#prehistoric mirror

[thesilicontribesman]

Iron Age Bronze Balmaclellan Mirror, The National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh

The Balmaclellan Mirror was found in a bog in Kirkcudbrightshire, south-western Scotland. It was part of a hoard of precious objects wrapped in cloth and placed in a bog, perhaps as an offering to the gods. Both faces of the item were smooth for reflecting.

Dated to 80-250CE, this mirror shows a mixture of influences in its style. The people who made this were familiar with southern British Celtic art and Roman art, adapting these to create a distinctive local style.

[sixteenseveredhands]

Prehistoric Mirrors from Turkey, c.6000 BCE: these are the oldest manufactured mirrors in the world, dating back about 8,000 years; they were meticulously crafted from pieces of obsidian

Two of the obsidian mirrors from Çatalhöyük (Turkey); this pair was found buried together back in 2012

At least eight of these obsidian mirrors have been found at Çatalhöyük, a Neolithic site located in Turkey. All of these mirrors date back about 8,000 years, and each one was crafted from a chunk of obsidian (volcanic glass) that was knapped into the shape of a disc and then meticulously polished with progressively finer abrasives until a smooth, slightly convex surface had been developed. Some of these mirrors can still produce remarkably clear reflections.

Sources & More Info:

The Archaeologist: World's Oldest Mirrors Found at Neolithic Çatalhöyük Site

Çatalhöyük Research Project: Archive Report from 2012 (PDF download)

Çatalhöyük Research Project: Main Website

The Past: Cyber Archaeology, How 3D Modeling is Unpeeling the Neolithic at Çatalhöyük

[ayyy-pee]

Discord 18+ - Twitter

Pairing: Toji Fushiguro x Female Reader

Summary: You can run all you want, but Toji will always find you.

Story Warning: Stalker Ex-boyfriend Toji!!!, Threats of Violence, Shitty Date (literally), Smut, Voyeurism, Public Sex, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, Toxic Behavior, Jealousy, Jealous Behavior, Oral Sex, Unprotected Sex, Breeding Kink, Creampie, Possessive Sex, Threats of Pregnancy omg, Possessive Behavior, No condoms we get plan b 'round here

Artist: Idk! But if you find out, let me know and I'll update my post

Your lips turn down in a frown, eyes widening as you swipe your mascara over your lashes one last time. You blink as you take in your appearance in your bathroom mirror for the last time, slipping your mascara wand back into the tube and twisting it tightly shut.

You have a date tonight.

The first one you’ve had since moving to Sendai from Tokyo. You met him at your new accounting job. He’s nice, a little boring for your usual taste, but he’s exactly what you needed to date. Someone your age. Someone with their life together, and someone who isn’t fucking crazy. And god did you need the not crazy part.

Your ex was an older man who seemed to have it all together when you first met. Things were easy with you two. He worked a job that required a lot of travel. He supposedly worked for the government, never asking questions because every answer was a stern “It’s confidential”. And that was fine. You didn’t need to know what he did for a living as long as he was good to you, and he was at first.

Two years of dating and everything was going well…save the bouts of jealousy and possessiveness your ex sometimes let slip. When he wasn’t making sure to watch your every move, monitor any man who spoke to you, he was fantastic. Loving. Doting. Funny…All of the things you wanted in a partner. It was just when his jealousy reared its ugly head, it became everyone’s problem.

He never hurt you physically, no. He would never. But that didn’t apply to anyone else within your vicinity.

It was flattering at first, how he’d lose his shit just at the sight of you with another man. But then it became too much. Breaking up with him didn’t work. He’d just show up wherever you were, telling you he loved you, that he can’t do this life without you, to give him another chance and he’d be better. And every new chance always ended the same. With some random man on the floor with a bloody nose after talking to you at the bar, your ex looming over him, jaw tight, nostrils flared with anger and you storming away.

You thought dating an older man was going to be different, that you wouldn’t be dealing with the same childish shit men your age would put you through. But apparently, age didn’t make a difference. At his prehistoric age, your ex proved that wasn’t the case.

He was never going to change.

No matter what you did, he was never going to leave you alone.

You soon realized your ex was more than jealous and possessive. He was downright insane. You remember what it was like every time you broke up, the vicious grin he would wear after ruining one of your nights out, chasing you down until you gave in to him…and then he was ruining you back at your apartment.

And you hated yourself for that. How easy it was for him to break down your walls with little effort. How easy it was for him to get you to forgive him. He didn’t have to do much. He just needed to show up, tell you sweet nothings and you were putty in his hands, opening the door to your life for him…And your legs.

It’s why you moved so far across the country. The further, the better. You’d blocked his number, packed up and didn’t even tell your closest friends where you were going. You needed a complete revamping of your life. Because you loved him too much to resist him if he ever showed up again.

With a sigh, you check your makeup and dress one last time before you head out. You’re going to the movies. It’s a simple date. Doesn’t require you to do too much, but you want to make a good impression. It’s your first date since moving to Sendai and you deserve to have a normal date for once. 

When you arrive at the theater, you’re immediately hit by the smell of butter and the sounds of kernels popping in the machines behind the concession stand. Your date is already waiting inside with popcorn and your tickets. He flashes you a bright smile, tells you you look beautiful tonight and you feel your cheeks warm beneath his gaze. It’s a little weird to be out with someone new, but isn’t that what you wanted?

He’s nice. Give him a chance.

The attendant checks your tickets and points you to your theater. You climb the stairs, glancing down at your ticket to ensure you’re on the correct row, right in the middle of the theater. The perfect view.

Your date sets the popcorn down between the two of you. “I heard this movie is really good.”

“Me too,” you nod, reaching into the tub of popcorn at the same time as your date. You both smile shyly at each other when your fingers touch, grabbing a handful of popcorn just as the theater lights dim and the movie begins.

- - - - - -

The movie blares in the back of the theater, the music building to a crescendo as some action scene reaches its climax. But that’s not what the man at the top of the theater is watching as he shoves another handful of popcorn into his mouth. No, there’s a much more interesting sight in front of him, right in the center of the theater.

You.

Who gives a fuck about the movie when he has a perfect view of you?

Well, of you and the fucker sitting a little too close, whispering in your ear any chance his gets and slipping his arm around your shoulder.

He wants to march down and kick your little friend in the head, splatter his brain across the floor. But he’s off the clock. A random body to clean up wouldn’t look good for him and it definitely wouldn’t increase his chances of getting back to you. And that’s the goal here. To get to you. So he has to be patient, like he has been all this time.

He could always barge into your new place and make you talk to him. He could always call your phone even though you blocked his number and changed phone providers. That’s lightwork for him, child’s play. And he wants to have some fun before he makes a move.

Emerald eyes watch in the darkness as your date leans into your ear to whisper something, your shoulders shaking slightly as you laugh. It almost makes him break his promise to bide his time, watching that man put his lips so close to your soft skin.

The skin he misses running his large hands over. The skin he misses kissing, running his tongue over. The skin he misses admiring after coating it with his own release. Fuck, he misses you more than anything. He’d damn near lost his mind after realizing you left Tokyo, up and gone in the middle of the night without so much as a word. Not even your friends knew where you’d gone. And he would know if they were lying. 

But now that he has you in front of him, he’s determined to never let you go.

Your date leans over to whisper once a-fucking-gain in your ear and his jaw tightens, teeth clenching so hard it makes his head throb. Your date stands, heading for the stairs, leaving you alone in the theater to watch the movie. There’s too many people around for him to approach you so soon. It’s not the right time, but he has an idea of what he could do until then.

The man in the back stands, casually following your date down the steps and out the theater door. Your date is an idiot, not even aware for a second that someone is behind him and closing in on him quickly. The easiest prey he’s had in awhile. Green eyes watch as he turns into the bathroom and he follows after silently.

Your date closes himself into the further stall, the largest and takes a seat on the toilet.

Even better. Out of sight.

The man doesn’t sense any other presence in the bathroom as he enters the stall next to your dates and stands atop the commode. He peers down boredly as your date sits, toying with his phone. Clearly he was going to be in here for awhile anyway, but now it may seem he won’t be returning.

“Got any good games on there?” The green eyed man asks, smirking when your date practically jumps out of his skin, dropping his phone with a loud crack.

“What the fuck, man?!” He shouts, face red with anger. “Get the fuck outta here, fucking freak!”

“I’ll cut to the chase.”

Your date fixes him with a look of confusion.

“Leave your date.”

Your date looks even more confused. The green eyed man rolls his eyes, sighing with annoyance. He grits his teeth. “Leave. Your. Date. Go home, forget you met her.”

Now your date’s red face has returned, his anger rolling off of his skin. “Fuck off! Get out of here or I’ll call security, you fucking weirdo!”

The man sighs again, closing his eyes and shaking his head. He tried to be nice. He really did. With ease, he hops over the wall of the bathroom stall, landing before your date, one foot smashing his phone into pieces. He digs the heel of his foot into the device for good measure, the sound of glass scratching the floor filling the space between them.

And then he’s leaning over, meeting your date at eye level, green eyes glaring into his wide and terrified ones. “Leave. Your. Date. Or you’ll be lucky to leave this bathroom with only your phone crushed in.”

He can see the way your date trembles, the sweat beginning to bead along his forehead and above his lip, the way his Adam’s apple bobs with a loud gulp before he nods silently.

A large hand comes up to pat his cheek, tapping it lightly a few times. “Smart kid,” the man says before standing straight. “Don’t even think about calling security either or you won’t make it out of the theater in one piece.”

He turns, kicking the door to your date’s stall open before waltzing out and heading back toward the theater. He ascends the steps, bright eyes locked on your form as he squeezes past the other moviegoers on your row to get to you.

He takes the seat next to you, slipping an arm around your shoulder and loving the feeling of you snuggling in closer. He leans over, lips pressed to your ear as he asks, “What’d I miss, sweetheart?” And he revels in the way your body tenses in his embrace, trying to pull back but he holds you to him.

“Toji –”

“Shhh, it’s rude to talk during the movie.” Toji reaches into the tub of popcorn you and your date were sharing, offering you some. You shake your head in refusal and Toji shrugs, shoving the handful into his mouth.

- - - - - -

The movie flies by, your stiff body held by Toji the remainder of the film. When the lights turn back on, he holds you there until all the other guests have dispersed. When the last guest is gone, he looks at you, a wide grin stretched along his face.

“Missed y–”

You shove his arm off of you, brushing past him and hurrying down the stairs. Angry would not be a strong enough word to describe what you’re feeling right now. Maybe irate. Enraged. Incensed. No, still not enough.

You push out of the theater doors, Toji hot on your trail. Your eyes scan the empty halls, seeing no signs of your date who you noticed after Toji’s arrival just happened to never come back from going to the bathroom and grabbing a quick drink. It’s like he vanished into thin fucking air.

“Sweetheart, talk to me.” Toji pleads, grabbing hold of your arm and you snatch yourself out of his hold.

“Don’t sweetheart me, Toji. What are you doing here?” You hiss and you hate the way his stupid pretty green eyes hold mirth in them. Like he’s enjoying that he’s made you mad. “What did you do?”

Toji’s smile widens more if that’s possible, the crescent scar on his lips only becoming more prominent. “What do you mean?” He asks innocently.

You shoot him a glare. “You know what I mean. What did you do to my date this time? Knock him out in the bathroom? Drown him in Dr. Pepper? Hang him upside down from the roof until all the blood rushed to his head and he died?”

Toji hadn’t even thought about the last two, but he takes mental notes…for research.

He shrugs, though. Because he didn’t do any of those things. “I didn’t touch him.”

You stare into his eyes, getting even more pissed because you know he’s being honest. “Then what did you do?”

He steps towards you, holding his hand out. “Nothing bad at all. Can you really blame me if your date’s a flake? Maybe he just doesn’t appreciate you the way I do.”

You peer down at his hand, rolling your eyes as you turn on your heel and storm down the hall. You leave the building making a sharp turn around the corner towards your car. This dumb ass theater only has one entrance and exit which has to be a fire hazard, you think. To get to it, you have to go down one of the alleys down either side of the building.

Your feet carry you down the alley, Toji’s hurried steps rapidly catching up to you. His hand catches your wrist, turning you to look at him. You don’t pull away this time, knowing the more you push him away, the harder he’ll try to get closer.

“Hey. Hey, stop. Please,” he pleads and in the darkness of the alley, beneath the soft glow of the moon, his green eyes shine brightly. You have to close your eyes so you don’t immediately fall back into his hold. The second you look into his gaze, you know you’ll be his again. You shake your head.

“Toji, please. I left to get away from you. You can’t keep doing this.”

“I’m not doing anything, baby,” he says softly. “I just don’t understand why you’d leave without even saying anything.”

He genuinely sounds hurt. You do feel guilty, but you needed to do what was best for you and your life. Toji would ruin any chance you had at happiness with anyone else if given the chance. He would have never let you have a life in Tokyo, but here you were hundreds of miles away from the city…and he still won’t let you be happy if it’s not with him.

“You know why, Toji,” you breathe softly. “I can’t keep doing this jealousy thing with you. You just…get too crazy. Look at tonight.”

“Okay. That’s fair, but tonight, I really didn’t do anything. Your date broke his phone and I just…suggested he go hurry and get that fixed.”

Behind your closed eyelids, you roll your eyes because while that may be somewhat true, it’s not the whole truth and you know it.

“Still, Toji–”

He cuts you off, his other hand coming up to hold your cheek and you melt into his touch just like you knew you would. It’s annoying that literally closing yourself off to him does nothing because every part of Toji is your weak spot, crazy as he is.

You open your eyes to gaze up at him, those beautiful eyes of his peering into yours and you know you’re done for.

“I came all this way to see you, baby,” he rasped. “I missed you. Didn’t you miss me?”

You did. Fuck, you did miss him. You know that makes you an idiot to miss his crazy ass. You ran away from your entire life, from everything you’d known to get away from him and now that he’s standing right in front of you, your body is reacting in a way you couldn’t resist even if you tried. You know you should move, step away from his hold, but you don’t. You can’t.

Weak. Don’t do it!

It feels like you have an angel on one shoulder, a devil on the other. Your brain is screaming at you to not give in to Toji, to turn around and leave him standing alone in this alley. But your heart is screaming for your brain to shut the fuck up.

You nod, inhaling deeply before sighing, giving in because you always knew you would. “I missed you, too, Toji.”

You don’t know why you miss him. Is it the excitement that comes with being with someone like Toji? Is it the way he wants you and only you even to the point he’d practically kill someone to keep you to himself? Maybe even actually kill someone to keep you to himself? Maybe you’re just as crazy as Toji – but you’re his all the time.

A small smirk curls at the corner of Toji’s lips, his other hand releasing your wrist to cup your other cheek. “That’s my girl.”

Toji leans forward and you think for a moment he’s going to kiss you, your head tilting up to meet his lips, but he doesn’t. Instead he runs the tip of his nose up and down the bridge of yours over and over, letting out a shaky breath before he presses his forehead to yours.

“I might’ve threatened to crush your date's head in in the bathroom while he was taking a shit…” Toji confesses suddenly before he presses his mouth to yours.

This might’ve pissed you off before, but now, Toji’s confession goes straight to your core and you gasp. He takes the opportunity to deepen the kiss, shoving his tongue into your mouth. His hands tilt your head so he’s able to have more access to you, to take everything you have to offer like he always does.

The kiss heats up in no time. Toji grunts as your tongue tangles with his. Your hands come up to grab on to his shirt, tight as ever, bunching the fabric tightly in your fists. Toji steps back, guiding you to the wall of the alley, his kiss growing feverish, desperate. You moan into his mouth, rolling your hips forward when he presses his hard body against yours.

Toji breaks the kiss, panting as he drinks in the sight of your half lidded eyes, kiss swollen lips, that damn dress you’re wearing that’s keeping him from the rest of you. His fingers glide down the side of your face, along your neck and down your chest. They ghost over the swell of your breasts, over your nipples and he stops, running his thumb slowly back and forth over the hardening peaks, smiling to himself when your back arches off of the wall. He lets his hand continue their journey wandering down your form under he reaches the hem of your dress.

Then he feels his jealousy begin to crawl up his throat. He can’t help it when he thinks about you wearing this pretty dress for someone else.

“Beautiful,” he mutters, though the venom is dripping from the word. “You wear this for that fucker in the theater?”

Wide eyed and maybe a little dazed by the sudden change in attitude, you nod. Toji fists the hem of your dress, tugging the fabric gently.

“Use your words, sweetheart.”

“Yes.”

“Yes, you wore it for him?” He wants to hear you say it.

“Yes,” you gulp, heart thumping against your ribs. Not in panic, not in fear…but in excitement. “Yes, Toji. I wore it for him.”

Toji hums to himself…and then a loud shredding noise fills the empty space of the alleyway as Toji absolutely destroys the fabric of your dress. Heat pools in your core immediately, a soft gasp rushing past your lips. His hands come up to your waist, spinning you around. He presses his body against your back, your front pushing against the wall of the alley.

“So sweet of you to dress up for him,” Toji breathes as he leans down, running his nose along your neck, inhaling your scent. “Hope you had fun tonight.” His hands find the remnants of the hem of your dress and he pulls it up, bunching the fabric up at your waist. Then his hands are running along your body again, against your bare ass, brows lifting in surprise when he feels the thin line along your waist.

“Oh? A thong, too,” he hums, his voice sending chills up your spine. “Looks like you were planning on having fun tonight. Weren’t you?” You nod, but Toji clicks his tongue. “Words, baby.” 

You yelp quietly when Toji brings his large hand down on your exposed cheek. The loud smack echoes through the alley. “Yes,” you say breathlessly. “Yes, I was.”

“Hmm, that’s too bad your date left you then.” He tells you, and you can hear the fake pout coating his words.

Toji toys with the band of your thong before he hooks a finger into the band and easily rips the fabric of your underwear, too, and you think you’ll be lucky if you leave with even a single piece of clothing on after he’s done.

“I’m gonna touch you now. That okay?” He asks, because even through his jealousy, he’s a gentleman…sometimes.

“Yes, Toji.” 

Toji presses a kiss to the top of your head. “Oh, you’re so good for me.” He slips his fingers between your folds, hissing the moment he feels your slick coat his hand. “So damn wet for me already. I’ve barely touched you.”

“Toji, please,” you whimper when his fingers find your clit, rubbing soft circles over the sensitive nub. It’s enough to make your skin ignite with chills, but not enough to bring you even a little closer to the edge.

“I’m a little upset with you, you know?” Toji tells you casually. He slips one of his fingers into your cunt, grunting when your walls immediately squeeze down on him. “Fuck, you thought you could take this sweet little pussy and run away, huh?”

He pumps his finger in and out of your hole slowly, torturously. Your legs are trembling, hands pressed against the wall as you bite down on your lip to keep quiet. You’re in the open, getting fingerfucked in an alley. It would only take one person turning the corner for you to get caught literally with your pants down.

Your brows knit together as Toji keeps up his pace, leisurely adding another thick digit into your pussy. The coil in your belly grows tighter and tighter with every pump of his fingers, with every quiet squelch of your pussy.

“Fuck, you feel so good squeezing me like this,” Toji groans from behind you. “Wish this was my cock.” You whimper, pushing your hips back against his hand. “You want that, sweetheart?” He coos, curling his fingers into that spongy sweet spot that brings tears to your eyes. You gasp, rolling your hips back to meet his thrusts, riding his hand. 

He continues, “Yeah? You want my cock to stretch this tight little pussy, huh? Want me to fill you up like I used to?”

“God, yes! Toji. Fucking fill me up, please, please,” you beg, reduced to a teary mess against the alley wall.

Toji chuckles, stopping his ministrations and you wait for him to start again, chest rising and falling rapidly with anticipation. When you feel his fingers leave your core, you damn near feel like sobbing. You hear his zipper come down, feel his cock springing against your ass and the stickiness of his precum smearing against your asscheeks.

He leans forward, a hand resting next to your head as he whispers into your ear, “You ready for me?” Then he pushes forward, his thick cock stretching you wide open for him. It burns in the most delicious way, but you still whine quietly. And it makes Toji pause.

“Tapping out already?” He chuckles, kissing the side of your face as you squeeze your eyes shut. “Come on, baby. How many times have we done this? You can take it, right?”

“I can take it, Toji,” you mewl softly. “I can take it.”

“Good girl.” Toji nudges your cheek with his nose and you turn your head on instinct, your mouths connecting as Toji pushes forward, his cock slowly filling you. You pant into his mouth as his length stretches you open him, makes you accommodate him until he bottoms out, a deep groan leaving him.

The weight of his cock stretching you is enough. The moment Toji hits your sweet spot, your walls convulse, your orgasm catching you off guard just as a couple of patrons are walking past the dark alley. Toji puts a hand over your mouth, muffling your moans as your eyes rolled to the back of your head. He doesn’t move…his gaze locked on the couple as they stand at the end of the alleyway talking to each other and laughing. They’re none the wiser to the way your pussy is clamping down so hard on his dick he could cry. It feels too good and he doesn’t have the patience to wait for them to fuck off. He’s been waiting. He’s done with that.

He grits his teeth as he pulls his hips back, hearing you gasp at the sudden emptiness and then he rolls his hips forward, hard. You cry out into his hand, eyes squeezed shut as Toji watches the couple from afar.

“Shhh. You don’t want them to hear, do you?” He taunts.

Them?

Your eyes shoot open, your blurry vision clearing enough to see a couple at the end of the alleyway. Right when you see them, Toji pulls back for a second time before he slams into you again over and over and over, grunting roughly into your ear as you both watch the couple at the end of the alleyway deep in conversation.

You pray they don’t come your way. You pray they turn around and go back the way they came…And some sick part of you prays Toji fucks you even harder because something about being so close to being caught has your arousal absolutely dripping down your thigh, coating Toji’s cock.

“You like this, huh?” Toji groans. “Hiding in plain sight, getting fucked like a slut? This is new for you.” He slams into you again, bottoms out into harder and harder, his hand squeezing down over your mouth to muffle your cries.

“This is why I love you so damn much,” he grunts, pressing his cock as far into you as possible before pulling back and doing it again. “You’re perfect for me, made for me.”

The couple at the end of the alley finally walks off, going the opposite way. The moment they’re out of sight, Toji releases your mouth, letting you cry out for him freely.

“Fuck, Toji!” You moan as he pounds into you with reckless abandon.

“Did you think…” he groans, hands coming down to squeeze your ass as he fucks into you. “There’s anywhere on this earth you could run to…” he’s panting, squeezing your ass so hard you know you’ll be sore tomorrow. “Where I wouldn’t find you?”

You’re keening into the open air now, taking every fucking harsh thrust Toji gives you. You press your forehead to the wall, feeling that familiar coil building up again, ready to snap at any moment.

“You’re mine, fucking mine, sweetheart. I’ll always find you,” he grits, dragging his lips against your cheek, pressing possessive and wet kisses along your face and neck. “You could never run from me.”

He bottoms out again, his slick balls slapping hard against you, muttering, “Oh fuck, I’m gonna cum. Gonna fucking fill you up, put a fucking baby in there so you can never leave me again.”

There it is. The jealousy. The possessiveness. The craziness that you fucking love. And that’s all it takes for that coil to snap again. Your release crashes over you as you scream Toji’s name out, not caring who hears. He thrusts into you hard, fast, grunting, kissing your face sloppily until he pushes his cock into you as far as he can go. You feel him cum before he says he’s cumming, the warmth of his release filling your pussy, painting your pink walls white.

Toji buries his nose into your hair, trying to catch his breath as you both come down from your highs.

You’re an idiot. 

You tell yourself this as you come down from the high of your back to back orgasms. 

You’re an idiot…And maybe just as crazy as the man you ran away from in the first place.

Toji pulls out of you, tucks his cock away back into his pants and spins you back around. Toji places a wet kiss on your lips and takes your hand in his. 

“Let’s go home.”

[styllwaters]

KNIGHT DEITIES

It's been a hot minute since I posted Vivere 44 art. Been intensely busy with school for the past few months but now that I've graduated I've got a lot of time to kill! Since the Knights post surpassed 1k notes I figured I may as well elaborate on them more. I'm so blown away by how much love they're getting already! Thank you all <3

I'm gonna talk a bit about Mountain and Plains Knight religions, mythology and a snippet of evolutionary history. I will cover Polar Knight religions in another post. The focus is on two gods in particular, Uwet-Jana and Kiraiarik.

_______

Uwet-Jana is the demigod of good health, vitality, and inner balance. In some regions they are also the god of fertility. The name of their Host is Uwetsil, and their Helmet is Serrjana. Mainly worshiped by Mountain cultures, Uwet-Jana takes the form of a Knight whose Host and Helmet are physically merged into a singular being.

Kiraiarik [pronounced ki-rai-ah-rik] is the personification of the host-helmet symbiotic relationship. They are the god of symbiosis, rebirth, and love. Kiraiarik was the name given to two immortal partners, a Host and a Helmet, who began as a singular being born to the sea in Ettera’s prehistoric era. Ettera decided to make them Two, one half (the Helmet) ruling over the sea and the other (the Host) having domain over the land. The story goes that in every form they take, they try to find each other - for their body remembers being One.

Both gods have lots of lore to their name. Further information below!

UWET-JANA

Uwet-Jana's Host body has long spines and red stripes like a Pike, and long fingerlike paws like a Helmet's manipulators. The Helmet section sports two long horns and elegant facial markings. Uwet-Jana has an iridescent sheen on their golden fur, catching the rays of the sun in a shimmering glow.

The story of Uwet-Jana is as follows: Both Uwetsil and Serrjana were born as runts, in a dark time when sickly Knights were seen as curses and not worth caring for. Their Order, believing them to be bad omens, cast them out to wander the tundra alone. They believed that the natural forces of Ettera (the Knight’s homeplanet) would quickly end them. However, Ettera took pity on the castaway, sending them three blessings. The first gift was a bone with marrow inside that ensured one is never hungry or thirsty again. Then, Ettera sent a warm, sweet wind into Uwet-Jana’s lungs which warded off all sickness and disease. Finally, a sun shower fell, the rains cleansing them and blessing them with a coat made of ivory and gold.

Transformed into a demigod with a hybrid body, Uwet-Jana was offered a place among the deities in the sky - but they refused, preferring to stay on the ground to share their gift with the mortals. Unbeknownst to them, their Order who had exiled them was struck by three curses from the Gods to mirror Uwet-Jana’s blessings: all the rivers in the area dried up and all their hunts were unsuccessful, leaving them with no food or water. Infections and diseases picked them off one by one, and a great storm ravaged the land, destroying their home and all remaining survivors. Uwet-Jana now blesses Knight Orders who take care of their sick and ailing members, and ignores those who don’t, leaving them to the wrath of the Gods.

Although they are nomadic and always on the move, many Mountain Orders will refuse to leave any sick members behind. They may also keep ivory statues of Uwet-Jana in their bags as a token of good fortune. Sometimes these statues are filled with bone marrow, or have holes which make a whistling sound as wind passes through it as a reference to Ettera’s gifts. Occasionally Pike Helmets are born with an extra long ‘horn’ spike, and are considered a child/reincarnation of Uwet-Jana. Additionally, whenever it rains while the sun is still shining, it is seen as a blessing from the demigod.

_______

KIRAIARIK

Kiraiarik's Host is depicted as a small creature with a striped pelt to mirror its ancestral form, and the Helmet as an aquatic beast with long, trailing red fins. It is frequently shown twisting around the Host, sharing its blood. Kiraiarik is also often simplified as two disembodied eyes looking at each other. (And yes, the artstyle is a nod to medieval depictions of heraldic beasts!)

To understand Kiraiarik, one must be aware of how much Plains religions are intrinsically tied to concepts of evolution and paleontology.

Digression on the origins of Etteran symbiosis: 

Large stretches of Plains Knight deserts and scrublands were once submerged beneath the sea. As a result, there are countless fossil hotspots which have been unearthed over the centuries. These high concentrations of fossilised remains have lead to Plains cultures basing their religions around said discoveries. Although many features have been warped, the general timelines are strikingly similar.

For instance, a mass extinction event occurred on Ettera millions of years ago, caused by a series of catastrophic volcanic eruptions on a worldwide scale. This event is known in Plains culture as The Remaking, traditionally interpreted as the planet shedding its skin. Many species were decimated, but some groups survived; these happened to be phyla who possessed an exposed ‘Interfacer’ organ, a precursor to the specialised Integrator organ which connects the Host’s brain to the Helmet’s. Before The Remaking, there was no prior record of the deep symbiotic connection which Knights possess (scientifically deemed ‘Hyperadvanced Mutualism’). The Interfacer organ was used in the phyla for species to communicate simple stretches of data to each other, such as health and reproductive status. After the extinction, populations of these species were dwindling. To ensure their survival, an odd phenomenon occurred in which many individuals began to interface with different species who possessed the same organ - strangely enough, some were able to successfully exchange information. These individuals survived and passed on the practice to their offspring, eventually culminating in what would be discovered as a very primitive form of mutualism. Host and Helmet ancestors (pictured above) were some of the first species to achieve this.

As the planet recovered and populations increased, the relationship continued to solidify and become more complex, with symbiotic species sharing memories, emotions and complex thought. In modern times there is now an entire class of organisms on Ettera which possess an Integrator organ for Advanced Mutualism, including Knights.

Kiraiarik is said to be a manifestation of this relationship. After The Remaking, their two halves finally managed to find each other again, eternally locked in a joyous dance of love. (Side note: the love in question is not platonic nor romantic, but a deeper kind which is indescribable and not easily understood. Due to their intricate nervous systems, Knights have a higher degree of emotional intelligence and can experience sensations we would consider alien). When a Plains Knight is experiencing inner turmoil, they will often pray to Kiraiarik to restore a healthy connection. The god’s blessing is also called upon when an infant Host and Helmet first Assimilate.

Note: Many Plains ‘saints’ and deities have palindromic names which can be read both forwards and backwards, an indicator of holiness. Fun fact, the word Kiraiariku means “Your heart and mine are very old friends.”

Thank you for reading! More Knight content coming soon ;)

[peachesofteal]

Dad!John Price/female reader The Ocean anthology Note: The orcas mentioned in this series are based on a real population. Coolest things on this planet.

The strait is quiet. 

Fog rolls across glass, painting grey sea smoke on top of clear, hyaline waters, mirror images cast from horizon to cliff. It’s a prehistoric stillness, the kind that’s sung low in the belly of this passage for millions of years, volcanos and glaciers all doing their worst, their best, to shape and carve this land to be as it’s known now. 

Granitic wall looms above and below, plummeting into the earth beneath you until the water is too deep to see where it ends and hell begins, water and plants and light refracting into a teal green color. painting the pitch something most only see in magazines. It stretches tall too, forms the base of the islands, of all the land that flanks the strait, and you have to crane your neck to see where rock ends and soil begins. 

It’s a marvel onto itself, but you’re not here for the geology. 

Where are they? 

Your paddle dips, pushes, forging a path through the quiet, preternatural stillness, wrists to ribs moving with hypnotic pace. Left, right, left, right. Dig. Dip. Your lungs burn, muscles ache, and still you paddle, up and down the coast, maintaining your determined pace in the face of exhaustion, forcing yourself past the brink of logic and reason, as always, in the pursuit of passion. You focus on your breath, on the cold, settling it in your bones, falling into the beautiful rhythm that is paddling, cold sea spray dripping down to your gloves.

It’s easy to get lost in the quiet of the water. The fog and the cliffs crowd inwards, silent watchers of a sacred place, protectors of a balance long disturbed and derailed everywhere else in this world. Your paddle strokes in perfect time, kayak cutting through the eerie mists and propelling you forward, focus fixed on the horizon, looking, listening. Waiting. You simmer in the silence, straining to hear the telltale blow of air, the signal of surfacing.

Nothing comes.

Where are they?

Salmon jump in front of the kayak, shattering the serenity in their wriggling flight.

The residents elude you. You say good morning to an otter, a sea lion the size of two men, some curious Dall’s porpoise, but are left bereaved at the noticeable absence of the pods. 

It’s the first day. It’s okay, it’s only the first day. 

The alarm on your watch goes off, just as the lighthouse, affectionately named Little Rock, looms ahead, faded and chipped green paint calling you back to the cove, a glacial breeze whipping under your goretex and neoprene, cutting to the quick, right down to flesh and bone. 

Time’s up. 

“Did you see them?!” Aly bounces on her toes at the edge of the dock, running alongside the pace of your paddling. 

“No.” Your tone is light, but you don’t hide the disappointment, and she smiles sadly, sympathetically. What a smart kid.

“I’m sorry.” 

“That’s okay.” 

“Are you coming in now?” You nod, motioning to the beach, and she skips ahead, running down the steps onto where millions of little pearled rocks give way under her feet, echoing the same as you run the fiberglass bottom of your kayak aground, popping your legs out on either side. 

“I know you wanted to see them.” Her eyes are wide and a little fearful. You frown. 

“I’ve got all year, I’ll see them. Don’t worry.” The assurance is tepid, but present, and she shrugs. 

“You should ask my dad. He knows where they are a lot.” 

“Oh yeah?” You could try. She nods, excited, shiny dark braids gleaming in the mid-morning sun. You glance around, looking for an adult, or someone who accompanied here down here, but there’s no one, and you chew on it, pulling your boat higher up than the tide will reach today. “Shouldn’t you like, be in school or something?” 

“I do school online.” She rolls her eyes, gap tooth grin stretched across her face. “It’s for gifted kids but I always finish early.” 

“Does your dad know you’re running around this place unsupervised?” She shakes her head, and then sobers, glancing towards the woods. 

“I’m not unsupervised.” What? You look the same direction, but all you see is the shadow of the forest, darkness so thick you’re not sure you could see your way in broad daylight. 

A chill traces your spine, ice cold and cautious, slow in its discovery, pressing against your skin like it’s moving under your clothes. You gasp, whirling and- 

There’s nothing. Only the lapping of the tide, the gentle waves that rake through the shore. Your beached boat. Remnants of the morning’s mists. 

Must’ve been the wind. 

The Ranger’s daughter giggles. You raise an eyebrow, and then motion up the hill. 

“Want to head back with me then?”

“Aly!” The Ranger’s voice reaches you, even a hundred meters away. She sprints ahead of you, and your stomach twists, iced over fear spreading through your veins. 

He’s going to freak. He already hates you and now he’s going to think you kidnapped his kid or something. 

“Where have you been?” 

“Down at the water.” She kicks a rock, beaming. One of his too wide palms sweeps over her forehead, moustache and lips kicking to the side with a sigh. 

“Not supposed to be down there on your own, remember?” 

“I wasn’t.” She stands tall with her insistence, and proudly points at you. “I was with her.”

John straightens. He stares at you with a scrutiny that you’ve never felt, an intense pressure building behind your eyes, in your thighs, incinerating all the muscle in your body until you’re sure to explode. 

The silence is painful, and Aly hops from one foot to another. 

“You find ‘em?” There’s no softness in his eyes for you, only a hard edge, hand coming to rest on his daughter’s shoulder. 

“No.” You think he’ll turn away then, drift away in the wake of this encounter, but he holds you steady there, caught between him and the earth, crushing weights on either side. It’s unnerving, this stranger, this Ranger, a moon to a tide, and you swallow when he finally speaks, it’s with that rich timbre, the accent that twists you up in boundless knots.

“They make you earn it.”

“You should sleep with your window open.” Aly pipes up, and John’s mouth twitches.

“You can hear them in the cove, in the middle of the night.” He explains. “They hunt and play in the shallow off the beach pretty often. Though it’s too cold to be sleeping with your window open.” The last piece is serious, like a warning, but you’re already vibrating with anticipation, attention fixed through the trees, like you can see down the hill to the harbor.

When you turn back, John is watching you. Hard muscle and tone turned dulcet, there’s less shadow in his eyes, replaced by something wild, willful.

There for a second. Gone in the next.

“Well I’ve… work to do.” Paltry effort. It sticks in your mouth the way this man has stuck to your mind, lurking and wandering, leaving you wondering what he's doing on the other side of your bedroom wall, your living room. Wondering what he’s like, what he’s really like, under the clipped and caustic words, the churlish airs swirling around him whenever he lays eyes on you. He’s the definition of surly, and the reluctance to interact with you stings, even though you shove it down. Secrets lay beneath his ribs, you have no doubt, protected by his thick coat and wide frame, a mass of tenured muscle and strength visible under the heaviest wool.

He nods.

You turn your back.

"Leave a note, when you're goin' out." He's got Aly in hand, halfway up his side of the porch, breath fogging in the space between your bodies. "Shouldn't be out alone, without anyone knowing, alright?"

Leave a note.

"Alright."

[nonsensical-pixels]

BASEMENT TREASURES: the latest sims 4 kit, converted to ts2! [download - sfs]

have you ever wondered what lies in your sim's basement? sure, most of us have a torture room or two stashed away, but what if your sim isn't olive specter or hazel dente? where's my moldy moisture-eaten couches and prehistoric electronics? well, starting today, they're right here!

the moment i saw that this kit had released, i literally RAN to convert it. it's perfect for my older hoarder sims. plus, a lot of people asked for it 😅

this is almost the entire kit, save for the unbeatable stains, which--surprise, surprise--refused to get converted along with the others. i have plenty of similar stuff, though, so i'm not too upset. in total there are 25 items: 24 buy mode assets, and 1 wallpaper.

note: just before i posted this, i saw that @2fingerswhiskey already converted the retroplex tv console--you can grab their version here!

keep reading for credits + more info!

credits

ea/maxis for the original ts4 meshes & textures

items included

there are individual previews included in the actual download!

Big Box of Irreplaceably Replaceable Things (396 polys) Brass Floor Lamp (806 polys) Candid Coffee Table (148 polys) Dated Drywall (7 swatches) Disassembled Heart Bed (1712 polys) Dusty Trinkets (259 polys) Forgotten Frames (620 polys) Grandma's Couch (1487 polys) Mementos of Glory (361 polys) Records of the Past (112 polys) Relic of Good Times (454 polys) Retroplex TV Console (424 polys) Shabby Cardboard Box (94 polys) SquareTube (420 polys) Strange Reminescence Framed Photo (214 polys) The Best Seat in the House (905 polys) The Fun of Yesteryear (106 polys) The Graceful Ambition Standing Mirror (544 polys) The Moving Buddy (842 polys) The Not-So-Mod Lamp (302 polys) The Traveller's Trunk (782 polys) Uncle Bob's Dusty Rubber Plant (804 polys) Unmatched Chairs (452 polys) Unstable Wall Shelves (166 polys) Weary Wall Decal (2 polys)

things to note

The 'Graceful Ambition Standing Mirror' is repo'd to the 'Forgotten Frames'.

The 'Retroplex TV Console' is decorative only, get 2fingerswhiskey's version if you want it to be functional! They won't conflict :)

The mirrors have a slight issue where the reflection includes the frame, I'm very sorry, I tried my best but I couldn't fix it :(

if there are any unmentioned issues, please do lmk asap! happy simming 💞

( @sims4t2bb )

[homomenhommes]

Good Friday and Easter: A Cycle of Death and Rebirth

In the heart of spring, Good Friday and Easter stand as a duo, unified by their contrasts. The silence and sorrow of Good Friday lead us to the joyous celebration of Easter Sunday, a time that celebrates life and hope. These holidays symbolically represent the eternal return, the renewal of life, and the triumph of light over darkness.

From Pagan Spring Rituals to the Christian Festival of Hope: Easter, the focal point of the church year, is closely tied to the resurrection of Christ. Yet, its roots reach deep into history, to times when spring was honored through pagan festivals that celebrated the cycle of death and rebirth in nature. This piece delves into the history and significance of Easter, highlighting how it has evolved over time.

Celebrating Spring Since the Dawn of Humanity: Since prehistoric times, people have marked the arrival of spring with festivities that reflected the cyclical nature of life and themes of death and rebirth. These early celebrations were brimming with vitality, signaling the end of winter and the reawakening of nature.

Transformation Through Christianity: Between Good Friday and Easter As Christianity spread, many of these pre-Christian customs were adapted. The focus shifted to the story of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, turning Good Friday and Easter into symbols of death and new life, two sides of the same coin, emphasizing the profound meaning of loss and rebirth.

The Deeper Symbolism: Good Friday, a day of pause and reflection, paves the way for Easter Sunday, a festival of joy and victory. These contrasts illustrate the eternal cycle of life: darkness gives way to light, sorrow to joy, and from death springs new life. These themes are found worldwide in various cultures and religions, reflecting the human longing for renewal and liberation.

The Relevance of Good Friday: In many Christian traditions, Good Friday is a deeply spiritual day, marked by prayer and contemplation. Despite its contrast to the festive Easter, it is an essential part of the Easter tradition, symbolizing the emotional and spiritual journey from darkness to light, from death to new life.

The Cosmic Connection: Interestingly, the period of Good Friday and Easter often coincides with the transition from the Pisces to Aries zodiac signs, forming an intriguing contrast: Pisces represent conclusion and letting go, Aries beginnings, energy, and determination. This astrological phase mirrors the themes of Easter, providing an additional layer of interpretation.

[transformers-mosaic]

Transformers: Mosaic #580 - "Prime Factors - Part One"

Originally posted on February 14th, 2011

Story, Colours - John-Paul Bove Art - Ryan Button

deviantART | Seibertron | TFW2005 | BotTalk

wada sez: This is the first of a mirrored pair of strips by Bove, serving to establish that when Optimus Primal took on Prime’s spark in Earth’s prehistoric past, there was some degree of interplay between their memories; Optimus Prime’s iconic ironic line from The Transformers: The Movie is thus made literal, as he knows the outcome of the battle is predetermined. On deviantART, Bove remarked: “I always thought it was a strange thing to say unless you KNEW that one of you wouldn't be coming back. After all, he's fought Megatron many times before and they both left standing at the end. Now we know why... ;)” Bove would explain the mechanics of this in detail on Seibertron: “Just to explain, the idea is that Prime has had these visions since waking up on Earth for the first time but that it is only now that he's able to start seeing the shape of what's coming rather than just a feeling, which is why he says "Then it hits me" at the point he does.” He further clarified that Prime was not remembering his own death firsthand, but rather has Primal’s knowledge of Cybertronian history: “Well Primal would know that Prime died, as BW characters come from a time at least 300 years after G1 and would certainly know the circumstances of it. It's more the idea that a fragment of Primal's knowledge stayed behind, in the same way that the accumulated wisdom and knowledge of previous leaders is supposed to stay within th [sic] Matrix. That may not have been enough for Prime to have crystal clear knowledge of the future but certainly would have enough to have premonitions and a sense of deja vu about the circumstances.” To one reader who pointed out that knowledge of Earth had been deliberately censored by the time of the Maximals and Predacons, Bove said: “I don't think that was the case but I'm happy to be corrected. The presence of the Matrix (and references to Unicron) implies the events of the Movie would be canon in BW continuity. Black Arachnia also mentions that Starscream was killed by Galvatron, so again the events of the Movie at least were known. BW Megatron does try to kill G1 Prime so that the Autobots never win the war that leads to the BW status quo. If the events on Earth had not mattered or the information lost then Prime would not have been important to the outcome of the war on Cybertron and not worth Megatron's efforts.” Bove’s grasp on Beast Wars continuity has always been, well, shaky. Again, I find myself baffled by the behind-the-scenes process of the Mosaic project, as Bove remarked that this story had been written “about 3-4 years ago” by the time of its publication! Clean colors below.

[placeinthemiddleofnowhere]

I love him but ........

And hear me out........

Konig, my beloved

Is an absolute IDIOT

Like dhycjfsshiigvbjj

Compliments???? A simple "you look pretty" Is somehow turned into "nice face"

And omfg is this man hella clingy and he won't ask for attention he sulk and follow sneak for it sneaks sitting on the bed konigs beside them thigh to thigh BREATHING DOWN THEIR NECK, till he gets what he wants

Sneaks reading or smthin welp konigs thrown the object away AND FUCKER WONT SAY ANYTHING HE'LL SIT THERE LIKE 🧍‍♂️👀

And oh

My

Fing

God

This man is ANNOYING he'll purposely hide thing on top shelves speak in german to sneak and sneaks like

Girl wtf???

I love him

I do I swear but omg konig ffs calm yourself

König is a SAP when it comes to Sneaky.

I could easily imagine them getting ready to go out and Sneak is in the mirror kinda putting last minute adjustments on their outfit and maybe jewellery if they choose to wear any and König ends up getting caught staring. Sneak looks up at him through the mirror and laughs, turning and catching him red handed.

"See something you like?"

"Maybe..."

König's cheeks would turn pink right in front of Sneak and he'd look away for a second. Then he'd smile real wide and blurt out the first thing he could think of.

"I like your face."

"My face? What do you like about my face?"

Sneak would be giggling their ass off.

"I like seeing you concentrate when we get ready like this. When you bite your lip like that...I think its cute."

And thats the thing, no matter what silly things he comes out with, he still manages to save it. Cause when it comes to Sneak he could spend all day telling them about all the things he finds amazing about them. Even if he's a lil sassy to them sometimes ✨

-☠️-

"What do you want, hm?"

"What makes you think I want something?"

Sneak would look behind them and come face to face with their ridiculous boyfriend. They'd look pointedly down to the arms and legs that have managed to wrap themselves all around Sneak like giant snakes and immeidatley sigh. It's times like those when Sneak likes to recount their date to the museum and will always remember walking through the nature hall, specifically the prehistoric section with the massive animal model that was stood tightly hugging itself to a tree.

"You've gone Megatherium mode," they'd say, shoving him playfully.

"Maybe I just want to hold you," König would say indignantly.

"Or maybe I spent five minutes on my phone and not paying attention to you?" Sneak would laugh.

"...Well, that's certainly a theory."

"Ok, big boy. I know when to take a hint, I'll get off my phone!"

-☠️-

I could imagine them getting into a stupid tiny argument over something sooooo small. While Sneak was trying to push through it and talk to him, König would be there arms crossed shrugging and answering back in German.

"You know that I know you can speak English König, don't do this to me right now!"

"Ich fürchte, Sie irren sich," he'd sniff.

"I don't know what that means!"

And König would stand there smiling smugly continuing to talk in German while Sneak threw their hands up in defeat and gave up trying to talk their side of it.

[karniss-bg3]

Something I think about an bit is spiders are cold blooded so are driders and if so how dose kar’niss del with winter or the shadow lands they look quite cold and last question could you ever tell me how you think an drider book lung works (aha sorry that’s all and I love your posts)

I had to go down some wacky rabbit holes to really hash this one out. One thing I will say for this blog, it’s made me more educated about topics I never would’ve considered before. I expect by the time my tenure is finished I’ll walk away a certified genius.

...Or just as goofy as I’ve always been. Either way it’s a net positive.

Here is the problem I run into when trying to work out the intricacies of fantasy creatures...I don’t know what rules to use. By that I mean there are nuances to consider when asking “How does Kar’niss _____?” Am I basing this off of real world examples or examples from the world in which they are from? If so how does that impact the overall conclusion I come to? Is it fair to compare a drider to an animal from our planet without knowing the physics of Faerun? Is their gravity the same, the climate, the oxygen distribution, the atmosphere? It’s the classic “Adrian overthinks bullshit because he doesn’t know how to do otherwise” story hour. That isn’t even taking into consideration how magic may impact the answer especially considering magic is intangible and a made up concept whose rules change from medium to medium. This is the world’s most frustrating fun house where every mirror reflects a different outcome and I’m too derpy to consider them all.

Now that I’ve got the long winded non-sense out of the way, here is the best assessment I could cobble together.

The problem with Kar’niss’ anatomy is it’s unclear how the two halves work together. Spiders in our world do have lungs but they do not have active breathing mechanisms like a diaphragm in humans. However, Kar’niss has the ability to speak, ragged as it may be. This leaves me with the assumption that the lungs in his torso still function, giving him the ability to inhale and exhale in order to talk. But Kar’niss’ heart and lungs would be far too small and pathetic to maintain the spider half with as large as it is. So I have to conclude that even if the two halves of them are attached, the only thing shared between them is a digestive tract. The blood he consumes has to go somewhere and he can’t nourish only one half and neglect the other. I believe all of his digestion is done in the spider half and the stomach in his drow torso is basically non-functional as a result.

Where we run into a bit of a hitch more stems from how big Kar’niss is. Even if his spider body doesn’t have to worry about maintaining the drow torso via heart and lungs, it has another issue; Available oxygen. Prehistoric insects from the Carboniferous period were huge, far larger than anything we see today. This is because of how dense our air was with oxygen which allowed them to increase in size without side-effects. So I have to ask, how high is the oxygen content in Faerun? Does it matter? Probably not! It does make me wonder how an arachnid body that large, whether drider or giant spider, survives if the oxygen in the air is low. Humans, giants, demons, driders and all manner of creatures can co-exist in a fantasy realm where the rules are made up and the points don’t matter.

While I could go into detail about the difference between human lungs and spider lungs I think I’d be splitting hairs at that point. When it comes to Kar’niss I think both bodies have working organs that are suited to the body they are in, which is the only reason this macabre union works at all.

As for how Kar’niss survives the cold that is also an interesting question to answer. Driders don’t usually wear armor but they can if so inclined, which means they aren’t worried about being naked as a jay bird. This question is a bit compounded by the fact that most driders don’t leave the Underdark, an area notorious for lack of sunlight. So I had to tap dance my way back to real world spiders to find a reasonable answer for this.

The first step in how spiders survive the winter is by adapting to the cold temperatures. They do this by increasing their metabolic rate, which helps them generate more heat. This allows them to stay warm even in the coldest temperatures. They also produce antifreeze proteins, which help them survive in temperatures as low as -10°C. Another strategy spiders use to survive the winter is by avoiding freezing. When temperatures drop too low, spiders can start to freeze with the water particles surrounding them. To prevent this, spiders produce cryoprotectants, which help them survive in sub-zero temperatures. These cryoprotectants act like antifreeze, preventing the spider’s cells from freezing and allowing them to survive even in the coldest temperatures.

While I am not sure if this is the same thing driders would do, I imagine they must come with some way to contend with ambient temperatures to keep themselves from freezing. I vote slapping a striped scarf on him and hand him a cup of hot cocoa. It’ll taste like ass to him, but it should do the trick all the same. Just don’t let him spit out the hot liquid onto your face, I am not responsible for any burn related injuries that may occur.

I hope even a fraction of this made sense. It was the long way of saying “RANDOM BULLSHIT, GO!” Eh, close enough.

Thanks for the ask!

(Side note: I just learned drider vampires exist. As if things weren't already fucked up enough for the poor bastards.)

[inkyleaf]

TG 209: Immemorial (M2F Story + Race Change)

“Okay…what do people actually do at the mall,” Daniel asked himself as he was driving while checking his combed blond hair in the mirror. He had finally worked up the courage to ask one of his coworkers to a date, and the first idea that came to his mind in the moment was going to the mall. “We’ll look through small stores, eat fast food, and… This is gonna be so lame, what a shit idea.”

“Heyyy Sena!” Daniel eagerly greeted his date, unsure of whether it was too soon to go in for a hug or not while slowly walking up. “Hey,” she replied with a slight smile. Her beautiful black hair framed her round Japanese face perfectly, and her makeup made her lips look delectably plump and full. “How’s it been?” Daniel asked. “How was the drive?” As Sena took a second to reply, Daniel thought to himself, those are the most boring openers I could ask…I gotta get it together.

The pair walked into the mall while making awkward small talk. Sena was beginning to catch on to Daniel’s nervous body language and inability to flow with a conversation. Trying her best to not make the date a total failure right out the gates, she suggested peeking into an ominous store on the first floor of the mall that used curtains instead of glass doors and windows like every other store. The room was dark, dimly lit with only a few lights and the glows of foreign artifacts on tables and shelves. The heavy scent of incense was also thick in the air; however, coming here had already given Daniel more hope than he thought he’d find – this place was interesting!

Everything on display, from small statues to large and obscure jars and weapon-shaped objects, had either an alien-like and futuristic presence or a prehistoric vibe that outdated anything the pair could have imagined. Speculation on where anything in the store could have come from quickly began to break the ice between Daniel and Sena. They were so engaged with the items and each other that they hadn’t noticed the shopkeeper, a dark, elderly woman, hidden behind a newspaper at the corner desk who was taking occasional peeks at her new customers.

At the back of the room, Daniel noticed a large, short, and circular object rooted to the ground. Leaning over it, thinking it was a table, Daniel quickly realized it was a well and grew nauseous at the thought of falling in. “What’s that?” Sena asked, peering from behind Daniel to take a photo of the well without realizing what it was in the dark. Thinking it was a table, she extended her arms over the opening to take an overhead photo before accidentally dropping her phone into the hole.

“Ohmigod?!” Sena exclaimed, realizing what she was looking at now. Daniel was stunned into silence, unsure of what to say or do. “Can we…can we save it?” Sena asked herself out loud, noticing a dull ladder strapped to the inside of the well. “Uhm…” Daniel nervously looked around, still failing to notice the presence of the shopkeeper and her small desk through his panic. “I-I guess I could just…” Daniel muttered, noticing the ladder Sena was positioning towards. Wanting to make an impression as a tough go-getter, he reluctantly climbed over the rim. The touch of Sena’s soft hands brought him confidence and comfort as she helped him secure himself to the ladder.

Daniel descended slowly, always ensuring that the next rung down actually existed. It wasn’t long before he was descending in pitch-black darkness with how little light shone from the room above. “Whoa!!” Daniel suddenly exclaimed when he couldn’t feel any more rungs of the ladder below him, dangling his foot in open air. His sudden shift of weight to climb back up caused the ladder to creak at its hinges. “Dan?” he heard Sena’s voice echo down. He tried to climb faster and faster, soon hearing a second creak from the ladder that sealed his fate. “Fuck-!” was all Daniel could shout as he began to fall with the broken ladder, his body becoming completely tense and paralyzed in instinctual fear and self-defense. He eventually felt his head bash against the cold stone of the well, then stopped feeling anything at all.

When Daniel regained consciousness, he had no idea if a second or a year had passed. His mind was completely blank for many long minutes as he struggled to even flutter his eyelids. As the sensation of touch began to return, he could tell he was lying in something bristly and uncomfortable. After another several long minutes, someone was looking down at him. “H-Hello?” a voice stuttered. Daniel’s eyes burst opened as he screamed at the man with primal panic, rolling out of the haystack he was on. His head whipped around back and forth, unable to comprehend the bright fields of grass, soil, and animals around him.

The man who had spoken to Daniel slowly approached him with an extended pitchfork. “Easy, easy,” he muttered as if Daniel was a wild animal. Daniel was backing away on his hands and feet, hyperventilating while putting all of his energy into not passing out. After a brief pause, he rolled and stumbled onto his feet, bolting in the opposite direction into a large field of tall grass.

Daniel allowed himself to fall back onto the ground after a few minutes of intense running. Each gasp of a breath felt like an insurmountable challenge, and the heat of the sun was beating him down just as hard. Through his scattered and hazy vision, he looked at his surroundings and down at himself. Something about his hands looked off, but he didn’t have the energy to think about it over his immediate need for figuring out where he was. He pulled his phone, wallet, and keys out of his pockets only to realize they had become useless stones vaguely resembling what they once were. Fading in and out of consciousness, Daniel trudged his way to the first sign of civilization over the course of many long hours.

Noticing a small creak with small buildings on the horizon as the sun was setting, Daniel plunged his face into the water for a drink, giving him the first boost of energy he’d felt since waking up. After splashing the rest of his body and clothes with water, he studied his arms and hands as he made his way toward what looked like a large town.

“These aren’t my hands,” Daniel muttered, opening and closing them while walking. They had become much smaller with slim fingers and long nails. But what really threw him off was that their skin tone was distinctly different, almost matching Sena’s. His forearms looked odd due to his smaller wrists that bulged out into his regular Caucasian arms that appeared unchanged, like a bad tan line with an extra deformation.

As Daniel neared the small buildings on a cobblestone path, he was approached by a man wearing parts of a medieval knight’s armor. He looked and sounded intimidating, but only asked basic security questions. Daniel was frightened, but was also hopeful that answering honestly would help him understand where he was. Stating that he was from America confused the guard, but Daniel looked and sounded so beaten down and pathetic to where the guard deemed him as a non-threat and allowed him to enter, pointing him to tavern.

Men and women dressed in linen, wool, and fur aprons and tunics were everywhere, walking between small wooden or stone buildings and outdoor vendors. The air was heavy with scents of meat and sweat, but also held a natural purity that Daniel couldn’t describe. His T-shirt and jeans had become haggard, but still retained much more modernity than everyone around him, making him stick out in the crowd.

Daniel nervously entered the tavern, having never been to a bar before despite being 30 years old. The blaring sounds of men and women laughing and shouting would have normally deterred him, but he was too tired to care, and needed to get back home. He walked straight up the barkeeper and asked him where he was. The barkeeper told him that he was in the commune of Luka, but wasn’t able to answer any questions regarding to where in the world that was. When Daniel pleaded telling him that he needed to get back to Sena and back to America, the barkeeper looked at him like he was speaking a foreign language. Based on the way Daniel was talking and by the way he was dressed, the barkeeper assumed he was a lost foreigner.

With no where else to go, Daniel trudged around the small town looking for any shred of shelter he could find. After dark, he ended up hopping into an outdoor vendor’s space near their house once it was empty, giving him a table and a short rock wall for protection. He began to panic and cry as he attempted to sleep in the dirt and grass, feeling as if he was going to perish soon if he couldn’t return home. Through his anxiety, he was barely able to sleep for over a few hours.

At the crack of dawn, the man in the house was yelling for the guards. “Intruder! Intruder!” he shouted through his window, seeing Daniel huddled up under his outdoor table. Still exhausted and groggy, it took a second before Daniel realized that he was the one being shouted at. “Get out, thief!!” Daniel hopped the wall and ran straight forward, bug-eyed and disoriented, until he couldn’t hear anyone anymore. He collapsed in front of a wooden building near the edge of the town, unable to recognize how hungry and malnourished he was through his overwhelming exhaustion.

Sometime later, an old man opened the door and was met with the sight of a fallen Daniel. He tried to wake him up, confirming that he was still alive, but largely unresponsive. Runaway foreigner, the man thought to himself as he dragged Daniel inside. The man, who happened to be an innkeeper, had an altruistic desire to help Daniel rest and clean up. But he also assumed that helping Daniel would earn him a few easy pounds based on his foreign clothing.

The man loaded Daniel into a wooden tub with his clothes still on and brought out a few warm bread buns that he’d been preparing since last night. Daniel’s mind was too numb for manners, immediately gobbling down the bread as soon as it was handed to him. The man spoke to him as he washed with water and soap, asking where he was from, why he was here, and how he came to be so beat up. It took awhile for Daniel to respond, and when he did, he got the response he expected. The man, who introduced himself as Conrad, had no idea what ‘America’ was, or where he was in the world other than the commune of Luka. Conrad praised the area, as it was connected to docks on the ocean with plentiful resources.

After being cleaned and fed, Daniel was allowed to sleep on a real bed and happily knocked himself out. Conrad resumed his business throughout the day, taking care of and feeding the locals. Later that evening, to his dismay, Daniel was unable to pay him for the premium services he’d provided. Despite having every right to be shameless in his impossibly taxing situation, Daniel couldn’t help but feel a little guilty at the sight of a sad old man. After further discussion, with Daniel telling Conrad about having no shelter or home to go back to, Conrad let Daniel live in a small dusty attic in exchange for 10-hour work shifts six days a week, assisting Conrad with general innkeeping duties and with cleaning starting tomorrow. Daniel sighed – he wasn’t looking forward to it, but it was the best choice he had.

Daniel spent the evening setting up and cleaning his new living space. Finally having a moment to himself, he rolled up his sleeves and noticed that his arms looked different. Although it was difficult to tell in the dimming natural light from the one small window, the awkward tan lane and bulge were gone, as his arms had completely shrunk, smoothened, and lost their hairiness and Caucasian hue. His biceps were skinny as usual, but they held a subtle roundness around his pits and elbows that could only be described as feminine. “What the fuck is happening to me…” he muttered, gently feeling his arms up and down with little fingers. “Why am I even here, and what the hell is this…” Daniel couldn’t stop himself from trembling and crying again as he slept on a thin mattress.

As he slept, Daniel’s shoulders rounded and diminished over several hours, slimming his upper frame and giving his T-shirt an uncomfortably baggy fit. The skin across his chest and back slightly darkened into a beige hue somewhere in between his natural color and the colors of his arms while his body hair around those areas either thinned or evaporated.

Having been immediately put to work the next morning, Daniel hardly noticed what had happened to him that night. In between cleaning the inn, washing clothes and dishes, and moving and counting inventory, he managed to have a few conversations with either Conrad or some of the guests who were also foreigner traders visiting from the docks. Now that he was less frantic and no longer in need of food and shelter, he meticulously recounted the events leading up to this day, telling his story to anyone who would listen. People were generally interested in hearing tales about the land of America, a fairytale of a place they could only imagine, but once sadness and desperation filled Daniel’s voice in asking how to return home, no one could even begin to think about any solutions other than sailing or walking in the direction he came from. When Daniel kept repeating on how he fell down a well into a haystack, people became distant and assumed he’d damaged his head.

After a long and arduous first day of work, Daniel dedicated more time to interviewing the locals, and even spoke to a doctor about what was wrong with his arms and hands. The doctor was fascinated, but went on to state that diseases were sent as a punishment from God. When the doctor’s only treatment offer was to amputate Daniel’s arms, Daniel began to understand just how primitive these people were.

Daniel groaned in frustration as he tried to sleep that night, wondering if he’d ever make it back home again. He thought about how worried his friends and family must have been. Looking at his feminine arms made him think of Sena, as if some small part of her was with him. Once he managed to fall asleep, he had a strange dream. He was looking up at an Asian woman in a voluminous dress from the perspective of a child. The woman put a small necklace made with flower pedals around his neck, filling him with an overflowing amount of giddiness. As he looked down and held it up with a child-like hand, Daniel woke up and immediately forgot what he had dreamt about, but still retained the happiness he felt for a few brief moments.

“You’re late!” Conrad yelled at Daniel as he climbed down from the attic. “I-It’s so early, though,” Daniel replied with a yawn. “It does not matter, there are traders on the docks. We should be ready for business as soon as the sun is at the horizon.” Disgruntled, Daniel got to work cleaning and preparing food for the sleeping guests. It’s either this or the streets, I guess, he reminded himself.

As Conrad dealt with an increased customer count, most of Daniel’s work today was behind the scenes, giving him a lot of time to think. It was only his second day of work and he was already fed up with how much labor he had to put into basic things like cleaning, laundry, and preparing food and drink due to a startling lack of technology. Once the gruesome shift was over, Daniel didn’t even know how to spend his free time. The locals were clearly useless, and he had no interest in drowning himself with alcohol despite how good the escape from reality sounded on paper.

Daniel strolled through a bustling outdoor marketplace looking for more food, even though he did not have money to pay for anything. No cameras, no tracking, no cops…well, no real cops. With a swift motion, Daniel snagged an apple from a vendor’s bin when he was talking to another customer and concealed it under his shirt. He did the same to a few raw vegetables, and turned the corner into a different part of town before any suspicion arose. “It’s that fuckin’ easy, I guess,” he said to himself as he bit into the apple.

Daniel talked to himself as he lay down in bed that night just to let his thoughts out of his head. As he spoke, he realized that his fear of being in a new foreign place with no technology was mellowing out into homesickness. He tried to rationalize the changes to his arms by telling himself that nothing made sense anyway. He questioned if he was even still real and alive. He wanted nothing more than to go home again and for his life to make sense again, but on the other hand, his mind was beginning to devise ways to thrive in a world where he was clearly the most intelligent person.

Daniel faded in and out of sleep that night, groaning from pressure slowly and intermittently affecting different parts of his body. His legs and spine shrunk over the course of several long hours, while the fat in his stomach began to level and squeeze itself further down his into body, giving him the feeling of constipation. Despite his frame diminishing, Daniel could only feel bloated, as the sensation of his hips and pelvis broadening and stretching his skin until sunrise was the most prominent. The beige hue surrounding his torso had also enveloped the rest of his pasty body, but it was subtle enough to look like a minor sun tan.

As an irritable Daniel stood up the next morning, it became clear that the clothes he’d been wearing would no longer cut it. His pant legs dropped lower than his feet, and his shirt was even baggier and could have been pulled to the side to reveal his whole shoulder. Knocks from the attic door startled Daniel. “Busy day, hurry up!” Conrad yelled. “Oh my fucking God give me a second!” Daniel yelled back in anger. Conrad slowly opened the door to the attic with a look of disgust on his face. “If you use the Lord’s name like that one more time, you are gone. Do you hear me? That use of language is blasphemous and unacceptable.” “Sorry,” Daniel huffed with a deep sigh.

After taking a moment to collect himself, Daniel went downstairs and asked Conrad if he had any spare clothing, stating that his usual clothes had become damaged. He was told that he could use clothes from the storage room, a room that he had perfectly organized yesterday. After trying on a few of the different peasant clothes, Daniel ended up with a small cotte that covered his body. The bottom of the cotte ended between his knees and ankles like a long tunic or a modern-day dress. Seeing both men and women wearing similar attire, he didn’t think it would stand out. What did stand out was the slight curvature around his hips that uncomfortably shifted with every step. Having to get right to work, Daniel wasn’t able to pinpoint what felt off about him outside of his height, but he was getting the sense that something was very wrong.

Watching traders and locals come in and out of the inn all day gave Daniel an exciting idea. After the long work day, he visited the marketplace and stole a few pieces of fruit and vegetables with the mind to resell them as add-ons to the inn’s guests on their way out. He didn’t know how currency worked here, but noticed that a few apples made up a pence and decided to follow the same model. Unlike yesterday, Daniel came in and out from different directions, hoarding food underneath a bush to take back to the attic all at once in a bag tied to his cotte. No one has small pockets here…that would be an easy money-making idea, I think.

Unfortunately, Daniel wasn’t able to sneak a whole bag of food past Conrad as he returned to the inn that evening. Conrad scolded him, thinking that Daniel had money when he was previously told that he didn’t. Daniel lied and said he had made friends with some farmers, but Conrad wasn’t convinced. Nevertheless, Daniel returned to the attic with a cold, fake apology. Putting his bag aside, he threw his cotte off and gave his naked body a good look for the first time that day. He brushed his hands up and down his hips, also noticing that his legs had become nearly hairless. This isn’t… This can’t be real, I don’t look like this.

Strange visions and half-dreams came to Daniel as he tried to sleep that night. He saw flashes of dancing Asian women and sacks of heavy coins exchanging hands. In one of the dreams, he was turning his head back and forth looking up into a secluded room from the perspective of a child again. Long black hair bounced back and forth against his face. He couldn’t quite form an image of his body when he looked down, but he saw the small flower pedal necklace around a tiny neck.

Before the sun rose, a half-conscious Daniel reached for his morning wood, faintly recalling the images of the dancing women. He also thought about Sena and how much he wanted to see her again. “Mmm…Hmmmph…” Daniel hummed quietly, feeling an unusually intense buildup as he stroked up and down. His scrotum began to squeeze his testes hard against his body, bringing him both pain and pleasure he had never felt before. More visions began to flash, simultaneously being very quick and clear. He was bent over a table with something inside of him in a way he couldn’t have imagined. Then, he was slipping his feminine arms through a dress, notably feeling something on his chest. Finally, he was talking to a man across a table in a foreign language. He couldn’t tell what he was saying, but he knew he was spinning some kind of blackmail from the fuzzy expression of the man.

“Fuuu…Fuuu…ck…” Daniel moaned, bringing his mind back to sexy women as he edged closer. He pictured a sexy Asian woman teasing a man in a chair with her ass. Another vision flashed before him, showing him a dusty wall. He felt like his own ass was shaking for a fraction of a second before he reimagined the scene. Asian chick… Sena… Touching Sena up…and down… Dancing… “Fu-uucaakk…!!!” Daniel’s balls fully inverted into his body as the most powerful orgasm erupted from his cock, roping cum across his face and body, and hitting the mattress and floor behind his head. Trembling and panting loudly, he kept jacking his cock long after his last drop of cum. It felt so good, and it felt like something still needed to get out. He wasn’t able to notice his diamond-hard dick shrinking until his clenched hand nearly closed into a fist.

“A-aAah-! Aa-HaAah-!” Daniel continued to shake and moan uncontrollably, trying to throttle his little dick as best he could while feeling his increasingly wet crotch. The cramps he felt from newly developing innards weren’t enough to snap him out of his high. Numerous folds formed around the thin slit his balls left behind. Daniel didn’t even realize his little fingers were slipping into his body as he rubbed himself. It wasn’t long before his manhood was small enough to hide at the crest of the folds, but he could still feel it and was desperate for more. The schlicking sound in his room became as audible as his moaning. He wasn’t even thinking anymore, a complete slave to his physical lust. All of the visions from before flashed again and again through his mind for what felt like hours.

“Awwhhhhaaahh…” Daniel finally let out a high-pitched mix between a sigh and a squeal 30 minutes later. His fingers were drenched and his heart was racing faster than it ever had. It took him several minutes to calm down before a single coherent thought could form in his mind. Patting his crotch, he knew that he should’ve been screaming and freaking out. His manhood was gone, and two sultry thighs were brushing against his hand. So much impossible absurdity had happened to Daniel that he couldn’t muster the energy to be surprised at anything else, and he was still riding a high from back-to-back climaxes.

Noticing sunlight peak through his window, Daniel stood up and threw his cotte on. His throat felt off as he tried to clear it. “Hello, hello,” he said to himself, sounding close to a prepubescent boy. Instead of worrying, he thought about how he could use this as an excuse to get out of work. He walked downstairs to greet Conrad, faking as deep of a voice as possible. “I think I have a bit of a cold,” Daniel lied. Conrad shook his head and told him to take the day off outside, not wanting any risk of disease affecting the food or visitors.

Daniel finally had a whole day to himself. He walked outside with a smile, breathing in the fresh air. He spent most of the morning walking around the town, familiarizing himself with its layout and mentally noting places of interest. He became increasingly self-conscious with every step as the morning high wore off, as he was unsure if anyone else could tell he had a pussy with the way his hips and thighs moved and swayed. As the afternoon rolled around, he began peeking into peoples’ homes, thinking about how vulnerable they were without technology or modern-day locks. He mulled over it for a few hours. I’m not really going to break into someone’s house…but what if I tried it just once?

Daniel nonchalantly picked up a small axe he found outside someone’s house as he continued his stroll. He walked to a far end of the commune to give himself the least amount of risk. This is just testing limits of this…medieval place… he thought to himself as he wedged the axe against a window in the back of a small house. Daniel had always been a soft-hearted man and had never thought about committing a crime this large. This place might not even be real, I might not even be real, he also thought, trying to numb his anxiety. The window on this house was made of wood and simply opened and closed. However, it was small enough to prevent most people from entering. Daniel pondered how he could enter, even his petite body felt like it would be too large. The axe he carried didn’t feel like it would accomplish much unless he wanted to cause blatant damage.

“You know what, let’s not do this,” Daniel muttered to himself, tucking the axe into his cotte’s pouch. His stomach was rumbling, so he went back to the market to swipe some fruit and bread for himself. He told Conrad he was feeling better when he arrived back at the inn that night using a fake deeper voice; otherwise, Conrad would have threatened to kick him out in fear of the disease. “Why do you sound like that?” Conrad asked. Daniel lied and told him that he crushed his balls tripping on a pier by accident, which gave Conrad a hearty laugh while also bringing his sympathy back. Daniel was able to eat all of the leftover food from the inn that night as a gift from the innkeeper.

“Today was a good day,” Daniel breathed to himself as he undressed, getting ready for bed. He looked and felt his body up and down again. Outside of his flat chest and tiny Adam’s apple, he was completely unrecognizable from the neck down – and female. He noticed stretch marks on his thighs and ass that weren’t there the day before. “This is so not real…I have to be dead or in a simulation…” he continued to cope with his impossible reality. Poking and prodding his vag sent shivers up his spine, as he was decidedly not horny unlike this morning. Why is this happening to me…I just want to go home.

As Daniel thought about going home while sleeping that night, he had an intense series of dreams that felt real. In one of them, he was driving a knife though a man’s chest, feeling his blood against his dainty hand each second. The man, on the verge of death, spit into his face, transitioning him to the next dream where he was in a dark room surrounded by young adult Asian women. They were practicing some kind of movements in front of and behind target dummies, almost like a play rehearsal. Daniel was also going through the same motions. He heard a Japanese word in his dream as he motioned a blunt stick against the neck of the target dummy. He understood the word, “vital.”

In Daniel’s final dream, an Asian man was walking up to him. Daniel couldn’t tell what he himself looked like, but as the man placed his hands on his chest, Daniel could tell that he had breasts and was being groped. Daniel hummed, bringing the man in for a passionate kiss before stabbing him in the back. The man stumbled forward, and Daniel held back his body weight while kissing him harder, driving and twisting the knife further in. His body felt like it was on fire with lust. Eventually, Daniel threw the man’s body to the floor to bleed out, then took whatever he had hidden in his clothes at the time.

I want to go home… The phrase echoed in emptiness within Daniel’s mind. Home…Home…Home… The brief memory of an Asian woman putting a necklace around his head flashed again. He looked down at his body suddenly, noticing the necklace above a pair of supple breasts. “Aaaah!” Daniel woke up yelling. He looked down and patted his chest, but it was still too dark to see anything. Unbeknownst to him at the time, his skin tone had become a bit more yellow, and his nipples had slightly swollen with a dark brown hue, but his chest was still flat. I’m okay, I’m okay, it was just a dream…

Unlike the previous days, Daniel was eager and ready to get to work that day. He had a massive headache and didn’t want to dwell on the dreams he had experienced. Throughout the day, he noticed the guests and customers looking at him a bit differently which made him too self-conscious to peddle off his extra stolen food to them. Daniel continued to question and doubt his reality as he worked tirelessly. As the evening approached, his stomach rumbled. All this time, he had been eating the bare minimum to keep him alive and it was starting to get to him. After swiping some fruit and bread from the market after work, he went around the quieter parts of town and discreetly tried to open the front doors of each house he passed by. Daniel quickly left after finding out a door was locked, not wanting to pursue further action. Just as he was about to give up, one of the front doors opened.

Daniel’s heart was racing as he stepped inside, realizing that he hadn’t thought about if people would actually be home or not. The house only comprised of one large room, making it relatively easy for Daniel to frantically scan. No one was home, but there was an open fire under a pot in the house, indicating that whoever lived here would probably be back soon. I should go, this is stupid, he thought. As he turned, he noticed small tied-up sacks on a wooden counter, reminding him of a vision he saw in his dreams. Fuck it! Daniel swiftly ran up, swiped the sacks, and left slamming the door.

After running for a long time to ensure that no one saw him, Daniel sat down by a low rock wall to catch his breath and examine what he had just stolen. He felt awful, but the sacks contained exactly what he was after – money. He spent the money on meat, eggs, and a little ale at a tavern that night which helped him clear his mind and fill his belly for the first time since falling down the well. “Sooo good,” he said as he licked his fingers, “better than meat in America.”

As Daniel finished up, he turned to look at a group of loud, rowdy, men who were clearly drinking too much. He’d always hated noisy “jock-like” guys which was why he had avoided places like this all throughout his life. “WhOt’rE yeW lOaKin’ aT?” one of them spat at him with a heavy slurred accent. Daniel quickly turned away and made his way outside. But the man had a point, what was he looking at? 

For the first time that day, Daniel noticed his distinctly tanner skin as he undressed that night, pouring himself a bath in a wooden tub with Conrad’s permission. The water felt so different against his smooth, sensitive skin than it had a few days ago when he first arrived. Lathering his body with soap felt good, and his nipples swelled again as he brushed over them with soapy hands. Daniel never liked the feeling of anything touching his nipples, but something felt different about them now. Once his body was relaxed in the tub, he slowly began to tweak them under the water. He would flinch and stop a few times, but kept at it. His legs spread and his other hand crawled down to please himself. He’d been trying his hardest not to think about how feminine he’d become, but it had come too far along to deny any longer. He was expecting to wake up with breasts any day now.

Daniel thought about Sena as he rubbed his clit, still unable to believe he was truly trapped in the commune of Luka for the rest of his life. Another part of him still thought he was either trapped in a messy simulation, or dead while struggling to move onto the afterlife. Maybe my spirit possessed a woman back in time, and she’s regaining control of her body, or something, he thought. Maybe I’ll move on when she’s done…to heaven? Fuck, I don’t want to die, though…

Daniel masturbated in the tub for a long while, but couldn’t quite reach the climax he desired. After laying down for bed, he stared at the ceiling in deep thought until falling asleep. More intense dreams bombarded him that night. He was on a boat, and long hair was being blown into his face. He didn’t know where he was going, but he knew he was escaping from some hostile force. Then, he suddenly found himself running with a sword in both hands, screaming shrilly as he thrust it into a man’s chest. More Japanese phrases filled his mind. He was being given orders to blackmail, intimidate, and make examples of other criminals and daimyos alike.

Waking up in a cold sweat, Daniel patted himself down and breathed a sigh of relief, not finding any new changes. His bare legs rubbed together with goosebumps, chilled from a rainy breeze. As he worked throughout the day, he found himself missing the food from last night more and more. His mind had been focused on his changes and his new environment for the past few days, but the hard reality of this lifestyle was setting in again. He had wanted to keep good relations with Conrad, but he wasn’t being paid and was mostly given leftovers to eat. Even his one day off was further delayed due to the ‘sick’ day he took earlier. Something had to give. Luckily, he managed to sell a few stolen fruits and vegetables to guests that day behind Conrad’s back.

Swiping food from the market wasn’t giving Daniel the same satisfaction it once had, as it became routine after work. He poked around front doors of houses again like yesterday, but didn’t have the same luck in finding an open one. However, he did manage to find a large house with a wooden window that opened on hinges that was big enough for him to fit through. It was in a crowded area, and just the idea made his heart race, knowing it was a crime. Peeking through the window showed him that no one was home. He hung around for about a half hour, waiting for the perfect moment when no one could see him crawl into the window. He saw bags of wheat, wheels of cheese, and a trunk filled with labeled bags of coins that made his eyes glow. After quickly snacking on some of the food, he took as much money as he could carry in the pouch of his cotte. Walking towards the window again, he spun to the front door to exit naturally, not wanting to arouse any suspicion.

As Daniel was eating like a king at the tavern that night, he heard whispers of a thief going around town. “Thas thee secund report ‘n two days!” a man yelled. “If I find this connivin’ lit’le bastard, he’ll be sent raight back t’ thee devil!” Daniel hunched over his food, at first feeling bad about what he had done. Not like I have a choice, right? He thought. No one’s going to pay me or feed me food like this… Fuck these people, they’re animals who weren’t forced from their homes like me.

The rain picked up again, forcing Daniel to walk home drenched. He had stayed out especially late that night, only to realize Conrad had locked the inn before he’d arrived. “Mother fucker, are you serious?” Daniel spat, pounding the door. He knew there were guests sleeping inside, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. Then, he pulled the axe from his cotte and started chopping at the door’s hinges, desperate to get out of the rain. The sound of the weather masked a lot of the noise Daniel was making. When going for the hinges didn’t work, Daniel busted a small hole through the door so he could unlatch the lock himself.

Swearing all the way up to the attic, Daniel wrung the water out of his cotte into a tub after stashing his axe and money near his mattress. Once his eyes had adjusted to the dark, he felt around for a new cotte in the storage closet. Although he couldn’t get an exact read on what he picked, he could tell that he picked a distinctly feminine one. I am so fucking done with this place, he thought as he marched back to the attic, knowing he couldn’t get enough sleep before work tomorrow. After laying down and undressing, he slowly caressed his body and up and down in an attempt to relax. He moaned and bit his lower lip as he tweaked his nipples with two dainty fingers, then his heart was racing before he knew it as something began to happen.

Veins were pressing against his hands and chest as he spread his legs and masturbated. Immense pressure was pushing up from within him. The small of his back arched up and down as he writhed throughout the process. The tiniest amount of fluid secreted through his nipples as flesh bolstered around them, expanding and jiggling with his movements. “Oh fuck…yesss…” Soon, he needed his whole hand to grab and contain his growing chest as the fat split into two distinct shapes. Memories of being fucked by Asian men flashed through his mind unexpectedly, allowing him to cum as he pressed and squeezed against his breasts. He squeaked a sigh of relief as he brought his wet fingers into his mouth, humming as he licked them clean. He tasted so good.

Daniel was only able to fall asleep from sheer exhaustion that night. The same memories he’d seen continued to flash through his mind in more detail and intensity throughout the night. He stood up and played with the modest bust he had grown the next morning. He couldn’t tell if his face had changed or not, and realized that it was only a matter of time before Conrad would probably see through his lies about changing.

“Daniel, my boy, are you a woman…?” Conrad asked as Daniel came downstairs. Daniel’s feminine cotte was still baggy enough to hide most of his features, but it was impossible to think he looked anything like a man from the head down. Daniel laughed, struggling through his fake deep voice. “Of course not, I think your eyesight might be going.” “But your garments, and your height, and…well, anyway, get to work.” Daniel thought to himself for awhile before asking: “How much money to rent a room for the night, Conrad?” Conrad was taken aback by the unexpected question. “Well, it would be six pence.” “Okay, and how much for the attic? Surely less than that, right?” “What is the meaning of these questions, Daniel?”

Daniel and Conrad began to argue. Daniel had decided he was fed up with working 10 hour shifts with no pay and sought to break the cycle. Conrad began to roar about how he was kind enough to take Daniel in during a busy time of the year, and how he had to deal with thieves – referencing the damage to the inn’s front door he noticed that morning. Daniel retaliated with how he could make more money than his room was worth in the day by picking fruit from the trees – and marketplace, which Daniel kept to himself.

Conrad begrudgingly compromised by giving Daniel another day off, which Daniel accepted despite having no plans to work for him again. He spent the day planning and stealing money in broad daylight with a high survival instinct, using the shadows and alleyways to dip in and out of foot traffic. Some people were dumb enough to have sacks of coins dangling from their cottes, which Daniel easily pickpocketed with the finesse of his fingers. Other times, he would notice someone walk out of their front door and simply slinked his way inside, knowing that it wouldn’t be locked. He would go in and out in under 15 seconds, pocketing any small things of value. He also noticed more guards among the citizens, as his thieveries were beginning to catch on.

Taking a break in the afternoon, Daniel sat by a clear stream. He looked into it and saw his reflection. He mostly still looked like himself with blond hair and blue eyes, but his skin was soft and yellow just like the rest of his body. He had only now realized that he wasn’t growing facial hair anymore. He grabbed at his chest and felt his body down again through the cotte, wondering how this had all happened and if he was going to die soon. Memories of being a seductive Asian woman were now clear in his mind from all of his dreams, but he knew that this wasn’t him. It couldn’t have been further off.

Relaxing at a tavern that evening, Daniel found his eyes drawn towards the rowdy drunk men again. Focus, what’s the next move, he would think to himself before becoming distracted again. He would then think about how the men were living their lives free of all social conduct and just having fun, which Daniel had also always wanted to do, especially in this primitive town. He crossed his legs under the cotte, feeling some warm heat in between them. Never going to happen. I know that I’m not gay.

“God, just make it stop,” Daniel groaned trying to fall asleep that night. His dreams and visions were louder than he could have imagined. The word “Tsune” kept ringing in his ears, although he couldn’t tell what it meant in context despite understanding all of the other Japanese words in his head. “This isn’t me…!” he whispered, practically living the memory of tying up long, black, silky hair on his head. Gasping for air in his half-asleep state, Daniel’s Adam’s apple rose and melded into his neck, practically making it invisible. Using all of his willpower to resist screaming in frustration, he simply wept, feeling completely powerless against everything happening to him.

By the time the sun rose, Daniel’s tears had dried up. He felt emotionless as he trudged downstairs. He didn’t even try to mask the feminine voice that he spoke with, and instead flipped Conrad two pence. “That’s for my attic room tonight,” he said coldly. Conrad stuttered, taken aback by what he was hearing. “You’re not Daniel, what did you do to him?” “Why do you care? Two pence for the attic tonight, are you taking or leaving it?” Conrad stuttered again before answering. “Y-You’re a wizard or a witch from a foreign land, I should have never taken you in! You’ve been nothing but trouble! Begone!” Conrad dropped the coins to the floor. “I’ve been nothing but trouble?” Daniel repeated. “I’ve been your slave ever since I came here. I’m the only reason the traders from the docks haven’t turned this place into a complete shithole!” Daniel picked his money up from off the ground and walked away, numb from his anger and disdain.

“Okay, breathe,” Daniel told himself, finding a place to sit alone by the ocean on the edge of town. “I’m done working my ass off like that. I’m free…but I’m still here.” Am I ever going to see my friends and family again? he thought, already knowing the answer. After days of consecutive thieving, the guards were on high alert, so Daniel decided to take the day to think and unwind. He bathed his supple Asian body in a stream and couldn’t help but swipe a few good pieces of bread and cheese after telling himself to stop stealing for the day. It took a lot of effort to not go to the tavern that evening, figuring it’d be best to save the stolen money he had.

As the sun set, Daniel felt an impending darkness growing within him. It was time to find a place to sleep. He knew the door to Conrad’s inn wasn’t fully repaired, it would be trivial to break in again and sleep in the attic. But he wanted something better. He found himself slinking through alleys until reaching the edge of the commune, finding the lone wooden house he had decided not to break into a few days ago. “Helloooo,” he cooed, knocking on the door. Hearing what sounded like a beautiful woman, the old man, who looked to be around 40 years of age, naturally opened the door, which is when Daniel forced himself inside.

Daniel’s face began to tweak and twitch. The old man was visibly confused and wanted an explanation. Don’t do this, I’m not going to do this… Daniel thought. He had no love or sympathy for the people of this town, but what he was about to do still felt like it was going way too far. “I need a place to sleep tonight,” he said. The old man sputtered, confused by the combination of Daniel’s voice, body, and face: “A-Are you-a wo…man?” “What a rude question!” Daniel laughed, feeling his cheekbones rise with a rounding jaw. His bottom lip felt plump as the shape of his chin diminished.

Daniel held the handle of his axe in his cotte’s pouch, shaking in place as he tried to fight off his inner desire. The old man meekly asked, “Where are you from?” “The Far East,” Daniel replied with no hesitation, feeling an accent come through his voice as his mouth became smaller. He flexed his tongue and licked his teeth as they transformed. The bridge of his nose flattened into his face as parts of his eyelids were stretched and folded into his skin. “You’ll let me sleep here, right?” Daniel said with an overly emphasized pleading voice. “I have nowhere else to go…” The old man, watching Daniel’s face change before his eyes, was terrified and didn’t know how to respond. Daniel continued as his watery blue eyes were consumed by a deep brown: “Please don’t make me do this.”

Daniel wasn’t advancing, but the old man continued to slowly back away towards the small window. The old man sounded like he was begging for his life as he sputtered: “P-Please, I have lived a full life. There probably are not many years left for me. Just g-get out of here, go away. Please.” Daniel inhaled a deep breath of air, feeling his eyebrows thin and darken with a fuzzy, almost ticklish feeling above his eyes. “Okay, I’ll go,” he finally said, loosening his grip on the axe. “I’m going,” he repeated to himself, managing to begin walking towards the front door through a brief mental struggle.

As Daniel was about to open the front door to leave, he heard the old man shout as loud as he could through his window: “GUAAAARDS!!” Daniel’s mind went completely blank as he gripped and threw his small axe square into the man’s head with one swift motion. He ran up to the corpse he’d just created and further pressed the axe in, holding it firmly like an animal driven by instinct to ensure that its prey would never move again. His blond hair had darkened and was beginning to cascade down his head, growing well past his shoulders and chest. Daniel had always hated the sight of blood, and looking directly at a cracked-open head made him want to cry and throw up. But those weaknesses were no longer present; somehow, this felt completely natural.

Daniel ran outside and moved between nearby hiding spots, staking the house out for hours to ensure that no guards came running. To his relief, it appeared that the old man’s call went unanswered. Daniel was exhausted, completely drained of energy and emotion, but he still had to get rid of the body before going to bed. He went into the old man’s basement through a trap door and found a large bag with some rope, then used them to haul the corpse all the way to the docks. Upon arrival, he took some loose rocks from a low rock wall to put into the body bag, ensuring that it would be weighed down when he pushed it into the ocean.

Daniel fell asleep immediately upon returning to the old man’s house and undressing, now claiming it as his own. Are you proud of me? he heard his feminine voice echo through his head as he slept. A ghostly figure of an Asian woman in a voluminous dress appeared, similar to the one from his first dream. She spoke in Japanese, which Daniel understood without issue: “My answer should not matter to you. But yes, I am proud of my Tsune.”

With an exhausted groan, Daniel woke up the next morning feeling her face and hair. Memories of last night came rushing back as she looked at the bloodstain on the other side of the room. It was all real. I took a man’s life. And I’m a… Daniel took several deep breaths, trying to calm her heart rate. Then, she got dressed and went to the quiet stream to see her reflection. “I’m a woman.” She turned and felt her face all around, noticing a very slight resemblance to Sena. Am I dead? Was Sena even real? Was I even real? Daniel undressed and bathed in the stream again, slowly feeling herself up and down. It felt more natural this time. As she closed her eyes to wash her face, she could envision memories of herself bathing as a young girl all the way up to adulthood.

Daniel drew a lot of eyes with her new face that day in town. She was the only Asian person, and probably the first Asian woman many people had ever laid eyes on. Despite her efforts to remain discreet, pompous men who wore their wealth on their sleeves greeted her and asked her all sorts of uncomfortable questions – Daniel simply noted them as easy targets before moving on. Daniel laid low for the next several days, casually stealing food and money whenever opportunities presented themselves while also getting used to her new body, face, and hair, and how people perceived her. Taking care of herself at her own pace felt like a nice change, both from Conrad’s work and from modern-day America.

Daniel didn’t bother trying to fight or challenge the visions and memories that came to her each night, as they had become routine by now. She remembered growing up as a young girl in the land of Kippon in the Far East, having to narrowly flee her home due to provoking too many enemies in the underworld. As someone who had been raised to spy, steal, and assassinate, the memory held a lot of shame. She also remembered wanting nothing more than to be like her mother, who was an incredibly attractive broker who also worked as a prostitute. These memories had become so loud and clear that Daniel had begun to question whether his life as a man in America had ever been real.

After a week had passed, Daniel found herself back at the tavern in a nice dress she had stolen earlier in the week, wanting to treat herself before formulating a real plan to how to live going forward. She knew that she couldn’t live in a dead man’s house without question forever, as it was only a matter of time before a manorial lord or baron sent someone to collect food or money. 

A man who looked like he could have come from the Mediterranean sat by a lone Daniel and asked the barkeeper to refill her drink. She had been dealing with unwanted attention ever since her transformation had finished and usually brushed men off with a few words. But this man had a different vibe to him, wearing a sleek headband with an open-button shirt, revealing part of his svelte chest. He introduced himself as a trader names Ermis. Unlike the other men who approached Daniel, he was interested in her culture, having only heard of people from the Far East in stories.

Daniel, who introduced herself as Tsune for the first time almost panicking on the spot, happily told Ermis tales of what she remembered from her dreams and memories. It felt distant, fake, genuine, and real all at the same time. Ermis also passionately spoke about his home country and culture in a way that had Tsune on the edge of her seat. The pair ate, drank, and chatted the night away for longer than they could have expected. Once the tavern was closing, Ermis told Tsune that he would love to get to know her a little better before sailing back to his country the following day.

Tsune had electricity running through her veins as she led Ermis back to her temporary house. A small voice still rung in the back of her head, saying I shouldn’t be doing this, this is wrong! But Ermis’s body, height, voice, and smile had become a drug to her throughout their evening. A glowing warmth radiated from between her legs that could not be satisfied by mere fingers.

Ermis and Tsune were all over each other the second that the room became lit with dim candle lights. Ermis held up one of Tsune’s raised legs as her hands glided in and under his shirt, then up to his rugged face and hair. Clothes were quick to come off, and before she knew it, Tsune was shrieking on her knees and elbows as Ermis broke his way into her on the bed. Her slanted eyes rolled into the back of her head as he took complete control, melting her like butter. The couple switched positions throughout the night, finally ending with Ermis spouting a massive load of cum onto Tsune’s face, into her mouth, and down her chest as she fondled herself.

Tsune fell asleep in Ermis’s arms after the couple caught their breath and cleaned up, having never felt so confident and assured in herself before. Ermis left Tsune in the middle of the night to return to his ship, leaving Tsune to happily wake up alone the next morning with some of the best feelings and memories she could have asked for. That was so fun… I needed that.

Now that all of her distractions had resolved, Tsune decided that it was time to get to business. She began dedicating hours, sometimes even full days to stealing money and objects while also creating maps of the commune and all of its little secrets and corridors. Keeping notes of potential shelters was also very important to her, staying prepared for whenever she would be upended from her current residence.

Another successful week has passed before Tsune was approached by a hooded man. The man told her that her endeavors had been noticed, and that she was invited to join a guild of thieves. She was naturally skeptical until seeing the guild for herself – a vast underground network where other thieves met, bargained, slept, and occasionally teamed up. It felt too good to be real to the point where Tsune almost declined out of suspicion. She was assured that, as long as she did her part to help the guild, she would be treated with food, shelter, and respect, even if most of the other members weren’t exactly friendly or open to a female foreigner.

Tsune dipped in and out of the guild throughout the next two weeks, honing her talents while getting reads on the guild’s members. Even without fully committing, her knowledge and talents were clear stand-outs to the point where even racist and sexist members of the guild began to develop respect for her. As she had predicted, the house she was living in was no longer safe after the tax collectors had realized the owner was no longer present several weeks later, forcing Tsune to take permanent residence in the guild.

With the thieves’ guild shelter and opportunities, Tsune was able to thrive as the young, beautiful, and lethally talented woman she was meant to be. Any lingering qualms she had about her new reality dissipated – she had become successful enough to eat, drink, laugh, and fuck whenever she wanted, all while maintaining her devilishly alluring feminine style with a new wardrobe of custom-made and imported Eastern dresses.

Two short years had passed before Tsune found herself leading the thieves’ guild, accepting the mantal after the previous leader had been killed in a heist gone wrong. Under her leadership, the guild was taken to new heights, rivaling the power of Luka’s own government while remaining in the shadows. Although she hadn’t realized it yet, Tsune had already exceeded her mother’s powerful leading example and was on her way to becoming one of the world’s most influential and infamous crime lords.

A Patron reward for IP, thank you so much! <3 This very long story finds a young man named Daniel on an innocent date before being thrust into a whole new world. And his reality isn't the only thing that's changing...

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[thesilicontribesman]

The Desborough Iron Age Mirror, 1 to 60CE, The British Museum, London

[spandexbutterfly4lyfe]

Prehistoric shawties without mirrors never saw they own puss puss. Tragic

[dougdimmadodo]

Aegirocassis (Aegirocassis benmoulai)

Family: Hurdia Family (Hurdiidae)  

Time Period: Early Ordovician (480 Million Years Ago)

Hundreds of millions of years before the first filter-feeding baleen whales developed, Aegirocassis benmoulai, a species of large marine arthropod, is believed to have lived an uncannily similar life to theirs: it is believed to have fed by filtering zooplankton (microscopic aquatic animals) out of the water using a sieve-like structure made up of highly modified limbs connected to its head, and similarly to baleen whales it seems that a diet of tiny yet extremely abundant animals allowed it to reach enormous sizes (reaching lengths of over 2 meters/6.6ft, which though not all that large when compared to many modern animals likely made it the largest animal to have ever lived in its time.) Aegirocassis lived in what is now Morocco (which at the time was beneath a vast ocean due to the extremely high sea levels during the Ordovician period), and is believed to have swam through the regular movement of two sets of flap-like membranes - the membranes on its ventral surface (underside) propelled it forwards, while the membranes on its dorsal surface (top) may have stabilized it and aided it in steering. Aegirocassis is an example of a radiodont (an extinct group of early marine carnivorous arthropods characterized by flexible segmented appendages on their heads used for feeding), and its evolution interestingly mirrors that of many other large filter feeders that would come after it: the first known radiodonts were small actively-hunting predators that are believed to have used their feeding appendages to grab and crush prey, and Aegirocassis’s ancestors were likely able to use their appendages to filter plankton from the water alongside their diet of larger animals before gradually developing appendages that were better suited to filter feeding to take advantage of highly abundant plankton, while the earliest known baleen whale, Mystacodon selenensis was much smaller than modern baleen whales and had both baleen and teeth (indicating that it too both actively hunted and filter-fed, and only later began to transition into a purely filter-feeding existence and develop more efficient baleen to enable a purely plankton-based diet.) The name Aegirocassis translates roughly to “Aegir’s Helmet” (with Ægir, anglicised as Aegir, being a supernatural being and personification of the sea in Norse mythology), while the species name, benmoulai, honours Mohamed Ben Moula, a fossil collector who discovered the first known Aegirocassis fossil in 2015.

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I’m generally more interested in extant animals than extinct ones, but prehistoric wildlife is still interesting and I was recently gifted a calendar that will give me a prehistoric animal for each month - if all goes to plan, I’ll aim to do a post about each “fossil of the month” for the rest of 2023!

Image Source: https://theconversation.com/fossils-of-huge-plankton-eating-sea-creature-shine-light-on-early-arthropod-evolution-38520

[wheredafandomat]

MirrorMirror🪞🖤

Bucky x female reader and Loki x female reader

18+ | TW⚠️ This fic is a gothic romance and will contain dark themes including infidelity, deception and maybe some scary ghosts. Please do not read if these things may be triggering for you. Contains smut. Also this fic is technically Loki x reader just a lil Bucky at the beginning 😉

Chapter 2

You retrieved your speaker from the back of the van deciding to play music as you both got to work unpacking. You knew it’d take way over a day to get things in place but there was no harm in starting already. The further you ventured into your new home, the more discoveries you made. You gasped when you stumbled across a library. Entering, your eyes scanned the contents, finger tracing over the dusty spines of books.

“Gotta be worth a few bucks right.” Bucky spoke from the hallway causing you to jump startled.

“Not that we’ll ever know, I want to keep them.” You replied, turning around and facing Bucky who was holding a box labeled kitchen.

“Alright, now can you come help me with these instead of exploring.” He requested, gesturing to the box in his hands.

“I’ll take that one.” You smiled, kissing his cheek as you took the box from him before heading to the kitchen.

When you first walked into the kitchen, you were surprised to see that there were already appliances there regardless of how medieval they looked. There was a kitchen island littered with various pots and pans, some even resembling a cauldron. You assumed that the kitchen was made of some kind of stone judging by how the walls looked and felt. It was strange seeing a kitchen that looked prehistoric littered with electronics. Some of the cabinets had mirrors on them which you thought was unusual considering you had never seen a mirror in a kitchen but you dismissed that when you noticed how tired you looked. Stepping towards the mirror, you took in your appearance. These mirrors were extremely clear, truthful. Your eyes were sunken in, dark patches around them. Your hair was messy, stray strands shaping your face. You leaned closer towards it, your breath steaming up the glass as you sighed. You felt stupid, this was the first day of your new life, you had just been given a castle and yet you couldn’t find it in yourself to be overjoyed now that you were finally here. You blamed it on the tiredness as you pressed your cheek against the cold surface of the mirror. You glanced back in it, shrieking when you saw something move in the corner.

Spinning around, your eyes darted around the room as Bucky raced in, dropping the box he held.

“Y/n, y/n, are you alright, what’s happened?” He asked, holding your shoulders.

“I-I saw something.” You stuttered, pointing to the floor although you weren't sure exactly where you saw it or what it was. Bucky looked around the room quickly before returning to you.

“It was probably just a mouse, I’ll lay some traps down okay doll.” He assured, kissing the top of your head as you began to calm down.

“Y-yeah, you’re probably right.” You agreed, still feeling slightly unsettled.

“How about we get started on the bedroom? Christen the place.” Bucky suggested flirtatiously.

“Okay.” You smiled, standing on your tiptoes as you reached up to kiss him. Bucky’s hand found the small of your back as he deepened the kiss, his tongue moving against yours. Reaching down, he lifted one of your legs as he pushed you back against the kitchen island. “Carry on and we won’t make it to the bedroom.” You spoke against his lips.

“Maybe we should start by christening in here.” He answered, dropping your leg as he lifted you onto the counter. He stood between your thighs, kissing you as one of his hands traveled between your legs. He unbuttoned your jeans before sliding his hand underneath them, tugging the waistband of your panties from your body to venture beneath those too. Your arm wrapped around him as you felt his fingers against your clit. You moaned into the kiss as he drew lazy circles over it. You widened your legs slightly, needing him to enter you which he eventually did with two of his fingers. The kiss turned into an exchange of pants and moans as your hand found his hardening length. You freed his erection, fisting him as he fingered you. Your hips moved on their own accord, grinding against his hand as he pressed his thumb to your clit.

“I need you Bucky.” You whispered needily against his lips. Mere moments later he had pulled down your jeans as well as your panties as he dragged you to the edge of the counter before angling himself inside you. You sighed contently as he entered you. One of your arms wrapped around his back for stability as he fucked you, barely pulling out at each thrust. The sound of him grunting filled your ears as you pressed your face into the crook of his neck, silencing your own delight. Where you were positioned, the mirror was in front of you as you lifted your head, looking over Bucky’s shoulder. Your eyes met your own as you watched yourself getting fucked. Your jaw was slack, eyes hooded, brows furrowed as Bucky drove you to your climax. Watching yourself only fuelled your pleasure, your hidden voyeuristic nature reveling at the sight. Despite the only eyes on you being your own, you couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched by something or someone external.

You both eventually came before Bucky carried you up to the master bedroom. He had already unpacked bedding which was excellent considering how tired you were. You laid against the bed, your back against Bucky’s chest as he ran his hand up and down your arm. This was nice, welcomed. Bucky was usually either at work or sleeping before going to work, so moments like these ones were rare, almost stolen. He had booked a few days off for the move and you were going to take advantage of them.

Like most of the rooms you had seen, this one had a mirror too, it was a full body mirror that was positioned opposite you, you glanced at it, savoring the image of Bucky wrapped around you like he was before eventually falling asleep. You didn’t feel it when he got up and made his way to the en-suite. You didn’t hear when the shower turned on or how it was still running with Bucky inside when you felt the light stroke of hair being stroked out of your face.

🪞🖤

A/N: I promise this gets better!

Next

[scatterghosts]

Instructions for regaining full possession of my body

1. Shut the door and lock it

2. Turn on music, something fast that makes me want to dance—something that makes me feel wild—nothing that reminds me too much of someone else—nothing that reminds me too much of my past—it must make me want to dance—it must be fast—it must have a beat

3. Turn off the lights

4. Strip naked

5. Dance. Like an animal. Like a prehistoric man. Like an amoeba. Like gas. Like an avalanche. Dance fast. Follow the demands of the music and the demands of my body will make themselves known. Dance until I am slicked with sweat and I don't remember how my body looks. Close my eyes. Press my body to the floor if it feels right but don't stay there. Keep moving. Dance like I'm infected and the movement is the only thing keeping me alive. Dance like words haven't been invented. Dance like I'm screaming at God. Feel the blood and sweat all over my body. Keep dancing.

6. When I'm tired and I want to stop, dance for one more song (it's okay if I have to slow down a little)

7. Keep the lights off

8. Take a cool shower

9. Dress without any mirrors around

10. Sleep