#<- involves them even if didn't mentioned them

[llyfrenfys]

Adding on with a personal example of this since I cannot sleep (it is 8am and insomnia has got me bad. I've been up all night).

Last week I went to a local pub with some friends. I got up to use the toilet (important note: I'm a disabled trans man with IBS). The pub I was at legit only has an accessible stall in the ladies' room. And I'm a trans man who passes frequently enough for it to be An Issue if I went to the accessible stall. It was also about 3am, give or take.

So I go to the adjacent men's room and use the toilet stall (even if I wasn't trans, I'd still need the stall anyway for my IBS). Outside, I hear a cis man passing some women queueing for the ladies' room. As mentioned before, the accessible stall and ladies room are frustratingly one and the same. An accessibility nightmare. So there's always queues. The man walks past and tells the women to come into the men's with him instead of waiting and they can give him blowjobs. I couldn't see anyone involved (again, I was in the stall having an IBS moment). But this made me so angry I began to prepare to get up - then stopped because - I'd be putting myself at huge risk by 1. Probably outing myself 2. Even if I didn't end up clocked, I'm not very tall or intimidating, 3. I was actively having a disability moment and couldn't exactly pack it in to get on my high horse.

I felt pathetic and hopeless because I couldn't step in to say something. Expecting marginalised men to put ourselves in harm's way just feels like an extension of the patriarchal idea that men have to be defenders or protectors and if not, we are not performing masculinity sufficiently (and as op put it so well, essentially discredits feminist men in the eyes of men who aren't. As does the act of being a feminist while a man).

When I was outed to my parents for the third time without my consent (c. 2019) my dad (estranged, along with my mum) said to me that "no man will ever accept you" [note: I went on to date a cis man for the next 5 years] in regards to my transness. Even though he is dead wrong - he really meant "no man *like me* will ever accept you". And unfortunately a lot of cis men are like him.

I feel horrified I couldn't step in to say something to that man in the men's room last week. But I am unlikely to have achieved anything and would likely be on the receiving end of violence depending on how the man took criticism.

I wish there was something constructive I could do in moments like those without putting me in harms way. I sadly couldn't approach the women later to check if they were okay because I didn't see their faces. And even if I did - I don't want my presence to be unnerving for them so soon after being harassed by a different man.

If your vision for the deradicalization of right-wing men begins and ends with "other men telling them that that's gross and to stop it" then I'm sorry, you do not understand how masculinity works.

"Men who hold patriarchal status" and "men who are feminists" are two groups who overlap less than you want them to. I'm sorry. That's not solely because men are so happy with patriarchal status that they don't want to risk it by policing misogyny/queerphobia/racism, It's because being misogynistic, queerphobic, and racist, end expressing other forms of toxic masculinity(and often abusively so) are part of how people establish and maintain patriarchal status. The men who have the ability to stop this via nothing but peer pressure are the very people who are doing it. That's by design. And engaging in feminist intervention is, in and of itself, usually the abrupt end of that status and its associated power to persuade misogynistic men.

Like, I have worked in blue collar jobs as a notably queer person. It was pretty much a constant deluge of verbal abuse. In my experience, most blue collar work environments are exploitative, abusive, and bigoted, and very gleefully so. On the occasions I have spoken up about someone saying something that was super fucking out of line (asking me which of the girls walking by was hottest. We were installing a portable classroom at a middle school), believe it or not, they completely failed to be shamed! Because nobody else on the crew gave a fuck. *I* was the weird one. They ghosted me. A full blown company ghosted me. I suddenly didn't have a job anymore because they just straightforwardly stopped telling me where the next job site was.

Like, this doesn't mean that it's your job to do it, but this vision you have of these big groups of men where everyone is on the fence and there is precisely one shit stirrer who can be shut down by a brave feminist man who can single handedly set the example for all these other guys...you are high. You are describing an "everybody clapped" level absurd scenario. Most of these truly virulent misogynistic guys either have zero friends, because, you know, our society is atomized to fuck, or they are in a group where the feminist guy is actually the weirdo who can be shut down and ostracized much, much easier than the misogynists, because there is no such thing as a man misogynists respect who stands up for women.

You might be saying "well, we're talking about longstanding personal relationships, actually. Like, they need to have to want to spend time with you and then, as a side effect, you can mind control them out of being a threat to us."

Problem with that being:

1: Many feminist men also have no friends, see the atomized society above.

2: Feminist men already stopped hanging out with men who make rape jokes because why the fuck would we want to spend time with them.

3: That isn't just because we respect women so hard. We are in many cases talking about men who are also deeply queerphobic, heirarchical, violent and abusive to other men. What initially drew me to feminism and women was a lack of heirarchical squabbling and constant bullying, and the ability to be openly queer. A lot of men who came to feminism did so because they knew that the patriarchy was not a place they would find success or acceptance. These are not the men who are gonna be able to change right wing minds.

4. Men do not view themselves as a monolith. There is no universal brotherhood of men. The actual meaning of the term "Fragile masculinity" is that men are constantly expected to prove that they are deserving of the status of being a member of their own gender. There are large swathes of men--including most of the men who you'd look to as examples of good, feminist men who you want to undertake this project--who are considered failed men, sissies, f****ts, soyboys, ect. They are. Not. Going. To. Convince. These. Men. Of. Jack. Shit. Much less successfully *shame* them. Jesus.

I know all of this sucks. I know it would be cool to be able to just point at a group and have them be responsible for the work. But nah. It's gonna have to be a societal project, one that will probably outlast all of us. Sorry. The thing you want these men to do is, absolutely, the morally correct thing to do. But presuming that it would be effective is, and once again I am so sorry about this, just ignorance of how these social groups function.

[jakeswifeyyy]

10:40𝑝𝑚

Part 3 of the best friend Jake drabble.

☞︎︎︎Part 1.

☞︎︎︎Part 2.

✯Pairings:Bestfriend!Jake xf.reader.

✯Genre:Fluff,smut,angst

✯W.c:5.0k

✯Warnings:Unprotected sex,use of petnames,mentions of drug use,bathroom sex,cowgirl,nipple play,making out,heavy angst at some point.

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You and Jake continued your shared escapades for weeks after he taught you to suck him off, but you got more and more curious and wanted to learn more so the coming weeks he taught you all there was that you needed to know.

Time skip

It was again a Friday evening after classes both of you in the library as usual before you decided to tell him,It felt so deja vu saying something else about him teaching you in the exact same scenario,"Jakey.." you whispered out half hoping he heard half hoping he didn't, but your heart dropped to your stomach when he hummed still focused on his book,confirming the answer of a physics question he had just attempted,while tapping his foot to whatever he was listening to with one airpod in.Despite his fuckboy,flirty persona Jake was really serious about studies,being top of his class and so were you,"Uhm...." hearing you hesitate he looked up at you raising an eyebrow,"You never hesitate to say anything y/nnie unless.....its something to do with...." He read you like such an open book you feared,shyly nodding at his assumption,"He smirked,placing a pen to mark the page he was on before leaning on his arm to face you,"What is it princess?"taking in a deep breathe before asking,"Since like exam season is near I've been really stressed and I need help relieving it..."he thought for a second before laughing loudly,getting a threatening glare from the librarian and shutting up,"Want me to fuck you princess? You could've just said that,I'd never deny such an opportunity with the prettiest pussy I've ever seen hm?" You hit his bicep playfully before he rubbed it feigning being hurt,and pouting,"Heyy is that what you repay me with for complimenting you." You scowled at him,"Jake,don't say such stuff in public," Glaring at him before you saw him lean in and whisper in your ear,feeling your heart rate fasten,"So you rather I say it in private princess..?" He breathed the words Into your ear before slightly biting your earlobe making you wince,"SIM JAEYUN- "you hit his chest lightly after recovering from your trance before he giggled,seemingly getting the reaction he wanted out of you,"Okay okay mom I'll stop," playfully tolling his eyes before you saw the librarian approach both of you,pissed,"Uh oh," you both said together.

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Yeah that's how you got banned from the library for a month,heading home,you passed by a convenience store together,to get some ramen and some groceries for your apartment,again being Complemented by some strangers about how cute of a couple you are,you smiled back thanking them,not knowing how to correct them but Jake,seemed bothered by it from your view,only half smiling at them,smile not reaching his eyes,you couldn't deny that his reaction kind of hurt you,did he hate the idea of you two looking like a couple,deciding you shouldn't worry about it either,you were just friends who fucked...... right? No feelings were supposed to be involved,but you,had already crossed that line a long time ago...

Arriving at your house you headed to the kitchen ,jake helping you unpack the groceries,playing some songs on the loud speaker while unpacking ,both of you singing in broken tunes but who cares you were having fun,especially with you trying to take your overthinking off your mind,after finishing ,you decided to take a shower, to calm yourself from the stress as you'd told jake ,fearing he would now refuse the idea to fuck you,"Uhm Jakey,we don't need to fuck though,I'll just shower it off-" before you could finish he cut you off ,"Mind if I join,you brought up the idea and I'm kinda already half-hard,"He said while scratching the back of his head,"You perv,"You giggle telling him its ok,heading to the bathroom and turning on the tap to fill the bathtub,while standing in front of the mirror,Jake came in behind you,shutting the door before wrapping his hands around your waist behind you and you leaned your head on his shoulder before he whispered,"There's no one here now,gonna praise this pretty pussy all night,would you like that?" He said while trailing kisses down the side of your neck and you nodded,biting your lip your eyes shut tight,feeling him grinds his bulge against your ass,he moved to shut the tap filling the tub now that it was full,before moving back to you taking off his shirt before turning you around and placing his hands under your thighs hoisting you onto the counter,admiring the sight in front of you,"You make sweats look so hot jakey," he looked down at himself before looking back at you and smirking,"On or off,doesn't really hide anything princess that's why you like it hm?" Before you could answer he attached his lips onto yours ,hands coming to rest at your waist,lightly squeezing it,while your arms came to wrap around his neck you didn't need to answer,he was right anyway,he bit on your bottom lip making you let out a moan as he sucked on it and your teeth clashed but you couldn't care any less letting him have his way,pulling back before catching his breathe,"Take this off princess," tugging at the hem of your sweatshirt ,to which you pulled off in a hurry before he connected your lips again,fingers drawing random patterns on your back before trailing his fingertips upwards and unclasping your bra in one move,before pulling it off of you ,scanning you up and down before letting out a growl and moving in to kiss you roughly this time,hands crawling up your stomach to your chest to grope at your tits,"So...damn...pretty.." he grunted in between the kiss,while you shamelessly moaned into the kiss,"J-Jakey,"he groaned kissing down your neck,"No baby that's not my name," he stopped kissing your neck,"That's not what I wanna hear baby," he said while tugging at your hardened peaks,"Jaeyun?" He nodded before going down to your mounds,kissing around the hardened peaks,before licking it while staring up at you,fingers twisting and tugging at the other while looking up at you,he looked so goddamn hot in that position you had to look away,grazing his teeth against it just how you liked it,"Fuck jaeyunnie I don't wanna cum from this wanna cum on your cock p-please," you panted out tugging hard at his roots,"Wanna cum on my cock baby?" Nodding frantically as he looked away,"Such a dumb baby for my cock aren't you hm?" You nodded quickly,"Yes yes yes please yunnie," he smirked tucking a strand of your hair behind your ear,"Since my baby begged so nicely,spread your legs for me baby," you then didn't do that confusing him as you got of the counter pulling him towards you in the bathtub,"Sit yunnie,please wanna ride your cock you love that right?please,"How could he say no seeing he had you at his mercy like this,he nodded getting into the tub leaning on it as he stared up at you basically eye fucking you as you stripped bare off your sweats and panties ,he was shamelessly eyeing you with his lower lip between his teeth,as you got in the water onto of him ,his hand coming to support you holding your hip as you steadied yourself on his shoulders completely straddling him before slowly grinding.

"Yunnie,p-put it in..."he chuckled squeezing your hip,"No baby you wanted this,do it yourself".Nodding you wrapped your hand around his hard on,striking it lightly before using it to trace a line from your clit to your entrance,moaning at the feeling,before slowly pushing the tip in your entrance,murmuring out a 'fuck' eyes shut biting your lip as jake was mesmerised by your face when in a state of bliss,he helped you lift your hips up before you slowly started sliding down,your hole clenching along the way making it difficult to do so,"J-jake...love your cock so much...ngh"He squeezed your hip as you started to slowly move your hips up and down his cock,"Yeah baby?just like I love this pussy hmm?" You nodded not in a position to talk,Jake had noted that you were not one to talk much when in an extreme state of bliss so he didn't pay much to it ,"K-kiss me yunnie," needing no further permission he crashed his lips onto yours as you increased your pace ,his hands sliding between your bodies to rub your clit in fast circles,bucking his hips up to meet yours,"Baby,keep clenching around me like that and I just might cum," paying no attention to his words you stopped bouncing on him starting to grind on him moving your hips back and forth on his cock,you'd noted that he loved that,"I'm...gonna...ngh cum yunnie,"head thrown back against the bathtub eyes rolling to the back of his head,hands working fast on your clit,"Yeah baby? So close for me? Me too..fuck," he sat up,now peppering kisses allover your chest ,before starting to lick and suck at one of your mounds,teeth occasionally grazing your nipple making you arch your back further into him,hips now stuttering,he knew you were close by the gesture ,"Yunnie yunnnie yunnie cumming ahh....fuck," Following up right after white spurts of his coming being thrown all over your velvety walls as you felt his member soften,you fell on his chest ,thighs burning.

"Do you feel stress free now y/nnie?" Nodding as your eyes were still shut tight ,jake always made you orgasm so hard that you felt so exhausted after.Turning you around ,back against his chest he squeezed some soap in his hand lathering it over the both of you,cleaning you up as you rested before getting you up into a robe and taking you to your room,no matter how much of a fuckboy he was ,He took aftercare seriously,atleast with you he did.

After changing you into a shirt and some sweats he kissed you on the forehead bidding you goodbye as he needed to get to his dorm,so he could study the next day and also wonder why his heart had started beating so fast whenever he was around you despite trying not to show it much,sighing he picked up his stuff locking the door behind him,he never was one for aftercare and kisses on the forehead or crown,those were clear signs of affection and he knew that,but his stubborn self didn't wanna agree,She's my best friend's that's why I treat her different, he kept telling himself this to convince himself.

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The following week was hectic,you guys had your finals for the semester and both being straight A students you couldn't meet up at all as you took completely different classes and exams were very serious for the both of you,you lacked a lot of sleep that week wanting to pass maintaining your position at the top of the class looking forward to Friday evening after your last paper so you could finally rest and ofcourse last paper had to be math but you didn't mind much as you were remarkable at it.

"Finally.." sighing as you set foot in yourapartment,dropping your bag and coat at the door,locking the door as you took off your shoes before your phone started blowing up,looking at the notifications you saw the gc from your friend group which had been so dead for so long was now lively,you all were quite serious about your studies and now was time for the yearly end of semester party and people Got drunk as hell without a care,did drugs ,it was hectic,always hosted by Park Sunghoon the party animal, you and Jake had been bestfriends way before joining that group so you kind of weren't around them much,if he was with the guys you'd be with the girls,to the point they started teasing you both about being in a relationship because of how you were always together but you both just brushed it off.

Heading to your room throwing yourself on the bed ,before peeking at the texts,they were just discussing about the party ,deciding you'd respond later you shut your phone falling asleep ,exhausted from the hectic week.

♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎

Around 11am the next day you woke up to banging on your front door,quickly fixing your clothes patting your hair to go open it,squinting eyes still hazy from sleep,"Guys..?" Sunghoon Jake and Jay barged in with Karina behind them all greeting you before taking in the state of your apartmentxyou panicked at how messy it was,"Oh my God why didn't you tell me you'd be coming," Jay chuckled,"Don't worry y/n we don't judge," laughing after you headed to your room brushing your teeth and washing your face quickly before going back to the living room,finding everyone happily discussing,Karina patting a spot next to her as you headed over,"So what's the occasion?" Sunghoon stared at you shocked,"Did you not read the texts in the gc y/nn?" He deadpanned,chuckling awkwardly at your dumb question,"Ohhh yeahh sorry l" the others burst out laughing at the way you and sunghoon always fought,but Jake didnt even crack a smile"Yes so we're planning about the party it's tonight at 10pm and it's already 12pm now so what's the plan?" Everyone thought for a bit,"Have you ordered the drinks and stuff ?" Sunghoon nodded showing him the message from the delivery company,"Alright music and food,"Who's dj this year?"You asked,"That junior Nishimura?,he's a cool kid," Jake answered you before you nodded,"Then I guess nothing much left, is there a theme hoon?"He shrugged," No not really there'll be a pool so anything anyone wants to wear just no old fashioned fits it's a damn college party I'm talking to you y/n be lively just this once,"playfully rolling his eyes and you scoffed feigning being offended,"Park how dare you old man," you threw a pillow at him and he threw one back.You guys ended up passing the afternoon at your place ordering takeout and just catching up after not being able to meet up for a while once in a while accidentally making eye contact with jake who seemed like his mind was elsewhere as you all talked,but you just awkwardly smiled before dismissing it.Evening came by fast and the guys left you and Karina who had already carried her stuff as she always spent the night after the party at your place or longer after.

As you were looking for a dress with Karina's help ,Karina suddenly spoke up,"So Spill the tea y/n" you were confused to say the least," What do you mean-"she stood up before pulling you to sit with her on your bed,"Girl I could see how jake was basically eye fucking you the whole time,"Looking away you tried to dismiss her,"What do you mean I don't unders-" she shut you up,placing her finger on your lip,"I may not know jake as well as you but he's never done this before at any of our hangouts ,something is definitely up,cause he wasn't even trying to hide it,especially when you were all laughing with hoon he looked pissed," Realising she already figured out you decided to tell her everything,from the beginning as her jaw just kept falling more and more open before you closed her mouth pushing it up,giggling,when you were done she squeezed,"Oh MY GOD OUR SHIP IS SETTING SAIL," you felt your heart ache a bit,"Rina I really like him but im not sure if he feels the same towards me too,maybe he just likes fucking around you know.."she sympathised with you before pulling you into a hug,"Oh baby,how about we try and rile him up tonight hm?" She pulled you back to see if you were listening to her as you faced up nodding along,sniffling a bit before she smiled at you,pulling you Into your closet looking for the perfect fit for you and she did your hair and makeup perfect ,you could barely recognise yourself. Glasses finally off,God you looked hot,"Oh girl if I was bi I'd definitely go for you,thats how hot you are babe" she winked wrapping her arms around you from behind as you admired yourself and her work in the mirror,"Thank you so much Rina," she just poked your nose,she was already dressed so you guys quickly left.

Safe to say the party was a typical college party,drunks everywhere ,people sitting outside smoking blunts as they laughed holding cups of alcohol as the both of you made your way inside,meeting Jay and Sunghoon in the kitchen as Karina pecked your cheek whispering she'd be at the dance floor but as he waved at you and walked off she blew you a flying kiss mouthing good luck.A girl then came in after throwing herself all over Sunghoon and they left to God know where to do God knows what .You caught up with Jay,asking about his long distance girlfriend and more as you just sipped on your drinks as you kept talking ,his Girlfriend ,used to be part of your group but had to move to Japan with her parents on their request but they were still in contact and were in a happy relationship,then it hit you,you hadn't seen jake yet."Hey Jay by the way Where's Jake?" He said he wasn't sure so you left him saying you'd go look for him and be back,as you walked into the crowd a scene on the other side of the room caught you attention not seeing very clearly in the red lighting and dancing shadows but squinting you saw it,it was Jake,your best friend you were so deeply in love with ,with a girl on his lap ,giggling together like two idiots,you didn't want to think much of it ,maybe she just sat there ,he was irresistible you couldn't blame her,but your last straw was when he took her hand leading her to the less occupied balcony,instinct made you end up following them,tailing back a bit behind so as to not get seen,but you immediately regretted your actions as you reached the balcony peeking outside, you saw jake had her pinned against the wall they were making out ,he was groping her everywhere as she pulled on his hair ,strings of moans and groans emitting from the both of them as they practically ate each others faces off,you couldn't hold back the tears ,the cup in your hand dropping,drink pouring everywhere and that caught their attention as Jake turned around he met with your eyes ,dull of pain and he felt instant regret trying to call after you as you ignored his shouting ,quickly walking out of the party,it wasn't far from your apartment ,so you took of your heels speed walking to your apartment in that moment all you wanted to do was cry,you should've known you were just a fling to him nothing more ,you HATED yourself for getting this attached it's not like hooking up meant anything .....right ? Reaching your apartment Jake was chasing behind you before he ran caching up to you,holding your hand,"Y/n,y/n listen to me please-"you felt yourself getting more and more angry at his words,"Jake leave me the fuck alone now,"he was persistent and you knew that ,he was never one of give up easily,"Look y/n..just one minute-"tears were starting to form in his eyes,voice cracking with every word,despite that you weren't in the mental state to care,scoffing at how he was refusing to comply before pushing him roughly which had him stumbling backwards,"listen to me clearly Jake,stay the fuck away from me if you know what's good for you," You spat out,you weren't gonna break down no,not infront of him,choking back a cry,"Y/n just let me explain-"you'd had enough,"Explain what Jake we aren't a couple or anything do eat you want and go fuck that girl,clearly that's all you do,fuck around with girls like toys right?" He was at a loss for words ,taking that as your cue you walked quickly to your apartment complex heading into the lift to your floor,holding back from breaking down right there,as if you weren't getting enough stares due to your current state.Arriving at your door you locked it behind you,throwing your heels down before sliding down against it ,gripping your hair before you finally broke down,Tears uncontrollably falling and you couldn't help it and just sat there silently crying,not even realising when your eyes shut and you blacked right there on the floor.

As for Jake he ran back to the party looking fo Sunghoon and Jay and Karina too,gathering them in a bed room ,Karina and Sunghoon clearly looking like they'd gotten interrupted from something,"Guys I fucked up fuck fuck fuck," he was pacing back and forth as they all sat on the bed looking at him before Karina asked,"Where is y/n guys..." Jake fell to his knees completely breaking down at the mention of your name,gripping his hair hard nearly pulling it off his head,"Jake what happened,"Karina asked now worried at his state ,it was when his shoulders started shaking that they realised he was crying,Jake had never cried infront of them before,not even you,"I messed up I ruined our friendship I hooked up with someone else knowing I had feelings for her and I didn't know she felt the same ,I thought it was just sex we had to her,"He was speaking mid sobs and Sunghoon and Jay were shocked to say the least Karina already knew,"Where is she now Jake," Karina asked and he said you ran home,Leaving the guys to take care of him wishing them good luck she ran to your place,banging on the door,where you'd passed out on the cold floor,she kept going at it for nearly 15 minutes hearing no response,trying to call your phone kept going straight to voice mail before she called sunghoon telling him to ask Jake for your pass code which sunghoon managed to get it out of him,as he was in the middle of a break down.

Putting in the pass code Karina pushed the door realising you were laying against it ,using all her strength,falling asleep on the cold floor made you jncredibly sick,your body was ice cold as she pulled you up,supporting you as she took you to the couch,looking for warm clothes to dress you in and turning on the heater as she wrapped you in a blanket feeling you warm up she breathed out a sigh of relief ,it was also due to the alcohol that you passed out,calling the guys she told them to not let Jake anywhere near your house for the next few days as your emotions were still strong.

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That was the first night of a miserable week to come,you blocked Jake from your contacts as he tried to spam you and never bothered to charge your phone staying locked up in your house surviving on take out food,heavy eyeballs under your eyes,face puffy from the constant crying,everything kept reminding of you jake,and you didn't want that but couldn't avoid it no matter how hard you tried.As for Jake he was equally miserable ,refusing to leave his dorm room,cutting off all contacts from everyone too,he barely ate,filled with the guilt of hurting you and ruining the friendship you'd built over the years.

Sunghoon ,Jay and Karina were in a dilemma on what to do now.Jake wanted to apologise to you but you wanted nothing to do with him this was confusing them as they tried to look for ways to help both of you without ruining your friendship with the 5 of you and the both of you.

That is until one day you decided you'd give him a chance to explain himself,mostly to rid of your guilt, because you weren't heartless and that was your best friend of nearly 10 years ,ofcourse you'd feel guilty so you decided to clean up a bit before texting Karina,about it towhich she immediately responded saying she'd let the boys know,a bit later she texted you telling you jake agreed ,ofcourse he would, thy asked you to unblock him and you agreed ,half heartedly anyway,texting him to come to your place in an hour.

An hour later you heard your doorbell ring sucking in a deep breathe,before opening the door to find Jake,.....you couldn't even recognise him ,he looked just as miserable as you if not worse and you gasped before he flashed you a smile,it didn't look the same anymore it looked like one filed with pain,"Hey y/n," you moved aside letting him in,"Hi..." he had a bag and handed it to you ,looking inside you saw he'd bought you some of your favorite stuff like ramen and some plushies,and your heart ached more at this gesture,he still cared about you...,dewing yourself tearing up before pulling your hoodie over your head and shutting the door placing the bad on a table before walking towards the couch as he stood there waiting for tour permission and you nodded for him to sit down ,hugging a pillow,awkwardness filled the air,"So...how've you been y/n," you wanted to scoff so bad at him before replying in your naturally sarcastic tone even if you weren't meaning to sound sarcastic,"Miserable if it hasn't been obvious enough,you?" He awkwardly laughed feeling embarrassed now,"The same you could say I guess,"another awkward silence enveloped you two before he cleared his throat deciding to speak up,"So uhm I wanted to talk to you about that day.....are you comfortable with me doing so," you gulped ,chewing on your nails before nodding at him,you couldn't form any words at the time,"That day y/n...im sorry I didn't know I would hurt you this much..."you interrupted him,"No Jake it's fine it's not like we're together-" you started off before he cut you off again,"No y/n it's wrong for me cause I really liked you and still do,"puzzled at his words,you blinked twice before shaking your head no way Jake felt the same for you there was just no way,"You what..."you whispered mostly to yourself,baffled by his words,"Yeah y/n I've liked you for a long time,ever since we joined high-school, this whole fuck boy persona I built up was to distract myself ,you were on my mind 24/7 I couldn't even think about anything else just you and it scared me cause my feelings would probably ruin our friendship,especially since you told me at the time you were crushing on Yang jungwon," he chuckled after,it wasn't out of amusement it was a bitter one ,full of pain as you saw him start to tear up and that made you get emotional too,taking in his state.The jake you always knew well kept,always styled hair,bright smile everyday Jake ,no that was not him this man,infront of you with the red eyes and puffy face ,you made him like this,you were gonna break down right there,hand covering your mouth to hold back a choked sob,standing up as you felt the tears run down your face before walking towards him,looking at your feet as you clenched you fists tears streaming down your face,"C-come here please.." you said holding out your hand for him tostand up,he was confused wondering what you wanted to do,before pulling him into a hug,hugging his waist as you sobbed harder and harder on his chest,Jake had a soft spot for you so seeing you so vulnerable made him break down too,burying his face in your neck as he cried harder there,"W-why didn't you tell me.....i-I like you too.." you choked out in between sobs as he muttered a string of 'Sorry's' pulling you tighter into the hug.

Pulling back after a few minutes of both of you sobbing onto each other you pulled back,hands going to his face as you cupped his cheeks looking up at him ,his hands lowering to your waist.You wiped at his tears with your thumb,"I don't wanna see you cry because of me....I'm sorry for ruining you like this," you tried to hold back more tears,immediately shaking his head,"No no y/nnie I caused this,I'm the one who should be sorry.."letting out a chuckle,"You're so stubborn Jakey ,it's both our faults then," he nodded ,smiling genuinely for the first time the whole week,"So do I get to kiss my girlfriend now?" You playfully hit his chest,"Hey you didnt formally ask,"He sits you down on the couch,before kneeling infront of you,"Y/n will you be my girlfriend,I promise to be the best out there just for you,love?" You pulled him by his face to kiss him as an answer before he crawled onto you laying you down fully on the couch before pulling away,knowing what he was going to ask you answered him,"Yes yes I will be your girlfriend,now kiss me ughhh," he laughed at you before moving back down to attach his lips to yours again,wrapping your hands around his neck as you guys just laid there and made out foe nearly 10 minutes before he pulled off of you and ,heading to the kitchen you both made some ramen to have as you laughed and caught up before he added,"I'm gonna take you out on a proper date soon baby,I love you,"He said coming to peck your forehead.Smiling at his affectionate gesture wrapping your arms around his neck,resting your forehead against his you whispered back,"I love you too Jakey," and shared a kiss which was more of a seal of your promise to never leave each other's side ever.

♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎ ♫︎

𝑴𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆:𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕 <3

[jelzorz]

201.

Terry doesn't have siblings. He's always wondered, quietly, what it would have been like to grow up with one; someone to get in and out mischief with, someone who's supposed to be on your side despite everything else.

Claudia had been bitter about her brother.

Terry had wondered if he'd misunderstood what siblings were supposed to be.

Then he actually starts hanging out with Soren and Corvus, and well. Now he knows.

They are both older than him and decidedly more adventurous, and it's been a tough couple of months, y'know? Things are getting better—Evrkynd is almost self-sufficient, and Katolis Castle is still being fixed up but the builders have declared it livable again, and the refugees at the Banther Lodge have slowly started to move back in. Soren is not... irresponsible per se, but he does do a lot things because he thinks they would be funny, and Terry gets dragged into it because he's dragged into everything Soren and Corvus do nowadays, and that's how he ends up in their High Cleric's newly rebuilt office dressed for burglary and feeling like a child caught red handed with a cookie jar he's not supposed to have.

"Tell me again why you were sneaking into the wine cellar dressed like thieves."

Terry looks away. Opeli is nice enough and Soren and Corvus both promise that she's not as stiff as he thinks she is, but she is a formidable woman when she's annoyed, and she is, frankly, pretty damn annoyed. Corvus, for his part, looks like he's got a headache that matches hers, and Soren looks sheepish but mostly unapologetic, but Opeli isn't asking them—

She's asking Terry.

"Uh..."

Soren nudges him. Testing the security, he mouths obviously, so obviously that Corvus sinks further into his chair and hides his face by pinching the bridge of his nose.

"We were—uh—t-testing the security?" He parrots.

"And that involves sneaking a cask of wine out through the window, does it?"

Terry actually squeaks. "Yes?"

Opeli purses her lips. Terry falters under the pressure.

"Soren just said we were going for drinks! I thought he meant we were going out, I didn't think we'd be breaking into the castle—"

"You live here," she snaps, rounding on Soren and Corvus. "If you wanted a drink, why not simply walk to the kitchens like civilised members of society?"

"To his credit, High Cleric," says Corvus tiredly, "he really did make it sound like a security test."

"The fact that there was wine involved didn't raise your suspicions."

"He didn't mention the wine to me."

There's a pause. Terry wonders if she might want a drink herself.

"Come on, Opeli," says Soren at last. "It was just a little fun. We didn't even get a drink before we got caught, and we were gonna offer you some anyway."

"Why on earth would I partake in your stolen wine?"

"It's not stealing if it's our wine," he points out, flashing one of his more charming smiles at her. "It's all fine, no one got hurt, and y'know, the maids who caught us might have freaked out a little, but now we know there's a blindspot there! You can let us off just this once."

Opeli scowls at him, and then at Corvus, and then Terry. "I expected better from you two," she mutters at them. "Soren's been doing this for years, but you two..." She shakes her head. "Just go. Walk to the kitchens in future, if you please, and dress for the stations you occupy rather than scaring the maids by dressing as burglars." She dismisses them with a wave of her hand and they file out, but not before Soren reveals one of the two bottles he had stolen and leaves it on her desk. The other he uncorks as soon as Opeli's office door shuts.

"So maybe we approach from the South Wing next time?"

"Soren!"

"Are you serious?"

He laughs and raises the bottle. "Cheers to you guys," he says taking a swig before offering it to them. "Brothers in arms, right?"

In spite of himself, Terry snorts and hides his smile behind the lip of the bottle. Brothers in arms indeed.

[thesummerstorms]

There's no way at least a few of the Crows gathered for the show down in the Opera House didn't look at Lucanis and Arsinoë de Riva and pick up on the fact that they were involved, even if both parts of the couple thought they were hiding it like professionals.

Most likely, those Crows perceive this as Viago's attempt at a power play.

They're wrong; he's in the corner gritting his teeth and silently begging Arsinoë to stay under the radar for once in her life. Openly attaching herself to the first Talon as a romantic partner makes her a target. That's a complication for House de Riva as a whole, one the Talon part of Viago is already complaining about dealing with, but also in general he wants Arsinoë to live.

(Dellamorte spouses companions do not tend to live long, healthy lives.)

But to the traditionalist Crows' outside point of view, it makes sense for Viago to make a power play through his protege. In his handling of the Illario situation, Lucanis has just exposed the fact that he can, in fact, be manipulated by a soft heart. The way they see it, if Viago then manages to place his protégé as Lucanis's lover and House de Riva as his ally, much less if Arsinoe eventually marries Lucanis and they have children, then Viago will have a considerable amount of influence over the First Talon and the whole of House Dellamorte through her.

Hell, if Arsinoë and Lucanis have children, then after a couple of carefully placed accidents, Viago could even place House de Riva in the seat of first Talon by declaring that his protégé's children belonged to their mother's house.

I cannot stress enough that this is the opposite of what Arsinoë, Lucanis, and Viago all want. Arsinoë doesn't even want to be a mother under regular circumstances, much less as part of an entrapment scheme, and no amount of calculation would ever make Viago use her that way.

But Crows are Crows, and the traditionalists especially do not believe that the more "Reformist" houses like Cantori and de Riva (and now Dellamorte by virtue of Lucanis) don't have some long game they're planning.

So in an a not entirely unexpected move, a few of those Houses send their own agents, their best or most beautiful or most charming, to try and make Lucanis a "better offer" as it were.

Again, this isn't entirely unexpected. Viago can't do much directly without putting more spotlight on Arsinoë or confirming things that he doesn't mean, but Caterina still holds the real power at this point. She deals very harshly with anyone she catches in the attempt.

Arsinoë is a little upset at the disrespect towards her character, significantly more upset that Lucanis has to deal with it, but ultimately stays out of it except comforting Lucanis and deflecting any attempts made in front of her. Maybe the occasional bout of poison, since they've made up their minds about her relationships and reputation either way, but generally it is what it is unless she can spare Lucanis discomfort directly.

Lucanis can't help a certain level of emotional "what the fuck", even though Caterina warned him and Illario extensively growing up that Crows from other Houses might try to romance or bed them as a power play. Illario had responded to that by turning the strategy back on anyone who tried it, not to mention his regular contracts; Lucanis had never thought it would be relevant to himself.

The attempts are upsetting in what they reveal about how outsiders perceive him (weak, easy to manipulate, yes, but also potentially unfaithful which is much more infuriating) and Arsinoë (who's being slandered/minimized). They're also just generally uncomfortable and annoying. Yet he doesn't actually have the power to make them stop; professing his love for Arsinoë doesn't change the perception of those involved. It just puts more of a target on her back.

Spite is honestly the most pissed though. He doesn't even entirely get what's happening. The emotions bleeding over from Lucanis are confusing, even if he's growing to slowly understand emotions outside his domain from his attachment to his mortal host.

He does, however, understand that these other humans are INSULTING his human and their Rook, trying to separate them as if they aren't both Spite's, and trying to hurt them besides.

Spite has many, many ideas how to deal with an insult and a threat. There's a growing risk that one day Lucanis might be fed up enough to agree.

[mysecretlittlelibrary]

Second Lesson

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader

Word Count: 3.1k

Warnings: edging and overstimulation

Genre: smut

Summary: Some things are not self explanatory, and Steve has decided he's going to fill in the gaps by coming to you to ask his questions about sex and some of those questions have more involved answers than you'd expect

***

You hear a knock at your door while you're looking for something in your closet.

"Coming!" You call, taking a moment to contain the hurricane that you've created in there. You open the door to find Steve in the hall.

"Are you busy?" He asks.

"Not particularly, what's up?"

"I have another question."

"Shoot." You say, gesturing for him to walk into your room.

"Edging. What it is?"

"It is pleasuring yourself or someone else until the brink of orgasm without letting them actually have an orgasm."

"That sounds like torture." Steve frowns.

"Sometimes it is. It can be used as a punishment, some people enjoy it though, it can also be about increasing endurance- you know- training to last longer in bed, it also usually makes the orgasm more intense when you do eventually get to that point."

"Huh, have you done it before?"

"Been on both sides." You shrug. "Oh also I should mention that like most kink terms there is an equal yet opposite complementary term. For edging its complementary term is overstimulation."

"And that is?"

"If edging is about restraint when it comes to pleasure then overstimulation is a hedonistic indulgence in it. Orgasming again and again and again, sometimes to the point of pain this is where a safe word can be useful because you may say things like stop or I can't take it especially because post orgasm sensitivity can be a bitch but the whole point is to keep going and if you've already talked about exploring either edging or overstim, your partner will probably ignore you saying stop because again the point is to keep going even if you are sensitive, but if they're going to ignore you saying it's too much, you need to be able to stop them if it actually is too much."

"Are all aspects of sex so- severe?" He asks.

"No. Sex can be incredibly soft and gentle and sweet, it can be slow and tender in many ways. I mean, you saw some of that last time. You just- happen to have coincidentally questions about the other end of the spectrum today." You shrug.

"It just seems very, intense. Like maybe too intense? I don't get why you would want to put someone through that. It seems like a slippery slope, sex should be about love not some form of- torture."

"Well calm down, you sound panicked and it's not like I'm going to strap you down and force you to experience it. It's not for everyone Steve, different people have different preferences, this is why it's good to have those conversations before you sleep with someone so nobody gets put in a stressful situation they didn't sign up for. Plus there are a lot of ways to express love you know. If your person wants you to do these things then that absolutely shows that you love them, especially if you do them with the care you're meant to."

"I just don't understand it I guess." He shakes his head.

"That's fine Stevie, no one can force you to do it or enjoy it or even comprehend it really. Like I said, it's a personal preference. Just- be honest with your partner when the time comes." You shrug.

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Do you... like this stuff?" Steve asks.

"I do. With the right person."

"Really?"

"You have your ideas about sex, I have mine." You shrug.

"What's that mean?"

"You said sex is about showing love and I agree with that to a point but to me it's also about pleasure. It's about exploring yourself, sometimes through someone else. It's about learning and adventure. The heat and intensity, passion that is borderline all consuming, sex can be many things. I like to experience all of them."

"Oh." He breathes.

"Of course that's just me. I'm not here to change your mind about anything." You hum.

"I have to try this edging thing."

"You don't. The hands on lessons are an option not an obligation, you don't seem interested in that and that's fine! You can just take the verbal explanation and proceed with your day as long as it makes sense to you, there's no reason to force yourself to try something that don't appeal to you." You shake your head.

"Well, it's hard to understand something if you're not open to experiencing it right?"

"I mean, I guess sometimes."

"So I want to experience it. That way I can understand it." He insists.

"As long as you're sure about this."

"I'm sure. Let's do it." He nods.

"What? Now?"

"Do you have time?"

"Depends on what time it is now."

"Three seventeen."

"I've got til six, I have another engagement later this evening."

"Is that enough time?"

"Plenty. Get comfortable, I would recommend getting naked, you do need to at least take off your pants or you'll likely stain them but it'll probably be more comfortable to take off everything because there's a chance you'll get hot. I know you run pretty warm already but I don't know how much you'd enjoy your shirt sticking to your back after twenty minutes." You say.

"Right, yeah." Steve hesitantly shuffles out of his pants and underwear and then, after seemingly debating in his head, he also pulls his shirt over his head and places all of them on your desk chair before sitting on the bed.

"Alright, I'm going to treat this like I would a real situation. Of course, the expectations are different, I know so don't worry about performing a certain way. Just like last time if at any point you have a question or something makes you feel uncomfortable you can simply say so assuming you can focus. If you can't focus use your stoplight. Yellow, or red, just like we discussed before." You tell him as you pull open the drawer by your bed and grab the bottle of lube.

"What's that for?" Steve asks when you squirt a generous amount into your hand.

"It's a lubricant. It might be a little cold at first, but I'm sure you'll appreciate it, especially the longer this goes." You say sitting beside him. "I'm going to touch you now, is that alright?" You ask.

"Yes." Steve nods with more conviction than you'd expect. You wrap your fingers around the base of his dick and he takes in a large breath. His exhale is shaky as you drag your hand up his length with a pressured grip. You circle his tip, slowly massaging it, watching his reactions, enjoying the way his abdomen seems to flex sporadically. His breathing is coming out harsher now and you begin to pump him. Last time you made a point not to stare at him since he was clearly rather nervous about the whole thing but not looking is rather impossible with this 'lesson' so you take the time to really get a look at his dick as you stroke him. The tip is a reddish pink and there are a couple veins running very noticeably along it. You already knew he was big, he's been inside you for fuck's sake, but looking at it unobstructed, boy was he... endowed.

"So how this works Stevie, usually, is that you'll tell me when you're close, ask me, beg me if I tell you to, ask me to cum and I'll tell you if you've earned it. Of course I won't demand all that from you, I'm rather good at reading people's bodies." You explain to him, stroking faster, holding a little bit tighter.

"W-what do you mean usually?" He asks wearily.

"When I do this with partners. There's a bit of power play that comes with this, if you hadn't noticed, having control of how much pleasure your person receives at any given moment. It's a very powerful feeling. But this is more about teaching you than my own enjoyment, so it's a bit different, I'm just offering you more details about the appeal of it all." You explain.

"A-and you- you like that? The p-power play?" He asks. You can tell he's really starting to struggle with his focus, his body is twitching, and he's gripping the sheets, blinking rapidly as he speaks. You watch his whole body tense up and take that as your cue to ease up. You slow your wrist to almost a stop, relishing in the groan Steve lets out.

"I find it can be intoxicating." You smirk.

"So that's how this works?" He pants.

"Pretty much." You nod, picking up speed again. Steve moans as his body jolts again. You can't help but imagine how nice he'd look with a couple of hickeys. You won't be giving him any of course but the idea does captivate you for a brief moment. It's clear that Steve is trying to control his reactions, but the shaky breaths and strained grunts give him away.

"My god." He whispers, tipping his head back. If it was anybody but Steve saying those words, you'd affirm that you are their god and they should worship you as such but it's not somebody else, it's Steve and you'd best keep it simple. When his body tenses up again, you slow your hand accordingly, and Steve lets out a strained groan.

"You know Stevie, you don't have to try so hard to keep quiet. I like your little noises. They're hot." You say.

"I'm not- r-really used to... making n-noises like that." He pants out.

"Well, a bit of advice, most girls like to hear that you're enjoying yourself."

"Really?"

"Yep." You say, stroking him faster, again. You continue your game with him, slowing down when his body tenses up and speeding up when his shuddering breaths quiet. With each denied orgasm his restraint on his vocalizations seems to slip, by the fith time you're slowing down he's an unending string of moans and grunts and even a few whimpers when you squeeze in just the right place.

"This is torture." Steve grits out. His entire body is flushed and his skin is glistening.

"I know but you're doing so well. Just a little longer and I promise I'll reward you. Don't you want that?" You ask with a mocking sweetness in your tone.

"Please." He says breathlessly.

"Oh that sounded nice." You smile. You're not even trying to break him like you would under usual circumstances but the sound him whimpering please to you almost makes you want to.

"Y/n- I feel, like I'm on fire. Please I need to cum." Steve huffs through clenched teeth and you start to wonder if he's reaching his limit. Gripping his chin you gently tilt his head to look at you.

"Checking in Stevie, gimme a color please." You say softly.

"G-green, this is insane." He says shakily.

"You haven't tapped out yet." You smile slightly.

"Is that the goal?"

"Not today." You wink at him. You decide it's probably best to stop here, so you pick up your speed again watching for the telltale signs of his orgasm but this time you finally let him peak and you can't decide if the sound or sight is more dazzling. Either way, you work him through it as evidence of his release spurts over your hand and his thighs in thick ropes. There's an impressive amount of it and you wonder if this is a super soldier thing or if he's just really pent up. When nothing else comes out and he hisses against your touch you let him go. "I'm gonna get a wash cloth, hang tight." You tell him standing from the bed and walking into your bathroom. You rinse your hand first and then soak a washcloth with room temperature water. When you pop back out his arm is draped over his eyes but he otherwise hasn't moved. You start with his neck, wiping the sweat that's probably made his skin sticky. You do a quick swipe across his chest too before moving on to cleaning the remenants of his orgasm from his thighs and recovering dick. "How are we feeling?" You ask him once he's clean. You toss the washcloth in your hamper and grab a water from your mini fridge before sitting beside him on the bed.

"That was- intense." He says.

"Yes but you knew that going in."

"I mean- when you finally let me, you know. It was intense- probably more so than I've ever felt." He says and you giggle at his avoidance of saying orgasm.

"We should really work on your comfortablilty with some of these terms. But yes that intensity is a high some people crave."

"Wow."

"Was it worth it?" You ask.

"What?"

"You said it was the most intense orgasm you've ever had, would you say the payoff was worth the buildup? After all you called it torture."

"You're not even nice about it."

"I was actually very nice, I didn't wait til you were crying to get you off which- is usually what I'll do."

"You make people cry?" He blinks surprised.

"Sometimes." You shrug.

"That's- further than I-"

"I know, that's why I didn't make you cry. Although crying is way more likely with overstimultion anyhow." You shrug.

"Is it?"

"Wanna see for yourself?" You ask opening your bedside drawer again.

"Well I'm not sure I can hand-"

"Here." You drop one of your toys in his hand.

"What's this?"

"A vibrator. I figure it's not fair if every lesson is just me doing things to you like some sort of lab rat so I thought you might want to try overstimulating me. The only other way for that to happen is for you to learn my body but who has time for that? This is efficient and pretty much idiot proof it'll get the job done regardless of your personal experience." You shrug.

"You- want me to use this on you?" He asks wide eyes watching you quickly take off your clothes.

"Yes I do. It's simple, I promise. It does most of the work for you. If you have the energy for it that is." You say.

"Depends on just how simple it is." He says. You sit on the bed next to him and grab his wrist, placing the vibrator in his hand against your clit. It's not on but your insides still clench in anticipation when it touches you.

"Put it here, small circles or wiggling it up and down is fine but keep it in this general area, start with light pressure and press harder as we go. I'll be using the same stoplight system, so here's a couple of preliminary warnings, if I squirm away follow me or hold me down, if I cry that's fine, if I scream let me, ignore me if I ask you to stop or say it's too much. In fact, no matter what, you keep this against me until I call red and I will call red. Sound simple enough?"

"You might cry and that's a good thing?" He frowns.

"It's not a bad thing. It probably won't happen anyway I'm just covering my bases no need to look so terrified." You chuckle.

"How do I turn this on?" He asks after a moment.

"The last button."

"What are the other two?"

"One controls the rhythym and the other controls the power, don't mess with those buttons. For the sake of this lesson they are off limits."

"Last one turns it on?"

"Yes." You nod. Steve stares at the buttons for a moment before a sharp click fills the silence and you jolt from the sudden stimulation. He moves the toy in tight circles, his face pinched in focus. Your hips grind against the vibrator and it doesn't take long for your first orgasm to hit you with a soft moan.

"Oh." Steve says, as if he's surprised.

"Keep going, add pressure." You huff out. Shuddering pants indicate that Steve's done what you asked, your muscles tensing from the continued pleasure post orgasm. The thing with this particular vibrator is that it works quick and you hardly manage to calm down before your second orgasm sneaks up on you. Steve trades the circles for little up and down motions that draw a couple sharp moans from you. 

"Are you okay?" He asks.

"Fine Stevie, I'm fine." You say shakily. Your third orgasm comes with a cry through your closed mouth. You know it's impractical to be so mindful of your sounds but you've got to remain at least semi-composed to be of any help to Steve. More and more your body spasms as the stimulation continues, practically twitching from the pleasure. Small whimpers begin to escape with more frequency as you quickly approach orgasm four. On this one your eyes roll back and you allow an obscene sounding high pitched moan to fall from your lips. Steve makes a sound somewhere in his throat which you barely hear. You're starting to feel that bite of overstimulation layering under the pleasure and it makes you squirm. You jerk against the toy, hoping for a reprieve from the buzzing and Steve, the dilligent student that he is, places a hand across your stomach, holding you in place and all you can do is cry out as he presses the vibrator firmly against your clit. You grip the sheets tightly as he starts to make little circles around your too sensitive bundle of nerves, your whole body is shaking as another orgasm quickly creeps up on you with a squealing noise and string of curses. You can feel your brain getting fuzzy, that familiar hedonistic haze threatens to blanket your thoughts, you know if you don't stop Steve soon you'll be far too blissed out to do so and Steve is not equipped to handle that sort of headspace.

"Okay, red. That's enough Stevie." You say breathlessly but firm. Steve quickly moves the toy but struggles to turn it off so you take it from him and turn it off yourself. You take a couple of moments to recompose yourself, ignoring the phantom buzzing and overwhelming wetness between your legs when you sit up and pull your knees to your chest.

"Are you alright? Do you need water? Can I get you something?"

"I'm fine Stevie. How are you feeling?"

"Me? I wasn't the one-"

"The whole point of this was to see if you enjoyed either edging or overstim- having tried both, do you feel like you at least have a better understanding of them like you wanted?"

"I- guess I have a better understanding."

"Well what're you thinking?"

"I thought I would- hate the edging thing but, as... intense as it was there was something, freeing about it? Like getting on a ride at Coney Island and the ending was, worth the build up."

"And overstimulation?"

"It's incredible watching the way your body reacts to such an onslaught. Plus the idea of bringing your lover imense pleasure like that is undeniably delicious, I can see how that kind of thing can be so thrilling."

"Well there you go. Questions answered. You're free to leave." You say.

"Are you sure you don't need anything?"

"I'm fine Steve I'm just going to hop in the shower you've got nothing to worry about really. I've got other things on my schedule of today remember?"

"Alright- if you're sure. I'll see you around. Enjoy your evening."

"Thanks. See ya." You say. Steve seems hesitant to leave but without a reason to stay, he has to shuffle his way out. You let out a sigh after your door closes. You've got a couple hours before your evening plans, good thing, you'll need it. Hopefully one of these days Steve will ask a simple question with a simple answer that doesn't a demonstration.

***

Tagged Users: @chososg1rl

[jigamaree-writes]

mouthwashing characters dating headcanons!!

warnings: mentions of alcohol, multiple referenced characters deaths (including suicide)

tags: fluff and angst, confessions, romance, friends to lovers, strangers to lovers, mutual pining, canon divergence, long distance relationship, major character death

includes: Daisuke, Anya, Curly

author's note: this is my first time officially writing on tumblr so apologies for any mistakes, can be read as "x reader", accidentally posted this as a wip and it had one like already so sorry to that user i took it down for some time

Daisuke

i believe he would first meet his yet to be partner either at a party on in an arcade

either way he would be absolutely smitten by their looks alone and would start chatting with them and successfully get their number

he started seeing them more, usually going shopping together, playing games, or just hanging out

as time went on he realized that the feeling in his stomach the very first day he saw them wasn't the alcohol from the party nor the nerves from seeing someone so cool – it was much more than that

he had no idea how to approach his little crush with the intention of telling them his feelings since he was already a pretty good friend of theirs and didn't want to loose that friendship or make it awkward if they weren't interested in him

but somehow during one of the hangouts his tongue slipped and he accidentally outed his feelings towards them!

all his worries washed away when they reassured him that they've been feeling the same way since they started spending more time together

he immediately perked up at that and kissed them on the cheek

when he officially gets in a relationship with them he's over the moon and he acts even more positive than usual

Daisuke's love language would be quality time mixed with physical touch

he just loves hugging, kissing or cuddling with his partner, even handholding brings him immerse joy

he's very fond of using pet names for his partner and overuses them a lot

his favourites include: "sweetie", "baby", "beautiful/handsome" or "my everything" as well as some more snarky and playful ones, often based on his partner's appearance or hobbies

god forbid someone asks him about his significant other because he will rant about all the little things he loves about them in perfect detail

he couldn't stop showing off his partner to everyone he knew, he's just so glad to have someone by his side

speaking of – he's extremely clingy, even if his partner hadn't talked to him for two hours, he already misses them

so when his parents basically force him to leave and work for Pony Express you can imagine this poor boy's heartbreak

not being able to see his one and only for such an extended period of time is like a death sentence to him

he offers that his love goes with him, but due to the fact that working on the Tulpar is not a very satisfying and fulfilling job plus the constant harsh environment (not even mentioning the pay) it's understandable they don't want to be stuck in the ocean of emptiness

and even if they did want to go with him, after giving it more thought Daisuke realized that he wound never want to put the most important person in his life at any danger that might be involved in the outer space

while he is extremely down about leaving his other half back at home, he stays hopeful the whole time, keeping a picture of his beloved in his pocket or on the side table next to his bed in the sleeping quarters

his partner (along with the desire to make his parents proud) becomes a sense of motivation for him

even in his last moments, after being injured from crawling though the air vent, all he can think about is how he was never going to make it back and see his love one final time

Anya

when it comes to first meetings i think Anya would either see her future partner one of the times she tried to apply for her medical school or while she was running to clear her mind two blocks away from her own apartment and bumped into them at a corner

if we're going with the second scenario she would apologize tremendously for her carelessness and to her surprise was met with a very positive answer and an invitation to a dinner the next day

few more dates later and she starts developing some serious feelings for the other person and that eventually leads to them becoming a couple

she used to spend most of her time studying so she might not be very experienced in a relationship and needs to warm up to her new role as a girlfriend but she's the most loving and understanding one ever

for a long time she was seriously struggling with getting into medical school, but her significant other encouraged her to go forward and so she never gave up on her dream

by working three times harder than the last time she was awaiting her medical exams with determination and optimism, but unfortunately she failed the tests to qualify for the school yet again...

she was miserable for some time after that, distancing herself from her partner for a few days

to make up for it she and her partner had a movie night, at first she was very apologetic about her behavior but some reassurance from her partner later and her mind was put at ease

i believe her love language would be words of affirmation although she doesn't mind physical touch

she loves to kiss her partner's forehead while holding their face in her hands for sure

Anya's favorite pet names for her partner would be "my dear" and "sweetheart" along with just their name or a sweet nickname she came up with

however if it's her partner using pet names on her? yeah she's absolutely flustered everytime that happens

her favorite aspects of her partner would be the patience they are willing to give her and the support she so desperately needs

when she decided she needed more money to cover for the exams her partner fully supported her with this decision, which eventually lead to her working for the Pony Express

she keeps little notes her partner gave her before she left on the board in her office

she never really shared with anybody that she had a partner back on earth as well as on the Tulpar unless someone directly asked her, she would describe her partner so tenderly that while the majority would find their relationship to be adorable, some people (Jimmy) would mock her for how much she's devoted to her partner

before her ultimate decision of taking the pills she thought about what could've been if she just stayed home and found a different job

she would have never experienced this horrible fate

she couldn't help but muster a smile thinking about her partner, what a pity they never experienced the joy of seeing her finally making her dreams come true

Curly

if he started his relationship while still on Earth he would definitely miss his partner dearly but couldn't help the growing excitement to see them after coming back home

everytime he saw his other half he was happy like it's the last time he's ever going to see them

if Curly came back in the winter season the two would definitely partake in any snow spots together since we know he's a fan of those

if his partner shared his love for the same activities he would be overjoyed, but if they weren't as much into it that's completely fine – he would try to show them all his favourite pastimes hoping his partner would eventually join him but he would never push them to do it

he would acquaint his partner with his family pretty early on in the relationship but not so early it's awkward, he just wants to show off his partner to the closest people in his life

since it's implied he's been working for the Pony Express for quite some time now, it's possible he met his love during one of the hauls, either as a new crew member or someone from a different team

if they were part of his crew the man's attitude towards his partner would stay the same – sure he might be the capitan and is in a position of power but they're still his beloved

sometimes he takes on work that would be usually assigned to his partner to let a little load off their shoulders but he would keep it a secret from them and the other crew members (although he gets accused of favoritism several times)

while he is extremely busy with all the shenanigans going on during the shipping of whatever is in the cargo hold, he always manages to find time for his partner

his love language is definitely act of service

his partner gives Curly a sense of belonging, and even sometimes when he doubts himself as a capitan he knows his partner is there for him

Curly's room is right next to his partner's in the sleeping quarters, although he wishes they wouldn't have to have separate rooms but for some reason the company doesn't acknowledge their relationship because why would they (he still invites his significant other to his room whether it's to cuddle, talk or just to enjoy each other's presence)

he and his partner are basically inseparable

that doesn't change even after the crash takes place, his partner would visit him every day and stay by his side, often taking Anya's task of feeding him painkillers and while it pains them to see him in such a state they know Curly is the one who's in the most pain at the moment

his partner isn't sure if Curly still recognizes them but he always looks around frantically when anyone from the crew escorts them to the sleeping quarters to try and get some rest

following many sleepless nights and witnessing the death of two of the fellow crew members, Curly's partner decided to ultimately end their life, not being able to witness the love of their life suffer any more

they never got to live the life they imagined together and they couldn't even confirm if Curly would notice their lack of presence after they died, however he acted more distressed and was seemingly shrieking when he eventually stopped seeing them

do not copy or translate my works.

reblogs, comments and likes are appreciated!

[numberonetacostan]

thinking about how taco and the rest of the s1 contestants would react to finding out she was practically made to win. like mephone visits the hotel post-finale talking about how he thinks they deserve to know what he planned for them to be like, and literally everyone ends up staring at taco when they hear about it. she probably wouldn’t even believe it at first. and then to think that she must have done something to ruin it for herself??

i also personally like to think that taco may have been one of the first ii contestants to break away from her programming and become her own person, even if she didn’t realize that’s what she was doing

Hello there :D!!!!!^^ Welcome, and thank you for sending in your hc!!!!! :] XD

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE THE MOST RIGHT EVER. FINALLY A REASON TO TALK MORE ABOUT THIS!!!!!!!! THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH ANON!!!! (also sorry because I have been thinking about this a lot a lot a lot so i might deviate a bit more from your ask than i usually do). SHE. WAS. BUILT. TO. WIN. BUT SHE DIDN'T.

A little tangent before I go into Taco finding out, I think the reason she lost despite having been supposed to win is actually because of Bow. Now, I've mentioned before how Bow is literally the reason that Taco lost- Taco getting attacked by her is how OJ was able to catch up and beat her in the final footrace. But on a more meta level, Bow disrupted the original plan for the season. She wasn't part of the original cast. Mephone was forced by A.D.A.M. to let her in the show after she appeared halfway through the season!! Her inclusion was not in Mephone's plan. Her showing up threw things out of whack, culminating in her influence causing the intended winner of the season to lose.

Taco having been the planned winner actually makes season 2's existence make more sense, too. OJ won and built everyone a big shiny hotel to live in, they had a happy ending and everything they could want! Had Taco won, though, she (most likely, I have thoughts on this but I won't go on a tangent for the tangent) would have left with the money!!! The rest of the cast would have been left with squat, and without even a winner to celebrate since Taco ditches them. Perfect reason to start another season, right there in the same spot as season 1 took place!!! Give someone else the chance to win after the last winner got her prize and dipped. I can see her taking on her "iconoclast" role even better here, too. She won, but she isn't happy. She accomplished her goal, has everything she wants, but she's alone. So she goes back and works behind the scenes to try and put a stop to the game that pushed her to such extremes. She sees how it impacts and hurts everyone involved, and wants to put a stop to it. She allies with Mic more altruistically, to try and help someone being hurt by the game as she works to put a stop to it!! Truth or Flare can still happen relatively normally, even, with Taco desperately trying to convince the contestants to quit before they end up like her! Having won the money, but really ended up with nothing. Her redemption arc comes as her trying to fix her wrongdoings by preventing others from making the same mistakes she did. She can apologize to Pickle, explain herself, and they can be friends again!

But that's not how it happened. The other "meaner" characters get their redemptions as planned. Knife in season 2, Nickel in season 3, even Silver apologizes and gets to continue to have a relationship with Candle after he punches her flame out, even if it's a but strained for some time. But Taco? Her programming couldn't properly execute. She was built to win, but she didn't. So Mephone no longer had a planned redemption for her, or any plans for her, really. In Truth or Flare, in which Mephone had his memories back, he is surprised to see Taco show up. He did not realize she was still around. Still running mostly on her old programming despite her hating herself for it, and trying to break out of it, because the previous conditions to begin her redemption arc were never met. She had to get to "winning the game, but losing what really mattered" in a different way, that way being winning immunity for Mic in episode 14, but losing her most important connection because of it. Once that happens, she can finally really begin to change and be better, because the condition has finally been met, even if it wasn't quite how it was intended to be.

OH RIGHT YOUR ASK IS ABOUT HOW TACO AND THE OTHER S1 CONTESTANTS REACT TO FINDING OUT. UH. OOPSIES. I AM SO SORRY. GETTING TO IT NOW.

I honestly hadn't though about Mephone telling them outright!!! It would be some good growth for him to be the one to decide to tell them something important like this, that they have the right to know. He'd probably have to leave again soon after though. I can't imagine Taco taking it any sort of well. You're right that she wouldn't believe it first, she wouldn't want to believe it at first. That all this? Everything? The years of suffering? Because she was defective? Couldn't win, even though she was made to? Was it all for nothing? Even if she had won, she still would have been alone? Pickle could have forgiven her, if only she'd been able to fulfill her purpose? Augh, that's all so scrambled, but that's how she'd be thinking, you know? She would be so overwhelmed, shocked, in despair, mourning, heartbroken, all at the same time wrapped up into one little Taco. She'd just be quiet and just staring at Mephone and in the littlest voice she's ever spoken in says she needs to be alone. Goes to leave, Mephone steps towards her and asks her to wait, because he does feel bad and wants to apologize, but Taco is so not ready for that. She's been trying to heal and be better after the events of the finale- but every single wound has been violently ripped open with new ones torn into her, and she just can't do it. She would give that sort of raw scream you can only give when you have so many feelings that they need to get out through your mouth and make it clear that she needs to be alone, now.

And then I think she would sob her little heart out. The messiest, most brutal breakdown you've ever seen. Panic attacks, scratching, shouting, sobbing, breaking things, you name it. They'd leave her be for a bit, but Mic would get worried hearing all the crashing, and go to check on her. Taco has destroyed whatever space she is in and is still sobbing and scratching and breaking down, and Mic gives her a hug. And Taco sobs more, but she's being held and she can squeeze Mic and cry into her shoulder. It's a bad day for everyone, all around. OJ is having a bad time too, but is taking it a lot better than Taco, and also this ain't about him. She has a lot of healing to be done from here, truly.

I'm going to stop here, because i think this answers your ask and i have been procrastinating on an assignment that i really do need to get done now, but I can talk more about this if anyone has questions or just wants to hear more!!!^^ please ask for more this is so so so much i love it so very much please i want to talk about it more please ask questions anything please please

[elainsgirl]

no cause im tired of everything.

I'm sick of people talking about gwyn like shes the most important character ever. like yall don't actually care about her. they only like her cause shes involved with a batboy which is ridiculous. ("pro gwyneth" like be so fr... we barely know anything about her??? Like I like gwyn but stop making stuff up about her and saying shes saving the world.) that girl didn't show any romantic feelings towards him, so stop forcing it. (not to mention they never talk about emerie... interesting)

why is azriel getting shipped with everyone?? "gwyn is azriel's mate!" "no, its eris" "no, its bryce" "no, its mor" "no, its rhys dead sister" I LAUGH SO HARD AT THESE CAUSE WHERE ARE YOU GETTING THIS FROM???? I bet if azriel breathes next to anyone, they will automatically assume its his mate! leave the guy alone, my gosh.

"his shadows hate elain" just shut up. like fr.

"elain can go to the spring court and be with tamlin while az gets with gwyn and lucien gets with vassa" BAHAHAHAHAH. bro i cant even say anything to this because its ridiculous.

"if az finds his real mate, he will leave elain in a hurry" BRO. why do you guys think this man world revolves around wanting a mate so badly???? yall think so low of him its weird. if he wanted a mate oh so badly... he wouldnt go for elain! get that in your dumb heads!

now with the bonus chapter (elain and az part) im iffy about it. its good at the start but rhys and az argument gave me the ick but I understand what he meant either way. I can see why people didnt like azriel here. but to call him entitled is just WILD! he wasnt wrong questioning the cauldron. like why is he having all these mate behaviors towards elain when she has a mate??? I'd question the cauldron, too. feyre was so real when she said "why not make them mates" because they lowk fit no matter what anyone says.

now this was really irks me. "3 brothers and 3 sisters is so cliche" cliche??? bestie- do you see what we are reading??? the answer to the riddle was "love" out of all things. shut up with that dumb excuse. we have never seen 3 brothers and 3 sisters yet- well I havent. im pretty sure most of you havent either. if you read the BOOKS, you will understand that sjm uses the word 3 a lot. this is just common sense, people love to twist stuff.

Now dont get me wrong, I'll go for elucien or elriel. I dont care. but these gwynriels made me dislike az and gwyn together. like I used to go along with it but now they force it so badly "READ THE BONUS CHAPTER" "DID YOU READ THE BONUS CHAPTER" "maKe suRe yOu rEad iT cArEfuLly" "he chuckled with her" "they glance at eachother" "az and gwyn are going to save the world together" "i hope nesta, emerie, gwyn and az leave and make their own court" < (I fr saw someone say something like this) sister... I literally cringe! just please stop.

btw elriels gwyn isnt evil. stop saying that.

im so sorry for this rant. it just had to be said.

lmfao the need to vent is so real. This fandom TESTS your patience at times.

I think one of my biggest annoyances with Gwynriel is the fact that Gwyn doesn’t even like Azriel that way. Instead of focusing on how far she’s come, her accomplishments etc everything seems to go back to Azriel. If you ever truly look At gwynriel theories and headcanons the focus is always on Az and Gwyn doesn’t have much of a story by herself, she doesn’t lead a story. She is a follower/tag along. I will always say this again and again: If she was that important to the point of having anything to do with the prisons, trove, TT/Gwydion she would have been introduced earlier on in the series. It’s that simple. She has nothing to do w the prison, Koshei or even the daggers/made objects. Everything about gwynriel is forced - from Gwyn and Az having feelings for each other to their plot. Barely anything of that ship makes sense when you truly start to unravel it.

Az is getting shipped with everyone except who he truly wants and thats just comical. I guarantee you, If Az interacted with any other woman - gwynriel shippers would split so fast and some will start shipping him with the new woman.

“His shadows hate elain” … why were they ready to strike Nesta all because she insulted elain? They also speak so can’t they literally just tell Az “hey man, we dont like elain”. Then part of this claim comes from the fact Elain made his shadows skitter which is something Az does himself.

I so want Elain to go to Spring and mention how she finds it stiffling/claustrophobic. Elain going to spring to live there is ignoring everything about her character and only focusing on the fact she likes flowers and by their own logic, Nesta should go to Day and Feyre to a more artistic court.

If Az soley wanted a mate and was so desperate for one - why on earth is he pining for someone WITH A MATE. It literally defeats the purpose of him getting a mate. Also its such a stilt to his character for him to want a mate and then get one. It doesn’t allow character growth and makes the idea of “mates” seem as a prize instead of this romantic connection. If he wanted a mate so badly, this man would be going after women with no mates. Not one that has a mate. The logic behind this arguement is so stupid,

Azriel’s bonus to me parallels Feyre’s whole scene where she questioned the cauldron because of Azriel. It was Sjms way of bringing it back and reminding us of it. Telling us “look! Another character is doubting elucien’s bond! Why is Az questioning the cauldron” etc. The only part of Azriel’s bonus where I got the ick aside from his and gwyns’ awkward conversation- is when he said Lucien doesn’t deserve Elain. I get where that statement was coming from but he isn’t someone to decide who deserves who. This is what doesn’t make sense: antis call Az entitled for simply WONDERING why Elain was given to Lucien, he hs made no move to break elucien up. He hs not forced anything onto Elain. He doesn’t dictate or control her interactions with Lucien, the fact he hadn’t planned a future for them either all show he is far from acting entitled. But eluciens needed a way to make Az seem bad and lucien better hence why latched onto this argument when it doesn’t make sense given what we know about Azriels character, his thoughts, actions and what he said in the bonus.

“3 sisters and 3 brothers is cliche” whilst reading a romantasy series ( a genre filled with repetitive cliches) by an author who claims to be the queen of cliches. Every single fated mates ending up together? Cliche. Omg the trainer and his trainee fell in love? How unique. Its not like that is also a popular trope. I cannot give you any book/s in which 3 sisters end w 3 brothers, I however can pull out multiple books with the fated mates/warriors/trainerxtrainee tropes.

Too bad. Mass loves the IC - There is no reason why Nesta/valkryies and Az would go to another court. Wait - but the night court is Azriels home. Its where he belongs, unlike Elain who has to leave…but now they want Az to leave too? One thing you can trust antis to do is be consistent with their inconsistencies. Honestly, I was open to the idea of gwynriel but genuinely none of their theories or HCs make sense. In a general sense gwynriel is a good ship sure but you can generally ship any two characters together from the series. It doesn’t mean it’s happening & they’ll be endgame.

Gwyn definitely isn’t evil. However I do think she has the potential to become morally grey which im all here for.

[mrmeepsmadmind]

Please i would love to hear all of the headcannons on Soundblaster i beg we need more of this silly guy

PUTTING U IN MY POCKET AND CHERISHING U FOREVER FOR ASKING ME THIS. i LOOOVEEE YAPPPP!!!!!!!

MY SOUNDBLASTER HEADCANONS / GEN THOUGHTS AND STUFF !!!!!! Warning for dark, mature topics like g*re mention / h*micide ‼️‼️. Not rlly explored but mentioned. No s*xual stuff tho. Still tho, disclaimer, he's an awful cold mech ... who tortures u and twerks to stuck in the middle with you while doing it

best way i can describe how i view Soundblaster is an orca born & raised at SeaWorId who ended up accidentally kiIIing a trainer while playing as a baby and was then separated from his mother, pod, home, everything he once knew.. & luckily released as untrainable into the wild,

but he wishes he was kiIIed instead

he yearns for family, deep down, but can't. have one .

he views his old family as weak & miserable, stuck behind glass to perform for others until they die, & he hates them for not at least trying to fight for him when they took him away. The fact that they couldn't do anything but didn't at least Try just to Attempt . . makes it even worse.

at least he is free to swim the entire ocean as his exercise. But his past follows him everywhere. he is excluded from pods for his nature being even too unorthodox for them, his fin forever drooped. other animals naturally fear him. & he misses his mom ( soundwave ), even though he hates her. He hates her because he misses her .

In my headcanon, SB was made to be a bot with No sentimental attachments, specifically to cassettes, created by Shockwave at the order of megatron. He was made with the purpose of being a bot who could send soldiers off to die without a blink. He was made to be ruthless for the decepticon cause, no one else.

Soundwave Hates SB. The mere idea of SB implies there to be a flaw within Soundwave that caused Shockwave, a mech whose intelligence is renowned, to decide such a severe action as cloning was necessary to fix that. Out of the big three decepticons, soundwave is the bot who deals with empathy the most, although that bar is VERYYYY low considering his comparisons are shockwave and starscream (who is a much better contender than shock in the empathy battle, but star is more involved with his self than outward empathy for others at this point in the war ). Soundwave deals with mentality and communication. Despite his monotone, he does feel. He tunes it out for the cause but thats because he values the cause over the value of others' thoughts, he has to, that's his Job. But tuning out his cassettes' thoughts .... it's. That's when it gets difficult. Soundwave values shockwave for his contributions for the cause with his intellectual gifts and curses. Shockwave making Soundblaster is like if your husband made The Perfect Robot Wife right in front of you and expected you to be perfectly fine with it because thats how you've HAD to be your whole life. If it's better for the cause, than it's better for everyone and everything, ultimately. So just do what you're Assigned to do, soundwave, and simply tune it Out.

SB didn't hate soundwave at the beginning.

i think the whole FAILED clone experiment should be more explored in SB. not just as a 'lol look at sb! Soundwave would NEVER do that! That's so funny!!' like that's cute of course but.. we can also go even further to 'oh my Primus. Soundwave would Never go as FAR to do this . 'and soundblaster just grins with his visor and says ' that's why i'm the Upgrade . ' he's the opposite in some extensions, but similar in some, and that's what makes others so wary, and it's not just from similar appearances, bcs i think that's something soundblaster can try to do something about and has

I think of Soundblaster as WaveWave's fucked up child who fucking hates them, can't stop being compared to them, and can't stop missing them no matter how hard he tries. He's discarded and pretends like he doesn't care, but he's so. Empty. No matter how things he forces into his new cassettes, hobbies he switches to, careers, accents, teams, bodies and parts he keeps in his tapedeck, he's just. Empty in the end.

He's programmed to be ultimately unfeeling. Everything he builds is necessary for his own entertainment, and everything he burns down is necessary for his apathetic functioning, while still desperately trying to wring out at least SOME joy out of it, but always ultimately being unable thanks to shockwave.

SB is intelligent, not to shockwave's capabilities, but he tries. He has shockwave's ability to push and abuse boundaries for the sake of expanding his interest in knowledge, and he has soundwave's observations. He collects information and then He capitalizes on it. HE capitalizes. HE is the cause here, though, not decepticons or autobots, shanix, not even to rule something because it might Seem fun at first .. but then that nagging restlessness tugs him again and he needs to make another cruel move simply for the sake of Moving, of thinking he Can feel. If others, populations, companies, markets, etc, just so happen to be lucky enough to momentarily benefit off that or unlucky enough to be tortured from it, then so be it. He doesn't care. And he's not even saying that to seem stronger to everyone because he Doesn't care (look out for, wonder, worry, valuing feelings, etc. He doesn't view anyone as anything but slight distractions to keep his processor jumping instead of just running) for Anyone, No matter how hard he tries, he always ends up abandoning everyone in the end because abandonment is all he knows. Shockwave and soundwave differ only bcs they tie with his creation. Shockwave is akin to Primus to him, only because SB doesn't care for Primus, but he Does find himself pondering Shockwave, HIS creator because Shockwave made HIM, ties to HIM, tethered to HIM. soundwave is similar. SB hates that, he hates being tethered to anything or anybot. It's just not his programming. He needs distractions so he doesn't have to think about his programming being permanent for at least a few seconds, but it always reminds him it's Never leaving in the end, and part of him doesn't want it to because if he doesn't feel nothing then he'll feel Scared, and he can't tell which is worse

Personal attributes

His voice is booming, dominating, and emphatic because he's learned how to mimic the right inflections, personality, pathology, etc to act alive just so he can remind you he's not in the end because it'll make the pain hit harder for you, & that's Much more Fun in his eyes. He can mimic accents fluently, and sometimes just changes them rapid fire for some shake up. He'll go from a cowboy to Italian in a split for no rhyme or reason, he simply Wanted to. When he Speaks, you Listen.

He views jobs as the same throwaway thing, as he views everything. He goes from a mercenary with a band of bots who admire him for his confident callousness until he burns it all to the ground to explore a new avenue, while success sometimes happens to follow bcs people can't help but worship how indifferently strong he is. Mercenary, pirate, black market, thief, torturer, executioner, decepticon brief ally, autobot brief ally, energon disperser, he wants to do it all because he needs to because it's Different and he Needs differences, not to be quirky for others, but to fool himself into thinking that just for one moment.. he could change

But he never does ! He's stuck in a programmed cycle of apathy and he's dragging others down with him to distract him from the constant spiral

Like how skybound soundwave loves sealife and whales, SB loves dolphins. He loved orcas for their color scheme, but then he researched and further fell in love, trying to model himself into something separate from soundwave without even knowing he's still stuck being eerily similar but still eerily different, not enough to be lovingly regaled the same, nor stand out as a bot truly Different and his own.

Orcas and soundblaster are very similar in many ways. Orcas can even mimic humans.

Soundblaster has STRONG mental abilities. Hypnosis is his favorite. Unlike soundwave, he doesn't care who he hurts with it, he revels in it. Until he's bored. Soundblaster loves to lure unsuspecting bots of all factions by using others' voices and their thoughts to fool everyone, like a siren, but unlike a siren, he's not trying to feed on drunken sailors for survival, he just felt like playing that day . He loves displaying graphic images on his visor or any screen, whether that be a victim's loved one dying from footage he's saved of him torturing them, or just showing them some of his favorite g*re footage because he felt like sharing that day, he just thinks it'll be a neat trick for him to do. His screens often display disturbing, uncomfortable images, with horrifying sounds to match as well

However, SB has weaker sound abilities than soundwave, either from improper training, care, or maybe even an inability to fully replicate what the original can do. His speakers are distorted and sometimes slowed or skipping. Dancing queen slowed reverb YouTube song lol. Happy music is usually not as affected by his radio quality, aside from the occasional audial splitting sparks, so he likes listening to that while torturing.

Back to the sound, his soundwave are weaker. At close distances they're stronger, but far away they echo out and surround instead of always focusing. To help him out, he has an orca-like tail that can extend from his spinal strut to help direct the waves better. But hypnosis is just so much more fun.

SB loves earth, he thinks there's just so many opportunities to have some joy before getting bored! Mimicking a mother calling for her child to lure it away for dissection. Mimicking a baby crying for its mother. Mimicking a puppy and displaying footage of a poor puppy trapped in his car with the windows up and the heat outside is excruciating so a good Samaritan can try breaking the window only to be pulled right in. So much fun!!! Sometimes, he'll even steal a singer's skin and pretend to be them so his hypnosis can easily reach bigger crowds with less effort on his part. Think the movie smile with how he invades them and their effects.

I like to think his human skin disguise's fc looks like st chroma. Just for fun.

Soundwave being able to turn others into his new cassettes is something soundblaster loves to do, and most of the time he forgets he even did it. He loves melding machine and man. He has a dog mech instead of a cat mech, with a human face melted on it. A mix of human teeth and fangs. It used to be a - eh, he doesn't remember. Maybe it was a little girl, at one point. He thinks he got the inspiration from an anime he watched. He likes anime.

His tapedeck is fucking abhorrent. He keeps his skinsuits in there. His cassettes strain and shake, but he always hypnotizes them obedient .

He has a mouth, but the mask doesn't cover directly on it. The mouth is where his chin would be, and from a direct angle, can't be seen until he tilts his helm high up and can even snap it back so the face is dangling on the other side. The mouth has various teeth of various kinds (human, monster, mech, alien, etc) inside, and eyes are everywhere, blinking gums, bloodshot cavern, even on the teeth themselves, since his helm is snapped so far behind him. They don't blink, which is why the tongue is so long, helping to coat them with moisture

Unknown if he has an actual face behind his mask or not.

I think he should have a mini friendship / pls don't kill me sb with bee like he did in the Netflix tf bcs bee is someone whose thoughts DO NOT and cannot match his actual actions bcs theyre selfish and kinda rude and bee cannot allow himself to be Imperfect or the autobot cause and optimus's reputation would be ruined. HES supposed to be their shining light, their hope. If their hope is awful, then what does that say about the cause. I think soundwave and bee are very interesting together in general, but that's another talk another day. But yeah, i think bee feels terrible for sb but also is terrified of him, but bee can't just abandon him . Not like everyone else. Bee CANT be like everyone else, he HAS to better. ...don't tell anyone he thinks that tho- he just wants it implied a little- he just has to be perfect not bcs hes secretly selfish and mean but um! U guys just kinda suck! OOPS, UM. HE MEANS. he'll just distract them by being cute or smthing... & meanwhile soundblaster is watching like 'you're mentally ill. ...I Like That. '

This is how soundblaster talks and views bee, LOL. He just keeps him alive bcs hes entertained by his trauma that bee pretends he doesn't have, which makes it all the more entertaining. I just think the dynamic would be rlly funny, not even in a shipping sense, but a I just think they would be funny sense.

Bee: i mean .. i can't help but feel bad for shockwave.. he used to be a senator.. a Good senator.. he was so kind.. empurata- it's really awful.. he looks so different now.. it must have been so painfu-

SB: WOMP WOMP :P !

Bee:

Bumblebee: ...did you just say Womp Womp to Empurata-

LIKE. i think soundblaster is so fucked up and can be even more fucked up if they just explored him more to really distinguish him but also keep that soundwave association haunting him bcs that mech is Never getting rid of it. I think even if he gets damaged and tries getting repairs, his spark turns down any parts that Don't resemble soundwave's, hence why he has skinsuits to slither into to make himself feel like he can finally relieve himself of soundwave's shadow. Hypnosis doesnt work on him, not even his own. All the mirrors are immediately broken wherever he goes. He's an ill cretin who is also very funny to me. He loves to dance and sing while torturing and is very good at it! But he's also. Awful.

He can't feel, but he can feel some sort of peculiar tie to his cassettes, mainly so he can know their location Wherever they go. He likes to purposefully dispatch his army into losing battles with terrible odds so he can feel their cries shudder from within his spark and that low hidden mouth Grins. And if they end up somehow surviving and winning, then he guesses that's good too, or whatever :/

Bumblebee would be the perfect we have to do good straight man to soundblaster with how compassionate he is.. and soundblaster would be perfect in demonstrating bee's desperation to be liked when bee mistakes soundblaster's tolerance of bee being a good distraction for fondness.. like. Tf could do so much more with sb than just a clone.. bee would be a good big character to help get others familiar with SB !!! LIKE! UGH! THERES JUST SO MUCH POTENTIAL WITH SOUNDBLASTER!!!!! but also transformers is trying to appeal to a younger audience to get new tf fans and keep it alive so i don't think we'll get the soundblaster depth i dream of... if we get more of him at all.. but still.. a m&m can Dream ..

if the name Mr. Blonde from reservoir dogs rings any bells, that's who i associate with Soundblaster as well as orcas to help understand his personality better, to conclude my yap !!!

ANYWAYS!!!! THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE THIS WEIRD THING SM!!! SILLY GUY!!!! MY EMO WIFE!!!! WE NEED SO MUCH MORE OF THIS SILLY GUYYY URGHHHHHHH!!!!!!! URE SO RIGHT! PLS ANON I LOVE U FOR ASKING ME THIS! SRRY THIS IS SO LONG! I THINK IMIGHTVE FORGOTTEN SOME THINGS BUT YEA HERES MY YAP FOR NOW !!!

[buubonita]

I generally have no problem if a writer wants to write Nightmare as someone who cares about others. Its okay. You should write for yourself, and its up to others if they like it or not.

But I'd rather see Nightmare struggle with his own nature in the process. Learning to be better must be a difficult path for him, and I've said before that his "wanting" would not be healthy because of what Nightmare embodies. He can't help but hurt others in his loving ways. And that's much more entertaining to read. How the others react to this attempt and how this could change their dynamic? Would this draw them all closer to each other? I'd dying to see it!

My problem with canon Nightmare is that while the concept is amazing, the execution is not of my liking, the creator said Nightmare is not a person like Dream, he is a THING that acts by nature.

And i have this in mind all the time because you can yet make him move and act conditioned by his nature and do a lot of more of the character by just being "oooh ohh he is so mean!!" Give him an identity to start with maybe? Give him motivations besides his survive? Yeah.

[wonder-worker]

Wild how we know that Elizabeth Woodville was officially appointed to royal councils in her own right during her husband’s reign and fortified the Tower of London in preparation of a siege while 8-months pregnant and had forces gathering at Westminster “in the queen’s name” in 1483 – only for NONE of these things to be even included, let alone explored, in the vast majority of scholarship and historical novels involving her.

[possamble]

What are your headcanons about Marcille's mom if you have any? It's interesting that what drew Donato to her was cause she lived the history he studied, or that was said somewhere at least. She must've had an interesting life.

so this was going to be just a normal answer but then I realized I have a Lot of Things To Say. so here goes, a compilation of what we know for a fact from the canon, what I've extrapolated from the visual cues and details, and my theories based on all of that.

Things we know for a fact about Marcille's mother because they were explicitly stated in the manga and supplemental materials:

She was a court mage for a Tall-man kingdom at the southern part of the Northern Continent

Donato, a court historian, fell in love with her because she had lived through the history he was studying, and he courted her for 17 years (age 15 to 32) before getting married

She was a cheerful person who rarely showed extreme emotion and took things as they came

She always cooked a huge meal for Marcille on her birthdays

She remarried a gnome after Donato's death and a short distance away from Marcille's childhood home

Pipi, Marcille's pet bird, was actually older than Marcille and originally belonged to her mother (bird died at 62)

She was extremely heartbroken when Donato died and ultimately ended up instilling a deep fear of mortality in Marcille with her words

the only time she showed extreme emotion in front of her family was when Donato could no longer eat his favourite dish near the end of his life.

She scolded Marcille for being cruel to ants (implying she can have a stern side when needed)

Things that are explicitly shown but mostly through visual cues

She has a very distinctive style of dress always involving a ribbon choker (mirroring Marcille's habit of always wearing a matching choker with any of her outfits that don't cover her neck)

She was almost stereotypically good at housekeeping and traditionally "wifely" things (very frequently depicted wearing an apron or doing some domestic chore when not at work, seems to have been an avid cook).

She knits? (also, note the affectionate smile as she's looking at Donato and Marcille reading a book together in the full panel)

She was as excited for Marcille's milestones as Donato was.

She didn't tell Marcille much about elven food

(there are a couple things that this panel in particular implies:

She lived a good deal of her life (if not being born and raised) in a mainly elven country in the West, implied by her knowing enough of an elven region's cuisine to prefer Tall-man food over it

seems to have a pretty carefree and casual demeanour overall, if this is how she replied to Marcille asking her about it (sounds like she never gave her culinary preferences that much thought to begin with)

slightly related to number 2, it seems like she and Marcille had a fairly casual parent-child dynamic (especially in comparison to the Toudens' memory of their father)

(local elf tastes Italian food once and never goes back))

However, she seems a lot more... serious in most of the other times we see her? Almost like the very stereotypical archetype of a graceful elf.

Subsequent conclusions about her personality:

Usually pretty carefree and cheerful at home, has been a loving and attentive parent throughout Marcille's childhood (while not being so doting that she didn't discipline Marcille).

Slightly more conjectural theories on her personality:

Had a much more graceful and professional personality at work, which would explain the more serious portraits we see of her.

Given that both she and Donato had positions at the royal court, it seems a little odd that she'd go out of her way to do all the housework herself, so maybe she just enjoyed doing it?

Now taping all the evidence together and toeing the line between analysis and fanfiction:

It's clear that she loved Donato very much and was utterly devastated by losing him. But there's one thing that really stuck out to me in what little we see of her:

Doesn't she seem... angry? The way she's gritting her teeth, clutching the tablecloth, and how this is the first and only time we see her eyes opened that wide. In the following panel, you see her being quiet and dejected after her initial outburst. She's still crying very intensely, but her brows are furrowed, and she's not really responding to Donato's affection in her body language.

We're not told the details of how she felt about losing Donato other than that it upset her. But this, to me, implies that she was angry and resented that he was aging, that the end of his life was approaching. An "it's not fair" type of preemptive grief. And if this was the first and last time she cried like this in front of her family, she was either very good at coping in private... or very bad at letting herself feel unpleasant emotions until they become unavoidable and end up overwhelming her.

It's not too remarkable a detail on the surface. It's even reminiscent of what the audience has seen of Marcille. But... when it comes to the big picture, you'd think an elf who voluntarily chose to marry a tall-man and have a half-elf child would have been better prepared for this.

It kind of recontextualizes her cheerfulness to me.

"I'm sure everything's gonna be okay!" (or some variation thereof, depending on what translation you have).

And this is stated to contrast her extreme grief when finally confronting Donato's failing body and eventual death. But I'm wondering if... maybe this optimism was why she was so upset. What if she went into all of it thinking "everything's gonna be okay"? What if she was a little young by elven standards, and just followed her heart thinking that her own resilience would get her through anything?

Of course, only to get completely overwhelmed when she actually loses Donato. She turns into a completely different person. And that's heartbreaking on its own-- but what the audience sees is the effect it had on Marcille. Can you imagine being her, watching your invincible and upbeat mother suddenly lose all the light in her eyes in one go?

I've already made a huge post about how I think Marcille models her "work persona" off her mother, but another thing that stuck with me as I was looking for more details in the manga was this:

copy pasting from the other post i made about it lmao it's like... the second she resigns herself to lifelong pain and terror, there's another portrait of her mother facing her like this. with their heads bowed, in mirrored body language of resignation and despair and sorrow. Except it's posed like Marcille is still looking at her mother but her mother is looking away.

It took me a second to realize, but I think that it's a visual metaphor for the fact that Marcille's mother was the only long-lived role model she had-- and she failed to model healthy grief for her daughter. I don't say this as an accusation or to disparage her as a character, but just as a matter of fact. In her, Marcille was seeing herself older and losing a short-lived spouse or loved one of her own, and all she saw was hopelessness.

But her mother didn't mean to instill hopelessness and terror in her. She wasn't really thinking of how it would truly affect Marcille at all (at least, that's how I'm interpreting her looking down and away from Marcille in the metaphor), she was just sad. And she, in her own way, was trying to protect her daughter and help her prepare for future losses.

What she meant was "loss is inevitable, and you have to learn how to be in pain but live on anyway." What Marcille heard was "loss is inevitable, and you will be scared and hurt for the rest of your life."

Again. Marcille's mother doesn't feature explicitly in the story the way her father does -- but in so many ways, her shadow, her silhouette, her reflection is always hanging over Marcille.

All that to say... headcanon-wise (everything from here on is 100% without evidence lmao), I'd like to think that she matured and realized that she failed Marcille. I imagine her being regretful about it, wanting a chance to fix it but never finding a way to insert herself back into Marcille's life when Marcille is so so so busy becoming the most accomplished mage possible. I imagine her being herself again, now, so many years after her loss and after remarrying -- but with her cheerfulness tempered with a lot more wisdom and the pain of having gone through loss like that. I think the second Marcille actually tells her what happened in the dungeon, she'd want to go running to her daughter again -- if Marcille tells her the full truth instead of just being embarrassed she let things get that far. (oh, the tragedy of her wanting to be more like her mother and an accomplished adult who doesn't need to be babied... being embarrassed to actually tell her mother how much she fucked up...)

There's also the tension of her having remarried -- I know that there's at least a little bit of resentment that Marcille harbours about that, because she's childish like that at heart even if she makes an effort not to externalize it. I think that her mother would be aware of that, potentially adding to her sense of guilt and apprehension at trying to reappear/intrude on Marcille's life. I honestly don't think Marcille has met her stepfather -- or even considers him a stepfather rather than "mama's new husband" and kind of a total stranger. I think she and her mother actively don't talk about it in their correspondence, like an elephant in the room.

but, ultimately, I think her mother is on her side no matter what. Ancient magic? Dark necromancy? Sure, she'll feel guilty and like she was partially responsible for setting Marcille down such a painful path, but she wouldn't care. that's her daughter!! she would've moved back west and been petitioning for her at the court, buying a house right next to the Canaries barracks and visiting her every day that she wasn't on a mission. And if her husband had opinions on Marcille becoming a "dark arts user," he either gets over it or it's divorce with him. Yes, she might have had her optimism completely humbled by losing Donato like that -- but she's still headstrong and self-assured and she doesn't care what people think of her. It's her way or the highway and she's always going to be in Marcille's corner.

(She also needs a name lol. I went with Juno, just to be cute about "Marcille"s closest real life equivalent being Marcella, which is the female version of Marcellus, which in turn is a diminutive of Marcus, which was derived from Mars. Absolutely in love with Marcille potentially being named after Ares/Mars the fucking god of war btw)

[arom-antix]

Don't worry, you're not butting in. I want as many people to add their takes to this discussion because that way the discussion can be more nuanced and all-encompassing of different views and experiences. Thank you for joining.

And I totally agree. My main gripe with this person's approach to fandom isn't that they love certain interpretations or that they're not all that academic. It's that they put down other fans, whether directly or indirectly, by invalidating their interpretations of canon and whining about their lack of peers with comparative intellect. I can't believe I have to say this but if you have to state that you're clever, you aren't. This dismissive attitude towards anyone with a different approach to canon and the information we have is actively discouraging people from engaging in discussions of said canon (something I know Samurai cares about a lot. I've scrolled through most of their blog and their entire BlueSky and I have a lot of screenshots and links but it's past 2am so I'll have to add those tomorrow). Of course I'm not claiming anything definitely and I'd love for Samurai to put in their own two cents but from reading a lot of their posts, I get the feeling that they don't actually know what a headcanon is.

Quoting from Dictionary.com: "Headcanon is a slang term for someone’s personal interpretation of or belief about the details of a fictional story that aren’t part of the “official” account. [...] In contrast, headcanon is simply what a fan believes (or wants) to be true about a story. It can involve backstory, what happens after the story ends, or any other aspect. [...] Of course, it is possible for someone’s headcanon to become canon if such details later become part of the story or are confirmed as true in some way." This definition is corroborated by for example UrbanDictionary.com. Now, I'm not here to argue pedantics of what a headcanon is or isn't since it's not that strict a term, but I just want to point out that something which is not proven as canon qualifies as a headcanon and something that happens pre-, during, or post-canon and isn't explained in the canon material is by definition a headcanon.

I'm mentioning this because while reading through their posts I got the feeling that they harbour a certain disdain for headcanons as if they're beneath them and canon. But considering I'm extremely aware of what their fics contain by now and that they claim to exclusively write canon compliant fics, this dismissal of headcanon as almost unworthy of their time is ridiculous to me. A large part of their fics consist entirely of headcanons. Likely headcanons, sure, but headcanons nonetheless. You can subdivide into soulcanon, heartcanon, crackcanon, etc. but the bottom line is that all these add-ons to canon are not canon and are by definition headcanons.

I also want to touch on the whole ace debate. While acephobia is definitely a problem and sex positive ace erasure even more so, I find it pretty ridiculous to levy such a strong accusation against people who so much as suggest that there are other explanations of Yuuri's behaviour in canon. If there's an allosexual gay guy out there who sees himself in Yuuri's experiences and behaviour because maybe he didn't realise what he was feeling was sexual attraction towards guys and as such he didn't understand the Eros assignment, is that experience invalid grounds to interpret YOI as Yuuri's personal coming out story simply because someone else finds that implausible? Of course not.

And I want to clarify that I like the ace headcanons and am ace myself but as an ace person I can also confirm that I know literally nothing about what it's like to be allosexual. I don't know if an allosexual person might also have trouble identifying Eros because I don't have those experiences to prove or disprove this. And as an ace person too, I find it questionable that Samurai insists that they can definitively say that Yuuri's experiences make him ace. Is it a plausible conclusion? Sure and as stated I myself like this interpretation. Is it the only valid one and does interpreting it as anything else based on the same canon evidence and personal anecdotal evidence make you acephobic? No it does not.

Acephobia is a real problem that could be called out but I personally think such accusations should be reserved for cases that aren't about like a fictional anime man whom none of us personally know. Levying such strong language and accusations against people is why they don't engage with this person. They don't want to be dragged through the mud for simply suggesting an alternate approach to analysing the evidence (I have a friend who's confirmed that they've refrained from posting about certain curious thoughts simply because they didn't want to end up being criticised for a simple sharing of ideas so this is not a baseless statement. They've asked to be kept anonymous though so it's up to you if you believe me).

To reiterate: there's nothing wrong with believing Yuuri is ace-spec. I myself like this theory. But a probable headcanon is not grounds to call people acephobes or publicly demean them for simply wanting to expand the discussion. Acephobia has no home here but neither does harassment of people simply asking to consider alternate interpretations of canon. It's an anime. We're not doing C-14 dating here. There is no indisputable, empirical truth when it comes to the human experience and claiming that there is is just as ignorant as claiming Yuuri cannot be interpreted as ace. Just let people have fun with their blorbos. It's not that serious.

A totally different thing I just want to mention real quick that bothers me about Samurai too is their lack of owning up to mistakes. I very briefly pointed out a mistake in their use of Katakana in their post about the Latin spelling of Yuuri/Yuri and instead of simply acknowledging it, they silently corrected the original post (incorrectly, might I add) and then explained what they meant but not actually understanding. チ is written as chi in Latin characters. Not ch, not ti/tsi (neither of which are Latinisations of any existing individual characters in Japanese for those who don't know (excluding any combinations like つぃ or ツィ)), チ is just chi. コ一チ is just like any other loan word but I'm sure you can explain this better than I can, Rikeijo (and can point it out if I've misunderstood something). It was a spelling mistake. Just move on. Don't try to make an excuse for it. It's not that deep.

Scrolling through their posts, I've repeatedly seen this diversion from the actual criticism or issue at hand. It's okay to just be straight up wrong. Just admit it. It's not dangerous, it's actually quite admirable. It feels like a variant of whataboutism where the discussion never goes anywhere because Samurai just keeps bringing up new things that weren't part of the discussion. It's okay to bring things up as you discuss but I've seen multiple instances of this not expanding a discussion but instead falling into the slippery slope fallacy.

Again, it's past 3am now and most of my links and screenshots are on my computer so sorry about the lack of academic sources. Good thing this is just a discussion about anime and that no one is required to have a PhD in YOI to be here.

Hey, just wanted to reach out to say that I found you pointing out and calling this person was really great and you shouldn't have apologized. It was incredibly true what you said, and to be honest it seems out of touch with the reality of a great deal of the japanese fandom, the nuances and their culture. Also, it was as you pointed out, extreme and may I say rude. I want to mention too that the way it was written, as if entitled of the knowledge and the 'explanation' made it all worse in context of the 'fucked up'. The original poster always gets away by using the 'well-written academic'' statement of their 'metas' as an excuse to do or say and make everyone else agree and if not, uses victim narrative and discourses exactly selecting wording for people to agree on it or feel bad.

I don't know if they tagging you in the way they did made you reblog and apologizing/backing up, but no one thought bad about you pointing it out. On the contrary, a lot of people had been bullied and discriminated by this person when they called them out/disagreed going onto lenghts of sending their friends to harass people, and the other persons can't even defend themselves because they are effectively blocked. To quite a few people in the fandom has been done, even accusing them as 'acephobes' (when they're not) or even Nazis by spreading lies. So yeah, I just wanted to say that. I think you were right to call them out publicly.

Thank you very much for this ask. To be completely honest I agree with everything you said here and don't actually feel bad about pointing anything out. I mainly apologised because I didn't want any potentially poor phrasing from my side to cause unnecessary hostility and because I myself have gripes with this person's behaviour but didn't want to cause a scene.

My honest opinion is that they have a serious issue with taking accountability for their own mistakes and highly overestimate their own intellect. If you're reading this, @thegirlwhorideslikeasamurai, sorry if I seem harsh, but it's true. I saw your post lamenting how you're the only academic meta writer / fan in the fandom and I didn't interact then because I honestly do not care enough to start that drama but with the information Blonndiec has just given me, I think it's necessary that someone calls you out.

You're not an academic. You're not beyond the mental capabilities of other fans. You're actually incredibly childish in your metas and analyses and I am not kidding when I say that I was halfheartedly writing essays more academic than every analysis I've seen from you when I was barely a teenager. I don't know how old you are and I frankly don't care. You're not as clever as you think you are.

Also, don't think I didn't notice that you didn't reblog my correction (link here to my correction and here to their "response" for those who didn't see that exchange) of your post so that you could control what your followers saw of the exchange. You're the opposite of an academic. You control information to tailor the narrative, you don't cite your sources properly if at all, you don't format your posts in anything close to how an academic analysis would be, you make unbased claims, you reference posts and canon material without in any way indicating where that information is from, you reference your own (equally unacademic) metas and your conclusions from them without indicating what post it's from or that it's your own theory this new one is based on and instead present it as a common fact, and I could go on and on and on. Your posts are also riddled with logical fallacies and you talk in absolutes and opinions when there's no canon basis to claim such things. I'm sorry, but that's not academic in the slightest.

To be clear, you don't have to be an academic to post on the Internet. You don't have to be anything at all. You could up front be a genuine idiot with no remorse and that's fine. But when you claim to be an academic and also put down the rest of the fandom for not being on your level, you have to be able to back that up. It'd still make you sound like a prick but at least your arrogance would have a basis. It currently does not.

I haven't personally seen the discussions that Blonndiec is referencing and I'm not going to claim anything definitive (because that would be unacademic of me, take notes) but if what they're saying is true and did happen as described, which I have empirical, if anecdotal, evidence to believe could very well be (a friend of mine has personally been blocked by you after they criticised you without actually mentioning your name which I of course can't prove is the reason for the block but the timing is awfully convenient), you should know that you should be ashamed of yourself.

If there's context missing, feel free to enlighten me and call out any incorrect accusations. You have every right to defend yourself. However, I encourage you to cite your sources since you're such an academic. If you don't, then it's just your word against Blonndiec and anyone else who might comment's word and that doesn't prove anything. Don't misunderstand, acephobia and nazi rhetoric should absolutely be called out but only if it's actually happening. False accusations can ruin lives. I hope you know that.

I'm not a fan of calling people out publicly and, again, thank you for this ask, Blonndiec. But considering many of the issues I've personally seen and those I've been informed of by second hand sources were posted publically, I don't really feel bad about calling this out. I could do a full breakdown of just the insulting "academic" comments alone and how there's no academia to be found in said academic metas and, Samurai, if you give me reason to, I will show exactly what I mean point by point (and academically just to give you an example of even low level academia).

If you respond to this, do it in a reblog. That's what a real academic would do. If I'm wrong and you can prove it, you'd have no reason to not show my post in your rebuttal. If I'm right, you'd have every reason to be upfront about your mistakes and how you intend to rectify them. There's nothing wrong with being wrong but there's a lot wrong with refusing to admit to it in a way that lets others peer review you (academic thing, look it up) and come to their own conclusions about the situation. That's what you did when you just @'ed me instead of reblogging my response. A true academic wouldn't hide a peer review. You'd know that if you were one.

I swing in many academic spaces and yet that doesn't make me any kind of expert and I don't claim to be one because I'm not. But since you want to be one so badly, reblog this with a response and show us all how smart you are. I'm dying to know what your academic take on this is.

[feroluce]

Lucid Dreamer (2/2)

part 1

Gepard stalls almost a week before he finally goes out to the safehouse, and it takes him a couple days to find it because Sampo didn't have the time left to be wasn't super specific about the location. But he does find it.

It's pretty bare bones, really. Gepard knows that was probably to be expected, but… It feels crushing, when he realizes there are so few personal things here. It's nothing specific to Sampo. Just some food, some medical supplies. A cot and a heater and a lot of mismatched blankets. Nothing to remember someone by.

But he does find the letters, in a metal box stashed away under the bed.

There are two for him. Three for Natasha, and two for Seele. One for Hook, one for Serval, one for Pela, one for Bronya.

Bronya's is mostly business. They knew each other from the whole Stellaron incident, but not much beyond that, and the incoming catastrophe is a more pressing matter. Seele's is actually two copies of the same letter, and Gepard realizes why when Seele is so angry she rips the first one up without reading it. He gives her the copy a couple days later, and she slinks off without a word.

Pela seems completely normal after hers is delivered, but Gepard knows better than to trust that. The next day, he finds her asleep in bed with Serval, bottles abandoned on the floor, both their eye makeup smeared and running and Pela's glasses horribly smudged and crooked on her face. Serval doesn't read hers in front of him, but she's clingy with Gepard, Pela, and Lynx for quite a while after. She throws herself into her work a lot. She insists the heater from the safehouse is busted and she needs to keep it. It's too dangerous for use by someone who's not an engineer. Might burn their house down or something. Gepard doesn't argue.

Hook's letter is short, with easy to read words. The rest of it is actually a treasure map, and she and the moles spend the next several days running through the Underground, finding hidden candy and toys. Hook asks them when Sampo is coming back, because one of the marbles she found from his map looks green, just like his eyes, and she wants to give it to him. Natasha shoos Gepard out of the clinic before he can even begin to think of an answer.

Natasha refuses to let him see what's in her letters, which ok, fine, he'll respect that. He hears from Bronya who heard from Seele who heard from Natasha herself though that one of the letters was a map and the other a catalogue, with all of Sampo's hidden "warehouses." Gepard promptly marches himself back out to the frontlines, where he can turn a blind eye. If a ton of stolen goods suddenly enters the black market, and if the orphanage and the clinic suddenly have new supplies, well, technically that's none of his business.

Gepard goes to bed, curls up under mismatched blankets and closes his eyes.

He doesn't dream.

One of Gepard's letters was also business, like Bronya's and Natasha's. He and Bronya follow everything meticulously, down to the letter, because there has to be some good to get out of all this, there has to be. Gepard can't let it all be for nothing, it would bury him.

And so the catastrophe passes. Not without casualties, and not without a lot of damage and destruction. But Belobog survives.

And after that, time just kind of…goes on. Gepard has been a part of the Silvermanes since he was old enough to enlist. The Fragmentum had gotten so much worse in the years before Welt sealed the Stellaron. He knows the statistics, it is literally his and Pela's jobs to keep track. He knows when he sees a face everyday in the camps and then it's suddenly gone. He's not unfamiliar with things like grief and loss.

He still catches himself checking the trashcans and the supply crates and soldiers' footprints sometimes, though.

But there comes a night where Gepard goes to bed, holding the mismatched blankets to his face, and he dreams. And it's strange, it's off, it sticks with him. Sampo doesn't look the same. He's thinner. His muscles have atrophied. He looks like how Gepard has seen soldiers after months in the hospital.

The most unsettling difference is there's a scar across the left side of his head, Gepard can see it over his ear, peeking out past his hairline, carving towards his cheek. Sampo is always careful about his face. Gepard once saw him dodge a Fragmentum monster and literally let it cut across his neck just to keep his face clear. He wouldn't let that happen for nothing.

Their actions in the dream itself aren't new. Sampo seems tired, run down and worn out, but he announces his presence with aplomb by lobbing a bunch of smoke bombs off the rooftops and sending his soldiers scrambling. Same shit, different day.

The new part is what he says when Gepard chases him out to the edges of the camp, tackles him into the snow. Gepard pins him to the frozen ground to detain him and Sampo doesn't even fight it, just looks up at him like he's seeing sunrise for the first time in months.

"I'll be home in one week."

[fluffs-n-stuffs]

More Pokémon Horizons Episode 25 spoilers under the cut!

As much as I laughed from how this played out like an unintentionally comedic moment---can I mention how much this actually does to separate Amethio from the rest of the Explorers; how he's actually honorable and respects Friede as a rival of sorts?

The rest of the Explorers tend to use underhanded tricks to get what they want (Spinel brainwashing Liko and attempting to wipe her memory, Onyx and Sango trying to overwhelm the others against direct orders whilst causing the destruction of everything else around them), but Amethio has been unique in how he's regarded as 'by the books' (by Friede) and constantly tries to be on equal footing with his opponent- even if it means putting himself at the disadvantage when he has more resources to utilize.

He could've very easily overwhelmed Friede by having both of his mons attack at once (given how Captain Pikachu hadn't arrived yet)---and yet he- doesn't. Which is just so interesting to me as he's meant to have a similar goal as the rest of the Explorers (which is to retrieve the pendant/Terapagos by any means necessary).

So in this case, was it really a matter of defeating Friede so that he could easily confront Liko afterwards,,, or,,,,, was he trying to prove himself somehow? 👀✨✨✨

[iguessitsjustme]

Listen. Do I know it's a bad idea to go into the MDL comments? Yes. Do I do it anyway? Of course I do. I'm nosy. I want to see what disasters are happening in there.