#... but then I drew at least 50% of it in a two and a half hour timeframe yesterday

[stardestroyer81]

✨🍕Happy first anniversary to Pizza Tower!!!🍕✨

More specifically, the full release of Pizza Tower! This wonderful game has been a large part of my life in this past year, such as being the sole reason why rats are one of my favorite animals now alongside influencing my artstyle to be a smidge toonier!

I just had to draw a little something for it, and it's definitely one of the most detail-intensive Pizza Tower drawings I've made yet! 💙✨

[stablersolivia]

Thoughts on Caryl/MMB/TWDCaryl

First things first, I'm super new to the fandom stuff involving anything The Walking Dead... but I've been through this before.

So--- I began The Walking Dead in 2018, which is around when Season 8 was about to premiere I believe (correct me if I'm wrong). Nevermind the fact I watched the premiere episode all the way back in 2010 and for some reason, never watched again, lol. All I remember is binge watching the first 7 seasons and waiting for the new season to air. But something came up, and I somehow lost track of the new episodes. Fast forward 6ish years and I decided to rewatch from the beginning ...on election night .... to distract from the chaos. I ended up watching the entire series (plus two seasons of #TWDCaryl) in 3 weeks.

Similar to many other fans, I loved the whole cast, but something drew me to Carol and Daryl the most. I remember loving them the first time, but I never really "delved" into it. I liked the idea of them, but I wasn't super... shippy if that makes sense. But---and this is important--- I was already fully immersed in a long-term ship already in EO. Yeah, that EO. The 25 year long slow burn ship from Law and Order SVU. I guess you can say I didn't have the brain function to obsess over two different ships... at least not back 6ish years ago, which is still about 2 years before news broke Chris Meloni/Elliot was coming back to the franchise after 10 YEARS away. SO--- if you're familiar at all with that and/or EO and the drama with the ship itself, the other ships within the show, and the fans --then we're on the same page.

Which brings me back to Caryl/TWD spinoff. I can't say I'm super surprised at the drama surrounding the new spinoff ---which I was insanely excited about years ago when it was first announced even though I hadn't watched the show in a couple of years. Plus, I was a Caryl fan from the beginning too. But then the news broke that Melissa wasn't going to be on the spinoff after all and I remember thinking --- I'm kind of glad I didn't get as invested in them as I have EO (which is ridiculously invested ---17 years worth of fanfic, fanart, twitter, tumblr friends, etc). But after rewatching the series in its entirety this past November-- I've lost that battle. While I didn't hardcore ship Caryl the first time around (even though I really liked the idea) ---I'm down bad now. Especially after watching seasons 9/10/11 and now the spinoff. My twitter bookmarks, tumblr queue and tags are a Caryl mess right now and I wouldn't want it any other way.

I absolutely adore Melissa and Norman, and their friendship mirrors Chris and Mariska's on SVU's as well (Elliot and Olivia) in a lot of ways -- but that's for another time. (Also-- if you haven't watched Norman's ep of SVU -- highly recommend -- it's in Season 7). I truly think the friendships behind these characters truly drive the effectiveness of duos and ships. If the actors don't get along and/or truly love each other in real life-- it's just not the same. The love truly bleeds onto the screen when it's organic. It really makes everything "earned' like Mariska and Norman have both said about the relationships.

So--- it's disheartening to see that even though Melissa is back in the TWD world after all, and appeared at the end of S1 of the spinoff and all of Season 2, that she's -- from what I've seen tweeted/posted on tumblr --- not getting the respect she deserves, or so it seems. Being a part of a duo comes with all kinds of peaks and valleys. So, one half not getting what they deserve is something I hope sincerely isn't the case. She is literally my favorite female character on this show. I truly think MMB, is a gifted actress who is light years ahead in talent. And again, I love pretty much every character.

With MMB being a woman of a certain age leading a long running show--- I can't help go back to SVU with Mariska. Being leading women on high profile tv shows in your late 50's, early 60's is something to celebrate and be super careful with to be quite frank. MH has been lead/Co-lead on her show for 26 seasons now and an executive producer. If she's getting the respect over at nbc, then Melissa certainly should be getting the same over at amc. (Don't get me wrong, there is still BS behind the scenes on SVU too, but in different ways). Especially if she's also now an EP on TWD. ESPECIALLY by being a part of this for 15 years which is nothing to sneer at. Carol has got to be amongst the longest running female characters on television right now.

I certainly don't know much about what is going on behind the scenes in this case, and I don't really want to knowing what I've known and heard with SVU over the years. Sometimes it's better to NOT know. That's totally ignoring what the showrunner is saying in interviews and what not. I've definitely heard about him. Ugh. With that being said, hopefully things are not what they seem and that there's a lot to be excited and surprised about when Season 3 comes out I'm assuming later this year. There's a thin line between toxic positivity and just having been around the block a few times with previous shows and trying to wait it out. This means taking into consideration what is being filmed elsewhere and indoors.

I'm rooting for Caryl (big time) and for good writing for them. In regards to MMB not being seen on set much, hopefully it's purely her decision for it being that way, or because they're doing what SVU/OC have been doing and trying to keep storylines under wraps so they aren't spoiled --since the whole S2 got released prematurely for the Caryl Spinoff. Maybe it's wishful thinking. Maybe it's seen through rose-colored lenses because I'm not used to this type of fandom discourse like I am with SVU.

It's 2025, and I'm just rooting for my ships to finally receive the writing/canon they deserve. I must be a glutton for punishment because why in the frick do I ship these two??? LOL.

Anyways, I just wanted to get this off my chest because I hate seeing the downside to something I love so much and I'm sure that's true for everyone who comes across this.

I'll certainly be over on twitter expressing my love for Melissa/Carol and Caryl. (I do love Norman as well -- but wanted to focus this on what's important and that's giving Melissa her flowers.) Give that woman an EMMY. Anyways.

Thanks for reading my thoughts even as discombobulated as they may be. Caryl is endgame! BOOM.

[ichorblossoms]

honeybee year two recap

it's 4/20. it's easter. it's a friend's birthday. and on top of all that today also marks two years since grimm and yarrow appeared damn near fully formed in my brain, took up residence, and still have not left. and i feel like rambling about what all i've been compelled to do

(year one recap post here btw)

but also before you go under the cut i made a whole entire animatic so look at that too tee hee :3c

okay also before i get into little details and stats and stuff i just wanna give a HUGE thank you to everyone who follows this blog and is cheering me and this story on it genuinely means so much to me that people like what i'm doing and are in some way invested in it! what the hell!! it's such a treat to be able to talk about ocs with friends and all that :,,,>

art

well. i drew them a lot. serena for reference bc she's my oldest oc. also a year ago grimm and yarrow were at 61 and 51 images respectively. art fight stuff and gifts count towards this total so it's not all my own stuff but. it's fucking dire

as for some of my favorites i liked how these in particular turned out hehe

also those short animations but those are gonna copypaste weird

they got proper ref sheets!

i'm currently on my. fifth sketch/artwork file (blank one is the current one i'm just weird abt how i save things)

mailed out prints of them!!!! and internationally!!!! my silly little cowboys are out and about in the world what the hell..........

getting more comfortable drawing Adult stuff of them but i have a lot of other ideas competing for my focus at any given time so it's not a priority dghkldfh

comics! not as fruitful as last year but i've done....eight! whole comic pages of them! tbh i have more in the works either thumbnailed or half-sketched but the animatic took over my last little while so. not as many comics

sorry i'm gonna mention that fucking animatic again bc i have never done anything like that before. dunno if/when i'll do another but ! i made one !!

story/writing

i also made a 50-slide powerpoint about what the fuck is going on in honeybee. just like in general. feel free to look at it btw

also i gave that presentation to friends a total of. three times. they willingly opened that can of worms though idk

i got a physical notebook to tease out plot shit in and that's about....halfway full already? like at least fifty handwritten full pages of thoughts in that fucker. this is where i do most of my hooting and hollering about ideas

the first draft is currently up to 83k words !! which means i wrote nearly ~50k words this past year !

started sharing my writing for occasional wip wednesdays !! i'm still pretty picky about what i share and also just like. very aware i'm still a pretty amateur writer hdgkldf

that being said, writing feels a lot easier now than when i started !!

made some posts sharing details about things! but honestly i still struggle with talking about oc stuff unprompted even when This Is My Blog Where I Do That

some story developments i figured out this past year or so: grimm backstory stuff, yarrow kills at least two people before p3, the beginning of all three parts have been reworked or are in the process of it, p3 has more meat and direction (still fizzles out to disjointed scenes at another point, but that's a matter of writing things out), yarrow actually realizes grimm's humod when they first meet but grimm thinks it's hiding it, rappock's mining union is going to play a larger role in p1/2, grimm's run out of town in p1 bc of money, not the killing, grimm's p1 client is who hunts it down at the end of p2, lucy comes into play later in p3 than i first imagined

other stuff

i've been getting more tags where ppl recognize grimm n yarrow and i'm like?? bewildered by that? people know my fellas?

goals/plans

as it is right now, honeybee is a passion project. i mostly work on it in my free time outside of my work hours and that's probably how it's going to be for the forseeable future

with how large of an undertaking this story is, my sssort of plan is to: write out the first draft (i am here) which is organized chronologically, write the second draft in the actual story order, have people beta read that draft, edit the story accordingly, then begin the process of actually making the final story with illustrations and all. this will take me several years even without getting sidetracked

that being said i would like to get the first draft to 100k words by the end of the year, which seems pretty plausible!! reachign for the stars goal is finish the first draft within the next year but i'm not holding myself to that one

also wanna do more comic stuff this next year. like i said i have a few other ideas but also there's some illustration stuff cooking away too

my plan honestly is just to keep consistently working on things as they interest me. i want to see this story realized how i envision it, but i truly do not know what the next year has in store for me so! i continue to ball

[rezcowgirl]

Make your friends draw things. For example: make them draw their favourite bird after 3 drinks. 

And then treasure them forever.

Corvid bloc power. I love that me and Jess basically drew the same thing, except her’s is a raven and mine is a crow with a peanut butter packet that I saw once (the…the one on the top left is supposed to be a crow, too. It was drawn by a 44 year old).

Alex also wrote: "ALEX. Dakota has friends" because I was saying that I'm pretty sure my mom doesn't believe I have friends...He's so thoughtful.

The only dress code was “wear your favourite socks”.  And the only request was "get sloshed on my schnapps" because we somehow ended up with THREE bottles of peppermint schnapps and I HATE that shit. But someone brought Poli Miele and made a 50/50 ratio shot with the schnapps and it weirdly worked?

About half of my friends don't drink, so I also offered two really nice proxies. I'm a wonderful host btw. Even if I fall ass first onto your face (you are welcome).

I slept for fifteen hours afterward, but I’d say the party was restorative. To my soul. Probably not to my body, but I can worry about that later. Falling into the laps of my friends trying to get around the kotatsu without upending everything, I was gifted one of those fleeting, shiny moments where I thought “I’m exactly where I need to be”. Those little affirmations mean a lot, because, um. If you haven’t figured it out, I’m not feeling that so strongly in my professional life. My SOCIAL life, though? Yay. 

Yay, when I actually get to see my friends and be social at least. I realize a big part of the grief of the last month has been compounded because I hadn’t seen anyone in weeks. I did go see Wicked with some friends the other week, but we all had to part right after.

Anyway, for the second time, the same person asked for my Tumblr. I really like her, but absolutely NO. So I said “OKAY! TELL ME YOUR SCREEN NAME!” and she was like “YAAAY” and she pulled out her phone, and I continued  “SO I CAN BLOCK YOU”. 

She was pissed. Pulled her phone to her chest, aghast at my rudeness. HAHAHAHA. YOU THOUGHT.

I don’t know what I’d do if I lost my venting space. It means a lot to me to have this place to sink all my anxieties into and to have impartial feedback when I most need it. (I stopped regular therapy last year lol. Lmao, even.)

This party was smaller than others, because there are some cracks though the group now. It’s only natural over a decade. This isn’t complaining (which I can and will continue to do). This is more of a reflection on friendship and navigating the murky, sludge waters of IRL community organizing.

These days, the majority of my local friends are people I gravitated toward in the local queer kink scene. My connections are through years of finding my feet as an awkward introvert that draws in other awkward introverts. I’m really good at pretending to be an awkward extrovert now. It came up at an event recently - a new person said “You don’t seem like an introvert” and I responded “YES I KNOW. I AM TRYING SO HARD HERE. I HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND.” I never intended to be on the newbie welcoming committee, but after a decade I suppose this is also natural. My friend will blatantly bring shy new femme people over to me like “This is K", and the “you are welcome to hide behind her” is implied. And welcomed. Because I get it.

At this point, I’ve seen many of my friends through various life changes, as they’ve seen me through mine. Relationships change and end, some tensions rise and fall. Although most relationships have ended amicably, there was one recent breakup that was rough. I love both of them dearly, but they don’t want to be in the same room, which is: none of my business, and I respect that. But it DOES mean I have to cycle through invites. It’s a balancing act now. One person I love a lot was not invited. And that sucks. And I’m always torn between sending a message along the lines of: I hope there’s no hard feelings, but it’s _____’s turn”, or not saying anything at all. This time, I didn’t say anything at all (Was that right???).

I also vented about this briefly in the past, but earlier this year, I found out a person very close to me violated the consent of some people at a private event (that I was invited to, but I didn’t attend). Afterward, he didn’t tell me, and I only found out second hand months later. I was told the whole story in a public pool, and I was obviously livid, spiraling, and ended up calling my best friend while I was still dripping wet and she was out with her parents. I felt completely inconsolable, but she talked me down (I love her so much). 

I “invited” him to speak about it with me the next day. I admit it wasn’t so much an optional invite as much as it was “prove to me you are invested in this relationship and this community as I am”. Yes, it was to try and get some resolution, but the “invite” was extended with the huge caveat that I was very mad at him for not telling me and that our friendship was on thin ice. 

I don’t want to foster the kind of community that makes you feel you need to confess each of your fuck ups and self-flagellate, but with something like this, it did not fall under a regular caliber fuck-up. On top of hurting the people who were the victims, it came back to hurt me and Aries. Since I help organize events/vet people, she told me that some people were assuming that I was sweeping it under the rug/”taking his side”, keeping it quiet. I wasn’t. I didn’t KNOW about it.

It was shitty of him and he was 100% in the wrong, but given that in the months post-incident, he and the people directly involved came to a resolution, I was willing to forgive him. With the major warning that if something like this happened again, we would not be friends anymore. It was awkward. It was painful. Our relationship hasn’t been the same since. He’s pulled back from the community substantially because of it, and I am actually sad about that. I don’t need to hash out the fine details, but he’s not a bad person. But he made an inarguably bad decision.

Yes, I want a community where you are ALLOWED to fuck up, but a big part of post fuck-up needs to be accountability. He’s a conventionally attractive white cis dude. He was 100% gliding by via his privilege. No one said anything for months because he was someone generally considered untouchable, and to an extent, that feeling was also extended to me. No one confronted ME because they assumed I was fine with it, and that because I hold some authority (mostly arbitrary - but I DO), that I was also considered untouchable/unapproachable. I am so grateful to the person who did eventually tell me, she said she felt like she was hashing out drama and I made it very clear this IS NOT 'drama', but a very serious incident. I am sad it took so long for someone to talk to me. It was a failure at the foundations of our organizing. I told him all this, and I think it made it hurt a lot more than if I just gave him space to explain and apologize given that it was “resolved” with the people directly involved. But it was the truth. I know he respects me as someone who will tell the truth, and that designation would mean nothing if I didn’t in this instance.

I think a part of the reason the events we (‘we’ is much more than the two of us here FYI) coordinate together are generally respected is because they are highly vetted. Vetted to the point that some people in the wider community complain about it. You have to meet at least one of the organizers in person before you are given a location, which is what the most common complaint is about. And sure, it might seem over the top, but it stems from the history when another major organizer in the past was exposed for allowing MINORS at his parties on top of generally being an abusive POS. A lot of trans people felt unsafe/unwelcome, and someone was doxxed to their work. We TRY, which is the key word here. We fail, too.

I am really proud of the little hovel of freaks we have. I think we do a good job for the most part. But since my friend has stepped back, I’ve also grappled with wanting to do the same. I am not upset with anyone who is suspect of me because of his actions. I can totally understand the perception that I was ignoring the issue. The people closest to the incident now understand that I wasn’t aware until months afterward, and that I confronted him about it the day after I found out.

I don’t know if me and this person will ever be close again. And I’m sad. His wife is genuinely one of my favourite people, but I didn’t invite her to my party. Two of the people I invited don’t want to be around him, and it feels really awkward to be like “you can come, but leave your husband at home”. 

My parties are NOT kink parties, although people are welcome to wear whatever they want/or not want, as long as there is no bare ass on our couches. Someone might end up hogtied in a corner somewhere, but like, in a funsies practice way, not in a scene way.

I don’t feel guilty, but I feel reflective. Of course I can't make everyone happy. I don’t like asking people to “keep this one quiet” because I don’t want to hurt the feelings of people not invited, but even if they did find out, we’re all adults, all in our 30s+, and we can deal with it. I sometimes worry that this might devolve into some high school-esque clique drama, but then when I really think about it, these are all people that are my friends because I trust them. I think they know me better than that.

Anyway, someone did bring their mega-vanilla husband, which is generally fine as long as their partner briefs them with "People do what they want. You are probably going to see some tits."

But one of the first things he said when he came in was "IS THIS 'IN YOUR ROOM'?" and I was like "YESSSSS. 🤩🤩🤩🤩" and he said "I love their darker stuff - people really like Just Can't Get Enough and People are People but I don't fully get it" and I was like "😍😍😍😍".

He goes to Verboden Festival!!!!

I did not invite him to Friday's Depeche Mode night, though. If he's REALLY invested, he'll be there without me telling him about it. 😂 (I want to go alone.)

[bearterritory]

Cal Takes Down Arizona

Onyiah Scores Career-High 25 Points

PALM SPRINGS – The California women's basketball team got down by as many as nine points against Arizona in the first quarter but took control of the game in the second and didn't look back, using a dominant performance from Michelle Onyiah to help the Golden Bears defeat the Wildcats 74-62 at the Acrisure Classic in Palm Springs on Wednesday. Onyiah registered her second consecutive double-double with a career-high 25 points (11-of-14) and a season-high 13 rebounds to help Cal (7-1) snap a seven-game losing streak against Arizona (6-3) and give the Bears their' third win this season against a team that played in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. "Our mentality was definitely to be the tougher team," Cal head coach Charmin Smith said. "Arizona is a really aggressive defensive team. They have some really active and athletic players on offense who can get to the basket, but we wanted to be the tougher team on both ends of the floor. And I think we did that, and I think that allowed us to get the win." Lulu Twidale continued her hot shooting as she poured in 18 points with four triples (4-of-8) for the Bears while Gisella Maul added a career-high 10 points. Kayla Williams and Ioanna Krimili each dished out six assists and Williams came down with a season-high seven rebounds. The Bears were aggressive all afternoon, getting to the charity stripe 26 times – their sixth game this season with at least 20 attempts. Onyiah scored the first three buckets for the Bears in the first quarter, but Cal went cold while Arizona went on a 11-0 run, aided by three turnovers to take a 16-8 lead with under four minutes to go.  Onyiah stopped the bleeding with her fourth bucket and Twidale hit a triple to get Cal within six points at the 1:50 mark. After Krimili drew an intentional foul and hit both free throws, the Bears drew an offensive foul with five seconds left. Zahra King took the inbounds pass from midcourt and drove to the cup for a layup to beat the buzzer and cut the deficit to just four points heading into the second quarter. In the second quarter, Maul secured an offensive rebound and found Twidale for her second 3-pointer to cap a 7-0 run to get the Bears within one point with 6:39 to go. Onyiah followed up with a putback layup to put Cal back in front with five minutes to go in the half. Twidale's third triple pushed the Bears' lead to 33-29 with under two minutes to go and Cal held Arizona to just two field goals over the last six minutes to take a 37-31 lead into the break. Arizona used a 9-0 run early in the third quarter to regain the lead before Twidale knocked down her fourth 3-pointer of the game to answer back and put Cal back up two. The Bears held the Wildcats to a scoreless stretch of over three minutes while going 5-of-6 from the field and took a 54-46 lead with a minute to go. Onyiah was a perfect 4-for-4 for 10 points in the quarter. Arizona cut the deficit to seven points on a triple with 8:54 to go but Maul answered two possessions later with a 3-pointer of her own to extend Bears' lead to 12 points – their biggest of the game. Arizona's Jada Williams hit a 3-pointer to cut it back to eight points with 2:10 remaining and the Cats forced a turnover which led to a fast break layup to go down six with 29 seconds left. That was as close as they would get as the Bears knocked down 5-of-7 free throws down the stretch to ice the game. "I think our biggest strength was getting the ball into Michelle and the way that she finished around the rim," Smith said. "We didn't have that yesterday (in a loss to Michigan State). I'm really proud to see her get a career high and do what she needed. I think our bench was really helpful. Zahra [King] gave us some crucial minutes in the first half. Gisella [Maul] played some crucial minutes for us throughout the game, and I'm just really proud of the efforts that we're getting from everyone else."

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Wednesday, February 12th

BUFFY: Anya. I see you've joined the non-sling-wearing crowd. ANYA: (smiling) Yes, I'm feeling better. And I anticipate many years before my death. Excepting disease or airbag failure.

~~The Replacement~~

The Sunnydale Herald is looking for at least one new editor. Contributing to the Herald is a great way to get your Buffy on! Find out more here.

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

BtVS Double Drabble: Muddied Up by badly_knitted (Willow, Buffy, PG)

Weekly Drabbles #212 — Over and Out by veronyxk84 (Buffy/Spike, Angel, PG-13)

Fics for 2025 #003 ~ Dear Mama by kerk_hiraeth (Buffy, PG-13)

Dream a Little Dream of Me by TheFlamingNightmare (Buffy, Giles, G)

the still, sad music of humanity by SaintMarySunshine (Angelus/Spike, Darla/Drusilla, Angelus/Darla/Drusilla/Spike, other pairings from the four, E)

how were we to know the river would bend? by thisyearsgrrl (Faith, unrated)

COLD ARMS CRADLE ME. by carmelica (Buffy/Spike, not rated)

Stupid Questions by acekoomboom (Buffy/Spike, PG)

[Chaptered Fiction]

The Defendant - ch. 5-6 by storiwr (Buffy/Faith, M)

Lost and Found - ch. 18-21 by sixofstakes (Willow/Tara, Scoobies, T)

Aftertaste - ch. 2 by thisyearsgrrl Complete! (Buffy/Faith, E)

The Spark Inside Me - ch. 6-8 by eyeless_soul (Xander/Spike, M)

Kiss the Past Away - ch. 2 by Cynder2013 Complete! (Buffy/Tara, T)

I noticed I had butterflies again, but this time I realised what was causing them. - ch. 5-6 by ImALeafOnTheWind (Willow/Tara, T)

And Then There Were Two - ch. 6 by Murderpart1 Complete! (Willow/Vampire Willow, T)

Ghost - ch. 5 by Maxine Eden (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Scenes From a Session - ch. 4 by In Mortal (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Masquerade - ch. 15 by Holly (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Something Borrowed - ch. 7 by Geliot99 (Buffy/Spike, R)

Truth and Consequences - ch. 35 by JamesMFan (Buffy/Spike, R)

We're Going to be Friends - ch. 19 by scratchmeout (Buffy/Spike, R)

The Choice to Stay - ch. 2 by spikelover4ever (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

A Gift by Starlight - ch. 14 by MinaMartin (Dawn, Sailor Moon xover, FR15)

Alexander Harris, Spartan-01 Vol. 3 – Reclaimers - ch. 1-15 by Grendel (Xander, multi xover, FR15)

Heroes, villains and Slayers - ch. 1 by DoctorSkywalker (Ensemble, multi xover, FR18)

Aegis - ch. 50 by dogbertcarroll (Xander, DC Universe xover, FR15)

Ghost - ch. 5 by Maxine Eden (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Scenes From a Session - ch. 4 by In Mortal (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Pillar of Strength - ch. 5 by acekoomboom Complete! (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

What the Drabble? Vol. 3 - ch. 12 by VeroNyxK84 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

Something Borrowed - ch. 7 by Geliot99 (Buffy/Spike, R)

We're Going to be Friends - ch. 19 by scratchmeout (Buffy/Spike, R)

[Images, Audio & Video]

Artwork: Sailor Spuffy's Tattoo Parlor - ch. 9 by cawthraven (worksafe)

Sketch video: Some Buffy sketches I drew while I was in a mood by onegaixumasso (Buffy, worksafe)

Artwork: couple that was cursed to be doomed from the start. bc they r both blonde by ilynpilled (Buffy/Spike, worksafe)

Artwork: Another half-assed sketch. This time featuring everyone’s favourite lesbian aunts. by djmanemihi (Spike, Dawn, Buffy, Tara, Willow, worksafe)

Bookbinding: "Once upon a time, a hero slayed a dragon. A kiss saved the day." THE FAIRYTALE by dustyfics bound by l0veisntbrains (worksafe)

Moodboard: bi genderfluid lilah morgan by courtillyy (worksafe)

Moodboard: Buffy wakes up from a nightmare... by the-flaming-nightmare (Buffy, Giles, Ethan, worksafe)

Gifset: 24HR DOG by FKA Twigs. by spikedaily (Buffy/Spike, slightly NSFW)

Gifset: Buffy Summers + 🩸 by sophsun1 (Buffy, worksafe with canon blood)

Gifset: Buffy the Vampire Slayer ↳ 4.15 "This Year's Girl" | 7.01 "Lessons" by bisexualdawnsummers (Buffy, Faith, Joyce, Dawn, worksafe)

Gifset: Faith ♱ Buffy by andremichaux (Buffy/Faith, worksafe)

Meme: faith lehane + textposts (part three) from faith-fivebyfive by snake-eggs (Buffy/Faith, worksafe)

Meme: [mortal enemy behavior] by satinsafefromreality (Buffy/Spike, worksafe)

Sculpting: Jesse painted! by Burnie89 (Jesse, worksafe)

[Reviews & Recaps]

This Was Supposed To Be My Town (Consequences) by herinsectreflection

Teacher's Pet S01E04 by poetryarcade

S01E05 Never Kill A Boy On The First Date by poetryarcade

S5E7 Fool for Love [by new viewer] by Winterisnowcold

PODCAST: Episode 90: War Zone [ATS] by Gym Was Cancelled: A Buffy Podcast

[Recs & In Search Of]

Fic rec: "Once upon a time, a hero slayed a dragon. A kiss saved the day." THE FAIRYTALE by dustyfics recced by l0veisntbrains

Fic recs: What says Valentine's Day better than vampires, slayers, fairytales, and pirates? [multiple Spuffy fic recs] recced by elysianfieldsarchive

ISO: Anna3422 seeks Tara/Willow fixit fics

[Community Announcements]

fic_promptly: Wednesday, February 12 - Theme: Sharing is caring

[Fandom Discussions]

Ask answered: [new viewer's favorite characters from S1] by parabelled

This interaction [Cordelia and Jenny] by jannacalendar

Xander and Willow aren't perfect [friends to Buffy but...] by spangelmybeloved

It's not making it into the Consequences essay [but Faith's vulnerable environment] by herinsectreflection

Ask answered: [Giles and Xander's relationship] by coraniaid

[Buffy and Spike's wedding guest list for Something Blue] by nicollekidman

It isn't true at all that Buffy was originally planned to run for only five seasons. by coraniaid

i’m on season 5 of buffy and i can’t stop thinking about how spike really does love buffy and... by kittykogane1230

is this valid?? i only just started s6 lol [Tier list] by anonymousieee

It seems I'm in the minority about not liking the Spike-With-A-Soul plot. by notebooks-and-laptops

Have your shipping tastes changed? updated by Mr Trick and others

Imperfections that enhanced the show by Pitiful-Talk-7798

Mr Trick for Spike by ginime_

S5: what was the thematic point of the knights? by fidettefifiorlady

Pick an actor's best acted episode/scene by StaticCloud

Faith vs The beast [in S4 of ATS] by Lookintomyhazeleyes

Buffy Into The Woods, Riley, and Loss of "Normal" Life by Goldar85

Question about vampires, or more specifically the demons that posses the dead body. by Cartmansimon

What’s your honest opinion on Faith? by Adventurous_Fly_8652

Buffy or Xander - who has the better sense of humor? by FaveStore_Citadel

Why don’t people like Andrew? by scifi_is_my_escape

What are your thoughts on this take? [pro Willow post from tumblr] by -_ShadowSJG-_

SEQUEL: How would you feel about a digitally de-aged Boreanaz or Marsters? by Sparky678348

SEQUEL: What kind of things would you like to see in the new Buffy series? by Easy-Distribution223

SEQUEL: SEQUEL James Marsters has posted on IG [Sequel speculation, de-aging vs shanshu] by bandrui_saorla

SEQUEL: The Buffy Project. by No_Buy5309

Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!

[docholligay]

What would be your dream race? Real or made up.

Hm, I mean, I would love to run a LOT of the world ones: London I put in for the ballot every year, I would really really love to run the London Monuments half, but I haven't put in for the ballot for it--my grandmother has said she'll help me pay to run London if I get in, but a half marathon is not impressive to her ahaha, and London is the only marathon she gives a shit about that's not Boston (I cannot qualify for Boston)--but someday if I have the free cash I'll probably put in for the monuments half.

Someday, SOMEday, I'll run the Marathon du Medoc, which has oysters and wine and steak and shit along the way, and has people throw up all the time, because it also has a rule I VERY much support: you have to be able to run the marathon in 6:30. That's not crazsy at all, that's only a 14:50 pace, BUT, if you're stopping at everything, as a practical matter you have to have a fair amount of cushion time.

So as a practical matter I'd want to make sure I could run a marathon in a 10 minute mile. That DOES NOT sound impressive. Until it's like, mile 20. (Seriously, if I drew London tomorrow my strategy would be 'survive'. Until beeb is in klindergarten, i don't have the time to train for a marathon. Cutoff for london is a 15 minute mile, I would come up with a run/walk strategy to survive the thing so I didn't DNF)

There are plenty I WOULD run: Paris, Tokyo, I do put in for Chicago, NYC, but those 3 above are probably my "If you said I could run whatever" choices. On the ground right now, whole trip being paid for it would be the Monuments half, because I know I can run a half without trouble. And I LOVE running through cities, especially major cities.

Now, if I had a shit ton of money and I could put on my own race, so looking forward to making everyone SO mad at me:

The Kawaii Ass Bitch Magical Girl Women's Run!

There would be the 5k, 10k, and Half.

There would be a drawing to win a Tokyo Marathon Package with guaranteed entry for the racers. This is, last I looked, worth about 6k.

If you run the 5k, you get one entry, if you run the 10k, you get two entries, if you run the half, you get three.

Anyway, also along the course I would have some cool stuff! At the start of the 10k/Mile 6ish, I would have a bunch of kids in the local band playing some magical girl themes and the like (I would pay them) and at the 5k start/the last 3ish miles for everyone else, I would have a big arch that would be all decorated and everything, and as you run through, there are speakers playing different attacks and power ups and the like from different magical girl properties. There's a spot on the course I'm thiniking of where you would have to go through a tunnel, I light it all up with those LED rolls so it's like a transformation for you.

Maybe before every start the countdown to the start gun would be Zettai Unmei, that sounds fun to me.

Anyway, the last stretch before the finish line would be playing the outers (read: harumichi) transformation music, and I would SOMEHOW figure out how to have fans blowing either fake or real rose petals, depending on the permits I could get ahaha.

Because it would be putting you up to run a marathon, it would presume you are of the athletic quality to run a marathon, at least potentially. So the cutoff times would be as follows. THEY ARE AGGRESSIVE FOR MOST PEOPLE'S TASTES.

5k: 30 minutes

10k: 1 hour 3 minutes

Half: two hours fifteen minutes

If you don't cross the finish line in that time, your name isn't in the randomizer.

Why? I get fucked every time I run the run to the pub by a bunch of 10k slow walkers in the last goddamn mile or so, walking four abreast for funsies. By the time I hit these people, the 10k has been started for AN HOUR AND A HALF. The draw prize is a place in the Dublin marathon, pretty much like what I'm suggesting above. I am bitter about this. I am bitter about fucking slamming into a bunch of people who could not fucking finish the Dublin and killing me when I am at the toughest point of the race, for me. I would hope this would encourage people who want to walk, to walk somewhere else. You can all think I am a villain, and that is fucking fine. There are some years the people who won did not even RUN the race. This INFURIATES me. Hate me! It's cool!

Also there's beer at the end I hate a fucking race without beer at the end.

[quibbs126]

So I probably shouldn’t have been drawing these last night and this morning, considering I have schoolwork to do that’s due by tonight, and I won’t be back home until 6, but I have, so here we are

So I’m really not sure anyone remembers, considering the last time I drew them was around 2 years ago, but these guys are some of my old Evoland 2.5 (I guess) characters, specifically Juno and Jovi

They’ve been percolating around in my head for the past while, as well as these two new characters, and with my work sketches I decided to finally get around to redesigning them in full. Or at least, half up

I do feel like Juno and Jovi look the best, but that’s probably also because I’ve never drawn the other two before. I only had vague ideas for the other two. But I do like how the siblings turned out

Solus is definitely getting a redesign though

Anyways, how about I explain them to you? Since you don’t know who they are

So basically they’re supposed to be from a vague centuries later future of Evoland 2, but also not really considering time loop and all that. So the events of Evoland 2 sort of happened, but also no time travel or time loop

I’ve rewritten Juno and Jovi’s backstories multiple times, but it has now swung back around to making them Demon royalty. But I never like having Juno be the actual crown princess, so that’s what Solus is here for. Solus is the crown prince of the new Demon kingdom (it isn’t called Demonia anymore, though it is still the last name of the royal family), with his father as the king. Juno and Jovi are his cousins (Juno is the older one), with them also having royal blood as their mother was the younger sister of the current king, their uncle

The pair of them live with their uncle and cousin since their parents died when they were children. Juno is a young adult, around her 50s, Jovi a teenager in his 40s, while their cousin Solus is around his 80s or so

Oh and also by proxy of being the royal family, these guys are then Menos’ direct descendants via Reno

I have this vision of Solus wearing sunglasses, which you see here, but honestly I’m not sure if I should keep them. Maybe they’re a bit anachronistic

But the reason he wears sunglasses is that Solus is in fact blind, and he has been his entire life. He’s had to work around his blindness in some areas, like the fact that he can’t really read or write in the conventional sense, but he’s plenty capable. He also I think throws knives, which might not sound safe, but he can do it fine. He doesn’t really like people knowing he’s blind, so he doesn’t tell people, and he wears the sunglasses to avoid the problem of no direct eye contact

And then we have the last character, who I cannot for the life of me name. I just don’t really know what to call her. But she is a Troll, so for now I’m just going to call her Troll Lady

She is in fact the fiancé of Solus, and while there is political value in their marriage, they’re doing it because they want to, they are very much in love. She also runs a factory and is a good 9 feet tall or so (Solus is around 6)

To explain worldbuilding, first let’s start with the Demons. So in this world they did not die out after the Great War, managing to pull through just barely (they might have used the Magi Lab, I’m not sure). But for a time, all Demons lived in the Temple of Menos, which is also known as the Sacred Temple. Eventually their population grew large enough, as well as the Great Flood having already happened and the world settled, that the Demons came back down to the surface and started living in the remains of the old kingdom Demonia, though some chose to stay in the Temple instead. The Demons basically live in a giant tower below the Temple (considering they used to all live in the same building anyways), at the top of which they can access the Temple. Some have moved outwards into the rest of the world, or just more space in the old country, but most live in the Tower

To be honest I haven’t really decided what their culture is like, between the Past/Present Demons, the Temple of Menos Demons, and whatever might have occurred in those next centuries and how they would have evolved. But their outfits are supposed to be inspired by the Temple of Menos outfits, I know that

Moving on the the Trolls, basically my idea is that unlike the Wikings, Humans or Demons, they never really had any sort of cataclysmic event to decimate their population or set them back a lot (the Flood did have them seal up caves so they don’t die, but they were already living underground anyways), so they really flourished and evolved in the next centuries. Currently, they’re very skilled metal workers and inventors, being spearheads of what’s basically an Industrial Revolution in the world. They also don’t really kidnap people anymore, they’ve moved past those days

Though one random thing is that they still think Demons are really hot. My idea is that they’ve got particular beauty conventions, and so to them Demons are just gorgeous. It’s basically supposed to be how like in fantasy, elves (and/or vampires) are considered to be these ethereal beauties, and just naturally very attractive. That’s how the Trolls see Demons, they are their elves in that sense. I don’t know why I have that, but it is

Troll Lady wasn’t originally going to be a Troll, I think she was originally going to be from a separate group of Demons that splintered off from the main ones sometime after the Great War. But then I later thought that maybe she should be another race entirely, considering she’s supposed to be incredibly tall and everything (her two tenants were that she was 9-10 feet tall and that she wore a mask to cover her face), and I was going to make one up like Orks or something when I remembered “oh wait, the Trolls exist”. And not only that, but our encounter with them literally already had them kidnapping a Demon because they thought he was attractive, it’d be perfect to have be our new Demon prince’s fiancé. And so yeah, she’s a Troll

So now let’s talk design things, since I still want to say them. Mostly with Solus

I’m gonna be honest, at this rate I’ve forgotten that we don’t see any Demons with orange hair and that I gave Juno that hair color to be unique. But the artbook has some Demon concepts with orange hair, so I’ll take it. Same thing goes for Solus having his dark purple skin. The artbook told me these were possibilities, so I am going to run with them. We didn’t see enough Demons to know otherwise

But I also feel like Solus and Juno look too similar. Yeah, they’re cousins, but between the three of them, I feel like it’d be far more believable to assume Juno and Solus are the pair of siblings while Jovi is their cousin, when that isn’t the case (also Juno and Jovi are now bio related instead of Jovi being adopted)

Part of the issue, at least when it comes to the hair, is that Solus is supposed to have a sun motif, at least with his powers, his colors, his name and also the fact that he’s blind. So I wanted to give him orange hair, and I’m not sure any others would work (especially as I consider yellow hair to be specific to the “Super Saiyan” mode for Demons). But Juno already has orange hair, so they end up looking really similar

I suppose the best solution would be to just change Juno’s hair color, but her hair’s always been orange, it feels wrong to change that. But it gets rid of the problem, so I should. But what do I change it to then?

Also, I really don’t know their color schemes right now, at least outfit wise. I think Jovi’s looks fine, but I’m struggling with Juno’s and Solus’. I just kind of slapped stuff on

I guess what they need is more concept designs for me to flesh them out. But I don’t know how easy that’ll be

And then as for troll lady, her outfit colors are fine, but I didn’t really know what to do for her colors other than just the regular Troll colors from the cards. I mean, I guess it works, but I also feel like I should do more

I also feel like her anatomy needs work, but that’s fair enough. She’s supposed to have a different build from the Demons (and Humans) due to being a different species, but I haven’t quite fleshed out what that would entail. Or what she looks like under the mask

Maybe I should do some Troll practice later on

But I think that about covers everything, so I should stop now and go get ready for work. And I suppose in the meantime, take these

[otakween]

Cyborg 009 BGOOParts Delete (2020) - Volume 3

This manga is clearly meant to be binged and not read extremely slowly like I've been doing, so I'll try to read more at a time to do things properly. I'm still really frustrated that this is such a rehash of tired material. It might be acceptable if this was a reboot, but it's supposed to be more like a sequel/continuation so...

Ch. 15

The monologuing continues! Apollon and Joe talk about their respective squads, what makes them similar and different. Joe emphasizes the fact that the numbers cyborgs resent being made and plan to eradicate all of Black Ghost's cyborgs from the face of the Earth.

Helena asks Francoise to help her stop the fighting, but Francoise says that she can't because she doesn't want to abort the mission. Helena knocks Francoise out and turns into her dark, Artemis form, complete with creepy looking wings jutting out of her cyborg spine. They drew her all sensual this chapter which made me kinda uncomfortable lol.

007, 002, and 006 fight the lesser Mythos cyborgs in the background. They're not given much to do and it's hard to care about their part of the story.

Ch. 16

This chapter was straight up incomprehensible for me. Not only do they shout out some new attack name every two seconds, but half of them aren't even in Japanese or English. Also, a lot of the characters use old timey Japanese. At this point I'm just hear to admire the art.

Artemis' body is now the Dolphin apparently. What is this Arpeggio of Blue Steel??

At least 005 and 008 got some screentime this chapter. Every time 008 does stuff outside of the water I'm like "he's just a dude" lol. The Aquaman conundrum...

Ch. 17

Geronimo's battle wraps up with the Minotaur dude. DAMN that guy was annoying. I think he said "The Dark Labyrinth" about 50 million times. I was so pissed off having to read it over and over lol. Like...shut up already (thankfully, he did).

I really love how Pyunma has been drawn by this artist. He's come a long way. He acknowledged how limited he is outside of the water in this chapter, which I appreciated. Chang comes to his aid.

Ch. 18

Apollon monologues himself to death lol. The dialogue is sooo bad in this manga. They keep repeating the same phrases ad nauseum and it feels cheesy for them to be ranting so much during a battle. Just have them fight in silence and monologue after or something.

In addition to the dialogue being cringey, the action isn't really good either. The Mythos cyborgs keep dying and I keep thinking "wait...how'd they die??" It's not drawn clearly at all. Apollon gets shot up and then set on fire somehow, but they didn't draw Joe doing any of that so I'm like ???

Ch. 19

Okay, Hippo Man making 007 melt was pretty disturbing body horror, I gotta say. 004 then easily takes him out in a pretty boring battle. Hippo man went on and on about his "true name" and they made "kaba/baka" puns. Hey Cyborg 009, aren't comic relief characters supposed to be...funny?

Artemis is pissed at Joe for killing Apollon, but what did she think was gonna happen? This is such a blah retread.

Ch. 20

Lion dude turns into Heracles (which looks like a guy wearing a lion fur and wielding clubs). The cyborgs all gather for their final battle (aside from Artemis probably)

Who was the hairy dude in the beginning? I'm sure I'm just supposed to know who is his but I forgot lol. It's so hard to follow this manga when no one's documented it on the 009 wiki yet boohoo

Joe looked pretty badass showing up at the end there ngl (plus the shippers probably like to see him carrying 002 like that)

Ch. 21

Okay, this last bit was interesting (finally). They talked about how the numbers cyborgs have already defeated Black Ghost and are now just cleaning up their ooparts. Heracles disagrees and says that the Mythos cyborgs ARE Black Ghost because they're following through on their mission.

I had to remind myself what ooparts are. It stands for "Out of Place" parts. It's supposedly an American term, but I've never heard of it. It's related to cryptozoology and refers to anachronistic artifacts. I guess the Mythos cyborgs kinda fit that, but instead of being new stuff in olden times, they're old stuff in modern times? IDK. I wonder if OOParts is a well known concept in Japan or just this mangaka's hobby?

GDI Helen showing up at the last second to resurrect everyone is cheating >:/ now this arc will never end!

I like learning random stuff from manga. Heracles kept bringing up the Nemean lion so I looked it up and basically it's a lion whose fur was impervious to weapons. Never heard of that myth before! With the added context I appreciated Heracles' design more.

The mangaka's fanart sketches at the end were really charming, I liked their little self portrait too (they didn't need to draw 008's OG design though -cringe-)

[crustacean-on-main]

"Niyyawa." He glanced around. His master, having snuck into the shack as he was wont to do, fell to the ground with an almost exaggerated carelessness and assumed a cross-legged position. He drew two items from his belt and stuck them in the soft mud. Niyyawa eyed them nervously. One was a sword, one a comically oversized bullet.

".79 HE/AP autocannon shell, probably", he thought to himself. He scratched his head. The fact that the damn things just didn't rust meant that entirely too many of them were still lying around out there, even after all this time. Although the propellant inside was probably useless by now. An inert relic of a war vast beyond comprehension. As if he had read his mind, the master smiled. "Niyyawa. Before you are two swords. Which one, do you think, cuts deeper?"

...

"You know", Zeman began, picking his teeth. The man was stretched out between two chairs, his torso half-suspended on one, and his crossed legs resting on the back of the other. With his dirty leathers he gave off the unmistakable air of a man used to disrespecting his interlocutors to score some cheap wins. "I wonder why so many of them do that. Run around with swords and such, I mean. Have you ever thought about that?" Rather than wait for an answer, he proceeded to expound his thesis. "I think, you know, that it's a way of rebelling against the world. Let's face it, there's nothing you can do with a sword you couldn't also do with a gun. Sure, the gun is a finicky machine and you need to have ammo for it, or at least a power pack, but a sword can also break, you know? And you need to keep it sharp. I mean, hell, the other day, you know what I saw? I saw a guy selling another guy something called a jet hammer. They put little reaction thrusters in the back so you can get that extra impact velocity, really punch through ceramic armor. Can you believe it?" He shook his head. "You probably need years of training for that thing not to rip your arms off, or even just fly spectacularly out of your hands. What a waste of time! If you spent those years practicing something useful instead, like shooting a gun ..." He sighed. "The reason they do this, you know, is because they have nothing to lose. They die and they get back up. You blow their ribcage out with a .50 cal, 10 seconds later they're at it again. And then, you know, all that trouble they go to, they'll kill you back. They'll kill a tank with a hammer, if they have to, just out of spite. Just to show the Corpse-Gods that mock them that they won't play by the rules. But to get there, of course, they use all the tech that they so despise. It's ironic, isn't it?"

[stilesssolo]

Hey! 😁 It’s been almost a week since The Album came out, and I wanted to know, what did you think of it? I’m honestly a little disappointed ngl. A lot of the songs are just too short for me 😭 like, I love most of the songs (a few are just okay to me) and so I want there to be more to them, you know? It’s not topping Happiness Begins for me 🤷🏽‍♀️

Oooh, are you seeing the boys on tour btw? I got my ticket as soon as they went on sale 🤘🏽😌

I feel very much the same!! I like the album, I like the beat, but I feel like the writing itself is a lil lacking. Most of the songs I’m tapping my foot but I’m like what are we saying here?? What are we going for?? They all feel a little too short to really get the message across. And I don’t think a song has to be long to be good— like Comeback is one of my fave songs of theirs and it’s barely 2 and a half minutes, but there’s a story there, a clear message. I feel like some of these songs very much fall into the Harry’s House trap of “we are just listing words that fit the vibe.” It’s def not their strongest writing. I remember listening to Happiness Begins on loop after starting BICBTY and being like “wow, I can get so many stories out of these songs, there’s so many ways I can take the ideas of this and turn it into a plotline or a backstory and give it a life of its own.” It really felt like those songs were about something and they kind of drew a picture in my mind and inspired me to come up with things like “what could this line be about?”. I don’t feel that with this album at all (except for a few songs— Little Bird is a notable exception that will absolutely have a follow up one shot once I finish BICBTY. 😂)

I much prefer their work with Ryan Tedder to Jon Bellion; I feel like Happiness Begins and all the songs in between these albums are telling a much clearer story and I agree that The Album isn’t coming close to topping Happiness Begins for me. Also hearing this album makes me long for the lost album with What A Man Gotta Do, X, Five More Minutes, all those songs even more 😂😂

Regardless yes I did get tickets to the tour! I was hesitant to buy them before hearing the album because the two singles did have me wary but the Eras-tour-esque nature of it sold me (plus tickets were like $50 for upper balcony which was more than reasonable 😂). I actually never saw them live before the Happiness Begins tour, so I am super excited to hear more stuff off A Little Bit Longer and Lines Vines and Trying Times aside from their big hits!! LV&TT is critically underrated imo so I’m still very excited for the show, even if The Album’s portion will probably be my least favorite 😂😂

[inkbie]

Tuesday, December 31

Last night I slept for 6 hours and 16 minutes from 12:44 am to 7:00 am. For once, I slept with my retainer after my teeth removal. Kudos to me!

Today was alright. I got a migraine half way through the day and tried to sleep it off, but it didn’t go away. I’ve been having consistent migraines since November after never having migraines in my life, so I’ve been learning to cope. I popped some Excedrin and moved on with my day.

The pain went away, but it made me feel floaty, and I started shaking while drawing, likely due to the caffeine.

Today I wrote for 75 minutes, I read for 50 minutes, I drew for 100 minutes, and I worked on social media for 50 minutes. All together, I’d say it was a productive day, despite the headache.

I’m trying to create more art this year to post, so I’m hoping to complete two pieces in January or at least finish the one I’ve been working on and start a second. I think it’s a realistic goal if I set my mind to it. My art style is one that is a bit tedious and time consuming, but I like the look of it, so I don’t mind. In the end, it’s worth it.

[beardedmrbean]

Gunmen have killed at least 20 people at a coal mine in Balochistan province in southwestern Pakistan, according to local police.

The attackers stormed the workers' accommodation at the Junaid Coal Company mines in the province's Duki district in the early hours of Friday morning, rounded the men up and opened fire.

A hospital in Duki has received 20 bodies and is treating six injured people, reported Reuters.

The workers were attacked with heavy weapons, including rocket launchers and grenades, police said, while one survivor described seeing a drone overhead.

Subcontractor Hafeezullah told the BBC he spotted the drone and its red light as he and a number of others hid in the bathroom.

“When the attackers got closer they shouted ‘we told you to stop work here, why didn’t you?’,” he told the BBC. He said the attackers spoke in Pashto. “Then they opened fire.”

Hafeezullah estimates the attack, which he says started just after midnight, lasted for about an hour and a half, during which time machinery was set alight. He also heard loud explosions, which he thinks were grenades exploding.

Asim Shafi, police chief in Duki district, confirmed to news agency AFP both hand grenades and rocket launchers were used in the attack, which is believed to have been carried out by as many as 40 people who then disappeared "into the night".

Police confirmed that four of the victims were Afghans, while the rest of the men were from Pashto-speaking areas of Balochistan.

Hafeezullah says he lost several friends in the attack.

"When I left, there were people lying on the ground," he said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the killings so far. In the past, the separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has carried out several deadly attacks in the province.

Mine owner Khairullah Nasar told news agency Reuters they had been getting "threats from the militants for some time, but there was no information about the attack".

Friday's attack is the latest to be carried out in recent days, and comes just ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a major security summit being hosted in the Pakistani capital Islamabad next week.

On Monday, a BLA militant killed two Chinese nationals and injured at least 10 people in a suicide attack near Karachi airport.

The group, which pushes for an independent Balochistan, also committed multiple attacks in August that killed more than 50 people. Pakistani authorities responded by killing 21 insurgents in the province.

The latest attack on the miners drew condemnation from Balochistan's chief minister Sarfraz Bugti, who said the attackers had an agenda to destabilise Pakistan.

“The terrorists have once again targeted poor labourers... the killing of these innocent laborers will be avenged,” he said in a statement.

Balochistan is home to several separatist groups, who accuse the central government of exploiting the resource-rich province.

The militants often target security forces, as well as people who have come to work at the province's many mining and infrastructure projects.

As well as enhancing security measures, Pakistani authorities will reportedly be curbing movements of Chinese citizens during the summit, due to the security risk from militant groups targeting them.

[zepskies]

@lamentationsofalonelypotato

LOL I loveeee it. Join me!!! 😘

Girl, you're killing it with the LOTR fanfiction. It's so good and this one for Eomer is no exception. First of all I really like the premise of this fic, an arranged marriage that grows into love 💕 And I love that you said it started out as an OFC and you turned it into a reader insert- I know we've both talked about that before and you know how I've done the same thing for some of my fics 🥰

omg you're the best, thank you!! 😭😭 I'm so glad you liked the premise! Yeah I want to adapt more of the OFC outline into different one-shots in this same "arranged marriage"-verse lol. At least some parts of that story will get realized. 💓💓

Oh my word, he drew her a bath- what a MAN. Also I love the added detail that she still wrapped herself in the blanket when she walked even though it's after the two of them have slept together. I think it is perfect for the arranged marriage side of the story, that she's still not quite comfortable showing all of herself yet and it was a great little detail you added.

Everyone talks about Aragorn, but Eomer is a Good Man too! 🥹 I just feel like we didn't get to see enough of how he would be courteous with a woman/his spouse. Maybe not as "gentle" as how we think of Aragorn, but I feel like as a hardened warrior, he'd take pains to be gentle with his (new) wife. 💕

And I'm glad you liked that detail of her not being totally comfortable being that exposed with him yet, despite the fact that he's already "seen it all" lol. I feel like the morning after has a bit more vulnerability to it.

Oh my sweet goodness, the little look into his head of him thinking about his wife. For me it's giving a little bit of "he falls first" and I'm melting!

😏😏 Eomer def has her on the brain, whether he realizes it or not.

Honey I'm going to stop you right there... YES, yes it is a duty he relishes in!

Oh, it absolutely is. 😏💗

For the love of sweet baby corn, she's making the dangerous horse-riding sexy man who could and snap me in half (and I'd say thank you) blush! 😂

She's making an impossible feat, amirite? 🤣 (I'd ALSO say thank you for the "snapping" lmao.)

And she made him smile 😭 Oh my word this is so good! I need 50 million more! I would love to read more of this reader and Eomer falling in love, but if not that’s also okay- because this was incredible just the way it was my wonderful friend 💚💚💚!

Another nearly impossible feat!! loll Girl don't tempt me!! I'll churn out more parts of that outline like you wouldn't believe because I had so much fun with this one. 🥰🥰 Thank you SO very much for reading this first installment of their story.

AS TRADITION DICTATES

Pairing: Éomer x Reader 

Summary: Your marriage to the Third Marshal of the Mark has been arranged in the hopes of renewing political ties between Rohan and Gondor. The morning after the ceremony, your new husband continues to defy your expectations.

AN: I’ve been wanting to write something for Éomer for a while now, so here we go! Confession: this one-shot actually comes from an Éomer x OFC story I have fully outlined, called The Appeasement Bride. I adapted this snippet into a reader insert story.

Word Count: 1.7K

Originally posted on Patreon: 1/21/2025

Tags/Warnings: 18+ only. Spiciness, fluff, newlyweds trying to suss each other out lol.

You woke just after the dawn, the sun peeking over the horizon and filtering through the open window. Its light began to wash over your face and stir you from a deep, well-earned sleep.

Your hand slipped out from under your head and drifted over…and you frowned. Opening your eyes, you realized that your husband’s side of the bed was empty and cold. Already, it seemed, he didn’t care to be with you when you woke. Had you done something wrong?

Flashes of memory from the night before conjured in your mind; of the surprising carefulness in his calloused hands, of hot, sweat-slick skin against yours, and the rasp of his beard as his lips and deft fingers taught you more of pleasure.

A shiver ran down your spine, blooming some warmth between your legs. Surely, if you had displeased him, he would’ve told you so. Or maybe he was polite enough to withhold that from you, along with most of his other thoughts. Éomer was often so stoic, it was difficult for you to learn your husband, even before the wedding ceremony yesterday.

You had come to Rohan over a month ago, and in that time, you had been able to glean precious little about him other than the ones he seemed to value most: his sister, his cousin, his uncle, Théoden King, his country, and his horse.

Not that he told you any of these things in words. You saw it in his actions—by the way he carried himself, and the way he spoke to you and others with fairness and courtesy, not arrogance. You’d heard gossip of his infamous temper, but so far, you had not seen it.

Nor did you see him now.

Perhaps he had more pressing work to do. In these past few weeks, you saw a bit of how demanding his station could be, and you understood his duty to patrol the Riddermark as Third Marshal of these lands. However, if he could’ve just been courteous enough to wake you before he left—

The heavy door of the bed chamber opened to Éomer himself. He wore only breeches and boots, his wheat-blonde hair loose and unadorned down his back. You swallowed a surprised gasp and watched him from the bed, unconsciously bringing the fur blanket up to your shoulders.

He met you with a polite, “Good morning,” before he continued inside to stoke the fire. He held more kindling wood in his arms, and he laid it on the platform before the fireplace.

“Good morning,” you nodded, though your cheeks warmed in a blush at the sight of his bare chest (you remembered that slightly wooly patch well). The defined muscles of his shoulders and arms shifted with his movements.

You were also a little embarrassed for overthinking.

“You rose early,” you added belatedly, for lack of something better to say.

“I am accustomed to it,” he said.

He finished with the fire and stood. You couldn’t help the way he captured your gaze, his measured steps bringing him closer to the bed. You sat up to meet him, the furs draping from your body, covering only where you held the soft fabric over your breasts. His eyes were an interesting shade of green as they roamed over you.

“How did you sleep?” he asked.

Somehow it was not what you were expecting, though it was perfectly agreeable. Your blush deepened.

“Very well, thank you.”

He nodded. Then, something almost hesitant passed through his gaze.

“I’ve drawn a bath for you, unless you prefer to rest longer,” he said.

You blinked. “Really?” That was a kindness you did not expect.

Éomer’s lips tugged upwards. He offered you his hand. Though you hesitated, you slipped your free hand into his. Instinctively you took the furs with you to cover yourself, your face warming down to your neck under the weight of his amused stare.

Your hair was a tangled mess along with the sheets remaining tousled on the bed, and you realized that your body was sore in places you had never felt so. He led you around a simple wooden partition to a wide bath that was built into the ground. Your eyes widened at the luxury of it.

You had noticed that Rohan largely valued comfort and efficiency over ornateness in their architecture, but it seemed they lavished some things with greater detail.

Éomer helped you step into the bath. He took the furs from you, still with that amused glint, but he couldn’t stop himself from taking note of your bare, supple form, what glimpse he was able to get before you lowered yourself into the steaming water. He had explored each and every lovely curve the night before, but you were lovelier to behold in the morning, he thought.

You looked up at him with some hesitance, but there was a question there that he thought he would like to answer.

“Have you already bathed?” you asked.

“Yes,” he nodded, “I will leave you to your leisure. Breakfast will be brought up in a little while.”

“Oh. Yes, thank you,” you said.

Was that a note of disappointment in your tone, in the downturn of your face?

Éomer paused, but he did as he set out to do, leaving you to your bath in peace. He went over to his side of the bed to continue dressing himself, slipping a long shirt over his head that he tucked into his breeches. Though he tried not to let them, his thoughts of you remained.

Meanwhile, you relished in the hot water relieving your sore muscles (and other places). You washed and hummed a little tune to yourself, forgetting that you weren’t entirely alone, despite the partition.

By the time you left the bath, dried off and dressed in a heavy robe over a thin dressing gown, your new husband was already munching on bread and fruit and other good things that were brought up from the kitchens. He welcomed you to sit with him by the fire, where two wide chairs were draped with furs to make them comfortable. You joined him, and the tray of goods rested in between your seats.

“Do you have much to do?” you asked, while buttering a slice of bread. The crust was hard and somewhat sour, but the inside was soft and delicious.

“The only business I must attend to today is to remain kept with my wife,” Éomer said. He glanced up at you, once again capturing your gaze. “As tradition dictates.”

By the Valar, was there no end to how you blushed around this man? You only couldn’t tell if being kept by you was a duty he relished in.

You almost didn’t hear him when he added, “Tomorrow we will see your family off. They ride back to Gondor.”

Belatedly, you nodded. Éomer saw the note of melancholy cross your face.

“I am sure it is…a sooner parting than you would like,” he said.

You offered him a rueful smile. “Yes, but…not as difficult a goodbye as I thought it would be.”

One of his brows rose. “Why is that?”

Drawing in a deep breath, you mustered a little courage to answer him honestly.

“I did not know what to expect when I arrived in Rohan, but its lands have beauty of its own. Its people have integrity and courage, and its noble house is noble indeed,” you said. A small, true smile brightened you when you looked at him. “It is honorable, and kind.”

Éomer blinked in surprise. On his face it was still muted, but it was there. Your words touched him. He cleared his throat, for some reason finding his face a bit warm. In his eyes, you continued to be a wonder. He too hadn’t known what to expect from a woman of Gondor. He knew what many in your country thought of the people of Rohan—simple folk at best, and horse-wild barbarians at worst. With you, he’d mostly expected a haughty, spoiled brat.

He’d never been more willing to be proven wrong. In fact, the more he learned about you, the more beautiful you became.

He reached over, almost hesitant to cover your hand with his larger one. He was suddenly very conscious of his rougher palm in contrast with your soft skin.

“Regardless of how we were entered into this arrangement, I stand by my vows,” he said. “I will honor and protect you, and do my utmost to make you comfortable here in my home.” 

You smiled. Your hand turned under his to curl your fingers around his palm.

“I will also honor and protect you in whatever way I am able. And I will do my utmost for your house, for it is now mine as well,” you replied.

Éomer brushed his thumb over the back of your hand. He rose out of his seat enough to lean over, and he kissed you. It was sincere, but all too brief. You leaned towards him after he broke away, left wanting more as your eyes slid open.

Recognizing that look of desire stirred his own, deep in the pit of his stomach. He tugged on your hand meaningfully and guided you out of your chair, over to him. You tentatively sat across his lap, uttering a laugh when you slid backwards and landed against his chest. Your hand flew there to steady yourself. Éomer clasped it against his heart and claimed you in a deeper, rougher kiss, one fueled by a craving he couldn’t name.

You held his bearded face and hummed sweetly into his mouth. You matched his fervor, your fingers slipping into his hair and instinctively tightening a stronghold. He groaned in response. His hands, large and strong, moved over your side and down your back, while the other squeezed the supple flesh of your hip through your thin gown.

Soon, it wasn’t enough. He slid his arms around your waist and under your knees before he stood with you in his arms. He smiled at your squeal of surprise. It was the first real smile you’d ever seen upon his face. It delighted you to be the one who put it there.

He carried you to back his bed. Our bed.

But still, it was only a matter of lust, if twined with mutual respect and…curiosity.

You did not love him. (Yet.)

AN: Love me some blonde, medieval cowboy Karl Urban. 😘💜

Join My Patreon 🌟 Get early access to new stories, bonus content, and first looks at upcoming stories, send me requests, and more!

LOTR/The Hobbit Masterlist

Main Masterlist

Eomer Tag List:

@kmc1989 @eddie-munson-stories @thebiggerbear @lamaudite

[tgrailwar]

Tumblr Holy Grail War: Wave 7 - Day 3 (Masters from Beyond)

The Masters of Tumblr chose to summon a Foreigner-class!

The Masters put out a call into the abyss… and the abyss SHRIEKED back. Happily. Gladly. The voices from beyond the void would gratefully lend any one of their treasured Servants for your endeavors. The abandoned church shuddered and quaked, the bounds of the Grail War's already fragile reality beginning to rip and tear apart.

The 'Servant' set to protect the Grail, useless for all other things, stumbled forth as his perch began to corrode and twist.

"You geniuses decided to pick FOREIGNER? Listen, I can't speak for all Avengers, but at least they want to keep reality intact! I told Team Rider that Ruler was already waterlogged with data, and so you called up a virus? What exactly was the plan there? Remind me NEVER to ask you guys for computer help!"

Before the 'Nothing Servant' could complain further, a shape began manifesting. Not simply the Spirit Origin of a common Servant, but one that caused the fabric of reality and logic itself to crumble and twist.

It was shapeless, yet solid. Chaotic, yet aligned. Tendrils of smoke shot outward, draining away whatever it could from the dilapidated church, taking in magical energy as it hungered for an answer.

'Who will answer the call?'

The 'Nothing Servant' drew a pair of reverse-fanged blades, clutching them tightly in his hands. His own mana signature- as pathetic as it was- began to flare up around him. A Servant worse than any other Servant, but greater than any human. Stuck in the middle of being 'something' and 'nothing'.

Of course, that made him a perfect match for a Servant that 'wasn't quite anything', at least for now.

"...Her rule-- the ruling of 'Ruler'-- was that there were seven Servants, excluding herself. Two are out, so that means there's a gap left for this thing... and me!"

As confident as he was trying to sound, the pathetic Servant was already desperately trying to dodge out of the way of the incoming corrosion lest he succumb to it, trying to hide the clear panic in his voice.

"Okay, we can't stop the summoning, but maybe we can mess with the connection a bit so that they don't crawl out of the summoning circle at full power. If at least half of you aren't total maniacs, I'll need you to lend me your mana in order to pull this off! Sorry, but I'm breaking my promise, Overseer! Guess I'll need to be somebody! Nice to meet you all! Just call me 'Avenger' for now!"

In order to survive, Avenger needs at least 50% of the total votes!

[jedifarmerr]

50 Shades Of Marcus

Pairing: Marcus Pike x F!Reader(she/her pronouns but no name or physical descriptions)

Summary: The 50 Shades of Gray trailer leads to an interesting conversation which sets off an unexpected chain of events.

Word Count: over 10k (seriously this is mostly porn 70% at least)

Rating/Warnings: E for Explicit (18+ seriously). Smut, Dom!reader (Pretty soft dom), sub!Marcus, language, ambiguous age gap, lingerie (while SavagexFenty wasn't around I take most my inspiration from there since it is inclusive), yearning. Again don't wanna give too much away But this is decently tame for a Dom/sub and if you have any questions or want a full list, you can either message me or check this on AO3.

I'm still new to writing this dynamic so please let me know if I got anything wrong.

A/N: Thank you everyone for the support on the first part, seriously never expected it!

Read Part 1 - here

Part 2: A Darker Shade

Marcus stood outside her door, a Redbox movie tucked under his arm and a to-go bag of Thai in hand. Glancing at the golden knob, a rush of butterflies hit him. 

Would it feel different? 

Was everything going to change? 

Safe to say it was new territory for him. Always more of a relationship guy, the closest thing Marcus had to a friend with benefits – or whatever this was called – was in middle school when his neighbor Allie suggested they be the other’s first kiss. 

It was like comparing apples to oranges. Or in this case a peck to a mind-blowing…handjob. 

Obviously he’d talked to her in the past few days. A few texts here and there, mostly planning for tonight. 

But, seeing her? That was a different story. Aside from Saturday – for the half-hour breakfast/run down – he’d seen her once, the other morning on the landing but the smile and wave as a proclaimed art connoisseur barked in his ear which barely counted. 

Marcus wasn’t worried, per se, to see her, more anxious for the unknown. A tad nervous about how the new dynamic might bleed into what was already so great. 

Well, there was no time like the present to find out. 

Marcus took a deep breath then opened the door. At the sound of it, she jumped up from the couch. 

“There you are.” She smiled, wide and warm. His mouth opened but nothing came out, his brilliant mind was suddenly replaced by a blank piece of scratch paper. The little voice in his head called through the void, screaming to say something – a simple hi or maybe a how’s it going would do.

But no.

In a dash of panic, the room filling with the pad of her feet as she drew nearer, he slapped a dorky smile on his face and lifted the to-go bag like a proud fisherman showing off his prized catch. The forgotten DVD slid from his armpit, crashing at his feet and all he wanted was to reverse just twenty seconds, a real life Click moment. 

Marcus shook his head at himself and slung the sack on the table, before bending down to snatch up the case. “Sorry ‘bout that.” 

She dismissed the ordeal with a wave of her hand and a shrug. “No need to apologize, happens to the best of us,” she said nonchalantly and plucked the DVD from his hand. “Let’s see what ya got – the Equalizer, huh? Ya know, I’ve heard good things.” 

He let out a small breath of relief after spending ten minutes swiping through the movie selection; if not for the woman and her children waiting patiently, he probably would’ve been there all night. 

“Ya know, Eric actually recommended it so I wasn’t too sure, but just thought ya know - why not?” Marcus tugged at the knot on the bag a few times until it finally loosened. She glided past him into the kitchen while he pulled out two entrees and an order of her favorite, spring rolls to share. 

“Maybe Eric will be right this time.” He chuckled at her teasing of the co-worker he’d told her so much about. “Want anything to drink?” 

She stopped at the fridge, twirling to face him and he swore – for just a moment – her eyes flickered across his shoulders and slim waist, hugged by his tight t-shirt. If so she didn’t have any shame about it, settling back on his face with a waiting tilt of her head. 

“Water,” he croaked out, promptly clearing his throat while sinking down in the chair. “Please,” he politely added. 

The fridge groaned to life, ice crashing in the glass cup. “Thanks again, by the way,” she said as the water hissed against the cubes. “For picking this up for us. Got a receipt? I think mine’s usually 12 dollars?” 

He dismissed her offer like it was a gnat, but knew she had the persistency and stubbornness of a fly. She went to debate, but he beat her to it. “I insist.” Her lips pursed, studying him and he cocked his brow in defense. “Besides, I owe you for the pizza - and don’t forget Rocco’s.” 

“Please, that was nothing.” She shook her head, handing him the glass. 

“Yeah? Well, neither was this.” His voice and cocky grin left no room for argument. 

She huffed, sliding into the chair opposite of him. “Well I got dibs on next time.” 

“Hmmmm, I think I can live with that.” He smirked, plucking up a spring roll and taking a bite – a few pieces of cilantro falling from his lips to the container. 

She popped open the lid, “Oooof, now this looks amazing.” She stabbed the noodles, twirling them around her fork then blowing off the steam before taking a cautious bite. 

“Sorry it took so long. My meeting ran late and I wanted to chan-” His explanation trailed into silence as her finger shot up, swallowing. 

“I swear, I’m gonna kick you out if you apologize again.” Her laugh was light, an empty threat. 

“Sor - ah, won’t happen again,” he said, raising a hand in surrender. She nodded, giving her best serious face. The sound of chewing surrounded the table for just a few moments, Marcus sipped on his water. “Alright,” he set the glass down. “I gotta ask. How was that yoga class?” An annoyed, almost pissed off look flashed across her face. “That bad?” He asked. 

She patted the sides of her mouth with a napkin. “Worse.” 

Little did Marcus know he’d opened up a can of worms.

The yoga class she’d gone to with some co-workers for team bonding (not her idea) after breakfast on Saturday ended up being a fast-paced, hot yoga class instead of something calm and tranquil like advertised. By the end of the hour her mat was surrounded by a puddle and the coffee and croissant from earlier were dangerously close to making a reappearance. The only brightside seemed to be the prospect of a new friend. 

Once she was done ranting, she spent the rest of the dinner focused on him. Asking him about his caseload, listening intently to his stories and almost falling out of her chair laughing at Eric’s countless shenanigans. 

Both full and satisfied, Marcus popped in the movie and plopped on his end of the couch with her following soon after. Watching it with continuous commentary as if nothing had happened. 

“So,” she said, turning to him as the ending scene panned out, “Come on. Whaddya think?” 

“It was -” he shrugged, “Pretty good, yeah – entertaining, interesting enough.” 

“Oh, here we go,” she teased with a playful roll of her eyes. “What was it this time? No wait, let me guess. Was it the fact that it wasn’t made before you were born? No - no, because it wasn’t on the classics list on google? Wait - I got it, it wasn’t black and white?” 

He clicked his tongue, “I show you one black and white movie –” 

“Nononono – don’t even. Don’t down play it, we both know it’s more than that.” He smashed his lips together and twirled his head from side to side. “Alright, there was – It’s A Wonderful Life -” 

“Oh come on. That’s a holiday classic.” 

“Pfft. Doesn’t change the fact it’s black and white.” She snorted and a smile broke through his lips. He motioned his hand in a circle for her to continue. “Then there was…Citizen Kane and oh - Casablanca.” 

“Now, you liked Casablanca,” he said and she wagged her head back and forth. 

“You’re completely missing the point. Look. Just admit it, old movies you give a pass to, but new movies – suddenly you turn into the biggest critic.” 

Marcus crossed his arms against his chest. “What can I say? They don’t make ‘em like they used to.” Her laugh was soft, warm on her lips. 

Shaking her head, she bounced to her feet and twisted from side to side to pop her back. “You’re impossible,” she said, then sauntered over to the TV. 

Marcus cruised over her simple long-sleeve and black leggings. A nothing special outfit, yet it never failed to stop him short. 

Honestly, he didn’t know what she looked better in. Marcus found her stunning in everything.

He loved seeing her so casual, bare face and cozy, but damn if he didn’t lose his breath anytime he saw her in those satin blouses tucked into power pants. Then that leather outfit, don’t even get him started – that actually ruined him; all week he wondered what else she had hidden away. 

Always one to be respectful, he hated those guys who gawked and ogled women like fresh meat. But he found himself in a moment of weakness, unable to tear himself away as she bent over to hit the eject button. Those black leggings latching onto her thighs and the swell of her ass –  not for the first time, he found himself jealous of an inanimate object. 

Too distracted with the lower half, he missed that she was peering over her shoulder. “Like what you see?” She teased with a questioning brow. 

His guilt-wide eyes shot to her and she giggled at the pink of his cheeks. Marcus scrubbed a hand down his face, “Fuck,” he mumbled, dissapointed in his lapse and feeling a tad creepy. How long had she been watching him, watch her? 

“It’s alright.” Her words fell delicate, an innocent sounding whisper wrapped in a sultry coat.

She slinked back to him, and his gaze held to hers. He couldn’t believe this was happening, moments ago it was like nothing had changed but now, she was fitting herself between his thighs; his heart booming in his chest like a speaker blaring at a concert, loud enough he swore she could hear. 

“I like when you look.” It dripped from her lips like water through a colander. As if she had no clue that such a simple sentence made his mind spin like a windmill in a tornado. He gulped, surprised and innocent. 

Her hand reached into the space between, “Come on,” she said, tilting her head to the front door. Helped to his feet, a step behind as he  followed her, the sentence wisping through his mind like a hypnotic spell. 

Opening the door, she cradled the side of it as he stepped out into the landing. Inhaling the thin and untainted air in hopes to clear the fog threatening to take over his frontal lobe. 

She handed him the DVD, “Make sure you return that.” 

He slapped the case against his palm with a firm nod. “Will do,” he teetered back and forth on the balls of his feet. “Well, I had fun.” 

“Yeah? Me too.” She smiled and damn it made him never want to leave. “Marcus, I know it’s been a few days but I um - just wanted to check and see if you’re still feeling alright about everything? I would’ve asked earlier, but since it was our first time hanging out I kinda wanted to keep it separate, if that makes sense.” 

Marcus couldn’t help but wonder if she’d dealt with a situation like this in the past, but judging by the sound of her voice it seemed like this was relatively new territory and he wasn’t alone in feeling a tad anxious about tonight. However she did a much better job of hiding it or handling it. 

“I get it.” Honestly, he did and appreciated her want and effort to maintain the friendship. “And to answer your question - yes. Uh - I still feel good, uh - really good.” His voice was sincere – earnest to a fault. 

“Good,” she gave a single nod, then peered up through her lashes. “Then, are you still interested in –” 

“Yes,” he blurted, his jaw clamping together immediately as her eyebrows shot to her hairline. “Sorry,” his head dipped to the side. Lucky for him, she appeared to enjoy his eagerness, as the shock faded and her lips upturned on the sides. 

“ ‘s okay,” she assured and to his surprise, inched closer. Brushing up against him, every hair on his body stood at attention as his breathing picked up into a steady pant in his ear. The effect she had on him was dizzying, nothing like he’d ever experienced with Teresa or – hell even Angela. “Do you have any plans on Friday?” 

His head shook back and forth with a squeaked out ‘no.’ In the moment he couldn’t care less about playing it cool or acting like he needed a second to think, just to make it seem he had a semblance of a personal life. 

“Alright, well.” Her finger brushed against his tummy, up his cotton-covered chest. “Would you wanna come over?” At her bare whisper, Marcus turned to putty in her hands – malleable. 

“Mh-hmm.” His head moved like a flicked bobblehead. 

“Good,” she said in a husky voice, eyes flickering to his lips while licking her own. “It’s getting late, I think it’s time we call it a night.” He whimpered as her finger trailed to his neck, across his bobbing Adam's apple. Making his body scream for more – of what, he wasn’t sure but knew he would’ve taken anything and everything she would’ve given, even the smallest crumb. 

When she stepped away and into her apartment, he choked down a whiny gasp of air. “Sweet dreams, Marcus. Oh – and you should probably take care of that.” 

His eyes dropped to the tent in his sweats. “Oh - shit - damn it.”  

She shot him a self-satisfied grin and winked. “I’ll text you,” and with that, she closed the door. 

Marcus stared at the dark wood for a solid minute, then muttered out a curse, palming his cock as he fumbled with his keys. 

He was in deep deep trouble.

---

Jovial laughter and easy conversations broke through the glass pane walls of the usually stoic and serious conference room. They were celebrating a major bust in a decades-long case. Marcus was basking in the high spirits of his fellow agents. Everyone had really let their hair down, hanging their blazers over the rolly chairs and bunching up their sleeves. 

Leaning against the wooden table, Marcus smiled at the agents coming over to check the empty pizza boxes and refill their cups from an array of two-liters. Turning back to politely nod along, using every bit of cognitive strength to focus on Shannon’s prattling. 

Twirling a strand of auburn hair around her finger, Marcus peaked over at the clock above the door – once again. The hand ticking closer and closer to the time she told him to be over. He still needed to shower and change, but every effort to leave the conversation was thwarted by her refusal or inability to catch his subtle and polite hints. 

“Hey guys.” Marcus’s eyes lit up at the Baltimore twang; Eric slung his arm around his shoulder. “How’s it goin’ over here?” Eric asked with a dopey wide grin. 

“Fine,” Shannon said with a tight smile, the red solo cup popping under her perfectly french manicured vice. 

Eric raised his brows, catching her hint. “Well, I won’t keep ya too long. Listen, most of us are gonna hit up Barney’s after this and from there, well. We’ll see where the night takes us. You down?” He pointed at Shannon first.

“I’m in.” Her bright green eyes stared hopefully at Marcus. 

“Boss?” Eric raised his brows and the conversation dwindled around them as the other agents listened for his answer. 

“Ahh, can’t tonight.” The group groaned in unison. “I swear another time and actually-” he flicked his wrist out, checking his watch. “Oooh, in fact - I need to get goin’ soon. It was great talking to you Shan, hope your cat gets to feelin better.” 

A ghost of a smile played on Shannon’s lips as she shuffled over to another group in the corner. Needing to clean up, Marcus stacked the unused red solo cups. “Anyone want a refill?” He pointed to the two-liters. 

Eric pounced into his line of sight, “What are you doing tonight?” Marcus glanced around the room and the agents prying eyes scattered to all four corners. 

“Nothin really,” he tilted his head with a nonchalant shrug, “Just hanging out with a - friend.” His nose wrinkled at the word like it wreaked of sour milk. 

“A friend, huh?” Eric twisted his lips to the side, hand flourishing in the air. “And how’d you meet this friend?” 

If Eric was trying to be sly it was a piss poor attempt and Marcus scoffed. “She’s my neighbor.” 

“Oooooh.” Marcus immediately realized his mistake. Eric leaned in, his voice low “That’s kinky.” He wiggled his brows and Marcus couldn’t help but chuckle, little did he know. “And is this neighbor, well - does she happen to be…attractive?” 

It wasn’t like Marcus was against sharing aspects of his personal life with his colleagues. Hell, his poor secretary had to listen to him pour over his whole life – or at least the trail of failed relationships – at lunch for the first two months. Don’t worry, he bought her something nice for Christmas. 

But with her it was…different. For one, he’d never talk about sex and especially not his kinks. Secondly, he didn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea or more so…for him to feed into it. 

Ignoring the question, Marcus turned to the room. “Last call before it’s going in the fridge.” At the shake of heads, he gathered up as many bottles as he could carry and headed for the break room next door. Eric grabbed the rest and followed right on his heels. 

“You’re not very slick, I see what you did there.” 

Marcus shook his head, turning the corner. He knew he was a lousy liar and felt it best to not even attempt. 

“Ya know,” Eric opened the fridge for him, “Avoidance is a form of admittance,” he said with full, plumped out lips as he packed the bottles in. 

“Is that so?” Marcus nodded, then turned his lips down. Offering nothing further before heading back to the conference room. 

“Yeah, so you might as well just admit it,” Eric spit near his ear. “Come on. Ya know I’m not gonna give -” 

“Fine,” Marcus mumbled, cutting him off before he got a headache. Popping his hip, he smacked his jaw together as Eric beamed like an overexcited child, body jittering and eyes wide – full of hope. “Yes, she’s…attractive.” 

Eric let out a gleeful gasp, “Now, was that so hard?” Marcus chuckled at the young agent, the youngest on the team. While some found him exhausting, Marcus found his energy and hopeful attitude refreshing – unless he was the object of his badgering. 

“But don’t get too excited,” Marcus said, towering the empty boxes. “We’re just friends.” Marcus dreaded saying the words that acted as a pin, popping Eric’s boastful bubble and deflating him on the spot. Checking the time once more, Marcus went to grab his jacket. 

Eric placed his hand on his chest, stopping him. “Now, slow down. Just answer me this, if she’s just a friend. Why don’t you reschedule, huh? I mean, she’s your neighbor - come on, you gotta see her all the time.” 

Not nearly enough, Marcus thought but breathed out an easy laugh at Eric’s resilience. He quickly snatched his jacket and coat from the chair. 

“And I don’t see you lot enough?” Eric rolled his eyes as Marcus bundled up. “Look, give me a date and I’ll be there. Promise.” 

Eric cracked a smile, “Alright, but I’m gonna hold you to that.” 

“Trust me, I know.” Marcus slung his briefcase over his shoulder and patted Eric on the back. “Have a good time and don’t get too wild.” 

“I can’t make any promises there. Oh - don’t worry about those, we’ll get ‘em. Just go, don’t wanna keep your ‘friend’ waiting.” Marcus dropped the boxes back on the table, then said a quick goodbye to the other agents before rushing out the door. 

---

It was a good thing Marcus was such a planner, leaving with enough time to shower and change along with an added extra ten minutes just in case. Of course, like usual all his best laid plans fell apart when two blocks in a fender bender put him at a standstill. Only to be followed up by a detour full of red lights. 

By the time he threw his car into park, it was five minutes past and he bolted inside, up the stairs. Coming to an abrupt halt outside her door. 

Marcus messed with his hair then cupped a hand over his mouth to check his breath. Pizza and Sprite shot into his nostrils and he cursed, swinging his briefcase around to fumble out a thing of tic-tacs, shaking a few into his hand. 

Munching down on them like a beaver, he swallowed. A mint ice coated his throat, making him sputter out a cough as he headed inside. 

“I’m here.” His voice was strained, sounding like he just smoked four packs in the car. He cleared his throat, locking the door. “I’m here. Sorry I’m late, there was-” His briefcase thudded to the ground, echoing in the empty room. 

“In here,” she called from the bedroom. 

“I’m comin’, be right there.” He ripped off his coat and toed off his shoes. “I’m so sorry, it was insane getting here.” 

Balmed by the frenzy of traffic, a sudden spike of anticipation hit him along with the scent of vanilla as he walked down the hall. “Did you get all my tex-” The pointless ramblings fizzled on his tongue. “Wow.” He rubbed his hand across his mouth, down his jaw. 

There she was, waiting for him on the bed with legs crossed, a languid sway of her foot. 

His eyes ping ponged around her. From her thigh high stockings which clipped into a hidden clasp somewhere in the high cut, high neck faux leather leotard; a metal harness wrapped around her neck like a choker, then ran down the center of her slightly puffed out chest to outline her breasts and hide the easy access zippers there; the third zipper wasn’t so hidden, running from just below her navel to somewhere he couldn’t see just yet, but with his deductive reasoning skills had a pretty good idea. 

Pursing her glossy stained lips and tilting her head, she pushed up with her hands and the shiny black pumps clicked on the floor. “You were saying?” 

“I - uh - I.” The dreamy fog was already starting to creep from the back of his neck to the front of his cortex, he shook his head to try and clear it for just a moment. “Sorry.” 

She hummed, “I know you are. It’s a shame though, really.” Her fingers clasped to the zippers at her breasts, a teasing sliver of skin left exposed. “I had these unzipped for you. Just waiting, nothing covering here.” The zippers growled completely shut and he whimpered at the excruciating sound. “But I don’t like to be kept waiting.” 

His adrenal gland ignited at the sternness that trickled into her sultry tone. A tingle of suspension creeped across his spine, making his cock harden in his slacks. “Consider this, your first warning.” For some reason he found himself on the verge of willingly falling to his knees. 

“I promise,” he rushed out, “It’ll never happen again. I’m so -” 

She pressed a finger to his lips, “Oh baby, it’s alright. All is forgiven for now.” She worked at the knot of his red striped tie. “Do you remember the stop light system?” The tie slid from his neck, fast as a whip and the polyester glided around her hands, feeling it in her palms before dropping it on the dresser behind him. 

“Yes, I remember.” 

“Good.” She craned her neck back to take in his tailor-fit navy suit jacket with matching slacks, paired with a crisp white button up. “Mhmm, I’ve always liked seeing you dressed up like this. Look so handsome.” The compliment burned his cheeks. “So powerful,” she said while untucking his shirt and toying open the buttons. “So assertive. So…Dominant.” 

She ripped it wide open and he gasped, only to swallow it back in as her nails grazed his newly exposed chest. 

“But, we both know that’s not the case. Don’t we?” The look in her eyes from under her lashes and the power in her stature had his knees nearly buckling, hands shooting to steady himself on the dresser. “Tell me, Marcus. Who’s in charge?” 

He gulped down the air in the room, tasting his own desperation on his lips and letting the word, “You,” slip with the breath he took. “You’re in charge.” 

She hummed, low and pleasing and he inhaled it, like it was an aphrodisiac, smelling of dark chocolate and red wine. “That’s right. I’m in charge here.” Her knuckles glided along the sparse hairs at his navel and he keened. “But don’t worry, I’m gonna take such good care of you. That’s what you want, right?” 

“Please, yes. God, yes,” he said, the neediness of it gleaming in his wide-brown eyes. 

“That’s what I thought, now let’s get you out of these clothes.” 

Desperation thrummed in her fingers, pushing off his shirt and jacket into a pool at his feet. The idea that she was eager to see him naked, that she desired his body made his cock pulse, begging for attention that she avoided while undoing his belt and tossing it to the side. 

Suddenly, out of nowhere she was crouching (refusing to kneel) and his body went taut. She peered up at him, slowly licking her lips then eyeing his cock. Burying her nose at the apex of his clothed thigh, his knuckles burned as his palms dug into the wood, fighting the buck of his hips. 

With a taunting hum, she pulled back and flicked open the button, carefully unzipping his slacks. Tugging them down, joined by his black briefs soon after. His cock nearly whacked her in the face as it sprung free. 

“Much better.” She popped back up, and looked him up and down. “How ‘bout you get comfortable.” 

Marcus’s brows pulled tight when she stepped to the side. He hadn’t realized when coming in – obviously distracted by much more pressing things – but her beed had been transformed into a relatively flat surface, no pillows and only the comforter and fitted sheet remained. 

She motioned to the bed and he stepped out of his clothes, leaving them in a heap to sit at the edge. A box on the vanity caught the corner of his eyes – black velvet and no bigger than one for shoes. Following his line of sight, she smirked. “Oh, I see you found your present.” 

His smile betrayed him, “You got something for me?” 

“Mh-mmm.” A naughty grin quirked her lips as she tipped back the lid and pulled out a red rope that made him squirm. “You liked being tied up last time?” Aside from the small inflection and the waiting look in her eyes, her matter-of-fact tone hardly posed a question. 

“Yes,” he squeaked out and she gave a short nod. 

“Yeah? You looked so good tied up. Did so good for me. But I think you can handle a little more, don’t you?” 

Suspense wracked his body as she gingerly put the red rope to the side and pulled out two separate restraints. Similar to the ones she used last time, a cuff at one end and a belt enclosure on the other, but these were connected by a short silver chain. She glanced down at his feet and he realized they were meant for his ankles. 

His eyes shined at the idea, cock twitching for her to see. “I think - I think I can take it. I wanna try.” 

“Baby, I’m so proud of you. You’re doing so good using your words.” She beamed and his neck went flush like a teacher’s pet. “Okay, go on lay back for me.” He obeyed her order without conviction. Laying flat on his back and taking each directive as she positioned him exactly where she wanted. 

Her footboard looked like a golden halfpipe, a dip in the middle perfect for easy crawling access with a curve that led into a solid pole at each end – perfect for ankle restraints. It fit her needs to a tee and left him wondering just how long it took her to find it. 

Propping up on his elbow to watch, she secured his ankles to the bedpost, tugging at her request and assuring her it wasn’t too much. As she snatched up the red rope, Marcus laid back and stared up at the ceiling. The mattress dipped under her weight and the scent of her rich perfume wafted over. 

His breath hitched and he looked over, finding himself mere inches from the strip of satin running down the center of her thighs. His tongue darted out, imagining tracing it up the crease and further to her warm wet cunt. The memory of how she tasted tingled his tongue, and he groaned – ravenous for more. 

“Clasp your hands together.” Her voice knocked him from his thoughts and he followed her model. “Just like that, now above your head.” The rope was surprisingly soft, made of cotton with an easy slip ring that had his hands bound in seconds. 

His biceps flexed as she looped the rope over the headboard. Pulling, his muscles stung and he groaned at the feeling – but shockingly not in pain, but in pleasure. “Too tight?” She asked. 

He gnawed on his cheek, confused by how his cock throbbed at the dull discomfort and he shook his head. 

“Oh, did you like that?” She asked – a mix of shock and intrigue. A shy smile plumped his flush cheeks and she offered him another small tug – only a mere bit, but still had his head lulling back with a low moan; she rumbled out a sound of approval and slotted the information away for later. 

With him securely knotted to the headboard, she stepped back to appraise her work like an artist finally seeing her muse on display. Actually, how she examined him made him feel like he was art, studying all the tiny details: the subtle twitch of his strained muscles, beads of sweat just beginning to drip down his browline, the weight of each heavy draw of his chest. 

“So beautiful,” she said, as her eyes lingered particularly long on what being at her complete mercy inflicted upon him, cock red and pulsing for her. 

Gaining a wicked gratification from it, a grin teased her lips. “Tug,” she ordered. He complied and a thrill ran down his spine as the restraints had him basically nailed to the mattress. Grabbing a small pillow and a thin, folded up blanket from under the bed, she put one to support his lower back and the other under his neck for both comfort and watching purposes. 

He stared up at the ceiling, trying and failing to control his breathing as her heels clicked around the room. He’d expected her to crawl between his thighs but, instead she crawled in next to him. Pulling her legs up tight and stacking her knees, heels teetering off the edge. 

“You’re so handsome, Marcus.” The raw honesty in her voice and the vulnerability of the moment left a salty taste in the back of his throat. Which was momentarily forgotten as her focus zeroed in on the parts she previously neglected; fingertips dancing along the pulsing vein of his neck to his Adam’s apple. “Did you take care of your problem once you left the other night?” 

The realization of how utterly exposed he was stabbed at him like a splinter, a tinge of embarrassment crawling into his skin. He fought through his years of conditioning, of holding back. “Uh-huh,” his eyes rolled skyward. “I had to.” She frowned at the ounce of residual shame that wrapped itself around his hoarse voice like a cobra. 

She caressed his jaw, “Did it feel good?” 

“Yes,” he licked his dry lips. “Of course.” 

“Then there’s no shame about it.” He let out a single breathy laugh at how her easy response seemed to ease the worry between his brows. He knew she wasn’t being flippant, but instead trying to show him there was no shame or judgment here, in her room.  “Now tell me, did you think of me?” 

“Always,” he choked out, “I always think of you.” 

“Good,” she said, her hand went back and forth over his collarbone. “I want you to only think of me when you touch yourself.” The slight possessiveness in her comment made his cock twitch. “You wanna know a secret, Marcus?” 

“Yeah” he whimpered. 

She leaned in, a breath – then another against the shell of his ear. “I fucked myself thinking of you.” 

A jolt of arousal shot down his spine at the thought of her in this very bed with her fingers deep inside her and his name on her lips. A helpless whine escaped him as his hips tried to surge upwards. 

“I imagined you just like this,” her hand grazed up and down the center of his chest and the desire in the pit of his belly ignited in a blazing fire. “All tied up for me. With your cock buried inside of me as I barely rocked my hips, just keeping you right there. So hard and pulsing. God, it got me so wet, just thinking of you on edge, those sweet little sounds you make as you beg for release.”

The erotic words played like a porno in his mind and his eyes shut for just a moment to watch the fantasy. But suddenly her fingertips brushed his nipple and everything  – the rustle of the comforter, the faint traffic floating in and his pathetic mewl – turned to radio static in his ears. 

“Oh, you like that?” She repeated the motion on the other side and it shocked him how he keened, so sensitive. “Has no one ever touched you there?” 

She continued her teasing ministrations, every word that reached his slumped open mouth turned into a soft gasp. “No,” he finally got the word out, shaking his head. “More - please. More.” The plea seemed to tumble out, unexpecting and unsure of exactly what he even meant. 

Of course she did. With her fingers in a V-shape she teased around the colored flesh, every so often closing the gap to lightly pinch the skin – an uninhibited moan and a shameless bead of precum converging with each one. 

He gulped for air, catching his breath as she maneuvered around him for a better angle. Strong thighs caging in one of his, clothed mound hovering just above his bare skin. She made a show of plunging her fingers into her mouth, sucking them down like it was a popsicle on a hot day. With a lewd pop, a dribble of saliva clinging to the edge of her lips. Spit-soaked digits coming to circle the area, his head slammed against the pillow as she leaned in, blowing on it to bump the skin. 

“I bet that feels so good. Doesn’t it?” 

“Yes,” he gasped. 

“What about this?” She experimentally flicked her tongue across the flesh and his back arched for more. 

“Fu- yes. Yes.” 

She hummed into his heated skin, stroking it with her tongue over and over again. Switching sides, letting his broken off noises guide her. Her teeth grazed over the plumped flesh then sucked it into her mouth.

His body felt like it was vibrating, pleasure coursing through his veins. Gurgled noises clawed themselves from the depths of his chest, hips desperately bucking in a useless search for her barely out of reach thigh. 

As she lavished his tender skin with her tongue, her hand came to work on the other – pinching and teasing the puffing flesh. The nip of pain and simultaneous pleasure had his body zinging with sharp, raw desire. 

Desperately panting, gasping her name she kissed the purpled skin. Moving her tongue up into the divot of his neck. Licking the lines of sweat and across his collarbone  until he was just a puddle – all dewy skin and sticky belly. 

A need for her lips elsewhere bloomed in his chest like a weed. “Please,” he gasped. “Kiss me.” 

Blown-wide pupils, doused in lust, met him. Her hand brushed across his cheek, diving into his hair. “Since you asked so nicely,” she hushed a breath apart. Her spit-swollen lips met his, perfectly slotting together in a deep and slow kiss that made the ache in his cock momentarily subside. Only to climb to new heights as it turned more heated – passionate. 

Pliant under her, she tugged on his hair. A moan echoed around her mouth and her eager tongue swooped inside. Docile, his lips barely managed to move – hardly kissing her back as she ruined him for anyone else. 

The hand in his hair wandered to his taut and stretched biceps, caressing the pulled muscles before dipping down to his cheek, throat and further to the top of his abdomen. The hidden muscles there flexed. “Please,” he groaned into her mouth and she flicked her tongue against his. “Oh God! It feels – so much. Please.” 

“Always so polite,” she said, then nipped at his jaw and curled back into his side. The bedposts trembled as her fingernails scratched down his tummy. “Doing so well, baby,” she praised, hand stopping short of his cock to swirl her fingertips around the pearly mess. 

“Fuck, look at you.” She showed him her glistening fingers, and his cheeks went scarlet as she spread them, the light shining on the drips slipping through the dips and down to her knuckles. “I love how messy you get for me, it’s so fucking hot.”  

Honestly he had no idea his body was capable of making so much cum it actually bordered on concering. Where was it coming from? It was as if the years of repression had stored it all away in a bank, waiting until the day she finally came around. 

“I’ve - I’ve never,” his sentence faltered into a high-pitched whine as her slicked up fingertips curled the fat head of his cock. A cry, nearing a shout of her name echoed around the room as she toyed with his slit, dragging her thumb across it – spreading it open. 

“What were you saying?” She continued to tease the angry tip, somehow pulling more and more precum from him. “Come on baby. Tell me.” 

His glazed brown eyes blinked up at her. “It’s - it’s all for you.” A satisfyingly wicked grin broke through her lips and she rewarded him. 

Steady and slick, unhurried. Her fingertips dusted across his balls and skimmed the weeping tip with each long, drawn out stroke of her warm hand. “So pretty like this,” she said in a husky voice. Glancing at his pulsing cock in her loose fist and the wrecked expression on his face – lips broken apart, quivering and the lines of his forehead curled from his weighted brow. 

Marcus wanted to memorize this moment, savor it forever. Greed hazed eyes drinking in the inky black outfit, painted to every dip and curve of her skin; her chest heaved, tight puffs of air showing him she wasn’t unaffected by it all. 

The need to cum thrummed through him, balls drawing tighter and tighter as it threatened to swallow him whole. But the second he looked down at her tensing thighs and remembered her promise, a new desire roared to life. 

“Fuck - please. Let me - taste you.” She bit down on her lip to trap a small moan. “Please. Wanna make you - feel good. Oh - shit, like you make me - Mhm - so good.” 

Her hand slowed to a halt, “Is that what you want?” She asked, the piercing and primal look in her eyes sending a shiver down his spine. The loss of friction making him whine. Her hand traveling upwards. “You want me to sit right here?” She tapped his lips. 

His tongue darted out, tasting and licking her skin like a reflex. “Fuck - baby, look at you. So needy for it,” she said and he muttered a soft, please, into the pad of her fingers. He whimpered as she ripped her hand away, eying for a moment to check and make sure to which he eagerly nodded. 

“You did ask so nicely, baby,” her heels tumbled, one by one to the ground and his heart pounded in his chest like an animal trying to break free of its cage. Finally - so many nights spent fantasizing about this moment and here it was.

“You’ve been so very good so if that’s what you want, then that’s what you’ll get.” 

She propped up on her knees, “So patient,” she cooed while unzipping the track from her lower belly all the way to the top of her ass cheeks. “And so sweet.” She spread it open, tucking the track inward. 

Grabbing the headboard, she looped one leg around him so her pussy was inches away from his watering mouth. Just out of reach, but close enough to catch a whiff of her intoxicating musky scent. 

“Fuck,” He growled, “Smell so good.” Ready to devour her, he wet his lips. 

The groan he let out as her nails ran along his scalp, tugging to angle him right where she wanted, was sinfully deep, like it was siphoned through gravel. 

He was fully surrounded by her, thighs pressing into his stretched out triceps, glossy and swollen slit just waiting for his tongue – he could spend his life between her legs and be perfectly content. 

“Beautiful.” The rasp of breath hit her cunt and she shivered. “Prettiest pussy I’ve ever seen.” 

Her lips twitched at his praise, “You gonna make me feel good?” 

“Mh-hmm, I promise. I will.” 

“Okay, hold on, be patient,” she said and he whined. He’d been patient, as patient as he could be – he was growing restless, throbbing and desperate for it. “If you need to stop, blink really really fast five times.” 

“Got it,” he rushed out. She held herself there for a moment, then with a single nod carefully descended. 

The moment her hot cunt dragged against his lips was indescribable. Tongue graced by her tangy arousal, he moaned, eyes fluttering shut for a moment to let it consume his senses. 

She braced her hands on the headboard and started to slowly rock her hips against his tongue. Delirious from it, like a drug that shot liquid lust into his veins, the world around him blurred until a soft gasp of his name brought him back to reality. 

Her heated gaze penetrated the mist in his eyes, he looked drunk – dopey eyed and tongue sticking out. There was a want to wrap his arms around her thighs, smash his face into her cunt until he was absolutely drowning in it. He’d fantasized about that very scenario, but being powerless – pinned down by her weight and the restraints was the most blissful torture he’d ever experienced and he basked in the small sounds she took for herself, lapping up the wetness of her already soaked cunt. 

“You like me using you?” The sharp intake of breath between her words made his chest swell with pride and cock stir, a fresh bead of precum dripping from the tip. He grunted with a helpless bob of his head – his nose bumping her clit. 

Her head dropped back with a moan and the sight of her in the throws of please was the prettiest thing he’d ever seen. When she snapped back there was a glint of untamed want in her eyes. The pace started to pick up, extending the slide of her hips so her clit bumped the tip of his nose again and again. 

“Fuck - you take it so well. Mhmm - feels - oh. So good. Fuckin’ amazing. Marcus.”

If he was supposed to close his eyes, he didn’t care. There was no way he was tearing himself away from her. Transfixed on how she moved like she was dancing through water; babbling praise and pretty moans dripping from her smeared gloss lips. 

“More,” he groaned into her pussy. Her hooded eyes bore into him, waiting and watching for his signal as she took more and more – the bed squeaking as she fucked his face. 

The feeling of her wet pussy took over and his brain melted away; he could barely register his own name, let alone the growing ache in his balls nor the small rock of his hips as his cock seeked out a single touch. 

“Marcus, fuck. Fuck me with your tongue - yes! Just like that.” 

Not needing to be told twice, his tongue dove in and out with surprising dexterity and stamina. Clit grinding against his nose, the musky scent of her arousal enveloped him. A sheen of sweat coated her skin, tinging the taste of her on his tongue. 

Wetness dripped down his chin, shimmering just like his petal-pink lips. She was soaked, spit and slick and he knew he’d found heaven on earth and it was between her thighs with his wide, wet tongue sliding in and out of her pulsing walls.

The sounds of pleasure he pulled from her strained his flushed and angry cock, but he remained painfully oblivious. 

Grunting and groaning, feral noises vibrated against her folds and made her thighs tense and muscles constrict.

“That’s it baby. Make me cum, come on.” Her words fell out frantic and messy and he whined into her pussy then shook his head back and forth to stimulate her clit further. As she edged closer and closer, the knot in his only belly pulled tighter and tighter.

Her cunt clenched around his tongue. “Marcus!” 

A gush of slick hit his tongue and he gasped – the wind knocked from his lungs as his own climax smacked into him. His body curling along with hers. 

Piercing and sharp, like nothing he’d ever felt before. Jolts of pleasure were coursing through his body. Cock weeping for friction, desperate and searching as his hips undulate in the air. His eardrums rumbled from tightly clutching his eyes shut, blocking out her face as his cum shot onto his belly and her leather clad back. 

Once the waves of pleasure subsided and reality set in, his body burned in utter humiliation. A feeling of shame prickling the edges of his screwed shut eyes. 

“Marcus, baby. Marcus.” Her voice sounded like he was underwater. His head insistently shook, unconscious of the movement as she called for him again and again – a soft whisper wrapped with worry as she undid the knot. 

Still, he remained frozen, shocked and unmoving, hopeful it would all somehow go away. 

“Baby.” Her light caress of his cheek burned like a hot coal. 

Why? Why? Why? 

Why did that happen? How? He’d never cum untouched. It would’ve been one thing at 15, but at his age? He’d never felt so embarrassed. 

“Marcus, please look at me. Baby, look at me.” 

After a few seconds and the initial shocked waned, he peeked out. Peeling one eye open to check if the coast was clear before slowly opening the other. Her shoulders relaxed a hair, a soft smile coming to her lips with a gaze full of concern and a dash of regret? – no remorse. 

“I - I,” he couldn’t breathe. “I never - I didn’t mean to-” 

“No - hey. Marcus.”

“I’m sorry.” He closed his eyes with a deep sigh, wondering why it had to be him? 

“Marcus, look at me. Baby.” She gently coaxed his eyes away from the ceiling and to her. “There’s nothing to apologize for.” How could she say that when he could practically hear his cum dripping down her back? “Marcus, it’s okay. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.” 

He shot her a look that said, you can’t be serious. 

She looped her leg back around to settle at his side like before. His elbows slackened, but his arms remained above his head, the rope loose around his wrists. Refusing to look down and see it, he instead looked at her and found some solace. “You might think it’s embarrassing.” He snorted, she could say that again. “But I think it’s sexy.” 

His brows shot to a cinch. “Really?” 

She bit her lip and nodded, “Marcus, I love how reactive you are to my touch. That you get so turned on by me – by bringing me pleasure.” Her eyes and fingers glided down his heaving chest, to the evidence of his untouched climax. 

“You have no idea what it does to me, hearing the noises you make. How you shiver at just the smallest touch. You’re so good for me and I haven’t had an orgasm like that in - fuck. I don’t even know.” His breathing came hard and fast and he whimpered as she wiped her finger though his cum then sucked it off with the most lewd moan. “Mh-mmm, taste so good.” 

“You do too,” he shyly admitted and she giggled, short and sweet. 

“Marcus.” This time, she said his name with a serious tone. “I’m sorry for pushing you too far.” He opened his mouth to protest but she stopped him by placing a finger to his lips. “I may’ve not meant to, but I did. And I never want you to feel embarrassed or anything like that. I just wanna make you feel good -” 

“You do,” he rushed out, then blushed. “Obviously.” 

“But - I also want you to feel comfortable - safe.” She nuzzled into his neck and he let out a dreamy sigh. “I’m still learning and for this to work, we gotta communicate. Just like we are now.” 

“Usually, I’m pretty good at that,” he said. Communication had always been a strong suit of Marcus’s – just not when it came to sex, but surely that would come in time. “I just - shit. I didn’t even realize. That’s never happened to me before.” She smiled against his neck then pulled back to look at him. 

“Well, did it feel good?” 

He let out an airy laugh and she couldn’t help but smile at the noise. “Yeah. Different, but good. Real good.” 

“Good.” She looked down at his soft cock and he could tell she was contemplating by the way her lips shifted from side to side. “Ya know, I had planned on you finishing in my mouth.” His breath caught at how relaxed she sounded, and she peered up at him with a sparkle of mischief. “If you’re interested. I think you could get hard again, what do you think?” 

“I am - but I don’t - I don’t know, I’ve never…” he trailed off and she looked shocked, and honestly a little offended. 

“Don’t tell me no one has ever made you cum twice in one night.” He nibbled on his bottom lip and shook his head. “One day?” He shook his head again, and she tsked. “Oh Marcus, we gotta change that, do you think you can get it up again? Do you want to? It’s okay if not, it’s entirely up to you.” 

“I’d like to try.” He nodded and her fingers swept across his chest, brushing his nipples and his mind and stomach swirled. 

“That’s all I ask, baby. And I’m gonna give you the choice if you wanna be tied up or not. However, if I undo you, you gotta be good and not touch without permission.” 

“I can’t promise that,” he said light-heartedly, clasping his hands together. 

She shuffled off the bed, “I promise, you’ll learn,” she said, closing the easy slip ring around his wrists and tying the rope into a loose knot over the headboard. Honestly, Marcus didn’t really care if he ever learned – he loved being tied up and at her mercy. 

After changing out the pillow for one with a little more cushion, making it easier for him to watch, she sauntered to the end of the bed and crawled between his thighs. His cock twitched, and his nose wrinkled from oversensitivity. 

“So good, baby,” she whispered and leaned in to clean the mess on his belly. His gasp turned into a moan as she licked across his heated skin. Mumbling praises into his tummy with each swipe of her tongue until all that was left was a glisten of her spit. 

She peered up through her lashes and licked her lips, then flicked her tongue over the tip of his cock. It was so precise – intense – an addicting edge that made him keen, unsure if he wanted more or for it to stop entirely. 

“More.” His mouth answered for him, and she swiped her tongue against his tip a few more times, each one met by an intense shudder of his body. 

Giving his cock a little more time to recover, she turned her attention to his thighs. “So pretty,” she cooed, kissing and brushing her lips along his sticky skin. Teeth grazing over the meaty flesh, sinking her teeth in and sucking a mark high on his thigh.

She repeated the action to the other, and a warmth bloomed in his chest at the secret marks of which only she and him would know of. 

By the time she was crawling her way up, lavishing his chest and neck in sweet kisses, his cock was almost fully hard again. “You’re so handsome,” she kissed his cheek, “So amazing,” she kissed the other, “so perfect.” She kissed the edge of his mouth, then lingered her lips above his. “I want you to remember that.” 

He shut his eyes – overloaded by emotions – and her lips met his in a tender kiss. Sinking into the feeling, he moaned at the flick of her tongue over the seam, parting to let her map his mouth in slow strokes. 

After what felt like a lifetime, but still too short she tugged his bottom lip between her teeth. He growled at the tinge of pain and she released it with a grin. Quick to soothe it with a light suck while reaching down to palm his cock. 

“See,” she said, “I knew you could do it.” He smiled through her chaste kiss. She moved downward with soft pecks, ravishing him in the attention he desired and adored. 

“Such a gorgeous cock,” she flashed him a lippy smile, “Do you want me to put my mouth on it?” 

He bobbed his head, “Please, need your mouth. Need to feel it.” Not wanting to make him beg too much, she licked from the base to tip, swirling her tongue then flattening it over the slit. 

“Fuck,” he muttered from his clenched jaw as she traced the thick vein all the way down. “Shitshitshit.” Eyes locked on his, she went lower and his eyes nearly popped out of his head as she took one of his balls into her mouth and sucked. 

The feeling was a foreign euphoria and his legs quivered at it. When she released it with a loud pop, he immediately missed it but luckily not for long as she took the other in her warm mouth. 

Most women Marcus dated weren’t into giving oral, and he wasn’t the kinda guy to ask for it or pressure it – he liked his partners willing and eager. So it wasn’t shocking that no one had ever sucked on his balls. Actually, he wasn’t sure anyone but himself had ever really touched them without it being a slip of their fingers. 

Her lips curled up at the side as she wiggled her tongue along his sack. A pearly blob of precum dribbled onto his belly as she mouthed her way back up, his hips grounding into the mattress as she licked it up, like it was precious and couldn’t be wasted. 

“So perfect and all mine,” she praised and he responded with a whimper. “Does it feel good?” She curled her lips inward and took him into her mouth. 

He moaned, a low rumble at the hot and wet feeling. Her eyes were magnetic, pooling with lust and his mind began to drift back into that place of blissful oblivion. “Feel - feels - oh so good. Fuh- fuck.” 

She sunk lower and lower, but didn’t suck. Going as far down as she could until her throat constricted, then pulled away to take a deep breath before slowly working her way back down. 

He’d never seen anything like it, she was working her throat open for him, repeating the action over and over again – each time going deeper than the last. By the time her nose brushed the coarse hairs at the base of his cock, he was a babbling mess. Singing her praise an octave higher, telling her how good it felt and how good she looked. 

He had no idea what he did to deserve this, but he wasn’t going to question it. 

As she took him fully in her mouth, his body trembled, using every bit of strength not to fuck up into it – not that he’d get very far but it was the principle of it. She sucked and his fingers and toes curled. “You’re amazing,” he groaned. “So - damn - talented.” Each word sounded as if it was punched from his gut. 

She choked on a laugh at the compliment. Pulling off his cock, a string of drool connecting her glossy lips to the fat head. “Oh baby, you haven’t seen nothing yet.” 

“God. I don’t know if I can handle it.” His smile was lopsided, dizzy with desire which turned to full on vertigo at her smug smirk. 

“I know you can baby,” she cooed, kissing the junction of his thigh. “I’ll show you.” 

He squeaked, “okay.” 

She wrapped her hands around his cock, a firm grip at his base while the other moved the velvety skin across her lips and cheeks, smearing his precum before bringing him into her eager and waiting mouth. Taking him to the hilt in one swoop. 

The air was punched from his lungs.

Her free hand came to rest on his hip, rubbing soothing circles as the other kept him from cumming. She swayed her head back and forth and his cock bounced around the back walls of her throat. Judging by the way her moans vibrated against him, she seemed to enjoy the heavy weight of him on her tongue, the salty taste steadily leaking from his purpling tip. 

As she bobbed up and down, slow to drag her tongue along his taut length, swirling at the tip before sinking down till her chin hit her hand. His skin was glazed, sweat dripping down his back and collecting in his mussed up hair. 

“Fuck, that - oh - feels so good,” he panted. The delicious pressure once again starting to build in his lower belly. 

She took him in hand, slowly stroking as she took a few deep breaths. “Baby, I want you to try not to cum. Okay? Just hold out as long as you can, can you do that?” 

“Mh-mmm,” he nodded. Both hands on his hips, she pressed to hold in place then wrapped her swollen slips around his cock. 

His body and mind disconnected as she began to fuck his cock with her mouth, switching between shallow and deep thrusts. Expertely taking him apart with the most lewd sucking and slurping noises, it was like a porno in real life. 

When she needed a breather, she slapped his cock against her tongue. He quivered, holding back. The bed shaking as he cried her name – like he was calling out for his savior which only spurred her on. 

Tears pricked his eyes, falling onto his cheeks. He’d just cum, what was it an hour ago? Thirty minutes? Even less? He had no idea, time was relative in her room. The climax seemed to build from the other and coupled with the delayed gratification, the knot in his belly was twisting, unbearably tight. 

“I’m - I’m close - I don’t think I can -” 

She responded with a moan, glassy eyes telling him it was alright as she continued her brutally divine pace. 

It was everything. Every cell and nerve in his body roused – electrified by the tight clasp of her warm mouth. White blobs spotted the blurry outline of her bobbing head, the hitch of her ass in the air. And finally, the tight wire in his belly snapped and utter ecstasy washed him as his vision went black. 

The feeling of his cock pulsing, rope after rope of his salty cum surging into the back of her mouth made him gasp. Whimpering her name as she drank it down, sucking every last drop from him until his body twitched, plopping into a satisfied heap. A delirious and lazy smile curled on his lips. 

“Oh baby, you did so good. So perfect, amazing.” She continued to praise him, quickly unfastening his ankles and releasing his hands. He couldn’t open his eyes and reached out for her and just like he hoped, she fell into his arms and on the bed. He immediately nuzzled into her chest, dragging his lips over her neck. 

“See, I knew you could handle it. You did so good, Marcus.” He hummed at her praise. “Always so good for me – so perfect.” She kissed his forehead and the top of his sweat soaked hair as her nails massaged into it, down to the back of his neck. 

The longer he laid there, listening to her praise, the heavier the blanket of sleep became. “You sleepy?” She finally asked and he hummed in response. 

“Can I sleep here?” He mumbled into her embrace. She slightly leaned back and lifted his chin to bring his mouth a breath away from hers. 

“You don’t ever have to ask.” 

She cupped his cheek then tilted her head, going in for a quick kiss – similar to the one he shared at 13, experimental, just testing the waters. Her eyes flickered to his then back to his lips and she kissed him again. 

It felt different, so unlike the previous kisses which were always shared in the heat of the moment. Even when those started soft, they always became desperate and filled his chest with something molten and needy.  

But this was somehow better. Her lips just lingering on his and the action felt intimate –

No. Stop.

He couldn’t go down that road, don’t read into it, he told himself, just enjoy. He pushed away the flutter in his stomach, ignoring the warm and fuzzy feeling in his chest and melted into her touch. 

The kiss was over much too soon and he fought the urge to touch his lips, feel where he missed her most since he’d been in this bed last. 

She kissed the tip of his nose and brought him back to burrow into her chest. 

He never wanted to leave.