#idk if anyone here has been following me long enough to remember this but

[98chao]

monkie adventure 2 ???? real not fake???

[palioom]

cavity search

summary: javier has left your calls unanswered for more than two weeks, so you come up with a plan that will bring him right to you.

pairing: javier peña x f!reader

word count: 2.9k

warnings: 18+ content; no use of y/n; cavity search; anal fingering/play; vaginal fingering/fisting; some degradation (whore, puta); handcuffs; no knowledge about airport security before the 2000s

a/n: idk what i was on when i wrote this & i wish i remembered what inspired this // banners by @saradika

• masterlist •

Checking her purse for a final time in the taxi, she smiled, seeing the tiny package of coke hidden at the bottom of it, beneath the huge cellphone, makeup and perfume and her wallet.

The plan was stupid and risky. Trying to pretend to smuggle a little coke through airport security on a fake flight over to Cali. Just to get his attention? It was worth her money.

Though, there was no guarantee that Javier Peña would be sent over once they caught her. But she was willing to bet on it since he was supposed to be near the airport today - or so she’d heard.

Because even though he couldn’t stop telling her how much he loved fucking her while his cock was buried inside of her weeping pussy, he hadn’t answered her calls in more than two weeks. Sure, this was nothing more than a bit of fun on the side, but she sure was hurt and eager to have him again.

Eager and just a bit crazy enough to do this.

When the taxi stopped at the airport, she paid the driver with a smile before getting out, straightening her short skirt. 

He would love what she wore and she couldn’t wait to see his face.

The check-in was easy, twirling her boarding pass in her hands as she bit her lip. She could already feel herself get wet at the thought of him having to come here, not even entertaining the thought of them sending anyone else.

Taking out her cellphone, she pretended to make a call while going over to the security check, laughing and name-dropping some of Escobar’s associates. 

Gacha, the Ochoa’s, Escobar himself.

Pretending she knew about a dropoff, not caring who heard.

It was insane, seeing the reactions by the guards around her, noticing the whispers, one of them leaving while the other waved her over to inspect her now.

“Hasta luego.” She said, all sweet and confident, putting her phone back into her purse. Smiling at the man in front of her who urged her to put her heavy bag down.

He simply searched it, placing the contents onto the table. The phone, the makeup, her perfume.

And finally, the small bag of cocaine, looking at her with a raised brow while she just smiled innocently.

“I have no idea how that got in there.” She said as he put everything into the bag again, save for the drugs.

“Sígame, por favor.” Was all he replied to her, motioning for her to follow him, another officer already approaching her as well, flanking her.

This could go very wellor incredibly bad now, letting them lead her to a private room where she simply waited, anticipation setting her body on fire. She had to squeeze her legs together to try and get some friction, growing more and more horny by the minute, her hands cuffed to the middle of the table.

Then, the door opened, and in walked Javier Peña, his face going from serious to surprised and then back to serious, all while her smile grew bigger.

“Do you need me to stay with you, Agent Peña?” The officer asked.

Javier shook his head.

“I got it from here. She’s tied to Escobar so this is my jurisdiction.” He said to the officer who let him in, giving him a stern look when he hesitated for a moment but finally left them alone.

Just standing there, he let out an incredulous laugh, shaking his head.

“Fucking hell, chiquita.” He said, feeling angry but also incredibly impressed by her boldness, knowing just by her grin this had been a plan of some sort which seemed to be going incredibly well.

“Hello, Javi.” She replied, lips still stretched wide into a smile, but her eyes were filled with excitement and hunger. “Long time no see.”

Stepping closer, he placed his hands on the table, leaning over to her, no hint of amusement on his face.

“What the fuck do you think you’re playing at, chiquita?” Oh, he was angry. Voice quiet but deadly. “You’re smuggling drugs now?”

She giggled at his question, batting her eyelashes at him with her cocky grin and shrugging her shoulders.

“You didn’t answer my calls, Javi.” 

His face fell for just a moment before he laughed, biting at his bottom lip and standing up straight. Towering over her as he rounded the table.

“You little puta.” Stopping next to her, she had to crane her head to look at him, his arms crossing in front of his chest, his biceps bulging in the short sleeved red shirt he wore. The smallest smirk curled his lips upward. “Getting arrested for what? Some dick? Is that really worth it to you?”

Again, she shrugged her shoulders. 

“You should take it as a compliment, Javier. I would if I was you.”

Her heart beat in her throat at the sight of him like this, wondering if he looked at his suspects the same way he looked at her right now.

“How’d you even know they’d call me?” 

“I didn’t, I just hoped they would.”

What a clever, crazy little thing. Who was insane enough to buy a cheap flight and get a baggy of drugs just because their calls hadn’t been answered in a while?

Her, apparently. And somehow, he liked it.

Javier sighed, thinking this whole thing over. Something about this had him half hard in his jeans already, the thought of her desperate pussy enough to get him going.

Maybe he could pull this through, just go along with her little game. But it would just give her what she wanted, wouldn’t it?

Reaching for the cuffs, he unlocked them, surprising her. He wouldn’t just let her go like this, would he? How would he explain this to anyone?

“Get up, looks like I gotta do a cavity search.” He said, tone flat, like he was bored, like this was routine to him. Just another workday. Meanwhile it got her going, eyes widening just a little, gaze dark. “Pretty girls like you don’t just hide a couple of grams in their purse, strip.”

Blinking up at him, her mouth fell open at the direct orders, just slightly and he had to chuckle at her dumbfounded look. She clearly hadn’t expected this.

“C’mon, I don’t like to repeat myself. Get your ass up and strip.”

His tone had her get up quickly, her hands moving to her skirt, opening the zipper at the side. As she let it fall to the floor he took his time to pat her down, first moving over her sides, really squeezing at her waist and hips before moving up again, stepping behind her. She gasped when he cupped her breasts through her clothes, maybe just a little too hard.

He had to make sure she didn’t hide anything, after all.

“You take your job very seriously.” The sarcastic remark earned her another squeeze, harder this time. “There’s nothing there, Peña.”

He grinned, letting go of her and taking a step back, watching her strip out of her underwear, the black, lacy panties landing on the floor, her ass exposed to him.

The air in the room felt cold without anything on, shivering just a little as she waited for his next orders, excited and dripping wet already.

She didn’t expect to feel the cold metal of his handcuffs on her ankle, tying her to the leg of the table on one side before he roughly took her other ankle and attached it to the other side with the pair he had taken from the table, forcing her to bend over it, fully exposed to him.

It was quiet, only their breaths softly echoing off the walls, and she just waited for him to touch her, clenching around nothing at the thought of his rough hands all over her body and pussy.

Then, he moved around her, appearing in her field of vision and going to a smaller table standing in the corner, grabbing the box of gloves standing on it. Her breath hitched in her throat but he only looked back at her with a raised brow.

“You really thought I’d search you without these?” He asked, placing the box down on the table in front of her, taking one out before he moved behind her again.

She turned her head to look at him, watching as he put on the bright blue glove, just the sound making her whimper.

“Usually we find drugs placed in someone’s ass, so I guess I’ll start there, huh?” His non-gloved hand pressed her flat onto the surface, laying between her shoulder blades, her ass perfectly sticking out for him. “Or do you want to admit to something before I start?”

She shook her head firmly, gasping loudly when she felt his fingers spread her cheeks before he spit onto her asshole, hearing him laugh at her strangled moan. 

One finger pressed against the tight ring of muscle, eliciting a moan from her as it slipped inside. This was far from the first time he had put his thick fingers inside of her ass, but the situation just made the sensation feel so much better.

“Where did you even get them?” He asked almost casually as he spread her open, pushing his finger in and out of her carefully.

She moaned, fingers curling into the hard metal surface of the table, biting her lip.

“Friend of a friend, owed me a favour.” She responded, breathless.

“Fucking hell, chiquita.” He muttered, carefully adding a second finger.

A moan slipped past her lips, her own hand coming up to cover her mouth, muffling her noises while he scissored his fingers, opening her wider.

God, he was thorough in his inspection.

“Hid them pretty well, bebesita.” Javier said, pushing his fingers in all the way to the knuckle, wiggling them around and laughing at the strangled noises that left her. “But I suppose your ass is empty.”

Pulling his fingers out, he sighed, the sound of latex snapping appearing behind her before the crumpled glove landed on the table next to her and he took a new one.

“Wish it wasn’t.” She mumbled, cheek pressed into the cold metal, looking back at him. The sharp smack of his hand on her ass echoed in the room, making her cry out before she bit into her closed fist. It was a nice feeling, the pain bleeding into pleasure, his fingers now rubbing against the sopping entrance of her pussy.

“You really get off on this, don’t you?” He chuckled, pressing two fingers into her without warning, making her squirm and try to adjust her stance. “Me searching your ass? That’s what you wanted, didn’t you? Getting your ass searched and then your pretty pussy?”

She gripped his fingers tight, still pumping in and out of her, stretching her open, his words only turning her on more.

“I can feel your pussy answering me, bebesita, but I need an answer from you for the record.” Scissoring his fingers, she moaned into her hand, her eyes closing. 

“Yes.” She breathed out, whining when he pressed a third finger in, the stretch bringing that sweet pain with it that she loved. “That’s what I wanted, yes!”

He chuckled, his hand between her shoulder blades pressing down harder as he leaned onto it, his fingers knuckle deep inside of her.

“Must’ve hidden them pretty well, still can’t find a damn thing, chiquita.” 

She felt so close already, his gloved fingers stroking along her inner walls expertly, her knees beginning to wobble.

“Javi- Mhmm, ‘m good at hiding things.” Her words came out slurred and incoherent, biting down into her fist harder.

His brow raised at her words, curling his fingers.

“So you do have something hidden here?” He asked with a grin, stroking along that good spot of hers again and again, watching as her eyes rolled into the back of her head. “Did you just admit that you do, chiquita?”

Her orgasm took her by surprise, knocking all air out of her lungs as she pulsed around his fingers, moaning against her fist, feeling the intense waves reach every part of her body as she shook on the table.

But he didn’t stop, using the gush of wetness to work another finger into her, paying close attention to how she squirmed and moaned at the feeling, eyes closed in bliss. This was new for either of them, but she seemed to enjoy the stretch.

“Gonna have me put my whole hand up your pussy to get it?” 

She was already dripping down his hand and the inside of her thighs, wetting his watch as he kept pumping in and out, four fingers inside of her.

He wondered if she could take his whole fist, in awe of how tight she was around his fingers but also how much she could fit already.

Greedy thing.

“Hope it was worth doing this, bebesita.” He rasped, watching her twitch from the overstimulation, some tears in the corners of her eyes. “Making me fist your tight pussy, think you can take all of it, baby?”

She nodded, unsure if she could take it but wanting to try, the sensation of four fingers already bordering on too much.

“Can take it, can take it.” The words were still slurred, her mind hazy as he worked her open wider. Feeling so full, so nice and stretched open.

“You better, for getting me out here, making sure you don’t have any more drugs hidden anywhere.”

Javier felt like he could cum from this alone, easing the rest of his hand into her slowly after a minute or two, stopping his moments as she let out a strangled moan, both trying to escape from him while also backing into his hand, now inside of her all the way to the wrist.

“Fuck, look at that.” A low whistle accompanied his words before he chuckled. “Taking my whole hand and there’s no drugs hidden anywhere, just wanted me to fist you. Did two weeks really get you that desperate?”

She was right at the edge again, feeling that familiar tug while the stretch threatened to overwhelm her, tears running down her cheek and onto the table.

Couldn’t believe just how full she was, thinking about how huge his hand was. Feeling the cool metal of his watch against her pussy.

“So desperate to get searched by a DEA agent, all because I didn’t have time for you, bebesita. You filthy thing.”

Tensing his fist inside of her, he pushed her over, her entire body convulsing and daring to just collapse if he didn’t press her down onto the table with the hand not currently buried inside of her. Not a single thing was in her head as she rode out her orgasm, boneless and unable to produce much noise.

Just too overwhelmed with the foreign feeling, the slight pain and the pleasure. The fullness. Reaching places inside of her she didn’t thought were possible to reach.

Javier let her ride out the waves before slowly, carefully removing his hand from her, more of her juices dripping over his forearm, over his watch. Utterly in awe of what she had done, suddenly unwilling to simply let her go.

“Nothing.” He said with a hint of disappointment, stripping the glove off of his hand, throwing it to the other one. “A desperate whore and a liar.”

She felt spent, barely registering his hand running along her pussy lips as he knelt down, admiring his work. Pretty and wide for him, he just had to have her.

Not here, though. Javier uncuffed her from the table and helped her sit down on the chair, letting her catch her breath.

“Think I gotta investigate you more thoroughly, chiquita.” He threw the gloves in the trash before coming back to help her get dressed, seeing just how fucked out the was. That would be hard to explain, but he was sure he would find a way.

After all, Javier was good at talking himself out of things.

“Guess you know more about Escobar than I thought you did.” 

She weakly smiled back at him, her hand on his shoulder when he helped her stand, pulling up her skirt. Still wobbly, but giggling at least.

“You can search me all you want, you won’t find a thing. I’m just too good.” There was a mischievous twinkle in her eyes, her fingers curling into his shoulder. “I’d love to see you try, though.”

He shook his head, painfully aware of his hard dick straining against his jeans.

No matter how pissed he had been at the beginning of this, he certainly did not feel any of that anger anymore. Impressed with her whole idea and fucking horny because of her.

“Then let’s go and continue this in private, I’m sure I can get you to talk somehow.” He joked, moving behind her to cuff her wrists with a smirk. “The DEA doesn’t have to know about my methods, do they?”

She nodded, trying to look like he hadn’t just shoved his entire fist inside of her, stumbling a little.

“Maybe you can do a more thorough cavity search, Agent Peña.” A giggle left her at the sharp inhale behind her, looking at him over her shoulder. “I could still have something hidden up my ass, you know.”

Oh, she really was crazy.

In a way, he really was glad to have not called her back in so long.

How else would they have found out that she can take much more than just his dick?

[kradogsrats]

If Soren seems to have gotten sick when he was a toddler, do you think Lissa left shortly after Claudia was born…? Maybe that doesn’t quite line up, actually…

Okay so I saw someone ask Aaron Ehasz a similar question about the timeline of Soren's illness re: Viren's dream vs. the events presented in Puzzle House, and I cannot remember where it was but his response was something like "hm... well you should probably believe the show."

Which immediately made me go "oh my god was Soren actually dead for like three to five years and Kpp'Ar was looking for a unicorn horn to resurrect him in a manner similar to the Star magic spell that 'restores bodies to separated spirits' and then instead Viren stole Ziard's staff from him and used that??????" which is a) insane, and b) has several reasons it probably isn't the case. But it's a thought I had.

Anyway, let's look at our contrasting sources:

Puzzle House

Puzzle House establishes the following sequence of events:

Soren is ill to the point of dying

Kpp'Ar disappears

Soren gets better

Lissa leaves

It's also implied that this was all pretty recent, between King Atticus's concern for Viren and Soren's for Claudia:

So, how old are all these extremely precocious young children in Puzzle House?

Well, Sarai is... quite pregnant. She's got a pretty small frame, but I'd still put her at like 30 weeks, minimum. Ezran is pinned at 10 in the official character lineup. (In s4 he says he was "nine years old" when Harrow was killed. Given his March birthday, he is probably fudging that a bit since s1 starts mid-May so he was pretty recently 10 at the time.) Viren also puts Harrow's coronation and Sarai's death at nine years earlier, at which point I would estimate Ezran at roughly 6-8 months, given how he is portrayed.

Also given the mid-May start to s1, we also have Claudia at almost 17, and Soren at about 18 and a half. Soren is about 18 months older than Claudia. So between all of that, we can probably ballpark Puzzle House at about one year before Harrow's coronation. This puts Soren at about 8 and a half, and Claudia at almost 7. (And Callum at about to turn 5, if anyone's keeping track.)

Given the way it's spoken about, I would not put Soren's recovery at earlier than 6 months prior, and probably more like 3 or so. This roughly lines up with the estimates I had for everything before, so idk go me or whatever.

Strangers

We do also have a third source for details on Soren's illness, which is the Strangers short from Reflections. This establishes that Soren was old enough to remember details about that time:

If Soren was the age he appears in Viren's dream, then a) he probably wouldn't remember any of it, and b) Claudia would have been an infant. Now, an infant can definitely cry in their room until morning, but I do think the implication here is supposed to be that she was old enough to understand what was happening and have emotions about it.

Additionally, Soren thinks of the slow breaths practice as something he did therapeutically for a long time:

Basically, I think it's pretty clear between this and the info in Puzzle House that the Puzzle House timeline is accurate, but Soren initially developed what was actually a chronic illness much earlier.

Viren's Dream

Now, what about Viren's dream?

It's incredibly difficult to pinpoint ages of children in animation purely visually, so I'm mostly basing an estimate of 2-3 years old for Soren during Viren's dream off of his demonstrated stage of linguistic development and the fact that he's able to run. He could be delayed in one or both areas, though.

Viren dreams of Soren turning to stone, similar to how Thunder did (and how Viren does in the opening). This is interesting in that the implication is certainly death, but it also has heavy ties to dark magic and the other themes of Viren's dreaming, which I would say put it as more related to something along the lines of a "sealed fate" rather than literal death. Dreaming Viren knows what he didn't know when Soren was that age, and probably developed his first recognizable symptoms—that this illness would come close to killing him, and Viren would give up everything to save him.

There's also a possible implication there that dark magic was actually what caused Soren's illness in the first place, which could be something interesting to explore. (And I've definitely seen people explore it, before.)

Anyway, like most of Viren's dream, it's accurate but not literal.

TL;DR: Dreams are fucking weird, and Claudia was still probably between six and seven years old when Lissa left the family.

[blackraged]

MORTAL KOMBAT 1 Thoughts Pt1.

[❌❌contains SPOILERS❌❌]

I've been waiting for this for such a long time and we finally got it. Now with MK1 being practically a full reboot, A LOT of changes are to follow. So here are my current thoughts in order how the story went:

Chapter 1

Kung Lao and Raiden being practically brothers is my fave thing in the world.

Half of the MK1 boys are full on babygirl and honestly? I love that for them. Except for Shang Tsung because that feels very much illegal.

That last scene with Madam Bo felt like a fcking fever dream.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN KUAI LIANG IS SCORPION? WHAT THE FCK DO YOU MEAN?? WHERE IS HANZO?? That feels very wrong. Only Hanzo is allowed to say "gET OVER HERE" that is HIS iconic line. I'm not sure if I like this change.

I KNEW the boys were pulling their punches. I KNEW IT. The entire fight felt so awkward and staged. For a short moment I legit thought NRS pushed down on their fighting animation.

Chapter 2

Sooo...Johnny is a failed Actor now? What happened to the glamour? That's not very Cage behavior.

Okay but I love love LOVED Liu Kang literally showing up in front at Johnny's Door all serious, and Johnny being Johnny.

What made NRS choose to paint Kenshi as a former Yakuza?? I mean the idea isn't too bad, because it would make sense for him to be searching for Sento to free his family. But I still prefer his revenge timeline more. Hell, even him being a cocky arse warrior trying to fight anyone and everyone made more sense.

Chapter 3

Idk why but I half expected Kano to show up in this chapter. The trailers made it look like he was at the Wu Shi academy

Liu Kang practically pathed the way for human Raiden to be champion and it shows. I'd like to think it's out of respect for former God Raiden from before, who practically raised Liu Kang and was a father figure to him.

General Shao is so fine, I can't. He was hot before, but now he's so....so..... y'know?

Liu Kang really wanted to give Kitana the loving Fam she deserved qwq

Everyone is so mean to Li Mei :(( I feel so bad for her

Reiko tho😳😳😳

Raiden has a cruuush~ Raiden has a cruuush~ unexpected but cute. I wonder what Liu Kang thinks about this.

Chapter 4

Johnny and Sonya are forever iconic...but Johnny and Kenshi? I didn't know I needed it until I had it. Their bickering is GOLD. They're so married.

Wealthy merchant Baraka???

Props to Quan Chis new look. He looks like a clown escaped asylum. Very uncanny.

Are they...are they trying to redeem Shang Tsung? No,that would be way too obvious. Plus that intro scene with Krusty Kronika makes it super sus.

Called it.

Chapter 5

KENSHIS BLINDFOLD WAS PART OF JOHNNYS ARMOR. Y'all NRS knew what they were doing. I am eating this up

I adore Reptiles human form. Very baby girl, very cute.

So if Tarkat is transmitted via physical contact, wouldn't that mean that the guys would have it too when they fought the prisoners in this chapter? You even see Johnny react in Chapter 4 to that fact when Baraka told them. Could it be that it's not infectious since they're clones/experiments?

So help me out here... Baraka is strong enough to rip the cages open that seem to be made of the same metal as their cell door, but failed to open that? Plot, I know, but c'mon.

REPTILE IS EVEN MORE BABY OMGGGGG. Pls let me hold him,, poor baby boy,, his sadness is literally tugging at my heart strings.

I love how honorable Baraka is. This is great character improvement. For a beast (visually) to be showing mercy. It's like he accepts who he is now but still holds onto that human (edenian) side of him.

Stopping here for tonight, but will continue tomorrow. So far it's going great but I have a hard time remembering which of some stories in this timeline are kept the same as from the previous timeline.

I'm still pleasantly overwhelmed by the amount if babygirls.

[bittcnneck]

I feel bad for minors in rpw man, seriously. Almost all of my friends have minors DNI in their rules, which is ok of course. It's completely normal to not want to interact with kids as an adult. But I know most of us started rping as minors. Now if a minor were to try and RP, they would be blocked left and right. I'm 100% sure there is at least ONE minor in my mutuals list lying about their age. And I wouldn't blame them because it seems like unless you lie, you can not RP lmao. There was even a drama of this years ago, idk if anyone in my mutuals list has been here for long enough to remember that. A kid who was 13 got caught lying, saying she was 19. She apologized and said that almost no one would RP with her when they learned her true age and it was her only way. It's a shitty move but I see their point all too well.. I started rping when I was 16. Back then, no one really cared about the age. I would be REALLY upset if I saw a really cool rper and added them, just to see that they blocked me the next day. And imagine this happening again and again and again and again.. you follow 10 people and 9 of them block you because you aren't an adult. Would be really discouraging.

That's why my blog is not 18+ only. Minors can follow me as long as they are mature and understanding enough. I can rp anything except smut with them. They must be feeling really left out.

[sitp-recs]

HP Rec Fest, Day 9

Rare pair galore, my moment has come!!! This is probably my favorite rec post so far. I mean, I’ve been reccing rare pairs for @hprecfest prompts already so I’ll take this opportunity to champion my favorite rare pair writers and focus on some niche ships that I would not even consider had I not stumbled across that particular fic. Idk how many people out there indulge het ships but if anyone’s looking for something steamy hot and well-written oh boy, do I have some treats for you. You’ll notice that most fics fall within the “problematique” category due to the age gap aspect (which let’s be honest, it’s the reason why I considered reading them in the first place 🌝). By the way, some of these are the only fics written for these ships, how cool is that?!

Day 9) A 5 rare pair fic (less than 2000 fics)

Opposite Ends by pauraque (Millicent/Aberforth, E, 1.5k)

She thought she'd feel different after they'd fucked. He's lived long enough to know that he wouldn't.

would never imagine these two together in a million years but omg so freaking hot 🥵 we have so little canon info on them but both povs are fascinating and full of personality

Gouge Away by tamlane (Millicent/Victoire, T, 1.7k)

The Weasley girl has developed a keen fascination with Millicent's woodworking shop. Millicent can't seem to get rid of her, no matter how hard she tries.

another surprising but quite charming pair, I love the set up and dynamics here - so much UST under 2k wow I need more wlw age gap!

Drip, Honey, Drip by tamlane (Lily Luna/Michael Corner, E, 3k)

Lily's boss catches her daydreaming on a Friday afternoon. He thinks there could be a business opportunity in it, and he wants to hear more. Sequel here.

this fic turned me on blew my mind! very original concept perfectly executed, the sexual tension is so dripping hot and intoxicating I thought I’d combust. the sequel is equally delicious, 10/10

testosterone (sounds like a spell) by pauraque (Justin/Hannah E, 7.7k) 🏳️‍⚧️

Justin never returned to Hogwarts after the Death Eaters came. He's found that the Muggle world offers other kinds of transfiguration — a body alchemy far more powerful than any magic spell. Sometimes he wonders if anyone even remembers that once, years ago, he was a novice wizard.

one of the best, most sensitive and moving trans stories I’ve read in the fandom. it’s such a privilege to follow Justin’s journey and I adore the way he clicks with Hannah. fabulous sex scene too

Burned Silk, Buckled Leather by @ruinsplume (Draco/Sirius, E, 12k)

When Sirius discovers a down-and-out Draco Malfoy lurking around the edges of a Muggle kink club, he thinks he knows just what Draco needs. He isn't expecting to run into some long-buried needs of his own.

my favorite Draco/Sirius out there, this fic has RP’s trademark: sinfully hot, tender devastating smut bringing together complex characters and many emotional layers beneath the surface. the kink exploration here is 👨‍🍳💋 mesmerizing!

[fuck-customers]

Pls tell me someone else has been through something similar.

TL;DR: Paid for a strangers groceries. Got asked out by him through his friend. Denied coz Idk why he did that & uh... he was deff not femme presenting so not my preference (& I still feel bad about it lmao). 🥲 #rip

○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●

I don't hate this customer, but I constantly wonder if anyone has had a shared experience like this so if you have, PLEASE leave it in the comments (or reblogs).

(*Shared experience as in... a stranger/customer asking you out for something you did for them while on the clock or something you showed them at work that's a work perk.)

When I was a cashier at the american grocery store "English en Español", I was in a low income area. I constantly had cis men hitting on me for no valid reason, as I'm not the socially accepted aesthetic for "attractive" (probably because it was a small town so there wasn't much selection & I live in cities so I dressed/acted differently than most? Idk. I'm a transman, pre-t & pre-surgery, but present as femme for safety reasons, espec in small towns). I often didn't notice until coworkers told me after they had left or until the man, himself, told me straight up. It was common enough that we had a signal bc apparently I suck at picking up on people hitting on me. NO ONE working that night signaled for this one, despite several of my coworkers seeing this.

So needless to say, I did NOT see this coming.

There was a guy with two girls checking out their groceries at my register. It was late at night, close to closing. When it came to the guys portion of the groceries, he split things up to afford everything. (I feel that lol.) His card declined on the last part. He was maybe $25ish(?) short (idr exact amount). He asked to take off a few things & I was like "Wait, wait." & jumped around & slid my own card & paid for his stuff. At that time (about a decade ago) my finances were mostly stable. I was doing what I could for anyone who needed it. It wasn't abnormal for me to pay for people whose groceries got declined by under $50 if I had it that month. I was stuck at a grocery store all day & people quite literally need food. It's the *least* I could do while financially stable, yknow? He wasn't someone I singled out... just someone else I managed to have the privilege of helping.

But this guy looked like he was both a) about to cry & b) incredibly embarrassed. He barely whispered thank you to me before grabbing everything & RUNNING out the door. His two friends thanked me profusely & followed him out *normally*. Lol.

I didn't have anyone else to check out coz it was almost 10pm at that point, so I was just vibing at my register. Maybe 5 whole minutes later (yes, THAT LONG) one of the girls the guy was with comes back in & runs up to my register.

I didn't say anything coz I was confused. Why is everyone running? Why does everyone have so much energy? Jeeze. 💀

She said, quickly & excitedly, "Remember the guy you just saw that you paid for his groceries?"

Me: "👁👄👁... yeah?"

Her: "Well, he wanted to know if you wanted to go out with him. Like, on a date."

Me, confused, not knowing what to say, stalling: "Uhhhhhhm."

In my mind, I'm thinking: 'Why would he want that? Because I paid for his groceries? Does he think I'm one of those dommes that gives money to their subs? Oh no. I'm a sub, not a dom! Maybe he just thinks I'm nice? Oh god, he's gonna find out I'm NOT nice if we date... but I really only like femme presenting people. How tf do I say that in a small town where I don't want that to get out? I don't know what's happening here, but-"

Me, without hesitation: "Sorry, but ...I like women?"

Her: "👁👄👁... Was that a question?"

Me: "...No?"

Her: "... 👁👄👁 ...Okay, I'll tell him. Thanks!"

Again, with the running. Running out the door. To the car. They looked about the same age as me. Early 20s. Like... where are they getting this ENERGY??? 😭

He NEVER came into the location I worked at again while I was there for 3 years lmao. The two girls did. Ik he lived in the area. This was before the time of grocery delivery. So uh... I feel awful lol.

I also feel awful because I never really say no to anyone in that context or break up with anyone. I always force *them* to say no or break up with me so that I don't have to do it. 😅 I'd never in a million years lead anyone on coz that's completely unfair, but I really just need the other person to do it & I couldn't in that situation so it still sits in the back of my mind like, "oh my god what have I done" kind of catastrophic thoughts spiraling from there. Meanwhile, he probably doesn't even remember I exist. 💀

So rip to me, I guess.

Please tell me someone else has had some kind of interaction where a stranger/customer has asked you out or tried to get with you based on something you did (or did for them) on the clock or a work perk you showed them/they saw. 😭 Pls make me feel less alone in this lmao.

Also make sure to give the follow up tea! Did you go out? Did it work? Are you married? ☕️ 🦊

When I was 19 I gave a lady a coupon for money off (I'm 50 I forget how much it was for.) and this lady tried to hook me up with her 13yo daughter. I dunno if that counts.

-Rodney

[meownotgood]

I'm here in office hours with professor mags on aki-ism.. can I get some headcanons on aki with female childhood friend/future beloved? like would he be super protective especially if they were both devil hunters? idk why that scenario came to mind but I'm curious lol

also hope ur having a good week <3

sure!! since I just answered another ask about childhood friends with aki... let me answer this one as well....

you've known aki ever since you can remember. you have vague memories of playing with him and his brother when you were barely old enough to talk. you can remember how the two of you grew closer once his parents passed away, and after you both started going to the same school together.

at the time, aki wasn't against the prospect of you becoming a devil hunter. he already decided he was going to be one himself. he trained with you, some of his earliest missions he completed with you at his side. (but of course, nowadays, he wishes he could have gone back and stopped you from following in his footsteps).

ever since the two of you were young, aki has always been stronger than you. he trains harder, he's more willing to give up parts of himself in order to make killing devils easier. you worry about that part of him. you want to tell him to take better care of himself, but you're not sure where to start.

you know how aki can be closed off to everyone else, but he's much more open around you. he talks about his feelings with you, he lets you see him when he's at his worst. and that's something he doesn't allow anyone else to see.

you're both extremely comfortable with each other physically, too. you hold aki's hand whenever you're scared of losing him in a crowd, you tug him by his arm when you're leading him somewhere or hold onto him tightly when you're both on the train. and aki leans his head on your shoulder when you're both sitting in the living room watching tv, he flicks your forehead when you start to doze off at work.

when the two of you have time, aki takes you back home to hokkaido. you reminisce on your childhood there. it's both haunting and comforting to walk together through the neighborhood you both grew up in, but it's nice to enjoy some of the things you haven't enjoyed since you were kids. that ice cream place you and aki always used to go to after school is still there, and the ice cream tastes the same as you remember it. the skating rink is still open, and surprisingly, you still remember how to skate, and you don't think you've done that with him since you both were in grade school.

aki made a lot of promises to you when he was younger. promises to give the both of you a better life, and you made him promise to you that sometime in the future, he'd work towards a better life for himself, too. aki intends to keep those promises, in one way or another.

he's very protective of you, that's just a given. you find you're always standing behind him whenever you go on a mission. he can get a bit nosy whenever you say you're going out with someone. and he always walks with you on the inside part of the sidewalk.

his clothing always seems to find it's way into your dresser, and sometimes vise versa. you've simply grown accustomed to the fact that his clothes are also your clothes. aki tries not to keep your clothes in his drawer for too long, because if you go digging in there looking for something, he doesn't want you to find the confession note he wrote years ago and hid in there because he got too nervous to give it to you.

your belongings are all over his room, too. his bathroom has your toothbrush and all the shampoo you use. he keeps finding things you've left at his house and he didn't even know you brought them there.

you call aki "ki" sometimes, as a nickname. and you're the only person who is and will ever be allowed to do this.

with how close you are, you've definitely taken care of aki when he's gotten too drunk. he doesn't get super wasted very often, but you can recall times where you've had to hold his hair back when he's throwing up, or drag him into bed and undress him. he never seems flustered in those moments, and the next day, he seems to have forgotten they happened entirely.

even though aki hasn't confessed his feelings yet, with how much he talks about you, you both might as well be a couple. he can't have a conversation without bringing up something about you. everyone notices how his plans often revolve around what you're doing. sorry, I can't come because tonight is our movie night. it's been that way since we were kids and... I've never missed a day, so I can't now.

and sometimes, people just go ahead and confuse you for a couple. you're getting a little tired of telling coworkers and strangers you two aren't dating. because it's not like that, right?

no, aki is in love with you. perhaps he's always been in love, but he won't admit it. he's scared you don't feel the same way, nervous you'll reject him and it'll make your friendship weird. so you're just friends for now (even though aki is totally obvious about his feelings, and you're just waiting for him to finally get the guts to confess).

[leopardom]

i thought i wouldn't end up making one of those sappy posts before the end of 2023 but here we are i guess

what i wanna say in advance is a huge thank you, and that i'm sorry

this year has been a nightmare for me and i can't stress that word enough. i won't get into details, if you follow me you may have seen some occassional rant posts. long story short though, i'm ending 2023 being mentally exhausted af and even though i'm not in my most optimistic mood, i hope 2024 will not as shitty as 2023

as of my tumblr presence, there have been some changes. i jumped from one fandom to another without completely leaving the bc fandom. i'm just not that much in the mood anymore. maybe this will change once the new album is out? we'll see 👀 and jumping to another fandom means that i lost contact with so many people from the bc fandom. i promise you i didn't do this on purpose and i don't hate or stopped liking any of you. it just... things got weird and a bit too much in my head and now idk how to keep contact without looking extremely weird in this fandom

anyway! entering another fandom has been weird not only in means of interests but also in means of communication. ever since i remember my tumblr activity in any fandom, i always tried to interact as much as possible with other accounts and talk with people, whether that was via posts or messages. in the jo fandom i feel like i have kinda failed that

i'm aware that i post a lot and i'm probably everywhere with the content updates and the gifs. and that may be annoying to some people. and i understand it, i don't like it but i understand it and i wanna apologise for being... all over the place yet not really reaching out to anyone in the fandom or building any kind of online friendship

idk if there's an accurate explanation for the way i feel about this so i'll put it in the best words possible: i wanna make jokes and have fun in here and exchange random messages or mentions in posts and talk shit or not about jo etc, but i feel like my social anxiety (both online and offline) has passed any limit i had put to it until now that i end up thinking it's actually wrong to interact with anyone in this fandom. because everyone has already connected with some people and have built a specific line of interests and you all seem so fucking cool for someone who is as insecure and scared to talk as me so i end up hiding behind my gifs, shitposts and content updates in hopes that people will like me or at least aknowledge i exist in this fandom. and again, that's all on me, there's no one to blame for this behaviour but me and my fucked up mind (which got even more fucked up in the past year). so idk, i feel like i wanna apologise for this, for being like that

however, no matter the anxiety, i must admit that the jo tumblr fandom was actually my escape when things in real life got bad bad. i've spent hours scrolling through the jo and kaarija hashtags in hopes of seeing something unhinged and funny to lift my mood and you know what? i found something every single time. and that was more than nice. if it wasn't for all of you being as funny and crazy (in a positive way) as you are, i'd feel even worse. but every time i open the jo hashtag there's someone posting a wholesome thing or saying something unhinged like how many ways has Kris listed to kill Bojan in his sleep lmao

anyway i ended up writing a lot, this could easily be an entry to the journal that i don't keep but maybe should start keeping. if you read until this point, congratulations for going through all this ramble and i'm sorry

hope 2024 is gonna be a lot different than 2023 but in a good way this time. and i hope i get better and actually get to interact more with all of you great people 💕 and obviously i hope you all have a fantastic year ahead of you 💖

[rocksandmirrors]

[SPOILERS FOR FOR THE FUTURE]

OH BOY DO I HAVE MANY THINGS TO TALK ABOUT.

Amity seeing the twins again. 10/10, made me tear up (where tf is Alador tho. i need to see my cringefail husband again)

Willow bottling everything up like girl same lol. i'm so happy to see more of her, but at xhat cost </3

SO MUCH MATTHOLOMULE CONTENT. so his name is Mat(t?) Tholomule?? Mattholomule Tholomule??? why does everything need to be so complicated wit this kid. i like the fact he's never corrected anyone either in the past like ajhsajhsf ALSO HE'S DOING ABOMINATION MAGIC?? I MAY BE DRUNK BUT I SWEAR I SAW HIM USE ABOMINATION MAGIC. AND GUS TEACHING HIM ILLUSIONS IS CANON. GUSTHOLOMULE NATION RISE UP, I WANT ALL YOUR BEST FANARTS ON MY DESK BY MONDAY

[edit: it was just Amity's in Matt's place. i may be dumb, but hey i could see him try abomination magic]

i'm so happy he gets so much screentime and so many interactions with Gus like!!! i've been FUCKING FED. still no palisman tho </3 (unless i've missed it?? i've blacked out a couple times i think)

also i can't believe his facial hair was actually drawn on, i guess i have to update the comic i'm working on ajhsfajsf SHIT. "Man-ttholomule" my ass. it's funny how the Matt fans instantly recognized that the weird faces the squad was pulling in one of the trailers was actually because of him, we know him so well <3

LUZ'S PALISMAN IS SO FREAKING CUTE!!!! i love how everyone thought this was gonna be a snake aaand close enough <3 lil shapeshifter friend. a lovely pal. can't wait to see more of them (i can't remember their name I'M SORRY-)

why is Kikimora always so extra. i swear this woman is going to be the death of me, like ma'am this is a school full of traumatized kids, get outta here

i actually cried at Camila talking to Luz right before her palisman hatched. i wish she was my mom and would kiss my dumb lil forehead

the Collector being manipulated by Belos ONCE AGAIN ASAJSF i swear he's going to be his therapist's most loyal patient </3 i was really expecting him to lose his powers and thus Belos being the true villain of the very last episode idk

also can you guys leave Raine alone for 2 minutes. my pal's been through enough, let them just kiss their monster wife in peace like 🙄

HUNTLOW SHIPPERS HOW ARE WE FEELING..... Hunter tackling Willow into a hug like he had 10 seconds left to live......... mgnhmmn

SPEAKING OF WHICH i knew Hunter gaining Flapjack's powers was a popula theory BUT I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED LIKE!!!! GO WHITE BOY GO

Boscha being Amity's bitter ex is so funny to me. it shouldn't be bc hey, Amity dropped her to hang out with a stranger that has been here for just a couple months, but it's still funny to me. stop white girl stop

also hot take but i'm really not a big fan of Lilith's new haurcut I'M SORRY </3 she's prettier with long hair imo. she's very cute as a ginger tho (no comments on Eda, she's as hot as ever)

i can't wait to see what(s gonna happen in the very last episode!!! i'm still convinced the Collector will lose his powers in some way and Belos will get his ass kicked

speaking of Belos i'm relieved he didn't get to use one of Caleb's bodies, could you imagine the trauma for Hunter to see this shit?? also the weird Caleb ghost following him around like. my man's haunted by the narrative etc

last but not least: this was Odalia's most huiliating episode. would recommend watching just for that tbh

in summary: 9/10 could use more Steve content tbh

[leofrith]

[20 Question Fic Writer Tag]

I wasn't actually tagged by anyone and I would never usually do this but @ainulindaelynn said anyone could consider themselves tagged and this one looked fun so here I am. 🤪

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Five! Four one-shots and one multi-chapter WIP.

2. What is your AO3 word count?

16,451

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently Assassin's Creed, formerly (but I'm sure I'll be dragged back into it at some point) Star Wars. I also have a bunch of old WIPs for Pacific Rim and (🤢) the MCU but never completed/published any of them.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

I only have five fics posted so:

Hideaway - 147

Bright Skies - 136

Press On, Move Along - 92

Out of the Cold - 35

Honor Bound - 22

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes! I try to respond to every comment I get, even if it's just a short little acknowledgement. Because I would like people to know I see them and appreciate them so they keep commenting. <3

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Press On, Move Along. Everyone died, dude.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Hideaway!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not yet! 🤪

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes, as of like... three months ago. I have yet to publish any of it though and it'll probably be a long while before I do, but I also have a little one-shot that may be done long before then if I decide to actually finish it. In terms of "what kind" I think it's pretty vanilla. IDK how else to describe it.🧍🏻‍♀️

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Not generally, except for the AC Star Wars AU that has taken over my brain. I'm not even sure I would count that as a crossover so much as a fusion AU because there are absolutely no Star Wars characters in it.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I'm not positive this person was copying my fic, but I distinctly remember not long after I posted Hideaway coming across a fic with the same premise (Din playing hide and seek with the kids on Sorgan), which followed all the exact same plot beats as mine. And I do mean exactly. Obviously the plot itself is not particularly groundbreaking and I think there are plenty of other similar stories out there, but this one was similar enough to set off alarm bells.

I didn't end up doing anything about it because again, I like to give people the benefit of the doubt and it could have easily been a coincidence, but obviously if they had fully reposted my fic then that would be a different story.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Actively written a fic with another person? No. Plotted a fic from start to finish in a months-long series of increasingly deranged DMs? So many times. Hi Parker. :)

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Girl... I can't answer this. I don't know about "favourite" but if I had to pick a ship that has made me crazy for the most amount of time, it's probably Mako/Raleigh.

15. What's a WIP you'd like to finish but doubt you ever will?

I still think about my post-Mando s2 fix-it fic every once in a while but I honestly doubt I'll ever finish it. Disney has pretty much killed any care I once had for this show and it fucking sucks. :/

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'm not even being modest right now I just actually don't know lmao. Anything that I might qualify as a strength isn't consistent enough for me to feel justified in calling it a strength.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Overthinking my use of commas, editing while I write, feeling directionless when I don't do enough planning ahead of time but feeling suffocated when I do too much planning ahead of time. Also just being sooooo fucking slow, but I think that can be attributed to the overthinking.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I avoid it as much as humanly possible. If someone is speaking another language I'll usually just note it in the text somehow or, as has been the case with Honor Bound a lot of the time, purposefully write from the POV of a character who doesn't speak that language which, in addition to conveniently sidestepping that issue, works well as a narrative device.

I just absolutely hate the thought of putting Google translated dialogue in a fic and having a native speaker cringe their way through grammatically incoherent dialogue lmao.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Marvel >:(

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Honor Bound obviously holds a special place in my heart but Out of the Cold is really good. Like really good IMO.

No-pressure tags: @orphiceonian, @aeide, @findusinaweek, @reiverreturns, @basimibnishaqs, ????? anyone else who wants to <3

[a-student-out-of-time]

Though i am a proponent of the swap theory, at least at this moment, i would like to point out an anternative theory for the prosopagnosia speech.

Firstly, the prosopagnoisa will become relevant in a much later chapter

and secondly, Teruko is Mai Akasaki, or at least in her body. Which is a theory i’ve seen floated around before.

also, unrelated. in looking up Mai’s name to make sure i was spelling it correctly, i noticed some (flavor text? the page descrpitions? idk what they’re called, the text under the individual results in google) that heavily seems to agree with your stance of trust is good, actually.

“It is an equal failing to trust everybody, and to trust no one at all.”

//First of all, thank you for your time and for providing a legit counter-argument. I really enjoy talking about this stuff ^^

//While I agree on the latter point, here's why I don't agree with this theory or that this is setup for later. I'm gonna take a break from theorizing and discuss writing, a subject near and dear to my heart.

//A concept that anyone who wants to tell a mystery is encouraged to learn about is narrative weight, which I've seen defined as "how much or how little attention the story/the narrator is giving to any particular event, situation, setting or emotion."

//Simply put, the more attention something is given in a story, the more important it's going to be. Some examples:

If something is given direct attention for a long-enough period of time, it's a plot point.

If something is given attention for long enough that we remember it, and then it comes back later, it's Chekhov's Gun

If somethings is given attention and then turns out not to be true in the way we were expecting, it's a Red Herring

If something is given attention and changes details that we initially believed about something previously established, it's a retcon

If something is given attention and never receives follow up, it's a forgotten or abandoned story beat

//Narrative weight should, in principle, be proportional to the role something is going to play in a particular story, though not always. Sometimes it's inversely proportional, where something will be given just enough attention that you may remember it, but it seems to slip by in favor of the more obvious examples. Then it turns out to be the key all along.

//That brings me to another concept: breadcrumb storytelling. This is the sort of narrative where you receive pieces of information that lead into one-another, and it's an effective means of keeping someone hooked to learn the answer.

//This is pretty common with serialized stories today, where you have one story leading into another and into another. Some writers specialize in this concept, such as Stephen Moffat, who became both famous and infamous for it on his run of Doctor Who and with Sherlock.

//The problem with breadcrumb storytelling is that it runs the risk of ultimately proving disappointing, and potentially undermining or even ruining the impact of the story in retrospect. I'm sure we've all had that happen, where we were waiting for a big reveal and the landing is badly botched.

//I bring all this up because it disappoints me how the idea of a done-in-one, where things like an episode of a show or a single issue of a comic can tell their own story with the time they're given, has largely fallen out of fashion. Now, people seem to expect there to be some kind of cliffhanger ending or setup for what comes next.

//Yes, one can argue that's necessary for serialized stories, but you can have your cake and eat it too. Small details can serve the main plot of the smaller story and contribute to the larger narrative at the same time. For another DW example, the Bad Wolf and Harold Saxon arcs were there across multiple episodes, but they never actively took time away from the story; they instead came together in the finale episodes.

//All that having been said, I like what Despair Time is doing. Chapter 1 did feel like a done-in-one, where it told a complete story and gave Teruko an arc, and also provided setup for the rest of the story. It really set her apart from other DR and fangan protags for it, and helped to establish the themes of the story, that this is about trust and betrayal.

//That brings me to Mai Akasaki, the mysterious redhead girl. Now, I can completely understand why people would be theorizing about her and what role she plays, and would suggest the prosopagnosia has something to do with it. I'm not going to say that's wrong, because there are so many directions it could go.

//That being said, there's a difference in terms of narrative weight here, and this isn't a case of things being inversely proportional. The reason why I don't think she plays a role in this chapter is because everything we know about Mai, we know from supplementary materials.

//Outside of the ARG on DT's tumblr or the bonus videos on their channel, the only thing we've seen of Mai was a brief flashback after Teruko was stabbed, and a hint that Teruko knew her. Her name hasn't even been said once in the main story yet.

//The secrets motive was definitely an opportunity for them to suggest that someone in the group isn't who they said they were, or was disguised and nobody remembers them, but we haven't gotten any like that, at least compared to the more plausible answers we've received.

//For comparison, Danganronpa Another had a better means of foreshadowing a hidden character. In Chapter 2, they found a yearbook in a locker, which belonged to Hanzo Kisaragi. That not only set up the later appearance of his son, Yamato, but also served to foreshadow early on that they weren't really in Hope's Peak Academy like they believed.

//By comparison, there's still been no hinting toward Mai as of yet. No indication that she's part of the game or that she's here disguised as anybody else, at least not so far. I also find it fairly unlikely that Teruko is actually Mai, because not only does her bad luck plague her in daily life, but we've gotten glimpses of how scarred and injured Teruko's body really is. To me, nothing about it suggests she's not who she says she is.

//I know there's the easy answer that she had her memories and identity erased, but we haven't established a means for that to be possible in this setting. I know I've made that connection in my own AU, but that's for a story I'm telling. DT hasn't confirmed that they have flashback lights, so I can't in good faith say that's a real possibility just yet.

//Here's where the prosopagnosia's narrative weight comes in. See, it did receive some hinting in Chapter 1, but it was small and done as just kind of a funny moment near the beginning, where Teruko couldn't remember who Charles was until Hu pointed out what he looked like.

//In comparison, Chapter 2 involved Teruko having a whole conversation with Veronika about how she thought the protag looked a lot like Teruko, Teruko was confused, and we learned that she really only differentiates people by hair color, eye color and clothes. Veronika then took the opportunity to ask, if she switched all those, would Teruko recognize her? And we got no confirmation as to whether or not she would.

//The reason I'm so insistent about this point is because not only have we not had any follow-up on that yet, but because the only people who investigated the body are the girl who can't recognize faces and the guy who had reasons to half-ass the investigation. And Rose, the only one who could put the issue to bed, didn't even want to see the body.

//There has been very little attention given to Mai so far, but comparatively a lot given to the fact that Teruko cannot differentiate faces. Too much narrative weight for me to feel like this isn't going to play a role in this chapter in particular, the same way the difference between a CD and DVD did last chapter.

//tl;dr version- I think some kind of switch had to take place this chapter and to involve the people here, because I can't see this being about someone who's had no foreshadowing or hinting toward their identity or their presence in the main story as of yet.

//That's just my stance on things as of now, but thank you for offering another possibility. I don't doubt that her prosopagnosia is going to play a major role in things later on, so ultimately, both theories might end up being right : P

[thelioncourts]

:)) As another new fan, when you reposted just now a post about Armand and saying his love for Louis and a lot of people in the comments sound really excited for it, I feel a bit 😞 as will it be a case of they will be s1's version of Loustat? As in people will be raving over the chemistry of Armand and Louis? I just, idk, feel confused bc being a non book reader, I feel like we've just had Loustat and now it'll be gone? 😅 😭

Okay, anon, I'm so sorry. I went to answer this, had a ridiculously lengthy and detailed answer, and as I went to hit 'post now' tumblr deleted it all and said 'our servers aren't cool enough to handle your post right now!' and I was so nauseous, I spent so much time. I'm afraid this won't be as good, but I remember most of what I said, so I'll try to rehash it all best I can.

So, first of all, welcome to iwtv/tvc! it's always been chaos here. second of all, let's spend some time discussing the Armand-Louis-Lestat relationship, particularly in context of the first book and of the show, in turn!

Armand-Louis-Lestat has always been incredibly interesting and the show is, obviously ("the love of my life!") setting us up for continued interesting vibes. Here's what I will tell you about Armand and Louis in Interview (the book). As the show is setting up as well, Louis meets Armand in Paris following the "death" of Lestat. Up until Armand, Louis had been in an incredibly depressive episode (moreso than normal) because of Lestat's death. Meeting Armand fills Louis with this infatuation, and Armand, like all vampires, immediately falls deeply in love with Louis and his beauty and his remaining humanity. It's a beautiful couple of weeks/months, and I have no doubt that the show is going to capitalize on that and show us many many many cute, loving, sexy, and tender moments of Louis and Armand's relationship. What I will also tell you, without trying to spoil too much of the book, is that the period of happy and loving in Louis and Armand's relationship is very limited and, by the end of the book, Louis is so numb, so distant, so cold to Armand.

Now! I feel like I need to clarify that, in later books, Louis and Armand always reconnect, but I very much have always viewed it as a true friendship/companionship. I think, in a lot of ways, they both saw each other at their worst and have a trust that will always let them find solace in the other, even if it's just platonic.

With all that in mind, I actually have two passages from Interview (the book) that I'm going to type out and that I think are exceptionally important to Louis and Lestat's relationship, especially in comparison to Louis' relationship with anyone else.

In my version of Interview, the first passage is on page 123. It takes place immediately following Louis and Claudia "killing" Lestat:

"Claudia had wrapped Lestat's body in a sheet before I would even touch it, and then, to my horror, she had sprinkled it over with the long-stemmed chrysanthemums. So it had a sweet, funereal smell as I lifted it last of all from the carriage. It was almost weightless, as limp as something made of knots and cords, as I put it over my shoulder and moved down into the dark water, the water rising and filling my boots, my feet seeking some path in the ooze beneath, away from where I'd lain the two boys. I went deeper and deeper in with Lestat's remains, though why, I did not know. And finally, when I could barely see the pale space of the road and the sky which was coming dangerously close to dawn, I let his body slip down out of my arms into the water. I stood there shaken, looking at the amorphous form of the white sheet beneath the slimy surface. The numbness which had protected me since the carriage left the Rue Royale threatened to lift and leave me flayed suddenly, staring, thinking: This is Lestat. This is all of transformation and mystery, dead, gone into eternal darkness. I felt a pull suddenly, as if some force were urging me to go down with him, to descend into the dark water and never come back. It was so distinct and so strong that it made the articulation of voices seem only a murmur by comparison. It spoke without language, saying, "You know what you must do. Come down into the darkness. Let it all go away.""

The second passage is just a few paragraphs later, on page 124:

"...'He deserved to die!' she [Claudia] said to me.

"'Then we deserve to die. The same way. Every night of our lives,' I said back to her. 'Go away from me.' It was as if my words were my thoughts, my mind alone only formless confusion. 'I'll care for you because you can't care for yourself. But I don't want you near me. Sleep in that box you bought for yourself. Don't come near me.'

"'I told you I was going to do it. I told you...' she said...'Louis, I told you!' she said, her lips quivering. 'I did it for us. So we could be free.' I couldn't stand the sight of her."

The reason I think these passages are really important, especially in context of the show, is because this is Louis when he wasn't telling us everything. According to the show, Interview (the book) has already happened, at least up to a point. Louis has told Daniel this story before, but is doing so now with more truth, more nuance, more history. He kept out a lot, namely the depth of his relationship with Lestat, out of hatred or disdain or repression or something, towards himself, towards Lestat, towards life, etc. And yet these passages highlight something so so incredibly important, which is how much Louis loved/loves Lestat.

Lestat's death haunts Louis. In Europe, he talks about his grief in the narration, and it appears that in Claudia's diaries in the show, she discusses his grief too, namely that he is worse than ever following the death of Lestat.

Have you ever heard of how the opposite of love isn't hate, but apathy? I've heard it a lot in my life, never understood it until I got older, and I think Louis and Lestat, and Louis and Armand, are perfect examples of that.

Lestat drives Louis crazy. He lights fires in him, both good and bad, and, no doubt, damages Louis' blood pressure (if vampires have blood pressure to worry about, I guess), but he makes Louis feel, he makes him be alive. He drives Louis so crazy that Louis interviews TWICE about his relationship with the man.

Louis and Armand, while sweet in its own way, and will, undoubtedly, have its sweet moments, is going to fizzle out. And I think the show will very much do that on purpose to show us how any relationship Louis has (and Lestat has) pales in comparison to what he has with Lestat.

I've talked about it in a couple of asks before, about how I think the show is going to take a slightly different direction than the books re: polyamory and re: Loustat as a whole, and my general consensus is that Louis and Lestat are endgame in the books, but it's going to be so much more apparent, and will happen so much quicker, in the show. The show has so much content to work with re: storylines that there is no need to play relationship will-they-won't-they with Louis and Lestat. They can stabilize them (to a point -- any relationship with Lestat is always going to be slightly unstable) and have the actual plot (Akasha, Memnoch, Amel, etc.) be the main problems to work through versus relationship drama 24/7.

To sum up, I think Louis and Armand are going to get their light, yes, in season 2. But I think it is only going to set it up for us to get an even more passionate Loustat, an even more loving Loustat, an even more present Loustat, come end of season 2 and into season 3.

[bravewolfvesperia]

GETTING TO KNOW YOU.

respond to the following prompts out of character. then, tag others that you'd like to get to know a little bit better!

tagged by: @altosk tagging: @mistralxsoul, @ourvoids, @ervaurem if you haven't done this, @pclitesse if you do these!

ROLEPLAYER NAME: Shi (ShiShi is fine but I tend to go with Shi. if you're thinking Shinon from a ninth and tenth entry in a particular franchise, your brain is in the right place. namesakes and beloveds, friends)

ROLEPLAYER PRONOUNS: she/her

MUSE NAME: Yuri Lowell (and assorted others on my Tales multimuse)

PREFERRED COMMUNICATION: depends how often we talk. Tumblr DMs is easiest if we have brief conversation/plotting. Discord is preferred if we're starting to have regular conversations/lengthy conversations. I'm open to talking to people more though if they're interested, so if you do want to talk or gush about our muses or games, feel free to ask for my Discord! we don't have to already be talking a whole lot if you do want to move to Discord.

EXPERIENCE: I've been RPing for like, idk, as long as I can remember, but I started on Tumblr specifically around 2012. Before that it was things like ye wee old forums, messengers, etc. Tales experience is the same thing because I used to RP Tales on forums LOL.

PREFERRED ROLEPLAY TYPE: a mix of everything more or less. I like fluff and happy things mixed into angst, and if there's no room for happiness in a specific thread/situation, I like to have gentle/soft/emotional aspects littered around. I also try to just follow my muse's whims, so if anything suddenly spikes his rage meter, that's what we're goin' with folks.

PET PEEVES & DEALBREAKERS:

(this isn't as scary as it looks I'm sorry LOL)

ignoring my rules and asking to ship with me when your character's name is not in my ship list (yes, this includes OCs. if OCs aren't mentioned it's very likely because my muse has a very specific romantic inclination and chemistry won't trump that the muse is already leaning toward someone/other people by default. should be obvious but I literally recently on another blog had someone completely ignore that muse's ship list and still send me an anon to ask to ship with me (and the whole thing was indicative that they only wanted to write with me to ship and didn't really see my muse as their own muse but just as another tool in the shed). my ship list tends to be very tiny for any muse and I prefer it that way anyway because it wards off the idea that people are only writing with me to ship. I love shipping with certain pairs, but I don't write explicitly for that and am much more comfortable with the idea that people aren't following me to ship with me/going into things assuming they will be able to convince me into it when they would have presumably read my rules and know their character is not on that list. again, as in my rules, one-sided your-muse-likes-mine is totally fine - just don't get mad when it remains one-sided because you were warned. if your muse is on the list (for any of my muses), yes, it means I'm open to discussing it/writing it./being receptive of it.

disrespecting other writers plain for everyone to see on their dashboards. this includes saying vague shit like "there are no good (character name) muses out there". that is very much not the same as "there are no writers for this character/I can't find any of this character". that's a very intentional dig at certain character writers and implies they're not good enough for you because nobody writes that character the way you want them to (versus simply expressing a desire to write with a certain character but not finding anyone who writes them).

using my muse as a blank slate who is just a base directly off the game you probably played if you're here. if any of you have paid attention to my threads with a specific Flynn (hi Natty!), you are probably aware my muse is heavily influenced by canon side material. that stuff is a core part of my muse. my muse is not just a rip taken right out of game-only canon. the more I write, the more formed he becomes as his own individual muse. if you cannot respect that and will consider it "ooc" for my muse not to be a blank slate direct rip from canon every time I write with a new muse, that's a hard dealbreaker. (on that above note, for any Flynn writers who are unfamiliar with the canon side material that Flynn is a primary part of (i.e. very directly relative to things that affect my muse), I do not hold that against you and am completely willing to work things out with you! that shit is hard to find and is JP media only. there's a slew of side content for Vesperia that the west never got so I know many if not most people won't even know a lot of it exists)

PLOTS OR MEMES: I do both, but I'm more likely to be able to work out plots with characters either in my muse's canon(s) or muses from other Tales games ("canons" is things such as canon side material, Tales gachas Yuri is in, etc). if I don't know your character well (canon or OC), memes tend to work better. I find it difficult to plot specific things out when I don't know a particular series well or at all. that said, I'll write with people who know my character and are okay with using one of his verses even if I don't know your character/series. I love memes for writing, but I will definitely struggle to actually plot if I don't know the franchise. I also love randomly sent memes just for the sake of writing things!

LONG REPLIES OR SHORT REPLIES: long. short for me is like three paragraphs and I just physically can't find myself doing less. things like one-liners might pop up in dash commentary and such, but for actual threads, I write long replies because that's what comes to me. sometimes motivation really hits me with muses my muse feels close to and you might end up with a ten+ paragraph reply, so uhhh... sorry about that in advance (and my paragraphs can get bulky so doubly sorry in advance!). typically this stuff happens in more emotion-driven threads though.

BEST TIME TO WRITE: NIGHT! NIGHT! NIGHT! I'm a night owl in general, but my writing energy tends to go yeehaw on me at night.

ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSES: uhhhh uh uh for legal reasons i probably should not answer that. :)

[datamodel-of-disaster]

Ask game time! Thanks for the tag, @filmamir!

1. Are you named after anyone?

I keep saying if I do anything noteworthy enough in my life to deserve a wikipedia page, someone has to add me to List of things named after Bernhard Riemann - Wikipedia, so... yes.

2. When was the last time you cried?

Yesterday night, and also, longer ago than I remember. Are the tears mine if the sadness isn't? It be like that sometimes.

3. Do you have kids?

No, and thank the powers that be (mostly contraception) for that!

4. What sports do you play/have played?

No real sports, unless highschool PE counts. I was a fervent and pretty skilled skier for a while but my partner is afraid of skiing and its too expensive to go on my own, so it's been years since I did it.

5. Do you use sarcasm?

Not as much as you'd think. I'm a painfully sincere person much of the time.

6. What's the first thing you notice about people?

I hate to be *that* person, but... their vibe. Fake car salesperson smiles, awkward "haha we will ignore that!" silences, confrontational high-schooler convo style... Some people just have fucky energy, idk what else to say. That said, my actual opinion of people takes a while to form -it's like a committee vote more or less.

7. What's your eye colour?

Blue-green

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy endings all the way. I can watch unhappy endings if the movie is aesthetic(TM) or it's more about the art or history of the film than the narrative, but if I'm immersing myself in a story-story, the person(s) the narrative makes me root for better fucking make it to a happy end.

I'm very selective about scary movies: they need to be aesthetic, and satisfying.

9. Any talents?

... not... really? I kinda struggle with linking my qualities to "talents". I don't have many (if any) things I'm just "naturally good" at; even skill sets I'm now proud of were not something I ever had a natural aptitude for, and if I developed a skill it was 99% of the time out of necessity rather than enjoyment.

I guess I have... shockingly broad bandwidth for other people's issues. Like... interpersonal exhaustion? I don't know her, man. Mostly due to a combination of voyeuristic enjoyment of knowing and understanding things about others, my sense of empathy being almost entirely generated through fine-grained psych analysis rather than instinct, and the *very* odd given that my own personality temporarily stabilizes when exposed to interpersonal input. I'm not sure that's a talent so much as a condition, though xD

10. Where were you born?

Belgium

11. What are your hobbies?

At the moment, mostly writing Tron fanfiction. I also draw (sometimes), paint and kitbash Warhammer 40k minis (been a while), do metalwork (I need a new welding helm T_T), do gothic and fetish modelling, thrift and collect things for my house, etcetera. I cycle through hobbies mostly. Writing is my most stable one -I dare say I keeps me sane.

12. Do you have any pets?

I have a cat! Her name is Meoi (Quenya for "Cat", in honour of Huan and terrible Feanorian naming traditions -retired Silmarillion fan here)

13. How tall are you?

1m70 but most people assume I'm a good bit taller because I'm broad-shouldered and always in 17cm platform stilettos.

14. Favourite subject in school?

Oof. Tough one. I've been out of school for a good long while. The person I was in high-school would have picked physics, followed closely by math. Leaving the following period in the middle (lalala), at uni *in the major I actually graduated from*, my favourites were Architectural Theory, Medieval Image Culture, and Visual Analysis.

15. Dream job?

Oof again. Opinions divided on this one.

I like to say my dream job needs to meet the following criteria:

- I am competent at the job and reasonably regularly get this confirmed by others

- Every day at work I know largely what is expected of me, and what is expected fully falls within my capacity to deliver.

- I have tangible, well-described tasks and goals and never have to "be proactive about finding more work" or "try to look more productive".

- I have good coworkers I get along with, at least professionally.

- No extraneous admin tasks or timesheet micromanagement.

- GOOD PAY

If I'm really ambitious, I would add to that:

- I'm an expert (or just really, really good) at it.

But let's be honest, actual dream jobs Riemann over here has dreamed of having or pursuing? Interior designer/stylist, professional fetish performer/pro-domme, and Enterprise IT Architect.

Yeah.

You see why I stick to bullet point lists.

Tagging... @bowiesinspace @inquisitor-gayfax @clevermird @et-novum and everyone else who feels like it!

[teacuppigdog]

You know what, these tags have inspired me to test myself on whether I know why I first became mutuals with my mutuals. LET’S GO. (I am excluding anyone who hasn’t posted on tumblr in 2022, because I can’t be expected to remember the people who aren’t even here anymore.)

@chocolatepot - I followed because I wanted the OFMD posting on my dash @nomelon - I was like "That's one of the old LJ crowd isn't it? Oh god I can't remember anyone's usernames anymore it's been like a decade. OH WELL THE POSTS ARE GOOD LET'S GO." @iamnotswarley - You're mutuals with a bunch of the old LJ crowd, so it just seemed appropriate that I follow you too. ARE YOU FROM LJ? WERE WE LJ FRIENDS? I’M SO BAD AT THIS. @bgonemydear - I love chash and chash loves you @cyclogenesis - I followed for the Falcon and the Winter Soldier posting @knowlesian - Followed for the FATWS, stayed for the excellent OFMD meta @onetruepigeon - HI LYDIA. I FOLLOWED YOU BECAUSE YOU CAME BACK TO TUMBLR AND I WAS LIKE "HEY LYDIA IS BACK!" (LJ) @tfry1440 - I followed for FATWS posts @emb-33 - One of a VERY small number of IRL friends who are allowed to know my tumblr URL @honeymull - That'd be one of my follows to collect up more of the old LJ crowd @ponyregrets - HI CHASH (LJ) @cthonical - I have followed you for years and I have zero recollection why we started following each other. Who are you? Who am I? What is this? @ibroketuesday - I sort of think of you as being from my 'other circle' of LJ friends (not that there wasn't overlap) @lethargyspecialist - That'd be the other IRL friend I follow on tumblr @tinyattacksquid - You are in the 'you followed me long enough that I got used to seeing your screen name all the time and was like IDK, I GUESS YOU JUST FEEL LIKE YOU BELONG HERE NOW so followed back' category. @kinthulou - OKAY I HAVE MORE OF YOU GUYS THAN I THOUGHT. This would be another IRL friend, although we're only really in contact through tumblr these days due to only having been in the same country for a year. I feel like you're an IRL friend who has managed to 100% graduate to internet friend (like, I’m pretty sure we have more active mutual friends on tumblr than on fb now). Not easy to pull off that way around! @birdungehrl​ - Literally not a clue how this relationship started. Possibly an instance of my following back someone who hung around following me being a cool person for long enough? We've never really spoken but in my head we are friends. @scurator - Old LJ crowd :) @exsequar - Old LJ crowd :) @mystery-ink - I'm 90% sure you're *not* an old LJ friend and we did in fact meet on tumblr. You're like the only person in that category that I occasionally converse with, though. @akafoxxcub - Also in the 'You followed me until I got used to having you around' squad @mo-betta - Yeah, I have no recollection. DID WE HAVE AN FANDOM IN COMMON AT SOME POINT? DID I JUST SELECT YOU FOR KEEPS OUT OF MY FOLLOWERS? @whateverdelusional - You... are you one of the old LJ crowd? I have no idea. @maichan - HI MAICHAN (LJ) @katiebug9 - You are from LJ right? Right? The ibroketuesday circle, right? I'm not going crazy? Look, I either know who you are or I have very much mistaken you for a specific other person. @appolsaucy - ...well this is embarassing. Are you from the old LJ crowd? You are definitely in the current tumblr crowd of old LJ friends. WERE WE LJ FRIENDS EVER??? WHO ARE YOU? (I’M SO SORRY) @omendreamer - I think you might have been the first person I noticed in my notes and then went 'Yes, I'm keeping this one' @kali1967 - LJ! I know this one! We made out one time @assassinregrets - HI LIZ! (LJ) @frightfullytreeish - Well first and foremost I know you from the old LJ days, but I guess I also sometimes run into you in our kitchen

FASCINATED TO KNOW IF ANY OF YOU HAVE A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT STORY FOR HOW WE KNOW EACH OTHER