#Contrasting Only By Circumstance

[daydreamerdrew]

The Marvel Family (1945) #1

[kittytudor]

something i really love about “the crystal pavillion, for the third time” is the fact that the entire plot only happens because a servant was ill.

most of the mysteries maomao solves are related to high ranking officials or concubines, and if they aren’t, they usually happen in such strange circumstances that it’s impossible to not suspect potential foul play. in contrast, this episode’s mystery isn’t even really a mystery at all. a servant girl got sick with a rather common and treatable type of illness, and was put in isolation by her boss. on surface level, it’s as low stakes a plot as it could get. in the imperial court, servants are merely tools that can be replaced once they die. their lives are not seen as valuable, as even maomao acknowledges.

and yet, it is this unknown, nameless servant girl who becomes shin’s downfall. maomao may have had her suspicions about shin and the perfumes, even before this episode, but she had nothing concrete to go on. she couldn’t accuse a high ranking concubine’s chief attendant of trying to harm a preganant concubine with no evidence (at that point, she didn’t even know who shin’s target was). shin may have been a lot of things, but she was no fool, she was an incredibly intelligent woman who knew how to cover her tracks well, which is why maomao had to goad a confession out of her in order to prove her guilt. she’s arguably one of maomao’s cleverest adversaries yet, after suirei and lakan!

but shin’s fatal flaw is pride. she believes she’s better than lihua and she believes she’s better than a mere servant girl. so she cruelly uses her as a means to an end in order to hide the forbidden perfumes through the smell of her sickness. and in the eyes of the palace law, she is not committing a crime either. a servant girl’s life is nothing compared to the life of a high ranking concubine. who would even notice she’s missing? who would care if she quietly died?

but people did notice. the clinician noticed the maid had been missing and was worried enough to ask maomao to look into it. the other crystal pavillion servant loved her friend so much she planted flowers outside the shed because she hoped it would help her get better, which was the key clue that made maomao realize that’s the place where the servant is locked up. all of shin’s machinations get revealed because she refused to treat a servant girl as someone who mattered. it’s such a powerful message and i love it.

[inotakumagf]

find me in the future

✶ sylus qin x gn!reader

word count ✺ 2.1K

summary ✺ you wake up next to sylus. the only problem is that you don’t know how you ended up in his arms.

warning ✺ teeny tiny bit of angst, but it all works out in the end. description of injuries & fighting. i was very inspired by would you fall in love with me again? from epic the musical and s2e7 of arcane iykyk.....sylus is so soulmate-coded. reblogs & comments are very appreciated! :)

You wake to a warm body pressed against your back. You nuzzle further into your plush pillow at the feeling, resting your hand over the strong arm across your waist. It's almost enough to lull you back to sleep. But your eyes snap open, and you jerk away. Now that your brain is not muddled with sleep, you remember that you went to bed alone. Because you have no one to share it with. 

“Sweetheart? Is everything alright?” The voice is rough with sleep, but very familiar. 

You sit up, turning to stare at the figure that was spooning you from behind. You fumble for your nightstand to flick on the switch of your lamp. It takes you a moment to find the switch and when you do, you squint at the brightness.

You blink at the man staring up at you. It’s Sylus. You know Sylus. But why is he in your bed? Why is his arm reaching out to rub against your skin? And why is he staring at you like you hung up the stars?

“I…” You don’t know what to say. He’s not the type of person to just show up in your bed uninvited. Did you go out drinking, without remembering? Did you…? 

“Did you have a nightmare, sweetheart?” He sits up and pulls you into his arms, running his large hand over your skin in comfort.

You watch as he does so, staring at the way his hands knead over you with so much familiarity. That’s when you notice the band on his ring finger. 

Your eyes widen in surprise. He’s married? You’ve never noticed him wearing a ring before, and you feel discomfort settling in your stomach at the sight of it now. He has a spouse, and yet he’s here with you.

Sylus presses a kiss to the side of your head. “Darling, I can practically hear you thinking hard. What’s wrong?”

“I can’t…” Your heart is hammering at a fast past as you try to remember how you got here. Why can’t you remember, and why is Sylus still touching on you so sweetly? The last time you had seen him, you were visiting the N109 Zone before your mission. There had been no kisses or sweet talk then. 

You rub your hands over your face roughly, and the pressure is enough to confirm that this is not a dream. Cool metal contrasts over your warm skin, and when you stare down at your hands, it starts to click together in your head.

There is a ring and wedding band on your ring finger to match Sylus’s. He runs his hands over yours soothingly, and you can see just how well his hands mold into yours. Your breath hitches with emotion.

Your confusion overwhelms you. You’ve barely been able to hold a conversation with Sylus and suddenly you’re married to him? 

The man drops his head to your shoulder and presses kisses along the skin until he reaches your jaw. “Sweetheart, you’re worrying me. Are you falling ill?”

He leans closer before pausing. His crimson eyes find yours. You can feel the warmth of his breaths. Just an inch more, and you’d be kissing him. You feel heat rush over you at the thought. You can’t lie and say you’ve never thought about what kissing Sylus would feel like. But even after becoming friendlier with the Onychinus head, he’s never indicated any affection towards you in that way.

“Is this alright?” He whispered against your skin.

You hesitate. This Sylus wants to kiss you, but only because he thinks you’re his spouse. You are an entirely different person than who he believes, and the thought of kissing him under questionable circumstances feels wrong.

You pull back slightly. “Sorry, I just…I don’t think I feel well.”

He smiles softly at you, an expression you’ve never seen on him before. “Don’t apologize, sweetheart. Shall I fetch a cool towel for you? Or some tea? What can I do to make you feel better?”

You open your mouth to respond, but the sound of a radio crackles to life. You can hear a baby screaming. Your body is on high alert at the sound, but Sylus just chuckles and throws the duvet off of his side of the bed.

He leans over to press a kiss to the top of your head and says, “Rest. I’ll check on Josephine.”

When he leaves, it takes you a full moment to recover. Josephine? Not only are you married, but you have a baby girl too? How could you forget something like that? Once your mind clears, you follow Sylus out of the room. It’s hard to navigate the unfamiliar home, especially in the dark. But you follow the wailing of the baby to a nearby room. The door is slightly ajar, and you can hear Sylus’s deep voice.

“I’m right here, peanut. Nothing will ever harm you, not with me to protect you. I don’t suppose you’ll finally let me sing you to sleep? I swear I’ve been practicing.”

Even though she can’t understand him, baby Josephine gurgles a response.

You push the door open the rest of the way. Sylus is standing over a crib with a one year old in his arms. He turns at the creak of the door. The little girl has your hair texture in a silver shade that matches her father. You step closer slowly. You lift your hand to run the knuckle of your index finger over her smooth cheek. She turns her head so that she can gnaw on your finger. You smile softly at her.

“You should have stayed in bed, I can lull her back to sleep. You’ve had a long day.”

You stare down at the baby and then up at Sylus. You can feel tears accumulating, so you look back down to hide them. “I just wanted to see her.”

Sylus shifts Josephine so that she’s cradled securely in his left arm, and he uses the other arm to bring you close to his side. He kisses your forehead and keeps his lips there, causing your eyes to flutter shut. You could get used to this very easily. 

You would have never thought that the stoic and grumpy man would ever behave like this. You wish you could remember how you got to this moment, if only to understand how Sylus’s attitude towards you could change so drastically.

It's not that he is hateful or rude, he’s just very closed off, and all your attempts at getting to know him better are always shot down. 

Sylus sighs and mumbles into your skin, “You don’t have to tell me what’s bothering you now, but promise you’ll come to me if you need to let it out. I hate seeing you so upset.”

You nod as much as you can in his hold. Josephine has fallen back asleep with the gentle rocking that Sylus has been doing, so he lowers her back into her crib.

Once she’s down, he turns to you and sweeps you off your feet. You gasp and wrap your arms around his neck to steady yourself. You shoot him a glare, but he just chuckles and nuzzles his nose into your skin. 

“‘M sorry, darling. Come on, let’s go to bed.”

You rest your head against his chest, drifting off to the sound of his beating heart.

It feels like only a moment has passed when you wake, flinching at the pain that overwhelms your body. Strong arms cradle you against a solid chest. It takes a second for the ringing in your ears to clear, and you can hear someone talking.

“Mx. Hunter, can you hear me? You need to stay awake.”

Sylus is looking down at you, brows furrowed in concern. You’re in the same position as you were moments ago, except you’re outside and in so, so much pain. You must have been hit in the chest, because each breath you take is a short gasp.

“What…happened?” you wheeze out. 

“Mephisto was flying above when he saw your fight with the Wanderer. He told me that after it hit you, you disappeared for sometime.”

Your mouth goes dry. “Disappeared?”

“The Wanderer was an Elite Herte Knave. Worrisome creatures, because of how they alter time and space with their attacks. It must have displaced you somewhere nearby, because you returned as soon as I defeated it.” Sylus’s tone of voice is back to the stiff way of speaking that you’ve been used to. He won’t even look you in the eye anymore. 

“You can put me down,” you mumble. “I can walk just fine.”

He glares at you. “Oh, you’re fine, are you? When I found you, I thought you were dead because of how still you were. You can’t rush into a fight like this with little regard for your safety. It’s irresponsible, and I’d expect more from a Hunter of your caliber.”

The stark contrast between how Sylus spoke to you before versus now makes your heart sink. Even now as you’re injured, he finds time to scold you. Had the Herte Knave manipulated your mind and made you see a future you could never have? Is it that cruel?

“I’m sorry,” you apologize quietly. You’re angry at yourself for thinking that what you saw could be anything more than an illusion. 

His eyes lock on you instantly. Sylus takes in your subdued demeanor, and he sighs. “I apologize for my tone. I was…worried about you. I don’t want to lose you.”

You stare at him, and it’s his turn to look away. “I mean, we can’t have Linkon City’s finest Hunter dying, can we?”

“Can you put me down now? I need to get back to headquarters to give Captain Jenna my report.” You want to get away as fast as possible, if only to defuse your embarrassment.

Sylus’s hands tighten around you. “You’re in no shape to go anywhere, especially not back to work. Let me take care of you.”

“You don’t need to do that,” you argue. “I can go to the hospital.”

Sylus stares at you with a look you can’t decipher. “If…that’s what you want. I apologize. I considered calling the Association to tip them about your state, but I worried you might be too wounded by the time backup arrived. I can bring you to Akso Hospital and…I won’t bother you again.”

Your brows furrow. “What? You’re not–I don’t want that.”

“Then what can I do? Ask, and it’s yours.”

“Why are you acting so weird?” Your frustration has only gotten stronger with each vague response from Sylus.

“I understand that you’re uncomfortable around me, so I’ll leave you alone,” he says, looking anywhere but at you.

You grab his lower jaw and tilt his stubborn face towards you. “I don’t want you to leave. Why would you think that, after everything?”

He lets you squeeze his cheeks, staring at you with a strange look in his eyes. It’s almost…vulnerable.

“You don’t want me to carry you, or treat your wounds,” he practically whispers. “And you’re always angry at me. I’ve clearly overextended my welcome in your life.”

You stare at him, mouth agape. “You’re…you can’t be serious. I thought you hated me. I thought you were tired of my behavior. I’m always provoking you.”

Sylus shakes his head, “I’m…sorry. I don’t intend to be so gruff all the time. I enjoy your company, and your antics.”

Your treacherous heart is beating a million miles a minute. “Then…”

He smiles, and you're relieved to see him nearly back to normal. “Then I’ll patch you up at my home. And,” he hesitates for a moment, “perhaps you can stay. Until you’re healed, of course.”

He waits for your answer, large hands tightening their grip at your thighs and over your side. You want to sink into the touch, and intertwine your soul with his if it were possible.

“Yes,” you say breathlessly. “I think I should.”

Sylus smiles, and you almost feel his relief. “Good,” he murmurs.

His eye catches something, and his lips pout in thought. You look down to see what has caught his attention. He’s staring at your hand, where there are cuts and bruises left as evidence of the Wanderer attack. But what stands out against all of those wounds is the band of indentation on your ring finger. Your breath catches as you stare at the mark, running your thumb over it gently. You smile, leaning your head against Sylus’s chest.

You don’t know what your future holds, but you know for certain that you want—need—Sylus in it.

[prettyoatmeal]

Thinking about meeting Simon with his freshly bleached hair only to find out he's a natural brunette <3

I'm not sure how canon it is but I saw a tweet a while ago that Ghost bleaches his hair blond and I haven't stopped thinking about it since.

You'd always just assumed he was a natural blond. You never really paid much attention to the hair on his arms because why would you? And you never see his legs as his dresser only consists of long cargo pants. His eyebrows weren't too much darker from the blond anyway.

You had no reason to think otherwise. Which only embarrasses him even more when you do find out. He knew you were going to find out eventually, but he never actually thought that far ahead.

He doesn't get time to fix his hair on base so it's only natural that he comes back with his roots grown out. It's a stark contrast to the rest of his bleach blond hair. So when you finally get to see your sweet Simon after half a year, you can't help but immediately notice the change.

At the time he wished you would've just ignored it, but when you caught that initial glimpse of his hair, your hands immediately invaded his scalp. It didn't help either that his hair grew fast.

"You never told me you weren't a natural blond."

"It never came up." he answered gruffly, his uncomfortable shuffling contrasting with the way he leaned his head down slightly and allowed you to inadvertently play with his hair. It felt nice, but he didn't want to admit it then when he was acting aloof.

"It looks nice," you'd say, and he'd scoff. You'd say again, "you look good in brown. Matches your eyes," and he'd just grunt again, acting irritated. Though the way he let out a content sigh as his eyes closed told you otherwise.

*************** DISCLAIMER Under no circumstances do I give permission to copy, repost, or manipulate my work in any way. I am not comfortable with this. If you wish to translate my work, message me privately. My inbox is always open.

[ariadne-mouse]

EXU Divergence is such a stark tonal contrast from so much else we have seen from Exandria, even Calamity, which was about a group of wealthy elites during a time of opulence even if the circumstances became dire, or Downfall, where there was scarcity but it mostly served as a counterpart to Aeor's security before the focal point moved. That the journey of Divergence so quickly becomes about the material impact of not having food and water - fundamental mechanics that are usually only the faintest of background noise even for lower-level adventurers - such that simply the falling of rain becomes a transformative ecstatic moment, like huge kudos to Brennan and the cast for continuing to make something new with familiar tools. I was curious upon the start exactly how the story would handle level 0 characters with few abilities or means in such an intense setting, and this is how. Zoomed-in stakes, and absence. No combat, just choices, each one of which could mean life or death for someone, and so each decision is exquisitely connected to who the characters are and why what they are doing is meaningful. No big damn heroes. Just ordinary people doing the best they can.

[flux1563]

Happy Birthday ft karina and winter

Words : 11k

Tags : just read it

Karina stood in front of the mirror, her heart racing as she admired her reflection. Her hourglass figure was the envy of many, with curves that could make any outfit look like it was painted on her body. Her ass, a perfect bubble that seemed to defy gravity, was the subject of countless whispers and rumors among her fans and colleagues. Her boobs, full and round, had the power to turn heads wherever she went. The reflection staring back at her was a testament to years of hard work and discipline. As the leader of aespa, she knew she had to look her best, especially on days like today.

Winter, on the other hand, sat at the vanity with a frown. Her body was slender, almost too thin in the industry's harsh light. She had always felt inadequate when standing next to Karina, with her own average-sized breasts and ass. Her skin was her saving grace, so pale it was almost translucent, a stark contrast to the tanned bodies that were so popular. She picked up the letter she had written, her thoughts racing. This was her chance to make Karina's birthday special, to show her how much she appreciated her.

"Hey, Karina!" Winter called out, her voice echoing through the shared dressing room. "You've got a surprise waiting for you!"

Karina turned, her eyes sparkling with curiosity. She had always loved surprises, especially from her fellow bandmates. She strutted over, her hips swaying in a way that made the fabric of her dress cling to her curves. "What's this?" she asked, her voice dripping with excitement.

Winter handed her the envelope, her hands shaking slightly. "It's just a little something I wanted to give you."

Karina took the envelope with a smile, her curiosity piqued. She felt a sudden thrill at the thought of a secret midnight rendezvous. She knew Winter had always had a flair for the dramatic, but this was something else. The instructions were simple, yet they sent a shiver down her spine. A penthouse at 12 AM, dressed only in a long dress with no panties and bra beneath. It was bold, it was risky, but it was also incredibly tantalizing.

As the day went on, Karina couldn't help but think about the letter. She wondered what kind of surprise Winter had planned for her. Her mind raced with possibilities, each more daring and thrilling than the last. The anticipation was killing her, but she knew she had to keep her cool. After all, she was the leader of aespa, and she had a public image to maintain.

The hours ticked by, and soon it was time for the concert. Karina pushed thoughts of the letter to the back of her mind as she stepped onto the stage, her confidence radiating out to the thousands of fans screaming her name. The lights, the music, the adoration—it was all a rush of energy that fueled her performance. But as the final notes of the last song played out and the applause faded into the night, she couldn't help but feel a tug of excitement for what was to come.

Finally, the clock struck midnight. Karina slipped away from the after-party, her heart pounding in her chest. The penthouse was only a short drive away, and she knew exactly which one was Winter's. She had been there before, but never under such... intimate circumstances. She arrived and took a deep breath, smoothing down the fabric of her dress. As she stepped out of the elevator, she could feel the cool air brush against her bare legs. The dress was indeed long, but it was also sheer, revealing her lack of underwear. She felt a mix of excitement and vulnerability as she approached the door, the anticipation of what lay behind it almost too much to handle.

Winter answered almost immediately, her eyes lighting up as she took in Karina's attire. "Wow, your nipples are hard," she said with a laugh, unable to hide her surprise and delight. Karina felt a blush spread across her cheeks, but she couldn't deny the thrill that shot through her body at the sight of Winter's eager gaze. The cold air had indeed done its work, making her nipples stand at attention, clearly visible through the flimsy material of her dress.

The penthouse was dimly lit, with only a few candles flickering around the room, casting an eerie yet romantic glow. The floor was littered with rose petals, leading to a large bed adorned with silk sheets. Winter had clearly gone all out for this surprise. She took Karina's hand and led her to the bed, her own heart racing with excitement. Karina's eyes darted around the room, taking in every detail. There was a bottle of champagne chilling in an ice bucket, and a box of chocolates rested on the bedside table.

Winter wore a simple black tank top that clung to her small breasts, showcasing their perky firmness. Her nipples were already hard, poking through the fabric, and Karina couldn't help but stare. It was clear that she wasn't wearing a bra, and the thought sent a jolt of desire through her. Winter had chosen not to wear any underwear either, the thin strip of fabric barely visible beneath the tank top. Karina felt a sudden urge to reach out and touch her, to explore the softness of her skin.

"What's the plan?" Karina asked again, her voice thick with anticipation. Winter's eyes twinkled mischievously as she pulled Karina closer, her breath hot against her neck. "You'll see," she whispered, her hand slipping into the fold of Karina's dress, tracing the curve of her ass. "But first, we need to get you relaxed."

Suddenly, the doorbell rang, jolting them out of their moment. Winter's expression grew even more playful as she squeezed Karina's hand. "I guess the party's starting early," she said, a hint of something else in her voice.

Karina's eyes widened as the door swung open to reveal not one, but twenty muscular black men dressed in matching tuxedos, each holding a bouquet of roses. They filled the room, their deep voices blending into a harmonious chorus of "Happy Birthday." Winter had gone all out, hiring an entire flash mob to serenade her. The sight was overwhelming, a mix of excitement and bewilderment flooding through her. The men's gazes were respectful but filled with an undeniable admiration for the two beautiful women before them.

Winter stepped aside, revealing the true intent behind the surprise. "This isn't just any party, Karina. It's a celebration of you, for you. Twenty of the most attractive and attentive men in the city, all here to make your birthday wishes come true."

Karina's jaw dropped as the reality of the situation hit her. The tension in the room was palpable, a heady mix of excitement and nervousness. The men, with their broad shoulders and chiseled jaws, looked at her with a hunger that made her stomach flip. She had never been the center of attention like this, especially not in such an intimate setting. Her eyes darted to Winter, seeking reassurance, but all she found was a knowing smirk.

One by one, the men began to strip, their movements precise and practiced. The first few layers of clothing fell away to reveal their taut abs and bulging biceps. As they reached the last piece of clothing, their pants, they each pulled out a pair of velvet boxers, which were strategically designed to showcase their massive erections. Each man's cock was at least twelve inches long, with a thickness that would make any woman's knees go weak. The sight was overwhelming, and Karina could feel her own arousal growing, her pussy tightening in anticipation.

Winter leaned in and whispered into Karina's ear, "You can handle it. You're a goddess, and they're here to worship you. Just let go and enjoy the night."

Karina's eyes remained wide with both excitement and trepidation as she took in the sea of naked men surrounding her. She had never experienced anything like this before—her heart was racing, and she could feel her arousal growing with each passing second. Winter's words echoed in her mind, giving her a sense of empowerment that she had never felt before.

The first ten men approached Karina, their eyes full of lust and admiration. They began to gently touch her, their hands gliding over her bare skin like warm silk. Their kisses were soft and feather-light, leaving a trail of fire wherever their lips touched. Karina's body responded instinctively, arching into their touch, her own hands reaching out to explore the muscular planes of their chests and abs. The men were careful, almost reverent in their actions, as if they knew that even the slightest misstep could shatter the delicate balance of power in the room.

Meanwhile, Winter was not forgotten. The other ten men had surrounded her, each eager to claim their share of her delicate form. They started with gentle pecks on her neck and cheeks before moving to the softness of her full lips. Their hands began to wander, caressing her shoulders, tracing the lines of her collarbones, and finally cupping her small, firm breasts. Winter moaned softly, her nipples stiffening under their touch. She looked up into their eyes, her own filled with a mix of lust and mischief, daring them to go further.

The tension grew as clothes were removed, revealing the full extent of their desire. Karina's dress fell to the floor, leaving her in nothing but her heels. The men took turns kissing her neck, her shoulders, and her breasts, each one eager to taste the sweetness of her skin. Their hands explored her body, squeezing her ass cheeks and sliding up her thighs, teasing the wetness that was already gathering between her legs.

Winter's tank top was lifted over her head, revealing her perfect pale breasts to the hungry eyes of the men. They took turns sucking and biting her nipples, eliciting gasps and moans from the young idol. Her own hands were busy unbuckling belts and pushing pants down, revealing the impressive erections that awaited her.

"Ahh, so good, keep it going," Karina managed to say between the kisses and touches, her voice strained with pleasure. The men took this as a cue to intensify their efforts, their hands becoming more insistent, their kisses more demanding. Winter mirrored Karina's response, her voice a soft whine of pleasure as she was laid back on the bed.

The scene was a blur of limbs and passion as the men worked in harmony to pleasure the two idols. For Winter, it was an overwhelming sensation, her body responding to the skilled hands and mouths of the men around her. They took turns, one licking and suckling her nipples while another kissed down her stomach, his tongue tracing the delicate line of her navel before dipping lower, teasing the fabric of her panties. Her legs quivered as she felt a wet, hot tongue slip beneath the elastic, brushing against the soft hairs of her mound.

"Ahh, so good," Winter moaned, her eyes fluttering shut. The man between her legs was a master, his tongue flicking against her clit with the precision of a maestro conducting an orchestra. She could feel herself getting wetter, her body begging for more, and the men were more than happy to oblige.

The room was a symphony of passionate noises: the sound of kisses, the rustle of fabric, the wet smack of tongues against skin. Karina's moans grew louder as the men took turns lapping at her clit, their fingers delving into her tight ass and soaking pussy. Each thrust sent a bolt of pleasure through her body, making her hips buck and her toes curl. She had never felt so exposed, so desired.

The tension grew unbearable as the men worked in unison, their movements becoming more intense. Karina felt a hand slide up her thigh, the heat of it sending shivers down her spine. The finger circled her pussy before plunging in, the sudden intrusion making her gasp. At the same time, another hand began to massage her asshole, the sensation foreign but oddly pleasurable. Her eyes rolled back in her head, lost in the sensation of being filled so completely.

And then it happened. A wave of pleasure crashed over Karina, making her entire body convulse as she squirted, her juices soaking the bed beneath her. The sight was too much for the men, their eyes glazed with lust as they watched the evidence of her climax spray across their chests. Winter, not to be outdone, arched her back off the bed, her body shaking with the force of her own orgasm. Her pussy clenched around the fingers inside her, and she felt a gush of wetness as she too squirted, her body releasing in a display of pure ecstasy.

The men stepped back, giving the two women a moment to catch their breath. Winter looked over at Karina, her cheeks flushed and her eyes glazed with pleasure. "Ahh, that was so much," Their panted, their voice thick with satisfaction.

Karina nodded, her chest still heaving from the intensity of her orgasm. "But we're not done yet," she said with a smirk, her eyes gleaming with a newfound hunger. She turned to the men, her gaze traveling over the sea of hard cocks before her. "Who's first?"

The men looked at each other, a silent challenge passing between them. The first one stepped forward, his cock standing tall and proud. Karina opened her mouth wide, her jaw aching with the effort as she took the tip into her mouth. She could feel the man's heartbeat through the veins that pulsed against her tongue, the taste of him salty and intoxicating. Winter watched, her own desire growing as she saw the way Karina's lips stretched around the massive girth.

Without missing a beat, Winter followed suit, taking the second man's cock in her mouth. It was thick and warm, and she had to stretch her jaw to the limit to accommodate it. The feeling of power was exhilarating, and she could feel the man's body tremble as she swirled her tongue around the head.

They took turns, moving from one cock to the next, their mouths and tongues working in unison to bring each man to the brink of pleasure.

But as they grew more comfortable with the rhythm, something unexpected happened. The first man who Karina was sucking suddenly pulled away, his eyes locked on hers as he positioned himself between her legs. Before she couldn't even react, he pushed his cock into her pussy, filling her in one smooth, powerful stroke. The surprise of the sudden penetration made her gasp, but the pleasure quickly overwhelmed any shock.

Winter watched, her eyes widening as she realized what was happening. The man before her did the same, pulling out of her mouth and moving behind her. She felt the blunt tip of his cock press against her pussy, and despite the initial shock, she found herself pushing back, eager to feel him inside her.

With a gentle yet firm hand, he guided himself in, inch by inch, stretching her open until he was fully sheathed in her tight, velvety heat. The sensation was intense, a mix of pain and pleasure that sent her mind reeling. The room grew even hotter, the air thick with the scent of lust as the men began to thrust, their movements coordinated and deliberate.

Karina's eyes met Winter's, and she saw the same wild desire reflected there. Winter had whispered those words with a mix of awe and envy, her voice heavy with lust. "U are such a slut, Karina," she had said, and there was no judgment, only admiration in her tone. Karina felt a thrill run through her at the thought, her pussy clenching around the cock inside her. Was she a slut? Perhaps. But tonight, she didn't care. Tonight, she was going to live out every fantasy she had ever dared to dream of.

The men took turns fucking both of them, their rhythms becoming more erratic and desperate as they approached their own climaxes. Karina's pussy was a wet, tight fist around the cocks that plunged into her, and she reveled in the feeling of being used, of being filled to the brim with so much cock. She watched as Winter's eyes rolled back in her head, her mouth open in a silent scream, as the men took her in every way imaginable. Winter's body was a canvas of pleasure, her skin flushed and glistening with sweat as the men worked her over, each one eager to leave their mark.

Karina couldn't help but whisper to Winter as she was pounded from behind, "Look at that pussy, it can't get enough of the big dick," her voice filled with a mix of amazement and lust. Winter's eyes snapped open, and she stared at Karina with a fiery intensity, her pupils dilated with desire. She nodded, her mouth a perfect O of pleasure as she felt the cock inside her hit just the right spot.

But the night was far from over. As the men grew bolder, one of them approached Karina from behind, his cock standing tall and slick with precum. She felt a sudden pressure against her tight asshole, and she knew what was about to happen. She braced herself as he pushed inside, the sensation of being stretched open sending waves of pleasure through her body. She bit her bottom lip, her eyes squeezed shut as she adjusted to the intrusion. It was painful at first, but she quickly grew accustomed to the feeling, her body opening up to the new sensation.

Winter watched, her eyes glued to the sight of her friend's face contorted in pleasure. She had always been curious about anal, and now she knew she had to experience it for herself. She whispered to the man behind her, "Please, I want it too," her voice barely above a breath.

The man grinned, his teeth gleaming in the candlelight as he positioned his cock at her entrance. Winter felt the same pressure building, the same delicious anticipation as he pushed into her ass. It burned at first, but she knew she could take it. After all, she was made of stronger stuff than most. The sensation of being filled so completely was overwhelming, and she moaned as he began to move in time with the others.

Karina's eyes rolled back in her head, her mouth open in a silent scream. The feeling of two cocks inside her was like nothing she had ever experienced before. The pain melded with pleasure, creating a symphony of sensation that had her entire body trembling. She could feel the men's muscles flexing, their hips pistoning as they drove into her, and she knew she was in for the ride of her life.

Winter's own moans grew louder as she too was filled with cock, the sensation of being double penetrated sending her over the edge. Her body was a taut bowstring, ready to snap with the tension of unbridled lust. The men took no mercy, their strokes becoming more erratic and forceful.

As Karina's moans grew louder, another man stepped forward, his cock bobbing eagerly before her. He didn't bother with words, simply grabbing her chin and guiding his shaft into her open mouth. She took it with surprising ease, the feeling of fullness overwhelming as she was sandwiched between two thick cocks. The taste of him mixed with the salty tang of her own desire, and she couldn't help but moan around the new intrusion, the vibrations sending waves of pleasure through the man fucking her.

Winter, not to be outdone, spread her legs wider, inviting the next man to fill her mouth as well. He didn't hesitate, pushing his cock deep down her throat, making her eyes water. She choked and gagged, but the feeling of being so completely used was exhilarating. Her body was a playground for these men, and she had never felt more alive.

The men took turns, filling every hole with their thick, pulsing members. Karina felt another cock at her entrance, the tip of it probing at her already-stuffed pussy. She looked up at the man, her eyes pleading, but all she saw was a look of primal hunger. He didn't need an invitation. With a grunt, he pushed inside her, the added pressure making her eyes roll back in her head.

The sensation was indescribable, a mix of pain and pleasure that sent her spiraling into an endless abyss of ecstasy. Winter could feel the same happening to her, the third cock stretching her tight pussy until she thought she might split in two. But she didn't stop, she didn't protest. This was what she had always craved, what she had never admitted to herself. To be used, to be filled, to be the center of attention for so many men.

Their moans grew louder, the sounds of flesh slapping against flesh echoing through the penthouse. The men grunted and growled, their bodies moving in a primal dance of lust. Karina could feel her orgasm building, the tension in her body coiling tighter and tighter. And when it hit, it was like nothing she had ever felt before. Her body spasmed, her pussy contracting around the cocks inside her, as wave after wave of pleasure washed over her.

Winter's orgasm followed quickly, her body trembling as she felt the warmth of the man's cum filling her ass. She swallowed the load in her mouth, her eyes never leaving Karina's. The two of them were in a world of their own, a place where only pleasure existed. They had transcended any semblance of reality, lost in a haze of lust and desire.

And then, as if by some silent command, they all came together. The men's bodies tensed, their cocks pulsing as they filled Karina and Winter with their hot seed. The room was filled with the scent of sex, the air thick with the musk of desire. The two idols lay there, their bodies shaking with the aftershocks of their shared climax, their eyes locked in a silent promise of more to come.

The night stretched out before them, a canvas of endless possibility. They had only just begun to explore the depths of their desires, and already they were insatiable. The men, spent but still eager, pulled out, their cocks glistening with the girls' juices. Karina and Winter lay there, their bodies sticky with cum, their hearts pounding in their chests. They knew that this was just the beginning.

Their breaths coming in ragged gasps, they looked into each other's eyes, a silent understanding passing between them. This was a night they would never forget, a night that would change the very fabric of their friendship. They had crossed a line, one that could never be uncrossed. But as they lay there, their bodies entwined and their hearts racing, they knew that they had found something special, something that would bind them together forever.

But even as their bodies grew slick with sweat and cum, the two idols knew that the night was far from over. They had only just begun to explore the depths of their desires, and already they were insatiable. The men around them were eager, their cocks still hard and demanding. And so, with a grin that was part challenge and part invitation, Karina turned to Winter and said, "Ready for round two?"

Winter's eyes lit up, and she nodded eagerly. The two of them lay back, legs spread wide, as the men lined up again. The sixth man stepped forward, his cock already at attention. Karina took his length in her mouth, her eyes watering with the effort as she tried to deep-throat him. Winter watched with envy, her own mouth watering as she felt the ache in her jaw from the first round. But she knew she could handle it—she had to.

The man behind Karina didn't waste any time, pushing his cock back into her ass, filling her up once more. She groaned around the shaft in her mouth, the sensation of being so full making her pussy clench around the cock that was still lodged deep inside her. Meanwhile, Winter felt another man enter her pussy, his thickness stretching her out even further. She could feel the wetness of the previous man's cum mixing with her own juices, making it easier for him to slide in.

And then it began again. The men took turns, fucking them with a passion that was almost violent in its intensity. Karina's moans grew muffled as the cock in her mouth worked its way down her throat, and she had to fight not to gag. Winter, on the other hand, was a vision of pure wantonness, her mouth full and her pussy and ass being pounded in a relentless rhythm that had her screaming for more.

The feeling of being so completely used was intoxicating, a high that neither of them had ever experienced before. They had become the embodiment of desire, the living, breathing representation of every dark fantasy they had ever had. And as the men took them again and again, their bodies pushed to the brink of endurance, they reveled in it, each orgasm more powerful than the last.

The room was a blur of motion, a kaleidoscope of limbs and cocks. The air was thick with the scent of sex, the sound of flesh slapping against flesh a constant symphony of passion. Karina felt herself begin to lose control, her body a vessel for the men's lust. Winter's eyes were glazed with pleasure, her moans a constant soundtrack to the debauchery that played out before her.

The man in Karina's mouth was the first to reach his climax, his hips jerking as he unloaded his hot, sticky cum down her throat. She swallowed it greedily, her eyes watering as she took it all in, eager for more. The sensation of his cock pulsing in her mouth was almost too much, but she didn't dare pull away. She was a goddess, and she would take every drop of their adoration.

Winter's mouth was equally full, the man groaning in pleasure as he emptied himself into her. She swallowed with a gulp, the taste of his seed mixing with the sweetness of the champagne they had been sipping earlier. The feeling of his cock sliding out of her mouth was almost a disappointment, but she knew the night was still young.

Karina's voice was hoarse from screaming, her throat raw from the constant abuse, but she didn't care. The feeling of the cock in her pussy and ass was a symphony of pleasure that she never wanted to end. "Ahh, don't stop," she begged, her hips bucking wildly as the men pounded into her. The one in her pussy was hitting just the right spot, making her orgasm build even faster.

Winter could feel the same pressure building in her own body, the cock in her ass hitting her g-spot with every thrust. "Ahh, yes," she panted, her voice high and breathy. "It's so big, so perfect."

The men took their cue from the girls' cries of pleasure, moving faster and harder, their bodies slick with sweat and cum. They were like animals in heat, driven by the primal need to claim their prize. And Karina and Winter were more than willing to let themselves be claimed, their bodies begging for more.

The man in Karina's ass was the next to cum, his hot load filling her up until she thought she might burst. She felt it trickle out around his shaft, the sticky warmth of it adding to the depraved scene before her. Winter watched with hungry eyes, feeling the same pressure building in her own ass, the cock inside her pulsing with the promise of release.

And then it happened. The man in her ass pulled out, and she felt the warmth of his cum spurt out of her, painting her thighs with white streaks. The sensation was indescribable, the feeling of being so utterly used sending her over the edge. She screamed, her body shaking as she came harder than she ever had before.

"I liked it when my pussy and ass was destroyed by that cock," Winter panted, her voice thick with satisfaction. Karina nodded in agreement, her eyes glazed with lust. "Yeah, it's so fucking long," she managed to say, her voice a low growl of desire. "It can reach so deep, I can feel it bulging under my stomach."

The two friends shared a moment of pure, unadulterated pleasure, their bodies trembling with the aftershocks of their orgasms. The men looked on, their own lust-filled gazes taking in the sight of the two idols, their bodies painted in sweat and cum. They knew that they had been a part of something special, something that would be remembered for a long time to come.

The night stretched out before them, a promise of more debauchery and more pleasure. Karina and Winter were insatiable, their desires only growing with each passing moment. They looked into each other's eyes, the fire of lust burning brighter than ever. "We should do this more often," Karina whispered, her voice hoarse from screaming.

Winter nodded, a wicked smile playing across her lips. "Definitely," she said, her voice a sultry purr. "But next time, let's invite the rest of the group. I think they'd enjoy this as much as we do."

The idea of sharing their newfound passion with the other members of aespa was intoxicating. They had always been close, but this was a bond that went beyond friendship, beyond anything they had ever experienced before. It was a bond forged in the fires of desire, one that would never be broken.

The two idols lay there, panting and spent, their bodies a testament to the night's carnage. The men pulled out, their cocks still hard and gleaming with the girls' juices. Karina looked up at them, her eyes glazed with lust, and whispered, "Again?"

The remaining men, their cocks standing tall and proud, stepped forward eagerly. They had watched the first round with rapt attention, waiting for their turn to claim their share of the divine offerings. Now, it was their chance to taste the sweetness of the idols' flesh. There is only eight men left.

"What are you guys doing?" Karina panted, a mischievous smile playing on her lips as she took in the sight of their arousal. "Why only four men?" she questioned, her voice a sultry tease. Winter's eyes glinted with excitement at the thought of what was to come, her own body still trembling from the intense pleasure she had just experienced.

The men chuckled darkly, their gazes hungry as they approached the two idols. "You'll know soon," one of them murmured, his voice a low rumble that sent a shiver down Karina's spine. The anticipation grew as the remaining four men knelt before them, two cocks pointing at each of their pussies. The room was silent except for the sound of their heavy breathing, the tension palpable as the two friends watched, their eyes wide with excitement and a hint of trepidation.

As the first one cock pushed into them, Karina and Winter gasped in unison, their eyes meeting as they felt the unyielding pressure. "Ahh, it's bulging again," Karina moaned, her voice a mix of pain and pleasure as she adjusted to the size. Winter nodded, her own eyes squeezed shut as she felt the thickness of the cock inside her, stretching her to the limits. "My pussy is getting wrecked,".

But to Karina's surprise, she realized that the cock was not heading for her ass, as she had anticipated. Instead, it was pushing into her sopping wet pussy, filling her up just as the others had done before.

"No, not in my pussy too," she gasped, her voice a mix of fear and excitement. She could feel the man's cock pushing against her already swollen pussy lips, stretching them even further.

"Ahh, your pussy can take it," he murmured, his voice low and reassuring. But the look in his eyes was anything but gentle. There was a hunger there, a need to claim her completely, to make her scream his name.

Winter watched as the two cock disappeared into Karina's pussy, her eyes going wide with shock and fear. She had never seen anything so big, so powerful, so... overwhelming.

"No, don't do that to me," she panted, her voice trembling with the weight of her own desires. "My pussy is so small, it can't take two of those monsters at once."

The men only chuckled, their strokes growing more urgent, more demanding. They didn't care about her protests; they only cared about filling her up, about making her scream. And as the second cock began to push into her already-stuffed pussy, she realized that she didn't care either.

"Ahh, so hurts," Winter whimpered, her voice high and breathy. The feeling of being so full was almost too much to bear, but she couldn't deny the delicious ache it brought. She felt the man at her ass push deeper, his cock stretching her to the brink of pain, and she knew she was going to come again. "It's so big, my pussy stretch to 7 inches."

The men took no heed of their cries, driven only by their own carnality. They fucked the two idols with a ferocity that was almost animalistic, their hips slapping against their asses as they claimed them fully. Karina felt her body give way to the relentless pounding, her pussy and ass stretched to accommodate the thick cocks inside her. "I can't take it," she panted, even as she pushed back, begging for more.

Winter's own moans grew louder as she too was filled with cock, the sensation of being so completely dominated sending her spiraling into another orgasm. Her eyes rolled back in her head, her body shaking with the force of it. "It's too much," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the sounds of their frenzied coupling.

Karina's pussy clenched around the two cocks inside her, the feeling of being so full sending waves of pleasure through her body. She watched in amazement as Winter's pussy was stretched to accommodate the two men, the sight of her friend's pleasure only increasing her own desire. "Fuck me harder," she screamed, her voice a hoarse wail of need.

The men took her command to heart, their strokes becoming more forceful, their hips slamming into her with a brutal rhythm that had her body jolting with each thrust. She could feel their cocks rubbing against each other, the friction sending sparks of sensation through her. "It's so tight," one of them groaned, his voice thick with lust.

Winter watched, her eyes wide with a mix of shock and arousal as she felt the two cocks inside her as well. The feeling of being so full was almost too much, but she couldn't help the way her body responded. Her pussy clenched around them, her muscles rippling with the effort to accommodate the massive intrusion. "Fuck," she whispered, the word barely leaving her lips as she felt another orgasm building.

The man in her pussy pulled out slightly, then pushed back in, the movement sending a jolt of pleasure through her that made her toes curl. "Does it feel good?" he asked, his voice a low growl that sent shivers down her spine.

"Yeah," Winter panted, the word escaping her as a breathless moan. "It's so good, stretching my pussy to the limit." The sensation was like nothing she had ever felt before—the pressure was almost unbearable, but the pleasure it brought was addictive.

The men took their words as a challenge, their strokes becoming more powerful, more demanding. Karina could feel her orgasm building again, the pressure in her pussy growing until she thought she might burst. "Is so full," she gasped, her voice tight with the effort to speak. "My squirt can't escape because there is no more room."

Winter nodded, her eyes squeezed shut as she felt the same sensation in her own body. Her stomach was indeed bulging with the girth of the cocks inside her, the sight of it a testament to the depravity of the moment. "It's so... much," she managed to get out, her voice a high-pitched whine of pleasure.

The men took no mercy, fucking them harder and faster, their bodies moving in a symphony of lust and power. Karina's eyes rolled back in her head as she felt the beginnings of another orgasm, her pussy clamping down around the two thick shafts. "Ahh, I'm gonna...," she gasped, unable to finish her sentence.

And then, as if on cue, the man in her pussy pulled out, his cock glistening with her juices. She felt the pressure building, her body begging for release. The man in her ass took one last, deep stroke before pulling out as well, his cock spurting cum across her ass cheeks. And with that, Karina's orgasm hit her like a tidal wave, her pussy releasing a torrent of squirt that soaked the bed beneath them.

Winter watched in amazement as Karina's squirt gushed out, the force of it almost comical in its intensity. But she had no time to laugh, as the man in her own ass pulled out and sprayed his cum across her back, the hot liquid making her shiver with pleasure. The cock in her pussy followed suit, filling her up until she too was on the brink of release.

"Now," the man whispered, his voice a dark promise. He pushed back in, the pressure of the two cocks inside her pussy too much to bear. She felt herself let go, her squirt spurting out like a fountain, mixing with the cum that filled her. It was a messy, sloppy affair, but neither of them cared. They were lost in a world of pure sensation, their bodies nothing but vessels for the men's pleasure.

The remaining men took their cue, their cocks sliding in and out of the two idols with a wet, sloppy sound that filled the room. Karina felt the pressure build again, her body responding to the relentless pounding. "Again," she begged, her voice a desperate plea for more.

Winter's own orgasm was a thing of beauty, her body arching off the bed as she screamed out her release. Her pussy clenched around the two cocks, the sensation making her squirt even more. She looked over at Karina, their eyes meeting in a moment of shared ecstasy.

The men grunted and groaned, their bodies tight with the effort of holding back their own climaxes. But the sight of the two idols, their bodies soaking wet with their own juices and cum, was too much to resist. One by one, they pulled out, their cocks pulsing as they painted the girls' bodies with their seed.

And as the last man came, Karina felt herself being filled once more, the warmth of his cum mixing with the mess already inside her. She collapsed back onto the bed, her body trembling with the aftershocks of pleasure. "So much...," she murmured, her voice a breathless whisper.

Winter's eyes were glazed with lust, her chest heaving as she too felt the warmth of cum filling her up. They had never experienced anything so depraved, so beautifully carnally satisfying. The two friends looked at each other, a new understanding passing between them.

The men stepped back, their cocks still hard and gleaming with the girls' juices. "Thank you," one of them murmured, his voice thick with satisfaction. "You two are truly amazing."

Karina and Winter couldn't help but smile, their bodies still trembling with the aftershocks of their orgasms. They had found something that went beyond friendship, beyond love, beyond anything they had ever known. They had found a place where they could be free, where they could embrace their desires without judgment. And as they lay there, their bodies spent and their minds racing with thoughts of what was to come, they knew that this was only the beginning of their journey into the dark, delicious world of unbridled lust.

The four remaining men, their cocks still hard and gleaming, stepped closer to the bed, their eyes filled with hunger and admiration for the two idols before them. Karina felt a thrill run through her as she watched them, their bodies tight with anticipation. "Ready?" one of them asked, and she nodded, her heart racing.

Winter took a deep breath, her eyes locked onto Karina's as the first two men positioned themselves at her friend's ass. The sight was almost too much to take, the thought of being filled by two such massive cocks making her own pussy clench with need. But she knew that she could do it, that she wanted to do it. "Now," she whispered, her voice a sultry invitation.

The men didn't waste any time, pushing their cocks into Karina's ass in a smooth, practiced motion. She cried out, the pain sharp and intense, but it only served to heighten the pleasure. She could feel herself stretching around them, the sensation of being so completely filled unlike anything she had ever experienced before. "Oh, fuck," she gasped, her voice a ragged moan of pleasure.

Winter watched, her own ass already being prepared by the remaining two men. She could feel the cold lube being applied, the sensation making her shiver. "You're going to love this," one of them murmured, his voice a low growl of desire. "We're going to fill you up so good."

And with that, the two men pushed into her ass, their cocks stretching her even wider than before. The pain was exquisite, the feeling of being so full making her eyes roll back in her head. She could feel Karina's eyes on her, the connection between them stronger than ever as they shared this moment of pure, unadulterated pleasure.

The men began to move, their hips thrusting in unison as they claimed their prize. The room was filled with the sounds of their moans and the wet slaps of skin against skin. "Fuck, your asses are so tight," one of them groaned, his voice a testament to the intensity of their shared experience.

Karina's eyes fluttered closed as she felt the two cocks inside her move, their strokes becoming more deliberate, more demanding. She knew that she was going to come again, that she was going to shatter into a million pieces beneath their relentless pounding. "I can't...," she whimpered, her voice a mix of pleasure and pain.

Winter's own orgasm was building, the feeling of being so completely filled making her pussy throb with need. "It's so good," she whispered, her voice a breathless sigh. "I never knew it could feel like this."

The men took their cue from her words, their strokes growing more urgent. They didn't stop to let them catch their breath, didn't give them a moment's reprieve. They were insatiable, their cocks moving in a blur as they pounded into them with a ferocity that was almost frightening.

Karina felt her body begin to spasm, her pussy clenching around nothing as the two cocks in her ass worked their magic. The feeling of emptiness in her pussy only served to drive her closer to the edge, her body begging for release. "Fuck, yes," she panted, her voice a mix of desperation and need. "Keep going, please, I need it."

Winter's own pussy was a mess of cum and juices, her squirt flowing freely as she was pounded from behind. She could feel the men's cocks stretching her ass, the pressure building until she thought she might pass out from pleasure. "It's so...," she managed to get out, her voice trailing off as she lost herself in the sensation.

The men took her words as a challenge, their strokes growing even more forceful. They fucked them with an intensity that was almost brutal, their eyes never leaving the girls' faces as they watched every twitch, every gasp of pleasure. "You like that?" one of them growled, his voice thick with lust. "You like being our little sluts?"

The question was rhetorical, the answer clear in the way their bodies responded. Karina felt herself begin to climax again, her pussy convulsing with the need for something—anything—inside her. "Yes," she screamed, her voice raw and desperate. "I love it, I love being your slut."

Winter's own orgasm hit her like a freight train, her body shaking as she felt the two cocks inside her reach their peak. She could feel the hot spurts of cum filling her up, the sensation making her pussy clench even more. "Oh god," she moaned, her voice a desperate plea for release.

And then, as if in response to her silent prayer, the man at her pussy pulled out, his cock swollen and red with need. He positioned himself at her entrance, and with one powerful thrust, he pushed into her, the feeling of fullness making her eyes roll back in her head. "Yes," she screamed, her voice hoarse with pleasure. "Yes, fuck me, please."

The two men in her ass didn't miss a beat, their cocks pounding into her with a ferocity that was almost painful. But the pain was a sweet agony, one that only served to heighten the pleasure that was building within her. Her pussy clenched around the new intrusion, her squirt mixing with the cum that was already flowing freely.

Karina watched with wide eyes as Winter's pussy squirted again and again, the sight making her own need grow even stronger. She felt the two cocks inside her begin to pulse, the men on the brink of their own climaxes. "Do it," she begged, her voice a ragged whisper. "I want to feel you come inside me."

The men didn't need any more encouragement. With one last, powerful thrust, they both emptied themselves into her, their cum mixing with her own juices in a sticky mess. She felt herself come again, her pussy spasming around the two thick shafts as she screamed their names.

As the last of the men pulled out, their bodies spent and exhausted, the two idols collapsed onto the bed, their breathing ragged and their eyes glazed with satisfaction. They were covered in cum, their bodies sticky and slick with the evidence of their carnality. "That was... amazing," Karina murmured, her voice still trembling with the aftershocks of pleasure.

Winter nodded, her own voice equally affected. "Yeah," she panted. "Better than I ever imagined."

The room was quiet for a moment, the only sound the harsh breathing of the men as they caught their breath. And then, one by one, they began to speak, their voices filled with awe and admiration. "You two are... incredible," one of them murmured, his eyes never leaving their bodies. "Thank you."

Karina couldn't help but smile, the pain and pleasure of the evening still coursing through her veins. "It's our pleasure," she said, her voice a low purr. Winter nodded in agreement, her eyes hooded and filled with a hunger that hadn't yet been sated.

The men took their words to heart, and the party continued, moving from room to room as they explored every inch of the penthouse. They were insatiable, their cocks hard and demanding as they took the two idols in every conceivable position. Karina and Winter were pushed to their limits, their bodies stretched and filled in ways they had never imagined. They begged for mercy, their voices hoarse and desperate, but the men were relentless.

In the kitchen, they were bent over the counter, their asses in the air as the men took turns filling their pussies and asses. The cold marble pressed into their skin, a stark contrast to the heat of their bodies. The smell of sex mingled with the faint scent of food, creating a heady, intoxicating aroma that only served to drive them wilder. They screamed and squirted, their bodies shaking as they were used and abused.

The bathroom was next, the mirrors steaming up as the men took them one by one, their cocks sliding in and out of their tight, wet holes. They watched their reflection, the sight of their own pleasure reflected back at them, making it even more intense. They touched themselves, their fingers sliding through the cum and juices that covered their bodies, their eyes never leaving the men who owned them for the night.

The hallway was a frenzied blur of limbs and flesh, the two friends pressed against the wall as the men fucked them from behind. They could feel the coolness of the paint on their skin, their bodies sliding against it as they were pounded into oblivion. It was a depraved, animalistic scene, and yet they couldn't get enough. The men's hands gripped their hips, their fingers digging in as they pulled them back onto their cocks, the sound of their slapping skin echoing through the hallway.

"Please," Karina begged, her voice a desperate whine. "I can't take it anymore."

Winter nodded in agreement, her eyes squeezed shut as she felt herself being stretched to the breaking point. "It's too much," she gasped. "My pussy is going to tear apart."

But the men only chuckled, their voices dark with lust. "You'll be fine," one of them assured them. "We'll stop 6 am."

They didn't bother to dress, their naked bodies a testament to their wanton need. The group stumbled out of the penthouse, the corridor echoing with their moans and the slap of skin against skin. The cool air of the hallway was a shock to their overheated bodies, but it did nothing to dampen their arousal. They were wild animals in heat, and nothing could stop them.

The elevator was too small, too confining, so they made their way to the emergency stairwell. The sound of their footsteps echoed off the concrete walls, mingling with their cries of pleasure. The man who had taken Karina's pussy earlier bent her over the railing, her ass high in the air as he plunged into her with a ferocity that had her squirting almost immediately. The others watched, stroking themselves, as they waited for their turn.

The stairwell was a whirlwind of passion, each step a new stage for their depraved performance. They fucked in front of the emergency exit door, the red glow of the exit sign casting an eerie light on their sweat-slicked bodies. Winter felt a thrill of fear mingle with her pleasure as she watched the door, her heart racing at the thought of being caught. But the corridor remained blissfully empty, their cries of ecstasy unheard by any but themselves.

Their luck held as they made it to the ground floor, the elevator passing them by without incident. The lobby was quiet, the night staff too busy to notice the group of sweaty, cum-covered figures that stumbled past the reception desk. The men had their pick of the women, taking them against the wall, on the couch, even on the grand piano that stood in the corner.

And through it all, Karina and Winter's friendship grew stronger, bound by the shared experience of their darkest desires. They whispered to each other, their eyes meeting in moments of pain and pleasure, their bodies moving in a silent symphony of lust. It was a night they would never forget, a night that would change their lives forever.

The men's grunts and the wet slaps of skin grew louder, bouncing off the walls of the stairwell as they neared the ground floor. They were wild, animalistic, driven by a primal need to claim and conquer. And the two idols were more than willing participants, their bodies responding to every touch, every thrust, every demand.

On the final landing before the lobby, they paused, their chests heaving with exertion. Karina's legs were shaking, her pussy soaked with cum and her own squirt. Winter looked up at her, her face a mask of need, her eyes begging for more. The men took this as a challenge, their cocks growing harder at the sight of their vulnerability.

They took them again, this time with a newfound aggression. The man who had filled Karina's pussy pushed her to her knees, his cock still slick from her juices. "Suck me clean," he ordered, and she eagerly complied, her mouth engulfing him to the hilt. The taste of cum and sweat mingled on her tongue, a heady cocktail of pleasure and submission.

Winter was bent over the railing again, her ass high in the air as another man took her from behind. She could feel the precum leaking from his cock, the anticipation of his release making her pussy clench with need. "Please," she begged, her voice a desperate whine. "Please, make me come."

The man didn't need any further encouragement, his cock plunging into her with a force that had her crying out. He fucked her hard, his hand reaching around to rub her clit as she squirted once more, her juices spilling onto the floor below.

The group stumbled into the lobby, their breathing ragged and their eyes glazed. They were a spectacle, a testament to the power of desire, but the night staff remained blissfully unaware. The idols' shyness had been shattered, replaced by a fierce hunger that only the men could satisfy.

They made their way outside, the cool night air kissing their skin as they sought out new places to continue their debauchery. The alley behind the hotel was their next playground, the shadows hiding them from prying eyes as the men took them against the rough brick wall. Karina felt the coolness of the wall against her back, the stark contrast to the heat of the men's bodies driving her wild.

Winter was pushed to her knees, her mouth open wide as one of the men filled her with his thick cock. She gagged and choked, her eyes watering as she tried to take all of him. But she was a good student, her body adapting to the intrusion, her mouth working him like a pro.

And as the night went on, the two friends grew bolder, their inhibitions shed like a second skin. They took the men's cocks in every hole, their bodies writhing in ecstasy as they were used and filled. The squirt that had once been a source of embarrassment was now a badge of honor, a symbol of their newfound freedom.

The streets were empty, the city a silent witness to their depravity. They didn't care who saw them, didn't care what people would think. All that mattered was the pleasure, the connection, the feeling of being truly alive. They were no longer just idols, no longer just friends. They were sexual beings, free to explore the darkest depths of their desires.

As the sun began to rise, their bodies spent and their minds racing with memories of the night, they stumbled back to the penthouse. The mess they had made was a testament to the intensity of their encounter, a physical manifestation of their shared lust.

They collapsed onto the bed, their bodies sticky with cum and sweat. The men lay beside them, their chests heaving with the aftermath of their exertion. "Thank you," Karina murmured, her voice hoarse but filled with genuine gratitude. "Thank you for giving us this night."

Winter nodded, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "Thank you," she echoed. "Thank you for making us feel so... alive."

The men didn't respond with words, but their actions spoke louder than any could. They picked the exhausted girls up, their cocks still hard and demanding. The idols' legs wrapped around their waists, their bodies boneless with fatigue, but the men didn't seem to notice. They carried them through the penthouse, their cocks still buried deep inside them, the squirt from their overstimulated pussies dribbling down their thighs and onto the floor.

The journey to the elevator was a blur, their cries of pleasure mixing with their begging for mercy. The elevator was too small, but the men didn't stop, the doors closing on them with a ding as they continued to pound away. The girls' pussies were stretched to their limits, their squirt soaking everything around them, leaving a trail from the penthouse to the rooftop.

The cool night air hit them like a slap in the face as they emerged onto the rooftop, but it did nothing to dull their desire. The city lights twinkled like stars around them, a backdrop to their depraved heaven. The men didn't waste any time, laying them down on the cold concrete, their bodies trembling with the anticipation of what was to come.

"Please," Karina gasped, her voice a desperate whine. "I can't take any more."

But the men were insatiable, their lust for the two idols unquenchable. They took them again, their strokes deep and punishing, their bodies moving in a dance of pure carnality. The sound of their moans filled the air, mingling with the distant hum of the city.

Winter's eyes rolled back in her head as she felt herself being pushed to the edge once more. "I'm... I'm gonna...," she moaned, her voice trailing off as her pussy clenched around the thick cock inside her.

And then, as if in slow motion, she felt the warmth of her orgasm wash over her, her body convulsing with pleasure. The man pulled out, his cock spurting cum onto her stomach. Karina watched, her own need growing even stronger, as another man took his place, his cock sliding into her ass without hesitation.

The night continued in a haze of pleasure and pain, the two idols pushed to their limits and beyond. They squirted and begged, their bodies trembling with the intensity of their climaxes. But the men didn't stop, their hunger insatiable as they claimed the girls' bodies again and again.

Karina's pussy felt like it was on fire, stretched to its limits and yet she couldn't get enough. "Please," she gasped, her voice a desperate whine. "My pussy is going to tear apart."

Winter's body was a wreck, her pussy clenching and releasing in a never-ending cycle of pleasure. "I can't stop squirting," she managed to get out between gasps. "It's too much."

But the men were relentless, their cocks pounding into them with a rhythm that was almost hypnotic. They didn't care about their cries for mercy, only the sweet release that came with each powerful thrust.

The rooftop was a minefield of wet spots, a testament to the endless flow of juices that the girls had produced. They were a mess, their bodies sticky with cum and sweat, but the men were unfazed. They moved from one position to the next, their cocks never leaving the warm, tight embrace of the idols' pussies.

Karina felt her body give in, the pain and pleasure becoming one as she lost herself in the moment. "I'm so tired," she whispered, her eyes squeezed shut as another orgasm ripped through her.

Winter nodded in agreement, her body a tapestry of sensation. "But we can't stop," she panted, her voice filled with a mix of exhaustion and excitement. "We're theirs."

The men didn't stop, their hips pumping in a relentless rhythm. Karina's pussy was a sopping mess, her squirt mixing with the cum and sweat that coated the floor. "Ahh," she gasped as another wave of pleasure hit her. "I can feel it everywhere."

The men's grunts grew louder, their strokes more erratic as they approached their own climaxes. Winter felt her pussy tighten around the cock inside her, her body begging for release. "Fuck me," she moaned, her voice a desperate plea. "I need to come again."

The man in her ass pulled out, his cock slick with cum and her juices. He stepped aside, allowing another to take his place. "You want this?" he asked, his voice low and filled with lust. "You want to come on my cock?"

Winter nodded frantically, her eyes glazed with need. "Yes," she whimpered. "Yes, please."

The new man slammed into her, his cock hitting all the right spots. She felt herself start to squirt again, her body betraying her in the most delicious way. "Ahh, so much," she gasped, her voice filled with pain and pleasure. "It's too much."

Karina's pussy was on fire, the feeling of fullness almost unbearable. She watched as Winter was taken, her body jerking with each powerful thrust. The sight of her friend's pleasure pushed her closer to the edge, her pussy clenching around the cock inside her. "Ahh, I'm going to come," she moaned, her voice a raw scream of ecstasy.

The men didn't let up, their hips moving in a blur as they brought the girls to the brink of insanity. The rooftop was a symphony of wet, slapping sounds, a cacophony of desire. The city lights twinkled below, indifferent to the depraved scene playing out above them.

Winter felt the warmth of the man's cum fill her up, his seed mixing with her squirt. She collapsed onto the concrete, her body shaking with the force of her climax. Karina followed soon after, her pussy spasming around the thick cock that filled her, her squirt painting the man's abs.

The men pulled out, their cocks glistening with cum and squirt. They didn't speak, their eyes never leaving the girls' trembling forms. And as they watched, the idols began to squirt once more, their bodies betraying them in the most delicious way. The men didn't hesitate, plunging back into their warm, wet pussies, eager to feel that sweet release again.

The city was a blur of lights behind them, a backdrop to their passion. They didn't care who might be watching, didn't care about the mess they were making. All that mattered was the feeling of the men's cocks inside them, the sweet agony of being used and filled.

The night stretched on, a never-ending cycle of pleasure and pain. Their bodies were pushed to their limits, but they never once considered stopping. They were in a world of their own making, a place where their desires were the only law. And as the first light of dawn began to break over the horizon, they knew that nothing would ever be the same again.

Their friendship had been irrevocably changed, the bonds of friendship replaced by something darker, something more primal. They were no longer just Karina and Winter, two idols sharing a secret. They were sex goddesses, creatures of the night who craved the feel of a man's cock more than anything else.

The men took them until they couldn't take any more, their bodies trembling with the aftershocks of countless orgasms. And when it was finally over, when the last drop of cum had been spilled and the last whimper of pleasure had been wrung from their lips, they lay there, panting and spent, their bodies a mess of sweat and cum.

But even as they lay there, the embers of desire still burned within them. They knew that this was just the beginning, that the night had only just started to reveal the depths of their desires. And as the sun rose over the city, they knew that they would never be able to go back to the way things were before.

Their eyes met, a silent promise passing between them. They would continue to explore these dark, uncharted waters, together. The world of aespa would never be the same again, and they wouldn't have it any other way.

The rooftop was their playground, a place where their most carnivorous desires could come to life. And as they watched the sunrise, their bodies still quivering with the aftermath of pleasure, they knew that this was just the start of a journey that would take them to places they never thought they'd dare to go.

The girls' eyes remained shut, the weight of exhaustion too great to lift. They lay on the rooftop floor, sticky with a blend of their own juices and the men's cum. Their limbs were leaden, their muscles no longer willing to cooperate. Each shallow breath they took was a silent testament to the intensity of their encounter.

Without a word, the men lifted them once again. Karina felt the cool grip of a hand on her ankle, the gentle tug as she was lifted from the floor. Winter's body was similarly manhandled, the men's strength surprisingly gentle despite their earlier ferocity. They stumbled back into the penthouse, the sound of their footsteps echoing through the empty hallway. The idols' swollen clits were tender, pulsing with the aftermath of countless orgasms, and each step sent a fresh wave of painful pleasure through their bodies.

The walk to the penthouse was a blur of sensation, the men's hands playing with their sensitive flesh as if they were delicate instruments. Each brush of a thumb against their clits had them squirming and gasping, their legs shaking uncontrollably. They were powerless to stop the flow of juices that dribbled from their pussies, leaving a wet trail on the plush carpet. Their breathing was heavy, their bodies trembling as the men teased them, keeping them on the edge of another climax.

The door to the penthouse clicked shut behind them, the soft light of the suite a stark contrast to the harsh reality of the rooftop. Karina and Winter were placed on the bed, their legs spread wide as the men took their time to admire their handiwork. The idols' chests rose and fell in unison, their hearts racing from the sheer overstimulation. They were too tired to speak, their only response the occasional whimper that escaped their lips as their clits were massaged.

One by one, the men stepped forward, their fingers sliding into the girls' swollen pussies for one last taste. Their bodies reacting to the familiar touch despite their exhaustion. Each man took a moment to appreciate the tight, wet warmth that had been their playground all night, their thumbs circling the sensitive nubs above.

Karina's eyes snapped open, her mouth forming an 'O' of surprise and pleasure. The sudden pressure on her clit sent her spiraling into another orgasm, her body bucking and twitching on the bed. Her pussy spasmed, releasing a torrent of squirt that soaked the sheets beneath her. She gasped for air, her body trembling with the sheer intensity of the sensation.

Winter's eyes flew open as well, her own pussy reacting to the sudden rush of pleasure that washed over her. She felt the warmth of Karina's squirt spray across her stomach, the sensation making her own orgasm even more powerful. Her legs clamped around the man's waist, her nails digging into his skin as she rode the wave of pleasure.

The men watched in awe as the two idols came together, their bodies speaking a language of desire that transcended words. Their eyes were glued to the sight of the squirt shooting from Karina's pussy, a testament to their shared experience. They had pushed the girls to their breaking points and beyond, and yet here they were, still craving more.

With a grin that spoke volumes, one of the men leaned down, his tongue snaking out to catch a droplet of squirt. The salty taste of Karina's pleasure filled his mouth, a flavor that seemed to ignite a fire within him. The other men followed suit, their tongues lapping at the mess they had made. The sound of their slurps and moans filled the room, a symphony of carnality that was music to the girls' ears.

Their eyes remained closed, lost in the aftermath of their orgasms. The feel of the men's tongues on their sensitive skin was almost too much, a sensation that had them trembling with the promise of another climax. Winter felt a mouth close around her clit, the suction so intense she thought she might pass out.

Karina's body was a wreck, but the feeling of the man's tongue in her pussy had her squirting once again. Her hips bucked, her legs shaking as she was pushed over the edge. The warmth of her squirt sprayed the sheets, soaking the man's face. He didn't pull away, instead lapping it up eagerly, savoring the taste of her.

Winter felt the same intense pressure building within her, the man's mouth on her clit sending jolts of pleasure through her body. She could feel her pussy contracting around his fingers, the muscles clenching as she approached climax. And then, with a cry that was equal parts pleasure and pain, she squirted again, her body spasming as the orgasm ripped through her.

The men took a step back, their cocks finally spent. They looked at each other, a silent nod passing between them. They had pushed the girls to the brink, had seen them squirt and come more times than they could count.

Karina's eyes were wide and white, her pupils blown with pleasure. Her mouth hung open, a silent scream trapped inside her throat. Her legs were spread so wide, her pussy and ass gaping obscenely. The cum flowed out of her in a steady stream, a river of white that painted the bed beneath her.

Winter lay beside her, equally ravished. Her body quivered, her eyes rolled back in her head, showing only the white of her sclera. Her mouth was a perfect 'O', her tongue lolling out as if in a state of perpetual orgasm. The men's cum trickled from her pussy and ass, a reminder of the unimaginable fullness she had just experienced.

Their legs were splayed wide open, muscles too weak to hold any semblance of modesty. The sight of their gaping pussies and assholes, both coated in a thick layer of cum, was almost surreal. The men had stretched them to their limits, and now they lay there, utterly spent, their bodies a canvas of lust and desire.

One of the men stepped forward, his phone in hand. He paused for a moment, admiring the artistry of their spent forms. Then, with a smirk that was both predatory and satisfied, he began to snap photos. The flashes illuminated the room, capturing every intimate detail of the scene. The idols' faces were a mix of agony and ecstasy, their eyes glazed over with the aftermath of their countless orgasms.

Karina felt the coldness of the air against her exposed pussy, the sensation sending shivers down her spine. She was too tired to protest, too lost in the haze of pleasure to do anything but lie there and accept whatever came next. Winter's body trembled beside her, each flash of the camera's light highlighting the sweat that glistened on her skin.

The man took photo after photo, capturing every intimate detail of their spent forms. The images would serve as a memento of the night, a secret that would bind them together in a way nothing else could. They were no longer just members of aespa; they were participants in an unspeakable ritual that had claimed them body and soul.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Paying consumer debts is basically optional in the United States

The vast majority of America's debt collection targets $500-2,000 credit card debts. It is a filthy business, operated by lawless firms who hire unskilled workers drawn from the same economic background as their targets, who routinely and grotesquely flout the law, but only when it comes to the people with the least ability to pay.

America has fairly robust laws to protect debtors from sleazy debt-collection practices, notably the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), which has been on the books since 1978. The FDCPA puts strict limits on the conduct of debt collectors, and offers real remedies to debtors when they are abused.

But for FDPCA provisions to be honored, they must be understood. The people who collect these debts are almost entirely untrained. The people they collected the debts from are likewise in the dark. The only specialized expertise debt-collection firms concern themselves with are a series of gotcha tricks and semi-automated legal shenanigans that let them take money they don't deserve from people who can't afford to pay it.

There's no better person to explain this dynamic than Patrick McKenzie, a finance and technology expert whose Bits About Money newsletter is absolutely essential reading. No one breaks down the internal operations of the finance sector like McKenzie. His latest edition, "Credit card debt collection," is a fantastic read:

https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/the-waste-stream-of-consumer-finance/

McKenzie describes how a debt collector who mistook him for a different PJ McKenzie and tried to shake him down for a couple hundred bucks, and how this launched him into a life as a volunteer advocate for debtors who were less equipped to defend themselves from collectors than he was.

McKenzie's conclusion is that "paying consumer debts is basically optional in the United States." If you stand on your rights (which requires that you know your rights), then you will quickly discover that debt collectors don't have – and can't get – the documentation needed to collect on whatever debts they think you owe (even if you really owe them).

The credit card companies are fully aware of this, and bank (literally) on the fact that "the vast majority of consumers, including those with the socioeconomic wherewithal to walk away from their debts, feel themselves morally bound and pay as agreed."

If you find yourself on the business end of a debt collector's harassment campaign, you can generally make it end simply by "carefully sending a series of letters invoking [your] rights under the FDCPA." The debt collector who receives these letters will have bought your debt at five cents on the dollar, and will simply write it off.

By contrast, the mere act of paying anything marks you out as substantially more likely to pay than nearly everyone else on their hit-list. Paying anything doesn't trigger forbearance, it invites a flood of harassing calls and letters, because you've demonstrated that you can be coerced into paying.

But while learning FDCPA rules isn't overly difficult, it's also beyond the wherewithal of the most distressed debtors (and people falsely accused of being debtors). McKenzie recounts that many of the people he helped were living under chaotic circumstances that put seemingly simple things "like writing letters and counting to 30 days" beyond their needs.

This means that the people best able to defend themselves against illegal shakedowns are less likely to be targeted. Instead, debt collectors husband their resources so they can use them "to do abusive and frequently illegal shakedowns of the people the legislation was meant to benefit."

Here's how this debt market works. If you become delinquent in meeting your credit card payments ("delinquent" has a flexible meaning that varies with each issuer), then your debt will be sold to a collector. It is packaged in part of a large spreadsheet – a CSV file – and likely sold to one of 10 large firms that control 75% of the industry.

The "mom and pops" who have the other quarter of the industry might also get your debt, but it's more likely that they'll buy it as a kind of tailings from one of the big guys, who package up the debts they couldn't collect on and sell them at even deeper discounts.

The people who make the calls are often barely better off than the people they're calling. They're minimally trained and required to work at a breakneck pace. Employee turnover is 75-100% annually: imagine the worst call center job in the world, and then make it worse, and make "success" into a moral injury, and you've got the debt-collector rank-and-file.

To improve the yield on this awful process, debt collection companies start by purging these spreadsheets of likely duds: dead people, people with very low credit-scores, and people who appear on a list of debtors who know their rights and are likely to stand on them (that's right, merely insisting on your rights can ensure that the entire debt-collection industry leaves you alone, forever).

The FDPCA gives you rights: for example, you have the right to verify the debt and see the contract you signed when you took it on. The debt collector who calls you almost certainly does not have that contract and can't get it. Your original lender might, but they stopped caring about your debt the minute they sold it to a debt-collector. Their own IT systems are baling-wire-and-spit Rube Goldberg machines that glue together the wheezing computers of all the companies they've bought over the last 25 years. Retrieving your paperwork is a nontrivial task, and the lender doesn't have any reason to perform it.

Debt collectors are bottom feeders. They are buying delinquent debts at 5 cents on the dollar and hoping to recover 8 percent of them; at 7 percent, they're losing money. They aren't "large, nationally scaled, hypercompetent operators" – they're shoestring operations that can only be viable if they hire unskilled workers and fail to train them.

They are subject to automatic damages for illegal behavior, but they still break the law all the time. As McKenzie writes, a debt collector will "commit three federal torts in a few minutes of talking to a debtor then follow up with a confirmation of the same in writing." A statement like "if you don’t pay me I will sue you and then Immigration will take notice of that and yank your green card" makes the requisite three violations: a false threat of legal action, a false statement of affiliation with a federal agency, and "a false alleged consequence for debt nonpayment not provided for in law."

If you know this, you can likely end the process right there. If you don't, buckle in. The one area that debt collectors invest heavily in is the automation that allows them to engage in high-intensity harassment. They use "predictive dialers" to make multiple calls at once, only connecting the collector to the calls that pick up. They will call you repeatedly. They'll call your family, something they're legally prohibited from doing except to get your contact info, but they'll do it anyway, betting that you'll scrape up $250 to keep them from harassing your mother.

These dialing systems are far better organized than any of the company's record keeping about what you owe. A company may sell your debt on and fail to keep track of it, with the effect that multiple collectors will call you about the same debt, and even paying off one of them will not stop the other.

Talking to these people is a bad idea, because the one area where collectors get sophisticated training is in emptying your bank account. If you consent to a "payment plan," they will use your account and routing info to start whacking your bank account, and your bank will let them do it, because the one part of your conversation they reliably record is this payment plan rigamarole. Sending a check won't help – they'll use the account info on the front of your check to undertake "demand debits" from your account, and backstop it with that recorded call.

Any agreement on your part to get on a payment plan transforms the old, low-value debt you incurred with your credit card into a brand new, high value debt that you owe to the bill collector. There's a good chance they'll sell this debt to another collector and take the lump sum – and then the new collector will commence a fresh round of harassment.

McKenzie says you should never talk to a debt collector. Make them put everything in writing. They are almost certain to lie to you and violate your rights, and a written record will help you prove it later. What's more, debt collection agencies just don't have the capacity or competence to engage in written correspondence. Tell them to put it in writing and there's a good chance they'll just give up and move on, hunting softer targets.

One other thing debt collectors due is robo-sue their targets, bulk-filing boilerplate suits against debtors, real and imaginary. If you don't show up for court (which is what usually happens), they'll get a default judgment, and with it, the legal right to raid your bank account and your paycheck. That, in turn, is an asset that, once again, the debt collector can sell to an even scummier bottom-feeder, pocketing a lump sum.

McKenzie doesn't know what will fix this. But Michael Hudson, a renowned scholar of the debt practices of antiquity, has some ideas. Hudson has written eloquently and persuasively about the longstanding practice of jubilee, in which all debts were periodically wiped clean (say, whenever a new king took the throne, or once per generation):

https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/24/grandparents-optional-party/#jubilee

Hudson's core maxim is that "debt's that can't be paid won't be paid." The productive economy will have need for credit to secure the inputs to their processes. Farmers need to borrow every year for labor, seed and fertilizer. If all goes according to plan, the producer pays off the lender after the production is done and the goods are sold.

But even the most competent producer will eventually find themselves unable to pay. The best-prepared farmer can't save every harvest from blight, hailstorms or fire. When the producer can't pay the creditor, they go a little deeper into debt. That debt accumulates, getting worse with interest and with each bad beat.

Run this process long enough and the entire productive economy will be captive to lenders, who will be able to direct production for follies and fripperies. Farmers stop producing the food the people need so they can devote their land to ornamental flowers for creditors' tables. Left to themselves, credit markets produce hereditary castes of lenders and debtors, with lenders exercising ever-more power over debtors.

This is socially destabilizing; you can feel it in McKenzie's eloquent, barely controlled rage at the hopeless structural knot that produces the abusive and predatory debt industry. Hudson's claim is that the rulers of antiquity knew this – and that we forgot it. Jubilee was key to producing long term political stability. Take away Jubilee and civilizations collapse:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/08/jubilant/#construire-des-passerelles

Debts that can't be paid won't be paid. Debt collectors know this. It's irrefutable. The point of debt markets isn't to ensure that debts are discharged – it's to ensure that every penny the hereditary debtor class has is transferred to the creditor class, at the hands of their fellow debtors.

In her 2021 Paris Review article "America's Dead Souls," Molly McGhee gives a haunting, wrenching account of the debts her parents incurred and the harassment they endured:

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2021/05/17/americas-dead-souls/

After I published on it, many readers wrote in disbelief, insisting that the debt collection practices McGhee described were illegal:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/19/zombie-debt/#damnation

And they are illegal. But debt collection is a trade founded on lawlessness, and its core competence is to identify and target people who can't invoke the law in their own defense.

Going to Defcon this weekend? I’m giving a keynote, “An Audacious Plan to Halt the Internet’s Enshittification and Throw it Into Reverse,” today (Aug 12) at 12:30pm, followed by a book signing at the No Starch Press booth at 2:30pm!

https://info.defcon.org/event/?id=50826

I’m kickstarting the audiobook for “The Internet Con: How To Seize the Means of Computation,” a Big Tech disassembly manual to disenshittify the web and bring back the old, good internet. It’s a DRM-free book, which means Audible won’t carry it, so this crowdfunder is essential. Back now to get the audio, Verso hardcover and ebook:

http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/12/do-not-pay/#fair-debt-collection-practices-act

[angelseraphines]

ೃ⁀➷ sad girl ˗ˏˋ꒰ 🦢 ꒱

╰┈➤ cho sang-woo x girlfriend!reader imagine

a/n: i would like to give a special thank you to @lumillsie for the layout of this post and for the filter used on the header! this story takes place in an alternate ending for squid game where sang-woo wins instead of gi-hun! there is also a part one to this story, million dollar man! 🤍

˚ ༘♡ one week had passed since your boyfriend, sang-woo, reappeared in your life under strange circumstances that made your blood run cold. for two agonizing weeks, he had vanished without explanation. then, he returned, battered and hollow-eyed, his face bearing scars that seemed etched not only into his skin but into his very soul. he had come to your door clutching a bag of cash, his body trembling, his clothes soaked with sweat. “wait for me,” he had whispered, his voice hoarse and desperate. you promised you would, and so you did.

˚ ༘♡ you couldn’t stop replaying that moment in your mind, every detail a puzzle you couldn’t solve. had he been involved in something criminal? was he tangled in debts or worse? the thought that he might be ensnared in something far beyond your understanding consumed you. the sight of him, standing there, so broken and afraid, haunted you. you didn’t want to believe he was in danger, but deep down, you couldn’t dismiss the fear.

˚ ༘♡ then, this morning, a text came through on your phone. it was brief, offering no answers, only an instruction, “come to my house.” no explanation, no reassurance, merely a summoning. the clock had barely struck six, but you didn’t hesitate. sleep clung to you as you threw on the white, wool coat he had gifted you months ago for your three-month anniversary.

˚ ༘♡ the streets were quiet, the morning air biting at your skin as you made your way to his home. every breath a battle against the anxiety clawing at your chest. when you reached his door, it swung open almost immediately.

˚ ༘♡ before you could say a word, he pulled you inside, his movements quick, the door closing behind you with a soft click. the air inside was warm, contrasting the chill outside, but it did little to ease the tension in your body.

˚ ༘♡ “you’re here,” he murmured, his voice low, and then his lips kissed your cheek, cool and brief, a gesture that was both familiar and foreign. the touch left your skin tingling, not with comfort but with unease. his eyes lingered on you, their usual sharpness dulled by something you couldn’t place, something sinister.

˚ ༘♡ you stepped back from him, your voice trembling but firm. “you have to tell me everything right now,” you demanded, though the weight of your exhaustion seeped into every word. the fear you’d carried for weeks had worn you down, leaving sorrow in its wake. “i can’t keep living like this, with all the secrecy and half-truths. it’s killing me.”

˚ ༘♡ as you glanced around, you noticed his home looked different, emptier than you remembered. furniture was missing, and stacks of boxes lined the walls, their presence unnerving. your eyes narrowed as you turned back to him. “are you moving? why didn’t you tell me anything?” your voice cracked with disbelief. then, anger surged, and you shoved his chest, your frustration spilling over. “this has to stop! you can’t keep throwing money and gifts at me, thinking it’ll distract me from everything you’re hiding!”

˚ ༘♡ his posture stiffened, his muscles taut under the pressure of your words. his jaw clenched tightly, and for a moment, he looked away, as though searching for the right response. when he spoke, his voice was strained, his frustration cutting through. “if you would only give me a chance!” he snapped, the sharpness of his tone filling the room. his chest heaved and fell rapidly as he struggled to compose himself.

˚ ༘♡ letting out a slow, deep breath, he rubbed his temple, his hand trembling slightly as he pulled off his glasses. without them, his eyes looked more vulnerable, the walls he so carefully built around himself momentarily exposed. “why can’t you trust me?” he said, his voice quieter now, tinged with a mixture of anger and hurt. “why is it so hard for you to believe in me?”

˚ ༘♡ the scars on his face had faded slightly but still marred his handsome, angular features. your eyes lingered on them, the memories of his battered appearance resurfacing with a painful clarity. tears welled up, blurring your vision, and a tightness settled in your throat. “then tell me,” you whispered, your voice trembling.

˚ ༘♡ sang-woo exhaled deeply, his shoulders sagging under the weight of the truth he was about to share. “it was business dealings,” he began, his tone measured, “not illegal, but high-risk. it was meant to be a way to increase my earnings, and it worked. it was highly profitable and lucrative in the fiscal aspect. it was presented as a secure business opportunity.”

˚ ༘♡ you narrowed your gaze, suspicion flaring. “how much money are you talking about?”

˚ ༘♡ he hesitated for a moment before meeting your eyes. “forty-five billion six hundred million won,” he said, his expression unreadable.

˚ ༘♡ your breath caught in you throat, your mind struggling to process the sheer enormity of the figure. “what?” you managed to choke out, your disbelief evident. “sang-woo, that kind of money doesn’t come without strings attached. it can’t be clean.”

˚ ༘♡ his jaw tightened, and he looked at you with an intensity that made your stomach churn. “do you trust me enough to believe it is?”

˚ ༘♡ you faltered, the strength of his question bearing down on you. he wasn’t explaining, he was testing your loyalty, your ability to have faith in him despite the glaring inconsistencies. deep down, doubt clawed at you, but your love for him, flawed and reckless as it was, overpowered your reservations. “i trust you,” you murmured, guilt creeping into your voice. “i’m sorry for questioning you.”

˚ ༘♡ he nodded, the tension in his frame easing slightly, though his gaze remained guarded. “the investment fund ended a few weeks ago,” he continued, his tone darker now. “it got messy, very messy.” his bruised hand lifted, gesturing to the faint scars on his face. “this… was the price of my involvement.”

˚ ༘♡ the word lingered between you, heavy and suffocating. you stared at him, the weight of his choices crashing down on you like an unbearable tide. “why didn’t you tell me?” you demanded, your voice trembling. “don’t you know I would have stood by you? no matter what?”

˚ ༘♡ his eyes darkened, and his voice rose intensely, startling you. “because I didn’t want to drag you into my problems!” he shouted, the force of his words filling the room and making you flinch. the reaction caught him off guard, his frustration fading as he noticed the fear on your pallid face. he let out a deep sigh, running his hand through his disheveled hair before pacing the length of the room. when he returned, his expression softened, and he cupped your face gently, his touch warm despite the tension. “i’m sorry,” he murmured, his voice low and filled with regret. “i didn’t mean to scare you. i’m sorry.”

˚ ༘♡ you had hoped that hearing the truth would make things easier, that it would bring the clarity you craved. but instead, it felt as though the distance between you had grown wider. “sang-woo,” you said softly, your voice cracking under the weight of your emotions, “i don’t care what you’ve done or what happened. i only want to know that you’re safe, that we’ll be okay.” tears spilled freely down your pale cheeks, salty streaks marking the anguish you couldn’t hide.

˚ ༘♡ his arms wrapped around you, pulling you close. your head rested against his chest, the steady rhythm of his heartbeat grounding you in a way his words couldn’t. his hand moved slowly along your back, a comforting motion that was far different than the turmoil brewing within you. “everything will be fine,” he whispered, his tone firm yet almost pleading. “i promise, it’ll all be fine.”

˚ ༘♡ despite his reassurance, you couldn’t shake the pang of unease in your stomach. his words might have been meant to comfort, but they felt fragile, as though they could shatter under the strain of whatever truths still remained hidden.

˚ ༘♡ “i love you,” he murmured, his hand gently tilting your chin until your eyes met his. his gaze was steady, filled with a tenderness that made your chest tighten. “i want to spend my life with you. to get married, have a family…”

˚ ༘♡ a shaky laugh escaped through your tears, a fragile moment of relief breaking through the tension. “alright,” you said softly, wiping at your damp cheeks. “let’s start with something simple. how about we go get something to eat?” your fingers brushed against his tired, weathered face, tracing the lines of exhaustion etched into his features. “you look like you haven’t had a decent meal in days,” you added with a small smile.

˚ ༘♡ sang woo’s lips curved upward, faint but genuine. “that sounds good,” he replied, his voice carrying a gentleness that was almost unfamiliar after everything.

a/n: i thought sang-woo wouldn’t tell his girlfriend about the squid game, with how concerned he is with maintaining a perfect reputation. let me know if you have any other requests! 🤍

[ora-draws]

A little analysis on how Hans & Henry were handled post-ending (heavy KCD2 spoiler alert)

Ok, so I've seen a lot of people talk about how they feel like the ending-part after the siege falls short when it comes to Hansry and leaves out a lot of possible interactions that could have been included.

And I feel you there, although I'm also a big fan of show-don't-tell and leaving things to imagination and interpretation.

However saying we got like a 4 minute romance scene after only being fed crumbs for hundreds of hours does not only fail to acknowledge the crafty subtlety with which their relationship and development has been told over the whole course – it also disregards how impactful the ending actually is.

More under the cut.

In order to put this into perspective, we need to consider not only Hans and Henry, but also the other main romance options: Rosa and Katherine. Rosa happens rather mid-game and while she isn't as mutually exclusive as Kat/Hans, she can be Henry's desired sweetheart by the end if you so choose. Yet whether you do or not, Rosa tells Henry that she considers this a one-time thing, even comes across rather pragmatic about it and tells him off by reminding you that any future is impossible anyway, since he is bastard and she's a nobleman's daughter.

As for Katherine, this is a bit more complicated; she opens up to Henry a bit in the very last moment, they spend an intimate and vulnerable moment together, finding comfort in each other's arms. Yet although she is clearly relieved about Henry's survival and brightens up after the siege, she's more open than set on staying with him, yet implies she'll give it a try. And that's understandable, given her past and circumstances. She even mentions how she doesn't believe she can truly ever be happy again, even if you suggest looking forward. There's a lot of shared trauma here which gives common ground, but is the biggest obstacle at the same time. Apart from that, Kat doesn't bring a lot of baggage, she's a commoner like you, and is just as unbound.

And then we have Hans. Who is not only literally the 'worst' choice Henry could have made in any possible regard considering time period and society, but also a 'lost cause'. We spend half of the ending dialogue with him and Hanush talking about how Henry needs to force him to attend his wedding if the need shall arise. And yet, despite all things given, the moment you can talk privately, Hans doesn't give a second thought to all this. Not only is he genuinely happy and relieved about Henry's well-being: He has no regrets, utters no doubts about what has happend, and the first thing he talks about is how to postpone the wedding as long as possible, even if he cannot avoid it in the end.

He is annoyed, yes, but he doesn't despair about it – and remarks quite clearly that he and Henry will just need to see how things will work out for them. Which is sensible, even if it is also naive. They could never be together openly anyway. But again, it's worth mentioning how even with all that uncercainty, he treats it with a genuine & positive outlook. And – of course – let's not forget that he right away (and happily) jumps onto your offer to take a look at his arrow wound and very bluntly makes the suggestion to find a place which is more private again, showing he wants to be close with you again and stay this way. And Hans – ironically – is the only love interest who does it this way. Which is absolutely heartwrenching and sweet and says a lot, even if we don't get 'much'.

And it is also very very Hans lmao. The second you are alone he's like: Yeah, that's my man, fuck everything, let's go. One has to keep in mind that his heartbreaking Galehaut/Lancelot talk was possibly one of his most vulnerable moments and a rather stark contrast to his usual behavior, because there was just so much at stake. If at all, it shows how much it meant to him.

I see a lot of people depict him as very sensitive, passive or whiny, but honestly, while he can be a spoiled brat and a nuisance, Hans is everything BUT subtle most of the time: he's impulsive, needy, jealous and a short-tempered hothead and it's a very lovely detail this shines through as soon as you are together again. Why? Because it shows how he feels comfortable in his skin and with his choice – and with Henry. Despite everything. This sets him quite apart from the other LIs imo & and all these little details are what make their story and relationship so appealing.

If you've read all of this: Thank you.💚 This is a first for me, I never engaged this much with people online before. I was somehow sucked into this fandom and I genuinely love it, it's an absolutely lovely and welcoming community.

Thanks also to @dill-weeds for chatting about this beforehand, it made me write this down ha.

[izzyzt]

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥’𝐬 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞

the salesman (gong ji-cheol) x f/reader — squid game

| Y/N confronts the recruiter after two years, but he turns the tables with a sinister game and a chilling warning: “This is your only warning, sweetheart.”|

———————————————————————————

Y/N slammed the door to the cheap motel room shut, tossing her bag onto the creaky bed. The room smelled like stale air and mildew, but she didn’t care. This wasn’t about comfort; it was a pit stop on her endless hunt for him.

It had been two years since she escaped the Squid Game alive, but she was anything but free. The blood money still sat untouched in a locked safe, a constant reminder of the lives she took and the people she lost. And above all, it reminded her of him—the man who started it all.

The man who gave her that damn card.

He had a face she couldn’t forget, one that haunted her even now: sharp features, a smile too charming for someone so cruel, and eyes that sparkled with amusement no matter the circumstance. She didn’t know his name, but that didn’t matter. She’d been chasing his shadow ever since, following every lead, every whispered rumor.

Tonight, she’d finally seen him again—on the subway. He was sitting there, calm as ever, as though the two years of her obsessive search had been nothing but a game to him. She had pushed through the crowded train to get to him, but he slipped out just as the doors opened, vanishing into the bustling platform.

And now here she was, back in this dingy motel, trying to piece together her next move.

But then, a voice she hadn’t heard in two years broke through the silence, smooth and playful.

“Took you long enough.”

Her blood froze.

Y/N turned sharply, and there he was. Him.

He was sitting in the armchair by the window, one leg crossed over the other, his posture relaxed. His suit was sharp and pristine, a stark contrast to the shabby room, and his eyes sparkled with an unsettling combination of amusement and mischief.

“How did you get in here?” she demanded, her voice sharp and trembling with anger.

He tilted his head, like a curious child trying to solve a puzzle.

“You really should learn to lock your doors, Y/N.”

Her fists clenched at her sides as she stepped toward him, her body burning with rage.

“What do you want?”

He stood, taking his time, adjusting his cuffs as though she hadn’t spoken. When he finally met her gaze, his smile widened.

“What do I want?” he repeated, stepping closer. “That’s the wrong question. You’ve been looking for me, haven’t you? Shouldn’t I be asking you that?”

Her rage boiled over, and without thinking, she threw a punch at him.

He caught her wrist mid-air with startling ease, his grip firm yet calculated. He didn’t flinch, didn’t blink—just smiled as though she’d done exactly what he wanted.

“Now, now,” he murmured, his voice dangerously calm. “Is that any way to greet someone you’ve been chasing for so long?”

She yanked her hand free, glaring at him with fire in her eyes. “You ruined my life!”

His brow arched as he took another step forward, forcing her to back into the edge of the bed.

“Ruined it?” he echoed, his tone soft, almost pitying. “Or gave it purpose?”

She wanted to shove him again, to scream, but the way he was watching her—calm, unflinching, almost playful—stopped her in her tracks. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin, holding it up between his fingers like a magician about to perform a trick.

“Let’s play a game,” he said, his voice light and cheerful, as though they were old friends.

Her jaw tightened.

“I’m not playing anything with you.”

He pouted, tilting his head.

“Don’t be like that, sweetheart. Heads or tails. You pick.”

“What’s the catch?”

“No catch,” he replied, flipping the coin between his fingers. “Just a simple game. Call it.”

Her hands balled into fists again, but this time she swallowed her anger, narrowing her eyes.

“Heads.”

He grinned, flipping the coin high into the air. It caught the flickering light as it spun before landing neatly in his palm. He didn’t reveal the result right away, instead stepping closer, so close that she could feel his breath against her skin.

“Are you sure about that?” he whispered, his voice low and intimate.

“Just show me,” she snapped.

He opened his hand slowly, revealing tails.

His grin widened as he leaned in, his hands moving to the bed on either side of her, caging her in. The space between them vanished, his presence suffocating.

“Looks like you lose,” he murmured, his tone deceptively gentle.

“What now?” she spat, refusing to let the proximity rattle her.

His smile softened, but the intensity in his eyes burned brighter.

“Now, we see how far you’re willing to go.”

She tried to shove him away, but he didn’t budge. His gaze never wavered as he leaned closer, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper.

“You’re messing with my work, sweetheart, and I can’t let that happen.”

Her breath hitched as his hand brushed against her jaw, tilting her chin upward. His grip was light, almost tender, but it sent shivers down her spine.

“This is your only warning,” he continued, his lips barely an inch from hers. “Back off. Or next time, you won’t see me coming.”

With that, he released her and stepped back, adjusting his cuffs as though nothing had happened.

Y/N glared at him, her chest rising and falling with barely controlled rage.

“I’m not stopping,” she said, her voice trembling with defiance.

His smirk returned, sharp and dangerous.

“Good,” he said, walking toward the door. “That makes it so much more fun.”

The door clicked shut behind him, leaving her alone in the suffocating silence. On the table by the window, she noticed the coin he had left behind, perfectly balanced on its edge, a taunting reminder that the game was far from over.

[crustyfloor]

A new pop-up store dropped for ALIEN STAGE's 2nd anniversary and wow. It's so sick.

It's Interesting what exactly these experiments are focusing on and monitoring.

Instrument practice

I found it interesting earlier that Till was so tame, more so than he usually is when he's going through experiments, but music, and making music is what he loves doing, So he was fully in his element here. This was probably the only thing he was made to do by the aliens that he at least tolerated.

(Additionally, judging by his collar (orange), he was at least calm. maybe he just isn't fazed anymore.)

//Side note, that head contraption looks familiar BUT this most likely isn't related at least i hope

(It puts me at ease, at least..)

Dance practice

This surprised me, but I suppose Mizi needed more skills.

She looks very startled here, and nervous(?) +It looks like she's doing this while singing. And with that face covering I assume this was a test monitoring her dance balance, precision, etc. At first, I did think it was odd, "Why would Shine put her through that" But alas I was reminded that even though Mizi is the flower of the group she was never untouchable, to Shine, this was the equivalent of teaching your dog to sit and stay.

(seeing this it reminded me of those scenes in movies where the people are dancing, and the music gets faster and faster until they fall. I wonder if she was doing through something similar to that)

Singing practice (?)

Similar to Till she also looks quite calm outwardly, if the machine around her neck is an iteration of the collars they have, then this process wasn't something she liked, or given how intense this experiment looks, this was a test of high-pressure to ensure she always stayed calm during performances (?). Then again this could also be a posture practice given all the structure focused on maintaining her position.

(What I believe was another form of this test was shown before so I think so)

(With her hands in a praying stance I wonder if she was praying to herself or singing a religious song (sweet dream?) It's also interesting that the machinery around her looks like a halo, and she looks so...angelic? holy?)

Image making practice

By image making, I think they made Ivan replicate expressions with his face. Whether this process was painful for him or not...I'm not sure. But it looked visibly uncomfortable, maybe that was the point. (His expression, even in this circumstance is so dubious..)

Ivan, among other things, needed to have a spotless appearance to be successful, his image was a priority given his skills were certainly guaranteed.

I assume the aliens eventually took note of his lack of expression, in the real world this can be a detriment to one's career, so the Aliens had to ensure quality was perfect. (To a more...dedicated level)

Superiority test

'Superiority test' Is very vague.

HyunA is very calm here too, likely sedated in that water with all the tablets on her. I guess this was a test to get an idea of a pet human's strengths and weaknesses, endurance, and temperament to compare and contrast them with others, testing who is more viable for Alien stage?

Another interesting, and sad part about this is that HyunWoo was there, watching his sister through her experiments.

(Also, it looks like both of her legs are normal, no alien leg yet.)

Heart rate variability

And finally, the most visceral of them all. The wording 'variability' makes this all the more sickening, the Aliens were testing his heart hours, testing it at different rates, speeds, and states. And he was in agony the entire time. Even the way he's clutching his chest, it gives me chills. This would've been a completely harmless test in a normal setting, as something quite similar to this can be performed efficiently in real life. But he's being tortured in the process.

This is one of the first times we've ever seen Luka's face so truly clear and unprotected, (understandably so.) He's even crying.

[bumblesimagines]

For Science

Request: Yes or No

Summary: Jake Sully may not be the brightest of the bunch but he's the most enthusiastic and always eager to help.. in the name of science, of course.

Pronouns: He/Him/His, M!Reader

CW/TW: Typical Avatar warnings, idiots being idiots, sexual content, jake being jake

divider by the-voice-beckons-below

~~~

Pandora was a world straight from any scientist's dreams, and (Y/N) felt right at home studying the diverse planet. He loved everything about it: the flora that effortlessly dwarfed anything human, the wild and untamed fauna that often had more than four limbs and came in an array of colors, the culture of the locals and how intuned they were with the place they called home. 

Everything about Pandora made him breathless and giddy with excitement, even if his studies were limited to the outskirts of the Omatikaya clan territory and any information Jake Sully managed to retain. (Y/N) made do with it. Once they warmed up to Jake, they'd warm up to the rest of the team, (Y/N) was certain of it.

He eyed the invisible border he was forbidden from crossing (primarily to avoid getting impaled by arrows and angry Na'vi) and made a mental note of it before he dropped down into a crouch and squeezed his eyes shut at the lightheadedness that overcame him.

It had been months since he was given his avatar, months of adjusting and working with Grace to get the hang of things, but he wasn't used to being nine feet tall, having a tail with a mind of its own, or having heightened senses. Their newest addition to the team had adjusted to everything almost instantly, and he almost envied him despite the circumstances that brought Jake on board the program.

Once the lightheadedness faded, he dug through his satchel and retrieved his tablet, his abnormally long blue fingers tapping on the translucent screen before he held it over a puffer plant to scan it. His ears twitched on their own whenever he picked up sounds, mostly the soft rustling from his swaying tail or the distant call of an animal. He tried his best to ignore how his body reacted to everything around him and focused on the information appearing on the screen of the fungus.

Gently, he set the tablet atop the satchel and moved closer to study the pink fuzz covering the plant, a soft hum leaving him. Just as he reached for the tablet to jot down some things, a body slammed into him. Long limbs wrapped around him, and the body twisted around to absorb the impact of hitting the forest floor. Familiar cackling filled his ears, and he scowled, squirming in the soldier's hold.

"Jake!"

Jake flashed his canines at him in an amused grin, his big round eyes crinkling with mischievous delight. "You didn't hear me this time, (Y/N)! That means I'm getting better at this Na'vi stuff, huh?" He seemed positively pleased with himself despite the dirt now caking his shoulder. 

"Yeah, yeah," (Y/N) stumbled onto his long legs and huffed, his tail lashing wildly behind him and lightly smacking against the brush. His fingers rubbed at the dirt along his legs until it faded. "That's great, Jake, but I'm working. You know, being productive and helpful. I know those words aren't part of your vocabulary these days." 

Jake scoffed playfully and stood up, slightly stumbling and carelessly brushing the dirt off his blue skin. (Y/N)'s eyes briefly flickered down to the only piece of cloth on Jake's body but they darted right back up before he could be caught staring. It was part of Na'vi culture, he reminded himself, not meant to be erotic in the slightest. 

"I think I'm being pretty damn helpful, actually. I don't see you or Norm cozying up to the Omatikaya to become a warrior, do I? You guys are out here lookin' at plants while I'm learning how to hunt and climb these big ass trees." Jake laughed again, his footing clumsy as he motioned to the trees around them. His laugh was warm and gleeful, a hard contrast to the grim yet curious man he met weeks prior.

"Plants are interesting." (Y/N) muttered defensively under his breath, his ears pinning back briefly and lips jutting out into a pout. Jake grinned at him again, a small chuckle rumbling in his throat. "And I doubt Neytiri has you out here ambushing scientists for fun. If you're slacking off, she will find out."

Jake waved him off. "Why do you always assume the worst of me? I'm singing your praises to the Na'vi people and you repay my kindness by doubting me."

Jake reached down to lift the tablet and satchel from the ground, one hand offering over the satchel while the other brought the tablet closer to his face. (Y/N) dusted off the bottom of his satchel and slipped it over his shoulder, his gaze studying the muscles Jake developed over weeks of training like a Na'vi. He was leaner, quicker, more... animalistic, in a way. His transformation was fascinating. 

"Take a picture, it'll last longer." 

His face burned. "Shut up, Sully."

When he went to reach for the tablet again, Jake raised it just out of reach and grinned again like the bastard he was. (Y/N) groaned and moved closer, even going as far as rolling onto his toes in an attempt to snatch the tablet from his hand. His clothed chest brushed against Jake's bare one, but he hardly noticed until he stumbled into him and felt their noses brush.

Jake's arm instinctively curled around his waist to steady him and the closeness allowed (Y/N) to breathe in the woodsy scent clinging to Jake's skin and count the faintly glowing freckles scattered across his cheeks. He swallowed harshly and glanced upward, his ears perking when he realized Jake's arm had slightly bent at the elbow. With a swift jump, he grabbed the tablet and tugged it free from Jake's fingers. 

"Quit slacking off and go train, Jake." (Y/N) turned his back to the soldier and stuffed the tablet into his satchel, ignoring how his skin burned and tingled beneath his clothes. His rapidly swishing tail was starting to irritate him. "You've got a long way to go before you can go through iknimaya, and Grace will be disappointed if you get this body eaten or thrown off the side of a mountain."

"Neytiri has me memorizing the territory, alright? I've got plenty of time to 'slack off' and bother you." A chill shot up through his spine and he stiffened when Jake grabbed his wriggling tail, his fingers gingerly squeezing it. "Come on, we barely spend time together." 

"I'm-" (Y/N) jerked his tail free and curled it around his leg. "-working, Jake."

"Well, I'll teach you some stuff." 

(Y/N) tilted his head to look over his shoulder and arched a brow. "Yeah? Like what?" 

Slinking forward and swinging an arm around his shoulder, Jake forced him to walk side by side whilst he pointed out various flora and everything Neytiri told him about them. It took a few seconds before (Y/N) scrambled to take the tablet out and type everything Jake told him, his heart skipping a beat with every piece of information that flowed into his perked ears. 

"And over here are patches of tsawksyul that are used to create ornaments and necklaces. You guys call them sun lilies. They like growing here, by the river, because the sun hits them just right." Jake explained, motioning toward the patches of brightly colored flowers growing along the riverbank.

(Y/N) brightened at the sight of the flower and slipped the tablet into his satchel so he could crouch down by the flowers. "They're my favorite. They come in so many colors." He ran his fingertips over the vibrant cyan petals with dull magenta edges.

"Yeah." Jake kneeled beside him and bumped their shoulders together, his eyes crinkled with warmth. "How 'bout I ask Neytiri to help me make a necklace? It might help her get used to the idea of being around you." 

(Y/N) glanced at him, his lips quirking even wider. "That'd be nice of you, Jake." 

"I'm always nice." Jake leaned back until he was fully sat and brushed away dirt and leaves from his knees. (Y/N) could count on one hand the number of times Jake went out of his way to be 'nice'.

"That's a stretch." 

"Would an asshole spend his day teaching you about boring plants?" Jake raised his thin eyebrows and poked his side. (Y/N) snorted and swatted at his hand with a light shake of his head. "Would an asshole ask if you want to learn more about Na'vi bodies?" 

At his words, (Y/N) blinked and turned to look at him, his forehead creasing in confusion. Jake reached behind him to pull his braid over his shoulder, his fingers running over it until he reached the end and raised it so the hairs fell back to reveal the queue at the end. Pink, fleshy, and small tendrils rose, swaying as they searched for another queue to connect with.

His breath caught in his throat. "Jake, we can't." 

Jake blew a raspberry. "Why not? Don't you want to know how it works or feels?" He looked entranced by the thin wiggling tendrils. It was hard to look away from queues and their strangeness.

"Who doesn't? But it's- it's tsaheylu, Jake. It's a bond. The Na'vi do it with each other when they choose their mate. It's serious. You haven't even completed iknimaya; Neytiri will be upset if she finds out." 

"I'm not going to fall in love with a Na'vi, (Y/N). Grace would kill me." Jake raised his amber gaze to study him so intensely that it made his face flush. "It's in the name of science, alright? Besides, it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission." 

(Y/N) rolled his eyes at what seemed to be Jake's life motto despite the way his heart stuttered. He swallowed and set his satchel aside carefully, his eyes dropping down to his queue. "Just tsaheylu?" 

Jake smirked. "You want to go all the way?" 

"Jake." He groaned, the heat across his cheeks spreading down to his neck and chest. Neytiri must've had the patience of a saint or a good amount of self-restraint to have lasted this long without sticking a knife into Jake's neck. "That's not funny." 

"I'm not joking." 

A silence fell over them, one bubbling with underlying tension and unspoken words. (Y/N) tore his eyes away from Jake and poked the forest floor with his fingers in contemplation while Jake stared a hole into the side of his head. His hand danced over the moss coating the dirt, the vibrant green fuzz tickling his palm. His stomach fluttered and jumped as he considered it.

On one hand, sleeping with Jake wasn't forbidden, hell, most people on the compound had friends they slept with and it was strictly casual. On the other hand, tsaheylu was a serious bond amongst Na'vi; the human equivalent of marriage. But neither of them were actual Na'vi...

He prayed he wouldn't regret this later.

"Okay." He breathed out.

"Okay?"

"Yes, fine, let's- let's do it. For science, or whatever." (Y/N) desperately ignored the flames coursing through his body and focused on steadying his heart's pace. This was Jake Sully; the marine that reeked of being a playboy. There was no reason hooking up with him brought on such an annoying flurry of emotions. He whirled around to look at him and jabbed a threatening finger in his direction. "But don't you dare mention this in your video logs, alright?" 

Jake's face lit up and he nodded, his tail beginning to sway rapidly behind him. "Scout's honor." 

"You weren't a scout but I'll take your word for it." 

The two moved, kneeling in front of each other and resting back on their thighs as they took each other in. Jake leaned forward first, his lips ghosting over (Y/N)'s throat and trailing upward until he claimed his lips in a needy kiss. His canines lightly nipped at (Y/N)'s bottom lip until he tentatively parted them, though he'd been mindful to avoid drawing blood.

Almost overly eager, Jake pressed his lips harder against him, his body shivering when (Y/N) quietly gasped at his tongue darting past his lips to explore him further. Jake's palms pressed into (Y/N)'s shoulders until he toppled backward and found himself caged between the ground and Jake's body. Jake grabbed his jaw to keep his head still while the other hand worked on pushing (Y/N)'s shirt up his abdomen. 

"You know how long-" Jake spoke breathlessly when they parted to tug the shirt over (Y/N)'s head. "-I've been waiting for this?"

(Y/N) felt woozy. "What?"

Jake released a husky chuckle and nipped playfully at his cheek, his hands roaming over newly exposed skin. "I've been flirting with you since I got here, genius. For a scientist, you don't catch on quickly." He pressed a hard kiss to his jawline

"I study biology, not sociology." (Y/N)'s whiny tone only made Jake laugh.

The revelation had (Y/N)'s heart thrumming wildly against his ribcage but he had little time to think hard on it. Jake tugged impatiently on his khakis and briefs, nearly ripping the fabrics until (Y/N)'s trembling hands reached down to help him slide them down his thighs and toss them aside. Jake moved swiftly, his mouth leaving wet kisses along his collarbone and chest while his hands roamed over his thighs, squeezing and massaging the fat with heedy need. 

Jake leaned back onto his knees and grasped at the end of his braid again, his chest lightly heaving and pupils dilated. (Y/N) was fairly certain he looked the same, or worse. He mimicked Jake's action and took in a deep breath when the strands fell back to reveal his queue, uncertainty and anticipation bubbling in the pit of his stomach simultaneously. Jake shot him a reassuring smile and extended his queue towards his. The tendrils automatically reached for each other, curling together until each tendril was wrapped around another. 

The bond was almost instantaneous. Air rapidly escaped (Y/N)'s lungs as his brain was swept under a wave of new emotions, and new sensations. Arousal slammed into him like a truck, mixed and muddled with an overwhelming feeling of warmth and care. Jake's pupils expanded into saucers, the black almost swallowing up the color of his eyes and leaving a small ring of amber as his breathing picked up and he twitched beneath his loincloth. 

(Y/N)'s vision blurred briefly and he blinked rapidly, his breath coming out in short puffs while he attempted to regain his composure. His vision focused once more and he found himself staring up at Jake's face, entranced by the way the sunlight shining down on him made the lighter stripes along his body more prominent. Jake was beautiful. The solider smiled widely, affectionately, and leaned down to kiss him again. 

Every touch and grind and feeling was intensified tenfold by the bond. Everything Jake felt, he felt. Everything that caused Jake pleasure, caused him pleasure. It was overwhelming yet euphoric, over-stimulating yet grounding. An emotional, neurological bond; it was all making sense. They were one being now.

Jake practically ripped his loincloth off and pressed a sloppy, distracted kiss on the side of his throat, his teeth lightly dragging over a pulse point and making (Y/N)'s breath stutter. Jake's hips pressed against his and he grinded against him messily, pre dripping from their flushed lengths and leaving their abdomens wet and glistening. Incorerhnet words fell from (Y/N)'s lips, the bliss and pleasure running circles in his head making it hard to think or even breathe. 

Jake moved away to shift (Y/N) around until his ass was flush against his weeping cock. His fingers massaged the flesh of his ass tenderly but his hips jerked and moved as if they had a mind of their own, as if they were acting on pure instinct. (Y/N)'s hands planted themselves clumsily against the ground, fingers curling to grab handfuls of soft dirt to steady himself. Groans and pants were ripped from their chests with each sharp jerk of Jake's hips.

"You ready, baby?" The pet name went straight to his head and then promptly darted downward. Jake laughed again, sounding thoroughly out of breath. "You're ready."

(Y/N)'s breath hitched, his tail wrapping tightly around Jake's slim waist when Jake's tip prodded at his entrance, whines and whimpered pleas leaving him in breathy chants as Jake bullied his way past the tight ring of muscle and agonizingly slowly bottomed out. (Y/N) felt everything: the burn of being stretched combined with the warmth of his walls enveloping and squeezing Jake, the heavy need to rut his hips back but also forward, the overwhelming feeling of relief and glee and love.

His arms gave out on him and his legs threatened to follow suit but Jake wrapped a sturdy arm around his hips to keep him on wobbly knees. His cheek pressed against the ground, the dirt and moss rubbing and digging into his skin. He breathed clearly for a moment and felt tears build in the back of his eyes. Jake loved him. Someone loved him. Lips kissed the back of his shoulder as if to confirm his thoughts before Jake grabbed at his hips and drew back.

The whine that built in (Y/N)'s throat was shortlived. Jake snapped his hips forward, shoving himself back in with a hiss before he repeated the motion, each thrust quicker and harder than the last. The air was knocked out of (Y/N)'s lungs, the front of his boots digging helplessly into the ground but his body eventually gave out, left to the mercy of Jake's pistoning that made his body jerk and slightly drag along the forest floor.

Jake draped himself over him, his arm still holding him up, muttered and hissed praises filling (Y/N)'s twitching ear. Jake pressed his lips into his shoulder again but instead of kissing, he dug his teeth in, carefully enough to only leave an imprint behind. (Y/N) squirmed and cried in his hold, each attempt at stabilizing himself and grounding his mind futile. It was pure animalistic drive and love fueling both of their bodies, Na'vi blood mixing with the human genomes.

(Y/N) managed to catch Jake's lips in time to release a muffled cry, releasing and sputtering over the dirt and leaves. Jake's hips stuttered a moment later, overwhelmed by the feeling, and he buried himself as deeply as possible before releasing as well. (Y/N)'s mind went blank, devoid of coherent thoughts, and completely focused on Jake. Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake.

Jake slumped over onto his side and pulled (Y/N) along with him, his face rubbing along (Y/N)'s back affectionately in a way that reminded him of felines. (Y/N)'s chest rose and fell with heavy, tired breaths, and he reluctantly lifted his head so he could use Jake's arm as a pillow. Jake pressed his palm over his abdomen and chuckled softly, teeth lightly nipping at (Y/N)'s ear and causing it to flick. 

"You.." (Y/N) sighed tiredly. "You could've just asked me on a date. We're technically married now."

"I like taking shortcuts." 

"You look like you had a long day," Norm commented through a mouthful of reheated oatmeal, his eyes darting away to watch with a shy look Trudy as she stepped by them. She smiled down at him teasingly, her hand resting over Norm's shoulder briefly before she continued down toward her bunk. "Did- Did you go further than normal?" Norm cleared his throat.

(Y/N) swirled his spoon around in his own small bowl of oatmeal. "Jake took me on a walk." He answered, craning his head to peer back at the link beds where Jake's remained shut and operating. His lips threatened to stretch into a grin so he stuffed his mouth with oatmeal and shuffled through his satchel until he found the tablet and offered it to Norm. "Neytiri taught him some things about the flora of the forest."

"No way." Norm swallowed everything in his cheeks and straightened up, wiping his hands on the napkins before clutching the tablet to his chest and reading through everything (Y/N) typed down. "Grace is going to love this, (Y/N). I'm going to tell her- God, this is good."

Norm scrapped the last of his oatmeal onto his spoon and stuck it into his mouth, the squealing of the metal chair scraping against the floor filling the room when he stood and hurried away to show Grace his findings. (Y/N) chuckled and took his bowl into his hand, twisting around in his chair and watching Jake's link bed until its whirring slowed down to signal he'd put his avatar to sleep. He stood and walked over, carefully adjusting his wheelchair so it'd be easier for him to get on. 

The top of the bed lifted and Jake's human face greeted him, his blue eyes blinking up at him until they adjusted to the light. Jake's lips stretched out into a teasing grin. "You can't get enough of me, huh?" He snickered despite the light pink dusting the tip of his ears.

"I should throw your wheelchair into the river." (Y/N) huffed and stepped back, watching Jake maneuver himself off the bed and onto his wheelchair with practiced ease.

He adjusted his legs and tugged at the end of his sweatpants before leaning back and smiling up at him cheekily. "C'mon, admit it, you like me. I felt it." (Y/N) rolled his eyes. 

"And you love me." It was (Y/N)'s turn to grin when Jake looked away from him, soft pink blossoming along his face. "You owe me a date, Sully. I expect something good after all this talk."

[nataliescatorccioapologist]

Each Yellowjackets character’s role in the wilderness and how these roles overlap into the adult timeline

Natalie - The Hunter

Nat’s role as The Hunter aligns with her independent spirit and her familiarity with hardship, stemming from her difficult childhood. Natalie’s hunting skills give her a sense of purpose and power that she never experienced before. Living under her father’s thumb for most of her childhood, she was repeatedly told she was useless and was forced to comply with her father’s abusive control and humiliation of her. At school, she was frequently slut-shamed and referred to as a “burnout,” reinforcing her sense of worthlessness and lack of direction. Wielding the gun gives her power, protection, motivation, and appreciation from others that she never received before. Nat’s ability to provide for the group and keep them alive proves her father’s words about her wrong, and you can see her relishing in that.

Nat’s role as The Hunter also reflects her propensity for isolation. Nat has always been a bit of an outsider, trusting very few people and outcasting herself intentionally through the abrasive front she puts on. Nat’s hunting mirrors this as it isolates her from the rest of the group. She spends most of each day trekking through the wilderness looking for game while the rest of the group stays back at the cabin. This isolation creates an even stronger codependency with Travis, as he is the only person she interacts with and relies on for most of the day.

As an adult, Natalie still embodies The Hunter role, though her objectives have transformed from hunting for food to hunting for answers, truth, and meaning in her life. She relentlessly pursues elusive leads on the postcards, the blackmailers, and the circumstances of Travis’ death (all with a gun in her hand). Her role as a hunter ties into her need for control in the midst of chaos. In the wilderness, her hunting skills provided a measure of stability; as an adult, this manifests in her obsessive pursuit of answers and in her determination to confront the past head-on

Natalie also maintains the isolation and outsider status she had in the wilderness. Just as she was apart from the other girls in the wilderness, hunting alone, her adulthood is marked by pushing people away before they can get close to her and living a transient lifestyle similar to her treks through the woods on hunting trips.

Shauna - The Butcher

Shauna’s willingness to step into arguably the most emotionally taxing and gruesome role in the wilderness speaks to both her toughness and her aggressive, adrenaline-seeking tendencies. Shauna’s role as The Butcher gives her a sense of importance, contrasting how invisible she felt before the crash living in Jackie’s shadow. It also evokes a sense of intensity, thrill, and heightened emotions; something very absent from the mundanity of her life before and after the wilderness.

Shauna’s capacity to take on such a role reveals her ability to detach and perform the task with a cool-headedness that hints at a unique adaptability. However, it also hints at something deeper, a capability for darkness and violence that she suppresses. She doesn't panic under pressure but rather appears oddly at home in these extreme moments.

Like the others, this role follows Shauna into the adult timeline. In a more obvious sense, she kills rabbits in her backyard and butchers them to feed to her family, and she cuts up Adam’s body after she murders him. But in a more subtle sense, Shauna is clearly still seeking the adrenaline that butchering in the wilderness provided her. She enters a risky affair with Adam, jumps off of bridges, sleeps with Adam in her home when Jeff could come in at any moment, tracks down the people who stole her minivan and clearly has to hold herself back from killing them, and she stabs Adam. Her (terrifying) monologue to the minivan thief about peeling human skin shows the rush that Shauna gets from these moments that remind her of the raw survival instincts she experienced in the wilderness.

Just as she was sick of being invisible behind Jackie as a teen, she is sick of the normalcy of being a suburban mom as an adult and craves what she had in the wilderness. In many ways, Shauna’s life is shaped by a tension between her past and present, where The Butcher’s ferocity lurks beneath her gentle, unassuming exterior. Her role in the wilderness forever alters her ability to experience life without craving intensity; it’s almost as if the ordinary doesn’t fulfill her, leaving her compelled to seek out higher stakes and indulge in morally dubious behavior.

Misty - The Caretaker

Misty’s role as a medic in the wilderness is an obvious sign of her need for validation and worship from others. Misty needs to be needed, and she manifests this by making people rely on her to survive in the wilderness. Her medical knowledge grants her the role of The Caretaker, a role that is especially important in the aftermath of an injurious plane crash and during Shauna’s pregnancy. Before the plane crash, Misty was ridiculed and ignored. But after the crash, she realizes she’s in a situation where the unique skills she was previously mocked and outcasted for are suddenly indispensable and praised. Misty delights in the fact that the group relies on her, and she ensures they will continue to value her by breaking the flight recorder, tripping and poisoning Coach Ben, and emphasizing her ability to deliver Shauna’s baby when the time comes. Her desire for power over others stems from a deep insecurity, and she will do anything to maintain this power.

As an adult, Misty still holds her role as The Caretaker. She works as a nurse for the elderly, a position that allows her to remain needed and in control over vulnerable people. We see Misty looking far too satisfied when she withholds pain medications from one of her patients after she disrespects Misty. We also see Misty relishing in her control over Jessica Roberts after she kidnaps her. She makes Jessica need by literally keeping her captive and at her mercy, chaining her to a bed and caring for her. In these scenes, she thrives on her (forced) emotional connection to Jessica.

Her obsessive need to be valued is also seen in her relationship with Nat. She desperately wants Nat to admit she needs her help and support. She goes to great lengths to make Nat rely on her (tampering with Nat’s car so she has to hitch a ride with Misty, spying on her so that she can leap into action and rescue her when needed, snorting Nat’s coke before she can, investigating Nat’s disappearance and infiltrating Lottie’s compound to “save” her).

Similar to Nat and Shauna, Misty is attempting to recreate the feelings of importance and purpose she had in the wilderness, and she does so by obsessively providing care to those around her, even if they don’t want it and even if it eventually ends up harming the very people she’s attempting to help.

Lottie - The Prophet

Lottie's role as The Prophet reveals her complex and often contradictory psyche. She’s modest but confident, empathetic but manipulative, gentle but dangerous, afraid of her power but also inclined to wield it. Lottie is trapped in her own mental health struggles and the pressure of others’ expectations. She is highly intuitive, both emotionally and psychologically, and her visions and interpretations suggest she has an acute awareness of others’ fears and needs, even if filtered through her delusions. This makes her a natural figure for people to gravitate toward in times of uncertainty. Her peers’ reliance on her prophecies builds her confidence and identity as a leader, though it also places her in a role where she becomes responsible for the group’s downward spiral. Her authority in the wilderness often vacillates between comforting her teammates and manipulating them, blurring her true intentions and leaving room for her power to turn darker.

Lottie’s role as The Prophet remains with her long after the rescue. We see her spiritually guiding other patients during her time in the psychiatric ward. And after she gets out of the hospital, we know that she eventually starts a full-on cult (wellness community). The wellness center is a modern extension of the community she led in the woods, blending healing practices with a lingering undercurrent of fear and control as she continues to influence others while grappling with the guilt of the disastrous consequences her influence has caused in the past. When the rest of the survivors arrive at the compound, Lottie slips right back into that familiar Prophet role. Within the span of a few hours, Lottie has the group engaging in her spiritual treatments and making a ritualistic sacrifice to the Wilderness. It remains unclear whether Lottie's prophetic abilities are rooted in genuine intuition, trauma-induced delusions, or supernatural forces, but her impact on those around her is still as powerful and dangerous as it was in the wilderness.

Travis - The Gatherer/Follower

Travis’s role is often more supportive, as he frequently follows Natalie’s lead in hunting and survival tasks and Lottie’s lead regarding spiritual beliefs and the welfare of the group. He’s not the one holding the gun on most hunting trips, but he’ll be the one behind Nat coaching her through it and reminding her to breathe. He’s devoted to Lottie’s leadership and contributes to her prayer circles in his own small ways. This role reflects his position in the group as someone searching for acceptance and stability, still grappling with the trauma of his father’s death. His willingness to contribute in more secondary ways showcases his loyalty and his struggle to find his own identity amidst the group’s chaos.

We don’t get to see a lot of adult Travis, but echoes of his role in the wilderness are still evident. He desperately seeks out Lottie’s guidance and direction, even though it leads to his death. He also continues to fall into his old patterns with Nat, following her around and supporting her through her addiction, making her promise not to commit suicide, and saving her life when she overdoses.

Van - The Storyteller

Even before the crash, Van is a cinephile and pop culture obsessive. Her proclivity towards fiction and narratives translates to the wilderness as she becomes the group’s storyteller. During Tai’s expedition, she lightens the group’s mood with her iconic “our girl Sandy” retelling. She recaps Wiskayok High's gossip during the attic seance. In a darker moment, she begins to tell the story of the cabin and the Wilderness after the group eats Javi. Van's storytelling is her way of coping with the dark reality she has been presented with, as well as making sense of her trauma through the narrative format she is comfortable with. She begins by retelling the fictional stories she loved before the crash, and then shifts to fictionalizing the world she is actually living in. Van's stories and her happy-go-lucky, humorous demeanor serve as a distraction from the traumas of the wilderness for both the group and herself.

Van’s storytelling role continues after she is rescued from the wilderness as she opens her own video store, collecting stories and sharing them with her customers. She becomes a curator of nostalgia. Van is obsessed with the pop culture of the past, which shows her strong connection to stories and narratives, albeit in a way that allows her to maintain distance from her own. As an adult, Van appears to cope by living in the past, immersing herself in a realm of curated stories that are not her own, which speaks to her avoidance of the unresolved trauma of the wilderness. Her humor, a key part of her storytelling as a teenager, becomes a defense mechanism, masking her pain and reluctance to fully engage with what she did in the wilderness.

Taissa - The Protector/Warrior

Taissa's strength and endurance cast her in the role of The Warrior and Protector. She is ambitious, decisive, and often takes charge when the group needs direction. She leads the charge on leaving the crash site and hiking to the lake, a decision which likely ended up saving many of their lives. Tai is also the first to decide to seek out civilization, forming an expedition to find help for the rest of the group. When Van is gravely injured, Tai risks her own life to stay behind and care for her, refusing to leave her side. Similarly, when Shauna goes into labor during a blizzard, Tai supports her, physically and emotionally, leading them back to safety. Beneath her tough exterior lies a deep well of care and selflessness; Tai will go to great lengths to protect the people she loves.

However, her role also highlights her internal conflict and her propensity for self-destruction as she wrestles with a dual nature that makes her both a protector and a potential threat to the group. The dark side of Tai goes against everything she stands for; it puts Van and other members of the group in danger, and it presents a complete lack of control that she is unaccustomed to. The wilderness brings out her survival instincts but also forces her to confront her more dangerous side.

As an adult, Taissa is still a fierce, protective force for her family and the remaining survivors. She pays for Nat’s multiple stints in rehab, chases down and fully tackles the blackmailer, helps Shauna cover up Adam's murder to save her from incarceration, and runs a cutthroat political campaign hoping to create change. Her pursuit of becoming a state senator symbolizes her fight to protect and improve her community. This can be seen as an extension of her drive to ensure survival in the wilderness—fighting for stability, control, and order in a chaotic world. Her willingness to do whatever it takes to succeed, even resorting to morally gray actions (e.g., sabotaging her own family to protect her political image), reflects her wilderness-era ruthlessness. When the “Other Tai” emerges again, Taissa is determined to protect her family by distancing herself from them. The Other Tai’s actions can be seen as an extreme form of her protectiveness, as well, as she kills Biscuit as a sacrifice to the Wilderness to ensure her and her family's safety and power.

[olaadel-ouf]

Iam Ola Abu El-ouf, lam 34 years old🚨🚨🚨

A distress call from Gaza...a family searching for safety🙏🇵🇸

A family trapped in Gaza asks for help to survive 🍉🙏🇵🇸

I need to raise money to restore a beautiful and stable life outside the Gaza Strip. Everything I say leaves only a small amount of the suffering we experience. Here is a glimpse into the contrast between our lives before the aggression and the nightmare we have been experiencing since its beginning. Thank you for your support

About my family:

It consists of a mother, a father, two brothers, and a separate sister. She has two children. My mother and father, who are 66 years old. We were displaced from the city of Rafah after the occupation bombed our house without taking any clothes, furniture, gas, or cover. We were protected from the cold of winter, and we live in a tent in the worst conditions in terms of cooking over fire and pollution. Water, waste collection, and lack of detergents. A 36-year-old brother, a 21-year-old brother, and children are in need of the minimum necessities of life in light of the difficult circumstances and tragedy in which we live.

We urgently need support to ensure our lives and live in peace and security

An architect, I used to work in an engineering office in the Gaza reconstruction and I aspired to complete my master’s degree, but my work and studies were halted due to the war. I am divorced and have two children, Amir, 8 years old, and Maryam, 7 years old.

@nabulsi @aces-and-angels @ibtisam @riding-with-the-wild-hunt @vakarians-babe @7amaspayrollmanager @fairuzfakhira @fallahsart @sayruq @humanvoreture @kaapstadgirly @sar-soor @dimonds456-art @plomegranate @commissions4aid-international @nabulsi @stil-macher @soon-palestine @communitythings @palestinegenocide @vakarians-babe @ghost-and-a-half

[lavenders388]

HII!!

could we please get some kang dae ho x reader??

something where he’s a bit of his usual himbo self and the reader is maybe a bit airheaded— something about two people being in love with one another while the world around them is burning is amazing.

~Flowers in December~

<3 Kang Dae Ho x Reader

requested 💌

authors note: i am amazed by the amount of requests and also so flattered!! I am so happy to get back into writing not only for myself but to be able to make other people happy to see their ideas come to life!! i apologize if this has some flaws i cant wait to get more practice in and promise the next will be better!! feedback is always appreciated! thank you all so much!!<3 -matcha

~~~~~~~~~~~⋆｡‧˚ʚ🍓ɞ˚‧｡⋆~~~~~~~~~~~

...

~takes place during the second night~

"we should all take turns keeping watch over the group" player 456 urged as the warning for lights out echoed throughout the room, the rest of the group silently agreeing- trusting the man who claimed to have been in one of the previous games, leaving as the sole survivor. you were, as were many others, reluctant to believe that he had done all of this before, but after his help in the first game and joining his team for the second, you grew to trust him; and the other members of your group. the man that had been assigned your partner for keeping watch was coincidentally a member you were drawn to specifically- at first because he was close to your age, his boyish face making you feel a little less scared and alone in the second game, and eventually you appreciated his outward personality and kindhearted confidence, a stark contrast to the situation you both were in. as you sat together, although trying to protect your group from whatever could happen in the dark room, you felt even safer. "how in the world did you pull that off?" you broke the silence with a whisper, referring to him playing gonggi in the previous game. "my hands were shaking so badly i could barely even hold my ddakji." he laughs, a bit louder than he should have given the people sleeping, but it made you smile. "i told you all i played with my sisters!" he chuckles. "you said you know how to do it yeah," you retorted, stifling a giggle at him being unaware of the compliment. "you didn't tell us you were amazing at it, that was a surprise." he turns away, embarrassed of how deeply your compliment made him grin and scared you'd see him blushing even in the dark. "thank you y/n." he says bashfully as he regains his composure. the silence returns; the reality of where you're both having this conversation threatening to creep back in. his gaze softens as he turns to you again, "you did really well with your ddakji you know, doing it the first try is really impressive, especially given the circumstances." you smile, a toothy grin as not only are you proud of yourself but you appreciate the compliment; especially from him. the kind, authentic way he states how good you did has you unable to find a response. "t-thank you" you say, blushing and still smiling. "it helped that nobody was there, i get nervous when people are watching me." his demeanor changes. he nervously runs his hands through his hair. "I'm sorry if i made you nervous, y/n" he says sincerely. your confusion shows on your face until you realize what he means. "oh no don't worry! i meant the crowd, like how everybody was cheering for the other teams! i didn't want them all to see if i messed up. you watching me helped actually. it made me less nervous." the silence returns; comfortingly. you've forgotten where you are, you've forgotten what would have happened if you'd messed up, all that's on your mind is the man sitting next to you. when you look back he's staring at you. smiling. "thank you for being on my team." you say to him as he turns away, trying to hide how long he was looking at you. you've never seen him speechless before. "if we work together nothing can stand in our way." he said to you just as he said to jung bae before the game. "i am truly honored you feel that way." you half-joke. "what are your plans for tomorrow?" you ask as if youre speaking to him in a normal situation. "oh wait im sorry!" you laugh. "well i bet they're the same as mine then!" you joke about your forgetfulness as well as making light of where you find yourself. like hes done for you, he also had forgotten the events of the day and what followed tomorrow. the two of you talking made him feel as though he was living a good, normal day. it was greatly appreciated by him, your bubbly nature being a moment of solace.

a/n if this is buns at all please lmk what i can do better!!! ⋆｡‧˚ʚ🍓ɞ˚‧｡⋆

[ferrarifudds]

Coming Home. ✷ Lando Norris

Pairing: Lando Norris x Ex!reader

Summary: When after all these years, your paths cross once again and maybe it’s time to come home?

Word Count: 2.1k

Disclaimer/s: uhh angst kinda but also fluff. ish. yk.

Vera’s Voice! iiiiiii. corny and cheesy and cliche as hell but hope u enjoy. Or whatever idc…

The evening buzzed with luxury and prestige at the McLaren sponsorship gala in London, but the noise of it all seemed to fade into a distant hum as you stepped outside, seeking refuge from the crowd.

The crisp night air hit your skin, the coolness a welcome contrast to the stifling energy inside. You hadn’t wanted to come tonight—forced into the event by a friend who insisted it would be good for you as he plus one.

She knew damn well though.

She said you needed to get out more, to stop holding on to things that no longer mattered. But life, as always, had a way of throwing curveballs.

And of course, there he was.

Lando.

You'd noticed him earlier, effortlessly mingling with sponsors, his infectious laugh cutting through the chatter of the room.

He was the same as you remembered, but different in ways you couldn’t quite place. Back when you were dating, he was still working his way up in Formula 2, and you were just starting your degree in business at university.

You’d been two young kids trying to figure it all out—your worlds so separate, yet so intertwined. And then he made it to F1, his career rocketing to new heights, while you kept moving forward in your own life, only to find that life didn’t seem quite as bright without him.

Now, as you stood there in the cool London night, it was as if no time had passed at all. He looked older, sharper, more refined, and yet, when your eyes met, it felt like you were right back where you had left off.

He noticed you first, his gaze catching yours from across the venue, and for a moment, the world seemed to still.

You quickly turned away, trying to steady your breath, but you could feel him approach. You didn’t need to look to know it was him.

The night was still young, but you just couldn’t bare to be there any longer. Wishing for any circumstance to let you go home and forget you were even here tonight.

Eventually, you built the courage to just roam around the venue, avoiding any possible conversation when you soon stumbled upon an open balcony—empty.

You stood out there for minutes, sipping your drink as you looked out into the night sky, trying to clear your head.

Trying to forget about him.

But…

“Fancy seeing you here.”

You froze, heart racing, and for a split second, you considered pretending you hadn’t heard him.

But it was too late.

So ever so slowly, you turned. Soon locking eyes with him.

“Lando,” you said, your voice steadier than you felt. “Hi.”

“Hi.” He matched your tone, slowly walking toward you now.

“It’s been a while.” You mumbled with a faint smile.

“Yeah,” he said, a small grin tugging at his lips, almost shy. His hands were stuffed into the pockets of his jacket. “Years, actually.”

“Years,” You repeated, forcing a polite smile as he now joined you at the balcony railing.

“Uhm. How have you been?”

It was a question you had rehearsed over and over in your mind. The one you had always hoped you could ask, but never thought you would.

But now…

“Busy,” He said shortly, shrugging and glancing down for a moment before meeting your eyes again. “Racing’s been… good. Really good.”

You nodded, though it felt like the world was spinning a little too fast. “That’s great. I’ve seen it. You’ve really done well for yourself.”

His smile faltered just slightly, but he nodded. “Thanks. And you? What about you?”

“Life’s been good,” You said quickly, the words almost slipping out before you could stop them. “Working, going out with friends… the usual.”

You didn’t mention the silent space he still occupied in your life, or how hard it was to keep pretending you had moved on when everything in you still screamed his name.

But there was no point in that.

The silence stretched between you like a fragile thread. Lando seemed to be studying you, his gaze lingering on your face like he was searching for something.

“You seem… happy,” He said at last, though the uncertainty in his voice gave it away.

“I am,” you replied, too quickly, the lie obvious even to you.

Lando raised an eyebrow, not buying it for a second. “You were always terrible at lying.”

His words hit harder than they should have, a sharp reminder of everything that still lingered between you. You tried to mask it, but the flicker of pain you couldn't hide didn’t escape him.

“Why did you come out here, Lando?” You asked, the words slipping out before you could stop them. “What do you want?”

“I don’t know,” He admitted, his voice quieter now, more vulnerable than you'd ever expected. “I saw you, and I couldn’t just walk away.”

“Well, maybe you should have,” You said, your voice barely above a whisper as you looked down at your drink, hoping it would somehow help you escape.

“Do you mean that?”

You didn’t. But it was easier than admitting that seeing him now felt like ripping open old wounds.

“I moved on,” You lied, but your chest ached with the weight of the words.

He laughed, the sound hollow, tinged with disbelief. “Moved on,” he repeated, his voice rising slightly.

“Right. That’s why you can’t even look at me properly then.”

Your eyes snapped up, angry now, but there was something else too.

Fear.

Regret.

“Don’t do this. Don’t act like you know how I feel.”

“I do know,” he said, his voice firm but gentle. “Because I’ve been trying to move on too, and it’s not working. It’s never worked.. no matter how hard I try.”

You felt a knot tighten in your chest. “Stop—”

“Why?” he interrupted, his eyes intense, his breath almost catching. “Because you don’t want to admit it? That we screwed up? That we never really let go?”

Tears pricked at the corners of your eyes, but you refused to let them fall. “It’s too late, Lando. We’re different people now.”

“Are we?” He challenged softly, stepping closer to you. “Because I feel the same as I did back then. Every time I see you, it’s like no time has passed. And it kills me that you’re standing here, pretending this doesn’t hurt you too.”

You inhaled sharply, your heart racing as the words you’d never said before caught in your throat. “Of course it hurts,” You whispered, your voice breaking.

“But that doesn’t change anything. We ended for a reason. We weren’t enough for each other then, and we’re not enough now.”

His jaw clenched, his hands gripping the rail, his knuckles turning white as if struggling to contain the words that threatened to spill out. “You’re wrong,” he said quietly but with fierce conviction.

“You were always enough for me. I just… I didn’t know how to show you. I was so caught up in everything else, I let you slip away. And it’s the biggest mistake I’ve ever made.”

Your walls cracked, splintered by the raw honesty in his voice. The words you’d buried long ago came flooding back.

“Lando…”

He stepped closer, so close now that you could feel his warmth, hear his breath. “Just tell me you don’t feel it anymore,” He whispered, his voice shaking. “And I’ll walk away. I promise.”

You opened your mouth, the words on the tip of your tongue. But the truth caught in your throat. You still felt it. You always had.

“I can’t,” You whispered finally, the tears slipping free. “I can’t say that.”

The relief in his eyes was instantaneous. Before you could overthink it, his hands cupped your face, cradling it like you were something precious.

“I’ve missed you,” He murmured, his forehead resting against yours. “Every day. I’ve missed you.”

You closed your eyes, overwhelmed by the rush of emotions. “I’ve missed you too,” You admitted, your voice thick with emotion. The words felt as though they had been waiting years to escape.

He laughed softly, the sound laced with disbelief and hope. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to hear that.”

And then, for the first time in years, you felt the ache in your chest ease.

“I’m still here,” he whispered, his lips brushing your temple, warm against the cold night air. “And I’m not going anywhere this time.”

You let out a breathless laugh, your tears falling freely now. “You’d better not.”

And as his lips found yours, it was like coming home.

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tags! @planetpedri @halfwayhearted @wdcbox