#not even close to 'just the bank' even at the bank

[rafey-baby]

hidden 3

cw: outlaw!rafe being his usual self, hostage situation, mentions of murder, pogue!reader having some sexual awakenings & some backstory on rafe

wc: 2.3k

hope u enjoy xx

part 1 part 2

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The following morning, her eyes groggily open in her own bed; covers tucked over her shoulders and head comfortably propped up by her pillow. She finds herself perplexed, doesn’t know how she ended up here since her last coherent memory from last night is sitting on the passenger seat of Rafe’s truck and letting her heavy lids close for what was originally supposed to be a few minutes.  

Her sock-clad feet pad over to the living room where Rafe is rummaging through some of his papers and whatnot; appearing as busy as ever.  

”Why don’t I remember coming home last night?” She stops to stand next to him. 

”Cause you sleep like a fucking rock. Had to carry you to your room,” he sounds disinterested, not even bothering to lift his head from the piece of paper he’s pinching between his fingers. Upon closer inspection, it appears to be some sort of a contract; letters unfortunately too tiny for her to be able to read from where she’s standing. 

“Oh. Thanks?”

Instead of leaving her passed out in his car like she would’ve assumed, he tucked her into bed? Maybe he owns a heart, after all.  

“It’s whatever,” he dismisses her while reading something over; seemingly deep in thought.  

“Do you— do you need help with that?” 

“Nah, I’m good,” his hand lifts up to scratch at the back of his head before he scribbles something down.

”Right…” she trails off, apparently rooted in her spot and unable to move.  

”Did you want something or what?” His tone is suddenly exasperated, eyes finally flickering up to peer into hers along with his brows raising expectantly.  

”No, I just…are we going somewhere today?” She can’t help but feel a little out of place in her own home with him there; almost as if she’s waiting for his next command to know what to do next. It makes something peculiar swim in the pits of her stomach.  

”Nah, just have to go over these. Can you, I don’t know, go to your room or something? You’re bothering me with your staring,” he grumbles and shifts into a more comfortable position on the couch; not sparing her another ounce of attention.  

”Okay,” she mumbles, a frown taking over her visage.  

Honestly, she’s not entirely sure what she’s supposed to do now. Normally, she’d go to work at the surf shop near the beach but since Rafe so kindly took her phone and texted everyone in her contacts about a family emergency that would take some days to sort through, she can’t exactly do that. And besides work…well, she doesn’t really have much else going on in her life. It’s sad, really, how a literal criminal forcing his way into her house is the most exciting thing to happen to her in the past few years.  

All things considered though, she doesn’t mind living a quiet life in the Cut, just sometimes wishes she didn’t feel so…lonely. And don’t get her wrong, she has friends, she just sometimes yearns for something deeper than fun boat adventures or getting high with her feet dangling over the dock while a tangerine-colored sunset paints over the horizon.  

She’s always had this dream of traveling around the world or simply just somewhere that wasn’t the Outer Banks but her parents never had the money for it. Therefore, she settled and learned to earn a living by herself in order to keep a roof over her head.  

And she’s been content with her simple life, even considers herself to be happy but then she sat on Rafe’s lap and at the realization of him getting hard from her unconscious rubbing against him felt butterflies in her belly, maybe for the first time in her life. It was something she thought only happened in movies yet there they were; their fluttering wings poking at her core like some vicious reminder that she hadn’t let someone make her feel good in ages.  

Truth be told, she grew tired of guys not being able to make her come because they didn’t understand her needs; didn’t even bother to find them out which is why she sort of lost hope for the whole thing altogether. But then Rafe steps inside her home uninvited and is nothing but mean to her and suddenly she...

It's wrong.

It doesn't make any sense yet she still can't help but feel a certain pull towards him whenever he's close. And she doesn't like it one bit; wants to forget about it as quickly as the thought breaches her mind.

It's far too complex for her perplexed mind to grasp onto, which is why she confuses it for insanity; simply decides that she’s going crazy. And maybe she is, because why else would she suddenly care for Rafe? Why is a hidden part of her heart beginning to harbor gooey, fond feelings for a killer who’s technically holding her hostage? 

She’s sure her muddled brain is going to explode if she thinks about the matter any longer; instead opting to take a long, scalding shower due to the clothes she’s been wearing since yesterday starting to stick to her sweaty skin and making her feel even filthier than she already does. 

Unfortunately, the steaming water doesn't quite wash away the ache between her thighs.

She’s in the middle of pulling a shirt over the damp strands of her hair when harsh knuckles rap against her bedroom door and Rafe enters a second later; not even bothering to wait for a response.  

”Change of plans—” his words die down on his tongue when he notices her current state.  

”Rafe, what the fuck?” She quickly adjusts the hem over her waist, painfully aware of the fact that she’s not wearing any pants and his eyes are now fixed on the lace of her panties practically on show for him. 

”Why are you just barging into my room like that? I could’ve been naked!” She complains before snatching a pair of shorts off her floor; tugging them over her hips.  

”Shit, wouldn’t have minded if you were. Got a nice ass for a Pogue,” he shrugs while sporting an irritating smirk that makes her glare at him.  

”And you’ve got no manners for a Kook. Except, I’m not surprised,” she rolls her eyes when he feigns shock; exaggeratedly dropping his jaw.

”Puppy’s getting angry, huh? Where’s this attitude coming from? Thought you were still scared of me?” He belittles her with a condescending tinge in his laugh. 

And she’s about to respond when out of the blue the ring of her doorbell reverberates around the house.  

They both tense.  

“You’re expecting someone?” His tone turns bleak, frigid; inducing shivers to litter across her arms as her head turns towards the source of the sound.  

”N— no. I’m not,” she stutters because truthfully, she doesn’t have a clue as to who could be at her door in the middle of an ordinary Tuesday.  

”Did you fucking call someone?” He takes a threatening step towards her and she panics.   

”No! I promise, I didn’t. I don’t even— you literally have my phone, remember?” She tries to fruitlessly defend herself.  

”I swear, if you’re lying right now—”  

”I’m not, okay? I didn’t call anyone!” She reassures once more, although it seems like he’s not even listening anymore. Therefore, she tries to be logical. ”I should— I should go and see who it is, right?” 

The icebound water in his eyes bores into her as he weighs out his options. 

”Right, right. Yeah, you should do that," he finally settles on. "But if you even consider telling them anything, I swear I’m gonna fucking find you, you understand?” He grits out into her face and she flinches when she can feel his harsh breaths hit her mouth with each syllable.  

She quickly nods before teetering towards the entrance of her home and twisting the lock with precarious fingers.

Soon, she’s standing in front of two men wearing police uniforms. 

”Oh, sorry for the wait. Was um…in the bathroom. How can I— uh, help you?” She tries to appear unfazed; inhaling slowly and doing everything she can in order to not look as guilty as she feels. 

”We apologize for the inconvenience but we’ve been assigned to ask around the island in order to locate a criminal who’s potentially a threat to our entire community,” one of them says and she thinks his jaded eyes are peering into her soul and seeing right through her rickety facade. 

”Have you seen this man recently?” The other guy dangles a picture of Rafe in the air. She takes a moment to properly look at the photo as to not answer too quickly.  

“N— no, sorry. Can’t say I have. Why? Who is that?” She bats her lashes in confusion as her poor heart thuds in her ribcage. She wonders if they can hear it. 

”This is Rafe Cameron. You might’ve heard about Cameron Development? He became the owner after his father’s death a few years back. And now we have reason to believe that he’s the main suspect for the murder of a fellow officer,” he states with a serious expression. 

”Oh, that’s…that’s terrible,” her eyes widen in shock because she had no idea Rafe was a Cameron. Of course, she’d heard everyone talking about what had happened with Ward Cameron and the rumors surrounding the gold but she’d never cared enough to dig through for more information about the rest of his family.  

”Seems like the apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree considering what Ward did to Sheriff Peterkin,” the one with the piercing stare snickers and her brows furrow because she doesn’t think the topic is all that hilarious.  

”I remember watching that in the news when it was all happening. Didn’t you guys also arrest an innocent Pogue with no actual proof?” Her question is sharp because the whole case still itches her in the wrong way. 

”That was— listen, I wasn’t even here back then, it was all very tragic. But the investigation on this case is still ongoing and we have a reliable witness claiming they saw Rafe dragging something heavy near the ocean the night before we found the body washed up on the shore. And according to multiple sources Rafe was the last person seen with our coworker at the island club a few hours prior to his death,” the guy explains and she momentarily wonders if they’re even allowed to share this much classified information with her.  

”Right. Well, I really wish I could help you but I unfortunately haven’t seen him,” her teeth sink into the inside of her cheek and she wonders if they can tell that she’s lying. 

“At this point, it seems like no one has. We’re suspecting that he might’ve fled the country. Anyway, we’ve got orders to search every house but honestly, we don’t think he’d be on this side of the island. So, we’re not gonna waste our time on that. Call this number if you notice anything out of the ordinary, though?”  

”Yes, of course. I really wish there was more I could do to help. Hope you guys find him soon,” she offers them a tight smile.  

”We’ll do our best,” they assure her before the door finally closes.  

Her back slides down against the wood as her labored breathing begins to slow down. She closes her eyes in a moment of relief until she feels Rafe’s presence interfering with her peace.  

”Who knew you were such a good liar? Shouldn’t believe everything you say too easily then, should I?” His gaze travels down her form and he genuinely seems impressed.  

”You killed a cop?” She decides to ignore his teasing. 

”Relax. He was a sleazy bastard who was helping me with some side business and became too greedy. What can I say? Don’t like being used. But believe me, he was not a good person,” he answers her question, maybe for the first time ever. 

”Right, right,” she tries her very best to understand where he’s coming from but she doesn’t think she’s ever going to be able to justify ending someone’s life with such indifference. In her opinion, he doesn’t have the right to decide whether someone gets to live or not; no matter how good or bad of a person they are. 

”Listen, I didn’t mean to do it, it just…happened, okay?” He tries to explain himself and he almost sounds vulnerable. She nearly feels bad for him.  

”You know, I could go to jail for helping you!” She snaps when frustration bubbles to the surface instead.  

”Calm down, Pup. You’re not going to jail, alright? And watch that fucking tone, yeah?” His hands rest on his head as he begins to pace around the hallway.  

”I just— cops don’t care about Pogues. If they find out I lied to them they’re gonna put me behind bars cause unlike you, I don’t have the money to bail myself out,” she tries to pointlessly reason with him.  

”Already told you, nothing’s gonna happen to you, okay? Now can you shut the fuck up so I can think?” He demands, halting his movements.  

”Did they, uh, tell you anything?” He speaks up again and she tells him everything she remembers from the brief conversation while he mulls over his situation. 

”Right, right. So, they don’t actually have any real proof about me killing the guy? Just speculation,” he confirms.  

”I guess, yeah? But I don’t know if they even know all the details about the case,” she offers in response and can practically hear the wheels turning in his head.  

”They didn’t happen to mention who the witness was?”  

”N— no, why?” Her voice wavers as she swallows around the question. 

He lifts his head to inspect her reaction when he seems to have finally conjured up some sort of a plan to clear his name.  

”Think I’m gonna have to pay him a little visit. And you’re gonna help, aren’t ya?”

She would very much like to find out whatever sin she committed in a past life that weighed so heavily that it made her end up in a position as wretched as this one.

[hotshotsxyz]

wide awake from the breeze

(buddie) (2.2k) i swore i was going to write something for @summerofbuddie so here i am with something on the last possible day lol. very in character of me. title from blue sky & the painter which i will continue to push as The eddie diaz song for season 8

The air is crisp and cold, and finally, finally, Eddie can breathe.

The San Gabriels are beautiful this time of year, but it’s hard to appreciate the changing leaves when he’s watching Buck. Their color could never compete with his light.

Buck’s fingers tap against the steering wheel as he hums along to a song Eddie’s certain has repeated at least three times in the past two hours. He’s beautiful like this. He’s always beautiful, actually, but Eddie thinks this might be his favorite version of Buck. Happiness suits him.

They’ve been tumbling towards something since Buck broke up with Tommy, since Eddie finally let loose the words that have been stuck in his throat for years. For once in his life, Eddie isn’t overly worried about time. For once in his life, he’s got plenty of it.

They reach a scenic overlook, and Buck pulls over. He takes his sunglasses off and drops them on the dashboard, then looks over at Eddie and grins.

“See,” Buck says brightly, “I told you it’d be worth the drive.”

Eddie twists in his seat so he can face Buck a little more directly. His curls are wild from the wind, and his eyes glow in the late afternoon sun. “I didn’t doubt you for a second,” Eddie murmurs.

Buck’s smile grows impossibly wider. The foliage doesn’t stand a chance. “You want to get out for a little? Stretch our legs?” he asks.

“Yeah,” Eddie agrees easily.

There’s a trailhead just a few hundred feet away, and Buck bounds toward it eagerly.

“Half a mile out and back?” he calls over his shoulder after studying the map for a second, as if there’s anywhere Eddie wouldn’t follow him.

“Let’s do it,” Eddie replies as he sidles up next to Buck.

Buck smiles at him again, and it’s a little like watching the first light of dawn stretch across the horizon.

They mostly walk in silence, but every few minutes Buck pauses to point out a particular tree or bird. It’s kind of incredible, the way he latches onto information and then gifts it to Eddie in a single excited breath. Eddie’s got his own personal guidebook to the world, and he makes everything feel new and special.

The trail ends at the bank of a small, placid lake surrounded by rocky outcroppings. Buck sits on one and pulls Eddie down next to him.

The sky above them is cloudless and clear, a brilliant blue that’s reflected in the water. A few leaves drift slowly across the surface, leaving behind tiny wake trails. It’s peaceful in a way Eddie’s rarely gotten to experience in his life. He isn’t sure he’d even be capable of appreciating that if it weren’t for Buck.

“I think I want to do this forever,” Eddie says as they stare out across the lake.

Buck knocks his knee against Eddie’s. “What?” he asks, “Watch the leaves turn?”

Eddie looks at him and finds a soft smile that tells him Buck knows exactly what he means. “Yeah,” he says, knocking his knee back, “something like that.”

For a long moment, Buck holds his gaze. “Yeah,” he says finally, “me too.”

Eddie leans to the side, allowing his weight to settle against Buck’s shoulder. He tries not to worry anymore about whether or not he deserves to have someone like Buck in his life. He has him. Buck picks him, over and over again, and even though Eddie’s not sure he’ll ever quite manage to wrap his head around it, he’s long since decided the only way he needs to feel about that is grateful. And god is he grateful.

Buck closes his eyes and tips his face toward the sun. His cheeks are tinged with pink, and it’s hard to tell if it’s the cold, the beginnings of a sunburn, or something else entirely that’s caused it. Eddie finds that he wants to know, wants to press his fingers to Buck’s skin and see if the redness fades or grows.  

It’s an impulse he could give in to; Buck would let him. There’s something about this moment he wants to freeze though, and if he moves it’ll change. Instead, he watches. He commits every detail to memory. When he’s old and gray and everything else is fading, this will be what he remembers.

A gust of wind blows down through the valley, and Buck shivers with it, nose scrunching. He opens his eyes and looks at Eddie. “I’m cold,” he admits with a sheepish smile.

“You’re always cold,” Eddie says, voice dripping with fondness.

Buck tilts his head in acknowledgement. He flexes his fingers a few times, probably stiff in the autumn air.

“C’mere,” Eddie says a little nonsensically. Buck will understand.

Buck holds his hands out and Eddie takes them. He vigorously rubs at them until they’re satisfyingly friction warm. He keeps them when he’s done, holding them together between his palms to protect them from the wind. Buck ducks his head and grins.

“You’re like a space heater,” he says, shuffling impossibly closer.

“And you’re like an icepack,” Eddie replies.

Buck blows out a soft, amused breath. “Makes me handy to keep around in the summer,” he quips.

“I always want you around.”

Another version of Eddie might’ve hesitated, might’ve buried that instinctive reply as far down as possible, shoved it next to all the things he refused to examine. Too bad for that Eddie; he wouldn’t get to see the pink on Buck’s cheeks darken and spread.

“I always want you around, too,” Buck says, quiet, like he might scare away the moment if he speaks too loudly.

Eddie’s been waiting. For what, he’s not entirely sure. For him and Buck to be alone, though that’s hardly a rare occurrence. For all the doubtful voices in his head to go silent, but Buck’s been quieting those for years. For him to feel settled in his skin. For the world to stop turning around them long enough to do it right. All at once, Eddie feels like there’s nothing else to wait for.

“I love you,” he says, and the words taste good. They’re the icy fresh snow melt that streams down mountains in the spring, the bright tang of citrus in the summer, the spicy warmth of mulled cider in the winter, and soon, he thinks, he’ll know for certain that they taste like Buck in the fall.

A small noise spills from Buck’s mouth and he sways forward, less like he’s leaning in and more like he can’t help but be caught in Eddie’s gravity.

“Eddie,” he whispers. His eyes shine.

“Buck,” he replies.

For most of Eddie’s life, he’s been afraid. He’s pushed past it, locked it down, pretended that the twist of anxiety in his gut was never more than passing butterflies. Here, though, now, he doesn’t even feel brave. He’s too sure, Buck makes him feel too safe; there’s no fear for him to fight against.

Buck blinks a few times and swallows visibly. Eddie rubs his thumbs in soothing circles against Buck’s wrists.

“You…” Buck starts, rough and awed.

“Take your time,” Eddie says, unable to hide his amusement.

Buck huffs and kicks at Eddie’s ankle. “Forgive me for taking a second to process literally the best thing I’ve ever heard,” he retorts without any bite.

“Oh no, I mean it,” Eddie says with a wide grin. “I’ll sit here all day. I’m not cold.”

A startled laugh jumps from Buck’s throat. “Be quiet, let me finish processing,” he says.

“Process away,” Eddie murmurs.

A few seconds pass and he watches the gears turn in Buck’s mind. Eddie knows the way they like to twist and catch, but he’s not worried. They’ll have a lifetime to discard all the worst-case scenarios.

 “Okay,” Buck says finally. “I’ve processed.” He pulls his hands from Eddie’s grip and raises them to his jaw. He leans in and Eddie meets him halfway.

Eddie was right, but also wrong. Buck tastes like love, yes, but he also tastes like home and joy and warmth and a little like the muscadines they’d stopped to buy from a roadside stand earlier in the day. Buck smiles against his lips and it feels like the rest of his life.

“For the record,” Buck says, pulling back just far enough to look Eddie in the eye, “I love you too.”

Eddie can’t help the bright peal of laughter that bursts from his chest. He feels free and alive and happy and everything else he was once afraid he’d never be able to. Buck skims a thumb along his cheek bone and grins.

“If you’re done, I really want to kiss you again,” Buck says once Eddie’s laughter has faded to a soft chuckle.

Eddie grips Buck’s waist and hums. “I don’t know, I think I need to process,” he teases.

“Oh, that’s fine, I’ll just sit here and freeze while you—” Buck makes a surprised noise as Eddie surges forward and cuts him off with his lips.

They break apart a second time and Eddie rests his forehead against Buck’s. “I’ve processed,” he says, quiet and smiling.

“Yeah?” Buck asks, a little breathless.

Eddie hums an affirmative. “Best thing I’ve ever heard, had to let it sink in.”

Buck presses a soft, chaste kiss to the corner of Eddie’s mouth. “It takes a second,” he agrees.

Another gust of wind blows past them. A few leaves begin their gentle descent to the ground and Buck shivers.

“Come on,” Eddie says, laughing lightly as he pulls back and stands. He holds his hands out and Buck takes them. “You’ve got a hoodie in the Jeep.”

Buck’s head tilts adorably. “I didn’t…” he says, trailing off as the confusion in his expression makes way for that quiet, disbelieving smile that seems to be reserved exclusively for Eddie.

“You’re always cold,” Eddie says with a fond eyeroll. He tugs at Buck until he stands.

“Not always,” Buck says, suddenly inches from Eddie.

Eddie swallows as a shudder of anticipation travels down his spine. “No?” he asks faintly.

Buck fixes him with a look Eddie’s seen before, though never directed at him. “Nope,” he says, eyes dark and lips curling.

The effect is lessened slightly as the breeze kicks up again and Buck cringes away from it. The tip of his nose is bright pink. Eddie wants to kiss it, so he does.

He laughs again and drops one of Buck’s hands. “Let’s go, cowboy, you can seduce me in the Jeep.”

Buck’s mouth opens and closes. “Uh, that’s—yeah, let’s do that,” he says in a rush.

They quickly make their way back up to the trailhead. Eddie can’t remember ever smiling this much, but even when his cheeks start to hurt it’s impossible to stop. He’s happy, happy in a way he didn’t even know was possible until very recently.

When they reach the overlook, Eddie pauses just long enough to lift their joined hands and press a kiss to the back of Buck’s.

Buck’s eyes widen. “When did you get so…” He gestures vaguely.

Eddie snorts. “I have game,” he says.

“No,” Buck says incredulously, “you don’t. Or—or didn’t.”

“It sounds like you think I have game,” Eddie teases.

“I think you should get in the Jeep so we can go home and test the theory,” Buck replies.

“Gonna have to let me go first,” Eddie says, nodding toward their intertwined fingers.

Buck blushes but makes no move to extricate himself from Eddie’s grip.  

“Or not,” Eddie says softly.

“I just…” Buck trails off.

Eddie squeezes his hand.

“I want to remember this,” Buck says, ducking his head. “How everything feels right now.”

“Even the cold?” Eddie asks.

Buck squeezes his hand. “M’not cold,” he says.

The wind blows, and Buck crowds in closer to Eddie, trying to hide from it.

“I think you might be a little cold,” Eddie murmurs.

“Maybe I just wanted to kiss you again,” Buck replies.

Eddie grins. “Don’t let me stop you,” he says.

Buck presses a feather-light kiss to his cheek, then his nose, then the corner of his mouth. Eddie feels his cheeks heat beneath his touch.

“Okay,” he says softly. He steps back and lets go of Eddie’s hand. He fishes his keys out of his pocket and unlocks the Jeep.

Eddie climbs into the passenger seat as Buck settles in front of the wheel, just like they’ve done a thousand times before. He reaches into the back and grabs Buck’s hoodie, the slightly oversized one that he loves to wrap himself in on days just like this one. He hands it to Buck. As he watches Buck wriggle into it, he’s hit with a wave of joy all over again.

“I love you,” he says when Buck’s head pops out from the hood, just because he can.

“You’re such a sap,” Buck says, but it sounds a whole lot like I love you too.

Buck turns the key in the ignition, and the stereo comes to life playing the same song as before.

Is that a blue sky? The singer asks.

“It’s about damn time,” Eddie can’t help but sing along.

Buck grins at him and grabs his hand.

It’s about damn time.

[soraaskiess]

If you’re a problem , I’m a disaster ( Dan Heng x reader)

Criticism is appreciated!

Spoiler alert!

credits to cafekitsune for the border!

Ever since the incident at the Luofu and the revealing of Dan Heng’s past , you’ve noticed that he looks guilty most of the time , during dinner , when you ask him a question , and others stare at him silently.

You’ve told him that if he needs someone to talk to you’re always available no matter what , and wouldn’t even mind if he woke you up at 2 AM in the morning because he wanted to recommend you some books or ramble on about some planets culture.

Yet.

He shakes his head like he’s a burden and just says .

“ I should be the one apologizing , for deceiving you all .”

( He doesn’t know how much you love him , if he asked , you would tear out the stars and hand them to him , even if your soul burned to ashes)

( He forgets how many times he deals with you , the trailblazer, and March’s bullshit, with a straight face and protects them all the time )

( He forgets how many times he fished the trailblazer out of trash cans , withstood all of your excited ramblings and you and March’s shenanigans, dragging him over to stores and making him take pictures .)

So when he shuffles out of the way when you walk by to the data bank you ask” What’s wrong?”

He just sighs and says” Are you truly not mad at me?I mean…. I’ve hidden this from you guys for so long…”

You just smile at him and say ,” Do you consider hiding personal information a bad thing?”

He stares at you , and you stare at him ,” Well…. “

You gently pinch his cheek and tell him ,” It wasn’t even your idea to reveal your past to us , yet it was revealed anyway , also it wasn’t even your sin that you had to repent for . If you’re a problem then me , March , and the Trailblazer are a disaster because we’ve gotten us into trouble most of the time , and most of the time you’re fishing us out of it or defending us.”

You smile at him softly , his face shocked and tell him,” You’re the guard of the express, nothing will ever change that. “

You gently press your forehead to his and cradle his cheeks as you watch him close his eyes and press his lips together.” You….”

“ Wherever you go , you’re not a burden , we’ll stand by your side and defend you to the end”

He smiles softly

He doesn’t doubt that,The Astral Express is his home now

[crushpunky]

drew and actress!reader talk about the future

based on this ask, feel free to drop some more too <3 warning: mention of pregnancy / pregnancy scare + vomit

They’d been back from Venice for nearly a month, yet y/n was still feeling the effects of travel. Drew had gotten over his “travel bug” in a week, the worst of it being a bit of a stuffy nose, yet y/n still woke up every morning like she’d been hit by a truck, her back stiff and head spinning with nausea.

“I’m gonna go pick up some breakfast from Claire’s. Usual, hm?” Drew said groggily, swinging his feet out of bed. Y/n turned over to face him as he shrugged on a pair of sweatpants before tossing on a hat over his messy, grown out hair. Y/n grinned and nodded, watching how Drew moved in the early morning sun that peaked through the curtains.

“Alright, I’ll be right back. Love you.” He said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head before heading out the bedroom door. Nearly as soon as she heard the front door close, y/n jumped to her feet and rushed into the bathroom, just barely making it in time before she threw up, her head pounding. She ran a hand through her bed head, smoothing it out of her face as she leaned against the wall of the bathroom.

Having enough, she pulled out her phone, scrolling through her calendar to see when she’d be free to go to the doctor this week. However, she could feel her already nauseous stomach drop even further once she noticed the red dot on her calendar from nearly two weeks ago…

“Shit.” She said aloud. She was supposed to have her period two weeks ago. That fact along with how awful she had been feeling the past month, with Drew feeling just fine, caused her mind to race…

“Shit!” Y/n shouted even louder as she started to clamor through the cabinet under the bathroom sink. She had bought a package of pregnancy tests months ago, always paranoid despite the fact that the couple was always very careful… right?

The two of them had talked before, and after getting married, they knew they wanted to have kids. It was something they were both excited about, in fact. But now? When Drew’s career was just taking off, she had just gotten a call-back from a project she was really excited about, a new season of Outer Banks was coming out, and countless other things plaguing their very busy lives at the moment? Now, she wasn’t sure.

She finally found the package, reading over it quickly, before using it. Y/n sat it on the counter, her hands trembling and heart pounding, before starting a timer for fifteen minutes. She stood there, chewing at her nails anxiously until she heard Charleston barking along with Drew’s voice. She had been hoping to be finished before he got back, to ready herself whatever the result may be before she had to face him.

“Breakfast is served!” Drew shouted from the kitchen. Y/n steadied herself for a moment, checking the timer again. She still had about ten minutes, too much time for her to stay in there without Drew coming to check on her. As much as she appreciated his attentive nature, right now she was cursing him and his kind spirit. With a deep breath, she went out into the kitchen. Drew sat at the bar, sipping his coffee and petting Charleston’s head.

“You alright, baby?” Drew said, his eyes scanning over y/n’s tension-riddled body. She shook her head, waving him off as she sat down next to him.

“Just still not feeling well. Headache.” Y/n said, taking a bite of the bagel Drew had picked up. She chewed it slowly, her nausea combined with anxiety diminishing her appetite. She took a sip of her coffee, the caffeine helping some of the pounding in her head subside but not helping in any sort to ease her nerves. Charleston sat his head on her lap, his eyes looking up at her widely. She rubbed his ears, smiling softly as the dog’s tail wagged.

“Did you take anything?” Drew asked, his mouth full of scrambled eggs.

“No, not yet.” Y/n said, looking back up at him. Drew wiped his mouth with a napkin before getting out of his chair.

“I’ll get you some ibuprofen.” He said, heading towards their bathroom. Y/n stayed there for a second, slowly eating before things clicked in her mind. She scrambled out of her seat, running into the bathroom.

“Drew wait—” Y/n turned into the doorway, but she was too late. Drew stood in front of the sink, his eyes trained on the small piece of pink plastic in his hand.

“You… you don’t think?” Drew said quietly, turning to face her, his eyes wide.

“I– I didn’t— I don’t know.” Y/n whispered, feeling her eyes begin to well up with tears. Drew placed the test back on the counter, wrapping his arms around her as she began to cry.

“It’s okay. It’s okay, we’ll figure it out.” Drew said into her hair, his hands soothing her back. They stood there for a while, wrapped in each other's embrace, the only sound y/n’s soft cries until her phone timer went off. They stepped back from each other, y/n’s entire body shaking with anxiety. She was scared, terrified, of what was going to happen next. For them, their future… their family.

“Hey, hey, look at me.” Drew said softly, placing his hands gently on y/n’s cheeks. She looked back at him, her eyes still filled with tears. Despite his stoic demeanor, y/n could tell Drew was probably as scared as she was at that moment.

“No matter what that says, I love you and we’re going to be ok, alright?” Drew whispered, his thumb soothing her tear streaked cheeks. Y/n nodded before looking towards the counter where the test sat.

We’re going to be alright.

Her heart pounded as she looked at the test: negative.

She let out a breath she hadn’t even realized she had been holding, her body nearly falling to the ground as relief washed over her. Drew hugged her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

“Oh, thank god. I wasn’t— I didn’t—” Y/n stammered, but was interrupted when Drew pressed his lips to hers.

“I know, baby. Not yet.” He said as he pulled away, still holding her closely. He turned back towards the cabinet, digging for a second before handing her an ibuprofen. She took it from him with a slight laugh.

“Almost forgot the reason I came in here.” Drew joked, shaking y/n’s shoulders gently as they walked back towards the kitchen.

“Thank you, Drew.” Y/n said as they sat back down, taking Drew’s hand gently. He ran his thumb along the back of her hand, smiling back at her softly.

“Don’t thank me for anything. It was almost my fault you were in the situation in the first place.” Drew said, a smirk cracking onto his face. Y/n elbowed him, returning back to her breakfast with a grin.

“Well, hopefully the next time that happens we’re much more prepared.” Y/n said, chewing on her bagel.

“We will. Don’t you worry,” Drew said, kissing her hand softly. “Next time we will be much, much more prepared… and hoping for a bit of a different result.”

[lemoniiiiiii]

SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS / HEADCANONS ABOUT MAX COOPERMAN

just realized that aside from jake, most of max's relationships with people were either superficial or transactional which he probably just thought was normal growing up as a rich kid who was a "loser" learning that ppl only liked him when he had something to give them.

of course, when he was younger everyone loved to go to his birthday parties b/c his parents were loaded and they always planned something extravagant to try and make up for the fact they were never really around but, as he got older his parents stopped really caring to put on those parties. after that, no one bothered to give max any attention or befriend him unless they saw his wealth as something useful, or just brought him around so he could be the butt of the joke. and the second they got what they wanted from him they discarded him. being the kind-hearted and naive boy he is, he doesn't really fully grasp it until after ryan beats him to a pulp. he brushes off what happens but it honestly profoundly affects him from then on.

he thought ryan was a friend but turns out he was just being taken advantage of, his parents didn't care to come see him in the hospital despite how serious his condition was, and jake, the only genuine friend he ever had, ends up leaving (prolly bc college) and max later refers to him in passing as "a guy i brought up back in the day" which hints that they likely don't talk anymore.

so college starts. a fresh slate. max guards himself with this macho (with a very small hint of being an asshole) persona. he's got a leadership position as the RA of his floor, got two nerdy "friends" that are very reminiscent of ryan and his guys (remember when they snicker along with him at mike?), and a semi-famous reputation online. he loses weight the summer before college and decides to stop fighting (probably caused by the trauma from ryan) but we see he uses hand grips so even he definitely wants to keep himself strong for his physique and to protect himself. though max is still fairly lean which is likely an insecurity for him. the last thing he ever wants to be seen as is a dork.

let's not even talk about how being conditioned like this affects his views on women and relationships. first off in highschool he only gets attention from baja's friends b/c of his association with jake, then in college he gets all this attention because he's "attractive" now and has this cool car, dorm and fame due to the fighting videos + promotions. he's (mostly) only ever made out with drunk women at parties or events that just throw themselves at him but it never goes further than that.

he likely has made himself believe that he should think of women as prizes (again as awful as ryan was max kind of molds his new self with his influences subconsciously. he had the kind of attention, the girls, the intimidation factor max aspires to have), but if a girl were to ever genuinely like him it would fry his brain. he wouldn't understand the idea of someone wanting to spend time with him, even if he wasn't really doing anything. to intently listen to him and partake in his interests. or how much happier you'd look after just going on a walk around campus with him vs. when he bought you jewelry or flowers.

it left him with a feeling he only experienced once before when jake saved him, and went after ryan.

it just clicks for him like-

oh. this is how it feels to be genuinely cared for.

it's not soon after he realizes that you tell him you love him for the first time, while cuddling in bed (he's sure his mother used to say it to him when he was younger but he honestly can't really remember anymore-- the most communication he has with his parents now is the deposits into his bank account).

once the door closes, and you've left for your classes.. he feels the lingering heat of your lips, your words echoing in his head and the way you looked at him...

and he cries.

[daisyofwaterdeep]

write something for ketheric or raphael and i will pledge an oath of devotion to you—

(unless you make raphael a sex god;; that man cannot fuck!!)

why not both????? (sorta lol)

'Stolen Pleasures'

Raphael x cis female Reader

Content: NSFW, dubcon, blackmailing, painful sex

~

The shadow curse is lifting with every moment. The oppression of the darkness is slowly draining away, making every breath easier than the last. You should be happy.

So why are you here, body in the chill of the river, thinking about Ketheric? You replay the words you shared with him at the top of Moonrise. How lost he seemed. How he was ready to surrender. And then there, in the colony, how his despair had taken him. That voice of his, commanding yet softened with age. Desperate, calling out to his daughter.

Your flickering moonlantern is on the bank, spilling yellow light that shakes and shimmers across the moving water. You watch the shifting light and think about how it's similar to Ketheric. A phantom, intent on it's duty, no matter how the forces around it try to drag it away. But in the end, it provides no warmth--it's just a reflection of the real thing.

You wonder if Ketheric could have been saved in different circumstances. Was his story truly destined for tragedy? Was his life set to end in heartache, the moment he gave himself to Myrkul?

Despite the damage done to the lands, to the people he loved...you find your heart going out to him. A man so consumed by grief, by love, that he gave up everything. Despite everything, you can see the great man that he once was-- a phantom within a reflection.

What if a kiss could have saved him, like a fairytale?

You're tired from the battle and only barely running on the last dregs of your adrenaline. You blame that on your odd thoughts.

A kiss....what if you had kissed him? Held his sorrowful frame against your own, told him that it was all okay, that you could save him?

You sink down into the water, looking towards the glow of the campfire a dozen yards away. You can just make out the outline of a set of horns silhouetted by the light. It seems that Wyll is taking the first watch. It's unlikely that a gentleman such as himself would look this way...

Your hands run across your stomach, venturing up to the weight of your breasts, suspended in the water. Your nipples are hard and aching from the cold, and your water-chilled hands offer no relief.

You imagine the soft rumble of Ketheric's voice as you fondle yourself, the way it would sound if he dropped it low, perhaps to say something sweet to you. And those hands, ravaged by time yet still so strong, so sure. How would they feel against your skin--not to hurt, but to seek refuge?

You close your eyes and inhale sharply as your hands go down, past your navel, then through your pubic hair.

"Ketheric..."

You say the name as quietly as possible, barely audible even to yourself over the soft rush of the water, yet you still shiver with it.

"Ahh, I see."

The voice comes from right behind you, dangerously close to your ear, and you yelp and whip around, already knowing full well who you'll see.

Raphael smiles at you, lidded eyes appearing black in the flickering light of the lantern. He's bare-chested, the dark waters cutting him right at the waist.

"I was wondering what such a delicate thing was doing out here by herself...I had my suspicions, of course, but who could have predicted--"

"What are you doing here, devil?" You cut him off with a bark, feet already edging closer to the bank, knowing your dagger is tucked beneath the pile of your discarded clothes.

Raphael only continues to smile, picking up his sentence as if you hadn't interrupted him "--that you were thinking of the General?"

You fluster and flounder, unable to deny his words. He seems delighted by your face, giving a dark chuckle as he wades his hands across the surface of the water.

"Oh my, how scandalous." He draws the word out with a sultry hiss as he steps forward, easily closing the gap between the two of you. "Do you pleasure yourself to all of you fallen enemies, I wonder?"

"I'll scream."

"Oh come now, don't go and do something so boring." Raphael puts his hands up, showing that he's defenseless, even if you know that to be far from the case. "I have a proposition for you."

You shake your head. "I don't make deals with devils."

Raphael seems undeterred by your refusal, hands still up, palms facing you. "No, nothing so formal as a deal. There won't be any contracts or souls on the line. Consider it more of a... beneficial agreement. A one night soiree." The drawl of his voice pairs so well with the trickling of the water around you, the warmth and weight of it in perfect contrast with the cool river. "I won't say so much as a word to your companions. They won't even know I appeared before you tonight." He rolls his wrists in a practiced flourish, his hands now outstretched to you. "And I won't say a thing about the name that tumbled from your pretty mouth."

"You're blackmailing me?" A mixture of shock and the cold makes your disbelieving laugh come out in a harsh cough, "To what end? What do you you ask in return?"

"Oh, nothing too extravagant, I assure you." Raphael draws closer, close enough that you can feel the fiendish heat radiating from his body, a sinful reprieve in the chill of the night. The lantern's light cast yellow against his long lashes and reflects in the darkness of his eyes, as if a glimpse of the hellfire within him. "All I ask...is to take you."

"Where?" You say, attempting not to cower as he glides even closer, forcing you to crane your head up to maintain eye contact.

"Oh, little mouse." It's as if the luxurious rumble of his words are cast straight through your body. You can smell him now, sweet hints of cherry, yet the underlying heat of burn, of ash. "Surely you aren't so innocent, considering the display I just witnessed." He leans down close, grin never fading from those smug lips of his, his words as thick and sweet as honey, "Let me take you as a man takes a woman. Right here."

You're not sure what to say. What is there to say in such a situation? You look at him, his deep dark eyes and heavied lids and the hook of his nose that draws a long shadow across his high cheek. He knows that his looks are beguiling, and he knows that you're in no place to refuse.

"You truly are a devil." You breathe out just as his chest meets yours, his skin far too hot and warming yours immediately on contact.

He chuckles again, and this time you can feel it, the echo of it against your ribs. "I never claimed to be anything but."

It should come as no surprise that he's also nude in the dark waters, but it doesn't lessen the shock of his hard cock meeting your thigh. It's hot, impossibly so, and as he moves it between your thighs, all you can do is place a wet hand on his shoulder to ready yourself for it's intrusion.

"Not even going to put up a fight?" He mocks, ducking his head down so that his lips hover over yours. "I didn't take you to be so docile."

"Shut up and fuck me, if you're going to."

"Of course." Raphael arm dips into the river and a moment later you feel a hand on the back of your thigh, lifting your leg so that your knee comes up from under the water. You gasp at the cold that rushes between your legs and vulnerability of the position, and Raphael responds with a smirk. "As you wish."

Raphael's other hand disappears in the water in front of himself, and his cock drags against your thigh as he guides himself to your entrance. As soon as the maddening heat of his cock head touches the softness of your folds, he jerks his hips forward, the water caught between the two of you sloshing as he breaches you with no warning.

You yelp in suprise and pain, both hands scrambling against Raphael's bare shoulders as you almost lose your footing. Raphael lets out a sound of his own, a low, languid groan of satisfaction that warms your cheeks as he stutters his hips forward again, forcing another few inches into you.

"Ohhh, my pretty little mouse," He cups the back of your head with a surprising strength, forcing your eyes to meet his. "How tight you are..." The heat of his cock retreats before he thrusts back in to the same point, his top lip raising to show the perfect white of his neat teeth, "Is it the cold that makes you so? Or are you perhaps scared?"

He doesn't wait for an answer. the pleasure-snarl on his face intensifies as he sets into a brutal rhythm, his dark eyes commanding your attention all the while.

It hurts. The hungry pace he's set and the running water between you quickly carries away any of your natural lubricants and you can feel your walls clinging to him, not allowing much movement. Luckily, he doesn't seem interested in bottoming out in you-- Raphael seems more than pleased to stroke the first few inches of himself with your chafing passage.

The only relief you get is in the form of his warmth, but even that is becoming close to unbearable. With every decadent moan he shamelessly lets loose, his body seems to grow hotter, almost searing. Your vision blurs as fine steam rises from his body, beads of sweat dampening your hair and trailing down your forehead just from his proximity. The heat between your legs is nearly stinging--thank the gods for the cold of the water rushing past, elst you'd truly get burned.

The same can't be said for your abused cunt-- even if river water is pushed inside of you with his humping, the heat of his cock is like molten metal, the feeling only aggravated by the dry, clinging friction of his lubricantless fucking.

"R-Raphae-- ahh--!" You want to tell him to stop, to just give you a moment, anything, but your pain and pride won't let the words come out.

"Yes," He hisses, grabbing your hair and pulling your head back to expose your neck to him, "Cry my name out--" A particularly rough thrust has you biting back a shout of pain as he groans out in delight, "You love it, don't you? The feeling of my cock--"

You aren't sure if his words stem from the cruelty of devils or his lack of understanding of mortal bodies. Each stab of his prick into you stings like hellfire, his shallow impalements growing faster as his moans dip into deep rumbles, coming more and more frequently, shaking on each breath. You consider reaching a hand down to rub at your clit, desiring anything to get your mind off the throbbing pain inside of you, but his vicious movements don't allow your hands to leave his shoulders.

But just as you fear you're at your threshold of pain tolerance, he stills mercifully. A deep, throaty groan tears from him as he leans his head back and his eyes roll closed, a decadent display of his pleasured pinnacle. You can feel heat flood inside you, far hotter than possible from a man. Though it stings against your sensitive walls, it also provides enough slickness for his cock to finally slip out of you.

"Oh," Raphael releases your leg and only then opens his eyes, looking smugly at you with nary a hair out of place. "What a treat that was."

You can feel the heat from your insides seeping between your thighs before being swept away by the current. Judging by just how much your pussy aches, you'd guess that some of your blood is mixed with his seed. The relief from the onslaught is enough to have you light-headed and unsteady on your feet, a fact that Raphael seems to willfully ignore.

"I'd be happy to stay for some pillow talk, but unfortunately, duty calls." He flourishes his hand as he bows his head, dark eyes glittering in the gloom of the night, never leaving you. "But don't fret, little mouse. Baldur's Gate looms just ahead...I'm sure we'll be seeing each other very soon."

There's a pulse of magic, a sucking of air, a bright burst of swirling flame, and then a fade into darkness. All at once, you're alone once again.

You sink down into the water, letting the cold river act as a salve on your pained body and mind.

[dairy-farmer]

Damitim Fuck or Die

Young Robin and Red Robin get captured by some bad guys in a warehouse. There are too many guns and weapons for either of them to safely fight their way out, and perhaps luckily for them this particular gang really doesn't want to incur the wrath of Batman by murdering the birds. But they still want revenge and to make them suffer, as well as give them time to finish clearing out the warehouse.

So the gang says they'll let them go, but Red Robin has to fuck Robin first: not only will it keep them too distracted to cause problems, but they're also banking on ruining the relationships of the bat family by having RR rape his 'little brother'. Tim refuses and there's some arguing back and forth, and Damian even tries to talk him into it ("I have been taught how to withstand many torture techniques, this will be no different! At least this way we will live to fight another day!") and the gang members are tempted to just straight up shoot Red Robin at this point for being so difficult.

Until! Tim shouts that it's not that he isn't willing to go through with it to save their lives, but that he physically can't! Damian and the gang both pause in confusion, trying to figure out what he means. One gang member scoffs about him being too young for ED and if the issue is fucking a preteen, he just needs to think sexy thoughts. Humiliated and furious, Tim drops his pants and states that he quite literally does not have a dick.

Everything in the warehouse stops for a few moments well everyone, Damian and the gang members, try to wrap their heads around trans Red Robin and marvel at the pretty little pussy now on display. The leader rallies first, and says it's fine, they'll just have Robin fuck him instead! He even jokes that they won't even stipulate that Red Robin has to cum as well, since they're not sure Robin's baby dick will be up to the task.

Cut to a nervous and completely inexperienced 12-year-old Damian rutting into Tim's cunt, hands fluttering around Tim's hips, chest, stomach, unsure what to do with them. They decided on a missionary style with Tim flat on his back, having insisted on this position because it keeps most of the 'action' from being directly observed by the perverted gang members, and also means that Tim can keep an eye out so that no one sneaks up on Damian. Also Tim doing his best to try and distract Damian from the jeers and cat calls of the gang members (Tim being convinced that this is all incredibly traumatic to Damian, while in reality Damien is lost in the sauce i.e. that hot puss!), hugging him close, petting his hair, and murmuring soothing nonsense. A random gang member at some point drags the top of his uniform up so it's bunched under his armpits, putting his cute little tits on display. Damian blindly latches on immediately, alternating between suckling and panting gasps into the abused nubs. Someone makes a joke about Robin really being a baby.

The only possible silver lining to the whole situation, in Tim's opinion, is that there will be no videos or pictures or recordings of the incident, since they got in this mess in the first place after he set off an EMP to shut down a lot of the gangs tech and communications, which is also what knocked out their emergency beacons.

~❤️🦇

P.S. Just for the record, after everything is over with, Damien takes to trailing behind Tim like a lovesick duckling.😘

damitim

damian following tim around like a lovesick duckling!!!! tim is convinced that damian will have horrible trauma as a result and so when he notices damian following him around is just like 'oh no he's so traumatized he needs to keep me in his sight at all times so i don't surprise him 😟'. in reality all damian can think about was how it felt to cum inside a hot, tight hole. all he can think about is the plushness of tim's tit in his mouth and how pink and glossy his cunt was as damian rutted against him, his cock getting wonderfully jacked off by the twitching walls around him. damian is utterly incapable of NOT thinking about it, he's masturbated so often and is so desperate for a repeat because despite the goons at his back damian had never felt so good since his "first time".

[halenhusky309]

A few thoughts on D-16/ Megatron

Spoiler ⚠️

I do think D-16/Megatron is justified killing Sentinel, considering Sentinel not only lied and abused him, Orion Pax and lower-class fellows, but also later tortured and degraded him (I do think Sentinel had an easy death). However, Megatron did not show any sign that he can't let go of the hatred and resentment toward Sentinel and his goons, and if no one stops him, he would likely get himself corrupted without noticing that he had gone too far. Also, D-16 banked all his desires to overthrow Sentinel's regime on solely punishment and revenge to satisfy his anger, unlike Orion Pax, who mainly prioritized revealing the truths of Sentinel's fraudulent ass to empower the lower classes rising up and fighting for their rights and against Sentinel and his goons. We, as the audiences and even Orion Pax, noticed that D-16's reactions were getting unhealthy and extreme, and without proper help and support, would turn to a very dark path. While it wasn't clear whether D-16 would go far beyond with his revenge even after killing Sentinel, to Orion Pax, it did feel like D-16 would potentially commit further atrocities if he kept going down to road of brutal revenge against Sentinel.

I do think if they weren't in peril situations and had enough time to talk to each other, may be Orion Pax would have talked some sense into D-16 to calm him down and reduce his extreme obsession for justice and punishment.

For someone who had held his head down and followed the protocols all the time, I understood that it was great pain for D-16 to forfeit his wants and needs most of the time to appease the so-called benevolent ruler, who turned out to be his biggest enemy. But the fact D-16 chose to forfeit his closest companion and let him fall to his death, because he believed Orion Pax once again just doing what he wanted for himself only, and didn't care for his wants, which proved that D-16 didn't understand Orion Pax that much. It's true that on a surface level, Orion Pax's actions seemed selfish and reckless, but Orion Pax was the only one who understood that all of the miners couldn't continue to live like this. His obsession to find the Matrix is a long-term solution for their predicaments to set them free and allow them to reach their potentials. Orion did realize how restrained D-16 was and wanted help his friend to be more carefree without worrying about the consequences and protocol. In another word, Orion's antics were his ways to make their mundane, monotone, albeit dangerous lives to be worth living. Unfortunately, D-16 did not understand that and simply viewed Orion's antics and actions as self-serving, pointless, and stupid, due to his self-restriction to protocols, which later led to that tragic moment to their closed friendship.

[loquaciousquark]

I just saw a close-up of githyanki eyes which reminded me: I am very curious about the shape of their pupils! It is almost certainly, like other aspects of gith biology, a deliberate design choice on the part of the illithids, so what were they designing for? What does that shape do? What does the world look like to a gith?

I actually had to do a little research for this, but I imagine it's because the illithids wanted to aim for the pupil design of ambush predators, like small cats.

Human eyes, which have round pupils, on average have a difference of non-dilated-to-dilated state of about 15x. That is, when you're fully dilated (such as being in a dark room), your eyes let in about 15x normal lighting. This allows for decent night vision after several minutes of adaptation.

When ambush predators like household cats dilate, though, they use much stronger dilator muscles to dilate about 135x their natural resting pupil state, which lets in a hugely increased amount of light. (This is also why watching cats' eyes fully dilate is typically much more dramatic and interesting than watching humans' eyes dilate.) This gives them huge advantages in dark and crepuscular conditions when hunting prey.

Secondly, human eyes (with round pupils) have pretty variable resting sizes; some people's pupils may hang out at 6-7mm even in the light, while others rest at a 1mm pinhole. People with naturally tiny resting pupils have much deeper depth of focus, meaning they have a larger depth range of things appearing clear compared to others. While great for reading text or looking at a phone, that's not as useful as a shallower depth of focus would be while hunting small, fast-moving animals. In that case, a hunter with larger pupils could use the blur depth to more precisely identify distances to their prey.

Cats' vertically slit pupils, on the other hand, provide the max bonuses possible from both stereopsis and blur depth in both bright and dark, which helps them identify exactly how far away a small target like a mouse might be, even low to the ground. Even in dim conditions where they might be partially dilated, they'll still get some blur information that humans wouldn't, which evolutionarily would help them hunt better with less effort.

(Curiously, less stealthy & less small cat hunters like lions and tigers have round pupils, which implies that overall size & lowness to the ground does come into play here.)

Basically, I think they were going for this ambush predator evolutionary advantage. Practically speaking, that also means every time Lae'zel gets excited or woken up from sleep, her eyes should have been completely black, fully dilated pits. Forget about Avernus; someone make this mod instead!

(Banks, M. S., Sprague, W. W., Schmoll, J., Parnell, J. A., & Love, G. D. (2015). Why do animal eyes have pupils of different shapes?. Science advances, 1(7), e1500391.)

[barrowsteeth]

Gillian Jacobs as Mary Jayne Gold Costume Design by Justine Seymour

Transatlantic (2023) 1.02 | The Angel of History

GIF ID: A series of six GIFs of Mary Jayne in the office of her bank. MJ is wearing a grey and black striped ensemble and a black and pink hat, both with pink lip embellishments. MJ is seated in an armchair in the first five gifs and is speaking with the bank manager (who is offscreen). The final gif shows a wide shot of MJ signing a receipt at the bank manager's desk after he has given her an envelope of cash, then exiting the office.

[protect-namine]

I was thinking the other day that man, kokuto neji is such a character and I haven't liked a writer character like this since... shang qinghua?

which naturally led me to this thought: jj fic with svsss-style au where neji transmigrates/gets isekai'd into the world of havenna. as domina, of course.

it's extra fucked up imo because at least when sqh transmigrated in his book, he made up all of those characters and they mostly stayed in the realm of fantasy. like, sure, lbh was kinda based on himself in some ways and mbj was his ideal fantasy, but they still mostly stayed fictional, you know? sqq (sy) had to fix his plots because the characters sqh wrote strayed too far from their original plotlines

but theater makes a fictional world a bit too real and personal, especially when you use real people as inspirations for your writing. with neji, he'd be looking at rukiora and see three different people (mitsuki acting as rukiora; rukiora who was written based on a younger version of neji; rukiora who is her own person in this weirdly real world of havenna). neji would see fugio and to him that is both sou acting as fugio and the fugio who grew up with poison flowers. miguel is both fumi and the guy who ran away from his neshiromi fields. the only constant would probably be chicchi. she is too much like kisa in that... well. neji didn't really have a backstory for chicchi. chicchi is a blank canvas just like kisa is as an actor.

anyway. yeah, very sv-style character arc where neji, much like shen yuan in sv, is forced to humanize the villain. except this villain was his creation and is also tied to a bunch of personal issues for neji that he Doesn't Want To Think About and also he doesn't? really understand the character he wrote tbh?

isn't art supposed to process your emotions for you!! why must he process these himself!!

can you imagine neji, who always casts himself as a seer of some sort (fortune teller, ushinoko) or someone who generally has some control over his future or his "creation" (who is mary if not just another side of neji anyway; she's takihime redux, and takihime is also. neji). imagine this dude being transported inside the play he wrote but he doesn't understand it and he has no control over it and everyone's acting both in character and out of character. he both knows and doesn't know these people. they're fictional but also... real? does he treat them as real people? is domina real? he wanted his actors to imbue parts of themselves into his characters. are these people really just characters from a script? are they his quartz classmates? is he allowed to even hope that that's the case?

it's both THE improv exercise of his dreams and also. a nightmare

[humming-fly]

No see, the fact Ed, Al, and Roy were allowed to leave the room without even that much added supervision is great story telling becuase it shows how cocky the homunculus and father were.

Bradley continously refers to humans as weaker, dumber, and all together inferior to homunculus. So do the other homunculus.

Aka, the homunculus only failed becuase they were too cocky in their plans and ended up fucking themselves over.

this is true but you wanna know what the most horrendous thing is? father very nearly Actually Won because these motherfuckers kEPT COMING BACK LIKE FATHER WAS RIGHT THAT THEY'D GET INVOLVED AND RETURN TO CENTRAL DUDE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO BOTHER WITH THE HASSLE OF LOCKING THEM UP THESE IDIOT HUMANS SASHAYED INTO PLACE JUST FINE

literally the ONLY reason father didn't win is because he wasn't keeping a close enough eye on hohenheim which is truly ironic because of all the humans that father Should've been able to predict the movements of it was the one that he was actually friends with at one point in time and knowing arakawa that's some additional level of meta analysis about friendship and trust and manipulation or w/e but really all this to say while the homunculi are idiots the humans they were trying to wrangle really did not do any better

[munamania]

maybe this is just a curse of the circles i find myself in on this internet but some people will jump in with a QUICKNESS to talk about how much they dont like "popular" lesbian music and how there arent any good lesbian musicians that aren't just depressing and they DONT want to hear about muna or chappell roan and they for sure need you to know that they dont want to hear any of that shit at the club. and along with the insane backlash or just blatant ignoring of dyke media (esp when it does have to do. with sex.) it's like damn you people really saw some lesbians having fun for once and decided you needed to make it your problem expeditiously. you said shut that shit down. christ!

[orcelito]

Is everyone excited for me to post a fic next week. Or at least looking forward to it at all. Or like. Remembered it? I of course remembered but at the same time I just kinda registered that finishing this up and posting it means I'm posting a fic

So uh. There's that to look forward to!

[da-riya]

Look, all I'm saying is I'd work 100% more and be ready on call all the time if I worked like 4 hours a day and got paid the same

[blizzardfluffykpop]

You sent me an ask so I shall return the favor! What is the most recent Kpop group you’ve gotten into and how did you find out about them? I always love hearing fan “origin stories” lol

Thank you for returning the favor~ That would be The Boyz 🥰💖 I love hearing fan "origin stories" too hehe (This is gonna get long I love them sm)

Anyways I've known about them since debut? I loved Bloom Bloom Pow with my whole heart when it came out and tried to fall for them then- It didn't work. The next time was when The Stealer (TS) came out~ I had watched them perform for Road to Kingdom- because ptg was on the show too- But I really loved TS cb- sm so that I bought the album about 6 mos later with my favorite members as inclusions at the time (Eric, Kevin and Hyunjae). But nothing came about of it even after watching the weekly idol episodes... Then came Whisper era and I ended up biasing Changmin (Q) and loving that song but again nothing came out of it.

(A little backstory is that Changkyun (I.M) got me into Dominic Fike's music-) Thus, when tiktok showed me Juyeon, Changmin, and Sunwoo dancing to Babydoll earlier this year as a dance cover: I fell. And then I finally checked out Watch It~ But Hui had his solo and it distracted me completely from falling further. Then I had gotten sick and decided 'well, what if I watch their content?' And I did... I watched their hello82 interview and their reaction to fanart of them, and lastly their mafia dance. And I loved each sm that I decided to check out more.

It was the first time I had watched their content and wanted to see more. And now, I watch their content almost daily. It's kind of like they revived the joy of kpop for me? My (old) ult of ults has been on hiatus due to the military so it's been stagnant content lately for me. But then they came in like a breath of fresh air- and I simply can't get enough. This month will be 3 mos and I honestly hope I'll follow them for a long time. (I think they're my new ult of ults tbh)

And lastly now here I am as a Younghoon and Juyeon bias (with bias wrecker: Changmin... he's doing everything to be bias again). And with them having a comeback I loved with my whole heart this past month, I think it really solidified them with me. Honestly, I'm so happy with them.