided 6 ways, assuming the ratgrinders have 6 members, it's 83,333.33, which is enough to get you to 10th level cumulatively and 8th non cumulatively.

this scales up to the 1/4s, 1/2s and the 1s since the xp gains double for each challenge rating rather than plateauing as they do at higher levels.

for the CR 1/4s: 1,000,000 xp. that's cumulatively enough to get to level 16 on just those creatures. divided 6 ways, assuming the ratgrinders have 6 members, it's 166,666.66, which is enough to get you to 15th level cumulatively and 9th non cumulatively.

for the CR 1/2s: 2,000,000 xp. divided 6 ways, assuming the ratgrinders have 6 members, it's 333,333.33, which is enough to get you to 19th level cumulatively, and 11th level non cumulatively.

and for the 1s, 4,000,000 xp. well over what you'd need to get to level 20, on just the CR 1s. divided 6 ways, assuming the ratgrinders have 6 members, it's 666,666.66, which is well over 20th level cumulatively, and 14th level non cumulatively.

using this estimate and adding all of this up, each member of the ratgrinders would have gathered enough xp to be level 20 cumulatively, and level 17 non cumulatively.

obviously the actual numbers would scale differently; initially, they would likely have to tackle these creatures as a party, but over time would take care of them individually. this is a bunch of kids doing the intro to class assignment for every assignment for two years straight.

level 20 seems extreme for the aguefort adventuring academy; let's scale it down a bit. the creatures specifically mentioned are probably giant rats, giant wolf spiders, and twig blights, based on the descriptions from jawbone.

all of these are CR 1/8, or 25 XP each. 80000 would give an xp total of 2,000,000, which would put each of the ratgrinders at around 11th level, a little higher level than the bad kids at the moment. however, since their fighting prowess scaled up, and they're probably going out in elmville and actively hindering the bad kids in some way, that level is very likely to increase.

what we saw in the episode

now the sticking point is mary ann rolling a 35. we know she got some kind of transmutation buff. a little tricky wording from brennan; fabian had enhance ability on, which is a transmutation spell. he did not say it was enhance ability.

mary ann is a barbarian, so she already gets advantage on athletics if she's raging, which i assume she was. the buff probably wouldn't be something that grants advantage.

assuming the lower estimate of 11th level, mary ann would get a +4 proficiency bonus, and i'm assuming she has 20 in strength, so +5 to her strength based skills, for a total of +9. at the high estimate of level 17, she would have a +6 to her proficiency bonus, which would give her a total of +11 to athletics. this is still not high enough to get a 35, even on a nat 20, which brennan would have declared if he had rolled one. she could conceivably accomplish this with the brawny feat, which allows for expertise in the athletics skill, which would give her a +17, meaning she could hit a 35 on a 18.

or, the buff was something like skill empowerment, which is a 5th level transmutation spell that gives the target expertise in a skill that they already have proficiency in. this spell is available to bards and wizards, among other classes, both of which we presume are in the ratgrinders. ruben could have cast skill empowerment on mary ann and given her bardic inspiration (lower estimate: d10, higher estimate: d12), both of which would have enabled that 35.

judging by the implication that she could not accomplish that feat without some kind of buff, i'm going with the latter explanation.

anyway i did too much math for this to not go in the stats series, or the school series. so this will be added to the spreadsheet later.

i hope this is useful.

[jgracie]

talking about pjo x f1… WHAT TEAM WOULD DO YOU THINK THE CHARACTERS BE IN?!

OFF TO THE RACES — PJO/HOO + F1 TEAMS

masterlist | rules

↳ part 2! (i can only put 10 pics in a post 😣)

an anon i got SO excited when u sent this so obviously i had to make it a whole post 😇 love u so much ! also i only included the relevant teams sorry not sorry i was not ab to find some random person to put in kick sauber or wtv it’s called now 😭 should i write reader x driver chars?!?

FERRARI’S DRIVER LINEUP CONSISTS OF . . .

OO1 — PERSEUS “PERCY” JACKSON

after placing 3rd in his rookie season of formula one, percy jackson quickly became a fan favourite amongst newbies and old timers alike! he had no trouble receiving a contract from ferrari at the end of last year, much to williams' dismay, and now seems to be bringing a team that we once thought was having its downfall to the podium! now, he seems to be on his way to winning his first ever world drivers' championship. hopefully, jackson remembers that the higher up you're sitting, the more people there are to tug you down...

OO2 — LUKE CASTELLAN

ferrari loyalist luke castellan has been the italian team's main driver for the majority of his career. none of his teammates could ever beat him - sneaky and speedy, he knows exactly how and when to comeback after a not-so-good weekend. if you're anywhere near castellan on the track, you should be extremely worried. now that ferrari have signed percy jackson in his second year, will castellan be able to hold his ground as their number one guy, or will percy eliminate him like he did the rest of the grid?

RED BULL’S DRIVER LINEUP CONSISTS OF . . .

OO1 — JASON GRACE

if you know red bull, you must know jason grace, who's been part of the red bull family ever since his days in formula four! grace seems to have been born with a god-given talent on the track, his smooth and precise takeovers catching the eyes of all sorts of people in the industry. despite receiving various contract offers left and right, grace stuck with red bull. in recent years, however, fans are beginning to believe that jason's heart simply isn't with them anymore...

OO2 — ANNABETH CHASE

after many years of persistence and hard work at haas, annabeth chase finally managed to catch the eye of red bull's team principal. people were hesitant to warm up to her at first, but she earned their love in no time by consistently placing on the podium and even landing a couple wins! clever cookie chase will do anything to be standing in front of the crowds, champagne bottle in one hand, trophy in the other - even going as far as disobeying team orders and overtaking teammate grace in some occasions, which might prove to be a sticky situation in the coming season

MCLAREN’S DRIVER LINEUP CONSISTS OF . . .

OO1 — LEONIDAS “LEO” VALDEZ

joining mclaren this year is none other than last year's formula two driver's championship winner, leo valdez! with quite the knowledge in machinery as well as fiery speed on the track, leo is definitely a force to be reckoned with. unfortunately, he hasn't been able to produce the results we've all become accustomed to from him, often dnf-ing and barely scoring any points. this might be getting to him, but oh well, all da ladies luv leo anyway!

OO2 — TRAVIS STOLL

completely juxtaposing his teammate and proving that the mclaren car is an absolute beast, travis stoll has quickly become a familiar face to see on a podium that was once a blur of blues and reds. despite this, he's managed to stay humble, insisting the praise should go to his younger brother and race engineer - connor stoll. the two are well known for silly banter and heartwarming singalongs during races. however, recent news of the younger stoll being jealous of his brother has started circulating...

[scar-lie]

You’re Mine [Scarlett]

Summary : Scarlett got jealous over Tom Hiddleston

Pairing : Scarlett Johansson x Actress ! Fem ! Reader

Warning : Curse, unprotected sex, cock warming, rough sex, praise kink, creampie

Word count : 1,877

ORIGINALLY POSTED IN WATTPAD

No one has permission to repost my work anywhere, if you see it let me know.

We're here on the set of Civil War. Well, it's 1 a.m., and here we are outside talking around a bonfire, eating marshmallows, and just asking one another

I'm sitting besides Scar, my girlfriend of 3 years now. We sit in a love seat, and my legs are on top of hers. Her right arm was behind my neck, making it like my pillow, and her left hand was in my inner thigh.

Me, Scar, RDJ, Hemsworth, Evans, Lizzie, Anthony, Sebastian, Jeremy, Paul, and Hiddleston, who visited us and decided to stay the night here, and the others are already asleep in their trailer.

"Ok... Ok Y/N," RDJ said, and look at me. I hum.

"So who's the best kisser and sex you have besides Scarlett?" I look at Scar, who was eyeing all of them, giggling. I'm not sure if I should tell her because things can escalate pretty quickly.

Then I see Lizzie, Anthony, and Paul whispering while giggling. Oh no, they're probably thinking this will be a long night for me and Scar.

"I don't think it's appropriate to talk about it," I say, going even closer to Scar and putting my right arms around her waist, then kissing her neck.

"Oh, come on, it's not like Scar will kill them," Robert teases.

"Yeah, it's just a little game; come on," Anthony says, and I roll my eyes at them.

After some time, they started bugging me. I got irritated and sat up straight.

"FINE. FINE!" I yell frustratedly, then I look at Scar, then at Tom, and I sigh deeply.

"It's Tom," I whisper enough for me to hear, well me and Tom got together 6 years ago; we've been dating for over, like, 6 or 7 years; he's one of my greatest loves, what can I say? He's charming, kind, thoughtful, and everything good; even in bed, he's the second best. Of course, Scar is the best in the bedroom; she makes me feel so good that I've never felt it before.

He's the last ex I have, and after him, 1 year later, Scar courted me, and she spent 2 years earning my yes to be her girlfriend. Why did she spend two years courting me? Well, let's just say that after Tom, I have trouble trusting anyone who likes me, so it takes time to say yes.

"What? Louder Y/N, we can't hear you," Hemsworth said, and I closed my eyes tightly and sighed deeply.

"Tom Hiddleston, ok?" I say louder for them to hear and look at Tom.

Then I heard a loud 'ohh. Then I could feel that Scar are getting jealous, so I broke eye contact with Tom.

"So Tom was good in bed, huh?" Anthony teases, so I just nod, then another 'oohh' again.

"Is he rough? Probably yes! Duh, and probably a Daddy vibe." Robert teases and wiggles his eyebrows looking at me, so I just giggle and roll my eyes at him.

"Robert's right; I'm probably rocking your world," Evans teases and winks at me. I just roll my eyes, and then the teasing goes on until Scar gets involved too, saying that if she can rock my world, Tom can do it too.

So I snuggled up to her; she didn't say a single word this whole teasing time. Feeling her jealousy, her jaw was clenching tightly, so I buried my face in her neck and hugged her, then kissed her neck.

"I love you so much," I whisper, only for her to hear. One last tease, and Scar is already beyond her limits.

She just stood up, put me over her shoulder, and just walked off. I looked at them, and they were winking and thumbing up at me.

"You're welcome," Robert mouthed to me, giving me a thumbs up. I just put my middle finger up for him, and they all chuckled.

Scar, go to her trailer, lock the door, go to the bedroom, and throw me on the bed.

"Sca-" I got cut off when she kissed me aggressively, but I melted to it and kissed her back.

She sat up and tore my shirt off, which made me moan and bite my lips. I saw her bulge, so I touched it but got stopped immediately.

"You don't get to touch me, slut." She husked in my ears and grabbed my both wrists and took a silk rope from her nightstand, then tied it in the bedpost.

"Sca-" I got cut off again by her.

"That's not my name, slut." Then she tied it tightly, but not so tight that it could hurt me.

"Sorry, Mommy," I correct myself, that she smirked, then she tore my PJ pants, which left me with a navy blue lace lingerie set.

"I don't like how you acted minutes ago," She whispered seductively in my ears while she was teasing my folds through my thin fabric underwear.

"Is Tom your best sex mate?" she asks, then rips my underwear, which makes me moan.

"N-no..Mommy." Then she started to circle and put pressure on my clit

"Is he that good in bed, slut, huh?" then she starts to suck on my sweet spot, which makes me gasp and throw my head back, tugging the rope.

"Mo-mommy...." I moan loudly, and she sits up, which makes me whine.

"You're too loud, baby." Then she took my ripped underwear and put it in my mouth.

"You look so beautiful like this slut," she said, then tore my bra too and started to suck my tits.

"Mmmmhhh," I moan, arching my back and chest.

"Are you going to be a good girl?" she husked, reaching into her nightstand, then pulling out a vibrator.

"Mmmmhhh," I moan, and then I hear a vibrating sound that makes me moan.

"Mmhh, I'll take that as a no for an answer." She smirks, then continues sucking my breast, then puts the vibrator on my clitoral area, which makes me squirm.

"Mo-momny..mmhh, please." I moan, the words muffled, and tug the ropes, wanting to touch her.

"Look at you, so desperate to touch me, huh?" Then she went lower and lower until she came face to face with my center.

"Mmmhhh, please, Mommy. Please fuck me." I'm begging, but it's all come out muffled because of the fabric in my mouth. Then I arch my hip towards the vibrator, and she slaps my inner thigh.

"Stay," She growled, so I tried my hardest not to buckle my hips.

"Good girl." She praises me, and she blows an air in my clitoral area that makes me throw my head back.

"AAHH!" I moan, wanting her to just fuck the shit out of me, then she starts to lick me.

"Mmhh, so sweet." Then she put three fingers in me, which made me moan louder and arch my back further.

"So wet for Mommy." Then she started to speed up to an inhuman speed that left me panting.

"Such a good girl for mommy, aren't you, slut?" She took off the vibrator, to be replaced by her mouth sucking it hard.

"AAAHGGHHHHHH!" I'm screaming at this point, and she continued her assault, destroying my pussy

"I'm so close; I'm clenching around her fingers, and when I'm near cumming, she suddenly pulls out and takes her mouth off of my clitoral area, which makes me whine.

"Mmmhhh," I whine, and she slaps my pussy, which makes me jolt up, pleasure rushing through my body.

AAAHHMMMMM," I moan, and she teases my folds.

"You think you can cum that easily, slut? Oh, Mommy has many plans for you." She smirks at me and starts to edge me again, leaving me so desperate to cum.

She did that for like 30 minutes, and the fabric in my mouth was long gone minutes ago, and now she was pumping in and out a fake dildo in me.

"Please........please Mommy, let me cum please, I-I'm sorry......aaahhhhh fu-fuck........ Yo-you're the best of....fu-fuck, the best, please Mommy" I'm gripping the rope tightly, knuckles go white, while I throw my head back and my legs are shaking wanting to cum

"Is that so, slut?" Then again she pulled out, leaving me on the edge.

"Mmhh, yes, Mommy, please........ I-I need you-your.....fat cock inside me, filling me up with your warm seed. Please, Mommy." I moan, bucking my hips to nothing, finding some friction to pleasure me.

"Such a slut for me." Then she suddenly trusted in me instantly, then pulled all the way out. That makes me whine.

"Mmmhhhh, please, please mommy, fuck me. Fuck me senseless, please." I'm rolling my hips to reach out for her, and she chuckled.

"So desperate for Mommy, huh?......" Then she put both legs together on her left shoulder, holding it tight.

"I'm going to fuck you real good; I'm going to destroy this beautiful little cunt of yours." Then she trusted hard and faster, making me moan loudly and grip the head board tightly.

"You. Are. Mine. Slut. Mine," She said with a hard trust, and I didn't say anything or moan because of the pleasure I'm receiving; only our skin slapping can be heard all over the room.

"Not. Tom. Not your exes. Nor anyone. You. Are. Mine," She said, and I was a moaning mess under her.

"I'll make you remember it, slut." My legs are shaking, wanting to cum. I'm so close that I'm clenching around her length, which makes her groan.

"Aaahh. I'm go-gonna cum. Please, Mommy, let me cum." She fastened her pace so much that I thought the bed would break.

"Hold it, slut, you don't get to cum without my permission." She's now jackhammering me, which made me squirm, throw my head back, and acrh my chest.

"AAAHHHHHH, I-I... CAN'T HOLD IT!" I scream, and I know she's close too because of her speed and her member twitching inside me.

"Hold it," She demanded, so I kept holding my orgasm until she's chasing her orgasm.

"Cum." With that one word, I cum hard on her, which makes my cum drip down to her balls and thighs to make a wet patch in the bed, and my cum drips down to my ass hole and butt going to the sheet, creating a wet patch too.

With that, she trusted hard and cummed all over inside me. She kept trusting hard, twitching her member inside me while she shot her warm seed inside me.

"AAAAHHHHHH....FUCK!" I scream with her, and she slows down her trusting to help us from our high.

We were panting while she's still trusting, and she dropped my legs down, and she stopped trusting, looking down to see her dick still deep inside me. That made her moan, and she slumbed down in front of me.

Both of our bodies are covered in our own sweat, but we couldn't care less; we're still panting and recovering from our high.

Then she turned us over, so I'm now on top of her, and she buried my face in her chest.

"I want you to cock warm me, sleep baby." And she kissed my head, and I hummed, tired from our hot session.

"I love you so much," She whispers, hovering over my lips, so I smile and peck her lips.

"I love you more," She chuckled, drawing shapes on my back and playing with my hair.

"Not possible, love." We both giggle until she sings me a lullaby that I love the most.

In just a few minutes, I fall asleep with her, happy and content with who we are and what we have right now!

[hunxi-after-hours]

Hello! I love your ORV posting. I do have an embarrassing question; can I ask how heartbreaking the ending is? I've tried reading it a large number of times, but have had trouble getting past the chapters in the 300s; I'll reread it up til that point over and over again, but can't continue. Not because I don't enjoy it, but because I get so swept away by the emotions, and all the characters go through is agonizing. I know it's not real! But my heart aches all the same, in a way I've never experienced this with a novel before, and I feel like a child LOL (It's also extremely funny-frustrating because I realize how thematic this is to the story itself). I'm not worried about the characters Kim Dokja is fighting for, but given the patterns in the story and how it seems to be told, I'm too afraid to keep going. I know I could just look it up, but at the same time, I don't want to spoil all the mysteries; just if my heart can rest easy. TLDR, if it's not too spoilery, is there any light for kim dokja in the ending? or is it a tragedy through & through?

(If this is a dumb question, please feel free to ignore this)

oh boy anon, I've been sitting on this ask for a hot second because it's hard to answer! so I will attempt to talk around it in a way that will hopefully (?) avoid spoilers

as I see it, the nature of orv's ending (broadly writ) is additionally complicated by the fact that there are approximately four(ish) endings:

1) the ending at chapter 516

2 + 3) the ending(s) at chapter 551

4?) the side stories

the ending at chapter 516

this is probably what many people would characterize as BE, but I'd personally compare it to the ending of my love, my life, 《琅琊榜》 Nirvana in Fire, in that the ending may be "sad" (broad air quotes to vague-ify whatever "sad" entails) but it feels earned. it feels right. it feels like the logical conclusion of what the entire book was building up to. some may consider it a tragedy, but it's not a hollow, meaningless tragedy — it feels correct. this is the note that the novel officially ends on, but is then over(?)written by the existence of—

the ending(s) at chapter 551

Kim Dokja's Company looks at the ending of ch. 516 and says "aw hell no" and sets out to rewrite that ending. after 35 chapters of epilogue, we've unlocked an OE — an open ending, that concludes the moment before the HE/BE ambiguity will be resolved. schrodinger's ending, except you, the reader, get to choose what you believe — and I do think the epilogues are written beautifully to get you here (they implicate the reader in a wonderful and deeply empathetic way). and from what I've seen, the vast majority of the fandom chooses to take the offered HE option and run with it; everyone lives happily ever after together in a big house, a million domestic post-canon fics will attest. this is the closest, I'd say, that would come answering your question of whether Kim Dokja has light in his future with an emphatic, loving "yes"

(I also think it's worth mentioning that the epilogues add a lot to the story; they fill in narrative lacunae and tie up loose threads that aren't answered in the original 516 chapters, so I don't consider the epilogues as "separate" or "extra." the epilogues aren't a fix-it tacked onto the end of the narrative; they serve and enrich the narrative in a way that would actively reduce the luster of the story if lost)

the side story

a few years down the line, Sing-shong have returned to the text to tie up "a few more loose ends." the side story is currently being serialized, and more or less picks up from where chapter 551 left off. this necessarily chooses among your OE options as detailed above; whether the side story will end happily, or with "light for Kim Dokja," currently remains to be seen as it is still ongoing. I've fallen off the bandwagon and have been meaning to catch up, but from what I've read so far I think the side story is an interesting and worthwhile addition to the text. Sing-shong continue to innovate and develop upon the worldbuilding and narrative they have already created, and we have met a new cast of characters that have rapidly become as dear to us as the old (the old cast of characters are also here, don't worry). if I were a betting person, I would say that the side story is headed in a more-or-less HE direction; the side story is currently engaging with and complicating themes of (self-)identity and (self-)worth through the many lenses of Kim Dokja, and while it remains to be seen how it resolves, I am tentatively optimistic that it will, if nothing else, be satisfying

TL;DR the ending(s) of ORV can be variously construed as HE, BE, or OE, and the elements of tragedy woven into the narrative and characters are inherent to the text. however, no tragedy is meaningless in ORV, and all of the endings feel earned

[userparamore]

I get that you don’t like Taylor but can you not see paramores growth as band because of the eras tour they seem so happy to be on that stage every night be grateful for that

first of all i don't really understand why you're coming for me over post that isn't even mine. second of all i'm allowed to be a fan of a band and be critical of them at the same time, and i've expressed my disappointment over this since the tour was announced. i'm not gonna beat a dead horse and bring up why i'm critical of this tour again in this answer, but the act of them being on this tour really says a lot about them for me in a negative way, and i think it's hypocritical of them after preaching about sustainability and equal rights for all.

paramore is also not some small indie band no one has heard of. they've been doing this for 20 years, they've sold out big venues, played madison square garden multiple times, they played their biggest show ever on the this is why aus&nz tour with 26,283 tickets sold in sydney. multiple of their biggest songs on spotify is close to a billion streams and they have 21 million monthly listeners. all this growth they've done, they've done on their own- sure it's nice that more people discover them, but they didn't need this tour to be successful. they already were.

also for me personally, this tour leaves a bad taste in my mouth. i come from a country where if i'm lucky they tour once every album cycle. i've been lucky to see them 2 times and the last time was in 2017. they played a festival so i didn't get to see a full set. they've been to my country four times total and 1 concert wasn't a festival. the eras tour didn't have a show in my country, and i wasn't about to fight swifties for tickets that are extremely expensive. in the end my friend ended up having a spare ticket to one of the vienna shows bc the person they were originally gonna go with ended up not being able to go, and i was asked if i wanted to go. me and this friend first became friends bc we both liked paramore, and they've never been able to see them live. travelling to vienna to have that experience together, i would sit through 3h of taylor swift for. i spent close to 2000 dollars on the whole trip including the ticket, for it to end up being cancelled. very happy we didn't die, but it still sucked to have spent all that money and the not be able to go. especially since this would've been my friend's first paramore live experience.

i'm happy they're having fun playing their greatest hits for 3 months. i'm happy for my mutuals who's been able to go and have had a good time. the money they earn will probably go to their new label, and hopefully we won't have to wait 5 years for new music. but don't tell me to be grateful.

i try my best to make this community a welcoming space. i try my best to contribute with gifs and edits, and post news when there are news. i've hosted countdown events, i've hosted/made zines, i've hosted gif challenges. i want to do all these things bc it's fun to be part of this community and i love the friends i've made here. but i can still do all those things, and not have to kiss paramore's ass. i can still express myself and speak on the things i don't agree with bc it's my blog. we've had "debates" in my inbox before, people have expressed their opinions on paramore before, and it's always respectful which i appreciate. we as a community can disagree on things and still be a community.

[ch3rriiii-bunn]

Their type

Was literally thinking of modern-day hantengu clones dating a black y/n but y/n is like goth/a witch/soft/spiritual AHHH🙈🙈. Pls imagine the icons of them as human lol

Warnings: black!fem reader, black!fem goth reader & tall reader (Aizetsu's part), Soft!fem black reader & chubby reader (Sekido's part), black!witch fem reader (Karaku's part), black!Spiritual fem reader (Urogi's part), some suggestive parts

Aizetsu

Aizetsu is never picky with what his partner is into. What mattered to him was he managed to find someone who loves and cares for him, but you being goth was a bonus.

Aizetsu loves how you're taller than him. He encourages you to wear your platform boots almost all the time and spoiling you by buying you platforms you want.

Aizetsu likes to watch when you style your afro when you get ready on dates with him and admires how neat and cool your makeup looks every time you do it.

Aizetsu doesn't admit his love for your heigh. He only reassures you that you're perfect for him, but your height gives him the perfect opportunity to alwaus have his face between your boobs when you hug him

Aizetsu knows being goth is mainly about listening to the music. When you're with him in his room, he likes to share his headphones and has you listen to his favorite songs from your favorite bands.

Aizetsu let's you paint his nails. He'd get sad when you reject the idea of painting his nails any other color than black. He still loves it when you paint his nails, especially since it gives him the chance to cling to you by holding your hand after you're done painting his nails on one hand.

Aizetsu lets you do his makeup. He's not toxic with his masculinity, but he also wants to let you do whatever you want with him to make yourself happy.

Aizetsu defends you a lot from others who look at you negatively with your style and likes. He may not reach high enough to put his arm around you, but his arm will go around your waist and glance at the people, almost giving them a death stare if they dare say anything bad about your looks. It's cute to you.

Aizetsu accepts the gifts you give him. He is a jewelry guy, so when you give him skull rings, chokers and etc, he'll always accept them and wears them out in public. It doesn't matter if people make fun of him, so long as it's from you, that's all that matters

Sanerio:

"We are here," Aizetsu parks his motorcycle and takes his helmet off. You let go of his waist and swung your leg over to get off the motorcycle and looked at the building in front of you. "It's just a tattoo place," you said.

Aizetsu gets off his motorcycle and then takes your helmet off for you and fixes your afro. You don't let many people touch your afro, but Aizetsu is very respectful with your hair and has earned your trust to fix your hair for you when it's out of place.

"Well... I overhead a conversation you had with your friend on the phone the other night. You mentioned that you've always wanted to get matching ghost tattoos with an s/o," Aizetsu said as his hand slowly grabbed yours. "It's been 2 years since we've been going out... what do you think about getting matching tats now?"

"Don't you think it's too early for that?" You said and watched as Aizetsu's face turn blue. "I'm kidding" you said and leaned down to kiss his forehead. "If we get these tattoos you're gonna be stuck with me" you said and watched his fearful expression turn into a happy one.

"It would make me extremely happy to be stuck with you. Forever even," Aizetsu said as you pulled him into the tattoo shop.

Sekido

Sekido is the mean. Strict man most wouldn't expect to have such a sweet and loving, hyper feminine partner, but he's only soft with you.

Sekido never cared for the color pink until he saw your hyper femininity for it. He adores how happy you get when he spoils you with the pink, soft things you love.

Sekido gives you the princess treatment. He makes sure to style your afro/braids in cute pigtails, learn how to blush on your cute cheeks, and even paint your nails. If it'd a good day, he'll let you paint his nails pink.

Sekido let's you do a lot of things you wouldn't expect him to let you do. He let's you play with his hair, even putting it in pig tails, doing face masks with him and especially letting you kiss his face with lip gloss on. He doesn't wash off your kiss marks nor take out his hair until he gets home, not matter how "ridiculous" he may look to his brothers.

Sekido wears the cute gifts you make for him. He's not the type to wear anything bright pastel, so when he wears the bracelets, necklaces, and even earrings you make for him, it definitely stands out. If anyone said anything bad about what you made for him, he's threatening to slap them with the same hand that had the bracelet you made on his wrist.

Sekido plans all the dates. You always offer to make the food, but he refuses. He wants to make the cute little sandwiches you love so much, and chocolate covered strawberries you like to feed to him.

Sekido is very calm when he's around you. When you both plan a home date, he insists he'd just come to your house. He adore seeing you in your pink pajamas and having your pink bonnet on your head. The vibe to your room is calming, and he likes to lay his head on your chest while he sleeps with you in your hyper feminine room surrounded by your stuffed animals.

Sekido smiles more when he's with you. He just loves your kindness to him and to others and even loves to see how happy you get over the small things he does for you

Scenario:

You practically begged Sekido to go with you to this beautiful park you saw online for a date idea, despite it drizzing outside since it rained earlier.

"This park is so pretty, Sekido." you said while looking at the flowers in the park and holding his hand. Sekido hums in response. He notices you're waking strange, and he decides to take a look at your skirt.

He notices both of your thigh highs running down your chubby thighs. He sighed and stopped walking, almost making you fall back "easy" he said. "Sorry, but why did you stop?" You asked. Sekido chuckles softly. "You didn't notice you're walking werid? Your thigh highs are falling down."

You looked down and giggled "yes I know, but there's no where for me to sit and fix them since all the benches are wet" you said and tried to bend over right now to fix them. Sekido's hand quickly covers your ass and looks around. "There's a bench right there," he said and took you with him.

"But Sekido, it's wet," you said as you looked at the bench and a worried expression, not wanting to get your white skirt wet. Sekido takes off his leather jacket and places it on the bench. "Sit, I'll fix them," he said. Arguing with Sekido on this was pointless. He was too much of a gentleman towards you.

You watched as Sekido gets on a knee and starts to fix your thigh highs back onto your thighs. "Better?" He said, giving your knees a kiss and even tapping your thighs, making them jiggle.

"Better" you smiled.

Karaku

Karaku found out you're a witch on the first date but didn't mind it. He even found it cute. This was all new to Karaku, so he didn't know what to accept, but he's mentioned countless times that he'd never break up with you, joking in some fear that you might curse him if he did

Karaku is always asking to touch your things out of curiosity. It's greatful he's asking, but you'd still have to tell him no, which makes him throw a fake fit about it. You'd also have to remind him constantly to never blow out your candles, but he'd tease you and say he would.

Karaku thought your style would be dependent on what you do, but you dressed pretty normal to him. He even takes the time to understand why you do what you do and educates himself from you about witchcraft.

Karaku has bitten one of your crystals, thinking it could be editable. His excuse? He saw a video about edible crystals. From the day you forbid him to ever touch your crystal.

Karaku thinks you look really pretty when you put crystal accessories in your braids. He offers to put them in your braids, too.

Karaku knows you don't do evil witchcraft, however if Sekido threats to spank him because he did something dumb or pissed him off he'd make it clear that his "hot evil witch gf will curse you" but that only makes him get two spanks. One from Sekido and one from you.

Karaku gets asked by his brothers why he always has small bottles along with some herbs in the small slotes of his motorcycle. He simply tells them that his hot witch gf is casting protection spells, so he has a safe ride. Although he plays too much, he does love how you do this for him and make him feel safe. It also feels like you're always there with him.

Scenario:

Karaku comes home around 10 pm. from work. "Y/n, I'm back," he announced and gets confused when he got no answer.

He checks the shared room you both sleep in, the bathrooms and etc, but yet there's no sign of you. He'd assume you went out with friends and gose into the kitchen for some water but then saw the backdoor open.

He checks and sees you outside sitting on the grass. "Hey y/n, what are you doing?" He calls out to you. "shhh. It's a full moon, I'm charging my crystals," you said and continued to mediate. Karaku stops what he's doing and tips toes quietly towards you and sits on the grass.

Karaku stays quiet. He looked up at the full moon, then back at your crystals, and started wondering if your crystals would start glowing with magic being put into them as you mediated.

You sigh and then start to put your crystals back in a box. "What are you thinking about now?" Karaku asked. "I want crystal balls," you said and then felt two large hands cup your boobs "you got some right here, babe," he said, and you rolled your eyes.

Urogi

Urogi is spiritual himself, so the news that you were too didn't shock him as much. If anything, Urogi was overjoyed.

Urogi loves being in the forest. When you suggested that you both go to the forest and meditate together area, Urogi was quick to say yes. He feels very at peace with you, and you feel at peace with him.

Urogi would learn a lot from you, especially about Chakras. Whenever there was a minor problem with his brothers, he'd use what you'd say just to annoy them since they didn't know what he's even talking about.

Urogi uses incense a lot. He may be a cheerful and happy guy, but he still wants to maintain his energy. Whenever you both come back from a large crowd or even around people with bad energy, you both start to burn some incense around you. He also offers to hold your locs up so the incense doesn't touch your pretty hair.

Urogi likes to go out and buy you flowers as a gift, sometimes the flowers being special ones. One time, he got you some blue lotus flowers, and he knew you'd use them for some deep meditation and to help you relax whenever you felt too overwhelmed and stressed out.

Scenario:

It was Urogi's turn to plan the date idea, and he wanted to make dream catchers with you outside.

You spent your time earlier driving around to make sure you both had all the correct things to make your dream catchers. Urogi was quiet. He always gets quiet whenever he's focused, but he is extremely good with putting his together.

You put down your half made dream catcher and just watched him. "You're so good at this, especially the feather part." You said. "Maybe I was a bird in my past life," Urogi jokes, making you both laugh. "Y/n, are you having trouble with yours? It's not done," he said.

You looked down. "Oh! Yeah, I'll be done it soon... actually, could you help me put it together? I don't think I'm doing it right," you confess, feeling a little embarrassed. "Yeah! I'll do it for you!" Urogi said, so happy to be doing this with you even if he's doing all the work and you're just keeping him company.

"I'm gonna have good dreams because of you for this," you said and leaned forward to kiss his forehead. "So am I" Urogi said and kissed your cheek

[wouriqueen]

Toxic friendship my beloved. I can't wait for Taeho and Inha's relationship to go off the rails. I mean we've got this perfect set-up.

(My 2 cents no one asked for about why their weird friendship WILL go wrong - and not just because of Hyewon - under the cut).

Taeho's tricky promise

Taeho promised to give Inha "everything he wants" as long as Inha lets Taeho use him as a golden rope to reach the "major leagues". Taeho then said, "We just have to decide what we want to do", and I guess they decided they wanted to make Inha Kangoh group's CEO. But!

Is becoming CEO "everything Inha wants" ? What if there's something else ? Will he expect Taeho to give him that too ?

Matter of fact, what if that promise is the reason Inha went for Hyewon without holding back even though he knew Taeho liked her? Maybe he wanted her - or decided he did... - and felt it was his right to go for it because of that promise?

Why does Inha seem okay with not having a clear idea of what Taeho is getting out of doing all that for him? Oh wait, he isn't! Cue the next point.

Han "I only exist for you" Taeho

Why would Taeho even say that LOL. I mean don't get me wrong, him telling Inha something so intense had my imagination juices flowing, but. It's obviously not true. Taeho didn't enter this deal out of affection for Inha. He himself called it an "economic proposition".

The only reason he'd answer that to Inha's question - "what do you desperately want" - would be to conceal the truth. Which is? The easy answer is Hyewon, and I'm sure that's part of it, though it's unclear how much Taeho's feelings for her have changed or not after 10 years. But would it really be it? I don't think so. If the only thing Taeho wanted was Hyewon, he'd have opened that door back when she tried to pick him 10 years prior - but he didn't.

Inha's anger

In episode 3/4, Inha seems angry at Taeho (re: when they think their plan might fail, and then the beach). And I wondered why that was, but it's obvious.

Taeho's cockiness

Inha's probably pissed about how cocky Taeho has been acting, and even more pissed about the fact that he can't shut him down because Taeho is, in fact, good at what he does.

Does Inha have an inferiority complex ?

Think about how their relationship started - Inha feeling judged and embarrassed while Taeho dished out life lessons, Inha asking for friendship then getting rejected only to be presented with an "economic proposition".

And the dynamic never changed, Inha constantly receiving things from Taeho. No matter how strong the affection was, Inha having a chef cook a meal for Taeho's birthday with money he didn't earn or Inha giving Taeho rides is nothing compared to Taeho getting him into a great uni and getting him closer to his dad/the CEO position, laying out a whole plan Inha just has to follow. Or at least he wouldn't see those as equivalent (and I doubt Taeho would, either).

Is Inha jealous of Taeho's place in his father's life ?

Inha clearly hoped his father would want him - remember his disappointment when he was made to leave his father's house before dinner that one time. He was even more hurt when Taeho explained his father must have called him to the house just to bother his wife. And hurt AGAIN when he found out it wasn't even his dad's idea, but his sister.

Yet he doesn't get to properly meet his father face to face until episode 4, while his more competent friend has been the chairman's right hand man for 5 years. That's gotta sting.

Inha isn't dumb

Highschool Inha knew nothing so he probably thought the terms of his deal with Taeho made sense.

Yet as they grew up, Inha must have realized at some point that something was off. That Taeho is clearly brilliant and savvy enough to get a great job in any big company and become a key player. That he hasn't needed Inha to get him into Kangoh or anywhere else. Taeho has yet to use Inha as a rope, which means he has yet to collect his payment.

Except Inha doesn't know what Taeho wants! He knows he said he wanted to "play in the major leagues", but that's so vague it barely means anything. He knows he may still want Hyewon, but Taeho can't have her AND honor his deal with Inha. Clearly so far, he's picking Inha.

So what does he want? And most importantly - why can't he tell Inha about it?

Of course we know it probably has to do with Taeho's parents and why he can't share that secret. But if I was Inha, I'd feel nervous, suspicious and powerless. Of course he's angry.

And then there's Hyweon. Gosh I can't wait. It probably won't be like I want it to be but I hope it's intense.

[mimisempai]

I love the angel you chose to be

Summary

Crowley overhears a conversation between Aziraphale and Muriel, and realizes that words spoken millennia ago can linger in the mind for a long time, even if the person who spoke them has forgotten them. It's time for him to help his angel forget them.

Notes

We all love Aziraphale Curly and messy blond hair…

Day 2 : Playing with hair

On Ao3

Rating G -  1452 words

Crowley entered the bookstore, coffee and hot chocolate in hand holding a couple of Eccles cakes wrapped by Nina under his arm, but he saw no one. 

He was about to call out when he heard voices that sounded like they were coming from the back of the bookshop. 

He was on his way there when he heard Muriel's voice as they asked, "Aziraphale, I heard Maggie and Nina talking about something, and I was wondering, is it deliberate that the front of the bookshop is the same shade as Crowley's hair?"

Crowley paused, now curious to hear the angel's answer.

Aziraphale coughed and Crowley would have given anything to see his expression at that moment, but he couldn't without revealing his presence and he was eager to hear the angel's answer.

"Well, at first it was just a coincidence, I thought the old-fashioned red and gold gave the place a distinguished look, and then it's true that over time I also liked the idea that looking at it reminded me of his hair."

Muriel said in a slightly teasing voice, "I've seen you with your hand in Crowley's hair often enough to know that you like his hair, you know."

Crowley stifled a small gasp, thinking that Aziraphale probably had the same blush on his cheeks as he did. That nosy little bee!

"Well... you see this hair, it's kind of special, you know. It's not really red, it's an infinite shade of red. In the evening, his red hair takes on the softest sheen, and in the starlight, the red becomes intense, like the reddest of Burgundy wines, but my favorite shade is in the morning, when the rising sun reflects off it and gives it an incandescent glow."

Okay, no doubt Crowley's cheeks were now as scarlet as his hair.

"I see, I see," Muriel replied, "but how would you describe your own hair?"

Aziraphale immediately replied, "Light blonde. There's nothing special about it."

Muriel asked in a genuinely curious tone, "Do you think Crowley has the same fascination with your hair as you do with his?"

Crowley didn't like the angel's dismissive chuckle at all before replying, "Not at all. You know, I think Crowley even finds my curls funny."

"Oh, how do you know?"

Aziraphale replied, "I have known for thousands of years. Right after we saved Job's children."

Aziraphale turned to the demon and said, "I'm ready to go. 

Crawley looked at him in surprise and asked, "Go where?"

"To Hell."

The demon immediately replied, "I'm not taking you to Hell, Angel."

"Why not?"

"Well, I don't think you'd like it." 

Aziraphale protested, "But you have to. I'm like you now. A demon." 

Crawley began to smile and said in a distinctly mocking tone, "Sorry. You think you're a demon? With your curly little... and your neat white..."

The angel finished his story, "You see, Muriel, I don't think he sees anything fascinating in my curly little... I don't know what he would have called it, but given his sneering expression, it wouldn't have been very flattering."

He heard the angel clap his hands as he continued, "Come on Muriel, let's finish putting away these new books and then we've earned a little break. I think Crowley even went to get us some snacks."

Despite the angel's attempt to sound enthusiastic, Crowley knew him well enough to detect the small nuance of despondency beneath the cheerful tone.

He hadn't meant any harm at the time, of course, but knowing Aziraphale as he did now, knowing the damage Heaven had done to his self-esteem, those words had naturally left a mark on Aziraphale.

His dear angel, always so insecure when it came to himself.

The demon tiptoed back, careful not to be noticed, and silently left the shop before reentering, this time with a bang.

"Aziraphale! Muriel! I'm home! It's break time for those who pretend to work."

The two angels appeared from behind the shelves, and Crowley chuckled as they both snapped at him, offended by his earlier statement.

As he handed out drinks and cakes, Aziraphale stepped up to the window, just under a ray of sunlight that illuminated him, forming a halo around his head.

Crowley smiled softly.

His hair funny?

Nonsense. 

Crowley was going to show him.

********

A little later in the evening, they were both sitting on the sofa, one against the other. Aziraphale was reading aloud and Crowley commented from time to time.

Suddenly, Aziraphale stopped reading and asked him softly, "Crowley, my dear, won't you lie down and put your head in my lap?"

Crowley smiled softly, secretly glad to have the opportunity he had been looking for, then shook his head, "No, Angel, tonight I'd like to change."

Aziaphale turned his head to him and asked, confused, "Change what?" 

Crowley took the book from his hands and placed it beside him, then patted his own lap and said softly, "Tonight, you're the one who's going to lie down and put your head on my lap."

He put his arm around the shoulders of Aziraphale, who still looked a little confused, and pulled him close to lie down.

The angel relented, but Crowley could tell by the look on his face that he didn't quite understand. He could understand, after all, it was the first time they'd reversed positions like this.

When he was sure the Angel was settled, he bent down and planted a light kiss on his temple before whispering in his ear, "Angel, I overheard your conversation with Muriel about my hair and especially yours. I can't let you continue to think that I find your hair ridiculous or funny or whatever silly idea my clumsy words might have put into your head."

The demon straightened, placed his hands on the angel's hair, and stroked it gently.

"When I spoke of your hair that day, it was because it had nothing in common with the hair of someone you'd think belonged in hell. Granted, you wouldn't fit in. But there's nothing ridiculous about those blond curls, Angel."

He buried his fingers a little deeper in the light curls and continued, "If you only knew how many times I've imagined running my hands through this hair. Long before I had the right, like now. I was dying to know if it was as soft as it looked."

The demon buried his fingers a little deeper into the angel's hair, smiling with satisfaction as he felt the angel lean his head into his fingers.

He continued, "You know, your hair is so you. Comfortable, soft, a little messy, but still well cared for. I love it, Angel. And never once have I found it ridiculous. Never once have I found anything about you ridiculous."

He grabbed his chin and turned his head up to look him in the eye before continuing, "It's like your waistcoat, your bow tie, your bookshop, how shall I put it...they have that mix of neat and messy. Your waistcoat is hanging by a thread, but you cherish it more than anything, and it fits you perfectly. Your bow tie, always well done, but often a little crooked.

Your place, let's not talk about the mess it is, but I wouldn't have it any other way because it is you. This is how you have chosen to be. Since the day you gave up your sword out of compassion. That's the angel I love. Not the perfect angel, immaculate, well-groomed, not a wrinkle out of place. Because all this proves to me that you're no longer attached to heaven, but to this world. Because you've chosen it. All this is Aziraphale. Right down to the messy light curls, and I wouldn't have it any other way." 

He leaned forward and gently pressed his lips first to the angel's forehead, then to his lips in a tender and lingering kiss.

Then, as he straightened up, he whispered in his ear, "But still, your waistcoat..."

Aziraphale exclaimed, "Hey, don't you dare, I've had it since..."

He stopped because Crowley had just begun to laugh.

Assuming an air of dignity, he tugged at the flaps of his vest and smoothed them over his waist, saying, "It's a fine vest. I don't see anything wrong with it."

Crowley gently ran a hand through his hair and replied, "Yeah, there's absolutely nothing wrong with this vest. It's perfect in my eyes. As is the Angel who wears it."

He pressed his lips to the angel's again and gave him another kiss that went on and on.

In the eyes of heaven and hell, neither of them was perfect, but that didn't matter because they were perfect for each other.

_________

Still not beta'd

Still not my native language

Still hoping you'll enjoy this story  🥰

Still thanking you for bearing with me 😝

Ineffable Growing Love series : here (After season 2)

Ineffable Husbands masterlist : here (Before season 2)

[vykker]

Oddworld Headcanon 2/?: Where do new Queens come from?

In Soulstorm we're introduced to the Keeper, a female mudokon who is a little old granny with an awesome and cute design. I was so delighted by her!! This got me thinking about 2 of my favorite things, Oddworld and Girls. We've known about the existence of queens for a long time, but where do they come from, and is/was the Keeper a queen?

When you start learning about irl animals and their queen systems you end up with a ton of interesting possibilities. For instance, you have queen bees, who are just regular female bees who were fed a special jelly [royal jelly] and put in a special, roomy honeycomb to turn into queen bees. However, hives may have more than one queen at a time, in which case the two young queens instinctively fight to the death.

Soulstorm leans heavily on the bee aesthetic for the keeper & the Sanctum where she resides. It could be that mudokon tribes produce multiple queens, but only the one with the strongest will/chosen by fate gets to become queen. Even though becoming queen doesn't seem so great to me as a human, to mudokons it's probably the highest honor one can earn. I imagine it would be crushing for a female to NOT become a queen, especially if it's something you've been hyped up about your entire life, have presented as being the highest possible achievement and so on.

But getting back to the bee thing- mudokons don't make honey, by which I mean, they probably don't have a chemical way of ensuring an individual is able to become a queen, in the way that bees can choose who gets to eat the royal jelly. [Though, if they could, you KNOW the industrialists would be selling it. I used to work at a store that sold royal jelly for like 50 bucks in a little jar. It was weird.] Thus, I feel it's probably random chance if a mudokon is born a "princess" or not.

Being born a princess does not ensure one will become a queen. The transformation into a queen is probably tied to ritual in mudokon culture regardless of whether it's pure biological randomness or not, and although it would be healthy for a tribe to have a few princesses as insurance rather than one, I also believe NOT being "picked" to be queen can be very depressing and alienating for them. This could be a possible backstory for the Keeper; either 1. she was not chosen to be queen, which she took as a personal failure for many years before devoting herself to becoming the Keeper; or 2. she fled from her tribe in order to NOT become a queen, and suffers from guilt now that her species' only surviving queen is being kept captive & she's way too old to become queen now.

Anyway, I believe you could apply similar logic to the other queen-centric races, HOWEVER, I think things are a little different depending on each queen's species and role in society. For instance, I imagine mudokon queens born of Sam would be highly sought after and prized. However, it would not surprise me if they all fail to become queens, just due to the industrialists failing at meeting their needs in captivity. Even if a princess were kept in relative luxury, being separated from the land and nature would prevent them from ever becoming queens.

I would imagine things as being similar for sligs- however, I personally imagine slig eggs being produced at a much higher rate, since it's mentioned that queen Skillya has 5 ovipositors, so maybe there's less stress around trying to find the next slig queen. Or maybe she can recognize what they are and keeps crushing them on purpose. I think Skillya would feel very threatened by another girl being called "cute" in her presence.

Now glukkons, I believe, actually have it worse out of all options. Lady Margaret is just one glukkon queen- there's implied to be more & its further implied that there are queen glukkons higher up the chain than her. However, I cannot imagine a glukkon queen choosing to share power with an incompetent daughter. Glukkons don't like to share power even in the best of times!

Thus, I believe that when glukkon princesses are born, the queen's in-house surgeons sterilize them temporarily, putting their reproductive organs on ice to completely eliminate the possibility of them starting their own lineages or hijacking the company. Competition between glukkon princesses is UNFATHOMABLY brutal. Whereas their brothers are just competing to become glockstars or whatever, the princesses are competing to become dynasty builders. Thus, a glukkon princess has to bust her ass from the day she's born to impress her mother & torpedo her sisters' efforts. Then, finally, when the current queen is too old to keep working, her favorite daughter is promoted to queen, uterus privilege no longer revoked, the vykkers thaw out her reproductive parts & put her back together again.

This would make Lady Margaret even scarier in my opinion- if her position as queen was not just pure happenstance, if she had to do absolutely atrocious things to her fellow princesses to get where she is today- you'd understand why she grasps on to power so tightly, why she refuses to forgive even the slightest weaknesses in her sons, considering all she has been through to get to where she is today. It would be rather boring if Lady Margaret became a queen just from a biological dice roll, right? Instead, imagine her as a vicious, power-hungry monster who FOUGHT to be queen, with a line of glukkon princesses below her, anxious for her to retire or die already so they can have the ultimate promotion- and she KNOWS it.

Anyway, these are just my thoughts. Since we met the Keeper in Soulstorm I am INCREDIBLY hopeful we will get to meet more girls in future games. I would especially like to meet a no-nonsense 80's style glukkon business woman with shoulder pads, I think I would die of happiness. What are your headcanons for Oddworld's queens? I really wanna hear them!!!

[circlejourneyart]

Maybe it'll turn out better this time: A love letter to all the joy and sorrow that this story has given me

(Art by @blogofyolo)

Here's the first of two tracks I had on Land of Fans and Music 5 Act 2, which came out two days ago! I'm dedicating this one to @utopianparadoxist, who wrote the post that made this track appear in my mind in such blinding clarity I couldn't stop making until it was done.

I also have some extended commentary about this one--it's more important to me than I give it credit for.

When I finished reading Homestuck, I was...disappointed. That disappointment morphed gradually into disgust as I watched schisms violently open in the fandom following the Epilogues and Homestuck^2, and in the process I felt like I'd lost something.

I kept thinking that maybe, if I just read the comic again, it would turn out different. Maybe it'd be the story I'd once loved and it would fill me with breathless wonder again. Maybe it'd be better.

But earlier this year, a post by uP crossed my dash after he'd disappeared from my periphery for well over a year. He was outlining his plans surrounding Pumpkin Path, a story he's writing that runs adjacent to the Epilogues and (eventually though not yet?) gives these characters the futures they've earned.

And I realised...the way I'd been thinking about it, that's not how it works, y'know? It's not the story that has changed: it's my heart, my relationship with it. And the best thing I could do was take what this once-beloved story gave me and make something new with it. And that's what many people have done in the wake of Homestuck's end: we've all gone off and made new stories, for which this long-beloved comic was an undeniable progenitor.

It reminded me of a certain recurring motif in the comic itself. Every time the universe resulted in a corrupt or barren session, the players...well, they rebooted it. They left the old universe behind, and started a new one, billions of years all over again just to see where it would go this time.

There was no use in searching for the story that used to be, because it was me that had changed.

You may as well leave that old universe behind and start a new one from scratch.

This is the idea that seeded the above track, and it caught me off guard, because it was the first Homestuck music I had made in more than two years--after I thought I'd sworn it off for good. And then, two days later, Maybe it'll turn out better this time was done. (Two days is, by the way, a very short time for a track to emerge.) It was a small, silly, wonderful little thing, a sapling in the ashes, that proved to me that things could change.

But beyond my track, the entirety of LOFAM5A2 feels especially so. It's a startling breath of fresh air that emerged from so much genuine joy and excitement. I'm happy I got to contribute even just a little work to it and I really, really hope that the fandom sees it for all that went into it. An UMSPAF manager once said that my music always sounds hopeful, but it was never intentional until this one. Thank you to everyone who's made good art that has inspired others in turn, you create life with your own hands.

[stealeroflemons]

eah plot hole fixer thing #27 because I'm stressed as hell and need a distraction

Okay so we've all been wondering how the hell the whole inheritance of destiny and kingdom management and nitty gritty details about certain elements of eah work. Well today I'm gonna dive in a little.

1.) How did the Evil Queen curse Sleeping Beuty to sleep for 100 years and steal Madame Thorn's destiny when all their kids are the same age?

Here's my little fix-it theory. If you know anything about fae lore then you know there's a general rule not to step into faerie circles (made of mushrooms or flowers but most commonly mushrooms) because you will lose all sense of time and become a slave to the fae or become a blood bag to them. (at least that's one of the more common interpretations)

I think the Evil Queen is far older than we realize. I think she's hundreds of years old but has used magic to keep herself young. I also think destiny is more fluid than we realize and that being the next evil queen is dependent on if you have the heart for it.

Thirsting for power and glory, the Evil Queen stepped into a faerie ring not to become a blood bag, but to learn the secrets of the dark fae. Since time works differently in the fae realm, she managed to stay young enough to walk back into the mortal world with vast amounts of new knowledge.

Wanting to prove she had a dark enough heart to earn the title of Evil Queen, she stole the destiny of Madame Thorn, Faybelle's mom.

Then to escape Madame Thorn's wrath of a lost destiny, she hid in a different pocket of the fae realm

Seeing that she got a taste for cursing princesses to eternal sleep, she emerged in time to go to school to pick Snow White as her next target.

2.) How does ruling kingdoms work if destinies run on different timelines?

I think there's a reason why many characters in the eah canon universe have siblings that don't have concrete destinies.

Take Briar for example. Even if she were to sleep for 100 years after being cursed by Faybelle, she canonically has eight younger brothers who could rule the kingdom and produce heirs to rule while she slept through her 100 year timeline until she could take her place ont he throne with her supposed true love

Historically also, kingdoms rise and fall all the time. If Ashlynn is supposed to live in poverty and be abused by her step mother and step sisters, it would make sense if her kingdom fell or was conquered and that is what drove her family to poverty. Then if she marries say a random Charming (which is canon that there are multiple unrelated Charming families) who isn't bound by a destiny, she is following the story of marrying a handsome prince. Then, once they're married, that is the next Cinderella kingdom.

3.) What about the stories where they aren't supposed to grow up as royalty?

Think back to Briar again. In the more popular version of Sleeping Beauty, Aurora doesn't know she's a princess. all she knows is that she's been raised by faeries her whole life until she turned sixteen. She knows nothing of the curse she's placed under.

I believe that when many of the elder generations reach adulthood, they don't feel the need to take precautions for their children. They believe that their children must grow up knowing their fates so that when the time comes, it'll go down smoother.

4.) What's with the names?

"why would Apple be named Apple-" because Snow White is a narcissist. She has a fantastic life where she's famous, adored, rich, beautiful, and virtually untouchable. How did she get this life? Because she bit a fucking poisoned apple. She's naming her daughter after the very thing that acted as a gateway to her happiness. It's like when guys name their daughters after their ex-girlfriends because "if we didn't break up I wouldn't have the life I do now", that shit

Same with the Charmings! They all name their kids after admirable attributes because they want people to admire them. It's a word association. Like when girls are named Grace or Aria or literally any flower with an aesthetically pleasing name.

These are just a few of my own little fix-its and theories and shit. You don't have to agree with them or think they're correct, but ultimately, we're looking at the logistics of a kids show guys, I promise you not even the creators were looking this deep into it lol

[shelbystales]

Ceramic Lessons - Part Four

Cillian Murphy X Reader - Masterlist

Previous parts: 1 - 2 - 3

Summary: after much insistence from his sister, Cillian attends a ceramics class with her. To his surprise, he feels a connection to the teacher, you. Will this connection go any further or will it be smashed like a bad ceramic project?

Warning: Fluff

A/N: a small reminder that this has nothing to do with his real life.

English is my second language, so I apologize in advance for any grammar mistake

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

Cillian had woken up and was finishing up Lukas' things for school while the kid was having his breakfast: eggs and toast with warm milk. 

When Cillian returned to the living room, Sile was seated at the dining table next to Lukas, engaged in conversation with him. She had slept over. Lukas was laughing as he wiped his dirty hand on the white shirt of his school uniform.

"Use the napkin to clean your hands, buddy," Cillian said, placing Lukas' backpack on the table and sliding closer to him a napkin, which Lukas grabbed in a handful.

"Hey, you. Came home late last night, huh? Didn’t see you come in" Sile teased, raising an eyebrow at her brother. "I don't even need to ask if you had fun," she chuckled while Cillian smiled, slightly embarrassed.

"You had fun without me?" Lukas asked, and Cillian furrowed his brows, smiling at his son.

"Do you really think that's possible? You're my funniest buddy," he said, ruffling Lukas' hair, earning a proud smile from the young boy.

Cillian headed to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee he started to prepare earlier, with Sile following closely behind.

"Spill it," she demanded, crossing her arms.

Cillian opened the overhead cabinet and grabbed two coffee cups, one for himself and another for his nosy sister.

"He gave you a hard time yesterday?" he asked as he poured coffee into the cups.

"No, you know the kid is an angel. Took a while to fall asleep, but then I added a bit of whiskey to his tea, and it knocked him out," she joked, making Cillian squint at her as he handed her the cup. "Now tell meeee," she pleaded, tapping her foot on the ground, making him chuckle.

"You're quite annoying," he said, leaning against the kitchen counter, perfectly positioned to watch his son eating and playing with his toy dinosaur.

"And you're unbearable. Now that we've exchanged pleasantries, spill the tea," she said in a playful tone.

"It was good," he smiled, looking at her.

"Just that? Where did you take her? Did you kiss? Are you going out again? My god, can't you tell a proper gossip?" She laughed.

"I took her to a newly opened vegetarian restaurant, the one Pad said was interesting. And If he found a vegetarian restaurant interesting, I assumed it would be good," he grinned, and she nodded, agreeing with his logic. Pad is a very carnivorous guy.. "It was good, yes, we did kiss, and no, we haven't made any other plans yet. I'll text her later," he explained.

Sile had an enormous smile and a gleam in her eyes that a child would have upon receiving a pile of presents.

"Ah, that's exciting," she said, giving her brother a playful shove. "You can thank me by buying me an expensive gift for my birthday this year," she said, making him roll his eyes and leave the kitchen.

"Ready to go, champ?" Cillian said, looking at his wristwatch. "Need a ride?" he asked his sister.

"No, I'll take an Uber to work," Sile replied.

She was without a car because her husband was traveling with the vehicle, so she was managing with rideshares and Ubers.

Cillian nodded, and they all left the house together. He waited for his sister's Uber to arrive before getting into his car and driving to Lukas' school, which wasn't far from his house.

After dropping Lukas off at school, he took out his phone and sent you a message.

"Hey, I've been thinking about you.

Had a great time last night.

Maybe we can see each other again sometime this week?"

When you read his message, you smiled. Your phone was on your countertop, but you couldn't reply. You were in the middle of your first class of the day, and your hands were covered in clay.

After an hour or so, you finally replied:

“I would like that. Want to go to the beach? They look incredible this time of the year.”

Not long after, he replied:

“Sounds fun. When are you free?”

“Well, the only day I don’t have classes in the afternoon is Wednesday,” you texted back.

“Wednesday it is! Pick you up at 16:00?”

“Yep! That works.”

You noticed you were smiling as you put your phone down. You liked the idea that he didn’t ask if you wanted a ride, he just offered it as a part of the package.

The anticipation continued to fill your thoughts. You found yourself checking your phone more often than usual, eagerly awaiting his messages. You wanted to but it was hard to not anxiously think about your date with him in the next few days. You looked forward to it, loving the idea of having him again. 

Each time he texted, you felt a rush of excitement, appreciating the little conversations and the effort he put into staying in touch. During the following days he texted you a few times, one time to settle the beach you were going to go, one time to ask if you ate cheese and another time to say he had thought about you after one of the members of his project wore a cow’s shirt with writing “Cows are friends, not food”. 

You weren’t far behind. You made efforts to continue in touch as well, sending him pics of your ceramic projects and telling him funny moments during your classes. The lines of communication between you were becoming more fluid and comfortable.

The days leading up to your beach day felt like a countdown, each passing moment bringing you closer to another chance to spend time with him.

As you stood in front of your closet, you deliberated over what to wear. You wanted to strike the right balance between looking casual and put-together. Your choice landed on a flowy white sundress adorned with a delicate floral pattern. The lightweight fabric would keep you comfortable in the warm weather, and you complemented the look with stylish sunglasses, and an eco-friendly tote bag slung over your shoulder. Inside the tote bag, you packed a bottle of wine, sunscreen, some snacks, and a picnic blanket, fully prepared for a day at the beach.

After you got ready, you waited for him in front of your building. Happily, you didn't have to wait long, as he arrived right after. He stepped out of his car, looking effortlessly stylish in a light blue button-down shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a pair of well-fitted khaki shorts and a beautiful pair of raybans. His brown leather sandals completed the look, giving off a relaxed vibe.

As he walked to you he slid his sunglasses to rest on top of his head, revealing his gorgeous blue eyes to you. 

With a friendly smile, he greeted you. "Hi, beautiful. Ready?" he asked, holding the car door open for you just like before.

You nodded, excitement and a hint of nervousness bubbling up. "Definitely," you replied, offering a smile as you kissed him on the cheek before sliding into the passenger seat.

The drive to the beach was a pleasant one. The sunroof was open, allowing the warm breeze to tousle your hair as you chatted. The coastal road stretched out ahead, offering glimpses of the sparkling ocean to your right. The view was mesmerizing with the waves crashing against the shore

During the drive, you exchanged stories about your days, and you delved into a lengthy discussion about the popular TV show "Succession," which you were currently obsessed with. You shared your thoughts on the characters, plot twists, and speculated about what might happen next in the series. The conversation just naturally flowing between you both. 

As you talked and laughed together, the beach grew closer.

He parked the car, and you both got out, the sound of the waves and the smell of the ocean filling the air around you. He opened the trunk to reveal a picnic basket he had prepared away earlier.

"Oh, looks like you came prepared," you giggled, noticing the sizable basket.

He smiled back. "I guess you can say I’m trying to impress a girl, you know… She’s pretty special."

You smiled at him, your heart warming at his words. He surely did make you feel special. 

He held his hand out to you, and you interwined your fingers as you walked towards the beach, scanning for a quiet spot to settle. The beach was relatively empty, which was one of the main reasons you had chosen it.

Between two gently swaying palm trees, you discovered a perfect and secluded spot away from the gaze of the beach crowd. Cillian efficiently unfurled a vibrant picnic blanket on the soft sand, placing yours on top of it for added comfort and protection from the fine grains. The two of you settled down comfortably, facing the vast expanse of the ocean that stretched out in front of you.

He smoothly retrieved a pair of small glasses from his picnic basket, holding them out to you. "Wine?" he asked, his voice carrying a touch of playful anticipation as he handed you one.

"Absolutely!" You responded with a warm smile, your fingers wrapping around the delicate glass as you accepted it from him. "I also brought a bottle," you added

"Perfect," he grinned, his fingers deftly uncorking the bottle. As he opened it, his blue shirt hugged his form, and you couldn't help but admire the way his biceps flexed against the fabric, igniting an undeniable attraction.

With the glasses now filled, he set the bottle aside and picked up his own glass. Raising it in a silent toast, he met your gaze, a glint of excitement in his eyes. You clinked your glass against his, the delicate sound resonating through the quiet beach. 

He opened the picnic basket, to  place the bottle back in the basket and started to reveal an array of delicious treats. There were a variety of cheeses, some type of fruits, a small container of hummus, some crackers, and some nuts. The spread looked amazing, and you couldn't help but be impressed.

“My brother gave me some suggestions to pair well with the wine,” he chuckled.

“I’m impressed, Cillian” you smiled, taking the snack you bought from your bag glad you went with sweeter choices, you took out the mini chocolate muffins and vanilla cookies. 

“I think we have a proper meal, here” he smiled and you nodded

"Absolutely. Is your brother a sommelier?" you asked curiously, taking a sip from your glass as your eyes locked onto his.

He chuckled. "No, he's not. But he could be," he replied with a smile. "He actually went to culinary school. Knows a thing or two about flavors."

"That's interesting. Is he a chef then?" you inquired, your gaze fixed on him as you continued your conversation.

"No, not really. He's a lawyer," he explained, causing you to furrow your brow in surprise.

"What?" you exclaimed, feeling a bit taken aback.

"Yeah," he laughed, "he decided to switch career paths, hoping for a more secure income in the future. But he still dreams of opening a restaurant someday. But I guess you can say he’s the family chef"

"Oh, That makes sense," you nodded and let your gaze sweep over the stunning view in front of you. The beach stretched out as far as the eye could see, the golden sand meeting the sparkling blue waves under the clear sky “It’s beautiful here”.

"It sure is," he agreed, his eyes fixed on you. You felt a warmth spread through you as you met his gaze. The sunglasses shielded his eyes, but you could still sense his attention on you.

He moved on the picnic blanket, moving closer and sitting beside you. His shoulder brushed against yours as you both faced the vast expanse of the ocean. With the sun still shining brightly, you both opted for sunglasses to protect your eyes.

You leaned your head against his shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around you, pulling you in close. The feeling of his warmth against your side was comforting, and you sighed contentedly. Together, you sat there, taking in the breathtaking view and enjoying the tranquility of the moment.

The sound of the waves crashing against the shore provided a soothing background melody, the salty breeze tousling your hair. 

You closed your eyes for a moment, inhaling the fresh ocean air, feeling a sense of peace wash over you. Having him by your side made the experience even more special. 

As you opened your eyes again, you stole a glance at him. His profile against the backdrop of the ocean was a sight to behold—strong, yet gentle. The hint of a smile played on his lips, and his relaxed posture exuded a sense of calm.

"I'm really glad we came here," you said softly, breaking the comfort silence between you.

"Me too," he replied, his gaze never leaving the horizon.

You took off your glasses and looked at him with a caring smile. "Hey, let me see your eyes," you requested, your fingers lightly tracing his cheek as you rested your arm weight on his shoulder.

"Why?" he chuckled, his curiosity piqued.

"I like the sight of them," you replied with a grin, your touch gentle against his skin.

Still smiling, he complied and removed his sunglasses. His mesmerizing blue eyes met yours, a warmth and intensity in his gaze that sent a shiver down your spine. 

“There they are,” your smile widened, and you couldn't help but be captivated by his eyes. "You're very handsome, you know that?" you asked, your words filled with genuine admiration.

His cheeks tinged with a soft blush, his gaze momentarily shifting to the horizon. His reaction surprised you, revealing a shy side you hadn't seen before. It was endearing.

He moved his tongue inside his mouth, moistening his lips as he gathered his thoughts, his gaze returning to meet yours.

"Did I make you blush?" you asked, a playful smirk in your tone.

"You sure did," he admitted, his eyes holding a mixture of embarrassment and amusement.

"I thought you'd be used to compliments," you remarked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

He shrugged casually, his lips quirking into a half-smile. "Well, I’m. Sort of." he chuckled “but it feels different coming from you”

“How so?” you frowned friendly gazing him

He shrugged again, a hint of sheepishness in his expression. "I don't know, it just feels... more meaningful, I guess."

Your heart fluttered at his response, touched by the sincerity in his words. A warm smile spread across your face as you leaned in, closing the distance between you. Your lips met his in a soft, sweet kiss. Slowly tasting his lips, the wine adding a acidity to the experience. The kiss deepened naturally as you both slowly enjoyed the soft and warm feeling of each other's lips. 

The connection you shared was undeniable, a blend of attraction, genuine interest, and the desire to get to know each other better making everything so exciting… You almost felt like a teenage girl. 

As the kiss deepened, a spark of desire ignited between you as the passion grew, your lips moving against his with a fervor that mirrored the feelings building within you. 

His hand caressed your cheek, his thumb brushing against your skin in a tender gesture. Your heart raced, the chemistry between you intensifying with each passing second.

Eventually, the need for air forced you both to pull away, your foreheads resting against each other as you caught your breath. A soft chuckle escaped his lips, and you couldn't help but smile in response.

With the passion of the kiss still lingering in the air, he left a few gentle pecks on your lips, his hands cupped your cheeks, his touch warm and reassuring, as he inched closer, his lips brushing against yours once again. After a series of sweet, lingering kisses, he finally pulled away, a soft chuckle escaping his lips. You couldn't help but smile in response, your fingers brushing against his as you shared a comfortable silence.

He shifted his attention, his fingers reaching for the small container of hummus. "Wanna try the hummus? I made it myself," he offered, a playful grin on his lips as he scooped up some hummus and placed it on a cracker for you.

"Hmm, I do!" you replied enthusiastically, glad for the change in direction. As you bit into the cracker, the creamy hummus spread across your taste buds, and you couldn't help but let out a satisfied hum. "This is delicious! Are you sure your brother is the family chef?" you praised, your eyes dancing with appreciation.

He chuckled, his gaze warm as he watched you enjoy the food. "I try my best. I’t’s actually his recipe" he replied modestly, a sense of pride evident in his expression.

“Ooh, okay. I like it” you said smiling and you both continued on talking, snacking and watching the view. 

The sun finally began to set, casting a warm and vibrant display of colors across the sky. The fading light illuminated his features, making him look even more alluring. You couldn't help but notice how good he looked under the sunset light.

"Tell me about your family," he said, taking a sip from his now-refilled glass of wine.

"Sure, my parents live here in Dublin. They're still married after almost 50 years," you chuckled.

"Impressive," he nodded in agreement.

"Yeah... they're very religious. Don't believe in divorce, but they believe in therapy," you smiled, a hint of humor in your tone. "I guess that's the secret."

"It would make sense if it was," he agreed, his eyes showing a genuine interest in learning more about you.

"Yeah, I have a sister as well, but she lives in France now. She moved a few months ago to work as a clothing designer. We keep in touch often, I’m planning on visiting her soon" you continued, your expression becoming more thoughtful. "I guess you can say I'm pretty close to my parents, to my family. My mom, especially. She knows everything about my life."

“Everything?” he asked with a raised eyebrow, a hint of curiosity in his voice.

"Yeah, my mom even knows about you," you replied with a playful smile, noticing his gaze turning admiring as he looked at you. "It wasn't always like that, though," you continued, your tone growing more serious. "I was a difficult teenager, very rebellious, and often angry. We grew closer after the difficult events with my ex," you revealed, your eyes holding a mixture of vulnerability as you played with the picnic blanket fabric under your body.

"Rebellious? I could never have guessed that," he said, a hint of amusement in his voice.

You chuckled, shaking your head. "Yeah, it might be hard to believe now, but I had my moments," you admitted, a smile tugging at the corners of your lips. "I guess back then I was lost… and we all go through phases, right?"

He smiled back, a playful glint in his eyes. "I suppose so. I'm not looking forward to that with Lukas," he admitted, making you chuckle.

"I'm sure you'll handle it well with your caring attitude," you said, sipping your wine and making him smile. "How about you? I know you have two siblings."

"I actually have three: Páidi, Sile, and Orla," he told you.

"Oh, Tell me more about them," you prompted, genuinely interested in getting to know his family better.

Cillian chuckled, clearly comfortable talking about them. "Sure, let's see. Páidi, my oldest brother, he's the responsible one but also quite a fun company. In a way he is always looking out for us, making sure things are in order, he's a lawyer after all. He definitely has that logical, analytical mind but he can also be a trickster." he chuckled "And Sile,she is the youngest, and you know she is a bundle of energy. She's outgoing, fun-loving, and has this infectious enthusiasm. She can be a pain too" he smiled, you nodded knowing exactly what he was talking about "And then there's Orla, she’s younger than Pad and my older sister. She's the quiet one, more reserved and introspective. Orla is an artist, a painter to be exact. She's got this incredible depth to her, always observing." Cillian's affection for his siblings was evident in the way he spoke about them "We're all pretty close, despite our differences”

"So you all get along well?" you asked preparing hummus cracker 

He leaned back, a thoughtful expression crossing his face. "Yeah, we do. We have our moments, of course, but overall we're pretty close. After our parents died we started to put some effort into staying close. We supported each other through that hard time”

“I’m so sorry about your parents! Is it recent?” you asked concern on your voice

“Sort of. Dad died a year and a half ago. Mom died four years ago. She had cancer and he had heart problems, physically and emotionally. He never got over mom’s death, he was quite depressed afterwards” He explained  

You nodded sympathetically as he shared about his parents' passing. "It must be really tough to lose someone you've been so close to," you said softly, feeling a pang of sadness for his loss. "I can't imagine how hard it must have been for you and your siblings."

He sighed, his gaze distant for a moment. "Yeah, it was. But we leaned on each other, and it helped us get through it. And now, we try to keep their memory alive by staying connected."

"That's a beautiful way to honor them," you replied with a sincere smile

The topic shifted naturally into your likes and dislikes, as you both shared more about your interests, preferences, and even some quirky habits. The conversation flowed effortlessly, and you found yourselves laughing and discovering common interests and tastes.s

As the sun continued its descent, the casting a warm and mesmerizing array of colors across the sky, slowly turning darker. You both fell into a comfortable silence, too busy admiring the view. 

"It's so beautiful," you whispered, your eyes fixed on the still breathtaking sunset.

"Yeah," he murmured in agreement, his gaze on the horizon as well. His hand found yours on the blanket, and his fingers interlocked with yours as you both watched the end of the sunset. 

As the last traces of sunlight vanished from the sky, the air grew cooler, and you shivered slightly against the breeze. Cillian, sensing your discomfort, gently wrapped his arms around you, pulling you in close against his warm body. It was a comforting embrace, effectively shielding you from the encroaching chill. 

"It's getting chilly," he murmured softly, his warm breath tickling your ear. "Are you cold?"

You nodded, a contented smile curving your lips. "Yeah, but I'm much warmer now. Thanks."

He responded by planting a tender kiss on the top of your head, his chin settling there momentarily.

"We should probably start heading back, though," he suggested gently, he suggested softly, his voice a gentle murmur against your hair

You nodded, your fingers tightening around his shirt. "Yeah, you're right."

Reluctantly, you both began to gather your belongings, folding the picnic blanket and placing the items back in the basket. As you stood up, he kept his arm around you, providing a shield against the evening chill.

As you reached the car, he opened the trunk and carefully stored the picnic basket. As you prepared to get into the car, he turned to you with a warm, satisfied smile.

"Today was fun," he declared, his eyes lighting up.

"Well, you certainly make for great company," you replied, a smile gracing your lips as you leaned in closer, your hands resting gently on his chest as his arms held you close.

Closing the distance, he brushed his lips against yours in a lingering, sweet kiss. "So are you," he whispered against your lips.

With a last wistful glance at the tranquil beach, you both got into the car. The engine purred to life, and the journey back began. The drive was quieter this time, both of you lost in your individual thoughts.

Upon parking in front of your building, he turned to you, his gaze soft and affectionate.

"Here we are," he murmured softly, his eyes tracing the contours of your face.

A thought crossed your mind, and you couldn't help but ask, "Want to come in?" you smiled. 

He grinned, a hand reaching up to tuck a stray strand of hair behind your ear. "I would love to, but I don’t have anyone to watch Lukas today. I have to pick him up at my brother's place in a few minutes," he explained looking at his wristwatch.

You masked your disappointment with a nod. "Oh, I understand."

"But..." he continued with a hopeful glint in his eyes, "we could cook dinner at my place. This weekend, Lukas will be staying with his mom."

A genuine smile returned to your face. "That sounds like a great plan."

You unbuckled your seatbelt and leaned in to share a slow and gentle kiss, taking your time on exploring his lips. No real desire for it to end. 

"Goodnight, Cillian," you whispered, pulling away and opening the car door.

"Goodnight, y/n," he replied, his voice soft and an small smile on his lips

With a final smile, you stepped out of the car and closed the door behind you. He watched you as you got in the building, only leaving when you were safe inside. 

As you got home, you showered feeling happy at how things were going. Cillian was a sweet and gentle man. If you guys keep this up, you were sure it wouldn’t take long for him to become important to you. 

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[fuck-customers]

I think this might be the case at other stores, but I don't have enough work experience to really know.

Does anyone else's corporate/bosses/higher ups semi-regularly become extremely obsessed with "improving the numbers" of a certain thing and force all the employees to obsessively do X thing to improve X numbers and make their lives hell for a few months and then completely drop it? Lmao

I'll give you 2 examples that I can immediately think of.

A few years ago at a job, maybe 3 years ago, the managers/corporate/whoever were OBSESSED with our greeting numbers. Like when a customer walks in the door, they were on our ass to greet them and say "welcome to [store name]" or at least "hi, welcome in" or some kind of acknowledgement. (Personally I didn't find this TOO irritating, more mildly annoying, however it did cause me to have a weird pavlovian response to automatic doors to the point where I've accidentally said "hi welcome in" when I was a customer in other stores with doors that made the same sound lmao rip) And then after a few months, they just totally dropped it. I haven't been told to welcome anyone in, haven't even heard a peep about any greeting numbers in at least 2 years.

The current one is still ongoing, but is tapering off.

About 2 years ago, corporate or whoever the fuck decided that we absolutely needed to start harrassing our customers into handing over their personal information in the form of their email, and then after we got a new register system, their phone number, under the guise of a "rewards system" that didn't exist.

(Sorry, side tangent here- this one is SO shady. I've never been able to get a straight answer as to WHY we need to get the info from customers or WHAT benefit it would have for customers, you know, since they were rightfully asking why they should provide this information. I had a manager say it was a "rewards system" and then when I asked how the customers could earn points and how I could view their points to tell them how many points they had or how could I apply their reward to the transaction, backtracked and said there was no rewards. Bro what?? This manager would tell customers themselves this, minus the part about it all being a lie, of course, so customers would get pissed because they weren't getting discounts that didn't exist. And THEN after this "rewards system" bullshit blew up in his face, the manager said that the phone numbers were so in the rare event that a customer MIGHT want to return an item but lost their receipt, they could do a return through their phone number. But....we've ALWAYS been able to do no reciept returns...it just had to be a manager who processes the return...the manager who was lying to me about all of this shit...hmm...)

ANYWAY, managers were pretty rabid about the stupid ass phone numbers and what each employee's individual percentages were and would publicly shame employees with low percentages by posting everyone's scores in the breakroom and highlighting those with low scores and put a condescending note like "[name] and [name] need to try harder" or "too many numbers below 70%" or whatever. And it was all the managers would talk about: how many numbers you got, how to increase numbers, tactics for manipulating people into giving their personal info, etc. etc.

And then it started tapering off about 6 months ago and for the past month or so, I have not heard a single peep about phone numbers or percentages or scores or whatever.

So what the fuck was that all about? Has anyone else experienced anything similar? Is this common or is my workplace nuts?

I know with the companies I worked for they would hire an outside audit agency to come in and look at our metrics and if one was low (i.e. not greeting) they would focus on that until the next one would say we were not promoting the rewards program. Next time it was asking if they found everything.

I'm not saying every company is like that but three of the ones I worked for did that.

-Rodney

[yannig]

I need someone to theorize with me about the Pit Babe 2 trailer

Ok so I thought a lot about Tony and Way being back. And I think we've got 3 options, ranked in how likely I think they are to actually happen.

They are actually alive (faked their death, resurrected, or maybe even clones/evil twins).

They are ghosts/spirits/whatever. They are there but still dead.

They are not here at all. All of their apparitions are due to nightmares, hallucinations, paranoia, flashbacks, etc.

I am entirely uninterested in them being actually alive, one way or another. I think this is largely the most underwhelming option out of the 3, and yet also the one we're most likely to get. For me, Tony and Way being back from the dead would just negate most of the impact of the first season.

Oh Way sacrificed himself to save Charlie as an attempt to redemption? Yeah no he's still alive actually. Tony was finally put done by the son he always treated like a dog, and who at last managed to escape his hold? Nope, he survived.

Talk about a way to undo major character moments. (I hated Way's death, but it was still an important character moment. and Kenta turning on Tony was great.)

(for Way as his own character, it could actually be interesting. Like "yeah no, you don't get to just die and be done with the guilt. you actually have to work for redemption". but 1) I don't think it's where they're going; and 2) I'm not convinced it would stem interesting development for anyone else.)

The ghost option could be fun, I guess. I don't really have an opinion either way tbh, depends where they go with it. Ghost possession could be a fun threat.

I know what my favorite option is, and it's definitely n°3, which sadly I don't think we will get. Mind you, Babe would be perfectly justified to have nightmares or flashbacks about these 2, considering how much trauma they gave him. Also Way giving Babe trauma flashbacks might help me forgive what they did to his character. But well. The show hasn't seemed very interested in talking about trauma before so...

Basically, I think the most interesting option is for the show to toy with its characters' (and its viewers') paranoia, by leaving all 3 options open for as long as possible. Done well, it could make for a very good thriller.

Are they actually back or is Babe just hallucinating in broad daylight? Are they actually vengeful ghosts that need warding against or is Babe just having very justified nightmares? Is there a threat at all or are they all just paranoiac after everything that happened? Is it really paranoia if they're really after you? They all thought Charlie was dead, didn't they? Does anyone ever stay dead?

I'd argue that if that thriller part is done well, all 3 options could work as compelling endings. I also don't think (from the writing in season 1) that they could pull it off effectively.

Or even that they would try. Season 1 wasn't a thriller in the first place, and the S2 trailer isn't giving thriller either. My problem being: I'm not really interested by their return if it doesn't turn thriller.

Basically, what I'm interested in is what impact their return would have on the other characters, after thinking they were finally safe. Especially Kenta and Babe. Kenta who finally escaped, finally managed to turn on Tony, to get free from him. Babe who is finally safe after spending the last 10 years looking over his shoulder, after so many betrayals, after loosing his best friend in all possible ways, after thinking his boyfriend was dead. Imagine how terrifying the prospect of Tony's return would be.

But beyond that? I have no interest in what they would do as independent characters. Tony has plans? What does it change from S1? Way is being an idiot, either working for the villain or clumsily trying to earn his redemption? I don't care. That is the exact same thing they were doing in S1.

Basically, I'm afraid that by bringing them back, the show is just being lazy and re-creating the S1 status-quo instead of imagining new stakes. And I am entirely uninterested in sequels that just undo the original story's ending. Which is exactly what I'm afraid they'll do.

TLDR: the psychological impact of the potentiality of Tony and Way being back is much more interesting than them actually being back.

Sure, give me confirmed omega characters (Jeff and Kenta at least), give me AlanJeff and BabeCharlie being cute together, give me Sonic and North finally getting somewhere and maybe involving Kim (or aro/ace/aspec Kim, that would also work, but only if explicitly stated in the show), give me heats and mpreg and stop being cowards. I'll watch it for the relationships between the main cast if nothing else.

But I'm worried about what the big conflict is going to be.