#there'll be no links between because tumblr

[quinloki]

quin-uhhh:

would you?!

Fic authors self rec! When you receive this, reply with favorite five fics you've written (include links, and if you want- a few thoughts about each one), then pass on to at least five other writers if you're up for it. Spread the self-love ✨

If you don't, I'll just... I'll just... well I won't do a thing but please?!

many fist pumps,

▲ I'm a symbol now

\o/ Tri, my sweet friend, you are - if anything - a symbol of good cheer =D ♥

Let's see, five favorite fics I've written. That's much easier than trying to pick just one ^_^

Birds of a Feather Marco/Reader ( tumblr / Ao3 / Wattpad ) - This is my most recently completed fic, at least at the time of this post, but I love it so much. My passion for Marco feels like it came out of nowhere and has made itself reigning champion in my thoughts. But a story I expected to be relatively short, ended up almost twice as long as I expected, and it was so easy. It was fun to write, and I think it goes down smooth, despite being nearly 90k words people consistently devour it in a single sitting.

Quicksand Sir Crocodile/Reader ( tumblr / Ao3 / Wattpad ) - Not sure if you're a fan of the sandy crocodile-themed warlord? Tread carefully, reading this title is statistically likely to convert you. Quicksand has an alternative ending because the story was originally intended to be a very dark Yandere - to the point that Doflamingo would've been the "good" guy. That's not how things went, and I'm quite glad for it. Quicksand going its own direction is what helped seal the deal in creating the Tales of the Grandline Metropolis, which is currently 3.8 completed stories. (it'll be at least 8 before it's done).

A Light Touch Eustass Kid/Reader ( Ao3 / Wattpad ) - My first Eustass Kid/Reader story. Set in the same AU as Quicksand, it was started from a pun, of all things. I figured Kid would be fancy tech stuff like neural-linked prosthetics, and the idea that would make a prosthetic for the reader after they lost a hand was something I wanted to write. Creating something like that would take a light touch, and if it glowed, that would be a different kind of light touch and getting close to Kid requires a light-- you get the point. Like I said, it's all based off a pun, but I'm really proud of the story, it's one of my favorite re-reads.

Some Direction Zoro/Reader (tumblr / Ao3 / Wattpad ) - A Modern AU where the government mandates who you marry. I have to give thanks to @lyndsyh24 for not only inspiring me to write this one (start to finish in a single month, I was obsessed!) but also for allowing my to play in the AU she'd built up. From Matchbook to the laws themselves, it's all thanks to Lyn. Zoro started out as one of my favorite characters in the series - I still have love for him, and I'm always happy to write him, but he's taken a bit of a back seat to my top three. Still Some Direction is a story I'm really proud of - even if I worry there'll be a mob after me for who the antagonist is 😅

Family Ties Doflamingo/Reader ( Ao3 / Wattpad ) - I was torn on this last choice - even with five slots it's hard to decide between stories I suppose ^^; Also, oops, apparently I only put the first ten chapters on tumblr... I need to fix that >.> Ahem, anyway, Family Ties is the first fic I wrote after over ten years of not writing at all. It's my first reader insert, my first true multi-chapter too. When I wrote it, it was the longest fic I'd written by nearly 50k words. I wrote it because I wanted a more morally ambiguous reader compared to what I'd been reading. It's not a dark fic though, it's pretty tooth-achingly sweet, honestly, but it's currently the only fic I have where the reader is a murderer in a very undisputed and direct manner.

Honorable mention I almost posted as piece 5 - The Dragon's Clause - my Sabo/Reader Noble/Fantasy/Magic AU, and also the only title I mention that's incomplete. But it's a an ode to my favorite genre, and a great many of my favorite tropes.

[starfighters]

your gifs are sooo gorgeous, i love your work!! <3 if you don't mind me asking, do you have any tips or tricks, save settings, adjustments, etc. on how to get them to look so crisp and high quality?

anon, this made my entire day and thank you so much!! i'll link some gifmaking tutorials below since they deal with making high quality gifs, but i'll also share some of my own tips & tricks in response to your questions! also just some tips about giffing on tumblr in general. more under the cut, i hope this is helpful!

save settings

i always save my gifs under selective diffusion! when making a super colourful gif, sometimes i'll do adaptive pattern, but 99.9% of the time my gifs are selective diffusion with 256 colours

when making black & white gifs, you might be able to get away with lowering the number of colours, allowing you to squeeze more frames in.

keep every gif below 10mb because that's tumblr's size limit, so i keep my big 540px x 540px gifs to about 40-50 frames and my dialogue gifs to about 55 frames. mostly i just keep as many frames in as possible to push the 10mb limit

adjustments

sharpen your gifs! my sharpening settings are 500 at 0.3 radius and then 10 at 10.0 radius!

i start every colouring with a curves layer, then a levels layer. i like my gifs bright, so sometimes i add a brightness contrast layer on screen before i use curves

i loveee bright gifs. i love the whites in my gif to be white and the blacks to be black, so i use levels a lot in my gifs

my usual colouring process starts with brightness/contrast on screen (if applicable), curves, then levels

usually i try to keep the number of adjustment layers low because a lot of adjustments tends to mess with the quality

colour balance is your best friend. a lot of movies & tv shows have a yellow tint, so upping the blues can help decrease that — i use this a lot because i don't want my gifs coming out too yellow

selective colour is also your best friend. this helps you target specific colours in the gif, like reds and greens and magentas, and is especially helpful when correcting skin tones

channel mixer is the best for removing tints. whole scene coloured red? use channel mixer to make it look natural! showmakers decided the scene should just be yellow? channel mixer here to save the day! you can use this tutorial as a lovely guide to using it

overall, i like my gifs more colourful, so i also use vibrance and hue/saturation a lot!

make sure not to red/yellow/pink/white-wash the people in your gifs! having reference photos with decent lighting up helps a lot when colouring to make sure you're staying true to their skin tone

general tips and tricks

always, always, ALWAYS gif 1080p or 4k footage if you can get it. anything above 10gb will work just fine! honestly, the size of the actual file doesn't really matter that much unless you're doing large gifs (like 540px x 540px or 540px x 800px), but there'll be a quality difference between a 720p 1gb file from youtube and a 4k 12gb file for sure

(in all honesty.... the secret to my crisp gifs is the fact that i have massive files. my star wars movie files are 4k 38gb and i just downloaded a 50gb file for dunkirk because I Am A Nerd.) this is not required at all i am just blessed with a lot of storage and i love having the best files possible for my favourite media, but generally, large files = better quality. HOWEVER, the difference between 17gb and 38gb is practically negligible so don't worry

large files are also better for colour manipulation because the quality doesn't drop as quickly

tumblr dimensions are ALWAYS 540px for the width. you could go wider but tumblr compresses it down to 540px width anyways so you might as well just start at 540px to preserve it. i tend to do 540 x 540 for sets like this, 540 x 350 for dialogue, and 540 x 300 for wide shot scenes.

i like having colour schemes in my sets. if you look through some of my movie sets, you'll notice they usually have a theme — this a new hope set is mostly pink, while this dunkirk set is mostly blue. that's just personal preference but i find it helps me so much when picking scenes, and makes it a lot more cohesive imo

WATERMARK YOUR GIFS. twitter loooooves to repost gifs from here unfortunately and sometimes other people on this website will steal them too, so it's just a good idea to always watermark. i designed a fun little one for myself and it just makes me happy to see it on my gifs. you can just add a little text with your url down at the bottom of your gif!

tag people on your sets! tag source blogs, tag other creators, tag the general edit tags for your media, whatever! i usually tag the blogs i see post a lot within the fandom and my mutuals. most users will have their tracking tag in their bio, mine for example is #userkosmos

create a general edit tag for your works, and link it in your bio. makes it a lot easier for people to browse your works and also makes it easier for yourself to organise!

most importantly, have fun! gifmaking shouldn't be a chore, and sometimes taking a step away (or maybe ten steps away...) does wonders for your creativity

gifmaking tutorials

how to make hq gifs by cal-kestis

giffing 101 by cillianmurphy

giffing tutorial by breakbleheavens

gifmaking for beginners by hayaosmiyazaki

gif tutorial by kylos

how to colour yellow-tinted shots by nobodynocrime

how to avoid colourwashing

how to avoid pink and yellow washing by jeonwonwoo

how to fix orange-washed characters by zoyanazyalensky

[curio-queries]

Tumblr cultural knowledge

The phrase 'cultural knowledge' is basically an insult and a criticism in my industry. If something isn't written down and shared in a way that's identifiable, accessible, and clear to the applicable individuals, it doesn't exist. Meaning that the correct usage will be lost as time and people change.

Here are a few things I've gleaned in my relatively short time of being an active tumblr user. (NOTE: 95% of my time here is via the mobile app). Please correct me if I've got anything wrong. I'd adore to see any that you've picked up as well.

Continue Reading Button: it's the last one in the tool bar. Looks like a zigzag line between two straight lines. I've added one to this post after this point. Even if you've selected the 'shorten long posts' option on your profile, that won't apply to reblogs. Save everyone's feeds and add it yourself to posts longer than three standard paragraphs.

Gifs: the search utility for gifs legit sucks. There is a logic applied but I can't say I've fully cracked it. What you CAN do if you want to add a specific gif to a post is paste the url of the gif's post into the gif search. Grab this via the three dots menu of any post, there'll be a copy link option. This will only grab the first image of that post though. BUT it will include the proper credit below the gif. Here's an example:

Gif credit: tapping the username below gif will open the source post.

Reblogs: the reason reblogs are so important for tumblr specifically is because the feed doesn't present posts to you outside of your parameters. Those parameters are mainly: 1) blogs you've followed and 2) tags you've followed. You reblogging a post gives it a chance to be seen again within the parameters you influence. So if you don't have any followers, you've got to add tags that ppl may have followed. If you don't use tags on posts, it can only be seen by those who follow you (theoretically, I've chatted with a few moots about the fact that we don't see each other's posts in the feed).

Post Edits: Reblogs don't sync with the original posts. If you edit a post, all of the reblogs will not update with the edits and will exist exactly as the post was when it was reblogged.

Was this helpful? I've got a few more oddities I've encountered but they seem more like workarounds to defects and I've tried to list the pain points I've personally noticed that seem to result from the intended design of tumblr.

[the-sweets-stakes]

Romance Tropes Tournament aka The Sweets-Stakes!

Based on a bracket I saw a friend run, I wondered how a Tumblr Tournament for Romance Tropes would work - thus was born the idea of the Sweets-Stakes!

Now next, I would like you to nominate your favorite trope by filling out this tiny three-question Google form (name of trope, why you think it's the greatest, and optionally a link to a description of the trope) - looking forward to seeing how many we'll assemble, and which tropes will be submitted ten-fold because everyone loves them (this will have no influence on proceedings! only your votes in the sweets-stakes (eventual Tumblr brackets) will!)

And since Trope Favorites differ for me depending on whether I write or read them, that will be a distinction here, as well as what kind of romance we're talking about: straight or queer, and I also do wonder whether some tropes are seen differently in romances that focus on trans protagonists, so they will get their own sweets-stakes too.

(more info under the cut, since this is already getting long!)

By which I don't mean that those tropes are (or should be) exclusive to those categories; it's rather that, for example, the trope of Friends To Lovers hits different if person A, who knows themselves to be queer, doesn't even know if their friend B, of the same gender, is even interested in them that way, or if A would, by revealing their feelings, risk not just destroying their friendship but also running into homophobia as well. And even within the realm of queer romance, I think there'll be differences between stories with two male protagonists and stories with two female protagonists, as well as between stories with trans protagonists.

Basically, I posit the hypothesis that different tropes will hit differently in different communities, and I'm interested to see if the sweets-stakes will reflect that!

Which 😅 brings us to a total of eight sweets-stakes to run:

M/F romance tropes for readers

M/F romance tropes for writers

F/F romance tropes for readers

F/F romance tropes for writers

M/M romance tropes for readers

M/M romance tropes for writers

trans-focused romance tropes for readers

trans-focused romance tropes for writers

(which also allows, at the very end, to run the ultimate sweets-stakes between the winners of all of these, and fine The Only One Bed Trope of Tropes!)

Oh, and we'll go with the following definition of trope:

a recurring element or a frequently used plot device in a work of literature. It can be a theme, person, place, thing, or situation. For example:

Theme: Friends to Lovers

Person: The Bookworm

Place: Close-Knit Community

Thing: Grandma's Engagement Ring

Situation: Snowed In

(I'm not gonna distinguish between them in the brackets; if Grandma's Engagement Ring comes up against The Bookworm, so be it. This is already granular enough, no need to subdivide further!)

[johannestevans]

New works published, December ahead, and plans for the new year!

Good evening and happy December!

Here's the sign-up link to get these sorts of updates and lists directly into your inbox.

Happy second night of Hanukkah for anyone else celebrating, we lit our first candle last night and have also been doing a Hanukkah gift box with little bears and accessories, so we'll see if our first bear gets a yarmulke or something to wear tonight.

In the past month, I did go along to the Wakefield Makers Fair and it was a brilliant day, was lovely to speak to lots of other queer people in Wakefield and to chat around - I also did Honeypot comedy at the Room Above in Bristol for the first time, and it was a gorgeous night, super fun!

I am in the end stages of finalising my new apartment in Bradford, and once all the paperwork is done and I have my keys, I will be uploading pictures and videos as I move in and redecorate the place. The building went up toward the end of the 19th century, and while it was converted to apartments a lot more recently, only a few decades ago, I'll of course be decorating in more Victorian styles and with contemporary furnishings, and I'll be documenting my progress as I go.

In the meantime I've been wrestling with paperwork and the whole process whilst being technically homeless and going between partners' homes, so apologies for the delays and periods of quiet, work-wise!

I tend to be quite active in writing and publishing over the month of December because Christmas and the Gregorian new year aren't really my thing, so hopefully if you do spend a lot of time celebrating those or generally being offline, you'll be able to come back to a backlog when you've time to read again!

Speaking of, I have updated my commission guidelines, which are here pinned on my Tumblr page, and I'm in the process of editing and collating some short stories into collections at the moment. There'll be a few eBook and paperback collections of fantasy, horror, & romance short stories, and then depending on what I can do on Amazon, I'll also do some collections of erotica. I will not be able to post most monsterfucker stuff on Amazon because of Amazon's restrictions, but I will probably still do some eBooks and make them available on Smashwords and perhaps on Gumroad or Itch.io.

I will also resume podcasting in the new year too hopefully!

Relevant to restrictions, not everything I might want to write is always going to be permitted on Patreon in line with their own guidelines, so I have set up a SubscribeStar as a backup, and also to permit me to publish anything that might be too taboo for Patreon in future. I will be uploading my backlog of previous works and setting up a tiered system on SubscribeStar, hopefully while we're working on collating other stories together in the next month or so.

In the new year, I will of course be doing various markets and conventions, and if you'd like me to come and be part of any queer or trans events, or any writers' events, where you are in the UK, please do let me know! Definitely always feel free to recommend any events to me, whether they're cons or festivals, or local markets and events, or even stand-up comedy things - you can send me messages on whatever platforms, or my email is always contact@johannestevans.com. As well as working on new paperback short story collections for the new year and the badges I already sell at events, I also want to work on some sticker designs and similar.

I was super happy this year to submit to a few publications and get accepted, and I do want to keep that up as we come into 2024, so recs for those would also be appreciated!

I'm going to do a list this month of my favourite films and new releases of 2023, but in the meantime, I would just like to recommend Down Low (2023, dir. Rightor Doyle) - it's such a bizarre and unexpected gay movie, horny in the best and most ridiculous of ways, and bittersweet at its end but in a way that really clicks.

December having come around also means there's new prompts on Trans Erotica! If you're trans and write erotica or erotic horror, romance, etc, come and submit!

November's Most Popular Works

November's Most Popular Non-Fiction: Close Reading: A Deep Dive into the Process

An in-depth guide into applying analysis to a piece of text and extrapolating meaning.

Read on Patreon / / Read on The Writing Cooperative

November's Most Popular Fiction: Confession and Penance

A priest takes a hands-on approach to addressing a worshiper’s poor working habits.

11k, cis M/M, rated E! Tiernan, a manipulative workaholic who only ever relaxes during Mass services, is taken aside by Father Mullen when it all gets to be a bit too much. D/s, BDSM-approach to enforcing self-care, spanking, painplay, bit of a priest kink but it doesn’t go into that aspect too much, faith. Also some anal.

Read on Patreon / / Read on Medium

New Works Published

Erotic short: Enhanced Parts

Bear goes home with a cybernetically enhanced butch.

NB/NB, rated E, 2k. Commissioned by Bear Blue. Featuring cybernetic enhancements, breeding kink, dirty talk, size difference, large insertions, objectification, humiliation, mild dub con, rough sex, struggling, some tears, implied overstim.

Read on Patreon / / Read on Medium / / Read on Tumblr / / Read on Ao3

Romance & Fantasy Short: The Arena Fighter

An arena brute enjoys one of the attendants.

3.5k, M/M. Nasty violent guys getting off on treating each other a bit roughly. Adapted from a TweetFic.

Read on Patreon / / Read on Medium

Our Flag Means Death Fanfiction: Repentance & Forgiveness

Held hostage by Blackbeard on the Queen Anne, Frenchie can't sleep.

Desperate to just get whatever he can away from crew of the Queen Anne's Revenge, he knocks on Izzy's door and invites himself in.

---

Slowly unfolding relationship between Frenchie and Izzy Hands, as well as an exploration of their relationships with Edward Teach and the rest of their crews, delving for Frenchie into what it means to really experience one's feelings, to get into touch with and truly grapple with the depths of one's worst experiences; and for Izzy and Ed, into what it means to transgress, to repent, and ultimately to be forgiven.

Read on Ao3

Erotic Short: Punishment

A man takes penance over the priest’s desk.

1.8k, rated E, M/M. Featuring spanking, mild anal play, power dynamics, of course the priest aspect, age difference. Tiernan Borel and Marshall Mullen first appeared in Confession and Penance. 

Read on Patreon / / Read on Medium

Romance Short: Sleeper Train

Romance short. Two boyfriends head up north on the sleeper train.

850 words, rated T, M/M. Short, sweet, romance and slice-of-life. Adapted from a TweetFic.

Read on Patreon / / Read in Prism & Pen

Erotic Short: Knight Tactics

An elf serves as a distraction and an exhaustion tactic for a bandit camp. By letting them fuck him.

3k, trans M/loads of cocks, assumed as cis M. Amaethon gets himself stuck in a wall so that the bandits will work out their stamina fucking him rather than fighting off the king’s guard.

Stuck in wall, free use, fully (and gleefully) consensual whilst pretending he isn’t, mild belly bulging and come inflation, gaping, exhaustion, messy and come-spattered, etc. All the fun stuff.

Read on Patreon / / Read on Trans Erotica / / Read on SubscribeStar

Read on Tumblr / / Read on Ao3 / / Read on HentaiFoundry

Erotic Short: Free Ride

An elf is given a free ride — not with a saddle, but under a centaur.

1.8k, rated E, cis M/trans M. Centaurs, belly riding, huge stomach deformation, huge penis, suspension, implied inflation, size difference.

Read on Patreon / / Read on Trans Erotica / / Read on SubscribeStar

Read on Tumblr / / Read on Ao3 / / Read on HentaiFoundry

Erotic Short: Snake Eggs

An elf lets a naga lay her clutch inside him.

2.5k, rated E, M/F. Amaethon helps out his friend Gitte, a naga, with laying this year’s clutch of eggs. Size difference and size kink, belly bulging, vaginal and anal penetration, paralysis from her venom, some banter, oviposition, inflation, impregnation.

Read on Patreon / / Read on Trans Erotica / / Read on SubscribeStar

Read on Tumblr / / Read on Ao3 / / Read on HentaiFoundry

Erotic Short: Mimic Studies

An elf experiences a mimic’s tentacles, and then a reward.

Rated E, 2.5k, trans M/a mimic. Featuring multiple tentacle penetration in one hole, vaginal sex, some mild objectification and dehumanisation, some academic silliness, object insertion, cervix penetration, belly bulging and stomach distension.

Read on Patreon / / Read on Trans Erotica / / Read on SubscribeStar

Read on Tumblr / / Read on Ao3

These last four stories - Knight Tactics, Free Ride, Snake Eggs, and Mimic Studies - are all ones I'm publishing for free everywhere as well as in the usual paid places.

I've been in the mood to do all this sort of weird and monsterfuckery and body horror-y erotica, so definitely feel free to send asks or requests for similar themes!

Get merch on TeePublic | | Look through my Directory of Published Work | | Listen to my Podcast

[thecurioustale]

You Should Read Shirley Estar Goes to Heaven!

Friends, tumblrs, countrymates, it is my rare pleasure to make a book recommendation that I've been looking forward all year to making. Winston Rowntree, of Subnormality fame, has just published his first novel—or, rather, his first conventional, text-only novel: Shirley Estar Goes to Heaven.

That link will take you to the landing page where you can learn about the book, watch the trailer, and purchase the paper and/or e-book editions. I recommend it very highly!

I realize that my excitement is not something that will automatically carry over to you, and that I have to sell it a little bit. So, in a SPOILER-FREE way, here is why I am recommending this book:

To get the selfish part out of the way first: Last winter I was fortunate enough to be a very early reader for this work, months before the main beta reading phase. A genuine delight, to put it simply. I haven't gotten my physical copy of the book yet (it just published, after all, and is in transit), so I don't know yet what changes may have resulted from my feedback; but, regardless, it's not every day that I get to have involvement with another artist's work before its publication—so I am very excited on those grounds.

More importantly, however, this book is painfully personal for me. It is a book about a person who can't. You would think they can. They are able-bodied, intelligent, and self-aware. But they can't. In cold clinical terms it is a mental impairment. Qualitatively, it is as though a watery pane of glass separates you from the rest of the world. You can see everything beyond it, but you can't go there. I have struggled with this since I was a small child, much more severely than I have ever fully explained, and I will never not struggle with it. It is the central dominating force in my life. This book is a book about that, except with dramatic elongations of the terrible shadows it casts. Anyone who has struggled with this illness or perhaps let us call it a fault is likely to be able to relate to this story in some way, and it is also a recommended read for those who don't suffer from this condition themselves but want to learn more about it. I particularly like one of the other early readers' pithy assessments: "Characters that you'll love but one of them will always do the thing you don't want her to."

Shirley Estar Goes to Heaven is a reimagining of Winston Rowntree's graphic novel from about fifteen years ago called Captain Estar Goes to Heaven, which old-timers may recall was (and is) also very dear to me. But this novel is a completely different work. It's uncanny, actually, because the characters and the flow of events are very similar, yet the story and the mood and the tonality are all different. Even the core themes have shifted somewhat. The artist has had fifteen years to grow in power and change in perspective, and the new novel makes full use of that transformation. It is a mature and intellectually challenging read. Not so much as in "the sentences are really difficult"; it's actually quite easy to read in that sense. But more like "you don't know where it's going but you're bleeding and you desperately need a band-aid so you hope really hard that there'll be a drugstore somewhere along the route." So, if you like that kind of thing, I can definitely recommend this book.

It's a sci-fi story, so if you like sci-fi then you have another reason to read it. And this book lives up to the name of "science fiction"; it's not just contemporary drama in spaaaaace! It makes creative use of the sci-fi canvas. There are some wonderful settings, futuristic conventions, and technological conceits. The sci-fi on display here is in many ways similar to and in many ways different from my own work. When I read it I saw that there are definitely similarities between Shirley Estar and my own Cherry from Galaxy Federal. But I think the most important comparison to make is that Winston Rowntree has his own pair of eyes and his own point of view, and approaches these issues in different ways and from different directions than I do. Shirley Estar Goes to Heaven says some things that I've been trying to say in my own work for ages, but it does so in ways that I never would or could.

Lastly, this book is also quite creative with its use of the medium, with decisions about the book's narrative structure and even its physical formatting serving to facilitate uncertainty and questions.

Anyway! I think I've said enough. Less is more, here. I don't want to tell you what to think about this story or even what to expect from it. But I do want to tell you what to do: Go read it!

[catgirltoes]

how does one use pintrest fr it seems like a website that doesnt have users and just comes up in searches coz its some kind of image agregate website run by bits (outsider looking in)

It's like. Okay. When you first made an account it asked you to pick a bunch of generic topics that you like. Then it'll just show a bunch of rndom uncredited pictures, some of which link to articles. If you open one of the pictures, there'll be more pictures you can browse through underneath it. Obviously everything operates on infinite scroll because what better way is there to suck in the housewives? You can also "like" posts (does a bit more than Tumblr likes) and "pin" them to one of several boards you make on your own account. It's kind of a cross between sideblogs and a tagging system. You can follow other people, too, or just one of their boards, which would cause their posts and posts like them to show up in your main feed thingy.

Also every post has a comment section. There are many generic boomer political posts on there. I was a politically-opinionated thirteen-year-old. I'm sure you can imagine how well that went.

And, like, people would post actual stuff they had made to Pinterest. It's just that a whole lot of people would post stuff that they hadn't made, too, which is how Pinterest got its reputation as the place where credit goes to die.

Genuinely it sucked as a social media site. Worse than Reddit.

[fnafawoundleftbleedingau]

gonna slowly start posting the "Through the Static" Sneak peek in a moment, I had to split it between a lot of post, there'll be links between them, but bear with me as I get them in order as the posts go up, sorry in advance for the spam, because of how much of a hassle tumblr gave me with this, the "WWLWWF" AU sneak peek will be posted here later, and remember, you can always read it now, and all in one post on Ao3.

I just remembered I said I'd post those sneak peek fic bits here too, I'll try and get those posted tomorrow.

[dirtyblupjeans]

(Kinktober Day 7. This years kinktober posts will be a continuous story so go to the blog and find the first one if you want to start from  the beginning!) 

Once the light was found (Merle and Lucretia bought it from a Tabaxi trader who’d found it on her travels) they all got the call on their stones of farspeech and headed back to the ship. After almost two months split up for their paired off searching, Barry felt reasonably certain Lup would show up for a visit within a day or two. 

In anticipation of such a possibility, and after weeks of sleeping in a tent and bathing in streams or via spells, Barry took a long, well deserved shower. He scrubbed his hair, shaved the scruffy beard that had grown in, and spent more time meticulously grooming than he ever had in one go. 

They were all going to have dinner together, relieved and jubilant to have the light claimed and the plane safe. It was all the better because they’d done it with no losses or even injuries. After Taako’s near miss the year before, they’d all been a little on edge.

When he walked into the kitchen, hair still wet from the shower, clean fresh clothes on, Lup immediately clucked her tongue at him. 

“Aww, Barold. You shaved! I kinda liked the mountain man look on you!”

He just laughed. “Yeah, well, it felt horrible. I don’t think I’m cut out for a beard.”

“You were just afraid to compete,” Merle teased, stroking his own long beard. “But I could give you some pointers if you want.”

“Rain check,” Barry responded. “Besides, you’re right. I could never compete with your beard. You’ve got a head start pre-regen. If I can’t get it to my belt before regen, what’s the point?”

“Right?” Merle answered. “My belt’s a bit closer to my chin than yours is though. That’s another advantage.”

Shaking his head, Barry made a sad face. “See? It’s all stacked against me in the beard department. Merle can keep the ‘best beard’ crown.”

“Ugh,” Taako said, setting a plate of rolls on the table. “Is that a crown made of beard hair? Grossaroni.”

“It’s a flower crown,” Merle told him. “Matches my beard flowers.”

“Hey, I shaved too but no one commented on that,” Magnus complained.

“That’s because your beard was… well… no offense, Maggie, but the sideburns just always overshadow it,” Merle said.

“They are rather glorious sideburns, Magnus,” Lup consoled. “A beard doesn’t stand a chance.”

Magnus sighed disappointedly. 

That was how the whole meal went; it was the reassuring banter of seven people who’d had a few decades to get used to one another. Finally, they began to split up. Lucretia and Magnus volunteered to clean up and the rest of them went off to find a few hours of entertainment or go right to sleep.

Barry was surprised to hear a familiar light tapping at his door just a few minutes after he returned to his room.

“Hey,” Lup said, letting herself in. She closed the door and went to his desk, hopping up on one end and crossing her legs. “So how was it out there?”

“Fine. Glad to be back in a real bed though. Nothing like camping to make you appreciate even a narrow ship bed.”

Lup huffed a laugh. “Yeah, meanwhile Taako and I were staying in places with great beds. I’m gonna miss all that space. And, Barold, the *tub* I had in one place…” she sighed wistfully. “It was the stuff of dreams. We should go.”

“Yeah?”

She nodded seriously. “Yeah. I mean it. That tub? I thought about soaking in that tub with you… water up to my shoulders and your arms around me? Your hands… other places. Yeah, for sure, we have to go before the year’s out.”

“Wow.” His eyes were wide, clearly both surprised and impressed. He dropped to sit on the edge of the bed. “An actual soaking tub? That’s… wow.” The tub wasn’t really what he was surprised or impressed about. She’d thought about him too? It was too wild a thing to imagine.

She jumped up from her perch on the desk and crossed to where he sat and climbed into his lap to straddle him. Her hands settled in his hair, arms across his shoulders. “Yeah, great big tub, plenty of room for both of us. I thought about you and me and that tub a lot, actually.”

“Wow,” he repeated. “That’s… Really, Lup?”

“Yeah. Did you?”

“Well, actually…”

An enormous and utterly delighted grin spread across her face. “You did? Tell me, tell me, tell me!” She moved a hand to caress his jaw. “I do kinda miss the beard, though. Wish you’d waited a day or two to buzz it off.” Then she licked her lips and slung her arm across his shoulder again. “But really, tell me. I’m dying to hear this.”

“Oh, I just… I thought about what it would have been like if you’d been with me instead of Magnus and we’d been outside… alone… just you and me and the great outdoors.”

“Yeah? And what would we do, cowboy?”

Barry grinned, charmed by her obvious interest. “Have a lot of loud sex with no need for a Silence spell, mostly.”

Lup laughed, her head thrown back. “Well, maybe we should go camping, Barold. But I still wanna get you in that tub.”

“Did you imagine tub sex?”

Something flashed across her expression, there and gone before he could identify it. “Yeah. Yeah, of course.” She smiled and combed her fingers through his hair. “But tell me more about your idea. How loud were we?”

“Loud,” he told her. “Really loud.”

[kimikotsuki]

Fandom discourse and culture has changed a lot over the years and I always try to err on the side of caution whenever possible.

The reasons writers create and share their work are varied and diverse: maybe they're trying to improve their writing and welcome advice, sometimes it's all about the ~ S Q U E E ~ because you loved the show/character and wants them in more situations, sometimes the reason is the ~ R A G E ~ about the direction canon took and you plan to murder it and use it's blood to re-write the story; this is more an illustrative than exhaustive list and sometimes there'll even be multiple reasons at once of course.

And sometimes, those reasons do not match or go well with any type of criticism, even well intentioned, constructive ones.

I saw an post on Tumblr that ilustrated very well another reason why one shouldn't simply assume that con-crit is welcome: if you go watch an amateur performance (in the most literal sense of the word of non-remunarated, regardless of quality of performance), one won't immediately presume afterwards to go to the artist and start critiquing it.

At the same time, I wholeheartedly think that one of the most wonderful, unique possibilities of fandom is the capacity for collaborative work between the authors of a story that is being posted as it's written and it's readers, culminating in an end product with quality that ends up being more refined than otherwise it would've been.

That type of interaction is even sometimes one of the main reasons people write fics, to not only create something, but also to share the act of that creation.

That works almost like making all the readers of a fic into beta-readers and can be a wonderful thing, but the post argued that the work done by betas is analogous to editing in published works, and that such a relationship is based on built trust, so while yeah, that dynamic between writer and all their readers could work, assuming and simply barging in is generally more harmful than productive.

When I adopted that new reasoning, I debated whether or not I should then mark all my bookmarks on AO3 as Private and make them inaccessible to anyone else, but in the end opted not to, mainly because even though I mainly write them for my future self, I also feel other readers can benefit a lot from knowing how the experience of someone who liked a work enough to rec it went, specially if while reading that fic they stumbled upon things they didn't like.

If there's one thing I learned from over 15 years of reading fics is that my tastes change over the years, and sometimes it's not even about the quality of the writing itself or even the progression of how polemic subjects are treated at any given time, but rather the moment that I am in changes how I receive the same work, such that tagging a certain work as one worth reading again later with no contextual information on the vibe I was riding when I did that will inevitably lead to a disappointment that is frankly an overreaction on my part.

That happened somewhat recently with a Frostiron fic I read a long time ago, in a moment where I was squeeing like crazy over the pairing (and it was a work of squee, so we matched really well) and it got on my list, but years later, when I was feeling nostalgic over the pairing and went to read my list of besties, the expectation I had was so great that the dichotomy between my experience back then and the one in the re-read were terribly big, even though it was a well written fic, squee and all, and the only real difference was that *I* wasn't squeeing over the pairing anymore.

And at the same time, I found that, in a way, this managing of expectations I do primarily for myself when I create a rec with the bad points of a fic that I loved can also be helpful for others, because even if it doesn't fit 100% since we're different people, I always thought the best recs I've always found were the ones that stated what were the cons of any given story, because those cons might not be something that bothered me like it bothered them or it even might end up being somewhat bothersome to me, but the pros outweigh them and, because I went in expecting to find those things, there's no disappointment in it, so they end up bothering me a lot less then it could've.

The other reason I eventually settled on not making my bookmarks private was actually because of those authors that seek improvement and welcome constructive criticism from all the readers who are invested in their story and value their thoughts and experiences while reading their work, because while yes, better to err on the side of caution and not go offering advice and opinions were those are not wanted, if we let that completely rule everything we do in fandom there will be a lot of loss in regards of this constructive, dynamic and interactive aspect so characteristic and wonderful to this type of media.

I know authors can have access to the bookmarks made of their fics, but unlike comments, it's not quite a space exclusively dedicated to them or even for interactions between reader/author.

In a lot of aspects, I'd even go as far as saying it's a space primarily for readers: it's not something that will culminate in a email sent to the author's mailbox, it serves mostly for filtering and ordering purposes (like when you're looking for fics to read and apply a filter to show only fics with a certain number of bookmarks or to order the fics shown from the greater to the least number of bookmarks) and also so readers can, reading these bookmarks, have a better idea on what's to expect from a work from different readers with different personalities and world views and ways to pereceive what was written.

And since it's a space the author *can* have access to *if* they want, it's possible for them to look at that place to see that con-crit while, at the same time, not being a place where that con-crit will get shoved in their faces if they *don't want it* and as such it seemed to me to be an overall respectfull and good compromise between those two points that seemed very important to me, and one of the only way I've found of making it known if that type of interaction is welcome, I'd be happy to head over to their comments and talk there.

If I'm marking it as a rec and commenting, I'm doing it because I think that fic absolutely is one of the best stories that I had the pleasure to read; however, the number of characters allowed in a bookmark rec are limited, so if I end up putting into it anything besides an incoherent keyboard smash, those things are going to be whatever points I feel are very important to keep in mind whenever starting to read it so that reading experience is the most enjoyable possible both for my future self who's going to look at that besties list and decide on what to read again as well as first time readers who might have seen the rec and will go in knowing somethings that, by their nature, don't tend to be things we tag for; they will have mostly what amounts to con-crit, so if you welcome this type of interaction or if the rec I made is bothering you in anyway, I urge you to get in contact with me through the fic mail I linked in my AO3 profile.

This post is getting linked there because the profile section doesn't allow enough characters for everything that I had to say about the subject.

As soon as I see the email, I'll either be happy to either tag the bookmark as Private so it won't be visible to anyone but myself if it bothered you or head over to your comments section so we can talk better about the points I raised if this type of interaction is something you welcome.

[dirtyblupjeans]

(Kinktober Day 9. This years kinktober posts will be a continuous story so go to the blog and find the first one if you want to start from the beginning!)

They finished in the bath with typical bath activities; they soaped shoulders and bellies, shampooed hair, and their soft touches lingered only a little.

But it was sweet and comfortable, the exact sort of moments he’d come to treasure most with her. Sex was good, of course. And working with her in the lab had long ago settled into something that was friendly and fun. But cuddling naked with her in bed - or in a bathtub - had become the best part of his life. They’d talk and joke and he didn’t feel uncomfortable about his body. Their hands would wander over the other’s skin and it just felt entirely natural and right to be like that with her. 

So after the tub, he helped her dry off and she helped him. He pulled on a fresh pair of boxers but she remained naked; the only thing she wore was a towel wrapped around her wet hair. In the main room, she sat on the bed and started rubbing on lotion. It was an eyecatching show. He’d never seen her post bathing rituals before and he found himself mesmerized.

“Need any help?” he offered.

“Sure,” she answered, holding out the lotion for him.

He knelt in front of her and she stretched her leg out for him. Catching her ankle, he braced her foot against his shoulder and began rubbing lotion up her calf, massaging it in as he went. Soon he was stretching his arms to rub the cream into her thigh, his fingers trailing over her soft skin with exploratory reverence.

“Yeah, I don’t put lotion there,” she teased as his fingers moved closer to the juncture of her thighs.

Grinning, he responded, “Yeah, I know. But can’t help paying particular attention to certain points of interest, right?”

She laughed and pulled her foot away. “Well, focus on the other leg first before you start looking for a tour guide, okay?”

Shifting, he got her other foot braced against him and repeated the procedure though he managed to focus a bit more on the job at hand instead of the tantalizing scenery.

“Want me to get your back?” he asked.

Nodding, she turned and settled herself face down on the bed, head turned to watch him with her hair still wrapped in the towel. He sat on the edge of the bed and began working lotion into her skin, running his fingers over the muscles and gentle curves there, tracing his way down her spine and back up then over each shoulder blade. Quickly he was lost in the job, massaging in the lotion and applying pressure to areas that seemed tight.

She hummed appreciatively then sighed. “You have about a million years to stop that, buster.”

“Feel good?” he asked. “Anywhere you want focused on?”

“Nah, you did good,” she answered as her eyes drifted closed. “I feel amazing.”

[dirtyblupjeans]

(Kinktober Day 8. This years kinktober posts will be a continuous story so go to the blog and find the first one if you want to start from  the  beginning!)

It took a few weeks before they had a chance to get away together. As the ones doing most of the research with the light, usually one or the other of them was in the lab, running experiments and taking advantage of every spare moment they had with it in their possession. 

But finally they had the chance. 

Lup even outright told Taako she was going with him in order to take advantage of that hotel tub again. She just didn’t mention she planned to have company this time.

As soon as they closed the door to their assigned room, Lup was pulling their bags out of Barry’s hands and dragging him towards the bathroom. 

“See, babe? Wasn’t it everything I told you about? And I brought extra soaps and candles and stuff since I knew about it. So we are in for a treat.” She turned and looked at him, biting her bottom lip. “I’ve been dreaming of this.”

“You wanna start running the water and I’ll get the stuff?”

“Yeah! It’s in a smaller bag inside mine, right on top.”

Barry kissed her, an intense, possessive kiss. She wasn’t the only one who’d been imagining this scenario since she’d told him, obviously. He seemed just as keyed up as she was. 

He spent a few minutes settling their stuff since everything was pretty much just dropped on the floor just inside the doorway. So by the time he got back to the bathroom, Lup had the water running into the tub.

And she was already naked and in the partially full tub. He almost dropped the bag he’d brought.

“Wow…”

“See something you like?” she teased.

“I’m thinking adding bubbles to this is a shame,” he answered, stepping over to the side of the tub and sitting on the edge. “Might obscure the view.”

She laughed and reached for her bag, taking it from him and sitting it on the ledge at the wall side of the tub. “Get undressed,” she instructed. “I’m adding bubbles but just because you can’t see doesn’t mean you can’t touch.”

“Okay, you make a good point,” he agreed, unbuttoning his shirt.

He undressed quickly, stripping off his shirt, boots, socks, jeans, and boxers in a rush. Still, the water and bubbles had gotten higher in the tub. “You sure there’s still room for me in there? I don’t want to flood the floor below us with displacement.”

“Barold, do you doubt me?” she said as she slid forward, making room for him to get in behind her.

“Just saying,” he countered. Before he climbed in, he reached down into the bubbles, sliding his hand over wet skin to tease her nipple. “You’re right. Seeing is good but touching is better.”

“So get in here already. There’s lots more to touch.”

Climbing in behind her, he moved slowly, afraid to slosh the water. But the bubbles had hidden the actual water level and the extremely high sides of the soaking tub were still far above the top of the water. He settled in and Lup immediately situated herself between his outstretched legs. She wriggled in close, purposefully rubbing her ass against his cock. 

“Comfy?” she asked, her tone taunting. She ran her hands down his thighs, fingers sliding through the course hair there.

“Hmmm, I’m not sure how to answer that.”

Lup laughed as she turned off the water. “Yes and no, maybe?”

“Yes and no,” he agreed. His hand snaked around her midsection, pulling her back against him. His cock prodded against her ass but she reclined back against him. “What about you? You good?”

Removing one hand from his thigh, she reached up and tugged his arm higher, adjusting his hold on her until his arm was under one breast with his hand on the other. “That’s better,” she answered, then moved her ass against him again. “But could be better.”

“I have an idea what might make it better.” He pulled her tighter against him and slid his free hand down between her legs. “Am I on the right track?”

His fingers teased her, combing through her curls and tracing over her labia. His taunting made her press her hips forward, chasing his touch and she whined when he pulled his hand away.

Leaning down he whispered in her ear. “We’ve got all night. What do you want first?”

“Fuck me,” she answered immediately. “Fuck me now then tease the rest of the night if you want. But,” she pushed her ass back against him, his hard cock pressing against her. “I want you inside me right now.”

His finger slid down between her folds as he asked, “Already?”

Hip jerking back up to push his finger deeper inside of her, she answered, “Yes, fuck, please!”

“Okay,” he agreed and immediately she was leaning forward, shifting to line herself up. His cock pressed against her entrance and then she sat against him, her cunt tight around him. She leaned forward again, shifting him deeper inside as she took hold of the far edge of the tub. He held her hips, pulling her back onto his cock again, the two of them finding their rhythm and angle. Then she was speeding up, working her hips back to press against him, his cock filling her before she moved away again. She was too impatient to let him have control, though, and quickly she was bouncing up and down on him, the water making waves around them as she fucked herself on his cock.

He smacked a wet hand on her ass and she yelped, squeezing down tight on his cock. “Oh fuck.” Her hips moved faster and harder. “Do it again,” she demanded. “Keep doing it.”

Smacking her ass again got him a loud, enthusiastic moan followed by a, “Fuuck.” 

He kept going, smacking her ass as she moved back on his cock and a few strokes later he felt her clamp down hard around him as her orgasm hit. He grabbed her hips and pulled her hard against him, his cock twitching out his own release.

Still keeping his cock buried inside her, she sat up then leaned back against him, tilting her head to kiss him. “Fuck, babe,” she murmured. “That’s a fucking good start.” 

With her reclined against him once more, his hands settled on her breasts, sliding soapy skin over skin as he played with her nipples. “Very good start,” he agreed. “And we’ve got the rest of the night and three more days.”

She sighed happily. “Sounds wonderful.”

[dirtyblupjeans]

(Kinktober Day 3. This years kinktober posts will be a continuous story so go to the blog and find the first one if you want to start from the beginning!)

“Your room is always cold,” Lup complained, slipping out of his bed and grabbing her abandoned pajama pants and stepping into them. “I might consider wearing actual lingerie if it wasn’t, you know.” Still topless, she clambored back under the covers with him and snuggled up against him.

“I dunno,” he said, tucking the blankets around her and letting her get settled. “Lingerie is nice, don’t get me wrong. But those flannel pants are pretty sexy.” He turned on his side and slid his arm under the quilt to caress her leg, the fabric soft under his palm. “I’d probably miss them.”

“Well,” she answered, mollified, “at least you’re warm. Still, we should get you another blanket or two.” 

Something tightened in Barry’s chest at the comment. Sure, she’d slept in his room a few times now but it wasn’t anything he could count on, as random and unexpected as her showing up at all. The idea she might want some permanent change to his room for her to stay over more often made him feel a bit giddy.

“So if there were more blankets there might be lingerie?” he asked, still stroking his hand along her thigh, smoothing the fabric against her skin. “What kind of lingerie?”

“Hmmm.” Lup chewed her bottom lip while she considered it. “What about a corset and stockings? How’d that grab you, Bluejeans?”

The fingers trailing over her pajamaed leg stopped their idle stroking and gripped her leg instead, pulling her closer. “I think that might make me grab you.”

She giggled and squirmed against him. “Maybe some lace? Something sheer and pretty?”

“Sounds like a lot of fun to peel off you,” he answered, throwing a leg over her to hold her in place while his fingers teased along the waistband of her pajama bottoms again, tugging them slightly.

“Hey, leave those on. I told you I’m cold.”

“How about I warm you up?”

“You already did, tiger.”

His hand worked around her waistband, along her hip, up to the front of the pants where he turned his hand and pushed down into the pants. “So I can’t do it again?”

“Ohhh,” she sighed as his fingers moved between her legs. “Well, if you insist.”

Shifting his leg he moved it from on top of hers and instead pushed between her legs, opening her up slightly and giving his hand better access.

“I thought I kinda owed you, though,” she said as his fingers explored the juncture of her thighs, teasing his finger over her entrance.

“I’m not keeping score, Lup,” he answered, dipping the tip of his finger into her pussy and sliding through her eager wetness. “And I’m enjoying this. Besides, I told you I was going to get you warm.”

“I was gonna be satisfied with some snuggling but this is good too,” she said, her voice turning breathy as his fingers continued moving.

“How about both?” he asked, adding another finger and slipping deeper to curl them up inside her. 

This time she didn’t answer, just braced her palm against his chest.

“Put your leg up on my hip,” he requested. She did and he immediately moved deeper inside her, his middle finger curling to press up lightly as she rocked her hips against his hand. When he pulled back, she whined.

Grinning, he pressed his finger up again but this time his thumb was teasing wide circles around her clit, giving a vague pressure against his fingers pushing up from inside her. Lup’s breath stuttered and she made a few quiet, needy little noises. 

“That feel good?” he asked. 

The only response was a little whine and a hum that might have been agreement. Watching her face gave him plenty of answer, though. Her eyes were close and she was tilting her chin up in time with his motions. He continued rocking his fingers in and out, reaching for that little spot and rubbing his thumb in smaller circles, giving her clit more pressure.

Her whimpers were coming quicker so he sped up, switching up the movement a little to give her some side to side friction both inside and against her clit.

A little whine escaped her and her fingers curled into the dark whirls of hair on his chest. Barry pushed down with his thumb and moved his fingers in tiny swirls inside her. He was rewarded with the feeling of her clamping down on him as another orgasm struck and her whine turned into a soft cry of pleasure.

Sliding his fingers out, he whispered a cantrip to clean them, then just watched her face. The gentle smile there was the best one he’d ever seen and he was overcome with the need to kiss her. He did, making the kiss as soft and sweet as her smile had been.

When he laid back, she opened her eyes and gave him another of those smiles. “I’ve always thought that Wish spell was worth every gold I paid for it but you only add to that appreciation, babe.” Her smile turned into a wide grin. “Now you better get some sleep cause I’m gonna jump your bones early before I sneak out.”

He laughed and pulled her close. She settled against him, her leg still thrown over his, and soon they both fell asleep.

[dirtyblupjeans]

(Kinktober Day 2. This years kinktober posts will be a continuous story so go to the blog and find the first one if you want to start from the beginning!)

For a bit they just lay across his bed, side by side and aimed the wrong way on the narrow mattress. Finally, Lup turned onto her side and eyed him. “You never got your clothes off, lover. Let’s do something about that. 

Sitting up, she shucked off her own shirt that had still been hanging open and unbuttoned. He sat up and unbuttoned his own, meeting her in the middle when she started helping from the bottom. Then he was pulling it off while her fingers went to his belt and fly, undoing them with practiced precision. “See, I told you I wanted your jeans off earlier.”

“Yeah, well if they had been off then I might have been a bit distracted earlier.” He adjusted his hips as she tugged at his pants and boxers, pulling them down over his ass and towards his knees.

“Oh, I see,” she said, eyebrow raising. “You really did enjoy that didn’t you?” She hesitated, torn between getting his clothes the rest of the way off and getting her hands on his erect cock. With a huff she forced herself to concentrate on the clothes first, dragging them the rest of the way down his legs and tossing them to the floor the moment they were free. 

Then, her own eagerness taking over, she simply climbed back into the bed and knelt beside him. “Mind if we jump right to the main event?” she asked, looking down at him.

“MmmmMmmm,” he answered, his hand sliding along her thigh. “You uh… feel free to do that.”

Lup grinned and slung her leg over his, settling herself down slowly, guiding his cock in and sliding over it, wrapping herself over him. Her head tilted back as she sat fully on him, feeling the full length of him filling her. She licked her lips and looked at him again, feeling another rush of something warm and intense as she locked eyes with him and saw the depth of trust there. 

He started to push up on his elbows and she shook her head. “I wanna just ride you. Is that okay?”

He nodded and gave that murmured noise of agreement again as her hips began to shift, rolling forward on him in a kind of drag and release movement that ground him against her clit then filled her with his hard thickness, the back again as she rolled back off of him. He left the control in her hands and she took every advantage, moving exactly the most effective way to hit her spots just the way she liked. She leaned back, her hands behind her on his knees to angle herself just right as she moved faster, rocking harder on him now.

“Lup…” he said, his voice tight and warning.

“Not yet,” she pleaded. “Gimme a little more.” She made herself slow down, wanting it to last, wanting to stay right there riding him as long as possible.

Suddenly there was something else she wanted to, and she reached for him. He sat up in answer to her unspoken demand, his arms wrapping around her. She hugged him to her as well, burying her fingers in his hair as his mouth found her breast. As soon as his tongue licked over her nipple, her second orgasm hit. Her hand fisted in his hair, tugging as she came, then tugging harder as she felt his orgasm as well. With that handful of his dark hair, she pulled, getting him to look up so she could kiss him, their mouths open and searching even as his cock twitched inside her and she clenched tight around him.

[dirtyblupjeans]

(Kinktober Day 6. This years kinktober posts will be a continuous story so go to the blog and find the first one if you want to start from the beginning!)

Lup and Taako weren’t having any better luck finding the light but they were having a lot more fun looking. They’d already found a few places they wanted to come back to and buy supplies for the kitchen - spices and vegetables that looked and smelled wonderful - as well as plenty of other shopping they wanted to do just for themselves.

They checked into a hotel and splurged on an enormous room specifically because Lup found out the suites had soaking tubs.

“We’ve got to,” she told Taako, pulling out the gold for the room. “I can’t remember the last time I got to actually soak in water that wasn’t also where fish lived.”

“Yeah, fair,” he answered. “I’m kinda keen to check out room service and pay per view, personally.”

Lup laughed, accepting the key card the woman passed to her and signing her name with a flourish on the paper. “You do that. I’m going to stay in that water until I’m all pruny. You may have to drain the thing to get me out.”

That was precisely what she did, too. There were oils and bubbles and even a scented candle waiting on the counter. She dumped a generous amount of the bubble solution in, waved her fingers at the candle until it lit, and began filling the tub. While she pulled off her traveling clothes, her mind wandered. What if Barry was here instead of Taako? The soaking tub was enormous and they could have both fit into it easily.

It was an utterly decadent thought and a fantasy unlike any other she’d ever had about a man. She’d seen guys before that filled her with lust. Usually someone tall and broad shouldered - not unlike Barry - who’d give her a look and she’d imagine him tearing her clothes off and railing her against the wall. 

She’d had those fantasies about Barry, too. Especially once they’d started hooking up. In the bedroom he had a surprising confidence that could charm her pants off except by the time he employed it she was usually already naked. 

But for all the incredibly dirty thoughts she had about her friend and coworker, she was also having fantasies like this: cuddling with him in a bath, surrounded by bubbles, and just… talking.

Okay, yeah, her fantasy involved some naked skin and wandering hands, but it wasn’t even the idea of fucking in a bathtub that was making her wish he was here. She just … wanted to hang out with him.

And then fuck his brains out.

Lup climbed into the enormous tub alone and laid back against the slanted end meant for reclining. The water felt divine, the candle smelled of a light floral something that was blessedly not cloying, and yet she was totally unsatisfied. Thinking of Barry being there with her had ruined the solo experience.

The water continued to rise around her, more pouring in from the faucet, and she let her eyes close while she imagined it was Barry she was leaning back against instead of the contoured stone tub. She could practically feel his soapy hands running idly over her breasts and the press of his hard length against her backside. Biting her lip, she let her own hands roam over her chest, teasing her own nipples the way he would. If he were there, she’d be wriggling her ass against him, teasing him with tiny motions, attempting to distract him as he teased her.

One hand slid down under the water, imagining her fingers were his instead, thinking of his deep, gravel roughened voice whispering in her ear as he used his hand on her. She slid two fingers inside herself, using them not the way she did where she just went right to her target but the way he would, the way his fingers purposefully avoided her clit. She traced circles around it that were infuriating in their taunt, her ears flicking back as she imagined what he might say.

Just her name at first, she thought. Gods, the way he said her name. It was fucking delicious. And the feel of his warm breath against her ear was another kind of torment. She spit out a Silence spell just as her breath began to hitch. She wasn’t as patient as he was and her fingers moved to her clit, rubbing with increasing pressure as she thought of him wrapped around her as he finger fucked her, his other hand covering her breast and pinching her nipple in rhythmic little pulses in time with his movements inside her.

All too soon she was coming, her orgasm rolling through her in slow, syrupy waves.

Okay, she decided. I’m getting that man in a tub like this before the cycle is over.

[dirtyblupjeans]

(Kinktober Day 5. This years kinktober posts will be a continuous story  so go to the blog and find the first one if you want to start from the   beginning!)

It was weeks before they had another chance. They split into teams to search for the light and as usual, Taako claimed Lup. Not that it would have gone any differently if her brother hadn’t spoken up, Barry was sure. Lup wouldn’t have chosen him. Their nights together were good but it was just sex. He needed to remember that fact a little more clearly. 

So they all split up. The twins headed south to the city to ask around about the light. Barry went with Magnus to search the remote woods in the northern end of the area where they thought the light had landed. Merle went with Lucretia to search the foothills in the east. Davenport stayed on the ship and searched the open area to the west. 

And at night, when Barry settled into his sleeping bag in the tent beside Magnus, he tried not to imagine what it might have been like if he and Lup had been paired up.

He tried not to, but he couldn’t help it. The idea of sleeping under the stars with Lup was intoxicating. They could have sex without putting up a Silence barrier to keep the crew from finding out. They could sleep together and she wouldn’t have to sneak out in the morning to avoid being caught. They wouldn’t have to consider the ramifications of the crew’s opinion. 

What caught him most was the image of her sitting astride him while the cool forest air helped lust peak her nipples tight. Or the idea of sharing a hotel with her and spreading out in an enormous bed. She’d teased one time about him tying her up and a huge hotel bed would be perfect for it. He could restrain her wrists and then take his time, lick her and tasted her and use his hands and tease her for ages, keep her balanced on edge for as long as he wanted. 

The idea made him impossibly hard and he couldn’t even do anything about it. And then that idea just made him want to tell her what he was thinking, tell her about these images making his cock stand up and demand attention when he could only ignore it. What would she think if he told her he imagined her spread eagle on a hotel bed while he used his mouth and tongue and fingers to bring her to the brink again and again? Was imagining them like that over the lines of their ‘free and easy, friendship plus’ agreement?

Barry turned over and stared at the canvas wall of the tent and tried to put it out of his head and sleep.

In the morning he was exhausted and frustrated. He considered sneaking away to take care of things but resolved not to. His erection had gone away but the need hadn’t. Wouldn’t, he realized, because it wasn’t about an orgasm. It was about her.