#And there are a ton of posts here already that include him acting in that manner

[14dayswithyou]

Please give Ren a kiss for me! 🩷

How would Ren/REDACTED react to MC falling in love with someone else and chosing to date them?

Would he get jealous but eventually accept it and let us go or would he ruin MC's relationship with that person or even kill them?

If you could go into detail about Ren's reaction and what he would do, that would be nice 👉🏻👈🏻 (No pressure ofc)

(Please remember to take breaks, eat well and hydrate!🫶🏻)

✦゜ANSWERED: Since Ren is a yandere, I think his reactions would be what most people expect ;v; He would definitely get envious over the fact that someone managed to capture Angel's attention before him, and I'm sure he'd purposefully find a way to remove their partner and get Angel to prioritise him instead.

He'd certainly get jealous as well since that person is still currently in a relationship with Angel (as opposed to them breaking up and leaving Ren with a chance), but I don't really want to go into detail about this as it's bound to happen in the game at some point and I wouldn't want to spoil anything ^^;

But you can always reference the current behaviour he displays in the demo (or some of the other posts on this blog)!!

[neodazed]

enhypen - boudoir polaroids

ot7!xfem!reader - showing them the polaroids of your boudoir photoshoot

boudoir: captures sensual, intimate, and often erotic images of a subject in a private setting

warnings: husband!enha, photos taken during sexual acts (solo), masturbation, recording, use of “slut”, brief anal sex, implied unproctected p in v, oral (f), tons of nasty shit i won’t spoil, lingerine, mdni, def longer than the other ones, not proofread

idea belongs to this lovely anon. interpented it in my own way somewhat, so it’s not 100% factually accurate lol. masterlist

HEESEUNG

Heeseung, your brand new husband — the most pussy-clenching title he’s ever worn, probably.

Ever since he became your fiancé, till now, he has been extra, super hot. Has been fucking you even rougher, better, like a good little wife should be fucked (by his words).

So this thing you decided to do, now it was like the perfect answer to that, the perfect sign of devotion.

You hand your brand-new husband an envelope—pretty cream paper, little gold wax seal, soft smile on your face like “open it later, okay?”

And Heeseung waits, as long as his curiousity let’s him. Then later, when he finds himself alone for some minutes, he opens it. You, taking your makeup off in the bathroom, can hear the paper rustling, and you smile at your reflection, waiting.

Silence.

Until he goes

‘Come here’

You gently open the bathroom door, and walk back into your bedroom. He’s sitting at the edge of the bed, a stack of little polaroids spread out on his lap. The look he gives you, is dark. Well, expected, because the photos are mostly close-ups of you…

— with your mouth open, two fingers shoved down your throat, gloss smudged

— you in a bridal white, fingering yourself with those same two fingers

— one with a toy, pink and cruelly realistic, barely halfway in – your eyes rolled back, thighs clenched

— one that appears to be a final shot, biting down on your veil, looking like you’re reaching your orgasm

And Heeseung?

Just processing.

Because his wife did this. For him. Because you posed like a full-on pornstar, hours before you walked down the aisle.

‘How many of these are there?’ ‘Who took them?’ ‘Where’s the rest?’

But he doesn’t actually give you the chance to explain or answer. He orders you to get on the bed. He’s already rock hard in his pants, and he is determined.

‘Wanna recreate this one.’ He holds up the shot of you with your fingers in your mouth and the toy barely inside you. His favorite.

‘But this time, you’re gonna fuck yourself on my fingers, and better keep your eyes on me the whole time.’

Obviously, it’s a sleepless night.

Doesn’t fuck you immediatelly, no, he makes you study the pictures with him.

‘Did you cum before or after taking this one?’

‘Did it feel as good as my cock?’

‘Don’t you think this is more slut than wife-material?’

And when he finally fucks you, it’s mean. No mercy, no patience, just using you to his own desires.

‘This how you looked when you came all over that toy?’

‘You wanna give me more pictures, baby? I want the ones you were too shy to include.’

JAY

It only suits you that you had a damn argument one day into your honeymoon with Jay. Maybe your plans and wants didn’t align perfectly, and the post-wedding stress was still wearing off. Jay was cold. Distant. Didn’t even say goodnight properly.

So the next day, you toss him an envelope across the bed like

‘Peace offering. Take it or leave it.’

Jay opens it like he’s giving you a favor, chin high and movements full of spite. But the second he sees the first photo?

You. His wife. In white lace. On her knees. Sucking a finger like it’s his cock. His reaction is immediate, his throat pushes out an almost choking like sound, and his whole body stiffens. Well, expect his hands which he uses to flip through some of the pictures.

One with you bent over, wedding veil still on, looking back at the camera while your hand disappears under your panties.

Another with your bra pushed under your tits and one hand squeezing lube out onto a toy off-frame.

He sits in silence for a minute. Hand on his thigh. Breathing steady.

Then folds the photos back into the envelope neatly… and comes to find you.

You’re brushing your hair or something casual when you hear his voice behind you:

‘You gave these to me just to get out of apologizing, didn’t you?’

You smirk. ‘Did it work?’

Jay comes up behind you, grabs your hips a little too hard, and leans in to your ear like:

‘You know what works better than an apology?’ He tosses the envelope onto the vanity table — ‘Giving me the real show. On your knees. Now.’

He makes you recreate every shot. Expect, this time he is behind the lens, using his phone camera to make himself even more intimate material.

‘Yes, that’s my perfect wife.’

‘Gonna save this one. Maybe send it to you next time you try to walk away from a fight.’

JAKE

Jake is the most grateful man alive on your wedding night. You could show up in sweatpants and he’d cry and pop a boner right away. But like with most things, you top his imaginations by far.

You pull out the pink envelope, decorated with a little bow in the middle. Slide it over to him on the bed, like it’s no big deal at all.

‘You should open it after your shower, babe.’

He opens it in the warm glow of the hotel lamp, fresh out the shower, towel on his hips — and he just stops breathing. Like genuinely. Just blinks. Stares. Gets real quiet. Because the first glimpse he gets, just a little part, already screams perfect. You’re layed out on soft sheets, pale ivory lingerine panties barely covering your folds. His mouth waters. Lot more of that kind. Some thigh-focused ones, some of you slobbering over your fingers and fingering yourself with the other.

The best one, though? (If gun to his head, he was forced to choose one).

It’s a close-up. Your fingers spreading yourself open, all slick and swollen. A heart-shaped lollipop resting just against your clit. Your hand holding it. His love for pussy and his habit of oral fixation are being stimulated through his eyes.

You’re in the bathroom brushing your teeth, and all you hear is, ‘Baby please come here. Right now. Please.’ In the neediest voice possible.

You walk out and he’s on his knees on the floor. Literal towel pitched up, photos spread out around him.

And when you smile and go — ‘I thought you’d like them. Do you? — he just whines.

Not groans. Not moans. Whines.

‘Are you crazy? I’m already so in love with you I could die, but this is literally attempted murder!’

Then he pulls you into his lap, kissing all over you, your lips, your neck, your breasts, going down on your stomach…

‘Fuck, I love you. I love you so much…’

SUNGHOON

You were sneaky with it. You gave him the envelope with a sweet smile, like you’re handing over a hand-written love letter rather than the dirty content it was hiding.

‘Hope you like them, Love.’

Sunghoon raises an eyebrow but takes it, fingers careful, gaze suspicious. He opens it while you’re brushing your hair.

Starting off strong, the first photo is you on your side, gripping your tit with one hand and pulling your panties aside with the other, head tilted almost innocently, but eyes filled with lust. Then a bunch of other positions, showing off your silky lingerine and delicate curves, always teasing what’s beneath but never displaying it fully.

And Sunghoon — Sunghoon does not react well.

He stands up, envelope in hand, and walks over to you with that same dead-calm expression. Slow and collected.

‘Who took these?’

‘What?’ You blink up at him.

‘The photos. Who the fuck took them?’

Though he’s not even close to being loud, you still stutter, seeing the tension on the veins on his neck, the way he grips the paper, trying not to crumble it entirely.

‘I-I took them myself, of course. Timer. I set it up. Just me. I swear.’

At that, his whole body relaxes. He might even flash a little relieved smile.

Then.

‘Get your ass on the bed.’

At first, he’s cold. No kisses, no nothing. He trips you naked, and studies the polaroids while playing with your body in real time.

‘Spread your legs. No, wider.’

And when he thinks it’s good enough (like he actually gave a fuck about how accurate it is), he grabs his phone and starts taking his own shots.

No warning. No direction, only

‘You want to give me photos? Fine. Give me new ones. Better ones. Real ones.’

‘You think your little solo pics could compare to this?’

‘You’ll look even better when I’ve filled you up.’

SUNOO

You slide it over while you two are cuddling on the honeymoon bed. You’re in a fluffy robe, bare legs over his lap, and he’s scrolling his phone when you whisper

‘I made you something. Open it after I shower, okay?’

Sunoo nods softly, excited but also curious about what could you have come up with.

But baby.

The moment he opens that envelope?

He lets out a scream.

Like a literal, hand-over-mouth, spine-curved squeal.

Because inside of that, it’s you, in a strappy white set, veil slightly off your hair, pink gloss on your lips, sucking your fingers while side-eyeing the camera like a whole whorehouse with a coquette dresscode.

One where your legs are closed on top of each other, but with your palm inside of them, obviously teasing your clit (he can just tell by looking at your face on it).

But the worst for him? Probably the one where you’re pressing your shiny little cunt down on his pillow.

‘You’re evil.’

‘How dare you be this sexy.’

‘You’re not fucking real. What kind of slutty wife does this?’ While he’s already palming his cock.

When you go over to him, giggling, saying it’s not that big of a deal, he just pushes you down on the bed.

‘No. You don’t get to act all casual after doing this to me, baby.’

After that, it’s a mess of giggles and recreating the ones he liked the most. Calls you “my beautiful wife”, “my good little girl”, and “my pretty slut” in the same ten minutes.

Sticks one of the Polaroids to the headboard like a shrine while he eats you out.

‘Just to see how much messier you can get when it’s me who makes you cum.’

JUNGWON

You hand Jungwon the envelope while you’re still glowing from the wedding night — robe slipping down your shoulders, bare thighs brushing his under the covers.

‘I made something for you’

He tilts his head to the side, like a confused little cat.

‘What’s in it?’

‘You’ll see’ Kissing his cheek. Then you stand in front of him, wanting the full, unfiltered first reaction you’ve been itching for.

Jungwon opens it.

Then he goes feral.

Cause every picture looks like you’ve carved the blurry image of them right out of the depths of his mind (which you might have, by how deeply you know and understand him).

Of course, you know he’s a tit-addict. And the photos feed right into that obsession.

You pushing your tits into the camera, covered by the prettiest white bras he’d ever seen. Gripping them, caressing them. With your bra off, looking into the camera with the deadliest doe eyes, licking off frosting (from God knows where) from your fingers, then circle around your nipple with the same one.

One picture of you rubbing your clit and wetting your sweet pussy, followed by smearing your own slick (then cum) all over your chest.

His mouth parts. He stares at them one by one, then flips through again. Ears red. So hard it’s painful.

‘Do you like them?’ You ask with a smile.

In a second, you’re under him, while he’s practically feasting off your boobs, rubbing your cunt with his hand, muttering shit like

‘Were you thinking about me while you did this?’

‘You want new ones? Want me to take them while I fuck these perfect tits?’

And he does.

Set up his phone on video mode while you’re straddling his lap, tits bouncing as he thrusts up into you.

Perfection.

RIKI

You hand Riki the envelope during the car ride back from the ceremony. He’s in the passenger seat. You’re still glowing and giggling, playing with your ring.

‘Open this at the hotel.’ And Riki just shrugs like whatever, tucks it into his jacket.

Later that night, you’re changing into something special in the bathroom, when he remembers he has it and opens it, not expecting to be flashed.

You in a white thong, back arched, pearls laying down your spine, heels still on. His favorite position, his favorite curve. Literally framed like art. It starts off like this?!

The second one might be even better though.

You bent over, panties pulled halfway down your thighs, ass cheek lifted so you can get your fingers underneath. Flash lighting up your thighs, gloss on your lips, veil around your shoulders. Looking like a fucking Goddess.

Polaroids from that position, with your finger teasing both holes, with toys rubbing over them, pearls on your spine, all pretty for him.

There’s one photo, which is…different than the rest.

No face, no pearls, no lingerine, no veil.

Just you, on your belly, knees spread, panties off, and your hands reaching back to pull your cheeks apart. The flash puts a delicious focus of the curve of your spine, ending in the most intimate, shameless shot of your tightest hole on full display — puckered, pink, just a little shiny.

Like you’d already played with it.

Like you prepared it just for him.

In that perfect little black polaroid border, you scribbled in sharp letters

“Next time, it’s yours<3”

Riki doesn’t smile. Doesn’t speak. Doesn’t even move for a solid ten seconds.

Just stares. Blinks once. Closes the envelope. And then knocks on the bathroom door.

‘Babe. Come out.’

You peek out in a silk robe, small nightgown under, and his gaze goes straight down.

‘Hands on the bed. Just like that photo.’

He drops his pants, and gets behind you. Grabs your hips with so much harshness like he’s mad. Then pauses — cause you have the nerve to giggle.

‘You liked them?’

‘Stop talking.’

Then he spits on your back and watches as it slides down in between your cheeks. Your hole, it’s still open for him. Those damn pictures were freshly taken, with this exact purpose. To get him to fill you there.

So he pushes in. No more prep, no more teasing, just raw pleasure.

‘Gonna stretch it for me properly, baby’

‘You made it look so pretty… wanna see it twitch when I cum inside.’

[mysteryanimator]

Castlevania : Nocturne - Eye Colour and their Purpose

This was originally a response to @xshingie asking for my thoughts on the artist choices for Edouard and Richter's blue eyes! The post they made about it can be found here!

So woah, my main focus is Edouard, but I do end up talking about a ton of other characters as I go on a tangent but the Castlevania eyes. This is a very casual thing since most of it is just copied and pasted from a discord message (thank you to the Castlevania Creatives server for reading my paragraph-long rambles) but I do have evidence for my claims so there will be pretty pictures.

So this is just presumptions on what I've seen because i can only guess, but every single character colour palettes communicate all different things, never the one same thing (but there is a ton of overlap), especially their eyes i mean theyre SOOO DETAILED, down to the treatment of everyone's eyelashes (i say this because mizrak's eyelashes are so absurdly detailed and in the first Castlevania, Alucard's eyelashes have shadows).

To bring up the point for Edouard's eyes and why they arent a different colour, an example like green is because Olrox's colour palette is very strictly purple and green, not only in his outfit/design but the locations he's apart of are dominated by all different types of green to showcase the power in the dynamic between him and Mizrak (the courtyard, the breakup hill anddd every other location in season 2 including the bed scene).

Myst why are you pulling up this image, Olrox isn't here BUT YOU CAN FEEL HIS PRESCENE. Not only does the dialogue help, but the act of green in a scene makes his presence feel that much stronger like it's literally looming over Mizrak.

Due to this, Olrox just ends up being associated with all types of green rather then just one vibrant one for his eyes and earrings. By having Edouard and Olrox overlap in this way, it would confuse Edouard's personality and goals since funnily enough, Edouard and Olrox are quite the opposite. Richter and Edouard are allowed to overlap because they fight for the people and their connection to Annette which Xshingie covers.

(Also side note, for a long time due to print colour limitations for comics, villains were often coded as purple and green, think Joker and the Green Goblin. These are complementary colours opposed blue and red, colours given to heroes like Spiderman and Superman. It's one of the reasons why purple and green is associated with antagonists today.)

He cannot have pink because thats for the supernatural anddd drolta + maria are coded pink.

Turquoise also belongs to Maria and Tera, but its very important to have those colours focused on them for the fact that Tera's eyes change to being more misty. This comparison is diabolic because they're both closeups of Tera smiling almost both centered but the clear humanity in her from season 1 to season 2 is so starkly different, most notably in her eyes.

Brown is way too human, which is why Mizrak and Annette has them, and Edouard needs to have his character give the air of mystic and ethereal before his transformation as a way to foreshadow it AND that's already something innate in his character, especially with how Annette frames meeting him.

^^ characters tied to their innate humanness and the fight for people

(Literally, Edouard's introduction is his eyes)

Greyish blue is for Emmanuel but also I don't think it'd end up communicating life that Edouard has because they end up so dull. Also Emmanuel's lack of having a strong eye colour comes into great effect when Ezerbet's eyes reflect into his because it shows how Emmanuel has no power against her, lets say in comparison to when Olrox's eyes reflect into Mizrak's. Olrox still gives a ton of power to Mizrak.

In season 2, a lot of the locations he appears in like when burying the monks are really soft and light colours and make you feel like this is more where he belongs. They also really help to contrast whenever he's not in those environments like the prison cells or when he stares at his reflection in the knife because you have this utterly dark interior, violence being threatened against such soft colours and such a disheartening expression. Despite his imprisonment both literal and physical by having him transformed into a night creature, having a clear remanent of his human self shine through as all-encompassing in his eyes is very important. His entire body is made of nudes and brown, and often then not, 'seems' to blend into those environments. The chateau, the prison, the march into Paris, intentionally so, yet his humanity shines through and that's what needs to be communicated to the audience.

His eyes also end up being somewhat similar in shade to Frozen Shade, which then alludes to his influence on her to because they're both connected literally because Emmanuel both gave them their night creature form and Edouard would come later to influence her to lead the night creature fight. In a sense, the colour for freedom and revolution are tied to Edouard's eye colour.

In the same vein that Olrox's green is tied to his presence (and Mizrak/other stuff but itll get too long), the yellow/ish hues when Annette fights in the temple against the creature in which showcases her immense power (the temple name and creature is alluding me so bad)

Something something, eyes are the window to the soul, and this lighter blue helps to communicate the exact mystical airy otherworldly vibe Edouard has as a character. The vibrant blue from Richter feels to me to communicate a lot heavier physical magic aspect that @xshingie touched base on in their post!

Anyways that's my ramble. This is my personal take as an artist who noticed the importance of character colours not only in design but how it comes into play in setting and creating those strong connections so that even in their absence, they can still be felt. So I can totally off-mark here but it is what ive gathered (also kind of preparation as I begin writing the analysis for s02ep8 haha)

[cotton-eye-joes]

DC Writers Hate Bette Kane, Specifically Secret Origins This Time:

I already sent this rant to Wren (who has not seen it yet because my sleep schedule is about as consistent as the DC Timeline), but we gotta talk about Bette/Betty Kane's absolute character assasination in Secret Origins. (I'm gonna use Bette for this post, they changed the spelling after Crisis).

What's Secret Origins?

So for those of you who don't know: Secret Origins started in the 1960s as literally just a collection of origin stories for various DC characters (volume 1). When Crisis on Infinite Earths occurred and reset the universe for the first time, DC used the series as an opportunity to clarify the post-crisis origin of a ton of characters and teams (volume 2).

Annual #3 for Secret Origins v2 covers the Teen Titans' complete history up to that point in 1989, including the pre-crisis original series, and it stays mostly true to the original (which I read in it's entirety about a month before this).

Key word being mostly. The 70s series was riddled with silver age ridiculousness as well as a ton of executive meddling; the series changed hands between writers and editors multiple times, got canceled abruptly, then got brought back abruptly after 4 years, then canceled again after just 4 more issues. The DC writers decided to use this opportunity to retcon some of the more insane shit that went down and keep things consistent with modern day characters.

Some notable differences include Mal Duncan's whole shtick in the late issues being updated to match his post-crisis incarnation as Herald (so no sparkly disco suit), the absence of pre-crisis Duela Dent (which is a tragedy, she's hilarious), and the team being given a concrete reason for breaking up during both the cancelations (Robin called for the murder of a changeling child the first time, teenage hubris happened the second time).

. . .Also, my entire joke comic about Aqualad leaving for a week and then the team accidentally killing a guy and swearing off their powers and junk gets a MUCH more reasonable explanation. They were framed and had to act as a civilian patrol so they wouldn't get arrested until they could find the real culprit.

Now, most of these are good or at least sensible changes. They were necessary to make the current universe make sense or they fixed really dumb stuff from the OG series. You know what wasn't a good change though? One that had absolutely no reason for existing?

BETTE KANE'S ENTIRE DAMN PERSONALITY!!!

Bette's Character Assasination:

Full disclaimer that I haven't read Bette anywhere else yet. Just 70s Teen Titans and Secret Origins. But I don't have to because they made me fall in love with her in the 3 issues of the original series that she was there! Bette is an intelligent, competent, adventurous young woman who decides to join the Titans west to save people and for the thrill of the game! She's optimistic and fun-loving and extremely charismatic because of it!

This is all despite her being originally introduced as "Robin's girlfriend because we have to give him a girlfriend so people will stop sending us letters asking if Batman and Robin are gay." She was a designated love interest who still managed to be engaging on her own merits, something that I think is incredibly rare and underappreciated.

In Secret Origins though? They flattened her into nothing more than a rabid Robin fangirl! Take a look at some side-by side panels!

Dick has NOTHING to do with her vigilanteism in this incident in the original! It's all about her Aunt Kathy! You know? The other woman who was her mentor and extremely important to her?

(Secret Origins)

(Teen Titans after Beast Boy and Hawk say they don't wanna work together and don't believe Lilith's premonition).

She literally does not care about Robin here! It's all about supporting Lilith (another woman) and returning to her life of heroism with other people like her!

Bette's SINGULAR statement about wanting to work with Robin actually has a lot of undercurrent going on about people comparing Bette to the current Batgirl---Barbara Gordon. She's determined to show that the original Bat-Girl has still got it and can be just as good.

Yes, her crush on Robin is part of it. But I think it's telling that you can't even tell if she still HAS a crush on Robin during this scene or if she just considers it unfinished business. Once again, the writers are choosing to completely ignore Bette's extremely interesting relationship with another woman from 70s TT as well as her own interesting thought processes and motivations in favor of making her a one-note joke about crazy lovesick fan girls.

WHY!?!?! WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS!?!?! LITERALLY WHAT WAS THE POINT???

Listen. I know you erased her history as Bat-Girl here. But that's no excuse!

Because WHY, pray tell, would you LEAVE her relationship with Robin (as mutated as it is here) who she no longer has ANY social ties to (he lives on the opposite coast for Pete's sake)---AND THEN NOT KEEP HER RELATIONSHIP WITH KATHY?!?!?! YOU KNOW? JUST THE MOST IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIP IN HER STORY AT THIS POINT?!?!?

You could have made Aunt Kathy a retired vigilante who Bette was inspired by! You could have made Flamebird a legend that Kathy learned first and told to Bette! You could have given her the tragic mentor fate and killed her off and had Bette doing this for her! Literally anything would satisfy me!

Reading Secret Origins felt a lot like reading fanfiction of the 70s Teen Titans for a LOT of reasons, but the criminal flattening of an interesting female side character is the straw that breaks the camel's back for me. Not only is it fanfic, it's officially BAD fanfic that I hate.

It has some interesting enough Lilith and Jericho moments, so I can't say this was a complete waste of time, but BOY did this one piss me off.

-🦒

[fandom-puzzle-peaces]

Just a Thought About Cale Part 2

It hath been requested, so here is a sort of continuation from my last post. Today I am gonna talk more about what I believe Cale embodies:

HOPE & LOVE

In my first post I already talked about hope a bit, and ya’ll can read that if you want my full take on this, but I will continue where I left off. Last time, I mentioned that something was missing when I listed out what it is exactly that Cale hopes to have in his “slacker life.” Said list is:

A nice house

A peaceful place to have said house in

A ton of money

After looking at this you may be wondering what is missing, since it looks like everything Cale has stated time again to want is already there. However, we all know how unreliable of a narrator he is and that he never actually fully says what he wants unless it’s money. What is missing is his hope of having a family living there with him in that nice peaceful house.

It’s so obvious that he misses having others around him, regardless of how many times he denies it. He’s just scared of losing them again, and for a time I do genuinely believe he had given up on that hope of having loved ones. But over the course of his new life as Cale Henituse you can slowly but surely see that hope being rekindled. It also helps when he learns that the “curse” that was accidentally placed on him due to white star shenanigans is now gone.

So now he actually has a chance to be able to keep his new family around, and you better believe he will do anything in his power to do so. We have already seen plenty of his self-sacrificial stunts to know this fact already. Cale’s list of hopes, of course, has continued to grow from just those beginning 3 that encompass his “slacker life,” and most likely will as time goes on to most likely include the simpler pleasures of life he can indulge in with his family.

A true family man I would say!

Now, regardless of how many hopes he has (or how small they may seem), Cale is someone who is full of hope and in turn fills others with it as well. So where does Love fit into our beloved idiot you may ask? Look at all of the people he has surrounded himself with and how he interacts with them. He may say he's "trashy" and a "bad person," but we all know he isn't with how he acts. Cale is highly perceptive of his family’s condition, their wants and needs. He goes out of his way, all the time, to make them happy:

He gives the children sweets and cuddles all the time

He gave Raon his name

He gives Rosalyn whatever she needs for her research and is helping her become the Magic Tower Master

He visits Alberu all the time and just hangs out, which must be such a relief to shed the royal persona (even if Cale does steal his cookies)

He lets Ron mess with him even though he hates it and helps him take back his ancestral home

Always eats everything Beacrox gives him and compliments it (probably also gives him new kitchen tools and ingredients to mess with as well)

He gave Eruhaben a reason to live longer and extended the dragon’s lifespan—and went through one hell of trial to do it—so he could do so (said reason being to live with them for as long as possible)

He gave Mary the world to experience and explore to her heart's content

Took in Lock and his siblings and just lets them be kids, albeit very violent ones

He got Choi Han a new sword (which he treasures), as well as a new home and family (which he treasures even more)

That's not even counting all he does for the others and his allies. But most of all, Cale protects them:

He never puts the kids in a situation where they can be hurt

Even when one of them was in harm’s way (Raon), he bodily shielded them not once but twice

He carried Rosalyn (with his weak noodle arms) when she couldn't stand out of harm’s way

He keeps Alberu's heritage a secret and helps him politically

He literally blew up an island for Ron

I don't think he's had a big moment for Beacrox yet, but he has saved him from the fate of living in a world without his father

Has shielded Eruhaben before from the White Star

Like the kids, Mary is almost always out of harm's way and he also protects her politically

Has shielded Lock during the Battle at the Gorge of Death

He protected Choi Han from completely losing it, as the biggest danger to Choi Han is Choi Han himself

Cale loves his newfound family so much he speedran the war with White Star in UNDER A YEAR!! And that's just for his family! You cannot tell me he hasn't also fallen in love with his new (well what was supposed to be his really) home world. He is literally tracking down and annihilating the Hunters who are in other worlds because they keep going after his in part 2. Don't tell me that isn't love! It also doesn't help that, no matter how much he denies it, Cale gets attached fairly easily. He wants people around him to love who love him in return.

GIVE THIS MAN SOME HUGS!

Anyways, I think I have rambled long enough. Hope ya’ll enjoyed this!

Brief interest check: how would ya’ll feel if I posted some creative prompts for writing, drawing, etc.? Lemme know however you want.

@elaemae hope you liked it!

[plum-pitt]

X-Men Origins Rewrite

Ok I guess this is a follow up to this post i made not too long ago abt rewriting this shit, the brainworms rlly got to me here so you’re getting a follow up sooner than expected lol

Before I actually do any rewriting though I wanted to lay out the big changes I’d be making and why, mainly for myself as a guide and to organize my thoughts both about the original film’s issues and how these changes could potentially solve them, but also to allow anyone else with some ideas for possible changes to add their own thoughts or suggestions by engaging with the post.

As for what kind of final product you could possibly expect these ideas to result in, i haven’t quite decided if I want to just do an in depth outline for the story with my proposed changes or do like a full length fic novelization. It’ll probably depend on how motivated I still feel about the exercise by the time I’m finished and happy with the cleaned up outline, but I digress. Lets just go ahead and get into the changes I want to make:

Proposed Changes:

First off, I’m removing Blob and Gambit from this cut. I like both of the characters and think it’s cool they tried to include them but the cast is crammed enough as it is and those two serve very little narrative purpose that can’t be shifted to others just as easily.

Second, I’m adding Silverfox to Team X and letting that serve as the meeting point for her and Logan, it gives the audience more time to get to know her and come to care for her and Logan’s relationship, while also harkening back to the comics where she was also a part of the weapon x program. Also I know this isn’t a real film but let it be known that if it were i’d actually hire a Native American actress to portray her, i’m still shitty they whitewashed her.

Third, I’m removing the third act “Silverfox wasn’t really dead” twist. I really shouldn’t have to explain why, that shit was dumb and completely unnecessary, not to mention introducing a shit ton of plot holes with that whack ass mutant ability they pull from thin air. In my version she’s human(as far as we know) and when she dies she dies for real, full stop.

Fourth, we are GETTING a biblically accurate Deadpool. They did my bro dirty and I refuse to compromise on this. His role will be larger to compensate for his big ass personality and the fact that i’m affectively letting him take up Gambit’s role from the original in addition to what he already had. Also I just think he bounces off of Logan really well and could serve as a really interesting parallel with having such similar trauma and very different ways of responding to it and seeing the world. Like just imagine D&W if they accidentally traumabonded over their similar origin stories.

Fifth, I’m making Victor our stand in for the films Weapon XI! He doesnt get adamantium or new powers like Wade, only the dehumanizing psychological torture present in the original Weapon X comic. I think it works great for his spiraling arc, gives me a chance to squeeze a faithful weapon X adaptation in here without upending the entire film’s structure, and helps to better position his character on a trajectory towards his more feral appearance in X1 where he doesn’t seem to fully recognize Logan.

Sixth, I’d like to include Dr. Cornelius as the head scientist in Weapon X. My current concept is that he’s in charge of all the unethical mutant capturing and experimenting, working under Stryker’s supervision but still an outsider to the government, being sent in by Stryker’s most significant source of funding for his program in Nathaniel Essex. I know this has zero basis in canon I just think it sounds cool and makes sense for Sinister to have hands in a program aiming to create perfect mutant soldiers, as someone using mutants DNA to create a genetically perfect race of superhumans and become the ultimate life form. (Sinister would not play a large role, more of a looming presence pulling strings and fucking people over)

To get more overarching here, I wanted to hone in on the dynamics and themes present in the original that i thought had the most potential for further development. Victor’s spiral to madness and eventual complete loss of self under Stryker, Logan learning to let go of Victor’s influence and the violence that he let define his life only for both to drag him back after Silverfox’s demise. Really digging into that nature vs nurture shit, and adding more mutant politics (and their accompanying metaphors for the struggles of marginalized people) cuz honestly i feel like it’s absence in the original is very noticeable, and ties in really well with Logan’s arc of self acceptance and learning to see himself as more than the violent nature of his mutation.

Stuff I Still Want Changed:

Ok so here’s where I’m throwing my hat out for suggestions, because there are still a couple minor things present in the movie that i’m just not a fan of or don’t really know what to do with. The difference is, with these I can’t really think of tweaks that could fix/improve them. So if yall have any ideas on what I can do about these, or maybe some completely unrelated changes that you just think could improve the rewrite, please let me know.

One, not really sure what to do with Zero, he’s around for a lot of the movie but didn’t really stand out much to me. I just don’t know a lot about the character or what his deal is in the comics to find something cool to do with him. I’m going back and forth on if his role is ultimately necessary?? Does Stryker really need another henchman? Or should I use the space he occupies to hone in more on Victor and Logan’s rivalry? Idk i’m still on the fence so tell me what yall think.

Two, god I just fucking hate those memory wiping adamantium bullets. It’s such a stupid plot device that makes no sense conceptually and was clearly just thrown in as an afterthought at the last second like the writers forgot they needed to erase his memory by the end. That’s not to mention the fact that the bullets’ function was retconned later in Logan. Genuinely though I cannot find another way to go about fucking up Logan’s head without basically upending the structure of this movie in its entirety so any ideas on how to solve this dilemma are appreciated.

[billhader]

Homebodies

Another Anoush/Louie one-shot smutfest by meeeee and @cristobalsifuentes

Daniel and Amanda take the whole family on an extravagant Hawaiian getaway to celebrate Sam's high school graduation. Begrudgingly, "the whole family" includes Louie. And Anoush, for some reason. And Louie and Anoush have a big secret, which everyone already knows about.

Rating: Explicit (read tags below)

Word count: 12.8k

Relationships: Louie LaRusso Jr./Anoush Norouzi

Characters: Anoush Norouzi, Louie LaRusso Jr, Amanda LaRusso, Daniel LaRusso, Samantha LaRusso, Anthony LaRusso, Lucille LaRusso

Tags: Porn with Feelings, Porn With (a little) Plot, Post-Finale, Established Situationship, Summer Vacation, Sneaking Around, Family Drama, Family Bonding, Fluff and Smut, Dirty Talk, Semi-Public Sex, Blow Jobs, Hand Jobs, Fingerfucking, Anal Sex, Mild Daddy Kink, Self-Indulgent Smut Extravaganza, Love Confessions, Getting Together

Click here to read on AO3, or continue below the break

Disclaimer: The depiction of the LaRussos travelling to Hawai'i ≠ the authors condoning tourists visiting Hawai'i. Rich people gonna rich people.

My love and I always have fun collaborating! Let us know if you enjoy!!

Anoush would be lying if he claimed to be surprised by Daniel and Amanda’s invitation to join the entire family on their trip to O'ahu. In fact, by the time Amanda broached the subject, he’d cleared his schedule for the two weeks in question and hired a housesitter to water his plants. 

The vacation was in the works for almost a year, at least on Amanda’s end. The second she could tear her husband and daughter away from dojo drama, she told Anoush over brunch, they’d all be getting the hell out of the Valley for a little while to “re-center”. It took longer than anyone anticipated for Daniel to loosen his grip on Miyagi-Do and reluctantly allow Johnny to take care of business in his absence, but he finally relented just in time to celebrate Sam’s high school graduation.

Anoush had nothing to do with the LaRussos’ karate affairs, of course. All he did was bring money in, let Amanda vent to him as much as she needed, and keep each dealership location from completely burning to the ground by sending emails. a ton of emails. Outlook hated to see Anoush log on.

Anoush couldn’t take all the credit. With Daniel gone so frequently, Louie had stepped up at work in a way Anoush didn’t know he was capable of.  He had the best figures of any salesman--even better than Anoush, as he bragged every single hour of every single day--and he put in ridiculous amounts of overtime across multiple locations when they were short-staffed. His pride in being part of the family business was finally coming through in his work, and he'd gone from being Anoush’s greatest headache to his most dependable coworker.

This was great, because Anoush and Louie were fucking. If Louie was still acting up at work, it might’ve put a damper on all the fucking. Nobody wanted that, least of all Louie. If Anoush had known years ago that all it took to get Louie to fall in line was to get him off, it would've made life a lot easier.

They were fucking, not dating. The distinction was important, at least to Anoush. Sure, they were at each other’s apartments more often than not, but man oh man that gosh darned LA traffic, the 134 is hellish this time of day/night/whatever. And yes, Anoush hadn’t responded to a single DM on any of his dating apps since the first time Louie came to his apartment with takeout for dinner and didn’t leave for a solid 36 hours--but all of the apps were still on his phone. The fact that he happened to have all their notifications turned off had nothing to do with Louie. He was…trying to reduce his screen time.

So it was all okay. Everything was fine. It wasn’t like they fucked constantly. It tended to happen when either Anoush or Louie was especially stressed out, and needed a form of catharsis that only the other understood.

Work had been extremely stressful the past few months.

Louie was invited to O'ahu despite Amanda’s reservations. There was no denying that he deserved a reward for all his contributions to the dealership. Not to mention that Lucille was coming too, and she could be relied upon to pitch a fit if Louie was excluded. He immediately went out and bought several garish Hawaiian shirts to add to the collection he already had, then insisted on putting on a fashion show when Anoush called him over to spend the night. Anoush held back the natural insults that sprang to mind, cheering Louie on after each reveal with whoops and catcalls..

The following week, Amanda appeared in Anoush’s office doorway and handed him a thick paper packet.

“I can get to it first thing Wednesday,” Anoush muttered, holding out his hand without glancing at the packet.

“You might want to look it over now,” Amanda said, stretching out each vowel with a bewildered upward inflection. “Maybe take it home.”

It was a beautifully detailed O'ahu itinerary. Anoush felt like a jackass as he read it, but he was a very happy jackass indeed.

“This is mandatory, by the way.” Amanda was beaming. “They're all going to run me ragged. If you're not there, I will probably fake my own death on day two.”

If Louie’s persuasive powers contributed to Anoush's invitation, Amanda’s lips were sealed. Louie gave no hint either way. Anoush knew better than to question it. Nobody knew about his and Louie's situation. At least, no one was supposed to know. No one had a reason to know. They weren't dating, after all.

They land in Hawai’i on a Tuesday. The LaRussos rented out a gigantic house about fifteen minutes from the heart of Honolulu, situated atop a gentle hill all its own with unbeatable ocean and mountain views. It has a pool, an outdoor lounge area, a stunning kitchen, and enough bedrooms for everybody. Almost everybody.

Louie sleeps on the pull-out couch in their room the first night because he can physically see the knots in Anoush’s neck & shoulders. Traveling always stresses Anoush out and he barely got any sleep the night before their flight. After eating dinner as a family on the patio and animatedly rehashing their itineraries for an hour straight, Louie flops onto the sofa bed and passes out within minutes. His joints do not treat him kindly in the morning.

By the second night, Anoush has had enough of Louie grunting and making pathetic pinched-up faces all day long at the beach. He insists that Louie sleep in bed with him. Louie promises he’ll be on his best behavior, but Anoush wakes up with Louie’s chest glued to his back anyway before they separate and get ready for the day. Neither of them acknowledge how they woke up, but Louie knows he didn't imagine a half-sleeping Anoush snuggling in closer to his body just after sunrise.

Louie takes Anthony to the beach for boogie-boarding while Anoush joins Amanda and Lucille at a nearby spa for a deep tissue massage and a facial. The spa treatment is divine and helps melt away any and all tension Anoush had been holding in his body the past few days. When they return to the house, he lounges happily on the bed with a book until Louie and Anthony come back from the beach.

“What do you mean, skip dinner?” Anoush asks once Louie finally gets to the point of his rambling after eyeing Anoush up and down about twelve times.

“I mean we skip dinner. Hang out here. I can whip something up when we get hungry,” Louie shrugs. “I don’t think i can stand another minute in the fuckin’ sun today.” 

“Hm, sounds like you came on the wrong trip, then,” Anoush retorts and goes back to his book, not actually reading, but still wanting to give the impression of vague disinterest. Louie rolls his eyes at Anoush’s sass, then inhales as deeply as he can without it being obvious. Anoush smells warm and lovely and faintly of lavender and Louie knows he won’t be able to sit through dinner in public with this man.

“We have a ton of wine downstairs. C’mon, let’s make a night of it.” Louie flops on the bed and nudges Anoush’s knee with his elbow.

“I guess nothing on the menu really stood out to me,” Anoush muses, eyes wandering from the page again. Louie’s looking up at him like a dog waiting for a tennis ball to be thrown. “I'll think about it.”

“Well, think fast,” Louie says. “We’re s’posed to leave in half an hour. You know I’ll make you somethin’ good to eat. And we got pineapple upside down cake for dessert.” 

Anoush smiles despite his weak attempt to seem aloof. “We’re in paradise and you want to sit inside all night and eat.”

“C’mon, you really wanna sit through dinner tonight when we got the boat tour and the stupid luau tomorrow? I just wanna chill and see the sunset from up here.”

Louie’s making good points as if Anoush doesn’t know exactly what’s on his mind. He’s felt Louie’s eyes on him since he came back from the beach, smelling too much like the surf and not enough like sunscreen, and admittedly he wasn’t reading too closely while Louie stripped and showered and dressed. Anoush flips his book face-down on his lap. 

“I don't think you could be subtle if you had a gun to your head,” he quips.

Louie grins like a fool. “Dunno what you’re talkin’ about.” 

“I didn't come all the way to Hawai’i to shack up with you,” Anoush whispers fervently, as if  anyone else could hear. “I can do that at home.”

“Yeah, you can. Any time,” Louie says with a wink. “But we're here, and we can have the whole place to ourselves…” 

His hand on Anoush’s knee is the kicker.

“Okay, okay. Dinner better be good,” he warns.

Louie immediately rolls off the bed, pumping his fist. “Hell yeah.”

“Go tell Amanda we're staying,” Anoush says, “but act normal.” He can't help but laugh when Louie runs out. His face is hot, like Louie’s deep tan is somehow spreading to him, and Louie's simple touch gave him goosebumps.

Louie’s nearly out of breath when he makes it downstairs, and he huffs a sigh of relief when he sees that the double doors to Amanda & Daniel’s similarly-grandiose, ground-floor bedroom are wide open. He makes a beeline for the room and hears the shower on as he gets closer, then finds Amanda sitting at the vanity near the french doors to the patio and fixing her hair. She's fully dressed and ready to go, opting for a no-makeup night so as not to irritate her skin after the spa day.

“Hey, knock 2 off of the reservation for tonight,” Louie announces the second he enters her periphery.

“Okay,” she says plainly without batting an eye, “Why?” 

“Uhhhhh,” Louie starts. He suddenly thinks too hard about Anoush warning him to be normal and needs a few seconds to shift gears and string a decent sentence together. “We’re not really feelin’ up to goin’ out.” Louie tries a casual shrug. Amanda just turns toward him.

“‘We’ as in…?”

Louie rolls his eyes and drops his shoulders. “What's with the third degree? C’mon. Me and Anoush."

“The third degree,” Amanda scoffs. “You’ve seen me give the third degree. This is not the third degree.”

“Okay, the second degree, then,” Louie reasons. Amanda chuckles sardonically, icily, and goes back to fixing her hair in the mirror. “It’s just- I got too much sun and he’s all relaxed and whatever the fuck from the spa shit. And we have the boat and the luau tomorrow and I need to recover from today, y’know?” Amanda lets Louie’s words linger for far longer than Louie is comfortable with. “Hey, two less meals to pay for, right?”

“Yep, all good,” Amanda agrees with a smile and a nod. “We’ll ‘knock 2 off of the reservation.’” Louie looks around the room, waiting for some sort of snide remark.

“O…kay… That’s it?”

“What else would there be? Go rest up,” Amanda encourages. Louie eyes her carefully, then shrugs again and turns to leave. 

“Louie,” she stops him before he reaches the door. Louie turns around. “Keep it in your bedroom.”

“What do you think-“

“Keep it. In. Your bedroom,” she tells him softly, sternly. 

Louie opens his mouth to protest again, but shuts up at Amanda’s warning glare. He nods and exits the room, but backpedals back into the room after only a few steps. 

“What about the balcony?”

Amanda wrinkles her nose and side eyes him. “Use your best judgment, Louie.”

As Louie scrambles to the kitchen for wine, Daniel pokes his head out of the ensuite bathroom. “Did I hear Louie?”

 “Mhm. He and Anoush are ditching us for dinner,” Amanda reports, giving him a pointed look. “They’re staying in.”

 “Ohhhhh.” Daniel nods slowly, catching her drift. “Well, that’s good, right? Don’t have to worry about Louie behaving himself for one night.”

“If we’re very lucky,” Amanda grumbles.

“And it means your plan’s working,” Daniel points out. “Like you said, Anoush is already family, pretty much. They might as well make it official.”

Amanda cringes - he’s right, she did this to herself.

“The plan might work a little too well,” she says. 

Meanwhile, Louie takes a peek in the fridge to get a feel for what he’ll do for dinner. He texts Anoush, “Sushi bowls or pasta?”

 “You’re prepping dinner already??” Anoush responds.

Louie smirks and shakes his head, grabbing a bottle of white wine he knows Anoush picked himself at the store out of the wine cooler under the counter. Anoush thinks he’s a cool customer, but Louie saw the way Anoush eyed him over the top of his paperback. He saw it when he emerged from the shower, and he saw it when they were talking on the bed. 

“I can start now or come back upstairs” he texts. He's already grabbed two glasses and started walking back upstairs by the time Anoush replies, “Upstairs.”

Anoush knows how he sounds. He just doesn’t really care anymore. He's sitting in the same spot when Louie returns and sets down the bottle and glasses on the nightstand. “Not hungry yet, huh,” he says, more a statement than a question. Anoush shrugs and pats the mattress next to him - Louie’s back in bed in an instant. “That wasn’t the only food, I can make whatever-” 

Anoush is on him so fast his head spins. One second he’s curled up next to Louie, the next he’s straddling him and pushing him down against the pillows, kissing him like he’s angry at him. Louie enthusiastically obliges Anoush until his lungs start to burn with a need for air.

 “They’re still here, you sick fuck,” he teases once he’s managed to catch his breath. His hands find Anoush’s narrow hips, pushing his t-shirt up half an inch and threatening to do something about the waistband of his lounge shorts. Anoush leans back down to kiss him, and Louie’s grip on Anoush tightens instinctively.

“Don’t act like you’ve never put your hand in my pants in your office with Amanda and Daniel on the other side of the door,” Anoush goads, and Louie had forgotten how blunt and bratty Anoush can be whenever they’re able to make any type of noise. Louie chases a kiss and rides his tongue along Anoush’s bottom lip.

“Hey, that was one time,” he protests. He gets a lethal look from Anoush in return. 

“Hey, that was two times.” 

“Can you blame me, though? I mean, look at you.” Louie slides his hand up Anoush’s side, underneath his t-shirt, and he bites his lip at the way Anoush shivers at his touch, goosebumps sprouting once again beneath Louie’s fingertips. “It's hard enough to deal with you back home, but now you went and got all soft and smooth and oily and shit.”

Anoush throws his head back and chuckles, and Louie feels ravenous at the sight of Anoush’s Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat. “You’re ridiculous,” Anoush chides, but he fixates on Louie’s lips again, grabbing at Louie’s pecs through his t-shirt with one hand and rocking against him to let Louie feel his growing erection. “You said they’re leaving in a half hour?”

“More like 20 minutes now,” Louie nods. “Maybe less. Depends on how hangry Lucille gets in the next few minutes.”

“Okay,” Anoush sighs against his lips. “That can work.”

Louie pulls Anoush down hard against his lap, making sure Anoush knows they’re both in the same boat. He’s pleasantly light-headed from the rush of blood down south and the cloud of lavender and herbal smells that permeates Anoush’s skin, which is just as soft as Louie knew it’d be. Anoush whines into Louie’s mouth, and Louie squeezes his hip in warning. 

“Someone’ll hear,” he murmurs. “You know we’ll never live it down.”

Anoush goes still in his lap and stops kissing him for a moment, pressing his forehead to Louie’s and running a hand through Louie’s freshly washed, ungelled hair. “Sounds like more of a you problem than a we problem.”

Louie’s not strong enough to keep himself from caressing Anoush’s thighs when they’re right there for him to touch, especially whe he knows it makes Anoush kind of feral. His thumbs rub circles into Anoush’s inner thighs, gliding with the assistance of ghostly massage oil remnants. “Yeah, and what if I want it to be a we problem?” 

Anoush opens his eyes, backing up half an inch.

“Are we talking about it?” he asks, breathless voice foreshadowing his fading composure. “Right now?”

“Whenever,” Louie says with a shrug. Neither of them speaks for a moment, and they can hear Amanda arguing with Anthony downstairs over acceptable attire for going out to dinner.

“Okay,” Anoush sighs, settling back on Louie’s legs. “I’ve just been thinking, if we’re really doing this-”

“We've been really doing this for a minute now,” Louie says with a wolfish grin. Anoush rolls his eyes.

“I mean, if we’re labeling it, or just acknowledging it in the first place…there are things we should talk about. I don't want to get wrapped up in something where we’re not on the same page about what we want, where it’s going, future stuff...all of it.”

Louie breathes a little quicker, heart racing ahead of his brain. Just Anoush saying all of that tells him everything he needs to know. He's known, or hoped, for a while now that he wasn’t just imagining the depth of their feelings, that it wasn’t one-sided.

“Yeah, we can talk about anything you need to talk about,” he assures, sitting up straighter so he can bring Anoush close again. “But whatever you say isn’t gonna change my mind about you. I'm not goin’ nowhere ‘til you kick me to the curb. Or throw me off a building - whatever comes first.”

Anoush laughs, trying to keep it quiet, but Louie kisses his neck and it tickles.

“I made up my mind day one,” he murmurs in Anoush’s ear.

“I know,” Anoush admits. “Me too. We should still talk…” 

Louie pulls off Anoush’s shirt and keeps kissing his neck, unable to stay away for very long. Anoush catches a gasp from escaping when Louie nips the column of his throat.

“Maybe later.”

“Later,” Louie echoes.

Anoush's gaze turns toward the open balcony doors. Maybe if he hadn't opened those, he-

"Ohh," he sighs as quietly as he can when teeth dig into the meat of his neck, Louie having taken advantage of Anoush's head being turned to the side. "I don't plan on wearing a turtleneck on the boat tomorrow, Lou," Anoush reprimands him and pushes away from Louie yet again.

Louie looks smug as he runs his hands up Anoush's torso and through his chest hair. "How are you more annoying when you're wearing less clothes?" he muses aloud. "I can barely stand you half the time when you're in those fuckin' three piece suits."

"You love my suits," Anoush protests, teasing the hem of Louie's shirt between thumb and forefinger.

"I don't love the fifteen minutes it takes to get them offa you," Louie shakes his head.

Anoush grins, something small and a little shy, something Louie's still getting used to seeing on Anoush's face. Anoush dips down and kisses Louie again, pinning Louie to the bed by his biceps so he can't even think about doing anything uncouth without Anoush's express permission. Louie could easily overtake Anoush, but he won't. It usually turns into wrestling and half-hearted insults and it would simply be too much commotion with Lucille's nosy bat ears still on the property. So Louie lets Anoush kiss him slowly, lets Anoush tease him by rolling his hips at an agitating pace, lets Anoush drive him fucking crazy on this beautiful island that Louie would give up every opportunity to explore if it means he gets to look at and feel Anoush like this instead.

"Can you be quiet?" Anoush asks against Louie's jaw. Louie's dick twitches when he feels Anoush's fingertips slide beneath the waistband of his shorts.

"I dunno, depends-"

"I'm just gonna check the bathroom for it one last time and then we can go!" They both hear Daniel shout. Louie's eyes roll so far back in his head that it kind of hurts. This is the third time today that he's overheard Daniel freaking out over his missing puka shell necklace. He's not sure he's encountered a more ferocious bonerkill than the sound of his cousin's voice, but then Anoush's hand is on the base of his cock and Louie can't really think about anything at all.

"Can you be quiet?" Anoush repeats against the shell of Louie's ear, "It's a yes or no question, Louie. Just for a few minutes."

“Yeah.” Louie nods quickly, exhaling as slowly as he can. “Can you?”

 Anoush kisses a line from below Louie’s ear, across his jaw to his chin. “I wouldn't worry about it.”

He helps Louie pull his t-shirt over his head and finds his mouth once more for a sloppy kiss. His fingers drag up the length of Louie’s shaft, not committing to anything besides teasing for the moment. They hear people stomping up, down, back up the stairs.

“Whaddaya mean they're not coming?” Lucille exclaims downstairs, and they both snicker.

“I locked our door,” Louie whispers, his voice cracking a little when Anoush kisses his chest.

Anoush has been thinking a lot about this, about him and Louie unraveling each other slowly and completely. It sustained him for days and days in the stressful whirlwind leading up to the trip. Pulling down Louie’s shorts and boxers at once, he feels more relaxed than he did at the spa. When he kisses low on Louie’s stomach, just above where the head of his cock is resting, he knows it's a risk, knows how sensitive Louie is there. Louie lets out a shuddering sigh, not loud, but his chest is almost heaving now as Anoush mouths over his thighs like he doesn't have anything better to do. At home, Louie would tell him to cut it out, maybe pull his hair, guide him none too gently to where his mouth really belongs, which Anoush was more than happy with…but having Louie totally helpless in this way is even better..

Anoush makes his way down to Louie’s tan line at mid-thigh, then even further to kiss the slight pinkness above Louie’s knee where he forgot to reapply sunscreen earlier.  Anoush looks up at Louie from his spot between his legs, and Louie swallows and tenses his jaw, clearly itching to make a smart comment but dedicated to his agreement with Anoush.

Anoush’s eyes drop to Louie’s cock, where he can see a healthy bead of precum threatening to dribble down Louie’s foreskin. he looks at Louie, whose eyes haven’t left Anoush’s face for who knows how long, and finds himself chasing the clean, salty taste of Louie’s skin as he mouths his way back up Louie’s thigh.

God, what are we?

Anoush takes one of Louie’s balls into his mouth before he can dwell too long on his own internal monologue. Louie’s fingers curl clumsily into the fresh, white comforter as he tries to find an outlet for his urge to grab hold of Anoush’s hair. He knows how that would end - Anoush would immediately moan, then Louie would say something politely filthy and pull his hair harder, and they’d get sent home from the trip early by their boss. Instead, Louie watches helplessly as Anoush licks up his shaft and envelops the tip of his cock in his mouth. The engine of the van kicks on outside, and Louie can’t hide his sigh of relief.

Anoush digs his fingers into the meat of Louie's thigh, silently warning him--not yet. Whether he really thinks someone can still hear them or he just wants to make Louie suffer, Louie plays along for as long as he can. Anoush is both lazy and relentless, teasing his tongue over the thick, swollen head of Louie's cock, backing off and blowing air over the sensitive tip, wetly kissing his way up the underside…and car doors slam, and the hum of the engine fades. At the same time, Anoush takes Louie halfway down his throat.

“Fuuuck,” Louie groans, head snapping back against the pillow - his hips buck slightly from the shock, but Anoush is ready for it, backing off him for a moment. He grasps the base of Louie's cock, steady but not too firm. His other hand holds onto Louie’s thigh, keeping him in place with his leg bent slightly outward as he takes his length in his mouth again. Louie regains his composure enough to look down at Anoush, only to meet his pretty dark eyes through his lashes and see a drop of his spit slide down his exposed shaft.

“You're fuckin’ unreal,” Louie manages to say, and Anoush’s only response is to bob his head lower, take him deeper. He’ll never really get used to the slight ache in his jaw when he sucks Louie’s cock, but he certainly doesn't mind it. Louie's hand lands heavily on the back of Anoush's head, but he doesn't pull his hair. He doesn't try to take any control or set the pace. He's just reaching desperately, trying not to lose himself in the warmth and the drag of his tongue and the relief of finally having Anoush all to himself.

Anoush can't think too hard about the way his entire body tingles with Louie’s hand on him, with Louie panting and gasping out swears and his legs faintly trembling.

Louie momentarily considers stopping Anoush, pushing him off of his cock and teasing his spit-slick lower lip with his thumb so this can last a little longer. But it’s been days since Louie’s last orgasm and he wants Anoush so badly that he figures he can go twice if that’s what Anoush wants, if just for this evening. Louie’s getting older; he finds himself waking up with random pain in his back or legs or neck more often than not. But Anoush and his tight body and stupid curls and the way he sounds when Louie touches him in ways that no one else gets to has Louie’s libido firing on all cylinders as if he’s 20 again.

“Fuck, baby,” Louie groans and gently scratches at Anoush’s scalp, “You better be careful.”

Anoush hums and narrows his eyes at Louie, and Louie throws his head back again when he realizes Anoush has no intention of heeding his warning. Louie cums with a long, loud groan, abs tensing as he curls himself minutely toward Anoush’s head. Anoush takes most of Louie’s release in his mouth, then pulls off of his dick and lets the rest land on Louie’s stomach as he strokes him through his orgasm.

“Jesus fuckin’- fuck!” Louie shudders, happy to take advantage of the now-empty house. Anoush merely grins and kisses all around Louie’s groin and thighs once more. Louie caresses Anoush’s jaw. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen Anoush this relaxed, this serene. Especially given that Anoush is most certainly hard as a rock in his little shorts.

“C’mere.” Louie feels almost drunk as he grabs Anoush and pulls him back on top of him properly. He doesn’t hesitate to kiss Anoush, having gotten over his aversion to tasting himself rather quickly once they started fooling around. Louie grips Anoush’s ass in both hands as if it’s going anywhere and exhales through his nose when Anoush breaks their kiss with a moan against the corner of Louie’s mouth. 

“Come on, you can be louder than that, baby. I know you can.”

“What if they come back right now?” Anoush whispers, voice hoarse and in need of a drink of water (or, preferably, white wine). “What if they forgot something?”

Louie snickers and sighs, adrenaline still coursing through him. “We'd hear ‘em comin’ up the driveway,” Louie reasons. Anoush nods against Louie’s forehead in surrender. Louie’s right. “Or they’d hear you cumming from the driveway. One of the two.”

“I'm not the reason my neighbors complained,” Anoush reminds him, kissing him gently before biting his bottom lip, just shy of hard enough to bleed.

“Still your fault, though,” Louie challenges. He slips both hands under the waist of Anoush’s shorts, grabbing at his bare ass, smirking when Anoush shamelessly arches into his touch and gasps sharply. “After you fuckin’ teased me in that god-awful stadium traffic all the way back to your fuckin’ place…I coulda killed you.”

“You almost did,” Anoush says, laughing and shivering as Louie tugs his shorts down under his ass. “It's kinda tough getting out of bed after that.”

Louie kneads and squeezes, daring to tease a middle finger between his cheeks just to get him squirming a little more. “That’s the first time I knew for sure how fuckin’ dirty you are, baby.”

Anoush whines from the back of his throat, and Louie’s fed up with him and all his restraint and self-denial. He reluctantly pushes Anoush off to the side to yank his shorts completely down his legs; Anoush comes back to him like a boomerang and stuffs a couple of extra pillows behind Louie for him to sit back on. They end up like this a lot, although Anoush loves nothing more than being pinned down by Louie’s mass. This is just the best position for Louie to touch Anoush however he wants to. Anoush kisses his neck when he leans to the side to grab lube from the nightstand drawer.

“How'd that get over here?” he asks, like he doesn’t already know. Louie shrugs.

“It mighta snuck over with me last night.”

“After I said all we were going to do was sleep?” Anoush is smiling against his skin.

“Sometimes you change your mind,” Louie defends. “I didn't try nothin’, did I?” he pops open the lube, and the cap accidentally spurts a copious amount into his hand - too much, really, but that was fine.

“Mhm,” Anoush hums. “Right. So your dick up against my leg when I woke up was an accident.”

“It was at first,” Louie admits, and Anoush’s neck flushes a deeper and more noticeable pink. Reaching behind Anoush, he pulls at the swell of his ass cheek and slips his other hand between, coating his rim with the excess lube.

“Oh shit…” Anoush shudders, wrapping an arm around Louie’s neck, kissing him as he bears back on his probing fingers. Louie’s erection hasn't even fully gone down, and he can already feel it returning. Nothing gets him going like the way Anoush’s body reacts under his hands.

“I think I didn't see what you wore to bed?” Louie says, voice low, almost a growl. “Think I didn't notice when I got your shorts off and you didn't even bother to put on underwear? You're so fuckin’ easy for me.”

“Fuck you,” Anoush manages to gasp as Louie’s finger breaches his hole, working open both tight rings of muscle without much regard for comfort or pain because he knows Anoush likes it all. Between them, Anoush's neglected cock is straining and dripping, smearing on Louie’s stomach. He's breathing loud, moaning with each movement of Louie’s finger inside him, rocking his hips weakly. Louie can tell it won't take much to finish him off. Once he presses another finger inside Anoush and gets the “Oh fuck, Louie” he was waiting for, he whispers fiercely in Anoush’s ear.

“Be good and I'll take you out on the balcony.”

If he were of sounder (or, to Louie, whinier) mind, Anoush would protest. He’d tell Louie it’s too risky, that even though they’re a quarter mile from the main road and none of the neighboring villas have a direct view of their balcony, it’s indecent and dangerous. If he weren’t stuffed full of Louie’s long, sturdy fingers. If he weren’t panting and whimpering at the feeling of Louie’s lips and teeth on his jaw. If he didn’t feel so safe with Louie, so taken care of in a way that would send the version of him who barely knew Louie and trained him at the dealership into shock.

“I will be,” Anoush sighs, then his entire body tenses and he makes an almost pained sound when Louie curls his fingers just right, in the spot that he immediately became intimately familiar with the first time Anoush trusted him enough to do this. 

“I know you will, baby,” Louie coos, fueling Anoush’s further spiral into brainlessness. “Otherwise you won’t get my cock. You want my cock, don’t you, cuore?”

Anoush has heard Louie call him that a few times, but always forgets about it by the time they’re done and never looks it up. It might be endearing, it might be dirty, but either way, Anoush feels like he’s on fire. Anoush nods wordlessly. As much as he enjoys the occasions where he takes control and leaves Louie dumbstruck and near speechless on the mattress, he certainly doesn’t mind being used as Louie’s sunkissed, oiled-up fuck toy right about now. Louie’s the only one who can help him relieve that last, lingering itch, that last little semblance of tension in his body that a massage and facial simply couldn’t take care of. Louie suddenly uses his other hand to wrap his fingers around Anoush’s shiny, leaking cock and Anoush stops writhing.

“Fuck, I’m gonna cum if you do that,” Anoush rushes out. He’s not telling Louie to stop, just warning him. He wants Louie to make the decision for him, wants to cum when Louie decides that it’s okay.

“I know,” Louie growls against Anoush’s throat, “You’re gonna pop for me, huh? Just like that?”

Anoush whines again and nods, beginning to thrust into Louie’s fist and back against his fingers, which now fuck in and out of Anoush with purpose.

“God, you’re so desperate for it. Such a good fuckin’ slut, Anoush.”

He knows what he’s doing. He knows that’s it for Anoush. Anoush’s hips snap forward so harshly that Louie’s fingers slip out and Anoush cums in spurts over Louie’s chest and stomach, head tipped back as he moans wildly, noises tapering off into something that sounds vaguely like Louie’s name. Louie watches Anoush in awe, panting like he just felt his orgasm too.

His heart’s pounding because he doesn't understand how it gets better and hotter and more overwhelming every time they hook up. At first he figured the excitement of fucking Anoush stemmed from it being on the down-low, the weird feeling that they were doing something wrong that they couldn't talk about, but gradually Louie’s realized nobody, not even his mildly toxic and invasive and lapsed-Catholic family, would give a shit if they knew he and Anoush were together (if they really were together…he wanted to circle back to that someday, whenever they can stop making each other cum when they're alone together for more than a few minutes). The guilt doesn't come from anywhere but inside him, a part of him that he understands all too well but does his best not to dwell on.

Everything is bliss when he smooths his hand in circles on Anoush's back, partially supporting his weight on his shoulder. Anoush is still trying to catch his breath when Louie’s free hand finds his spent cock again, rubbing the tip with his thumb.

“Fuck!” Anoush’s legs tremble and his hips stutter without rhythm, and he grabs Louie’s biceps to keep himself somewhat upright as he involuntarily curls inward. Louie likes how his moans start to turn into sobs when he’s overstimulated, and each time he’s done this and asked if he should stop, Anoush refuses, practically demands more.so Louie strokes and teases him until he's boneless against Louie, shaking and crying out “I can't, fuck, I can't…” Only then does Louie give him a break. He rolls them to the other side of the bed, Anoush flat on the mattress and panting. Louie wants him to rest, but has no plan to do the same. He works his way down to Anoush’s stomach, cleaning him up with his tongue until he hears Anoush whine his name again.

“How you doin’, honey?” he murmurs, kissing a quick and light trail back to his mouth. Anoush pulls him down to kiss him harder, hands raking through Louie’s hair. He's a little surprised that Anoush isn't catatonic after everything. they're both tapping into rare wells of stamina, bolstered by the sense that something about this time was different.

“Good,” Anoush breathes. “Need you…”

“Already?”

It isn't that Louie isn't ready to go, or that he thinks Anoush can't handle it. he just doesn't want to rush anything, doesn't really want it to be over. but Anoush kisses him so harshly that an edge re-emerges--the impatient, bratty energy that delights Louie to no end.

“Fuck me.”

Louie laughs, rough and ragged, against Anoush’s throat, which only makes Anoush squirm more. “Remember that one time,” Louie murmurs, “like, the second time I spent the night. You tried to tell me you were 50/50?” 

Anoush props himself up on one elbow and grabs Louie by the back of the neck with the other hand. “What the fuck are you talking about?” Anoush asks. 

Louie’s grin widens. “Giving and receiving,” he clarifies, gaze darting between Anoush’s lips and chest and eyes.

Anoush blushes furiously and reaches for the last vestiges of snark in his brain. “I definitely just gave you something that made you cum,” Anoush reasons, but Louie snorts and shakes his head. He bites his lip and leans in to nip at Anoush’s earlobe.

“You'd let me spread your legs any day of the week, baby, I know you,” he whispers. “Any time, any place.” Anoush starts to feel lightheaded, licks his lips and tilts his head when he feels Louie kiss his neck again. “As long as I look at you the right way, or say something dirty in your ear. Huh?”

“Y-yeah,” Anoush doesn’t mean to stutter, but it happens anyway, and he wraps his legs around Louie’s waist when he feels Louie’s hand slide beneath the small of his back.

“Yeah?” Louie asks against his cheek. 

“Yes, daddy,” Anoush says breathlessly, and Louie has both of them up and off the bed in what feels like the blink of an eye.

“Uh-huh, that’s what I thought,” Louie murmurs as Anoush clings to him for dear life. Louie inhales deeply, taking in the faint smell of Anoush’s sweat still primarily masked by the perfumed scents of the spa. “Did you open these doors earlier just to fuck with me?”

Anoush would laugh at that if he weren’t so overwhelmed by the feeling of his oversensitive cock sandwiched between his and Louie’s stomachs. “I thought the breeze would be nice,” he weakly responds.

“God, it’s fuckin’ beautiful out here,” Louie muses as he steps out onto the balcony. He sets Anoush down but keeps an arm around him for stability that he knows Anoush needs right now. As something of a pillow princess, Anoush isn’t too accustomed to getting fucked standing up, except for the one or two or four times in the shower. Louie’s eyes rake up and down Anoush’s body again. Anoush looks smaller out here somehow. Shyer. Pinker. He keeps one hand cupped over his crotch as if his soft dick is news to Louie. Louie bends his knees and draws Anoush onto his toes to kiss him slowly, wetly.

“Turn around for me, lemme see you.”

Anoush does as he’s told and braces himself with both hands on the balcony railing, leaving his dick fully exposed to the elements. He shivers when he feels Louie’s hand teasing his inner thighs, nudging to spread them a little wider.

The view of Anoush posed like this against the backdrop of their incredible surroundings is utterly surreal for Louie. The setting sun is still warm, catching on the sheen of sweat that’s coated the small of his back, and his curls catch the gentle breeze. Louie drops kisses along the length of Anoush’s spine, ending at the nape of his neck, and notices the wobble in his arms.

“So goddamn gorgeous for me, caro mio,” he says softly. “This how you want me?”

Anoush turns to kiss him. “Any time, any place…like you said.”

Louie grabs him by the hair to kiss him rougher, making him moan, but quickly lets go to get in position again. He doesn't like to keep Anoush waiting once he gets demanding and bossy, and he was very clear about wanting to be fucked.

Louie's covered a lot of ground when it comes to sex, but he finds himself glancing around and below them to be sure they're truly alone--this feels bold and risky, even to him. Unfortunately, rather than this deterring him from railing Anoush out in the open, it makes his dick throb. He's liberal and fast with the lube, dropping the bottle on the ground, and goes right back to being handsy, grabbing Anoush’s ass hard, his cock rutting between his cheeks. 

“Come on,” Anoush whimpers, and Louie instantly gives him what he wants, unable to hold back any longer. Anoush's knees threaten to buckle as Louie drives his cock inside him, letting him have enough of his length at once to overwhelm him completely, holding him in place by his hips because he can, because Anoush is his. He's soft, he's so warm, he's so fucking tight, and he's Louie's, at least for now.

The groan Anoush lets out is involuntary, wordless, fractured and wrecked. Each of Louie's short thrusts prolongs and renews his broken noises. 

“Fuck, Anoush,” he spits through gritted teeth--he's sunk inside Anoush completely already and he can barely remember his own name. Anoush finds his voice long enough to beg like he isn't already stuffed with Louie’s thick cock.

“Please, ohh fuck, move, Louie…fuck me, it's so much, fuck me…”

His babbling dissolves into strained gasps and sobs once more as Louie fucks into him with real force. Louie can barely think, but he reaches around to feel that Anoush’s dick is already starting to stiffen up again.

“Like this?” he taunts, grabbing Anoush’s shoulder to compel him to arch his back, to push back onto Louie's cock himself. He wishes he could kiss Anoush through this, face him when he cums again, but he can't ask for too much when the man bent over for him taking his cock like he was made for it is so beautiful.

Anoush bounces on Louie’s cock just like Louie nonverbally asked him to, and Louie leans back and watches Anoush at work. Louie thinks it might be a little evil making Anoush do this when he just had one of the strongest orgasms Louie’s ever pulled out of him, but then Anoush looks over his shoulder and bats his ridiculously long eyelashes at Louie, mouth slightly agape. Louie shakes his head, bites the inside of his cheek, and delivers a sharp smack to the side of Anoush’s ass.

“Oh, fuck, daddy,” Anoush moans and finds himself unable to look back at Louie any longer, hanging his head between his arms still braced on the railing.

“That’s it, baby, take it,” Louie purrs, “Take as much of daddy’s cock as you want, there you go.” Louie finds himself transfixed as Anoush starts putting on more of a show, canting forward until Louie’s cock threatens to slip out of him, then bearing back to take the entire length in one movement and repeating. “You can’t get enough, can you?”

Anoush just shakes his head in response. Louie starts snapping his hips forward minutely again to meet Anoush every time he bounces back on it. 

Louie knew Anoush was a minx ever since they went to that stupid fucking Dodgers game together, but the rougher stuff is rather new. It happened by accident, really, with Anoush so far gone that Louie’s hand around the back of his neck pulled an unexpected “Please, daddy” out of him. Anoush immediately wanted to die of embarrassment and felt like his dick might actually invert inside of his body, but then Louie came not ten seconds later.

Louie grabs hold of Anoush’s shoulders with both hands and thrusts rhythmically, grinning when Anoush’s pants and whines turn into a long, slack-jawed moan that spikes in octave every time Louie’s pelvis meets Anoush’s ass. Louie lets go of Anoush’s left shoulder and grabs and pulls his hair instead.

“You know how fuckin’ gorgeous you look right now?” Louie asks, as if Anoush is in any state to properly answer.

“Louie, Louie, fuck, Louie,” Anoush whimpers, louder now than he was when Louie first brought him outside. Anoush braces his full weight on the railing and lets Louie pick up the slack again. A faraway part of Anoush’s brain is still scandalized that he let Louie rope him into this, but then Louie adjusts his angle and pulls out enough to grind the head of his cock directly against Anoush’s prostate. “Ahhhh-ah-ah-”

“Can’t cum yet, baby,” Louie whispers against Anoush’s shoulder blade as he folds himself over so his chest is nearly flush with Anoush’s back. He hooks an arm around Anoush’s torso and splays his hand against his lower belly, the other hand still tugging on Anoush’s rich curls. 

“Please,” Anoush begs, “Please, Louie, Louie, god…I’m so close…” he trails off and Louie feels Anoush’s body tense as he focuses on staving off his orgasm. Anoush's legs are barely functional. He thinks the climax that's building with each punching stroke against his prostate might actually kill him, but there are way worse ways to go than via debilitating orgasm with a partial ocean view at sunset. Whenever Louie bends him over like this, he can't believe how full he feels. With his body pressed to Anoush’s, his cock drags deep inside him like he can't bury himself deep enough.

Anoush always knows when Louie’s about to cum because Louie’s instinct is to draw himself in closer to Anoush, to have as much skin against skin as possible. Anoush is obsessed with the smallest details of the way they have sex, the way Louie never seems to be completely finished with touching him. He's always satisfied, but he’ll always take more if Anoush offers. Anoush wants to give Louie everything he has until there's nothing left of him.

He turns his head to try and kiss Louie, but they're both too far gone to do anything but pant into each other's mouths. Louie is still stunned that Anoush even allowed this to happen. He can't believe what a lucky, unworthy bastard he is to have Anoush all to himself.

Anoush presses his ass against Louie and whimpers “Cum inside me, daddy,” and Louie loses it instantly. His hips snap uncontrollably as he comes for the second time, moaning “fuuuuuck” loud enough for half the island to hear. He grabs Anoush tight, his hand presses sharply against Anoush's lower belly--

And Anoush doesn't know what happens next. He can't comprehend it. It must be the combination of the sudden push on his abdomen with the continued pressure on his prostate, and just maybe the warm sensation of Louie's perfect cock filling him with his cum, but he can't hold off his own climax anymore. it doesn't seem to matter to his body that Louie’s hand isn't anywhere near his dick.

As he cums again, his overtaxed release dripping weakly on the concrete, he hears the hoarse and wrecked wail that must be coming from him, but he doesn't recognize the sound. He does recognize Louie’s voice, rasping “No fuckin’ way…there's no fuckin’ way.” Anoush’s grip on the railing slips, his knees give out, but Louie’s still holding onto him so he doesn't go anywhere.

Louie's reeling, utterly exhausted, but Anoush needs taking care of and he always manages to find the energy to do that. He groans as he eases his cock out of Anoush, then turns him to pick him back up and carry him the few steps back inside to the rumpled bed.

“No way you just did that, honey,” he murmurs, setting Anoush down on his back again with great care. Anoush still can't speak; his head lolls back on the mattress, chest heaving. Louie crawls over him and kisses his exposed throat, where marks he sort of tried to avoid leaving earlier are making themselves known. “I can't fuckin’ believe you're real sometimes.”

Louie settles for giving Anoush a modicum of space and lies on his side next to him. Anoush’s stomach tenses when Louie puts his hand on it again, but when Louie goes to retract his hand, Anoush places his own over it and keeps it there. Louie breathes a sigh of relief and grins at Anoush.

“Thought i lost you there for a second,” he jokes, nosing at and kissing Anoush’s shoulder. Anoush takes a few steadying breaths. He trembles slightly under Louie’s touch. “Are you cold?”

“No,” Anoush answers softly, “I mean, a little, but no. Just- you… yeah.”

The puffs of Louie’s gentle laughter on Anoush’s neck and shoulder tickle, but Anoush can’t be bothered to react. “Jeez, I really did break you,” Louie remarks.

“Easy,” Anoush responds in an attempt to curb Louie’s smugness. It's an impossible feat and he knows it.

“Only ‘cause you kinda wanted to be broken, I think,” Louie qualifies.

Anoush doesn’t respond, just closes his eyes and focuses on his breathing. Louie lies with him in silence, but doesn’t take his eyes off of Anoush, his eyelashes, his nose, his pouty lips that are still slightly swollen, his clean-shaven jaw, his throat and collarbone that bear the marks of Louie’s desire. When Anoush’s eyes finally flutter open, he catches Louie staring. Louie laughs it off, but Anoush doesn't. He wishes more than anything that he had the energy to roll onto his side or even on top of Louie to kiss him again.

“You’re cute,” Anoush says simply, eyeing Louie as if he’s regarding him for the very first time in his life.

Louie snorts. “Yeah, I didn't think you let me do all that just ‘cause I'm funny.”

“You’re not that funny,” Anoush deadpans.

Louie sighs and rubs up and down Anoush’s chest and belly with Anoush’s hand still resting limply on top of his own. “Can I go get you a towel to clean up a little?” 

“Mm, no,” Anoush shakes his head. Louie’s fine with that. “Can you draw me a bath, though?”

“Of course, sweetheart,” Louie murmurs against Anoush’s arm, “You want your wine? It’s not as cold now, but-“

“Oh fuck, I forgot about the wine. Yes. Yes, please.”

Louie starts the slow procession of getting up, but leans in to steal a few kisses from a sleepy, glowing Anoush. “And I'll cook you dinner while you soak.”

Anoush hums, content, as his senses slowly return to normal. “And then we can talk?”

Louie gets off the bed, but makes no effort to clothe himself yet. Anoush wishes he didn’t look like that. a lot of things would be a lot easier if Louie didn’t look like that, all broad and shameless and soft but toned in all the right places.

“Yeah, then we can talk,” Louie affirms. He gives Anoush’s body an embarrassingly thorough once-over, bites his lip, then retreats to the bathroom. “Be right back.”

Once he's alone in the bathroom, Louie has to lean on the counter for a minute. He was already tired from boogie boarding before he knew he’d be getting another intense workout, but despite his soreness he feels weirdly alert and clear-headed. He splashes water on his face and absently cleans himself off with a cloth while Anoush’s bath is filling up, and he probably used a little too much bubble bath because the suds start to grow over the ledge, but he doubts Anoush will care in his current state.

If they had more time before the rest of the LaRussos inevitably returned from dinner and shopping and whatever else Daniel and Lucille decided to subject everyone to, Louie would get into the nice deep bath with Anoush, clean him thoroughly and kiss the freckles on his back some more. Next vacation they go on, they'll go alone, and Louie will probably bring along a long list of everything he wants to do with, and to, Anoush.

He returns to Anoush’s side, lifts him one more time to bring him to the warm bath, then doubles back for the wine. He pours a heavy glass, then sets the bottle and glass within Anoush’s reach on the ledge.

“Thanks,” Anoush mutters, eyes closed as he sinks deep under the bubbles.

“Don't fall asleep,” Louie warns, “I dunno CPR.” 

Anoush finds that funnier than he likely would if he were more lucid, more guarded like he normally is around everyone but Louie. “So comforting,” he laughs, “as usual.” 

“You ever decide what you wanna eat?” Louie asks, and Anoush looks at him incredulously.

“When exactly would I have had time to think about that?”

“I dunno, sometime between blowin’ me and cumming all over me,” Louie says with a terrible grin. Anoush looks scandalized, like Louie’s words are news to him and his capacity for vulgarity is still a surprise after all this time, and he splashes him over the ledge.

“Get out. Ugh. I don't care, surprise me.”

Louie laughs and shakes his head. “Want me to come get you when it's ready?”

“Mm-mm. I'll come down.”

Louie leaves Anoush alone with his wine, throws on new shorts and a comfy workout tank top, and makes his way down to the kitchen. he’s half-worried that his family returned without either of them hearing, that they’d all be waiting for him with traumatized stares intervention-style on the giant sectional, but downstairs is still empty and quiet.

Once he gets the kitchen cleaned up a little he settles on making baked ziti and garlic bread--Anoush will take a while in the bath, and whatever's left over the rest of the family can heat up at some point. He makes quick work of the prep and mixes himself a martini to ease his nerves, which only started being a problem the second Anoush said “and then we can talk.”

He knows they need to talk, wants to talk just as badly as Anoush does, but the more he considers what he's meant to say the more his stomach crumples in on itself like a piece of paper that's been folded too many times. the sauce he's making smells great as always, but for once in his life he’s not very hungry because now he’s thinking that somehow he's been wrong about everything for weeks and months and he’s a fucking idiot. He’s rational enough to know that's not the case, not this time, but that doesn't make the nausea go away.

It doesn't help that he knows exactly what he wants to say, if he’s being honest, but being honest hasn't always worked out well for him.

By the time Anoush pads downstairs in his softest, oldest shirt and a pair of sweatpants that haunts Louie’s dreams because of how they hug his ass, the ziti has just gone in the oven and Louie's wiping the counter.

“How the fuck does tomato stain granite?” he muses, not realizing how close Anoush is until he's at his side, inspecting the stain. 

“That was there when we got here,” he replies, setting down his wine glass and slipping his arm around Louie’s waist. “The varnish is stripped in that spot.”

Louie welcomes the closeness like it's second nature, because it is now, and leans down to kiss him. This part, the casual kisses and touches outside of the bedroom, is still rather new for them, and Louie’s pulse picks up every time.

“Good bath?” he asks, and Anoush nods. 

“Perfect. Very needed.”

He smells really, really good again, like orange and mint this time. Louie kisses him, Anoush tugs on his chain to tease him and bring him closer, and somehow he ends up pressed against the clean counter by Louie.

“Hey,” Anoush protests, playfully shoving him off in contrast to his stern, determined expression zeroed in on Louie. “Talking.”

“I know, talking,” Louie nods before stealing one more kiss. “We can talk and do this at the same time.”

Sighing, Anoush slips out of his embrace and picks up both his and Louie's glasses, making his way over to the sectional. “Come on.”

Anoush sets Louie’s half-full martini glass down on the egregiously large coffee table in the middle of the living room, but keeps his wine glass in hand as he takes a seat in the corner spot of the couch. Louie leaves one cushion of space between them when he sits down - he leaves his drink on the table for now. Louie relaxes his arms over the back of the couch and turns his head to face Anoush. 

“What’s up?” Louie asks as if he doesn’t know pretty much exactly what they’re going to talk about. He's never been good at this. He's never been good at this because most people have never cared about him enough to do this with him, regardless of the outcome. People often don’t want to talk with Louie - they want to talk at him. He supposes he’s guilty of that here and there himself, but Anoush’s insistence on talking is as much reassuring as it is daunting.

Anoush looks at him blankly, worrying the corner of his bottom lip between his teeth in slight annoyance. “I told you. before we-“

“Before we fucked like rabbits,” Louie supplies the rest of the sentence with a sinister grin, and Anoush sighs into the rim of his glass before taking a sip.

“Yeah. That,” Anoush acquiesces. “I guess I'm just curious… what do you want?”

“What do you mean, what do I want? I want all of it,” Louie shrugs easily. too easily.

“Okay. And what does ‘all of it’ mean to you?” Anoush asks.

Louie picks up his martini glass, takes a sip, swishes it around in his mouth, then swallows. “You want a five paragraph essay or what?” Louie teases, but straightens up when he sees Anoush’s unwavering expression. “I want all of it. All the typical relationship stuff. The sex, the dating, the PDA, the plus-one shit. I want that with you.” 

Anoush can’t fight off a small smile, even as he tries to maintain a cool front in the face of Louie’s more flippant approach to the conversation. he had figured that was the page Louie was on, but he knows he had a right to be nervous when all (well, most) of their flirting and touching and sweet-talking has been behind closed doors (car doors included).

“And that’s not just Hawai’i talking?”

“No, that’s not just Hawai’i talking,” Louie answers, looking Anoush directly in the eye. Anoush draws in a big breath and matches Louie’s intense, crystalline eye contact. “I told you earlier. From day one. I mean it. The first time I kissed you…”

“Yeah?” Anoush speaks in his smallest, softest voice. 

Louie shakes his head. “There's nobody like you. And I know you wanna play bad cop right now, and I know you want this to be difficult like it is in the movies, but how I feel about you is so fuckin’ easy. Don’t get me wrong: it’s scary. You scare the shit out of me, Anoush.” 

Anoush is kept from tearing up only by the smell of homemade baked ziti, which makes his stomach rumble. 

“You scare me, too,” Anoush admits with a breathless laugh. “I just- it’s easy to say you want a relationship when you’re only picturing the good stuff, you know? It’s…a whole other thing when it gets difficult. and when you have to make big decisions.”

Louie reaches for his hand on the back of the couch and laces their fingers together. He nods in understanding. 

“ ‘Kay. Well. I wanna fight with you. I want to tell you you’re wrong so you can tell me I’m wrong for these 18 different reasons that you’ve printed on an alphabetized list. And then I want to make up with you and tell you I love you.” Anoush’s clammy hand squeezes Louie’s suddenly, instinctively, like Anoush is free falling and Louie is the only thing to hold onto. “And I wanna do that as many times as you’ll let me,” Louie finishes.

The thing is, Anoush has dreamed of this exact moment. Not just with Louie, but for as long as he can remember. He's tried so hard to accept and embrace isolation as a fact of life. He's an only child, so he figured at some point he would just get over the empty feeling that had followed him around for as long as he can remember. But even among a group of people who love him and care for him, he’d still notice the empty pangs.

For years, he'd sought out companionship in increasingly varied and desperate forms, lying to himself every time he sent an intro message to a beautiful woman, and every time he went home with them. At some point, he reasoned, he would find a girl, and they would tolerate each other enough to settle and finally make his parents happy with grandchildren and the whole nine yards. Still, he never could never quite give up the fantasy of the mythical man who would lay it all on the line for him, who would never be embarrassed to make his love known, whose feelings for Anoush ran so deep and fierce that Anoush would never be empty again.

And since spring, when the dealership had been dead quiet all day, when Anoush and Louie had first taken out their boredom and frustration on each other behind a locked office door, the emptiness was just gone.

He wants to tell Louie all of this, but apparently the comprehensive speech and verbal contract he finalized in the bath washed away with the bubbles. What comes out of his mouth instead is “You want to fight me forever?” 

Louie blinks, then starts laughing. “Yeah, basically.” He shuffles closer - a gap between them never lasts for long, Anoush has noticed. “We've had that part down for years, baby.”

Anoush laughs too, and the tear he's been holding back finally falls. Louie's right there to wipe it away. “Why didn't we do the rest years ago?” Anoush asks gently. “Why now?” he stretches out, draping his legs over Louie’s lap. What’s done is done, he's not going to torture himself or Louie over lost opportunities, but he's curious. 

Louie shrugs, running his hand up and down Anoush's leg. “Brain problems,” he says after a pause. “You and me, we both got fuckin’ brain problems.”

Anoush nods. “Clearly.”

“Didn't even know you were into dudes for the first year,” Louie says, and after a withering look from Anoush he adds, “Not officially.”

“Hm. yet you were constantly hitting on me,” Anoush remarks, giggling to himself when Louie blushes.

“if we're gonna start in on the accusations,” he says, “How ‘bout Narek’s retirement party?”

Anoush gasps, smacking Louie’s arm. “You promised we’d never bring it up again!”

Louie returns the slap on Anoush’s leg, and when Anoush retaliates and starts raining down blows, Louie laughs and hauls him fully onto his lap and holds back his onslaught without much effort. They're both laughing now, Anoush exhilarated and breathless. Louie kisses his cheek, his forehead, his jaw, his lips.

“Bottom line,” he says, “I’m just fuckin’ tired of clocking out and goin’ home without you. It don't make any sense.” 

Anoush hums assent and kisses Louie again. He knows exactly what he means. When one of them spends the night--or a couple of nights--they fall into a domestic rhythm so easily. He's glad he doesn't need to be afraid of that anymore.

“I love you too,” Anoush murmurs between kisses, and he can feel Louie's giddy smile against his own. The windows are open, it's breezy in the living room and the sun is gone. It's just the two of them and a couple of frogs in the yard. Louie kisses Anoush slowly, squeezing his thigh.

“Hey,” he whispers. “After we eat, I think we should head back up…”

“You're delusional,” Anoush says, chuckling like the thought hadn't crossed his mind too--maybe they’ve both lost their minds--and as soon as he says it, there's a commotion from the foyer.

“It's not funny, Anthony!!” Sam shouts. “You know I'm allergic!”

“Why the hell would you come to Hawai’i if you're allergic to coconut?”

“Coconut FLAVORING!”

Sam storms into the main room, throwing herself down on the couch right next to Anoush and Louie, who have absolutely no time to change their position. Anoush is frozen on Louie’s lap, and all he can do is be thankful that he isn't straddling Louie and they both have clothes on.

“He's being a complete tool,” Sam gripes, folding her arms and fixing Louie with a stormy glare. “Tell him he's being a tool. He only listens to you.”

Anthony comes in, buried somewhere in his hoodie, and flips her off behind her back. “I smell food,” he says, opening the oven to look inside. “What the fuck? Ziti and no garlic bread?”

Neither teen is remotely fazed by seeing Anoush and Louie so close.

“Hey, get your head outta my fuckin’ oven unless you wanna sleep in there,” Louie calls over to the kitchen. He rubs his thumb back and forth over the small of Anoush’s back. Anoush remains frozen, firmly holding the belief that if he stays still, he’ll turn into a wax figure and not have to exist anymore. 

“Did you just threaten to kill me?” Anthony asks, bemused, as he closes the oven and opens the fridge.

“You could have ACTUALLY killed me!” Sam fumes, and Anoush has a very sobering thought as he hears the remaining two car doors slam outside.

Dating Louie means dating a LaRusso. It means dating Daniel’s cousin, dating the man who’s basically an uncle to Sam and Anthony. Dating someone with a family who already loves Anoush enough to drag him along on a family vacation.

“It was JUST. CHAPSTICK,” Anthony rebuts, still grinning, but Louie can see his bravado faltering just a tad. “I didn't know piña colada had coconut in it.”

Anoush snaps out of his trance. “You didn’t know that piña colada has coconut in it?”

 Louie sees a tiny smile appear on Sam's face for the first time since she walked in.

“Can we stop talking about piña colada?” Amanda whines from the foyer and closes the door behind herself and Daniel. She works on taking off her strappy sandals by the door. “It was the entire car ride, plus the last five minutes at the restaurant. I wanted to finish my seafood risotto, but my kids wanted to— oh. Um.”

She stops in her tracks when she sees Anoush and Louie on the sectional, but tries to stay as composed as possible when she notices that Sam and Anthony are completely unbothered by the display. She sighs and turns towards the kitchen.

“Louie, you still haven’t told him that he’s a tool,” Sam reminds him, flashing him her best set of puppy dog eyes. It worked when she was 8 and it still works at 18.

“Alright, Anthony, stop tormenting your sister. Just ‘cause you’re younger than her don’t mean I can’t call you out for being a dick,” Louie tells his scowling young cousin.

“Woah!” Daniel exclaims as he walks into the main room from the foyer. His eyes widen upon seeing Louie with Anoush in his lap. “Uh- woah at the- the. The dick thing. Not the- this is totally-“

“Yeah, alright,” Louie waves him off, then shamelessly rests that hand on Anoush’s leg in a spot mild enough for a PG movie but risky enough that someone might call HR if they were at work. “It ain't anything he and his friends don’t call each other when they play Fortnite together.” Anthony draws his eyebrows together and drops his jaw, scandalized. “Oh, and Daniel, your son looked me in the eye and asked me why the garlic bread wasn’t in the oven yet when the ziti’s only been in for 20 minutes.”

Daniel’s attention completely shifts focus and he shakes his head at Anthony. “Okay,” Daniel points at Louie, “I’ll let this one slide. Anthony, just apologize to Sam so we can all move on with our lives, please.”

“Are you TRYING to ruin my life?!” Anthony nearly shrieks at Louie.

“At the beach today, you said it’d be funny if I got stung to death by jellyfish,” Louie shrugs one shoulder, currently getting an A+ in taking the piss out of his family members. Anoush gets comfier in his lap, snuggling closer to Louie’s torso, and sips on his wine.

“Oh my god, I didn't say TO DEATH!!” Anthony yells, then devolves into a fit of giggles when he sees Louie’s straight face crack. Louie chuckles too, and even Sam joins in. Anoush smiles as his body shakes with Louie’s laughter.

“Alright, come on, I think we can let these two get back to their dinner we crashed,” Daniel announces. Louie makes a small noise of protest, but it’s Anoush who speaks up. 

“Oh, no, I'm sure there’s plenty for everyone if you guys are still hungry,” he reasons, then looks at Louie to confirm. Louie nods, but Anoush rolls his eyes when he catches the way Louie’s alternating staring quite intensely at his mouth. His one-track mind is something to be admired.

Sam accepts an awkward, mumbled apology from Anthony and lies horizontal on the couch to watch Tiktoks next to Louie and Anoush. Daniel and Lucille drag Anthony into the kitchen to make him prepare the garlic bread. Amanda meanders over as Louie and Anoush approach the end of their drinks.

“Okay, grenache blanc for Anoush,” she says without even having looked at the bottle, “And, Louie- dirty martini?” 

“Yeah, but we’re out of olives,” Louie laments.

Amanda pulls a face. “We've been here three days and you already ate all our olives?” Try as she might, Amanda still doesn’t have the knack for hiding her mild (and mostly playful) contempt for Louie.

“I like olives,” Louie shrugs.

Anoush lets Amanda take his now-empty wine glass. “Okay…” Amanda responds, then looks between the two of them. “And did you use your best judgment?” she directs the question at Louie, but Anoush almost chokes on nothing anyway.

Louie plays dumb. It's a very reliable defense mechanism. “I mean, I felt like shit after I ate half the jar in one sitting.” 

Amanda stares a hole through his forehead. Anoush looks back and forth between them, eyes narrowing.

“C’mon,” Louie says in a low conspiratorial voice, shifting and fidgeting under Anoush. “You think Anoush would do somethin’ that stupid?”

Amanda's mouth presses into a thin line, turning her glare onto Anoush. “He's with you, so I guess I don't know anymore.”

Louie snorts. “Fair enough, Mandy.”

Shaking her head, Amanda points two fingers right at Anoush in an “I’m watching” gesture before walking away. Sam glances up from her phone for a second before losing interest.

“What the fuck was that?” Anoush hisses in Louie’s ear, and Louie dismisses him with a wave of his hand.

“Don't worry ‘bout it. Aunt Lucille, get outta the oven! It needs another twenty at least.”

“You didn't cover the top of the damn dish!” Lucille yells back from the now-bustling kitchen. “You're gonna burn the cheese.”

Louie throws up his hands. “How the fuck is it gonna burn when we keep opening the oven every two minutes?!” 

Anoush exhales deeply and takes a long sip of his wine. This is the LaRusso experience he’s used to, and not even Amanda's wry disapproval can shake his newfound sense of calm in the midst of the chaos.

Daniel and Anthony get the garlic bread in with the ziti so everything is finished together, and despite just coming home from dinner, everyone has at least a few bites so they can grade Louie’s sauce (very good, even though Lucille thinks it needed more time to simmer). Daniel gets the fire pit going outside, and Sam and Amanda bicker over what movie to put on inside. Anoush gets banished to the backyard by Louie when he offers to help clean up, and ends up bonding with Lucille by the fire over their mutual love of true crime novels. Through the open doors, he sees Louie and Sam laughing on the sofa, then Louie getting hit in the face with a throw pillow by Anthony.

“He’s always been so good with them,” Lucille says out of the blue, startling Anoush. He should know by now nothing gets past her.

“He is,” he says with a smile.

“It's not too late, you know.” She eyes him over the rim of her wine glass.

Anoush is lost. “Sorry, too late for what?”

“Babies!” she replies, like it's so obvious and casual. “I mean, it's not like you two have biological clocks to contend with-”

“Heyyyyy, I have cake!!” Daniel, who’s coming back from inside and caught enough of his mom’s words to know he needs to intervene now, saves Anoush from having to reply. Anoush is incredibly grateful--he's been through a lot today, in the best way possible. Going down that road is a bridge too far, simply because if he thinks about it for longer than two seconds he'll probably disintegrate.

He doesn't get to talk to Louie again until after Amanda and Anthony doze off during the movie, and Daniel reminds them all what time they're supposed to leave for the boat. They go back upstairs, and Louie kisses Anoush as soon as the door is closed. Anoush welcomes Louie's big hands on his hips, but a sudden breeze sends a shiver up his spine.

“Oh my god, you forgot to close the doors,” Anoush complains, looking over toward the open balcony doors. 

“You’re the one who opened them,” Louie counters, murmuring against Anoush's temple.

“You’re the one who carried me through them back and forth like a ragdoll,” Anoush protests.

Louie pulls back to admire the pinched expression on Anoush’s face. “Not my fault you couldn’t walk back in by yourself.”

“Uh, no, it quite literally is your fault. Do you hear yourself when you talk or is it, like, elevator music in there?” Anoush asks.

Louie just snickers and bends down to kiss Anoush’s clothed shoulder. “Mm, elevator, that’s a good idea,” Louie whispers.

“What?”

“We should fool around in an elevator,” Louie clarifies and stands up straight. Anoush stares at him incredulously. 

“Just go close the doors, I'm freezing.” he turns toward the bed, away from Louie, but Louie stops Anoush with a hand around his wrist.

“Hey,” Louie says softly, cupping Anoush’s cheek when he faces him once more. “I love you.”

And it works on Anoush because of course it does, because he’s alone with Louie and Louie doesn’t have to choose him but he does anyway, because he knows Louie would move the earth for him if that’s what he wanted. Anoush kisses Louie again, something soft and quick that very nearly warms Anoush up completely, but not quite. 

“I love you,” Anoush echoes, “And I'll love you even more when you close the doors.”

Louie scoffs a laugh, and within a matter of seconds, Anoush is buried underneath the white covers of their king-sized bed. Louie crosses the room, grabs the edges of each door, and pauses to take in the last few moments of the nighttime breeze. He can faintly hear waves crash in the distance. The palm trees on the edge of the property sway gently. The cool breeze hits Louie's face and he can't help but smile.

He pushes the doors closed, turns the lock, and retreats to bed to be with his boyfriend, his lover, his Anoush.

[iridescentoracle]

okay so. potentially controversial opinion i guess but apollo justice (the game, though actually also the character) was kind of a mess. i wanted to like it, there was a ton of potential, but the execution just did not work for me at all. but it’s been haunting me for weeks and (unlike dual destinies, which also didn’t really work for me but i cannot for the life of me figure out why) i know exactly what i didn’t like about apollo justice and how i would fix it if capcom decided to remake AA4–AA6 and inexplicably put me in charge. fair warning this is at least 80% complaining by volume about what they didn’t do/what they did do that i hated though.

like, okay, here’s the thing. it’s a new story. phoenix has had his arc, we’re moving on to a new main character, he isn’t the protagonist anymore. it makes sense to move him into a mentor/boss role while our new protagonist takes over as the plucky young newbie who doesn’t really know what he’s doing. the problem is that everything about how the game does that kind of sucks.

like. AJ phoenix gets totally shafted for the sake of not letting him be a good mentor, so that apollo has to figure things out on his own, but apollo isn’t really treated right by the narrative either, because the plot is so much about phoenix that apollo is like. weirdly peripheral to the whole thing even though he’s nominally the protagonist. like it’s super obvious that the whole reason phoenix isn’t an attorney anymore and is all ✨ mysterious✨ and ✨secretive✨ is literally just so that apollo doesn’t actually like. have a good mentor who can teach him things? like the entire plot/backstory is just a post-hoc excuse bc the starting point of the game was clearly someone going “well we’re not allowed to not have phoenix in the game, but we can’t let him be someone apollo can actually rely on, so we have to find some excuse to make him weird and mysterious and uncommunicative and also not a lawyer just for good measure bc otherwise he wouldn’t leave a kid hanging like that” and everything else was built up to justify that.

but as if it’s not bad enough that it all requires shattering phoenix’s perfectly good reasonably-happy-ending from the previous game, by extension everyone else gets screwed over too?? like, maya was very explicitly traumatized by the kurain channeling legacy to the point of briefly not wanting to identify herself as a spirit medium. pearl was sheltered from some of the worst of it but was aware of enough to blame herself for bad things happening to the point of trying to run away. the credits definitely made it seem like they both bounced right back after all but frankly i was not convinced they weren’t going to both collapse as soon as the figurative camera looked away again and the most plausible short-term outcome to me was that they would wind up both moving in with phoenix for a while in the near future like maya all but said she wanted to do!! she called herself “the assistant manager at Wright & Co. Law Offices” and said she “[didn’t] want any more to do with [the Fey clan],” that is IN the TEXT i am not reading too much into things here those are her words! i’m fine with her potentially changing her mind again and resuming her training again and moving back to kurain after all when she’s had some time to recover from everything but like. when she’s had some time. she deserved more than two months and i hate so much that she didn’t get it.

on the flip side, again, i get the choice to deliberately not-include edgeworth in this one but i swear to god it should have taken him and phoenix like. maybe four months to finish getting their act together and that’s being generous and counting the month it takes him to wrap things up in europe and move back to japanifornia. i’m pretty sure edgeworth figured out how he felt when he got the phone call from larry about the bridge if he hadn’t already by then and i think phoenix simultaneously realized and refused to realize how he felt during the year he thought edgeworth is dead, bc neither of them can just be normal about feeling things ever, so give them a second for phoenix to stop repressing shit and also mention that he’s absolutely not going to get back together with iris when she gets out of jail and they Will sort themselves out and they Will kiss and i give it like a year tops before they get married. they have a courthouse wedding obviously and get the judge to officiate. 50/50 chance they wind up proposing in the middle of a trial and get married during the next recess.

and in canon there’s not time for all that to have happened bc the next game requires phoenix to have promptly turned into an arrogant asshole and then gotten royally fucked over by the universe and become a totally different person (again, at that, because he’s already a completely different person in the flashback to his last case, why does he act like the paynes that whole time i hate it), but like. this is what i’m saying. phoenix getting screwed over by the universe/writing also screws all his friends over too.

so i just. this game does such a disservice to phoenix’s entire character, and all of his friends, and also the entire first three games and anyone who loved them. it’s not all bad and the person phoenix has been turned into—“has been turned into,” not “has turned into,” because the hand of the writers is so visible, i can’t engage with this game on a fully watsonian level for the life of me because phoenix’s hoodie might as well say DOYLE CHOSE TO DO THIS TO ME. this is a fictional character being written by real people and the real people wrote him in a manner entirely incompatible with his original characterization and i cannot get past it—is fascinating but it isn’t phoenix. i love the plot but i hate the execution. i like the ingredients but the recipe sucks.

but it could have been so good. and at this point i’ve mostly worked out how.

you have the exact same scenario with the gramarye trial, is the thing, up through the point where phoenix wins the poker game and shadi enigmar/zak gramarye asks him to be his lawyer, and phoenix accepts—and then phoenix, like, gets a phone call from maya or pearl bc it turns out one of them just got hurt, or they’ve both come down with some kind of stomach bug or food poisoning or something, some temporary emergency that’s just severe enough that they need more help/care for a day or two than phoenix could give while also handling a case, but that won’t actually last all that long.

so he turns down the case apologetically bc oh my god i’m so sorry actually, family emergency, i gotta go right now, best of luck, and shadi/zak moves on to defense attorney number three: a different, brand new character, another rising star defense attorney around the same point in their career as phoenix, and that’s who winds up using the forged diary page and getting disbarred and turning into the bitter jaded inscrutable asshole mentor who years later will manipulate apollo into exposing his own boss as a murderer, and then technically hire apollo but not actually, like, teach him anything or help out in any meaningful way, etc.

but meanwhile, three facts about this series of events:

8yo trucy is still the unwitting catalyst for the lawyer defending her father using forged evidence that destroys his career, and her father still vanishes and leaves her behind

within a couple days, pearl and maya are basically fine

phoenix wright’s best friend was once a kid barely older than trucy is now who suddenly found himself with no family, and as a result was taken in by someone who had a deep and abiding grudge against both him and his father because of what they did, through no real fault of their own, to him/his career.

and since phoenix did meet shadi/zak and turned his case down, he has every reason to be curious about how the trial went, and to pick up either from the general news coverage (which, considering what a big deal phoenix’s disbarment in canon was, i assume there is A Lot Of,) or to realize bc his personal curiosity/almost-connection means he actively looks into things, that there is a kid who has been left behind and who currently has no one to take care of her. and you cannot tell me that phoenix would look at this kid whose best-case scenario is currently getting swept into the foster care system bc god forbid she actually winds up getting taken in by the only adult even vaguely associated with her at this point, bc phoenix has seen that story before, and not decide on the spot to adopt her himself

and so just like that, we have

phoenix accidentally escaping the whole gramarye trial entirely unscathed

but still adopting trucy

pearl and maya still living with phoenix a couple months post-T&T instead of immediately getting packed off back to kurain

no changes that actually significantly impact apollo for most of the game bc all that’s really different for him is the name of his inscrutable jerk mentor and the fact that he’s gotta wind up meeting/being-befriended-by trucy a little differently

so by the time the actual present-day plot of the game kicks off, phoenix and company are still out there doing their thing with phoenix getting to be his best self and living his best life. he still gets his adorable adopted daughter who he loves dearly. we still don’t actually see maya or edgeworth or pearl in this version of the game but there’s allusions to them all being very present in his-and-trucy’s lives—trucy brings us over to their apartment at some point and we see a stack of steel samurai dvds in the corner and a laundry basket with unidentifiable clothes in suspiciously familiar shades of purple/pink/magenta, details like that. we only see phoenix himself for like, maybe five minutes total over the course of the first three and a half cases and it’s a little tantalizing but he gets to be the one who bursts into the courthouse with the decisive evidence that lets our protagonist win the last case.

and meanwhile, apollo’s current boss is shady and inscrutable and used to be a lawyer and can even be involved in some ✨ secret mission ✨ that he won’t talk about that turns out to be the jurist system, so we can hypothetically keep whatever the intended message of that whole thing was (which, argh, what do you DO with the jurist system. what is the intended message. i get that it’s satire of a then-contemporary development in japan’s legal system but i can’t figure out for the life of me what the satire is actually meant to say), and then at the end of the game Apollo’s Shitty Mentor is proven to have been innocent and will be allowed to take the bar again if he wants to but he’s not entirely sure bc at this point it’s been so long that he might just prefer to move on entirely now that his actual disbarment/disgrace isn’t hanging over his head bc he honestly did used to be a pretty stand-up guy but the last seven years have been rough and he doesn’t really like the person he’s turned into and maybe it would be healthier to treat this as a fresh start and try something entirely new so he’s going to take some time away from the whole legal system first to clear his head before he figures out whether or not he actually wants to dive back in.

and apollo’s like “well that’s totally understandable and sounds great for you but goddammit do i really have to go back to the endless nightmare that is job applications, i hate this actually” and phoenix (who is also in the defense lobby where this whole conversation is taking place) is like “why don’t you come work for me?”

you could even have it end on a joke where apollo is shocked about the offer bc he applied to work for phoenix six months ago and phoenix is like ???? i never saw that?? and it turns out apollo applied via email but phoenix still sucks at computers and only checks his work email like once a year.

seriously though i do not understand what we’re supposed to think about the jurist system. is it supposed to be that fucked up? i’m not actually sure how we’re supposed to feel abt that tbh but it sounds like maybe it’s not supposed to seem like an actually better alternative? like it felt to me like it was being framed as a triumph for our belovèd hero, isn’t this great that he was able to arrange things so everything would turn out all right after all etc, but it was so obviously fucked up and unethical—like, oh, yeah, having one guy in charge of assigning the defense attorney, the judge, and the jury sounds totally fine and like it’s actually going to be more reliably ethical than the system that’s already in place, for sure, not to mention the possibility that edgeworth was pulling strings to help phoenix make it happen and be involved, because nepotism and people in law enforcement/the justice system pulling strings to put people they like in positions of authority that they probably shouldn’t have specifically so that they can do things like “rig a jury,” on purpose, is fine bc i like these guys who are doing/benefiting from the nepotism so therefore it’s not wildly unethical and an obviously terrible idea, oh my god—that it feels like it has to be on purpose?

and like in practice it just… the jurist system as it’s actually implemented is worse actually. it’s genuinely worse and less ethical than the established system where the judge was about to let kristoph gavin off scot-free for the crimes he wasn’t already convicted of.

that said it’s like. very funny on a conceptual level. yet another thing that makes sense if the games are set in japan bc sure of course fictional kinda goofy japan has a more ridiculous version of the thing that’s being implemented in real-life japan right now, but when localized the implications are buck-fucking-wild

because. okay. japanifornia exclusively has bench trials or whatever they’re called for some reason. i have questions about why that’s legal given the existence of the sixth amendment but sure fine the japanifornian legal system is deeply fucked up in many new and interesting ways and that is clearly just one of them. but you’re telling me that the entire concept of trial by jury is strange and new to a lawyer? like. did the entire country just. ditch the sixth amendment before apollo was born? why is this a brand new concept instead of, you know, how things work in every other state. i have so many questions that do not need answers. thank god these games are old enough to have gotten localized it’s so much funnier this way.

ANYWAY. SO. yeah. make apollo’s inscrutable asshole so-called mentor someone other than phoenix wright, have way less of phoenix in the game actually bc he’s off living his best life and having a thriving career with very little reason to think about how kristoph gavin exists, and meanwhile write apollo with All That Backstory in mind from the start though 95% of the actual info should still be saved for game 6, we’re just trying to write apollo so he’s not completely flat and frankly pretty forgettable at times and also including foreshadowing so the khura’in thing isn’t a very obvious retcon when we get there, and turn klavier into an actual person, and that’s like. 95% of my frustrations with the game fixed right there (the other 5% is “i still can’t tell what we’re actually supposed to think/feel about the jurist system” but like. i can’t tell what we’re supposed to think/feel so i don’t know how to fix it).

well okay also the like, pacing and focus would need to be fixed so apollo’s incrutable jerk mentor isn’t the protagonist for half the last case to the point i forgot apollo existed, etc, but like. that’s the next level down of problems you know?

AND bonus points: splitting “phoenix” and “apollo’s inscrutable jerk mentor” into two separate characters automatically fixes yet another of the worst He Would Not Fucking Do Thats of the game, i.e. phoenix just. not telling trucy and apollo that they’re siblings and their mom is alive. bc apollo’s shitty mentor is the one who actually interacts with lamiroir offscreen, this phoenix never does, so apollo’s mentor is the one who has the opportunity to figure out who she is and that trucy and apollo are half-siblings, and they’re not his kids, apollo doesn’t even work for him anymore by the end of the game so what does he care whether she tells them, and meanwhile phoenix isn’t inexplicably hiding that information because he also doesn’t know. still relies on her continuing to hide her face professionally in the meantime (instead of being deeply stupid about the fact that she is super famous, twice, and if she goes around being Very Famous And Popular Singer Lamiroir someone will notice that she is very much also Very Famous And Popular Believed-Dead Magician Thalassa Gramarye and between the existence of the news and the existence of the internet her kids will inevitably find out, jesus CHRIST parts of this game are so badly written), but that’s a given

i have a whole bunch of other thoughts—mostly about klavier gavin bc he should be such a good character but he just doesn’t work, but also i think the structure of the last case would have to be pretty significantly modified to fix the pacing/structural/focus issues where our nominal protagonist is basically irrelevant for the bulk of the case, even while the plot would remain basically the same, but i haven’t figured out how the structure would be different bc that requires figuring out how to handle the whole jurist system thing—but that’s like. the coherent parts/the bulk of it, you know?

i think (really this is just a detail, not a major plot point, but it would have a pretty major impact thematically so it feels bigger than it is? so) the other main thing i would change—and this part isn’t actually real criticism bc it’s not, like, bad that they didn’t do this, and if they were going to make any changes there are a lot of things that should be higher on the list, but listen. zak and valant should’ve been brothers.

because like, first of all, the extra complexity of the relationship if they’re not just two random guys who met bc they were functionally coworkers/fellow students, and instead you have these two brothers with the same mentor and who are both in love with the same woman, and they both know that one of them is better at magic and their mentor’s favorite, and he’s also the one who the woman they’re both in love with loves back and has a kid with, etc? a favorite/least favorite child dynamic occurring spontaneously, presumably in adulthood, in their professional lives? like. it makes everything about their relationship with each other, and with magnifi, and zak’s relationship with thalassa, and valant’s relationship with trucy, way more complex and interesting without actually having to change anything else.

but then secondly, on top of all that, suddenly this is a game about siblings. zak & valant, apollo & trucy, and kristoph & klavier. suddenly you have these three different sibling relationships that are all very different but two of them actually get to be siblings but are super fucked up, and the last pair meet entirely by chance without any idea who the other person is or should be to them but wind up with the healthiest happiest relationship of the three? like, the tragedy of it, that apollo and trucy were separated by fate and literally no one knew they both existed except their own mother, who thought apollo was dead before trucy was ever born, and if not for whatever series of coincidences resulted in apollo happening to work for the man who ruined trucy’s father’s life and getting roped into that whole mess they might never have met at all, and as it was they lost however many years they could’ve had each other, etc etc, and yet despite it all they’re the ones who actually manage to be happy and, like, unconditionally positive presences in each other’s lives, while valant spends however long resenting zak for being magnifi-and-thalassa’s favorite and more talented and all that which presumably put a strain on their relationship bc being resented that deeply by someone that close to you for things that you don’t even actually control can’t feel good, and kristoph and klavier… [gestures vaguely] idk whatever they would feel about each other if the writers remembered klavier was supposed to be a person. and aside from the klavier bits all of that is in the game already, implicitly or explicitly, just waiting for someone to rewrite like three lines of dialogue so zak and valant aren’t Just Some Guys to each other.

anyway a lot of the other thoughts i have are like. details. it probably never gets established explicitly but phoenix probably never gets to know kristoph gavin that well, and conversely kristoph doesn’t care about phoenix bc he might not even know he would’ve been passed over for phoenix before the other guy. ema is friendlier bc even though she is still upset about being a detective and does still think klavier’s annoying, she doesn’t actively resent him for getting phoenix disbarred. also she’s already good friends with trucy. the biggest plot-difference that isn’t just a natural result of phoenix not getting disbarred is that i think phoenix has to be the one who gets hit by the car in 4-2 instead of that happening to apollo’s jerk mentor bc no other human being on the planet could get thrown thirty feet by a car and hit a telephone pole with his head and still only wind up with a sprained ankle out of the deal.

[carmenized-onions]

hi. tried to reblog and leave a bunch of tags but made a mistake and tumblr wouldn't let me edit the post SO i took a screenshot because I WILL NOT REWRITE ALL OF THAT BECAUSE IT WAS ALREADY TERRIBLE TO TRY AND GO BACK TO MY NOTES TO INCLUDE THEM INTO THE TAGS BECAUSE THE APP WOULD ERASE EVERYTHING so here you have a long ass pic with a ton of tags. love u u fucking mastermind 💋

I DID IN FACT GET THIS ASK FIRST OF ALL, IF YOU SENT ANOTHER ONE OTHER THAN THE DID YOU GET THAT ONE, then I am missing one, but I got this one!

I'm so glad you think it could standalone and make sense because I went into posting this like "so many people are not gonna be able to keep up with the tense changing and the time skipping, i'm being incoherent" thank you all for proving me wrong. My writing profs taught me to believe everyone does not have reading comprehension. Perhaps we should be giving more credit to readers, me thinks.

Man, I wish Carmen in The Bear canon aligned with CK not particularly because I wish he was better but because watching S3 I was like oh,,,, did I get all that wrong? Because to me, yeah does Carmen run away from things? 1 fucking million percent. At the same time, however, Carmen is an artist and I think like,,,, he's taught, yknow? He takes direction and critique, is always how I took him-- And so like, he just compartmentalizes criticism of his character the same way he would his craft; and he fucking likes making shit better, so he transfers it to life.

I considered massively pivoting from this choice for him to accept that he needs to be better, and instead like, Bojacks it, basically, but like, I'd already done this in CK canon:

Did I emulate my own previous scene to call back to the beginning of their relationship in chapter 13? Yeah 100% I did but back on topic--

I'd already decided that this was how Carmen went about things, and to be fair, I think honestly if everyone had just let each other finish sentences in S3EP01, that entire season I think would've gone an entirely different route, but c'est la vie, that's the tragic comedy of it all.

NOW ONTO MIKEY! I think some have said they prefer this Jimmy negotiation to canon-- And to be fair, though the sobriety aspect may not have been a part of it, Mikey did say he wanted to franchise with Carmen, and that's what the money was for. Or at least that's what Carmen affirms:

god fucking jesus christ he was so much more charming in S2 what the FUCK moving ON

But anyways, I think the 10k/week thing honestly is something Uncle would do, and I guess this is me staking my bet on it. I'd like to believe Mikey was climbing his way out-- Or maybe that's more tragic? I dunno. Regardless, I adore him, so, yknow. he's the guy!

50 PLUS YEARS FOR CARMEN? YOU THINK THIS GUY COULD LIVE TO 80? BABY LOOK UP POPCORN LUNG THIS MAN WAS GETTING ULCERS AT 21 WE'RE LUCKY IF WE GET TO 60

regardless, thank you for enjoying i'm so glad that my interpretation of Mikey was enjoyed. I tried to be as like,,, accurate as possible to what I feel he'd act like out of the small scenes we've seen of him, but I also absolutely had to pull from my own oldest brother. so. i don't have issues idk what all of you are talking about.

also, I will put this in a master post of like, bits I was doing, later, because there's a fucking lot, but this is the last post I'm making before bed and I wanna get yelled at about this in my inbox in the morning nothing makes me happier:

Chapter 1! Tony Terry Tommy!

Chapter 13! Two Steps Back.

I know I'm a bitch, aren't I? I'm sure rereaders noticed this but I wanted the whole class to know.

While I'm at it, Chapter 12! Hit em with it!

YEAH BABY SHE'D BEEN THINKING ABOUT IT THE WHOOOOLLLEEE TIMMEEEEE YEEEEAAAHHHHHHHH I'm fucked up for this one. I had the Cold thing planned since chapter 1 I'm so SICK with it. Yell at me in my inbox I do love to make everyone mad ngl call me Carmen cause I'm a fucking shit starter baby

thank you for your thoughts and thank you for giving me a place to yap for WAY too fucking long GOOD NIGHT OR GOOD MORNING PENDING WHERE YOU ARE!!

[timetobeaghost]

i’m seeing so little nuance when it comes to this whole noah schnapp thing. i know everyone gets mad when you say you are in the middle but i just genuinely don’t understand what’s going on. i’m opposed to any and all violence and disgusted by the acts committed by israel and hamas. i know i’m not fully aware but it’s genuinely so confusing idk how people expect everyone to know.

i think what noah did is gross still. it’s not just because of his views, but the fact he was making a joke about it when it’s a horrific and serious tragedy. but people see it so black and white? if you read noah’s posts it’s clear he is opposed to violence in general, and to me the whole ‘zionism is sexy’ thing is an example of him being misinformed and incredibly insensitive.

but then people are calling him murderous and claiming he and others support actual genocide? they say ‘oh he’s old enough to understand’ but genuinely i think he just doesn’t understand the full extent of the situation, like many others. to imply that someone like noah genuinely wants tons of people to die is just a bit absurd to me. i’m no mind reader but to me he just seems to not understand the situation, and is just defending what he thinks is right because of his religion and probably family. i don’t think he supports genocide, i don’t think he understands that what he is supporting is genocide and is misinformed that it’s some kind of just response.

Not going crazy and being hesitent is a good first response. As is admitting when you don't know everything. You are not motivated by hate, that is obvious and great! But

Noah did not make any insensitive jokes. At all. He did literally nothing. Being in the same room as a "Zionism is sexy" sticker is not an action to take nor a joke to make. Him and people like Brett Gelman and other visible jews being attacked is pure antisemitism, which is a ridiculously widespread sentiment, as I was forced to discover.

Zionism is genuinely sexy. I mean it is completely inoffensive. What is evil is trying to frame zionism as an evil conspiracy. It's s Jew hating conspiracy theory. Zionism means support of Israel's existence.

No one should eDUcaTe theMseLvEs by consuming and parroting jew hating conspiracy theories. It is quite easy to do so these days, but it is not right. Noah already understands the situation better.

Israel was attacked and is the victim first. It deserves solidarity.

Israel destroying Hamas is a just response. And frankly their duty. As the terrorists attacked their citizens and haven't stopped and promised to do it again and again. Promised genocide.

Israel is not committing a genocide. It is winning a war of self defence, thank god.

War sucks, though. The reality of it is always horrible to behold.

Hamas is doing their absolute worst as always and absolute best to get as many Palestinians killed as possible, including straight up shooting them themselves if they are "stealing" "their" food or trying to get to safety thereby not working as human shields. They are fucking evil, the scum of the earth.

There is no question who a well-meaning person should support here.

PS: Netanjahu is not a great guy, but Israel is a great country and in the right here. Let Bibi win the war, then I hope for a new Israeli government and lasting peace!

[chaosfish2775]

Okay, long post so I’ll get through the important stuff here:

I live in a house with two of my friends, my dad, and my dad’s girlfriend. My friends and I own 3 cats between us, my dad and his girlfriend own a dog. The house is owned by my dad’s uncle. My friends moved in here about half a year ago, and their intentions have always been to move out as soon as financially possible. About a month ago, my dad’s uncle approached my friends and told them that they have to move out. He gave them a move-out date of October 31st, but didn’t give any eviction notice. About a week ago, they had a conversation, and told him that they wouldn’t be able to move out for another 2 weeks after October 31st, he accepted this reality, he did not give any eviction notice. This week, he started being a bully, and pressuring them to move out, he also acted as though their last conversation didn’t happen. He approached them again on the 31st, with a piece of paper. It was not an eviction notice, it was a signed transcription of their previous conversation, 2 days prior. He has still yet to give an eviction notice.

My friends have a GoFundMe, I highly recommend that anyone who has an extra bit of cash, and wants to help out some people in need, donates. They have 3 children who live with their grandparents right now, and they desperately want to reunite, get back on their feet, and get out of this horrible house.

https://gofund.me/69d7591b

Now for my stuff! TW, mentions of abuse, sexual assault/rape

I am 18 years old, and I’ve lived about 16 and a half of those years with my dad. He is a liar, a narcissist, an egomaniac, a sociopath, and a fucking pedophile. That’s not exaggeration, by the way, especially not the sociopath one. I have lived in fear of him for over a decade, and that fear is finally almost gone.

Two days ago, my dad called me and told me that I was being kicked out, and he expected me to be gone by the end of the night. His reasoning was that I have been telling people that he’s a pedophile. In effect, he was kicking me out for telling the truth. I know he’s a pedophile, my sisters have told me that he’s done shit to them, my mom (they’re divorced, if you couldn’t tell) confirmed that he’s a pedophile. Even worse for him, my friend has seen text messages from him with her own eyes. Text messages that, if brought up as evidence in the court of law, would be enough for a jury to declare him guilty of several sexual crimes, including multiple counts of statutory rape.

Now, he can’t kick me out, because I’m an adult. I know this, in fact, I went to the police to confirm that was the case. His uncle has to evict me, and that’s a long and expensive process. (By the way, my dad already knew that I was going to be moving out with my friends, so this was pointless anyways!) I am still living in the house, and my plans have not changed. But Jesus has this been stressful! And that’s been the general pattern for my entire life, stressing about what my dad might do. It has not been fun, and I’m excited to finally be done with his shit soon.

This part of the post really doesn’t add much, I just wanted to rant. I hate this man, he does nothing but lie and cheat. He only cares about himself. If you aren’t useful to him in some way, he doesn’t care about you. The only time he’s done anything with me other than auto work, general maintenance, or during driving lessons earlier this year, was when his girlfriend was in a mental hospital after she assaulted one of my friends and told the police that she wanted to murder both of them. She constantly lies to him about me, and he believes her every time.

He rarely feeds me, only if it’s convenient for him. He tells me he’s broke, then buys frozen pizzas, a shit ton of snacks, and a bunch of other shit he doesn’t need. I asked him for gas money to go to a job interview, and he told me that it was too far away. It was like, 20 miles, and it was the only opportunity I had gotten in weeks. He had me sleeping in the basement, which only ended recently. Trust me, that basement was never habitable. Before I lived here, I was living with my mom. I had been for over a year, and that was after 6 months of torture living with just my dad and his girlfriend. He convinced me to come back by telling me he owned a house, and promised to pay for me to get a drivers license, and to pay for me to get a car. He did neither, and as previously stated, he doesn’t own the house. These promises were made on the idea that he would be getting a promotion at work, which didn’t end up happening.

So to be clear, he contacted my mom, to get into contact with me, after we hadn’t spoken in over a year, when the last few weeks of contact were full of screaming, fighting, and him insinuating that I’d murder his unborn child. He gave me promises based on a promotion he didn’t have yet, without telling me that was the situation, and then never delivered on any of them. What a fucking dick.

Also, I got a cat recently. She was a stray, and still kinda is, but she’s coming with me when I leave. I made a Facebook post, and he left a comment telling me that I didn’t ask him if I could keep her, and that I had to bathe her. Like, bro, that’s not your choice, and she’s a stray cat, the fuck did you think I was gonna do?? Of fucking course I’m going to bathe her! What an asshole.

[guckies]

about people being upset about how Bad gives a ton of stuff and never gives anything in return, it’s definitely something you’d only really pick up on and be upset about if you watched his pov a lot. Yeah people are being kind of dramatic about it, but a lot of people in the server (in rp of course) seem to only seem to think of him as the guy who gives them things or the guy that was awful in purgatory (when in reality he genuinely wasnt much worse than a lot of other players)

I think it’s similar to how foolish fans constantly talk about how people (again only in rp) call him a bad father, when in reality it really doesn’t happen that often, and as far as I know it’s always just been jokes. Like of course fans are gonna be dramatic about the things their fav streamer goes through, even if those things aren’t super evident to someone who doesn’t watch them often.

it’s really just a difference in perspective, but if people talking about how they’re happy Bad isn’t giving things away for free as much anymore is bothering you that much, you can always block them

I genuinely don’t mean to come across as aggressive or hating on you or anything, I just saw your post about it earlier and wanted to talk about my perspective 👍

It wasn’t that they were upset, rather they were using it as justification for Bad to have a villain arc (which imo is lazy and there are way better reasons or ways for Bad to have a villain arc).

As well this “struggle” is not exclusive to Bad. Like during the cookie quests arc, Morning crew were the ones that put most of the extra items or mobs there for everyone. Especially Phil who had a lot of ingredients and stuff they needed that he did gave even on days he didn't stream. But there are so many instances in which people give for free and don't recieve acknowledgement.

I totally get being happy that Bad isn’t giving everything away for free, been the same with the ccs I watch too. But calling Bad the only good guy for doing that and saying he needs a villain arc over something so stupid that no one asked him to is questionable. Especially when it was/is not exclusive to him and their are so many cooler ways for him to have that villain arc.

But also I'm not saying y'all shouldn't be happy about Bad not giving stuff because I also am happy he's not giving stuff away for free(personally love watching the struggle people go through looking for things). Rather just not give him this massive praise for it when it is universal experience they all face. Cause my increased annoyance is with some fans more specifically ghosties who act as if their cc is the only one that experiences these "problems" or just don't watch anyother pov so instead amplify the "problems" that don't exist or affect everyone.

And I get what you’re trying to say with fans being dramatic because some of them really are. However, it’s definitely not similar to Foolish getting called a bad father at all. Since doozers had to make a whole thread that we still refer to now to infrom people that have never watched Foolish & Leo clips ever and just hate Foolish and believe that Foolish is a bad parent over the jokes Bad or Fit have made. (Which we are so sick of because how is it 9 months in and we’re still discussing Foolish’s parenting which has been nothing but good)

Also not going to talk about purgatory because to me he was a bad guy and should have faced lore consequences for some of the stuff he did but that is neither here nor there so ✋🫥🤚

But yeah I already do block people for things I just don't agree with but also I like talking about things that include criticism so if people don't agree with me then I encourage them to block me too. Also thanks for being nice about it, cause this isn't really the biggest deal for me but I do like the discussion of these things sometimes :]

[buffyfan145]

Fellowship of Fans delivered today with them saying they had their biggest spoiler scoop so far this year for season 2 of "Rings of Power" and why they saved it for a Christmas gift!!! 😀 I'm a little late posting it since I was at my family's Christmas Eve dinner but I'm excited for this!!!

April 2024 Update: This spoiler has now been confirmed false and part of a plan from Amazon to catch a leaker from the crew.

They finally revealed the new actor playing the "original version" of Sauron (possibly Mairon) and it's Gavi Singh Chera!!! 😀 He was announced earlier this year as part of the recurring actors they added to the show and there had been speculation for a while that he was another form of Sauron and likely the Adar knew. I can actually see it too, especially if you see clips of his other acting roles. I'm guessing he and Charlie Vickers have worked together too so we the audience will be able to tell it's him, plus thanks to Charlie's interviews we know the audience will know everything Sauron is up to in season 2.

Again Charlie's not going anywhere and he's still a series regular. We've also had a ton of spoilers about Halbrand and what he's doing in season 2. This is for the flashbacks and shapeshifting that will be happening especially with Sauron going back to Eregion as he can't go back as Halbrand so it's the Annatar storyline. That being said though FOF posted other scoops today that they're not sure which form is working with Celebrimbor and it's led to some speculating including me that maybe Annatar (or whatever name they use as FOF still doesn't know if they have the rights) switches back to Halbrand in front of Celebrimbor and that they work on the rings together.

They also said almost all the rings will be made this season. They're not sure which form distributes them but leaning towards Halbrand as they already got spoilers Halbrand is the one that recruits the men and dwarves so it would make sense that form gives them out. Still no word about the One Ring so not sure if that will happen in the season finale or if they'll save it for season 3.

So it's already getting a bit confusing for some fans online as we had to explain again about the shapeshifting and that Charlie's still there so to make things earlier I'll be saying when talking about them as Charlie's Halbrand and Gavi's Annatar, but they are both Sauron. LOL

Also, being a Haladriel shipper, that fits here too as FOF confirmed Gavi and Morfydd didn't have a chemistry test like Morfydd and Charlie did. So even though Gavi's Annatar has scenes with Galadriel I doubt I'll be shipping them but we'll see. So Haladriel for me is Charlie's Halbrand form and who I'm referring to for now. Also same with my fics as I always wrote Mairon looking like Halbrand. Again this could change if it turns out this form also has something with Galadriel too. LOL

[krispyweiss]

Sound Bites Presents: The Best of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2023

Editor’s Note: the 2023 edition of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass ended one week ago today. Having returned to backward Oiho after a glorious three days in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, the blog recounts his favorite sets of the festival. Read Sound Bites’ full coverage here, here and here; and see more photos here, here and here.

Rickie Lee Jones - Horseshoe Hill stage, Sept. 29; Banjo stage, Sept. 30: Given 45 minutes for her festival-opening reading from “Last Chance Texaco” and another hour for music the following day, when she played the titular song from her 2021 memoir, Jones got more stage time than any other performer. And she put it to good use. After sound-checking with a snippet of “The Horses,” a high-spirited Jones read excerpts about her time as a 14-year-old hitchhiker in California and how her admiration of the hippie ideal eventually turned into contempt. She closed the session by playing a solo-acoustic version of “The Moon is Made of Gold,” a song written by her father.

The following afternoon, Jones and her band played to a ginormous crowd - “I haven’t seen so many people in front of me for so long,” she said, clearly enjoying the moment. Crooning at the mic on “One More for the Road;” playing guitar on a New Orleanian rearrangement of “Danny’s All Star Joint;” sitting at the piano for “We Belong Together;” and playing banjo on an untitled work-in-progress she had unveiled two nights earlier on guitar at the benefit for Camp Winnarainbow, Jones was effervescent and as appreciative of her audience as they were of her. Sound Bites obviously doesn’t know Jones, yet it made him so happy to see her so happy over the three days of performances he and Mrs. Sound Bites witnessed. Rickie Lee, gold.

Tommy Emmanuel - Arrow stage, Oct. 1 - Allotted a criminally stingy 50 minutes, Emmanuel was the only solo-acoustic act to make an audience stop talking and simply gasp at what they were hearing and seeing. That’s because he is a band unto himself and he introduced his phantom accompanists while playing bassline, percussion, rhythm and lead simultaneously on his acoustic guitar. “Sixteen Tons” and “Nine-Pound Hammer” found Emmanuel singing; “Imagine” was instrumental save for the audience and the guitarist’s famous, inhuman “Beatles Medley” closed the set, which should’ve run an hour.

Eilen Jewell - Rooster stage, Oct. 1 - Playing songs from her pre- and post-pandemic albums, Gypsy and Get Behind the Wheel, respectively, Jewell was positively enthralling during her 45-minute midday set, which wrapped with a near carbon-copy of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Green River,” allowing secret-sauce guitarist Jerry Miller to shine.

Christone “Kingfish” Ingram - Towers of Gold stage, Sept. 29 - At 24, Ingram sounds like he’s been playing guitar for 50 years already. This up-and-coming bluesman is going to be a huge star and he spent his 50 minutes demonstrating why he may very well be thought of in 2073 in the same way Buddy Guy is today.

The Travelin’ McCourys - Banjo stage, Oct. 1 - With Punch Brother Noam Pikelny filling in for Rob McCoury on banjo, the sons of Del played some of the least-Hardly Strictly music of the entire festival, as a large swath of the audience bounced along in unison while the band smoked a bluegrass “Scarlet Begonias” in the park the Grateful Dead filled with music so many times in the days of yore. “Seems appropriate,” Ronnie McCoury said.

Doc Watson Tribute - Horseshoe Hill stage, Oct. 1 - Joined at various points by Andrew Marlin, Valerie June and Jon Langford, Mitch Greenhill, Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman offered an intimate set that included “Summertime,” “Handsome Molly” and “Tom Dooley” among others. It all ended with the life-affirming experience of a couple of hundred people singing “Keep on the Sunny Side” under a canopy of trees in a light afternoon fog.

Bettye LaVette - Rooster stage, Sept. 30 - At 77, LaVette remains a powerful performer, stalking the stage and employing her raspy voice to great effect. Bob Dylan may have written “Things Have Changed,” but LaVette owns it.

Irma Thomas - Rooster stage, Sept. 30 - Thomas, 82, played HSB’s most-rambunctious set, closing Saturday with a barnburner that reached its apex with “I Done Got Over It” -> “Iko Iko” -> “Hey Pocky Way” -> “I Done Got Over It.”

Honorable mention: The McCrary Sisters - Rooster stage, Sept. 30 - Rather than a full performance, which they merited, the McCrarys played a handful of five- to 15-minute spots that included uplifting renditions of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground” and “Amazing Grace.”

10/8/23

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

The Little Things I Love About ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE

Just like the one I did for PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH, and just like the one I did for STRANGE WORLD, here's a little list of particular little details I loved in a detail-packed... Like, literally jampacked movie... SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE:

So far, I have only seen this movie once all the way through in theaters, caught multiple sections over and over at my movie theater job, and again in full on Blu-ray once. I've watched and rewatched sections since, always finding cool stuff. I may revisit the post and update it, too, like I did w/ the previous ones.

Also, MASSIVE SPOILERS ahead... Just in case you still haven't seen this months-old movie...

Much like the first SPIDER-VERSE... Tons of stuff to catch in the glitching opening logos. Logo/design p0rn aaaaall around.

There's already a lot to love in the opening Medieval Vulture attack set-piece, but my favorite detail? As an Italian-American? "Ciao, ragazza!" Complete with the parchment paper script "Bye, girl!" accompanying it. Any elementary school-age kid watching this now knows a little Italian, that's cool!

Lyla's first scene in the movie. Whichever version, too, whether it's the fist-bump or the selfie... I love how she just glitches and zips in and out, while Miguel keeps asking her in vain to call for back-up. Just an out-of-nowhere display of what kind of quirky relationship these two have...

Many have written about the scenes of Gwen and her father, Captain George Stacy, and how they hit very close to home. In that, they perfectly mirror some folks' experiences with coming out. Myself included, whether it's Miles or Gwen... It's even more effective with Gwen, because there are a lot of not-so-subtle hints that she could be a trans girl. (i.e. the dad having a trans flag on his uniform, Gwen having a "protect trans kid" flag, her room turning into trans flag pastel colors when she reconnects with her father at the end of the movie, etc.) I feel it's twice as hard-hitting in the opening action sequence because Captain Stacy has no idea the white-and-pink Spider-Woman is his daughter, loathes Spider-Woman for not-unfounded reasons (he's rightfully upset that Peter Parker is dead) but is taking it way too far (revenge territory), and he's also a cop. Here's this girl trying to reason with a hardened gun-wielding tough guy, who even fires the gun, prompting Gwen to remove the mask... And all the little complexities in the animated acting on George's face, the shock of his daughter being Spider-Woman, mixed with his grief over Parker's death and his sheer anger... It's maybe a minute or two, but goddamn did these animators go off. That's what anchors these movies amidst all the nerd/reference-stuff, spectacle, and dynamic changing art styles.

And to elaborate on this... This is basically a movie about a queer kid running off, without a home, while another one tries to find their people and be with them... Not prepared for the gatekeeping that's ahead... and some of us queers either experience something like those specific things or have a feeling of not belonging. (I also really dig how Jessica Drew is almost like a surrogate mother for Gwen, a parent of sorts who takes her in after showing her father who she is. Almost, as her protectiveness soon starts to wear off and gives way to sarcastic coldness after Gwen pays Miles a visit.) And the little nuances of both of their struggles trying to make it in this truly "elite" Spider-Society. It works perfectly through either Miles' lens or Gwen's.

Lots of graphic design and logos in that short convenience store scene, too. Lots for someone like me to look for.

The Spot seems to have linework going on inside him, of his anatomy and structure... Not dissimilar to the Xerography process used by Disney for animated productions from 1960 to 1985, and how the process overriding the clean-up animation process meant that you saw lots of rough linework, sketches, and planning inside of the characters. Like the rawness of the drawings preserved in the finished films. That technique is often paid homage to in other animated works, such as Tomm Moore's Irish triptych films that he did for Cartoon Saloon.

Much was written about, especially because one of the trailers showed this gag, Rio Morales snapping her finger upon hearing that Miles got a lower grade in Spanish class. A little after that, while Jeff is speaking, the look on her face. How utterly INSULTED she is- Again, just, ooh, great animated acting all around.

"Maybe get off the kid's a-

The first universe Spot visits, love that it's very 2D-looking and very, *very* comic book, a hint of pulp and Art Deco and '60s modern rolled into one... before giving us Venomverse (oh I'm sorry, SUMC) and LEGO.

Much of the Morales' rooftop party scene is just jam-packed to the moon and back with all these little writing nuances, tying in all this stuff about being a teen who is hiding something, reasoning with one's well-meaning but very controlling parents, all the humor and drama that stems from that. All that awkwardness, the embarrassment, how the guests play off of all of that, etc.

Miles pursuing The Spot whilst trying to talk to him... I mean, the entire Mumbattan sequence alone mops the floor w/ maybe 95% of superhero movies made in the last 5 years, but... This scene in particular, where the two are flying through a bunch of intricately-designed and planned buildings full of people with all these swooping camera angles- GO HARD they did.

Hobie's universe particularly referencing the ransom note letterforms that made up the cover of the iconic Sex Pistols album NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS, HERE'S THE SEX PISTOLS. They leaned *hard* on early punk from the '70s, more so than any other era, and that's so damn cool.

The subtle animated acting from Gwen during Miguel's warning to Miles about disrupting canon. All the inner-conflict over believing in it or not. And even before that, too, particularly in the aftermath of the Mumbattan Alchemax building collapsing onto the bridge.

And during that whole scene, as the different Spiders start to surround Miles, I like how Hobie is more turned to the side than facing Miles directly, unlike the other Spiders. That's just seconds before it's made clear that Hobie is on Miles' side.

The super-widescreen, Panavision-esque aspect ratio change when - during the whole Spider Society chase - Miles lands on Widow and is confronted by Web-Slinger. Really channeling the spaghetti Westerns, even if that bit has been done before, its use here - very clever.

"SNITCH!"

Miles' smirk when he begins to use his electric charge power to knock Miguel off of him, right before he's about to tell him - and by extension everyone who ever doubted him or told him he can't do what's right or what he desires - off.

The "Go Home Machine" literally being an elaborate spider, itself, inside a nest. Everything, right down to the machinery, all spider-themed. Simply going ALL OUT. Also that scanner that Miguel angrily rips out of the console... What a hilariously excessive work of art that thing is, and we only really see it for like 5 seconds.

Like I said, will likely add more, and this probably read more like yet another review of this film that I really, really love. I apologize for that, lol.

[tillychmo]

Thank you, OP!

I’m getting increasingly bothered by the way in which people seem to be OK with actively hating him – esp. considering that the other hundreds of signers on that letter are *not* met with the same vitriol.

I wish that people had better knowledge of how these petition-letters come about in the business, because a lot of people seem to have massively misunderstood how these things work.

For instance – there’s a very real possibility that Taika never actually *read* that letter himself, but rather had the general meaning relayed to him by someone else (like an assistant) before putting his name on it – and for that matter Taika may not have been the one to ‘actively sign’ the letter either.

These things are passed around within the social circles of the business – meaning that if someone within your circle knows about it, then you’ll probably hear about it too. BUT if they’re existing outside of your circle, you may not even hear about them before they’re public.

(In that regard, if your circle only heard about the “Save the hostages”-letter and not the “Ceasefire”-letter that followed a few weeks later, then you wouldn’t have been able to sign that as well, because you literally didn’t know it existed, before it was already published without your name on it.)

The chance that Taika never saw that letter, but was just relayed the content by an assistant – and then told the assistant that it was ok to put his name on it – is huge. The man has a BONKERS schedule. He is producing, directing, writing, and acting in things all at the same time — and yet people seem to expect him to also be flawless? That’s some bananas-high expectations to have for anyone – but especially someone you don’t know. None of us knows what’s going on in each other’s lives.

Some people are acting as though he provided the Israeli army with weapons, ffs.

He signed a f*ckin’ letter.

Along with hundreds of others BTW. Hundreds of others who are in no way being met with the kind of vitriol that he is – do you see Helen Mirren, Jon Hamm, Jason Segel, Will Farrell, or Kristin Chenoweth (to name a FEW others from that list) being met with the same kind of vitriol?

The list of names on that letter is SO long that Taika’s name doesn’t even appear on the first page – and yet, the brown indigenous man (who at the time of the letter being published already had to deal with a ton of hatred on the back of ‘Love & Thunder’) is the one person people seem to hone in on.

And people need to take a seriously hard look inwardly and ask themselves why they seem to be so much more willing to sh*t on one of the only indigenous people on that list, more than any other name on there. Because it sure smells like racism (with a dash of antisemitism) …

And HEY. Let me be quite clear:

You’re absolutely allowed to not like Taika Waititi. You do not have to like everybody.

But there’s a massive difference between disliking someone and then the outright vitriol and hatred that Taika is being met with whenever he dares to breathe a single word online (including a post made for his wife’s birthday) – which is probably why he has decided (or his publicist has ordered him) to steer clear of SoMe the past few months.

Dislike Taika as much as you want – but stop being bullies. The sheer level of hatred towards him has *massively* surpassed any ’crime’ here.

I keep seeing posts on social media thanking the OFMD cast and crew for their work and not mentioning Taika, and it's driving me to distraction because Taika is absolutely fundamental to the existence of this show.

There's a huge chance the show wouldn't have been picked up at all if Taika hadn't attached his name to it. And he didn't just attach his name and walk away - he played a key role in developing the show. David has said that he was looking at the history with Taika and they both went 'omg Stede and Blackbeard were fucking' and decided to centre the show around that. Taika pushed for Rhys to play Stede. Taika saw Nathan's comedy on instagram and went 'yep that's Lucius'. Taika was desperate to play Ed, and fought to play him. Taika has spoken about how much he loves playing Ed, how it made him fall in love with acting again, to the point where he wears some of Ed's jewellery and has gotten some of Ed's tattoos actually inked on him. He poured everything he has as an actor into Ed (some of the stuff he had to perform, particularly at the beginning of S2, is difficult) and the show simply wouldn't work without it. Taika directed the pilot. He loved the show enough to juggle filming S1 with post-production on Thor: Love and Thunder. When the show's budget was slashed by 40%, and could no longer afford to film in LA, Taika would have been key to moving production to New Zealand - and if that hadn't happened, S2 wouldn't have happened. When a director went off sick with Covid during S2, Taika jumped in to direct half an episode and then didn't take a director's credit on it.

You do not have to like Taika. You do not have to agree with everything he does/says. But what we are not going to do is erase the absolutely key fundamental role that Taika has played in OFMD. This show simply would not exist, probably not in any form, but certainly not in the form we see and love, if not for Taika's continuing and multi-level contribution.