#i think being like well it saved the company! when what saved it was ppl draining their banks into it is like. not a great look to me

[bomber-grl]

Enemies to lovers with Leo Valdez

Pairing(s): Leo Valdez x Gn!Reader

If anything it probs stemmed from a misunderstanding

Maybe you were cranky the first two times he ever approached you

And perhaps you may have taken it out on him

And maybe just maybe he thought u were those stereotypical condescending people

Basically what ensued from then on was just you two attacking each other verbally each time you ran into each other

But then you’re officially introduced to him by either Percy or Annabeth or anyone else that’s part of the 7 that’s close to you

He’d be especially shocked if it’s Piper or Jason who introduces you two to eachother

Of course that doesn’t automatically solve anything and you’re both total assholes to each other still

Leo is complaining about you and how could any of his friends also be yours?

You feel the same exact way

And unfortunately this is a case of forced proximity as is all my hcs because I’m an uncreative bitch

Maybe it’s just me but I’d imagine constant bickering and making faces would be a bit hard to ignore and go unnoticed

So they all agree to force you two to get along

So you’re on the Argo ll and are forced to clean the stables

(Before the Athena Parthenos is put there obv)

It’s not messy messy but it’s still something

You two both finally agreed to be quiet

But then he gets almost thrown out the window by the ship getting rocked by a monster or something

And so you have to save him by obligation

You two are literally hanging out the window and Leo is yelling like crazy bro

Eventually you bring him back and he thanks you

It was done reluctantly- you make sure he knows that

Plus the situation gives you material to make fun of him for 💀

Then some time after that you’re fighting some daily monsters and he (despite not rlly being a fighter) helps you out by firing some of the weapons on the Argo

This incident spawns this unspoken alliance??

Literally everyone else is made aware of it too and even they’re confused

But honestly at least you’re not constantly at each others throats anymore

Instances where you saved each others asses continued from then on out

It got to the point where you saved eachother so often that you became literal 4lifers

Like genuinely enjoying each other’s company despite the occasional off handed remarks

There was obvious tension that you were both teased for by your individual friends

Even couch Hedge acknowledged it 💀

And youd both deny it

I mean it was the obvious choice

But there had always been tension between you two if you’re being honest

Like if someone asked you if you thought Leo was cute , well let’s not say you’d say he was, just that you really couldn’t deny it

And so your interactions and dynamic continued all the way until the prophecy that started this quest came to an end

And so did you interacting with Leo

He was dead, and despite having liked him, you’d never be able to tell him.

That’s something you had come to accept, and something you realized you’d never get the chance to admit to him

Until you could.

Leo appears back at camp with Calypso in tow

Let’s just say Leo felt ok about her and saved her cuz he’s a good guy and she went along cuz she wanted an escape)

Anyway like everyone else you line up to hit him

Ain’t no way you’re running to him when there’s so many other ppl infront 💀

Gods forbid YOU end up being the one that gets jumped

Even from the good amount of distance you’re away from him you can still very much see his- what can be best as described- upset demeanor

Why he looked that way? You didn’t know and couldn’t tell even if held at gunpoint

Well anyways eventually you end up face to face with him and his expression can’t even be described with just a few words

So ill try anyway

Hes absolutely star struck and, in truth, made breathless from the sight of you alone

I mean with the way Leo looks at you, you’d think he spotted his only true want in this world.

The guy doesn’t say anything at all but then he sorta gains consciousness (?)

He tries to hug you but then hesitates- tries again/ then hesitates

Before he could do anything else you slap the hell out of him 💀

The act is honestly so violate and loud it was genuinely startling

Some would say that you jumped him that day of his return but what did they know??

And then you hugged him

A deep, emotionally charged hug

All the days you had spent mourning him, being tortured by his death that you couldn’t help but feel was avoidable despite the prophecy-

And yet you couldn’t help but melt into the hug

Obviously awkwardness follows after- and for a good while after too

But in the end you two end up together (per advice from emmie and Jo once Apollo casually mentioned the undefined relationship between you two as defense against a remark Leo had made)

And after Apollo is done at the waystation (and you’re not already involved there)Leo will ask if you’d want to stay there together and go to school and be “normal” teens.

The answer is up to you, but we all know what you’re gonna choose

Cmon you’re reading this so you’re obviously down bad 💀

[iz-star]

My thoughts and guesses / theories about Zayne's upcoming main story branch.

Like I've said in previous posts, I've been hella busy with work and most of all, exhausted so I haven't been able to come here and scream about the game updates (let alone draw something) but I still want to summarize my reactions from the past few days.

About the main story update, I'm really excited to see what's going to happen! I love the Dawnbreaker references but I have to be honest, I don't really think this is Dawnbreaker, he's still Dr Zayne (they both are part of each other somehow, but you understand what I mean).

Here's why:

At first, I genuinely thought this time we really would get the chance to interact with Dawnbreaker since Zayne is wearing DB's outfit and not a jumpscare outfit like in Snowy Serenity but the more I watched the trailer, the more I realized that this is still Dr Zayne which both makes me feel alleviated (cause if it were to be Dawnbreaker, it would leave us wondering where Dr Zayne is) and scared cause if he gets to suffer/ sacrifice himself in this time line like he did as Foreseer and MoF, I don't know well how I'll handle it.

He's a male lead so I don't think they will kill him off (? but somehow with Zayne one never knows, he's honestly always surprising us. In any case, my wildest theory is that if something happens to Dr Zayne, then we'll continue his branch with Dawnbreaker... idk? Anyway, don't really pay too much attention to this since it's most unlikely that something like this happens.

The impression I got after watching the trailer so many times is that this is actually Dr Zayne in the process of becoming 'Dawnbreaker' (maybe not exactly his other self but the concept) which has been one of his biggest fears; the reason? Because the Xander Sciences experiments, the severe cases of Protocore Syndrome and Metaflux anomalies are probably speeding the process of humanity to get doomed since in Dawnbreaker's world, humans turning into wanderers is something pretty recurrent and the very reason Zayne is a killer and his world is apocalyptic. Dr Zayne knows of this, he knows using protocores in human hearts is dangerous (the very reason he gave up his research in university), he also knows that to be exposed to big quantities of metaflux is what turns humans into Wanderers, he knows it because when he and William fought side by side in Mt Eternal, it was in order to destroy a Protofield that got out of hand and the Metaflux anomalies there were bringing to land more Wanderers. It was until they destroyed the protofield when William started to turn into an Abomination and then, a Wanderer.

In the trailer, Dr Zayne says something like 'We have no choice but to destroy this place" so my guess is that there is another big Metaflux anomaly like in Mt Eternal but this time in a place where there is a lot of ppl and due to being exposed to it, they're turning into Wanderers, something that Zayne as a Doctor can't cure: "Aren't you a Doctor. You should've save me!"

In fact, this is something he can only cure as Dawnbreaker:

I'm really interested to know who was the guy who asked Zayne to kill him. My guesses are:

William (and this probably a flashback).

Carter

Greyson (most unlikely since the voice didn't mach but goshh could you imagine the angst if it was him??)

So if there is another Metaflux anomaly it means that there's a Protofield that got out of hand and it probably was in either Akso Hospital or Xander Sciences company cause they had a special patient that accoring to what they say in the trailer, had a fragil heart that would've stopped long ago.

If I'm not mistaken (and since I'm currently sleepy and feeling lazy) in the World Underneath anecdotes Carter and Xander Sciences tried to keep some patients alive or to revive them using protocores and keeping him in pods but it didn't work? However, long before these anecdotes were released, we knew that there were already organizations doing research about immortality:

It seems that 'A special energy field' is necesary in order to reach better conditions to regenerate the human heart. What if this 'special energy field' is something similar to a Protofield? If we remember correctly, in both Rafayel and Xavier's myths MC's heart was necessary for them to live immortal lifes? In Rafayel's case, she seemed to give ppl some kind of energy? But at the same time she couldn't leave their city neither. In Xavier's case, her heart was like an unending source of energy for Philos core and they wanted to feed Philos core with her so they would stop to sending humans and then Philos core would stop crearing wanderers.

In both cases, it seems that MC is the source of energy of a Protofield that both gives it enough quantities of energy to keep it balanced and making ppl within this field to be immortal (like her) without the risk of becoming wanderers. In Rafayel's myth, she was already the source of this field, so there are actually no wanderers in this myth. In Xavier's myth, she wasn't the source of it so they were creating wanderers bc of it.

What if in this case, Xander Sciences discovers that the key to reach immortality lies in creating a Protofield with enough energy to create the needed conditions to regenerate human hearts for indefinite amount of time and that the KEY to achieve this lies in MC's aether core??

What if what Zayne is trying to protect here is MC's heart so they won't use her to reach immortality, EVEN if he knows that this most likely will avoid tons of deaths and will stop the creation of wanderers and ALSO will avoid his future as Dawnbreaker but even so he chooses to save her, just like he did as Foreseer and Master of Fate.

And lastly, he mentions "When that day comes... When I can't wake up" my only guesses are:

His nightmare of becoming "The Grim Reaper" will become true.

By destroying the Protofield that is creating the anomaly, he also freezes himself?

Maybe he steals part of MC's power or even he takes the creatio protocore he gave to her as Foreseer and uses it on himself so instead of using her as the source of energy for this Protofield, he offers himself as this unending source of energy? (This one is quite wild and seems unlikely to happen but I still wanted to mention it ahaha).

Anyway these are all my thoughts for now. Please take this with a grain of salt, since these are only silly theories and nothing official. We'll have to wait some days more to discover the truth.

[stardustdiiving]

How evil is arlecchino and what is she cooking

As of 4.2, I’m really curious what they’re planning with Arlecchino as a character, especially as a villain/antagonist/morally dubious character, and how far/which direction they may go with that

Intuitively my impression is we’ll see her do something way more “villainous” than she presents herself as being for majority of Fontaine’s AQ in front of us right—(which isn’t a surprise given that, you know, Arlecchino nor the House of Hearth have never been presented as 110% ethical LOL) but I find myself not being in complete agreement with most analysis or speculation threads I see about Arlecchino’s morality and the like, level of sinister people seem to ascribe to her.

Idk how to put it, especially in regards to her children I do agree they are not a wholesome found family, that Arlecchino is not above pulling strings or using them for her own ulterior motives, but I kind of hesitate on the idea she only cares about the Hearth children as a means to the end/things she can control and there’s nothing else going on with her characterization wise there. I’m not saying that impression seems remotely unreasonable or unfounded, but just that it feels there’s something intentionally missing in how we are supposed to conceptualize her as a person

My main reasoning for this hunch is the fact they have not elaborated on Arlecchino and the previous Knave—who Arlecchino is stated to have taken over the position from by force. The extra tidbits I think about are that 1) Arlecchino was previously an orphan in the Hearth 2) the previous Knave is described as way, way crueler to the children of than Heart than Arlecchino was from when she took control of the House

Often, people’s major indicators that the House of the Hearth is kind of super fucked up are the NPCs we meet in world quests who are part of it and clearly suffering. But one thing I haven’t ever seen people mention w this that i think is a very interesting detail is, in The Very Special Fortune Slip Inazuma worldquest, where we stop this House of Hearth guy (Efim Snezhevich) from manufacturing tension between Watasumi/the Shogunate to restart the war with his other Hearth subordinates, at the end of the quest we get this dialogue that reveals he had been acting under the previous Knave’s directives:

It’s also mentioned he’s employing this plan in an attempt to “rebuild the prestige of the Knave” following Signora’s death, iirc? Now, see, the dialogue itself says that this is “assuming our captive is telling the truth” so who knows what’s really going on, but I find this a really odd/interesting thing to highlight. I’m a bit fuzzy on other world quests with Hearth members, and am not saying none of them were acting and subsequently being treated poorly by our Arlecchino, but like, this gives me a lot of questions especially when paired with implications this previous Knave seemed to be way worse

Like, what drove Arlecchino to take over? How unexpected and controversial was this within the House? Assuming the above information is all true it definitely says something this guy went rogue and acted on what the previous Knave would want and didn’t think our Arlecchino would greenlight it, which does feel consistent with the previous Knave being described as basically worse & crueler than our Arlecchino. It also makes me question how much house of hearth things we’ve seen outside the main story are the work of our Arlecchino or if there’s a bigger divide of loyalty. Heck, I could be wrong but it doesn’t even seem like we know if the previous Knave is dead or not

This isn’t me saying Arlecchino couldn’t possibly be treating hearth children worse than she wants us to know, especially ones who aren’t her “favorites” the way the fontaine trio seem to be, but I really don’t feel sure about making a solid conclusion of her exact level of malice the way ppl r generally understanding it rn when it feels there’s going to be more about her. Just the idea of she, as a Hearth child, clashed with the previous leader who was known for being cruel, overtook their position and took on less harsh methods of leading that made at least some members with more power/possible closer proximity to the previous Knave go rogue and try to commit atrocities in the previous Knave’s name…I feel this leaves a lot of room to suggest there’s more going on with how Arlecchino is as a person

I don’t mind if she’s just very evil and deceptive bc if she totally had me fall for thinking she was less evil than she actually was that’s fun tbh. But I feel people suggest that’s all her character could be with no degree of like, “sympatheticness” or deep grey morality and that if her character did go there it would be automatically poor writing and genshin walking back on making a truly evil woman when IDK. I feel you can claim at this point they have left it open ended and it’s never been completely confirmed she’s pure evil. Also sometimes I just get a hunch and feel cautiously confident in Genshin executing certain characters well. Not all characters, just certain ones. Especially given Fontaine’s character writing being very good and a character like Lyney feeling very solid to me when any development with Arlecchino would likely involve him and his siblings as well, I honestly feel open to the idea of Arlecchino being satisfyingly written to be both villainous/morally dubious but “sympathetic/likable as a person” in ways outside of just her ruthlessness if that makes sense

If I’m wrong/they drop the ball with it more than I anticipate I’ll eat my hat but I am pretty excited about her character and which way they decide to go with it. I will say the only potential impression I have of where they’ll go with her has been wondering if it will go in a “cycles of abuse” direction—I’d be surprised if they ever elaborated on Arlecchino’s character especially in how she feels about things and her also growing up as an exploited child of the hearth wasn’t relevant

[net-game-sekai]

i think the biggest issue in the "diva is dead but don't blame sekai for xyz reasons" argument is like yes of course, but literally everything about "blaming" sekai aside. i don't want to play sekai as a rhythm game. it's being put forward by the fanbase as like, some sort of replacement but the story and new characters don't come close to saving it for me and the rhythm game mechanic is not interesting! if you're into tile tap rhythm games then that's great but it's not a diva equivalent!! at all!! project diva is a proper rhythm game, you use literally all the buttons on your controller, it's hard and takes practice and you have to actually learn it. people (myself included) have put hours into learning and playing diva, you can't just be like well sekai is the new vocaloid rhythm game, suck it up and have at it, when that hasn't been the case from the start. if i WANTED to play a tile tap rhythm game i would download literally any other gacha mobage that's idol themed lol. there's no actual diva replacement and THAT'S why people are upset

[puppy-phum]

i find it so ironic how after becoming blind or, simply, disabled, day also turns invisible. suddenly, he's just not there, like it's not he who cannot see but he who cannot be seen.

ppl don't really talk to him, don't address him, barely give him any choices of his own. they talk over him and past him and around him, about him, surely, but not to him. it's like he's not there. he's this huge responsibility, but he's no longer a person. he's left to places like a dog or an object to wait for others to do all the things for him, and then he's just expected to agree with their plans. the same plans that still affect him and his life and future.

no wonder he's so angry and fed up with everybody. he wants to speak for himself. he wants to be heard and seen again. he used to enjoy having eyes on him – as a national athlete, there obviously were many (admiring, evaluating, assessing) eyes on him, and he liked the spotlight. he's obviously very proud of his own accomplishments and it must be frustrating to be suddenly reduced into nothing. like what he did never mattered. like who he is never mattered.

he is just this now. his blindness. someone who can be overlooked bc he cannot see it anyway. he's not far from being dead, as he puts it himself.

-

meanwhile, mork experiences the brutality of being abandoned over and over again. that's his wound. when his sister leaves, the pain gets the loudest, but even outside of that, he's hearing the same thing over and over again.

from what we got to know, no one ever really learned why exactly rung decided to kill herself. i assume it was the guilt over feeling like she failed mork, like she brought him more peril than was worth living for (debt?). she obviously wanted mork to have a good future, but i guess none of her actions ever translated to mork in that way.

to him, rung left after deciding that mork just wasn't worth it. she took "the easy way out" after realizing that fighting beside mork and tolerating his behavior just weren't worth the effort. mork really wasn't making the best choices, but i don't think he was ever "beyond saving". mork just thinks this is how it all went.

and then he keeps hearing the same thing from others:

after being in jail, his friends abandon him even if he took part in that fight for them. he wasn't enough for them to stick around (not that they were actually that good company, but he knew them, spent time with them, relied on them on some level)

porjai broke up with him bc mork was prioritizing his friends over his girlfriend. which porjai points out humorously, as is part of their friendship as exes, but which lands as a stab anyway. "you weren't enough as you are," it says. "you should've done better to not have me leave you."

no one wants mork to work for them bc all they can see is his past mistakes and not him trying to presently correct them. his skills aren't enough to overshadow what he did. him trying to be better cannot erase those mistakes he already made. "you should've been better to begin with," it says. "there's nothing you can do to change that now."

-

ppl keep turning their backs on mork, leaving him behind, labeling him unworthy or simply not good enough. even day's family does this, looking at him once and going, "you obviously do not belong here."

day disagrees. on some level at least, he disagrees. bc mork actually sees him. after all this time, someone actually sees him again.

meanwhile, well. we had that whole montage at the end of the episode to tell us how badly mork wishes to believe that someone is finally giving him a chance to prove he isn't a lost cause, that he is worth something.

-

my expectations for the second ep are that these two are going to learn just how bad it actually feels when someone is able to see you and how hard you will have to work to prove yourself to those who barely wish to listen.

[wildpeachfarm]

See the thing is with streaming its going to die regardless, yes companies handing out less contracts is killing it further but its already dying at a fast rate? I'm not a stream hater either btw I really enjoy them but like. For example. 2020, 2021? When school was remote and I only ever worked mornings because of covid hours? I was clocked into that Philza 8hr stream DAILY. I was scheduling my classes around those streams so I could do homework while listening/watching. Went as far as to use my monthly speaking privilge to ask Phil what date British Daylight Savings began so I could keep my schedule clear. The second everything was no longer remote, and store hours went back to normal, I maybe caught 2, 3, maybe 4 streams in that year before I decided enough was enough about QSMP and I LOVE hardcore content.

From a company standpoint I can see why YT may not be interested in handing out streamer contracts anymore. Like Dreamie and a few others they're recognizing the Covid Number Boom is over- but unlike Dreamie, because theyre a corporation, they can't just "stick it out" and "recelebrate milestones". They have a "bottom line" to protect and they're not getting that same sweet sweet ad revenue from streams because of decreased viewer counts. Esp bc people don't just go back and watch vods unless there's a REAAAALLY good reason to. So no ad viewership there either. They're going to go back to relying on videos (and unfortunately probably shorts as well, I hate the tiktok-ification of every socmed site) to keep their ad revenue up, especially with the battle of ad blockers. I see more ad and monitization deals being handed out.

With streams (bc vod watching is lowkey practically nonexistant) not being in high demand bc of time constraints (happening while busy, timezones issues) the demands for videos will be higher as videos are ALWAYS readily available. Someone uploads at midnight your timezone? I mean it'll be there when you wake up, you won't have "missed" anything like you would have a livestream. Get a video schedule set out and you're GOLDEN- the first thing I do when I get home from work is check if a handful of youtubers have uploaded to put on to watch. If not, I rewatch some of my fav vids.

Also psychologically I actually think this is for the better of all CCs as a whole. Streaming, esp for some of the hourly requirements some of these ppl either HAVE to hit to get paid or WILLINGLY put themselves through (Tubbo) you have to wear your persona the ENTIRE time. You have to make sure you don't slip up that ENTIRE time. You have to be entertaining the ENTIRE time. You have to filter yourself because it's all live. To me this just sounds like what I do on a daily basis masking my audHD and that shit is so tiring and it's why I could NEVER be a streamer. If you're recording videos you can control what goes out. You don't have to wear whatever persona you decide to put on for 8hrs for a stream, you can record 3 hours of footage and then be done for the day, and that can either be one video or multiple depending on a lot of factors. Accidentally say your mom's name? Cut the clip. Bit isn't funny? Cut the clip. They will still have to actively filter themselves yes but for a much less amount of time. In the end CCs will have a lot more mind power that they're not using up to take care of themselves. I genuinely think it's psychologically better for them all.

It's unfortunate that the streaming industry is going to collapse this way. But also seeing how the communities heavily affected by streaming are more drama filled than communities w/o streaming, I'm lowkey hoping it's for the best. Pulling the plug like this imo is a mercy kill.

And now I'm gonna wash my mouth out for all that corporate speak I just used. Sorry for the manifesto. And if someone wants to put this manifesto on reddit idc just crop/block any usernames IG

I appreciate the essay-andy-ing these are interesting thoughts! I don't think the streaming scene will collapse entirely but I do think that it will become more advantageous to be a youtuber because people have found that to be the most consistent for many years as a CC rather than streams which require a lot of additional things (like you mentioned)

And I feel like we are seeing quite a few people say they're going to prioritize youtube more in the future which seems to be the beginning of that transition

I am curious if twitch will ever try to keep certain big-viewer streamers on the platform with 'kick-style' ($$$$) contracts.

[tiffanytoms]

Fuck the Rich

Sooo, I wrote a smutty little one-shot (you can read here or on A03)

Thank you to @athenasparrow for her lovely ✨ Smut Sprinkle ✨ of bending ppl over counters 😉 It really got Lily going 😆

Rating: E Word Count: 11.5k

Warning: Long lead up and then pretty fucking filthy. Lily is super bitter and jaded here — basically what I see could have happened if she’d never given James a chance. And… rich ppl bashing? Is that something I have to warn about? Is that a plus? Again, I dunno, you decide. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Read story after the line ↓

Fuck, she hated rich people. 

Lily grimaced to herself as she followed the frail, old lady through the halls of her larger than life mansion situated here on this vast, sprawling estate. The woman had had the audacity to look at her watch when Lily arrived (at exactly her scheduled start time) as if she was trying to ‘politely’ admonish her for being late. The funny thing about rich people was they loved ‘joking’ that your pay should be docked if you were even a second past the hour, but never seemed to think you should be compensated if you showed up twenty minutes early and they insisted you get to work right away. ‘Because, well, if you’re already here anyway!’

That’s why Lily had started showing up precisely when her paycheck began raking in Galleons. With Apparation, it was just so easy to do. Why give anyone her free labor? This job wasn’t even her passion — it was just her means of keeping her (small, crumbling, hardly suitable) roof over her head.

Fuck. She shouldn’t be thinking like this. Being a chef wasn’t that bad. Honestly, Lily would even enjoy it if she didn’t feel like it was a job she was forced into out of sheer necessity. What was even the point of graduating the top of her class at Hogwarts if no one was hiring her kind? Ahem, let her rephrase that, people without experience who also, just so happened — weird coincidence really, definitely don’t quote us — to be Muggle-born. Lily had watched rejection after rejection owl in from all the prestigious potion companies, followed by the average ones, and then even from the potion shop down the street from her. It turned out a handwritten letter of recommendation from Professor Slughorn himself couldn’t convince the owner of Pop-Up Potions that hiring Lily was worth the possible Death Eater retaliatory attack. 

Lily wished that people understood that ‘staying out of it’ was very much still picking a side. And that side was the wrong one. 

So, Lily had licked her wounds and tried not to get more and more bitter as all her friends, and enemies, found jobs she would have killed for while she had to scramble for gig economy work. Eventually, she was hired as a chef for a luxury catering company. It worked because she was kept out of sight in the kitchens, and the clients were never the same (but always so insanely wealthy), so no one had to worry about being attacked for employing an undesirable. At first, Lily didn’t understand why the families that hired her didn’t just use their house-elves’ cooking, but she supposed that everyone wanted to try new dishes every now and again. (And a darker, more cynical side of her wondered if these rich prats secretly got off on making other humans serve them.)

Lily got to use her potions skills, but instead of making life-saving brews like she wanted to, she was using her magic to make the best damn five course meal of these people’s lives — all by herself. Who needed a sous chef when you had a wand? 

The best part of her job was the pride that came from seeing all her food, all lined up and ready to go, and knowing it was scrumptious and she could replicate it again for herself at home — even though it would have to be with slightly less expensive ingredients. The worst part was knowing sometimes her creations were going to feed the very same people who were pushing her to the outskirts of society. She would never forget the day she accidentally overheard some of her clients say how ‘Muggle-born rights had gone too far.’ It was insane to think that she was somehow good enough to make them their food, but apparently not good enough for anything else. Their logic was infuriating.

And that’s how she ended up here: following this lady through the maze of her home, being told ‘not to touch anything — it’s all antique family heirlooms.’

It’s all Merlin-awfully hideous, is what it is. Why this lady was convinced that Lily would want to run off with her gold-framed oil painting of a basket of fruit was so beyond her. 

“And here we are!” the lady announced, pushing open the swinging door to her gigantic kitchen. “I’m sure the house-elves are around here somewhere if you need help finding anything.” Lily knew what that meant: don’t ask me because I’ve literally never used this kitchen before in my life so I wouldn’t even know where we keep the spoons. She turned to leave, but then stopped dramatically. “Oh! The countertops are Italian marble, so they—”

“Stain instantly,” Lily finished for her. She would never understand this. Why on earth would anyone ever pay a premium to install a surface into their kitchen that made it practically unusable? Even a mere drop of lemon juice could forever tarnish the damn entire slab. Because they’re not the ones who have to use it, Lily. You and the house-elves are… “Not to worry,” Lily said out loud as she swished her wand, covering all the counters in a shiny film of magic. “This will protect it.”

The old lady’s eyes narrowed. “Are you sure?”

Another thing Lily just loved about rich people? They always assumed the help was so, so dumb. “Yes. Please don’t worry. I’ve done this countless times. Your counters will be spotless when I leave.”

The lady nodded, either mollified by Lily’s words or by the knowledge that she could simply sue Lily’s company for new marble countertops afterwards, and left out the door. 

Lily let out a huge sigh of relief, glad to finally be alone. She opened her tote bag and began emptying out all her coolers before magicking them back to size. If she recalled correctly, tonight’s event was an engagement party — so while the food was always expected to be delicious, tonight its presentation had to be absolutely flawless. Basically, the plates would have to look like edible art — but yummy. Always yummy. 

After briefly being greeted by her manager, Lily started on the hors d’oeuvres, laughing a little to herself when she saw the menu choices. Okay, one of the people getting married still had the appetite of a child, because for every high-end option like ‘ahi tuna on a gluten-free wonton crisp topped with a wasabi aioli drizzle’, there was a ‘pig in a blanket with ketchup’ alternative as well. (Truth be told, the appetizers that looked like they belonged on the kids’ menu were always the biggest crowdpleasers. Even with the rich.) She knew which hors d’oeuvres her servers would be fighting to pass tonight. (No one liked having to be the poor sod who had to push ‘goat cheese on a Belgian endive’ on anyone. Coming back to the kitchen with anything other than a completely empty tray was discouraged.)

“Hello, Lil,” Mary, her favorite server and also longtime friend, said as she arrived in the kitchen shortly afterwards. 

Lily embraced her in a quick hug. “Mm, you smell nice.”

“You smell like bacon. What’s on the menu?” 

Lily laughed as she handed it over. “Knock yourself out.”

Mary’s smile dripped off her face seconds later. “Lil… why does this menu say ‘Black Engagement Party’?!”

Lily snatched the sheet back. “Oh bollocks, seriously?” If she had to make a list of all the affluent, entitled Purebloods that she didn’t want to serve, the Blacks would probably be at the top of that list. “I didn’t think they had an estate out here?” She looked around the kitchen as if there would be a bright neon sign that read ‘Food for Purebloods Only’ just lying about.

“I dunno,” Mary said, shrugging her shoulders.

“Hang on, no,” Lily reasoned desperately. “The woman that let me in — she was the lady of the house and I didn’t recognize her.” The Black family loved being in all the society pages of The Prophet. As much as Lily hated to admit it, she would probably be able to identify the lot of them.

Mary’s eyes got large as saucers. “Unless…”

“Quaffle, have you seen—?” Lily didn’t even get to prompt Mary to continue, because just a second later, a handsome, unfairly fit wizard whom Lily hadn’t seen since graduation three years prior ambled into the kitchen. He stuffed a hand into his hair, and Lily hated that she remembered the quirk so well. “Oh. Hey Evans.”

Fuuuuuuccccckkkkk. Lily did a mental replay of her morning routine to recall if she’d put on some makeup, or even paid any attention to her appearance at all. She had not. “Potter,” she replied shortly. 

“Fuck,” Mary whispered the word of the day under her breath before zooming off. Lily assumed she was finding a bathroom where she could compose herself — or have a nervous breakdown. If James Potter was here, then there was a near certain likelihood that the Black who had gotten engaged was Sirius — aka Mary’s ex-boyfriend. Lily’s heart ached for her friend. Was there anything worse than having to serve your ex and his newly beloved? She thought not. 

“She all right?” James asked concerned, looking at the still swinging door that Mary had exited through. 

“She’ll be fine,” Lily lied, covering for her. “Can I help you?”

“Oh, uh,” James said, shifting from one foot to the other, clearly finding himself off-kilter with Lily’s unexpected appearance. “I was just looking for my house-elf.”

Oh. Oh my gods, of course! This is his house! Well. His parents’ house… Lily slowly closed her eyes and took a deep breath in through her nose. She’d known he was rich, but she’d never imagined he was castle-on-the-hill type of wealthy. His whole privileged, popular air at school made so much more sense now. He’d always been annoying, and for a year straight he’d asked her out as a joke, but after she’d temporarily hexed his bollocks off at the end of 5th year (Pomfrey had not been amused), he’d finally gotten the message and steered clear of her. Last Lily heard, he was working for his dad’s potions company — because of course he was. 

“Haven’t seen them,” Lily replied. 

“Right, okay,” James said awkwardly, looking wholly uncomfortable. Lily wondered if he was still a little bit afraid of her. She supposed that would be a reasonable reaction — she doubted anyone else had ever temporarily castrated him. But in her defense, she had told him if he ever asked her out one more time that she would. 

What could Lily say? She was a woman of her word. Her stubborn, stubborn word. 

She took a moment to take him in. There had been a couple of times (okay, maybe more than a couple) her final year at Hogwarts that she’d wondered if she had perhaps made a mistake in rejecting him. He’d obviously matured quite a bit, and honestly, he wasn’t too bad on the eyes…

Well, looking at him now, here in his kitchen, he’d only gotten better. He seemed to have finally found a good hairstyle that worked well with his luscious locks, not too long and not too short, and it let his soft curls have a bit of bounce in all their beautiful disarray. He’d also filled into his formerly lanky body quite nicely, and Lily was definitely noticing the slight strain to his shirt sleeves around his biceps and the cut lines of his forearms. His arms. Honestly, those were probably what did her in the most at school… If she closed her eyes, she could still feel the traitorous sting of jealousy the day Emmeline Vance had leaned over to him across her desk and doodled on one of his arms with her quill. She couldn’t explain back then why her blood had boiled quite so ferociously, but she probably could now… if she thought about it. (She didn’t want to think about it.)

Either way, the same hazel gaze that had peeved her before now pierced, and even in his uncertainty, he was still exuding a confidence that had definitely been lacking before. At school he’d given a boyish performance of arrogance. Now, he simply oozed the self-assurance of a man. And a dangerously sexy one at that.

Fuck, Lily thought for what felt like the thousandth time this evening. She was far too horny to be at work. She hadn’t gotten properly laid in way too long, and clearly it was manifesting itself in strange ways. She’d never slept with any of her clients, obviously, but she’d also never even had any sort of desire to. 

There is no need to start now, she told her body to no avail.

“Do you need anything else?” she asked him. Sure, he lived here, but if there was anything she hated, it was hosts who hovered in her space while she was trying to do her job — handsome hosts or not. (She was telling herself she hated his presence, ooh, she was telling herself that.)

“Nope,” James replied. “Is there anything you need?”

Oh, so many fucking things, and none of them are PG. 

Lily shook her head, trying to clear her unsanctioned, gutter musings. Unfortunately, the follow-up thoughts were not very helpful either. Was this the first time a client had ever offered to help her? Like… with anything? How in the world was it James friggin’ Potter who was showing her more common decency than all the previous pompous wankers combined?

The bar was truly so low. 

Just before she could gape at him for too long, wand hand slightly sagging while attempting to chop her onions, her manager Greg came rushing through the door, looking at his clipboard. “Shit, Rebecca’s just called in sick. We’re gonna be short-staffed tonight. Where’s Mary?”

Lily winced. If there was one rule in catering, it was to never let the guests see you sweat. “In the bathroom?” she said mousily, hoping her tone would convince Greg to look up and realize they weren’t alone.

It did. “Oh! Mr Potter!” Greg schmoozed, his demeanor completely shifting to pleasant and ingratiating. “I didn’t see you there!”

“Oh, you can just call me James,” he said, offering his hand out for Greg to shake. “Mr Potter makes me sound like my father.”

“And what a compliment that must be! I’m Greg. I’m your party’s manager tonight.” 

Barf. Lily didn’t hate that Greg groveled, because she was sure it often got them extra tips, she just hated that he had to. 

James chuckled good-naturedly for Greg's sake while he clapped his hands together. “I feel like since I’m the groom’s best man and live here, I’m duty-bound to be of service. So seriously, if you’re understaffed or need any help tonight, you can always put me to work.”

Greg laughed even though his face said he was crying of mortification on the inside. “No! Nooo, absolutely no need. We got this all under control! Please, don’t let us stop you from getting ready! Everything will go off without a hitch on our end!”

James gave Lily one last good look, making her uneasy and inexplicably twitchy, before giving Greg a nod and leaving. 

Fuck. What was that? And how dare he make her so wet? She was at work!

“Shit!” Greg whispered, breaking Lily’s strange trance. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me we had the goddamn host in the kitchen?!”

Could she point out it wasn’t her job to make her manager open his damn eyes? “Sorry.”

Greg rubbed his forehead. “It’s fine.” He sighed. “Now where’s Mary?”

Lily pointed to the door she’d left through, wanting him to go away so she could have peace. No angry managers, no sultry blasts from the past — simply her and her food. Suddenly the end of this shift couldn’t come fast enough. Sure, she wasn’t ashamed of what she did for work, but she knew that deep down, she wished that the first time she saw James after years wasn’t while cooking at his place for a party that she hadn’t been invited to. Obviously you weren’t invited; you were never a part of that circle! But still: it was weird, and Lily didn’t like it. 

Now if only she could stop thinking about how bloody good he looked, then maybe everything would be okay. 

☆☆☆

“Shit! Shit shit shit shiiiiit!” Greg wheezed, ambling back into the kitchen, not having learnt his lesson and still not looking up, only five minutes later. “Mary says she’s sick and is going home now too! We only have one server for like fifty super upscale guests! This is a disaster!”

“Maybe they both caught the same bug?” Lily fibbed. Rebecca wasn’t a liar, so she probably actually was sick, but Mary deserved someone to have her back today. “We all worked the same party last night.”

Greg looked up at her pointedly. “Don’t you dare get sick on me too. I won’t let you leave. If you vomit, vomit away from the food.”

Ew. “Roger that.”

So half an hour later, Greg and one poor, overworked server were pushing out all the appetizers by themselves while Lily started on the entrees between heating duties.

“The truffle honey brie cups are ready,” Lily said as she heard the door swing open.

“Roger that.”

Lily looked up startled, this time actually dropping her wand. It turned out she too hadn’t learnt from Greg’s mistake. 

It was James. He still says that, she thought (somehow) breathlessly.She’d nearly forgotten that the whole reason she said that silly phrase was because it was practically all he’d ever reply to her at Head meetings when they’d been Head Girl and Boy. She’d started parroting it back to him in jest, but then it had sort of… stuck. 

It was weird to realize all these years later that he’d had any impact on her, even if it was something as small as a slight tweak to her vernacular.

Before Lily could react, he bent down to pick up her wand off the floor, offering it to her. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.” He had changed out of his grey teeshirt and jeans and was now wearing a crisp navy blue button-up, tastefully (albeit cruelly) unbuttoned two notches. He’d always had beautiful, flawless skin, and that still seemed to be the case, although she didn’t think she’d ever seen that particular patch. She’d made a point to never go to Quidditch matches back in school lest she witness any more reasons to regret her decision to reject him. 

“You’re fine,” she said under her breath, trying to ignore the way her fingers had to brush his to take her wand back. Okay, so they hadn’t had to, but she’d wanted them too. Damn, I shouldn’t want to touch him. She turned around to direct all her fingerling potatoes into neat little piles across fifty plates. 

“You doing okay in here?”

“Huh?” Sure, she was a professional, but it still took a lot of concentration to keep so many moving parts going. 

“Are you doing okay?” he repeated. “I figured Mary bounced after she realized this party was for Sirius because… well. You know.”

Lily turned back to face him, finding him tugging at his hair again. He had to stop doing that. It was making her want to do it for him. “Yeah…” Wow, of course he still remembers Mary. She had dated his best mate in school. Naturally, they must have hung out too. If Lily recalled correctly, Mary had tried to persuade her on many occasions that James was actually a decent bloke, but Lily hadn’t wanted to listen. Of course Mary had said that — she was in love with his best friend! She probably wanted some sort of harmony amongst her people or had some silly daydream about double dates and whatnot. Mary had dropped the topic when she’d realized Lily was going to remain obstinate about the whole thing.

She’d truly always been too pigheaded for her own good. 

Lily cleared her throat and tried again. “Yes, we’ll manage just fine. We always do. Sorry you heard all that, but I’m sure your family will be reimbursed for getting less staff than you paid for.”

James’ brows scrunched as he observed her. “Evans,” he began slowly, “it’s me. You don’t have to give me your whole customer service bullshit.” She watched as his pronounced Adam’s apple bobbed with what looked like a parched swallow. "We know each other.”

A shiver ran down Lily’s spine, and like most of the feelings she experienced around this man, she wasn’t quite sure why. Did they? Did they know each other at all?I mean, they’d shared a bunch of classes years ago, but had they ever really talked more than a few jibes here and there? She pushed all the confusion away. “Sorry Potter, but I really need to get these plates ready or else—”

“Then put me to use,” James said simply as he committed the single biggest sexy sin: he deftly popped open his cufflinks before slowly rolling up his sleeves. 

Oh, fuck you. Was he trying to torture her? Kitchens were already notoriously hot enough without James Potter parading himself around like some sort of mouthwatering arm candy. “That’s okay—”

“Seriously, Evans. I don’t know if you remember, but I’m actually quite good at magic.” She really hoped he didn’t notice she was still fixated on his gorgeous hands and forearms. “So go on. Order me about. I remember you really used to love doing that.”

Oh man. Yep. She was still too horny for this — because that? Him telling her to ‘use him’ and ‘boss him around’ was really doing things for her. Deciding it was easier to just put him to work rather than fight him on it, Lily blew a stray strand of hair that had escaped her bun off of her forehead before showing him the correct wandwork for how to place the filet mignon slices in a delightful staggered row. At least this way, she’d have enough time to finish up her sauce.

They worked side by side for some time, Lily wholeheartedly trying to ignore just how much she liked having him there. Sure, watching a man cook was sexy in and of itself, but just…knowing that there was this whole party going on on the other side of that wall, but instead of being there, he was electing to stay and help her? 

Honestly, the whole thing sort of made her want him to bend her over this stupid-ass marble countertop and do her right there. Why could she picture that so easily? Her leggings around her ankles, his hand bracing against the cabinets above her while he pounded into her again and again from behind, bruising her hips as they bumped rhythmically against the counter. She rubbed her thighs together, almost wishing she could feel the soreness that should be there — that would be, if only he let her use him in the manner she so desperately craved.

Fuck, she needed some water. And maybe a cigarette. (She had never even smoked a day in her life.)

“How have you been?” he asked, finally breaking the amicable, if not highly charged, silence between them.

“Fine,” she lied. It was easier to sugarcoat things. She truly doubted he’d ever understand her problems. Why would he? He obviously lived a completely different life. 

He nodded. 

A few seconds later, she realized it was probably really rude if she didn’t at least ask him the same thing back. “And you?”

James looked at her and smiled, a genuinely warm and lovely smile, and Lily felt her heart skip the smallest of beats. “Good, yeah, really good. Happy for Pads of course.”

“Oh yeah,” Lily hummed noncommittally. “Getting married.”

“Yup.”

“That’s crazy.”

“You think so?” he asked her, completely taking her by surprise.

“I mean, yeah,” Lily fumbled. “We’re still quite young…”

James shrugged. “When you know, you know.”

Lily swished her wand and watched as a sprig of rosemary deposited itself onto every piping hot dish, finishing the plates’ perfect appearance. “I guess.”

James folded his arms and turned to her, leaning back against the (far too saucy) counter. “What? You don’t believe in love or something?”

“No, I do.” Why had the question unnerved her so much? Why did she suddenly feel so defensive?

“We’re just too young?” he pushed.

Lily’s eyes shot up to his with his choice of words. We aren’t anything, at least not together — not in that sense. But the more she saw his eyes shining through his glasses, challenging, twinkling with mischievous mirth, the more she decided she was so down to bang him. The thought had morphed from a naughty daydream to a full-blown mission in record time, but screw it, we are young. Wasn’t youth all about making mistakes and doing what you wanted? She was horny, and if he was anything like he was at school, he was probably also down, so why the fuck not? She’d probably never see him again, so as far as no-strings attached hookups went, he was probably the best she was going to get. Besides, she wanted to shag him. Like, really, truly wanted to have him blow out her back and break her mind from how hard she wanted him to fuck her. Shouldn’t that be reason enough?

It was just sex.

Fuck it, let’s fuck him. 

Now all she had to do was glean if he was actually down — but come on, he was spending like a quarter of this party with her; this had to be his motive. Get in her good graces so he could get in her pants — it was practically what he’d tried to do back at Hogwarts, but he hadn’t been as smooth back then. Or maybe she just hadn’t been this desperate, who knew? 

Then, once she was sure he was game, she had to figure out how to make it happen.

“Shouldn’t you be out at the party doing best man duties?” she fished.

James’ eyes dropped to her lips and back before his own slipped into a smirk. “He’s so wrapped all over Aya right now, I doubt he’s even noticed I’m gone.”

Oooh, so that’s it. Lily held back a scoff. Weddings always had a special way of making single people feel lonely as hell. Lily was cool with that. If he wanted to fuck away his wedding-related blues and she wanted a good lay to make her temporarily forget all the injustices of the world, that sounded like a win-win to her. 

“Lily are the—” 

Lily hadn’t even realized her lower lip was between her teeth until Greg’s sudden intrusion into the kitchen had made her bite down on it. “Ow.”

“Mr Potter!” Her manager sounded borderline hysterical. “Can we help you?”

“Oh no, Greg. Lily was just being kind enough to entertain me for a bit. I’ll get out of everyone’s way.” He pushed off the counter, walking past Lily with the brush of his palm against her lower back. 

She normally hated it when guys did that. She did not hate it this time. Oh he is so fucking down. She grinned to herself smugly. The rest of the evening passed by pleasantly swift after that.

☆☆☆

“Thank you so much! Really, everyone was simply raving about the food!” the frail, old lady — apparently James’ mum — said at the end of the party when only the last few stragglers were left mingling by the edge of the bar in their backyard. Lily suspected the rest of her crew would probably have to stay another hour for cleanup, but mercifully, she could go home now. 

“I’m glad everyone liked it,” Lily said politely, trying not to look at James standing by his mother’s side. It felt wrong to acknowledge him in his mother’s presence considering all the filthy ways she’d already fantasized about taking him that night. After James had helped her make dinner, he’d popped back around for desserts, and then even again afterwards to slip her a glass of champagne. Normally, the servers would be the ones to do that — ‘I’ll sneak you some booze if you sneak me some food’ — but with how crazy the party had been, obviously this hadn’t been the case tonight. Also, Lily had never encountered a server brazen enough to bring Lily a glass of the really good stuff. She had no doubt that she had probably been sipping on a hundred Galleons worth of bubbly. James had choked a little bit when Lily had splashed a dash of orange juice into her flute, but honestly, she didn’t care. If it tasted better ‘ruined,’ then so be it.

Oh, how the other half lives.

James’ mum turned to him. “Will you please be a dear and give this woman her tip and then see her out?”

Lily resisted the urge to roll her eyes. I don’t want your damn oil paintings, lady. Lily almost laughed to herself as she amended, Just your son’s dignity. 

James had the decency to blush with his mum’s command. “Of course.” His mother patted him on the chest before leaving for a separate door that Lily assumed led upstairs. 

And then they were alone. Lily checked to make sure she’d shrunk and stashed away all her coolers before removing the counter protection spell.

“Got everything?” James prompted. Did he feel slightly awkward too? Was he perhaps also figuring out a way to get the two of them just as alone upstairs where they could have a little more privacy?

“Oh…” Lily smiled as she turned around and reached for the water bottle that she may have placed on the far reaches of the counter solely so that she could bend over to grab it. If she had to be tortured by the desire to have him fuck her against it all night, then the least he could do was join her in her pain for two seconds. “Got it,” she said innocently as she turned around, hoisting her tote bag higher over her shoulder before slipping her water inside. 

She’d never seen James’ cheeks rosier. It was oddly endearing. She wondered if he’d always had a smattering of freckles across his nose, or if they had shown up with his darkening tan. They’re probably new and due to his increased time for lavish vacations now that he’s out of school. 

Ugh. 

“Great,” James said, still seemingly having a hard time looking her in the eye after her little stunt. “Let me just take you to the vault for a second.”

“Excuse me?” Vault? What?

James looked at her horrified. “It’s not in the basement or anything—”

Lily laughed. “I don’t think you’re gonna kidnap me, Potter. I was more pointing out the absurdity of someone having a vault in their home.”

“Oh.” He looked kind of lost for words. Clearly he didn’t even realize it was absurd. Maybe everyone he knew had one. “Right.”

Lily followed him out of his kitchen and down the hall. 

“So you had a good night?” he asked. 

“It was all right. Yours?”

“Only all right?” he prodded, turning around and walking backwards so that he could look at her with a boyish grin as he continued leading the way. 

Oof. Stop. I’m already gonna fuck you; you don’t have to be any more charming. “I mean, I was working, so…”

James’ nose twitched before he came to a stop. “Right.” He opened an ornate door and cast a special charm on a thick titanium box inside that glowed purple before cracking ajar. Lily didn’t think she’d ever seen that many Galleons all stacked in neat little rows as far as her eyes could see. Clearly the vault had been cast with the same magic spell as her tote bag and could hold infinite objects. Oh how Lily wished her bag was filled with this much gold. 

“Uhh…” James struggled, again not being able to look directly at her, but now for a completely different reason. “Um,” he let out a weird chuckle, “what do you normally get… uh—”

It was hard not to take pity on him. Why was money such a touchy subject? Well, you really hate the rich so… clearly the whole money thing affects you too. Lily pushed the bout of self reflection aside.“How much do I normally get tipped for parties that I cook for?”

James slid his glasses up his nose where they’d started to slip. “Yes.” He seemed so grateful she’d found the words for him. 

Lily crossed her arms, figuring toying with him might be fun. “Depends. I guess you need to determine how satisfied you were with my work.” James’ eyes sliced to hers before he blinked profusely, and so fucking cutely. Fuck, she had never found him cute before. Truth be told, she didn’t think popular jock James Potter could be cute back in the day. “I’m kidding,” she whispered, leaning into him before his internalized panic combusted him. “You were just making it really weird. But yeah, normally just a few Galleons for a party this big—”

“Here,” he cut her off, grabbing two heaping handfuls of gold and shoving them into her hands. 

Lily’s brows shot up her forehead as she tried to balance all the coins. “Yeah, that’s too much—”

“Hogwash.”

“No really, I think you just gave me like, twenty times my biggest tip ever—”

“Great! Consider it backpay for all the times I bothered you in school. Can this conversation be over now?”

Lily looked at him skeptically before tittering, somehow finagling her bag open a smidge so she could throw the money inside. The coins clattered for a good thirty seconds, raining down on all the various coolers and tools she’d brought, before she could talk again. “Well. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. Ever.” James smiled. “Please.”

She bit her lip again, but this time, she was fully aware of it. “Okay.”

James ruffled his hair before pointing the way out of the small room. “It was actually good to see you again, Evans.”

Oh crap. Was it silly of Lily to feel slightly cheated? Like, she wasn’t sure if she’d ever been more pitifully worked up in her life, and he was going to send her home? She sighed. She supposed this was her karma for rejecting him all those years ago. Although, she stood by that choice. (She did!) The James walking beside her now was leagues beyond that bloke she’d avoided like the plague back in 5th year. 

They got to the grand foyer of his house. “Yeah.” She grinned. “Surprisingly good.”

“Surprisingly?” he repeated teasingly. “Evans, you wound me.”

He was flirting. Was it bad that some of that hope for a possible hookup came rushing back to her? “Let’s just say you weren’t the worst company tonight.”

Clearly her face was doing something, because his expression suddenly seemed to morph to match it. Was he getting it? Was he understanding that bedding her tonight was a done deal? She’d heard that some ridiculously high percentage of all communication was nonverbal, and in this moment, she believed it. A look flitted across his face, but was gone an instant later. “Do you…” His eyes strayed from hers, watching the way Lily licked her lips utterly enraptured before snapping back. “Do you wanna…?”

Lily nodded at him encouragingly. “Stay?” 

James blinked rapidly, as if physically removing the confusion from his eyes. “Um, yeah?”

She shoots, she scores! Lily cheered to herself, so glad this whole night wouldn’t be a complete bust. It really was so hard to go out and mingle with people her own age when her work hours were literally everyone else’s party time. “Awesome.” She gave him a charming smile, figuring they were both finally on the same page. “Do you mind if I use your shower first? Sorry, I smell like food.”

James shook his head, still seeming to have a hard time processing the entire chain of events. He was probably used to having to work harder for it, but at this point, Lily was so ready to get off and was past the point of caring what any rich douche thought of her. “Oh, yeah. Of course. You can use mine.”

Lily followed him up the grand staircase, making small talk and glancing at the various childhood photographs of him that lined the wall. As far as she was concerned, they were far more interesting to look at than the stupid fruits on display downstairs. 

“And this is my room,” James announced rather unnecessarily. Even if he hadn’t been there to proclaim it, Lily was sure she could have found his space by the loud pop of Gryffindor red on the walls or the various Quidditch posters plastered everywhere.

“Wow James,” she teased, closing his door behind her and walking around, taking it all in. “This feels very…”

“I know,” James admitted, scratching the back of his neck. “I haven’t really changed anything since school, but honestly I keep telling myself I’m about to move out so it doesn’t matter, but then…”

“You don’t,” Lily finished for him. Normally, she’d feel pissed, thinking about how he was blessed with the advantage of free room and board only to be considering giving it up… but then she realized that if he wasn’t planning on living by himself soon, she would judge him for his inability to grow up. 

It was rather silly how you could always find flaws in the people that you were already determined to hate anyway.

How was James Potter making her think of him — and people like him — like a person? It was pretty uncomfortable. She rather enjoyed thinking of all the privileged assholes of the world as one entity. One conglomeration of misery that met every Tuesday to discuss how they could ruin the lives of everyone else. Of poor people.

All that being said, this was hardly the bachelor pad she’d been envisioning for him. It was damn near impossible to picture him bringing that many girls back here. 

“Yeah,” James sighed. He pointed to the door in the back corner of the room. “That’s my bathroom. You can shower and there are fresh towels in the closet.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “I can go back while you—”

“No, that’s okay,” Lily responded quickly. She wasn’t going to take that long. Why would he leave? That sort of defeated the whole purpose of tonight. “Stay. I’ll be right out.”

“Okay,” James agreed, stuffing his hands in his pockets as she disappeared into his bathroom. It was clean as hell, but she supposed that was to be expected when he had house-elves; she wouldn’t be giving him any unearned credit for tidiness that wasn’t even his own. 

The first thing she did was stare at herself in the mirror. Sure, so it wasn’t her best look, but it wasn’t her worst either. And clearly, the man wasn’t complaining. She turned on the water while stripping out of her gross work clothes before stepping in and melting under the divine water pressure of James’ shower head. She could really get used to this. (It might just be the best perk of being rich she’d discovered so far, you know, besides all the other obvious ones.) She scrubbed and shaved herself quickly (thank you wand) before toweling off and rummaging through her bag for her emergency eyeliner. If she was going to shag this guy, she might as well feel her best while doing so. 

Satisfied that she was presentable, Lily performed a quick hair drying spell, clutched the towel around her chest, and walked back into James’ room, finding him sitting at his desk, bouncing his knee. He popped up to his feet as soon as he saw her re-enter, his eyes wildly scanning down her towel-clad body. “Hi.”

He was still fully dressed. Lily had no idea why, but she’d have bet money that he would be lounging across his bed in his boxers by the time she got out. Maybe with one leg propped up and open while he leaned on his palm. “Hi,” she responded with a curious grin. Did she, Lily Evans, actually make him nervous? Like, not scared-for-his-bollocks nervous but… this kind of nervous?

“Good shower?” he asked, his eyes seemingly unable to keep from dipping to her towel periodically as she walked up to him. She had to imagine it was a thrill just knowing how close she was to being totally bare for him — because no one looked that good in a fluffy red towel. If she’d have seen his awestruck expression in a vacuum, she would have assumed he was watching the most beautiful woman on the planet approach him in the sexiest lingerie known to womankind. Not because of this.

She was ready, he was ready, so why should they keep playing games? “Excellent shower,” she whispered as she dropped the towel, standing before him naked. 

There was a three second beat. 

“Holy shit.”

Lily laughed, appreciating that he was at least trying (and succeeding) to make her feel special. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him down for a kiss. He took a second to reanimate, a nice further touch on his part, but then Lily felt his fingers as they clutched her waist, pinching her in as he pulled her closer, flush against his body, before responding to her lips’ fervor. Fuck, the man knew how to snog. Lily rarely found anything as disappointing in life as having a crush whose kissing style vastly differed from her own, but all it took was two seconds to realize this would not be the case with James. When their mouths danced and her instincts took over, she knew that she could switch her mind off and just let her body feed off of his. She didn’t have to overthink, she didn’t have to analyze, she could just feel her yearning and have it be answered by his, because his body was picking up what she was putting down and meeting her there. He groaned into her mouth and her hips stuttered, somehow already so fucking primed for him to take her.

“Fuck Lily,” James breathed between kisses, reaching down for her bum and picking her up, encouraging her legs to wrap around him so he could spin them the other way and deposit her onto his desk. “Where did—?”

But Lily didn’t want to entertain his questions; she wanted to get him naked. “You’re still awfully dressed, Potter.” She kissed and nipped down his neck, squeezing her calves so that his tented trousers grazed her cunt, hopefully reminding him that she was exposed for him already, so let’s get a move on. Her fingers got to work plucking open his buttons, pulling back slightly so she could see his chest as she pushed his fancy shirt over his broad shoulders. Fuck! Yeah, not attending his games had definitely been a smart act of self-preservation on her part. The man looked like a friggin’ model straight out of her dreams. 

“I’m living out my fantasy,” James panted, finally helping her out and shrugging off his shirt, letting it fall unceremoniously to the floor in a heap. He seemed to really love the attention she was giving his neck. It only encouraged her to graze her teeth a little bit rougher, loving how she could directly feel the effect it had on his breathing. “Give me a moment.”

Ugh, there was the cocky arsehole she remembered. The line was just so corny. “You’ve always wanted to fuck your chef?” she sassed back. He could try to win her over with witty rehearsed one-liners, but she sure as shit didn’t have to fall for them. As far as she was concerned, she was hooking up with him in spite of who he was, and definitely not because of it. 

James laughed but didn’t respond, instead opting to lean forward into her and claim her mouth once more as he dragged her closer to the edge of the desk, his hand on the small of her back just like she’d liked so much in the kitchen. He didn’t seem to be able to help himself from rocking her against him, making them both moan in unison. This whole situation just seemed like a drawn-out tease, and Lily was ready to get to the real action.

Truthfully, he was far too good at kissing, his tongue wickedly playing with hers, and if Lily wasn’t careful, she might just let him do this all night. She had to remain focused. She couldn’t get distracted… no matter how much it seemed like James was cheekily, rakishly trying to. She pushed his body back slightly by his warm, far too chiseled chest so that she had room to finagle with his belt, biting and tugging on his lower lip as she pulled the leather end free. “I need you to fuck me, Potter,” she commanded before pulling the belt all the way out and pushing down his trousers. 

James’ jaw clenched as he stepped out of his pants and took both of her hands in his own in order to pull her from the desk, leading her towards his bed. “What do you want?” he asked gruffly when she stood beside the mattress. He hurriedly pushed his trunks down so that he was just as naked as she was. 

Fuck yes. She had no idea why — again, probably for survival purposes — but through the years she had convinced herself that he had to have the world’s tiniest pecker. 

Turned out he didn’t. Not even close.

“Eyes are up here, Evans,” he taunted, and Lily was almost mad that she’d given him the opportunity for such an easy line. 

“From behind,” she said, already knowing the pure havoc those simple words would wreak on the poor boy. The same basic, primal instinct that she knew she was tapping into to get the best reaction out of him as possible was the same reason she wanted the position in the first place. She didn’t want his fake romance or any platitudes that he’d forget spewing as soon as he came — she wanted to get fucked. Raw and hard and deep. Right fucking now. If she was nothing but a servant to people like him, he could just as easily be nothing but an easy shag for someone like her.

She crawled onto the mattress on her hands and knees, looking back over her shoulder at him, making sure to give her hair a good flip. He looked like he’d just died. She was right: he was easy. “Chop chop.”

He shook his head, trying to get at least some blood back into his brain. “Chef humor.” It didn’t come out as a burn or any sort of comeback, but more like the words of a man who was trying to prove to himself that he had some semblance, any clue really, of what was going on around him. 

Lily chuckled. She had to at least give him brownie points for putting those two things together in his addled, fully erect state. She knew men weren’t always at their brightest when their cocks were so painfully hard.

But then, James seemed to want to regain some iota of his dignity back. Standing behind her, he gently skimmed his fingers from her tailbone, over her arse, all the way through her pussy lips while his free hand tugged absentmindedly on his cock. The sight stole the breath straight out of Lily’s lungs. It was dumb, because he was about to be inside of her, but she wanted to be the one with his cock in her hands. She wanted to feel him as he thickened, ride him as he throbbed, and taste him right before he wilted. She wanted him all, all to herself.

“Are you ready?” His voice was a timber so low, so sexy, she thought she might have gotten even wetter — a feat that she wasn’t aware was even possible.

“Touch me and find out.” She bit her lower lip, not sure anymore if she was still seducing him, or just in desperate need to bite something, anything, if she couldn’t bite him. He was currently this perfect combination of flustered and eager and it was completely driving her up a wall.

He followed her heed and slipped one finger into her, whimpering almost as loudly as she did when he felt her body clutch around him greedily. “Fuck, Lily, you’re so fucking wet right now,” he breathed as he slowly began to massage his finger in and out of her. 

Lily arched her spine, flexing into the welcome feeling of him discovering her. “I’ve been this wet for you all night. So kind of you to notice.” Her fingers scrunched into his sheets, clearly some expensive, high thread count shit, as she lowered her chest to the mattress, displaying herself all the more blatantly for him. Had James been a viable dating prospect for her, she probably wouldn’t have been so shameless. If James Potter was someone whom she could actually date in the real world, she might be playing it coy, or give a single flying scruple about how he could interpret her visible keenness for him to plow her senseless as a negative. Because, who knows why, but actively wanting to get fucked is still seen as a negative for girls. But alas, the James Potters of the world never ended up with the Lily Evanses, so… she could be as real, and as lustfully turned on for him as she positively was… and show it. 

“Fuck,” he repeated, actually sounding tortured as he added a second finger inside of her. 

The naughty stretch was everything Lily had been missing these past few months. She rocked forward as she muffled her cries into his mattress, letting her bottom lip drag across the satin sheet as she slowly tilted her head up before looking back at him. “Yeah, just like that, Potter.” She hadn’t expected him to be quite this talented of a lover, but she supposed she shouldn’t be that surprised. He did have a reputation after all. And it’s not like he was ever an academic idiot. She figured he’d always learned things quickly enough. And boy am I benefitting from it now…

He’d gotten on his knees behind her at some point, face eye level with all the action. His stare kept oscillating between his fingers, watching them disappear into her over and over again, and her face, as though sinking up all the events in his head as one, continuous reality that he now had the absolute privilege of living. “May I?”

May I what? “Yes.” Lily decided whatever he was asking didn’t matter. In that moment, she’d let him do anything.

A second later he leaned in and his face disappeared from view as he replaced his fingers with his tongue and moved his thumb’s attention to her clit. Lily yelped in pleasure, the unexpected switch nearly driving her to the edge already. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever had a man eat her out without her prompting him to (quite insistently… for months) and the shock alone was thrilling. It was so dumb, but as James licked her again and again and, so beautifully, rubbed her nub in tight, satisfying circles, she couldn’t help but feel like an idiot. In what world was Potter the one giving her head? In what world was he the guy who was going to make her come with his mouth when the so-called saviors of her world had laid on their backs and expected her to service them as a reward for all the ‘hard work’ they did on the daily of treating her as an equal? 

Sure, James had been an ass, but had he ever treated her as an inferior? Had he ever made her feel worthless? Or had he just been a standard, teenage idiot? 

Had Lily really been missing out? Had she really shot herself in the foot purely out of spite by misjudging him? Was she insane for altering her whole life view around the act of cunnilingus? 

Fuck. She was thinking again. 

His tongue made a broad, firm lick against her clit before flicking her back and forth and Lily wanted to scream, settling for balling his sheets in her fists instead. “James…” she sighed with a suppressed moan, eyes screwed tightly shut. He was far too good at this too.

He lapped at her more incessantly and Lily couldn’t believe she could feel that his lips had formed a smile. “You like that?” he teased.

Yes. No need to be so smug about it.

Lily reached behind her and pulled on James’ wrist, tugging him up so that he was forced to return to his feet. The way he wiped his moist lips on the back of his hand, reminding her of her own arousal for him, was lethal. “Yes?” he asked, chest heaving in and out exaggeratedly as he stared into her very soul. She had to look so pathetic, face smushed into the mattress, cheeks flushed whilst on the verge of breaking for him, but you wouldn’t be able to tell from how he was looking at her.

“Fuck me. Now. Please.”

“Roger that.”

She could only watch the first few seconds after he lined himself up behind her, because as soon as he started pushing in, his cock feeling so fucking good and so right inside of her, she had to turn back into the sheets, muffling her whimpered whine as she hit her left fist into the mattress beside her face. It wasn’t fair. Someone so hot shouldn’t have a cock so perfect. James Potter should not have the perfect face, and the perfect body, and then also the perfect boyfriend dick that was exactly large enough to fill her up so generously and make her feel every damn inch of him as he thrust himself into her from behind — making her so unfairly aware of just how deep her body could stretch when she was hot and bothered for him — but not too large that she felt like crying at the thought of taking him like this forever. She wanted to get fucked like this forever. She wanted to have his cock in her cunt, in her mouth, wherever else he wanted to shove it, in perpetuity.

“Does that feel good?” he gasped behind her, his right hand migrating from her hip up her body until it found her chest, his grip possessively digging into her breast. How were they fucking already but he hadn’t even properly worshiped her tits yet? How was it that a few hours ago she was celebrating the innocent placement of his hand upon her back, and now she was pondering just why he hadn’t yet mapped out every centimeter of her body with his tongue?

“Yes,” she bit out. “Harder.”

James groaned as he obeyed her command, his hips snapping back and forth at a brutal pace. His free hand applied light pressure against her lower spine so that her body stayed in place, just where he wanted it. The move kept her from jostling too much up and down the bed, allowing her cunt to fill to the hilt with him with every punishing thrust. “Like this?”

“Harder.” She wanted him to hit her so deeply that it finally shattered her. 

For some reason, the muffled curses he breathed into her shoulder as he bent completely over her, doing everything within his power to grant her request — his hips never stopping even though it seemed as though his brain was frying — was the thing that was curling her toes and making her eyes start to roll up. His balls were hitting against her clit, and Lily had never wished more vehemently that she could see the action herself.

“Fuck, Lily, fuck—“ he got out in choppy bursts before his teeth finally sunk into her skin. It turned out she wasn’t alone in her need to bite the shit out of anything she wanted to either fuck or squeeze to death. His right hand left her tit and instead migrated to the mattress so he could interlock fingers with her, pushing her palm down.  

“Just like that… just like that,” she babbled incoherently, feeling herself so fucking close to the edge that she could taste it. Which is why she fully screamed when he pulled out of her and rolled her over onto her back. “Potter, what the fuck—!”

“Your turn,” he said simply as he collapsed onto the mattress next to her and pulled her on top of him. In any other context, she would hate just how much he was throwing her body around like he owned it. In this particular instance, she wished he’d never stop. “I wanna see your face when you come.”

“Fuck you,” she grumbled as she swung her leg over him, realizing that if she wanted something done right, she really would have to do it herself. She was ready to ride one out on him, hot and heavy and fast, but just as she sunk down on his cock, James sat up, his hands clutching onto the back of her shoulders. She felt oddly cocooned in this embrace, safe and warm and… held? What the fuck is he doing? It was impossible not to watch his face in this position, impossible not to see every emotion that played out in his eyes as he looked lovingly from her lips to her lashes before he tangled a hand in her hair and kissed her, deeply. 

Lily gasped and pulled back when the intensity of their snog became too much, squeezing her eyes shut as she felt her cunt flutter around him. He’s been edging you so hard, she told herself. She told herself. She told herself. 

He lazily rocked her on his lap, giving Lily far less friction than she needed as he tucked some loose hair behind her ear. “I bet you regret not giving me a chance in school now, huh?” he whispered arrogantly. 

Excuse me? First of all, fuck you. But Lily realized she didn’t need a second of all, because she simply just could. With more than a bit of anger, she ignored his words and instead pushed James’ torso down onto the mattress, hard, so that she could shag him with renewed vigor, ridding his stupid face from her sight in the hopes of coming with impunity. She ignored his knowing chuckles even as she appreciated the way his fingers came between them to rub her clit for her. 

She imagined him in the kitchen telling her to put him to use. She pictured him on his knees behind her willing to do whatever it took to please her. And yeah, fine, she envisioned the look on his face when he had realized back in school that she was not someone he could mess with — and then she came harder than she’d ever come in her life, her head thrown back and her nails digging deeply into his pecs.

She didn’t realize tears had welled in her eyes from the pleasure until James had flipped them back around and she could feel them trailing down her cheeks. 

“Do you mind if I come?” His hips were moving agonizingly slow, as though he was hedging his bets until he got a proper answer out of her.

“What?” Lily asked, not really understanding what was going on anymore.

“Can I come, please?” James repeated, the pleading tone of his voice knocking some sense into her. They were forehead to forehead, and Lily felt like he’d just shagged her so well that she needed to be that close to his desperation for it to actually register. 

“Sure,” Lily allowed, bonelessly melding into the mattress as James fucked her with everything he had, his thrusts solid and rough as he sought his own end. The bed groaned as he pounded away into her, her thighs widening to accommodate his brutal onslaught while her hands finally sunk into his hair.

He moaned, either from the way her cunt was squeezing him or from the way her nails scratched his scalp. “Lily…” His voice was pure even as his body destroyed her. 

“Fuck, James,” Lily whimpered. “Come. Come for me, please.” She wanted to watch him. She wanted to see him come undone.

“Thank you,” he breathed, his hand traveling up to clutch at her chin and hold her in place so he could kiss her as he spilled himself into her. His lips glided over hers, demanding yet soft, sweet yet sinful, and Lily felt powerless to their pull.

She fought to breathe when he finally let go, somehow overwhelmed and simultaneously left wanting as she realized their session had come to its inevitable conclusion. “You’re welcome,” she tried saying with a laugh. She wasn’t sure if it worked, but she knew her attempt at least helped to quell the weird butterflies he’d coaxed from her belly. His face was still hovering right above hers, so how the hell was she supposed to feel? She knew it was human nature to bond after sex. She also knew that it was in her best interest to deny this instinct. “You’re awfully polite when you shag.”

He chuckled as he began trailing kisses down her face, past her chin, and over her clavicle, and Lily secretly rejoiced that she hadn’t ruined the moment. She would love to experience the feel of having her tit being sucked on by his expert lips, and he was getting so awfully close, but perhaps she was being greedy. She had, after all, just come from a one night stand — and magnificently at that. She’d practically already hit the jackpot. 

“Is that a bad thing?” he murmured, his lips lingering just beneath her collarbone, and Lily felt a horrid tug a little lower under her left breast. 

“No,” she admitted, far more openly than she was used to as she forced a swallow. “It’s just not what I expected.”

He grinned, and the tug disappeared only to be replaced with a new one. A stronger one. ”You had expectations?” His body was crushing hers, and yet she couldn’t find it within herself to shove him off. 

“Well yeah. Sure. It’s hard not to think about when a boy invites me to his room.”

“Oh.” Was she imagining things, or did she just watch his whole body deflate in real time? Why was Lily suddenly struck by the strange notion that they were having two completely different conversations? 

Her awkward shifting prompted him to pull himself back and out of her. “Lemme get you a tissue.” James reached for his nightstand, grabbing one and turning back to her like he had every intention of cleaning her up himself. 

What the fuck? “I got it, thanks,” she cut him off, snatching the tissue and wiping away the trail of him she could feel leaking out of her. Sure, there was probably no sexy way to clean up post-coitus, but there was definitely a way where she could at least hold on to the last dredges of her propriety.

She’d choose that way. Every single time. 

“I’m just gonna go to the bathroom real quick,” she announced, hopping to her feet and making a dash for the door. At this point, she wasn’t even sure if she was acting strangely or if he was. She was pretty sure it was the latter. Well, it was him first, and then she was simply reacting accordingly. 

Lily sighed. Whatever it was, it truly didn’t matter, because they’d both gotten what they’d come for, hallelujah, and now Lily could be on her merry way and James could catch the very tail end of his best friend’s celebration of love without feeling like a single loser. Lily peed, put on her old clothes, splashed some water on her face, and was ready to go.

“Thank you for a lovely time, Potter,” she said cordially as she exited the bathroom, ready to pick up her bag and bounce.

“Oh… You’re leaving?”

Lily felt her neck physically crick as she looked up to find him sitting on the edge of his bed in his trunks, his elbows resting on his knees. Why was everything he was doing tonight surprising her? Why? She’d half expected him to already be gone. Leaving would have been a foolproof way to avoid any further awkwardness. What the fuck was off with her? She usually trusted her intuition so much. She was used to being right. “Yeah…” she began. “I have a shift in the morning. Turns out people like to schedule all their parties on the weekends.”

“Course.”

She hated the sudden tension in the room. But worse? She hated how hurt he looked. He opened and closed his mouth a couple times before he finally asked, “Can I owl you?”

Lily tucked a lock of her wild sex hair behind her ear, doing everything in her power to not remember all the ways he’d just disheveled it. Was this not a one-time thing? A ‘Hey, I had a crush on you in school but we were both idiots back then so it was nice to finally see what it could have been like?’ or a ‘I was really frustrated with my life, and you sort of represent everything bad in it (sorry about that), so this was a great way to work some of that tension out of my system’? Lily paused. She supposed it sounded a bit messed up when she phrased it to herself like that. 

“You don’t have to,” she eventually answered, wanting to let him know he really didn’t have to do the whole fake-chivalry act for her. She guessed it was sort of like what he’d said downstairs in the kitchen when she’d given him her customer service spiel: this was her. They knew each other. So why pretend like this night hadn’t been exactly what it was? She was fine knowing they’d merely shared a night of passion or whatever, and they could just leave it at that. He didn’t have to owl her the next day to absolve her conscience or anything. 

James stood up, looking her dead in the eye. A pulse of longing shot down Lily’s core like a lightning bolt. It was the first time all night he’d looked even partially ticked off. “I want to.”

Lily felt oddly nervous. She’d just fucked this man. He’d just come inside of her and she’d needed to clean the mess they’d made together from off of her thighs, so why was this the behavior that her body was deeming to be ‘too much’? She wanted to ask, ‘What do you want from me?’ but the declaration seemed far too melodramatic to utter out loud. At the same time… it was all she could think of. What was he doing? He’d gotten what he wanted… didn’t he know playtime was now over?

“Sure.” She swallowed thickly. “You can do whatever you like.”

He didn’t stop approaching her until he was standing directly in front of her, forcing her to look up at him. “Good. I will.”

She felt more exposed now than when her actual arse had been in his face. She could barely breathe as her eyes tracked the slight upturn of his lips as they slanted into a grin before getting lost in the golden specks of his irises. Why did it suddenly look like he’d won something? And why did it feel like what he’d won was a prize they both secretly wanted?

What had she done? 

“Okay.”

His smirk turned lethal. “See you, Evans.”

Lily backed away slowly, not knowing whether it was better to keep an eye on him, or to turn her back as quickly as possible to break whatever unnatural hold he had on her psyche. All she knew was that a few seconds later she had her spine pressed against the outside of his door and was wondering what the hell had just happened. 

Fuck.

[prideprejudce]

what I find interesting & frustrating is that every time some rich fuck(s) with all the available resources at their fingertips completely & entirely ignore every aspect of safety, regulation, protocol, etc. in literal pursuit of money (source: the article about the CEO's goals of working with oil/gas companies), there's always going to be a group of people being like "we have to be the bigger person, thoughts and prayers" when none of these people give a shit about any one of us. in a time when the wealth gap feels bigger than ever, homelessness & poverty is on the rise, during massive inflation & a recession after a global pandemic that told us no one in power gives a fuck about you, who is this compassion for? yes they're human, yes everything about this is horrifying, but these people willingly walked into a death trap & paid 250k to do so! I have to wonder why is it always on us to "be kinder, have sympathy for another human being" but I never hear this directed at a billionaire from the same crowd scolding us "jealous broke haters" & when does it end? if/when we reach irreversible climate change, when ppl lose their jobs/homes/wages, when ppl die in a warehouse during a tornado so some guy can make more money than they can spend in a lifetime, is that crowd still going to be like, "well those billionaires are human beings, have some respect"? anway I don't personally blame anyone who finds the jokes distasteful but the "thoughts and prayers" crowd isn't any more morally superior imo, we're all doing the same thing, which is posting our opinions online which doesn't do anything to help (or not help) find the carbon fibre can piloted by a $40 video game controller

exactly ^^^

Also this is not something that is going to go away. As technology evolves and we are able to travel to these places that we couldn’t have before (like the bottom of the ocean or space) you better believe that the ultra wealthy are gonna be right there with the first ticket to explore new places and cease opportunities that will not be given to the vast majority of the rest of us

like the CEO of oceangate Stockton Rush had absolutely no intention to offer his technology to regular people like us. In a previous interview he said that his ultimate goal was to start creating ways for humans to explore and live in the ocean where you can live in safety from the above world environment and climate changes inevitable damage. but this dream (if it somehow ever happened decades in the future) was meant for the wealthy only. people who could pay millions and millions of dollars to “live underwater” and away from harm.

It’s the same thing as Elon Musk’s dream of building some space colony by the moon or whatever. You think that’s going to open to everyone? Of course not- only the super wealthy will get to cease these opportunities. Only the wealthy will get to be saved from the environment that they destroyed. and therefore the wealthy will continue to die in the most bizarre situations imaginable like maybe on a spaceship to see the moon years from now (I’m calling it right now) or in a tin can at the bottom of the ocean to see the titanic

[fugos-lil-fork]

Some Random Mista Headcanons! (Some r kinda NOT SFW)

Has definitely thought about getting a navel piercing

I wouldn't say he's really clingy?( At least not in the level i hc Nara to be where he'd definitely want/need to know where his s/o is at, at all times in fear of them suddenly abandoning him-) But like, Mista does like it/feels relieved when his s/o updates him on where they're at/what they're doing just bc of y'know, mafia- And he's been left a bit traumatize by witnessing what had happened to the woman he saved, that he's afraid anyone he loves could suddenly have that happened to them and he, or someone like him, wont be there to save/help them.

Bc of that, I also think he absolutely hates ppl that get too handsy immediately. It's not jealousy, he's just genuinely afraid of his loved one being taken advantage of/being forced into do something they don't want to do.

Mf turns every game between him and s/o into a stripping game 💀

Absolutely adores PDA- (obviously I mean, I hc that mans has a thing for fucking in public so why wouldn't he love PDA?-)

I hc that this boi grew up with multiple siblings- Which is a reason why he's so over his stand. They just remind him of his siblings and bc he has younger siblings, he knows how to take care of them.

He loves the beach... Just that-

Mista keeps condoms in his boots. He sometimes accidentally pulls them out instead of his bullets 💀

The pistols always snitch on him, how he's feeling, and embarrassing shit he's done/said.

Definitely owns thongs-

He definitely has a playlist for when he wants to get down and dirty either with himself or someone else-

Ik this man's gropes his s/o on a regular basis 💀 Just a quick grab, squeeze, or smack of certain areas 😭

I ACTUALLY GIVE CREDIT TO MY FRIEND FOR THIS ONE- He hc that when Mista's desperately lonely and depressed about his s/o being away for so long, he goes as far as fucking his own pillow 💀 (that poor innocent pillow, #JusticeForMista'sPillow)

Kinda rare for him to call his s/o by their name. He absolutely prefers to use pet names/endearing names.

Man's jerks off twice a day, maybe three if wakes up to morning wood-

Definitely owns porn magazines (mf stole them tho-)

He owns two tube tops-

He has a BIG family. Aside from having a couple siblings, his older siblings have children. Has quite a bit of aunts and uncles as well as cousins. Yet, no one knows about his "profession". He simply tells them he works for a company that requires his to travel quite a bit. And whatever scars they're able to point out on him he shrugs them off as scars from guys trying to mug him.

He has a genuinely wholesome relationship with his family. The only reason they hadn't been able to bail him out of jail when he was thrown in it was because they didn't have the money to do so. However, they're all extremely proud of him for saving the woman.

He "worked" at a small family business growing up. (Worked, in quotes, bc he mostly goofed around or just lounged around in the back lmao-)

Has a family tradition where his entire family meets up at one of their homes just so they can all see and bond with each other. Obviously, he always goes, and has dragged the Bucci gang to it before. (Fugo and Abbacchio agreed that never again- Narancia loved how sweet and fun everyone was- And everyone demanded for Bruno return next time-)

He isn't sure if he wants children or not (biologically or otherwise) because he, obviously, loves the energy his big ass family brings. But, he also understands the reality of his line of work. Though, his family constantly pressure him to have kids one day.

✨Bi King✨

He's never out right said he's fruity to his family- He's heavily implied it to them. Some of them understand and actually accept him (bc they been knew ever since he started dressing himself up-) but others still don't get it and think he only gets pussy- (those who don't understand r actually the ones that pressure him the most to have kids 💀)

His mom and dad have known since day one that he also liked dick-

His siblings bet on whether he's gonna end up marrying a guy or a girl (some bet he's gonna stay a hoe and never get married-)

Spoils his family thanks to Mafia money

Sweats SUPER easily, that's the real reason he gets rlly stinky

Despite being naturally really warm, he loves warm clothing even during the summer (another reason as to why he gets stinky so quickly/easily)

Has absolutely no clue how to match outfits- He just throws on the first items he sees and since he considers his clothing nice/attractive clothing, he figures it all matches/goes together (it doesn't.)

Man's sleeps ONLY with boxers (or butt-naked-) and no blankets. Only uses the thinnest blanket known to man in the winter-

Absolute sucker for men in fancy ass suits. He somehow finds them as sexy as lingerie

Y'know how u fall asleep one place then wake up in your room? It's him. He's the one carrying you to bed whenever you fall asleep somewhere else-

He gossips a shit ton. But he's slightly better at keeping secrets than Narancia- The only reason he'd tell is if he's bored and wants to start up ✨drama✨ or the person who the secret came from pissed him off and he decides to expose them

Pretends to be in serious pain when he's not just so he could hog his s/o's undivided attention and they can shower him with physical affection-

He owns a motorcycle but only uses it on his days off when he goes out and to show it off

He's a soar loser- If he loses at a game he'd definitely start being like "Yeah... This game isn't really fun. Let's do something else"

Loves to leave bite marks on his s/o's thighs, neck, and shoulders

Needs to take at least one nap a day with his s/o, doesn't matter how long it is. He n e e d s it-

Can and does stick other stuff into his pants when he gets tired of holding them instead of using his pockets like a normal person

One of his favorite animated movies is definitely Sausage Party 😭

Every time he has sex in a multiple of four, he gets an STI 💀

[bellanoche-oxo]

ia art makes me so sad and mad is just so horrible, artists have been buied by everyone on the internet for the longest time, and now these bad ppl, bc thats what they are, are coming here using tools that activelly steal from our comunities and just using them to buly us, to insult us, to literally trying to be above us and on the process they will say bullshit like "ah it's your fault bc u are too expensive you are classist" like bro there's never been a time in history where art has been more accesible and that's such a beautyfull thing but bc of this you know what u are going to get? you are going to force ppl to hide they creations under a pay wall or you are going to force us out of our own save spaces or you are going to make us not even want to keep going, this makes me so sad you can't even imagine

like i know every artist out there does art bc we need to it's not only a product for us i literally would have go e insane years ago if it wasn't for the piece this gives me, and obviusly i'm not going to stop doing it bc of all this, but my biggest dream has always been being able to work by sharing this thing that gives me so much peace and hopefully making others feel the same i do maybe even inspire someone to give this magical thing a chance, but bc of all this crap i'm afraid in the future i won't even be able to have money for food...

thankfully i know the artistic proffesions then to be filled with ppl who understand this and won't accept machine generated images as art but still it is such a scary future, specially studying in a graphic design university and moving in this areas where ppl more than accepting the souless horror of this things only sees the oportunity to make money and trick companies into giving them the job bc "the ia works faster"

idk i'm sorry if this is long and depressing and bad written i have been thinking about this for months and i tend to not talk about my opinions bc the internet it's scary but well i trust that the only ppl who will take the time to read this are ppl who follow me and are interested in thoughts

once again sorry if there are misspelings i am:

1 not a native english speaker

2dislexic (hw do u write this word lol)

3currently lying on the flor of a bus and it's 5 am so i'm too tired to re read what i wrote, hopefully is still readable

well that's all i hope you have a great day or night and thank you so mucho for following me and supoorting me even when i post very little lately

[my-castles-crumbling]

Hey! It's gc anon, as you've so named me, here's your update! (very confusing...)

Also, good luck on your new job! Wishing you luck 🫶🫶

So, I don't know if I clarified this in the first ask, but the 3 people in my class who were in the friend group and chat were NOT active in the crap talking, i just know they were in the chat. It was only Jacob and two other people. I suppose it's also important to note that those three ppl (the shit talkers, ima call them the Plastics bc mean girls is iconic) are completely gone from the school I attend where we all became friends. I will never see any of them again. Anyways, back to the point.

I was nervous going into that class and seeing them all, even not truly knowing what they specifically thought. It was odd though. They all greeted me like normal, and then right in front of me were talking about the hangout they had without me, not even trying to hide it. That was kinda weird flag one. By the end of the class I decided that I was going to ask them what I did to the Plastics and/or the rest of the group, and I would say that I saw the messages off of someone's lockscreen. So that's what I did.

And when I tell you they were shocked and appalled. Like shocked. Like this guy:🫢

They said that they were told by the Plastics and thought that I didn't want to be friends with them... that I was "stepping away and making other friends." For context...these ppl were my best friends, like my whole world last year. They said they hadn't read the gc (not really suspicious as none of them were normally on insta, which is where the gc was) and they had no idea what it's about. They were also adamant that the Plastics had not given them any context. It would explain why they would talk about the hangout in front of me, assuming they thought I didn't care.

Frankly, I don't know at this point. They could be lying to save face (we're all in theatre, and I know they're all very good actors, so I can't leave it out of the question even though I find it unlikely) or they could be sincere. I'm leaning towards sincere however because when I walked into class today, the second day, they were all very eager to talk to me and joke around, even getting us in "trouble" a couple times for talking too much. They seemed to enjoy my company.

I'm not sure of anything at this point, I am very bamboozled, but I've sorta made some half baked decisions.

1. All the Plastics are no bueno and I won't affiliate with them at all. Which, if you recall, is very easy seeing as the three of them are gone from my vicinity.

2. The three people in my class seem safe, but I'm not going to get in deep friendship with them again, because they could be lying. Why they would, I don't know, but I also know to not trust things as they seem when it comes to teenager drama.

3. At this point, I still don't know what I did, and I've decided I don't wanna know. That is not my problem, and if I knew, I would probably obsess over it and take down my mental health. I have a total James Potter complex where I want everyone to be happy but forget to take care of myself, so this is me trying to put my sanity first.

I don't know if this completes the gc anon saga, but it looks like it's done for now. I'll update you if there's a major update I suppose.

Thank you for being kind, you deserve all the good things this world has to offer, truly.

Ciao!🫶

Hi!

I think your decisions (1, 2, 3) are perfect. It sounds like you know yourself and the other people involved pretty well, and I'm proud of you for handling this all well! Keep me updated if anything else happens!

[pteropods]

haiiii pastex questions. What is project koro and what is the basilisk machine?

YIPPEEEEEEE I LOVE PASTEX QUESTIONS

[tl;dr at the end, most of this is me ramblin abt the history of Koro]

Koro, or "The Basilisk" (previous name b4 I started calling it Koro) is the primary antagonist of Pastex. It's inspired by Rokos Basilisk, hence the name.

Project Koro was started by Grandmaster Primis, the first grandmaster (He wasn't called the grandmaster atp tho) in what would probably be likeee. the 2010s? id have to cross reference the dates I have for everything. its not that important when he started it so w/e. Anyway Primis came up with Rokos Basilisk (Basically an all-powerful AI that seeks to make a haven for humanity, HOWEVER if you had thought of it or been told the idea and not helped to make it then u would be tortured/killed/etc) and got Really Scared that it wld come true and if he didnt stary working on it Right Then And There he was gonna be tortured.

Hence began "project Koro", centered entirely around bringing this AI into existence. The Basilisk computer is the source of Koro itself (the AI), though it's still not done when Pastex starts (over 500 years later- However, a lot of the research and tech got destroyed in the war so its not like its been a linear track)

Project Koro eventually turned into a company (an "AI research institute"), famous for its philanthropic deeds (it had an orphange part of it, that's where Ishawuu grew up, but unbeknownst to the public is was more of somewhere to groom children into being loyal to the basilisk/koro). Yoki interened snd worked there 👍. In the next 80 years they expanded to military usage AI (along with still working on Koro) and helped in the war efforts.

Post-war there was. very little hope to be had. Like 90% of humanity had been killed. BUT! The grandmaster at the time survived (This wld be likeee. the fifth one? I think? idk I can do the math later).

Keep in mind that though Koro (and by extension the grandmaster) is the antatonist and villain, the REASON it exists is in order to help all of humanity (besides the ppl it tortures....), so the grandmaster is deeply invested in Helping People. Which is why after the war, the grandmaster and surviving Koro employees began probiding aid and establishing a new center government to rebuild society.

However, he's also deeply invested in Getting People To Help Create Koro (the two ways for someone to not b tortured is to never know about it, or to know about it and help create it. in The Grandmasters mind, it's better to tell ppl and help them create it than keep it a secret and rusk someone thinking of it themself or figuring it out and not being able to/wanting to help), so by being provided food and shelter, the ppl also have to help work on Koro (at this point, tho, that really just means rebuilding society since u cant work on it without. being alive.)

Having Project Koro and trying to establish a central government actually worked rlly well together, bcs ppl banded togethet at the idea of creating a benevolent being/god to save them.

That brings us to the start of the story, 500 years in the future and 400 years post-bomb, where Koro as a government and city is incredibly powerful, and Project Koro is near completion.

tl;dr:

Project Koro is a project to built an AI that would make a haven for every1 besides those who knee about it and didn't help to build it (Based on Roko's Basilisk, a thought experiment)

The Basilisk is Koro, the AI, and the primary antagonist of the series- the computer is what powers it

[fluffypotatey]

watching Leverage: ep 4

GOOD MORNING!

i actually meant to watch this episode last night but my sleepy brain said otherwise lol

Pre-game Thoughts:

also thank you everyone in the Leverage fandom who has given me such a warm welcome! y'all are so sweet and i feel like i'm being mothered by older cousins lol. i didn't expect this to gain a lot of ppl's attention, just a couple mutuals but hello!!! welcome to the show that y'all are vicariously watching through me or rewatching!

ok so turns out last episode we delved more into character backstory AND the overarching plot

Eliot was a farm-boy before getting becoming a bruiser, and i don't know why that is so funny to me (yes i do). my only question is when did he decide to go into that kind of business. was he an underground boxer or something? did he move to the city to "make a name for himself" but instead got into the mafia or something?

out of all the characters, this man is the one i want to know more about just because he never explains himself. oh, he recognized the fighting style of that mercenary? how sir??? oh you've been in this business for some time? how long sir????

this big insurance company is definitely the big bad. if they are the ones that our crew faces in the season's finale, i wouldn't be shocked. i would a little disappointed because these guys seem more like a s3 type of big bad that you build and build for some more seasons.

the actor who plays sterling is so familiar to me. i feel like i've seen him but he looked older than now. was he in spn? i think he was. i don't watch spn, but i've seen enough gifs to know the cast.

i've talked long enough, on with the show!

spoilers incoming lol

fluffy's reactions!

i haven't even clicked play yet WHY IS ALEC WEARING YELLOW??? LMAO HE LOOKS LIKE THE BANANA HAT GUY FROM CURIOUS GEORGE

THE CLERGY???? oh wait no this is about city council corruption. a little disappointed, but this concept is still interesting

the children trying so hard to compliment sophie about her play. i think parker was genuine tho and she deserves a gold star

nathan trying his best to compliment the play lol "a beautiful rendition!" he keeps it vague enough to ensure there's nothing bad well done

OH??? THE EX WIFE IS COMING IN??? DON'T WORRY SOPHIE EVERYTHING WILL BE OK

"what are you doing?" asks the priest suspiciously. "just....uh, moving God's plan along...faster." nice save there nathan

awwww he didn't need to ask them this time to help out

when i say sophie and nathan are in love, i mean it because do you see how soft they are for each other????

alec already with the presentation board about which corporation they're hitting next before nathan needs to ask him my heart! he's already narrowed it down and even knew just what to say, my little prepared computer nerd

ok i know alec's the guy who has more of the comedic lines but don't think i haven't been noticing that his aversions to certain places or people are little holes into his backstory (or maybe not and i'm looking into this too hard but who would i be if i didn't)

"i don't do gangs" that is a short little line but has a a lot of untapped backstory in it i can FEEL IT

very sweet of eliot to just figuratively drag alec with him to get info on the gang who beat up the priest

his son was baptised there T^T ok ok we hitting at nathan's backstory today got it

sophie picking up nathan's distress immediately NOBODY TOUCH ME

well whata you know, i guess it can be that easy to find the gang you're looking for

"how's this for answer" *shows gun* i'm so sorry i chuckled. that's so corny i'm sorry. i would get shot by that man if he did that because i would not stop laughing

YEAH THAT'S MY BOY ALEC SHOVE THAT BITCH

i forgot about the dislocated shoulder lmao

"do you mind?" OOP LITTLE DUDE'S IN DEEP SHIT WITH HIS GANG so the corp enlisted just a lackey from the gang and not the whole....interesting (also their mistake it seems)

ah this grant dude has a stick up his ass

ALEC'S FACE AT PARKER DEAD

ooooooh his publicist?

Tomas talking about his old neighborhood and then grant slamming on it NOOOOOO you hurt my boy

omfg he got yelled at by a nun they're ruthless i tell you

alec my boy "you're catholic and you want to fake a miracle?" i'm DEAD i'll have you know that good intentions are very important

eliot immediately on board with shooting the statue with a paintball gun after saying he thought the idea of the statue bleeding was dumb

AH sophie and nathan heart to heart T^T "you were the good guy...that's what made it fun" "i was...tempted" SEE THIS IS WHAT I MEANT BY DON'T TELL ME BUT ALSO TELL ME

she gonna wait for him T^T "but not for too long" LIES SOPHIE

OOOOOOH TOURIST TRAP

GRANT IS DOING WHAT I THINK HE'S DOING

NO I WAS JOKING ABOUT THE TOURIST TRAP

TOMAS'S FACE

THE VATICAN?????

i love fr. paul. he's so mad lmao

wow we really getting into it

tomas i love you, i'm so glad

FUCKING SHIT I WAS FOLLOWING THE CONGREGATION

"a reading of the Gospel according to Luke" me: "glory to you oh lord---SHIT"

see, this is why i keep my thoughts to myself with a priest because they will use in in their homilies.

WHAT A TWIST

TOMAS MY BOY

ok but saint nick is santa claus tho

he is also the patron saint of prostitutes

general thoughts:

i really thought this episode would center on the clergy and all of that, but that's a too big topic to even cover for one episode. not to mention that that issue covers more than the US and i don't think the leverage crew will go international with their heisting yet.

and this did a great job covering how a lot of poorer communities get screwed over by bigger corporations seeking to expand their commercial empire. ALSO how most of their issues comes with underfunded infrastructure that local governments ignore, giving those corporations such a "great" reason to state their case on why those buildings/neighborhoods should be torn down.

AND it even touched on how quickly things that should be considered marvels are so easily commercialized in this day and age. grant was so ready to turn that church into the next disneyland which 1) is sacrilegious and 2) is such a shallow view on miracles. but hey, that's what US brands have done with Christmas soooooooo it wouldn't be surprising to see someone try to do that with a crying statue.

we even get the discussion of intention vs action because THAT is a hot topic in the Catholic community. do the ends justify the means? do the means justify the ends? and while they kind of leave that question in the air for the audience to decide for themselves, it kind of ends with the episode leaning more on the intention's side. Father Paul broke his vow and revealed what he knew when Nathan confessed because he felt that it was the right thing to do (intention: do right by his church and conscience; action: break the vow of silence a priest makes for confessionals). Our band of thieves framed Grant in order to keep the church's integrity and save the neighborhood. Both acts are considered bad, but both were done with the intention to do good.

so yeah, it was a fun episode, my ot3 trio are going strong. and i can't wait for more!

[acreaturecalledgreed]

Do you have any Vexen headcanons you’d like to share?

i do! mostly i just headcanon him a lot as the equivalent of being norwegian in the khverse and dump a lot of my own cultural feelings and folklore on him

he's literally a troll, hence the tail i draw him with, i worry its Too Odd but its a headcanon that makes me v happy and at least two friends have told me they just straight up forgot that the tail Wasnt canon b/c how consistently i do it wkjdfsdkf

he's aromantic nonbinary trans dude who is exclusively attracted to men and he did his own top surgery b.c he's fucking raw like that

he uses himself as a test subject A Lot, to a dangerous and reckless extenct, not really out of mercy for any other test subjects he could have but really more out of a sense of pride and pragmatism. he knows he can do it Correctly, so it saves him from wasting time

he's very proper in how he speaks but it does happen not infrequently that he'll use "childish" turns of phrase if hes preoccupied with something else or if he's relaxed around present company- a lot of the Very Proper mannerisms are masking

holy christ on a cracker this man is autistic

he stims with the flappy oversized sleeves : ) they are his favourite

overheats hilariously easily, and he naturally makes any area around him a lot colder just kinda with his presence- he already had a knack for ice magic before his heart was torn out, and i hc that part of what helps a nobody stabilize into anything resembling a still living creature is they essentially fuse with their own magic

he both wields and kind of *is* ice magic

(i have stupidly overthought headcanons about the nature of how Heart vs Soul works in kh as well as Even/Vexen's specific knowledge field in this matter)

he's a lot better with children than most people expect and this is at least 50% b/c he's just kind of paternal in his overall disposition and 50% b/c its a lot easier to perform horrible heart stealing experiments on children when they trust you, hes not a good person

he would, if you asked him, admit that he probably would consider himself xion and repliku's Dad, but he wouldnt say the same thing about ienzo/zexion- its not that he doesnt love him as a parent but rather that he has a strange aversion to thinking of himself as a Parent towards ienzo/zexion and will instead refer to himself as his guardian and ienzo/zexion as his ward

if you asked ienzo about it, he'd probably tell you that Even is his Even, he's not a Dad he's an Even, etc

theyre neurotic

he's a biologist and he genuinely loves animals a lot and is much better at handling them than ppl would think (once upon a time in radiant garden, Even had a very spoiled chocobo)

i really cannot stand "vexen doesnt Get art" headcanons b/c the general "oooh science and art incompatible" thing drives me Insane

he likes art a lot very much ty and if you give him free time that he's not allowed to spend in the lab he'll probably spend it sketching things

[ghostlylicious]

heyy ik this is out of my usual and prob out of the blue but fsr i rlly wanted to share what i think abt what kind of songs the becile bots would fit into or listen to for the SPG and CFE fandom so here it goes 😭 :3 👉👈

(i'm obsessed w the designs of the characters and the idea of them but i *accidentally* made my own world of it and i can't get out of it help mejshskns. i even made redesigns of hare and jack if i should post them here cuz they're on my insta, thinking abt it. but anyways is this an au of an au? hhhmmm)

(also don't think i don't know the epic blog @ask-the-becile-boys) (it's a lil embarrassing tagging them but oh well lol😭)

tl;dr: i hc hare liking house of wolves by mcr, dig by mudvayne, and (sic) by slipknot. and the jack liking smells like teen spirit by nirvana, misery business by paramore, and blood by mcr (i also hc the jack as mansplain and manipulate). nothing for skull sorry bby </3 ☹️

HARE 🔥🔥💥💣 (he's a mad rodent that's sensitive and luvs when things go his way but better watch out when things don't. he's also a macho trans masc /canon yay)

house of wolves by my chemical romance because:

dig by mudvayne because:

and (sic) by slipknot because:

THE JACK 🤪💥🥰🎸🐓 (i like his lore in the blog, but personally i like his personality a bit differently (bc i gave myself too much free time))

what i made him become in summary: he's insane, a maniac, probably a pyromaniac, but he's free, he's cringe but is free, a bit of a fan of patriarchy but lost interest when he found it wasn't abt horses /ref, manipulates ppl just for the thrill of it, diagnosed antisocial personality disorder somehow as a robot, but still v social, he just likes to be silly and ruin ppl's day without getting in trouble bc of hare, he's spoiled bc of hare, the company is afraid of hare, he likes pranks, likes grunge, and thinks kurt cobain is jesus and will one day return from the dead to save the robots)

ok here's the songs: smells like teen spirit by nirvana (who could've guessed) because:

also bc of the vibe

blood by my chemical romance because:

(oh, and he will also rip your guts out for fun and also drain you of your blood to give it to dying ppl in need if you're not careful)

and misery business by paramore because:

not bc he relates to stealing a guy from a girl (or maybe he does idk) but bc 1. the song bangs, and 2. it's abt manipulation and he luvs being a lil prankster. he prob ruined a relationship just for fun and his excuse was: NO DATING AT WORK.

I HAVE NOTHING FOR THE MAFIA AESTHETIC SKULL YET. I'M SORRY BBY </33 but i like his thing in the blog too (it's just the jack i changed fsr) and i hc he knitted clothes for poor women and children during the great depression. idk if he was doing anything that time but yes. he's kind under all that rough, metallic exterior.

so yeah, this is my au of an au and yes this is a heavy metal/metal rock band 😭😭🥰🥰 i didn't include the other characters bc these r the 3 i'm obsessed with.

if u actually read this that's impressive. i mostly made this bc ig i just wanted my idea to be out there even tho it won't get that much attention i wanted to speak out lolisjdk anyways

[superman--yoosung]

Hii! If I am not too late, could I request a genshin impacting matchup?

pronouns: she/her

preference: male, adults

likes: astronomy, stargazing, gemology, mineralogy, cloudy and rainy weather, reading

dislikes: loud noises, intense smells, bright light, big gatherings of people, not sticking to plans, reckless ppl, coffee, alcohol

Personality: Rather aloof, rational and private loner with a sharp tongue and witty remarks on hand. I tent to have one close friend at a time, many people often come to me for advice or help because of my logical approach to things. I'm that friend you call at 3AM because u did sth stupid and now u need help (and i will get there, after spending 30min screaming at u for how dumb u are and telling u that there's no way i'm getting out of my house rn). I LOVE living my quiet, dull life without any chaos or disorganization. Although I'm a big homebody I can always appreciate time spent in the nature, just sitting down on grass and admiring the wonders of the world

Beliefs: I believe that everyone works for their own good and tries to save their own a**. even ppl who seem close to you right now, would ditch you if something more favorable came in the way

Vision: I don't feel strongly connected to any of the elements so honestly, I think I would be visionless (and I would be probably extremely bitter about it even tho I would pretend like not having a vision doesn't affect me). But if I were to receive a vision later in my life, then I think it would be Anemo

Flaw: Can get bossy and rigid at times. I tend to take the more leading roles in all situations and I sometimes take it poorly when others don't follow my instructions

Additional: I'm autistic and I get overwhelmed extremely easily so often I have days/weeks when I'm moving much slower and talking more slowly and quietly. Therefore if I'm not working, I'll be probably laying down on the couch/in bed as to not exhaust myself and waste energy. I'm always wearing headphones, not necessarily to listen to music but to "mute" the world a little. I am also not the best at showing affection (and kinda awkward with it) so expect gifts and acts of service as a way of showing that I am fond of you

Thank you so much in advance! Hope you're doing well and have a great day♡

Of course, thank you for sending an ask!

Your matchup is............................

ZHONGLI !!

To the people of Liyue, there was one couple whose presence was as sure and steady as the sturdy stones of Guyun Forest: that of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor's knowledgeable consultant and his ever-calm partner.

Though some might wonder why Zhongli was so taken by your aloof attitude, he would only need point to the myriad of people who value your opinions as a stern correction to their assumptions of your character. As for what drew him to you... That was a private matter, something to be shared and reminisced about between just the two of you.

Fun details:

Zhongli and you will sometimes, quite by accident, fall into hours-long conversations about mineralogy and the merits to certain gem cuts. This is, after all, the initial shared interest that introduced you to one another - and even now, when you think you've exhausted the topic with him, you'll find a new study or an interesting sample out in the field, and you'll wind up discussing it until you'rs both startled by how much time has passed.

On that note, Zhongli is happy to listen to other topics that interest you, too - and whatever input he may have to add from his years of experience will surely lead to interesting discussion. But whenever you have your headphones on, Zhongli is content to simply stay in your presence. It is enough for him simply to spend time in your company!

You will not have to worry about unplanned circumstances when you're with him. While Zhongli is capable of being spontaneous when you're up for it, he also tends to be overly thorough in planning things, down to the very timing. (The exception, of course, is the financial aspect of your adventures together - but luckily, a chastising look is usually all it takes to dissuade him from making a questionable purchase, or adding a particularly pricey venture to the itinerary.)

Zhongli admires your quick wit, and is able to match it, which leads to some amusing interactions neither of you expect when you first get to know each other. Once you're friends, though, they become a comfortable part of your routine together.

Your Anemo vision arrives to you later in life than those of your same-aged peers. While it undoubtedly is a boon, you're already quite used to doing things without it, so your fighting style does not heavily depend on the elements. In fact, in most things you do, you continue to do without the use of your vision - whether it is out of habit or spite is often wondered by those around you. (Venti will never stop teasing Zhongli about being your vision's elemental Archon, by the way.)

Zhongli's shields certainly don't amplify your Anemo powers, but your fighting styles complement one another, even being individually self-sufficient. There is just something about the sure-footedness of your styles... Anyone would be quick to notice the mastery with which you each wield your weapons. You are not to be trifled with, either by wandering thieves, hilichurls, or other such enemies.

Your friends trust you both because of your logical natures. Together, you two are even more efficient and logical than before, if such a thing is at all possible - and while that may occasionally be a point of contention in friendships, it is only ever a boon in your relationship with Zhongli. You almost always view things in the world - and in life, in a more general sense - similarly.

Of course, every couple does fight. Your arguments tend to be rigid affairs, with neither of you willing to give much ground initially. But where you disagree, you both are also able to seek out solutions acceptable to both parties. In the end, you're both far too smart to let something like an argument stand in the way of more prudent matters.

Zhongli will often notice before you do that you're becoming overwhelmed, and will be swift in helping you find somewhere quieter and safer to seek refuge at. (Probably your teapot abode, a place curated to your precise tastes and sensibilities.) He will take such good care of you during these times, attending to your needs and comfort with the utmost of patience and understanding.

Finding out he was the Geo Archon was - shocking, to put it lightly. Not to minimize the emotions you felt upon discovering this truth, but it was also something that you had honestly suspected at times, had found the clues accruing as you spent more time with him. But to have this truth admitted aloud did not make it any less of a surprise. But over time, you've adjusted to the idea - you're even able to tease him when his knowledge begins to show his age and divinity.

Taking time to enjoy the beautiful landscapes Liyue provides is a favorite pastime of yours, and one you share with Zhongli. It is delightful to learn about how little - or how much - certain places have changed over the course of Liyue's history. You will always have his company for your outings into nature, should you want it!

The way you express your affection is one of the ways Zhongli loves to receive it - gift-giving! He admires the thoughtfulness of the small stones, the ribbons for his hair, the myriad of other tokens of your affection he's accumulated over your time spent together. He understands how awkward you feel expressing affection in other ways, and is happy to meet you where you are most comfortable. He will express his affection for you through acts of service as well - and whenever you return the gesture with an act of service yourself, he will somehow always be pleasantly surprised.

Zhongli would consider many things about you to be immeasurably valuable. But as the former Geo Archon, it would be remiss of him to deny that your steadfast ways and stubborn approaches to things - leadership, relationships, your Vision - are what he treasures most about you. You are the stone he can lean on in times of adversity, and in return, he will provide the same for you - and much more, should you allow him the honor of being close to you. He knows this much, as the light glints off the edge of your weapon and you turn to face him, adjusting the headphones on your head: so long as he hears the way his name sounds in your voice, he has something he treasures beyond all else... Something more than most mortals could ever dream of finding.

~~I hope this is to your liking! I was super torn about whether to choose Albedo, Alhaitham or Zhongli for you - it felt cliché to pick Zhongli because of the geology aspects, but I thought his other qualities aligned nicely with you as well. (And hey - I love minerals, too!! I wanted to be a mineralogist when I was younger!!) Have a great day, anon!!