#if anyone else also forgot this plot point like i did

[lotusarchon]

nezha is a child in the show isn't he? why are you shipping yourself with a minor and writing romance with him?that's so creepy,,,, how are you talking about dynamicsimp when you're doing worst 🤮

Found this cute Nezha fanart anyways

I knew I had to deal with one of y'all eventually but I didn't think it'd be this soon. Damn, at least let me hit 100 followers first 😞

Anyways uh. Nezha's first introduction in season 3 came out in like, what, 2022? I'm assuming it is, because I started LMK in March of 2023, before s4 was released and already found the show up till s3 by then. S5 just released this year, of which we've seen a weird increase of Nezha screentime of which I'm not complaining.

Point blank. The Nezha age controversies are getting old and boring. New fans and old fans need to chill out with those issue about the age business.

1) It's confirmed the Lego Monkie Kid version of the deity known as Nezha is an adult.

2) This is a god of an Eastern religion who is still very much worshipped to our modern day. If you did your research, you should be able to take note that Nezha isn't only seen as a child god, but even portrayed as someone older. I'm not a Daoist nor Chinese, so I advise you check this blog ( @/ruibaozha ) for more information on the subject matter.

3) As is the case with modern media and adaptations, different shows will portray religious figures according to what works for their plot. In the movie Nezha 2019 (forgot the title whoops), Nezha is portrayed as a child, as we are seeing a comedic but angsty interpretation of his origins. In the Legend Of Hei, we see him portrayed as a child, assuming for comedic purposes and to bond with the MC Hei.

3.2) If LMK wanted to portray Nezha as a child like his appearances in Journey To The West, and the Fengshen Yanyi (?), you must understand then his design and personality would've been portrayed more childish or at the very least a mixture of mature and childish. We can see this by comparing LMK Nezha and TLOH Nezha = both are stern but where one acts, looks and often shows childish traits, the other acts like an exhausted 25 year old who needs therapy. LMK HAS made children in the past, as we've seen with the Lady Bone Demon's Host and in season 1 a few kids here and there as background characters. If the show wanted Nezha to be a child, I'm certain they would've given him a similar model.

4) If in the instance that, let's say, the god known as Nezha was a child, and LMK Nezha is an adult, you SHOULD separate fiction from religion. Do keep in mind that Sun Wukong is still very much worshipped, however, I have seen fans, in and outside of LMK, who have written heavy NSFW and simped for him. A god is not the same as a fictional character, because by that logic we shouldn't be simping much less writing NSFW of Wukong either, given his story in JTTW where he becomes a Buddha.

5) I do not like proshipping much like any sane person. I also HATE aging up minors in fiction just for something like self shipping or to write nsfw. I have been in fandoms before this one: Jujutsu Kaisen, Tokyo Revengers, and My Hero Academia specifically, and it makes me uncomfortable seeing porn written of actual minors with excuse of them being aged up. I'm not so hypocritical I'd dare to want to do the same, not when I'm uncomfortable with anyone else doing it. If LMK Nezha was a minor, and there were sources to even prove as well within the series he's a child, then obviously, I would NOT be shipping myself with him, much less write romantic/nsfw content with him. I'm an adult, and I don't feel comfortable with minors in general, so why would I want to write romantic content about a FICTIONAL minor??

If you can find any source that proves me wrong, I'd like for you to do so. But until then, you, and everyone else who still wants to entertain Nezha's age; please stop.

I get it. Some of you like to headcanon him as a child so as such, seeing content with him as romantic or nsfw is uncomfortable. I understand, I do; I headcanon Mei as an aroace lesbian so sometimes it's uncomfortable finding any kind of content with her being paired with others. I do understand where you're coming from with your discomfort.

But I feel like, considering season 5 and hopefully if there's a season 6, the whole thing is just dust now. S3 must've been released in 2022, so it's been nearly two years since Nezha's appearance in the show. People headcanon he's a child, and people prefer to like the confirmation he's an adult. We get it, that's what fandoms are, different views etc.

But calling people proshippers or creepy or pedophiles for not adhering to YOUR headcanons is not only fucking stupid, it's just hilarious and way too old, AND just...boring. Especially considering I feel uncomfortable around minors and hate proshipping with a passion. There's genuinely nothing wrong with liking a headcanon, but if someone likes something that isn't problematic and doesn't adhere to your preference, I think you need to breathe a bit.

I was saving this off for last however, you hit the nail on the coffin with this. There is a literal document talking about the disgusting actions of DynamicSimp. If you still choose to like them that's fine, but forgive me for pointing out how hypocritical it is for you to bring up the person who purposely shared porn with minors to someone who avoids minors like they're the rat plague of the Middle Ages. 🤔

"you talk about DynamicSimp but you're doing worst"

Do you mean writing porn for a character who is confirmed to be an adult? Do you mean ensuring that my 18+ blog isn't found by minors and if it is I'll block them? Do you mean supporting someone who's harassed others about Nezha's age?? Do you mean being an absolute creep around children?? Do you mean breaking the boundaries where people have clearly expressed discomfort? Do you mean romanticizing abuse amongst other things for an au clearly being consumed by minors with no regards or wellbeings?

I wonder who's the worst. Me, the adult who only recently turned 18 and has limited his interaction with minors outside of family members, or the however old they are person who has a literal document and their victims speaking up about their actions, and who to my current knowledge has not spoken up about this and is still posting and carrying on without a care in the world?

Well zoinks Scoob, guess we're not making outta this one alive 😟

Edit: .....*disappointed sighs* I think some people really oughta chill out in my comments. Anon, I blame this on you 😭 why did you bring this here holy fucking shit dawg.

Alright. Alright uh.

Okay, so while I do appreciate being told the reasons as to WHY Nezha was "aged up", because a writer wanted to justify shipping Wukong and Nezha...I feel like the entire, "ah, but this says, and that says here-" about Nezha's age is just ridiculous at this point.

Yes, I understand, this is justifiably weird.

However.

Has anyone else refuted Nezha's age?? And I mean the canon show writers? Has anyone working on Lego Monkie Kid made a statement saying: "This person is disgusting, LMK Nezha is a child." Because, respectfully, unless canon sources provide information on it, I'm not going off based on the fandom opinions.

I'm not happy I have to edit this post to add this, much less try to explain anything, but, oh well.

1) "Ali, you're just trying to justify yourself and keep writing for a child." Listen. I've been groomed and dealt with fucking weirdos my entire life. Trust me when I say whenever I hear about proshipping it SICKENS me to the core. I HATE proshipping. I don't care what the excuse is, proshipping is disgusting.

I'm not mentioning the interesting fellows in my comments because it's pointless and honestly to make drama over this is stupid. But I was given some context to understand where they're coming from, and I do in fact appreciate it. Justifiably I don't blame them for their annoyance/disgust towards the writer Sarah (?).

What I will say though; typically in a situation like this, I'm certain someone in the team would've made a statement about this to explain that the writer is wrong. I'd assume at least one writer, someone OFFICIALLY on the team would've denied this proclamation of Nezha being an adult. I have not seen ANYTHING that says the show denies Nezha being an adult.

2) My friend, who was also in the comments (hi), is a native Chinese and a Buddhist for six years. I also have another friend who I'm not mentioning but ALSO is Chinese and WORSHIPS Nezha. They have more knowledge than someone like me does have on this matter, and I find it really odd how people immediately cite wiki and website sources to say, "Nezha is an eternal child!", and, "No where else says Nezha is an adult."

As I've said. If there are sources including the staff from Lego Monkie Kid that claims Nezha is a child, then I am more than willing to delete any content I've made with him. Full honesty, I have no intention of keeping any content with canon, confirmed minors on my blog.

But not only have I found anything that says the official story writers deny Nezha's an adult, but my friends, who are again, both Daoist and native Chinese, are aware that he ISN'T an eternal child.

If you are Daoist and/or worship Nezha, then by all means you can tell me that what I'm doing is wrong and correct me about Nezha's age. I'm willing to listen. If you also find information where the writers claim Saraha is wrong for her statement, provide it. I'm a person that likes reasoning, and I'm willing to see reason.

3) "Ali, you're not gonna see reason you're just trying to defend yourself again-"

Okay, backstory time: last year when I joined LMK, when I myself was a minor, I thought it was okay to write nsfw content for the character who was Lady Bone Demon's Host. My friends at the time did not tell me what I was doing was bad, so of course I kept it up, until someone pointed out that Bai He (fan name) is actually a minor in the show and was also confirmed by the show's producers. I felt so disgusted about it I deleted all my posts made on my old AO3 about her (which is faeriicrafts and still up surprisingly) and offered a sincere apology to the fandom about writing nsfw content for her. I changed and learned, and now I feel grossly uncomfortable seeing anyone writing nsfw for her despite the canon confirmations.

Justifiably, if more information about Nezha is released within Lego Monkie Kid, of which it's confirmed he's a child, I am more than eager to delete everything I've written about him, and even apologize again for writing nsfw with a minor.

To be honest, I just feel uncomfortable with the comments who are denying actual Daoists for the sake of; "I've done my research, no other sources has said Nezha is an adult, you're lying about worshipping him!!"

It's uncomfortable and really off-putting how you can tell someone that about their religion. Yes, this is for you specifically, that one commenter who jumped in and on my friend. Even if she has long since stopped worshipping Nezha, she very much did once. And I've gone to actual Daoists to ask more information about Nezha and the religion in general, who has in fact confirmed Nezha isn't just a child. I get that this is the internet, people can lie about anything. But it's still uncomfortable, solely because had anyone else claimed they're Daoist or ex Daoist and agreed with your opinion, you wouldn't have said that.

I'll reopen my comments within a few minutes, but don't be a disrespectful cunt. And can you maybe not deny someone about their religion? Even if you don't believe them, that's genuinely not an excuse. Because I know damn well, had she agreed with your statement, you wouldn't have pulled that.

Gods. I can't say I'm not surprised, but I'm just impressed about the lengths people will go for something.

Anyways, I've said my piece. If official show writers (because my Daoist friends have already told me what I needed to know) claim Nezha is a child, I'll delete my stuff with him. If not, then I'm not stopping posting Nezha content.

Toodles.

[therainscene]

I've described myself in the past as "overly-queerbaited" as a way of explaining why it took me so long to come around to Byler endgame as a legitimate possibility... but that's kind of a misleading way of putting it.

Truth is, I've always been too much of a cynical fuck to fall for queerbait... or any other story that promises positive queer rep.

[Sherlock couldn't touch me; I saw this cringe homophobia coming from a mile away. Fans mistaking straight anxiety jokes for meaningful gay subtext was clearly doomed to end in mockery. Nobody deserved to be treated like that... but god, it was easy to predict.]

I think it's a symptom of having grown up under Section 28 -- feeling like I'm being unreasonable for wanting to see queerness normalized is such an ingrained habit that even today I instinctively recoil like a vampire touching sunlight whenever an optimistic queer story falls unrequested into my lap.

But I'm hardly alone in feeling this way -- many queer Millennial and Gen-X fans of Stranger Things are against the idea of Byler because it would ruin the catharsis of watching the gay boy growing up in the same era as we did slowly succumb to the same despair that we did.

[For those who haven't played the VR game: Vecna is speaking in this screenshot.]

There's genuine comfort to be found in painful stories -- this type of catharsis is practically the cornerstone of horror as a genre -- so I can't really fault myself or anyone else for wanting it, despite the obnoxious oversaturation of disappointing queer endings in media.

This is the nostalgia show, after all -- and like it or not, for many middle-aged queers in the target audience, nostalgia is shot through with the pain of homophobia and loneliness.

But do you know who else is a hurt queer(-coded) adult who resents happy endings? This cynical fuck:

Henry personifies despair and loneliness and the dark urge to take our pain out on others -- and when Will is in the picture, I would argue that he also represents internalized homophobia.

Will might represent who we were -- but Henry represents who we've let ourselves turn into.

And I don't think many of us want to admit to that, because that would involve questioning why we have so much in common with the literal villain of the show; why we're still so consumed with self-pity after 20+ years that we're obsessing over the fate of some kid.

I'm not suggesting that wanting a less-than-fairytale ending for a fictional gay boy is equivalent to being a child killer lol. It's perfectly valid to want to see your pain acknowledged, and stories which appeal to that desire deserve to exist.

But between Henry's connection to Will and the cycle of abuse themes of the show, it's clear that this particular story simply isn't about wallowing in the bleakness of growing up gay in the 80s, but about self-actualizing in spite of it all.

So I just can't bring myself to want a "relatable" ending for Will.

As much as I struggle to enjoy positive queer rep, I don't want to be so cynical. I'd thrown up so many walls to protect myself as a teenager that I forgot how desperately I wanted to see just one of those painful queer stories end on the same uplifting note that straight stories were always entitled to: with true love overcoming the odds, saving the day, and living happily ever after.

[But I'm A Cheerleader, a surprisingly fun movie about conversion therapy, is proof that stories like this did exist when I was a teen... but finding them in the pre- and early-internet days amidst so much censorship was a tall order.]

What makes Stranger Things different from most queer stories -- and what allowed it to pierce through my defenses and stab me in the gut -- is that it perfectly mimics those bleak, acceptable-to-the-censors stories from my youth -- only this time, the secret uplifting gay plot twist is real.

Not for the sake of shock value or of grabbing some empty woke points at the last second, but because the plan all along was to slap the audience in the face for believing homophobic lies about the existence of queer happiness.

That's some gourmet catharsis, if you ask me.

Just the possibility that my inner child might finally be vindicated has allowed me to truly let myself want the things I want for the first time in 20 years -- and that's the first step towards finally crawling back out into the sunlight.

Happy Pride Month, everyone. 🌈

[mentos-or-mentoes]

Headcanons! Cult of the lamb

Leshy, Heket, Shamura, Kallamar, Narinder and The lamb.

General:

(this will be in follower form for the bishops)

Leshy

Dude is definetly not happy upon being indoctrinated into the cult.

Like first he gets killed by the lamb and NOW he has to follow their commands? Yeah to say the least he might be a bit annoyed at first.

When you first introduce yourself, he might be a little skeptical mainly because he was a bishop so what were you gonna do? Make fun of him? Pull a ''prank'' Just because you could?

Surprisingly, no! You were kind, just trying to get to know him better, and trying to get him to know the cult a little better.

He is forever greatful if you help him around the place.

Romantic:

If Leshy smells anything he thinks is something like a flower, then he might try and guide you towards them.

Mainly because it might be difficult picking them, when he cant see where the hell he's going.

9.5 / 10 hugs and you cant convince me otherwise.

He might be a bit moist because of all the stuff growing on him but he definetly smells nice. (or atleast i headcanon it as such).

He can and will be a living scarf if he REALLY craves your attention.

He will just snuggling up to you in the middle of whatever you were doing.

Heket

General:

Heket was not the happiest when she awoke in the lambs cult to say the least.

Allthough she was hungry, (cant blame her tbh).

When you approached her and offered her a couple of berries as a little welcome gift you definetly became one of her favorites.

She probably didn't even want to try and care for someone that isn't her siblings, at this point.

She especially appreceates if you basically speak for her, mainly because you can get to the point (and the words) alot faster then her.

Heket will do absolutely anything to avoid you or anyone else finding out anything that embarrases her that isnt known, like her losing to the lamb.

She enjoys all meals with either you or her siblings.

Romantic:

If you pick her up in front of others for no reason you are getting the frog equivilent of a bitch slap.

She does still have a reputation to uphold to prevent the followers from being too cruel even as a member of the cult.

Okay but seriously, Heket is basically your knight in shining armor.

Someones bothering you? just tell Heket, and she will take care of it.

She loves it when you bring her snakcs while waiting for a meal to be done whenever you cook.

Can and will pass you notes of what she wants you to say to someone, if she's really annoyed bcause of something they did.

Might be dissapointed if you rephrase it, to not be as rude as what she wrote.

Shamura

General:

Them always seeking knowledge was definetly one of the things that allowed you to bond with them quickly.

You telling them about things they might find interesting, and them sharing some of the things they remember.

Shamura likes it when you remind them of small things they might forget.

They also like sharing stories of their past with you, or giving you small gifts.

Not that they cant defend themselves against other cult members who might be looking for payback (they probably can't).

But you talking some sense into the cultists heads definetly does not go unoticed.

Romantic:

Shamura probably does like cuddles, especially when comforting them.

Might forget that you gave them something and try to return it to you.

If you remind them, then well they'll probably feel a bit ashamed that they forgot one of your gifts.

Please comfort Shamura if this happens.

(sorry i couldn't come up with much for them Shamura fans).

Kallamar

General:

Kallamar is a very nervous person so you showing them kindness was definetly unexpected.

you being nice? To him, and this quickly? You must be plotting something, he thought. but when you continuesly kept showing kindness and defended him from any rude cult members, he quickly realized that it wasn't the case.

he likes it alot when you reassure him that everythings gonna be fine. This man isn't much for standing up for himself. So if you do stand up for him, when other cultists come to do whatever they'd wanna do, he'll be very thankful.

If you went through the trouble of learning sign language just to communicate with him easilier his heart basically melts (not literally though).

Romantic:

He loves holding your hand. he likes the comfort of you being around.

expect him to be with you for a majority of the time.

will hug you whenever he feels nervous if he is allowed to (usually he is).

If he's trying to talk to you about something personal he'll usually use sign language with you when alone.

Kallamar spends so much time with you that half of his stuff is probably at your place.

Narinder

General:

He was not letting anyone even try and converse with him, after his indoctrination.

Not like people were gonna try anyway, considering what he tried to do.

But theres always someone different, and that just so happened to be you.

You kept trying to start a conversation, pestering him untill he finally tried to actually speak with you.

He wasn't very happy when he finally did start talking.

Despite that you just kept coming back.

Soon he actually started trying to engage the conversations, not really having much else to do.

Small conversation became a small friendship.

Soon Narinder found himself actively trying to spend time with you , and you were more then happy to do so.

Atleast the place wasn't as bad now for Narinder.

Romantic:

This dude is for close to anything but PDA (Public displays of affection).

Will purr if you hug him.

Narinder will never admit it but he's a total cuddle bug when in private.

Will do anything to prevent the lamb from finding out because he already knows he's gonna get teased for eternity the second they find out.

May or may not actively seek you out if he's getting really needy for some cuddles.

Will have orange cat level stupid behavior if he somehow gets his hands on catnip.

The lamb / Lambert.

General:

upon first meeting you, for whatever reason you were wandering around the lands of the old faith, they immidietly asked if you wanted to become part of their cult.

Likes your dedication to the crown and the cult

If you're especially dedicated to the cult then they might read your mind (and might find out you're in love but who knows).

Definetly tries to become closer with you.

They might ask if you wanna go on walks to take a break from all the work.

If you have any problems then the lamb will be willing to do just about anything to help (not everything though).

Romantic:

The lamb definetly makes the first move.

They shower you in gifts, kisses and cuddles whenever they're not busy.

Will do a marriage ritiual as soon as you feel comfortable with it.

Will spend lots of time with you in their free time.

You're probably being put in charge of taking care of things whenever they go on crusades, mainly because they trust you the most.

Doesn't have alot of time when they're not working but they spend almost every second that they're not busy beside you

Expect surprise hugs.

Lots and lots of surprise hugs.

Alot of people are probably both jealous and happy for you because of you being with the lamb.

The lamb does not care because they got the most wonderful person in the world as their partner aka you <3.

(Hope you enjoyed my first ever headcannons)

[ladykailitha]

Batshit Soulmates Part 7

Hey guys! We're almost back to where we started and I fix a glaringly obvious plot hole. Why use alcohol to make Molotov cocktails that could back fire and hurt you when FLARE GUNS FUCKING EXIST AND HAVE FOR DECADES IN THE 1980s?!

GIF by thehound-and-thebird

We also get Eddie and Steve having a moment in the bathroom of Max's trailer. And the reason Eddie didn't want to use his handkerchief.

In Medias Res| Prologue|Pt 1|Pt 2|Pt 3|Pt 4|Pt 5|Pt 6|

****

Steve looked back over his shoulder and into Eddie’s eyes. “We need music!”

Eddie scrambled to his feet. “Robin! We need music!”

They both turn and run into Eddie’s bedroom, rummaging through his stack of cassette tapes.

“What the hell is this?” she held up Iron Maiden. “Where’s the real music? Blondie, Madonna, Cindy Lauper...”

Eddie snatched the tape from her. “This is real music!”

Dustin came running in. “Hey guys! You really need to hurry!”

Then they heard it, Steve and Lucas harmonizing. Eddie grabbed his acoustic and ran out there. He listened to them for a moment and then started playing. It was rough and barely music, but it worked.

Nancy gasped, startling to life.

Steve pulled her in for a hug as everyone breathed a sigh of relief. She babbled about monsters and guilt and horrible visions of the destruction of everything she held dear.

“Let’s get you topside,” Steve murmured, “and we can talk about what this all means.”

They got everyone out of the Upside Down and safely over to Max’s trailer.

Steve was exhausted. He just wanted to take Robin and Eddie and run. None of them had skin in the game. Nancy had made that clear enough. Over and over again.

They also weren’t going to listen to him. He felt like he was screaming into the void. Echoless and empty. His last nerve had been beyond frayed for the last five days. He just wanted to rest.

“Fine.”

Every head snapped his direction.

“But if we’re going to do this,” he growled, “we’re going to do it properly. We need weapons and supplies. And the four of us,” he pointed to the older teens that had been in the Upside Down, “need showers and food. Also, in case anyone forgot,” he pointed down at his ripped and badly bandaged torso, “I need to have this properly bandaged so I don’t bleed out at a crucial moment!”

The silence was deafening.

Nancy folded her arms and rocked back on one heel, staring at the floor.

“I’m sorry, Steve,” she murmured. “I did forget you were injured. Let’s get everyone all cleaned up.”

“And I know where to get supplies,” Eddie said softly.

Steve turned to him and nodded. “Let’s get us all cleaned up, did anyone think to grab Eddie some clothes while we were at his trailer?”

All he got in return were blank stares. Steve pressed the palms of his hands into his eye sockets as he fought the urge to scream.

“I’ll go!” Max said. “I’ll be less likely to be noticed poking around.”

Eddie grimaced he wasn’t sure how he felt about Red getting into his underwear drawer, but she was right. Anyone else would have stuck out like a sore thumb.

He watched as she snuck back out and then turned to Steve. “We need to get you taken care of first. There won’t be much hot water for the rest of us, but Stevie here needs it to clear out his wounds.”

Robin and Nancy nodded.

“Fucking demobats,” Dustin huffed.

Steve snapped his fingers. “I knew they would be called demo-something. It’s always demo-something.”

Dustin turned to him slowly. “What did you think they were going to be called if not bats, Steve?”

Steve shrugged. “Some kind of bird, I don’t know.”

Suddenly there was an uproar from almost everyone. Except Eddie.

“Why would you think that, Stevie?” he asked over the din.

“Because demogorgons don’t look like demogorgons and you originally thought the demodogs were some new species of reptile, so how I was supposed to know you were actually going to name it what it looked like.”

“What does their version of a demogorgon look like?” Eddie asked, suddenly curious.

“Tall, thin, leafy, with a head that opens like a Venus fly trap,” Robin said excitedly.

Eddie turned to Lucas and Dustin and raised an eyebrow. “That sounds more like an umber hulk than a demogorgon. You know, the thing with tentacles and two heads?”

Lucas shrugged. “We were like eleven years old when named it and hadn’t had a lot of experience with the game yet.”

Eddie nodded. “Fair enough.”

He tugged on Steve’s arm and led him into the bathroom.

“Strip and into the water, pretty boy,” Eddie said, turning on the shower. “I’ll go grab some towels and the first aid kit.”

Steve nodded. He gently took off the denim vest and set on the sink. Eddie’s expression softened and smiled.

He got back out just as Max had returned.

“I grabbed two pairs of boxers,” she said. “One for you and one for Steve. I hope that was okay.”

“Just what were you doing in Eddie’s underwear?” Lucas asked, wide eyed.

Max rolled her eyes. “Eddie hasn’t been able to change his in almost a week and that lake water can’t have been good for Steve, so I made an executive decision.”

Eddie grabbed the backpack she had used to stuff the clothes in with a thankful smile. “One I deeply appreciate, Red.”

He also got the first aid kit from her and went back into the bathroom. Steve was as clean as he could get all things considered. He was toweling off his chest when Eddie came in.

“Red brought you a change of underwear, if you don’t mind wearing some of mine,” he muttered.

“As long as they’re clean, Eds,” Steve said, “I would wear Tommy H.’s at this point.”

Eddie chuckled. “Fair enough. I just didn’t want to offend your rich boy sensibilities.”

Steve scoffed. “I don’t have any of those anymore. The Upside Down has a lovely way of getting rid of that kind of shit, fast.”

Eddie nodded, but turned away so Steve could pull on the boxers.

“Thank fuck,” Steve muttered. “I prefer briefs, but they’re dry and that’s like heaven right now.”

Eddie turned around and breathed through his nose. Seeing Steve in his boxers was really doing something for him that it really shouldn’t.

“Let’s get those wounds wrapped up,” he said hefting the first aid kit.

Steve nodded. He leaned up against the sink and let Eddie put on gauze and proper bandages on the wounds on his sides.

“I hope wherever you plan to get supplies has shoes, man,” Steve said as he struggled to put on the sweats, “because I really need to stop running around barefoot.”

Eddie looked down at Steve’s feet and back up at Steve. “Shit. You walked all through the forest and to Nancy’s house barefoot and then rode a bike all the way to Forest Hills, again WITHOUT SHOES?!”

Steve blushed. “I don’t see what the big deal is.”

“The big deal, Stevie,” Eddie huffed, “is that you’re our tank and if you are too hurt to protect the squishy ones, then everyone gets hurt, okay?”

Steve nodded. “Sorry. They don’t usually care.”

Eddie looked back at the closed door and then back at Steve. “I think you’re wrong. But if you don’t tell them you’re hurt, they can’t take care of you.”

Steve nodded again, he went back out there while Eddie took his turn. Quickly get the worst of six days of being on the run off of him. He merely rinsed his hair out of the dirt and whatever the hell that shit is that is constantly falling in the Upside Down.

He stepped out and dried himself off, using the towel Steve used. It didn’t look like Max had a lot of towels and they still had Robin and Nancy to get through.

He run his hair out and got dressed. When he pulled out the Metallica t-shirt and the one pair of black jeans he owned that didn’t have rips in the knee, he almost wanted to kiss her forehead. God, this was perfect. She even put in socks. He put his shoes on and yeah, they were still kinda wet, but it was much better than everything being kinda wet.

Nancy went next and then Robin, each girl just taking the time they needed to get the Upside Down off of them.

Eddie pulls out a phone book and lays on the table. He goes flipping through it and lands on the section for camping gear and guns.

He points to the biggest ad. “This is where we are going to get our supplies, it will have everything we need. Guns, ammo, whatever you need to take this bastard out.”

Steve pressed up against Eddie and leaned over his shoulder to see what he was pointing at. The War Zone.

“What about alcohol?” Robin asked. “Last time we used Molotov cocktails to take out these monsters.”

“Yeah!” Dustin said. “Fire works great on these guys. And the further away we are to light them up, the better.”

“So flare guns,” Eddie said nodding. “They’ll have those too.”

Nancy and Dustin shared a confused glance.

“What’s a flare gun?” Nancy asked.

Eddie looked around at all the confused faces. “You’ve seen the flares they shoot up when someone is in distress right?”

There were a couple of nods.

“Those are fired from guns,” he explained. “Essentially they are fireworks in a gun.”

“Yeah,” Lucas said, “we’re going to want a lot of those.”

There was a murmur of agreement from everyone.

“Now all we need is transport,” Nancy said. “We don’t have bikes for everyone.”

“Oh,” Eddie said. “I’ve got that covered, too.”

Steve frowned. “What, have you got a car hidden around here somewhere?”

Eddie straightened up and smiled at him. “It’s not a car, and it’s not mine. But it’ll do.”

Steve frowned, but Eddie turned to Max. “Hey you got a bandanna or a mask I can use?”

Max tilted her head and looked up. “Yeah, I’ve got something.”

“Why don’t you use your own hankey?” Nancy asked, pointing to his back pocket.

He held it up. “You mean this? The thing that has been through Lover’s Lake and the Upside Down and I’m pretty sure the smell alone would kill me?”

Nancy blinked for a moment and then waved her hand in concession.

When Max came out of her bedroom carrying the mask, Eddie grinned.

“You’re my favorite.”

“Hey!” Dustin protested.

But Eddie and Max just grinned.

****

Part 8 Part 9 Epilogue

And if you saw this last night, no, no you didn't. Boops distracted me.

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[rayslittlekitten]

Can I?

A/N: Okay y'all. It's here, it's done. Y'all voted on this a while back and it was a bit challenging as I made the mistake of starting to write it with Will in mind so I had to make adjustments, but I think I figured it out. Thank you so so much to @musings-of-a-rose for taking a look at this for me. You are a doll!

Rating: E (18+ ONLY)

Word Count: 6,033

Pairing: Benny Miller x BFF! F! Reader

Plot: A night of unexpected events occur when you and your best friend innocently test out sex toys you had drunkenly purchased for shits and giggles.

WARNINGS: This is the first fic I am NOT including warning tags because I don't want to spoil anything. There's nothing typically potentially triggering like dark stuff (i.e. CNC) but still I wanted to keep it a mystery going in. SO PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Your friends were supposed to watch the fight with you tonight but they had bailed with some excuse or two except for your best friend. You thought that his brother would at least still be joining as they usually do everything together - like you wouldn’t be surprised if you found out they hold each other’s dicks while the other pisses - but it’s just going to be you and him tonight. Instead of going to the bar like originally planned, you both decided to pick up a case of beer and hang out at your place. It’s cheaper and less crowded. 

There’s a rap at your apartment door and you go to open it. As expected, it's your best friend with the supply.

“Hey, Benny! Just in time!”

"Hey, you got a package," Benny says as he hands you the beer. He bends down to pick up the small brown box off the floor by your door. "What did you order?"

"I have no idea what that is," you reply as you make your way over to the kitchen to stick it in the fridge. "I don't remember ordering anything. Where does it say it's from?"

"The return address just says Warehouse, in Ohio," he replies, inspecting the non-descript package and following you further into your apartment after shutting the door behind him.

He hands you the cardboard box before taking his jacket off and making himself at home. You rip open the package and after seeing the contents, you laugh out loud.

"What's so funny?" he asks, walking closer to you.

"This was a drunk purchase. I totally forgot about these!" You reach in to pull out the items and show him your new purchases.

"What are those?" He looks perplexed.

“This one is a vibrator I keep seeing on Instagram, but it's supposed to be like, amazing," you answer.

"How the hell are you supposed to use that?" He takes one of the packages from you and inspects it, looking at the pictures on the box.

"Well, one way you can use it is you insert this side into your pussy and this part is supposed to sit on your clit," you point and explain to him. "It also comes with a detached remote so someone else can control it.

"I don't know if that's a terrible time or a great time."

"The vibration is supposed to be very powerful but quiet," you add. "Supposed to be discreet. They try to sell it by showing women supposedly wearing it in public under their clothes without anyone apparently knowing and their partner has control of it and she's like losing her shit."

"I'm curious now."

"For science!" You declare as you snatch the package from him. You start opening it up and pull the contents out. "Shit, it needs AAA batteries. TV remote!"

You head to the living room and he follows you. You take the batteries out of your TV remote and shove them into the new toy. After turning it on, it buzzes lightly in your hand, moving subtly.

"Let's see how crazy it can get." You start playing with the buttons until it goes up to the highest setting and Ben's eyes get wide as saucers watching it flop around in your palm, practically jumping out of your hand.

"Jesus Christ!" Benny hops back.

"Yeah, now imagine that between your legs."

"I'm not sure I want to. Looks like it would scramble all the sperm inside my balls. Besides, I don't think it was made for my body parts," he points out.

"You just don’t have an imagination," you jab. "Hmm, should we test drive it?" you suggest as you shut it off.

“What do you mean?" he asks curiously.

"See if the hype is real," you answer. "Especially that other one." You point to the other toy that's still in its package.

"That one's supposed to feel like your clit is actually getting sucked on."

"I didn't even know such toys exist," he confesses. 

"There are soooo many sex toys out there, you don't even know. Why don't you go get us some cold ones while I figure these out?" you suggest.

"You really wanna do this?” He checks again.

"Yeah, why not? It's not like we have anything else better to do except watch two grown men beat each other up," you state. “Come on, this isn’t any different than the time we accidentally found Will’s porn stash and you got a boner.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t jerk off.”

“You totally did. Not in front of me, but you were not discreet when you snuck off to the bathroom with one of his magazines to ‘take a shit’,” you look at him knowingly.

“Okay, fine,” he shrugs and adjusts his forward-facing cap. “You have a point.” He heads back into the kitchen to grab some beer.

When he comes back with two opened bottles in hand, he finds you reading the manual and reviewing the other toy.

"So how exactly are we testing these?" he asks, settling down next to you on the couch and taking a gulp of his beer.

"Well, I'm not gonna stick it down my pants if that's what you're thinking. Would that be too weird?” You scrunch your nose while looking over at your best friend who looks just as clueless.

"I don't know. That's why I'm asking. It ain't going down my pants. No amount of alcohol is gonna get that to happen."

"Okay, I didn't think this through. I mean, I guess we can just test it on our arms or something," you shrug cluelessly, thinking of the first thing that comes to mind and then going back to the manual.

"How would that work?" Benny asks as he takes the remote sitting next to him, inspecting it.

As you begin to answer, he starts randomly pressing buttons and you shriek, jumping in your seat. Benny also jumps back, spilling some of his beer as he reacts to your sudden outburst.

"What the hell?!" He looks over to you.

You instantly reach for the vibrator that happened to be sitting between your legs, snug against the front of your pants and toss it at him. Benny tries to dodge it like it's a dead cockroach, but it lands on his lap and he immediately launches himself off the couch. The vibrator continues to bounce around the cushion of the couch until Benny finally shuts it off.

"What the hell was that, man?" Benny looks over at you.

"It was between my legs when you turned it on, you ass!"

“Well, what the hell was it doing there? You said you weren't gonna test it that way."

"I wasn't! It just happened to be there while I was reading on how to operate the other one. Why'd you turn it on?" You shoot back.

"I don't know what the hell I'm doing!" He shouts. "This shit is like rocket science! How do you women even use these things?"

"Men use them too," you correct him. 

“Well, clearly I never have," he admits and returns to his seat, flicking the vibrator towards you to make room for himself.

"You're such a prude. It's not like I was wearing it," you say, grabbing it away from him.

"I'm not a prude! You freaked out so I freaked out." He takes another gulp of his beer.

"Whatever," you mumble, still feeling a bit flustered and embarrassed by what had happened. You turn your attention back to the other toy. 

"Wait, you've never used any sex toys before?" you shift your attention back to him.

"Nope," he shakes his head.

"Not even with a partner?" You raise a brow.

"Well, one time this girl wanted to make things interesting and suggested a dildo, but it wasn't for her," he starts. "She wanted to stick that up my ass and I was not about that. Especially not after what I had for lunch that day."

"Aww, no peggy for Benny?" you exaggerate a pout.

"Hey, you should think twice about who you're poking fun of.” He shows you the remote in his hand and turns it back on, spooking you when the vibrator goes off between you and Benny.

"Okay, you're having too much fun with that." You reach over to grab the remote from him but he moves it away from your reach. 

You lean in further, but his long arm prevents you from getting access to it. At this point, you’re practically climbing on top of him. 

“You’re right. This is fun,” he laughs.

When you get close, he transfers the remote to his other hand so you shift yourself but lose your balance, landing back on the still-on vibrator. You shriek and Benny laughs at you. He turns the setting to the highest as you try to get away from it in your awkward position.

"Benny! You can't just go from 1 to 100 instant—" You finally roll off of it and give yourself a moment. With your eyes closed and teeth digging hard into your lower plump lip, you try to get yourself together.

“Are- are you okay?” Benny asks as his laugh dwindles. “Did you have an orgasm or something?” he jokes.

“No…” you start. “But maybe I almost did - maybe!”

His laugh finally dies, but a smirk remains on his face.

“Seriously?!” His eyes grow wide, turning his body towards you.

“That toy is no joke,” you point to it still wriggling on the couch. “And now I really wanna know what it can do.”

Benny shuts it off and his eyes shuttle between the toy and you.

“Uh… like, now?” He questions.

You stare at him for a few seconds, contemplating. 

“That would be weird, right?” You ask with a squinted eye. “Never mind, forget it—”

“Have at it,” Benny interrupts. “Now I wanna see what this thing can do, too.”

“Really?” You ask with a raised brow, surprised.

“Yeah, like you said, what else is there to do? For science!” He brings up his beer bottle to celebrate it.

“Dork,” you chuckle, snatching the toy.

“Also, maybe I can learn a thing or two from it,” he replies. “Not that I need any help in that department, but I’m always open to learning new things,” he adds.

You roll your eyes.

“Hey, I’m a fighter and a lover. And I’m great at both,” he winks. 

“Are you done stroking your own ego?” You look at him, unimpressed.

“I’m sorry. Yes, you can go on to stroke yourself,” he answers, trying to keep a straight face but ends up cracking a smirk.

“You’re so dumb,” you roll your eyes again and try not to crack your own.

“But I gotta be the one in control.” He holds up the remote in his hand.

“Benny-“

“I may never have the opportunity to ever do this again,” he says. “Besides, isn’t it what makes this fun? Someone else controlling it?”

You stare back at him and think about it.

“Okay, fine, but-“ you point a finger at him.

“I promise I won’t go from zero to 100, okay? Scout’s honor.” Benny brings his three middle fingers up.

“You weren’t a boy scout,” you point out.

“Fuck you. I was one for like a month,” he corrects you. “So are we doing this or what?”

“Turn around,” you tell him.

“What? I can’t watch?”

“Not watch me put this on. Turn around,” you repeat.

He rolls his eyes and turns his whole body around so the back of his head is facing you. You keep an eye on him as you wrangle your jeans and slip the toy inside you until it fits snug. Benny takes a sip of his beer as he waits patiently. He hears you fumbling around and finally you tell him he can turn back around.

He turns to face you and he looks confused.

“What?” You ask him.

“You have it on? Under your jeans?”

“Yes. I wasn’t gonna let it all hang out willy-nilly,” you tell him. “If you don’t believe me, turn it—“

Before you can finish your sentence, Benny flips the switch and you seize up. He can’t hear it, but your reaction confirms you have it in. He watches you as you stay still and quiet for a few moments.

“Can I up the speed?” He asks.

“Is this the lowest setting?” You calmly shoot back.

“Uh, yeah I think so.” He looks down at the remote to see if there’s any indication.

“Okay, go up one notch. One!” You glare at him.

“Okay, here we go.” He turns it up and you twitch.

You start shifting around in your seat until you feel the vibrator is in optimal position.

“How many speeds does this thing have again?” You ask out loud, reaching for the instruction manual and scanning it. “TEN?”

“Well, here’s number three,” Benny says as he ups the speed.

“Ben— ohhhhh…” Your scolding got cut short when the vibrator starts to really hit the right spots. 

The tip of the dildo part tickles your g-spot as the outer part flickers over your clit. You close your eyes and bite your lower lip, trying to concentrate and keep your composure.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit,” you mumble.

“Uh… how are you doing?” He asks, not sure what else to do.

“I’m… “ you freeze up for a quick second and then relax, letting out a heavy breath. “Jeeeesus,” you hiss.

Benny remains quiet as he watches you slightly gyrate against the couch. You close your legs together and cross your knees, trying to recalibrate yourself for the ideal position. He notices your breathing has gotten heavier.

“Higher?” He asks quietly, afraid to interrupt your flow.

“I’m already slipping all around,” you answer without opening your eyes, almost forgetting you aren’t alone.

“That’s not a no…” he points out.

Your teeth digs even deeper into your lower lip as you contemplate whether you want to chase your impending orgasm or not. You hate that at the current setting, it’s only enough to edge you and need a bit more to get you over the top. 

“Okay,” you finally say. “Do it.”

Benny takes it to number four and you yelp instantly.

"Oh my god," you start giggling. "This is fucking crazy!"

Your thighs tightly clamp together and your back arches off the couch. You throw your head back as your jaw drops open, letting out a silent scream. Your hips rock against the vibrator, trying to get to the finish line.

"I'm not gonna lie. This is getting me hard."

You open your eyes and glance over at him to see him palming the front of his jeans and rubbing himself through the denim as he watches you trying not to lose your shit.

“How close are you?" he asks.

You feel your face get really warm all of a sudden. His baby blues pierce your eyes and you're suddenly feeling more vulnerable than you already are, like you just got caught doing something you shouldn't be doing, but at the same time, it’s kinda hot seeing Benny turned on watching you to the point where he’s quasi-touching himself. Noticing your state of shock, he amps up the vibration and you let out an uncontrolled moan.

"Oh, fuck!“

Your hips buck off the couch as your orgasm comes crashing down on you. You continue to moan as you ride the wave and try to catch the next one, grinding down on the couch. You don’t even care how silly you might look to Ben right now. All your focus is what’s going on between your legs. Suddenly the vibrator gets stronger again.

“Ben, stop! It’s too much!” You shriek.

You’re relieved when the torture stops, but it also feels odd as you feel the residual buzzing between your legs.

“So… how was it?” Benny breaks the silence. “Was it all your hopes and dreams?”

You take a moment to yourself to process the experience before answering.

“This shit is… I don’t think I ever want to experience the highest setting on this thing,” you tell him. “This thing is like a torture device. It feels like I pissed myself.”

You turn to look at him as you catch your breath and you’re reminded that Benny’s having his own fun with this, bringing you back down to earth. He scoots a bit closer to you with his hand still over his crotch. This new tension is clearly mutually felt as you both stare at each other, waiting for the other person to say or do something first. Your eyes ping pong between his face and his crotch, which he is still lazily rubbing.

“So uh… what now?” Benny asks, licking his lips. “Round two?” he brings up the remote still in his hand.

“N-no! No, no! Don’t you dare-“ you reach for the remote again, but he pulls it back behind him.

You chase after it, lunging towards him and end up getting right in his face.

“Benny!” You try again, but pause when you catch him staring at you, his face no more than a few inches away from yours. 

It may be the post-orgasm bliss or the awkward position you both found yourselves in, but you’ve never noticed how easy on the eyes your best friend is. He swallows hard as his eyes scan your face.

“Can… can I kiss you?"  he asks suddenly, leaning in and nudging your nose with his, testing the boundaries.

You lick your dry lips and swallow as you glance down at his mouth, seeing it slowly closing the distance. He ghosts his lips over yours, stopping short of actually putting it on yours, waiting for your permission. You answer his question by closing the gap, slotting your mouth over his.

He kisses back, gently at first, matching your energy. When you slip your tongue into his mouth, he cups your face and returns the gesture. You’re both now devouring each other as he turns his body towards you to get into a more comfortable position, adjusting himself to accommodate the bulge in his jeans.

You both continue to make out with more urgency. Benny’s hands start cautiously exploring your body, placing a hand on your waist at first. It wanders down to your hip and he gives it a squeeze. Your own hands start roaming Benny’s body, touching his hard chest first. His warmth is welcoming, making you twist your body and lean into him. Feeling bold, Benny’s hand wanders to your thigh, his fingers brushing the inside, but far from your wet patch. 

“Can I touch you down there?” He mumbles between kisses while moving his mouth to the side of your face and down your neck.

“Wha-“ You let out a loud sigh when you feel his soft wet tongue on the side of your neck, shivering when he grazes a sensitive spot.

“Can I touch you down there?” Ben repeats, pulling back, his lust-filled eyes looking down into yours.

His fingers barely scrapes your inner thigh, but you feel the jolt of his touch travel up to where the vibrator is still sitting.

“Please?” He squeaks out as his fingers travel up higher and his breathing gets heavier, matching yours.

Even though the vibrator isn’t on, it still brushes against your clit every time you shift and it’s only making you want Benny more, to help you get some relief. Even though you’ve already cum, you are hornier than ever right now.

You simply nod before capturing his mouth again. You moan into his mouth when you feel his hand cupping you, rubbing small slow circles with his fingers. Your hips twitch when he drags his middle finger up and down the thick seam of your pants that’s pressing directly down the center of the outer part of the vibrator which is sitting directly on your clit. He’s barely putting any pressure, but you’re hypersensitive right now and it feels like torture. 

Now impatient, you start undoing your pants, trying to quickly get them off. You break the kiss to take a few seconds to focus on ridding your jeans. Benny watches you as he palms himself again, touching himself like he did with you. When you finally get your jeans off, tossing it over the couch, you reach into your underwear to remove the bane of your current existence - the vibrator. Without much effort, the vibrator basically falls out of you. It is drenched in your arousal, a thin sticky string still connects you to it. 

It made an audible noise when it slipped out of you, as did Benny. Before you can discard the very used toy, Benny’s hand is back on you, his fingertips teasing the band of your underwear. He keeps dipping further and discovers how slick you really are.

"Jeeeeesus Christ, you weren't kidding. That shit got you so fucking wet," he comments while teasing your opening, slowly dipping his fingertip in, putting light pressure against it but it took no effort to penetrate you.

An audible squelch can be heard when he enters a second finger. You moan, feeling his thick fingers filling you and stroking you inside. He’s definitely reaching places the vibrator couldn’t. He hums watching your face distort when he pushes in further.

Your hand grips his strong forearm, feeling his veins raised and his muscles flexing underneath your palms as he pumps his long fingers in and out of you. The tip of his tongue darts out and licks the corner by his upper lip as he starts curling his fingers up, reaching for that soft spongy spot at the roof of your vagina. Your legs open up wider for him as his fingertips rub your g-spot over and over again. Your senses are heightened watching him watching you with darkened eyes. His thumb starts rubbing your clit as he massages your g-spot and it doesn’t take long for your orgasm to peak. You rock your hips against his fingers as your muscles continually clench and release over his fingers. 

"Holy sh-shit," you tremble, feeling the aftershocks.

He pulls his fingers out, dragging them over your clit along the way, making your body twitch at the sensitivity. 

“I think I made you cum faster than that toy did,” he jokes.

You crack a half smile but you don’t have the brain power to conjure up a verbal response. After a shared moment, he leans in to give you a quick peck on your lips. As he gets up off the couch, Benny takes his cap off to adjust the position of it, switching it backwards before settling between your legs. 

The front of your thin cotton panties are completely drenched through. He can see your outline as the damp fabric clings to your puffy lips. 

“Can I taste you?” 

His puppy eyes peek up from between your legs. Your brain is mush so you simply nod.

He bunches the top of your underwear in his hand and yanks it up, causing it to brush across your clit. Your hips twitch and as he continues to rub the fabric over you, seeing your reaction to it and drawing out the tease. You moan and gyrate your hips when he puts his mouth between your legs over your underwear.  He laps up your juices, licking and sucking as he continues to tug at your panties taut against your dripping cunt, putting pressure on your sensitive nub.

"Ben…" you pant as you push his cap off and run your fingers through his messy dirty blonde hair.

His scruff brushes the insides of your thigh as he continues to eat you out. You gasp when you feel the tip of his tongue breaching your opening, forcing your underwear aside and exposing your core. He puts more pressure with his tongue, slipping in deeper inside you and tasting you. Your hips start rocking against his face, but his tongue can only go so far. He shifts his attention to the swollen bud a little higher, scrunching your panties aside. He circles your clit with the tip before pressing the flat of his tongue and then his mouth over it, hollowing out his cheeks as he sucks hard. Your thighs clamp around his head and his eyes focus on your face as his tongue continues to play your clit like a fiddle. He grips your hips and holds you down.

“F-fuck…” your breathing becomes irregular as your orgasm builds.

With his mouth still attached to you, he slips his finger inside you to try to find that spot again. You thrust against his face when you feel your third release breaching. Benny intensifies his sucking and fingering, feeling you clench around him. You cry out when the dam breaks and you convulse around him. He doesn’t stop until you still. As you’re coming down from your high, body slouched from being spent, he withdraws his fingers and licks them clean.

“So you wanna try that other toy now to see how it compares to the real thing?” He asks as he stands up and wipes his mouth.

He was right about him not needing any help in the bedroom department. You can barely form words right now. Never in a million years would you think your best friend can eat pussy like an expert. Taking from his brother who he regularly competes with, he always strives to be the best in everything he does, but this is on a whole different level. And now he wants to use another toy on you? You don’t think anything can top what he just did to you.

"W-what?" you ask cluelessly, still recovering the most mind blowing oral sex you have ever received. 

Your eyes follow him as he reaches for the suction toy to show you. He tries to figure out how to turn it on as he kneels down, returning between your legs.

"You gotta help me out here--"

He's suddenly interrupted when you grab his face and smash your lips against his, tasting yourself. He abandons the toy somewhere and moves up to the couch next to you. You reposition yourself to straddle his lap as you continue to make out. As your hands wander down to the buttons of his jeans, he grabs your ass, squeezing them in his large hands. 

When you successfully get his jeans undone, he lifts his hips and helps you pull down his bottoms until he springs free. You look down and reach for his thick cock, warm and soft to the touch. You jerk him as he’s already hard as a rock. Your thumb brushes the underside of his head.

“Fuck,” he hisses.

Now it’s your turn to torture him. You slide off his lap and on to the floor, kneeling between his knees. Once in a comfortable position, you grab his length, licking a trail from the base to the tip, maintaining eye contact the entire time. When you get to the top, you wrap your lips around him, wetting the head a bit before inching down to taste the rest of him. Your tongue swirls around his smooth and salty skin, lubricating him as you bob up and down.

“Shhhhit…” He throws his head back against the couch.

Feeling frisky, you try to deep throat him and he grasps within arms reach whatever he can as he groans. He looks over when a hand grabs something unfamiliar to him. It’s the vibrator and an idea comes to his mind.

“Wait,” he reluctantly stops you.

You pause and see him holding up the vibrator.

“Put this on while you suck me. I think it’ll be fun.”

You look at the vibrator for a moment and then back at him.

“I promise I won’t put it so high,” he reassures you.

“Fine,” you agree and you take it from him and slip it inside you, orienting it the right way. “You try anything and I’ll bite your dick off,” you warn, drawing a small chuckle out of Ben.

You get back into the position you were in before and put your mouth back on him. As you go back to sucking him, you yelp when Benny turns the vibrator on at a low speed. The noise you made sent a delightful vibration down his cock, making it twitch. He turns it up a notch and your hips move against the vibrator. You start moving up and down on him a little faster, stroking the base where your mouth can’t reach. You deepthroat him again until you gag, but you keep on going, sending your spit dripping down his cock and lubing him up.

“You look so fucking hot,” Benny pants.

His breathing is getting more labored. His hips jerk up and he places a hand on the back of your head. He’s not putting any pressure, but he fists your hair. He doesn’t pull on it, just moves with you as you fuck him with your mouth. You start quickening your pace feeling the vibrator getting stronger, trying to match it. Feeling the beginning of an orgasm forming, you rock your hips and suck him harder.

“Fuck, I’m gonna cum,” he warns you.

Not changing your rhythm, you watch him come undone as he pops in your mouth. He thrust into your face as his moans echo in the small space and grasps the remote in his hand, accidentally jumping it up another level, but it’s what you needed to push you over the edge. You grind against the toy as you moan with him still deep inside your mouth. He spills out of the corner of your mouth as his hips slow down.

When he stills, you suck him clean and swallow the load that remained in your mouth. You reach down to pull the vibrator off and toss it onto his lap. Benny jumps in his seat and shuts it off. You wipe the corner of your mouth and chin with the back of your hand as you get up off your knees. He looks back at you with tired eyes as he tries to catch his breath, cock twitching. You squeal when he grabs your wrist and pulls you into his lap, careful with his half hard cock. You straddle his lap and he kisses you, his tongue thrusting into your mouth, tasting a bit of himself. The two of you lazily make out for a bit until Benny pulls back. You lick your lips and smile, looking down at him.

“We should start making this a regular thing, ya know. The toy testing,” Benny suggests, breaking the awkward silence and lightening the mood.

“Well, I do have a dildo I haven’t tried yet,” you half-joke.

He looks back at you with narrow eyes.

“You’re not putting that in my ass,” he states.

“Not what I was thinking,” you chuckle as you shake your head. “I’ve always wanted to know what it felt like to be double penetrated,” you explain.

Benny stares at you with a blank expression, but you see his semi twitch in your peripheral. 

“Gi-give me maybe fifteen minutes—“ he finally says, pointing to his softening cock.

“Whoa! Hold it there, cowboy,” you stop him. “Why don’t we just think on that? Besides, I don’t have any condoms or lube for that to happen.”

“Yeah, okay. Sure,” he shrugs. “I-I had a good time, if that’s what you were wonder—“

You silence him with a tender kiss before grabbing the vibrator to remove the batteries and toss them at him.

“I’m gonna clean up. Why don’t you put the fight on? I think It’s starting soon,” you tell him as you dismount him and grab your jeans off the floor while Benny pulls his bottoms back up.

“Look what the guys missed out on. Coulda had an orgy,” you joke.

“If everyone showed up, we’d be at a bar,” he points out, then swishes some beer inside his mouth.

“Fair. Okay, a Miller sandwich then,” you switch it up.

Benny chokes on his beer.

“Kidding!” You chuckle awkwardly. “Kinda. Sorry, you probably don’t wanna think about you and your brother fucking the same person at the same time,” you snort before finally heading to the bathroom.

When you get back, you find Benny putting his phone away and relaxing on the couch like he was before any of the sexy stuff had happened, with the TV on. The awkwardness returns. He hands you your beer as you sit down next to him, settling in. You both quietly watch the fight as it starts, but you steal glances at each other every now and then. At one point, you do a double take.

“Dude, are you smelling your fingers?” You look at him incredulously.

“What? I washed them, but I can still smell you.”

You grimace at him.

“Don’t look at me like that. You smell good,” he shrugs. “It’s actually getting me hard again.”

You watch him adjust himself. The both of you stare each other down, trying to read each other until a knock on your door breaks the trance.

“Who the hell is that?” You ask, but Benny shrugs.

You get up to open the door and find the other Miller brother on the other side.

“Hey, sorry I’m late! I had trouble finding parking. Did the fight start already?”

You look back at him confused.

“Uh… are you gonna let me in?” Will asks. “I brought goodies.” He shows the case of beer and grocery store bag in his hand with a party sized bag of chips peeking out.

“Sorry, I just thought you weren’t coming,” you tell him while letting him in.

“I texted Benny telling him plans changed last minute. Did he not get it?”

“Uh, I-I don’t know. He didn’t tell me anything.” You lead him into the living room where Benny almost looks surprised.

“Did you not tell her I’m coming?” Will asks his brother.

“Oh, sorry, forgot. I was uh, a little preoccupied,” he apologizes.

Will looks at both you and Benny suspiciously. 

“It smells… interesting in here,” he comments, his eyebrows furrow with curiosity.

“Oh my gosh, I’m sorry Will. Let me take that from you.” You quickly change the subject, taking the bag and beer out of his hands.

“Wait-” Will starts.

“Get comfy. I’ll bring you back a cold beer,” you tell him before whisking away.

You stick the beer in the fridge and when you remove the party sized tortillas to pour some into a bowl, you notice some unexpected items in the bag. You take them out for a closer inspection and your eyes widen at the bottle of lube and a box of condoms. Maybe he bought these before his initial plans got changed.

You shrug, throw them back into the bag and return to the living room with a bowl of chips, cold beer and the grocery bag of personal items. When you walk into the living room, the brothers turn their attention to you, eyeing you like they’re expecting something other than the beer and chips. You look back at them suspiciously as they’re both very laxed and spread out on the couch on each end, leaving a space for you in between. As you walk over and settle in next to them, their gaze follows you.

“Here Will, I think these are yours,” you hand him a beer and his bag of items.

He takes them from you as he smirks.

“Thanks. So,” Will turns his body towards you. “Benny tells me you’re curious about some DP action.”

You almost drop the bowl of chips in your hands. Will is usually very reserved and diplomatic so you’re a bit shocked at how straight forward he is right now. You glare at your best friend who shrugs helplessly.

“I had to tell him what he missed out on.”

You glower your eyes at Benny, but then put two and two together, your focus now bouncing between the two brothers and realize that no one is probably going to watch this fight tonight.

[mcuamerica]

The Shadowsinger: Twenty

Warnings: 18+. Minors DNI. Canon-level violence (blood, gore, fighting, killing, death), mentions of SA, ACOTAR series spoilers. If I forgot anything, please let me know!

Pairing: Azriel x Fem!Reader

Summary: You compete in the Blood Rite.

Disclaimer: I do not own SJM’s characters or plot lines, only the ones I create for the purpose of this story. This is a work of fiction. I do not give permission to repost my work on any other platform or medium. Please be respectful.

My graphics are my own. If you wish to use them, please give credit!

Series Masterlist

Fifteen - Sixteen - Seventeen - Eighteen - Nineteen

Day 1 

Your eyes were heavy as you opened them, feeling the cold snow covered ground beneath you. You should have been freaking out, should have been getting up to run already. But the only thing that was running through your mind was, “Mate, he’s your mate. Mate… Azriel’s your mate.” 

Out of all the times, why was now the time it decided to snap? Did the Mother know you were going to die here and wanted to play a cruel trick on you? If that was the case, you hope it didn’t snap for him like it had for you. Did you see a flash of gold in his eyes before you passed out or was that the gloriella you breathed in? 

You couldn’t think about that right now. Your wings were bound, your head was heavy, your Siphon gone, and your shadows nowhere to be seen. You took in a deep breath, the cold air waking you up bit by bit. You rose your head and noticed a few others around you stirring. You had to get out of here. Now. 

You scrambled to your feet as quick as you could, stumbling a little. No weapons were allowed in the Rite but these males were much much bigger than you. Even though you’ve been building up your strength, and learning how to easily overpower them, you knew it would only take you so far. Especially without your fae strength or senses.

You ran towards the tree line, needing to get out of sight if you could. You were glad that you had your cloak and fighting leathers on when you fell asleep last night. You weren’t sure how anyone could survive in anything else.

You ducked behind a tree, finding a low hanging branch and snapping it off as quickly as you could. You could use it as a weapon if you needed to. But your main priority was to survive this. If that meant hiding out in a cave for the week, you would do it. 

You noticed more males rising and starting to fight each other. Some for clothes. Others because of revenge and old grudges. You steadied your breathing, slowly turning around to only come face to chest with a male that was near Cassian’s size. 

“What do we have here? A little female trying to play warrior?” He teased. If he made any more noise you could easily be surrounded. You wished you had at least one ally here. But you were completely alone. You didn’t even know this male and came to the conclusion that he was probably from another camp. You cursed yourself for not visiting the other ones to see what you were up against. 

But you stood your ground, holding onto the broken tree branch. While your main focus was on the towering male standing before you, you were also looking for ways to get out. Preferably without killing him. Azriel and Cassian both taught you how to knock out someone with hitting the right pressure points. But you were still slightly drugged. And this guy was huge. 

“Not going to say anything?” He sneered, stepping forward. What was his plan? Tease you to death? He should’ve been swinging already. You perked your ears up, hearing a shift in the snow behind you. Just as the male behind you went to strike your head, you ducked, causing him to hit the male in front square in the jaw. You took that as your opportunity to run. The male who teased you didn’t seem too happy with his companion and started a brawl with him instead. You rolled your eyes. Males. Maybe you would make it out of this alive after all.

You made it far away from anyone else, choosing to go north since you knew that was the most difficult way to get to the mountain and not many males would choose to bother with it. But that also meant you had to find shelter in the deadlier part of the forest, so you quickly made your way to a stream, drinking as much water as you could and finding a sharp rock for you to hold on to. You would sharpen the tree branch into a spear tonight. You wouldn’t be getting much sleep this next week, so you knew you needed to keep yourself busy, dry, warm, and fed. It was about survival. Not being a hero. You repeated the two things you promised Azriel over and over again. 

First, I will survive. Then, I’ll make my way to the mountain.

You added a third thing, for yourself. 

I will see my mate again. 

It quickly shortened to Survive. Mountain. Mate. Like a mantra in your mind as you trekked north. You kept hidden, either up in the trees or between rocks, when you heard others walking or fighting nearby. If you could avoid all of them for the whole week, you would survive. 

Survive. Mountain. Mate. 

Surprisingly, you didn’t run into another male that day. You killed two rabbits, made a very very small fire to cook them, and then found a cave to hunker down for the night. 

That was the easiest day of the week. 

Day 2

Somehow, you had managed to fall asleep in the cave. And by some blessing from the Mother, you were still alive and clothed when you woke up. You narrowed your eyes, getting up with the spear you sharpened last night. You grabbed some of the rabbit you cooked, ate it quickly, and made your way to the stream. You quickly drank some of the water, and then began your trek towards Ramiel once you climbed a tree to find it. You were placed in the south, as far as you could tell. 

You set your pace, not too fast and not too slow. You kept your breathing even, your grip on your spear tight. You made two smaller ones that you tucked into your fighting leathers, hoping that would be enough if someone tried to come at you. 

You could tell it was early morning, and a lot of the males seemed to forget that the creatures lurking around at night were not forgiving during the Rite. You picked up a makeshift canteen that one of the other warriors made or found, and slung it around your waist. You’d find water again soon. 

Or at least you were planning to when you heard someone shout and fall from a tree right in front of you, landing just a few feet from you. You cursed to yourself, you should have stayed more hidden. 

“Got some fancy weapons on you there.” The brunette sneered, stepping forward. He lunged to grab your spear and you knocked him back towards the next tree. 

“And they’re mine. Find your own.” You growled, narrowing your eyes. 

“It would be so nice to have a female for entertainment out here the next few days, don’t you think, boys?” Your ears betrayed you as you didn’t hear the others rustling in the trees, hopping down as well. Damn human-like senses. You decided then and there that the tradition of the Blood Rite was stupid. Why send so many decent warriors into the mountains just to get killed? Maybe your sentiment was because you realized you didn’t have much chance of taking down five Illyrians that had at least a few inches on you. And many pounds of muscle. 

But you steadied yourself anyway, readying for the fight that was going to come any second now. The one behind you lunged, and you stepped out of the way, ducking as the one to your left tried to grab you. They ran into each other and gave you just enough time so you could hit the brunette with the tip of your spear, sending him backwards as his blood splayed. You counted your breaths, honing in on all of the training you’d done. You could do this. 

You managed to knock all five of them to the ground, not without getting a few bruises yourself. “I’m no one’s entertainment.” You ground out to them before you sprinted north again. You were going to have to be a lot more careful. You probably should have killed them because if you ran into them again, they certainly would kill you. 

You panted, coming to a stop near a stream. You filled up the canteen, drank almost the whole thing, and filled it up again before you began moving through the trees again. This time, you kept your eyes not only on the ground around you, but the trees above as well. 

You walked for another hour or two, coming in contact with a few other males here and there, but most of them paid you no mind as they weren’t looking for a fight. You recognized one male, the one that was kissing Ragna in the shed. You were glad he didn't notice you as you hunched behind a tree. Still, you were afraid your luck was starting to run thin. 

Just as night was about to fall, you couldn’t find a cave so you began scouting for a decent tree to climb and stay for the night. That’s when something hard hit your back and you whirled around, spear raised and ready for a fight. The sun would set soon and you would have to fight more than Illyrians if you were still down here. They had to know that. 

It was the male from the first morning, chuckling to himself. “Haven’t gotten yourself killed yet?” He asked, walking towards you again. You might just kill him for his rambling mouth. 

“Is this how you train to fight in your camp? With your mouth?” You asked, readying your stance. 

“I bet your mouth could do some great things for me. But alas, I’m going to have to kill you first.” He said, leaping towards you. You stepped to the side, landing a blow with your spear to his leg. You remembered he had a companion earlier, but a quick glance around suggested he wasn’t with anyone. With a temper like his, he probably killed the male. 

“You bitch.” He growled and landed a blow to your side. You held in your wince and stepped back before going to hit him in the head, but he caught your spear and twisted it. Your arm twisted uncomfortably with it, causing you to let out a yelp. You kicked towards his shin, pulling the spear back towards you when he stumbled back. Again, you tried hitting him, but this time he ducked and tackled you to the ground. You spear went flying just as his hands came up to your neck. You gasped as he started to strangle you. With one hand you tried forcing his grip from you, the other you grabbed one of your hidden wood stake and pulled it out, stabbing him right in the neck. His warm blood splayed into your face and his hands loosened. You pushed him off you, scrambling back as you saw him choke, eyes wide in terror as he grabbed the stake and pulled it out. You winced as that only made the bleeding worse. He fell on his side and gurgled the blood coming up his throat, choking on it. 

You stood up, wiped off your pants, grabbed your spear, and began walking again. Now you had to find a new tree and get away from his dead body. You also had to get the blood off you. You found a stream, tearing part of your clock to soak it and then wash the blood from your face and leathers as best as you could. You didn't even think twice about using your cloak as a rag, knowing that once you were out of this, Rhys would probably buy you a new one. And then some. Just because.

And you knew it was only going to get harder from here. 

Day 3 

You didn’t sleep that night, needing to keep watch and fend away any creature that tried climbing the tree. But you were getting closer to Ramiel, and you were beginning to think maybe it was possible for you to make it to the mountain. You’d have to do it soon if you wanted to try and make it to the top. You heard that climb alone took two days. You wondered what would happen if you made it to the top before the Rite was truly over. And if they would even let you have the title that came with it. 

In the morning, you found leftover food on some of the fallen males as you passed them, so you took it as your breakfast. Not getting sleep that night would severely bite you in the ass if you had to fight, but there was no way you could with the amount of screams from the Illyrians. And creatures trying to climb the tree to get you. Your wrist was soar from yesterday's fight and your neck had a splatter of bruises, but other than that, you were feeling good. If not tired.

Honestly, you were surprised you hadn’t run into more trouble. And just as you thought it, you came upon three males, taking clothes and boots off a fallen Illyrian. Freshly dead, so maybe they were the ones to do it. What a horrible way to die. To have your clothes stripped from your body and lay there for creatures of the night to devour. You shuddered at the thought. That would not be you. 

You tried sneaking past them, but a branch covered in snow snapped under your feet and you cursed yourself. You fought off five Illyrians. You could fight off three. 

They ran towards you, one had shaped a branch into a sword, the other two had spears like yours. What happened next was a frenzie of wood knocking against wood, blood splattering from arms and legs, and one of the males going down as you stabbed him in the gut. You let out a yell as the male with the wooden sword managed to strike you in the arm, a large gash appearing. That was going to be a bitch to keep clean and covered. You growled and whirled on him, but failed to see the other male come up behind to grab your arms, restraining you. “What do we have here? A female?” He asked, the sword’s tip at your neck. You wondered how he was able to sharpen a piece of wood like that in such little time. “I’ve heard that one of you were running around, pretending to be a warrior.” 

“I think your friend would agree I’m more than pretending.” You jeered, his friend’s body lay behind you, blood pooling around your boots. 

The tip of the sword pressed closer to your neck and the male restraining you spoke into your ear, “I’d be careful what you say.” He growled. 

“We could kill you. Or keep you for ourselves to use the next few days.” He said and smirked. “Wouldn’t even have to feed you, you could just die by the end of it.” 

“Are all you males so eager to rape a female out here? Honestly it’s the only threat you can come up with. If you’re going to kill me, do it.” You said. “Because you won’t lay another hand on me again.” You growled. 

He chuckled, nodding to his friend. But you were ready for it, you stomped on the top of his foot, his grip loosening. You kicked him back, but before you could go after the male in front of you, a spear flew over your head. Dead into the male’s chest. 

Another one flew into the neck of the male that had restrained you. Your eyes flew up as you saw a male jump from a tree. 

You stumbled back a bit as you took in the site before you. Your little brother, Varyn.

Chapter 21

A/N: Another Cliffhanger for you all! Next part will be posted at 6PM CDT (Chicago)

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@herondale-lightworm

[spotlightlowlife]

ep 6, heaven haz no benefits

Charlie once again proved her silliness.

No surprise there, I'll get to that..

In heaven we meet a rather sensible bunch in the angels, some approachable, some friendly, some very wary, a good mixed bag. Dude bro Adam is there but clearly able to tone himself down in more professional settings and it's clear he isn't in charge, so at this point it why not attempt to tackle the subject matter of exterminations?

We didn't meet anyone who spoke of their fear of hell overpowering heaven, nor anybody with any particular authority other than Adam. We met Sera, someone who up kept professionalism whilst being empathetic, fair and making it clear that her hands are tied.

Adam is also revealed to be the first person in heaven. Why I wonder? Will the significant biblical figure Abel be addressed at some point?

Like Lucifer in the last episode, Adam was needed to take the story to the next level, however Adam in very few words and scenes has become a character who really outshines Lucifer and his downgraded to understudy daughter. He is the true powerful innovator, a creator since he's technically the parent of sinners and now he's revealed to be the one with the most say out if this little bunch of angels, even though Lucifer had difference with his kind back when Adam was man? He even outclasses fellow 'moved up in the world' Alastor, whose plotting and mystery amongst a load of subplots doesn't stand out.

Adam is more action and get up and go.

Why is it that the across both shows the villains writers try so hard to have the audience hate with their crass attitudes and supposed counterproduction, turn out to be are the characters who are crafted the best and able to move the plot somewhere else? Intentional or ironic.

So, silly Charlie.

As expected, she sung, that's fine.

In a little scene, a whole other scene to the song, one that lasted but a few seconds, Charlie presented her case that sinners can display decency, only her case was observing Angeldust stand up to Valentino in real time on screen.

What part of this was a 'heavenly' act?

Why did Charlie think it was a good idea to encourage the sinners to enjoy themselves whilst she goes out? She essentially let the teenagers throw the house party. Why not ask them to behave themselves because she's going to heaven to fight their corner?

Still, this was the most she did to sell her pitch, springboard off another characters progressive scene for a moment. This scene could have presented a good argument of how exactly she was going to help sinners with their PRESENT situations, let alone whatever bought them to help in the first place.

What did she have to do with Angeldust bickering with Valentino? Is she going to go back and be supportive of Angel now having it spelt out to her his situation and how he feels about it?

Is Charlie going to leave heaven tougher with a leveled up perception and new approaches?

Doubtful, because yet again her time got dominated and she now has more major things to worry about, like her hotel being under attack.

Good thing Charlie and the residents have Vaggie at their side, who dispite having a little spat with an angel and getting a backstory, I actually managed to forget she accompanied Charlie to heaven.

Vaggie actually got a big reveal that was hinted at in a previous episode..

She's an angel, a fallen one, and that's that really, we aren't allowed the time to tackle this information and it's almost safe to say it certainly won't matter to Charlie.

Emily the cutesy angel who's whole personality was she agrees with Charlie was so forgettable that I near forgot her too had it not been for the rewatch? She's just as idealistic, just as youthful, vibrant and out of grown folks business as Charlie, she also has well meaning wise elders to answer to, she can't do anything without them giving a go ahead. They're so alike yet that's easy to put forward in them just mirroring eachother, only they have next to no chemistry yet still just blend into one. Considering heaven can watch the antics of hell on 'TV', even down to the goings on in Charlie's hotel, Emily could have been a fan, she could have approached Charlie with a whole host of things she observed, what she agreed with, what she would have done had it been her, they could have made friends on the spot and atleast tried to cook up a way to keep in touch, which may be an underhanded way of getting around their restrictions, but no, they were just there in the room together.

This character served to let us know that Charlie has an ally on the other side, along with one from the other side, shame this angel had even less chemistry with Vaggie, all things considered.

Decent episode, like 5 it was definitely needed to pick this series up, no thanks to any leading character.

Again, another ep with no gifs, the wik page hasn't been updated neither. Where are these rabid fans where it actually matters?

[phoenixs-fandoms-and-writings]

A Ball That Will Change Lives - Chapter 2

Fandom: Harry Potter (Marauders)

Pairings: Royal!James/Bodyguard!Lily/Regular!GN!reader

Characters in this chapter: James Potter, Lily Evans, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Pandora Lovegood, Regulus Black, Evan Rosier

Plot: You're being 'raised' by your evil stepmother and stepsisters. Upon receiving the invitation to the royal ball, you and your stepmother and stepsisters all get ready for it. You go through the clothes left by your parents, but will they actually let you go? And if they do, who will you meet?

Notes: Inspired by the fairytale ‘Cinderella’ but is a polyamorous version.

I am anti-JKR and her beliefs, so is this account.

Masterlist - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Epilogue

I do not give permission to anyone to repost or translate any of my stories. I also do not give anyone permission to feed my stories through AI or to be posted to any third party website or app. If anyone sees any of my work posted anywhere but here or my AO3 (simplyreflected), then it has been posted without permission.

Read on AO3 here.

The gif does not mean the reader has a gender. It’s a point to the magic in the chapter.

The day of the ball arrived, James and Lily were helping each other get prepared, every now and again, James would kiss Lily before telling her, “you look so beautiful, my love.”

“Thank you, my Prince,” she smiled, when she finished getting ready, she turned to him. “Do you know if Padfoot and Moony will be at the ball too?”

“Of course, they will be,” he told her. “According to them, Padfoot wanted to go so they could flirt with everyone they could and make Moony jealous.” He smiled to himself. “Moony in his words, will be with us, in case the people start swarming me.” The smile fell. “I would hope they wouldn’t do that, but we’ve never had people in the castle for anything like this, so we’ll find out soon, I guess.”

“If it does, Remus, Sirius and I will be there to stop it, alright?” Lily looked at her love. “We are there to protect you if you need it. Now, take a deep breath in,” Lily guided him with this, and he followed. “Now slowly release it.” She released a breath and he did as well. She looked down at what he was wearing, “you look dashing. I’m so proud of you and will continue to be, even if you don’t find anyone else.”

He smiled at her, “you always look beautiful, my angel. Tonight, you look stunning.”

There was a knock on the door and when Lily opened it, she revealed his blood brother, Sirius and their friend Remus.

“We weren’t going to let you go down alone,” Sirius told them. “Are you ready?”

Lily said, “yes,” at the same time James said “not quite.”

Lily was confused, “what do you mean? You look perfect.”

“I wasn’t talking about me, my love. I meant you, you may look stunning, but you forgot your shoes.” He smiled before he went over to the closet, pulling out a shoe box. “Sit on the bed. I’ll put them on you.”

She did as she was told as Sirius and Remus watched James take the shoes out as he knelt in front of her. He lifted one of her legs and placed it on his knee as he put her shoe on, kissing her knee, before she placed it back on the floor and he did the same with her other leg.

Once her feet were on the ground, he knelt before her, holding out his hand, “Will you please accompany me to the ball?”

She took it as he stood up, both of them turning to Sirius and Remus, taking a deep breath, before saying to the room as a whole, “let’s go.”

——————

You were so excited the whole day, you would get to go to the ball and maybe you would find a way to change your life. When time came, your stepmother told you that her and her daughters would be getting ready for the ball and to stay in your room.

You disappeared from their sight, not realising how she’d told you to stay in your room. So when you put the finishing touches on your outfit and you finished your hair and makeup, you made your way down the stairs.

“Wow,” you heard from one of your stepsisters. “That’s it. I can’t go. He won’t choose me.”

You smiled and asked politely, “do you like it? I don’t want to go for him, but I would like to make you proud. All of you. Maybe talk one of you up if I talk to him.”

However your stepmother got angry and slapped you, making tears form in your eyes as you fell back slightly as she screamed, “NO, YOU WON’T BE GOING!” With that, she ripped your sleeves, and your step sisters joined, ripping other parts of your outfit. Your stepmother then grabbed your collar and threw you in your room, locking the door. You went over to the window after you were able to get up, watching as they went off in their carriage.

It would take too long to fix your outfit in a way that would look as good as it had. And you certainly wouldn’t get it done in time to be able to get anyone to help you get to the palace.

You tried to pick the lock, even with it being on the other side, but it was no use. However, you heard the lock unclick and the door opening. You looked up, terrified, until you saw a beautiful blonde woman standing before you and she seemed to be glowing, now you were just confused. As she moved, you saw what looked like wings.

“Hello,” you almost whispered, your voice cracking after all the crying.

“Hello,” she sounded confident. “My name is Pandora. I’m your fairy godmother, though I’ve been watching over you for a while. I’m trying to be more of a guardian angel for you. Do you know anything about fairy godmothers or guardian angels?”

“A little, not very much as I’m not allowed to read very much,” you told her. “My stepmother thinks I’ll get ideas and rebel against her.”

“You already want to though, don’t you?”

You nodded.

“How would you like to go to the ball? I know your life will change if you do go.”

“How? My outfit is ruined and I have no way of getting there,” you almost started crying again.

She was thoughtful, “but you do want to go?”

“Of course,” you were frustrated, until you looked at her, calming down almost instantly and asked, “can you help me?”

“Yes,” she held out your hand and just before you disappeared from the room, you heard the door close and lock again.

When you reappeared, you were in the front yard, which was closed off from those outside by a huge fence, so no one could see in. Pandora let go of your hand and took a few steps back.

“Sweetheart,” Pandora said and you thought that her voice was so beautiful. It sounded so melodic. You could listen to it forever. “I’m going to use magic and create you a whole new outfit, but I need you to do something for me.”

Your voice was quiet as you asked, “what is it?”

“I need you to think of the most beautiful outfit you can think of,” she paused, letting you come up with it. “Have you got it?”

You nodded, hoping what you had would look as wonderful as you thought. You watched as she waved her hand and a gust of wind came up and wound around you. When it fell, you were wearing exactly what you wanted. The fabric was beautiful and soft to the touch. You had tears in your eyes, as you felt the material.

Pandora asked you, “would you like to see yourself?”

“Yes, please,” you whispered.

With that, she waved her hand again and a full length mirror turned up, you looked at yourself. You looked incredible. You felt incredible, but there was something missing. Shoes, you weren’t wearing any.

You looked up at Pandora who smiled, waved her hand and you didn’t feel the ground under your feet anymore. When you looked down, you saw really beautiful shoes that matched your outfit.

She waved her hand and a few matching pieces of jewellery appeared. One that you loved was a ring that appeared on your right hand. It was stunning. You hoped you could keep it when the night was over.

“You have until the strike of midnight,” Pandora told you. “When the clock strikes twelve, the magic will wear off. Right now, no one except the royals and people of nobility will recognise you. To everyone else, you will look like a noble person yourself.”

You smiled as she picked an apple off a tree nearby. She placed it on the ground before she took a step back. Again, she waved her hand and before you was a beautiful carriage. With another wave of her hand, two men appeared.

“These are two of my friends,” she said as she smiled. She introduced them to you, motioning to the dark haired one, “this is Regulus. He will be your footman.” He bowed to you, before Pandora motioned to the blond man. “This is Evan. He will be your driver.” He bowed to you and you smiled and waved at both of them, before turning back to Pandora. “Remember, the magic wears off at midnight. Now, go and have fun. Keep your mind open to all possibilities.”

[eerna]

How is the hate watching going? Love your rants 😭

Dhshshsh thank youuu~~

I finished the show, but I was so weak from how dumb the ending was that I forgot to blog about it. God. God what is this show. I will sum up my opinions here.

This isn't an adaptation, it's a totally different alt history with a fantasy twist story. There isn't a single plot point that happens the same way in both the book and the show, including the actual historical guidelines. I don't even think I noticed any book quotes (aside from a few remixed ones, like Jane inventing the "you come here often?" line). Idk why they didn't just call it something else, it's not like MLJ has a big fandom they could mooch off of.

I already whined about this but I need to re-establish it. All the changes made were to make the story into tiktok romantasy brainrot. The book was already super sweet and silly with the horniness appropriate for a YA romance, but these guys went full "booktok authors advertising their romantasy works" with it. It has tropes just for the sake of tropes a la Bridgerton, where it doesn't take its time to relish in any bc it has to sprint to the next one to check the box. How you mess up an arranged marriage plotline is beyond me, I think that Jane and Guildford called each other "wife" and "husband" like??? Twice???? Bc they were too busy holding each other at knife point or looking at each other's showering butts or whatever. They didn't even TRY to include the shared curse, apparently that was too boring and vanilla for them once they wrote in that Ethians keep their clothes on when transforming.

The plot is simply wack. The pacing is off because they stretched the first half of the story across 8 eps 50 minutes each, so a lot of the time everyone is pointlessly meandering waiting for the next plot point/reveal so everyone can move on. And this usually happens in the form of sex scenes. It is actually hilarious how many plot relevant sex scenes there are, at LEAST one per ep, where characters are discussing the plot and/or convincing each other to reveal their secrets. Do the writers know there are other situations that allow characters to talk to each other??? Even Jane and Guildford have sex and she goes "So about your dead mother"

The writers keep forgetring previously established stuff. Edward and Henry can imprison/execute anyone without trial, but Jane has to "find evidence" that these guys are trying to kill her. It is established Ethians absorb their clothes and any items they are holding into their animal form, but then Guildford is running around with a shackle around his neck claiming it will break his spine if he turns into a horse while it is on him, BUT THEN later he gets out of thick ropes that couldn't be cut by turning into a horse??????? Did they forget their own rules of magic??????

The dialogue isn't as bad as something you'd see on CW, but it still isn't good. I hate it when you can tell a show is trying to be edgy by constantly swearing and saying and doing shocking things, it feels unnatural and dumb. Mary in particular is the worst case of this, I don't think she has a single character trait there that isn't there for humor edgyness. She keeps licking and chewing random things, doesn't bathe, keeps getting turned on when her father and brother are mentioned, and has meltdowns like a spoiled child (at one point this is a plot point, as in "Jane gets her to get upset in public so she loses her political credibility", but there are 0 consequences and Mary keeps acting like a child in front of the entire court and NO ONE does anything and she is STILL QUEEN when credits roll on ep 8). This is the MAIN VILLAIN why is ANYONE afraid of her is beyond me. Also the cursing, murderous, racist, genocidal 10-year-old was so annoying and I kept imaging her parents and all of the writers getting sent to the salt mines for putting that little actress through that.

The lead actors are stuck in this mess. Jane and Guildford had good chemistry, in a "these actors clearly know what they are doing even if no one else in the production does" way. It went a step further and Jane had strange charged chemistry with others too, to the point where I was like "... Did she ever smash Susannah???" and "Are we adding Archer into the mix????". Lady Frances and Lord Dudley also made me think "I wish you were in a better show".

Around the midpoint of the show when I realized Jane is not yet gonna be deposed I was like "Oh no, are they splitting it into two seasons???" But then Edward finished up his portion of the story to join the finale and Archer joined Jane so I was like "Oh, they are just changing the culmination to happen during the execution". But THEN the show ends with a cliffhanger and a promise to dethrone Mary. S2 will look even less like the book, but maybe that's a blessing.

The soundtrack sounded so cheap and digital. Amazon do not lie to me and say you couldn't get an orchestra to record it. The tracks were on loop you literally needed like a few days tops to record it.

All in all. This show sucks man I am so annoyed at it

[sisterpaw125]

Film theory explained

(!!WARNING!! This is gonna be a long post.)

This is mostly for the people who came here because of MatPats theory.

Just to make it clear: MatPat got a couple things wrong. So don't take everything he says to face value.

The timeline and the plot part are correct, but they're a bit shaky, since he left a lot of important things out. (Note to self: write a complete timeline for MD!)

N and Uzi ARE NOT an official couple! You can ship them but please be respectful to others we don't want shipwars here.

WW2 has nothing to do with Murder Drones! Yes, Cyn might possibly tries to create an army of Absolut Solver users but this is only a theory crum.

S isn't an important character. Yes Uzi will get more trauma in the next episodes but I don't think there's gonna be anyone new introduced. (Maybe)

MatPat also left out important characters like Doll, V, Khan and Alice. They may not be main characters but they stil hold so much importance story wise.

Also no, N did NOT kill Nori. How do I know that? Because what Mat forgot to point out is Zombie drones and A.S. users are STRONGER and CAN defeat Disassembly Drones without an issue. If N did try to kill Nori he would have been turned into part of the Corpse Spiral.

That's all for now. I may add more to this but for now this is all.

And remember we don't mind if new people join the fandom, but we don't want arguments and hatered to break out. So please be respectul to everyone and just enjoy these silly robots murdering each other for funsies like everyone else does.

Thank you for reading. :)

[sunfloo-wers]

The rambles for W O R M painting!!!

This one’s a long one so get a snack and enjoy the show!

first order of businesses is all the other photos I have!!!!!

Other nature placements that I got:

Then! The individual worms plus the back of the guys in case anyone is curious about the inerworkings and mechanisms:

The little guy in better lightings aka the floor:

progress photos:

The sketch can be seen here if you want to look at it :D AND THATS ALL THE PHOTOS!!!!!

WIND WORBS:

I forgot his legs had skin tone and fucked it up when I went to add them so that’s why it had to be cut out and turned into a month long project! It wasn’t supposed to tale this longggggggg!!!!!

Anyways I love how he turned out and he got a little wind waker too! The embroidery on his knees is little waves and I really wanted to point it out cause they make me so happy :D

I ALSO LOVE HOW HIS HAIR TURNED OUT it looks so floofy :3 he was also supposed to have earrings but I forgot to paint them… you can probably still see them in the paper drawing tho

Okay, so The Wimdy Boy, yes? We love him and you can probably recognize him, but everyone else is also here! Just in case it’s not clear, which I think it should be, but I also just want to talk about them soooooo

Hyrule: the fully green one with speckled bits. He also has the stab scar from Dink in aol that was revealed in “Scars”(I think that’s what it was called? The page with scars tall) He was probably the easiest to make but was also the last one I did so maybe there’s correlation there?

Legend: PINK!!!! I did him so dirty with this one he’s pink with Christmas colored spots and looks so goofy :D I treated his as a kinda dark world form so he had to be pink cause pinky little guy :D The Christmas colors are from his tunic and under tunic! I probably should’ve done a bit of yellow for the embroidery but ah well. He’s also got one of my favorite shapes of all the wormies C:

Warriors: BLUE BOY SO LONG AND FLOWY HE LOOKS LIKE HIS SCORF he’s also got orange bits in reference to his scarf’s embroidery! I know he’s got a lot of green in his design but if I included all the green they’d all look kinda similar sooooooo blue boy :3

Four: RAINBOW LITTLE GUY they’ve also got the goofy face, looks like a muppet, the idiot (/aff) the blending of the colors there was so annoying >:( how could they do this to me :C

Sky: Okay, I really didn't want to do worms in the chain’s clothes but I feel I need a pass for sky! The big sailcloth is so important to his design!!!! And he’s still got the shirt color and red gem bits put into the design too. ANYWAYS CURLY GUY HE DOIN’ A FLIP!!!

Wild: similarly to Sky, he needed the cloak. Without it he would’ve looked way too similar to Wars and I needed a big difference. ALSO HE’S TINY LITTLE GUY LITTLE LITTLE GUY :3

Time: I struggled with his colors but ended up doing the armour colors plus the face scars I SHOULDVE MADE PNE OF THE EYES WHITE NOOOOOOOO I FORGOT :C

Twilight: BIG FLOOF OF FUR THEN THE GREEN/BROWN OF THE REST OF THE CLOTHES!!! I’m so sorry dude, your placement looked okay on the paper but in a 2.5D area he doesn’t look as floaty as the rest :(((

YOU THOUHT WE WERE DONE? NOPE!!!! IT’S PLOT TIME >:3

You can see this one of 3 ways! (All of them can be correct, but they do have different vibes soooo)

Worms, silly worms doing silly stuff :P

The chain has been magically turned into worms! Oh no! What will we do? Luckily Wind is still Hylian so hopefully he can turn them back! For now though let’s have some fun, with the rest of the chain super light, they can play in the Wind Waker breeze :D

THE EVIL WHUMP OPTION >:3

So Wind is looking kinda magical with his white eyes, pose, and he’s got the Wind Waker out so magic is happening no? And yes, it could totally be a breeze summoning song, but you know what else the boy can do? Something questionably okay on mindless monsters and the good of the people and with consent, but if it were to be maybe used on people without their knowledge… that that wouldn’t be good right? :3

YES THE COMAND MELODY! Wind is evil and turned the whole chain into worms on strings because… uhhhh I don’t know why… emotional turmoil, grew-up-too-fast trauma, just wants to finally have a break and play, and you know what he can play with? BAM WORMS ON STRINGS >:3

:3

Even after all the time this took me I am so unbelievably happy with it, I love it so much and might change my pfp to something from it someday AIGUDGIDLHSOYCPJFPUG LITTLE GUYS :DDDDDDDD

Anyways, this has been all I’ve spent my weekends and free time on this past month, so I hope you enjoyed it and the rants! If you’re curious about any portions in particular then absolutely shoot me an ask I’d love to talk more about it!!! :D

[wutheringmights]

Earlier this week, I said that I wanted to go back and change a few details in CTB to accommodate an idea I had been previously on the fence about committing to. I am happy to say that I finally went in and fixed all the little details I wanted.

I don't want anyone to feel forced to reread any part of CTB, so here's what I'll do. I'll list out the chapters where the changes were made above the cut. Below the cut, I'll go into detail about those changes were. Then I'll go into more detail about why I needed to make those changes (which will definitely contain some oblique spoilers for future chapters).

Please note that you absolutely do not need to even read what the changes are. This won't really change anything you've already read. I did all of this for my personal peace of mind.

Where The Changes Were Made:

Chapter 11

Chapter 20

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

What Specific Changes Were Made:

Chapter 11:

When Warriors is searching for an earring to give to Wind, he finds a signet ring in his jewelry box. Here is the full passage:

He shuffled through each little section of the jewelry box, sorting through heirloom necklaces and bracelets. At the bottom, buried under a necklace made with fake pearls, was a signet ring. He pulled it out, holding it up to the light. The edges of the ring were ornately carved, swirls of vines leading up to an emblem of an golden octopus. He thumbed over the design. He forgot he had this: a memento from a nameless, old flame. Did his old flame come by the house while Warriors was gone and find no one there? When was the last time Warriors even thought of that man? He was getting distracted now. He shoved the signet ring back into the jewelry box, then started sorting through his smaller gift boxes to no avail.

Chapter 20:

Clarified that while Warriors had seen some foreigners with white freckles before, he never realized it was exclusively a Faovarian trait.

There is also a tiny moment where it is suggested that Icarius recognizes Warriors:

He twisted his head around, catching sight of a very tall man around the same age as him. He too wore the same uniform as the boy, but his hair was dark and unruly. Even his freckles took up more of his face, seeming to fall like dust down his neck. His eyes met Warriors's and, for a brief moment, Warriors swore he saw his lips part like he was about to say something. But just as quickly, he turned his face away, quick to meet the boy's gaze.

Chapter 23:

A series of minor details concerning Icarius.

Chapter 24:

Twilight asking Warriors if he's met Nephus before leads to him realizing he trusts Icarius and speculating if he's met Icarius before:

[...] Warriors didn’t know if that meant he could trust Icarius either.  Yet, illogically, he did. He trusted Icarius without question. He knew it wasn't because he felt sorry for him. There was something else nagging at the back of his brain, though he couldn't say what it was. Maybe they had met before.

Why These Changes Were Made

When plotting out this last third of the story, I knew I had to be careful with what I chose to focus on, lest the story ended up being another 500K words long. In the many cuts I made to this back end of the story, I thought I could get away with leaving the House of Nephus characters mysterious.

Unfortunately, I was wrong. You guys are really interested in learning more about them, especially Icarius. So I've been looking for a way to give you guys more in-story information about them without ruining the pacing.

I've also been working on refining my ideas for chapter 26. That's going to be a.... clusterfuck of a chapter in every sense of the word, so I've been looking for ways to condense plot points.

My solution? I realized that I could replace a one-off original character in a preplanned plotline with Icarius. Doing so will allow me to still give Link an important moment of character growth while giving Icarius some much needed screen time.

But as you can guess from the "old flame" line... it's a small role that is now ten times more important by virtue of the character who plays it having both a name and earlier plot significance.

It wouldn't make sense for the story to have gone on this long without mentioning someone so significant to Warriors's past. As a longtime reader, you would think this brand new connection between these characters would have come out of left field.

Hence, I had to go in and adjust a few things so that future readers wouldn't be disappointed by shoddy writing.

And give me credit where it's due: it took less than a hundred words for me to fix the problem. Not only that, but I think my solution was rather elegant. Imagine being a new reader and seeing the signet ring with the octopus on it, only to see the octopus symbol appear chapters later on the battlefield. Insane for them. I hope they have fun with that.

[ideas-4-stories]

I am still thinking about the buggy Anastasia au (also, I am not much of a writer, if this falls into the style of dming or a gay fiction podcast, that’s what I got in me, and tonight I’m a lil stoney baloney, that’s what else I got in me, so this will be a wall of text) and like, I had the intention of Buggy being out because I like trans fem Buggy and also mostly because the drama of the hunt for Dark King Silvers Rayleigh and King of the Pirates Gol D Roger daughter. They know she’s probably dead but they can’t prove it and they can hold onto that hope.

Shanks threw himself into the hunts for Buggy and can’t bring himself to believe she’s gone, he’s still doing his drunk pirate thing but, he’d do anything to find her, his crew would follow him anywhere to find her.

And Blue, starts to remember, as she gets brought along by Mihawk and Crocodile. She sees Shanks, just barely, and it triggers the beginning of her memories coming back, and sailing has been instinctive, since Buggy forgot and Blue began, so she’s becoming more of an active participant in her own kidnapping by the day. She’s commandeered a jacket from Mihawk, not his style at all but he’s been holding onto it nonetheless (it’s Shanks’, he hasn’t shared how or why he’s got it, or that it’s Shanks’ beside a somewhat bewildered comment to Crocodile, who honestly does not want to know about Shanks and Mihawks break up and thus did not ask) but Blue wears it because it’s comfortable and the sea is cold at night and it feels safe (and smells familiar, she can’t place how but it smells like the wind and the sun and Benn’s tobacco smoke and that smells like freedom and home to her, even now)

And, Blue didn’t believe it, that she might be Buggy, Blue was no one but a carnie and scared and alone and Buggy seems loud and flashy, but at a certain point, when she’s remembered more than anyone told her (Roger taught her and Shanks shanties, he started with Binks sake and Blue, Blues just always known the words, but, she’s humming along one night and it occurs to her, her dad taught her that, she knows it like breathing, that he smiled and sang and her other dad chuckled at him and loved it. She smiled and Crocodile asked what had her so happy and she tells him, and it’s just one of the several occasions he and Mihawk and a late night Blue-less meeting about) and she runs into someone else who calls her Buggy, that it must be true, and she’s still scared of it, but she stops trying to run from it all, because running home is far less scary. (Maybe the gang do run into Garp, he’s big and scary and a marine but he’s got a heart, and Garp the Hero’s known her since she was up to his knees, Ray’s and Rogers’ half feral brat who’s shy and anxious and has always been too clever for everyone’s good and he should arrest her, she’s a young and powerful pirate who’s only going to get stronger, but she’s Buggy and he wants to see her get home. Maybe it’a Shirohige or one of his crew, and pirate rivalry be damned they’ve missed her too. They get like 100% confirmation Blue is Buggy though. They haven’t gotten it from Shanks because Mihawk doesn’t wanna talk to him. Shanks is chasing them.)

Imma be honest idek for the timeline, maybe when Buggy and Shanks are like 18-19? Main ships Rayleigh/Roger/Rouge, she’s here and she also wants Buggy back, she just hasn’t come up, also I kinda lost the plot of the crossguild aspect but like

Anastasia!Buggy AU isn't something I needed, along with some other AUs that people have. For the timeline maybe if Roger is still alive, Buggy got lost around sixteen because that's probably the age she was when Roger was murdered, that's also something if Roger is dead, that would be a time that she could go missing.

Anyway, I love this so much! To me, Shanks and Buggy siblings in a way, so Buggy commandeered a jacket from Mihawk which was Shanks to begin with, is quite funny how Blue feels like she's safe in it. Because it reminds her someone safe and stuff.

There are so many ideas that can happen with this AU, like new characters that Blue met that can join in the Cross Guild, and maybe her circus has all her crewmates. They are just now fully a performing circus crew, that ain't pirates... unless they sometimes play as pirates

If you do more of these, I love to hear them!!!

[olivieblake]

hi i just finished my reread of masters and death and omg i forgot how great this book is!! how do you come up with such intricate plots?? i’m blown away every time

oh god well first of all I love you. secondly, please, to anyone reading this who has never read MOD, please I beg of you, read the new version. don’t read the self-pub version if you’ve never read it before. I worked so hard to make past olivie make sense. she… wasn’t always fleshing out her ideas lol. she tried! she tried

that being said, MOD is and has always been the work of a passionate amateur, in that I wanted to write something that tickled my brain in every possible way and I did! it was FUN to write this book because I wrote it completely by mood and entirely out of order, aiming only to let myself love the process of writing and to feel completely unrestricted by any of the usual industry standards or narrative rules. the result is a weird but joyful book that some people will like and other people will probably really hate!!! (I am nervous lol can you tell)

the point is I actually have a hard time coming up with simple ideas, which is why it’s hard for me to write short books and/or stories. I always overwrite! so much of what I write is just me wrestling with a theme or existential question that ends up being the unexpected candy center of some unraveling chocolate shell, or alternatively, much like the structure of a fairytale, the moral buried in the story for you to find if you so choose. which is not advice! because I don’t have any. OFME was me experimenting with pace, MOD was experimenting with form, TA6 was experimenting with character… for me, the most important starting point is narrative voice. who is this character and why?? are they? like that????? everything I do is exploring how best to tell a story, and sometimes, admittedly, that means asking a lot from my audience. which is me saying: thank you for being someone who is willing to follow me down the inferno like the hot bookish dante to my virgil

but also idk I really think at this point that my books get written through sheer force of will and nothing else. l’chaim!!!!!

[funfettiheart]

Spoilers for the new season of The Umbrella Academy

I think one of the (many) things that really fucked up this season of TUA for me was how they could NEVER keep any of the siblings in the same room for 5 minutes. 2 or 3 of them would go and do one thing and then everyone else would just??? fuck off? and they constantly seemed to forget that any of the other siblings existed.

The plot felt so disjointed and slow but at the same time rushed because at no point did anyone TALK to one another. I know theyre all dealing with their own shit but the most interesting part is watching them deal with it TOGETHER and seeing how each person reacts to stuff happening. But they barely speak to each other, not that any of the subplots were connected to the main plot in any way. What was up with the subway? We'll never know. Why did they get new powers? No idea. Why does Reginalds wife just appear near the end to go "AHA! It was me all along!" like??? Why was Reginald an alien? Why was Jennifer in a squid? How does the main cast dying get rid of the cleanse when there are at least 36 other children born with marigold powers?????

Also, getting new powers from the marigold should have been way more interesting! A new start, a new problem! Or at least a big change? But it wasnt because none of the characters gave a shit! Which has been one of my biggest ongoing gripes about the series: None of the characters care about what is happening. Klaus can literally fly now and there is 0 reaction. Luthers hairy again, whatever. Allison is telekinetic now??? Who gives a shit. Fuck it: KLAUS WAS SEX TRAFFICKED AND THEN BURRIED ALIVE AND NO ONE CARED.

In fact the way the characters are all treated was downright cruel. Luther could have had some much needed depth after what happened with Allison but was reduced to a dumb guy in shiny pants. Bens a dick and becomes obsessed with a woman he's just met and the entire rest of his plot is just that. Lila ricochetes between Diego and Five and is basically just The Wife when her whole thing was being a wildcard assassin. Diego was reduced to a suspicious moron and was the butt of a load of fat jokes for some reason. Allison flashed her new powers around twice and barely appeared in the plot. Victor goes to live out his dream of working for his abusive father. Five got trapped. Again. Klaus went through hell. Alone. Again.

It felt like they forgot how to write more than 2 people interacting. Fuck it felt like they forgot EVERYTHING THE CHARACTERS WERE AND WENT THROUGH IN THE PAST 3 SEASONS. To the point where whole arcs and side characters that were vital to the plot vanish.

And then finally they had this big dramatic ending... where they all kill themselves to save the world. And I felt nothing but dissappointment. The deaths of these characters that I'd seen for seasons, that I cared about and enjoyed left me thinking "I'm glad thats over" because the characters weren't even themselves any more. They fought so hard over the past few seasons to be alive and to live how they wanted and to get away from the horrific trauma that Reginald had put them through. And then the finale is them just... calmly committing suicide with none of their issues resolved. Not to mention the endless plotholes and dropped narrative threads. I'm honestly angry that this is the ending they settled on. "Youre damaged and traumatised and all of this is your fault and it always will be. Now go die about it". How miserable. How poorly thought out. What a perfect ending for season 4.

Sorry this is such a long rant, I have a lot of feelings. But most importantly: Sorry Gerard Way.

[bagheerita]

finally finished DS9 and decided to post some thoughts in one big blob

I was honestly about to give up on season 7 and put the rest of this show to the side for a few months, but then Ezri and Worf have a 3 episode arc sorting out their relationship, only talking to each other because they're marooned/imprisoned, and I was so charmed by them being loud and messy that I managed to bull my way through to the end. I love the two of them as friends, they are adorable. 

I actually really like Damar and his arc, and it’s pretty rare I say that about a character who killed my favorite. 

I feel like the reason Section 31 exists, and they keep forcing episodes about it upon me, is because they wrote themselves into a corner with inventing the changeling disease to kneecap an unbeatable enemy and didn’t know how else to fix it/end the war except with secret secret spies. 

Ezri has this whole speech she gives to Worf about dismantling structures of power and I feel like they needed to end the show before anyone was like, hey the Federation kind of sucks and we should definitely do that. 

Garak’s mom showed up and everything was good in the world again.

Ezri and Julian are like “can’t deny the chemistry.” lol babes that's called being a young attractive allosexual. "Chemistry" is what Worf and O'Brien have in all the scenes where they're mocking you.

I’ve never felt the truth of the phrase “I support women’s wrongs” so intensely as I do with Kai Winn. I love her and I want to give her everything. I didn't love her getting assaulted by Dukat, but when she knows everything that's happening and chooses the pah-wraiths anyway, yes fuck it up. When she poisoned Dukat I was like, hot damn if this character dies as a footnote in someone else's quest for power I will forgive everything that this show has put me through because of him. But we can't have nice things. I did like that her last act was to choose to take their victory from them, and give Sisko the clue he needed to beat them.

I do love Martok but I feel like he’s going to be about as good a chancellor as Robert Baratheon was a king. 

Odo is The Last Unicorn, but with brain-melding: he’s going to share his experience of loving a mortal with the other immortals. I still don’t “get” him and Kira as a couple, their relationship literally went from -20 to 100% after a single all night conversation locked in Jadzia's bathroom and no actual onscreen development, but at least I believe that they believe they’re in love. 

Why the ever loving fuck is Julian so obsessed with the Alamo. Every time they bring it up I want to grab him and Miles and shake them. I get that it's supposed to be some sort of metaphor for fighting a hopeless war, but really? You want to go up to the fake room where you can do/be literally anything and you're going to repeatedly reenact a battle where you die to defend your right to have slaves and practice settler colonialism??? Even in the last episode they’ve won the real war and they’re still obsessed with reenacting this old battle. They also spend that one episode trying to figure out how to win the Alamo… babes, that actually happened: it’s called the Battle of San Jacinto- learn some actual fucking history, your side won the war. This isn’t about metaphors anymore, the metaphor has failed, now Julian just has a neurosis.

The Dominion War plot line goes on for way too long and there is so little internal emotional catharsis. (Maybe because for me the things that were supposed to be cathartic just induced more rage? 🤔) The ending was fine as far as character wrap ups but felt pretty rushed considering how long it took us to get to this point, and I really think they needed more time to handle the denouement. The overall pacing of the episodes/seasons is terrible: you wasted like a season and a half puttering around, with whole episodes where you forgot to mention the war; you added in mirror-verse episodes without bothering to use them for story or character development; Quark is one of my favorite characters but there are too many episodes about Ferengi shenanigans that do not impact the actual plot; there are whole scenes and arcs dedicated to a character who does not (within the internal logic of the show) exist. And then you slammed all the development into the last half of the last season. I'm not surprised now that I forgot this entire show after watching it while airing because it’s emotionally exhausting. I've compared DS9 to SGA in the past, but the Dominion remind me of the Ori: You've killed the enjoyment I found in this show and have made it a chore to watch.

I do like that what ends the war is Julian’s determination and Odo’s compassion. You've proven the Founders wrong, but this entire plot thread was so poorly handled that I don't know that anyone remembers one mention from four seasons ago about why this war even started and, honestly, standing on a planet where you just murdered millions of children it's kind of not enough. I like that they let Garak kill the last Weyoun, and I adore the scene where he lets Kira take the phaser, but honestly he deserved more. It wouldn't solve anything, and I think there's a nice parallel in Garak's fears inspiring him into attempting genocide being incredible grounded in reality and the Founder's similar fears being negated, but he deserves it, the head Founder deserves to be torn into tiny pieces by grieving Cardassians, and I deserve to watch it. (I also desperately want Garak to find out about Section 31 and the changeling disease just so he can be like, "Oh so when I try to commit genocide I get 6 months in jail, but when the Federation wants to commit genocide that's okay?")

I don’t know who on the production team is so invested in Mark Alaimo getting a paycheck, but by the end Dukat as a character has long outlived any interesting qualities he may have had at one point. The final battle shit with the pah-wraiths was pretty underwhelming; except for the deeper exploration of Winn's motives that this season has allowed for, "The Reckoning" was such a better structured episode. (At least at this point they've let Kira go off and be awesome without being forced into episodes with Dukat. The sheer amount of abusive old men sexually attracted to much younger women in this show is frankly unnecessary; I will never be able to unhear Curzon say he flunked Jadzia from the symbiont program because he wanted to bang her, and Dukat’s relentless pursuit of Kira especially/even after we learn he sexually assaulted her mother is disgusting.) 

I have mixed feelings about Sisko, and his character having a “white savior” role with the Bajorans. Like, I guess it’s a cool twist that he’s a black white savior, maybe that's the best the 90s can do, but also can we decide to not write stories where we give foreigners positions of power over recently subjugated peoples??  I was feeling pretty yikes about it especially after the beginning of this season and learning that he was basically genetically bred by the Prophets for the position, but… I dunno, I’m probably not someone who can or should have a deep opinion about this. I do like that arc for him as a character outside of what it means for the Bajorans, but his ending feels too open. I wish we got to know more about what he learns from hanging out with the Prophets, and I wish that the great "sorrow" he suffers from disregarding the visions felt more concrete. Kassidy is really the only one sad about this, Sisko seems excited to exist outside of time. (And I feel like a lot of the "yikes" of the character could have been fixed by making the character be Bajoran? You wouldn't need to invent a reason why he was chosen by the Prophets. He could even have been raised on Earth and still have those ties, and I think it would have made the pull between his duty as an officer and his duty as the Emissary more interesting. Also can you imagine if Jake and Ziyal were both half Bajoran and hanging out with each other??? But they don't pay me to write shows.)

Why do Miles and Julian have the gayest final montage? It's literally the first of the montages and they start it up over "The Way You Look Tonight" and I was just like... wtf did I accidentally put in a fan video? Miles is the only person in a relationship who has a montage without any mention of their significant other, though I guess Worf's does jump from his first meeting with Sisko straight to season 5 clips so they didn't mention Jadzia either. I love that Miles and Julian have such a deep friendship, and I feel like this show could use more interrogation of the concept of love and the fact that platonic love/friendship is just as important as romantic love, but the production has spent so much time "no homo"ing every relationship they can think of that it just comes off as bizarre. 

All the bts things I’ve read about this show pretty much amount to the production being like “we had no idea what we were doing with this character” which, when combined with the failure to manage season structure and some of the utterly bonkers episodes this show threw out there, leads me to believe that pretty much anything I enjoyed about this show comes from the actors. This is definitely a show I feel like I’m going to be “rewatching” through fanfiction and gif sets before I ever rewatch the entire show again.