#so why is there one rule for them and one for me?

[d4yl1ghts]

pleasure

anthony bridgerton x wife, fem!reader

summary: after a game of pall mall, anthony realises he has been neglecting his wife

warnings: nudity, orgasm, cunnilingus, p in v, fingering, praise kink, expeditionist kink, breeding kink, unprotected sex, allusions to anxiety (maybe), arranged marriage, argument

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You sighed to yourself as you nervously wrung your fingers out in front of yourself. You were in the carriage on the way to your arranges husband’s manor. You always became anxious when meeting people that you did not know well even if you had already met them once before. Truly, you adored Anthony’s family but it was still nerve inducing.

Your husband sat opposite you, gazing peacefully out of the window. This was how your carriage rides were normally spent. In silence. You are typically quiet anyway and for Anthony it would depend on his mood. However, even when the two of you were alone he refused to speak to you.

Suddenly, the carriage halted and Anthony assisted you out of the carriage but that was the only touching you would ever do. The only night you both had spent together was your wedding night. You made your way to the entrance, hanging behind Anthony a bit. “Mother.”, Anthony hung his head in greeting. “Lady Bridgerton.”, you copied your husband’s actions. She smiled and stated: “Call me Violet, Y/N.”

She then guided the two of you inside. You stood off to the side as Anthony’s siblings welcomed him. Eloise noticed you standing quietly and walked over to you. “Hello, Y/N. It’s nice to see you again.”, she said. “You as well, Eloise.”, you gently smiled. Your eyes strayed to Anthony’s figure and so did Eloise’s. “Has he been annoying you recently? He certainly annoyed me when I lived with him.”, she questioned. “Of course. He wouldn’t be himself if he wasn’t annoying.”, you replied. Eloise laughed slightly and you laughed along with her but it was almost in spite of your husband. You hated him but at the same time you loved him. He certainly hated you.

Benedict then led you all outside for a game of pall mall. You had never played it before and so Colin taught you the rules. “How shall we choose who gets which mallet? I think the guest should get the first choice.”, Benedict stated as he looked to you. Anthony reached out before Benedict hit his hand away. “Not you, Anthony. I’m talking to Y/N.”, he said annoyed. You noticed Anthony’s hand attempt to grab the black one before and so you choose that one just to aggravate him. “Great choice, Y/N!”, Colin chuckled. You turned to look at Anthony and saw his brooding look and tried to contain your giggles.

“Everybody get your mallets.”, Benedict said as they all raced to get their mallet. All except Anthony who was left to the pink one. He huffed in annoyance and you went to stand beside Eloise. “Look at Anthony. There’s practically steam coming out of his ears.”, you laughed. Anthony heard his name and turned to glare at you. You shut up.

“Y/N, you can have the first hit.”, Daphne offered. You slowly walked up and tried to ignore how everyone was focusing on you. You carefully aimed and then hit it. It was just wide of the goal. “That was awful.”, you stated. “Nobody gets it in first try, Y/N. In fact, that was perhaps the best first attempt I have ever seen.”, Daphne responded reassuringly. You turned to move out of the way for the next person’s go and made eye contact with Anthony who looked exceedingly angry compared to before. His eyes bore into you and he looked as if he was trying to decipher something.

It was now Anthony’s turn. He managed to hit your ball onto the opposite side of the field. You rolled your eyes as you began your stroll over. Anthony offered to go with you. You ignored him and continued. He followed anyway. You finally found the ball and noticed your husband. “Why are you following me?”, you blatantly asked. “You’re my wife.”, he simply stated. “Am I?”, you replied. He tilted his head in confusion. “Yes. How would you not be?”

“You do not treat me as such.”, you continued. “We have only ever once been intimate. At our wedding night. You barely even touch me, never mind intimately.”, you sighed as tears pooled in your eyes. He gazed at you. “Is that truly how you feel?”

You nodded, unable to form words. Tears slid down your cheeks. “I did not mean to make you feel as such. I didn’t want to hurt you. I am not made to be a husband or father. I am not made to love or to be loved.”, he responded as water filled his eyes. “But Anthony, you’ve been a father for your whole life. You raised your siblings and you did a great job at it.”, you stared at him with a sad expression. He looked up at you and took in your understanding tone. He gently caressed your face.

You gazed into his eyes. You were both so vulnerable. Anthony’s lips crashed onto yours and you sighed with content. You pulled away for air. “Anthony, please.”, you moaned as you moved your hands into his hair. “Please what?”, he asked teasingly. “Touch me. We have missed a year of this and are yet to make an heir so fuck me like it.”, you bravely admitted. He smirked before inserting two fingers up your dress and into your cunt. He let out a sigh as he felt how wet you were. “Good girl.”, he praised.

You moaned at his praise. “Need more.”, you mumbled. He leant down and pushed his face up your dress and began kitten licking your pussy. You gently guided his head against you. He still had his fingers pumping in and out of you as he licked up and down your slick folds. He felt your walls clench against his tongue and let out a sound that sent vibrations down your cunt. You grabbed the edge of your dress to ease the pressure building up within you.

You felt yourself cum as Anthony made sure to swallow it all. He then left from beneath your dress and licked the last of your slick from his lips. He moved his hands to your corset and his eyes looked to you for permission. You nodded breathlessly. He delicately removed your garments with expertise.

He hastily removed his breeches and released his erection. He bowed down to lick your hardening nipples and he even abruptly bit them. “Anthony…”, you moaned. He heard your desperate cry and lined himself up with your entrance. Slowly, he entered you and allowed you time to adjust to him. He then began to thrust in and out of you. You grinded against him, causing him to fasten his pace as he knew you wanted more.

He rested his head against your breasts and gently kissed them, occasionally leaving love bites. Anthony then adapted his position to reach deeper into you. He felt you tighten around his length and his cock began to twitch at the sudden pressure against him. You let the euphoria take you away and Anthony soon followed. He made sure to continue pushing into you as he came. After all, you had wanted to make an heir. He groaned before carefully and slowly removing himself from you. He rolled off of you and kissed your temple as he moved to hold you.

“Dear, we should probably head back. It has taken us a while to find the ball.”, he chuckled and you tiredly laughed. He put his breeches back on and helped you into your dress. He attempted to do your corset up but he only knew how to undo them, not tie them up and so it was slightly loose. He only hopes his family wouldn’t notice. You started your journey back to the pall mall match with Anthony’s help as your legs were slightly wobbly.

Your hair looked similar to as it had before. Luckily, you had requested your maid to only curl it and add a pin (you weren’t one for all the fuss of doing your hair) and so it was nothing extravagant so it was easy to set it back to how it was. As soon as you arrived back, you realised the game had come to an end. “Who won?”, Anthony asked. “Colin.”, Benedict replied. “Why did you take so long?”, Colin questioned. “You could have won, brother. Actually, Y/N, you could have won.”, he added. Violet came outside to check on everyone as she had heard the conversation. It didn’t take her long to realise what had happened. She glanced at the steady hold Anthony had on you, the slight tone in your cheeks and your legs that looked as if they would collapse at any moment if Anthony’s hold was not so strong. She smiled to herself. She knew that the arranged marriage would work. You two were meant for each other, no matter how you wished to deny it.

[caelum-in-the-avatarverse]

Fandom can do a little gatekeeping. As a treat.

So I finally decided to archive-lock my fics on AO3 last night. I’ve been considering it since the AI scrape last year, but the tipping point was this whole lore.fm debacle, coupled with some thoughts I’ve been thinking regarding Fandom These Days in general and Fandom As A Community in particular. So I wanna explain why I waited so long, why I locked my stuff up now, and why I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m a-okay with making it harder for people to see my stories.

Lurkers really are great, tho

I’m a chronic lurker, and have been since I started hanging out on the internet as a teen in the 00s. These days it’s just cuz I don’t feel a need to socialize very often, but back then it was because I was shy and knew I was socially awkward. Even if I made an account, I’d spend months lurking on message boards or forums or Livejournals, watching other people interact and getting a feel for that particular community’s culture and etiquette before I finally started interacting myself. And y’know, that approach saved me a lot of embarrassment. Over the course of my lurking on any site, there was always some other person who’d clearly joined up five minutes after learning the place existed, barged in without a care for their behavior, and committed so many social faux pas that all the other users were immediately annoyed with them at best. I learned a lot observing those incidents. Lurk More is Rule 33 of the internet for very good reason.

Lurking isn’t bad or weird or creepy. It’s perfectly normal. I love lurking. It’s hard for me to not lurk - socializing takes a lot of energy out of me, even via text. (Heck it took 12 hours for me to write this post, I wish I was kidding--) Occasionally I’ll manage longer bouts of interaction - a few weeks posting here, almost a year chatting in a discord there - but I’m always gonna end up going radio silent for months at some point. I used to feel bad about it, but I’ve long since made peace with the fact that it’s just the way my brain works. I’m a chronic lurker, and in the long term nothing is going to change that.

The thing with being a chronic lurker is that you have to accept that you are not actually seen as part of the community you are lurking in. That’s not to say that lurkers are unimportant - lurkers actually are important, and they make up a large proportion of any online community - but it’s simple cause and effect. You may think of it as “your community”, but if you’ve never said a word, how is the community supposed to know you exist? If I lurked on someone’s LJ, and then that person suddenly friendslocked their blog, I knew that I had two choices: Either accept that I would never be able to read their posts again, or reach out to them and ask if I could be added to their friends list with the full understanding that I was a rando they might not decide to trust. I usually went with the first option, because my invisibility as a lurker was more important to me than talking to strangers on the internet.

Lurking is like sitting on a park bench, quietly people-watching and eavesdropping on the conversations other people are having around you. You’re in the park, but you’re not actively participating in anything happening there. You can see and hear things that you become very interested in! But if you don’t introduce yourself and become part of the conversation, you won’t be able to keep listening to it when those people walk away. When fandom migrated away from Livejournal, people moved to new platforms alongside their friends, but lurkers were often left behind. No one knew they existed, so they weren’t told where everyone else was going. To be seen as part of a fandom community, you need to submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known, etc. etc.

There’s nothing wrong with lurking. There can actually be benefits to lurking, both for the lurkers and the communities they lurk in. It’s just another way to be in a fandom. But if that is how you exist in fandom--and remember, I say this as someone who often does exist that way in fandom--you need to remember that you’re on the outside looking in, and the curtains can always close.

I’ve always been super sympathetic to lurkers, because I am one. I know there’s a lot of people like me who just don’t socialize often. I know there’s plenty of reasons why someone might not make an account on the internet - maybe they’re nervous, maybe they’re young and their parents don’t allow them to, maybe they’re in a bad situation where someone is monitoring their activity, maybe they can only access the internet from public computer terminals. Heck, I’ve never even logged into AO3 on my phone--if I’m away from my computer I just read what’s publicly available. 

I know I have people lurking on my fics. I know my fics probably mean a lot to someone I don’t even know exists. I know this because there are plenty of fics I love whose writers don’t know I exist.

I love my commenters personally; I love my lurkers as an abstract concept. I know they’re there and I wish them well, and if they ever de-lurk I love them all the more.

So up until last year I never considered archive-locking my fic, because I get it. The AI scraping was upsetting, but I still hesitated because I was thinking of lurkers and guests and remembering what it felt like to be 15 and wondering if it’d be worth letting a stranger on the internet know I existed and asking to be added to their friends list just so I could reread a funny post they made once.

But the internet has changed a lot since the 00s, and fandom has changed with it. I’ve read some things and been doing some thinking about fandom-as-community over the last few years, and reading through the lore.fm drama made me decide that it’s time for me to set some boundaries.

I still love my lurkers, and I feel bad about leaving any guest commenters behind, especially if they’re in a situation where they can’t make an account for some reason. But from here on out, even my lurkers are going to have to do the bare minimum to read my fics--make an AO3 account.

Should we gatekeep fandom?

I’ve seen a few people ask this question, usually rhetorically, sometimes as a joke, always with a bit of seriousness. And I think…yeah, maybe we should. Except wait, no, not like that--

A decade ago, when people talked about fandom gatekeeping and why it was bad to do, it intersected with a lot of other things, mainly feminism and classism. The prevalent image of fandom gatekeeping was, like, a man learning that a woman likes Star Wars and haughtily demanding, “Oh, yeah? Well if you’re REALLY a fan, name ten EU novels” to belittle and dismiss her, expecting that a “real fan” would have the money and time to be familiar with the EU, and ignoring the fact that male movie-only fans were still considered fans. The thing being gatekept was the very definition of “being a fan” and people’s right to describe themselves as one.

That’s not what I mean when I say maybe fandom should gatekeep more. Anyone can call themselves a fan if they like something, that’s fine. But when it comes to the ability to enjoy the fanworks produced by the fandom community…that might be something worth gatekeeping.

See, back in the 00s, it was perfectly common for people to just…not go on the internet. Surfing the web was a thing, but it was just, like, a fun pastime. Not everyone did it. It wasn’t until the rise of social media that going online became a thing everyone and their grandmother did every day. Back then, going on the internet was just…a hobby.

So one of the first gates online fandom ever had was the simple fact that the entire world wasn’t here yet.

The entire world is here now. That gate has been demolished.

And it’s a lot easier to find us now. Even scattered across platforms, fandom is so centralized these days. It isn’t a network of dedicated webshrines and forums that you can only find via webrings anymore, it’s right there on all the big social media sites. AO3 didn’t set out to be the main fanfic website, but that’s definitely what it’s become. It’s easy for people to find us--and that includes people who don’t care about the community, and just want “content.”

Transformative fandom doesn’t like it when people see our fanworks as “content”. “Content” is a pretty broad term, but when fandom uses it we’re usually referring to creative works that are churned out by content creators to be consumed by an audience as quickly as possible as often as possible so that the content creator can generate revenue. This not-so-new normal has caused a massive shift in how people who are new to fandom view fanworks--instead of seeing fic or art as something a fellow fan made and shared with you, they see fanworks as products to be consumed.

Transformative fandom has, in general, always been a gift economy. We put time and effort into creating fanworks that we share with our fellow fans for free. We do this so we don’t get sued, but fandom as a whole actually gets a lot out of the gift economy. Offer your community a story, and in return you can get comments, build friendships, or inspire other people to write things that you might want to read. Readers are given the gift of free stories to read and enjoy, and while lurking is fine, they have the choice to engage with the writer and other readers by leaving comments or making reclists to help build the community.

And look, don’t get me wrong. People have never engaged with fanfic as much as fan writers wish they would. There has always been “no one comments anymore” wank. There have always been people who only comment to say “MORE!” or otherwise demand or guilt trip writers into posting the next chapter. But fandom has always agreed that those commenters are rude and annoying, and as those commenters navigate fandom they have the chance to learn proper community etiquette.

However, now it seems that a lot of the people who are consuming fanworks aren’t actually in the community. 

I won’t say “they aren’t real fans” because that’s silly; there’s lots of ways to be a fan. But there seem to be a lot of fans now who have no interest in fandom as a community, or in adhering to community etiquette, or in respecting the gift economy. They consume our fics, but they don’t appreciate fan labor. They want our “content”, but they don’t respect our control over our creations.

And even worse--they see us as a resource. We share our work for free, as a gift, but all they see is an open-source content farm waiting to be tapped into. We shared it for free, so clearly they can do whatever they want with it. Why should we care if they feed our work into AI training datasets, or copy/paste our unfinished stories into ChatGPT to get an ending, or charge people for an unnecessary third-party AO3 app, or sell fanbindings on etsy for a profit without the author’s permission, or turn our stories into poor imitations of podfics to be posted on other platforms without giving us credit or asking our consent, while also using it to lure in people they can datascrape for their Forbes 30 Under 30 company? 

And sure, people have been doing shady things with other people’s fanworks since forever. Art theft and reposting has always been a big problem. Fanfic is harder to flat-out repost, but I’ve heard of unauthorized fic translations getting posted without crediting the original author. Once in…I think the 2010s? I read a post by a woman who had gone to some sort of local bookselling event, only to find that the man selling “his” novel had actually self-published her fanfic. (Wish I could find that one again, I don’t even remember where I read it.)

But aside from that third example, the thing is…as awful as fanart/writing theft is, back in the day, the main thing a thief would gain from it was clout. Clout that should rightfully go to the creators who gifted their work in the first place, yeah, but still. Just clout. People will do a lot of hurtful things for clout, but fandom clout means nothing outside of fandom. Fandom clout is not enough to incentivize the sort of wide-scale pillaging we’re seeing from community outsiders today.

Money, on the other hand… Well, fandom’s just a giant, untapped content farm, isn’t it? Think of how much revenue all that content could generate.

Lurkers are a normal and even beneficial part of any online community. Maybe one day they’ll de-lurk and easily slide into place beside their fellow fans because they already know the etiquette. Maybe they’re active in another community, and they can spread information from the community they lurk in to the community they’re active in. At the very least, they silently observe, and even if they’re not active community members, they understand the community.

Fans who see fanworks as “content” don’t belong in the same category as lurkers. They’re tourists. 

While reading through the initial Reddit thread on the lore.fm situation, I found this comment:

[ID: Reddit User Cabbitowo says: ... So in anime fandoms we have a word called tourist and essentially it means a fan of a few anime and doesn't care about anime tropes and actively criticizes them. This is kind of how fandoms on tiktok feel. They're touring fanfics and fanart and actively criticizes tropes that have been in the fandom since the 60s. They want to be in a fandom but they don't want to engage in fandom 

OP totallymandy responds: Just entered back into Reddit after a long day to see this most recent reply. And as a fellow anime fan this making me laugh so much since it’s true! But it sorta hurts too when the reality sets in. Modern fandom is so entitled and bratty and you’d think it’s the minors only but that’s not even true, my age-mates and older seem to be like that. They want to eat their cake and complain all whilst bringing nothing to the potluck… :/ END ID]

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“Tourist” is an apt name for this sort of fan. They don’t want to be part of our community, and they don’t have to be in order to come into our spaces and consume our work. Even if they don’t steal our work themselves, they feel so entitled to it that they’re fine with ignoring our wishes and letting other people take it to make AI “podfics” for them to listen to (there are a lot of comments on lore.fm’s shutdown announcement video from people telling them to just ignore the writers and do it anyway). They’ll use AI to generate an ending to an unfinished fic because they don’t care about seeing “the ending this writer would have given to the story they were telling”, they just want “an ending”. For these tourist fans, the ends justify the means, and their end goal is content for them to consume, with no care for the community that created it for them in the first place.

I don’t think this is confined to a specific age group. This isn’t “13-year-olds on Wattpad” or “Zoomers on TikTok” or whatever pointless generation war we’re in now. This is coming from people who are new to fandom, whose main experience with creative works on the internet is this new content culture and who don’t understand fandom as a community. That description can be true of someone from any age group.

It’s so easy to find fandom these days. It is, in fact, too easy. Newcomers face no hurdles or challenges that would encourage them to lurk and observe a bit before engaging, and it’s easy for people who would otherwise move on and leave us alone to start making trouble. From tourist fans to content entrepreneurs to random people who just want to gawk, it’s so easy for people who don’t care about the fandom community to reap all of its fruits. 

So when I say maybe fandom should start gatekeeping a bit, I’m referring to the fact that we barely even have a gate anymore. Everyone is on the internet now; the entire world can find us, and they don’t need to bother learning community etiquette when they do. Before, we were protected by the fact that fandom was considered weird and most people didn’t look at it twice. Now, fandom is pretty mainstream. People who never would’ve bothered with it before are now comfortable strolling in like they own the place. They have no regard for the fandom community, they don’t understand it, and they don’t want to. They want to treat it just like the rest of the content they consume online.

And then they’re surprised when those of us who understand fandom culture get upset. Fanworks have existed far longer than the algorithmic internet’s content. Fanworks existed long before the internet. We’ve lived like this for ages and we like it.

So if someone can’t be bothered to respect fandom as a community, I don’t see why I should give them easy access to my fics.

Think of it like a garden gate

When I interact with commenters on my fic, I have this sense of hospitality.

The comment section is my front porch. The fic is my garden. I created my garden because I really wanted to, and I’m proud of it, and I’m happy to share it with other people. 

Lots of people enjoy looking at my garden. Many walk through without saying anything. Some stop to leave kudos. Some recommend my garden to their friends. And some people take the time to stop by my front porch and let me know what a beautiful garden it is and how much they’ve enjoyed it. 

Any fic writer can tell you that getting comments is an incredible feeling. I always try to answer all my comments. I don’t always manage it, but my fics’ comment sections are the one place that I manage to consistently socialize in fandom. When I respond to a comment, it feels like I’m pouring out a glass of lemonade to share with this lovely commenter on my front porch, a thank you for their thank you. We take a moment to admire my garden together, and then I see them out. The next time they drop by, I recognize them and am happy to pour another glass of lemonade.

My garden has always been open and easy to access. No fences, no walls. You just have to know where to find it. Fandom in general was once protected by its own obscurity, an out-of-the-way town that showed up on maps but was usually ignored.

But now there’s a highway that makes it easy to get to, and we have all these out-of-towner tourists coming in to gawk and steal our lawn ornaments and wonder if they can use the place to make themselves some money.

I don’t care to have those types trampling over my garden and eating all my vegetables and digging up my flowers to repot and sell, so I’ve put up a wall. It has a gate that visitors can get through if they just take the time to open it.

Admittedly, it’s a small obstacle. But when I share my fics, I share them as a gift with my fellow fans, the ones who understand that fandom is a community, even if they’re lurkers. As for tourist fans and entrepreneurs who see fic as content, who have no qualms ignoring the writer’s wishes, who refuse to respect or understand the fandom community…well, they’re not the people I mean to share my fic with, so I have no issues locking them out. If they want access to my stories, they’ll have to do the bare minimum to become a community member and join the AO3 invite queue.

And y’know, I’ve said a lot about fandom and community here, and I just want to say, I hope it’s not intimidating. When I was younger, talk about The Fandom Community made me feel insecure, and I didn’t think I’d ever manage to be active enough in fandom spaces to be counted as A Member Of The Community. But you don’t have to be a social butterfly to participate in fandom. I’ll always and forever be a chronic lurker, I reblog more than I post, I rarely manage to comment on fic, and I go radio silent for months at a time--but I write and post fanfiction. That’s my contribution.

Do you write, draw, vid, gif, or otherwise create? Congrats, you're a community member.

Do you leave comments? Congrats, you're a community member.

Do you curate reclists? Congrats, you're a community member.

Do you maintain a fandom blog or fuckyeah blog? Congrats, you're a community member.

Do you provide a space for other fans to convene in? Congrats, you're a community member.

Do you regularly send asks (off anon so people know who you are)? Congrats, you're a community member.

Do you have fandom friends who you interact with? Congrats, you're a community member.

There’s lots of ways to be a fan. Just make sure to respect and appreciate your fellow fans and the work they put in for you to enjoy and the gift economy fandom culture that keeps this community going.

[konic0]

"It's so unfair to the Rat Grinders that they are killed instantly and the Bad Kids get to roll death saves." SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUUP

THIS IS LONG, AND HONESTLY FOR MYSELF, SO YEAH READ IF YOU WANT

I swear to god, this discourse is going to fucking be the end of me. Idk what kind of mind boggling spell Brennan Lee Mulligan wove into the fabric of the universe that spread through the data center of Dropout in order to absolutely hijack y'all's brains when it comes to Cocklord Assgape and her ragtag of character foils but whatever it was has made you Rat Grinder stans INSUFFERABLE in this site.

The levels of treating fictional characters as if they were real people have reached a level I honestly have never anticipated, to the point of y'all actually being mad AT THE CAST for "mistreating" them and ACTUALLY QUESTION BRENNAN'S CAPACITY TO DM. Do you not get how fucking insane that is?

We can't make fun of Copperkettle, one of the most pathetic, petty and incompetent villains in D20 history anymore (even though she is masterfully written and developed to generate this reaction from us) anymore because it's bullying apparently. I saw an account flip the fuck out because someone compared her rivalry with Kristen to Drake and Kendrick's beef. KIPPERLILY IS NOT A REAL GIRL. SHE IS A MAKE BELIEVE CHARACTER IN AN IMPROV SHOW SPAWNED FROM THE BRAIN OF A 36 YEAR OLD MAN

And then what truly pissed me off the MOST about this whole hell is the fact that, being chronically online avid consumers of this goddamn show, I would think you would have but a grasp of the main cast of characters' characterization.

Why the uproar about Riz saying they should chop Oisin's head off? The same Riz who tortured that pixie from Freshman year by shooting off their finger one by one? The same Riz who murked a disarmed and unconscious Coach Daybreak without battin an eye? The same Riz who ATE THE CORPSE OF KALVAXUS?

And the whole Fabian vs Ivy debacle MY GOD, THE GIRL WAS RACIST TO HIS GIRLFRIEND AND USED HER LAST BREATH TO CALL MAZEY "OBJECTIVELY UGLY". And the funniest thing is that is not even the most unhinged shit he has ever said.

And finally, Death Save Gate: THE RAT GRINDERS ARE NOT PLAYER CHARACTERS. THEY ARE NPCS! THE RULES FOR EACH WORK DIFFERENTLY, ESPECIALLY THEM BEING BOSS ENCOUNTERS. Imagine having to still hit Ivy or Oisin 2 more times to kill them when there is 14 foot tall Porter throwing legendary actions left and right, with Jace, and other 3 spell casters + Mary Ann and KLCK up and running. It's called balancing the fucking game. Also, game masters are entitled to break, mold and make up any rules they want if they find necessary in order to service themselves and their players. IF YOU PLAY WITH ALL THESE RULES AS THEY COME, GOOD FOR YOU AND YOUR TABLE. THIS IS NOT YOUR TABLE.

Not only is Brennan DMing for his CLOSEST FRIENDS EVER, he is also shooting and producing an ENTIRE TV SHOW. So yeah, i think he knows wtf he is doing.

"But the Ratgrinders had no real development": True. But it wasn't for lack of trying from the players. Everytime they tried to know more, the dice didn't let them, so they decided to focus on the mystery. It simply do be like that sometimes.

"But they are just kids!": And so were Penelope, Dayne, Ragh, Zayn, the Bloodrush Players, Aelwyn and Biz. Why wasn't it a problem then? Because most of them were evil to some extent and were about to bring the fucking apocalypse to the world? Yeah, sounds familiar right? And the ones who were manipulated or had any sort of redemption worked their way into earning it, right? Yeah.

In conclusion, I fucking love the Rat Grinders, I truly do, and not unlike 90% of this website, i'm still holding on to hope that they have any sort of development and redemption in the last episode, because I agree, they ARE children and they WERE manipulated by Porter and Jace, but like, can we also agree that they are fucking assholes and had it fucking coming? Also, the BKs are children too y'know. SO STOP BEING FUCKING ANNOYING.

[elanorpam]

it's been way too long since i last did wildly self-indulgent fanart, so of course i did it for an SVSSS AU that doesn't even have any actual fanfiction written of it yet. but what can i say! it's a compelling scenario! Just check the original post for details!

here's a workplace doodle for his mess of an outfit, too:

Xin Mo is floating behind his back, wrapped in talismans. the collars are meant to be vaguely inspired on a flower bud.

Some notes i came up with for this version, copied straight from a month-old discord convo:

he may have protagonist halo now, but he's for sure not a stallion protagonist. he literally exchanged fates with his favorite person in the world in order to spare them a hellish trial-- that's romantic as fuck!! damn!! this is old CLAMP shoujo and no mistake!!

binghe may no longer be the protag, but he's still a half-heavenly demon. power-wise, heavenly demons can't be topped, and all the remaining heavenly demons are accounted for. so, SQQ can't be a heavenly demon, even in part.

HOWEVER, as a protagonist, there's a factor more important than power! it's the CHUUNI FACTOR. what's more CHUUNI™️ than being part demon?

one option is being part demon and part angel.

how would that even fucking work??????? IDK man, you can either pull from chinese folklore for fairies or heavenly beings or spirits, or you can blame Airplane and go "he accidentally implied the existence of christian elements by means of importing unexamined anime tropes"

Shen Jiu conveniently has a big fat blank on his parentage. We as fans can and have put whatever the hell we wanted there.

SQQ would jump into the abyss still under the impression SJ was a shallow villain. If his trip through the abyss involves recovering SJ's memories somehow, that sure would be fun times, huh?

so he awakens a mysterious ancestry and survives the abyss and takes Xin Mo, but he probably takes longer than Binghe did due to being squishier.

but Xin Mo isn't ACTUALLY his! so he papers it over with sealing talismans, and to battle the temptation to wield it he takes to wearing these longass sleeves. they're probably covered in talismans as well.

guessing Xiu Ya stayed behind to be mooned over by the clown trio in Cang Qiong. let's go full sparkle-sue here and say he's now fighting almost entirely via musical cultivation. i like swan-necked konghou harps so let's go with that, it'll look dope.

why is he barefoot? why WOULDN'T he be, is the question. fragile!! suffering!! dainty!! he's a shrinking flower, tormented by the weight of the One Sword To Rule Them All!!

also for extra pathos, his constant mental struggle against Xin Mo means he can't spare energy to front. it takes constant focus! he's still a bit in his delusional shit, but even when he's going "oh no, binghe is only latched throat-deep onto my dick because he's a good boy who's concerned about me and the danger i could pose by losing control" he'd probably… well, he'd probably say that out loud to anyone who asked. he's in a half-trance, mentally battling the crazy-making sword. lying is too much work.

Wouldn’t resisting Xin Mo’s influence be the mental and spiritual equivalent to training under 400x gravity or something? his wife-beam is going to be off the charts when he puts it down.

also also: who the hell dressed him like that? fucking shang qinghua, of course, after SQQ showed up in the northern palace to punish MBJ for hurting binghe in the conference. did the system explain shit to SQH? on the one hand, extremely funny if it updates him on the role change out of nowhere mid-alliance. on the other hand, extremely funny if he only finds out because Binghe is crying safely in Qing Jing while the scum villain apparently jumped into the abyss.

Here's another link to the original AU post! I've had it open on a tab all this time just so i could point to it when I was done, so make sure to check it out!

[woodland-gremlin]

Summoning Your Secret Boyfriend Pt. 3

This post is dedicated @fanfics-or-dragons who wrote part of the post. I will put their part in bold. I would suggest checking them out, they write some really interesting stuff.

Previous

“Because it is!” Constantine screams, “They literally say ‘hi’ by fighting each other. Not to mention even if they don’t try to purposely hurt you they often do due to how fragile we are compared to them. Even their weakest would be a challenge to our heavy hitters!”

Constatine tried to take a deep breath to calm down. The kids were obviously alive so they obviously haven't pissed anything off too badly over there. If anything they might have gained favor with something from there. "Kids you may have not bungled whatever the hell you got up to but I seriously doubt you understand the ramifications that can happen when you form ANY type of relationship with beings so powerful you can't comprehend it."

Constatine was actually feeling like the sheer dred was fading and that he could handle this, and then Superman had to butt in to defend his kid. "The kids obviously have not been keeping us informed of their actions as much as they should have, and that will be being addressed Supernova. But they obviously have not gotten themselves into too much trouble with how you describe the beings from this realm. And you are one to talk about dangerous relationships with more powerful beings. The team has hardly had the type of relationships you tend to favor."

Which would have been annoying enough if it wasn't followed by the robin kid bursting out laughing and falling to the ground. Looking directly at Supernova, who was suddenly looking at the ground and bursting out into more laughter. He doesn’t get paid enough to deal with this let alone teenagers.

While Constantine was reenacting the scene from the office, Supernova and Red Robin worked on controlling their laughter.

“It was from when Batman was stuck in the time stream,” Red Robin stated through his muffled laughs.

All eyes turned to focus on Red Robin the moment those words came out of his mouth. The mood turned from slightly light hearted to sullen in a moment. Most members looked like they were sucking on a lemon, remembering how they called him crazy for thinking that Batman was alive. The look in their eyes as they agreed that he lost his mind in grief was always in the back of his mind. Reminding him to be careful with who he trusted and how small that number now was. It was why he liked rubbing it in their faces that he was right, no matter how childish the action was.

“The time stream,” Red Robin continued getting up from the floor, “is a part of the realms. Batman being there was causing them a bunch of problems so they were pretty happy to hand him over after we fixed the problems his presence caused.”

“Yeah,” Supernova chimed in, “and one of their citizens that was fixing the disturbances in the time stream talked about the rules and how Batman was breaking them while they helped us hold up our part of the deal.”

Which was partly true. It was mostly Danny complaining about how much trouble the Justice League causes him and with mentions of laws he needs to study up for his coronation. Apparently every new King throws out the previous ruler’s laws and makes new ones. He decided he would instead use old laws as a framework and make them fairer. They spent a lot of time with him working on them so they have the best understanding of the laws now that their boyfriend is King.

Even without mentioning that Constantine turned from his calmer state into looking half-dead again.

“So let me get this straight,” the con man said while he rubbed the bridge of his nose, “For fixing the disturbances in the time stream that Batman caused, they returned him?”

“Yeah.” “Basically.”

“And you never thought to mention that to anyone?!”

To be continued . . .

[slight-gaming-addict]

dreamers paradise

masterlist | request rules | join the taglist

how characters react to you falling asleep on them

characters: leona kingscholar, azul ashengrotto, malleus draconia

𝑳𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒂 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒓

will instinctively shrug his shoulder when he feels something on it

stops himself when he notices it's your head on his shoulder and that you fell asleep

curses at you under his breath

still has the slight urge to push you off of him, but finds it in himself not to

confuses himself as to why he doesn't just get you off him to leave him alone

makes the excuse of since you're sleeping you won't be able to annoy him, and he should just keep it that way

decides it's a good chance for him to also get a nap in

you both end up sleeping through the day

ends up being one of the best naps he's had in a while

wants to nap with you for every one he has now, but definitely doesn't want to tell you this

instead he just tries to get as close to you as possible trying not to make it obvious what he's doing

he thinks he's so sneaky doing it but you know what he's doing so you decide to make it easier for him

he's always finding you in napping spots that are common for him, and he doesn't think anything of it

enjoys how he can be with you and also in some of his favorite napping spots

always pulls you closer to him when he thinks you're sleeping

you're almost always awake

𝑨𝒛𝒖𝒍 𝑨𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒐

you're always with him when he's going over paperwork in his office

he's used to your company while he's working, so he doesn't think anything of it when you go quiet and the only sound is his pen scratching on paper

it isn't when you fall onto him that he focuses his attention on you

is shocked at first contact, but when he sees you sleeping he relaxes

puts down his work and starts to carry you to bed

tries his best not to wake you during the walk

tucks you in under the blanket he knows is your favorite

goes to leave to resume his work, but you won't let go of him

tries to assure your sleeping mind that he'll be back after he finishes, but you still won't let go of his shirt

sighs and ends up laying down with you until you end up relaxing into him

tells himself that he'll go back to work after he stays with you for a little bit

ends up falling asleep next to you, and has to do the rest in the morning

wants to be upset at himself for not finishing the work last night, but can't bring himself to be upset when he was very content in his sleep when next to you

𝑴𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒖𝒔 𝑫𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒂

since most nights he's usually out in the courtyard, you join him every once in a while

enjoys the time you spend together, and is happy that you'll listen to the rants that he'll go on about

you'll usually get comfortable and lay your head on his lap as he talks, so he won't notice you fall asleep until he checks on you when you're silent for longer than usual

is scared of waking you up, so he just keeps you there sleeping on him until morning

notices how your form changes at certain things he does

you curl closer to him when he runs his nails over your back, so he finds himself doing it while he sits and looks out into the distance

covers you with his robe he's wearing when he sees your body slightly shiver under him and pulls you closer to him

finds himself wanting to make you as comfortable as possible

asks you a bunch of questions when you wake up on if you were comfortable enough

wants to make sure that he made the right decision in not waking you up so you could sleep in your bed, knowing humans are a lot weaker than him and he's still trying to learn how they are

you reassure him that you were completely comfortable and he shouldn't worry about it

you make it a habit of "accidentally" falling asleep on him when you're in the courtyard, and always wake up closer to him than you were when you fell asleep and a robe covering you

buy me a coffee ♡

[disasterbuck]

Oohhh for the prompts I'd love to see Buddie with the sidewalk rule 👀🥰

I'm so glad you chose the sidewalk rule because I had an idea for that one right after I reblogged the prompt post 😂

I hope you like it!! 💕

the sidewalk rule

established Buddie | 645 words

Buck was chatting away, his hands waving this way and that, and Eddie had a smile on his face as he walked beside him. They'd decided to walk down to the coffee shop on the corner of Buck's street together, to treat themselves after their long shift before Eddie had to leave to pick Chris up from school.

As he talked, Buck walked backwards in front of Eddie for a few steps before ending up on his other side.

"—and then it was introduced to England in like, the late 1700s," Buck was saying. How he'd gotten started on the history of dominoes, Eddie didn't know, but he definitely wasn't complaining. He could happily listen to Buck talk for hours about anything. "And it was all over the world by 1889! And although it originated in China, it's now way more popular in France and Belgium."

"And the Buckley-Diaz household," Eddie chimed in with a wink, referring to the set of dominoes Buck and Chris had been playing with for the past three weeks and making Buck blush.

While he was briefly distracted, Eddie gently took hold of Buck's wrist and guided him to the other side so that he was back on Eddie's left and Eddie was walking beside the road.

Buck frowned, then just continued talking about dominoes. But a few steps later, he cut across Eddie's path with a little spin so that he was back on Eddie's right.

With a scowl, Eddie stepped behind him and to the side, forcing Buck left. A giggle left Buck's lips and he ducked in to kiss Eddie quickly, distracting him, before taking the spot on the right again.

"Would you stop?" Eddie exclaimed, coming to a halt.

"Stop what?" Buck asked innocently, a bright grin on his face.

"You know what," Eddie said with a sigh. "Stop swapping sides!"

"Why?" Buck asked, a cheeky twinkle in his eyes.

"Because…" Eddie trailed off, feeling his face grow warm with embarrassment. A particularly fast car sped past and he automatically reached out to grab Buck's arm, pulling him further away from the road.

"I didn't know you knew the sidewalk rule," Buck teased.

"The what?" Eddie asked, baffled.

"The sidewalk rule," Buck repeated, as if saying it again would bring any further insight. Thankfully, seeing Eddie's face, he went on – "It's the idea that your boyfriend should walk on the side closest to the road to keep you safe from any hazards."

"I have never heard of that in my life," Eddie said, mouth twisting slightly in disgust. "It sounds misogynistic. And besides, we're both the boyfriend in this relationship."

"Sure," Buck said easily, giving a one-shoulder shrug. "But then, why exactly don't you want me walking on this side?"

Eddie slid his hand down to Buck's, twisting their fingers together. He didn't want to tell Buck the truth; he didn't want Buck's bright and happy mood to be brought down. But…

"Because of Shannon," he said softly. "Because she… I know it doesn't make sense. We're in way more dangerous situations every day. And she wasn't on a sidewalk but on a crossing, so it was different—"

"Hey." Buck stepped right up into his space, cupping his face with his hands. "It's okay. It makes sense to me. If you want me to walk on the other side, I will."

"I do," Eddie admitted.

"Then I will," Buck said. Closing the distance between them, Buck kissed him softly and earnestly.

When they parted, Eddie was surprised to find that Buck had somehow turned them during the kiss without him noticing. He was once again standing between Buck and the road.

"Come on," Buck said, taking Eddie's hand in his and pulling him along the path.

Content, Eddie gently squeezed Buck's hand and listened as he went back to discussing the history of dominoes.

Tags:

@dluoser @taketheplanspinitsideways @loudenthusiastic @wallywise @mxrcjqckspnchqsc

@i-am-married-to-my-fandom @therosesaredying @stillfuckingtired @classtrialguru @speggle

@awesome-igi @natnuszsstuff @olliesrants @crazyfangirlallert @delirium1995

@brah3280 @meanceclosetohell @anythingeverythingallofthetime @izzysbeans @jesuiscenseedormir

@darkrose6578 @veronae-buddie @steadfastsaturnsrings @loveyouanyway @inell

@spicyrottingbrains @gnoeltop @idealuk @donationwayne @lemotmo

Let me know if you'd like to be added or removed 💕

[artofhazbinhotel]

Valentino and Vox average conversation

Vox: So considering how many weird ass kinks you have I've decided to make a list of what I WON'T do and hang it on the wall

Valentino: Ooo, you know I love it when you kinkshame me

Vox: That's not what this is, this is serious

Valentino: Oh, boring

Vox: First off, please say waterboarding was just a phase

Valentino: I like choking

Vox: Then choke me like a normal person???

Valentino: Too vanilla

Vox: Secondly, no fire, sex shouldn't result in battle scars??

Valentino: I'd let you scar me

Vox: That's extremely hot but I can just bite you I don't need fire

Valentino: What if I use the fire on you instead?

Vox: Val please. Okay moving on, I know you told me to call you a slut but you model lingerie and write porn? That feels more personal

Valentino: I like degrading

Vox: I'll ask my PR team

Valentino: These are too many rules, I'd let you do anything to me

Vox: Really? Anything? There has to be something you're not into aside from the obvious

Valentino: Nope anything, you could stab me and spit in my mouth for all I care

Vox: Good to know..?

Valentino: I have a rule, use your nails

Vox: You can't make a rule! My nails cut through metal!

Valentino: Did I stutter?

Vox: You should have!

Valentino: And I want to cut hearts and Vs into your thighs

Vox: That's.. kind of romantic

Valentino: Nevermind.

Vox: Wait I-

Valentino: I want to watch you have sex with other people

Vox: I'm not a fucking hooker Val, if one of your whores would do it I wouldn't

Valentino: Is that why you won't let me snort coke off of you?

Vox: Is that wh- OF COURSE THAT'S WHY

Valentino: I would let you if you had a nose 😒

Vox: I wouldn't want to??

Valentino: Why do we even need this list? Do you think I'm going to suddenly whip out a chastity belt or something?

Vox: I don't know, you might

Valentino: Nah I'm not that into them

Vox: Lucky for me. But another thing, I don't want you asking for sex when you're high out of your mind

Valentino: But I love being high out of my mind!

Vox: Well I'm not dealing with that during sex, I don't have the best morals but I have to draw the line somewhere

Valentino: There's so many options, how am I supposed to know what drugs I'm allowed to take before fucking you?

Vox: YOU TAKE NONE???

[violetasteracademic]

Yesterday I came across a Gwynriel comment on a pro-Elriel post that said: “I like Azriel. Which is why I want him to find his mate.”

I’ve always found this Gwynriel/Elucien rhetoric ironic because they’re making it clear they don’t actually like Azriel. Because if they like Azriel, wouldn’t they want him to find LOVE, first and foremost? SJM has mentioned multiple times that a mating bond is not equivalent to romantic love, and yet Gwynriels, especially, only ever argue that they want Azriel to find his mate.

I’ve found that this is the biggest differentiator between Elriels and Gwynriels/Eluciens: Elriels want Az to find happiness. We want him to find LOVE—whether it’s through a mating bond or not. The emphasis is always on LOVE.

To be honest, it took me a really long time to think through this, because I have SO many things to say on the topic! But in the interest of keeping this concise (false when have I ever kept things concise), and addressing this issue head on, we are going to go ahead and say yes, sure, maybe SJM is a "fated mates only" author (even though some of my favorite SJM couples are not mates) and that has no bearing on whether or not Azriel and Elain are still likely to be endgame.

It comes down to active and inactive storylines, as well as facts from the books versus ideas and theories of what could be true.

Throughout her multiverse, Sarah has told the "Fated Mate" story in a variety of ways, and she continues to tackle it in new ways. We have had faked mating bonds, villainous cosmic interference with mating bonds, bonds that were revealed slowly, bonds that snapped quickly, bonds that solidified over oceans before two people even met, two people literally just *deciding* they are mates and making it so, and mating bonds where the pairs were miserable and not well suited, and they lived in misery until they died.

Prythian is the only world in the multiverse where there is even a conversation about the female being able to reject the mating bond. Those are the rules set forth in Prythian. You cannot ignore them. If Elain doesn't want Lucien, she gets to reject him. Them's the rules. This isn't even an *option* or mentioned on the other worlds. Prythian is the only one where, time and time again, we are reminded that there are many unhappily mated pairs. Rhysand's own parents were miserable. So miserable that Cassian thought the mating bond was all lies and bullshit for over 500 years, until Rhys and Feyre, for the first time in his centuries of life, proved him wrong. (ACOFAS, Chapter 2.)

Narratively, Prythian has set up and established a mating bond rejection. No other SJM world has. More than that, Feyre questioned why Lucien and Elain were paired together, and seeing Elain be placed with Lucien even though Feyre thought Elain and Azriel would be a better fit made Feyre realize how lucky she and Rhys were to be mated *and* in love. Directly comparing Elain and Lucien to Feyre and Rhys further proved how special Feysand was.

Then Azriel questions the Cauldron, asking if it could be wrong. (again, the second time this question has been asked in regards to Elain and Lucien specifically.)

Now, in HOFAS, the most up to date publication, that narrative continues as we discover the Asteri pooled their power into the Cauldron to make it serve their will. (HOFAS, Chapter 25) This answered Feyre's question; Who are the powers that decide to force people who don't like each other to be mated and create the most powerful offspring? (the Asteri, because they need to eat their souls for sustenance and gain control of the world) And of course Azriel is the one watching this all unfold and learning this information. Azriel questioning the Cauldron has now been laid out not only in ACOSF, but the last two books Sarah has published. These are the facts that will set up the next book, just as Feysand and Nessian were set up in previous books.

Feyre and Rhys were already tied together in book one. We knew, heading into book two, that Feyre and Rhys had connected. They trusted each other. And while their bargain was not consensual, she chose to go to him when he called through her bond of her own free will, because they had developed a connection. We head into book two knowing exactly where things were headed. She has an interesting/developing relationship with Rhys, and she is guaranteed to see him again. This sets up the "Ordinary World" (I've made a few posts on the hero's journey book structure SJM follows, more on that here) for book two. By the end of ACOTAR, Rhys and Feyre are in an active storyline together that picks up in ACOMAF.

Nesta and Cassian had their entire plot laid out in A Court of Frost and Starlight. Cassian is dealing with Devlon and the struggle to get Illyrian females training. He describes the Blood Rite, and muses on what the one from the upcoming spring will bring. Nesta is in her alcoholic I hate my family era, and Cassian is fighting to get back what occurred between them during the war. The kiss they shared, and the willingness to die together. And they are both fighting like wildfire. By the end of ACOFAS, these are active storylines. Everything discussed about or between them in ACOFAS picks up and comes to pass in ACOSF.

Whether you want them to be together or not, the active storyline in ACOSF and HOFAS is between Elain and Azriel. Questioning the Cauldron, fighting their feelings for each other, and the tension between them escalating was their story in ACOSF. People who argue the bonus chapter ended their story are factually incorrect. Because as of this day, in this year 2024, Azriel's "What if the Cauldron was wrong" storyline CONTINUED in House of Flame and Shadow.

Azriel stood there and learned first hand how the Cauldron had been corrupted and warped by creatures who came to Prythian in search of sustenance, and, as previously mentioned, "pooled their power into the Cauldron so that it would work their will." (HOFAS, Chapter 25) They then "protected their interests" by turning the Cauldron into a killswitch, ensuring it could never be destroyed and that their will could continued to be enacted on Prythian or the world would cease to exist.

So, these are the active storylines when Azriel and Elain wake up in Prythian today (thus setting up the Ordinary World in the three act structure) that expand upon the previous two books:

Elain and Azriel have feeling for each other.

Azriel's feelings for Elain are so strong that he questions the Cauldron, and is willing to fight to the death over it.

Azriel has learned that the Cauldron was completely corrupted and fucked up by an evil species that used to rule over Prythian, and now rules over Midgard, and eats souls by churning them through a "soul meat grinder for food." (HOFAS, Chapter 16)

Azriel has learned that all of the Dread Trove items were created by the Asteri in the Cauldron, the same beings that warped the Cauldron and turned it into a kill switch to ensure power over their world. (HOFAS, Chapter 24) Only the Archeron sisters can wield the Trove, and are protected from it being used against them.

Azriel learned that Truth-Teller and the Starsword were also made in the Cauldron by the Dusk Court ancestors to destroy the Asteri. Currently, only Azriel can wield both Truth-Teller and the Starsword. Elain can also wield Truth-Teller. (Possibly Nesta as well, but Elain used it to travel through shadows while Nesta used it to cut off a head.)

All Cauldron Made items, both for and against the Asteri, are now in possession of the Inner Circle along with the knowledge that they need to discover what they can truly do, and to find the hidden cache's of magic stored in their world.

Elain has stated that she is a member of the Night Court and will do what is needed to serve it.

Elain is reacquainting herself with her powers, and is ready to be used to locate and wield Trove items.

Elain has feelings for Azriel.

Azriel has feelings for Elain.

Here are inactive storylines:

Elain using her sight to deal with Koschei, which is what I understand to be the largest E/ucien theory at play tying Elain to the BoE. Elain has not been involved in the Koschei storyline since ACOWAR, nor does she have an active storyline with Lucien besides shrinking into herself when he is around, not speaking to him, and not liking his presents.

Lucien however, is involved in the Koschei storyline as of ACOSF as it pertains to Vassa. He stares at the sea, as if setting his target on Koschei, (ACOSF, Chapter 7) and is living with Vassa and Jurian. This is what is active for Lucien. Nothing else. Any possible storyline for him outside of this is theory and speculation does not exist yet.

Gwyn does not have an active storyline at the end of ACOSF. "Gwyn, despite the Rite, had returned to living in the library. Gwyn had said she might leave for Nesta and Cassian's mating ceremony in three days." (ACOSF, Chapter 80) Her story as a Valkyrie completing the Blood Rite with Nesta has resolved and she has not presently been tied to anything else. Any ideas on how she might have a plot created are theories and speculations, but she is inactive.

Elain and Azriel are both active regarding the Trove, the Star-Sword and Truth-Teller, their feelings for each other, and Azriel is personally so propelled forward in being the Cauldron's number one hater that if a mating bond were to suddenly snap between him and Gwyn in his current headspace, he would not just forget about Elain and the dark damage done to the Cauldron and would likely not entertain the bond without more information.

If Sarah wants to make Azriel and Elain fated mates, she will. She has done everything under the sun with mates and will do more. She can do whatever she wants with magic. But you have to understand that the next book will start, as Sarah always structures it, with the "ordinary world" picking up where the last books left off. And it left off with Azriel and Elain, the fight against the Cauldron, their feelings for each other, and the reveal that all Trove items as well as the Dusk Court and Starborn heir items are now in the Inner Circle's possession, to be wielded by the sisters and Azriel alone.

And yes, as mentioned by @enigmaticexplorer we want Azriel to find love. He already has found it with Elain. Now it's just a matter of if Sarah chooses to make them mates, or if they say to hell with mates because we chose each other. Either option is great in my book!

[sapchat]

A Fucking Rat

Simon Riley x GN Reader

For GPD's May CoD writing challenge Prompt 42

Simon Riley Pet sits for Reader      Prompt #42

I have head cannons for each of them on what type of pet I think their SO would have. Simon’s significant other would have a ferret. I’m sorry but he screams ferret boyfriend.

Simon “Ghost” Riley x GN Reader     Fluff <3         Words: 1.4k

Warnings: Might be a bit of ooc Simon. Just some cussing, gender-neutral terms used. Ferret blasphemy

It started as a simple question. One Simon figured he’d be able to complete. “Can you watch Darrel for me?” Easy. That’s all that was requested of him by his… relationship? He thinks you’re dating, granted he also doesn’t want to ask 6 months into whatever it is y’all are. You stated you weren't much for 'labels'.

The issue is, he just assumed that Darrel is a cat. Or a dog. He didn’t expect you to own a fucking ferret. So, tell him why he is now trying to find where it’s gone, as he’s on the phone telling you it's doing great! Ferret is 100% okay and definitely not lost in your apartment.

“But you found the food for him, right?” You had asked him over the phone, Simon had you on speaker on the counter beside the cage.

“Yeah, found that pretty quickly, right where you said it’d be. How’s the trip going?” He’s moving the couch cushions around trying to figure out where the little shits ran off to. Opened the cage door just to turn around and put the food in and out came the wiggly little bastard.

“It’s going okay, wish I was home though, I hate being away whilst you’re back from deployment. Also, why do you sound so far away? What’re you doing?” Shit. You heard him.

“I just misplaced the remote. Think it fell in between the cushions. Nothing happening.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees it. Darrel. Shooting across the living room. So, Simon follows as quietly as he can, being 6’5. And yet he misses him by seconds.

“Check behind the cushions, usually with you they don’t fall between them, but slip behind you towards the back.” You remind him, as this has been an occurrence before.

“Where the fuck…” It’s muttered, Simon hopes you can’t hear him trying to find your beloved pet.

“What’s that noise? You got a cold?” Simon hears you ask, which makes him turn to see Darrel on the phone. So, Simon does the only thing he can think of and grabs the blanket to toss it over everything.

Covering the counter, phone, and ferret all in one swoop. The issue? Darrel squeals. Which tips you off.

“Simon! What’s happening?” You panic, hear the squealing and the scuffle, but then you hear something else.

“Got you, you fuck.” It’s Simon finally getting him cornered and caught.

“Simon, what the hell is happening?” You hear him cuss, then the noises of Darrel making little noises you refer to as ‘happy dook’. And as you get annoyed at the fact you don’t get a response, you tap the ‘Facetime’ button on the screen. Waiting for Simon to accept the call the first thing you see when he does, is Darrel, mouth open with Simon holding his scruff.

“Little slimy bastard is what he is,” Simon informs holding the little terror.

He hears and sees you laughing at his statement, “He slipped past you didn’t he?”

“Why do you have to own a rat of all things? Why not a cat, or shit a parrot?” It’s said in a grumble, as he fixes his hold on the ferret, massive hands moving to hold under his legs. Then sticking him back in his cage to eat.

“When I got the apartment the landlord's rules were ‘pet either had to be in a cage or tank’. So, I got a ferret. Birds are… I don’t know I think they’re messy.” You inform, doing a little finger wave to the pet.

“So, you got a rat. Not a fish?”

“Simon, leave your adoptive son alone,” You tell him, then move your attention back to Simon. “How’d he slip past you Mr. SAS Lieutenant?”

“He slipped past as I was grabbing his food. Ran around the room, he’s coming on next deployment with how he gets in and out of places though.”

A laugh sounds out, and Simon can see your nose crinkled as you do, “Don’t send our son to war. He’d never make it past basic.”

Simon lets out a small chuckle, “Just give him to Johnny to deal with. He’ll get ‘em through.”

“Johnny would lose him instantly. Would probably try strapping a knife to him and send him through the halls.” You laugh as you say the second part, and Simon knows you’re picturing the Scot strapping a knife to the little weasel. “God Price would probably put rat traps out.”

There’s a gruff laugh in response, “Wouldn’t allow it.”

You just hum in response, “Well, just remember you’re free to stay there whilst I’m gone. Don’t care if you do or don’t. Just let Darrel run around for a few hours, he’ll make his way back to the cage when he’s done.”

“You let the rat run around unsupervised?”

“He’s not a rat. He’s a ferret. Weasel family. You should know that. Also, yes, I do, he’s usually free roaming whenever I’m home, but I won’t make ya do that.” You tell him, then add, “Oh watch your toes. He’ll bite ‘em if he can. OH, and your keys. Actually, just anything that might have a bit of a shine. If you notice anything is missing, just check that cubby under the TV. He’ll have stuff stashed there.”

“Great, so he’ll steal my keys, bite my feet. Anything else I should worry about?”  He questions.

“Nah, that’s just for if you decide to let him roam about. Are you up to date on shots?”

It’s stated bluntly as if you’re going to add something else, and it makes Simon turn in the direction of your face on the screen.

“This little rat has a disease?”

“Simon, he’s not a rat. Also, no I’m just fucking with ya. But if I come back from this trip and my child is dead, I’m coming for your kneecaps, Simon Riley. Nothing will hide you from me.” It’s blunt, meant to be a threat, but coming over Facetime, doesn’t make it too scary. Simon’s had worst threats made against him.

“He’ll be alive when you get back,” Simon grunted out, reassuring you of the fact. “Any plans for tomorrow?” He asked, changing the subject from the rat. Weasel.

“Not really, did that hike today, I’ll send some photos from it. Want any souvenirs?” Simon wants to roll his eyes at that but knows that some people do enjoy traveling. His being in the military makes it lackluster.

“Skyros is known for what again? Crafting?”

“Close, known for ceramics, woodcarving, embroidery. The classics,” You inform.

Simon seems to hum in thought, “Grab me something you think I’ll use. Or think I need.” He tells, knowing you’d find him something you think ‘screams Simon.’

“Will do, got Price a mug, which seems like I’m trying to find a gift for my father but anyway, Johnny a Scottish flag burned into some wood. Gaz took longer but found him this book of poems, some of which are claimed to be originals but there were like 5 other copies of the same book. Buy the book you get an original coin from like 400 BC, which is real. Can add it to his coin collections he’s found through your guys' travels.”

Simon knows then that is one of his favorite things about you. How you’ve accepted the team as a family, don’t see them as anything else. Buy them little trinkets when things remind you of them all.

“They’ll all enjoy them. But you know you don’t have to buy them anything. They’ll say the same.”

“I know they will. But they’re the boys.” You smile, then say, “If you won’t be nice to them then I gotta.” It’s said with a laugh. The tease coming through the phone.

Simon huffs a laugh, “Because I’m so rude. Should watch out, might replace me with you.”

“Only if little Darrel comes with.” He watches your smile through the phone screen, wishing you were here instead on some Greek island. The mention of the pet makes him look back at the cage across the room seeing the ferret’s beady little eyes staring at him.

Simon sighs, shaking his head and just states, “A fucking rat for a pet.”

“He’s not a rat!”

Gaz's s/o would have a horse. Seems like the type of guy who would love coming out and seeing you ride your horse. Soap's s/o has a cat, a little wriggly bastard who's always getting into shit. Like Soap. Price's s/o would have a dog. I picture a little (ethically bred where it can fucking breath, like og. or maybe adopted) French bulldog. Price would be the type of guy who would be like 'I'm not being seen with this thing.' cut to 3 weeks later he's dressing it in bows. And of course, Simon with his little weasel child.

@glitterypirateduck

[holylulusworld]

Gun for hire (3)

Summary: You’re his next target. Nothing else. Right?

Pairing: Lloyd Hansen x fem!Reader

Warnings: hiring a killer, Lloyd being Lloyd, sunshine reader,

Gun for hire (2)

Gun for hire masterlist

You look out of the window, watching the city you know so well fade in the background. Lloyd guides the car out of town, and you fear, you missed your chance to run.

“Where are you taking me? Will you let me disappear somewhere out in the woods?”

He snorts. “Sunshine, if I wanted you dead, you’d lie six feet under in your garden, next to the loser your fine boyfriend sent to kill you.”

“Ex-boyfriend,” you pout. “After all he’s done, he’s my ex-boyfriend. Tommie is responsible for the poor man’s death. And now, you are going to kill me too.”

“Yeah, because you’re my assignment, not that douche’s, nor your boyfriend’s,” Lloyd slams his hands onto the steering wheel, almost losing control over the car as he looked at you for a split-second.

“So…you keep me around because you want to kill me?” You press on. It’s your life, and you want to know for how much longer you will breathe. “Why? This doesn’t make sense.”

“Rule number one, never question me, or my decisions,” Lloyd dips his head to glare at you. “Got it, sunshine?”

“Fine,” you wrinkle your nose and kick the headboard.

“No pouting or damaging my car,” he slaps his hand onto your thigh, squeezing hard. A warning to not mess with him. “You should be thankful I didn’t bury you next to that bastard.”

“What will you do now? Will you kill Tommie for not paying you?” You just can’t stop your mouth from running. You’re in a car with a man who makes money by killing people and you try to fall into an easy conversation with him. 

“If you don’t stop talking, I’ll kill you first,” he grins like the devil while glancing at you. “Aw, you lost your pretty smile, sunshine. I wonder why…”

Before you can stop yourself, you stick your tongue out. “You’re not nice.”

“I never said that I’m a nice guy, sweet cheeks,” Lloyd snaps at you. “Only because you love to hug people all the time, wear dresses looking like a three-year-old chose them and braid flowers in your hair doesn’t mean the rest of the world must be sugar-sweet too.”

“I-“ you purse your lips and inhale sharply. “You’re making it hard to like you, Lloyd. Why do you always make fun of other people? I’m nice because it is nice to be nice.”

“Christ, I got my middle school teacher in my car trying to teach me how to smile and be nice to girls,” he curls his upper lip, making his mustache look ever more ridiculous. “It’s nice to be nice.” He mimics your voice.

“You’re not nice.”

“You are annoying.”

“I hate your mustache, it looks awful. If not, you’d be an attractive man,” you snap at Lloyd, hating yourself for being mean. You cross your arms over your chest and look out of the window.

Lloyd presses his lips into a thin line. He huffs and tries to not let your words get to him. Lloyd wishes he could run his fingers over his mustache, but he must focus on driving the car to not end up dead.

He takes his time, recalling your words in his mind. Lloyd smirks and dips his head to glance at you. “So, you think I’m attractive?” 

Lloyd guides the car toward a secluded path. You press your nose against the window to get a better look at the house coming into sight.

No. This is not a house. You are living in a house. This is a mansion, surrounded by a huge fence. He slows the car down and presses a button on his phone to open the automatic driveway gate.

“Wow! Are you an Earl or something?” You gape when the house gets in sight. “I’ve never seen this kind of house outside of a magazine.”

“It’s a house,” he grunts. “You’re not here for sightseeing and to get comfortable. As soon as I talk to your ex-boyfriend, I’ll decide on…” He shrugs. “You know what happens then…”

You look away and press your lips into a thin line. If he wants to act like a meanie, you’ll not talk to him. The bullies in school gave up too when you ignored them.

All they wanted was attention, just like the man next to you.

“I said no pouting in my car,” he flashes you a smirk. Lloyd is more than happy that he was able to ruin your mood. “We are almost there, sunshine.”

He drives through the gate, a smug grin on his face while you angrily pursed your lips. That man made you angry, and you hate being angry. 

“You know, with that pout, you look kinda cute when mad,” he laughs when you make a face. “Ah, I will extinguish that sunshine in your eyes. I’ll be all too happy to make you even madder.”

Lloyd looks at the monitors while barking orders at the team he sent to get your ex-boyfriend. “Do we have sightings of the target yet?” 

“Target sighted,” one of his men answers. “He’s waiting at the agreed meeting point. What are our orders?”

“Get him. I want him alive,” Lloyd orders his men around. “That piece of shit believed he can fuck with Lloyd Hansen. He will get what he deserves. Let’s play a game.”

He leans back in his chair, crossing one leg over the other. His eyes glued to the monitors he smiles to himself. “Who gets me this man first will get a raise and one week off.”

His men storm toward your ex-boyfriend, barking orders at him. Tommie wets himself and falls to his knees. He knew it was a mistake to hire Lloyd Hansen, but he desperately wanted to give his new girlfriend all she ever dreamed of.

“Perfect ending,” Lloyd smirks in your direction when his men handcuff your ex-boyfriend. “What do you say, sunshine? Do we want to celebrate the successful hunt?”

You still refuse to talk to him. His comments and behavior made you mad, and you are angry at yourself for letting Lloyd Hansen get to you.

“Aw, come on. Give me a little smile,” he dips his head to look at you. “If you play your cards right, I let you watch me rough him up.”

You curl your lip. This man is the worst, and you can’t find it in you to be nice to him. Not after he shot someone in your kitchen and kidnapped you.

“No,” you huff and look away. “I don’t want to watch you hurt someone. I had to watch you kill that man in my kitchen. That’s enough violence for one day.”

Lloyd gets up from his chair to stalk toward you. He cups your face and smirks. 

“Sunshine, there is never enough violence when it comes to a piece of shit like your boyfriend…”

Part 4

Tags in reblog.

[kayhi808]

Neighbors - Green Eyed Monster

Masterlist

Tony Stark is throwing another one of his parties at Avenger's Tower, which is why you are currently in an elevator trying to coax a smile out of your boyfriend. "I just don't see why he makes this stuff mandatory!"

You slap his hand away from fidgeting with his tie. You loosen it just a smidge for him. "We'll stay a couple hours and we'll leave. Do your time & we're out, ok?"

"Fine!" He smiles at you, "Did I tell you how gorgeous you look?"

"You can tell me again." He leans over to kiss your neck & you smile until you feel his teeth & pull away. "Don't you dare!" Bucky pulls away and laughs, entwining his fingers with yours as the elevator doors open.

You step out into Tony's penthouse filled with people. You've never seen a penthouse this big before. It could almost be a nightclub. You hear Bucky let out a soft growl & you squeeze his hand. He leads you towards the right & you notice Sam. "So how long are you planning on staying?" You roll your eyes at them.

"Look at you, all dressed up." Sam runs his hands down the lapels on Bucky's jacket.

"Y/N made me."

Nodding vigorously, "Well, yea! Look at her!" Sam greets you with a kiss. "She's stunning. She doesn't want to be seen with a potato like you."

A pretty blonde walks up, "I'd be happy to be seen with Sargeant Barnes. Suit or no suit."

What the?!?

"Hey Dot."

"I was wondering if you'd show up tonight," gazing up at Bucky.

Bucky gives a shrug, "Yea, well..."

"It's man-da-tory. We had to." huffs out Sam.

Giggling, "The Winter Soldier doesn't always follow the rules, now does he?" She steps back winking at him.

You drop Bucky's hand and he looks at you, "Doll, this is Agent Dot McKinny. She just transferred from the Compound. Dot, my girlfriend, Y/N." His arm goes around your waist anchoring you to him.

"Nice to meet you,"

"So girlfriend, not wife?" laughing like she made a joke, "Need to make sure."

Ew! It's not nice to meet you.

Nat, Steve & Wanda join the group in the nick of time, so you can make an escape.

"I need a drink," removing Bucky's arm from your waist. To Nat & Wanda, "You want something to drink? I'm going to the bar."

"We'll come with you, " Wanda moves over to your side.

Dot waves you off, "I'm good. I'll stay right here."

Your lip can't help but curl into a snarl as you turn away, mumbling "I didn't ask you." You kept your shoulders back & chin up,

After ordering your drinks, Wanda & Natalie are giving you smirks & you can't help but smile and laugh. "Who and WHAT was that??"

They crack up laughing. "When I saw Dot head over to you guys I told Wanda we needed to get over there."

"Dot is a new transfer agent....

"Um transfer her back!" Interrupting Wanda only made them laugh harder.

"She may have a taken a liking to your Soldier."

"She's...she's a bold one," looking back at the group. Witnessing Dot playfully slap Bucky's arm.

You collect your drinks and wander back. Bucky gives you a worried look but you smile and hand him his scotch. "Thanks, doll." He leans in to kiss you & whispers "You ok?"

You plaster on a smile and give a noncommittal hum as Dot continues to yammer away laying a hand on Bucky's sleeve to gain his attention.

"I just found out they cleared me for missions so we could be partnering up soon. It's so exciting!"

"Yes, so exciting," you repeat.

Bucky clears his throat. "Will you excuse us? I needed to discuss something with Clint."

He leads you across the floor, "Doll?"

Shaking your head & laughing, "Don't you 'doll' me, Mister."

"Y/N? Ok, let's hear it."

You down the rest of your wine, handing your glass to a passing waiter. "#1, I hate her. #2, Ew. #3, what was all...THAT? #4, I hate her."

Bucky laughs, cupping your face in his hands and gives you a slow kiss that brings your jealousy level down a few notches, but he goes and says something dumb to rev you back up again. "Are you jealous?"

Narrowing your eyes at him, "Is there reason to be?"

Again he laughs and wraps you in his arms, "You're adorable!" Dropping a kiss on your lips.

Taking his bottom lip between your teeth, " And you didn't answer my question." He grimaces and pulls away.

"There is absolutely zero...Zero reasons to be jealous. I love you. I want you, and no one else."

"Ok," giving him a small smile. "But I still don't like her. If you get paired up with her on an extended mission, I'm sabotaging that mission." Bucky laughs. "Hey, the Avengers have been warned!"

You spend the rest of the evening dodging Agent Dot but she's locked on target and will zero in on Bucky. You ignore her the best you can.

You're sharing new photos and videos of Alpine with Nat. "She's gotten so fluffy!"

"I know! She was so scrawny and dirty and she's just a loveable ball of fluff now."

Dot looks over your shoulder, "Oh my God, are you a cat person?! I could NEVER!"

Nat questions, "Why not? They are so cute." Knowing exactly where this is going to lead & setting Dot up for the fall.

"Cats are menaces. They scratch up and destroy everything. They're unfriendly & bite. They carry parasites. Filthy." Shuddering, "I never understood how people can own a cat. What's that saying? Pets take after their owners?" She gives you a mean smug little smile.

"Actually, Alpine is Bucky's cat." You meet Bucky's glare over Dot's shoulder. "Honey? Dot thinks Allie is a filthy menace."

"Really?"

All the hopes and dreams for Agent Dot died after looking into the glaring eyes of an affronted cat dad. No one is forgiven for insulting his Alpine.

[jgracie]

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ CALL ME MAYBE?

↳ part one!

ferrari driver!percy jackson x fem!reader

masterlist | rules

on the radio . . . call me maybe (carly rae jepsen)

an i remembered i wrote that other blurb and so i decided to write a part 2 for it!!!

"y/n, you have to call him!" your friend said for the nth time as you started down at the number you typed into the keypad on your phone app, ready for you to hit that bright green call button

ever since you told her about what happened between you and the mystery man the two of you now dubbed PJ, she'd been begging you to call him - mostly because she was mad you passed up the opportunity to get free formula one tickets, but also because to her, this was a 2000s romcom in the making. you personally didn't see it, since he was just some rich guy you drove home one night, nothing more. she, however, was convinced this was the universe delivering your soulmate to you

huffing, you turned around on your bed, now laying on your back and staring at the ceiling, your phone no longer in your hand and instead right next to you. rookie mistake

as soon as she saw that you let go of your phone, your friend grabbed it and called the number you’d typed in. you were too busy thinking about whether or not to call PJ to notice this happening, only snapping out of your thoughts once he’d already picked up and your friend had begun talking

“oh, i’m layla! but this isn’t my phone, i’m talking from my friend’s phone!” your jaw dropped as you watched her converse with your mystery man - you didn’t think he’d actually pick up if you did decide to call

meanwhile, percy was confused. he was pretty good at hiding personal information, how did a fan manage to find his personal phone number? he wracked his brain for an explanation when the memory of that night hit him like a truck

"wait, are you the one who drove me home?" he asked, his heart beating as fast as the ferrari car he was known for

"no, that would be my friend, y/n!" layla replied, grinning and wiggling her eyebrows at you, "oh, you wanna talk to her? sure!" despite your protests, she put percy on speaker before handing you the phone. you opened your mouth but nothing came out. luckily, percy decided to start the conversation for you

"hi, i'm glad you saw the paper i left in your car. what took you so long?" he asked, a smile making its way onto his lips. it had been a week since he took his chances with you and every day that passed without a call from a mystery number made him more and more worried that you hadn't seen the slip of paper or, even worse, you didn't care to call

you giggled, and percy wished he had this call recorded so he could go back and listen to that sound forever, "sorry, i was really nervous, to be completely honest. its not every day some random guy jumps into your car in the middle of the night, gets you to drive him home and then leaves his number in your car."

percy's eyebrows furrowed at your use of the phrase 'random guy'. when you hadn't acted as a fan usually would, he assumed you either were too frightened to recognise him or that you were pretending to be oblivious out of politeness

"wait... do you not know who i am?" he asked. he hated sounding arrogant, but he couldn't help it - meeting someone who liked you for you and not the money or fame was very rare for a guy like percy

"no? am i supposed to? you didn't introduce yourself or anything, i just know your initials are PJ..." you mumbled, hoping you didn't forget anything from your interaction as it'd be awfully embarrassing

"it's fine," he replied, "i'm percy jackson—" before he could continue, layla, who'd been listening to your conversation the entire time, gasped and snatched the phone from your hands

"like the f1 driver percy jackson? is that why you offered her tickets? can we still get them?" she bombarded the poor guy with questions then, turning to you, she said, "why didn't you tell me the guy you drove home was the percy jackson? i showed you pictures of him before, you should've known!"

taking your phone back from her, you said, "do i look like i'd remember the name and face of some guy who drives cars for a living?" then, you left your room and headed to the kitchen, deciding that was enough humiliation for one day

"i'm sorry about her, she's like, a huge fan of yours," you said, hoping this didn't ruin the slim chances you had with percy. to your surprise, he laughed. before hearing this, you didn't think it was possible for a mere laugh to make you blush

wiping a stray tear from his eye, percy said, "its alright, i'm used to it... just a guy who drives cars for a living, though? i'm hurt, y/n. i thought we built a special connection that night!"

you rolled your eyes and smiled at this, "you'll need to do a lot more than get me to drive you home to build a connection with me, car boy."

"okay then, where do you live?" he asked, catching you off-guard, "let me drive you somewhere this time, i am the professional after all."

well, maybe layla was right all along

[thewertsearch]

GA: I Woke Up A Long Time Ago GA: I Had Trouble Sleeping When I Was Young [...] GA: And When I Was Supposed To Be In My Cocoon I Would Often Wander Out To The Desert GA: Where One Day I Was Visited By A Stranger Who Dressed And Spoke In White

Oh, for the love of peace. Is there anyone that this globe-headed chucklefuck doesn’t have in his pocket?

GA: He Put Me To Sleep And I Awoke On Prospit […] GA: He Said He Was My Guardian GA: And Though He Visited Rarely I Did Regard Him As That GA: Then Later He Stopped Coming

This one might not be so bad, actually. Scratch seems curiously uninterested in Kanaya, and she bears none of the telltale signs of his manipulation.

Maybe these visits were actually just part of his day job. As Alternia's First Guardian, Scratch might be obligated to protect the Frog Temple and its associated Player, just as Bec did on earth.

GA: In Time I Began To Believe He Was A Figment Of My Mind […] GA: But Then While Playing Our Game I Learned He Was Real […] GA: And Had Been Manipulating Us All To Advance His Schemes

Bad news like Scratch gets around - but not as much as I'd like it to. Kanaya views Scratch as a menace localized to Alternia, and seems unaware that he's involved in Rose's fall, too.

GA: It Was Saddening To Learn My Fortuitous Awakening Had Been The Product Of A Nefarious Ploy GA: Youre Lucky That Your Awakening Probably Had No Such Entanglements

No, Jade's awakening was part of Vriska’s nefarious ploy. She might be a bit of a loose cannon, but I'd take her over Scratch any day.

GA: I Feel A Bit Silly That It Took Me So Long To Engage With The One Corresponding Closely With My Role GA: It Must Be A Certain Madness Im Afflicted By GA: To Orbit Those More Reckless And Dangerous Than I And More Daring For It GA: I Guess I Want To Help Them But They Never Can Be Helped It Seems

GG: are you saying rose is reckless and dangerous? GA: Yes Definitely GA: We Have Our Share Of Dangerous Players Who Seem To Do Nothing But Cause Problems GA: I Believe She Is Yours

I think it’s a little unfair to tar Rose with the same brush as Vriska - or even Terezi, for that matter. It's not like Rose has actually killed anyone, and she's generally a lot more sensible than-

...alright, touché.

GA: And If Her Insane Plan Wasnt Alarming Enough GA: She Has Been Communicating With The Stranger I Mentioned GA: And Unsurprisingly She Has Not Been Forthright About The Nature Of Their Conversations

Wait, so she does know that Rose has been talking to Scratch?

That means that Rose is almost certainly aware of the mayhem Scratch caused on Alternia. It was probably the first thing Kanaya told her, when trying to warn her - and yet, Rose is completely unfazed. When questioned, Scratch undoubtedly provided the perfect excuse.

I’m coming to realize that we probably can’t outmaneuver Scratch -at least, not while we're playing by his rules. If we really want to pull ourselves out of the web he's woven, we should focus on exploiting his 'dark spots'. Both the Scourge Sisters are aware of them, but I don't know if they've told anyone else.

GA: And Hes Not Merely A Guardian GA: Im Very Sure He Is A First Guardian GA: Like Your Lusus Was […] GG: im not sure why, but the sound of that makes me really nervous GA: I Feel The Same Way About It

I hate to tell you this, guys, but First-Guardianing is just how he pays the bills.

It's his side hustle you need to worry about.

[haikyu-mp4]

Sly foxes

word count; 950 – f!reader

Not usually favouring sports, you’re in the journalism club to make use of your great eye for design and writing. After watching one of your school’s volleyball team’s official games last season, you took notice of the boring brochures they handed out with the players’ information. You hadn’t yet chosen what to do for your project this semester and decided to lend your talents to making a better representation of the team’s charms and talents. What you didn’t expect to get out of the project was a date.

You received permission from their coach and captain and set up some equipment to take your photos in a room adjacent to the gym during practice. Hopefully, you can encourage them all to pose confidently. In order to not disturb their whole practice, you ask one grade to join you at a time, starting with the first-years and ending with the third-years. Good luck!

Honestly, the coach was the least of your concerns going into this project. Everyone knew that Inarizaki’s volleyball team’s biggest defence was their captain, Kita Shinsuke.

You met with him for a lunch period, giving him a detailed explanation of your project and how you would like to proceed with it. He gave you some suggestions and rules, also making sure you knew that they couldn’t spent too much time on it.

Kita really liked how detailed you were and how you clearly came prepared to meet with him. You arrived at the precise agreed time and spent even less time than he expected, despite including all the necessary details. After he gave his two cents, he happily approved the project and asked you to spend the rest of the lunch period with him. Of course, you wouldn’t say no after he so kindly approved your project, but that wasn’t your only motivation. Their captain is really quite pretty up close.

D-day arrived and you started off with the first-years just like planned. Most of them were very sweet and seemed to appreciate a bit of attention even though they weren’t starting players. The problem arose when you got to the second-years. The ones Kita warned you about, even though he didn’t have to. You definitely heard of the Miya twins before.

Starting with Atsumu. “Yer taking up my practice time, pretty. Better make it worth my time.”

“I can skip you if you want, leave you out of the brochure,” you answered, not giving him much of a reaction. He begrudgingly posed for you and tried to casually flex his muscles, definitely not giving up on his first try of charming you. Still, to no avail.

Then there was Osamu. He was nice enough, trying to ask you about food you like, to which you answered normally. It was disturbing the picture taking and you wanted to stay on schedule. Unfortunately, the food talk made his stomach growl, so he ended up blushing and giving up his attempt so he could finally finish and leave to get a snack.

After the twins, you tried your best with Suna. When walking past you, he ghosted a hand over your hip as if on accident, and leaned down so he didn’t need to speak too loud. “How do you want me?” he asked, hoping to send some chills down your spine when his deep voice hit your ear, breath curling around it. You pointed to his spot and asked him casually to look like an intimidating middle blocker. Kita gave you a rundown of the positions beforehand.

“You look a little… bored,” you said with a careful smile, hoping he didn’t take it the wrong way. Suna deadpanned and sighed, realising his flirting didn’t work on you and he just couldn’t be bothered putting in too much work. So he sharpened his eyes and got the photoshoot over with, complaining to Atsumu about how stale you were and he totally agreed.

The rest had realised by then that there was no getting to you, and they all decided the bet was off. Yes, the second-years bet on who you would be most charmed by.

That’s why you sighed with relief when you got to the third-years. Kita smiled softly and patted your shoulder, reassuring you that your process was well planned and executed, which in turn means the result will be as well.

All the pictures came out really good, though you did have a special vision for Kita’s that made them your biased favourites. He had his jacket resting over his shoulders and you and Akagi agreed he looked pretty cool. After packing up your stuff and going back into the gym, you turn to the team with Kita by your side. “Everyone, please thank y/n for the effort. I’m sure this will help us show off our best sides at nationals,” he said, looking at you while your cheeks flushed red from his compliments. The team all bowed, but the second-years looked at you and their captain with a suspicious squint.

“Thank you guys for your cooperation! And thank you, Kita, for allowing it,” you said, bowing to the captain and then the team before finally taking your leave.

“Did Kita just smile at her?” Atsumu whispered in shock.

“Did she blush? He just said thanks?” Suna whispered with disbelief.

“What just happened?” Ginjima threw in there.

Aran huffed a laugh and hit Suna hard on the back, as he stood the closest. “What, you guys don’t think our captain has game?”

Kita had already asked to take you out for tea outside of school and looked forward to your date this weekend. The second years might just have gained even more respect for their captain.

the Flyer Series ║ masterlist

/taglist: @cottonlemonade @dira333 @cosmiicdust

[strdstwanderer]

If Jason Todd really wants to kill the Joker, he should become a prosecutor.

Gotham CITY (emphasis added) makes no sense to me. It is the only CITY in all of DC comics where a supervillain goes to an asylum and not prison. Almost every supervillain goes to Arkham for criminal insanity instead of prison. Blackgate exists. Iron Heights exists. It's so bad that the idea of Bruce Wayne beating up the mentally ill became such a prevalent misconception of the character and Arkham became a shorthand for Gotham's supermax prison.

In the United States, there are four major tests for criminal insanity or not guilty by reason of insanity defense.

The M'Naghten Rule, Irresistable Impulse, Duhram Rule, and the Model Penal Code. Each STATE in the country uses at least a variation of this. Without getting into the weeds of them, the main takeaway is that they test wether:

1. The defendant had a mental illness or defect.

2. The mental illness or defect made them unable to conform to the law.

3. The mental illness or defect makes them unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of their action.

Only a handful of Batman villains fall under these criteria. Off the top of my head, Harvey Dent and the Ventriloquist. Characters like Ivy, Freeze, Manbat, or Bane don't fall into any of these criteria.

Joker does not fall in these criteria either. He knows what does is wrong. He isn't compelled to do what he's doing because of his mental illness or defect if one such exists. If Jason wanted him dead, he could just be a prosecutor and argue against Joker's criminal insanity.

But what about him breaking out?

That's why I highlighted the words City and State. These laws on what defines Criminal Insanity are either in State Statutes or Federal ones. There are no local city ordinances that define criminal insanity because the State legislature controls that. That means if Washington State follows the Model Penal Code, then Seattle applies it the same as Spokane.

Look at every city in the DC Universe. Villains go to prison, never asylums. It only ever applies in Gotham. In some versions, Gotham is across the bay from Metropolis. So, assuming they share a stare, then Metropolis should be sending people like Luthor, Toyman, and Livewire to an asylum too since their laws for what criminal insanity is should be the same as Gotham's (same state and all). But no. Gotham is a legal anomaly.

Jason as an attorney can advocate for a uniform application of State statute. Maybe even convince the State to appeal the trial court's judgment regarding Joker's defense.

One could argue that Gotham is corrupt. Sure. But there's no business sense for the local crime families to lobby for all the costumed freaks to go to one easily-breakable asylum instead of prison. Cobblepot being sent there makes sense in that reading, but Joker?! Plus, we're talking about a whole State, not a just a city. So it'd be unlikely that a handful of Gotham crime families can convince the State to let Joker go to Arkham. Especially if the State can somehow resist Luthor enough to send him to prison.

But how does this kill the Joker? The Death Penalty. Joker would be more than eligible for it. Although, the Death Penalty does take a long time before it gets actually conducted.

I just think it's a lost opportunity not to have a Batman legal drama where Jason becomes a prosecutor hellbent on sending the Joker, and all other villains, to prison. It would give Bruce a moral dilemma where on hand, Jason is doing everything by the books, but his intent is to kill others using the death penalty. What should Bruce do? Should Batman intervene? Should Bruce lobby for the removal of the Death Penalty? Should Bruce provide Joker with legal counsel to combat Jason?