#split between me and Dana

[bluesidez]

GymRat!Miguel Part 9.2 | full chapter without breaks on AO3

content warning: more fluff, more laughs, a little bit of insecurity from Miguel and reader, underage drinking (all of the characters are aged 18-20 so by USA standards, that's underaged. but college kids will be college kids. and so will high school graduates.), a mention of an edible like once, Hobie is here! (fr this time), Pavitr too, even more jealous Miguel, 18+ so MNDI, wet wet relations, fellatio, cunnilingus, Miguel is a munch (his fantasies are unraveling finally), cum play if you squint, partially public indecency???, I think that's it

word count: 9.3k, halfway proofread (I split it really weirdly so I apologize for that lol)

Some of the links used in this part are just to give you an idea of what's going on! Enjoy! 🩵

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GymRat!Miguel who texts Tyler while you’re in the shower. 

Dad…Tyler:

“She really loved it. Thank you so much for helping me out with this, Dad.”

“Any time, son! I’m glad everything went well! I can have my people send over the video form of the animation if you would like.”

“Sure, I can have it on hand.”

“And I take it, you like the yacht?”

“It’s extremely nice! Captain Barrett is pretty cool.”

“Don’t tell him you said that or it’ll go to that funny mustache.”

“Ok 😭”

“I did have a question though.”

“Ask away.”

“What did Kron do to his other boat?”

“What didn’t he do to that boat? He had too many friends on that thing all with a mix of substances I could never dream of combining. Their parents had to come drag them out lest the police get involved. I’ve never helped Kron with any event or party since then. He hasn’t earned it and he embarrassed me greatly.”

“Would you be more comfortable if we held off on the drinks?”

“See son, the difference between you and Kron is that you understand the legal ramifications of doing something so idiotic as having illegal items on a property that isn’t yours as a minor. You also have integrity and respect, something that Kron has lost sight of. I trust that neither you nor your friends will do anything too drastic.”

“Yeah, there’s no crazy stuff happening this weekend.”

“I believe it.”

“Get back to your girlfriend now. Thank you for checking up on your old man. Tell her I said hello.”

“For sure. Good night.”

“Good night!”

GymRat!Miguel who opens his arms up to you as you come out of the bathroom. You hurried to lay in his arms, skin warm from your shower. 

You snuggle up under his chin, “Today was really fun.”

“Yeah?” he rubs your head slowly. 

“Mm hm. Now, we should sleep.”

A yawn racks through Miguel’s body, the day of driving settling in his bones. 

You keep your ear on his chest. The steady tempo of his heart and his breaths lulling you to sleep. 

GymRat!Miguel who is still asleep by the time you wake up. You both ended up at opposite ends of the giant bed with just your legs intertwining. 

You look over to Miguel and watch his chest rise and fall, his snores crescendoing at each breath. 

You lay your head back on the pillow, eyes tracing the shape of his face in this morning light. The water was calm, giving the boat a slight rock. Some seagulls flew by, their sounds fading in and out. 

You scoot closer to get a better look, your hand lightly following the line of his face. 

His eyes flutter open at your touch, a brown sea welcoming you. 

“G’morning,” his voice is terribly deep like this. The timbre shoots straight to your core. 

“Morning. I didn’t mean to wake you up,” you whisper. 

Miguel moves to lay his head on your chest, taking a deep breath. “It’s fine. The sight made me feel like I went to heaven.”

He pulled you closer by the waist, “Ten more minutes?”

“Rest up all you need, bear-bear.”

GymRat!Miguel who is just as excited as Gabriel when he gets to the deck that morning. The agenda was swimming with the dolphins before everyone else got here.

Miguel and Gabriel were practically buzzing in their matching wetsuits. Dana snuck in a video laughing at the twin looks on their faces. 

GymRat!Miguel who sneaks glances at your form on the way to the dolphin center. You’re leaning over the edge of the smaller boat, the wind against your face. The wetsuit was doing wonders for the curve of your figure. 

GymRat!Miguel who ends up going into a nerd session about dolphins with Gabriel. Both of them are spitting out dolphin facts at the speed of light. 

 “I just think that if you were to be any dolphin, it’s so obvious that you would be an orca.” 

“But why, though? Because I’m big? That’s a new low, even for you, Gabri.”

“No, it’s because you’re mixed, obviously. Killer whale aka orca aka dolphin. Duh, Miguelito.”

“Don’t ‘duh’ me because that doesn’t even make sense. Orcas are still classified as dolphins even though they look like whales.”

“Just like you-”

“I’m going to smack you off the side of this boat if you finish that sentence.”

“Resulting to violence just like a killer whale, what a shame.”

“You’re so annoying. Orcas are smart, they speak different languages based on their pod, and the name was actually ‘whale killers,’ not ‘killer whales.’ That would make me an orca, but I would not be one because I would never take care of my family but abandon my children.”

“A lot of male dolphins abandon their families. A lot of them hang out with the bros and come back.”

“Female dolphins can do the hard work of carrying babies from ten to eighteen months, so enlighten me, Gabri. What are the male dolphins doing with the bros?”

Gabriel squinted his eyes and put his finger up weakly, “This is a trick question.”

“No it’s not! Don’t you know the answer?” Miguel put his hands out, as if waiting for a physical object to be presented. 

“I do know the answer, which is why I don’t want to give you the satisfaction.”

“Well, now I want to know because you two nerds wouldn’t shut up about bottlenose dolphins just five minutes ago,” Dana scoffs as she takes off her shades, the morning sun too much for her. 

“That’s not the same energy you had last night when I-”

“No one wants to hear that.”

“Shut up, Miguel,” Gabriel snaps back. “They take care of other dolphin babies. And sometimes become friends with benefits with their homies.”

Dana makes a disgusted face, “And you’re defending that? Wow. So when I have your kid you’re going to leave me and go do fuck all with Pavitr?”

“No, Dana, I would never do that! We discussed this! Miguel is going to study seahorses, make me a safe mutation, and I’ll carry them for you!”

“I don’t even study genetics so I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

“So you wouldn’t carry her babies?” Gabriel gestures towards you in a panic. 

Miguel looks towards you at the front of the boat, watching the water go by. 

He thought of you as a mom, carrying his kid, holding their hand in the park, picking decor for the nursery. 

He thought of you under him, taking everything he could give you and more. You screaming his name as the bed creaks loud enough to fill the hallway. 

“I would, but that’s not the question right now.”

“Why did it take you so long to answer that?” Gabriel’s tone was high. 

“Oh my god, he was thinking of getting her pregnant,” Dana says in horror. 

“Oh, so I have to listen to your escapades, but I can’t even daydream in silence?”

GymRat!Miguel who listens intently to the staff. No harm shall come to any dolphin on his behalf.  

GymRat!Miguel who makes friends with one of the cute dolphins. Her name is Dotty because of the few spots she has on her body. 

She immediately gravitates towards Miguel. Her blowhole squeals constantly whenever Miguel talks to her. 

“Well I think Dotty is in love!” the instructor yells from across the enclosed water. 

GymRat!Miguel who laughs at Dana who keeps getting splashed on by the baby dolphins. 

GymRat!Miguel who looks so cute with his nose touching Dotty’s rostrum. They’re spinning in circles with Dotty clicking away like a cat purring. 

GymRat!Miguel who watches you interact with one of the bigger dolphins whose name is Mon. 

“Mon and Dotty are a couple, but he’s a little sad today because Dotty isn't giving him any attention,” the instructor says with a giant pout on her face. 

Even Mon’s clicks sounded sad and Miguel didn’t know how that was possible. 

Mon places his chin on your shoulder and you’re immediately in love, rubbing his body and consoling him and his broken heart. 

“It’s ok, Mon. You can hang out with me,” you say in a sweet voice. Mon’s fins squeezed you even tighter. 

A sweater, some random guys, Dana, Blake, and now a dolphin. Miguel can’t win. 

GymRat!Miguel who watches Mon click and spin happily when you feed him fish for doing a trick. 

“That was so good, Monie!” you pat his head, and he leans into your hands. 

GymRat!Miguel who thinks Dotty and Mon are a bit like you and him. They’re twirling in the water together, rubbing their bodies close. 

GymRat!Miguel who sits with you on the boat ride back, watching the dolphins race with the boat halfway to the yacht.

GymRat!Miguel whose eyebrows raise when he sees one of your friends as you guys step off the boat. 

“Hobie!” you squeal, running to hug the lanky figure. 

“My girl! How have you been, love?” he asks, a deep London accent lining his words. 

Love?

“I’m so happy you made it! How’s the apprenticeship? Any new techniques to share?”

“A lot more than techniques, if you know what I mean?” Hobie leaned on you as he snickered away. 

Miguel might pop a fuse. 

GymRat!Miguel who lingers by as you chat away with Hobie. The two of you are catching up for a while and Miguel wants to walk back to the room with you so you can help him take off this tight wetsuit. 

He’s lightly kicking at a puddle with his arms crossed when you call his name. 

“This is my boyfriend, Miguel,” you say, coming up to him and wrapping an arm around his.

“He’s a big one, innit?” Hobie says, holding his hand out. “Hobie Brown.”

Miguel shook it with a sturdy hand, “Miguel O’Hara. Nice to meet you.”

“How long have you known this firecracker for?” Hobie gestured to you with a smile.

“It’ll be a year once August hits. The best ten months of my life, honestly,” Miguel says, leaning down to kiss your temple. 

“She’s got you wrapped ‘round her finger, yeah?” Hobie smirked at the love drunk look on Miguel’s face. “Yeah, you’re a goner. That’s just how she is. One encounter and it’s hard to let go.”

Hobie went to pick up his one backpack, a master at light travel from how much he’s moving. 

“Don’t let me stop yous two from partying. See ya in an hour, love,” Hobie said walking away. 

You look up at Miguel, “The best ten months?”

“Yep. Love?”

“It’s a British thing. He’s friendly!”

“Hm.”

“And definitely demisexual.”

“Hmph.”

“You’re very territorial.”

“For good reason.”

GymRat!Miguel who makes it to the boardwalk after he’s changed to greet their friends and guide them to the yacht. 

There’s a lot of you, especially from Gabriel and Dana’s graduating class. Miguel greets everyone warmly. 

It feels good to unite his old friends and newer friends together.

GymRat!Miguel who makes a plan to be the best at every activity on the agenda today. Yeah, he wanted to have fun, but for some reason, he felt like he had something to prove.

He walks back out to the top deck to see Hobie laying out on the flat slats under the shade. His arms are crossed and his shades are hiding his full expression. 

From here, Miguel can hear Blake chatting it up with some of the girls that are hanging out near the on-deck pool. He looks over the edge and sees him grinning from ear to ear as the girls giggle. He clicks his teeth at the scene. 

“Big Migs, c’mere for a sec, will ya?” Hobie said.

“He’s a bit chatty, that one. An overachiever if I’ve ever seen it.”

On second thought, Miguel might like Hobie a lot.

“All morning, he’s been spitting nothing but rubbish. Going on and on about the boat and the city and his socials. Nothing of substance, just straight air.”

Miguel snickered, “It feels like that’s all he’s got going for himself. His daddy’s boat, his daddy’s money, and his face.”

Miguel recounts the events from last afternoon. How he lacked respect for not only him but for you and your personal space. 

“Not gonna lie, I’d smash his head in,” Hobie replied calmly.

Miguel let out a hearty laugh, “I wanted to and honestly, I could, but there are several circumstances stopping me. Such as the fact that we’re on his dad’s property.”

“But deep it, when’s the next time you’ll need to be on this thing?”

Miguel is about to respond in agreement when you round the corner from the stairs. 

“There you two are!”

You smile at the two of them, “Are you guys getting along? Has Hobie convinced you to join him on some scheme across the country?”

Miguel took a deep breath before responding. He knew what outfits you brought with you, a lot of them matched his own, but it was still like new whenever you put them on. 

He didn’t have enough time in the world to cherish your beauty. 

“They’re not schemes, baby, they’re elaborate plans,” Miguel responds.

“Man like, Migs!” Hobie hops up and drags his arm around Miguel’s shoulders. 

You shake your head with a warm smile on your face, laughing at Hobie’s antics.

“And you look stunning. Though, I’m not too sure if it’s fit for hoverboarding.”

“That’s because I’m jet skiing and shaking ass, Hobie. You guys can have fun flipping in the air.”

“Right on, then. Migs and I have important business to attend to.”

Miguel nods, “Extremely important.”

You eyed them both, “Uh huh.” They left in a controlled frenzy, Hobie pulling his wicks up with a giant band and Miguel cracking his neck.

You didn’t even want to know. 

GymRat!Miguel who is a bit peeved that Blake has to give the water hoverboard demonstration. He’s staying up there longer than necessary, grabbing girls to balance them in the middle of his board while he flips them around.

You’re standing next to Miguel during it all, waiting for Miguel’s turn so you can get a video.

“Hey!” Blake yells out in your direction. “Wanna take it for a spin?”

You shake your head and yell back, “No, I’m good!”

“Just three minutes! Don’t be scared! I won’t drop you.”

“No thanks,” you bite back, voice irritated. 

Blake smiles with a hand on his hip, ready to convince you, when Hobie pipes up, “The lady said no. Can we move on?”

Blake’s face cracked a bit as he told one of the crew members to kill the power in the waterboard. 

“What is up with him?” you mumble to yourself. 

“I think he likes you,” Pavitr remarked. “He wouldn’t stop asking Gabriel questions about you.”

“He’s really pushing it,” Miguel scoffed. Not only was he being overly flirty to every girl on board, he was adamant about getting your attention. “No wonder he gets along with Kron.”

You sported a twisted lip as you watched him strap up one of Gabriel’s friends. “I don’t know. Even if I was single, he’s a bit too…tiny. Communal.”

The laugh that left Miguel wiped the scowl right off of his face.

GymRat!Miguel who gets the hang of the hoverboard after one try. You’re recording him with a big smile on your face as he tries to spell “love” in the air. 

GymRat!Miguel who dies laughing at Gabriel’s horrible attempts at staying in the air. His body keeps shaking like a baby deer and he’s steady yelling in garbled Spanish. 

By the time his turn is over, Miguel is laid out on the boardwalk with tears down his face.

“This isn’t fucking funny, Miguel,” Gabriel cries out.

Miguel just rolls and laughs some more. 

GymRat!Miguel who watches you expertly drive a jet ski from the edge of the yacht. You’re shouting with one arm in the air as you race Dana and some of her friends. 

Miguel leans his head on his hand as he watches you zoom across the ocean. Your skin is glowing, your smile is sparkling, and your laugh is bright. 

GymRat!Miguel whose bubble of thoughts involving you, him, the water, some fruit, and a floatie is popped when Blake’s voice pierces through. 

“She’s pretty good at that.”

“Yep.” Maybe if Miguel ignored him enough, he’d go away.

“Looks like a dream, too.”

“Are you dumb or something?” Miguel turns his body, gripping the rail to not get in Blake’s face, but extending his height to cower over him.

“Woah,” Blake holds his hands up. “It was a compliment, dude, chill out. You’re not mad at me for finding her beautiful, are you?”

“That’s not what the fuck you’re doing and you know it.”

Blake makes a confused face, laughing off Miguel’s statement, “Kron said you guys were open.”

“Does it look like we’re fucking open?”

“Well, at first-”

“Keep talking and you’ll end up just like him. Knocked out. Do you want that?” Miguel edged closer to him. “Huh?”

Blake bristles, ready to defend himself when his head is knocked to the side. 

He looks next to him to see a gaggle of girls all with waterballoons and nerf guns. They yell at him to come on and pick a side. 

Blake scrambles to join them.

Miguel is about to follow when Hobie sweeps in front of him, “Cool it.”

GymRat!Miguel who almost takes an edible from Hobie but decides against it. 

“The offer is open all weekend.”

“Noted.”

GymRat!Miguel who gets roped into playing some games to start off the night, one of which is Never Have I Ever with shots. 

It started off innocently with things like peeing in a pool and cheating on a test to which everyone looked in shock at Miguel when he put a finger down. 

“I’m smart but if there’s a group effort to get the right answers, I’m not going to say no.”

Then it went left field and personal with things like threesomes, drunkenly fighting with others, and streaking. 

“Never have I ever…received head from a partner!”

A few of the guys put a finger down, groaning out and snickering as they had to take another shot. 

Miguel was trying not to dwell on how many experiences he lacked compared to the group, a lot of them younger than him. 

He rubbed his tongue across his teeth. He didn’t want to show his irritation on his face. 

Looking across the circle, he could see Gabriel’s eyes get wide, staring off beside you. 

Miguel followed his line of sight landing on you with a finger down and a shot in your hand. 

What the fuck. 

Who the fuck beat him to it? Where the fuck did it happen? When the fuck did it happen? How the fuck did he not know?

He’s ready for the game to be over. 

“Miguel is putting in work!” one guy pushes his elbow against Miguel’s side, laughing and patting his shoulders. 

Well, if people think he did it, it’s not so bad. 

“Oh my god, girl, how was it?” Dana’s friend asked you. 

Miguel tried his best not to scream bloody murder. 

“It was,” you pause, looking up to ponder. “It was something! Not particularly fun or good. My ex wasn’t the best at listening so he just poked at me. I faked everything that night.”

Miguel smirked. There were no big shoes to fill because they were never taken out of the box. Or even out of the store. 

“That sucks. I bet he thought you were in heaven.”

You laugh with the girls, joking in a way similar to the women that flooded Miguel’s for-you page. 

Miguel stepped away to get a breather. If he stayed any longer, he might do something drastic. 

GymRat!Miguel who is leaning on the boat when Gabriel comes to check up on him. 

“You ok, Miguelito?”

“Yeah, I’m alright. A little overwhelmed so I need to reset,” Miguel wrung his wrists while he let the sea breeze cool him down. 

“Is it the game? Don’t feel so bad,” Gabriel leans closer to Miguel and speaks in a stage whisper. “Some of them are a little too fast for their own good.”

Miguel snickered. Gabriel was definitely tipsy. 

“Thanks, Gabri.”

“Anytime. Don’t let them bring you down. You’re my perfect Miguelito. My pure baby!” Gabriel kissed him on the cheek.

“Ugh,” Miguel laughed and wiped at his wet cheek.

“Don’t wipe away at my love, broski.”

GymRat!Miguel who is guided by you in a dance. You’re a little tipsy and giggly, holding onto him as you dance to the music. 

Miguel just holds onto your hips and smiles with you. 

GymRat!Miguel who is locked in on your body as you grind against him. You’re arching your back and looking at him with a sparkle in your eye and Miguel feels like a wild animal.

When you lean back against him, he whispers in your ear about a private party just for the two of you. You bite your lip and turn to look at him. His eyes are tracing your lips and his hands are groping you. 

GymRat!Miguel who laughs at you as you wish everyone a good night quickly.

“I’ll see you guys in the morning!” you shout to your friends as you pull Miguel behind you to the room.

GymRat!Miguel who waits for you on the bed while you use the bathroom. 

He’s excited for an intimate night with just you. Parties were fun but it really couldn’t beat the serenity of smaller groups. It especially couldn’t beat talking all night with you. 

Everyone else was chilling out in other parts of the yacht, back in their hotel rooms, or night paddle boarding. 

You’re in the bathroom staring at the thin fabric in your hand. 

Miguel told you that there was a pool involved. 

You bought a micro bikini during a surge of confidence. It looked so cute on the model and you wanted to feel the same way. 

Now you’re standing in the bathroom freaking out, worried to death over the flimsy material. You were excited about Miguel seeing it, but you couldn’t shake your own nerves about how everything would play out. 

A knock at the door makes you jump.

You crack the door and peer up at Miguel. 

“You ok in there?” he asked, eyebrows pinched. 

“Yeah, I’m ok! I’ll be out in just a sec!”

You bite the bullet and place the bikini on. 

You didn’t account for your areolas to poke out beyond the triangles. You bit your lip as you turned to check out your backside.

At least your ass looked great. 

In a nervous motion, you pull your coverup over you and pull your hair up so that it doesn’t get too ruined by the water. It was now or never. 

GymRat!Miguel who holds your hand as he guides you to the private area. You’re squeezing his hand so tight. 

One of the stewardesses smiles as she sees you two coming. She stands next to a rope cutting off the area. 

“Good evening to you both! I hope you’ve been enjoying your stay so far,” her voice is polite and even. “Tonight, it’ll be just you two enjoying the Galaxy. If you need anything, just press the call button on the wall and I’ll be right down.”

She unlatches the rope and holds her arm out in the direction of the stairs.

You both slowly descend, careful not to slip on the trippy-looking wood. 

Taking a step into the room, Miguel stares in awe at the glowing pool. 

There’s petals fluttering about, small fairy lights surround the corners to add extra light. Looking up, you both can see the night sky with the stars adorning it. 

“This is beautiful,” you say, the lights surrounding you glittering in your eyes. 

You were staring at the stars and the lights but Miguel couldn’t help but to think that you were the most beautiful part of the room. 

He said this much to you, watching as you bent your head down hiding the smile on your face. Miguel lifted it back up and kissed you under the light of the stars. 

“Ready?” 

“Yeah, let me just go take this off.” 

You walk towards a chair with folded towels placed on it. 

“Miguel, these have our names on them!” you say with shock, running your fingers over the embroidered letters. Hearts surrounded the names and you felt fuzzy from the implication of the stewardess preparing this. 

“Yeah, I heard it was a part of the couple’s bundle,” he shouts from the pool. It wasn’t really a part of the bundle, but Miguel suggested it way before the trip. 

His back was turned to you, trying to set up a speaker by the pool. 

The moment was perfect, so you opened a champagne bottle and poured two glasses. You took a huge gulp of one and removed your slip. 

GymRat!Miguel who hears you entering the water, so he hurries to pick out a song. 

The mood needs to be right. 

He turns to you and nearly drowns at the sight. (Art is not affiliated with this fic, but I couldn't find any plus-size women in real life on Pinterest with this type of bikini! Please give this artist some love, I love their art!)

You’re coming down the stairs with two glasses in your hand and your skin on full display. The strings are digging tight into your skin and your breasts are practically spilling out from every side. 

Miguel is stunned.

“Come grab your drink, Miguel,” your voice is like butter in his ears. 

His eyes don’t leave you as he swims across the pool. The only sounds that could be heard are the water moving around him and the music playing. When he gets closer, he stands up, water dripping down his body. He’s breathing hard and is laser-focused on your frame. 

You feel an array of emotions. You feel like running, jumping, maybe hiding. His gaze is too heavy and he hasn’t spoken a word yet. 

You don’t know how long you two stare at each other before Miguel breaks the tension, “You’re going to be the death of me.”

He takes the glasses from your hand with one hand and picks you up in the other. You cling to him as he goes to the edge of the pool, places one glass down and chugs the other. 

In a flash, you’re sitting on the edge and he’s holding his body out of the water in order to kiss you. 

He pushes your mouth open, pulling at your lip with his teeth. He was desperate, wanting more. 

Your hands find your way to his hair, the tips wet from his swim. You card your fingers through his locks, opening your mouth wider as Miguel groans onto your tongue. 

He can’t stop, body moving forward the deeper the kisses get. Your legs open wider and your hands fall down Miguel’s back. You go lower than usual, pushing your hands under his swimsuit, fingertips grazing over the skin of his ass. 

Miguel parts, spit-ridden mouth red and messy. 

“You’re making this so hard for me,” he says against your lips. You’re both panting into each other’s mouths. 

Your body feels like jelly. The way that he’s looking at you fills you with desire, “Making what hard?” You’re quivering and clenching as his eyes seem to get darker. 

“Baby,” Miguel kisses the corner of your lips then your jaw. He moves to where your jaw and neck connect, licking  “Amor. I can’t.”

You move your head, encouraging him to continue, “You can if you want to.”

“No, I’m supposed to take this slow,” his mouth moved to your collarbone, sucking at the skin as you squeezed your thighs around him. “I need to take this slow.”

He gets to your breasts, pressing your nipples through the material and watching as your areolas poked out more. “Mierda.”

You try to talk as Miguel takes one breast into his mouth, “It’s ok to want more. I want, ugh, I want you to take more.” He pulls at your nipple, watching as it rises more through the fabric. His thumb traces it, causing you to twitch in his hold. 

He continues to rub over the fabric as he kisses down your stomach. The string is wrapping around your stomach like a gift just for him. 

“Tomorrow, baby,” he says into your skin. “I’ll take more tomorrow.”

He needed to stop before he broke the promise he made to himself. 

He hears you whine as he gets eerily close to your sex before jerking his body straight. 

“Why?” you sound so needy and broken. 

“Because,” he kisses your pout away. “Tomorrow, I’m going to take all I need. You just need to trust me. Please.”

You nod your head, heart pounding with his words. 

GymRat!Miguel who lets you persuade him into swapping places. All it took was a few blinks of your eyes and Miguel was swooning.

“I saw you walk away during the game today. I wanted to make sure that the next time you play, you’re able to put a finger down.”

That’s what you told him with a sweet smile on your face.

Now you’re rubbing up his thighs and Miguel is about to pass out from the view of you peering up at him. Your eyes were foggy and the slope of your neck to your chest was glistening. From this angle, Miguel could see the curve of your ass with the bikini barely covering it.

You run your hands down his chest, fingers dancing along the slopes and planes, leaving a wet trail in your wake. Miguel’s stomach tightens as you make it below his belly button, the sensation of your fingertips across his happy trail building a fury in his core.

You kiss him through his swimsuit causing him to jump.

You hold his thighs and tilt your head to lean on one, “Are you nervous, Miggy?” Your knuckles rake against his groin, lingering in spots that made his inner thighs clench the most.

“I,” Miguel is trembling like a leaf. He can barely get the words out from how much energy he's using to hold himself up. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” You lift your body from the water a little, pressing your tits closer to his clothed sex. “Baby, I need you to know. I can’t go further without your permission.”

Miguel feels like he could cum right now.

“I’m really nervous, but I want to experience this.”

You hum as you start to pull at his waistband. His eyes scrunch closed as his dick springs up. 

You’re met with a sight you had missed. The size is still as intimidating as the last time. 

You rub his thighs and give yourself a quiet pep talk. You were determined to make your boyfriend feel good. 

Miguel looks back down at you and swallows dryly, anxious at the look in your eyes and your silence, “If it’s too much, w-we can stop here-”

“No.”

The first lick of his tip has Miguel rising off of the pool edge, pre-cum escaping him.

He whines, embarrassed at his lack of control, but his dick is twitching from the sensation.

“Miguel,” your hands are back on his hips at a flimsy attempt to hold him down. “You need to be careful, baby.”

“Don’t call me baby right now.” Miguel’s voice is winded like he’s been running a marathon.

You look up at him. His mouth is twisted up and his eyebrows are furrowed. His stomach keeps shaking and his elbows don’t know if they want to bend or extend. When he looks down at you, he lets out a whimper, dick jerking against his will.

You hold your lips right above the head, the heat of it making you excited, “Baby.”

Miguel jerks again as you take his tip into your mouth, more of his pre-cum slipping out. His body is wound tight and he’s losing sense of it. Your mouth is so warm and he’s crying out from just you suckling along the head. He would be grateful with just this alone.

You push yourself lower, mouth adjusting to the widening girth. You don’t know if it’s the champagne combined with the other drinks you’ve had today, but the taste is making your mind fuzzy. 

You hum as you move your tongue along the underside of his length, his essence melting into your mouth. Miguel continues to twitch against your lips. 

You look up and he just groans when his eyes connect with yours. 

“P-pretty,” he stutters out, brain-to-mouth filter completely disintegrating. One of his arms covers his mouth as he fights to quiet down. There’s no telling what the stewardess could hear from above. 

You decided to go deeper, wanting to hear him some more. You make it halfway down before you grip his shaft and give it a few semi-dry pumps. 

Miguel just about shouts at the sensation, legs jerking enough to splash the water around you. 

Satisfied with the reaction, you release him with a pop and slide your tongue down to the base, trying to get him as wet as possible for what you’re about to attempt to do. You pucker your lips to leave wet kisses all over his shaft, sucking occasionally. 

All Miguel can do is whimper and shake. 

You hold him, sliding your hand up and down, applying pressure whenever you glide over the top, “You can hold on to me.”

Miguel shakes his head and releases his bottom lip from his teeth to speak, but his words are jumbled up in a heated mess. 

“Say it again, Miguel. I don’t understand,” you bring your mouth to the head again, this time, cupping his balls as you slide back down. 

Early spurts of cum land in your mouth as Miguel uselessly grips at the flat ground. He’s moaning out your name and if you weren’t sliding him down your throat, you would think he’s crying for you. 

“I-I don’t wanna hurt you,” Miguel takes heavy breaths in the middle of his sentence. 

Even like this he was oh so sweet. You don’t push it and continue on. 

As you reach the hilt, you force yourself to relax, thumb pressed against your fisted palm. He was heavy on your tongue and you needed to find the right pace. 

You slowly move your head up and down, lips wet with spit and slick. You build a steady tempo that has Miguel involuntarily moving his hips and moaning in a senseless manner. 

He was conflicted, core heated at the sound of your throat barely taking him, but wanting to pull you off so you don’t choke all because of him. Hot tears ran down his face as you didn’t let up. 

He chooses the latter, foggy mind coming to a decision. His shaky hands reach towards your face, your cheeks hallowed and eyes closed. His hands make it to your cheeks when you reach the hilt again and swallow around his head. 

Miguel scares himself with the moan he lets out. 

You panic as you swallow his load, mouth completely full. 

Miguel hurries to pull you off, “Shit! Baby, I’m so sorry!”

“It’s ok,” you cough as you try to catch your breath. Drips of him that you didn’t swallow falling to your chest. “I wish you would have told me you were about cum, though.”

“I didn’t know!” he’s red in the face. “God, I’m so sorry!”

“Was it good, though?” You look up at him with lips and sparkling eyes. You’re holding your tits up so that his cum wouldn’t get in the pool. 

Miguel’s dick twitches like it’s trying to wake back up again. You notice it and a grin plants itself right onto your face. 

“Do you really have to ask me that?”

“Yes, Miggy.”

“I think my embarrassing finish was enough but yes, you made me feel good. It was way more than good. Now come out of the pool before you get any more ideas.”

“It wasn’t embarrassing!” you reply as Miguel picks you up from the water and on his stomach while lays back. “‘Was kinda hot. You felt so good that you couldn’t wait.”

You slide your finger over your cleavage to pick up the leftover essence and plop right in your mouth. 

Miguel grips your thighs as he looks up at you, “No, stop that, you vixen.”

You’re going to be the death of him for sure. 

GymRat!Miguel whose legs are like jelly when you help him up from the ground. His thighs haven’t shaken this much since his first leg day almost five years ago. 

“Do you need to lie down on the beach chair for a minute?” you ask with genuine concern. 

“Yeah, I think I need a second,” Miguel says, trying his best not to put his entire weight onto you. 

GymRat!Miguel who watches you watch him from the pool. You’re at the edge, leaning over and smiling at him while you let your body float. 

“Next time, I want to get, like, really hoarse. We should work on your resistance and my tolerance. Oh! And maybe we can do that thing where I hold your-”

“Amor, please. Let’s talk about this when I’m not halfway dying,” Miguel groans, dick half hard. “How are you so good at this anyway?”

“Practice! With my ex and like one other fling. They weren’t nearly as responsive as you, though.”

Miguel squints at your figure. 

“Or fun. Or satisfying. Or tasty. Or big. Can I do it one more time, Miggy?”

Miguel stares at you for a minute or two then groans, “Come on.”

You leave the water and walk over to him with glee. 

GymRat!Miguel who grabs lightly onto your head this time, fingers twitching occasionally. His legs are parted and you’re laid out on the horizontal part of the beach chair. Miguel is constantly looking from your face to your ass, experiencing a sensation overload. You take it easy on him this time, saving some of your tricks and things you wanted to try for a later date. 

The room is filled once again with Miguel’s grunts and whimpers plus your mouth and throat molding unto him. 

GymRat!Miguel who warns you this time. You let go with a pop and let him paint your open mouth. He shudders as you look at him through it all, pumping him slowly until he can't take anymore. A lonely tear escaped him, eyes heavy and chest heaving. 

GymRat!Miguel who barely makes it back up the stairs. He gives the stewardess a polite smile but you can barely look at her for longer than a second. 

“It was really lovely,” you say leaning into Miguel’s side, voice a little gone. 

“Yeah, amazing,” Miguel snickers. You nudge him at the back of his leg causing him to stagger a bit. 

The stewardess just laughs and wishes you both a good night. 

GymRat!Miguel who sleeps like a log that night. His soul needed to rejuvenate. 

GymRat!Miguel who wakes up a new man. He feels like he can conquer the world. As of now, the world is a new set of water activities with their friends. 

He kisses you on the cheek in your sleeping state makes his way out to the deck, wanting to do some morning stretches and yoga if he could fit it in. 

He walked out to see Dana talking to Blake, an indifferent look on her face.

“I just can’t believe he would lie to me like that, you know? Like that’s fucked up. Here I was, ready to get something and he set me up.” 

“Yeah, no. That really sucks,” Dana replies with a big yawn.

“I mean, I thought we were bros. I thought-”

“Miguel! My knight in shining armor,” Dana practically screams when she spots Miguel.

Blake tenses up so that if he mimics a timid raccoon. 

“Morning,” Miguel walks up to them.

Blake breaks out into a sweat, “Hey man, I’m sorry about last night. I would have never done that stuff if I knew. I don’t know why Kron told me you guys were open.”

“I think you need some new friends and better social cues,” Miguel brushed Blake off and walked with Dana onto the boardwalk. 

“Thank god you got here. That was his fourth iteration of ‘bro code should be respected.’ I was going to start screaming if he kept talking.”

GymRat!Miguel who lets Dana guide him in a mini yoga class on the beach. It’s pretty nice with the waves crashing and the birds squawking occasionally.

GymRat!Miguel whose downward dog pose is almost disrupted by you whistling from a spot in the sand. 

You and Gabriel had snuck up on Miguel and Dana, cackling like hyenas.

“Baby, I think you can go deeper,” you shout over the waves, encouraging Miguel to stretch.

“Gross,” Gabriel shudders. 

GymRat!Miguel who wants to use you for a flying pose but you refuse. 

“I’m not walking back with sand up my back.”

“Can we try it later, though?” Miguel pouted. 

“On safe carpet, yes.”

GymRat!Miguel who settles for a forward fold with you. You stretch your body across his back as he reaches down to touch his toes. 

It’s nice until you both switch positions. 

“I think I’m dying,” you gasp out. You sound like an old man on his last breath. 

“No, you’re not. You just need more practice,” Miguel chides from above. 

“When will I ever need this pose in life?”

“Flexibility is good for you!” Miguel replies after a while. 

“Get your mind out of the gutter.”

“I didn’t do anything!”

GymRat!Miguel who tilts his head at your breakfast plate piled with pineapples. 

“You don’t want an omelet?”

“Maybe later.”

GymRat!Miguel who joined any group activity he could. 

From the inflatable water obstacle course,  

which Gabriel cheated on by the way,

To the boat tour, he got so many pictures for you for his rotating home screen,

To the banana boat rides that he almost lost his life on. It took you, Gabriel, and Dana to hold onto him. 

GymRat!Miguel who surprises you with a “rooftop” dinner on the horizon on the highest part of the yacht. You’re wearing that same green dress that made him go crazy in the dressing room. 

“This is so gorgeous, Miguel,” you sigh as you take in the small scene. 

From up here, you could see the breathtaking view of the ocean and the city. The sun was close to setting, people were out and about, and the group was partaking in last-minute activities like parasailing and water walking with bubble balls but you could only focus on the glow around Miguel. 

“Did you enjoy this weekend?”

You nod your head, shy with attention, “I really did. I had so much fun.”

“Even with boys that don’t understand the word ‘no’?”

“When I have my strong boyfriend there to defend me, what is there to be afraid of?” you smile at him. 

Miguel sits up straighter at that, chest puffing out.

You laugh at his state, “Seriously, though. This was one of the best summers ever. I’m really glad Mr. Stone arranged this and I’m even more glad that you brought me along.”

“Of course I did. You’re my girl. Mi amor, mi luz,” Miguel reached out to run your hand. “I’m not letting you go anytime soon.”

Like a flower unfurled, your heart took in his words. You leaned across the table until you could brush your lips with his, only the sun peeking through the two of you. 

You let go and lean back a little. “I’m not letting go of you either. I want you by my side,” you say, eyes panning back and forth between his.

“And that’s where I’ll stay.”

GymRat!Miguel who covers your eyes on the way back to the room.

You’re whining because you don’t have nearly as much planned for him as he always does for you. 

“Amor, you could just text me an emoji and I would be happy. You deserve good things. Don’t worry about me.”

GymRat!Miguel who wraps his arm around you as you open your eyes to the room. 

It’s lit with soft lights, decorated lightly with rose petals in the shape of a heart on the ground, and a banner full of pictures with the two of you. Pictures from outside of lab, pictures of you with oil paint on your face, pictures of him piled with notes in the study lab. 

Pictures of you both on your early dates, pictures of you looking at him in the car, pictures where he’s kissing your face off. 

You gasp at the scene, feet stuck in the entryway.

“Surprise,” Miguel says into your ear, kissing the top of it.

“I don’t think I have any tears left,” your voice is watery enough to dispute that lie.

GymRat!Miguel who kisses you deeply in the middle of the rose heart. You’re cradling his face with one hand and rubbing your thumb across his sideburn with another.

You’re so wrapped up in his arms and his presence that you miss his question.

“Can you do what?”

Miguel’s hands find their way to your ass, pulling you even closer, “Can I please eat you out?”

When you stare at him with your eyebrows raised, it only pushes him to continue.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a long time. I’ve dreamed about it, researched how to do it, studied it, daydreamed about it. I need to do it before I go crazy.”

He bent down to get on his knees, hands never letting go of your body.

“Please, baby. If you’ll allow me, I really want to make you feel good.”

At first, all you could think was that Dana was right and definitely a girl’s girl. Then, you looked down at Miguel whose head was pressed up against your torso, eyes pleading with you. 

You ran your hand through his hair, “You need to do it?”

“Uh huh,” he nodded, nuzzling into your body through your dress. 

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to fake my reactions for you.” You didn’t have the heart to lie to him like that, especially when he’s looking at you like that. 

“You won’t have to,” Miguel mumbles into your skin. “I’m confident, but if something is weird, stop me immediately.”

GymRat!Miguel who doesn’t give you time to think when you whisper out an “ok.” He’s picking you up by the legs and plopping you on the bed.

Like a switch, he’s kissing down your body, pulling at the stretchy green fabric to expose your skin. He’s crowding your space in the most desired way possible, a fire building within him.

“Miguel, the dress isn’t going to come off like that,” you say, internally laughing at Miguel tugging to no avail. 

He starts to pull so hard that you can hear threads ripping. Before you can stop him, there’s a makeshift slit up your thigh. 

You lean up on your elbows and give Miguel a look. He just stares sheepishly and lets you stand up to pull the dress off. 

“You gotta be more patient baby,” you purred, bending down to kiss his lips. 

When you lean back, you move backwards to sit on the bed. It’s just you, your black panties, and a hungry Miguel at your feet.

The further you inch up the bed, the more Miguel crawls to be closer to you. 

“Can I kiss you?” he breathes into your mouth, eyes never leaving yours.

“Please.”

Miguel melts into your skin, mouth molding to a familiar shape. His breaths are heavy and sporadic, too excited to finally know what you feel like on his tongue.

You reach to pull his shirt off, wanting to feel his chest against yours, wanting to feel the expanse of his back while he pressed up against you. Miguel follows your movements without letting up.

He sighed into your lips with pleasure as he let his hand flow down your body, grabbing a breast to massage. You hummed into his mouth, legs parting to bring him closer. Eager to please, Miguel slipped his shorts below his bulged, grinding against you.

You start to wrap your legs around his waist before Miguel interrupts you with a sturdy hand under your knee, and a promise to devour you to your neck.

GymRat!Miguel who groans when he slides your panties down your legs. The slope of your thick thighs to your ass has Miguel ready to burst. 

He gets on his knees to maneuver your legs up into your arms. You peek up at him over your knees, your wet cunt kissing the air. 

He licks his lips at the sight, taking a tentative touch at your wet lips. 

You jump at the sensation, the feeling of Miguel seeing you this vulnerable new. 

He bends down to kiss them, hands on the back of your thighs for extra support. Your core flutters as he takes a few more kisses to your sex, tongue reaching out to trace from the bottom to the top. At the first taste, Miguel is groaning into you, sending vibrations through your body. 

You sigh out in bliss as your grip loosens on your legs. Miguel flattens his body on the bed and spreads your legs wide, tongue continuing to savor the taste of you. 

At this angle, Miguel pushes his tongue in between your folds, feeling your warmth around him. He laps at your entrance slowly causing you to flutter around him and reach for his hair.

He slurps up the juices that try to escape him causing you to moan out his name. He just hums in response, breaching further inside. The more noises he makes, the wetter you get. The room is full of the sound of him lapping everything he gave you and your quiet moans.

“Miguel,” your breath hitched as he swiped over a particular spot. You look down at Miguel whose eyes are closed and hands are tight on your thighs. You feel a building heat seeing how much of a trance he’s in. 

Just when you feel a bud sprouting within you, he directs his attention towards your clit, searching until he finds it. At the first skim across it, your hips are bucking up off the bed. Miguel is quick to hold you down, placing his weight on your thighs and lapping continuously at the pearl. 

“Fuck!” you shout, hitting the mattress. You’re writhing beneath him, unable to control your body. “Don’t stop, Miguel, please.”

Miguel groans through it all, lapping up every drop. 

“Baby, I’m gonna-” a scream pushes through you as your body shakes with pleasure. Miguel takes it like a champ, slurping like you were his last meal.

As you twitch with aftershocks, Miguel barely gives you time to recover before he’s diving back into your entrance. You let out a sob, still sensitive and quivering as your legs move too close before Miguel growls and wraps his arms around your thighs to keep them open. 

He’s sinking into you, moving his tongue at a steady pace and sucking in between. Your moans were a pool of words from his name to begging to profanities crescendoing across the air.

Miguel would rarely part for air, adamant on bringing you to the hilt again. Your thighs were tensing up as Miguel kept going, fire building as you grabbed his hair and jerked your hips in time with his movements. 

Your climax comes in waves, your hands tighter in his hair and an arch in your back. When you clench over his tongue and your release hits his mouth, Miguel’s eyes start to roll and he’s rubbing his nose against your clit. You yell even louder as Miguel pushes his face incredibly deep into your pussy. He’s rutting into the bed at the sound of your voice, moaning with you. 

─ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──── ♡ ─── ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──

The captain swore that the VIP suite was soundproof, but your voice was practically carrying across the yacht. 

“She’s getting it good! Just like I promised,” Dana smiles to herself. 

“What did you promise? I was the one that gave Miguel tips.” Gabriel moved his headphones aside. 

“Oh yeah? And what tips did you give him?” She had her eyebrow raised and a silly smirk on her face. 

There was a pause of silence between them, only your voice filling up the space occasionally. Gabriel stared at Dana with a goofy grin.

He reached over and connected his phone to his speaker, putting on his special playlist. “Want to find out?”

─ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──── ♡ ─── ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──

GymRat!Miguel who has to be pulled off your sex with both of your hands. His eyes are glazed over and his chin is soaked. Every chance you came after the first two times, your body would move up the bed and Miguel was sure to follow. 

“Ok, ok, baby,” you heave. Your legs are spasming, a result of the position and Miguel’s willingness to have you cum over and over again.

You were tapping out, body sore and tired. 

Miguel left a final long kiss to your clit, a trail of essence following his lips. He kissed up one of your thighs with a hungry look still in his eyes.

“¿Lo hice bien, cariño?” (Did I do it well, baby/darling?)

You trembled at his touch, limbs still heavy and mind in the clouds. 

Still, this was the best you’ve felt in a while.

You open your mouth to whisper, “Lo hiciste muy bien.” (You did so good.)

GymRat!Miguel who has to calm down internally at your answer. You don’t talk to him in Spanish often, but when you do, he’s over the moon. 

GymRat!Miguel who carries you to the bathroom to clean you off.

“Baby, I can’t walk. You’ll have to carry me for the rest of your life.”

“I’m totally fine with that.”

GymRat!Miguel who shocks you when he says that you don’t need to worry about bringing him relief. 

“Amor, I came when you came. After that, it was really all about you.”

“Oh!”

GymRat!Miguel who pats his past self on the back for asking the crew for extra sheets. He had no clue how the evening would go, but something in him told him to be overprepared. 

Those old sheets were beyond ruined. 

GymRat!Miguel who rubs your legs and stomach with aloe vera lotion after the shower. Not only did he stretch you a little further than you’re used to, but his bite marks left a big impression. 

GymRat!Miguel who cuddles you to sleep. If you wore him out the other night, he definitely put you through the ringer. You were gone after three rubs to your back. 

GymRat!Miguel who wakes up early with you to send off all of your friends. You’re yawning constantly, tears sticking to the corners of your eyes.

“Someone had a time last night,” Hobie snickers as he walks past with his backpack. 

“Shut up, Hobie,” you say, already flustered. 

“What? It’s true! If I didn’t know Migs' name before, I sure do now.”

“I’m going to backflip off of this boat.”

GymRat!Miguel who grants Captain Barrett a goodbye, thanking him for letting them use his boat.

“It was a pleasure to host you, Miguel. If you and your girlfriend ever need to, my superyacht is available for any future formal events!” he elbows Miguel with a giant grin, curled mustache moving like it was paid to do so. 

“I’ll keep that in mind, Cap.”

For Miguel, the man with the plan, he would grant Mission A: Eat You Out, a huge success and the start of the summer one to remember.

divider by: @iwonbin 🩵

Part 9.1 here!

a/n: And with that, the yacht chapter is finished! I hope you guys enjoyed it and got your life. 🤭 It was both challenging and rewarding to write this GIANT chapter. I hope that you guys have fun with it like I did! I have no idea how the next chapter OR Miguel's Mission B: Virgin No More plan will go, but!!! Hopefully, it will be pleasant regardless! 🤠

ALSO! I have decided to give this drabble that's basically a fic a proper name (mostly for AO3). Do you all have any suggestions?

As always, like, comment, and reblog. Let me know how you feel! 🩵

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Can't Argue With Crazy (Hollow Mind)

I’m going to open this with a question to Dana Terrace herself: Why? Did you wake up one morning, look at your audience, and think “I will break you”? What happened to the goofy series with the body swap episode and the playground game of thrones?

In all seriousness, I have been mentioning a lot that the Owl House features a runup to its final arc to get its mind into gear and fine tune the tone and pacing. In my opinion, that final arc kicks off in a big way with Hollow Mind.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD: (The Owl House, Frankenstein, Moon Knight, Bladerunner)

In 1818, a book called The Modern Promethius was written. It’s one of those books that people like to say they’ve read and is a founding piece of science fiction, arguably the first book in that genre.

This is a practice called obfuscation. I was being honest with you here, but there’s some key information that I am leaving out, and it will change how you understand this post. At the moment, there’s a chance that you think I am cleverer than I am, as I have read a book you have never heard of and statistically, obscure fiction leads to a higher level of intelligence.

Alternatively, if you have heard of this book (Or looked at the spoiler warning), you know exactly where I’m going with this.

In this case, the missing information was the book’s author, and it’s full title: Mary Shelly, and Frankenstein; Or The Modern Promethius, alternatively known simply as Frankenstein.

However, I’ve already employed a few more deceptive techniques, and I’m interested in seeing who caught them.

First up, obscure fiction doesn’t actually lead to a higher level of intelligence. I’ve twisted that statistic a little. The link between reading in general and intellect is well established, but there is extremely little evidence for the obscurity having any effect on that. There is, however, a link to perceptions of intelligence, which I drew upon to base my claim.

This is an advanced technique known as lying. But it’s also social engineering, or more specifically pretexting. If I establish something that makes me seem more intelligent, a reader is more likely to believe me when I start espousing facts. I can then use this to talk bollocks to my heart’s content.

Notably, one side effect of this opening statement is that, depending on who you are, it either made you more likely to trust my opinions or more sceptical of me. I have artificially made myself seem more honest in comparison to a nebulous statement. But I have also pulled the rug out from under you, and that’s not a trust that can be built up as easily as it was eroded. Remember this.

In Moon Knight, a key reveal of the series is that Steven was not the real person. That he was the alter ego, made up and kept in the dark. It’s a harrowing reveal, and it plays with perception of reality in what I think is an interesting way.

Steven assumes that his reality is the truth because why would he think otherwise. I challenge you to find someone who doesn’t share this bias. You assume you are just like everyone else until proven otherwise. Just like you assume the sun will rise tomorrow and be roughly the same size and shape because nothing has given you reason to suspect otherwise.

This is Occam’s Razor, a tool that essentially declares the simplest answer to be the correct one. In this case, it is simpler to expect yourself to be a standard issue human being than a manufactured split personality of someone else. Or, that your memories aren’t manufactured and that you are the original personality.

It is also a bias founded in reality. Here, things usually repeat unless force acts upon them or they are instable by nature. This is how the science works, and since that is the study of reality, I defer to it in matters of real-world happenings.

In the case of the sun rising tomorrow. The sun has risen every day of a millennia, the likelihood of a force suddenly manifesting to change that is so infinitesimal that it isn’t worth dwelling upon. Even then, there are very few things that can affect the rising of the sun, and most of them we would know about in advance.

In short, you can expect reality to continue as it always has. There are rules to the world, and the world tends to play fair.

Linking to my point about Moon Knight, this can be manipulated through obfuscation. If you take away important information, a person will assume that they have the whole picture and act accordingly. Again, Steven assumes that he is the same as everyone else, and the audience of the series assumes the same thing. They have also not been given all the information. Even when the split is revealed, you are primed to think of the perspective character as the originator because why would you think otherwise.

Worth commenting on, is that the final scene of the series introduces a third personality, and this doesn’t come across as nearly as surprising, because we have been primed to expect a twist just like this. It’s the same thing happening again, just in a different way.

If we cycle back a little bit, did you catch how I referred to Steven as I started this section? I described him as not a real person, and I’d like to reverse that claim.

The following statement is not up for debate, you may disagree with anything else, but this is ironclad: Personhood is not anybody’s to ascribe or take away. You cannot declare that someone is not a person because you dislike them. You cannot refuse to accept someone's personhood because you believe them to be bellow you. Personhood is immutable, and everyone has the right to it, no matter how different from you, no matter how evil you find them to be. I am not willing to argue this point.

What this means has provoked a decent amount of speculation from philosophers and writers. Science fiction does this through its question of what is qualified to be a person. If you’ve read a story with a robot in it, you know what I’m talking about here.

However, if we substitute the terminology for a moment, we can notice that this is more widely used than you would expect.

The idea of a soul is often used synonymously with personhood. Basically, people have souls. Fantasy and mythology does this a fair bit, and its where the word “soulless” originates. A place with this adjective restricts agency and therefore expressions of individuality and personhood. An act that is soulless is one that forfeits personhood, used synonymously with “mindless”.

I would argue that anything with internal thoughts has a soul and therefore is a person, or vice versa. But I don’t think that’s the important question here.

I think the more important factor of this question is the faith of it. Not religiously, but in terms of a good or bad faith argument. In other words, why a person is making their case.

For example, the robot story archetype of “this group of individuals has claimed personhood, does that mean we have to give them rights?”

These stories rarely dispute the autonomy of the individuals, just the reaction to it. Therefore, in my opinion, the creation and intended purpose of the robots is irrelevant, they are people and should be treated as such. The story establishes that the robots can think, and that falls into my argument above.

Bladerunner adds onto this the idea that artificial life forms, or replicants, look exactly like humans, and explores how that affects the perception of them. The moment when Decker stands over the corpse of what looks like a human being and who has acted like a human being up to this point is sobering. But it also points to the fact that all it took to get people to be ok with not respecting the personhood of robots in the Star Wars franchise (who act just like humans), is the fact that they don’t look like us.

As a side note, I originally had to watch Bladerunner for school, and the prescribed version of it was the Director’s Cut. I only found the original version afterwards. So, if you despised the original because of how gratuitously redundant parts of it are, I would advise the other version. It quite literally gets rid of the bad things and explains the elements that felt unclear.

Specifically, it implies that Decker might be an artificial life form, which throws you for a loop entirely because it means that humans and replicants are functionally identical except for how they are created, and how long replicants are allowed to live for.

Humans will, however, always find a way to spot the difference, and in Bladerunner, that is through the eyes.

I haven’t watched the more recent film, so I don’t know if it’s been clarified. But the original doesn’t make it clear what the deal is with those eyes. Are they unique, somehow? Do they move in a weird way? We are only shown the reaction to the difference, not what that difference actually is, implying that the significance might be disproportionate to what is observed.

I ran this post by a few friends before posting it, as I usually do, and one of them commented that this is like being trans. To her, gender is like personhood, it has ideas attributed to it, but in reality, all you have to do is claim it and functionally speaking, it's yours to do with what you will.

She noted that the difference between a trans person and a cis person is disproportionate to the reaction to it. In all the ways that matters, a trans man is a man. But because a trans man was assigned female at birth, that means that people feel ok disallowing his masculinity.

She also highlighted the idea of bad faith arguments in this field eroding important discussions. The example she gave was how the transphobic cries of “what makes a woman?” undermine the fact that conversations about femininity and masculinity and how they are presented are important to have, especially because gender expression can take so many different forms.

People transition for a reason, and understanding what that is can help people in the future understand themselves, which at the very least has massive mental health benefits. But instead, the question is used to gatekeep something that isn’t anyone’s to gatekeep.

For context, I am not trans, I am nonbinary, so I cannot do justice to this idea beyond “this is what somebody who knows more than me told me”. I asked her if I could include what she said, and she said yes. But I still recommend checking out literally anyone else who has actually lived this experience.

I am actually rather tentative about this segment because of how little I know. But this is a blog about analysis, and leaving out the fact that there is a trans reading of a story feels disingenuous. Besides, I think it’s better to start discussion about important ideas than leave them absent from places they are relevant. If I’m wrong, please correct me and I will make adjustments. I always want to know more.

Speaking of trans readings, Hunter is first shown to the audience of The Owl House through his eyes.

The title sequence of the series’ second season features a wall of three figures looking menacing. Lilith, Kikimora, and the Golden Guard, then the scene is flipped. Lilith looks remorseful, Kikimora has lost the plot entirely, and the Golden Guard is… taking off his mask.

What strikes me about this is that this was revealed long before Hunter was shown off. The fans learned that this was a kid long before Luz did. There’s dramatic irony there, but also a display of theme.

The mask is a signifier of Hunter’s purpose. It was given to him by his father figure, along with the role of the Golden Guard. He doesn’t get any say in it at all. Similarly, he doesn’t get any agency when it comes to losing the identity. The mask falls off when Kikimora attacks him, the role gets taken from him by Darius later on. Hunter doesn’t get free will. He has been reduced to a role, a tool. He has had his personhood taken from him, and as I established, that act alone is enough to make Bellos the villain of Hunter’s story.

But the intro features Hunter taking off the mask willingly to reveal his face. In my mind, that links most closely to a scene in Hunting Palismen, when he removes his face covering to say:

“My name is Hunter.”

His name is treated the exact same way as his face, and in this case, he immediately puts the mask back on to face down Kikimora.

So, the two ideas are linked, the reveal of his name and what he is showing to the audience. Combine that with the fact that Kikimora’s and Lilith’s portraits both show their character development over the series, growing more insane and emotional respectively, the intro alone tells us that Hunter’s story will be about the removing of that mask and the learning of who he is.

Except, in this episode, the intro is cut short. The audience doesn’t see Hunter take off his mask, because now the script has been flipped. Not only does the audience learn who Hunter is, but so does Hunter.

“What a shame. Out of all the Grimwalkers, you looked most like him.”

The term “Grimwalker” is, as far as I can tell, original to The Owl House. But breaking down it’s etymology, it’s a fusion of two words. “Grim” and “walker”. Please hold your ghasps of surprise to the end of the post.

However, the word “grim” has connotations of gloom and seriousness. It’s not a nice word, essentially. Telling someone that they look grim is not a compliment.

It also has connotations of death, most likely linked to the Grim Reaper, and has become part of an overly edgy naming convention that has taken up root in certain parts of the internet and for a very specific group of TTRPG players. I challenge you to find two Shadow The Hedgehog fanfics out there that don’t have a character named “Grimsword” or “Axblade the Grim” or something similar.

This is not a criticism, it's an observation. I honestly find it quaint.

As such, a Grimwalker is someone who moves in death, a zombie, a wraith. A being created from the corpse of another. Alternatively, if we take it more metaphorically, a Grimwalker is a creature that exists as part of a deceased person’s legacy. Walking in the space they left behind.

Once again, however, the difference here is less important than how people respond to it. Because functionally speaking, Hunter is just like Luz and Amity. There’s a tiny difference in the way he casts magic but come on. He walks like a Human, bleeds like a Human, has mental breakdowns like a Human.

The fact that I could substitute out “Human” for “Witch” here makes my point even clearer. The benchmark doesn’t matter in the big scheme of things. They are all more similar than they are different.

For the record, Luz, Amity and Hunter, despite being different species of creature, are all people. They think, therefore they are. I refer you once again to my core argument above.

However, all it takes is that one detail for Bellos to deem these others unworthy of personhood. Although, the way he does it isn’t as pompous as he thinks it is.

Bellos is a megalomaniacal villain with a martyr complex. But his motivation is pathetically small. It never occurred to this man that these others could possibly be people. He didn’t have to decide that Witches or Grimwalkers were less valuable than him, because to him, they never even came close. He’s an eejit who cannot comprehend the world as anything other than a hierarchy with himself at the top, and he’s too scared to change his mind.

He's a witch hunter, someone who believes that personhood has to be earned, and to whom it does not occur that he is sacrificing anything when he kills Hunter. The child is just a tool he can throw away.

Which brings me all the way back to Mary Shelly, and Victor Frankenstein. Because the book isn’t titled “Adam”. It’s not about the created creature, it's about the chaotic narcissism of one human disaster. The book is very much about the monster, and that monster’s name is Victor Frankenstein.

I want to take a moment to point out how good Frankenstein is as a story. As in, classics have a reputation for being overly impressed with themselves. So, it’s worth noting that Frankenstein is a classic because of how enjoyable of a read it is.

There’s an almost tangible building dread where you can see the plot coming and the titular character won’t do anything about it because he isn’t aware that there are other people around him.

Like every story, it’s not for everyone, but in terms of craft, there’s some really good stuff going on in that book and I would highly recommend you give it a read for yourself.

But hold on, Frankenstein isn’t aware of the people around him? That’s eerily similar to Bellos. Even in the ways that operates.

The person whose had their face scratched out of every painting sure looks a lot like Hunter.

Frankenstein doesn’t care about people who want to know if he is ok. He uses Clerval like a butler, talks to his family when he needs them, and is ok with the death of an innocent person because it gets the blame for a crime he directly caused to go away. He views people as tools.

He also creates a creature with weirdly coloured eyes, and then bails despite having created life, because it’s not a perfect creation. He doesn’t stop to contemplate what the creature will do or think at all during the story.

When he is told that the creature will take away his love like he did to its would be wife, it doesn’t occur to Frankenstein to check on the woman he loves at all. People aren’t people to Frankenstein.

Bellos, uses people like tools, etc. etc. creates a person with weird eyes. He even named the creature after its purpose. “Hunter.” This creature hunts things for him, therefore that’s what he calls it.

People aren’t people to Bellos.

The justification he gives for righteousness is Hunter’s appearance. That’s why he was expecting him to last longer. Because he looked most like “him”. Aesthetics are more important to Bellos, which is hilarious because of how monstrous he himself looks.

Introspection is another thing that doesn’t come naturally to Phillip Whittebane.

“It hurts every time he chooses to betray me.”

“What did you do to the other guards? To our family? It wasn’t wild magic, was it?”

Luz and Bellos represent light and darkness, as the series plays with that concept and duality. But instead of good and evil because heaven and hell, the story revolves around the function of the two. Light reveals, darkness conceals. As such, evil in the series is defined mainly as wilful ignorance. Everything else comes as a result that.

To Bellos, the worst thing Hunter could have done was ask questions, and it’s not because Bellos is scared of what he might find. Bellos isn’t ashamed of his actions at all. Bellos just despises the idea of critical thinking.

Notice how empty Bellos' eyes are. Everyone else has that bit of light, but he is hollow. Dead and unmoving. A man whose view of the world hasn't changed in fifty years.

This leads back to what I keep saying about Bellos and his evil in that it is self-sabotaging. Bellos could have kept Hunter as a loyal advisor. He could have turned around and said “no, this was because of Wild Magic. They were all killed in battle.” He had established trust with Hunter. But the simple act of asking questions was all it took.

Bellos isn’t clever, he’s petty. That’s an incredibly important part of hit characterisation, and it carries over to what we will continue to learn about him later on in the series.

"I'll do anything to save humanity from evil."

This is why defining good and evil is important. Because otherwise you end up with stuff like this. Bellos defines evil as "not like Bellos", which means that any act of interiority amongst his tools is a questioning his motives. It means that curiosity and change are evil.

The Owl House as a series fundamentally disagrees with this premise. That's important to understand. Showing a worldview doesn't mean you agree with it, especially when the entire purpose of your story is proving that worldview to be utter bollocks.

Regardless of specific details, the discovery that you are expendable is not one that people are prone to take well. I think a lot of what sells Hunter as a character is Zeno Robinson’s masterclass in acting, and once again, that is on display here. Hunter doesn’t scream, he doesn’t cry, he doesn’t get angry or in denial. He goes through too many emotions at once and hyperventilates. That’s affecting writing, and its impeccably well-acted.

The episode ends on a cliffhanger. The question of what to do next. What can Luz do with the information that she helped Bellos become the emperor? What can Hunter do now that his view of himself has changed?

Bellos places immense significance on a human using his name, because he likes the sound of it. But how is Luz any different sounding than any of the Witches. Hunter and Amity have closer accents to Bellos than Luz. Could it be that Bellos' bigotry is founded in absolute nonsense and is working backwards to justify itself rather than accepting all the evidence in the world that it is wrong? Could it be that bigotry itself is inherently dumb as all hell?

The two reveals hurt the characters because they undercut their entire worldviews. Luz believed that she was special, and yet she was duped just as easily as everyone else, and Hunter…

I started this post with a thing about deceptive techniques, specifically obfuscation. Hunter believed that he was in the right because the actuality of what he was doing was hidden from him. If you look closely at previous episodes, Hunter has even gone out seeking materials, notably the Selkidomus scales, to make another Grimwalker. He could have been let go at any time, but he believed he was safe because he wasn’t told about his purpose.

He also had his trust manipulated. Bellos gave Hunter a reason to believe him. The Titan had decreed that Bellos was smart, therefore he must be trustworthy, and yet that wasn’t the case.

So now, Hunter doesn’t feel safe with the Emperor, and he doesn’t fully trust Luz and Eda yet because of course he doesn’t. That leaves only one place he has found where people are willing to show him kindness.

Final Thoughts

I’m not going to argue that Hollow Mind isn’t one of The Owl House’s best episodes after devoting nearly 4000 words to explaining one element within. I barely referenced Luz and Eda’s development, or the fact that the hooded figures are so obviously Raine, Darius, and Eberwolf.

However, I want to dwell on one of King’s lines from earlier on in the episode.

“No one wants to think they've wasted their life following the wrong person. You just gotta find something big to change their minds.”

The sunk cost fallacy is one of the most influential out there. It says that if you’ve walked down a path for a long time, it’s easier to keep following it and brave the consequences than to go back and try again.

But choice isn’t always an option. Sometimes the path ahead of you stops, and you have to go back, start from scratch, and forge something new.

Next week, a light hearted episode. Them’s the Brakes, Kid, an episode I definitely remembered existing. Definitely didn’t forget an important episode of the series at all. Not me. Never. Stick around if that interests you.

Previous - Next

[anthurak]

Looking back at The Owl House, I think the biggest plot beat that wasn’t able to the resolution that Dana and the rest of the team were probably planning is almost definitely Eda and the Owl Beast, and also how Lilith may have factored in.

Because, and just hear me out for a minute; I don’t think ‘Harpy Lilith’ was ever really supposed to be a thing.

See, looking back at the end of Season 1 and the early parts of Season 2, it’s easy to see where the ‘idea’ of a Harpy!Lilith might come from: Lilith split the Owl Beast ‘curse’ between Eda and herself at the end of Season 1, and in Season 2 we see her start to be affected by the curse herself and even develop a ‘beast form’ of her own just like Eda.

But, let’s not forget the TRUTH about the Owl ‘curse’ we, and Eda, learned in Knock, Knock Knocking on Hooty’s Door; that it’s NOT ACTUALLY A CURSE! That the ‘Owl Beast’ is in fact a separate, SAPIENT CREATURE that was sealed in a scroll that Lilith MISTOOK for a scroll of cursing. And that the ‘curse’ was always in reality the process of Eda and the Owl Beast being forcibly merged together.

Which in turn COMPLETELY changes the context of what Lilith actually did at the end of Season 1. Lilith almost certainly didn’t split a curse, she unknowingly split the Owl Beast, an actual living creature between herself and Eda.

So with all that in mind, I think we can get a good idea as to where the arc of Eda and the Owl Beast was probably supposed to go:

Looking back, I think it’s easy to imagine things like Eda not being able to use her magic normally and the ominous anti-magic corruption she generates when trying to use magic being eventually revealed to actually be the result of Lilith unwittingly splitting the Owl Beast. That it’s the result of a massive imbalance caused by the Owl Beast effectively being incomplete.

And that ultimately, in the finale of the show as all this would fall into place, we would see Lilith undo the spell of Shared Pain she cast on Eda and herself two seasons prior and give her half of the Owl Beast BACK.

Which in turn, could have some truly WILD consequences. Imagine if this act not only restored the Owl Beast to their full power, but also restored Eda’s magic as well? Or perhaps gave her the power back in a different form?

Imagine if this gave Eda a ‘completed’ transformation? A combination of her enraged Owl Beast form, and her Owl-Harpy form?

Imagine Eda with all the power she once had as a witch, now with all the power of the Owl Beast, fighting alongside Titan Luz against Belos.

[drbtinglecannon]

Darius because YOU! Are his lawyer

This is such a high honor coming from Willow Park's lawyer herself, thank you pal 💖

How do I feel about this character

I love Darius so much he's absolutely one of my top favorites, it's like between him and Eda. He's hilarious, he's cunty, he's interesting, he's one of Dana's favorites, he's a good person but he's a bitch about it, his design fucks, he has no canon love interest, and I wish we got more of him. I have so many thoughts on him and he was only in about 15min of screentime.

What can I say, I looked at all the Coven Heads in the S2B trailer and immediately decided he was my favorite and every time he was on screen I was validated by how thoroughly he passed the vibes check

All the people I ship romantically with this character

I am typically an aroace Darius enjoyer, but I have fondness for dariraine, dariraeda, and darimila (why is he always listed first and why is it fitting (wait I have to preface I'm ace and I use ship names by what sounds best I have literally never done it by "who tops" I can barely remember that's the common use of ship name order SO I'm mocking Darius as he would wanna be listed first because he's That Bitch)) because all of them have a lot of cute fluff potential (and dariraine has fun angst potential especially if it's between Eda's Requiem and O Titan, Where Art Tho)

Typically tho even in those ships I don't see Darius as someone that would live with a romantic partner, I think he'd want to keep his own house lol and he's very valid, it's styled exactly how he likes and no one else lives up to his cleanliness standards, it's win win for both parties

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Darius & Eberwolf is literally Lilith & Hooty a little to the left and it's sooo fucking funny and wholesome for it. Lilith was actually my S2A obsession until she left I was so fucking devastated when she moved out, so seeing Darius & Eberwolf were a similar archetype to Lilith & Hooty really endeared me to them immediately in ER when we knew nothing about them. Then by the series end they really are one of my favorite little duos of toh they're comedy gold potential but didn't get enough screentime 😔 Darius surrendered for Eberwolf even tho it was at the cost of the rebellion and I still think about that scene. Guy who joked about people dying is likely actually not being pragmatic at all when it comes to loved ones 👍 they threaten Terra Adrian & Vitimir lol

I'm also a "Darius & Eda used to be besties and will do so again" truther. They're the same yet opposites, they're both dramatic, they're both powerful, they both have a hot monster form, and they both speedran becoming adoptive parents after just being That Guy to some kid for a while. The ONE episode of interactions they had in COTH with Darius having to exasperatingly tell Eda what he means but also he calls her "Eda" not "Edalyn" like everyone else but Raine does, and Eda mocking Darius over beating his ass in ER and Darius IMMEDIATELY getting defensive & lying which Eberwolf calls him out for, DO YOU SEE MY VISION? THEY USED TO BE BESTIES. THE CLAWTHORNE PARENTS LOVED DARIUS. DARIUS & EDA WERE EACH OTHER'S ASSHOLE FRIEND. THAT FANART OF THEM IN FACIAL MASKS & DOING THEIR NAILS WATCHING DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES IS WHAT THEY WERE.

My unpopular opinion about this character

Liking him at all is still quite unpopular 😔 this fandom sure treats the nonwhite parents a certain way lol. I also don't really like ala//darius, I get the appeal but it doesn't compel me

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon

I've had a perfectly envisioned idea for a year or two now of an toh episode that followed the rebel trio after Them's the Breaks, Kid and before Hollow Mind that was a 3 part split reminiscent of how Once Upon A Swap was paced.

Not only would it tie back to the style of OUAS -- a notoriously hated toh episode -- but it would be able to give info in a slow drip by following Raine first, then by the end we see Raine is working with Darius & Eberwolf, then it goes back to the beginning of the day through Eberwolf's POV, then Darius' POV, and ending on the buildup that they're the rebels Hunter is chasing at the beginning of HM.

We as the audience can tell by the designs who they were in HM (or well. Most of us. Some people thought Darius was Alador for some reason) but ahhh think of the extra foreshadowing that could've been in HM if we got an episode inside the castle so close to the day of unity!! Like what if Collector's shadow was visible at one point behind one or all of the rebels, letting us know Belos knew exactly who they were which lead to the foreshadowing in HM of the 3 arrows being where Darius, Raine(Eda), & Eberwolf each get put to stand during the day of unity spell in King's Tide BUT ALSO how we don't REALIZE it's referencing them specifically UNTIL KT AIRS. LIKE THE LAYERS IT COULD'VE ADDED.

Also obligatory Darius Hunter moment has to happen here to lead to Darius' reaction in HM upon hearing Hunter was trapped considering their last on screen moment in ASIAS and some people even now can't visualize them interacting in a positive manner 🙄

I do imagine it would be a touch 🤏 angsty. Like in my vision, Darius sees Hunter getting heat from Kikimora over a wild magic book, and it's like she can't really do anything to him over it but she could tell Belos who would be unhappy to hear that and all 3 of them are aware this would be the outcome, and Darius debates for a solid 10 seconds if he should pretend he didn't see them because well as heartless as he knows it sounds it actually benefits him & the rebellion keeping Hunter at arm's length but now that he's spent time with the kid he's like not a bad kid maybe they can convince him to join them?? Before he goes over and like a true actor plays it off that he asked Hunter for the book. Hunter obviously does not play along well as he's not a good actor, so Darius very condescendingly tells Kikimora to leave like "you can read, can't you, Kiki?" And she sputters "yes of course I--" and he just cuts her off "then read the room" while giving her a cold look until she awkwardly and angrily leaves. Like absolute cunt behavior from Darius but it's hilarious and it works to his cover as a CH. He gives Hunter the book back when Kikimora leaves and they good naturedly mock the other's taste in books ("I don't know how you can read that, Deadwarian era writing is dreadful to slog through" "Well some of us like reading more than fashion magazines") before they pass the mess hall and Darius asks Hunter if he's eaten, "Y-yes!", Flapjack is not standing for such lies and pecks him from under his cloak, which Darius knows is Flapjack so he laughs and tells Hunter to eat, Hunter pauses before he tries to genuinely thank Darius for defending him earlier, and then well shit remember how it's better for the rebellion if Darius keeps Hunter at arm's length maybe he needs to remember the bigger picture? He was literally doing rebel work when he got distracted helping Hunter out, so he kinda gently tells Hunter not to expect he can always go save him, and because Hunter's an abused teen (not that Darius really knows that yet) and he was enjoying having an adult that's nice to him now he visibly deflates before quickly excusing himself

Darius apologizes under his breath because he doesn't enjoy being mean to Hunter (even back when he was being mean to him) but it's one of those hard choices he makes like how Raine refused to get Eda involved. Can be miserably tied back to how Hunter ends up hiding at Hexside and not the rebels finding & helping him.

Wow I went insane typing that all but yeah that's my vision of what I would add to canon if I could add 1 episode into the show that doesn't change anything at all it only adds character filler & foreshadowing potential. Maybe I'll actually write this fic one day haha.

Another thing I kinda wish canon would've done was overtly state Darius adopted Hunter because like it's clearly implied but a lot of people still deny it! Dadrius won guys let us have this they had to cut so much stuff from the show including Darius backstory

From this ask!

[not-poignant]

Hi, Pia.....Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Thanks if you want to answer...

Hi anon!

So... they change and tbh I'm going to forget a ton of characters I love and then scream in my head later like 'oh no but THAT character and THAT character and THAT character' but I'll do my best!

Kiriyama Rei from March Comes in Like a Lion - Probably my favourite character possibly of all time. Introverted, kind of ace-coded right up until the end of the manga when it changes (and since the anime never ended he stays ace-coded throughout that lmao), very human, extremely depressed, and I just think he's a very good depiction of like...what it's like to live with extremely repressive depression and post-trauma while not necessarily knowing you have those things.

Dazai Osamu from Bungou Stray Dogs - He's a brilliant intellect genius with too much ability to know so much about the world that he kind of ends up suicidal all the time due to his upbringing / some of the things he's done and also what he's experienced. I just enjoy him. (Notable runner up here is Nakahara Chuuya but dslkajf)

Felix Harrowgate from the Doctrine of Labyrinths trilogy - Angsty, PTSD, waspish, 'I'm going to hurt you because I was hurt and then hate myself and do very self-destructive things about it but keep that part a secret so I just look like a constant dickhead,' brilliant, very good at magic. Love this dude. Would walk hundreds of miles for this dude, like the song. Would definitely write a long-ass fanfic about him.

Daeshik from Love So Pure - I love this guy SO much. He's a side-story / secondary pairing in the manhwa but I LOVE him because he's so against type. He's dorky but not in a very cute way, he's overbearing, he's SO neurodivergent coded it's painful and sometimes hilarious, he's determined and ambitious, he's not 'hot' in any typical kind of twink way, and I know he's split the fandom between 'god he's so annoying' and 'Daeshik is the BEST.' The whole webtoon is fucking amazing anyway, but Daeshik has my whole heart in his journey from 'dorky annoying overbearing friend' to 'oh I just realised I'm gay and now everything is Pride Pride Pride and I'm definitely crying next to a dildo I bought that was too big for me.'

Presenting Daeshik:

You'll never guess what he's sitting on sdlkjfas (he fails abjectly and then cries about it in a way that's kind of hilarious honestly).

Dana Scully from The X-Files - I didn't know it at the time, but this was very much my bisexual awakening. I mean I'm pretty heavily ace now, but I'm mostly not into cishet dudes, and I had pictures of Scully up on my wall like how did I not fucking know. Anyway, scientist, smart, 'so done with your shit' and just wry and witty and *clenches fist* so short and tiny and powerful. I love her. (And Gillian Anderson).

Loki from the MCU - Not necessarily every iteration, but I do love how Tom Hiddleston plays him, and I appreciate the queerer representation. Adore this guy. Look at him, what an absolute dickhead of a god. 10/10 would read him in hurt/comfort fics and PWPs again.

Hyunsoo Seo and Youngchan Baek from Perfect Buddy / XXX Buddy - Possibly my favourite manhwa of all time and I really hope that stays true because it's not finished yet. Idk how to describe these characters because they're both very complex as you get to know them better, but basically 'angry wet cat man with past trauma that he hides exceptionally well vs. Gwyn-dimensioned blond puppy dog who is just pretending to be a puppy dog because he knows exactly how threatening he is and is willing to be to protect the people he loves.'

Murderbot in the Murderbot novella series - I think all of us - or most of us - find Murderbot incredibly relatable and that's refreshing as fuck in any novel series tbh. (ART as runner-up though, love that fucker).

Sebastian Michaelis from Kuroshitsuji / Black Butler - Honestly there were a lot of kind of 'extremely powerful but kind of shitty fuckboys' I wanted to put in this category including Gojou Satoru from JJK, Reigen from MP100, and even Louis from Beastars, but Sebastian's gonna win out because I still don't know if he's going to eat Ciel at the end of that series and I very much love not knowing because he's such a devious fuckhead. Love that not-actually-a-man.

Yuurakutei Yakumo (Kikuhiku) from Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu - I just... *flails* Almost no one has seen this anime series and it kind of kills me because firstly the books were written by someone practiced in writing BL and even though this isn't BL you can still tell the vibes are there. Secondly, one of the most ace-coded characters ever. Gender-fuckery abounds, which is fun. Thirdly just, honestly, more folks should watch this?

There were a lot of characters I know I missed but I'm pretty satisfied with this list.

I've just given myself a bunch of stuff to rewatch and reread because of this anon! :D

[scientia-rex]

I have not seen the show but I love it when people tell me about their passions/interests/hyperfixations/etc, so I have abe a Sports night question for you. You mentioned a bunch of things that Sorkin fucked up in the second season. If you could only fix one, which would it be? And conversely, if you could fix everything except one issue, what would you be most willing to let stand?

AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH okay this is a GREAT question that I may die trying to answer.

If I could only fix one thing: Jeremy's arc. The rest of it I can kind of live with. Dana goes batty? Sure. It's stupid and it ruins the Dana/Casey love story, which I was originally very invested in when I watched the show at 14, but it's not out of the realm of possibility. Dan turns into an asshole and Casey also turns into an asshole? Very conceivable, especially given that Dan is dealing with going to therapy for the very first time while hating himself about it and Casey has the emotional awareness of a grapefruit.

But Jeremy and Natalie deserved better. They deserved so much better. Jeremy was a kinder, better character in the first season. Jeremy in the first season would never have yelled into Natalie's face about what a slut she was, and Natalie in the first season would never have taken that standing there silently. Aaron Sorkin fucked that up. He fucked it up to a degree I can't even begin to comprehend. I hate that even more than I hate how ham-handedly he threw in William H. Macy as the fixer, which I hate so much I often just straight up forget to include in stories.

Aaron Sorkin ruined Jeremy's character because he always uses all of the male characters as stand-ins for himself. He doesn't do that with the women; he sees them as fundamentally somehow different and other, and who knows why crazy women do what they do, right? He's at his best with female characters when he writes them even a little like his male characters--see CJ Cregg from West Wing.

When he uses the men as stand-ins, and he's in a reasonable place emotionally, it's fine. It's enjoyable. He's witty! He's entertaining. He recognizes that he needs mental help, although the way he writes therapists makes me want to find his home and break in and tie him to his bed and then carefully explain to him the guiding precepts behind therapy and why he's an asshole in ways he hasn't even considered.

But when he's also using drugs, which he has struggled with repeatedly, and he did during the writing of that second season, suddenly the writing is incoherent and his stand-ins are now terrible people because on some level he's trying to excuse his own terrible behavior. Being an asshole to a sex worker? Sure! That's normal! Lovable characters like Jeremy can do that and we'll still love them! Right? Right? (A sex worker Sorkin frequented during that time has noted that he stole a lot of his material directly from her, without ever crediting her or admitting it.)

He was also splitting his attention between Sports Night and West Wing, and he was already presumably stretched thin, so on top of the drugs there's a lack of thought, care, attention, love, and time going into that season. The best parts were written by other people. So he doesn't even earn the credit for those parts of season 2 that were deeply moving.

If I could fix everything except one thing........ okay I would probably let William H. Macy stay. I hate to admit it, because I don't know that he deserves this, but I have an abiding affection for that weird fucking mustache on that weird fucking man.

[litgwritersroom]

So usually in UK LI, there's a challenge along the lines of the mean tweets one, but with news headlines (they do both in most seasons). Any season, any point in time, doesn't have to be focused on a particular character or MC, just generalised based on the events of the season + the drama afterwards.

Read It & Tweet

S5 | 3900+ words | @i-boop-you

A mash up of Mean Tweets and the Headlines challenge. Season Five is in full swing, and it's about to be in sull swill, too. As the Islanders play their newest challenge, drinks go flying, and after everything she's been though, Saira isn't going to let this opportunity go without some justice.

Thank you to Kellee, Iris, Audrey, Natalie, and Suzi for letting me use their usernames in this fic! And to Chrys for giving it a look over for me🥰

How much more did Saira have to endure? Already everything was a shit show. Literally, a show of shit. At every turn, everything went wrong. From the moment her ex was revealed to be a fellow contestant, to her first pick partner being chosen, to the backstabbing and bitches, and above all, after the weeks Saira had spent in the Villa, she didn’t feel like there was a single person she could truly call her friend.

At every fucking turn, it was like they were all looking to screw her over. Her fellow Islanders were always so hot and cold, though that ratio was growing considerably more arctic as time went on. Week after week she had to endure steaming piles of shit heaped at her feet only to be told that she should be thankful she was getting anything at all. Madness didn’t begin to cover it.

But endure it she did. There had to be a light at the end of this tunnel. There just had to be. So far, the only miniscule, microscopic pleasure she’d had was seeing Eddie get dumped after Casa. Fuckity bye, bitch.

A text came through a few days later about a challenge.

“Islanders,” Suresh read out, lounging like the gift from God he really thought he was, “get ready for today’s challenge ‘Read It & Tweet’. Time to find out who’s breaking news and who’s just a snooze. Hashtag, hitting the headlines, hashtag, fake news.”

Whoops of excitement for something new to do gave way to nervous, mumbling laughter. Saira couldn’t help but get her hopes up that karma was gonna rain truth down on the others like a hail of rock.

When the news came through, Saira had been sunbathing with the original duo, Shady Comments and Back-Handed Compliments, otherwise known as Dana and Kat, and her fire-fuelled gaze lit up on them like they were made of coal.

“I already know half of these are gonna be about me,” Kat said with prideful confidence, raising to her feet, her fingers at her collar bone regally.

“You’re not worried they’re gonna say something bad?” Dana asked.

“No press is bad press,” she went on as the trio filed into formation with the other Islanders. “All I’ve done is be one hundred percent me. It’s not my fault if people don’t have taste.”

“I like that attitude,” Saira said, “and I’ve got a feeling more than one person will fair better for thinking like that.”

“Babe,” Dana said, “imagine all the secrets that are gonna come out from this?”

With a shrug, Saira kept her lips zipped. Surprises were in store, and karma was checking them out.

As is the way, everyone had to find their partner to film the run out of the Villa, so Saira had Nicolas’ hand as they exited. She held it the entire way to the challenge area, pretending her hands weren’t clammy and sweaty. Nicolas held onto her, but already all those sweet moments in Casa Amor seemed so far away, a distance between them growing that she couldn’t explain.

Lights, Camera, Action. It was challenge time.

For this one, they were split up into two groups, with one of each couple in each team. Saira was in the red team with Alfie, Suresh, Arlo, and Gabi. A particularly cruel combo of teammates that only served to further the narrative of victimhood. Whoever was pulling the strings sure wanted to keep her in discomfort at every turn.

Hosting duties fell to Kat and Finn; the Island's answer to Phil and Holly.

“All right, Islanders, are we ready?” Kat hollered out, putting on her hostess voice, clearly taking this duty seriously. “The aim of the game today is to score as many points as you can for your team. How the game works is, Finn and I will read out a headline or a tweet. Who the caption is about has been blanked out, and you have to guess which Islander you think is missing.”

“Now, before you all start chucking out names,” Finn said, grinning broader than the Cheshire Cat, “first, you’re gonna chuck some drinks. That’s right! When it’s your turn to guess, you come over to the bar and collect one of these brightly coloured cocktails, and you throw it in the face of whoever you think the caption is about! This is sure to make things far more Finn-teresting.”

This perked Saira up after the blow of her teammates reveal. She’d savour each and every throw of the drinks, even if she wasn’t the one chucking it in someone’s face. 

“First up, Alfie, mate,” Finn went on, throwing one arm out to welcome Alfie up to the stage.

Alfie jogged up with a grin on his face, standing between the large podium Kat and Finn were behind and the bar with the vast array of different cocktail glasses, each glass as broad in shape as they were in colour.

“You ready?” Kat asked.

Alfie stood, swinging his arms back and forth, clapping when they landed in front of him. He cracked his neck from side to side. “Ready, geezer. Let's do this.”

Kat held up a speech bubble shaped piece of plastic twice the size of her head. It looked heavy, and was bulky enough to be a bit difficult to manoeuvre holding it up so everyone could see, and actually managing to read it at the same time.

Ever the soldier, Kat overcame her struggle, reading, “From user ChronicComicObsession ‘Blank gonna be pied the minute her back is turned now they’re back from Casa Amor’.”

The low ‘ooft’ from the Islanders was mirrored in Alfie’s face. He screwed his lips into a tight ‘oh’ as he scanned the other’s, his brows furrowed. They lingered heavily on Suresh for longer than anyone else, flickering back up at Saira sat next to him like he was connecting the dots.

Biting his lip, Alfie grabbed one of the martini glasses and headed to the other team. On his way over, Lulu frowned, whipping her fingers to latch onto her nose as those around her dived out the way. “Sorry, Love,” Alfie said with a small, apologetic tilt of his head. He waited until her eyes were sealed shut before chucking the liquid in her face.

Ripples of shocked laughter rang through everyone besides Lulu, who wiped the blue water from her eyes with particular vigour, and Suresh, whose jaw was set tight. The way he refused to look around at Saira made her think he was avoiding her gaze on purpose.

Alfie jogged back to his spot for the reveal. A gleeful Kat held the board up like she was showing off the Queen Jewels while Finn revealed how spot on Alfie’s guess was.

“So, let’s see.” He wiped back the bright pink tape, reading out, “Dana gonna be pied the minute her back is turned now that they’re back from Casa Amor.”

If the ‘oohs’ had been anything when Alfie picked Lulu, they were double that now, as Dana sat there on the opposite bench left to pick up her jaw off the now sticky floor.

Gabi shook her head. She shouted over at Dana. “Guess we’ll just have to prove them wrong, babe.”

“Meera, babe, you’re up next,” Kat said, still sniggering away.

Meera waltzed her beautiful self up in place of Alfie, who came back to his team's bench with his hands still covering his mouth like he couldn’t believe he’d thrown a drink in an innocent girl's face, only to be wrong. He muttered out a quiet, “Savage.”

“It’s a Headline this time,” Finn said, holding up one of the plastic planks now. This one was a horizontally slanted rectangle. “Love Island’s Eddie reveals the shocking truth about Blank’s secret game plan.”

Less elated, the ‘ohh’s this time around were filled with suspicion and ire, shifty eyes on more than one person snaking the others. Meera wasted little time. Throwing her hair over her shoulder, she picked a pretty decently filled glass and marched over to the opposite team’s bench.

Saira sunk into her shoulders as the padding of Meera’s feet on the decking got closer. She got a flash of shocked looks off the other islanders before Meera stopped before her. Already Arlo was diving out of the splash zone, but on Saira’s other side, Suresh didn’t flinch.

“You’ve got to be joking, right?” He scoffed.

Sounding pretty hard done by, Meera said, “I have to pick someone.”

“Literally pick anyone else, then.”

“Fine,” she replied, and without any further warning, she swilled the glass in Suresh’s face.

Arlo screeched with mirth, kicking her feet repeatedly against the decking, a reaction not that far off of everyone else. Suresh hitched his jaw as he wiped his eyes of any excess liquid, his neck a darker shade than before. Saira could feel the steam rising off of him.

Again, he was refusing to look her way, so she wasn’t sure how to go about moving on. He was clearly pissed, but he had just defended her. Tentatively, she placed her hand on his arm, and she said, “Thank you.”

He whipped his head to her.

“You didn’t have to do that,” she added.

In an instant, she felt him soften; the tension dissipated, replacing within Saira a new nervousness. She quickly focused on the stage, where Kat was about to reveal the culmination of Eddie’s scheming.

“Love Island’s Eddie reveals the shocking truth of Nicolas’ secret game plan.”

Heads swivelled over to see his reaction. He was shaking his head profusely, and Saira half expected to hear him spluttering as he launched out a, “That’s bullshit!”

“Hey, if Eddie said it, it's got to be true,” Kat commented, rolling her eyes. Already she had the next tweet in her hands. She cleared her throat. “Anyway, I’m bored of that drama. I want the next! Here is a tweet from bubblelaureno: ‘Never seen anyone as bored with their partner as Blank.’”

“Yikes,” Finn said. “Cardinal sin, being boring. Speaking of boring bastards, Suresh, get up here. This one’s for you.” Finn finished with a wink and a finger gun at Suresh.

Thunder was crackling over Suresh again as he stormed on up to the stage, glaring at Finn like he hoped he’d be struck down by lightning there and then. Without stopping, the cheers and encouragement from the red team at his heels, Suresh strode right up to the bar, effortlessly picked up a fish bowl, and had it upturned over Finn’s head in a flash.

Finn hadn’t flinched, and was grinning broadly as he pulled back the curtain of his sopping wet hair. He threw his hands up in celebration. “That wasn’t so bad,” he said cheerfully, lapping up the applause of the others for being a good sport about it.

The sole person among them who took issue with this was Kat, who stood back with a face like thunder. The look she was firing at Finn was like she was trying to burn a hole into the back of his head.

“Wonder if you’d be as cocky if this was about me being bored with you,” she shot at him.

He turned with a start, like he was just realising who his partner was, and exactly the sort of attitude they’d have over this drama. “Ah, come on, Kat, it’s the opinion of one person. You can’t let it get you down. Besides, I've got to be the least boring person to come onto this show.”

This did nothing to quell Kat. She huffed heavily before ripping the pink tape off, not giving Finn a chance. Her eyes doubled as Finn’s name was revealed, before drawing into thin slits.

If Saira was Finn, she’d be a little bit terrified, but Finn just barked out a laugh, and played it off like a joke. Saira sat with her fingers over her mouth, her legs crossed tight, as she swayed nervously on the spot. How long would it take for this game to reveal what Finn had confessed to her the other night?

He had feelings for Saira, not Kat. This whole thing was just ramping up to get messier and messier.

“First point of the game goes to the red team!” Finn announced, “Lulu, get your lovely self up here. This next one's for you. Another headline, this one reads: ‘Love Lie-land: Viewers claim Blank is faking relationship.’”

Lulu bit her lip, looking genuinely torn over this. For the first time in the game, it took shouts and encouragement from her team before a decision was made, and it had more than a few eyebrows raised as Meera, Nicolas, Pete, and Dana all offered up the other Islander’s name into the ring.

In the end, Lulu chose a margarita glass and ended up before her own partner. “I’m sorry, babe. I’m not doing this with any hard feelings.”

Suresh gave an incredibly forced smile. It pulled thin over his features, more a grimace than a good time. “I’ve told you how I feel,” he said pointedly.

“And I’m still standing here.”

Not for long. She waited until he closed his eyes, and was already marching guiltily back to the stage as Suresh wiped his face with a hefty sigh. The sniggering from the others only stopped once the tape was pulled back, revealing Meera.

Her jaw dropped, and Saira had to admit that it felt good to see the haughtiness she’d returned with taken down a peg. Vindication and all that.

“Alfie, mate, how are you feeling?” Finn called out across the challenge area.

Saira watched him carefully, taking in the shake of his head as he assured them all, “It’s all good, mate. I know what we’ve got, and I know Meera better than any fools watching.”

Hope that feeling lasts, Saira thought, her gaze still laying into him. His smile dropped the moment the heat of the spotlight did, affirming Saira’s suspicions that he didn’t believe what he said. Game face, on.

Like that, it was Saira’s turn. She begged and pleaded and would have fallen on her knees for a juicy tweet. She needed it.

“‘Saira,” Kat read out, eyes twinkling her way, “needs to get her act together and stop giving Blank the time of day because it’s always bitch o’clock for him’. God, I could have written this one, but it’s from user Nqueso-emergency.”

This brought a lot of grinning, some tittering, and all eyes on Saira. She bit her lip, realising there was more than one person who’d qualify here. Her team was a point ahead. Not a great lead, but at the end of the day, what did she care for more? What would the win for the team get them compared to her own self-satisfaction in throwing a drink in the face of someone who really deserved it?

And who was it that deserved it the most? Alfie had left her out to dry, always playing hot and cold, acting like it was much harder having Suresh in the Villa for him as opposed to it being harder for Saira, but how did that compare to Suresh? He’d cheated. He’d lied. He’d schemed his way back into her life. He made sure he was present so she couldn’t move on even if she wanted to. He’d hurt and betrayed her and left her out to dry more times than she could count.

But it was Suresh. There was a reason he was still there, and a reason Saira was, too. A reason neither of them had left. Maybe Alfie had been more right than Saira had realised.

With a hearty sigh, Saira headed to the bar. She pulled a little cocktail umbrella from a blue lagoon and tucked it over her ear before selecting a fishbowl.

Finn clapped eagerly as Kat and the other girls cackled, all eyes on her as she headed to the end of her own team’s bench where Suresh and Alfie were lumped together, eyes on her warily, trying to size up who she was going to pick. Some things never change.

Saira had to be careful about this. She had to angle it just right.

She launched, covering not one guy, but two. She managed to drench the both of them, leaving them both spluttering out the cold water. Oh yeah, that felt good.

Saira stepped back, her tongue sitting just against her top lip, like all she wanted was to lick up this delicious moment, but was trying her best to hold back.

Amongst all the laughter and the hooting, Nicolas managed to ask, “Yeah, but who did you pick?”

“Oh, I picked Suresh,” Saira said, doing her best to keep her shit-eating grin at bay. “Was that not clear?”

“It’s been clear since the start,” Alfie said bitterly, but when she spun to throw him a look, his eyes were on the ground, a hard look on his face, like he was trying to hide his real feelings as well. She saw right through it, seeing that it was the truth in his eyes, and it was a truth that was hurting him.

Well, he hurt her first, and they were far from even.

“Come on, lads, be a good sport, there you go,” Finn grinned. He ripped back the tape over the tweet, and it was Suresh’s named, and Suresh who shook his head ashamed.

“I’m doing my best,” he said once Saira sat back down next to him. Nicolas made his way up to the stage in her wake. “This isn’t an easy situation for me to navigate either.”

“But you signed up for it,” she fired back. “I never did.”

“Headlines time again, so, Nick Nickety Nicolas,” Finn went on with his usual boisterous presence, “‘Love Island viewers in a furor over two-face Blank talking Alfie into recoupling, only to graft Saira the minute he got back into the Villa.”

Eyes: wide. Jaws: on the floor.

The game was up immediately, as a stunned Alfie shot Finn a look like he had no idea who his friend was anymore. Kat cottoned on to that look, her own stunned and seething glare digging into a rapidly deteriorating Finn. He was getting a sweat on, his usually white self glowing as red as his hair.

“Oh, whoa,” Nicolas said, and after flickering between Alfie and Finn and the obvious tension there, he stared straight at Saira. “Were you ever planning on telling me?”

Sorry, what? Saira couldn’t believe it. Someone else was unfaithful, but she was the one in the hot seat. No, no, of course! She should have expected this! How else was this going to play out? Finn the notorious skirt chaser grafts after growing bored with someone he claims is clingy, and naturally it’s Saira’s fault.

“I’d like to think that telling me would be higher on the priority list than telling some guy you just met, Sai,” Kat dug, looking pretty hurt, something Saira could admit was marginally more justifiable.

“Before we start pointing fingers, how about we wait until the judge has ruled?” Suresh said coolly. “Go throw your drink at the actual person you should be pissed at, Nicolas.”

Something was swelling within Saira and she didn’t like it. She had to concentrate to pull her eyes off the back of Suresh’s head as Nicolas launched his drink in Finn’s face. This time around, Finn was much more resigned to his fate, taking it less like a champ, and more like someone who wanted to clear their conscience.

“I think Alfie should have been allowed to chuck that one,” Arlo said.

“Really?” Kat snipped. “I think that’s an honour that should be mine.”

Finn kept his head low, turned away as Kat ripped the tape off so hard he almost dropped the plastic board. As his name was revealed, Kat growled. Saira thought she might hit him, but she stomped around him, storming off the set.

Finn’s wide eyes followed her as Dana, Meera, and the other girls called after her. Kat didn’t get far. She grabbed a cocktail. The first one within reach. She fired it at Finn from where she stood, barely spilling a drop as fury screwed up her expression.

“Thanks for telling me, Saira!” She shot out as she blazed back behind the podium, keeping a wide berth between herself and Finn.

“Ah, Kat, darling, don’t blame Saira,” he said. “She was waiting for me to tell you herself.”

“And what were you gonna tell her, mate?” Alfie called out.

Finn’s shoulders sagged the moment he looked at Alfie. “Alfie, mate, it wasn’t anything personal. I didn’t give you the advice to split you up and swoop in. It just happened. Do you really think I’ve got a conniving bone in my body?”

“If you’d have asked me that when I woke up…”

Up next, Arlo got a tweet from user thesepromises that kept the temperature in the red zone for Kat and Finn (‘How clingy is Blank? The more she’s on Blank the more I’m screaming at him to abort! ABORT ABORT!). After guessing right and chucking a drink at Kat and a bonus at Finn, Pete walked up to take his turn.

Much to his chagrin, the headline was about him and Arlo, reading out fully: ‘Love Island viewers claim Pete is settling for Arlo to get into the Villa’. His guesses being Dana and Gabi earned the blue’s no points and some crusty looks from the girls for his efforts.

Last for the red team, Gabi was up. Finn read out, “From user PearlBracelet: ‘At this point Blank should just couple up with the narrator and keep the 50k to herself at the end’.”

To Saira’s surprise, when the swilling came, this pretty positive one ended up in her face. Gabi winked at her as she went back to the stage, something that left Saira as fuming as she was smug.

Not as smug as she was when Gabi was revealed to be right. Saira had never considered her options outwith the Islanders, but she found herself thinking that maybe she should give the illusive narrator a go. Only if he was over his crush on Youcef first, though. She didn’t want to compete with a French model after everything else she’d been through.

Last, and a case could be made for least, Dana came up for the last tweet of the game.

“‘Blank you’re too good for that whole villa’.” Kat read out, throwing her hair over her shoulder. “From BakerBoi95 - holy shit, that’s Bobby McKenzie!”

If the tweet itself wasn’t juicy enough, that it came from the most popular Islader ever to be on the show certainly sweetened the deal.

The last Islander to get anything thrown in their face was Saira, once again. Though out of every single swill she could have got, this was the one she didn’t mind in the least. The madness she was enduring wasn’t normal, and she had everyone who was sitting at home watching this going on in her corner.

When her name was revealed one last and final time, the vindication that swept through her felt like rain on her skin after a heatwave; justice like she had never known. The others could swing whatever shit they had at her all day long, but this quiet and small reassurance that she wasn’t doing anything wrong was everything she needed.

The red team won, but it was Saira who came out truly victorious.

Note: there is a sequel in works, but no word on when it will be out.

[phillippadgettwrites]

Lapis

Rated X \ 1913 words \ posted on AO3

It’s a Sunday. She’s post Mass and brunch with her mother, still in her church dress as she putters around her apartment. Lapis blue, the sales girl had called it, paired with a white cotton bra and panties. Good, modest church clothes. Her mother had said she looked lovely. 

She’s almost called him half a dozen times, even picked up the receiver once or twice before setting it back down. It’s been less than twelve hours since she slipped out of his apartment under the cover of darkness, her lips swollen from his kisses and the insides of her thighs stinging from the scrape of his stubble. The gusset of her panties is still damp from the trickle of his cum, and yet it’s all she can think about. His mouth, his tongue, his fingers. The steely press of his erection against her belly when he pulls her close. She’s overwhelmed by how desperately she wants him, how persistently. 

She’d intended on taking things slow, wading incrementally from the bone-dry shore of their carefully platonic relationship into deeper waters. Toes, and then ankles, and then knees. Pausing to adjust, to decide whether to continue out further. She remembers the first brush of water over her skin in the form of a searing kiss, and her surprise that there was no shock of cold to recoil from. Suddenly she found herself submerged, drowning in the smell of his skin and the feeling of his weight on top of her. She doesn’t know which end is up, in which direction she should swim to break through the surface for air. But even more concerning is the fact that she can’t even bring herself to try. 

She picks up the phone again, her finger poised over speed dial 1. She feels her heart beating between her thighs, a hunger that can’t be satiated by food or drink. She presses the button and brings the phone to her ear, closing her eyes against her own shame. 

This is Fox Mulder, leave a message and I’ll try to get back—

She hangs up, her cheeks flaming with relief that he hadn’t answered. She’s not even sure what she would have said if he’d picked up. 

Hi Mulder, I was just wondering if you could swing by on your way home from the gym and fuck me, if you’re not terribly busy.

Mulder, it’s me. I know you made me come twice last night, but apparently I’m insatiable, so could I trouble you for one more before the work week starts?

Pathetic.

She decides that her vibrator will have to suffice. She strips off her panties and lies down on her bed, letting the dress pool around her hips as she switches it on. It rumbles to life, rattling against her fingertips and mocking her with its rubbery exterior. She thinks of the smooth, velvety skin of Mulder’s cock, and the thought alone is enough to send her hand between her thighs. She sighs and wriggles, finding the sweet spot while her mind wanders over the handful of encounters they’ve had thus far. Straddling him on his couch, the stretch of his cock nearly splitting her in two as she lowered herself onto him. Slipping her hand down the front of his sweatpants while they pretended to watch a movie at her apartment. His mouth on her cunt, the stuttering flick of his tongue making her breath catch in her throat. She arches up off the bed, frustrated at how insufficient this is. In all the years she touched herself while imagining it was him, she never had the real thing to compare it to. Now that she does, she wonders if she’ll ever truly enjoy masturbating again. 

The phone rings, but she ignores it. 

This is Dana Scully, I’m not here right now, please leave a—

The caller hangs up without leaving a message. Within seconds, her cell phone begins to ring from the kitchen. She groans in frustration and turns off the vibrator, leaving it on the bed as she rushes out to catch the call before it goes to voicemail. 

Incoming call from Fox Mulder. 

Her heart leaps, and she feels a bit like she’s been caught in the act. She clears her throat and answers, attempting to put on an entirely neutral, casual tone. 

“Scully.”

“Hey, Scully, it’s me.”

She smiles reflexively at the sound of his voice, leaning against the kitchen counter with both hands cupped around the phone like it’s midnight and her mother might hear her. 

“Hey, Mulder, what’s up?”

He sighs. 

“Nothing. Just wondering what you were up to.”

Her eyes flash towards her open bedroom door. 

“Um, nothing. Just…running errands,” she lies. 

“Sounds like you’re busy,” he says, disappointment in his voice. “Sorry to bug you, I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”

“I’m not busy,” she says quickly, straightening up. “Did you need something?”

There’s a heavy pause. She can feel the weight of what he’s not saying coming through the line, and she presses the phone more firmly against her ear as though she can make it out if she just listens hard enough.

“I was just—” he starts, then a frustrated sigh hisses in her ear. 

“What is it?” she asks, on the edge of her metaphorical seat. 

She hears a soft thunk against her front door, and a half a second later a matching one sounds gently through the phone. 

“It’s nothing, nevermind,” he tells her, and her eyes widen as she recognizes the muffled sound of his voice in her hallway. 

Holding the phone to her ear with one hand, she walks to the door and quickly disengages the deadbolt, then pulls it open. Mulder stumbles forward head first, dropping his cell and nearly knocking her over as he attempts to regain his balance. Scully steps around him and closes the door, then leans against it, watching him intently.

He’s sheepish, his mouth smiling while his eyes give away the embarrassed cringe behind it. She takes in his fitted jeans, snug white T-shirt, freshly showered hair. She pulls in a deep breath, catching hints of his deodorant. 

“I thought you were running errands?” he asks, quirking his head. 

Her mouth falls open and her face grows hot, and she looks at the floor. 

She hears his footsteps as he approaches, and she lifts her head to look at him. He’s smiling shyly, and she can’t help but return it. He touches her waist and her hands go to his shoulders reflexively. 

“I just wanted to see you,” he admits. “But I don’t want you to think I’m crazy.” She lifts her eyebrows, and he chuckles. “Crazier than you already thought, anyway.”

She nods, licks her lips. She could just leave it there, let him think that he’s the only one who’s been hovering by the phone all day. But she’s already seen a sliver of what it looks like to truly open herself up to him, and it’s only made her crave more of it. 

“I picked up the phone to call you about a dozen times today,” she says bashfully, twisting her mouth to the side. 

Mulder shakes his head slowly back and forth, his smile becoming playful. Impish. Confident. 

“What have we gotten ourselves into?” he asks, his hands sliding down to her hips. 

She leans into him, pushing up on to her tiptoes as he cranes down and their lips connect. She sighs with relief, humming and sucking at his mouth, arching her back when his hands run down the sides of her thighs. He finds the hem of her dress, gathering it in his fists until his palms are on her bare ass cheeks, squeezing and pulling her close. 

“No panties?” he asks breathlessly, stooping down and hoisting her up into his arms. 

Her legs wrap around his hips, her hands in his hair as he carries her to the bedroom. He lays her down on top of the comforter and pushes her dress up to her waist, meeting her eye briefly to ask for consent before he drops to his knees and buries his face in her cunt. 

She whimpers, scratching at his scalp and biting her lip in an attempt to hold back. He stuffs his tongue inside her then drags it up over her clit, and she could cry over how good it feels. She’s lost again, swept along the ocean floor by the push and pull of impossibly strong currents, no longer resisting. She feels his fingers digging into the flesh of her thighs, the rough scrape of his chin against her perineum when he opens his jaw. The intimacy of it all—the full light of afternoon, her legs spread open wide, his eyes flashing up to look at her face when a moan escapes her lips—feels terrifying and exhilarating. When he slips two fingers inside, she breaks.

All her carefully curated restraint falls away as the bright light of orgasm blinds her to self-consciousness. She cries out, clamping her thighs against his ears and cradling the back of his head in her hands. The most willing prisoner, he continues to lick and suck and finger her steadily, slowing only when she does. Crashing waves become powerful swells, fading to the gentle lap of dopamine and oxytocin that leaves her sated and sleepy.  

When time and space come back to her, he is dropping soft kisses along the creases of her legs, the insides of her thighs, the smooth skin of her lower belly. A flood of emotion swells in her chest, making her eyes burn. It’s not that she’s missed this, in all those years of inadvertent celibacy, but that she’s never known it at all. To be so adored, so doted upon, her pleasure the top priority rather than a begrudging afterthought. He’s far from perfect, but sometimes he gets it so right she can’t help but be grateful that somehow they found their way to one another. 

She touches his shoulder and he looks up, returning her smile. She beckons him to her with the slightest tilt of her head, and he crawls up the bed to lay beside her. He tugs the skirt of her dress down, smoothing the fabric over her belly, and his hand finally comes to rest on her waist. 

“I like this dress,” he says, his eyes wandering up to her face. “You look nice.”

She smiles, amused by their persistently odd order of operations. Trusting each other before they’d even had a chance to become friends. Falling in love before they shared their first kiss. The slick of her pussy is still glistening on his lips, and he’s just getting around to complimenting her outfit. 

“Thanks,” she says demurely, then follows his eye up to the head of the bed. 

There sits her abandoned vibrator, just beneath her pillow. Somehow, she manages to feel embarrassed, even in light of what they’ve just done. 

He gives her a questioning look, and she shrugs. 

“Guess you got here just in time,” she says bashfully, and his smile broadens. 

She reaches for his belt, though she knows that he’s not expecting reciprocation. It’s the lack of obligation, the knowledge that he drove across town and made her come because he wanted to, not as a means to an end, that makes him so endlessly desirable. 

He peels her dress off over her head, lapis blue fluttering to the floor.

tagging @today-in-fic

[sepublic]

         I ponder the implications of Eberwolf being absent from this shot, when by contrast, freaking Odalia is present; We know he and Darius are close and practically brothers according to Dana.

         To extrapolate, I guess the implication is that Darius didn’t meet Eberwolf until after he graduated from Hexside, and that Eber didn’t go to Hexside. They probably met while they were in the covens… And speaking of Odalia;

         We know Darius was mentored by the previous Golden Guard, Belos’ right-hand man and presumably Head of the Emperor’s Coven like his predecessors, until Lilith took over and broke the tradition (because Belos realized he needed her to complete his destiny). Amity specifically accuses joining the Emperor’s Coven of being Odalia’s dream… And something led to a sort of fallout, since within the span of seven months, these three went from being best friends, to being on the literal opposite ends of the bleachers for the Emperor’s Coven tryouts; Like, THE very end, as if they unanimously agreed to put as much distance between each other as possible.

         And as I said; It was the tryouts for the Emperor’s Coven. Which Odalia dreamed of joining, but never did? The same coven led by the Golden Guard, whom mentored Darius? And Darius and Odalia had a falling-out, too? I think Darius succeeded, given his clearly prodigal skill –he’s considered quite a contender amongst the coven heads- but Odalia failed, as did Alador. And I think Odalia might’ve gotten jealous of Darius, given what we know; Maybe Alador was, too!

         After all, the Emperor’s Coven tryouts already split Eda and Lilith… I wouldn’t put it past Belos’ system to do this as well. Darius enters Belos’ coven alongside Lilith, and eventually garners the attention of the Golden Guard, being personally taught by him. At some point, Darius attends the Bonesborough Brawl to watch his old friend Alador compete, possibly having participated only to be taken out, either by another competitor or Alador himself, before the final duel.

         But we know that Darius ends up as head of the ABOMINATION Coven… We know he mourned the Golden Guard’s death, so did Belos killing him disillusion Darius, who moved over to the Abomination Coven instead? Did the Golden Guard want to keep Darius away from Belos, and suggested to Darius that his specialization in Abominations was better spent as a Coven Head? Did the Golden Guard plant the idea of how suspicious Belos was in Darius’ mind, and/or his mysterious death sparked Deamonne’s wariness?

         Eberwolf isn’t present at the Bonesborough Brawl that Alador won, nor is Lilith. This does make me wonder if Darius was in the Abomination Coven at the time, and if he never joined the EC at all; Since I speculated Lilith didn’t attend because her one day off hadn’t rolled around yet. Of course, it’s likely that each covenscout has a different annual day off, because if they all shared one, then there’d be an entire solid day of the year in which the entire coven wasn’t working, which of course has problems.

         Going back to Eberwolf, was he also a Covenscout with Darius, and didn’t join because they weren’t friends yet, and/or had different days off? Or did he join the Beastkeeping Coven first? What if Darius convinced Eber to leave the Emperor’s Coven, and/or the Golden Guard did when noticing his not-son had a best friend? We know Eberwolf is willing to follow Darius to the bitter end… They might’ve met as members of the main nine covens, or as Coven Heads. Or maybe they were friends as teenagers, across schools; Which is why Eda doesn’t include Eberwolf in her flashback, because he didn’t hang around Hexside?

         It’s all very curious, and I just wanted to throw this out there. If Darius hadn’t had a falling-out with Alador and Odalia, would he have spoken sense into Alador about founding a weapons company? Not to mention the abusive relationship with his wife, amidst his own neglect of his kids, if it ever got that far? Obviously Alador has his own agency, but it also helps to have a second opinion you can trust, too.

        We know Alador got a signed copy of Darius’ own book on Abominations, made when he was a Coven Head, or at least settled into the aesthetic we recognize today; Between this and the bantering on Penstagram, have the two silently, somewhat forgiven each other? Still a bit too awkward to openly reconnect, but no longer bearing vitriol and having regained some fondness for a bit of cheeky insult, an inviting nostalgia beneath the veil? Did Darius justify it to himself as trying to reach out to Alador, recognizing the Abomatons as something Belos would want to use?

[jiessicas]

some notes on girlblogging

deep appreciation of bell hooks as a girlblogger [in piecing together her spiritual practice, she writes that she takes bits and pieces from different practices]

caroline busta’s piece in document magazine from 2021 lives in my head rent free [Instead of attempting to dismantle the master’s house using the master’s tools, it’s more something like: Let’s pool crypto to book the master’s Airbnb and use the tools we find there to forge a forest utopia that the master could never survive.]

ace sparkly kat's / adrienne maree brown's / alina stefanscu's / chia amisola's / olivia mckayla ross' prolific archival practices

substack scares me / i don’t know how to write on substack though i enjoy reading others’ (i mustered one post from fall 2022/winter 2023 & summer 2022)........ & this piece by terry nguyen on girlblogging is so good (its limits, its situatedness)

it’s mother’s day; continually thinking of EEAAO- that reconciliation after estrangement because of relational shifts made between the mother daughter; also thinking of discourse & how people were split on how realistic and/or insufferable this relationship was - it made me think of a real sort of an illusory learned helplessness that (not exclusively but whose experience i am familiar with) asian american daughters carry from growing up

in a generous reading/workshop, dana suggested the futurity of girlhood in a line i wrote; elsewhere, i wonder about how we give our childhoods futures, as we live with our child selves, how the ways we care for our children indicate how a society stewards its future

anything bell hooks has written about girlhood and children and the meditative distance between her self and ideas via the pen name she adopted

kaitlin m chan on the stakes - on a predecessor to girlblogging, collaging the overlaps between lived experiences, embodied reality, social/political/structural/institutional power - developing curiosity around others’ realities and interior worlds - locating oneself in this personal canon thru this process - how one’s personal canon becomes a chorus

the personal, circuitous routes we take in locating ourselves / desire paths / the sylvia plath quote i used for my senior quote - to speak deeply with anyone

spent the last year essay texting, and addressing public groups in in-person settings [facilitating workshops, readings, speaking] -- this was very Character Building For Me [i'm chasing the humanities based, discussion-based learning communities i didn't let myself have in undergrad]

there are so many different registers i want to speak in, simultaneously, on the internet; i want it to feel as seamless as i feel when i move between different social spaces in a given day and find myself naturally shifting with where i am

girlblogging as a practice in making the weather… the conditions for precipitating … girlcondensation as a practice in raining down, decisively

thank u to kazumi w whom i find lots of welcomed condensation <3

(*douglas kearney*! i feel sheepish about this typo)

i forgot the tinyletter sunset date, sooooo i recompiled my subscriber list from old tinyletter notification emails, and sent out a lil email that was a precursor to the kernel launch 🫧

noticing the different kinds of centering that occur when i can take my time to speak (texting), and when i am placed in a time to speak (talking)

[azurezfiction]

What are your favorite ships for Power Rangers characters? Especially for characters like Conner and Javi?

That is a very loaded question! I have a lot of ships that I have for my favourite characters (main of which can be considered rarepairs or crackpairs). Before we get to those, let's tackle Conner and Javi first shall we?

So, for Conner. When it comes to shipping for him, I tend to lean towards outside of the Dino Thunder team. (mainly because you can tear CassidyxEthan from my cold, dead, rotten corpse thank you very much). A friend of mine and I joked about the DT rangers meeting the Squadron rangers, and Conner immediately swooing over Xev and Telosi.

Look me in the eyes and tell me Conner wouldn't immediately start simping over Xev, Telosi and their muscles.

He probably also has a thing for Cole. Especially those biceps and Ryan. And Shane. And Hunter. and Dustin. Adam. Rocky. Definitely Jason. Big time. Eric is out though. He shares a name with Conner's bro, and that's a major no. He'd absolutely go ga-ga over Dillion. Damon's, TJ, Mike C, and Leo too. Chad.

I'd say Joel too but... lets be honest, no one can win against Angela Fairweather. No one.

Anyone with muscles, Conner's there. But when it comes to romantic involvement for shipping? Xev, Telosi, Dillion, Cole, possibly Shane. Depending on how it's written, DustinxConnerxHunter... long as Dustin isn't Erik McKnight's teacher, I'm good.

Now, for Javi...

I'm blaming @skyland2703 for my growing fondness for JavixAmelia. It's a very cute couple, and I can't believe I never thought of them as a ship until I started seeing their content. Another friend of mine has also made me a fan of Javi x Ollie too, and with Russell's (Zayto) recent tweet it does make me curious if Javi x Zayto will happen or the potential it could hold.

As for my favourite characters... I have a variety of ships~ I'll go in order of series that way no one gets left out or behind.

MMPRS1-Turbo 1: Katherine x Billy; One of my top OTPs of all time. I really wanted them to have nice things. Tommy x Jason, Tommy x Kim: These two have my heart~ And you can't tell me something wasn't going on between Tommy and Jason through the series. Adam x Rocky, Adam x Rocky x Aisha x Tanya, Adam x Tanya, Rocky x Aisha, Aisha x Shawna, Aisha x Tanya; Do I really need to explain? These four are pretty much rock solid. Splitting them apart if like a huge NO imo. Turbo 2-Wild Force TJ x Cassie; Lets be honest, the Phantom Ranger was never gonna stick around for Cassie. She needs someone dependable in her life and that's TJ. Zhane x Andros: Once again, utterly blaming a friend of mine for this. I've fallen down the rabbit hole and can't seem to get out. Zhane x Astronema/Karone: I can't help it. It's a cute ship! Mike Corbett x Carlos Vallerte: My OTP of Power Rangers. I forever be shipping them and hopefully getting my motivation to actually get writing them, I read a fic several years ago that made me ship them. Unfortunately that fic no longer exists. Kai x Damon; literally don't know how I came up with this one, but I thought it would be pretty cute that the engineer/mechanic and the uptight soldier would hook up with one another, and Damon endlessly flirting with him non-stop even during work hours~ Ryan x Carter: My OTP of Lightspeed. I feel like Ryan would be great for Carter, helping him come out of his shell a bit and be a more explorative while sharing quiet moments when it's simply the two of them. Dana x Taylor; Soft military nurse that will kill you with kindness and Taylor that disciplined military pilot that can kick your ass with a glare? It can't go wrong! Nancy x Kelsey: It's match made in heaven. PROVE. ME. WRONG. Eric x Wes, Eric x Wes x Jen: It's inevitable that they three will end up together. And you can FEEL that chemistry/tension between Eric and Wes on scream. They definitely have something back during their school days. Katie x Trip: Do I need to explain? Merrick x Cole: I have a weakness for these two, it's just... they simply FIT together. Ninja Storm - RPM Dustin x Hunter: I like how the two bounce off each other, and their aesthetics that match together. They definitely have very good chemistry together and I can see them ending up together at the end of Ninja Storm. Ethan x Cassidy: LET. THEM. HAVE. NICE. THINGS. Sky x Bridge: I know, I know. I've been pulled on the Sky x Bridge train, but you can't tell me there isn't something going on between them. Vida x Chip: I really love these two. I know they are best friends and everything, but at the same time, I feel like their romance is something very believable that can happen between them. Giving it the proper time to grow. Xander x Nick: This is a guilty pleasure of mine but like... *squints* like you can't tell me that the two had SOMETHING happening when no one was looking. RJ x Casey: Need I say more? There's no heterosexual relationship about them. Dillion x Ziggy:... Just let me have this. Please? They personally had more chemistry in my eyes than Dillion and Summer. But that's simply me. Flynn x Gemma: SOUL MATES. Samurai to Dino Fury/Cosmic Fury(?) Jayden x Antonio: THERE IS NO HETEROSEXUAL EXPLANATION FOR THESE TWO. Gia x Emma: I say by what I say when I say Gia should have been leader and red. Noah x Orion: Nerdy boy and alien? SO MUCH POTENTIAL! Tyler x Shelby: One of the few times I do enjoy the main couple in the show~ Matt Griffin x Tyler x Ivan: I blame my friend for this but you can't tell me it wouldn't be interesting. The modern cowboy, the explorer, and the knight? Imagine the shenanigans! Izzy x Fern: QUEENS. They deserver EVERYTHING! I don't really ship a lot involving Beast Morphers, Ninja Steel, or Dino Fury yet. I'm waiting to see what Cosmic Fury holds first to see how the relationships grow and change for the second season.

My number 1 crackship of all time:

Dane Romero x Mr Kelman x Andrew Hartford: Involving time shenanigans that ensure all three are around the same age and being able to be in love and be together without any problems. I have NO idea why or how I came up with this ship, but it's mine and I love it~

[mdhwrites]

You mentioned in one of your recent posts about a Dana interview that discussed how Amity and Raine came about. Do you have a link to it by any chance? (Hope this isn't rude or anything.)

Actually, because I doubt a ton of people have seen it and it may have been Twitter only even, I'd been tempted to link it before and I kind of wish I had. (It was split between two tweets so each paragraph links to a different tweet) Let me rectify that now. For Women's History Month, Disneytva on Twitter (and this is an official Disney affiliated account so it's not fake) asked Dana Terrace a few questions about the creative struggle and how it was working on TOH. It ended it with asking about favorites episodes, which brought up Raine, and the final question being about where the romantic subplots came from. I hope this clarifies things and honestly, I never mind being asked for my sources or further clarification on something. If I am going to be a good analyst, I need to be willing to back up my data, or be willing to admit I'm wrong on something and retract it. And I want to present good analysis because I want to be putting things that help people, instead of being just an angry white dude spewing bile. Speaking of, I hope you all like tomorrow's answer to someone asking me my thoughts on TOH's found family elements. It's twenty five hundred words long. I just try to keep it two major asks a day. This is small enough I didn't mind answering it now.

[aroclan]

i read Find Your Unicorn Space by Eve Rodsky, which mentions her previous book Fair Play several times, so… I read that too. Nobody can stop me now!

Find Your Unicorn Space seems pretty straightforward. It's about how to carve time out of caring for a household in order to pursue what makes you alive. Anything creative that can be shared counts. "But first," tasks have to be divided between members of the household so that "having Unicorn Space" doesn't bring the whole house into chaos. (Ironically, it's Fair Play that contains the anecdotes about how "I quit my creative job to become wife-and-mother, then he ultimately fell out of love with me and divorced.")

Fair Play is about dividing those household chores, all the "invisible work" that usually falls on women in a hetero relationship, by representing each of those tasks as cards in a deck. cards that don't apply, or which don't match the partners' values, are removed from the deck, and the participants choose the remaining task cards. then, whoever has the card is 100% responsible for performing the task. no reminders, no "when are you going to do the thing?" it's completely removed from everyone else's radar. the cardholder has all the authority, autonomy, and responsibility for it.

the main thing that the book falls short on is that the language is extremely heteronormative. despite being tested in multiple households with a diverse group of members, the language used is always about "women doing too much" and "men not being useful." i'm sure it's partly because the author is drawing on her own experience, where her husband stepped back once they had children (as is common), but it's also wearying to notice this constantly throughout the book.

on the flip side of this, the main thing i could not stop thinking about while reading is that “this would work so well for bigger homes. with a third person, everyone could divide all the cards without overloading anyone.” in comparison, for a couple, Rodsky recommends trying to keep the household under 80 cards in play (out of 100, although some are "wild cards" like job loss or moving—they're not meant to be in play all the time.)

the book is focused on struggling women improving their own lives immediately, so it doesn't mention any scenario with more adults in a household, whether that's a multi-generational household, polyamory, or queerplatonic partnerships.

beyond all that, it seems like the Fair Play system is customizable. "lawn & plants" might be split into 3 cards: lawn, landscaping, garden. maybe there's an entirely different card to be put in. but again, the book ends up being very focused on the "getting started" level, so this doesn't get a mention in the text.

ultimately, i didn't personally get a lot out of this book—because of past encounters with Dana White's How to Manage your Household and Gemma Hartley's Fed Up, my partner and i already had a decent balance of domestic work. on the other hand, someone who feels like they are drowning in keeping everything running behind-the-scenes should read Fair Play.

[baronessblixen]

I tried something 😂 I hope you’ll enjoy ! Apologizing for anyone seeing this long post on their tl.

Taking care of children traveling alone has never been a bother to her. Scully enjoyed it most of the time. Before every flight, she writes down their names and age, tries to remember them, to win the children’s trust. She can’t imagine how intimidating it is for little ones to be 4000 feet above the ground with hundreds of strangers. So, it is her duty as a flight attendant to make them feel safe.

On her flight from Phoenix to DC, there is only one child, a little six year old boy named William. A sweet, freckly boy with big hazel eyes and a Batman backpack. Dana likes him immediately. He’s very quiet, occupying himself with a coloring book or comics.

The first time they speak, she brings him coke and he shyly shows her what he has been coloring. The second time, she sits next to him and he awkwardly reads her a few lines of his Spiderman comic book. The third time, his nose is pressed to the window, his eyes lost on the sea of clouds below them, singing quietly to himself and Dana’s heart melts.

The seat next to William is thankfully empty, and he has spread his crayolas and books all over it but promptly takes them off when she sits next to him with chocolate pudding. She wishes she can stay and chat while he eats, but the other passengers need her as well.

Dana learns a little more about him. His parents are divorced, his mom lives in Phoenix and his dad in DC, and his life is split between the two cities. Dana’s heart constricts a little. It’s not a life for a child to live on a airplane because of grownups matters. William shows her a photo with his father on it, a proud smile on his lips when he explains that he’s a cop. Dana can see the love in the boy’s eyes as they rest on the picture.

Not long before the plane lands, William has grown attached to her, resting his head against her arm sometimes when she can stay with him for a little while. One time, he whispers conspiratorially in her ears : « Dana, can I tell you something ? My ears are really clogged. » and she laughs so loud that a few people turn to them.

When the plane lands, William has his small hand clinging hers as they leave with backpack, child-sized suitcase and Bunny plushie under his arm. Dana is determined not to leave him until they find his dad. He’s waiting for them at the end of the escalator, and William runs into his opened arm. Their hug makes Scully smiles broadly. « Was he good ? » the dad asks, and suddenly Dana finds herself looking right into the same eyes as his son. « Oh yes, amazing ! He’s very smart, and well-behaved. And a sweet little boy, for sure. » Her finger boops William’s nose. He laughs, and suddenly Dana is not so sure she wants to leave him. « That was very nice of you to be sure he was ok. It’s never really easy for me when he travels alone. » The dad smiles at her, but eyes have a soft expression of hurt puppy-dog, and Dana has to smile back sweetly. They stay like that until a small voice below says : « Are you leaving, Dana ? » My god, Dana thinks to herself. These boys really can pull off the hurt-puppy look, can they ? She’s about to answer when the boy grabs her hand again and asks excitingly : « Come have dinner at our place tonight, please ? » His dad pats his head softly : « Honey, she has a life of her own too, you know. She probably has other places to be. » Dana wants to chuckle at the boy’s pouty face, so she bends down and kiss his forehead before saying : « My mom is waiting for me tonight. But you know, I can give you my number and you can call me tomorrow ? I’ll be happy to hear from you. » William’s face lifts up again when she gives him her number on a small paper. Then, she’s looking in his father’s eyes again. He’s smiling, thanking her quietly, and she smiles back. But she can also feel her face getting red by the second, so she grabs her suitcase again. « So, let’s say tomorrow, Will. Right ? » The child hugs her tightly, and she says goodbye to his dad before leaving in the opposite direction. A few meters away, Dana decides to turn around just once, just to watch them leave, only to realize the dad is also watching her.

ANON! This is so wonderful ❤️I read the whole thing with a big smile on my face and went all aww. Thank you so much for sharing this with us! I love it!!!

[ariel-seagull-wings]

@bixiebeet @spengnitzed @moonbeamelf 

@professorlehnsherr-almashy @thealmightyemprex @amalthea9 @themousefromfantasyland

I am reading issue five of volume two of the IDW Ghostbusters Comics, and I want to share this dialogue piece between Winston Zeddemore and his fiancee, Tiyah Clarke:

“Looks like you were right about that whole “Ghosts attacking us in some way” thing, huh? You shoulda played the lottery.”

“Don’t do that. Don’t make a joke out of it. You could have been dead.”

“Why couldn’t you have just quit?”

“What good would that’ve done me? Maybe you should ask Dana Barrett how leaving the circle of crazy worked out for her.”

“Look, if this were a movie, all the stuff I’ve seen, I probably would have split up with you already, y’know, just to keep you safe.”

“Is that how you -”

“Hell no. Baby, those things came after me in my home. It was personal. Maybe it’ll never happen like that again, and maybe it will... but I’m not going to tip apart my life on maybes. We can’t hide from trouble. I love this job, and I love you... and I’m not giving up on either of because something bad might happen.”

“So... what do we do?”

“We do exactly what we’ve been doing.”

“But what if -”

“No what ifs.”

I love this dialogue because it adresses something I tought about romantic relationships in genre fiction (superheroes, sci fi and fantasy) for years: In a universe with monsters, ghosts, aliens and supervillains that will constantly put people in danger, why should a character be forced to choose between the relationship and fight against evil, when evil will come after you anyway? Evil comes after you when you fight it, and evil comes after you don’t fight it. In these kind of universes, you can’t hide from trouble.

So we better be happy with the joys we find in life, forming connections with family, friends and even enjoy romance if we wish, instead of isolating ourselves fearing our loved can be kidnapped our killed for knowing us, or giving up fighting evil to enjoy a tranquil family life.

Writers should let the drama come from the alien and supernatural treats, and not use this as an excuse to abuse of the “Will they, will they not” relationship drama trope.

Let the characters of your universe enjoy being together, wether platonically or romantically, and makes this their moment of calm and peace.

After all, isn’t that for what they should be fighting to protect?

[pimento-playing-hopscotch]

“Napoleon’s Battle Plan” the twenty third episode of the first season of Sports Night, is the best episode of the show in my opinion for these scattered reasons…

One of Dan’s first lines in the episode: “We’re grown men with important jobs who are standing in our underwear. Let’s sing a song”.

Dan wondering if there are people in the building across the street who can see them in their underwear.

When told that Casey and Dan don’t have their pants, Dana asks if there was an industrial accident that claimed the lives of both their pants.

The show showing it can be dated AF that when Dana couldn’t sleep she studied a catalogue… is there anything more 90s than a catalogue

“You cracking wise with me now?” Dan has so many good lines this episode

Casey, detailing the titular battle plan of Napoleon’s: “First we show up. Then we see what happens”

Dan: That was his plan?….. Against the Russian army?”

Casey: Yep.

Dan:….. Almost hard to believe that he lost”. Bwahahahahaha

Dan being adorable pestering Casey to talk to Dana.

Casey protests that it isn’t the manly thing to do to tell Dana- Dan suggests “then do it in a deep voice” in the most POUTY way possible.

The split second between when Dan tells Natalie about Sally and Gordon and Natalie running out of the room to tell Dana.

Dana is wayyyyy too calm upon being told that Gordon slept with Sally. Even Dana muses she wouldn’t think that she would be this calm.

Could that be because Gordon is the worst and Dana doesn’t even want to marry him a little bit.

Cause seriously Gordon is the worst.

And the first thing he asks is if Casey told her.

Did I mention that Gordon is the worst-

And as a general rule, don’t ever preface something with “this part is funny, actually” or anything that sounds like that. It’s pretty much guaranteed the other person will not find it funny.

“It would never happen when we were married”. Really words that should accompany any proposal.

DANA AND SALLY’s CONFRONTATION.

IT IS SO GOOD.

Because Sally is absolutely right- it IS none of Dana’s business if Casey and Sally are doing the do. Gordon is another story but Casey is none of her business.

And the best part- Dana realizes this! While Sally is telling her off, Dana says out loud that Sally is right and Dana is embarrassed for herself for confronting Sally like this.

Sally looks confused for a moment like she’s wondering if this might be a trick. And she in a very gentle way says what Dana desperately needs to hear: Dana isn’t upset, or really cares that Sally slept with Gordon. No, Dana cares that Sally slept with Casey.

This episode and the Ordnance Tactics did a good job of making Sally more than just a leggy siren.

Cause it’s hard not to tell feel for Sally when she matter of factly states that the man she’s been sleeping with for two months doesn’t care for her, and she is aware of this.

Seriously this scene is so good all the way through- just outstanding writing and acting from Felicity and Brenda.

It has dawned on Dan that telling Natalie wasn’t the best idea.

Not just because Natalie went and told Dana, but because now it’s come out about Casey and Sally in addition to Sally and Gordon.

To quote Miss Chanandler Bong- can open, worms, everywhere!

And Casey does not know about ANY OF THIS.

He has been mercifully unaware, behind the closed doors of his and Dan’s office, working away.

Dan is the meme of the little kid who is waking up his parents to tell them he threw up here.

There are a lot of times in the show where Dan seems like the little brother, never more so than when he fills Casey in, which is so amazing once again I need to transcribe it.

“Casey: You told Dana?!

Dan: I told Natalie. Natalie told Dana.

Casey: Oh, boy! Who would’ve thought!

Dan: Dana told Gordon, Dana told Sally. Of course, Sally already knew-“

Dan is such a cute dork I love that he adds of course Sally already knew… and then comes my least favorite line of the episode.

Casey explodes, “you’re a woman, you know that? I’m gonna stick you under a hair dryer!”

Like really Aaron Sorkin? You nailed it with the Dana/Sally talk and then make this stupid ass joke- what does this even mean?

Dana and then Casey both kicking Dan out of the office.

Elliot and Kim telling Casey they’d like to hear his tawdry tales later as he and Dana walk through the newsroom.

The heartbreak Dana packs into “Sally… Sally?”

Casey’s wry observation of “you’re a lot of fun to share an office with today, you know that?” When Dan mentions this time it’s his fault that he and Casey are without pants.

Dan: (as he and Casey walk through the newsroom without pants) Those are nice boxers.

Casey: Shut up.

And Casey’s plan has come to fruition. They showed up- now they’ll see what happens.

Technically, an anchor is a job you could do pantless- you sit behind a desk the whole time.

I really hope this was readable, whenever I rewatch Sports Night this is the episode I’m always most excited to get to- I usually rewind the scene where Dan admits everything to Casey a few times lol.