#GIRLIE DID THAT ON A WHIM

[moonlightmagical]

izzy roland is the smartest person alive

[bunnyb34r]

Going outside with a little paintbrush to fingerfuck I mean pollinate my plants myself since these lazy fucking bugs won't 🙄

[beloved-daydreams]

Jurdan gets funnier and funnier the more you think about them and realize how much of a big loser both of them are when it comes to love.

Mfs get married to supposedly "form a trustworthy alliance" -> Cardan exiles Jude the next day to impress her, because apparently his rizz disappears when it truly matters 💀 -> Jude takes it seriously, stays in the human world for months and is salty af -> Cardan cries himself to sleep and writes pathetic little letters to her. Like wow you did that to yourself you dumb bitch 😭

And don't get me STARTED on their dumbass confessions. Cardan's was, I'm pretty sure, 80% on a whim. Like, maybe he had prepared the words in his mind but he didn't plan to confess to her right then and there at such a bad time. Says "well you probably already guessed as much" at the end then RUNS AWAY probably because he's overwhelmed and Jude is left standing there like???? No I fucking didn't guess you liked me lmao??? I'm dumb af bro, should've been this direct from the start :')

And Jude's is also hilarious because she says it kind of hurriedly as soon as they're alone, since she had promised herself to tell him the first moment they get together. Girlie confesses and CARDAN DOESN'T BELIEVE HER 😭 so homegirl has to EXPLAIN in DETAILS when she thinks she started to fall for him, why she started to like him, why she believed he didn't like her and why she felt the need to hide it. And ONLY after that whole ass explanation Cardan's finally like "omg!!! You liked me because I'm clever and funny?!?? Omgggg..."

Those fuckers were really married for months before fumbling their way through awkward confessions because they can't indulge in the thought that the other likes them. Like they were legit EMBARRASSED to admit that they like eachother while being MARRIED. Please this is so unserious, get real.

[councilofcastamere]

WINTER NIGHTS | CREGAN STARK X TARG!READER ꧂

a b r i d g e m e n t : With tensions rising, your elder half-sister Rhaenyra arranges for you to seek asylum in the freezing land of the North. And fortunately for you, Cregan is there to show you how Northmen operate.

TW: penetration, loss of virginity, breeding kink, mentions gender roles but in a sexy way, sexual tension, sibling jealousy, childhood neglect, mentions of death by birth, shitty character development

A/N: I know the girly portrayed is Visenya but her body is tea in this so maybe I do know best…

The second daughter. The oh-so passed over maiden. Not belonging to anything, nor belonging to nothing. Not the first, and not the last. An ever enduring memory to a passed over era. Nothing significant. Never anything significant.

That’s what you were. Insignificance. A beautiful insignificance, if you could see beauty in tragedy. Beauty in all the ways of life. All the little horrible things that make up a big, beautiful, picture. People shan’t look close, you’d assure yourself.

But you were you. Born to the everlasting way of royal life. To the peaceful Viserys, and his second wife, a woman whose name is not all that important. Another maiden from a noble house that perished to childbirth. Lost her life, giving life.

And as it did not to many maidens, the Gods did not grant you the chance to grow up with your mother. The blood that dripped down her thighs had covered you from head to toe as you came into existence, and she had naught of you in her arms before a deep and long slumber overcame her. The stranger had come for her, and he did not slow down on its way. He’d taken her as quick as she’d given you to the world. A quick exchange, you’d suppose.

Now and then you think about her. What she might have looked like, what she might have liked, what she might have been had she survived the wretched burden of your existence. You’d often wonder if infants who survived childbirth ever felt as deep a burden as she did. To have your very first breath of life tainted with the death of an innocent. Tainted with tragedy.

Growing up in King’s Landing hadn’t been all that as it sounded. You’d never really been that happy, as ungracious as it sounded.

You had an older sister - Rhaenyra - who’d occasionally humoured you. You’d never seen much of her, really. Perhaps it was your own fault as well. For not actively seeking her out. For not being the younger sister one was supposed to be. Some people - as close to you as they may be - are just unattainable in your mind. Your kin aren’t your kin until you allow it.

You have better companions than her, you figured. You had your lady-in-waitings. Lady Vievenne of house Swann. Lady Laycie of house Oldflowers. Lady Claere of house Ambrose. Lady Evelyne of house Hightower, who was, by all accounts, a gift from your newest stepmother, Alicent of the house Hightower.

What you also had was younger siblings. Such as Aegon. Though he is naught but a skirt enthusiast, swimming along the sea of young maidens at his whim. But he cares not whether they are, does he?

And oh, do not get yourself started on the one-eyed prince and that smug little smile on his sharp-featured face. Nonetheless, he was gentle. Oh so gentle with his touch. And oh so sinister in the way that made you feel important enough to be in his good graces.

However, you chose to distance yourself from all parties involved as fate made it clear what it had in store. A great slap to the great Targaryen dynasty. A dark cloud looming over the already curse-clad clan.

For even you knew that the only thing that could tear down the House of the Dragon, was itself.

“Sister.” you greeted one late evening, having taken flight to Dragonstone on your she-dragon, Starfyre. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

“…y/n.” the elder sister called out, a small smile on her lips. “I… am glad for your visit.”

“…I’m certain you are,” you say, trying with all your might to contain a frown.

You eyed her awkwardly as she wiped her sweaty hands off her dress, letting out a sigh as the elder royal wasn’t quite certain how to approach the topic.

“I… understand… things quite haven’t been… that active, in our kinship,” Rhaenyra speaks up, taking a step closer. “And for that, I apologise.”

You could only nod, a small smile gracing your lips at the heartwarming confession of absent love.

“I apologise, also.” you smiled, your hands finding each other behind your back. “I suppose I should have been the one to seek your company and counsel as well.”

“Good.” Rhaenyra smiled awkwardly, a silence engulfing the echo-ridden chambers. “The reason, as to why I called you, might be surprising.”

You froze slightly, heart pounding as the possibilities of implications travelled through your mind. The goosebumps on your arms grew more prominent as a cold breeze passed through.

“Oh?” you answered, cocking a brow. “And what might that be, sister?”

“I ask of you to travel to the North,” Rhaenyra admits, a tone of seriousness overshadowing the warm moment. “I have already sent a raven to Lord Cregan Stark, and he has agreed to host you. If it pleases you, of course.”

No answer came out of your lips, save for your a mere breath. You felt a pang in your heart, consuming your every emotion, making certain you cannot detect how you feel about the news.

A dragon in the north? What a jest. You’d do better in Dorne, surrounded by sun-kissed squires and stable boys than laddish lordlings and Northern butchers.

“And… why should I?” you asked, respect in your tone. “Pardon me, my sister, but why have you made this decision for me?”

“Tensions are rising, y/n. You know that as well as I do.” Rhaenyra sighs, her body language giving up on its tense posture. “And I am aware of your… complex feelings on it. But to the North you must. I’m sending Rhaena to the Va-”

“Yes, because Rhaena gets to be hosted by a relative of yours, in safety. Meanwhile you sent me off to some Northern stranger!”

“Y/n.” Rhaenyra warned, raising a brow. She took a step closer as you composed your words. “You are my sister, and I will have you safe in the North. The Northmen are honourable men, and in time you’ll know.”

✫彡

And so you were, clad in thick fur, lady Vivenne and lady Evelyne at both sides of yourself. Across from you sat three servants, and somewhere else sat your sworn shield.

“It will be splendid.” Evelyne beamed, properly adjusting her hair, tied up in a bun, similar to the ones the older maidens wear. “We shall meet every dusk, and speak about our day. In front of the fire.”

“Not if I can help it.” you sighed softly. “Apologies, my ladies, but I’ll let you two get at it. I’d love to explore the North in solitude.”

“Right…” Vivenne nodded, looking through the small peep holes as the carriage slowed down, just outside the gates of Winterfell. “We’ve arrived, I suppose. You’ll have to greet Lord Stark. If he’s anything we’ve heard of and more, I wish you luck.”

You only nodded, watching as your ladies exited the carriage, standing at the side of the door. Their faces are cast down, as if in mourning. Perhaps they’re mourning the life of luxury provided at King’s Landing.

You could not blame them for it, really. From growing up in their own house, to growing up in the Royal house, to trade it again to live to see the snowy winters of Winterfell.

You shook slightly, the cold air hitting your face in an instant as you slightly lifted your dress, taking a step out of the three provided for the carriage.

You looked ahead of you, eyes locking on the noblemen and women, standing straight and proud. The women bore clothes of low quality, so obviously sewn to fit any class. The men wore dark furs, contrasting to the blue clothing of the opposite sex.

And in the midst of it, stood Cregan Stark, accompanied by a mere little boy of just two years of age. Your eyes locked upon his stormy-grey ones, his face etched into a stern expression, eyes focused on yours.

You maintained the eye contact, taking each step closer to him.

“Princess Y/N.” Cregan greeted formally, taking your soft hand in his. “Welcome to Winterfell. I am Lord Cregan Stark.”

“Thank you, Lord Stark.” you smile, curtsying in a fashionable manner. Your eyes stood glued on his as his lips brushed against the palm of your hand. “I’m truly honoured to be here.”

“…I’m certain you are.” Cregan answered, eyeing you skeptically.

Hearing false compliments wasn’t out of the ordinary for the wolf of Winterfell. He knew well enough that you weren’t suited for the North. You were a Southern lady, used to the life of feasts, luxury, and sparkly dresses.

“Let us go inside, shall we?” you smiled charmingly, looking up at the tall castle with dread in your eyes.

“Aye, so we shall.” Cregan nodded, his broad shoulders most notable as he sauntered into the opened gates.

✫彡

The first night went unfamiliar to you, the harsh blows of the cold weather creating a prominent presence looming over the already melancholic times.

You sat in your chambers, sitting at the stony window sill as you watched Cregan from above.

The lord was overlooking young squires on the courtyard, engaged in conversation with the knight in charge of guiding the young to-be-knights.

All dressed in fur, shoulders looking as if they were padded. Cregan’s hair was tied up, with two front strands escaping and hanging loose. His grey-blue eyes stood glued at watching the young squire’s techniques, and you could only sigh as you got lost in his appearance.

Ever since stepping foot into the North of Westeros, you’d developed a strange sense of interest in the beauty of Northern men. How they all dressed so grimly, but intimidating. How they’re oh-so honourable and hard working. How they always seemed so clean shaven but rugged all at once.

And you could not help but wonder what it would be like had you wedded one of them.

Being completely honest, you’d never really been the sort of maiden to stay inside of her chambers, waiting for her husband to return from his duty, deprived of affection.

With any Southern lord, being a doting unappreciated wife would never cross your mind.

But with Northern men, however, you had the feeling your efforts wouldn’t go unnoticed.

Before you could continue your vulgarly confusing thoughts, you saw Cregan’s eyes shift to yours, finding your gaze.

You could only lean against the window, a hand on the stony side as you gazed back at him. Your hair was loose, and you were dressed in your creamy beige nightdress.

You held his gaze for a moment, until ultimately turning away, leaving the implications of that gaze to his imagination.

✫彡

By the third day, you’d been reading in the old library belonging to House Stark. You’d sat on a plush seat, the dusty book on your lap as your gentle fingers flipped through the pages.

But you weren’t alone.

Cregan Stark sat near you, his knees in almost touching proximity to yours.

“Aye, the North is cold, but it’s honest.” he tells you, gently shutting his own book. “The snow doesn’t lie about its intention. No courtly games like they play in the South.”

“Oh, please.” you smiled, shutting your book as well. your body shifted so it was facing his, resting your head on one hand. “The courtly games are what makes it so fun.”

“Now, riddle me this.” You smiled, noting his full attention on you. His body language exuded calmness, and you felt secure in the knowledge that his comfort lies with you. “How do you not like courtly games? Personally, it makes my life all the more amusing.”

“I suppose it’s all jesting for you, princess.” Cregan said, his eyes resting on yours. “Amusement or not, I’d rather know where I stand…”

“With you, however…” His eyes trailed down to your bare shoulder, the white nightdress you’re wearing very much a sight of sore eyes. “I think I know.”

“Oh, do you?” you teased, cocking a brow. “And how so, pray tell?”

“Well…” he grunted, shifting in his seat to tighten the proximity around you two. “You’d do well not to cross any Northern man. They don’t take well to… courtly games.”

You only smiled at that, your upper body instinctively leaning in, albeit torturously slow.

“And, uh, suppose I… marry a Northern lord.” you teased quite coquettishly, a hand moving to rest on the thick fur coating his body. “What am I in for.”

You watched as his smirk only widened, gently taking the hand that rested on his fur, and taking it in his.

“Marry a Northern lord like me, and have your nights warmed under the thick fur of blankets.” he says, his thumb rubbing against your knuckles. “Northern loyalty runs deep, princess. That’s what you’d be in for.”

You nodded slowly, and you could not help but notice those coloured eyes of his descending onto your perky breasts.

Great, this was all going well so far. “I’d imagine… do you think he’d gift me a pup? I’ve always wanted a tiny pet, to keep.”

“Yeah?” The lord licked his lips, a hand resting on your waist. “You think you’d handle a wolf properly?”

“Well, I would.” you smiled, nodding in agreement. “I’m a dragon… and dragons do not surrender that easily.”

You smiled, shifting in your seat again as Cregan amusedly indulged you in your silly thoughts. “Just imagine it, my lord. I’d be holding that pup every night trying to get it to warm to me.”

Your hand slowly, but surely, trickled down to his clothed thigh, trying to maintain a sense of quiet intimacy.

“You’ll have your work cut out for you, then.” his voice lowered, bordering on husky. “Wolves aren’t so easily tamed, not even by someone with…”

He paused for a moment, a hand gently taking the one you placed on his thigh.

“…your charms.”

You’d have a cheeky comeback on the tip of your tongue, had it not been for Cregan’s lips descending upon yours, clashing together like Blackwoods and Brackens.

You let out a soft breath as you eased into the kiss, feeling his large hands grip your waists as if his life depended on it.

Your hands moved from his shoulders, to his neck, and then to his armoured chest. The armour he carried felt cold to your hands, yet it made it all the more sinful.

“Did you have this in mind?” you murmured against his lips, tongue circling his as you so sloppily attempted to kiss him. “Seducing me?”

The silence engulfed you two for a moment, only being overshadowed by the sound of soft breaths.

“You have it wrong, princess.” he breathed, firmly planting you upon his lap, your back pressing against his chest. “Do you take me for a halfwit?”

You smiled, looking over your shoulder as you attempted to chase his lips with yours again.

“No, but I certainly did not take you for a man so easily seduced.” you teased, guiding his hands to your clothed breasts. “You don’t seem the type to give in that easily.”

“Because it’s untrue.” he spoke up, lips brushing to against your neck. “But do you honestly think nothing would be done about the way you saunter around, looking as you do?”

His hands slowly tugged against your nightdress, pressing a hard kiss to your achy jaw before pulling away.

“Lay yourself down on the carpet.” he commanded, hands shifting to peel off his fur coat, along with his armour and tunic.

All you could do was nod and watch on as his armour went discarded on the floor, the metal material cranking against the stone ground.

His bare chest was now visible, the defining abs illuminated by the glowing fire. His hair messed up when he threw his tunic over his head.

“Cregan, I-"

And in one moment, you felt his large body overshadow yours, clashing lips again. Cregan lifted his body as to not crush you, hands on either side of your head.

You only permitted yourself to breathe unevenly, stead of moan. Your hands found his shoulders, desiring to pull him closer than possible.

“Ever since you’ve arrived you’d been nothing but trouble.” Cregan murmured, lips finding your throat. “Sauntering around with your ladies, endlessly teasing me.”

Your legs only shifted to wrap around his waist, back slowly arching at the kisses.

He took notice, and let one of his hands pin you down, lips descending towards your perky breasts.

“Gods, you’re wrong for this.” he grunted, swirling his tongue around the nipple. “For provoking me, as you did yesterday, and the day before that.”

“For thinking you have the authority to do this to a lord.” he breathed, your small breast fitting into his large palm.

“For…” he continued, kissing down your stomach, before ultimately glancing back at you “…thinking you’d get away with this.”

“I did not think I’d get away with this.” you tease, watching as he moves face-to-face again. “Which is why I did it.”

Your hands find his muscled arms, squeezing it gently. “I want to know how Northern men do it.”

You’d think you were jesting, but were you truly?

You’d have opened your mouth to say anything else, looking up at him, if it weren’t for the Northern lord himself roughly flipping you to your stomach.

“You wish to know, my princess?” he murmurs, unlatching his breeches. “You’d have your first time be with a Northman?”

You nodded, cheek resting on the carpet fabric without surrender. “Yes. Gods yes.”

He hiked your skirt around your waist, your plump ass visible to his peering eyes.

“You’ll be ruined for other men, aye.” He grunted, his hand wrapping around his rock hard cock.

“That’s good, because I desire no one save you.” you smiled, allowing him to lift your hips up and arch your back.

“Yeah?” he smirked, the tip of his cock rubbing against your damp hole. “You’ll have me make you my wife?”

You nodded, impatiently moving your hips. “I wouldn’t be opposed to it.”

“You’d be a good wife, wouldn’t you?” he grunted once again, head finally pushing into your unloosened clit. “No Southern games, no poignant looks of yours.”

“You like that about me.” you painfully breathed, feeling the uncomfortable ache of his cock in your newly penetrated cunt.

His head descended, placing gentle kisses upon your shoulders. “A maiden. Perhaps you aren’t as well-equipped to handle a wolf as you said you were.”

“I am.” you protested, pushing your hips back. “Move your hips. I wish to prove myself.”

He only speeded up his thrusts, and as you allowed the moans to fill your lips, his hands found a way to push your head down.

“You’d carry my pups?” he asked, thrusting into you aggressively, pumping his cock in and out. “Wait on my cock every night?”

You only moaned incredulously, asscheeks clapping along with every snap of his hips.

“Yes.” you breathed, gasp and claps filling the room. “Fuck, put a babe inside of me. I want your children.”

“We’ll have to wed sooner, before the babe gets born in wedlock.” he grunted, hands gripping your hips, pushing you back onto his thick length. “But that’s what you wanted all along, was it?”

You gripped the fabric of the carpet, cheeks burning as it rubbed against the irritating carpet.

“For a thick cock such as this.” he teased, tugging at your hair.

“Yes.” you moaned pathetically, cheeks flushed as you felt a knot forming into your stomach.

Your lips parted, your eyes rolling above-ways.

“Yes, yes!” you moaned loudly, feeling his hands grope your breasts. “Fuck, you’re moving fast.”

“Never fast enough.” he murmurs, member sliding against your wet slit.

He could feel your tight walls clenching around him, milking his cock for all it is worth. His grip on you tightened as he thrust down to meet your upward motion.

And with one sharp thrusts, you felt the knot loosen and the cream dripping out your twitching clit.

Yet, he didn’t stop, his thrusts becoming more erratic as he rode you through your orgasm.

The feeling of your walls clenching around his cock was enough to send him reeling as well, burying himself deep inside of you.

Hot spurts of cum dripping out of your hole, you completely got yourself spent, closing your eyes and deciding you could just fall asleep on this carpet.

“No sleeping in the library.” he scolded lightly, putting on his fur coat, covering his naked physique. “Come here.”

You exhaustedly crawled over to him again, and snuck yourself into his coat, the clothing covering both of your naked bodies.

“I’m taking you to your chambers.” he sighs, pressing a gentle kiss to your temple. “And for the next time, do not attempt to get so exhausted. I went easy on you this time.”

[softspiderling]

i’ll run my fingers through your hair | j.v

synopsis: jace + modern au + hair

pairing: jacaerys velaryon x reader

word count: 1,1k

author’s note: just a little not very serious drabble/mini fic about you tying jace’s hair in a pony… bc i couldn’t stop thinking about it during work. unedited, written on a whim in like 20 minutes on my phone… @eldrith put the gun away. also football ✅⚽️ not ❌🏈

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Ever since Jace had grown his hair out he had only seen positive changes his new hair cut had brought in his life. He had gotten tons of compliments (from friends, family AND strangers), questions about his “hair care routine” (water, shampoo and leave in conditioner… was that enough steps to call it a routine?) and of course, the way you were tugging on it whenever he was between your legs. That, he enjoyed particularly.

In all the upsides, he had never thought there would be downsides as well. Clearly, he completely forgot about the football season.

The last games had already been over before his hair started curling around his ears, the process of growing it out taking longer than expected. But now that training was back on, he had been struggling with his curls sticking to the back of his neck or falling into his face while he sprinted across the field and Jace actually started contemplating getting it cut before the first game.

“Don’t you dare,Jacaerys Targaryen.”

Jace flinched when you full-named him, quickly locking his phone, the hair dresser’s online appointment website fading to black. You only ever full-named him when you were serious about something. He hadnt realized you were so invested in his hair.

“I wasn’t gonna get it all chopped of!” he insisted. “Only like a trim maybe.”

“Absolutely not.”

“But babe,” he whined, his lower lip jutting out in a pout, one of his most used weapons to try to get his way with you. “This season’s so important, and I can’t be distracted by hair.”

It was his first year starting as captain of the Dragons, the last thing he needed was being distracted by his hair, He would not lose because of vanity.

“There are less drastic ways than cutting your beautiful hair off!”

You ran your fingers through his brown locks, your nails scratching against his scalp and Jace nearly melted into the couch, his eyes rolling to the back of his head.

“Like what?”

His words sounded breathless when he spoke and you were grinning when you climbed over the back of the couch, plopping yourself next to him.

“Come down here and I’ll show you,” you said, gesturing to the floor in front of you. Jace sighed, but did as you asked anyways, folding his legs under himself. He leaned back against the couch as you combed through his hair with your hand, making his eyes flutter closed. His muscles automatically relaxed as soon as you put your hands into his hair, it was like magic.

“- half-up half-down…Hey, are you even listening to me?”

“Hm?”

“If you’re not gonna listen when I’m trying to help you-!”

“Okay, okay, I’m listening, sorry!” Jace reached back to curl his hand around your wrist, bringing it forward to place a kiss on the back of your hand. “You said something about half-up half-down…?”

You huffed.

“I need my hand back, Jace.”

Jace let go of your wrist and you sectioned his hair off with your fingers, tugging on it a little, as he shifted on the floor, before tying his hair off with an elastic.

“Look at it.”

Jace grabbed his phone, opening the camera on it to look at himself, the upper half of his hair now pulled back in a small pony, leaving his face free of his hair. For some reason, he had never thought about tying his hair off.

“Isn’t that… Girly?” he asked,

You gave him a look.

“Your father had the same hairstyle for your mother’s birthday last month. I think we can both agree on the fact that your father is not girly.”

Jace let out a huff, settling back against the couch. He did not like how lilty your voice got whenever you talked about his dad. He looked at the camera again, starting to get used to it.

“Doesn’t look half bad,” he admitted, looking at his hair from all angles. “What if I can’t tie it properly though and it’ll just unravel in the middle of the game? I think that might be even worse than just starting with my hair untied.”

“If you can’t do it yourself, I’ll do it for you,” you said, wrapping your arms around his neck.

“Hm,” Jace hummed, tilting his phone to snap a picture of the two of you, your laugh echoing in his ears.

Said picture now was opened on his phone, as Jace tried to use it as a reference to tie his hair off. The first game of the season was about to start, and the whole team was in a frenzy. This was usually the opportunity Jace used to give his team mates a pep talk, rally them around, but he was too busy fighting with his hair and his vice-captain Cregan was still in the showers, taking his ritualistic ice bath (yes, he was superstitious; when they lost 3:4 against the White Walkers, Cregan insisted it was because he didn’t have time to take his ice bath, Jace knew it was because Addam had been out injured and Aegon had taken his place in the squad).

“Shit, how the fuck did she do it?” Jace muttered, bringing the hair tie around his hair, glancing between the reference picture and the mirror.

“Hey Cap, the cheerleaders are starting in ten minutes so we should be out in five, are you done fixing up your hair?” Ulf asked, stepping way into Jace’s personal space, despite Jace telling numerous times to fuck off.

“Shut up,” Jace huffed, his eye twitching in annoyance when his phone screen darkened. “Do me a favor and go get my girl from the stands.”

“Ooh what, the big ol’ Prince can’t start the game without seeing his ‘wittle girlfriend?” Ulf cackled, but his grin soon faded when Jace turned around to glare at him, his hand still around his hair.

“Do you want to start off the season on the bench, White?”

“Sorry Cap, I’ll go get your girl right away.”

Ulf scampered off with his tail between his legs and Jace sighed, letting go of his hair.

“Cregan, you’ve got about one minute to get your ass out of the ice bath before I replace you with Aemond!”

“I’ll be right out, Jace!”

“We better win this goddamned game,” Jace muttered to your smiling face on his phone.

They won 5:2.

But their victory was only a byline in the uni’s paper the following week, a picture of Jace’s half-up half-down hairstyle taking up half of the front page.

DRAGONS’ CAPTAIN GRACING THE FIELD WITH NEW HAIRSTYLE!

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

author’s note: don’t forget to leave a comment if you liked it🫶🏼

[neuroticbookworm]

Consistency in character writing in The Trainee

The Trainee episode 10 was funny, flirty, goofy, dramatic and heartwarming. Jane and Ryan’s braincells finally giving up and succumbing to their stupid yet romantic whims, leading to them almost getting discovered by their entire crew was so funny. Jane basically roasting his peers on a spit to tell Ryan that his ideas, opinions and work are just as valuable as that of the seniors was heartwarming. So was the scene where Ryan finally lets us and Jane know that he just wants to be a part of the team as an extra who can explore different avenues, and though it is not as lofty as the goals his cohorts might have, he is happy and comfortable with himself and his choice. Pah enlisting the help of what looks like the entire art, finance, and editing team to execute a Mission Impossible-esque plan to usher Ba-Mhee into the fairy lights and dinner table setup (@lurkingshan and I screamed Dark Blue Kiss as soon as we saw it because we are nothing if not consistent PeteKao girlies) was goofy and adorable.

And now, allow me to address the elephant in the room: Tae and Ba-Mhee’s arc in episode 10. Before I get into it, a recap of their arc so far:

When Tae and Ba-Mhee were introduced to us, Tae was the one who chose and sought out this internship as it would help further his ambitions in the career he wanted to pursue. And Ba-Mhee had followed him there because she wanted to be as close to him as possible. Tae told her early on in the show that this internship was going to be intense for him and asked her to bear with him for a few months, but she didn’t seem to hear him.

And from there, we saw both of them make multiple mistakes: Tae not recognizing how bad Ba-Mhee’s anxiety around not getting to spend time with him was getting, Ba-Mhee not accepting the shift in priorities and giving him space to settle into his work, and both of them not communicating clearly with each other on how they feel, their intentions, and what they want from the other.

Meanwhile we see Ba-Mhee find her footing in her role as an intern, under Judy’s mentorship. Ba-Mhee observes Judy and for the first time, sees what professional drive, passion and competence looks like in a woman, and is fascinated by it. And naturally, she develops a crush.

We see in the high school flashback that Ba-Mhee has always centered herself around her attachment to her partner and all the ways she could potentially take care of them, even if the partner did not require her to do so. Tae never asked her to do most of the things she did for him every day, and likely did not actually want some of it. But Ba-Mhee seemed to feel that this is what a relationship requires. 

Which means Tae’s inability to reciprocate those attentions and the unavoidable distance induced by the internship was wreaking havoc on Ba-Mhee’s anxieties and insecurities.

And it all culminates in episode 7, in which as Tae was crunching time to get his work in before the deadline so he can spend their anniversary with Ba-Mhee, Ba-Mhee was falling deeper into the swirling mess of hurt, insecurities, fear and a rush of new passion towards Judy. And as Tae finally found her in front of that cafe, he would see her kissing Judy.

In episode 8, Tae and Ba-Mhee finally talk to each other, and after saying their sorrys, decide to go their separate ways, with Tae taking the blame for their relationship failing.

In episode 9, Tae struggles while Ba-Mhee grieves her relationship, worries about Tae, and asks Judy if she would want to be something more, to which Judy says yes. She flirts with Judy, but every time they have a moment, Ba-Mhee compares it to her relationship to Tae rather than enjoying it as its own moment.

Which finally brings us to episode 10. Tae was still having a hard time with his breakup, which led Pah and a few coworkers to encourage him to give talking to Ba-Mhee another try. Judy takes Ba-Mhee out to lunch without asking her if she has plans, which she did with Pie. Judy also tells Ba-Mhee how to drink her juice and throws Ba-Mhee’s pillow and coat into the laundry without asking her. Which Ba-Mhee notices. She notices how she does not feel very nice when Judy assumes things for her and acts on it, and she seems uncomfortable with the attention she thought she wanted. And when the time came for her to talk to Tae amidst the fairy lights, she tells him she has realized that all she needed was the time and moments they had together. She wants things to go back to the way they were.

There was a lot of discourse on Tae after episode 7, discussing his dependence on Ba-Mhee, how he iced her out when she tried to take care of him, and so on. Some of the discussion seemed to paint him in a negative light that I don’t believe the show ever intended. I think the best way to analyze and understand Tae is to chart his character arc in chronology: Tae, a shy and nerdy kid meets Ba-Mhee in high school. Ba-Mhee tries to flirt with him unsuccessfully. Tae stays behind with a sleeping Ba-Mhee so the other annoying boys will leave her alone. On the last day of school, Ba-Mhee blurts out that she has a crush on him but confidently barrels on, which Tae finds cute, and he says (or rather, writes) so. They became official and have been together for at least 4 years. Tae, now in college and in his early 20s, lands an internship in a field he is passionate about and is excited to work in. He enjoys the work immensely, but struggles to find time to spend with his girlfriend, who followed him to the internship. He folds further under stress of not keeping up at work as Ba-Mhee continues all of her usual acts of service and more, expressing her care and love without a hitch. But they are not under the same kind of pressure at this job and his workload is much more intense than hers. Regardless, he plans their anniversary and works extra hours to make his deadline.

The show has always portrayed Tae in a sympathetic light because he is a kid trying to figure out his way in life. He makes mistakes in his relationship and his work, but he has good intentions and he is not the only one that makes mistakes. Ba-Mhee and Tae liked each other, and enjoyed each other’s company. But they had blindly fallen into an unsustainable relationship dynamic after getting together in high school, and it got tested heavily the moment it came in contact with the real world outside of the rigidity of high school and college. Ba-Mhee’s intense obsession with her partner is not healthy, and it could not hold up to a reality where they each have other responsibilities and priorities. The way she wraps her self-identity in how well she can take care of her partners is dangerous. She needed to learn that life offers so many avenues for passion, fun, and fulfillment, and a romantic relationship is simply one of them. She also needed to learn to communicate with her partners, ask them for what she needs and give them what they want from her, instead of assuming that this is probably what they want and run with it till it overwhelms them and opens a chasm of misunderstanding.

And this episode finally gave me the confidence that that is exactly where the show wanted to take Ba-Mhee’s arc. She understood that nobody can be a perfect fit for anybody, and she also understood that Judy is probably no more or no less compatible with her than Tae. She discovered that the secret sauce to a healthy relationship is communication. And she decided that she wants to give her relationship with Tae another try, because she still has strong feelings for him.

This show has demonstrated over and over that it is primarily a workplace drama centered on five half-baked interns and their struggles in navigating this internship, and their chaotic early 20s lives. Ba-Mhee started out as a girl who aimlessly followed her boyfriend she is obsessed with into an internship. Now she is on track to becoming an intern graduate who learned to be competent at her job that she enjoys, with a relationship that rests on the same strong foundation of love and care, but now with better boundaries and healthy communication. She and Tae haven’t magically become perfect, but they’re learning. While all the interns are training in their respective jobs, Ba-Mhee and Tae are also trainees in love. And I, for one, am excited to see where the show leads them next.

[sc0tters]

The Study Date | Adam Fantilli

summary: you and Adam have been on opposite ends of the table for months, but when Luca misses out on your study session things take an enjoyable turn for both of you.

request: yes/no

warnings: mature scenes, p in v, oral (fem receiving!), swearing.

word count: 2.27k

authors note: I’ve been trying to write like three pieces at the same time and haven’t been sure about any of them but I couldn’t get my mind off of this one… you girlies that wanted some Adam content here it is!

You swore the world was against you.

In November you had been assigned to tutor Luca, which was an easy task because he had turned into your new best friend.

The task that was harder was that since you had done such a good job with helping him join the top ten students of the class by January that you were now being assigned to help Adam out too.

Now that was complicated, if there was one person on this earth that you could kill it was him. Adam knew how to rile you up in ways that nobody else did which was fine because you did the same thing to him.

As much as Luca hated having you and his brother at odds but eventually he gave up trying because he didn’t have the energy having to sit through your sessions of tutoring as you paired whim with Adam.

Of course you couldn’t tutor Adam alone as you knew that you’d kill him thus leaving Luca in the chair between you both.

And that worked for you or at least it did until Luca decided to not show up one day “where the hell is he?” You groaned seeing that the older Fantilli was now twenty minutes late.

Adam rolled his eyes looking back at you “not coming,” he grumbled flipping his phone around to show you the text.

Luca: hey bro I can’t make it today, tell y/n I’m sorry!

Luca: also please don’t get yourself kill!

You wanted to reach through the phone to hurt his older brother instead “I should get going then,” you sighed shutting your laptop as you reached to grab your coffee.

The boy let out a grumble pulling your coffee away from you “c’mon stay for a bit!” He complained taking you by surprise “you got all dressed up for this anyways.” Adam trailed off making you sit right back in your seat.

A scoff left your lips “if you must know I’ve got a date later.” You crossed your arms leaning back in your chair.

It made Adam laugh how your forehead creased “who is the unlucky man?” His question was met with a kick on the leg from you.

There was the irritating Adam you had grown so familiar with “I’m not telling you.” Your head shook as you knew that he would never let you hear the end of it.

But you also smiled seeing the scowl on his face when you said you had a date “well clearly he doesn’t exist then,” Adam shrugged causing your face to scrunch up in anger “yes he does!” Your words were met with a shush from the on lookers as you rolled your eyes “then tell me who it is?” The hockey player rested his head on his hands.

You contemplated not letting him win “it’s Ethan.” You announced as the older boy had been flirting with you for weeks before he mustered up the balls to ask you.

Adam let your voice ring through his ears “you’re going to get eaten alive,” Adam laughed as he shook his head “look I get that you’re upset that he could fuck me better than you ever could but don’t make that my problem.” Your voice was laced with venom as you sent him a glare getting up to grab your things again.

Somehow you managed to push his buttons in that moment better than he ever did with you “don’t play with fire princess,” Adam mimicked your actions as he now towered over you “bet you couldn’t even make me come.” Your words barely got out of your mouth when his fingers pinched at your chin pulling you into a kiss.

It was messy, letting you melt as your hand reached up to slide between his shirt and his chest “your dorm or mine?” Adam pulled away letting your lip pull between his.

Thankfully your dorm was only two minutes away “mine.” You mumbled grabbing his hand as you locked your fingers in his.

The walk as short as it was it felt like an eternity “please tell me your roommate isn’t gonna be back for a while.” Adam muttered tucking your hair behind your ear as he shut your door pushing you further into your room.

You nodded letting out a giggle “she won’t be back until this evening,” you explained feeling grateful that she had band practice after her lecture.

His hands went to your waist as he pushed you to your bed “gonna take my time with you then.” Adam kissed your lips as he groaned letting his fingers graze the edge of your dress.

It made you roll your eyes “I’m still seeing Ethan,” you reminded him causing Adam to send you a glare “when I’m done you won’t even know his name.” The hockey players warning had you pressing your legs together as you tried to stop thinking about him like that.

The last person that you had slept with was in high school and he hadn’t even made you come “would like to see you try,” your words were like a knife that twisted in his chest “bout time you picked your words better.” Adam pushed you against your mattress letting your back bounce against your bed.

You gasped as he leaned down to kiss you again “I’m gonna make you feel so fucking good.” He mumbled letting his nose bump into yours as Adams fingers trailed down to your panties as he hoisted up your dress.

Adam smiled as he pulled the lacey material down your legs “looks like you wanted this baby.” The hockey player cooed kissing down your thigh making sure to give each one each amounts of attention.

His eyes were set on your face as he lowered his head down to the point where it hovered over your core “fuck Adam,” you groaned locking eyes with his as his breath fanned at your thighs “like it when you’re all needy.” Adam mumbled kissing your clit before he licked a stripe up your folds.

Before you knew it your had locked into his hair as you had never left these sensations before “so good,” you moaned using your other hand to pop the button at the front of your dress.

It was everything Adam needed to hear when he wrapped his hands around your thighs pulling you even closer to him “don’t stop,” you brought your hips up as you rode his face.

The hockey player moved his thumb to your clit so he could talk to you “such pretty noises baby,” Adam muttered smirking as your hand pushed him back down to continue sucking at your clit.

Part of you thought that Adam was a starved man with the way he was slurping at your juices “all for you,” a whimper left your lips as your head dug deeper in your mattress.

Adam had to admit that the moans that let out made his pants tight “I’m gonna come,” you announced feeling his fingers slip into your pussy giving you something to clench around.

He smiled as his thumb went back to your clit as the hockey player pushed himself closer to you “thought you said you weren’t gonna come.” Adam let his lips hover over yours as you tried to push forward to kiss him “don’t make me beg.” You whimpered hearing the boy laugh.

The hockey player smiled “but I like hearing those noises.” His lips formed a pout before he accepted your wish kissing your lips.

Your juices tasted salty on his tongue letting Adam get carried away “shit,” your voice was muffled between his lips reminding him of what he was doing “let it all go for me baby.” Adams words rang through your ears and the second his tongue hit your clit you reached your high.

You legs shook as the Fantilli boy didn’t let his tongue stop “Fanti no,” you groaned trying to pull his head away from your thighs.

He shook his head as he let out a grunt having the vibrations shoot through your body “no baby,” Adam mumbled looking up at you “you wanna act all strong until you see how good I make you feel?” You didn’t respond as your eyes fluttered feeling this bliss as his fingers were still inside of you.

Squelching noises bounced off of your dorms walls “now you gotta take it like a good girl.” His warning rang through your ears as he went back down acting like you were his last meal.

Your body melted into the sheets as you hadn’t even gotten over the first orgasm “enough,” you begged using all of your power trying to pull him up.

As much as Adam wanted to have you shaking, legs dripping, he couldn’t wait any longer “feeling good baby?” Adam asked coming closer to your face “you got any condoms?” He added smiling as you just pointed to the cabinet on your roommates side of the room.

The hockey player laughed looking to see that it was fully stocked with condoms of all different sizes “she said I could use them when I want to,” you explained cheeks turning red as your roommate was the one who was always busy.

Adam grabbed the condom of his choice before he came back over to you “want to do the honours?” He held the silver packet out for you to grab “think this might be a little bit big for you.” You teased as the boy pulled his shirt off leaving you to look up at his toned chest “think it’s just right,” Adam mumbled hooking his fingers under your jaw as he pecked your lips quickly pulling your dress up to your arms “you knew you were gonna get fucked didn’t ya?” The boy groaned seeing that your bra and panties matched.

You smirked “knew Ethan would fuck me real good.” Your words hit him as he let out a dry chuckle “gonna regret that you ever said that.” Adams words made your eyes go wide as he pulled his shorts down with his underwear.

His cock slapped his torso making your mouth water “like what you see?” He asked taking the condom from your hands as you licked your lips.

The honest thought of all the different ways that Adam could fuck you were making you wetter than you already were “I’m gonna make you feel so good.” Adam groaned running his now covered cock over your clit as he dropped to his knees “you’re on the clock Fantilli,” you warned letting out a gasp as his cock slipped into your pussy.

“oh god!”

Adam smirked bringing his lips down to nip at your neck “it’s just me baby,” he murmured beginning to thrust his cock as he grinded his hips against yours.

You let your head rest against the mattress as your body enjoyed how Adam felt stretching your core out “shut up,” you grumbled cupping his face as you brought his lips up to your own.

His hands grabbed at your ass “you’re lucky this pussy is so good.” Adam grunted bringing your legs around his waist.

The compliment made your cheeks weirdly warm as you stared up at him. His chain was cool against your jaw “don’t stop fucking me,” you begged letting your hands rest behind his neck as your core clenched around him.

It was safe to say that Adam felt like he was on cloud nine “you feel me right there?” The hockey player asked placing his hand on your stomach making sure that he used just enough pressure so that he’d feel the way his cock moved inside of you.

A groan left your lips as you nodded “making me feel so good.” If you knew that Adam was so good in bed you would have gotten him in there way earlier “so easy to please you baby.” The hockey player grew comfortable with that pet name as he brought his hand between your body’s letting it rest on your clit.

The sound of skin slapping bounced off of the walls as your bed shook “please let me come.” You begged letting your face tense up as your toes curled “I’ll be your good girl just please!” Your words made Adams cock throb as he watched your roll back.

Adam used his free had to grab your face “don’t have to beg me to come baby.” He reminded you as he squeezed your jaw “but when you tell me you’ll be my good girl I can’t complain.” The hockey player kissed your ear lobe as his breath hit your neck.

Just when he thought that he was going to last you reached your high for the second time of the night “so fucking good!” You cried out as you kissing Adam letting your moan get muffled as his lips swallowed it triggering his own orgasm.

His body shuddered as he almost collapsed on top of yours but luckily his hands were there to stop him as Adam pulled out of you “you did so fucking good baby.” The hockey player mumble as he pecked your lips before he reached over to grab your phone.

You furrowed your eyebrows watching him unlock your the device as Luca had obviously let the password slip to his brother one day “telling Ethan you can’t make it.” Adam explained as you let out a laugh.

Adam sent the text as placed your phone on the table “better make this stay worth my while then,” you warned wriggling your eyebrows.

“Baby I’m only getting started.”

[empty-vessel-of-a-person]

My Final Thoughts about Love and Deepspace Heartwork Routine Event.

P.S. This is Just My Opinion. No need to go ballistic against me. This are just my thoughts and general feedback about the event.

Zayne:

Out of all 3 Stories, his version is the only one that looks planed and feels totally like a date.

He make sure that you can swim, Less worry about hurting yourself.

He make sure to clear up his schedule to be with you.

He wants to prevent you from getting sick so he use his evol twice. First, to steady the boat. Second to freeze the fountain. By doing so, he achieved not only preventing getting you more wet, but you your were mesmerized by the ice fountain. Talked about hitting 2 birds in one stone.

When you are with him, he doesn't like anyone talking to you and wants all your attention. (The Look he gave the staff at the rowing event and when you are about to shake Dr. Stevens hands *Exclusive Tutorial* he grabs your hands and led you away)

He make sure you do not fall into water by steadying the boat before you hop out. You are a hunter, I'm sure you can handle a shaky boat but he still treats you like a princess. (And I am so loving it!!!!)

Xavier:

he doesn't even want to do the Heartwork Routine Event. It's kinda bummer. Imagine knowing you are invited to an event just to find out it was done on a whim? Who wrote this plot exactly? Trusting Xavier's personality, he will never did this to you. No matter how long it gets (800 years) he still remembers everything about you.

Rather than enjoying this event with Xavier, you ended up being confused and anxious all the time. This is actually one of the traits I don't like a bout him. True that It might freak you out if you found out about him, but come on! its irritating to get vague and shorts answer all the time. I hope he can be more honest in the future.

Xavier doesn't like to do what has been told him to do or rather walk on the path laid out for him. He always wants to do his own thing this also shows on the last part of the event. You two aren't even get to finish the event.

To all the Xavier girlies, I really do admire your heart and strength to be able to keep up with him. It's not easy for me to take the path less traveled, but you are strong and willing to venture the unknown just to be with him. That's true love right there.

Loving Xavier is also embracing the fact you may always not get answer from him and there will always be a lot of secrets.

In the end, I kinda feel anxious than relax.

Rafayel

Was this really a date with him or are we playing nanny for a teenage boy?

To me Rafayel has always been a bestfriend. And this is exactly how I feel about him on this event as well.

Just like Xavier, he doesn't want to participate in the event. Especially when the bike is involve.

He indeed prepare for the event, but it is all for him. Doesn't bring you elbow or kneepads.

He never ones asks if you are okay in the 2 times you two fall. And the second crash seems like not a joke. Flowers maybe soft but it's not a perfect cushion for a fall.

Honestly, what happened to Rafayel here. I get that he is dismissive sometimes, but for some one who waits for you in so many years and has been clingy from the start, he has not been so clingy lately.

By the way he kick you of the cliff (God of Tides Myth) and I simply do not like that. Infold what are you doing with Raf?

Conclusion:

Zayne has been the saving grace of this event or at least on my part. It seems that Zayne isn't driven the past to be with you. I kinda feel he still have a few memories the alternate lifetime, but he is living in the moment and doing his best to protect you.

I guess infold did listen to international players and they making up for it. But geez, don't make Xavier and Rafayel look bad. I hope that create separate team for each boys to ensure the quality of their stories and memories.

I am definitely a Zayne girlie but Xavier and Rafayel are close to my heart. I do not particularly follows the 2 all the time but I care about them as well.

[tinyidle]

feel much better - jyh

based on, not only coachella, but the aftermath where he poured his heart out on toktoq (🥹). im doing this on a whim from the amount of thoughts that have been going through my head. could have been a network submission but im lazy rn. tagging @strayteezsimp before i forget. wc: 1.9 k

warning: smut, slight angst + fluff, nick-naming (love, big boy, baby, miss), tons of kissing everywhere, teasing (grinding, praise, slight degradation if yousquint), morning sex (fellatio, riding [cowgirl]), unprotected sex ofc be careful irl, implied aftercare at the end, aftermath chellateez!yunho, sub!yunho ft.servicesub(?)yunho, tall!reader yes im catering you girlies for once, fem reader (girlfriend), dom!reader (mainly soft), all fiction ofc

it was the morning, and you woke up to yunho saying 'have a good night, tinys' before ending the live and switching off his phone, sniffling. you were instantly worried, thinking someone hurt his feelings.

"yun, are you okay?" you asked, hand reaching out to wipe his cold cheek stained from his previous tears.

making sure to compose himself for you, he wiped the rest of his stray tears before turning around to answering you. "yeah, im fine."

you weren't having it. "yunho, don't lie to me. your eyes are red, and you're breathing heavy. what happened?"

the man couldn't hold it in anymore as he let the dam break. you immediately went to his aid, cupping his face as you sat up some more from your previous lying position, letting his face rest on your chest as he broke down. "i was telling the live how grateful i was for being in the position im in, especially when i thought many times of giving up."

"shh, it's okay, baby." you coo at him, caressing his head as his cries slowly but surely die down. you did your best to turn his face to yours, wiping away the last of his tears before leaning down to give him a loving kiss. he reciprocated it back, love beaming all over his eyes, fully reflecting your own. "yuyu, listen to me. you made it because you didn't give up. friends family, and fans have supported you and the boys. i loved and supported you since. be proud of yourself, okay?"

the man fully relaxed in your arms now, nodding and smiling when you mentioned how you helped change his life for the better. "okay, thank you, love."

you smiled back before giving him another loving peck on the lips. "besides," you started with a slight smirk," you looked sexy on stage earlier."

yunho's eyes widened as his ears tinged red. "really?"

"of course, baby," you confirmed, moving your hand from stroking his cheek to massaging his scalp, occasionally scratching it the exact way he likes. "it was all over the internet. they wanted to know who my big boy was."

"yeah?" yunho looked up at you with a shy smile. his demeanor was contrary to the sensation that was traveling rapidly to his length. he never means to be this horny this fast, but whenever you give him praise about his visual appearance, he can't help but get at least a bit excited.

"yeah," you reassured, giving his forehead a peck. of course you knew that he was getting hot and bothered from you mentioning the compliments strangers gave him online.

you never minded, though, since you knew that he was only hard because you made it known to him that you agreed with what everyone else was saying. and only you are able to see him in all his visual glory.

trailing a hand from his raven locs to his chest, carefully palming over it as to not scare him by going too far too soon, you asked the question that honestly needed no answer from you: "can i help you feel much better, yun?"

the man almost got lost in your almost fiery touches. it was only in his hair and on his clothed chest, but he was feeling needy for you. with a small clearing of the throat, along with a nod, he gave you the go-ahead, "please, miss."

you grinned before delicately resting yunho's head on a pillow while straddling his lap. you held on to his face above him, adoration all over you before leaning down to show your appreciation through your lips on his. yunho happily kissed back, soon after wrapping his long arms around your torso. unfortunately for you and him, the kiss had to end, with you giving him one last peck on the nose before trailing your kisses down to his jaw.

you gently sucked him there on the right side of it, making the man whimper out. "miss.. m- feels good," he praised you as his arms were now weakly holding on to you, hips grinding onto your pretty still ones. you chuckled at him already crumbling but decided not to tease him any further and simply get to where he needed you most.

wiggling down to his knees, you held onto yunho's waist bands of his shorts and boxers. you looked up at him for permission, and you were met with a small, 'please'. as you pulled his confinement down, yunho's length displayed itself: long, thick, girthy, and veiny-- as if he was edged for hours. it's only been half an hour.

"aww, look at my big boy's needy cock," you cooed at him, holding on to it with great care as yunho shifted from having himself get touched by you for the first time this week. you giggled as you heard your boyfriend whine and lightly buck his hips up, slapping his thigh for being impatient. he huffed a bit, but lay back down as you gently pushed him down.

your legs were hanging off the bed, but you didn't want to be kneeling on the edge of the bed, so you decided to arch your back high as your knees reached your chest while leaning down to your boyfriend's length. the view in yunho's was magnificent: your shorts-covered ass was unintentionally up in the air for him to see, along with your beautiful face close to where he needs relieving the most.

all thoughts about how you looked in front of him went away as you pressed chaste and gentle kiss after kiss to his hard shaft. with every smooch you complimented him. "your dancing captivates many," smooch! "you have the most elegant body known to man," smooch! "despite your caretaking persona, you are a softie, my baby boy," smooch! smooch! smooch! "i love you so so much, yuyu."

yunho constantly said thank you after every line of praise, only moaning loud as your kisses became very sloppy, to the point that you had his tip in your mouth. preparing yourself, you sucked on him deeper and deeper, until there was less than one inch left of him to see that wasn't in your mouth. you shifted yourself a bit to get rid of any potential numbness in your thighs, which only aided to the look of your ass swinging side-to-side for him.

he was close. "mommy, im about to cum! please, let me cum," yunho begged, hips being uncontrollable as the last bit of him was now unconsciously forced in your throat. helping him reach that high, you cup and massaged his balls nearly the same way you do to his scalp. "nngh~" he whined, gasping as his cum caught in your throat when he finally orgasmed. you happily took in every drop, making sure to lick his slit clean of anything else.

however, you weren't done yet. "m-miss?" yunho slightly panicked as he saw you get off him and strip down to nothing. you then tugged on his shirt, to which he took off with slight confusion. sure, it was currently hot in the room, but why not turn on a fan?

you once again straddled your boyfriend, this time on his pelvis, and grinded on him like before. yunho groaned as he felt your wet center reach the base of his re-hardening length. "i want you to make you feel much better in me, and then i would like you to make me cum. does that sound okay, baby?" you suggested as you made a puddle on your boyfriend's lap.

yunho was close to crashing again, but once he heard your proposal, he quickly bobbed his head up and down, saying, "whatever you, want, love."

smiling, you lift yourself up and hold yunho's length to your aching cunt. slowly getting down, you feel his head piercing through your hole. despite the dull to semi-fiery burn, you kept going down until you sat completely down on your boyfriend's length. after getting yourself together, you looked at yunho to see how he was doing.

"how's my, mmh, baby doing down there?" he was fucked out, to say the least. his mouth was unironically open, his breathing was shallow and his length was repeatedly pulsing inside of you. meanwhile he was feeling you squeeze him in the best way possible, your thighs heating up his own as they almost meshed together with the heat of you both.

it took him a while before he could reply to your inquiry, "feels very good, mommy. you're so tight-- draining me."

"oh really?" you smirked. you knew that staying in this position would torture both him and you, but you did want to have some quick fun with him. kneeling above him with him still inside of you, you swung your hips down on him, slamming yourself down. you held in a shriek as you unintentionally reached deep inside of you.

yunho, however, hiccupped with a high-pitched squeal from the impact, tugging onto the sheets next to him as he watched you. you soon enough found a rhythm that would help your legs not burn, while your boyfriend's face was burning from the amount of passion you put into every one of your slams on his length. after a while of you bouncing, you went all the way down and squeezed yourself on him the best way you could. hearing the man whine and groan, you whispered in his ear, "cum for me, baby boy."

and he did. you continued to lightly bounce on his still-hard length as he came inside of you. you stilled as you felt the last of his fluids enter you. gasping and whimpering, he held onto your hips now, very ready to have you fall apart on him. "please, miss," he pleaded, eyes now glossy from you still squeezing around his length as you grinded on his length, "please let me fuck you. wanna make mommy cum."

if not for you wanting to release, you would have teased the living daylights out of him. instead, you rested your head onto the crook of yunho's neck, kissing the area behind his ear before whispering, "make mommy cum, baby boy."

gripping the area between your hips and ass, yunho found wat little strength he had left in him to hoist his lower self up, knees bent as your feet almost touched his. you were only a few centimeters shorter than him, but it sometimes felt a bit off to be doing positions like this unless it's initiated. yunho, being desperate to get you off yet too tired to fuck you any other way, thrusted himself up into you repeatedly, causing you to actually shriek this time.

"fuck, yunho. fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" you cried out on his neck. he was directly hitting your sweet spot with quick succession this way, causing you to try and squeeze him with every thrust in you can. yunho was falling apart just as quick as you were.

with one final thrust, you orgasmed, repeatedly praising yunho with how well he could use his endowment. he was also cumming once more, a very sobby cry as he continuously thanked you. "mommy's the best, i love your pussy so much-".

thankfully today was a rest day, so all that you two could do is clean up, cuddle each other, and possibly have a round 3 in the evening.

literally listened to 'carnival' by ys (kanye west and ty dolla $ign) while making this, which has the famous line she ride the dick like [a] carnival. kind of fitting if you ask me

[anthony-crowleys]

Osha killing Sol like that doesn't feel right to me because he didn't get to explain his actions to her.

And by that I mean the writers didn't want him to and just made him repeat that he did the right thing and that he wanted to do what was best for her.

He could have said the classic "It was a mistake I'm sorry forgive me!!!"

He could have said "I was wrong and acted irrationally because I was worried about your safety please forgive me."

He could have said "I didn't understand the power your mother was wielding and thought she was about to cause harm to me, my friends and you (even tho it was Mae in that scene), I'm sorry???"

Or my favorite that covers all the points "Hey kid look your mom transformed in a cloud of black smoke and also started to dematerialize your sister who I thought was you and I panicked?"

Old Sol didn't looked as delusional and misguided as young Sol up until ep. 8, and you'd think he would have learned from his mistakes, but no, 180 surprise he's actually convinced he's in the right and doesn't explain the very specific situation that led him to kill her mother on top of that.

Like they really gagged him in that scene smh

And I mean, even tho I love him and I'm sad he's dead, the point I'm making is: Osha should still kill him but at least make him try to explain.

That way, the fact that she doesn't listen and just snaps is even more powerful, because like this he really looks totally and completely in the wrong, which, I'm sorry, he isn't, and she looks kinda justified, which… Defeats the point of her going full dark side to a degree, because it's not as impactful if they are painting him as a delusional selfish idiot that doesn't understand that he has made a big mistake and just doubles down out of fucking nowhere because the hints we got were pointing more towards a repression of a general "darkness" and not an implicit and deeply rooted self-rightouness.

So, good person who fucked up big time but he's genuinely sorry and asking for forgiveness is denied that AND killed while unarmed BAM! welcome to the dark side girlie!!

Anyway, this show couldn't make up it's mind about the characterizations of it's main cast and just put them at the whims of a unfocused plot, so they decided that now he is a self-righteous broken dumbass and that he will not act like a normal person trying to make her see what happened from his perspective.

[darlingpoppet]

Fave Fics of 2023!

A list of some of my favorite fics I read in 2023, though note not all of them are from this year. I feel like I didn’t get to do as much reading as I would’ve liked but I guess at least I was still able to put together a decent list! This isn’t a ranking, I listed everything in alphabetical order.

a bit of earth by @elemmacil (patrochilles)

Character study of Hadesgame Achilles & his time in the house of hades, pre-canon. Also, Zagreus takes care of a plant & it’s so wholesome. Lovely, atmospheric, and fueled by vibes, I adore the secret garden inspiration which slots into the hadesgame-verse sooo perfectly. This is great for the sad girlies like me who recently re-watched the movie from the 90s and thought “what if the whole movie was just us watching lord craven being a sad, pining dilf the whole time?” *clicks tongue* noice.

A Reasonable Explanation by stygius (pza)

I already read On The Ropes by red_smear last year so it doesn’t get to be on this list but I did go into 2023 continuing to seek out some of the “old classics” for this ship (yanno how reading fics that were published before joining the fandom sometimes feels like consuming media that existed before you were born? lol) this one is fun for the subversion on the “relaying messages” trope and taking god worshipping to literal (sexyy) extremes… I think if you wanted a good pza introductory fic this would be a good place to start!

Debased by youcouldbeagod (patrochilles)

Found this on a whim one day while clicking through the tags, as it is pretty much the only dedicated Troilus & Cressida Patrochilles fic on AO3 and it is ＢＲＩＬＬＩＡＮＴ！ The story is simply that Thersites stumbles upon Achilles & Patroclus having sex in their tent and he provides his usual witty and scathing commentary throughout. It truly reads like Shakespeare in prose form, I could easily imagine it being staged, it’s like a deleted scene from the play! The ending is also pitch perfect and still lives in my head rent-free. If you’re familiar with Shakespeare’s version of the characters definitely give it a read.

isn’t it romantic by infinitesle (dillydallybutterfly) (pza)

I was going to recommend a patrochilles fic by infinitesle that I love which is you are the currents that are pulling me onward but I’m pretty sure I read it in 2022 so it doesn’t count, sadge. So instead I’ll recommend another lovely morsel, a pza fic set in the jazz age au that a bunch of us in the pza channel of the hades lounge discord collectively came up with. Idk this might be a “you had to be there” kind of story but I think it still paints a pretty picture and if it inspires anyone else to contribute to the AU I wouldn’t complain. I’ll make my own proper contribution eventually, mark my words!

not the desperate type by @baejax-the-great (patrochilles, side hector/patroclus)

Baejax is well-known for their long fics which are all bangers ofc but personally my favorite piece of theirs this year was actually this oneshot in which Patroclus is engaged to Hector and then cheats on him with his ex, Achilles. They get caught in the act and the results are… predictable, lol. I love that it hews close to the tone of the Iliad where it’s no good/bad guys, just flawed humans making flawed choices and the AITA version of this story would totally be given an Everyone Sucks Here verdict, I’m sure. I’m STILL thinking about the ending even months & months later. Oh and of course, the sex is chef’s kiss!

One Night Of Chaos by Luddleston (pza)

This was technically a Dec 2022 read but I’m making an exception for it because I feel like it’s the flavor of pza I had been craving all along when I was reading through some of the older classics for this ship and it was key in helping fuel the inspiration for my own pza fics this year. There’s just something about Zag being invited into Patrochilles’ little world to watch their charming rapport with one another & being disgustingly in love that’s PEAK CONTENT for me and I loved this spin where he gets to meet them while they’re still alive, pre-heartbreak. Basically everything about it is my personal ur-pza text so if you’ve liked any of my own pza I’m sure you would like this one too. The sequel is also fun and was properly a 2023 read for me so I’ll mention it too haha.

Presentation by @sonderlivra (eruri)

Judging by the time stamp of my comment, I started my 2023 off right by reading this fic by one of my all-time favorite eruri authors! This is an omegaverse fic with a twist, it is well-written, hilarious, and had me guessing up until the very end. I would literally recommend anything this author writes (including the asscreed fics she & other beloved friend @zorthania have been writing this year… I don’t go here but these are my blorbo in-laws and I care them uwu)

sacramentum by fresco_k (eruri)

I didn’t take the time to read many other eruri fics this year unfortunately but I did get to beta some fics for this year’s eruri matchmaking event and this was one of them: a gladiator AU set in Ancient Rome and it was so serendipitous that I got to help with something so close to my current hyperfixation! The premise is very intriguing and it’s off to a lovely start… not to mention the author is a sweetie who knows & has a lot of passion for the time period… so check it out!

the slow mending by meikuree (pikuhan)

I finally got to dip my toes into some pikuhan fics this year and luckily my first one was a real banger! This was such a lovely little canon-compliant Hanji character study along with an exploration of their relationship with Pieck representing the two sides coming together and it was so beautifully written. It feels like the perfect introductory fic for the ship just in general because it really highlights everything that’s attractive about it! Love it!

tight fit by naxtique (zagchilles)

naxtique’s fics pretty much all scratch that itch for hadesgame dead dove of the dub/non-con variety, oftentimes laced with angst. Their particular flavor of Zagchilles with slave-to-his-passion, guilt-stricken Achilles is so compelling it always makes me stare at the wall thinking about it. And this is my favorite one, in which Achilles gets sex-pollen’d and ends up in a compromising position with Zagreus. Another one where the ending haunts my dreams (in a good way). Not for everyone obviously but if this sort of thing is up your alley, it’s great.

you’re a walking disaster, and yet— by @johaerys-writes (patrochilles)

Another patrochilles GOAT well-known for their serial longfics, and this year I’ve been enjoying their modern AU Patrochilles where the two of them grow up together in rural Greece. This one has probably my favorite ever synthesis of takes on Achilles’ character I’ve read so far—brilliant, autistic, and gender fluid. It’s definitely an extreme slow burn and gets pretty angsty & messy at times but it’s also devastatingly realistic & relatable and speaks to me a whole lot :> currently ongoing, definitely worth diving into!

[neth-cactus]

iiiii ummm uhhh little drawings from the fic cus i fixated on my own writting jabsjwhdhe i have a looot to talk about so i will do it under the cut, the fic link will also be here

my girly pop, its weird posting stuff on ao3 but like shes there, the whole fic is me posting random little stuff i wrote on a whim so it will be noticeable dhbfjsjd also warning I might have made everyone a biiit out of character so im kinda sorry lols

now for fun notes and stuff about the chapters i did not add to the end notes

"The sun shines bright" not much to not other than after this clover's hand hurt for like a day and flowey bullied the peck out of them,,, also this is the only time flowey calls clover an idiot on this fic

"The flower pot incident" after the end clover spends like 10 minutes explaining everything about flowey, but he explains it like a little kid would, making it confusing as hell, so ceroba gives up and just like pats him and tells them to be good or smth, it was the same with everyone else

also bad quality comic of how the pot came to be

"What kind of milk were you?" the song came in as i was finishing the chapter and it fitted so well i named the chapter after it, as i mentioned it was me like poking gently to clover's life before the underground, his thought process was mostly thinking marlet was angry at them over doing the dishes in "secret" idk how to explain it but yeah :( poor little fella, also as noted at the end, flowey observed all happening and just like kept in mind

"Sewing back the pieces" I loved imagining how clover's room looked, and i had to include it, more joking around from the best friends, id like to think clover knows how to sew but they are just a bit clumsy with the needle, also those things are slippery...

"The calm before the mall" I feel proud about the title pun(? but this is also what i kind of meant with flowey keeping things on mind, by the time of this chapter a bit of time has passed of them living with humans, and flowey knows how stuff can be and how clover is a biiit shy so thats why the warning was persistent, it didnt work but meh

"Fertilizer is a fun word" IT IS A FUN WORD i love writing it lol, but seriously, i tried exemplifying more the thing of clover not speaking a lot so flowey does most of the talking for them, they do speak a bit but its short sentences and very quietly,

"You are just a boy, you are no man" this one will be long again the song fitted and it came on while writing the middle lol, clover does not know very well about the whole story with chara, but they do know that buttercups are meaningful in some sort of way for flowey so thats why they picked them, now is fun to note that the comments about their friends being monsters did bother clover but the one comment that like spilled the cup was the age one, that one hit deep and thats why they reacted that way, also the amount of people did not bother clover that much when they arrived but like the panic and stuff made them very aware of everyone around and med everything worse so ye, lastly, another time flowey calls someone idiot, this time dalv (sorry king)

i think thats all, if there's a specific choice yall are curios about feel free to tell me :3 i will probably have an answer for it

[googlekromer]

the amount of people who see rammstein and its members as a commodity or a thing rather than a network of 6 humans is... scary. i'll be honest. Something to have and experience rather than a collective of people making music for **your** enjoyment. people who are there to make your day instead of, idk, living theirs?!

and i wouldn't be surprised if people stopped being fans solely because they weren't 100% perfect angels all ready to smile and nod and cater to their every whim. and it has happened before!

"Oh no! Till wouldn't sign something for me and walked away! He's such an asshole!" i'm sorry to hear that. by the way, did you notice his young grandson fritz at all during that exchange? and the fact that you and a bunch of others decided to swarm him at the zoo where he was taking fritz? or did you just see till and think "autograph?" without any regards to his private life?

"Man, why does Richard look so angry in our photo? He's such a diva, I swear 😒" hmm. maybe it was because he was trying to enjoy his sunday, y'know? like i get being disappointed, but maybe you shouldn't have just randomly showed up to wherever he was trying to relax and pestered him for a photo. maybe think about that if you want a better photo.

"Aww, that hug with Paul seemed so forced. I thought he was a cool guy :(" he is! he isn't cool with jumping into the boats though. not only is it just a selfish thing to do, and just all around douchebag behaviour, it's also dangerous. one wrong tussle and paul is on the floor, potentially crushed by fans.

my point is, celebrity culture has pushed people into two camps. either you worship a celebrity and go after all who even dare to critique them, or you treat celebrities like objects to entertain rather than human beings with thoughts and feelings. and i'm not a fan of either camp. being cold towards people regardless of their fame has never been for me.

i know that the boys appreciate and love their fans. but sometimes, as a till girlie especially, when i see photos and videos where it's clear that they were pressed for one, do i wonder if till ever thinks of going back to his old life as a basket weaver.

[bloody-wonder]

mid-year book tag

1. Best Book You’ve Read So Far in 2024? i have read so many good ones this year but no particular one stands out to me as The Best so i'll name top 5 instead (in the order i read them in): a thousand stitches, doctrine of labyrinths, in other lands, big swiss, my brilliant friend - so, quite a range of genres and tones, as usual :)

2. Best Sequel You’ve Read So Far in 2024? the virtu is definitely my favorite part of doctrine of labyrinths and the tropic of serpents, the second book in the memoirs of lady trent, was just a perfect historical fantasy adventure novel - it's like if jane austen wrote indiana jones except it's also a nature documentary about dragons. last but not least, empire of the damned which came out in march solidified jay kristoff's empire of the vampire as my favorite vampire book series. you might have heard me screaming about it from the rooftops. all three of these sequels, i find, are even better than the previous book in their respective series.

3. New Release You Haven’t Read Yet, But Want To? i'm saving kj charles' death in the spires for the fall since it's a spooky campus murder mystery (i think?) and i also want to read apostles of mercy and so finish lindsay ellis' sci fi series (which i have lost interest in somewhat tbh but i'm nothing if not a completionist lol). i was curious about the familiar but the reviews i've seen don't look too promising so i'm probably not going to prioritize it.

4. Most Anticipated Release For Second Half of 2024? i'm looking forward to kj charles' new romance book, the duke at hazard, as well as the new evander mills mystery, rough pages, but the piece of fiction i'm anticipating the most is actually the radioapple southern gothic au by my favorite fanfic author reminiscentbells. she's going to write the whole thing this summer and start posting in september - i'm so excitedddd😱

5. Biggest Disappointment? emily wilde's encyclopaedia of faeries is the book equivalent of a ghoul wearing the skin of your beloved. i wasn't a fan of a deadly education either😒 was very excited to read gaywyck but the expectations of "jane eyre but gay" which the cover of that book gave me were unfortunately not met🤷‍♀️

6. Biggest Surprise? i didn't think i might be into extreme horror and neither did i fancy myself a sally rooney girlie so i was quite surprised that i liked her conversations with friends as well as the sluts by dennis cooper. will definitely read more from both authors next year. an even bigger surprise however was solitaire which i picked up on a whim after tori came out as ace in the last heartstopper volume. i have a complicated relationship with alice oseman's books mostly due to the fact that i'm years past the target demographic age but still feel compelled to read them bc it seems they're the only mainstream books with prominent aro/ace rep out there. so i didn't expect much and was astonished to discover that tori spring is like looking at a mirror reflection of my 18yo self - uncanny in a fun way. ig i shouldn't be so surprised this turned out to be my favorite oseman book since it's the one with the most mixed reviews lol people like to hate a depressed teenage girl😬

7. Favorite New Author? i have devoured doctrine of labyrinths and the cemeteries of amalo in february so now i can safely say sarah monette aka katherine addison is one of my favorite authors. each of her series has a different tone but there are consistent themes of real or magical disability and non amatonormative relationships which are explored in creative ways throughout her stories. i also like her worldbuilding quite a bit, especially the naming systems and fantasy terminology. i read more books by celeste ng as well as by vale aida - both are likely to become favorite authors too. in the latter's case - provided she writes a sequel to hostis. if not, i shall never forgive her😅

8. Newest Favorite Character? okay this is just impossible to narrow down! first of all, liathe from empire of the damned bc i want her Gender: wearing a porcelain mask and a splendid crimson coat, formally bowing to her adversaries before she beats the shit out of them with her blood sword, referring to herself by the royal we and hissing every time she speaks - character of all time material right there. behold my beautiful girl who has done nothing wrong!🥰

(official illustrations by bon orthwick)

secondly, elliot schafer bc he's the most obnoxious prickly boy in other lands and yet everyone wants him carnally lol. i adore his internal monologue - probably the best i've read in ya. his dialogue too tbh - his cutting repartee game is off the charts. honestly, he's just my favorite type of character: a mean bisexual gremlin who scolds people so creatively that they fall in love with him on the spot. what more can you ask.

finally, i have to mention that to my great surprise i liked mildmay more than felix harrowgate🤯 idk felix is this cunty traumatized savant which is a character archetype i'm used to liking so it was a safe bet. the opposites attract sidekick or love interest of such a character is usually not my cup of tea but mildmay is the exception that proves the rule ig. mostly it's bc of his unusual manner of speaking with those funny slang turns of phrase and just generally the contrast between his expressive internal monologue and his reserved demeanor. as a result, he easily rivals felix as the most interesting guy in the book. such excellent character work! taking my hat off to monette🎩

9. Newest Fictional Crush? i reserve this question for that special kind of obsession only a very particular character can inspire and this year it's alastor from hazbin hotel. which, i know, is not a book but i have read so much alastor fanfic in the last few months that he's basically like a book character to me at this point lol

💕Best Ship💕 elliot schafer and luke sunborn are very cute. i don't usually go for cute but here we are. especially after reading that short story from luke's pov i realized i just need more of these two together😌 felix and mildmay with their unholy magic bdsm union - need i say more? forbidden ship that watered my crops. last but not least, i'm currently trudging through the realm of the elderings bc of fitz and the fool and as of assassin's quest it finally started paying off: i'm being queerbaited and asking for more🥲

10. Book That Made You Cry? a thousand stitches is such a wholesome cozy book and it made me cry multiple times the way that a nostalgic movie from childhood can make you cry sometimes. especially the pug scene😭 the scenes of thara celehar walking the corn maze in the cemeteries of amalo made me cry a lot too. the symbolic depths addison is able to achieve with the labyrinth motif, the exploration of grief and forgiveness and letting go - unparalleled🤌

11. Book That Made You Happy? a thousand stitches made me happy! especially the pug scene!!😅 honestly it was like watching a disney movie back when they were good except also more relatable bc atwater's characters read neurodivergent and aspec-coded to me. love how she maintains that the kiss of true love that breaks the faerie curse doesn't have to be romantic. re-reading the three musketeers made me very happy too - it's one of my top 10 favorite books of all time and i was kinda nervous i might not like it as much as an adult. well the joke's on me bc now i can confirm it's one of the best books ever written😊 reading in other lands and big swiss cheered me up a lot too bc they're just so damn funney😄

12. Favorite Book Adaptation You Saw This Year? haven't seen a lot of adaptations so ig dune part two wins by default. twas a fine movie. the wheel of time is also a nice show in my opinion but i didn't read the source material so idk how good it is adaptation-wise🤷‍♀️

13. Favorite Review You’ve Written This Year? my favorite ones are probably the ones i wrote about the three musketeers and in other lands but i think i also wrote some good critical/negative reviews of the mask of mirrors and of the vorkosigan books i read this year (1 2 3)

14. Most Beautiful Cover? behold the cover of the voyage of the basilisk!🤩 i want to frame it and hang it on my wall so that i can gaze at it adoringly and connect with my inner ishmael

(art by todd lockwood)

i also like this vintage romance cover of gaywyck and the uk covers of the farseer trilogy. it's a shame that the books are not as good as the covers led me to believe. especially in the case of gaywyck - this cover is Such A Vibe! but alas

15. What Books Do You Need To Read By The End of The Year? in terms of series i want to finish the memoirs of lady trent, read one more witcher book, at least a couple vampire chronicles and then reread swordspoint and hopefully complete that series too. other fantasy i want to get to at last is fire & blood and the hands of the emperor - both are big and intimidating tho. for my classics challenge i need to finish a couple of tomes i'm reading slowly throughout the year and then also read the name of the rose. american psycho and mona awad's bunny have been on my tbr for ages - maybe i'll finally read them this fall. and i also want to finish reading kj charles' backlist bc the completionism drive is stronger than the fear of having no kj charles to read lol

i never do things a normal amount - every time i take up new media i go all in. so i had a musicals phase, a movies phase, a tv show phase - each lasting a few years and then i barely watched any of these once the phase ended. which is why i've been wondering if my current Book Phase is about to wrap up soon but, given how many books i managed to read since january, it sure doesn't seem that way. instead, it feels like the more i read the better i am at finding books that i'm likely to enjoy - which leads to more reading. and i cannot complain about that tbh😁📚

tagging @magpiefngrl @doh-rae-me @oliviermiraarmstrongs @fugitoidkry @pinkasrenzo @counterwiddershins @figuringthengsout @sugarbabywenkexing @fandomreferencepending @venndaai @weirdsociology @sixappleseeds @theodoradove

please tell me what you've been reading this year (if you want)! one can't have too many book recs👀

goodreads │ old mid year tags 2020 2021 2022 2023

[snickerdoodlles]

Very Important Question about Vegas's Youtube era: how colorful is his cookware? Did Macau and Chay get him pink and green pineapple patterned mini-muffin trays?

Vegas's kitchen is so colorful. his kitchen looks like a cute kitchen pinterest board threw up all over it. nobody can tell if his aesthetic is retro or industrial or countryside or what, because it's this eclectic mishmash of individually cute instagram worthy things thrown together in a way that almost works but doesn't, because a proper pinterest board is always a hot fucking mess when taken in its entirety.

it first begins with items of whimsy. Macau shows Vegas a picture of a dinosaur ladle, Vegas says "what the fuck is that? father would never allow for those" and that alone manifests 12 of them in his shopping cart. feels very weird about it when they arrive and banishes the box of them to the forgotten corner of a cupboard. then Macau buys Pete his first pineapple jar. and like. it's a pineapple. that's all it is. Pete sticks it in Vegas's kitchen and Vegas is stuck staring at a ceramic pineapple that just looks like a pineapple, unable to figure out why it feels weird. Macau gets Pete a second pineapple jar, except this time it's also an owl face, and Vegas can't figure out why he wishes he was looking at that one instead of the regular pineapple one. he wants to hurl both of them at a wall so hard they leave a dent as they shatter. he wants to put them in a window where they'll be framed as the sun rises on them. he buys a spatula with a bee pattern on a whim all by himself and is so on edge about it for the next two weeks he whips welts onto (a very happy) Pete's back.

over the course of time, all of Vegas's kitchen supplies become items you'd expect to find on pinterest. bird salt and pepper shakers. cutely bland patterned jars labeled COFFEE and TEA. an industrial chic spice rack that sits under his cottagecore herb wall. highly specialized mini pans that make foods in special shapes. so many pastel pots and pans. at first Vegas is always saying stuff like "someone got that for me" or "my father would hate it." but it's not about that. later he's defiantly indifferent and daring about owning them at all. but it's not really about any of that either. it's really just...Vegas letting himself have cute things. things that would be called ~girly~ or ~ruin~ his image. there's actually several items he's just neutral about (like the soft pastel colors--not really his thing tbh! but a good pot is a good pot) or even sometimes dislikes (mini muffin trays = yay!, mini pans that only cook one(1) thing = frustration)-- but like. Vegas is allowed to have them. he's even fine to like them if he wants to. it doesn't matter that he has them. the image they paint of him doesn't matter. and that feeling of just owning cutesy, whimsical, or downright weird kitchen shit as he pleases without it being anything else is its own high for Vegas and his traumas ❤

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #17 – Terra Incognita by Connie Willis

Connie Willis is a name I have heard come up a lot with regard to late 20th century American Science Fiction, but in a slightly odd way. The only thing she’s actually written that I’ve ever heard of is To Say Nothing of the Dog (a delightful-sounding book that tragically has a multimonth hold list at my library). Instead, I mostly know her from other books’ acknowledgement sections, or semi-mythologized folklore and anecdotes about the culture and community of the era. So I really picked this up as a matter of curiosity, to get a sense of what Willis’ whole deal is.

The book is a collection of three novellas, each basically totally unrelated with only the faintest attempt at a unifying theme to justify bundling the three of them together. Each work is pretty different from the others in everything from length (the longest is something like 3x the length of the shortest), tone, setting and subject matter, the works really. The first is a sort of romcom farce about surveyors charting an alien world that has, well, aged. The second and longest a love letter to classic classic hollywood and movie musicals as told from the POV of a self-hating drunk who pays the bills going through and retroactively editing the studio’s back catalogue to meet the whims of the executive of the day. The third and by far shortest is a lighthearted and very fannish comedy about a teenager getting conscripted to be a space cadet against her own ferocious objections.

The stories are all perfectly modern in, like, structure and pacing, but they still absolutely feel like they were written last century. Part of that is just word choice (the only thing that ages worse than old euphemisms for sex is old attempts to create futuristic slang), but it’s also just a general sensibility. Which is most cringe-inducing in the first story, both for its portrayal of the native species of the planet being surveyed (directly compared to native americans a few different times, characterized as relentlessly opportunistic penny-wise but pound-foolish hucksters leaping at the chance to sell their land for cheap imported consumer goods), and also just for a handling of gender and sexuality it’d take more time than I’ve got to really dig into. (I have a sense of where all those tomboy versus girly girl memes ultimately descend from now, though.) The other two more just felt out of time than actually wince-inducing, with the third story especially feeling like an affectionate nod to the fan culture of a different era. That said, the second one’s whole horrified preoccupation with a Hollywood that refuses to make anything new instead of just remaking the same sure things from its back catalog forevermore either never stopped or has looped back around to feeling real topical.

Insofar as I’m already reading romances, I admit I do have a real soft spot for the whole ‘idiots compensate for total refusal to communicate feelings with grand romantic gestures and hoping the object of their desires will get the idea. It doesn’t work.’ thing that’s a bit of a recurring beat in two of the novellas though.

Prose and characterization wise, all three were pretty well done – though riffing off tropes and archetypes that I honestly can’t remember the last time I’ve seen played sincerely and unironically, which did always leave me feeling I was missing context on how to read them. Which is pretty much what I was hoping for going in, to be clear – what’s the point of reading older stories, otherwise? Which is nice, because the actual reading experience of going through it was a bit of a slog. The first one was the real trial, but just overall I’d say the book’s more interesting as a cultural artifact than an artistic work. Oh well, c’est la vie.