#it was definitely an... interesting choice to keep going back and forth but

[volunruud]

okay that was literally the worst episode ive ever seen.

[thisapplepielife]

Written for @steddieholidaydrabbles.

Gossip Is Currency

Prompt Day 21: Formal | Word Count: 1000 | Rating: T | CW: Language, Canon Background Stancy | Tags: Missing Scene from S2's The Pollywog, Post-Halloween "Bullshit" Scene, Pre-Steddie, Platonic Hellcheer, School Sucks, Eddie Knows

This is cruel and unusual punishment. 

Eddie sits on the stupid folding chair, behind the stupid folding table, with a stack of tickets to sell to the winter formal. It was this or another suspension, and it was only because he was sure Wayne would not appreciate not having to talk to the principal again anytime soon, that Eddie chose this option.

They've got bubbly cheerleader Chrissy Cunningham sitting next to him controlling the money box that they definitely didn't trust him to be anywhere near, as they try to sell tickets to the kids still roaming around during extracurriculars.

Chrissy hasn't said anything to him after greeting him, and he hasn't said anything in return. They hung out once before, during a middle school talent show, but he doesn't expect that she remembers that.

Another shitty jock walks up.

"Two?" Chrissy asks.

"Yeah," the kid answers, and she takes the money, makes the change, and all Eddie has to do is hand over the two ticket stubs.

He resents it. 

It's stupid, it's–

"It's bullshit," he hears from down the hall.

Yeah, it's exactly that.

And hell's frozen over, if he agrees with King Steve.

Harrington's in some sort of heated debate with Wheeler as they stomp down the hallway, bickering back and forth. She's a fucking firebrand, that one. Everyone thinks she's a priss, but oh no, Eddie's studied this whole school long enough to know that's not even remotely true.

Harrington's gonna get knocked down a peg or two under her, and deservedly so.

Seeing them coming in his direction is at least interesting. Eddie tears off the two tickets and hands them over to Tweedle Dumb, and keeps watching the free show heading his way.

"Winter formal tickets?" Chrissy asks Harrington, and Jesus H. Christ, does she have no observation skills? Now is not the time. This is the time to blend into the wall so they can get the dirty fucking details on this fight. Gossip is currency.

Harrington turns to look at them, and shakes his head no. He looks more sad than mad, and that isn't near as fun. 

"Steve," Wheeler says, and she looks annoyed.

Harrington runs his hands through his hair, tugging at the ends, and then they're gone. 

Well, that was uneventful in the end. He didn't learn anything worth repeating.

Eddie had heard rumors of a Halloween night blow-up, but wasn't there to see it with his own eyes. Apparently they're still in a tiff today.

He can still hear the echo of them around the corner and down the hall, and well, he's nosey. It pays to know everything that's going on in this school.

"Be right back," Eddie says, and follows them down the hall, with the excuse that he's heading to the pop machine.

He digs four quarters out of his pocket, and pretends it's hard to make a decision, before hitting the Mellow Yellow button. The machine whirrs to life, and the can drops down. He feeds the other two quarters in, still trying to listen to Harrington and Wheeler fussing by the double-doors.

Eddie can't really decipher much besides hissing mumbles. Damn.

He presses another button without even really paying attention.

Welch's Grape Soda.

He might actually pick that over the Mellow Yellow he thought he originally wanted.

Harrington and Wheeler leave, so Eddie takes both cans back towards the table, holding them up, an offer, "You want?"

Chrissy smiles, "Really?"

Eddie nods, "You choose," he says, and she falters, just a bit, looking up at him like there might be a wrong answer.

There's no wrong answer here. No trick. He puts them both down on the table, "Totally fine either way."

She reaches for the grape, and is still looking his way. He nods, "Excellent choice," as he picks up the Mellow Yellow, and cracks open the can.

"Thanks, Eddie," she says, like he's given her something more than a can of pop. Carver's a bigger dick than he'd realized, apparently. 

They sit in silence, waiting for more kids to finish up with their stupid clubs and practices. 

The door clangs closed on the other end of the school, and they wait. It's Harrington again. He crosses the hall intersection in his little shorts, and Eddie can see that he's pinching his nose as he darts out of their line of sight as quickly as he entered.

Then it's just them, alone in the hallway again.

"She called him bullshit," Chrissy whispers.

Eddie turns and looks at her, waiting for her to elaborate.

She does.

"On Halloween. At Tina's party. She called him and his love bullshit. I heard it myself, waiting for the bathroom. She was drunk, not making sense about Barb Holland. It was pretty mean."

"No shit?" he asks, leaning closer. 

She nods, giving him a rundown of the whole party. She's got all the good gossip, not just about Harrington and Wheeler's dust up. Eddie feels a twinge of something. 

He's well acquainted with being shit on publicly.

Nobody's around this school, and Eddie gets up to go take a piss. He can't sit still. Hates it. And doing it for this is a special version of hell.

He walks down the hall, to the bathroom. He stands in front of the urinal, unzips and is pissing when he hears the stifled cough from behind him.

Eddie turns to look and sees familiar shoes under the stall door.

Tucking himself back in, re-zipping, he reaches over and flushes the urinal.

"Harrington," Eddie says. 

He waits and there's no response. 

"Harrington," he tries again.

"Go away, Munson," Harrington says, and then mumbles under his breath, "It's bullshit. I'm bullshit."

Eddie takes three steps towards the door, then impulsively turns back.

"She's wrong, you know? You're not bullshit."

And then Eddie waits a beat before adding, "You're just an asshole."

Steve chuckles, and Eddie smiles to himself as he turns and heads out the door.

Timing is everything. 

Mission accomplished.

If you want to write your own, or see more entries for this challenge, pop on over to @steddieholidaydrabbles and follow along with the fun!

[thehandmaidenofcreativity]

Sneaking Around With SKZ ✧ Part II

Rating: Explicit/18+

WC: 4.7k

Comments: This a continuation of this anon requested fic. This time around, the reader plays a few games with our favorite hyungs. While Seungmin and Hyunjin make a brief appearance, MinChan are the focus of this part. I know it's been a while since the first installment. I've been struggling a bit with blocks/motivation, but hopefully part 3 won't be too far behind this one.

⋆⭒˚｡⋆｡✧･ﾟ

As you near the house your family is staying at during your time in Korea, you pull Seungmin to a stop. ���I don’t want my parents to see you.” 

He shoots you a cocky smile. “Don’t want them to see you with an idol? Think they’d try to keep you away from us?”

“Worse,” you roll your eyes. “They’d be too excited and try to make you come in to talk to them, try to make sure you’ll wanna take me out again.”

His laugh is cute. A couple staccato ha’s that might seem fake if he weren’t so clearly amused. “Well, we can’t have them thinking I might be interested in you. Better to sneak around and make things difficult.”

You giggle and push at his shoulder. He’s so easy to be around. After making plans to meet up back at the dorm in the morning, he drops a kiss on your cheek and heads back the way he came. It’s late, but luck is not on your side when you make your way inside. You mom catches you just as you hit the top of the stairs. She asks if you made a good connection, and you have a moment of panic before you realize you’d told her you were meeting with a potential new friend. After letting her know you made plans for the next day as well, you head to your bedroom.

Once you look in the mirror, you realize you were luckier than you thought. You have two hickeys - one on the side of your neck, the other just barely sticking out from beneath the collar of your shirt. If you’d run into mom downstairs, she definitely would’ve noticed. You make a mental note to ask the guys to keep any hickeys below your neckline. 

⋆⭒˚｡⋆｡✧･ﾟ

When 10:30 rolls around the next morning, you’re almost ready. Before your shower, you counted at least four other hickeys on your thighs, chest, and shoulder. You’re a little surprised at how happy you are to see proof of your night with not just one, but two extremely hot guys. Idols. Idols who are actually super nice and chill? You definitely never would’ve guessed that this is how your summer in SK was going to go. 

Once you’re sure all incriminating marks are hidden with makeup, you head downstairs. After fielding a few more questions about getting set up with a member of Stray Kids from your dad - so weird - you’re off to meet up with your “new friend.”

You expect to find Seungmin waiting for you again, but as you turn onto their block, you see Minho waiting out on the sidewalk. You don’t hesitate to approach him, but you’d be lying if you said he didn’t make you more nervous than the others. He’s so hot, but also a little intense. With this new arrangement in mind, and considering your first encounter was a threesome, you can’t help but wonder what he might have in mind for you. 

After a quick greeting, he takes your hand. “I thought you might like to see the other dorm.” 

He doesn’t give you much of a choice, leading you into the building. “Oh, are you all hanging out over there today?”

He shoots you a mischievous smirk, but doesn’t answer. Once you get inside, your question is answered. Hyunjin seems to be passed out, sprawled across the couch, with his head in Seungmin’s lap. The latter is absently running one hand through his hair while scrolling through his phone. Seungmin glances up and meets your eyes, one corner of his mouth curling up. You wonder again at the nature of their relationship - friends that have fun together or something more? Seungmin’s grip tightens in Hyunjin’s hair, wiggling his head back and forth a little bit. He leans down a little and whisper-sings, “Jinnie, it’s time to get up.” 

Hyunjin lets out a little groan and stretches a bit before rolling to face you with a sleepy grin. “Morning. How are you feeling after last night?”

“Good, thanks,” you blush a little at the thought of their hands and mouths on you again. You walk over as he sits up, and when you reach them, he pulls you into his lap, nuzzling his face into the crook of your neck. “So what are our plans for today?”

“Oh, Jinnie and I need to head out soon, actually. It’s just you and Minho for a bit.” You get a chill as Seungmin runs a knuckle down your arm. “Hope you won’t miss us too much.”

You glance over at Minho in the kitchen, wondering again what plans he has for you today. Would it feel more or less awkward if he wants to jump right to sex? And why bother even bringing you over here if they’re going to leave? “Can’t say I won’t miss you, but I’m sure I’ll have my hands full with your hyung over there.”

Hyunjin gives you a slight squeeze and a soft kiss on the back of your shoulder. “Minnie, do we have to leave right away? It’s gonna be way more fun here.”

“Hmm, I mean we could hang out for a while longer.” Seungmin’s arm slides behind you, his hand landing on the nape of Hyunjin’s neck. “When you’re late to your schedule, would you rather tell JYP that it’s because you were fucking his niece or me?”

It’s like you can feel Hyunjin’s entire body pout at that. Minho plops on the couch just in time to hear the question, and all three of you are laughing as Hyunjin lets out a whine. Minho pats Hyunjin’s arm and tries to stop smiling. “Don’t worry Flour Boy, I’m sure you’ll have another opportunity to take your time with our girl, right?”

He winks at you with that, and you feel a blush rising on your cheeks at the ‘our girl.’ When you stop to think about it, this is all moving super fast, but you also only have a couple weeks with them. After agreeing to this friends-with-benefits situation, it only makes sense to take advantage as quickly and often as possible. Before you can respond, you’re tipping off of Hyunjin, face first into Minho as Hyunjin starts to stand and drops you in his lap. 

“I know, I know.” Hyunjin is still pouting as he leans down to press a kiss to your cheek. “Let’s go before I decide I don’t care about being late.”

Seungmin stands and whispers something in Hyunjin’s ear that puts a smile back on his face. He drops a kiss on your head and pats Minho’s, who immediately snaps his teeth at him. “You guys have a good time. Maybe if you’re still around later, we’ll hang out.”

With that, they’re out the door and you’re left straddling Minho, unsure of if you should climb off, start talking, or try kissing him. He makes the decision for you, though, perhaps sensing your uncertainty. He shifts you off his lap and onto the couch next to him. Still close, but less intimate for sure. “You seem very comfortable with them. So you had a good time?”

“Yeah,” you nod a bit shyly, wishing your boldness from last night would return. “They were great. Very attentive. They’re very in tune with each other.”

Minho chuckles at that. “We’re all pretty in tune, but those two can be on another level sometime. Are you still feeling alright with this arrangement? If you don’t want to, you don’t have to be with anyone besides them. We don’t want you to feel pressured.”

Despite your uneasiness, you’re very quick, and maybe a touch too loud, in your response, simultaneously placing a hand on his very muscular thigh. “No! I mean. I want to hook up with them again, but I want to be with you, too. All of you. If you all still want me.” 

He gives you a cat-like grin, grabbing your hand and pulling you up off the couch. “Wanna see the rest of their dorm?”

⋆⭒˚｡⋆｡✧･ﾟ

He leads you to Hyunjin’s room first, you’re surprised to see he has an easel set up with a half painted flowery scene. You’re again struck by the thought that these men are much different than you would’ve thought. Minho lightly grips the back of your neck as he leads you to Han then Changbin’s rooms next, though you don’t do more than peek inside. When you get to Chan’s room, he stands back and urges you to go in all the way like you did for Hyunjin’s. It’s neat, a little plain. 

You hear Minho close the door, and when you turn to face him, his lips crash onto yours; one hand tangles into your hair as he wraps his other arm around your waist to pull your body flush against his. You can’t help but gasp at the sudden contact, and he takes the opportunity to lick into your mouth. Before you can get your bearings, he’s pulling away, hands shifting to your hips and backing you up toward the bed. With that grin, you’re pretty sure he’s trying to keep you off balance on purpose. When the back of your knees hit the bed, he gives your shoulders a light shove.

“Minho!” You laugh as you land, trying and failing to grab and pull him down with you. He cackles. You sit up on your elbows and shoot him a pout. “Why do I feel like you’re a cat playing with its prey?”

His eyes narrow a bit. “Think of yourself as prey, huh?”

You hadn’t really meant it when you said it, but with how predatory he’s looking, you just might be. “What happens if I say yes?”

That cat-like grin is back as he lowers himself down, bringing his lips right up to your ear. You hear him take a breath, but rather than answering your question, you feel the pinch of his teeth on your earlobe. It sends a shiver down your spine as a soft ‘oh’ escapes your lips. Minho’s mouth trails little nips down your neck, ending with a bigger bite on the spot where your neck ends and shoulder begins. Your hands caress over his toned arms before you draw his face back up to yours. The kiss is less intense this time, but almost more overwhelming in the passion you feel. One of his arms sneaks under your back; you work with him to move your bodies back on the bed without breaking the kiss. 

Minho’s weight settles over you, one of his legs pressed between yours, and his hand comes around to pull your dress up over your hip. He drags his fingers up the inside of your thigh before tugging on the little bow on the waistband of your panties. He sucks your lower lip between his teeth before drawing back to look into your eyes. 

“Everything still okay?” His dark eyes bore into yours, so intoxicating you nearly forget that he asked you a question. 

Since he likes to answer questions with actions, you decide you can play that game as well. You roll to the side, easily pushing him off of you. He blinks up at you as you stand, just looking down at him for a moment. You take pleasure in knowing you’re confusing him for once. You take a step toward the door, glancing at him over your shoulder before pulling your dress over your head. You reach behind you for your bra next, unclasping it and letting it drop to the ground. You step to the door, grasp the door handle, and say, “cats like a chase, right?”

You hear him jump off the bed before you’ve fully gotten the door open. You scramble down the hallway, but Minho is on your heels almost immediately. You barely make it out of the hallway to the rooms when his arms wrap around your waist. You turn as the momentum takes you both to the ground, one of his hands coming up to cradle your head to ensure you don’t hit it as he slows your fall. You barely have time to laugh before his mouth is back on yours, hands roaming your body. He kneads at your breasts then tweaks one of your nipples. You moan into his mouth and feel the smile through his kiss. He kisses his way down to suck the other nipple into his mouth, allowing his hand to continue its journey down your body. When it slides into your panties and he plunges a finger into your core, you let out a low moan. 

⋆⭒˚｡⋆｡✧･ﾟ

What neither of you realize is that just before the start of your game of cat and mouse, Chan had arrived home. He stands at the entryway to the kitchen, watching as Minho licks and nips at you. You startle when he speaks, but Minho just laughs. “I know I told you the guys would be gone, but I figured you’d stay in my room.”

You’re torn between the urge to cover yourself and to reposition so that he can have a better view. Minho makes that decision for you as well, sitting back on his feet with a smile and a shrug, effectively putting your near naked body on display. “It’s not my fault. She ran.”

Chan tilts his head to the side, gaze drifting from Minho to you and back. “Fair enough. Still, let’s move this party out of the common area.” 

Minho takes a hand up before Chan offers one to you as well. The second you’re on your feet, he leans down, continuing to pull you towards him, so that he can wrap his arm around your thighs and tip you over his shoulder. When he stands, you barely have time to admire the great ass in front of your face before a hand comes down hard and fast on your own. You let out a surprised squeak causing both men to laugh. Being manhandled like this turns you on all the more. Chan carries you back to his room and rather unceremoniously dumps you onto his bed. 

“So you like to play games then, huh?” Chan is generally extremely kind and, for lack of a better word, soft with you. That’s all gone now. He’s looking down at you with an intense hunger, like he’s ready to eat you whole. 

“What happens if I say yes?” You’re a little nervous and a lot excited to find out.

Chan cocks his head at you again in contemplation, his mouth hanging open a bit as he tongues at the teeth on the right side of his smile. Minho chimes in before he speaks, though. “She likes to do that, it seems - answer a question with a question.”

“Well, we can’t have that, now can we?” Chan makes eye contact with Minho across the bed as he takes a half step back from the bed. 

“Nope.” The look on Minho’s face screams mischief. “I think I know her answer, but it’s important to hear her scream, I mean say, yes.” 

Despite the faux Freudian slip and teasing tone, you realize that they do really want to get your clear consent before things go further. You wet your bottom lip before pulling it between your teeth, two pairs of eyes tracking the movement and Chan mimicking it. You have a sudden desire to bite his lip as well. You sit up and spread your legs invitingly. “Games can be fun, but I’d rather skip them if it means I’ll have your cocks in me sooner.”

Chan’s eyes widen just a touch, but Minho just laughs. Still, neither of them move toward you. Minho seems to be eyeing Chan, maybe waiting for him to make the first move, so you focus on him, too. You bat your eyes up at him while lazily running your fingers over your now soaked panties. “Unless that’s too much to ask of the big, bad wolf?”

You’re pretty sure the sound Chan makes in response is a literal growl. He’s on you in the next second, hands roughly pushing your legs wider before taking hold of your panties and ripping them off. He presses his body to yours as he captures your lips in a messy kiss; you whimper a little at the feeling of his hardness grinding against you. He pins your wrists up by your head and moves to bite and suck at your neck. 

“W-wait.” You manage between pants. If possible, Chan is out of your space faster than he’d gotten into it. The fire in his eyes is all but gone as he looks you over in concern. Minho is picking up your hand to inspect your wrist. “Sorry–”

“No, I’m sorry,” Chan interrupts. “Did I hurt you or–” 

“No, no!” It’s your turn to interrupt. You sit up and lightly touch at the spot you covered with makeup before leaving the house. “It’s nothing like that! You’re fine, perfect even. But yesterday I ended up with a couple visible hickies, and I wanna make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

Both men let out a sigh and a chuckle. Chan slumps a bit to the side, and Minho presses a kiss to your temple, muttering, “damn Seungjin.”

“Sorry I worried you.” You’re biting your lip again, though in embarrassment this time, eyes cast down. You feel the bed dip as Chan’s hand lands next to your hip. His thumb gently pulls down on your lower lip, and you meet his gaze. 

He presses a soft kiss to your lips and smiles. “You don’t need to apologize. We probably should’ve established some limits before I jumped in. Is there anything else we should be careful of?”

“No, I think we covered everything else yesterday. So…” You wrap your arms around Chan’s neck, pulling him in for another kiss. Before you can deepen it, you feel Minho’s hands on your shoulders, drawing you back. His fingers lock around your chin as he tilts your face up to his. You let your eyes close in anticipation, but blink them back open when all he does is laugh. 

Minho squints down at you. “Are you ready to get back to our game then?” At your nod, his hand slides down, giving your neck a light squeeze before resting against your chest and pushing you flat on your back. He turns back to Chan. “Do you still think you can win?”

“Win?” You scrutinize both of them. “How do you win this game?”

“Again with the questions.” Minho rolls his eyes at you before moving to slap Chan on the ass. “Let’s go old man, show me how it’s done.”

It’s Chan’s turn to roll his eyes now. Before you can say anything else, Chan is back on you. One hand is tangled in your hair as his tongue slips into your mouth. His other finds its way between your legs. He’s clearly pleased to find that despite the brief pause, you’re still ready for him. He drags his fingers through your folds, using your wetness to help the glide as he circles your clit. You sigh into his mouth as he pumps two fingers in while his thumb continues to work your clit. Soon he’s working his way from your lips to your collarbones, then down until he can take your nipple into his mouth. He sucks, flicking his tongue while he pulls and twists at the other. He nibbles lightly, eliciting an extended moan. He nips at your other breast before kissing his way down your body.

You whine when he removes his hand so he can resituate himself between your legs. The second his tongue touches you, you thread your fingers through his hair. On your first squeeze, he pulls his head back. His lips are glistening, his pupils so dilated that his eyes look black. His voice is like a growl again. “Minho. Help me out?”

You’re not sure what exactly to expect, but Minho seems to know what he meant. Suddenly he’s is sitting just behind you, pulling your hands up above your head. Once you’re restrained, Chan resumes licking and sucking, drawing more and more desperate sounds from you. You strain against Minho’s hold, but it only makes you hotter. With each lick, you find yourself winding tighter and tighter. When his fingers plunge back in and start curling against your sweet spot. You can’t help but grind your hips up against his mouth, chasing your high. You come with a soft cry, and Chan slows but doesn’t stop, helping you ride it out. 

Soon Chan pulls back, and Minho… laughs? You look up at him, confused. He’s grinning down at Chan, who glares back at him. He crawls up to kiss you. “How you feeling, love?”

You blush at the pet name. “I’m good but what–”

Before you can ask, Minho’s mouth is on you, his hand resting on your throat. He gives it another light squeeze then pulls back with a devilish grin. “My turn.”

“Give her a second to breathe,” Chan laughs. He runs his hands up your sides before Minho more or less shoves him out of his way. Seeing him between your legs, you realize he’d taken the opportunity to disrobe while you were distracted with Chan. You lick your lips when you see the bead of precum leaking from his pretty cock. You can’t wait for him to fill you up. He runs his hands over your thighs before gripping your hips tightly. 

“Channie,” Minho turns his eyes back to his friend as his hands continue their slow exploration of your body. “Don’t you think you’re overdressed?”

Chan narrows his eyes at him, but starts to strip. As the tank top reveals inch by inch of tanned, muscular body, Minho’s hands find your breasts. Your mouth drops open at the sight and sensation. A gasp escapes when his shorts drop to the ground in tandem with Minho’s tongue spearing into you. Chan is impressive enough that you nearly reach out and grab him, but Minho’s keeping his eyes on you. He tweaks your nipples again and licks up to suck your clit between his lips, drawing all your attention back to him. 

Minho expertly works you with his tongue; you lose track of Chan and time, getting lost in the sensations. You moan and reach for his head before remembering how that went over with Chan and reach up to hold onto the pillow over your head.

Chan laughs. “She’s learning.” He climbs in above you and takes your hands into his. Minho hums in agreement, sending a shiver up your spine. 

With the next flick of his tongue, your impulse to tug on Minho’s hair returns. Chan isn’t really restraining you the way Minho did, so you decide to test his limits. You grind up while pulling him closer, nearing your second orgasm of the day. You’re so close, and Minho must be able to tell. “Don’t st- ah... Don’t stop.”

He shocks you by shifting over and biting down softly, abruptly cutting off your impending climax. He lifts his head, pulling your hand away. He hits you with another sly smile. “Maybe she hasn’t learned well enough.”

“Minho.. Please?” You pout at him. “I was so close.”

Behind you, Chan sighs heavily. Your eyes drift up to him, but snap back to Minho when he cackles. “Told you I’d win.”

“You won?” You try to think about what was different between what had been happening with him compared to what you did with Chan. You’re still not even sure what the game was. “How?”

“You said his name.” Chan rolls his eyes. “Though I feel like that was winning by the letter and not the spirit of the game.”

“A win’s a win, Channie.” Minho’s smile is dazzling. His hands are back on your hips, squeezing rhythmically; the big cat’s kneading you. You giggle a little and his gaze turns predatory again. “Are you ready to be my prize?”

He doesn’t wait for a reply, utilizing his grip to start flipping you onto your stomach. You follow his movements easily, relishing the roughness as he tugs your hips up to bring you up on your knees. You expect him to thrust in immediately, but he just slaps your ass, hard. 

“As much as I like seeing you head down, ass up, you can’t forget about Channie.” Chan positions himself so that he’s kneeling in front of you. “Second place still gets a reward, too. Up on your hands.”

You can feel a blush rising as you scramble to obey him. When he spanks your other cheek, you can’t help but let out a small moan. Seeing that you enjoy the rougher treatment, Chan grips your chin a bit tighter than before. “Time to open up, baby.”

You give his cock an experimental lick and smile at his sharp intake of breath. You take his head into your mouth, but before you can decide how much of him to take in on your first pass, Minho slams into you from behind. The force of it makes you gasp and knocks you forward. Chan’s cock hits the back of your throat and you can’t help but gag. You do your best to recover as Minho pulls you back by your hips, still buried to the hilt and laughing. 

Chan pulls back and tips your head up so you can look at him, tears in your eyes. “Will this work for you?”

Instead of answering, you wiggle your hips and take as much of Chan into your mouth as you can reach, swirling your tongue along the underside of his dick. Like that, Minho is moving again, thrusting in an erratic pattern. Each time you think you can take control of the blowjob, he pulls you back or shoves you forward. You don’t remember the last time you gagged and coughed so much, but luckily Chan doesn’t seem bothered as he fists your hair in his hand, the other gripping the back of your neck. And Minho clearly enjoys causing and watching your struggle. 

You enjoy it more than you thought you would as well. You assumed it would be hard to focus on yourself with all the choking, but you love the way Minho has taken complete control of Chan’s pleasure as well as your own. He’s pounding into you and you feel yourself winding toward another orgasm. When he reaches around to rub your clit, Chan reaches to wrap his hands around your throat. 

He doesn’t squeeze much, but you know he can feel the bulge caused by deepthroating his impressive length. All the stimulation has you moaning as much as you can with your mouth full. The vibrations of it have Chan losing control a little bit, thrusting shallowly with a drawn out groan. Minho doesn’t let up and soon you’re overtaken, breaking apart under his touch. Chan pulls out, allowing you to drop your head and arch your back as the orgasm wracks you. The squeeze is too much for Minho; with a punishing grip on your hips, he’s back to thrusting with abandon before his hips stutter to a stop with a series of groans and ‘fuck’s. 

You nearly collapse onto the bed when he pulls out, but another strong pair of hands are there to keep you in position as Chan slides in with a sigh. You belatedly realize that he’s no longer in front of you and resolve to participate as much as you can despite feeling like you may be turning into jelly. You push back against him and he releases you with one hand long enough to slap your ass one more time. Rather than returning to your hip, his hand skates up your back to grab your shoulder. You let go and let him use you, pulling you back in time with his thrusts. 

You’re not sure you can come again when Minho slips his arm beneath you, once again working your clit. Your body tenses in record time, soaring toward your third climax of the night. You come with a cry, and Chan is growling along with you as he finishes. You fall to the mattress with him on top of you. You look up with tears in your eyes again, seeing the warm smile on Minho’s face as he caresses your cheek before wiping them away.

You’re struck with the thought that this is one of the best decisions you’ve ever made.

⋆⭒˚｡⋆｡✧･ﾟ

Find Part III here...

[arenabreadandbiscuits]

Naughty Hisoka Scenarios

Bro is a menace for real.

Upon first seeing you he feels something that manages to attract him and like a moth to a flame or a shark to blood... He invests his time in you for being interesting.

Him chasing you is like a game of cat and mouse especially because at first he does manage to keep a bit of his distance.

As you get closer though, having missions together, killing together, and so on so forth you finally catch on to his intent.

You give him a chance and the first time he has his way with you he spends damn near HOURS between your thighs, listening and humming as you'd jolt and cry

Has a thing for overstimulation, kissing, biting and sucking at your skin in the cruelest form of foreplay. He will definitely play with you like a predator tends to play with its food.

The way you whine and buck against his mouth makes him shiver and blush, eyes rolling back as you take hold of his hair.

Pull it, yank it, run your nails over his scalp.. really any form of 'affection' is enough to make his bite his lip and make his cock jump with excitement.

Does that thing at times where guys fuck you and then pulls out to rub the head of their cock over your twitching, throbbing entrance and he loves watching your eyes roll at it.

Loves listening to your noises when he touches you, you simply are just too cute.

He's a biter, though he may lick and suck and nibble on your skin as well and he does it carefully at first before it turns into him seeming like he actually wants to eat you whole

Don't tease him, bro definitely wants the smoke..

Honestly gets excited quickly and he can go for multiple rounds.

Interestingly enough he doesn't actually seem to go after anyone while he's with you, once he has his eyes set of someone he's usually set like that. He isn't one to jump from partner to partner if he actually wants someone

Rather dominant in bed but versatile, he will be rather excited if you manage to be the dominant one though. Pin him to the wall or grab his chin when he's talking too much and you'll have shivers rushing up and down his spine in no time.

Bro is literally feral, even if he's acting right and not downright jumping your bones it's always a thought that comes to mind whether he wants you immediately and wants to tease and take his time.

Loves physical affection from his partner(s), he'll even admit it if you ask him about it

"duh I love it, who wouldn't love being able to touch you all the time?" He says with chuckle while you flush and huff.

He knows just how to get under your skin and he learns quickly.

Are you ticklish? Do you get shy easily? Do you stare at him when you think he's not aware? Your fucked. Bro will come to the conclusion, might as well take it like a good boy/girl/pet.

He's fucking huge, his cock it literally no joke so don't hurt yourself Reader, take it slowly~

Has his moments where he just loves looking down at you while he touches and caresses your skin and when you eventually chuckle and ask him what he's doing hell simply hum innocently though you can literally feel his hardness resting in your back.

Honestly he's quite loyal. He doesn't like wasting his time so him choosing you is definitely a choice he made all on his own. It also means a lot because Hisoka can be rather bored with many people.

Knows how to use that mouth of his so don't think he won't use it. He'll eat you out as a punishment without hesitation.

Likes to spank your ass every time he's taking you from the back because he just can't help himself especially when it's shaking on his cock like that...

All in all, bro is definitely on demon time.

Idk 😶 just some thoughts I have on bro.

[cupcakeslushie]

Do you have any tips on for people starting a comic and wanting to post to tumblr? Like pacing ect. Or well any experience you’ve had with your comics? Love your content as well ❤️

If it’s simply for fun, and you’re just trying to gain experience, my biggest advice would be to just START. Don’t worry about it looking perfect. Don’t worry about comparing it to other’s comics. Just try something, and if you find it’s not working, you can always change things up. I have gone through several styles and page layouts since starting. Do I wish those first pages of EW looked just like what I’m doing now? Yes, but if I’d waited around for perfection I would have never started. And I wouldn’t have had nearly as much fun creating it! If people like it, that’s great, but your art is for you. If you’re growing and learning and having fun, then you’ve accomplished something!

Now for some less preachy advice 😂…

—If your comic is gonna be hosted on Tumblr specifically, I would say, make sure you keep the 10 image limit in the back of your mind when you’re pacing things. That can definitely cause some headaches down the line. If you don’t plan ahead, and end up hitting it, you’ll have a sudden cut in your flow. This last update I knew it was gonna be long, so while I did plan, but I could’ve planned better.

—Variety is key!!!!!

Composition changes keep your viewers from getting bored. Sometimes I’ll find myself falling back into the bad habit of just doing the simple back and forth with two characters talking straight on, but changing the camera angle, making establishing shots when you change locations, and over the shoulder shots, etc etc…All these will make for a more interesting viewing. You may think a character needs to be in every single panel to make it interesting, but if you have a lot of dialogue, a simple plain shot—either in top of a solid background, or just over something boring, like a glance at the set, etc—this will let people focus on the words rather than splitting their focus.

Variety applies to shading as well—whether you’re using color or black/white. Variety in values are SO important for comics. You’re shoving a ton of information in a limited space, so try to keep your values different for items that are close together….it can make things very confusing and turn your line work into indistinguishable blobs if you shade without this in mind.

(Using this panel as an example….)

The top two panels have a variety of darker values and a halftone background—so the next two with Venus, I kept rather simple. I could’ve colored the buildings behind her, but then, she might’ve gotten lost amidst all the grey. There’s not really any trick or solid rule to this, but once you develop your creative eye, you’ll make these choices without even thinking about it.

A few links to helpful tools (they’re all procreate centered I’m afraid 😅)

Outline brush — a free tutorial for Procreate users. This brush kinda mimics the CPS feature that lets you create panels with a nice black outline. I used this brush very often, and it really gives your panels a professional look. Fair warning, it can be glitchy, but it’s free…

Manero Comic Bubbles and sfx — These brushes are not free, so I would recommend maybe getting in your groove before you try them out. They’re by no means necessary, but I’ve just started using them, and they save me so much time. There’s a HUGE selection of shapes, and they go on with a solid white background, so you don’t have to worry about coloring around your dialogue balloons.

[sturns-angel]

even when i’m not with you - m.s.

summary: while streaming, matt plays a song that secret!alt!gf showed him. when attempting to discretely shout her out for the music, he lets something slip. w/c: 1.1k no warnings! flufffff!

a/n: first postttt! i'm giggling and kicking my feet

my laptop is open and blasting music at full volume as i fold my clothes, cursing myself for letting it pile up this much. as i empty the basket of clothes, i hear my phone ping.

m🫀

streaming in 5 minutes if you wanna watch :)

i smile down at my phone and quickly text back, letting him know i’d definitely be watching.

matt and i have been dating for almost 6 months, but no one really knows. the only people that know are his brothers (obviously) and a few of our close friends. he likes to keep his personal life private and i don’t mind. of course, if he asked me to scream it from the rooftops i would do it without hesitation.

i quickly put my folded clothes away and put the basket back in the laundry room before rushing over to my laptop to log onto twitch.

i plop down on my bed, laying on my stomach and resting my chin in my hands.

“chattt!” chris’s scream blares through, causing me to wince a bit. “we’re back and we’re ready to have a fucking blast with you guys!” nick swats his hand towards his chest, hitting him lightly.

“stop fucking screaming, my god. not even a minute into this and we’re gonna get a noise complaint.” nick says, rolling his eyes.

my eyes fall to matt who is focused on the screen that sits right beside the camera, nibbling on his bottom lip. his attention is finally shifted as music starts to play and he readjusts his headphones.

“okay, what are we doing?” matt asks, looking over to his brothers who simply shrug in response.

“fortnite?” chris suggests and nick groans. “alright, what about fall guys?” he asks. they go back and forth for a minute, both of them getting increasingly annoyed.

my eyes stay fixed on matt who is reading chat, shouting out all the gifts, and pretty much just ignoring his brothers. i can’t help but laugh a bit when he looks up at the camera and rolls his eyes at chris and nick.

“fucking pick something! c’mon.” matt exclaims, throwing his hands up dramatically. chris and nick give each other a look before chris starts chuckling, mimicking matt’s previous dramatics.

“i don’t hear any suggestions coming from you, tough guy.” nick snaps back. “let’s just play dress to impress.”

after getting roblox pulled up, the boys switch seats leaving nick front and center to play first, chris right next to him, and matt sitting at the foot of his bed behind them. i shift around in my bed, leaning on my side and pulling my phone out of my pocket to mindlessly scroll through instagram.

about 15 minutes go by of the typical chaos that the boys create when i hear a familiar song start to play. i look back to the screen and see that it’s matt’s turn. i notice a small smile on his face as the song continues.

it’s a song i showed him the other day, even when i’m not with you by pierce the veil. we like some of the same music, but this side is usually something we don’t share an interest in. knowing that he liked it enough to add to his playlist makes my heart swell.

“matt, this outfit is making me nauseous.” nick grimaces at the screen and chris laughs, nodding his head to agree with nick.

“shut up. this is perfect.” matt mumbles. the time runs out and it goes to the judging. matt’s eyes scan chat and i can see a swarm of people freaking out over the song choice.

matt chuckles to himself and reads a chat out loud that was asking for the name of the song. “this is the song, chat.” he says as he drags the spotify tab into frame.

“yeah, matt’s been on that emo shit.” chris jokes. matt simply rolls his eyes and keeps reading the chat.

“as always, don’t listen to chris guys. a - um - a really good friend of mine showed me this song.” he fumbles on his words a bit and i can’t hold back the grin that creeps up. “yeah, i really like it so shout to them. love you-“ he abruptly stops and i feel my heart drop to my stomach. his eyes widen slightly, but enough for me to notice.

i know matt cares for me and i know he likes me, but we’ve never said that before. and now he’s just said it in front of thousands of people. obviously, they don’t understand the relevance of the moment, but i do. matt does. even his brothers.

they sit in silence for a couple seconds before matt quickly reaches forward and mutes his mic.

matt’s pov

“oh, my god.” i turn away from the monitors and look at chris who is now sporting a smug grin.

“what are you doing, idiot?” nick asks, pulling his hand up to cover his mouth, eyebrows furrowed together. chris falls back on to the bed, hiding his face in his hands as he laughs.

“what a romantic story!” chris exclaims between his laughter. “‘i told my girlfriend i love her for the first time over stream.’” he mocks.

nick stands up from his seat, shuffling out of the view of the camera as he doubles over in laughter.

“it’s not fucking funny, guys!” i argue, keeping my back turned to the camera. “she’s watching the stream, she definitely heard that!” chris takes a deep breath and finally sits up, shaking his head.

“maybe not. maybe she left the room or something.” he shrugs. i roll my eyes and let out a soft groan.

of course i love her. i really do, but this definitely isn’t the way i wanted to tell her that. i didn’t necessarily have a plan for telling her, but this… this way isn’t ideal.

“matt, you’re fine. we can just finish the stream then you can stress about you professing your love for your girlfriend to the internet.” nick says calmly, reaching over the desk and turning the mic back on. i let out a soft sigh and turn back to the screen, hesitantly looking over at the chat.

thankfully, no one caught on to what i had said and were only freaking out because we were muted. nick and i switch spots and i pull out my phone, contemplating if i should send some sort of explanation text.

what if i freaked her out? what if she thinks it's too early? i might've have just scared her away-

my heart stops when i see that she's texted me first.

doll🩶

i love you too :')

[the-chosen-fanfiction]

Jesus | Stealing Salvation | Platonic

When you take an abandoned leather bag left on the street for yourself, you are left with a different kind of loot than what you had bargained for.

Requested by Finn

For the third time in five minutes, your stomach unpleasantly rumbles, as if the nagging feeling of emptiness hadn’t been enough of a sign that you’re in desperate need of some food. Clawing at your tummy for a moment in an attempt to keep down the irritating feeling of uneasiness, you swallow hard and squint against the bright sun, letting your gaze fall down onto the market down below. 

It is two days before Shabbat and people are purchasing their wares to celebrate the day of rest. The streets are full with the hustle and bustle its preparations bring forth and a small smirk spreads over your face. The more unattended purses, the better.  

In spite of feeling guilty about it, you don’t really have a choice but to pick pockets whenever you see a chance. Your gut grumbles once again as a reminder of that whilst you descend the small flight of stairs on the side of the house you had been scouting the premises from. You tuck your hands into your pockets, making yourself as small as you can. No one pays attention to a measly orphan roaming around the crowd. 

You keep your eyes peeled for any pouches and satchels hanging from belts, your head low, away from prying eyes alike. 

Suddenly, you collide with someone, a pained noise leaving you as you look up exasperatedly. 

“Watch it!” a man snaps, causing another next to him to give him a look. 

“Come on, now. It’s just a child, Simon.” 

“One that isn’t looking where she’s walking, Andrew.” 

“Hasn’t Jesus taught you anything?” 

The two walk on without as much as another look your way, but your interest piques at the mention of the Name — Jesus. A Name you have been hearing pass through the streets quite often these past months. A Preacher from Nazareth Who has been telling about a Kingdom of heaven where the first will be the last and the last will be the first, where the ones beaten down by society are elevated. They have disappeared behind the corner before you can process the fact that you’d have followed them otherwise to see where they are going, and when you quickly rush to where they vanished, you can’t find them anymore. Your shoulders slump, for you had been curious to know more about this Jesus you have been hearing so much about. 

After all, you hadn’t exactly lived a… Kosher life, so to speak. Ever since your parents passed away, you had been left to your own devices and had been forced to resort to stealing to get by. 

Part of you has always considered yourself lucky that you hadn’t been older when your father passed away when you were only seven years old, leaving you an orphan. Had you been in your teens back then already, you’d have been found by thugs eager to sell you into slavery, or worse, prostitution. 

In spite of petty theft being the lesser evil, you find yourself feeling ashamed about it nevertheless. You’ve never dared to get closer to Adonai, the burden of your sins weighing too heavy on you to allow yourself to ever step foot inside a synagogue. Not that they would let you enter in the first place, for many turned away with a sneer on their face whenever you came near. 

A group of four men walks past you and snaps you from your drifting thoughts, headed in the general direction where the two others had walked towards earlier. Something draws you to one of them. Perhaps it’s the way that He carries Himself, or maybe it’s the large leather backpack around His shoulders. Whatever it is, you decide to shadow them, hands once again in your pockets as you tail them from a distance. 

“Oh, what’s that smell? Are those cinnamon cakes?” one of the men sighs. As you take a whiff, your stomach rumbles once again. That is definitely cinnamon, and what you wouldn’t give…

“You and your cinnamon cakes, James,” a man with wavy hair responds, “You know these won’t be as good as eema’s, so I don’t know why you would even consider them.” Brothers, then. 

“You know we’re a good long way from home, John,” says the man addressed as James, “And I bet the others are also peckish. We’ve walked for quite a bit, right guys?” 

The other two nod; they look alike, but you don’t think they are related. Leaning against a wall, you watch how they come to an agreement. “Let’s get ourselves something small then,” the Man with the backpack suggests. “I’m just going to put this down for a second to rest my back.” 

A small smirk plays over your lips. It looks heavy as He places it down. Perhaps there is something valuable in there, you wonder as the quartet starts walking away towards the stall selling baked goods, providing you with a perfect moment to strike. 

You move with the crowd, trying to appear inconspicuous as you inch towards it step by step whilst your attention flickers from the taupe bag to the men busying themselves with purchasing baked goods. Seeing a window of opportunity, you snatch the leather bag before being about to sprint off, but you nearly collide into someone — with widened eyes, you look up, seeing the same man who had nearly knocked you off your feet only minutes earlier.

“Hey, you again—?! Wait! That bag doesn’t belong to you!” 

Without another thought, you regain your senses and rush off as fast as you can, hearing footsteps behind you right away. Your smaller frame is quicker at first, more agile as you had been prepared to run from the moment you had picked up the backpack.

“Stop right there!”

You to turn left and instantly take a right. Knowing the streets like the back of your hand, you are familiar with all the little nooks and crannies of Jerusalem, hopping over a few crates, ducking under a few low-hanging lines full with wet laundry. You hope it will shake off the man pursuing you; you believe he had been referred to as Simon, but aren’t entirely certain anymore. Not that it matters.

Taking a moment to catch your breath, you come to a halt and feel adrenaline rush through your body as you look over your shoulder, only to come eye to eye with an agitated Simon. “You!” You’re instantly on the run again, your lungs burning inside your chest as your legs carry you as fast as they can. 

Finding a ledge, you hop onto it, climbing expertly onto a roof by using a few bricks that are sticking out here and there, a skill gained from years of living on the streets. As soon as you reach the edge, you pull yourself onto it, resting your hands on your knees as you heave for air right after. Down below, you see your pursuer, equally as out of breath, glaring at you as he finds himself unable to continue after you. 

A small victorious smirk finds its way over your lips before you can stop it. The man opens his mouth to speak, to call after you, but you’re already gone, rushing a fair bit over the roofs, hopping down a few and climbing onto others, scaling the premises of Jerusalem until you’re sure that you are a safe distance away from still being caught. 

Exhausted, you make your way down onto the ground and find an abandoned alleyway to get a good look at your haul. You slide down with your back to the wall and draw a few deep breaths, your heartbeat easing as you open the flap of the bag. 

You reach in. An extra tunic, which you do not mind, since your current one had started to wither away with irreparable holes that frayed further and further through wear and tear. A bag of pistachios. You crack open the shells of a handful by using your rusty pocket knife and start munching on them with a sigh as you happily fish out an apple to quench your thirst at the same time. Taking a large bite, you continue exploring the contents. 

A small bridle. You frown at the sight of how worn it looks. The leather is far form supple anymore and seems as if it is about to fall apart. Guilt forms inside your gut. It must have some kind of sentimental value  to the owner of the bag, otherwise He wouldn’t have bothered carrying it around on His travels. You sigh and put it aside for now, rummaging through the rest of the items inside. 

A pair of worn sandals. You don’t pay those much attention. A few pretty rocks which you play around with in your palm for a few moments. You take another bite of the apple. 

“I believe you have something that belongs to Me.” 

A voice, non-accusatory yet touching you to the bone, reaches your ears and causes you to startle. Red hot shame claws at your throat. 

“I…” 

The Stranger approaches you, causing you to stagger to your feet with the bag in your hands. Embarrassed, you watch how the apple falls from your lap half-eaten and rolls until it halts right in front of Him. He looks at it for a moment before turning to you again.

“You’re hungry.” 

“I’m sorry, I…” you swallow hard as you rub at your throat, feeling ashamed, especially since this Man is so kindly smiling at you, that He means no harm even though you’ve stolen from Him. “I am.” 

“I know. I hope you’ve enjoyed the apple. I had put in an extra one just for the occasion.” 

Your brow furrows in confusion. “I… What?” 

“I didn’t put down My bag for no reason. Actually, I was counting on you to take it from Me, just so I could come here to speak to you. I even brought you some bread.” 

You should know better than to accept food from strangers, but when the Man holds out the fresh rye loaf, you can’t help but wolf it down with ravenous intensity. 

“Who are You?” you ask with a mouth full of food, taking another bite as you look up at the Man. 

“My name is Jesus.” He comes to sit down next to you so both of you are with your back against the wall.

You nearly choke on your food, but gather yourself with a few coughs. Jesus hums and smiles kindly. “Easy there, my daughter. No one is taking it away from you. You have been living this kind of life for a long time, no?” 

You nod and swallow your food. “For most of my life,” you admit. 

“You’re very young. It must be rough for you.” 

You pluck some soft bits from the centre of the bread to eat from it as Jesus offers you a water-skin. “I’m not proud of it, but I have no choice. It’s better than being a slave. At least I’ve still got my freedom now.” 

Jesus looks at you for a thoughtful moment, allowing you some time to eat and drink before asking questions again. “What is your name?” He asks once you’ve eaten most of your fill. You wipe your mouth with the back of your hand and pry some bread from between your teeth with your tongue before responding. 

“It’s (Y/n).” you say, “At least, I think that is what my parents called me, if I recall correctly.” 

Jesus gives a gentle nod. 

“Why are You being nice to me?” you ask, “I stole from You. There is no reason for You to be kind to me, and yet You are.” 

“You know Who I am, don’t you?” 

You nod, taking a sip of water. “I do, I’ve heard about You. Which makes me wonder it even more, why You are even willing to speak to me and buy me food. Someone Who is so close to God shouldn’t even want to be in my proximity. I’m a thief, a lowlife…” 

“What matters to Me is your intention. You steal to survive, not because you want to. However, I need you to know this: The Lord provides for the birds of the air. Would He then not provide for you also? Is the body not more than food? Essential as food may be, stealing is not the solution to your problems. It only creates more of them.” 

You lower your gaze, agreeing with the words. You have had your fair share of trouble along the way ever since you resorted to petty theft to get by. “This life you lead is not one I wish for you to lead,” Jesus tells you. “I have something way better to offer you, something everlasting.” 

“But I’ve stolen things that don’t belong to me for so long… I’m not sure if I can live up to it. I don’t— I don’t deserve it.” you whisper. 

“Forgiveness is not something you can earn through being a good person,” Jesus tells you, “But it is a gift you receive in spite of not deserving it.” 

Mulling over the words, you take another swig of water. 

“So what do You suggest I’d do, then? It’s not like I can afford a house, and no one wants to take me into their home since there are so many urchins already.” 

“So… Follow Me.” Jesus suggests, a question that takes you so aback that you drop the remainder of the bread onto the dirty ground below. You are just starting to apologise since the action may be considered wasteful even if done so by accident, but Jesus smiles at you softly. 

“I will give you a different kind of bread. You will not go hungry again. I will provide you with spiritual food, that will neither expire nor be taken away from you.” 

“I don’t know what that means,” you must confess, smiling a bit sheepishly. “But if You’d have me…” 

“I wouldn’t have asked you otherwise.” Jesus chuckles a bit. “You have much to learn, but you have time. My students will be glad to have you.” 

You open your mouth to respond, but someone interrupts; the man who had been pursuing you earlier lets out an offended sound as he steps closer. “There you are, you little—” As soon as he sees the Messiah, his insult hitches in his throat. “Jesus.” 

“Simon,” Jesus responds, smiling gently as He helps you up. “Meet My new student, (Y/n). She is in need of someone who can show her the ropes on her first few days with us and I think you would be a good fit to do that.” 

The man sighs, but then nods in sudden determination. If Jesus wants you with the group, Simon will not oppose it. After all, he had done so when Matthew joined as well, and he learnt to trust Jesus whenever He asked His followers to join them. “Yes, Rabbi.” 

Jesus squeezes your shoulder before taking up His bag, putting the bridle back in and leading you away. 

“So, are you ready for your new life?” Simon asks you as you follow Jesus out of the alleyway. 

“I am,” you say, “The one I used to lead was hardly a life at all.” 

Simon hums in acknowledgement. “I think all of us feel like that, really,” he tells you. “That our lives before Jesus didn’t really matter all that much. But then again, our pasts do not define us. What matters now is who we are in Him.” 

“I can’t wait for my new life to start,” you muse.

On that note, you head with them, approaching your destiny with newfound purpose.

[wispythreads]

The Lair of the Shadowbroker DLC definitely earned its fan praise, in my opinion. This feels like Mass Effect 1 level of artistry and level design, I love it.

There were like, way too many enemies, and I still don't really feel great about how they changed Liara in just a two year time gap between the games, but I appreciate the way this DLC handled it, it made an effort that resulted in her feeling more like how she felt in the first game.

The scene after Tela got revealed as the one who had been trying to murder Liara at the start of all this was rough, Shepard and her slipping off the window ledge, falling together, slowed down only by Tela's biotics until she shoves Shepard the rest of the way to the ground, while she gets to gently float down to make her escape. That impact looked like it HURT, especially with how much effort she had to put into getting back up again.

Shepard honestly sounded so grumpy and dejected as she said "I'm okay, by the way, thanks for asking." before hopping into the car with Liara.

And speaking of the car, I loved the banter between Liara and Shepard the whole way through, but particularly during the car chase, which was really fun! "Head on Collision!" - Liara "I hear that's bad for people." - Shepard. All the little bits of back and forth were so great to listen to, wouldn't mind replaying just for that bit of the DLC alone.

The actual Lair itself was so so so pretty.

The boss fight against the Shadowbroker is probably my favorite across all all of Mass Effect 1 and 2? Especially with the cutscenes where Shepard realizes ah ok ammo won't do anything that's fine I'll just punch him

Really cool alien design too.

Mini thoughts from snooping on my squadmates dossiers below.

Straight up chortling over Mordin and Kirrahe's bickering and how it is preserved in their mission report He really should've realized something was going to be up on Maelon's end... Nice of them to try and shelter him from any repercussions for his outburst, but he needed followed up on much sooner than when Mordin thought he'd been kidnapped. The list of threat analysis against all the other main species holy- not surprising, honestly, based on what is known about Salarians, but still pretty interesting ... So not only is he a musical enthusiast in his spare time but also a Bill Nye the Science Guy type? That's neat. Good for him.

I hope we get to reunite Jack with her mom. That would be nice.

LEGION IS A GAMER I love this little cluster of AI so much. He has so many infractions on that online game that technically are true due to the fact that he's. Not an organic being. But the only one that sticks is him taunting other players- that's so silly aww… he bought the highest (and most likely most expensive) version of a game that was fundraising for the events of Eden Prime, just for the fundraiser. He did not play that game at all. He even tried a dating simulator oh my gosh. I don't think he's hopeless =( what a mean ranking for a dating sim. He's spent so much time on it, too… (not as much as the other games, but still a significant time investment my gosh)

ahhh this is where Grunt's fanon characterization of being Shepard's son starts coming in. I do think the main game version of him and his relationship with Shepard, a paragon!Shepard at that, is interesting, but it wasn't lining up with what I was seeing online. (and by main game version I mean the transition of [Talking about how great it is we've got so many strong enemies to fight against] "I don't plan on living like this forever" "Talk like that and it won't be your choice. I'm sure as hell not quitting with a whimper. Just so you're clear where we stand." [Hyper aggressive and enjoying memories of gruesome kills] "I'm not sure I want to keep coming down for these talks..." "Whatever. Don't have to be friends to be allies." [Still hyper aggressive and enjoying memories of gruesome kills] "Y'know, I kind of thought connecting with your past would bring stability." "Ha! See, now we're having fun. Me remembering good deaths, and you with your... funny human thing you're doing.") I think there is something very sweet about him being enamored with dinosaurs and looking up to Shepard so much that he wants to know about the whole of Humanity's history as warriors :')

The transmission between Samara and her daughters... all the things she had to give up in order to become a Justicar...

!!! THANE GET THE LUNG TRANSPLANT YOU HAVE A SON YOU NEED TO CONNECT WITH AND I CARE ABOUT YOU SO MUCH DON'T JUST GIVE UP AND DIE IN A YEAR!! LIVE! LIVE AS A PERSON AND NOT A WEAPON!! I love how his kill methods are so elaborate and the alternate methods are equally intricate, with the Krogan's main method understandably being the most involved and calculated. And then you get to their alternate method and it's just one word. It gives this impression of hands to his head exhausted and resigned.

... Garrus's family… his mom…. god that's hitting a little too close to my heart....

[commander-rahrah]

I'm excited to read it too! I'm glad you find it interesting! Don't worry about your post because long! Your thoughts are so interesting!

I agree that Astarion would have to come to terms with Reader/Tav's boundaries too since it works both ways! I definitely feel that Astarion would be too lost in drinking from the blood of a sentient creature to notice the signs.

He would feel ashamed when he's aware of their fear yet they still chose to offer despite that might made him feel like he manipulated them like Cazador did to him 😭

What his excuses are if they try to offer in the early days makes sense! He would be too ashamed & terrified to have such a vulnerable conversation with them yet 😞

He would feel safe enough to bring up their fear after he confessed about everything. He would make it clear to them he doesn't want them to suffer by making them do something they don't want to like he did especially after how much they have helped him & how important they are to him 😭

He would respect their decision if they said it's too much for them. He would support everyone's personal choices & autonomies even though the concept is still new to him 😤

He would need an explanation if they insist on feeding him regardless of their fear. They would explain that not only do they trust him, they love him more than they fear it 🥹

He would only accept if they establish some ground rules 👍 like he did when it comes to physical intimacy & sex which is healthy for both of them!

I know it's unrelated but thank you for adding this because you described me pretty well 🤣 I would definitely react to even the smallest of cuts so Astarion quickly but gently sucking it & giving a small kiss on it would be a fantastic distraction 😳

You're welcome! Thank YOU for entertaining me & sharing your thoughts! I'm glad you enjoy putting Astarion and Tav/Reader in all these different scenarios too 🤍

Here's my idea that I would love to hear your opinion! Just to let you know this is quite self-indulgent XD How would Astarion react to GN! Reader/Tav actually had suspicions that he's using them but still chose to believe that he's not. So when he confessed he manipulated them, they're even not angry at him.

They're sad for how much & how long he has suffered to be the way he is now, but they're also genuinely hurt that he did take advantage of their trust in him. They don't blame him but they admit it still hurts and wants some time alone to process it.

After leaving them be, they would go to him when they're ready to talk to him. They would tell him how grateful they are that he chose to come clean with them despite knowing how it would be easier for him to keep quiet for it, and thanked him for trusting them enough to be honest with them.

What do you think of it? I'm curious :3

Hi Anon! Sorry for the super late response, I let this one stew for a little while in my brain and the other night I had this dialogue idea and couldn’t resist writing a little scene about it tonight! I hope you enjoy ❤️

I envisioned this scene happens half way through his confession, and then imagined the rest of the conversation about intimacy and boundaries would happen afterwards! It’s about 1100 words, and canonical Astarion backstory warnings apply — trauma, dark thoughts, etc.

.·:¨༺ ༻¨:·..·:¨༺ ༻¨:·..·:¨༺ ༻¨:·..·:¨༺ ༻¨:·..·:¨༺ ༻¨

“I just — I feel awful." Astarion’s throat worked silently, his eyes glancing down to his boots. "Look, I had a plan. A nice, simple plan — seduce you, sleep with you, manipulate your feelings so you’d never turn on me. It was easy — instinctive. Habits from two hundred years of charming people kicked in." He finally looked up at your face, studying intensely for your reaction. 

“I—oh,” You pulled your hand away from him as uncertainty flooded your features. He saw your eyes dart back and forth, but they weren’t studying him. No, you were lost in thought. “Oh.”

Astarion licked his lips, his hands ringing together in front of him nervously. “You have every right to be angry.”

“I’m not angry. I thought we… I don’t know what I thought.”

The rest of what he had planned to say vanished out of his mind. Instead it started to betray him, a cruel voice whispering about how he knew you would react like this. Did he really think it would go well?

His pink mouth hung open as he scrambled for what to say, trying to think of how to make this better. But he’d done enough already, hadn’t he?

You crossed your arms over your body, your cheeks flushing deeply. “I feel a bit like a fool. None of it was real, the whole time?”

“Not the whole time,” He confessed as soft, vulnerable moments with you flashed in his mind. The very moments that made him start to drop the act. “It hasn’t been as of late, but before… in the beginning, up until recently, yes.”

His red eyes followed your throat as it bobbed up and down before flicking back up to your face. Your eyebrows were furrowed, your mouth a sad pout.

“Tell me what you’re thinking.” Astarion whispered, not daring to move forward.

“I’m thinking… I need a moment.” You admitted, already looking behind you and away from him.

His heart sank, but he nodded. “I— okay. Of course.”

And then you were off, your head down as you stalked away from the edge of the beach and back to the warm glow of camp.

He stood there stunned for a moment, before turning around to stare at the dark, choppy waters in front of him. Hundreds of scenarios began to dance in his mind — what if you went back to the camp to tell the others? Would he be met by pointed blades and blazing spells? He imagined being kicked out, staked, cursed, roasted alive with fireballs. Hand delivered to Cazador as extra punishment for his sins. Anything his twisted broken mind could come up with played like a messed up vision.

Astarion didn’t even try to stop the repetitive dark thoughts. It was what he deserved.

Eventually, the vampire slinked back into the camp some time later — once the sky was inky black and the moon was the only light to illuminate the way back to his tent.

“Hi.”

The sound caused his ears and shoulders to perk up instantly. You were sat in the grass and dirt outside of his tent, your arms wrapped around your knees and pulled to your chest.

“Hi.” Gods, he sounded breathless. But he couldn’t see any weapons or angry barbarians or wizards nearby. That was a good sign, right?

“I wasn’t sure when you’d come back.”

He cocked a brow, “I figured you wouldn’t want to see me again.”

A sigh escaped your lips, “Astarion, don’t be dramatic. I asked for time to think — not for you to leave.”

He blinked at your sharp tone, but nodded his head in slight defeat. “You’re right. And you waited for me because—?”

You brushed off your clothes as you stood up to his height, “I would like to finish that conversation, if you’re ready.”

Well, there was no denying the inevitable.

He nodded his head solemnly, stepping forward to open the flap of his tent and inviting you in with a wave of his hand.

The privacy his tent offered was slight, but this late in the night he knew most of his companions would be fast asleep. Quickly lighting a lantern, he joined you on the fabric floor.

His half-dead heart was thundering, the thrumming sound echoing in his pointed ears that he almost missed your quiet voice.

“I understand.”

“What?” His brows furrowed, looking at you with confusion.

“The stories you’ve told me… your scars… I understand why you did it, why you felt the need to do it.” You explained, your voice and eyes tender as you looked at him in the low light. “But you manipulated me, Astarion. You took advantage of me, toyed with me and my emotions to get what you needed. That hurts.”

Astarion’s stomach twisted into a hard knot, “I know.”

“But you also didn’t need to tell me any of this. You could have kept pretending, kept up the charade until we faced Cazador… But you didn’t. Why?”

Now it felt like his stomach was crawling up his torso and into his throat. Gods, what was this feeling? Why did you do this to him. “That’s what I was trying to tell you before. I failed with my plan. It felt apart the moment I realized… that I had fallen for you.” He admitted, but his fluttering heart made more words stumble out of his mouth. “And I know you probably don’t believe me, why would you after everything I just told you. Trust me, nobody feels more stupid about it than I do.”

You cut off his rambling, “I don’t think it’s stupid. I think that’s probably the most honest you’ve been with me since I’ve met you,” You said earnestly. “It would have been a lot easier for you to keep on pretending, wouldn’t it? Pretend I’m just another mark, another means to an end to get through the day.”

“I don’t want easy… I don’t want to just get through the day. Not anymore.” Astarion whispered across the small tent, staring intently at you.

You cocked your head slightly in question, “And what do you want?”

“I want this, I want us — to be real. You deserve something real.”

“So do you, Astarion. You deserve something real.”

Your name escaped his lips as a choked sob as overwhelming wave of emotion settled over him. “I don’t even know what real looks like. How do I give that to you if I—?”

“Do you trust me?”

The vampire nodded through his tears, “Yes.”

“I trust you,” You said softly.

“After everything I’ve done?” He croaked, waving his hands dramatically, “You’d trust a monster—“

You grabbed onto his extended fingers gently, squeezing them. “Yes, even then.”

He looked down at your hands touching, before intertwining his pale fingers with yours carefully. “Maybe you are a fool.”

You let out a breathless laugh, the sound waking up something in him he’d long thought dead. “Maybe, I am. But you fell for me, so what does that make you?”

Astarion’s mouth twitched up until it matched your smile, “The luckiest vampire alive.”

[recurring-polynya]

Who wants a post about 🎶spirit phones??🎶

lol, j/k who doesn't want a post about spirit phones?

So, me and my kid have just hit the Advance Team filler, specifically #128, the first of the episodes about the Whistle Hollow, and it gave us some really good looks at everyone's spirit phone, starting with Matsumoto's fantastically be-dazzled, magenta model. It looks a lot like a Motorola Razr or a Nokia 6133. I'm gonna assume she managed to get it in a premium color and then decorated it herself.

Next, we see Hitsugaya's, which is not quite the same model, because Matsumoto's has the square external display, and his doesn't. Are they different model years, or does he have some sort of fancy captain model?

I also think it's interesting that his display features an actual map (left), instead of this absolutely incomprehensible crap Rukia's phone gave her back during the Quincy Archer Hates You! Hollow Bait debacle (right).

Here's the real reason I made this post because what the Hell is that, Yumichika??? There were lots of slider phones available at the time, but you didn't usually hold them vertically like that. Is it a T-Mobile Sidekick? (I had a friend who had one of these and it was so extra)

As far as I can tell, Ikkaku does not have a phone, Yumichika handles the telephony in the relationship.

Renji is not in this filler episode for some reason, but we see his phone a few episodes later, in 136. It's pretty hard to see here, but there are some better shots of it back in the Bount Arc, and I think it's pretty clearly the same phone.

It looks pretty similar to Matsumoto's, but his has a light just below the external display that blinks and beeps to indicate Hollow activity. Also, it's lavender.

Rukia has already left for Soul Society at this point, but we got a good look at her phone in the Bount Arc, which appears to be the same one she had in the Agent of the Shinigami Arc, down to the Chappy charm on it.

It looks very similar to Renji's, including the blinky Hollow light. Hers seems to have a grid of dots below the light. I think Renji's may actually have that, too, but the animators were too busy lovingly drawing his tits and pretty braid to worry about air flow to his spirit phone battery. (I support your life choices, nameless Pierrot animator!)

Here's the interface to Rukia's phone, which is significantly different from Hitsugaya's.

Normally, I would accuse Hitsugaya of having some older or cheaper model of spirit phone, but his actually looks significantly nicer than everyone else's (except Yumichika). It definitely looks like Rukia and Renji have the same model (I keep going back and forth over whether or not they are the same color. Rukia's def reads as grey to me and Renji's looks more lavender to me but idk. Maybe it's a trick of the lighting). Matsumoto has a similar, but not identical model. I feel like my takeaway from this is that shinigami have to buy their own phones-- Matsumoto splurged a little on color, Yumichika splurged a lot on rizz, and Rukia and Renji appear to be at the mercy of Byakuya's family plan. I feel like Hitsugaya didn't even have a phone before this and bought one expressly for this mission, which is why his is nicer than it would otherwise be.

[t-allyitup]

core traits

edd:

dark trait is manipulation (hear me out) i really do think one of edd's biggest dark area traits is that he ultimately wants everyone to get along to the point of destruction, i did post about this a bit ago in relation to my fic but i feel like this desire would lead him to bending his morals and sacrificing his own sanity/peace for everyone to get along. i feel like he could easily go down the road of either 1. manipulating, blackmailing, etc etc people into staying on good terms/keeping the peace or 2. letting himself get walked all over or used or something in order to keep tension at a stasis point

as for light traits definitely his humanism, he genuinely cares about his friends and people on the cul de sac and in multiple episodes despite his participation (and sometimes masterminding) the scams he tends to prioritize safety and comfort initially, even if the sentiment is lost during the actual scam

grey traits in my opinion would be his unquestioning loyalty/blindness to failure in authority figures (his parents mainly, this isn't necessarily a bad thing it can just become very stressful and dangerous) and obsessive/compulsive nature (can be a good thing when he's concerned about safety, can be a bad thing when it drives him to be controlling (containing vs restraining))

ed:

ed's dark trait is spitefulness. hear me out! again! ed rarely shows negative emotion outside of sadness, but when he does get angry or upset, he tends to get that way as a reaction to the behavior of others. he went back and forth with double d calling him "stinky hat" when double d wanted to take his cheese, and when he got that rock in his shoe he tried to annihilate eddy because eddy was fed up and insulting him. ed reacts out of spite, not always, but it's a pretty clear trait.

light trait is his acceptance of others and openness to experience, which combine with each other well. he has a broad emotional pool and is seen "communicating" (acting responsively) to plank in a few episodes. he is validating of his friend's choices and participates in their scams/activities

grey area is his response to change. he clearly harbors some kind of difficulties with this, just various comments throughout the show and some inferences shows that he seems uncomfortable with it (cheese episode again but he would not let go of that mf)

eddy:

dark traits with eddy is a where do i even start situation. he shows lots of the qualities of machiavellianism, egoism, self interest, and spitefullness. i think in my opinion his trait is self interest. i think eddy does feel bad about what he does to the other cul de sac kids but self interest is his obsessive desire and he has a massive preoccupation with his need to fit in/feel seen so self interest is the one.

light trait is, as you probably guessed, his charisma. it is one of his most magnetic qualities and occasionally the only redeeming quality about him in general. he is compelling and direct in his approaches, genuine or not, and he channels his charisma effectively even if he uses it for evil sometimes

grey area would have to be his seeming emotional detachment from things. could lean to psychopathy, could lean to a trauma-informed response to his situations in the past. either way it creates a lower level of empathy but a higher level of protection for himself so maybe it's a grey area trait

[infravioletsea]

Anyways, my bestie and I have been discussing how to cast a Muppets adaptation of Chicago:

Roxie Hart: Miss Piggy This one's a no-brainer. The leading lady, an ambitious aspiring star, a surprising temper, the blonde curls? The "They love me" bit from Roxie's song? Plus, Fred Casely getting porkchopped to death is just so funny to me Velma Kelly: The Human When you look at the difference between the way Zellweger and Zeta-Jones dance the same choreography as their resepctive characters in the closing number, what sticks out is the difference. Where Roxie is extravagant and slightly messy, Velma is far more polished, experienced and precise. A chorus girl and a headlining act. A human and a muppet. I'm not too sure who exactly would play her. Maybe Rachel Zegler, since she's expressed interest before and she's proven to be a good singer and dancer already. Either way, Veronica (Velma's twin) is played by a muppet version of the actress. Billy Flynn: Fozzie Bear Can you picture failed standup veteran Fozzie telling Miss Piggy how he's going to get her acquitted? Can you picture THAT GUY playing the lawyer that's never lost a case? Here's a relentless optimist who's always looking for new ways to deliver old material and never lets anyone get him down. Now he's going to defend a woman who DEFINITELY comitted that murder. Which of course brings me to- Miss Sunshine: Statler and Waldorf The back and forth during We Both Reached for the Gun. The hounding questions as thinly veiled insults. Yelling from the Jurors' bench in the middle of the trial. You see my vision. Mama Morton: Sam the Eagle He keeps the law, and runs a tight ship. He's a shoe-in to play a prison warden, even one that does a cabaret number in a fancy dress (which Sam would also perform, dressed exactly like Queen Latifah was in the '02 movie) Amos Hart: Kermit the Frog Finally he shows up. A big part of this casting choice is my friend doing a cover of Cellophane in his voice. For the face of the Muppets as we know them today, Kermit is a fairly understated guy, and I think he could give a lot of depth to Amos as a character. I especially love the idea of him scrunching his face while Miss Roxie sings Funny Honey about him, and him flailing as he goes on a rant when he realises that she killed Fred.

Fred Casely: I wasn't sure which would work better for this one: a human actor sleeping with and getting murdered by Miss Piggy would be funny. Alternatively, Link Hogthrob. He's a smarmy git. He can play another smarmy git. Katalin Helinszki/The Hungarian: Swedish Chef I just really need to hear this guy explaining how he ended up in jail for murder in "Swedish". Plus a Muppet getting executed is so darkly funny to me for some reason.

The Emcee: Rowlf the Dog Honestly I can't explain this one, it just feels right. The Mayhem are the band still, and Rowlf and Teeth split the songs between them. BONUS: The Murderesses Depending on how faithful the adaptation is, it could go either way. An all-human cast save for Piggy and Chef would work if the song was kept the exact same. But I do also like the idea of an all-muppet version of Cell Block Tango with new murder methods: Gonzo (stunt gone wrong) Bunsen (his experiments finally finished off poor Beaker) Crazy Harry (self-explanatory) Animal (starts telling the story of how he went on a homicidial rampage before he's promptly dragged back to the orchestra pit by Floyd)

Anyways, there you have it. That's my pitch.

[dgrailwar]

FINALE - In the Sunlight

The Mother of Monsters, the vessel of the Holy Grail, shimmered with a truly radiant light as you made your choices, your inputs for her wish known.

' …You've made your choices, so this is goodbye. For certain this time, as their souls must fill the Grail in order for it to function properly. '

True to the goddess' word, the Servants began to disappear one by one.

The Alter-Ego was the first to begin to vanish, scoffing quietly.

"What? You want some long sniveling goodbye? As if. Sometimes it's just best to let the curtain fall. No encores this time, sadly."

However... her haughty expression lightened, even if it was slight to others, the look in her eyes was rare- her heart laid bare, if only briefly.

"…That being said, you weren't half bad. If we meet again, I wouldn't mind having you as managers again. Please... Be well, Masters."

She bowed deeply, especially gracefully despite her injuries. Her body faded away into twinkling mist, disappearing as elegantly as she had appeared.

The MoonCancer seemed to be vanishing next, as she seemed to pet her mouse familiar for comfort.

"Oh, man. She left all cool, and I can barely keep myself together. God… goodbyes are the worst. What do I even say? I mean, once upon a time, a real tactless guy gave me some advice, so maybe I can just pass it on. So…"

"…Live on, Masters. Even if you don't think you're anyone special… there's definitely someone out there that needs you."

"Take care, okay? I hope fortune rains down on you and you have the brightest futures ever… and I'm saying that as me, not as Lord Ganesha!"

She waved two of her four arms as she vanished, as the other set took off her glasses and wiped at her eyes as she tried not to cry too hard as she left.

The Gunner let out a long, low whistle.

"…So, you decided I'd be reborn, huh? You're really stacking on the pressure, luckily that's where I thrive!"

"But even with me 'coming back'... I'd still consider this goodbye. With an operation like this, I'll be busy trying to set up all the pieces, so it's not like we'd run into each other on the street until I had everything in order."

"So… sayonara. Let's work together to make this uninteresting world interesting, okay?"

He winked, turning away as he began to walk off towards the Mother of Monsters, his form dissipating into twinkling light.

The Count, in a rare state, seemed a bit pensive.

"This is goodbye. It has been a strange journey, but a pleasant one nonetheless. I've said all the words I need to say."

"Or… perhaps not. No, two more rest on my tongue, and as you've called me forth, so you must know them well! So, hold these words in your heart, for the rest of your days, especially as you face this uncertain future!"

"Wait… and hope!"

With a grin as ghastly as night, yet somehow as bright as the rising sun, the Count threw his arms outward with an echoing laugh as his form disappeared.

The last one to go was the Voyager. The core. The hope that you all had chosen.

He sniffled, wiping at his tears.

Then, he smiled.

His voice was soft, and his words were brief, like the gentle twinkle of wind-chimes.

"…Bye-bye. And thank you."

He drifted up towards Echidna, waving his hands as his form vanished.

And only you remained, as the world built by this Grail began to crumble. You felt yourself pulled into darkness… and then, like awakening from a dream, drifting closer and closer into light.

The Mother of Monsters, Echidna, had slowly regenerated over the period of millennia after being nearly slaughtered back in the Age of Gods. Her wrath had been terrifying, only stymied by the sudden, miraculous appearance of the Voyager, and truly quenched by the actions of a few recklessly kindhearted magi.

Her movements were heavy and sluggish, as she pulled herself out the cavern that she had rested in for what felt like eternity, heading towards towards the sun, wincing a bit as the light of the sun hit her face. The sound of movement echoed behind her, as creatures began to pour out of the cave that she had resided in, monsters finding themselves on the surface.

Growls and hisses, the stamping of tails and feet, the flapping of tentacles and wings, all of them confused and elated at the prospect of life- at the prospect of being alive and living in the light.

The last to pull themselves out into the light were the goddesses, who looked upon their kin dancing under the light with joy.

' …The sun is so warm... it's been so long... '

"Is it everything you wished for?"

' ...Even more. '

[stabbyfoxandrew]

hiii!! mafia au today?

WIP Wednesday (9/25) | Mafia Front Restaurant AU (Part 225)

The three of them arrive only minutes before Andrew. Kevin hears obnoxious rapping on the front door just as Jean is unloading grocery bags into the fridge. He can't remember what Jean is making for them today, something good. Kevin knows it'll be good. If he can keep it down. He's an exposed nerve and has been since they left the apartment. Kevin isn't even sure why. Andrew evidently isn't going to post anything about what he saw last night. And truthfully, Kevin knew that all along. Andrew isn't like that. Not really. He's a 'get in your face' type person, not a 'get on the internet' one.

So now Kevin's dreading an 'in your face' confrontation. Neil pushes past him to go answer the door and Kevin immediately goes to the kitchen's little window. He watches Neil let Andrew in and lock the door behind them before going to sit down. The two of them immediately start talking about something Kevin can't hear from here and Neil produces their deck of cards.

After that, Kevin simply can't tear himself away. He isn't sure if it's jealously or... No, he knows that's exactly what it is. He wishes he could waltz out there and strike up a conversation with Andrew as easily as Neil. But he just can't. Not after everything. So he just watches the two of them.

And, anytime Andrew smiles— which is a rare thing— Kevin is transported back to his sophomore year when Andrew was nothing but a mouthful of teeth and sharp words. After Easthaven, Andrew changed. For the better, of course. But he was quiet. Too quiet. And apathetic as a corncob. It's not like that now though. Andrew seems genuinely happy. Or at least content.

It makes Kevin happy to see him this way. Somewhere in between.

Though he's more than a bit devastated to be outside looking in, so to speak. Back at PSU, Kevin was the only one allowed past his walls. And he barely had a foot in the door! How the fuck has Neil pried the door open and climbed all the way inside? In just a few days? Is Neil really so interesting (Andrew liked interesting) or has Andrew changed a lot in the last few years? Maybe both. Definitely both.

"Mon cher?"

Kevin blinks and turns away from the window to find Jean looking at him expectantly. "Oh, sorry. Did you say something?"

Jean gives a heavy sigh. "If you want to talk to him, just go."

"I can't do that, Jean."

"You can. I'm fine with it."

"Are you?"

"Well, mostly. I want you to do what you want. I am not in charge of you," Jean pauses for a moment. "At least, not when we're standing up."

That draws a laugh from Kevin, but it turns into a sigh. "He hates me, Jean."

"He doesn't."

"He has every right to."

"If he does, he's a fool." Jean says with a shrug. "Talk to him or not, but don't obsess about it. Go out there or come to me and help with this."

After a moment's consideration, Kevin makes his choice and goes to Jean's side.

-

The rest of the day passes smoothly. Kevin learns how to (badly) peel potatoes, Jean laughs at him. Neil runs back and forth between them and Andrew. And Andrew doesn't get up from their booth until night falls and it's time to leave. Kevin watches Neil take him to the door and sighs with longing. Jean takes his hand and twirls him around. "Didn't I say not to obsess?"

"I'm not." Kevin lies.

[akehoshimystar]

Sei SSR

A Smoky, Hazy Moonlit Night

Part 1

Ito: Excuse me.

Sei: Oh, thank you for your hard work. Are you taking a break, Yashiro-san?

Ito: Yes. I'm pretty much done with my work, so I’m thinking of taking a breather.

Sei: How about a cup of tea then? I got some good tea leaves from Chinatown.

Ito: Are you sure?

Sei: Yes, I just felt like drinking with someone. Please wait a little while.

Sei-san began brewing tea with his skillful hands. The amber-colored Chinese tea slowly rippled as it was poured into the teapot.

Sei: Here you go.

Ito: Thank you.... What a nice smell.

Sei: Can you tell? These tea leaves have quite a distinctive, rich aroma after all.

Ito: (Sei-san seems to be having fun. Since he’s a gourmet person, I'm sure he’s pretty picky about tea leaves.)

I drank my tea while nodding along to the cheerful Sei-san. The rich aroma that filled my mouth had a unique flavor different from Japanese tea or black tea.

Sei: ….Oh, how rude of me. I ended up doing all the talking.

Ito: It’s okay, in fact, I find it enjoyable to listen to Sei-san.

Sei: Oh, I’m glad to hear that.

When you say that, I'm afraid I'll end up talking too much again.

Ito: Please do so.

Sei: But first, do you want a refill?

Ito: Thank you. I’ll have it.

The moment Sei-san got closer to me as he made some more refills, a scent different from tea suddenly tickled my nostrils. It was a scent I'd never smelled before, but it was somehow soothing.

Ito: …………..

Sei: What's wrong?

Ito: Um, for a moment I think I smelled something that wasn't tea.....

I just thought that it was quite a lovely scent.

Sei: A different scent...? Ah, I see.

Yashiro-san, not only do you possess intuition, you also have a good nose.

Ito: I wouldn’t go that far…..

Sei: Fufu, there's no need to be humble.

Still…. "Quite a lovely scent.", huh…… Let’s see...

If you're interested, could I have some of your time after we’re done with the cafe?

Ito: Yes, sure. By all means.

Sei: Great. See you later, then.

Part 2

After work at the cafe was over, Sei-san took me down the back alley of Chinatown.

Sei: You must have been tired after work, I'm sorry for making you walk.

Ito: Not at all. I was curious about the true nature of that scent anyway.

Sei: Fufu, I see.

Ito: (Somehow, Sei-san seems happy.)

Sei: We'll be there soon. It should be around here…..

Ah, found it. This is our destination.

Ito: (This shop is...)

Sei: Could you please wait for a bit?

Ito: Sure.

Sei-san asked me to stay put, and approached a person who appeared to be the owner of a store.

Sei: Pardon my intrusion.

Store owner: Hmm? Ah, you are...

Sei: Thank you for taking care of me during the daytime.

I thought about it again, but I decided to buy that item after all.

Shopkeeper: Heehee. Is that so? Good choice.

The shopkeeper grinned and headed to the back before making her return with the product containing the powder in her hand.

Shopkeeper: Is it this one?

Sei: Yes. Here's the payment...

Shopkeeper: Well, since this is your first time, I'll give you a little extra.

Sei: Are you sure?

Shopkeeper: I just have a feeling you’re going to become a regular.

This product of ours is exceptional. You'll definitely get addicted.

Sei: Fufu, sounds promising.

Ito: (…..Sounds like a shady deal.)

(But this shop is.....)

Sei: Sorry to keep you waiting, Yashiro-san.

Ito: Oh, it’s okay. You also came to this store during lunchtime, didn't you?

Sei: Yes. I stopped by to buy some tea leaves.

At that time, I didn't buy this one. But your remark solidified my decision.

Ito: So, the true nature of that smell is...

Sei: I think you know the answer already.

Sorry for making you walk back and forth, but can we go back to the store?

Ito: No problem at all.

Part 3

When I returned to the Chinese restaurant, the atmosphere was quiet, as it had already closed. Sei-san cut open the bag of Chinese incense he had bought.

Sei: Then, I'll burn the incense I bought right away.

Oh, don't worry, I already got permission from the owner. Incense is sometimes used to get rid of the smell, so it shouldn't be a problem

Ito: I see...

Sei: Please wait a moment. The incense stand…. Found it.

Sei-san put ash into the incense stand he purchased along with the incense itself, and slowly smoothed its surface. The way he carefully removed even a little dust of ash with a brush seemed very graceful and skilled.

Ito: Wow... You're really good at this.

Sei: I'm just making it look like it’s easy for me, but I'm glad to hear you say that.

Do you have experience, Yashiro-san?

Ito: Let’s see... As for me, I sometimes use aroma candles.

But this might be the first time I have seen Chinese incense being burned.

Sei: Then I have to be extra careful. It would be terrible if I show you the wrong way.  

Despite his humble statement, Sei-san skillfully set up the mold. Finally, the incense powder he purchased made its way to the ash in the mold, setting it on fire. Shortly after, smoke began to waft. The scent was the same as the one I had smelled from Sei-san in the break room.

Ito: (As expected…. What a nice, calming scent...)

Sei: ...Somehow, you look very comfortable.

Ito: Ah… Did it show on my face?

Sei: Fufu, just a little.

I'm glad you feel the same way about the scent that I like.

Ito: I'm the one who was able to have such a wonderful experience... Thank you so much.

Sei: You're very welcome.

Sei-san looked at the drifting smoke and muttered to himself.

Sei: It’s very easy for scent to be linked to memories.

They say when you smell a similar scent, it can evoke past emotions.

Whenever I light this incense from now on, I'm sure I'll remember the peaceful feelings I had today.

Ito: …..Yeah.

I, too, believed that every time I smell this scent, I would remember the time I spent with Sei-san. With such a certain premonition, I relaxed my lips and watched the smoke drifting quietly.

[venomspecs]

Hey! I've been having so much fun chatting back and forth with you about the Iliad on my post about the Achilles' Heel and other notable Trojan War moments not in the Iliad , and pursuing through your blog you seem to know SO MUCH about the homeric epics that I thought I'd ask you more.

Firstly, I just finished the Iliad (trns. Emily Wilson) and I loved how she clarified why she made certain translation choices and how her translation differed from ones in the past. I also appreciated her extensive introduction and notes that both prepared me to read and understand the Iliad and highlighted aspects of the story I couldn't have picked up myself.

While I'm not ready to reread the Iliad or pick up the Odyssey just yet I'm curious what translation you read because I'd love to read them in the future

Hey! Glad to hear that! I'm just a nerd and far from an expert so I'm happy to know you enjoyed my posts!

When it comes to translations it all comes down to personal preference imo, depends what you're looking for. It's especially hard for me to recommend English translations since I've primarily read the epics in my native languages. That being said I'd say my personal favorite English translation of the Odyssey is Fitzgerald's. It has such a poetic language without sacrificing accuracy, I'd recommend that one if that description fits what you're looking for.

(I also recently found this site with both his translations in audio form, if you're interested!)

I personally really appreciate additional content like annotations or author's comments as well, so when looking for translations, that's a factor I keep in mind, other than the translation itself ofc. So while I do recommend Fitzgerald, perhaps you're looking for a more loose translation like Fagles, or a translation in rhyming verse like Pope's. As I said, it comes down to personal choice but I'd say Fitzgerald is a really good one, at least in my personal opinion. (I also haven't checked out Wilson's, I hope to eventually give it a go too lol)

As for the Odyssey itself, I definitely think it is a much lighter read than the Iliad so I hope you enjoy reading it when the time comes!

Hope this helps!