#this is not a personal attack it is a business decision and he will deal with the consequences whatever they are

[rebelwithoutabroom]

.

[simphornies]

So my sad gay self found this while scrollin: https://youtube.com/shorts/KTjKsm2uLPA?si=aHCxEMjey1iZ_u0A

Very cute, very wholesome I AM YEARNING. So if I may request a mlm!reader who will just casually people soda tabs as a subtle means of flirting or asking for affection (mostly because its such a uncommon practice that it removes most of the actual stress of flirting) with Vox?

No pressure, please take you time! Kisses darling <3

-📽

A/N: Honestly the soda tab thing is SO CUTE. I'm experimenting with more with how I write Vox so hopefully this is good

Word Count: 1.7k (1,755)

Soda Tab [ Vox x M!Reader ]

“Vox what the fuck is that?” Velvette pointed at a jar full of soda tabs on his desks.

“I’m gonna be real honest with you.” He took a deep breath in, “I have no fucking idea.”

You were just a regular sinner in the Pride Ring. You grew tired of the one time dates that ended with your date wanting to take you home into their bedroom. You held yourself to a standard. It made sense why you were placed in this ring considering your pride never allowed you the speak freely, not wanting to damage whatever was left of your reputation after a failed relationship.

You eventually landed a job with VoxTek as an operation’s manager. The job wasn’t easy but it paid and gave you shelter. Your soul remained intact but your sanity was slipping.

Then it all changed when the fire nation attacked when Vox personally invited you into his office to discuss a promotion. He needed someone that could hold their composure better than the Vees during important meetings and speak on their behalf. You were basically Vox’s representative so they wouldn’t have to deal with whatever, or whoever, you had to deal with. You held your status with pride and Vox admired the way you didn’t take anybody’s shit professionally.

After years of working with the Vees, you became close with them. Conversations with the three weren’t easy but they were mandatory for you to be able to represent them properly. You and Vox were particularly close.

So when he invited you to a celebratory dinner, you donned yourself in the best suit money could buy and set off. You never admitted it but Valentino definitely caught onto your secret crush on Vox.

Vox rarely faltered his usual persona in front of you, only losing composure a couple of times when his emotions were at an all time high. What you didn’t know is how he admired your consistency with perfection. Perfection. Running this business with Velvette and Valentino, who are both hot-heads in their own way, was difficult at times but since you stepped in, it’s been smooth sailing. Your constant shower of praise fueled his ego and he enjoyed keeping you around, just so he can get his fill of ego juice.

This dinner he arranged was to celebrate your work, and to boast about how he’s so smart and picked perfectly because of course he picked perfectly. He was the Vox after all. So when he saw you running up to him a couple minutes early before the arranged meeting time at the limo, he was taken aback at your suit. He was enamored.

You matched him in colors, even wearing the same bowtie as him but blue. Your suit was a darker shade of his and he loved it. It was perfect. You were perfect to him. He didn’t know why his heart pounded louder so he assumed that he was just excited to talk about how he made an amazing decision to you.

“Vox, sir! I hope you weren’t awaiting my arrival.” You said, anxiously fixing your suit and straightening out any loose ends.

“Oh don’t worry about anything. I just got here. The suit is perfect. Where did you get it?” Vox spoke, looking down at you with his hands behind his back.

“I listened to your suggestion, sir, and went to Velvette to get suited. I paid her in full, of course.” You spoke formally. So formal that it somehow bothered Vox in a way. As much as he loved being perfect, he wanted to see you when you weren’t so…tense.

“Paid? You shouldn’t have to worry. You are a part of the Vees, services are free for us.” He laughed. He took note of how you looked in front of him. You stood up straight, not a single thing out of place. He wondered what exactly could break this perfectionist standard you held yourself to.

.

“He likes you, Vox.” Valentino said, “I’m fuckin’ blind and I can see the way he eye fucks you whenever you start talking about how you’re the shit and you know what’s right or whatever.”

“And how can you be so sure, Val? I think he just respects me.” Vox scoffed, “Not any of that nonsense.”

“Yeah and because any other demon would willingly hang out with your egocentric bullshit. I’ve known you for years and I can’t stand hearing you say you were right. Even if you were.” Velvette rolled her eyes, “He literally posts romantic bullshit all the time and they’re all about bosses.”

“Are you stalking our employees?”

“Cut the shit. It’s not ‘stalking’ if his account is open to me.” She flipped him off, “And he’s basically a Vee. He likes you. And now you’re going on a date. Be a dear and stop beating around the fucking bush and own up to it.”

.

Vox recounted the conversation he had with the two other Vees. This wasn’t a date. Or at least he didn’t arrange it to be one to begin with but with this revelation, it might just turn out to be just that.

As the limo began to slow, he glanced over at you. He sees you fiddling with…a soda tab? He squinted at it, trying to understand why you kept fidgeting. “We’re here.”

You quickly shoved the tab in your pocket and looked at him, “I’ll get the door for you sir.” You reached for the door on your side but he stopped your hand with his own.

“No, I got it. Come on.” He opened his own door and pulled you out, keeping your hand in his as you stepped on the curb. Your hands were warm and he enjoyed it. He looked at the way you instinctively held his hand back and he couldn’t help but feel how perfect it fit in his own.

“Thank you, sir.” Your thanks got a scoff and you stiffened, pulling your hand back down to your side. “I’m sorry.”

“No. Not that.” He said, grabbing your hand again, “For tonight, call me Vox. No more of that sir bullshit.”

You nod in response, unaware of why he’d grab your hand to say that. You were even more confused when he didn’t let go until you had to sit across from him.

“Regarding today’s meetings, I’d like to discu—”

“Hush. Please. No business talk. This is to celebrate you!” He proudly spoke, “I picked the best demon to be our representative and I’d like to give you another promotion. To be one of the Vees.”

You choked on your wine, “Excuse me? Me? No, I can't possibly be a fit person for that.”

“Look. You’re aware of our image, correct?”

“Yes. Perfection.”

“Well that’s exactly why you’re going to stand by us and be part of us. I have contracts ready for you to sign so you can get a couple of souls under your belt. Some goons to do your dirty work.”

“Sir—Vox. Vox, I thought this was a business dinner regarding my work quota for the week?” You questioned.

“What—No. You already exceed the quota triple the amount majority of the time. Consider this a…date.” He grinned, taking enjoyment in your flustered state. “A congratulatory gift for your hard work and your promotion. I called it too, by the way, your success with us.”

You were dying on the inside. He just gifted you a promotion and a dinner and now the dinner’s actually a date? You panicked, not having anything to give him.

“Well…I’m flattered but I don’t have anything to give you a gift in exchange.” You rummage through your pockets. Your fingers grazed the soda tab and your cheeks flushed a light red. “Actually…Here. A small token of my appreciation.”

Vox squinted at the soda tab you held towards him. “A soda tab?” He asked, “Do you just carry soda tabs? Why?”

“Just…trinkets! You know, my little collection. Actually you’re right, I’m sorry. It’s probably stupid.” You start to retract but he swipes the soda tab out of your hand.

“No. I’ll keep it. It’s weird and a little stupid but it’s…” He flips the soda tab around, looking at it from different angles, “Admirable. In a sense. Thank you.”

Oh if only he knew what he unlocked. Ever since the date, he’s been getting soda tabs from you. You were greeted with confused acceptance every time you gave Vox one out of nowhere. He tried asking you what they’re for exactly but you’d just run off, using work as an excuse.

“Vox, when are you going to cash these in?” Velvette asks, picking a pink soda tab out of his container.

He looked up, confused, “Cash them in? What are you talking about?”

Velvette bursts into laughter, “Oh my god. You’ve just been collecting these and didn’t know?!” She taps through her phone and shows him a video explaining the soda tab trend.

His face turned red, “These…these are for kisses? He didn’t tell me these were for kisses—I thought they were just trinkets! That’s what he said!”

“Vox for someone as smart as you, you’re really fucking dumb.”

“Velvette.”

“What?”

“Can you go get him for me?”

“I guess.”

.

You walked into his office thinking it was to talk about the latest update on his Angelic Security System. “Vox, I’m pleased to inform you that production is 80% complete. I was thinking the best workers get compe—” He cuts you off by placing a single soda tab on the stack of papers you had in front of you. You look at him confused.

“I’d like to cash one in.” He says, looking at you with a confident smile.

“Cash one in…” You think for a bit and as soon as you realize he knew what they were for, panic sets in and your face turns red. “Oh! Uh—Haha. What do you mean?” You lie.

“Y/N, dear, you’re terrible at lying. You’re perfect at everything but lying. And if you wanted some special attention, you should’ve said so.” He leans closer to you as he gestures to the jar on his table, “Also. I’d like to cash in half of this jar. 280 of them, including this one, I believe.”

“Sir! I can’t possibly—” He shuts up you with a sudden peck on your lips.

“Ah ah. None of that sir bullshit. I told you to call me Vox. Now…” He leans back and pats his lap, “I believe I have 279 left? Chop chop.”

[redbird-tf]

Mended Hearts

Nightwing x batsis reader

Summary: Nightwing awakens in the Batcave after a mind-controlling encounter with the Mad Hatter, only to discover he hurt the person he cares for most. How could he ever forgive himself.

Word count: 930

Warning: mention of injuries

Nightwing's head was foggy as he slowly gained consciousness, it felt like he had been out for weeks. His heavy eyes finally opened and recognized the familiar rock ceiling above him as the bat cave. He tried to sit up but found it impossible. He turned his head and found himself restrained to a medical table. His body ached at every inch, and his memory was fogged beyond belief, What happened to him?

“Bruce? Alfred?” He tried to call out, but his throat was raw and dry. He lay there for hours trying to remember what had happened knowing there was probably good reason he was in such a state. He turned his head hearing the door open and saw Alfred stepping into the cave. “Master dick, you're awake” he stated with a little shock in his voice, he walked over and began examining him. “What happened?” Dick asked. “Let me call master bruce first”

Less than 2 minutes had passed before the bat appeared, and made his way to dicks side. “Nightwing do you remember your name?” Bruce asked “dick grayson, what going on?” He asked growing more anxious “What was the last thing you remember,” Bruce asked again, “i- i don't remember, why am i here Bruce!? What happened!?” He asked pulling against his restraints. “Alfred?” Bruce questioned “i believe whatever effects mad hatter had on master dick have worn off” Alfred stated. “Someone answer me!” Dick demanded. Bruce sighed removing his mask and began undoing his restraints. “A week ago, we were dispatched to deal with the mad hatter after he escaped from Arkham. We had infiltrated his hiding place. We were dealing with his goons when you spotted Hatter and against my orders went after him alone. By the time i caught up, you were gone” bruce explained

“and how did i end up back here,” dick asked rubbing his wrist “Over the week I and the others responded to sightings of you and followed your trail. You were being mind controlled by him, you attacked multiple of us when we confronted you until i and Tim was able to take you down” Bruce finished. “Hatter?” He questioned for the last time, “taken care of” Bruce stated.

Bruce took dick back up to the manor to rest properly where he ran into Tim and Damian. “I see you're not beating anyone down anymore,” Damian said in his bratty voice. “I'm so sorry, both of you, i never wanted to hurt you…” he explained in sorrow. “Where y/n?” He asked turning to Bruce “On a mission, now go rest” Bruce demanded. Dick tried to sleep but was pledged by guilt, he couldn’t sleep until he knew exactly what he had done. He silently made his way down the bat cave stairs before pausing. “Are you planning to tell master dick the truth about y/n?” Alfred asked Bruce who was busy at the computer “No, i want y/n to be able to make that decision, he’s already too hard on himself” Bruce's tone was serious. Dicks mind started to run.“have you told her about Master dicks current state?” Alfred questioned back “No, i don't know how she’ll react” he stated coldly.

“What happened to y/n?” They both turned around in shock, “you should be in bed” Bruce started “What have i done!?” Dick shouted fear and anger laced his words. “Get in the car” Bruce instructed. They had arrived at one of the many safe houses and Bruce led him to a room slowly opening the door. There you were, an arm in a cast, heavy bandages around your head and throat, heavily stitched lacerations and hooked up to a heart monitor. Dick backed himself into the wall guilt and denial filling his body. “She was the first one to make contact with you…” Bruce paused seeing the fear on his son's face “I'll give you a moment” Bruce said excusing himself.

dick watched your chest rise and fall while you slept unable to look away. He couldn’t believe it, he had beaten someone he loved, his sister, to a bloody pulp. How could he let himself do that? “Dick..?” He broke from his trance seeing you awaken. More fear filled his body unknowing how you'd react to seeing your attacker. Your eyes were wide but slowly softened as you realized the man across from you looked more terrified than you. Your body was weak but you mustered the strength to hold your hand out towards him.

He was shocked but slowly made his way towards you, softly taking your hand into his, holding it as if it was made of glass. His knees collapsed at your bedside and tears streamed down his face. “Y/n i am so sorry for what I've done, I promise you’ll never have to see me again” he cried “No!” you screeched with a hoarse voice “Y/n, i almost killed you, You're not safe around me,” he explained grinding his teeth at the thought. “Please, dick...i still need you” you began to cry “i don't care what happened that night, it wasn’t your dick!” you said weakly gripping his hand “But it was..” he whispered “No, dick you were the first person i ever felt safe with. The only person i felt i could trust completely. I need you. Ill always need dick Grayson” you cried out. He embraced you so softly, allowing you to hide your teary face in the crock of his neck. “I'll be here as long as you need me”

[nethhiri]

Marooned: Chapter 46

Kid x FemReader x Killer

Warnings: 1% plot, aphrodisiac use, no holes barred, group sex/orgy, lite kink (bit of shibari, bit of breeding, degradation, praise, domination), sex workers

I'm pretty proud that I could write this much smut; sorry it took so long!

Doing Business

Kid was getting impatient. A minute ago he had half a dozen women fawning over him and now he had just one. Don't get him wrong, she was super hot. But why did the rest all run off to Y/N? It seemed the rest of the crew was dealing with the same problem, though none of them seemed to mind. One pretty lady in their lap at a time was enough to keep them occupied. If he was gonna pay good money, he wanted the full experience. He was soon distracted by barely contained tits in his face as the woman hand-fed him. Kid had told the madame that he wanted to be treated like the Pirate King, after all, he would be in due time. 

You were ushered into one of the back rooms by what felt like hundreds of hands and excited giggles. The woman you knew as Jade held your hands in hers seated across from each other on luxurious stools. She kissed both of your cheeks and had tear streaks down her own even though she was clearly happy. You were honestly surprised at yourself for remembering her name. Your paths crossed very briefly when you had attacked the ship her and some other women were being held captive on. There wasn't supposed to be any 'merchandise' on the ship, but they had failed to offload the cargo when they didn't get a fair offer from the skin trader. The only one that was inadvertently hurt was Jade. Her hip had been crushed by falling debris and you had to carry her off the ship. You had done your best to set it but there wasn't much you could do for her. At the next safe island, you had made sure they had a place to stay for a few nights and helped them as much as you could before setting off. 

"I knew you weren't gone! They kept saying you were dead but I didn't believe it for a second." Jade gestured at the rest of the girls who were knelt down or standing near you. "These are some of the other women you've set free, either the same night as me or from different places. They all seem to find me somehow." 

"I was gone for some time, just stranded on an island. The pirates I came here with rescued me." You left out the bit where you tried to kill each other. "I don't understand. Why are you all still doing... this? I thought you would all return home or find work that you actually enjoy." 

Jade laughed. "Yeah we get that a lot. It's different. We work for ourselves now. Some of us did this sort of thing before we were captured and some of us were taken so young we don't have any other marketable skills." Jade paused. "We can choose our own clients and we can turn anyone we want down. And what's not to like, especially when clients look like your pals out there. We're completely free to make our own decisions. Thanks to you."

"Any decent person would do the same thing. There's a lack of decent people in the world is all." 

"So if you're with them," she gestured in your crewmate's direction, "have you stopped the whole Sea Snake thing?"

"Course not." Seeing these women made you more resolute in your personal mission. 

Jade smiled. "Good." 

A thought occurred to you. You could help Jade more than you had those some odd years ago now that you had a Devil Fruit. "Hey. I have some new abilities. Would you like it if I fixed your hip? Correctly this time."

She happily accepted and made a few more requests on behalf of her girls when you explained your power. When you were done, Jade no longer limped, and her and her girls were free of the slave marks that marred their skin. You had also noticed that a few of the girls had matching tattoos.

"What with the snake tattoos?"

"Oh! You didn't make the connection?" According to Jade, they were in honor of you, just as the club itself was, hence the name and the entrance decor.

It was a bit embarrassing. You didn't feel like you were special enough to be praised in this manner. You did what was right.

Jade stretched her newly healed leg and walked around on it. "This is incredible. I haven't walked without pain in so long." You winced knowing that it was your fault. She must have noticed. "Please don't feel bad. A little wince is better than being traded like meat." A smug grin crept across Jade's face. "I haven't been able to be on top in ages." She turned to you. "Say, which one of your comrades wouldn't mind giving this hip a test drive?" 

"Probably any of them, but if you want to be on top, probably the masked blonde one or the gray-blue-haired one. Sorry, I forgot you knew their names, Killer or Heat."

She nodded. "Girls, treat Y/N to some relaxation." She pointed to a few other girls. "You come with me. You've kept our guests waiting long enough." 

You were whisked away yet again to another chamber, this time with a bath. The girls stripped you down and languidly lathered you up, taking their time, not allowing you to lift a finger. All you had to do was lay back and relax. Their touch was gentle, every now and then their fingers grazed are sensitive areas seemingly by accident, but it was all part of the experience. They put you in a silk robe and led you into a chamber with a large bed. The light was low, lit only by hundreds of candles. The scent was foreign to you, yet very pleasant. You already felt relaxed from the warm bath. Next, each girl was stationed at a different part of you, rubbing massage oil into your skin with skilled hands. An interesting shot was offered to you in a small glass, a special tincture to help you relax. You let your head fall back as they worked every muscle with increasing pressure. There was even someone at your head massaging your scalp. You felt someone put something soft over your closed eyes. What they neglected to let you in on was that this was the aphrodisiac room, where everything was carefully crafted to heighten and entice your senses, the candles, the massage oil, the food, even the material of the sheets. You hadn't begun to feel the effects yet, currently feeling like you were melting into the bed itself. 

Elsewhere, Wire was allowing himself to give up control, being patient as his body was contorted and bound by silk rope. Every knot made his dick twitch. The girls were more than happy to stroke him or give him a kitten lick as a tease. When they were satisfied that he was begging hard enough, they would allow him a release. However, currently, they were keen on touching each other in front of him, not allowing him any touch or taste. Blood rushed to his cock, making it stand at full attention. It was harder than he knew for the girls to resist touching such an impressive member. His usual self would want them in his position, he would want them to beg. He rarely allowed himself the opportunity to play the other role. Any movement of his hips or flex of his muscles made the ropes dig harder into his skin. 

"His cock is so desperate for us. Look at it weeping." One of the girls blew air across it, making Wire shiver. "You want us to touch it so badly don't you. What kind of pathetic man would grovel to two whores?" 

He clenched his teeth to stifle a whine. Wire's cock ached from the absence of touch. He watched as the girls took turns tasting each other, cumin on each others' tongues. One of the girls took her own slick and wiped it down his shaft in one stroke. He let the groan out this time. More pre-cum leaked from him. He was in a kneeling position on the bed with his thighs spread apart. Another of the girls backed her cunt up to him without touching him. He could feel the warmth though, and he hissed as the ropes dug into him again, instinctively trying to rut against her. The other girl dove her fingers into her partner, demonstrating her wetness by eliciting squelches from her pussy. She removed her fingers and held her open so Wire could get a good look at the glistening pink walls. 

"Please. Touch me. Use me to get off." Wire gave in. "I-I want to be..."

"What do you want?"

"I want to be your sex toy." 

It would have been embarrassing how quickly he came when he was finally sheathed within one of them, but he didn't care because it felt so good and because he was hard again soon after. 

In the next room, Heat was sticky. One after the other, girls took turns riding his face. Heat loved eating pussy, so it was no wonder what he wanted to do with his time. his face was coated in the various combined juices of his partners. He licked his lips and groaned. The sweet, metallic taste of pussy clung to his tongue. He had cum a few times without his cock even being touched, gooey white stripes were scattered on his belly. Using it as a lubricant, one of the girls ground her center against his abdomen. Another was riding his thigh. Heat was a giver. He got off on getting other people off. He loved watching the pleasure take over another's features while they used him. He loved feeling the wetness against his skin or his tongue.

Usually, he enjoyed being degraded. Today, however, he was being praised, and by the Madame herself, who had joined in late. He was being such a good boy for them, letting them use him however they pleased. They praised his tongue for how perfectly it lapped up their juices. They praised his lips and how they expertly worked their clits. His thighs were so muscular and fit to be ridden. His hands were rough and wonderfully calloused in a way that felt exquisite against their skin, brushing against their nipples and squeezing their breasts. They saved his cock for last, the Madame stood on the balls of her feet, guiding herself up and down his shaft, while another girl stifled his moans with her cunt. They rode him like a tandem bike until he couldn't last any longer. 

Killer was enjoying himself down the hall. He had wanted to try this with you and Kid sometime, but hadn't gotten around to it, though he was pretty sure you would both be into it. He was balls deep in one of the girls, while the other was balls deep in him, with a strap-on of course. He could have cum several times by now, though he stopped himself from getting too close.  He had the first girl's knees next to her ears, bending her in half. She hadn't stopped wailing since he started. These kinds of days were a dream, the ones where the girls thought they should be the ones paying for a service for how good they were getting fucked.  

Killer's hips stuttered as he got close again. The feeling of getting fucked himself was almost too much. He was feeling pleasure from both sides as the girl behind him, rammed into his sweet spot. He had to stop. He didn't want to finish yet. Killer was used to being the giver, today, he wanted to be selfish. He wanted to be the one cumming over and over again. He let go of his self-control, pumping straight through his orgasm, allowing himself to cum. He let out a guttural moan as he was fucked from behind until he saw stars, spilling his seed until it leaked from around where his cock was buried.

They allowed him no rest as he was pushed onto his back. The girl with the strap puled out during the rearrangement, and slowly pushed the silicone cock back into Killer, causing another small spurt of cum to leak from his tip. Her hand smeared it down his cock as she started pumping it back to life. He wanted to cum over and over again and that's exactly what he was going to get.

Kid, ever the problem child, grew more and more frustrated. He had several girls to accompany him, at the moment two were taking turns sucking his cock. It had been half-hard the entire time. He hadn't even drank that much, so what gives? He demanded more girls, with little improvement. He was being pampered with any number of techniques. Some nipple play here, some asshole teasing there, and still his cock refused to stand tall. It wasn't the girls. They were all quite stunning, each in her own unique way. He knew why it was like this, and couldn't admit it to himself. 

Only when he let his eyes close, and pretend that it was you who was touching him, did his erection grow. He had to pretend it was your tight cunt wrapped around his cock when one of the girls was riding him. He had to pretend it was you who was stroking him or touching him. He had to pretend it was you when he fucked them. And he had to pretend it was you to cum. But it wasn't satisfying. He had to have the real thing. 

Kid begrudgingly got up. He tugged his pants on but left everything else on the floor. He walked in the direction that your collar alerted him to, pausing briefly to listen in to the other rooms. Everyone else could enjoy themselves freely. Why couldn't he? It wasn't fair. This was something completely new to him. Never had he been like this. He nearly bowled over the Madame, who had slipped into the hallway. 

"Something wrong? Were my girls not satisfactory?"

"Nah. They were fine."

She studied his face. "But they weren't what you wanted, or rather, who you wanted, were they?" She had seen it enough times to know.

Kid frowned. 

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Kid frowned even more.

"Have you told her how you feel?"

"And say what?!" This was so stupid. Talking about this in a whorehouse with the head whore. "That I haven't been able to get her dumb face out of my head since I first saw her? That she's so fucking annoying she makes my stomach hurt? That she makes me insane when she does stupid shit that might kill her? Those aren't feelings!" Kid released a breath. It felt good to say something out loud. He hoped no one had heard it though.

"You're right. Those aren't feelings." She held up one finger. "It's one feeling."

"That's not-! I don't-!" Kid stepped past her. "Where's Y/N?" Kid turned and growled. "UNRELATED!" 

"Very end of the hallway." The Madame smiled a knowing smile. How lucky you were to have someone so passionate. She walked to the back room, where the girls hung out or recovered and freshened up. She walked through to another back room filled with tools and props. Someone had left out the ingredients for their infamous Snake Venom shot, a powerful aphrodisiac, except there was a lot less of the active ingredient left in the bottle than there should have been. Whoever mixed it must have not been paying attention and doubled the amount. It was perfectly safe to ingest, but it was no wonder you hadn't come out of the back room yet. It was going to take a while for the effects to wear off. 

Kid huffed and stomped down the hallway, stopping at the end. He pressed his ear against the door. There was a lot of whimpering and whining behind it, maybe even... crying? It was enough for Kid to step in. Whatever scene lay in front of him, he could never have conjured in his head. You were lying across dark sheets with a silk robe falling off your body, which was bare underneath. He could see that your skin was coated in sweat and your entire body was trembling. There was a blindfold over your eyes and the girls surrounding you were teasing you with feathers or ice cubes against your sensitive skin. There were soft, loose restraints holding your wrists and ankles to keep you from flailing too much. Your thighs rubbed against each other as much as the restraints allowed and your back arched off the bed with frustration. The girls didn't give into your pleads to be touched, hence the tear streaked cheeks that Kid could see from the doorway.

"Please. I want- I want-"

"What is it?" One of the girls giggled.

"G-gimme my boys." You panted. "They'll h-help m-me."

"What a coincidence. One of your boys just walked in."

Kid felt himself be pushed towards you, the door slamming behind him. He was pushed until his knees touched the edge of the bed, amber eyes devouring your erotic form. A girl took his hand and spread it on your thigh. The rough skin of his palm elicited a moan that went straight to his groin. A moan like that just from one small touch? His eyes drifted to the sheets below you and how soaked they were. What was going on with you that you had clearly been cumming for a while and still acted as if you hadn't been touched at all?

You couldn't see anything but there was a faint smell of weld smoke and oil. "Kid?" Judging from the feel of his hand, it was definitely Kid. He had the roughest palm since he only had the one to work with. You heard the jingle and felt the tug of your collar. "Kid!" Your wrists were held back from trying to grab him. "Oh fuck please, Kid. Please." You couldn't articulate anything past that. In the time that you had been in this room, something happened to you. The part of your brain that controlled lust was uninhibited, running rampant. The thing about sex with strangers is that it didn't matter how they perceived you because you would never see them again. When you were with one of your crewmates, part of you was preoccupied with keeping up your prideful, tough girl front. But now, you couldn't give any less of a shit how Kid saw you. You felt like you would combust if you didn't cum soon. Whatever they had given you made it impossible to be satisfied. Even when they made you cum over and over again without ever touching any of your erogenous zones, it wasn't enough. You needed to get fucked and you needed it now. 

A chuckle rumbled in his throat. You were so cute begging without any pride holding you back. It was raw lust controlling you. "Don't ya worry, doll. Yer captain will take care of ya." 

You whined at his promising words, toes curling in anticipation. A breath was shakily sucked through your teeth as you felt his hand slide up your thigh to the silk tie that was still around your middle and untie it. His hand was splayed over your stomach and dragged up to your throat, pausing to squeeze before continuing to cup your cheek. You turned your head, chasing his thumb with your mouth. He let you suck on his thumb before switching it with his index and middle fingers. You swiped your tongue against them and your cheeks were hollow as you sucked your saliva off them. Kid pressed them further past your lips until you gagged. 

Kid took your saliva and used it to pump himself, not that he really needed to since he had been rock hard the second he stepped in the room. He got on top of you and seemed to change his mind about what he was going to do, turning around so that his cock loomed over your face. He positioned it against your lips and you opened wide. Kid's girth was hard to take. He moved slowly at first so you could get used to the feeling, at the same time bending down to lick a stripe down your cunt, tasting all the times you'd cum without him. There was a vibration around his cock as you moaned.

You didn't even care that Kid tasted like another woman's pussy, or that he was fucking your face, one of your least favorite things to do, especially with him because his cock was suffocatingly big. All you cared about was getting to your climax. More tears fell from your eyes and saliva leaked from the corners of your mouth as Kid moved faster. You were hardly aware of yourself gagging on him because a few strokes of his tongue were sending you to the moon. You felt the brush of teeth against your clit and that was your undoing. His cock muffled your cry of release. The restraints tugged against your skin as your body attempted to contort. Your muscles were beginning to get sore with the amount of times they had clenched during your orgasms. Without warning, salty, thick cum poured down your throat.

"Oh fuck!" Kid came much faster than he thought. He got off on how only a few of his touches turned you into a writhing mess. He took his cock from your mouth and watched you cough, choking on his seed. "What's wrong, doll? Couldn't take it?" He turned around to wipe the cum from the edges of your mouth and stuff those fingers back between your lips so you could clean them off.

"Need more." Your back arched off the bed again. You hadn't stopped moving, trying to gain more friction between your legs. "Captain, fuck my pussy please," you begged. "Touch me."

Kid was definitely going to ask for a to go sample of whatever they gave you. He trailed his fingers from your mouth to the apex of your slit, where he rubbed in slow, lazy circles. He could already feel you trembling against his touch. "What if I want yer ass?"

You shivered and groaned. "Take whatever you want. Just m-make me cum some more." It was confusing to want to stop cumming because it was beginning to exhaust you, yet still crave the release. You couldn't see because of the blindfold, but you could tell Kid was grinning by the inflection of his voice.

The girls who were in the room had mostly dissipated, though a few were still left in case anyone needed anything, or wanted them to jump back in. Kid asked one of them for lube. He spread a decent amount on his fingers.

You could hear some adjusting of position and feel the weight shift on the bed. There was a wet squelch of lube being squirted from the bottle. Then a cool sensation of the liquid touching your asshole. You bit your lip as Kid slipped his index finger in easily. He pushed in and out a few times before adding his middle finger. With that came a mild burning with the stretch. The third finger was when you started to squirm. It danced the line between pleasure and pain. There was another cold sensation as Kid pressed his metal thumb to your bud. A low vibration was added with the fourth finger to ease the painful stretch. 

By this time, Kid was fully hard again. He removed his hand from your ass and transferred the lubricant to his cock, adding more as well. He admired the small gape before pushing his cock in. Even with four fingers, there was still some stretching to be done. 

The feeling of being entered made your pussy clench around nothing. You were full and yet empty at the same time. You felt Kid release the restraints on your ankles and you greedily wrapped your legs around him, pushing against his ass to make him move.

He grabbed your hips and pulled you against his own until he bottomed out. Fuck, he loved seeing your hole stuffed, and he loved being stuffed in it. He loved seeing how open and pink and wet your greedy pussy was, just begging for another cock. For now, his finger would have to do. 

You groaned when you felt him press his metal finger against your entrance. He couldn't go past the joint for safety reasons, but the cold sensation and something to grip against was good enough. He moved his finger and his hips at the same time, building that release yet again in the pit of your belly. You were getting closer with every movement, even if it wasn't a full thrust. Kid removed his finger and focused on pounding into you, sensing that you want more. 

"F-fuck. K-keep go-nghhh." You threw your head back and came hard on his cock. 

Kid couldn't resist letting himself cum again. Your ass was so tight around him, and like a vice when you came. The way you were slowly coming undone turned him on. You didn't want to stop and neither did he until you were fucked silly and stupid. Even now, right after you had cum, you were already grinding on his softening cock, still in your ass. 

"Girlie, stop squirmin' or I'm gonna get Wire to tie ya up."

"Oh fuck yes. Please."

Kid was very much used to you resisting everything he said and was taken aback.

"Tell him to gimme that monster cock, too."  

Kid untied the rest of your restraints and flipped you over his lap, giving your ass a hard spank. "Mine ain't good enough?" 

Thoughts were difficult to form when every word and every touch went straight to the nerves connected to your cunt. "I n-need more."  

Kid spread your cheeks to watch his cum leak from your stretched hole. "Little slut wants all her holes filled." Kid saw your pussy clench. 

You nodded. Getting fucked by all of them at once would fix you, probably. 

Kid beckoned one of the girls to fetch Wire and another to get rope. He would get the others when the time came, but he figured Wire might have some fun with you first. The tall man walked through the door a few minutes later, looking bewildered, glancing between you and Kid. Then a dark grin appeared on his face. There was noticeable rope burn in symmetric lines across his body that Kid didn't comment on. 

"Look what we have here." He liked what he saw. You looked like a bitch in heat, melted across Kid's lap and literally begging to get fucked. 

"She won't keep her ass still." He nodded to the various ropes that were piled on the bed. "Ya know I'm not patient enough for that shit." 

Wire was all too eager to grab you from Kid's lap and throw you on the bed, facedown. He had wanted to bind and gag you since you came on board, mostly for practical reasons. He grabbed both of your hands and placed them behind your back, starting from there, he tied your forearms together horizontally. He wanted to create a harness around you so they could manhandle you however they liked by grabbing it. 

You felt your arms become more and more immobilized as Wire tied you up. The large man had his knee on your back, firmly keeping you in place. The pressure pressed your pelvis into the sheets and if you wiggled your hips you could achieve som friction. You moaned as Wire pressed you down harder. Wire slapped your ass, making you stop. When the sting wore off, you couldn't help but do it again, earning another smack. The cycle repeated enough that by the time Wire had finished, your ass was full of bright red handprints. 

Wire flipped you over again so you were face up. "You're being a brat." 

Still blindfolded, you could tell where Wire was based on the way the bed shifted. You stretched your foot out to find Wire's cock, rubbing the underside with the sole of your foot, lightly pressing it to his abdomen. "Give it to me," you whined. You pulled your ankles up to the back of your thighs and let your knees fall open. 

"Needy little brat. You're dripping for me. Tell me how badly you want it." Wire loomed over you, bringing his fingers to your entrance, touching you so lightly you wouldn't be able to feel it normally.

"Wire, please. I h-have to have it. I h-have to c-cum on it." Your hips bucked against his fingertips.

"Will you be a good fuck toy and take everything I give you?"

You nodded vigorously. "I'll do whatever you w-want." 

"Don't cum until I say you can. Understand?" 

You nodded again, legs shaking with need as he pressed his fingers into you. He worked you open to make sure you could handle him. You didn't know if you could actually keep yourself from finishing in this state, so you hoped he would go easy on you. He withdrew his fingers, satisfied. The continuous orgasms helped you stay wet and ready. Wire pressed the tip of his cock into you. You held your breath, trying not to cum just from that. He couldn't sheath his entire cock into you due to its length, but you took more of him than he thought you could. 

Kid stroked himself at a lazy pace watching the scene before him. He twitched seeing your cunt at its limit and he swore he could see a slight bulge in your stomach whenever Wire went all the way in. Your increasingly needy voice brought his erection back to life in no time at all. 

"Fuck. You're gripping me so tight. Don't you dare cum yet." He felt your walls twitch around him. 

The threats coming from Wire were only making it harder for you to contain your orgasm. You could feel your thighs shaking, trying to hold it off. "I'm c-can't hold it." Wire fucked into you at a fast pace, bumping into your cervix with every thrust. 

"You can. Your slutty pussy is just being greedy." He could tell you really were on the edge with how sloppy his thrusts sounded when his hips slammed into yours. He could barely pull out you were clenched so hard around him. 

"P-please." You were gritting your teeth and tears fell from behind the fabric covering your eyes trying to hold out. 

"Take all my cum first and then you can."

There were no more words coming out so you nodded. All your thinking power went to your focus on not finishing. It was like he was dangling you over the edge but not letting you go over. 

"Fuck!" Wire released his cum inside, more spurting out with every stroke, much of it spilling out around his shaft as it disappeared in your hole. 

When you felt the twitch of his cock and the sticky sensation on your thighs, you finally let go. Screaming as your walls tried to milk more cum out of Wire. Without a second to spare, Wire lifted your torso from the bed so you were in a sitting position and you felt his hot, sticky member on your cheek. 

"Clean it off."

You were still blindfolded, and you couldn't use your hands, so you used your mouth to feel what you were doing. You licked all the juices from him until it was only you saliva coating it. And even there, you didn't stop. Finding the tip, you sucked on it, getting the last salty drops from his slit, and taking as much of him as you could in your mouth to make him hard again. You felt his hand in your hair. 

"Good girl. Keep doing that." Wire pressed your face into him until you were gagging. He grabbed you by the ropes and laid you down before getting on top of you again, this time his legs were on either side of your chest.

You could feel his heavy member sitting between your breasts. His hands were big enough to take one breast in each, which was saying something since your chest wasn't small. The tip of his cock pressed against your lips and you opened your mouth letting him in. You heard him spit and felt him squish your tits around his shaft. He was big enough that he could tittyfuck you and you could suck him off at the same time. 

This was the scene that Heat walked into. He was told he was needed here, but it looked like you had been well taken care of. Kid held a finger up to his lips, indicating to Heat not to reveal himself. He walked around to get a better view. Your knees were pressed together, though the mess on your thighs and how wet the sheets were betrayed the amount of times you or someone else had cum. 

"Clean my cum out of her." Wire didn't have to say it twice. 

You assumed it was Kid who parted your legs. You quivered at the feeling of hot breath against your thighs and then against your exposed pussy. Your mouth was too stuffed to say anything. All you could do was moan as lips moved against your overstimulated clit, then licked down your center. A tongue slowly lapped at your folds, teasing your entrance as it got closer. This didn't feel like Kid. This felt like someone making out with your pussy, not bullying it. So it could either be Heat or Killer, though you hadn't heard anyone come in. The tongue moved in and out of you, dipping deep to reach all of Wire's mess. The next pass of the tongue lingered on your clit, where lips stayed to suck at it. Wire's weight prevented your back from coming off the bed, though your hips could still move to grind. 

You felt one hand come off your breast before you felt a slap across the face. 

"Don't pay attention to him. Suck my cock."

You moved your head as much as you could to please Wire. You flicked your tongue along the edge of his glans, swirled it around the tip, pressed it into his slit. 

You felt another slap on the opposite side. 

"Too slow." 

It hurt, yet you wanted more of it. And you again, were so close to another release, clit aching in someone's mouth. You tried to go faster and couldn't do much more than you were already doing. You felt both of Wire's hands leave your breasts and his weight shift. Then suddenly his hands were gripping your hair, tilting your head up slightly. 

"If you can't listen to instruction, I'm gonna teach you how." Wire used his grip as leverage and pulled you along his shaft while he fucked your throat. 

The juxtaposition of the rough treatment on one end and gentle on the other was confusing to your horny brain. It hurt your throat when Wire forced his way deeper, and you tried your best not to gag. You very much enjoyed the way he was roughly tugging your hair though and it made you groan around his shaft. It was hard to breathe with Wire's cock taking up all the space in your throat. Black tugged at the edges of your vision as you teetered on the edge of both passing out and climaxing. With a gasp, you could breathe again and you felt warm spurts hit your face and chest. The rush of oxygen sent fire through your lungs and pushed you over the edge. Your thighs squeezed around the source of pleasure between your legs, which must have been Heat, judging by the hair texture. Killer's was softer. You shrieked with the intensity of the orgasm, irritating your now sore throat.

Wire grabbed Heat from between your thighs by his hair and shoved him into your chest. "Clean that up too, dog."

You felt Heat lick and suck at different parts of your chest, lingering around your nipples to play with them a little. He moved up to your neck, burying his face in its crook to bite, earning a whine from you. 

Wire's eyes narrowed. "Heat, are you fucking around or are you doing as I told you?" 

A whimper came from Heat above you and he went back to licking up the dots of cum on your face. 

"Heat," you whined. "Kiss me." Your legs wrapped around him, pinning him place. "Fuck me." 

"You want to get fucked by this mongrel?" You were startled by how close Wire was to your ear. "Fine. You want to be fucked by an animal then you can get fucked like one." Wire shoved Heat off you and flipped you on your stomach, pulling your ass up in the air. 

You felt Heat behind you. Your cunt was slick enough he slid right in, causing you both to moan. Heat grabbed your arms and used them like a handle to pull you backwards onto him. His ground his cock up into you, reaching for the spot he knew would make you cum. 

Wire's voice was in your ear again. "Tell him what you want."

"P-please make me cum, H-Heat."

"No, tell him what you really want." Wire prompted. "You're a bitch in heat aren't you? Tell me you want to get bred." 

"I-" It was hard to think of anything when Heat was purposefully trying to make you cum quickly. 

"Tell him or I'll make him stop." 

"B-breed me, Heat. Fuck!" Saying it out loud made your cunt clench. "Fucking breed me!"

Kid had walked back in with Killer at the right time because hearing that tear from your lips made them both hard.

It was too much. Heat finally got you to your climax without a moment to spare. Those words had an instant effect of him. You were faintly aware of his dick twitching inside you as you pressed your face int the sheets and cried out. You couldn't even hold yourself up anymore, sinking down with your legs splayed as soon as Heat pulled out. There was a hand on your back.

"Look at you, breadcrumb. I guess you're more of a glazed donut now. You did so well taking everyone." Killer cooed, leaning down to be closer to you. "Do you think you could go one more round? For me?"

You nodded. The effects of the shot were wearing off and exhaustion was setting in. 

"That's our girl." He kissed the top of your head and pulled you to sit upright, holding on so you didn't fall over. He admired how pink and puffy your pussy was after hours of orgasms. It was still so wet and glistening, partially with your own fluids and partially Heat's cum. 

You felt the weight shift on the mattress again, in front of you and behind you. You were pulled into a lap, an erection rubbing your lower stomach. Then you were lifted and placed on it, as hips thrusting into you slowly, before you were settled into a lap. You had to lean forward and rest against him. You leaned up slightly to kiss his neck, but were met with helmet after a few seconds kissing upward. You made a noise of disappointment. 

Kid's voice came from behind you. "Sorry, doll. There's company." 

You felt him kiss up your back and bite the back of your neck, sending a shiver up your spine. Killer's hand grabbed your asscheeks and spread them apart, using them to stroke himself a few times before stopping to steady you. Again, you felt the cool sensation of lube being applied to your asshole. You expected one of them to lay back, but they both stayed on their knees, sandwiching you between them. You bit down on Killer's shoulder and groaned as Kid pushed his way into you with his dick. Killer held your hips and helped you ride both of them at once. You were doubled over, leaned against Killer's shoulder and drooling on it in a matter of minutes. You were so weak and so close to climaxing again. 

"Y-you both f-feel so g-good. So b-big." 

"That's it, bunny. Cum for us."

"Let it out."

You clenched around both of them, moaning wantonly with your orgasm, feeling your slick coat Killer and run down your thighs. Panting, you fell backward onto Kid's shoulder. He trailed a metal finger up your center and made a weak spark against your nipple, making you gasp. He caught it with his own mouth, placed over yours. He wanted to taste the sweet noises coming from your mouth. Your tongues mingled and his grunts were exchanged for your moans. With kiss-swollen lips, you pulled away.

"Killer, p-please. I want t-to kiss you." 

He made a noise. 

You don't know when she got here, but you heard Jade's voice, "Girls, l-leave us." 

Why did it sound like...? 

Suddenly, you could see. Wire grabbed the blindfold from you and tied it around Jade's eyes instead. Jade who was in very much the same position as you, though with Heat and Wire. "O-oh." You supposed you didn't hear her over yourself even though they were right next to you. Your eyes were glued to where Wire's dick was fully buried in her ass. Impressive. 

"Do you like watching, too?" Killer teased. "She liked watching you so much she had to come try it." 

You looked back at him to see that he had removed his helmet, and promptly attacked his lips with your own. Slowly, you felt your arms becoming more free. Killer's hands had left your hips to untie you. When you were freed, you stretched your arms, leaning back again and lacing them around Kid's thick neck. The change in angle had Killer hard-pressed against your clit from the inside. Kid pushed his mouth against yours again, panting. With your own noises stifled by him, you could hear Jade's pleasure tumbling from her lips. Her noises went straight to your pussy. The urge struck to break from Kid and pull Jade to your mouth instead. She tasted sweet, and even sweeter were the high-pitched cries coming from her mouth.

"C-cumming," she wailed and leaned on Heat, twitching. 

"Oh fuck. I'm- g-onna..." Your eyes squeezed shut as you felt your walls flutter around Killer and your ass clench around Kid. Your cry almost sounded pained. You were starting to cramp and your throat was sore from all the panting, screaming, and Wire. You were aching and you wanted to be done, but your body was still ready for another.

Killer could tell you were about used up. "It's ok. You're doing great." He held you against his chest with a hand on your back.

"O-one more." You panted. "Gotta c-cum one more t-time." You pushed yourself up. "L-let me do it."

"Are ya sure, bunny? Ya look fucked out." 

As an answer, you moved yourself up and down, grinding your hips against both of them. They let you do the work, but they helped support you, Killer with his hands on your hips, and Kid with his hands slightly higher. If this wasn't an orgy in a brothel with other people present, it might have been romantic. You swapped between kissing Killer and Kid. Your eyes were half-lidded, and you were basically on autopilot with a singular goal in mind. 

"K-Kid can you do t-that thing?"

He had no idea what you were referring to and you didn't appear to be in a state where you could coherently answer. So he guessed. In the background, it sounded like the others were wrapping up too.

As you rode them, Kid pressed his metal finger against your clit, vibrating the metal. A stream of curses left your mouth as you approached your orgasm. You felt the molten hot core within your belly burn brighter with every drag of their cocks inside you. "W-want you t-to c-um first." Your legs were starting to feel like jelly. "Wan to f-f-feel it." Kid pressed his finger more firmly to your core and laughed darkly, making your legs shake. He had no intentions of finishing first. Killer pushed you onto his cock and thrusted into your sweet spot, having you burying your face into his chest to moan. Kid pulled you back so Killer could see your face. There was the slightest, tinging spark, like what Kid had done to your nipple earlier, causing the little bundle of nerves to be set off. You were pressed into Kid's chest with your back arching, eyes rolled back, mouth open without noise coming out because you couldn't release your breath. You heard a moan from Killer as your cunt milked him dry, seed spilling from between your thighs. A flood of warmth spread over your body as endorphins rushed through your blood. Kid's dick was buried in your ass and the way you tightened around him made it hard to move.

Kid made a few more pumps into your ass before falling over the edge himself, muttering into your ear, almost a whisper, "Ah fuck! I love ya." 

Next

Tag list: @bbnbhm @nocturnalrorobin

[stillxnunpxidintern]

Shanks x Reader Imagine - Unfortunate Sailing

(This little imagine has been stuck in my brain for a while.)

You're part of the Red Hair Pirates, while you're happy to drink and get drunk with the crew, you only do it sometimes as you like not waking up with hangover or trying to do your liver in. Plus in the mornings you enjoy the quiet before everyone starts to wake up and groaning with a hangover.

If you're feeling annoyed because of the crew you will bring pots out of the kitchen and banging them, watching the crew moan, simply for your pleasure.

One particular morning you got a call on your personal Den Den Mushi, from your childhood friend, explaining a situation that was happening and needed help. After listening to them you figured that the rest of crew of wasn't needed for this, as you knew a few people in your hometown that will that would be more than happy to help.

After telling crew and declining the offer for them helping, knowing that them being there was a little overkill and you didn't want the town run dry of rum, with how much they all drunk and stocked up on, but did promise them that if you needed help you would inform them.

After packing what you needed and weapons, you told the crew to behave till you got back and hopefully you would be back as soon as possible. Shanks asked once more if you were sure of your decision and told him you were. He then said where they would potentially gonna be when you finished with business, you pressed a kiss on his lips and left, as you began your journey home.

You made it to your hometown quicker than you were expecting and immediately started making plans with some of the other people to deal with the problem of the bandits.

Having dealt with pirates of varying crews, the bandits were easy to take care of and very little injuries were attained by all. The whole town held a party after the bandits were defeated and didn't have to worry about them anymore.

Having spent a week catching up with your friends, you knew it was time to leave and head back to your red headed man.

Surprisingly you were able to get on a ship that was heading near where Shanks and the crew should be, so that made your life easier or it would of, had the ship not been attacked in the night half way through the journey.

You were thrown from the bed you were sleeping into a table with such force you were certain that you heard cracks, as you wheezed trying to get your breath back.

Hearing shouting and screaming, you grabbed your weapons and left the room to find who was attacking and help out. More cannonballs were being shot and you were doing the best to dodge people and the splinting wood that was flying around.

Just as you reach the deck, you were thrown again by the sheer force and you crashed into the railing of the ship, with your left collarbone taking the brunt, making you give a small cry of pain.

You did your best to fight but due to the darkness, the pain you were in and being unable to recognize who was attacking, most likely pirates, the battle was over and you were left clinging to broken wood to keep yourself afloat.

At some point you slipped unconscious and when you woke next, you were in a white room with light hitting your face, you were sure you would of died drifting unconscious at sea.

Eventually you found out from the doctor that had been looking after you, that a fishing boat had gone out earlier and had found you and brought you back to their island to be treated.

The doctor explained that you had broken your left collar in two places, and that it should remain in a sling until it was healed, you also had a couple of ribs that were fractured and the others were bruised, so best to avoid to doing much as they heal and then there was a gush to the head that was healing fine.

You had more cuts and bruises all over your body, that were bandage up, but resting and not moving much was the best thing for you.

After a couple of day, you were able to contact Shanks and the crew, letting them know you needed to be picked up, but conveniently left out what had happened, that was a conversation for later.

You had been at the port since the ship was spotted, so when the Red Force had finally arrived in port and docked, you were relieved to finally be going home, sleeping in your own bed and taking a long bath but you were also apprehensive giving your current state.

Taking a deep as breathe as you, being mindful for your ribs, you watched as the gangplank was lowered and waited for the commotion of the crew, when a little voice in the back of your mind made you wonder if you could escape before they saw you but that thought quickly left, as you heard your name being called.

You quickly told them to shut up, it was too early to be dealing with them and their shenanigans plus you weren't in the mood for it. You could hear Beck say it was past midday and you shot him a betrayed look he was meant to be on your side, as the other responsible person on the ship.

You were doing everything in your power to avoid the glaring issue and certain red head, you were happy they were here but you just wanted your bed and deal everything later one.

You were distracted by the crew that you didn't notice the looming shadow over you till your head was moved so you were looking up into the face of your captain and lover.

You could see concern in his eyes, obviously, but also there was a hint of anger and could see he was about to ask, but you stopped him by putting your hand up and shook your head.

His shoulders fall and pressed a kiss into your hair, and only says later to you, to which you just nod your head as his hand rests on the small of your back, as you head back aboard the ship.

Once back in the capital cabin, you looked at the bed and couldn't wait to be in it but you first a had a quick wash and pulled on loose cloth, with slight difficulty and pain but you managed. You then settled on the bed and did the best you could to find the best position to sleep.

At some point when you were napping Shanks had come in and settled behind you, gently pulling you between his legs and laying you against his chest as he rested his chin on top of your head.

When you wake sometime later it takes you a few moments to realise you weren't in the same position as earlier but definitely felt more comfortable than what you had fallen asleep in.

You felt a hand stroking your hair and moved your head to see Shanks, you didn't think it would anyone else but you never know its happened before.

After a few moments and feeling more awake, then shuffled around so your right side was against his chest, allowing you to look up at him easier. There was silence between you two as his hand came up and ran his fingers over the nearly healed gush on your head. It left a little scar but your hair would cover mostly.

His hand then travelled down your face and stroked your cheek with his thumb, then travelled down your neck and across your left collarbone with the lightest of touches and then continued down over your ribs before resting his hand on your waist.

The stillness between the two of you only last a few moment, before Shanks is resting his cheek on top of your head before asking what had happened to you to end up with those injuries.

So you explained to him how everything had happen, there were a couple of moment, while explaining when his fingers digged to your waist, which made you wince as you were still covered bruises and cuts.

You knew that he was down right furious, murderous, at the pirates that had attacked you and a little angry at himself for not being more insistent that the Red Force went with you, and you getting hurt could have been avoid altogether.

To distract Shanks from his musing, you moved your head and pressed kisses into his jawline and a couple of his neck, which got him, as he looked down at you with a cheeky smile.

He then peppered your face with kisses, as he teased that you couldn't be that hurt but he wouldn't fall victim to your alluring smile and addictive kisses till you had recovered.

You just laughed at him and kissed him again, to which he turned his head away each time and said nope, he wasn't falling for it again.

After a few moments of trying, you pouted at him and saying you were gonna tell Beck that he was being mean and attempted to get up but Shanks just tighten his hold to keep you against him, as he gave you a couple of more kisses and rub his face against your, whining that Beck would make him do some sort work.

You shook your head at his antics before a yawn escaped you, so you settled into a comfortable position and closed your eyes. As you drifted off you felt one more kiss pressed into the side your head and a mumbles words of affection.

It had been over a week since your return to the Red Force and had docked at some little island, having a party on the beach.

You were happily sitting in-between Shanks legs, using his thigh as a pillow, watching the fire as Lucky was cooking on it, when an unexpected visitor turned up, making some of the newer crew mates reach for their weapons.

Lifting your head up to see who was causing the commotion, you saw that it was the sword wielding Warlord. Shanks told the men to stand down as he welcomed Mihawk to come and drink with them.

Mihawk eyes locked on you, as you gave the Warlord a smile as you laid your head back down, noticing the bandages and sling that your arm was still you.

While Shanks was carding his fingers through your hair, Mihawk came and crouched in front of you, taking your face gently in his hand, he then called you Darling as he looked over you.

Upon hearing Mihawk call you darling, Shanks pouted at the swordsman and complained why he never got called darling.

Noticing the look that Mihawk was giving Shanks, you giggled to yourself, before his attention turned back to you and inquired as to what happened, as he stroked your cheek. You gave a murmured short explanation of what had happened.

When he let go of your face, you made a little grumble at the loss as you went back to using Shanks thigh, as the red head gave a better explanation of what happened to you to the Warlord.

As both men spoke (more like bickering you though) with each other, you slowly drifted off to the sound of their voices.

(Possibly implied MiShanks x Reader, take it how you wish)

[its-your-mind]

okay well I know I said I wasn’t watching tonight and I’m STILL NOT but ALSO I did see pics of the new art and 1. I love it all so much they are all. Very pretty. Ashton and Dorian specifically did make me briefly black out. Friends you are going into the snow wtf are you doing but also don’t stop doing it holy SHIT I bet Orym just got a nosebleed as soon as he saw both of them anyways speaking of Orym 2. ORYM. MY BBY MY BOY. Two things. First I love the bluebells he’s growing bc that’s his DORIAN flower and that’s cute as fuck but SECOND AND MORE IMPORTANTLY he is growing!! His!! Hair!! Out!!!!!! Do you understand me???? It’s long enough to curl! It’s got enough weight to it to hang down over his face!!

(and you KNOW this was an intentional decision on the part of Liam “Caleb shaved his beard as soon as they got to xhorhas but let his red hair grow long and started to take care of it” O’Brien. He knows what he’s doing.)

I have been having so fucking many thoughts about Orym and his responsibility to his husband and dad and keyleth and his people and the hells and dorian and and and and. and I’m Not gonna be able to get them all into one post I think but Y’ALL. He is Intentionally ditching the military haircut. That’s the kinda haircut you gotta Maintain, ESPECIALLY if your hair curls (trust me — my undercut is on a Strict Schedule bc if I don’t shave it back every month or so it just becomes a field of curly-cues beneath my long hair). My boy Orym keep that cut Sharp and Precise for five years of wandering mostly alone. There hasn’t been any commanding officer telling him to cut it since he left home. But he kept doing it!!

I’m sure it was part routine, but it was absolutely also a connection to home and to the responsibility he had taken on, which we KNOW at its core was a responsibility to his husband and father. They were soldiers. So was he. They wouldn’t stop fighting. Neither would he.

And the Hells found the killer! Found out why the attack had happened! Reported it all back to keyleth, even! Orym did his duty - he hasn’t been an active air ashari soldier for a while now, even if his five years away counted as official business.

But he kept the military cut.

Until now.

Until after he had finally helped to kill the woman who had struck down the man he loved and the man who raised him.

Until after Dorian came back, only one day after Orym begged him, not because Orym needed his help, just because Orym needed him.

And so Orym wears his Ashari armor, is working to advance the world-preserving efforts of the Tempest, but he also lets his hair grow out, and he adorns himself in bluebells.

When Orym died on the end of Otohan’s blade, Will sent him back. Told him he wasn’t done.

Will wasn’t talking about a mission from the Tempest, or his own need to be avenged. Orym knew that then. He knows that now.

But Orym did still feel the responsibility to his family and to his people, to end the threat. And even though it was only a small part of a greater danger, it is still a threat neutralized. Now, there’s this freedom, this world of possibility that wasn’t there while Otohan was still alive.

And yes, things are horrible. They’ve all just lost a dear friend. It’s causing internal ruptures and dangers and it’s still possible the world will end soon. He’s made a lifelong deal with an Archhag. He’s still not sure what his responsibility is to the Tempest.

But Dorian’s here, now. Back by his side.

And Orym decides to let his hair grow out. Just this once. What the hells, right? Everything is changing. The world might end. Might as well see what kind of person he can grow into before he’s done.

[eldritch-spouse]

lmao imagine that in every single theatre after Vesper visit new rule appears like:

"pls don't start orgies you're stressing out the actors"

Vesper is so silly but I'm still scared shitless of him

" Scaring them? Goodness my! I would never, the people in the crowd are just expressing their adoration of the play. Why, if I was one of the exceedingly talented, succulent actors on stage- "

The poor, likely underpaid employee knows better than to interrupt the King of Lust's monolog.

" I would be oh so ever flattered that my audience enjoyed my show enough to show me their carnal appreciation! "

" S-Sir, I'm sorry, it's the current policy, I'm not in charge of taking these decisions- "

" Well it just makes no sense! It's awfully restrictive, don't you think? Why, it almost feels like a personal attack, and I've always felt so welcomed here. "

The employee cowers under Vesper's glowing glare, seeming to pale ten shades in a second. " No no no- I assure you it's absolutely not meant as a personal slight, your majesty! "

The King eyes the new notice silently for a couple of seconds, clawtips tapping on his arms as he deliberates. The poor human sweats themself into a small puddle as they wait. Finally, the demonlord faces them.

" ... Suck me off right now and we have a deal. "

" Sir I- I can't do that during work hours. "

Vesper whistles, pushing the human aside as he heads in. " Then I suppose it's business as usual, darling. "

[catmomjudy]

When Lightning Strikes

(Gifs: @lover-of-mine; @jeeyuns)

So, I’m going to start right off and say that this is not a Buddie post.

This is about how Eddie and Buck experience and process trauma.

Both Eddie and Buck had death-defying incidents that resulted from a lightning strike.

And the way they tend to process trauma is similar to these incidents.

(Gifs: @lover-of-mine; @random-fandom-whump)

When Eddie is trapped in the well in 3x15, everyone WANTS to help him. But they can’t. They don’t know exactly where Eddie is, and they have no idea how to reach him.

Buck, on the other hand, is out in the open in 6x10/6x11. He has the 118 ready to jump in, and he has an audience of spectators. His problem is visible and, if not wonderful, solvable within their skillset.

(Gifs: @cinematicnomad; @random-fandom-whump)

Eddie and Buck are best friends, and of course they want to “Have each other’s back.”

But Buck can’t reach Eddie no matter how hard he tries. Eddie has to embark on a harrowing journey, swimming through a dark tunnel, unable to breathe. The team is still trying to figure out how to save him when he staggers up, tired and cold, but basically unharmed, having rescued himself. He quickly gets back to normal life business, going to Chris’s school for show-and-tell as though nothing happened.

Eddie can’t quite reach Buck either. However, the equipment (problem set) is familiar. It takes a little trial and error—he frantically tries to pull Buck up, but then reassesses and lowers him down to the waiting team. The team rallies around, rushing Buck to safety and delivering him to the hospital, majorly injured but alive. (Note that this is EXACTLY what happened in 2x18, as well, minus the lightning, but plus a very public crowd-sourced rescue). The rescue is a team effort. He balks at it, but he does take time to recover before getting back to the business of living.

When Buck experiences trauma, it tends to be very public, whether due to his own actions or the actions of others. The lawsuit (which he makes public) and the Daniel revelation (which Chim and Maddie seem to make public) are examples of this. Even when he has a less major/less traumatic life issue (the sperm donation; discovering that he’s bisexual), he tends to seek out people close to him to discuss it with, and tends to actually listen to their advice, even if his decision is his own.

When Eddie experiences extreme trauma, he tends to bury it deep. He feels like he needs to hunker down and solve his own problems. He doesn’t even discuss it with the people closest to him (Shannon; Buck), although he will discuss more minor or nagging issues with friends or relatives. This either ends up in him getting found out when he’s in extremis (the panic attacks, where Buck overhears the doctor; the bat to the wall, where Chris calls Buck) or when he announces a decision that surprises everyone around him (reenlisting; quitting the 118; and, I’m betting, the move to LA). And then he picks up and carries on until the next trauma starts the cycle again.

So, two firefighters, nearly identical in age and time on the job (although with obviously different pre-firefighting life experience). But two vastly different ways of dealing with trauma, no matter how similar the source. It’s an interesting side-by-side comparison that the screenwriters have given us to contemplate.

(I’ve posted an analysis of where Eddie and Buck fall on the introvert/extravert scale elsewhere, where I discuss how their reaction to trauma is more a reflection of their life experience than their actual personality type.)

[so-mordor-itis]

HI BESTIE!! for the fluff alphabet, can i pls order C, I, and L for leon?? 🥹 if that’s too many you can just do C!! (thank u ily)

C omfort - How would they help their s/o when they feel down/have a panic attack etc.?

He knows--Oh God, he knows--too well how panic attacks feel. He's had many of them before, too many to count with his hands. Leon also knows you too well, able to read you like a book from the moment he takes one glance in your direction. He's by your side, glued to it even. If you want to be alone, sure, that's fine, just know he probably won't feel good about it--he's in the other room if you need him. He won't ever be far enough away. Unless it's a phone call and you desperately need to hear his voice. He's there. No matter what, through thick and thin, he's there.

I nspiration - Did their s/o change them somehow, or the other way around? Like trying out new things or helped them overcome personal problems?

You inspire him to do the right thing. In any given moment, he would be thinking about your decisions, how you'd make this scenario right, how you'd do this or that. Leon puts you in his shoes, and since he knows you the best, he'd definitely know how you'd deal with it and wonder if he should follow suite. You inspire him to think outside the box, and it has saved him countless times. Leon puts his life on the line, and he knows this. Sometimes he's grateful you'd probably draf him by the collar of his shirt and make him think things over.

L ove Confession - How would they confess to their s/o?

Leon wouldn't be stupid about his feelings, they're his own. It'd be pretty worrying if he didn't realize he was in love with someone. However, that wouldn't mean he'd enjoy them most of the time. While yes, it relieves him that he's still capable of feeling this type of way--warm from head to toe, always thinking of this person, wanting to see them smile at least once to brighten his day--he can't help but feel this apprehension, this devastation. He'd be tugging you along with him in this disastrous life of trauma and flaws, and not to mention his work. He'd practically be gone half the relationship.

It's unhealthy, but he let's those feelings simmer inside for a good while. Poor guy is stressing about it. But then you smile at him and he forgets for half a second why he was so worried.

He'll be casual about it. Ask you to go out with him for dinner when he's not busy. If it goes nicely, well, he'll ask you again.

When he finally tells you how he feels, he does brace himself for rejection and he wouldn't blame you. Not at all.

"Would it be weird to say I have feelings for you?"

Tags:

@izuniias , @amatxs , @inaflashimagine , @airanke , @itoshisoup , @boundinparchment

[brutaliakent]

// Not Tim Drake friendly

Like idk how to start this but I'll just profess by saying that majority of what I talk about is about his fanon characterisation and if you get offended then in the nicest way possible idgaf

Like why is Tim so fucking infantalized in fanon like some of his fans so obsessed with making him oppressed and a victim when he's not. Its like him in comics canon and him potrayed by fandom by 90% of fics I've read are two totally different person.

He's like a mediocre person in comics at best, I dont like him but I dont mind him either. Also he is written as a misogynist and his treatment of his gfs is abominable but I let it slide cuz maybe it was the writers fault idk

But the way fans potray him to be this holier than thou- never doing anything wrong and smartest robin (cue eyeroll) is wild and wholey inaccurate cuz like he's not. Canonically they're all similar iq and they're all trained by a detective so they're quite good at it, Dick was a mathelete and Jason had solid GPA of 94.8 and Tim dropped out of school to search for Bruce. He is tech savvy and good at computers but he's not the only one from the batfamily to be that is he, I'd say Barbara is the best at that but don't forget Dick used to be a hacker too like I've seen some of yall treat him as this one dimensional sunshine person who has eldest daughter syndrome but like he also has temper and he's clever and sharp and if I'm not wrong he even as degree in Business in main dc universe but that's besides the point

Also headcanoning him as asian feels weird and very playing into stereotype of asians being this super smart people (when there's no proof he's anything but white in canon)

Fanon also for some strange reasons hold on to Jason and Damian trying to kill him and saying how much it would have caused him trauma while completely removing him from the scene except for that scenario. Let me explain for example Damian trying to kill him where they forget the instigator of some are Tim too like he was legit 17 yr old beefing with 10 yr old bffr, did we also collectively ignore him putting the same 10 yr old on a hitlist like... yall act like this was a buffet and you can pick and choose but the thing is that you can pick and choose what to accept from canon but if you're picking Tim being attacked by Dami then maybe mention what he did too instead of victimizing him

Just kinda throwing it in here cuz we're talking about it, Dick didnt fire Tim from Robin because of bad faith, I'm pretty sure it was Alfred who gave Damian the Robin suit first but Dick didnt want Tim to be Robin because Dick saw Tim as an equal rather than a sidekick.

Also the big deal of Jason's attack on Titans Tower irks me a little but like pls remember that Jason made a last minute decision to go there and just beat the shit out of Tim and that's it and it wasnt nice of him to do that but I support his wrongs too

Since we're talking about Titans Tower fics anyways I also find it incredibly peculiar that writers (fanfic) potray him much younger than he was like Tim was 17 during UTRH and around 19 during Teen Titans #29

(Also pretty sure like 99.9% sure that Jason calling Tim 'Replacement' also came from fanon and it was from j*yt*m shippers so like 😵‍💫,, although Jason did call him 'Pretender' in Batman Hush a few times)

(Also highjacking this to talk about Pit madness cuz for some reason there are too many fics about it so like please remember that pit madness and the extent of it is just a fanon thing there is no proof of it happening for more than 5 mintues in canon and Jason was not the only one besides Ra's to use it but Cassandra has also been in the pit... So like yeah Jason did some fucked up shit post resurrection and he did it willingly no supernatural green pool was involved and its ok ❤️, like let him be his own person)

That went majorly off tangent,,, anyways also Tim was never abused physically or otherwise by his parents, they neglected him and child abandonment too for sure (ALSOOOO He spent more thanhalf of his school life in boarding school so it probably won't count as child abandonment but I dont know if its canon to main universe so I'm just putting it out there)

Adding to that is a fanfic issue that is around the potrayal of him in fics where Jason didnt die or wouldn't die and Tim joined the family early, most of those are pretty harmless and wholesome and this is not the critique of those writers so don't take personally but idk how it got so polarising and popular that Tim was a tiny kid and when he and Jason met younger (most fics I've read were from 3rd pov or Jason's pov) and in most of them it is stated that Tim is smaller for his age and Jason mistakes him for a younger age which just doesnt make sense. Like it would be one thing for someone else like Dick or Bruce to make that assumption and entirely different for Jason cuz CANONICALLY Jason was shorter at 15 than Tim was at 13 and it makes sense cuz Jason was malnourished which resulted in stunted growth rate, so like you're telling me that Jason at 15 saw 13 year old Tim and assumed he was 9 like it just doesnt make sense to me

And look this may be seen as nitpicks (and it probably is) but if it was in smaller quantity it could be ignorable but its everywhere and my patience is not endless and I'm fucking tired of him.

Also just to throw that in that all the bulleted points while in themselves alone may seem annoying but harmless, arent all of them together as fanon perception of him just infantalising him overall like its not they're true or anything...

Like lets be real Tim was just a blatant robin self insert, he was 13 when he went to a grieving father whos son was recently murdered and basically blackmailed him into making him robin cuz he thought "Batman needs a Robin" like dude you're 13... also can you imagine how Bruce must have felt in situation like but I dont think blaming Tim for this is right cuz he was a child and he didn't know better

Glorifying a white, rich (because yes he was rich enough to be neighbours with Wayne) character and demeaning and villanising a person of color and a dead poor person (cant keep track of how many times there's implied or outright said that Jason's death is his fault and how Tim's much smarter than Jason and better than him despite having no street smarts on him and being a trust fund baby)

Howevere, it'll be incredibly in poor taste to say that those weren't rooted in racism and classism [because they were] and its not Tim's fault his writers were disgusting but it is furthered and accepted and preached in fanon so like that's no excuse imo

Also if we include him with Robins he is not that special like he dont stick out ... and he terribly lacks any creativity and imagination like he took the mantle of robin and then red robin which like he didnt think through.

And like I'm not dismissing his trauma from attempts on his death but he was robin for 3-4 years before Jason tried to kill him I'm plenty sure he's used to his life being in danger comes with job description and if he didnt want that.. well nobody asked him he served himself on silver platter to be traumatised so yeah

So yeah fanon tim is my number one enemy and idc about him in canon and if you disagree with this please make your own post

This was a long vent of a short(lmao) list of just things that bother me

[stanleyl]

I think Tom's approach to things is : highlight the good and ignore the bad. The one and only Time he called out bad behavior was his post against the racist attacks towards the England football team

Since he became famous, he never stood for anything. Even his charity work , while great, is never approaching societal issues like racism, sexism, abuse in any kind of way. It is great work, but never siding on one side or another. I think he has the approach of many white people I know, while not being actively ignorant, they're being PASSIVE and feel like acknowledging it makes it more real. Things I've been told all my life like "what you've been through" with a polite tap on the shoulder, instead of naming things as they are : slurs, mockery, racism and misogynist especially. Even when defending his own girlfriend he basically said : Zendaya is so strong and has a good head on her shoulders she's not going to be shaken by "all of this". That's not standing for anything, that's acknowledging that "something" is going on, and she's dealing with it. It's putting the problem on her shoulder, without explicitly calling things out.

It is, at the very least, cowardly behavior. But I think that now that I'm a grown woman and all the people I used to be a fan of turned out to be people with questionable values, or at least passive to every world problem as long as they're living happily in their privileged bubble, I tend to only focus on the art they're putting out there. As long as they're not active abusers themselves, I'm like : welp, that doesn't surprise me that they're not standing for anything. It's still shitty, but never surprising since I don't expect anything great. Basically if you're a person in the public eye, you start at 0 from me, ethically speaking, and can only go up or down from there

Now, if we're speaking from a PR point of view, and putting my personal resentment aside, and since the movie industry and celebrity industry in general is a business first and foremost, I'll definitely say it's incredibly stupid to not have anyone in his team act around his image. If you have a client who doesn't seem to do anything for himself, you're supposed to do it for him. It keeps going south and he's not even new to all this so they have no excuse, they should know better by now. It's like they're actively sabotaging him to see when they will hit the final nerve

I mean, you're entitled to your feelings, and I respect your opinion, but he also posted about the Black Lives Matter, like most celebrities, likely feeling pressured to speak up at the time, which was pretty obvious. Maybe staying neutral/silent was indeed an advice from his team or his own decision, but either way, and I mean this with the best intentions, it might be for the best. I'm sure he's a good person, I have no reason to think otherwise, but not everyone is going to be a Mark Ruffalo type of celebrity, and it is what it is.

[berrymascarpone]

How does the Twelfth Squad work even

For some reason the weird mentor-mentee? Employee-boss? Twisted found family? relationship between Kurotsuchi Mayuri and his third seat Akon (who is, full disclosure, my fave for his long-suffering tolerance for 12th squad and shinigami shenanigans in general) has been sloshing around my brain recently, so I figured I’d write it out for my own reference. There’s not much shown regarding the relationship in canon, but here are the broad strokes.

1. Mayuri probably pulled Akon out of Maggot’s nest soon after he was tapped by Urahara to start the Shinigami Research Institute

Evidence: a) Akon is in Maggot’s nest when Urahara goes to recruit Mayuri, but for whatever reason Urahara doesn’t mention or seem to acknowledge his existence beyond just another prisoner. Also, Akon appears to be disassembling some kind of device and/or dissecting a small creature.

b) Some time after the establishment of the Shinigami Research Institute, Akon joins as Mayuri’s personal lab assistant, despite Akon being a child (or at least child-sized). They appear to have a cordial relationship, as opposed to Akon’s somewhat antagonistic relationship with Hiyori and dismissal of Urahara.

2. Mayuri appears to leave many of the day to day dealings of the 12th squad to Akon.

Evidence: a) Akon is most often seen directing other members of the SRDI when Mayuri is busy. Sometimes even when he’s not.

b) Other SRDI members have a lot of trust in him as a leader, possibly even more than their actual captain, which isn’t that unexpected considering Mayuri’s track record with underlings includes lots of explosions.

c) Akon is the one to give a report on the first Quincy attack in TYBW arc, despite Mayuri standing right there. (In the manga, he sends out a broadcast instead, which isn’t exactly the same, but shows he’s got enough authority for a PSA).

3. Akon shares Mayuri’s dubious morality regarding experimental subjects, but seems to care about the people close to him.

Evidence: a) Akon is present during Mayuri’s study of the Quincies. (I know this is anime only, but he’s not exactly opposed to it in the manga either)

B) he also was involved with the Nemuri project, which I don’t doubt was quite gruesome at times.

4. Akon does not always agree with Mayuri and sometimes takes things into his own hands, which Mayuri seems to tolerate.

a) Akon has cameras in Mayuri’s quarters, which Mayuri either doesn’t know or doesn’t care about

b) Akon makes the executive decision to call Ichigo and Urahara in Hueco Mundo, despite Mayuri saying that it’s unnecessary

In conclusion:

Although Mayuri is the main brainpower of the 12th squad, Akon is the one who keeps the lights on. Akon respects his captain but isn’t afraid to proceed with his own plan of action. Mayuri likely recognizes the usefulness of having someone take over the boring administrative tasks so he can go do his mad science and shit-talk the other captains while someone holds the squad together and remembers to clean out the biohazard trash often enough so that no weird mutant creatures grow out of it.

Besides the purely pragmatic aspects of their relationship, I also think there is mutual respect of each other’s skill. Akon's worked on a lot of Mayuri's big projects, including the Nemuri project, which was Mayuri's greatest dream and ambition. Even Kuna, who has probably been there almost as long as Akon, did not know about the Nemuri project until he brought it up.

On a more emotional level, I think they have a mutual understanding as well. Both were condemned by society and thrown into Maggot's Nest for their interests or their potential. They both have body modifications (Mayuri's ear situation and face paint, and Akon's horns which he definitely didn't have as a kid) that mark them as outsiders, deviant in some way from the rest of society, but proud of it. For them, the twelfth squad, and the SDRI in particular, is a refuge, a place where their ideas are seen as valuable instead of unnatural, where they can be admired instead of shunned and locked away in Maggot's nest.

In conclusion, though they may be dysfunctional and probably a bit too interested in dissection and human experimentation, Akon and Mayuri have tolerated and even respected each other for at least a hundred years. May they continue to do so (with minimal danger to the rest of society) for a hundred more.

[i-might-write]

Kuchiki Byakuya: falling in love //part 2

Fandom: Bleach 

Byakuya knew that due to his position in the clan, whoever he suddenly decided to spend time with would be closely monitored by the clan elders. They were a necessary structure within the clan, but one that required a reminder every now and then that they weren't omnipotent.

One such reminder came when Byakuya finally decided to inform them about stepping into a relationship with you. 

They weren't the first to learn about this, they weren't even asked beforehand for their opinion and a formal blessing. The bubble of their ego burst in the most spectacular way. Looking at their faces in that moment, Byakuya felt incredible satisfaction - and wondered whether the ones turning the brightest purple would actually step down or drop dead. 

They didn't, but their fury was immeasurable. 

Byakuya has never enjoyed working alongside the elders, and preferred to have as little to do with them as possible. It had worked out decently well before, majorly because as a clan head and a squad captain the amount of power he had had been enough to get his way with the most important decisions.

You didn't have that kind of protection.

That's why Byakuya made sure you understood that a relationship with him would mean having to step onto the clan ground and sometimes deal with people unhappy that a person from the World of the Living of no position would become Byakuya's significant other.

It was important for Byakuya to make you understand all the consequences. By then, he had been in love with you for a while, and wanted you to make an informed decision. Even if it meant a possibility of your refusal.

Byakuya had spent the few days before that constantly worrying what your answer would be. He'd accept it anyway. He was not the person who'd force you into a relationship with him just to fulfill his own dream, but make you suffer in the process. Still, he worried. 

An enormous weight was lifted off his shoulders when you agreed to a relationship with him. It was an almost visible thing and he couldn't help but let out a small sigh of relief. 

Now he only had to inform the elders. 

He froze when one day, soon after that, you asked whether he wanted to make the elders froth at the mouth. Given how much he had to argue with them to accept and not attack you on the clan ground, your question had caught Byakuya's attention. A vengeful, smug part of him that was almost forgotten since he grew up, now stirred.

Byakuya almost had a heart attack himself when you proposed to move your sleeping arrangements to his personal chambers.

It was not what he expected. Or was mentally prepared for.

But it certainly had the right kind of effect. 

He agreed when you explained that you mostly just wanted to be close to him and wouldn't force him into anything he wouldn't be comfortable with. Making the clan elders furious was a bonus point.

And that's how Byakuya ended up unable to sleep even deep into the night, laying on his bedsheets next to you. 

You were true to your words, and the two of you spent a nice evening drinking tea and talking before exhaustion weighed down on you. You slept peacefully, tucked in tight in your own futon, and just like you promised, you didn't disturb Byakuya's peace at all.

Or at least that was the idea. 

Byakuya couldn't help but stare at your peaceful face, barely visible from beneath the covers. Your hair surrounded it like a messy, unruly halo and every once in a while you muttered something quietly. He has never been happier.

He had barely slept that night, busy contemplating the way shadows brushed over your cheek as the clouds passed over the moon at the other side of the window. His heart was beating hard enough he worried he'd wake you up. 

He'd insist that you kept your sleeping arrangements with him, even after your revenge reached the elders.

[scarlibis]

Lord Oyster is really going through it, huh

He seems to be some kind of controversial topic right now, and I think he's a really interesting case! I wanna offer my two cents

! I'm NOT seeking to apologize for or defend Lord Oyster's actions, that's not what I want to do at all. I'm gonna do my best to analyze him instead, just as someone who appreciates his character for what it is, no specific side

||| SPOILERS PRESENT & Lengthy Post

◇ The common perceptions of Lord Oyster's character

One side conceives him as this big villain who's outrageously evil (or so it seems people think of him as, with this massive hate he's getting)

The other side isn't doing much better. at all. with their 'he's an angel! how can you hate him!!' claims just because he started of this story with kindness and felt remorse after his decision that ended with terrible consequences

How about considering Loyster a morally grey character?

He absolutely isn't purely good, but in no way is he purely bad either. Abalone is the villain of this story, everything he does is at the expense of others for his own personal gain. To Abalone, everyone is expendable, everyone's a tool to be used for his own success and he will do anything to achieve his goals

Seeing people compare Loyster to Abalone, or say they're similar, is. insane, to say the least . Hell, seeing him competing with Custard for most hated npc is WILD.

Lord Oyster has done good before, if you've seen the first half of the story, it'd be very clear that he cares for White Pearl! Ever since they met, they've been bonding with each other, and even towards the end, Lord Oyster harboured no hate or ill thoughts towards her. He still considered her his moon

That doesn't redeem him, though. In the end, he still made a bad decision, remember that as well as you remember the good he's done, too. I'll touch on this again later

◇ I agree, his decision was pretty ass, but let's look into it

Honestly, there appeared to be NO positive outcome in favour of everyone. A tragedy was always set to happen eventually

Had Loyster not sold the pearl to Abalone, the pearl probably would have been taken by force instead. Abalone was willing to do anything to get it

If the pearl was stolen, House Oyster would have fallen, and the mermaids still would have suffered another attack.

Abalone was always planning to return to sea and comb it for treasures that's rake in a fortune for him, with or without that pearl. He was always going to go back and attempt an attack on the mermaids again, the pearl only makes him stronger with its abilities (Cookies won't get soggy underwater, and they'll be able to breathe)

Had the pearl been kept and remained in Loyster's possession, the House would have fallen. His goals wouldn't have been achieved, it'd be over for his entire family. No one wanted to do business with them except for the Crab family, so out of desperation, he sold the pearl to Abalone, who cunningly made a 'steal of a deal' offer

◇ The hate stems from here, I'm sure

After everything, this really is not so easy to defend when you see that Loyster, even through his stressed state of mind and the burden of his House collapsing, still weighed the options.

Yes, he chose money over White Pearl's gift that she gave with love. Desperate at best, you can understand he needed this money for his whole family, not for selfish gain. But at worst, it wasn't the smartest decision. He knew what Abalone was capable of, I don't know why he was so shocked to see them go out to sea so soon after getting the pearl.

He knew what the pearl meant to White Pearl, and it was precious to himself, too

Ultimately, he chose the needs of his family instead. Which really isn't unreasonable, those are his loved ones, of course he'd want the best for them, and Abalone's offer must have seemed opportune at that time

BUT. Once again, Loyster should have taken more time than just like a minute considering the offer. Abalone gave him a chance to think about it if he needed to, and he didn't take it

*facepalms*

◇ The regret does not redeem him, however...

He can feel sorry, he should be, but that doesn't make him all good again. That doesn't fix the consequences of his decision, the one he made all on his own.

But his love and concern for White Pearl are still there, genuinely. He realises his stupid decision is aiding Abalone and his crew in a fresh attack so soon, and decides that rather than leaving it be, he needed to find her. To rescue her.

White Pearl's rightfully disgruntled, knowing the cookie who was once her sea had betrayed her, on top of everything else going on. She denies Loyster a chance to explain himself, and it's completely understandable. She's hurt and angry, her family is suffering, and Loyster is partly to blame for it. Abalone wouldn't be out so soon had he not obtained the pearl, and his power is at its peak now with the eclipse happening simultaneously

He didn't want this to happen, and he never would have wished for it. He feels remorse for what he's done, and he tries to fix it ever so slightly by going after White Pearl. That's something! It shows he does have heart, but even so, he messed up badly. Though nothing can really change that, his effort after figuring out he screwed up shows he means to be no villain.

His decision was bad, and really stupid, that's for sure, but it didn't come from a place of hatred, or greed, or pure selfishness. You understand what I'm saying here?

The main reason I made this post at all was really because the major misconceptions really bothered me (the 'he's an absolute devil' and 'oh no he's an innocent angel' takes, to be exact, because he is certainly neither of those)

Whether your opinion changes or not after reading this is purely up to you, you could have just read this for fun and that'd still be alright with me! So, that just about wraps up all my strong thoughts on Loyster so far, hope it was interesting at least

[jtargaryen18]

His Inheritance ~ Chapter 26 Preview

I'm hoping to get this out this weekend but I'm volunteering so I can't make that promise. But very soon...

Warnings: Sexual references, references to violence

Dark dreams pulled Steve from sleep. It was 3:37 AM according to his phone.

With a sigh, he pulled himself out of bed, propping his pillow behind his wife’s back in his place. She was sound asleep and that had him smiling. The night before in the bath had been delicious. He had her again later in bed.

She’d need to sleep in after that.

So much raw emotion welled up in his chest as he watched her. His wife took up a lot of room when she slept, sprawling over the bed at night. Over him. He loved it, especially now that she mostly slept nude as he did. She was beautiful, her radiance and confidence growing by the day.

As he got dressed, he kept stealing glances at her. She’d brought a hell of a lot more than just status into his life. His wife challenged him. She challenged everyone. As delicate as she appeared now, asleep in his bed, she was formidable as a lioness, especially when defending those she cared about.

Steve couldn’t wait to have children with her. How fierce would their sons be? Hell, his daughters would be fierce too. He hoped they looked like her.

Making his way downstairs, thoughts of the family he wanted faded like dreams as he reached his study, returning to reality. Wincing in the light when he flicked it on, he saw the office was just as neat and sterile as it had ever been. Steve always had strict rules about who was allowed in his study, just like his father had.

Those rules didn’t apply to his wife, he realized, who came and went from his center of business as she damn well pleased.

Those memories he loved. Holding her in his chair, spanking her over the desk. Twice. That last one had led to him just taking her like a beast on that refined wooden surface. It had him stirring just thinking about it. Steve wanted more memories like that.

He wanted more.

What would it be like to see toys littering the floor one day? Or to have little drawings left for him on his desk?

With a deep sigh, he sank heavily into his chair.

Ever since his wife had entered his life, she’d blurred the lines between his personal life and business. Steve walked a fine line between frustration and ecstasy the entire time with her, his need for her so often consuming his thoughts.

In the meantime, everything he thought he had control of was unraveling.

Barnes was coming for him, swiftly and methodically, and he needed to deal with that before he lost respect and credibility in that dark world. The fact that his rival was getting away with hitting his turf made Steve look weak, incompetent. Barnes striking his home, his family’s home, demanded a harsh answer. His leadership of the families would be defined by the decision he made here.

But Steve also needed to protect his family. And hadn’t he done a poor job of that lately? His sister had been severely beaten by her husband and before that Clint had been shot. Hansen’s attack on their home left Belova and Dyson both laid up.

And his enemies seemed as obsessed with his wife as he was. If Hansen had gotten his hands on her…

Barnes had more than adequately demonstrated that no one was beyond his reach.

That had to change.

Steve had tried to be diplomatic in calling the meeting with the other family leaders. He wouldn’t make that mistake again. Why was he trying to win the other families over when at least one of them was gunning for his?

“Up early, boss?” Luca looked in, making Steve realize he didn’t even remember to close the door.

Steve nodded.

The portly cook walked just inside the office door. It was the only time of the day he ever saw the man in a pristine white apron.

“Your father used to do the same thing. Couldn’t sleep the night before. He’d just get up and get started. Always admired that about him.”

Steve snorted. “Probably never found himself in a situation this fucked up.”

“Sure he did,” Luca told him. “Someone challenged him, he hit them hard and he hit them fast. That’s all. No mercy. No regrets.”

Luca made it sound so easy.

“You got a new consigliere yet?” Luca asked.

Steve nodded. “I’m going with Murdock.”

Luca nodded his approval. “Good choice. We’ll see what he’s made of these next few weeks.”

That was an understatement.

“I’m calling a meeting this evening,” Steve told him. “If I remember right Dyson’s going to get medical tests this morning?”

“That’s right,” the cook said. “Him and Belova both. They should be back from the hospital by this afternoon. We sending Scott with them?”

Steve shook his head. “I’ll be here all day. Send Neal.”

Luca nodded, closing the door behind him on the way out of the office.

Steve would spend some time getting his thoughts together. Then, with his crew, they’d decide how best to deal with Barnes.

[butterflydm]

wot reread: towers of midnight (chap 27-38)

spoilers for towers of midnight

This gritted teeth reluctance of Egwene's, where she knows that they can't afford to face the Seanchan now because the Last Battle is more important -- this is the vibe. This is the energy. We need more of this when talking about the Seanchan.

2. Anyway, Egwene is trying to reach out to Rand's allies to convince them that he needs to be convinced to stop his plan of breaking the seals. This section works better than the earlier ones imo because Darlin, etc. doesn't know about the big epiphany and Rand's shift in perspective, so instead of another person reassuring Egwene that Rand is ~much better now~, we get a more measured response that talks about loyalty, and the Seanchan to the west, and that they all knew that the Dragon Reborn would likely go mad before the Last Battle so this shouldn't really be a surprise and he's still the only horse in the race.

3. They receive word that the watchtowers of the Borderlands are beginning to go dark -- a sign that the Last Battle is truly beginning. Egwene learns that the Hall is meeting without her, and goes to the meeting. After some Aes Sedai political wrangling, Egwene manages to get them to trade authority over the armies with authority in dealing with monarchs and rulers, aka Rand, who rules Illian. She also does some important loophole closing to make it harder for another secretive group like the Black Ajah to depose an Amrylin as happened to Siuan.

4. There is a certain amount of hilarious irony in Faile being hurt over Morgase using a different name and hiding her noble identity given the way Faile entered into this story (though Faile does realize this herself after a moment). But then she admits to herself that her real worry is that Morgase, as a fair woman, might fairly decide that Perrin really is a murderer, and they would have to deal with the consequences of that decision.

5. While a bubble of evil attacks Perrin's camp, Morgase and Galad are talking off in the Whitecloak camp. Morgase thinks about how she wishes she'd done a better job teaching Galad about shades of gray, so perhaps he wouldn't have been drawn into the Children of Light, with their black and white philosophy. She does her best to impart some shades of gray teachings to him now: good people can make mistakes sometimes and that's as important as knowing if a crime itself happened (basically that intent does matter when judging for a crime). She does not quite convince him, because... idk we need to draw out Perrin's plot more I guess. And the bubble of evil means that Perrin is asking for more time on his side too.

6. Okay, so Tam hasn't left at this point. But Perrin has been casually talking about how Elayne is planning to marry Rand*, which means it should be buzzing around the camp as gossip, which means that Tam should already know about Elayne when he first meets Min in Tear. There was zero indication about this in the Tam scenes in TGS but since it seems obvious that Tam should already know, I'm going to imagine/pretend that he talked to either Min or zen!Rand (once he returned) about these rumors about the queen of Andor wanting to marry Rand.

Anyway, Tam tells Perrin that he needs to leave on special ~Aes Sedai business~ but that he's proud of him. I guess that's nice. And then he leaves, off to go be in the ending of TGS and nearly get killed by his son. So that's where Perrin is in the timeline.

*this really does illustrate how infrequently Perrin thinks of Rand and how quickly he manages to dispel his visions of Rand compared to Mat, since he apparently has NOT been watching Rand constantly having sex with Min in recent months -- or maybe the ~Pattern~ just knows that Mat is more interested in seeing Rand during those times than Perrin is? Because Perrin actually DOES know Min and Elayne both separately -- he spent that winter between TGH & TDR spending a lot of time with Min and she even confessed to him that she was fated to fall in love with Rand (though didn't know if he would love her back), and he was in Tear when Elayne and Rand were together as well -- so you'd think that he'd consider what it might mean for Elayne's marriage hopes that Min stole her boyfriend, since he doesn't know about the shared love confessions, yet the only thing he mentioned as a potential objection to the marriage is that Rand might be too busy ~conquering his next nation~. I mean, I guess he could have been making poly assumptions but that's really the sort of thing that maybe should have actually been in his thoughts at some point, lol.

7. Haha, Elayne finding a loophole in the "required bed rest for a week" rule laid down by her midwife. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 ilu Elayne. Anyway, she's here to see a demonstration of Aludra's dragons! It's interesting that Mat explained to Elayne that Aludra's main motivation is to get revenge against the Seanchan, which potentially means that he told her about the Seanchan destroying the Tanchico chapterhouse and murdering & enslaving the Illuminators there. But, yes, the first public demonstration of the 'dragons' (aka cannons) is a success. After agreeing to give her all the resources that she requires, Elayne makes Aludra swear that she will keep the creation of these a secret, but Birgitte feels anxious about the idea of them anyway. "The world just changed."

8. Perrin's crash course in How To Wolfbrother: Dream Edition continues. This time, he's learning how not to be afraid of himself as Young Bull and how to confidently control the wolf dream around him when he's inside it. Over a handful of days. This is the first time Perrin finds out that this is the dreamplace of 'everyone' and not just wolf-related people. Hopper brings Perrin to a city so that he can walk through the 'fear dreams' of the people living there, so that he can do an accelerated crash course in How To Wolfbrother. And I do find all this wolf-development good but... wow, it feels so belated. Mat got his war memories in TSR and struggled with them over the course of TFoH but had basically accepted them by LoC. Perrin found out he was a wolfbrother in EotW and is only now finishing up his coursework in How To Wolfbrother.

9. It's interesting that the wolves are waiting on Dragonmount for Rand to face his moment of decision between destruction and life. We've only had hints of how connected the wolves feel to the Light & to the Dragon Reborn. Kinda wish we'd gotten more. One of the downsides of how Jordan kept dividing up the storylines and separating everyone, I suppose, plus the general theme of Team Light having rotten communication skills and keeping secrets from each other.

I really do feel like Sanderson rushed Rand too much in TGS and then idled with him in ToM and I think it would have worked better to have the ruthless Rand arc paced out more with the other characters in ToM rather than climaxing at the end of TGS. I'm also kinda... eh on whether or not we needed Perrin there ~in spirit~ with Rand on Dragonmount? I'm not sure we needed an outside PoV of this scene when we had an internal one already? I like the descriptions well enough but I am tired of always seeing Rand from the outside in ToM. But, anyway, Rand chooses life and the wolves all celebrate. It's kinda funny that the wolves are so into Rand and he... barely has any clue that wolves are related to the Last Battle in any way? I don't think anyone (Perrin) has mentioned that he's a celebrity to the wolves.

10. I am more than halfway done with ToM and I feel like barely anything has happened yet, lol. "Let's all catch up to Rand's moment of being awesome" didn't work for CoT and I'm not sure why Sanderson decided to repeat that again for ToM. There are definitely some chapters and PoVs that I am enjoying but overall this book feels like filler half the time, which is a WILD choice, bro.

11. Mat is dicing, and it seems to partly be a vibe check to see if his luck is with him (see, this is what I meant earlier about how Elayne's supernatural guarantee is more guaranteed than Mat's is). Strike nine-point-three as Mat notices the wide smile of a "raven-haired beauty". He is now preemptively telling (some) women that he's married in hopes that they will do the work of not being flirty rather than him doing it. Strike ten-point-three, as Mat regretfully thinks about how the innkeeper's wife is very pretty but her husband would assault him if he looked at her for too long so he only glances at her briefly.

12. He's been walking around with his face uncovered all day, hoping to draw the gholam to him now that he has a plan on how to deal with it. It works after a while and the two of them fight (in streets that are being kept clear by the Band keeping other people away). The gholam is able to get his medallion away from him, but Mat has borrowed two of the copies from Elayne and discovers that they still work against the gholam. Ah, and the secret weapon is finding a way to trick it/back it into falling into the Gateway created by one of the Kin. This is a good chapter, for the most part, except for some minor things here and there, that are mostly annoyances that were pre-baked into Mat's new characterization from Jordan in CoT & KoD. The gholam thing unfortunately does feel like it turned more into a personal vendetta, which I think is a shame, but I'm glad that channeling was an essential part of defeating it. Mat has, since parting from his slaver wife, now worked extensively with free channelers -- Teslyn saved his life against the gholam before, and it's Elayne connecting him to the Kin (who had to escape Altara to avoid being enslaved by his wife's people) that saves him here and helps him defeat the gholam.

13. Strike eleven-point-three as Mat notes one of the Kinswomen who is plump and pretty and would "fit nicely on his knee".

14. Yikes on bikes that Mat wants to give a slaver, who is hostile to channelers and who wants to torture and enslave them, a medallion that would protect her against channeling (though this plan of his does make an asshole move that Tuon pulls later somewhat ironic). Though he isn't aware of the copies' flaws, it sounds like, and one of those flaws is that they protect against some weaves but not against the most powerful, so Elayne could, for example, still balefire Tuon's ass if she were wearing one of the copies.

Also, I bet that Mat did NOT tell Elayne that he was planning to give her hard work to a slaver who would be willing to torture, degrade, and mind-break her if given the chance. Honestly, once Elayne does find out who Mat is married to, she has every right to feel completely betrayed by him. He used her to aid someone who would be willing to torture her and the people under her protection. And he's so deeply in denial about Tuon (thinking of her ~as a person~ as completely separate from her position ~as a powerful enforcer of slavery in a slaver society~ and behaving as if 'protecting Tuon' doesn't support the Seanchan Empire in any way -- this is the bullshit that his "your empire is my enemy but you aren't" double-thinking allows to him to believe despite it being nonsense) that it doesn't even occur to him that what he's doing here is a complete betrayal of the trust that Elayne has placed in him. And after Elayne saved his ass here too -- both with the copies of the medallion, and also because she and Birgitte are the ones who came up with this plan for him.

...I wonder if the medallion copies would prevent a sul'dam from using an a'dam, since (unlike the original) they do not allow the wearer to channel while wearing them. It seems logical that they would block the link created by the a'dam.

15. Anyway, Mat is basically pulling the exact same "I am on both sides and neither at once" routine with Tuon & the Westlanders that Gawyn pulled with the loyalist Aes Sedai and Egwene, so I can only hope that this means that Mat will come to his senses post-canon the way that Gawyn came to his senses and picked the right side once he learned that Egwene was imprisoned by the White Tower. There are a few easy ways that a post-canon narrative could make that happen.

Honestly, it's more likely that Tuon will grossly violate Mat's sense of morality past the bounds of what he can take than that she won't, given what we've seen of her personality and beliefs. If they have multiple kids in the future and Tuon raises them in the Imperial Seanchan way, Mat will rebel against having his kids sabotage and undermine each other to attempts to appeal to empress dearest; if he sees someone in a collar that he recognizes than this may bring things home to him in a way that it seems like he's forcing himself to ignore when the slaves are all strangers; if they have a channeler kid who Tuon tries to collar, etc. Lots of things could cross the line, and all of those things seem perfectly in her character as has been shown thus far in the books.

The interesting thing to me here is that Mat gets to fence-straddle without getting the fandom hate that Gawyn got for it. Is it simply because the reader got to know Mat for much longer before he started his fence-straddling ways in CoT? Is it because Mat has a more amusing internal narration so people are willing to forgive him for more than they would other characters? Is it because of who gets hurt because of the fence-straddling?

Gawyn's fence-straddling meant that he didn't help Rand during/after Dumai's Wells and he also killed some number of Warders during the coup. Mat's fence-straddling means that so far he's been complicit in forty Aes Sedai getting enslaved by the Seanchan plus an unknown number of injuries and deaths, and he's currently plotting to give Tuon a tool that would help her enslave more Aes Sedai (even if he chooses to be in denial over the fact that she could use it that way).

16. General Bashere and his army finally arrive with Asha'man to give Ituralde some relief. Rand shows up too, a little bit later, and apologizes to Ituralde for how he has failed in making peace with the Seanchan and in giving him the support that he needed. Rand goes out alone to kill a massive wave of Shadowspawn by himself.

17. Rand processes that he was angry during the recent fight with the Shadowspawn... and that that's OKAY. He's allowed to be angry as long as he processes and controls that anger appropriately and doesn't lash out at his allies. Very important step!

lol we also get updated on Min's Old Tongue prophecy analysis project re: Callandor. It's... lol, whatever. I guess it gives Min something to do.

Once again, I wish so much that we were actually in Rand's head and not just getting him filtered through other people's PoVs.

18. So Nynaeve has given a full report of her time with Rand to the Amyrlin & Siuan (who is clearly still one of Egwene's main advisors at this point? She's the only person in the meeting with Egwene and Nynaeve). She is capable of communication, just not with Rand. *sigh*

Nynaeve defends Rand here against Egwene (she says that if the Asha'man's behavior is Rand's responsibility, then the Aes Sedai's behavior is Egwene's responsibility), but was never willing to tell him anything when she was with him. The rest of the scene is them sketching out their plan to take out Mesaana (using Egwene as bait again). Nynaeve suggests working with Rand, but Egwene shoots the idea down.

19. Gawyn is just... casually hanging out with Elayne in Caemlyn? We didn't actually get to see their reunion? Well, that's disappointing. Gawyn guesses that Rand is the father of Elayne's kids and she mentions that if he is, it would be smart not to tell anyone about it, as it would make them targets. Gawyn and Elayne talk some various things through re: Rand and Egwene and, in the end, Elayne helps Gawyn let go of his hate of Rand. She releases from his obligations in Caemlyn, so that he can fully devote himself to Egwene & the White Tower. It's a sweet scene, honestly. It gets quoted sometimes as Elayne doing a Take That at Gawyn over classism but that's not really the approach she's taking at all with him.

20. While he's here, he takes out the dagger that was dropped by the assassin and examines it, getting a started reaction from one of the nearby 'Kin', who is actually one of the ex-damane (Marille), who recognizes the dagger and what it means. He finds out that the Bloodknives are Seanchan assassins who are sent personally by the Empress. Suicide troops left behind to murder Aes Sedai, in this case. They've murdered several women already, and those deaths are also ones that Mat is complicit in. We get a reminder here that "the Seanchan treated their damane worse than animals" as Marille cowers and whimpers when Gawyn's voice raises.

(And Tuon would happily do this kind of emotional damage to Mat's sister Bode, or to Egwene, or Elayne, or Aviendha, or Nynaeve, or Moiraine, etc. -- though that does remind me of how it, in retrospect, it does seem like the composition of Mat's party that escaped Ebou Dar was another deliberate choice to shield Mat from the true horror of what the Seanchan do to these women -- he has never met an native Seanchan ex-damane, who has had to reconstruct herself from the ground up after having been taught since fifteen or sixteen years old that she is a subhuman monster. But having someone like that around during the circus journey would have been an even stronger indictment of Tuon as a person and of her society as a whole, so potentially that's why Jordan avoided it)

21. So GAWYN gets to hear the explanation here that all sul'dam are capable of learning to channel, something that no one has ever gotten around to telling Rand. Kaisea, the ex-sul'dam (who was also Low Blood, it sounds like) that Gawyn meets here, is insisting that she belongs in the collar now. If Elayne is so sure that it will undermine Seanchan culture for this news to spread, then it's baffling to me that she isn't spreading the news! This should be a major (deliberately planted) rumor, especially in cities and villages near or across the Seanchan border (it's entirely possible that this was originally part of Jordan's plan for the Seanchan, before he decided to slow-walk them starting in CoT, for the sake of the outriggers that will never happen).

Gaywn learns that the ter'angreal rings that the Bloodknives wear gives them the ability to blur near shadows but it comes at great cost -- once activated, death will come to them, usually in a couple of weeks and at a month at the longest. Around now is when he gets the message from Egwene to return to the Tower. Instead of doing so, he has the knife sent back, with the message that the assassin is Seanchan (and the details of how they work). Also, just as the Seanchan declare their army Ever Victorious (and their empress ~may she live forever~) they also say that the Bloodknives are impossible to survive if you're their target. You can always count on the Seanchan to declare that they are The Best and Most Perfect at everything, despite the evidence being against them. From what I've seen in the books, the only thing they're actually 'the best' at is propaganda (though both of those traits -- claiming to be superior and only really being superior at SAYING they're superior -- are pretty common for fascist-style governments, so I guess that's all true to form).

22. Perrin is STILL planning to disband the armies that he has gathered (after the trial, before he goes back to Rand). wtf dude! I don't care if you don't want to lead them; hand them over to Rand and HE can lead them. He has stopped complaining about leading them publicly, at least.

23. Perrin has figured out that there's a connection between the weird dome in the wolfdream and the inability of channelers to create Gateways in that same area in the waking world. Oops, there's a section here where Faile's PoV becomes Perrin's for a few paragraphs and then swaps back to Faile's, without the normal spacing markers that the books use for PoV swaps in the same chapter.

24. Conclusion of the trial: Perrin "killed unlawfully" but did not "murder" the Children of the Light, because the Children did not have authorization to act within Andor's borders, so Morgase is treating it as a clash between two mercenary bands. Then she throws the sentencing to Galad. Galad asks if Perrin will stand by the sentencing, Perrin says that he will... but only after the Last Battle. Galad agrees to those terms and says he will name the sentence itself later.

(in light of our Dain Bornhald casting news -- this is the culmination of his own series-long arc, where he learns and begins to believe that Perrin was not responsible for his father's death)

24. Tonight is the night that Egwene plans to face off with Mesaana in TAR. They have their trap set. Egwene also asks Silviana to send Gawyn another letter requesting his return but to make sure that she asks this time instead of telling. Egwene would probably have had more success if she'd written the letter herself, lol.

25. The frustrating thing about the Whitecloak trial being the trigger for Perrin's character arc climax here is how he has committed much worse deeds since then and not regretted them. I don't care about the results of his Whitecloak trial. I want him on trial for selling two hundred women into slavery! Anyway, he's heading into the wolfdream to try to kill Slayer, while Faile is in charge of handling the retreat through the Gateways in the waking world. He isn't able to kill Slayer, but he finds the dreamspike that was being used to prevent Traveling and starts traveling north with it, so that his people will be able to leave.

26. While Nynaeve keeps an eye on the fake location for the TAR meeting that is meant to draw out Mesaana, Egwene attends the real meeting, which is between Aes Sedai, Wise Ones, and (for the first time) a handful of Windfinders. We know that Egwene's big goal is that she would like all women who can channel to be 'tied' to the White Tower in some fashion, so I'm guessing this meeting is going to be an attempt at making that work. The Windfinders describe the White Tower taking people in a very poetic way: "The White Tower inhales but does not exhale -- that which is brought in is never allowed to leave." And the Wise Ones are feeling some solidarity with that vibe.

Egwene agrees with this point and says that they may have been wise to keep their abilities a secret, but then says that the White Tower does have some knowledge that they do not... and they begin to work out a potential bargain. Accepted being sent to learn from Wise Ones or Windfinders... and apprentices being sent to learn from Aes Sedai and then being allowed to return to their people instead of being required to stay with the White Tower. It feels like she's taking the lesson that she saw with Nynaeve in the Testing here and applying it to the Aiel & Atha'an Miere. She also agrees that the ter'angreal that belong to the Aiel and to the Atha'an Miere can be agreed to belong to them, without the White Tower trying to snatch them away because they've declared ~all ter'angreal~ to be theirs.

27. They also talk here about the other 'common foe' that they share -- the Seanchan. That an alliance between their three groups will make it easier for them to stand together against the Seanchan. The bargain still needs to be ratified by each of the individual parties' people but it's a pretty sound one, imo.

28. Mesaana attacks the decoy location and, by ta'veren coincidence, Perrin's journey north with the dreamspike has led him to Tar Valon. And Gawyn manages to return to Tar Valon via Gateway right before the dreamspike arrives and cuts off the city.

29. Carlinya is dead OFF-SCREEN. She was killed by Mesaana off the page? That's so rude. tbh, I actually do wonder if maybe she was supposed to have been one of the women abducted by the Seanchan (due to the viewing that Min had) but no specific notes were left about it? While ravens are somewhat associated with the Dark One, they've been a lot more strongly associated with the Seanchan. But I do wonder if maybe the reason that ELAIDA was the named one who was taken by the Seanchan was so that the readers would be like "oh she deserves it tho" and not hold the Seanchan as accountable for their slave raid as they deserved to be, and as they might be if a non-hostile Aes Sedai were the featured one being abducted.

30. So Egwene, the Aes Sedai, & the Wise Ones are fighting Mesaana and the Black Ajah, while Perrin fights Slayer and Gawyn races to try to protect Egwene's sleeping body from the Seanchan Bloodknife assassin(s).

Nothing about this climax is impossible to do if Rand is still ruthless!Rand imo. He's not really related to what's happening here at all. Dragonmount could have happened after this and it would have been fine, story-wise. I'm feeling pretty strongly overall that it was a mistake to pull the trigger on Rand's epiphany back in TGS.

31. Perrin and his less than a week's worth of Accelerated How To Wolfbrother coursework vs Egwene's year-plus of training (since she started her dreamwalker training in the same book where Perrin & Faile got married, and they just had their anniversary), yet we're supposed to buy that he's become Epic Good at it.

I mean, Sanderson really was caught in a Catch-22 with Perrin tbh, because of how Jordan had stalled Perrin's character arc out. He is SO FAR BEHIND the other characters at the start of TGS that he kinda has to do this accelerated sort of character arc, where he went from driving in reverse to jumping ahead so that he could be with the rest of the pack but... man, there's just Too Much Perrin in this book.

32. The big battle: Gawyn kills the Bloodknives (proving once again that the Seanchan talk of being The Most Superior is just talk) but almost dies in the process. Perrin moving the dreamspike here trapped Mesaana in place; Mesaana attempts to use the same trick on Egwene here that Nynaeve used on Moghedien, imagining an a'dam on here, but Egwene is able to force the thought away and the collar off again (using, in part, the hard-earned control of being Aes Sedai, but also her Dreamer abilities in TAR).

But again, here, we have the reminder of how fucking awful it is to be enslaved by the a'dam, as Egwene fights her panic about temporarily being collared. So again, the narrative has not forgotten how awful the Seanchan are... in the plotlines of the female characters. Egwene is able to take Perrin's "it's only a weave" thought about balefire and turn it into "it's only a piece of metal" about the a'dam. And she is able to turn her will against Mesaana and defeat her permanently. When Egwene wakes up, she finds the bloody scene with Gawyn and the dead Bloodknives, and she bonds Gawyn to save his life.

33. The nightmare that Perrin pulled Slayer into is someone dreaming in terror about the Last Battle. Perrin seems like he's potentially realizing here the full gravity of the Last Battle in this nightmare? Maybe when he wakes up, he'll stop trying to send away volunteers who want to fight in the Last Battle. He's able to use the nightmare to destroy the dreamspike but has to flee before he can kill Slayer; with Hopper's last dying thought to him to "seek Boundless".

That seems like a good place to stop, since there's a PoV change in the next chapter.