#involved in black market stuff there

[ofdreamsanddoodles]

mindscapes in the owl house are super interesting to me bc theyre clearly a type of illusion magic (considering gus & graye can look through memories & the fact that the class we see luz look thru willow’s memories is taught by the illusion track teacher) which implies a lot about how both seeing a mindscape & how illusion magic works. like we’re told again & again illusions aren’t a physical magic so it feels less like being physically transported to someones mind & more like transported to your imagining of what that mind should be.

[emoangel44]

The thing I've always loved most about aa4 is how much darker the tone is than the rest of the series in a way that isn't just edgy for the sake of it, but subverts your expectations from the original 3 games in a really interesting way. The trilogy was built upon the trust Phoenix had in others, and it was something we as players could almost always feel certain in. AA4 flips this on its head and makes it so Apollo effectively can't trust anyone but himself.

Your mentor, who the in the trilogy was a paragon of wisdom you could always turn to no matter what, gets revealed to be the culprit and sent to jail in the first trial and by the end of the game his list of crimes has stacked high but you still have so few answers on why he did any of it.

Your boss, the goofy protagonist of the trilogy, is now inexplicably a washed-up, disgraced, cheating poker player with an implied drinking problem who seemingly found a new hobby in evidence forgery and jury rigging.

He has a codependent relationship with his daughter, your assistant, who usually is a completely innocent and hapless victim of circumstance. She sees herself as the provider for the house and will help her father cheat at poker, or forge evidence, or guilt trip the poor attorney they knowingly screwed of out of a job into working for them for dirt cheap.

The detective, the only other returning main character, a previous assistant, is completely changed since we last saw her. In the trilogy she was chipper and bright despite the hardships she faced, and now she's unfriendly and burned out, turned bitter by the world. The scene we're first properly introduced to her in Apollo genuinely spends several minutes thinking his boss is making him bribe her with cocaine.

Every single defendant is a criminal guilty of something other than what they're charged for. Each case centers around an underground black-market poker ring, a mafia family and medical malpractice, a smuggling ring, and a family of forgers and an incredibly shady troupe of magicians. The one thing all of these people have in common is that none of them will tell you literally anything about what's happening, half of them clearly reveling in being as big of cryptic assholes as possible.

The only person who doesn't fit this description is, for once, the prosecutor. Usually your biggest obstacle and the most morally corrupt of the main cast, he's the only person who's both 100% on the side of truth and on the same page as you for the entire game. He's just as clueless as you, being used nothing more than a chess piece just like you are.

But the truly masterful thing about AA4 is how morally grey it is. These characters aren't just one note villains. They're not even villains at all. Most of them aren't even malicious.

Your boss, for all the low levels he stoops to, is underneath it all the same guy he's always been, doing everything he can to bring a criminal to justice and protect his family. Your assistant is a sweet girl who truly cares about you, she's just prioritizing herself and her fathers safety before anything else. The detective is the same passionate and kind woman under everything else. The rest of the defendants are genuinely well-meaning young people who got involved in shady stuff they didn't fully understand.

The game is filled with good people trying to make the best of bad circumstances. The game has just as many fun moments as the original trilogy. For all it's rough appearance, the game has a similar heart. For every unanswered question or unrighted wrong, there's a smile or a hope for a better future. For every bad action, there's usually someone trying their best behind it. The game is melancholic and dark, but isn't afraid to let good shine through. It knows there's no shadows without the light.

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

Halloween prompts year two, day 8

The weathered window made sounds of protest as Robin pried it open. He felt bad for breaking into Daniels apartment, but he needed to prove that his crush had no involvement with the Fentonworks gear that had found its way to Gotham through the black market.

He didn't bother with stealth since he knew Danny was out across town with his sisters and Richard. His eldest brother would ensure they wouldn't be back until much later so Damian could take his time investigating.

Damian didn't even begin looking when he froze in his tracks.

No.

It couldn't be.

This was impossible.

But to his great dismay the objects on the shelves and desks didn't disappear when he willed them to do so. The golden yellow and black design, the familiar sight of modified batarangs, that shade of red on the figures.

Damian had to face the truth but he would have preferred Daniel to be a criminal over...this!

His crush, his beloved...was a Red Robin fan

Damian refused to take this lying down! He must show his beloved the error of his ways, and to do that he must show Daniel that Robin is superior.

Danny, also known as Clueless by his closest friends, has no idea why Damian Wayne had taken an interest in him. Well, aside from Cujo. At first it started with Cujo and Tidus meeting eachother on walks (aka Cujo went into his Big Form and dragged Danny around by his leash) and the dogs became fast friends.

Damian was enamored with the green size changing dog and Danny was thrilled to see another non ghostly animal that wasn't scared out of its gourd of Cujo. They set up puppy play dates and things just progressed naturally over time. Danny developed a crush on Damian and Damian developed a crush on Danny, but neither noticed.

Options:

1. Danny had a long standing admiration/crush on Red Robin and thats why he's a fan with so much merch

2. Danny thought Damian was Red Robin and thats why he has all the stuff

3. Phantom and Red Robin are exes who never really dated but got close enough to count.

4. Phantom and Red Robin did date but it ended after some time shenanigans erased everything in that timeline and since Phantom had the time medallion infused into him by his evil alternate future self he remembered everything that technically never happened but Tim didn't remember anything and Danny just decided to let Tim go so he could be happy

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

The Good Omens Article From the TotalFilm Magazine, Issue August 2023 :)

POST APOCALYPSE GOOD OMENS The heavenly and hellish creations of Gaiman and Pratchett ride again…

Having averted Armageddon, angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) and demon Crowley (David Tennant) have settled down to the quiet life in London – but the arrival of a familiar face shakes things up for everyone.

Season 1 covered events in the novel you wrote with Terry Pratchett – what was the inspiration this time?

Neil Gaiman (showrunner): Terry and I were sharing a room at Seattle’s World Fantasy Con in 1989 and, by the end of one night chatting, we had a huge, apocalyptic sequel to Good Omens. Season 2 is all the stuff we had to put in place before we could get to that sequel, and it starts with the archangel Gabriel [Jon Hamm] wandering through Soho, with no memory – a mystery that doesn’t have giant consequences for the universe, even if it does for Aziraphale and Crowley.

What has changed between Crowley and Aziraphale?

David Tennant (Crowley): Aziraphale is a much more enthusiastic detective in this mystery and, as with most things, Crowley is reluctant to get involved or to exhibit any kind of energy or enthusiasm, so he’s dragged into it. They no longer have to report to head offices, so they’re in this slightly grey area – neither supernatural, nor of the Earth.

Michael Sheen (Aziraphale): They’ve always been the only two beings who could understand each other’s position, but now they’re slightly freer agents so they’re pushed even closer together. It’s an interesting dynamic.

Maggie and Nina, you’re back too – although not as satanic nuns this time…

Nina Sosanya (Nina): No – we’re two human women! Nina is slightly cynical, churlish and owns a coffee shop, Maggie runs the record shop and she’s rather sweet and hopeful. It’s an ‘opposites attract’ thing and Neil kindly gave the characters our names so we couldn’t say no.

Maggie Service (Maggie): Aziraphale is still running his bookshop, but he’s also Maggie’s landlord. She thinks he’s the best because he lets her stay on and doesn’t really mind if she doesn’t make too much money. Maggie and Nina act as catalysts in a way, when Crowley and Aziraphale get involved in their relationship.

Neil, you’ve had some writing help this year…

NG: That’s right. We have three 25-minute ‘minisodes’ within episodes. You learn Aziraphale and Crowley’s part in the story of Job, written by John Finnemore. Cat Clarke takes us to 1820s Edinburgh for a tale of bodysnatching. Finally, Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman reunite the League of Gentlemen, because I fell in love with Season 1’s Nazi spies and kept wondering what would happen if they came back as zombies on a mission from hell to investigate whether Crowley and Aziraphale were fraternising. That story involves the Windmill Theatre, black market whisky, and a bullet catch…

[girlkisser13]

hermes cabin headcanons

children of hermes

• the most unorganized cabin BY FAR.

• they’re all HUGE gossipers. what do you expect, these children are the offspring of the og tea spiller.

• they know various pointless magic tricks and if they don't, their siblings will not hesitate to teach them.

• they can understand all languages since hermes is the god of language but when it comes to speaking, it comes out like google translate if there’s no education.

• they have a map of the world with places they’ve visited or want to visit. it’s color coded for each member of the cabin.

• they have a huge stash of (mostly stolen) cash hidden in multiple places around the world. its mostly used for bail money, college funds, and to help children of hermes start out in the mortal world.

• they will never get into an accident while travelling (i.e, shipwreck, car crash, plane crash, stranded, etc)

• they try and convince new campers their godly parent can be determined by "the sorting hat" which is basically an old straw hat they found lying on the beach.

• in the future, they set up a nationwide transportation network that works with the satyrs to get halfbloods to camp as quickly and safely as possible.

• they host frequent scavenger hunts around the camp. these hunts involve solving riddles, finding hidden objects, and sometimes include elements of trickery.

• they organize a secret santa every year where campers anonymously give small gifts or do kind deeds for each other.

• they tutor campers who want to learn new languages.

• when the underground railroad was formed, many children of hermes and athena assisted in its traversal and the freeing of slaves.

• they have wi-fi wherever they go. it’s only visible to demigods and only accessible to the children of hermes.

• there are no personal items in the their cabin.

• at first everyone was stealing each other's stuff but now it's in one big community pile and no one even knows what belongs to them anymore.

• they are seen as the mother hens of camp because almost every camp member has resided in their cabin and they're used to calming nightmares, comforting the younger kids when they get home sick or overwhelmed, and making sure that no one feels left out or rejected until they get claimed.

• every cabin has a loose floorboard that has been hollowed out underneath. every cabin thinks they’re the only one who has it. every cabin hides stuff in there like candy, soda, stuff like that that usually isn’t allowed in camp.

• the hermes cabin has dug out the entire underside of their cabin. they tore everything down there. It’s like the black market.

cabin exterior

• parts of their cabin are covered in ivy and other climbing plants, giving it a slightly wild and untamed appearance, much like the unpredictable nature of the hermes children.

• various symbols associated with hermes, like caduceuses, winged sandals, and messenger bags, are carved into the woodwork and painted around the entrance.

• their cabin is painted in vibrant colors that stand out, with murals or graffiti art depicting hermes-related imagery, like travelers, messengers, and playful tricksters. the art is regularly updated by the hermes children.

• besides the main door, there are several hidden or secret entrances around the cabin, known only to the hermes children. these are used for sneaking in and out, especially during pranks or after curfew.

cabin interior

• the cabin is filled with an eclectic mix of items, from maps and travel souvenirs to prank supplies and training gear. despite the clutter, everything has its place, and they can navigate it with ease.

• due to the large number of campers, the sleeping arrangements include not only bunk beds but also hammocks strung up in every available corner, creating a cozy, multi-level sleeping area.

• the walls are adorned with souvenirs from various quests and travels—postcards, photographs, foreign currency, and trinkets from different mythological locations. these serve as both decoration and inspiration.

• a wall is dedicated to an ever-expanding map of camp half-blood and the surrounding areas, filled with annotations, routes, and hidden spots discovered by the campers. this is a central hub for planning pranks and quests.

• they have a large, locked cabinet (with an ever-changing combination) that holds the cabin’s prank supplies— whoopee cushions, fake spiders, enchanted paint, and more. only the hermes head counselor knows the current combination.

• they have several hidden compartments and secret passages. these are known only to the children of hermes and are used for sneaking in and out or hiding during pranks.

cabin traditions

• they have an initiation ritual for their new siblings where they have break into the big house and steal something from it.

• they regularly organize prank wars within the cabin and sometimes with other cabins.

• they have nights dedicated to trading items. they bring trinkets, gear, or magical items they've collected, and trades are made in a festive, market-like atmosphere.

• they have regular craft nights where they create disguises, fake ids, lock-picking tools, and other items that might come in handy for quests or pranks.

• they have occasional midnight feasts where they sneak into the dining pavilion or other food storage areas, bringing back a feast to enjoy together while they gossip.

divider by @anqlicrosie

[linkyu]

tell me about your defense contract pleage

Oh boy!

To be fair, it's nothing grandiose, like, it wasn't about "a new missile blueprint" or whatever, but, just thinking about what it could have become? yeesh.

So, let's go.

For context, this is taking place in the early 2010s, where I was working as a dev and manager for a company that mostly did space stuff, but they had some defence and security contracts too.

One day we got a new contract though, which was... a weird one. It was state-auctioned, meaning that this was basically a homeland contract, but the main sponsor was Philip Morris. Yeah. The American cigarette company.

Why? Because the contract was essentially a crackdown on "illegal cigarette sales", but it was sold as a more general "war on drugs" contract.

For those unaware (because chances are, like me, you are a non-smoker), cigarette contraband is very much a thing. At the time, ~15% of cigarettes were sold illegally here (read: they were smuggled in and sold on the street).

And Phillip Morris wanted to stop that. After all, they're only a small company worth uhhh... oh JFC. Just a paltry 150 billion dollars. They need those extra dollars, you understand?

Anyway. So they sponsored a contract to the state, promising that "the technology used for this can be used to stop drug deals too". Also that "the state would benefit from the cigarettes part as well because smaller black market means more official sales means a higher tax revenue" (that has actually been proven true during the 2020 quarantine).

Anyway, here was the plan:

Phase 1 was to train a neural network and plug it in directly to the city's video-surveillance system, in order to detect illegal transactions as soon as they occur. Big brother who?

Phase 2 was to then track the people involved in said transaction throughout the city, based on their appearance and gait. You ever seen the Plainsight sheep counting video? Imagine something like this but with people. That data would then be relayed to police officers in the area.

So yeah, an automated CCTV-based tracking system. Because that's not setting a scary precedent.

So what do you do when you're in that position? Let me tell you. If you're thrust unknowingly, or against your will, into a project like this,

Note. The following is not a legal advice. In fact it's not even good advice. Do not attempt any of this unless you know you can't get caught, or that even if you are caught, the consequences are acceptable. Above all else, always have a backup plan if and when it backfires. Also don't do anything that can get you sued. Be reasonable.

Let me introduce you to the world of Corporate Sabotage! It's a funny form of striking, very effective in office environments.

Here's what I did:

First of all was the training data. We had extensive footage, but it needed to be marked manually for the training. Basically, just cropping the clips around the "transaction" and drawing some boxes on top of the "criminals". I was in charge of several batches of those. It helped that I was fast at it since I had video editing experience already. Well, let's just say that a good deal of those markings were... not very accurate.

Also, did you know that some video encodings are very slow to process by OpenCV, to the point of sometimes crashing? I'm sure the software is better at it nowadays though. So I did that to another portion of the data.

Unfortunately the training model itself was handled by a different company, so I couldn't do more about this.

Or could I?

I was the main person communicating with them, after all.

Enter: Miscommunication Master

In short (because this is already way too long), I became the most rigid person in the project. Like insisting on sharing the training data only on our own secure shared drive, which they didn't have access to yet. Or tracking down every single bug in the program and making weekly reports on those, which bogged down progress. Or asking for things to be done but without pointing at anyone in particular, so that no one actually did the thing. You know, classic manager incompetence. Except I couldn't be faulted, because after all, I was just "really serious about the security aspect of this project. And you don't want the state to learn that we've mishandled the data security of the project, do you, Jeff?"

A thousand little jabs like this, to slow down and delay the project.

At the end of it, after a full year on this project, we had.... a neural network full of false positives and a semi-working visualizer.

They said the project needed to be wrapped up in the next three months.

I said "damn, good luck with that! By the way my contract is up next month and I'm not renewing."

Last I heard, that city still doesn't have anything installed on their CCTV.

tl;dr: I used corporate sabotage to prevent automated surveillance to be implemented in a city--

hey hold on

wait

what

HEY ACTUALLY I DID SOME EXTRA RESEARCH TO SEE IF PHILLIP MORRIS TRIED THIS SHIT WITH ANOTHER COMPANY SINCE THEN AND WHAT THE FUCK

HUH??????

well what the fuck was all that even about then if they already own most of the black market???

[grunklejam]

The Mystery Shack Mini Shack Standee - available to preorder now at Not S&P Approved!

[ PREORDER PERIOD ENDS ON JULY 1ST 2024 - ITEMS WILL THEN TAKE 2 WEEKS TO MANUFACTURE TO ORDER ]

A 6-component, single-sided 10cm-wide Standee of Gravity Falls' most iconic location, peppered with Easter eggs and presented in a luxury foil-stamped gift box, complete with a miniature linen-effect art print.

"It's no secret that The Shack is just about the most important place in Gravity Falls, as well as the most distinctive bit of triangular architecture in town (at least since Pertinent Pete's Pyramid of Pampered Poodles closed back in '87.) So I'm never too surprised that people want to take a physical manifestation of the place home with 'em. I decided to answer those prayers properly with this - the Mini Shack! Standing at 10cm tall and about 10cm wide, this might be a Mini Shack, but it's a huge Standee - with 6 different die-cut, matte-printed components involving the shack, the golf cart, a gnome, my wax statue's head and a pigeon called Nigel. Nobody else does this stuff as big and complex as we've done with our Mini Shack, and we think it's guaranteed to be the best multi-layered portrayal of Oregon A-Frame architecture on the market. According to Ford, at least. I just think it looks neat on my shelf. More power to ya, Sixer. To make it even sweeter than Mabel Juice, it also comes packed in a luxury black gift box, which is stamped with a gold foil shack design, and will be packed with a unique art print, too - which also acts as the assembly instructions. It's like flat-pack furniture, but it's actually a miniature version of a world-leading museum of curiosities! Wow!"

10cm x 10cm standee

6 individual components, 5 of which are fully printed uprights

Single-side full-detail components with matte finish

Loaded with Gravity Falls Easter Eggs

Responsibly sourced, 4mm thick Maple veneered MDF

Packed with a miniature linen-effect art print complete with assembly instructions

Black luxury gift box with foam protective insert and gold foil design lid

Exclusive to Not S&P Approved, designed and manufactured in the UK

Obviously, not actually intended for outside use

[morgueofstories]

c!Dream ship rings

Basically rings that I believe c!Dream's partners would give him. I didn't do a lot of c!Dream ships because I couldn't think of how and why they would do a ring for c!Dream. So if you don't see the c!Dream ship you like in this post don't be mad at me

DNB

Techno would craft the ring himself, using the gold and gems from his own collection. The flowers represent roses, Dream's favorite flower. Techno engraved the words "Home is where you are" on the inside of the ring's band. It took Techno a couple weeks to craft the ring as he wanted it to be perfect for Dream.

Dream bursts into tears when Techno proposes with the ring a wintery night, the northern lights and stars the only witnesses to the lovely event as Techno puts the ring on Dream's finger.

Dreamnap

Sapnap crafts the ring using nether roads and gold, and he enchants the ring with fire protection like how blaze hybrids would do when getting married to other blaze hybrids, as it prevents the ring from melting. It takes Sapnap a few tries to craft the ring and he has to ask Bad to help him, but Dream loves it and that is all that matters.

Sapnap almost dropped the ring in his excitement to put it on Dream's finger which they still laugh about years later.

Awesamdream

Sam is meticulous when making the ring, he doesn't want it to be flashy to the point it looks fake and cheap but also wants it to be symbolic of their relationship. After creating many designs and making a few test rings, he goes for a simple gold band with an emerald in the center that reminds him of Dream's eyes.

Sam is initially worried that Dream won't like the ring because of how simple it is, but his fears disappear when Dream kisses him, stopping him mid-ramble. Dream pulls away from the kiss and tells him that he loves it, and that is all Sam needed to hear to put the ring on Dream's hand.

Drunz

Punz's expertise in making stuff involving gold and gemstones is only for weapons, so he decides to try and find Dream an exquisite ring that no one else has. He manages to hear a rumor about a ring being sold in a black market auction that was found in the End and believed to have been worn by one of the rulers of the End before the kingdom fell into the void. The ring is said to have been made by End crystals, Nether Stars, and Amethysts, making its value extremely high.

Punz won't tell Dream how he obtained the ring and why he had gone to a black market that suspiciously went up in flames hours later.

Farfadream

Farfadox uses Netherite ingots to make Dream's ring as that is how rings are made in Demon culture as it shows how much you respect and love your spouse. Farfadox manages to obtain a pink diamond (which is a rarity as there are so few to be found) and places it in the center of the ring, surrounded by engraved roses.

He proposes to Dream in the rose garden that he had built for his lover, and the way Dream's eyes sparkle as he says yes makes Farfadox feel like the happiest man in the entire universe.

[vidavalor]

Polari

@camdenleisurepirates mentioned Polari & Ineffable Husbands Speak, so some thoughts on that below.

I think that C&A know how to speak Polari but the most common Polari words aren't in their language as much so far I don't think-- only because Polari is meant to sound exclusionary while C&A are hiding their cant vocabulary in words that wouldn't raise alarm bells for anyone listening to them.

They know a lot of stuff that influenced Polari and ties into it a bit, like the slang of seamstresses and sailors, which are part of their speak, but saying anything like "bona" and "vada" and "omi-palone" and the like on the bench in St. James' Park, etc. was out for them or the ducks watching them would have figured out something was up.

There are a couple of Polari words that overlap with their language that they seem to be using at least a little, though. The slang of a cottage and cottaging in gay communities is also part of Polari and Crowley & Aziraphale not only know exactly what that means but it also fits into their speak easily and I'd wager they will be smirking about it in relation to their South Downs cottage for some time. It's probably a word we'll hear on different levels in S3.

To "do a turn" in Polari and sailor's slang is one way to refer to having sex. The presumption has been that it comes from the theatrical world and doing a turn on stage. (Rather amusingly, C&A are literally doing a turn on stage during their Big Damn Sexual Euphemism Bullet Catch performance in S2.) Crowley uses "turn" euphemistically in this way in 2008 in 1.01. It's actually euphemistic on two different levels-- the Polari/sailor's slang level and also a joke related to the meaning of crepes in his and Aziraphale's speak.

Polari does have a lot of food euphemisms but not really overlapping with C&A's way that much & not to the same extent (to be fair, it'd be hard for any slang to get anywhere close to the same extent lol.)

It's not specifically Polari but kind of Polari-adjacent coded language but some gay men in England in the 1950s would refer to looking for gay erotica as looking for "American" magazines/books, etc. because that had just begun to be imported from the U.S. at the time. One aspect of the use of "America"/"American" in C&A's speak is in a coded way referring to not just to the idea of freedom in general (though, that too, for sure) but to sexual freedom, which is likely tied to how that was coded language for gay men in London historically at one point. While they still use America/American that way at times, they love their food euphemisms more when it comes to their erotica collection, which Aziraphale referred to as the "cookbook section" in GO: Lockdown. (I'm still laughing over that. 😂)

This one isn't Polari in origin, either-- as it came before it-- but, in Molly slang in the 1700s, the phrase "pleasant deed" was used to describe sex between male partners. It is thought to have possibly originated prior to being used by the Mollies but exactly when & where is unknown, so... technically, it or something *very* close to it could have been around in, say, 1601 😉... in case you ever got the same vibe from this that I do:

There's also that brandy is Polari & Cockney Rhyming Slang for ass and Crowley, when talking about Jane Austen in S2, says that she was a "brandy smuggler." The Napoleonic Wars were happening at the time so the "brandy" in question is actually French brandy-- the term for which is really cognac. (Aziraphale is drinking cognac-- a much more current bottle of Courvoisier-- in GO: Lockdown.) I'm sure that Jane really did have a whole scheme going where she was getting black market cognac into England during the war-- there's always the literal and then the wordplay level in GO-- but for Crowley to refer to Jane as a "brandy" smuggler in S2 might maybe suggest that Jane was also involved in facilitating some clandestine and gay shenanigans? The phrase "brandy smuggler" alone fits C&A's speak independently of any of the other connotations as brandy is alcohol (with the word 'randy' in it, no less lol) and one part of the origin of the word smuggle is "to eat secretly"-- food & alcohol being two of the most common euphemisms for them.

There's one more off the top of my head that is more like a joke about Crowley knowing Polari than actual use of the words itself but it is tied into a couple of Crowley & Muriel scenes in S2. In Polari, there are a bunch of phrases that mean "the police" and one of them is "orderly daughters." At the same time, to "order" in Polari is to orgasm.

Muriel shows up at the door and identifies themselves as a human police officer so insistently that they tell C&A at one point that their name is "Inspector Constable." Crowley makes some jokes that he knows only Aziraphale will understand about how some cops make a "hobby" out of spying on queer people. Later on, when Crowley has Muriel arrest him to get to Heaven, the jokes he's making that are all going over Muriel's head are all related to what will "take him to Heaven"-- some things that will get him to "order", in Polari. This all works without the Polari already but it's also kind of as if Crowley's wordplay-happy mind is turning over "orderly daughters" and "order" and that's part of why he's amusing himself by self-deprecatingly telling cop Muriel that if they throw the cuffs on him and word him a bit ("you just say 'blah blah blah...''), he'll order in no time.

I'm sure there's more but that's what I've noticed so far. 😊

[osakanone]

UPDATE: The Destiel/Supernats aren't taking this well -- explaining my reasoning for the history I gave, and why Destiel is not the big bitch of shipping that it thinks it is

An update to THIS:

"This is just a marketing thing, Gundam is a giant robot show, only men watch it!"

Gundam's fandom is silent majoratively feminine:

"But its not gay, its about giant robots!"

Gundam is very gay. The entire climax of the first story is a riff of Yukio Mishima lmao

The climax of the Amuro/Char arc of Universal Century Gundam (expounding from first Gundam circa 1979), Char's Counterattack is somewhat on the history of Japanese disillusion with liberalism which notably climaxed with the life and history of Yukio Mishima.

You know. THAT Yukio Mishima.

The one who wrote FORBIDDEN COLOURS.

It was so gay that the fanfiction inspired by it became its own damn anime:

And that's just Charmuro, let alone Charma or a billion other ships just in OG Gundam alone.

We've got This is before we get to Guin Sard Lineford and Yamagi Glimerton (both verrrrry gay), Tieria Erde (a genderqueer trans-coded character who transcends gender entirely in their arc) and a bunch of others.

Gundam was always gay.

"I don't see the numbers"

"That doesn't seem like much, Supernat is at least 2x this"

Sooooo the amount of content you do see isn't representative of how much even got written, given FFN had a huge content purge.

First, let's start with the relative proportion of users: If we're analysing the concept of fandom, we first have to look at who had access to the internet in the first place to publish works.

Yeah that's a pretty sizable difference.

Wing's fandom actually exploded in 2000, but got capped VERY early, distributing itself to fansites when FFN fragmented and collapsed.

Why?

Content purges!

"Isn't there some sort of online archive of this stuff?"

Sure, if you wanna dig through tons and tons of Angelfire and Geocities pages which have mostly disappeared. Otherwise, no! There is no archive of this stuff?

"Why?"

They've since rolled back on this but it means there's a massive amount of lost media out there, including the discussions on it and thus there's an entire history you didn't get to experience.

Its actually very difficult to reach people who've been involved, since it was so long ago that very few people remember, and a sizable proportion of that population have actually died.

"But what about SF fandoms? We have ancient records of stuff like Spirk!"

See unlike physical media like zines, when a server goes offline or there's a data-loss, or something like that there is no surviving copy of the thing in question.

The net result is we have this weird hole where content just vanished, and its now considered lost media. The work of many artists, designers, writers, even videos of events are just lost media because we didn't have the archival mentality adults develop.

You're not gonna hear about all the X-Files stuff or Frasier fanfictions or GW stuff because of these purges and the lack of physical media. FFN users were teens, not adults with resources like US/EU/JP SF fans, who had archival tendencies due to their long history.

So there is this supermassive black-hole in the history of fanfiction running between 1998, and 2008 and some of the only evidence of it are worksafe works and fansites which the owners have long since forgotten about because folks moved on. Moving on is a normal part of fandom.

So to those of you just saying "supernatural is losing to a pair of dumb anime girls" or "urgh this is just a trend tumblr will get over it and go back to supernatural"...

Uhhhhh no they won't, actually?

Supernat's fans mostly seem to be waspy Americans. Gundam is kind of a global phenomenon, one which has traditionally had a silent majority female audience, a vocal minority male audience -- and every time that majority has spoken up, its coincided with a content purge, or a TOS change that mysteriously biases American derived fiction over Japanese derived fiction.

Funny that.

tl;dr:

NATURE IS HEALING

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #20 – Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

I’ve in theory been a big fan of Bennett for a couple years now, having adored American Elsewhere when I read it. I say ‘in theory’ because I had not actually followed that up by reading any of his other stuff until I happened to see him doing an AMA on r/fantasy and was jolted to go put something of his on hold. The most convenient option was Foundryside so, here we are.

The story follows Sancia, a former slave-turned-magical-experiment who now uses her rather inconveniently always-on sort of object empathy to be a really excellent thief for hire in the hopes of earning enough cash to pay some black market surgeon to make her normal again and then stay quiet about it. That price tag lures her into accepting a job for an eye-watering amount of money from what it clearly one of the merchant houses who rule the city – which she discovers to be an ancient relic, a key that can open any lock. And talk to her. And revolutionize the entire industry of enchanting upon which the city’s fortune and empire are built. She correctly assumes that there’s no way they’re planning to let her live after turning it (him) over, and things spiral out of control from there.

It’s fundamentally a heist story, with all the main action setpieces being about breaking into places and stealing things. And like all good heist stories, the protagonists are totally incapable of winning through anything like brute force, and have to be clever bastards about it – sneaking past guards, not slaughtering them in the night. Those heist sequences are all vividly described and just a lot of fun, almost worth the price of admission on their own.

So this is the rare story where calling it ‘magipunk’ is both accurate and helpful. Which is to say, it is almost literally a cyberpunk story translated into the idiom of vaguely-early-modern fantasy city states instead of corporate arcologies. Scheming oligarchs, overmighty corporate states, miraculous technologies that are only felt by the underclass as news ways of being oppressed and objectified, the works. The most triumphant and hopeful part of the ending involves the founding of a worker’s coop that doesn’t get immoderately crushed. Notably useful and plot-relevant enchanted items include a listening device, trackers, and a powered gliding rig. It’s only when you really get into it that the magic starts feeling at all magical, is what I’m saying – you could translate almost all of this into Cyberpunk 2020 terms in a couple of hours. I think it’s quite fun.

Sancia’s whole backstory – a slave on one of the plantations supplying the city with food and spices, taken as a subject for bloody experimentation in creating perfectly obedient magical cyborgs, surviving and escaping because they got sloppy with occult grammar and reality interpreted ‘be like object’ as ‘be like [INSERT NEAREST OBJECT HERE]’ – is fun on a few different levels. The story definitely leans into a running theme of the reduction of the powerless and subordinate to literal objects and tools wielded by those who control them, both metaphorically and literally. But also there’s an absolutely great beat where she’s explaining her story to the rest of the main cast who are all horrified and disgusted that anyone would do such a thing. To which she reacts very angrily and goes ‘you know that isn’t, like, worse than the whole rest of the chattel slave economy, right? More people get horribly tortured to death as part of everyday operations than creepy magical experiments?”

Sancia as a character is just a lot of fun to spend time in the head of, honestly. Her relationship with Clef (the magical key, the more literal example of being objectified and insturmentalized by one’s masters) is the core dynamic of the first ~half of the book, and it absolutely carries it. Though in the final act it then runs into the very common action/adventure story issue where she starts talking about this guy she’d known for barely a week like a life-long friend she’s shared more good times than she could count with. Entirely forgivable but like, it does stand out.

There’s this whole subtheme of, like, futile misogyny running through the text? It’s never explicitly brought up, and the only character whose actually vocally sexist on the page is the asshole philistine moneygrubbing abusive husband wannabe-coupist you’re clearly supposed to hate. But it’s a repeatedly mentioned point that the culture of enchanting grew significantly more patriarchal in the previous generation (for unstated reasons, possibly just the one epoch-defining genius being a misogynistic ass) and that this was very bad for the career prospects of several major characters. Despite this, important women in the story include a) half the main cast, b) the only competent and attentive head of any of the four merchant houses and c) the enchanting-prodigy wife of aforementioned sexist asshole who turns out to have been feeding him every useful idea he ever had until she could kill him and scoop up everything he’s gathered. This is one of those things that amuses me because it’s clearly deliberate but is never directly mentioned.

This is also one of those books that’s queer rep not in the revolutionary groundbreaking it’s-a-core-part-of-the-tezt way, but in the ‘wow isn’t it great how normal and unremarkable queer representation is now?’ way. Like, Sancia is gay, which is one of remarkably few things about herself she never expresses a single moment of angst, anger or self-doubt about, and she has the sort of C-plot romance subplot every adventure story is obligated to (right down to agreeing to go out for a drink if she survives the last big heist), but with a woman. Her sexuality otherwise basically doesn’t matter. When people ask for queer SFF book recommendations I’m never sure if offering stuff like this is missing the point or exactly what’s desired.

As mentioned, the only other book of Bennett’s I’ve read is American Elsewhere. Which was an absolutely horrible way to set my expectations going into this. Foundryside is fun adventure fantasy, but it has far fewer literary pretensions. The prose is incredibly readable – it’s absolutely a page turner – but that’s basically all it aspires to be. Elsewhere had several different passages I stopped and reread just for the pleasure of it, Foundryside I went back and reread only when I skimmed past some important detail and got confused.

But it’s a really fun fantasy heist story, and the sequel promises to be about a rampant artificial intelligence clockwork djinn which turned against the ancients who made her. So I’m sure I’ll get to it sooner rather than latter.

[alpaca-clouds]

Medieval Writing Prompts - Slice of Life Pt. 1

Recently I realized something: Most fanfiction prompts will assume that a fanfic is set in a semi-modern world. Those prompt lists will usually involve stuff referencing modern technology or modern society. Which sucks for someone like me, who writes mostly historical settings.

So, I asked some friends whether they would be interested in something like this: Fanfiction prompts for historical settings. I will start with medieval - but if the interest is there, I will do other historical settings, too!

Full list under the cut!

Herbal Garden

Visiting the Black Smith

Tending tot he Chickens

Butter Churning

Bath Houses

Fresh Ale

Visiting the Market

Travelling Minstrels

Clear River Water

Time of Sowing

[gacha-incels]

I mean obviously when I post this stuff I don’t mean it like we NEED to break the glass roulette wheel and get more women addicted to gambling for these anime characters or whatever. It’s not about this. I don’t have a preference for any of these character designs whatsoever, you don’t need to like them to understand trends, target markets and what sells. imo it’s best to not be involved in the “fandom” aspect while observing and analyzing this type of thing since it’s not actually about the specific game itself as much as the reaction it causes in this case…so the informational part is the sheer extent of the reaction from male players when women are seen as encroaching on their “territory”. In that last post the OP even says “I’m scared this will catch on globally.” I keep coming back to how these misogynist men will do anything to deny women are spending significant amounts of money. this means women are making enough money to spend on these things, enough to outspend men. the implication of this being that women are getting better, higher paying jobs and are (more than) financially stable. there are of course decades worth of misogyny to read about in each specific country regarding women entering the workforce, so I won’t go into it right now. There is also most likely fear from men that if a woman doesn’t need to financially be supported by a man she will have more freedom in life, and this will make it harder for him to get married (beginnings of incel thinking).but I think this is a significant part of what makes these men hate seeing games that pander to women make bank. it reminded me of the article someone sent in a while ago about the game black myth wukong

first it’s we don’t need your pitiful money. You’re nothing, powerless, etc. and when women are shown to spend serious money, you get

Actually women aren’t making money. The money that goes into these games is actually also from men because these “predatory”women are just using their BF/husband/dad’s money. Women are still pitiful and they can’t get jobs. You can see in this way they have made it impossible for men not to be on the top, financially powerful and winning. a game pandering to men comes out and makes money? Of course, men are rich and powerful. A game pandering to women comes out and makes money? Well it’s because they’re using their boyfriend’s money. The woman in their mind is always beholden to a man.

[pacificwaternymph]

Empires smp s2 Western AU

Lizzie is the town mayor who everyone knows is corrupt and definitely involved in some underhanded dealings, but nothing ever really gets done about it because her little brother Jimmy is the exasperated sheriff who keeps burning all the reports on her. He doesn't know how much longer he can keep doing this for her, but what is he going to do? That's his sister.

Most of the stuff Lizzie does under the table is really pretty harmless anyway, or at the very least doesn't affect the people of the town much, so they're mostly content to let her do whatever.

Sausage and Joel are couple who married for tax benefits, and accidentally adopted Hermes when they found him living under their porch like some kind of raccoon.

Lizzie takes great pride in being the fun "aunt" who teaches him swears and feeds him more sugar than he probably should have. She also won't stop flirting with Joel whenever she gets the chance.

"Aunt Lizzie taught me about tax fraud today!"

"Why does the mayor need to know how to commit tax fraud?"

Scott is the bartender with a really complicated, off and on relationship with Jimmy. It basically consists of flirting his way out of trouble because he's definitely a dealer in the black market and a lot of sketchy shit goes down at his bar.

Katherine is the daughter of the wealthiest man in town who moonlights as a vigilante, and Shelby is the town doctor who she keeps visiting in order to patch up the injuries she gets while out at night. Not so surprisingly, they are both crushing hard on one another.

Joey is a bandit whom Katherine regularly crosses paths with. He's a bit infatuated with her even though she is not interested in the slightest.

False is a reclusive engineer whose projects are... questionable at best. Everyone has just kind of learned to ignore the strange explosive sounds coming from her house.

Oli is a musician who plays at Scott's bar. Jimmy is convinced there is something up with that guy but he is in fact, not involved in the previously mentioned sketchy shit at all. He's shockingly oblivious to all of it, actually.

Fwhip is the town's deputy who really doesn't like Jimmy. They tolerate each other for the sake of their work but things tend to get complicated when you have to work with your ex-boyfriend on a daily basis. They try to avoid one another whenever possible.

Gem is a farmer who ran away from wealthy parents because she got bored with that life. She also works at a beekeeper. Basically the entire town's only food source.

Pixlriffs is an archaeologist who came out to study a new dig site and then realized that there were so many fossils out here he could spend the rest of his life here without running out. Whenever he's not out digging he's running the local library. Has the weirdest, most random collection of hyperspecific knowledge.

[wintersera]

business issues || ceo!kimlip x ceo!reader

notes: i had sm fun writing this i cant lie. BUT anyways if you study business or whatever and i get the terms and shit wrong… no i didn’t pls ignore it </3 ALSO researching high end rich people stuff was a pain in the ass bc it reminds me that i dont have disposable money- also reader is a ‘tsundere’ yk the trope,, and is also like 5’11 just because 😭

cw: degredation, dom reader, sub idol, theyre just very mean to eachother. use of the word ‘brat’ but idk if i characterised kimlip enough to be a brat 😭😭

wc: 3.2k

shit… why is she here?

there was this uncomfortable pressure inside of the meeting room and everyone around felt it, but they couldn’t understand why. a couple guys crossing their arms looking elsewhere in the room, a close ceo friend of yours awkwardly shifting around in their seat and the deafening sound of silence was just… overbearing. you could hear the sounds of a few people tapping their pens, shuffling their shoes, rustling their jackets and good lord it was awkward as hell.

your completely obvious scowl was directed to one person in the room and it was none other than your life long rival, miss kim jungeun.

well let me give you a rundown. you came from a background of extremely successful business men and women. growing up spoilt by your parents, you always looked down at people who were well… less fortunate than you. growing up with a family who were heavily involved with stocks and marketing, you of course, had to honour the family and take up the same jobs as they had. it’s not like you hated it either, in fact, you absolutely enjoyed it. everything was just money, money and more money for you and you were nothing more than happy. your personality wasn’t any better than your average millionaire. picture your stereotypical wealthy individual- that was you, but obviously way worse.

boastful, one of the many words that describe you. you lived for the thrill of business, making risqué deals and then bragging to your peers about how it worked well for you (as if you didn’t threaten them with the risk of losing money… you have your ways) always having recent designer brands on display and whatnot. showing them off to, once again, your peers. and by god you were so cocky about it every single damn time “have you bought louis vuitton's newest arrivals? well i doubt you did, i know a shit ton of your graphs are decreasing. let’s talk about that”

your lifelong rival, kim jungeun, also came from a similar background. another spoiled kid raised by rich and successful parents. like you, she also grew up learning about the marketing business and how to make money easily. another successful business woman in her family, money was a need, a want, a lifetime goal to earn more. she HAD to be rich. it’s just a rich kid thing you know… god, not to mention how painfully bratty she is. throwback to when she’d pester the hell out of her parents to buy her 2 different coloured porsche cars. one black and one red, the same model but different colours… oh, and the time where she started arguing with you about how she wanted the same exact bag as you and begged for you to give it to her? sure, she looked cute be- i mean she looked desperate begging for it. anyways…

now, the two of you sort of grew up with each other, attending the same private school. on the outside people would’ve believed you were friends, really really good friends. but in all seriousness you hated each other's guts. was there a reason? no, not really. rich kid hate was very common actually. petty things like either one of you had a branded item and the other would go mad because they didn’t have it, screaming at each other because you HAD to prove that you were richer than the other, fights over who would ride this specific horse for horse riding practice? the list can go on and on and on.. like said, rich kid problems. what made it worse was that both your parents were best friends, meaning you’d often see each other during your parents’ meetings or somewhere like the golf club. unfortunate right?

anyways, you had started a business at the exact same time as jungeun had. which is also funny because you had started the business in the same area- whats even more funny is that your company specialised in almost the same thing as hers. same starting time, same business, same location, same everything… it’s like you were soulmates or whatever. the thought of that sent shivers down your spine, almost causing you to gag out loud

“my apologies, i feel ill”

you’re sat in the meeting room with numerous other ceos, one notably being your acquaintance miyawaki sakura from hybe cooperation “what’s got you all queasy? nervous for the presentation?” eyes locking into yours, whispering loud enough for only you and her to hear.

“there’s a certain bitch in front of me and the thought of her is making me sick” covering your side profile, whispering back to sakura.

“you have to be joking? miss kim? she’s one, if not, the best strategists out there for marketing. how exactly is she a bitch?”

“uh, hello? i’m clearly the best. also she’s a complete and utter bra-“

cutting you off with a loud cough, the host of the meeting begins his introduction “as you all know, we’ve noticed a couple trends in a lot of your companies graphs. i’ve gathered a few of the best ceos to at least provide some help, because of well… we’re sort of losing audiences right now so-” another throaty cough escapes the mans mouth “-miss kim, if you would like to present first”

rolling your eyes and scoffing i hope you trip over and bruise your ass… her blazer looks very nice today, i wonder who tailored it. whoever did the colouring must use high quality- what the fuck am i thinking about?

not even 5 minutes in and you’re already ticked off. over what? just her, her presence alone pisses you off and it can be seen through the way you’re leaning back on the chair “as seen by this information here i believe that it would most likely attract more audiences. also looking at this chart it sho-“

“clearly you know nothing about the audience, miss kim. you know nothing about this department” a pen twirling around in your fingers.

“excuse me what? i know nothing about the department you say” tilting her head ever so slightly up, intimidating as she may seem, you only scoff at her attempt to drive fear into your heart “i’ll let you know i’m much more qualified in comparison to you”

“HA- as if. i just wanted to mention that your tailoring is humiliating to look at. whoever designed your clothing should be shamed” she looks at you in disbelief, bringing up your petty arguments into the meeting. what are you five?

“miss l/n… you’re stooping way too low” sakura says as she’s holding your arm to calm down.

jungeun ignores sakura, her attention completely diverted onto you and winning the argument “right, as if your tailoring isn’t any better. your cufflinks look like they were made out of nickel silver. how poor do you have to be to buy- i mean borrow cufflinks”

“fuck off. it seems like your eyesight is getting worse, not being able to tell the difference between nickel silver and pure platinum. ha, maybe the fake chopard glasses are fucking with your eyesight”

“you wanna fight?” loosening her sleek black tie, her hands already balled into a fist. seeing her angry made your day, bringing her bratty personality out is what you lived for.

“and break your smug face? with my pleasure” leaping from your chair, you fists ready to land themselves onto her face. yet you feel a couple of people holding you back, one of them being sakura “sakura, you’re a great person, but for the love of god let me go”

“security come quick, a fights broken out” a guy calling for them desperately.

the same goes for jungeun, wanting to smash your face into the table, a few people held her arms. “get off me you lowlifes, you’re ruining my shirt you fucks” flailing around as she’s swatting hands away from her “hands off my blazer, that shit costs more than your monthly salary”

eventually you were escorted out of the building and into your respective cars. what an immature fight you thought to yourself. there was some self reflection going on as your chauffeur drove you back to your house. why exactly did you start pestering jungeun and why did you enjoy it so much? how has she stayed in your mind for so long and why did you keep your rivalry even though you could completely put her out of business (your hubris speaking)

—

you sit at your table, a cup of coffee in your hands as you scan the documents given to you this evening. it was a cold night, the clouds outside your window were dark grey and unwelcoming, much like the knocks at your door “give me a few minutes i’m busy”

you’re currently wearing a white button up, your top button being undone while your tie was hanging around your neck loosely. the rest of your attire was made up of some formal black pants, obviously high end. you looked scruffy today, but it didn’t matter to you since you planned on staying inside your office for the rest of the night.

fuck, your head was throbbing from all the thinking you did yesterday.

another knock on the door and your assistant walks in without any care then leaves? what the fuck “i told you to give me a few minutes, do i need to fire you” shouting at her from across the room. you could care less about your appearance, that was until you saw.. jesus fucking christ… kim jungeun again “why are you here?”

“to apologise for being such a bitch at the meeting” although it sounded genuine, you couldn’t believe someone so haughty could be apologising, it was like you were in a daze how could she be apologising to you while being sober? it’s almost comedic. but you couldn’t just accept it like that, where’s the fun in being nice.

“go on then, bow down and get on your knees or something”

“fuck you mean by that? i change my mind. i’m not apologising to your annoying ass” she spat at the ground “how about you apologise for embarrassing me in front of the other ceos” turning the tables back at you.

as much as she did piss you off you had always looked at her with some sort of interest- yes you fought too much but that’s what made your relationship interesting, to be honest you felt a little sad when she never paid much attention to you. maybe just a little jealous when she would argue with her employees and not you.

“you’re so bratty you know” you scoff, feeling heat rise to your head. standing up from your desk you tread carefully towards her, eyes narrowing as you rip off your tie from your collar, a fiery gaze piercing through her like daggers “there’s no way in hell i will ever apologise to you, brat” you would be lying if you weren’t turned on right now, seeing her once stoic face turn into a cowardly frown made you feel sort of… aroused. “oho, not speaking back for once, cat got your tongue?” your body towering over her with ease, thank the lord for your amazing genetics because now you’re trapping a 5’4 girl between the wall and yourself.

“you’re so pretty when you don’t furrow your brows at me, fuck, you look even better when you have that dumb look on your face” you’ve only been alone with her for a couple of minutes and your knee is placed in between her thighs, she lets out a small whimper, much to your surprise. she could’ve fought you right here right now yet she didn’t, instead she lets you do as you please.

looking at her you coo, “letting me humiliate you like this? i thought you had decorum jungeun,” that may have been her breaking point, you never EVER called her by her first name and with that simplistic action of calling her ‘jungeun’ you had her in the palm of your hands.

jungeun chuckled “you’re saying i’m the one without decorum, yet you’re here pinning me against the wall in your office” her hands sliding down your chest, resting itself on your abdomen. her actions spoke words, she’s as riled up as you were and you knew it.

biting your lip, you try not to make a sound, tracing her fingers around your waist. “you want me don’t you y/n. give in and just fuck me”

the last few words ringing in your ears. forcefully grabbing her arms and bending her over your desk like a slut, her pencil skirt showing the curves of her ass very well “you don’t need prepping, your wetness is already soaking through the fabric… are you a slut or something jungeun?” smirking. without hesitation you drop to your knees, peeling off her tights, exposing her ass to the air “keep your mouth shut for me” you say as you pull her panties aside, her glistening cunt waiting for it to be fucked by you- and you only.

it was a sight to see, and fortunately it was only for you. pausing in your tracks you lean back to observe the scene “you look amazing, however you’d look even better without this cheap skirt” ripping it off of her waist.

“you’re so pretentious that it’s almost disgusting”

“i didn’t say that it looked horrible on you this time though'' truth be told, you were actually internally salivating at the way the skirt enhanced her body lines, but it’s whatever. you could buy another one for her.

parting her folds apart you suck gently on her clit, eliciting a few muffled moans. grabbing her thighs just to pull them apart to make it easier for you. she rolled her eyes back, feeling vibrations from your “mhm’s” and “so good” and other comments on how good she tastes.

the friction of your tongue circling around her clit made her scream out loud “the whole building is gonna hear you if you don’t shut your mouth” yet you secretly didn’t mind that. sure you had a reputation and so did she, but in this moment you couldn’t care less. seeing how responsive she was only made you greedier, she was like money to you; you wanted more. you felt hot, something you couldn’t explain took over your mind and made you work hard. lapping up her cunt, practically making out with her pussy now, you take your hand that was resting on her leg and slide two digits inside of her gently.

“s-shit.. ah-“ clutching onto your desk with her hand while the other one tries to reach for your wrist. moving so painfully slow, you watch her hole swallow and clench around you fingers. entranced by the way it looks and by the way her walls feel wrapped around you, it was like a perfect fit “go, fuck- faster, d-don’t be like this…” the way her voice trembled sent shivers down your body, sounding so desperate and needy that it was overwhelming. never in your entire life had you seen her this desperate and it made you feral.

slowly, ever so slowly, you thrust your fingers in and out. your tongue still working circles around her clit. although it wasn’t like you being sweet and caring, you made sure to start slow. really, fucking, slow. moving her hips in tune to your movements, because you’re that much of an asshole that you had to be painfully slow.

but that’s the fun of it, switching up from very slow to excruciatingly fast- slamming, not two but three, fingers into her dripping cunt. for her it felt out of this world, waves of pleasure crashing all over her body that it seemed like she was being possessed, as you can tell by her legs shaking like crazy. your attention now back at her clit, instead of what you were doing previously, lightly sucking and circling, you licked with passion. it was messy- the way you ate her out, her juices dripping all over your face and dripping down to your chin, something that you could deem as pornographic because it was just that messy “mmmgod- fuck fuckfuck, y/n right there” unfortunately, you didn’t have the view of her face but you knew she would be drooling all over the table from having her cunt be abused.

“so- feels so good…” her moans alone cleared your mind, and you wanted her to scream out your name badly. you felt her walls clench around you harder, knowing that she was on the verge of orgasming you had two options; be mean and edge her, or let her cum all over your face and into your mouth…. the second option sounds way better.

“jungeun mmhm, you’re so close. let me take care of that” your jaw started to ache and your arms became sore, yet your will prevailed. wanting to see her unravel because of you was definitely worth the pain. “cum- cum for me jungeun”

curling your fingers inside of her sent her over the edge, she became breathless and so did you. the sounds of her squirming on the table and the ticking of the clock in the background were the only sounds that could be heard. you ignored the latter and focused on her only. somehow her hand finally made it to your wrist and tugged at the cuffs. then she became limp, as a joke you jerked your hand again which rewarded you with a squeak from her. standing up again, you gazed at her from above. sprawled out across you desk, her once straight hair becoming dishevelled, clothes wrinkled and more- the finest piece of art couldn’t rival such a view.

“um… are you okay? did i fuck you too hard” growing a tad bit concerned. she wasn’t getting up… you assumed she passed out from exhaustion since it was pretty late in the night and well you knew her from childhood so of course you knew she wasn’t able to stay up for much longer“fucks sake, eurgh okay… passed out in my office for what reason” you’re so glad she’s sleeping, or else she would’ve felt the kiss you planted on her forehead “stupid”

—

the next day she woke up in some stranger's bedroom. curious to where she was, she got up from the king sized bed only to find out she was half naked. anyone waking up half naked in someone's bedroom would obviously be scared as hell. she was shocked beyond belief? she knew she didn’t drink so why was she in-

“before you scream profanities in my house, i was the one who brought you home”

“WHATTHEFUCK? oh my bad you scared the living shit out if me… ah- did you at least dress me?”

“well yeah, did you think i would let my employees ogle at you?” you again, scoff at her, your tone less sarcastic than usual “alright come down before breakfast gets cold”

“you made breakfast for me?” the first time you’d see her blushing at you, it was cute but you couldn’t admit that to her face.

“not exactly me, my chefs made it, but i suggested some foods i thought you would like soo…” hiding your face in embarrassment “don’t look at me, please”

[cromulentenough]

seeing north korea discourse on my dash and i don't have much super informative to add but just to say, watching the k-drama 'crash landing on you' was super interesting and i strongly recommend it.

It's a south korean drama heavily involving north korea with some north korean protagonists (it's got a bit of a romeo and juliet type thing with a south korean and a north korean falling in love, but even as someone who gets bored with romance plots it has enough other stuff to be worth it).

It seems very much like propoganda aimed AT north koreans more than ABOUT north koreans (although i'm sure there's some of that).

There's a 'north korean audience insert' type character who is a north korean who is a big fan of smuggled south korean shows, and he acts as the exposition dumper meant to explain south korean culture and terms to the other north koreans for example.

it doesn't mention or show kim jong un etc., the highest up you get are a few generals, one of whom is an honorable and upstanding person and on the side of the protagonists. The villains are corrupt in 'everyday' ways, and the heroic north koreans are patriotic and don't want to defect.

It has an undercurrent of 'south korea is nicer than you've been told, sure we have some corruption and inequality just like you guys do but we're not so different, look at all the things we share (it's still nicer to live here though :) ) can't wait for the inevitable reunification when we can all get along :) :)'.

Very interesting to see that perspective on north korea which was very new to me.

(it's also just one of my favourite k-dramas in terms of being very entertaining and funny generally apart from all of that).

Also as with many k-dramas, the ways they like to fit in absurdly blatant product placement is super fun. (there's products being sold to the common people in black markets, which the south korean protagonist can use her knowledge of to get ahead, but also my favourite is one of the corrupt officers offering instant coffee packets as a decadant bribe).