#I NEED TO PLAY ALL THE PHENOMENAL GAMES I MISSED

[caprisun89bakerstreet]

Guys you know what would really make me happy rn?Getting a 3ds. I’ve seen the videos. My old one is slowly dying. I desire a 3ds. I need to decorate it. I need to customize every single customizable thing to my liking and make it look cute. I need to mod it. The entire thing. Because i need all the pokemon games that came out after diamond&pearl since i’m truly missing out. I’m desperately fighting the urge to get one

[copper-16]

did she feel better than me?

A continuation/parallel of girlgenius1111's work titled "do you want my attention?"

Mapi makes the decision to rile Ingrid up with the help of Alexia's girlfriend. And she gets exactly what she wants...in due time.

(a/n: My brain simply couldn’t get out of its head what Mapi and Ingrid did after Alexia and r left the club, so I reached out to girlgenius1111 and got permission to write about the same story but from Ingrid and Mapi’s perspective! Please, please go read their fic first mostly because it is phenomenal and also a little bit because this will make more sense if you have read that first - I have it linked at the bottom of this!

This is literally eight thousand words of sex. I'm normally a pretty vanilla person (nothing wrong with that yk just personal preference!) so this isn’t the spiciest or craziest thing in the world by any means, but it's still spice and not much else.

Also I couldn't make up my mind about who would be more possessive over who so this is giving major switch energy...I plead the fifth I'm indecisive!)

The thing was that the last few weeks had been hectic, to say the least. The schedule for Barcelona was packed with league matches combined with Champions League games to be played, and then for Ingrid, national team camp only added to that already frantic schedule. 

But Mapi was still not playing for her national team, which meant that she had been left with two weeks to herself before Ingrid had gotten home that Sunday, just a few nights ago. 

Two weeks to miss Ingrid. 

Two weeks to miss…certain things about her. Two weeks of waking up alone and going to bed by herself, left with far too much time to imagine exactly all the ways she wanted the Norwegian. 

Mapi wasn’t ashamed to admit that she was getting a little bit desperate. It had been weeks since they had done anything really, and this past week she could feel herself getting wet just when the Norwegian looked at her a little hard while they were with the team. 

The week leading up to their Friday game was a lot, with a Champions League game on Tuesday and added practices considering that they had the upcoming weekend off. Ingrid had arrived back from Oslo late on Sunday night, and with the chaos of the schedule, they hadn’t had time to do anything other than a hot makeout session before leaving for training one morning, which had left Mapi more wrecked and wet than she cared to admit. 

Between herself and the other girls on the team, they managed to wear Alexia and the captains down to the point where they all agreed to go out to the club after the Friday game. It was a surprising move from the Barcelona captain, but when she takes one look at her girlfriend’s outfit, at the way her eyes paused at the lace covered chest, at the way it pulled across taut and supple skin, all of the girls can’t help but smirk in understanding at one another. 

Mapi had dressed the part as well, knowing exactly what she wanted to come out of this night. She had days, weeks really, to come up with the perfect plan, and she wasn’t going to let this night go to waste without completing it. She had on black leather pants that she knew made her ass look good, and a maroon corset top cinched over her chest. 

Ingrid was wearing a sapphire colored crop top coupled with a pair of black jeans that Mapi couldn’t stop staring at as they walked into the club. But she needed to focus, she had a plan to complete and it wasn’t Ingrid who needed to agree to it in order for it to work. No sooner had they made it through the door than the defender was pulling their teammate toward the bar, Ingrid and Alexia watching their respective girlfriends go with raised eyebrows, already slightly suspicious. 

But the two taller women say nothing, getting a table before they all order their drinks. Ingrid can’t help but look surprised when Alexia orders a gin and tonic, after the Norwegian had rattled off her request for a negroni. 

“Drinking tonight, Ale?” The dark haired midfielder asked, clearly more than a little amused. But Alexia just scowled, her gaze not meeting Ingrid’s, but rather still trained toward the bar, where Mapi and her girlfriend were standing, clearly in conversation. 

“I feel like the night calls for it,” Alexia murmured carefully as the two Barcelona players turn back toward the table where their partners are, both of their girlfriends greeting them warmly. 

The two women stand at the table for maybe thirty seconds before they are headed toward the dance floor, a pair of hazel and green eyes tracking their every move. Caro and Patri could only watch in complete amusement as Alexia and Ingrid don’t even bother to try conversing anymore, simply too enamored with their respective girlfriend to care about trying to seem civilized. None of the women at the table are dancers per say, but the two midfielders are staring at their girlfriends like they might be considering it, given how aggressively their eyes are tracking the women.   

Alexia, surprisingly, seemed to have less restraint than Ingrid for once, the Spaniards hand gripping the edge of the table so tightly her knuckles were beginning to turn white. When her girlfriend turned toward her, her ass pressed back into Mapi, the captain shakes her head slightly, but she only receives a nod that looks suspiciously like a smile in response. 

Ingrid was slightly more composed than her fellow midfielder, but it still wasn’t hard to spot the fact that she was staring at Mapi, her gaze intent. The club was busy, and it was a gay club, so to say that the two dancers had eyes on them would have been an understatement, but they only had eyes for their respective partner, too busy trying to make them jealous to notice the abundance of women watching them. 

It’s when Mapi’s hand reaches around to practically palm at her teammate's chest as she turns her head into her hair to speak to her in such an intimate way that Alexia finally snaps, Ingrid right along with her. In reality, the top of her thumb only made it far enough up to graze at the underside of her chest, but that feels like semantics to the Barcelona midfielders right now. 

“Come to dance?” Alexia is asked by her girlfriend as she presses into their space, and the blonde looks nearly murderous. Ingrid isn’t really paying attention to them though, far too focused on letting her eyes rove up and down Maria, who is pointedly choosing not to look at her in favor of the discussion, or rather lack thereof, that is happening in front of them. 

“I think we’ve had enough dancing,” the Spaniard grits out as she pulls her girlfriend flush with her side, not even bothering with a goodbye before the two are moving through the club, leaving the Spaniard and Norwegian alone. 

It’s only at this point that Mapi finally lets her eyes meet Ingrid, and she can’t help but bite her lip to force back a whimper at the look that Ingrid is giving her, at the intensity of it. She entirely misses the way that a triumphant smile is thrown back at her by her teammate, clearly thrilled that their plan has worked, in favor of holding Ingrid’s green eyes, which could only be described as smoldering. 

She was completely entranced, didn’t even care about the fact that everyone around them was dancing, can’t do anything but hold Ingrid’s gaze, can’t tear her eyes away from the green ones watching her so closely. 

It’s only when Ingrid looks away, clearing her throat lightly that Mapi feels herself suck in a breath, unaware that she had even been holding it to begin with. 

“Dance?” Ingrid asks lightly, her tone too innocent and unassuming given the circumstances. It honestly throws the defender for a loop, but she chooses to follow along. She expected for Ingrid to get possessive in the way that Alexia had, but it’s clear that the Norwegian is playing a bit longer of a game then the blonde captain had been able to manage. 

“Sure,” Mapi acquiesces, and Ingrid turns on a dime, pressing her entire body back into the Spaniard, who grips it with ease. They’ve been together for long enough to know each other's bodies well, perhaps even better than their own. 

And still, Ingrid pressed against her feels like the most natural thing in the world for the brunette. Dancing to make their respective girlfriends jealous was fine if not a bit awkward, tense and tight, the knowledge that neither of them really wanted to be doing it other than to make someone jealous, not allowing them to really enjoy it. 

But it isn’t like that with the Norwegian, quite the opposite in fact. Her hips move in time with Mapi, her back completely flush with the Spaniard’s front. The brunette’s hands reach around to grasp at Ingrid’s hips, pulling her impossibly closer as she ground into the dark haired woman, trying not to let out a whimper when the Norwegian arched her back. 

They’ve been dancing together for a few minutes when Ingrid finally places one of her hands over Mapi’s, pulling it up and over her stomach and chest, reminiscent of something that the Spaniard did just a few minutes ago with another woman. 

Mapi swallowed as Ingrid brought her hand up high and higher, until it was fully on top of her right breast, and she squeezed Mapi’s hand lightly, the defender's hand pressed under the midfielders meaning that she ended up gently kneading the Norwegian’s chest at the action. The Spaniard lets out a harsh breath at the feeling, at the action itself but also the publicity of it. 

Ingrid loved her girlfriend very much, but she admittedly was no longer huge on such sexual public displays. And it had been months since she was this forward in public, and it was turning Mapi on so much that it was practically painful. She remembered the early days of their relationship, when she had been so attracted and desperate for the defender that they couldn’t even make it home, but rather had to fuck in the club bathroom, the Norwegian’s hand clamped over her mouth to keep her from getting them caught.

Alexia’s jealousy might have burned hot and bright, but Ingrid’s simmered. It continued even when Mapi’s hands were all over her body in wildly inappropriate ways, low and threatening, more contained but no less deadly when it finally did strike. 

Ingrid threw her head back on Mapi’s shoulder, her back once again arching as she tilted her head toward the Spaniard, her nose brushing against the defender's neck before she spoke. Her voice was thick and low, and Mapi felt her legs involuntarily clench together at the feeling. But the words out of her mouth are ones that the brunette wasn’t expecting, and it causes her to do a bit of a double take. 

“Did she feel better than me?” Ingrid husks, and Mapi stills against her, her expression jumping in surprise. It seemed like an outrageous question, with the simplest of answers. 

Never.

“What?” She asks, the surprise evident in her tone. It’s at this that Ingrid pulls away entirely, spinning around until her front is pressed into Mapi’s, their chests pressed together as she looks at the defender, their faces barely inches apart. It’s then that the Spaniard sees the jealousy, painted into the lines of her girlfriend's face. 

“I said. Did. She. Feel. Better. Than. Me?” Ingrid spits out, each individual word holding a note of malice, and Mapi’s eyes narrow as she presses further into Ingrid, their lips brushing together, not caring who saw them. 

“No.” Mapi answers plainly, because it’s an answer that doesn’t need to be undressed to be completely true. 

“Prove it,” Ingrid snaps in response, and one of Mapi’s eyebrows lifts in surprise at her tone, but she pulls back slightly before nodding, grabbing the Norwegian’s hand and intending to lead them toward the exit, when the midfielder changes their direction, headed toward the bathrooms instead. 

“Not there. Here. Right now,” Ingrid insists, and Mapi genuinely can’t believe that she’s hearing these words come out of her girlfriend's mouth, but she also doesn’t complain in the slightest. If anything, it’s more of a relief to know that the Norwegian still wants her this much, in this way. Not that Mapi doubted that very often, but occasionally when times like these last few weeks occurred, it was an inevitability. 

Ingrid and Mapi had been together for nearly two years now, and the Spaniard sometimes wondered if she would ever grow tired of this, if their sex life would ever become boring. It was what had scared her about a long term relationship, but she found that the more that she grew to love Ingrid, the more she grew to enjoy and find the fun with experimenting in their relationship. She felt safe to let go, and not like she was contained in the ways she thought a relationship would bring. 

Two years later, and there’s nobody else Mapi would ever fuck in a club bathroom, on the side of the road, in a bed, against the kitchen counter, anywhere, than whereever she was with Ingrid. 

Ingrid leads them back toward the bathrooms of the club with little fanfare. There are separate rooms, two for the men and two for the women. The midfielder drags the two of them to the last one, all but shoving Mapi in the door and stepping in after her, clicking the lock shut before she’s on the Spaniard, pressing her back into the wall as their mouths finally meet. 

The kiss is hot and desperate and needy, Ingrid’s mouth hard against Mapi’s, swallowing the light moan that the Spaniard lets out at the feeling of Ingrid’s body pressed so close to hers. The Norwegian leans back just far enough to splay one of her hands on the defender's abdomen, her lips moving down toward Mapi’s neck. 

The brunette can’t help the whine that slips past her lips when Ingrid nips at her neck, and she can feel the way that the dark haired woman smiles against her skin as she soothes it with her tongue. Her mouth is insistent and unwavering in its path, kissing anywhere and everywhere as a litany of tiny breathy noises slips past the defenders lips. She moves up Mapi’s neck rapidly, before pulling back so that her mouth is right next to the Spaniard's ear. 

“You know how much I love to hear how much you want me, but you’re going to get us caught María,” Ingrid murmurs before she returns to Mapi’s neck, her movements now languid and relaxed, a sharp contrast to the mildly frantic nature of her kisses before she stopped. 

Mapi squirms uncomfortably, the ache between her legs growing hard to ignore. She can’t remember the last time she was this turned on, the last time she wanted Ingrid this badly. The brunette had a bit of a reputation for being rather voracious when it came to sex, and today was no different. 

But the Norwegian is merciful, if only for the fact that she is equally as desperate, her hand descending rapidly south, her nimble fingers popping the button of Mapi’s pants before she pulls the leather down with a sharp tug. The midfielder managed to get the material to Mapi’s mid thigh, and that's really all the space she needs in honesty. 

Ingrid cups the Spaniard over her underwear, letting out a harsh breath at how wet she found the fabric under her. Her expression told a different story, and when Mapi managed to work her eyes open she found a frown written across Ingrid’s face, one that made her pause, just slightly. 

She’s about to ask Ingrid what’s wrong when without any warning whatsoever the midfielder shoves the brunette’s underwear to the side, sinking two fingers into the wet heat she finds between Mapi’s thighs. 

The defender muffles her sharp cry with a hand to her mouth, her eyes slamming shut as stars practically erupt before her closed eyelids. Between the combination of dancing, the fact that it’s been weeks, and the stretch of two fingers right from the get go, Mapi is already painfully close. 

Ingrid moves her fingers achingly slowly, and Mapi lets a little mewl past her fingers that has the Norwegian looking up at her sharply, clearly unimpressed. She clamps her hand over her mouth once more, her hips rutting down, chasing the light friction she’s being given. 

It doesn’t really matter though. She’s so turned on that if Ingrid asked her to come, she probably would. It’s not going to take much. 

Mapi knows it. 

Ingrid knows it. 

But the midfielder is still slightly desperate to drag this on despite the circumstances, so she continues with her bitterly slow pace as she looks Mapi in the eyes, her face tilted as she asks her the question. 

“Would her fingers have felt better? Is it her who you imagine when I’m inside of you?” Ingrid taunts, the anger clear in her tone. 

Mapi was hers, and hers alone. 

She didn’t share. 

“No, god no,” Mapi gasps out as Ingrid picks up her pace, faster and faster and faster until the Spaniard is gripping at her shoulders tightly, chasing the pleasure to the ends of the earth. 

“Who is it you want then?” Ingrid husks, and the sound of her voice combined with the relentless pace is the thing that sends Mapi over the edge out of nowhere, a loud moan spilling out of her mouth as the coil within her snaps. 

“You!” The defender moans out as her back arches into Ingrid, making a complete mess of her underwear as her body shakes and Ingrid grips her tightly. The Norwegian had to admit that she had been expecting the orgasm, but not for it to happen so quickly or quite so pornographically in nature, but she isn’t complaining. She simply holds her girlfriend as she comes down from her high, knowing what her next move is but also not wanting to be completely inconsiderate. 

It’s only when Mapi’s body fully relaxes back into the wall that Ingrid slips out of her, walking over to the paper towel holder and cleaning her fingers before she moves toward the door. 

“Car. Now.” Ingrid doesn’t even bother with full sentences, instead making her intention perfectly clear with two singular words. The Spaniard is quick to pull her pants up and button them, following the Norwegian out of the bathroom stall and to the car, where Ingrid slipped into the driver's seat. She had only had a few sips of her negroni, and didn’t even feel tipsy beyond the slight headiness of getting Maria off. 

Speaking of, the defender had sat down in the car and barely closed her door before Ingrid was pulling away from the curb. Once they had gotten onto the road, the midfielder slid her right hand over, placing it as far up as she possibly could on Mapi’s thigh. The dark haired woman shows no evidence of being affected, compared to the brunette, who whimpers slightly as she shifts in her seat, moving toward Ingrid imperceptibly. 

Despite the fact that she’s already had an orgasm, Mapi still feels desperate. She was hoping that coming would help to satiate her, but it seems to have only done the opposite. She needs Ingrid twice as much as she did at the club, and she’s fighting to sit still in her seat and not suggest they pull over for a repeat of the club, but on the side of the road. 

And Ingrid is absolutely no help. Mapi isn’t sure if her desperation is all that transparent or if Ingrid is egging her on, but halfway through the drive she begins to rub tiny circles into the skin of Mapi’s inner thigh. It’s over the leather of her pants, but it’s still enough for the Spaniard to bite her lip to keep from letting out a grunt of frustration. 

Mapi is so desperate in fact, that when Ingrid finally pulls the car up to their parking spot, she doesn’t even bother with allowing the Norwegian to get out of the car. She simply climbs over the center console, pressing down to shift Ingrid’s seat all the way back before she lands squarely in her lap. It’s a tight fit, but she honestly doesn’t give a flying fuck. 

The defender wastes absolutely no time, gripping Ingrid’s face in her hands as she smashes their lips together in a searing kiss. Ingrid’s hands fly up to hold the Spaniard’s side, keeping her body flush with the Norwegian in the cramped car.

But Mapi doesn’t care, she simply presses her lips to Ingrid’s again and again and again, teeth clashing and thirst unquenchable as she slips her tongue into the midfielders mouth. She can’t help the grunt that shoves itself out when Ingrid slides her hands lower, palming at Mapi’s ass over the leather of her pants. The defender grinds down into Ingrid, even with how cramped her legs are, chasing any, any kind of friction. 

Ingrid somehow manages to work one of her knees toward Mapi, so when the Spaniard grinds down again she is hit with an actual surface to grind against, and she tips her head back in an unabashed moan. 

“Come on María, come for me,” Ingrid encourages, not expecting for much to happen from it. They’ve hardly done anything, and it’s nothing but a little bit of dirty grinding. They haven’t even lost any of their clothes yet. 

But it only takes a few desperate movements from the brunette, directed in pace by Ingrid’s hands which are still on her ass, for Mapi’s head to fall back once more, her mouth opening in a silent cry as she crashes over the edge, Ingrid staring at her with wide eyes. It wasn’t a big orgasm, and it wasn’t really satisfying in the way that the defender desperately needed, but it was still an orgasm nonetheless. 

The Norwegian couldn’t help but be surprised. Between the orgasm in the club and now one here in the car, she was starting to understand perhaps why Mapi had done the things in the club that she had. It didn’t excuse them, but she understood it now, at least. 

And if she really was this desperate, then Ingrid was determined to give her exactly what she needed. Not without a little bit of teasing, however. 

Ingrid leans over to pop her car door open, taking a moment to look at the foggy windows of her car before Mapi was stepping off of her and out toward their apartment, Ingrid following her quickly. 

Mapi kept her head angled away from Ingrid, more than a little embarrassed about her now two orgasms. She knew she seemed desperate, but she really wished that she had more resolve than this. She wasn’t sure what Ingrid was thinking after that last orgasm, and her cheeks remained flush with embarrassment as they came to their front door. The Norwegian unlocked it for them before she held the door for her girlfriend, who still refused to meet her eyes. 

Mapi tried to move past the entryway, but Ingrid wouldn’t let her. The midfielder grasped the defender's wrist, forcing her to turn around to face her. 

“María?” Ingrid asked lightly, her tone a complete contrast to the entire night thus far. Now that the defender won’t even meet her eyeline, she needs to understand what is actually going on here. “What’s going on?” 

Mapi shrugs, pulling her arm back to herself before she offers a half assed answer. 

“I don’t know. It’s been awhile,” she commented off handedly, and Ingrid felt understanding begin to wash over her as she took Maria in. The flush of her cheeks, the way she was shifting from foot to foot, how she refused to meet the midfielder’s eyes after the orgasm in the car. 

“Are you a little needy, corazón?” Ingrid asked, her voice low and thick, and Mapi looked up to find that the same fire that burned deep within her was mirrored back at her in the Norwegian’s eyes. 

The shame she had felt walking back from the car melted away as she nodded, swallowing roughly. Ingrid had this uncanny ability to make her feel incredibly seen, even in instances like this, right now. 

“Yes. For you, and only you,” Mapi adds the last sentence at the last second, and just as she hoped that it would, Ingrid’s face twisted into a satisfied smirk as she moved toward the Spaniard. The midfielder decides in that moment to take a bit of a different approach than what she had originally planned on. Because as much as Mapi had missed Ingrid, the Norwegian had missed the Spaniard just as much. Getting herself off in an empty hotel room devoid of the defender was no match to the real thing standing here in front of her. To the muscled and tattooed form she knew was hiding under all of that clothing, the soft peaks accompanied by taut and muscled valleys of her tan, tattooed skin. 

So she decides to go about this in a way that will satisfy both of them, eventually . 

“There’s other ways to get my attention than to put your hands all over another woman, you know that María?” Ingrid muses, her tone unserious but her words far more goading than Mapi had expected, and the brunette rushes to explain herself. 

“I didn’t–” Mapi starts, only for Ingrid to press her back into the wall, her face inches from the defenders, once again. Her words are low and dripping with sex appeal, and if Mapi’s underwear weren’t already completely ruined it would be now. 

“If you need me to fuck you, you tell me. Because you’re mine, and I don’t share with anyone, not our teammates, not the needy women at the club who eyefuck you, nobody.” Ingrid presses two of her fingers into the entrance of Mapi’s mouth, the Spaniards jaw slackening to allow for her to take the middle and ring finger of the midfielder into her mouth. Ingrid doesn't need to tell her for Mapi to know that she is supposed to suck, and that’s exactly what she does, her eyes never leaving Ingrid’s as she rolls her tongue over and over again. 

Ingrid removes her fingers from Mapi’s mouth before she quickly steps out of her jeans, shucking off her pants and underwear before she slips her top off, and Mapi is rewarded with the sight of her bare chest. 

Mapi follows suit, tugging her leather pants down before she undoes the tie of her corset top, tearing it off her skin, not caring if she ripped the stitching. She reaches back to unclip her bra, discarding it on the ground with little care as she returns to look at Ingrid. 

But what she finds surprises her, because out of all the options she would have counted on, to look back and find her girlfriend touching herself was not one that Mapi was prepared for. Ingrid is pressed up against the opposite wall, her hand moving over her clit in small, tight circles as she breathes harshly, and it fills Mapi with a flare of jealousy, one that Ingrid immediately clocks, a smirk on her face before she opens her mouth to let out a breathy moan. 

“Oh what? You want to help get me off, not her?” Ingrid asks lightly, her hips canting down slightly as her fingers speed up, and Mapi practically growls at the implication, her hands tightening into a fist. But Ingrid isn’t done yet, instead continuing to provoke her girlfriend, obsessed with the way that Maria is looking at her, all protective and filled with want. 

“We could always call Alexia. I’m sure she would have no problem fucking me into next Tuesday if I asked,” Ingrid hums lightly, and the Spaniard’s lips pulled back in a snarl at the thought, suddenly feeling even more territorial. It’s that comment that finally snaps her restraint, and she charges across the hallway, shoving Ingrid’s fingers away from herself so that she can replace them with her own. The thought of Alexia having Ingrid like this, of anyone but her having Ingrid like this is enough to make her shudder with poorly concealed jealousy.  

The Spaniard coats her fingers in the copious wetness that was accumulating between Ingrid’s legs before she slipped a finger into the midfielder, who let out a ragged sigh at the feeling. Her head thumped back against the wall as Mapi attached her lips to the sensitive skin of Ingrid’s neck. She works her lips and tongue down the column of her throat, stopping to suck harshly at her pulse point as the Norwegian lets out another breathy groan, opening her eyes to find Mapi looking at her with blown pupils and hooded eyes. 

It’s all the encouragement needed for the dark haired woman to press herself further into Mapi, slipping her own hand in between their bodies to curl into the defender as well. 

Mapi moans, not having expected Ingrid to do it, but she squirms and presses closer to the Norwegian at the feeling as she doubles down, increasing her pace, desperate to get Ingrid over the edge. 

Desperate for Ingrid to only want her, and her alone. 

Ingrid curls her fingers within Mapi, and the brunette's pace stutters as she lets out a keening whine, and Ingrid smirks around a groan that she lets out, looking far too self satisfied. 

But Mapi’s face is still set in what can only be described as jealousy, and she increases her pace as Ingrid does as well. 

Ingrid is closer than Mapi, but she shakes her head, clamping down on the brunette's fingers, forcing her to slow her pace. 

“Together,” Ingrid insists, grits out really as she fights her own impending orgasm, and Mapi watches her for a second before she nods, focusing on her own pleasure for a moment as Ingrid’s fingers curl tighter into her. Mapi grips the Norwegian’s shoulder with her free hand, nearly sobbing in relief at the feeling of Ingrid so deeply inside of her, and just when she’s on the crest does she nod fervently. Ingrid relaxes herself, allowing for Mapi to pick up her pace once more. 

Their front hallway is filled with the sound of choked sobs and low moans as the two women fall over the precipice, Mapi first and then Ingrid right after her, holding tightly to one another as their bodies shake and work through their respective orgasm. 

Ingrid is the first of the two of them to fully come back to herself, but she allows for Mapi to remain tightly wound to her as the Spaniard shudders through her orgasm, letting out a sigh of relief as she lets out a final shake. 

The Norwegian is looking at her with quirked lips, and Mapi looks slightly hazy, having finally, finally having gotten some of the relief that she had been craving so acutely. 

Without words, the midfielder steps back into her space, pressing her lips to the corner of Mapi’s mouth for a moment before the Spaniard turns into her, kissing her properly. 

Ingrid grips Mapi’s hand, bringing it forward to press it to her stomach before she slid it up, over her chest. Mapi took the hint easily, kneading at Ingrid’s breasts as the Norwegian whimpered slightly, a smirk still on her lips. 

“And to think,” Ingrid began, her lips just barely ghosting over Mapi’s, they were so close together. 

“It could be Alexia doing this,” the midfielder mused, and it’s enough to make Mapi’s whole face darken as she pulls back sharply.

“No.” Mapi answers simply, trying to sound tough, but it comes out rather breathy and needy. 

“No? And why is that?” Ingrid asks, and Mapi is happy to supply the answer. 

“You’re mine,” Mapi answers simply, and Ingrid grins devilishly before she pushes the Spaniard back slightly, offering her a wink before she begins to head to the bedroom. 

Ingrid had the defender right where she wanted her, and she wasn’t about to let that go to waste. When Mapi slips in the door just a second after her, she’s greeted with the sight of Ingrid bent over, her perfect ass on display as she looks through their toy drawer. 

Mapi was honestly expecting Ingrid to grab something to use on her, given the possessive nature of the Norwegian earlier in the night, but what she forgot to factor in was that perhaps Ingrid was just as desperate for some relief as she was. 

So maybe Mapi really can’t be all that surprised when Ingrid tosses her the strap, before fishing out the toy she wants to use. It’s a green one, long and thin, and a personal favorite of the midfielder. The Norwegian watches with hungry eyes as Mapi attaches the toy to the strap before stepping into the harness, taking care to cinch it up all without her gaze ever leaving Ingrids. 

When Mapi is finally getting the last few straps adjusted, Ingrid points toward the bed wordlessly, and despite the eyebrow raise she receives, the Spaniard is quick to obey, laying down on the bed, propping herself up on her elbows to watch Ingrid. 

The dark haired woman walks toward the bed slowly, climbing on top of Mapi and settling on her lap, her core connecting with the toy that is laying dormant on the defender's stomach. 

Ingrid leans down, attaching her lips to Mapi’s chest, swirling her nipple around with her tongue and laving it with attention before she switches to her other breast. Mapi laid back on the bed at the sensation, her chest arching up into the Norwegian’s mouth as one of her hands came to tangle in Ingrid’s dark, thick hair. The brunette doesn’t direct her exactly, but when she pulls lightly on Ingrid’s hair she is rewarded with a moan that is pressed into her skin. 

Ingrid kisses up between the valley of her breasts, over her collarbone and up over her neck, nipping at her neck tattoo before she moves to suck earnestly at Mapi’s throat. It takes all of her energy for the Spaniard to not writhe under the Norwegian’s careful ministrations, and Ingrid can’t help but smirk into her neck by how taut and tense Mapi’s body has become. 

The midfielder finally moves until her nose is just to the outer edge of Mapi’s ear, her head turned in toward the brunette. ‘

“Have you ever considered María,” Ingrid drawls, her voice low and positively dripping with sex, “that I might need you just as much as you need me?” 

The dark haired woman provides no further elaboration before she is off of Mapi, reaching for the bottle of lube and squirting some into her hand, gripping the dildo and coating it appropriately, making sure to press it back into the harness and toward Mapi’s body when she moves downward. It’s not a two way strap by any means, but the Spaniard can feel the pressure against her navel, and her hips buck up of their own volition at the slightest bit of friction. 

With a smile, Ingrid wipes her hand on a clean towel they keep in their toy drawer before she slips back onto Mapi’s lap, her knees on either side of the Spaniard’s hips. She reaches down to grip the dildo, bringing it up so that she can sink onto it, very, very slowly. 

It’s not a thick dildo, but Ingrid is still tight and it shows. Mapi remains laying but she opens her eyes to watch the show, as Ingrid presses further and further down with each pass, giving herself time to adjust. 

When she finally does bottom out, she makes sure to move her hips in a circular motion, just like she knows that Mapi likes, just like she knows will drive the defender crazy. 

If Mapi can tease, so can Ingrid. 

And tease, she does.

The Norwegian is near pornographic in her display, moving up and down as her chest bounces, and she arches her back as a moan ripples out of her mouth. 

Her hands have come first to run through her hair, and when she looks down Mapi is looking at her in exactly the way the midfielder wants her to, like some sort of ethereal person. Ingrid, at least to herself, might be far from it, but she would never lie and say that Mapi looking at her this way didn’t turn her on. 

She can feel her wetness running down the inside of her thighs as she continues, picking up her pace as more groans and whines slip from her lips. She’s closer now, probably needs a little bit of stimulation on her clit to send her over the edge, but she wants to make it last a little bit longer, wants Mapi to look at her like this a little longer. 

When the defender reaches up to palm at her chest Ingrid is quick to stop her, grasping her wrist as her pace stutters, the midfielder sitting down and shifting her hips side to side in slow motions. 

“Uh-huh. Touching is only for Alexia, right? Just like you touched her?” Ingrid asks in a saccharinely sweet tone, and Mapi’s eyes widen in surprise as Ingrid lets go of her hand, reaching down to play with her own clit for a few seconds as she resumed her pace. It only took her a few more moments to crest over the edge, a broken cry leaving her lips as her body contracts, her chest pressing up as she slides the hand that had been on her clit up her body to palm at her own chest. 

Meanwhile, the Spaniard has been left absolutely fuming under Ingrid, and she doesn’t even allow the Norwegian to fully come down from her orgasm before she’s flipping the two of them, the dark haired woman landing squarely on her back with Mapi over her. 

The defender doesn’t even bother saying anything, she simply moves Ingrid’s legs to open her up before she begins to press into her, her eyes watching for any sense of true discomfort. 

They had a safe word, and they’ve used it before, but Mapi is always still conscious to check. She knows they push the boundaries of this sort of thing on occasion, but when she looks at Ingrid she finds nothing but acceptance looking back at her. 

The dark haired woman pants Mapi’s name as the brunette rolls her hips into the Norwegian’s over and over and over again, her pace quick and efficient. 

Ingrid is losing her grip on reality slightly, completely overcome with pleasure as she looks up at the defender. She’s still sensitive from her last orgasm, and the pleasure is nearly all consuming when Mapi gets this focused. The Spaniard is bracing herself on either side of Ingrid’s chest, her arms flexed as she presses down toward Ingrid again and again and again, and the Norwegian can’t find it within herself to be of any complaint. 

“You’re mine,” Mapi grunts out as her hips slap into Ingrid’s, and the Norwegian’s mouth opens in a deliciously unabashed moan as she nods insistently, too far gone to remember the little game they had been playing. 

“I’m yours María, all yours,” Ingrid gasps as Mapi slams into her, and the defender can’t help the groan she lets out at hearing Ingrid say that she was hers. Her hair is fanned out on the pillow, a dark contrast against the white bedsheets, and her cheeks are flushed as she bites her lip, her chest positively heaving, stuttering with pleasure. 

Mapi’s positive she’s never seen anything more gorgeous, and when Ingrid finally comes it’s in a silent cry, her abdominal muscles rippling as a guttural moan finally appears as she comes with a force. There are tears leaking out of her eyes as her body arches into the feeling, and Mapi is quick to pull out and work her middle finger and ring finger over Ingrid’s clit in tight circles, and just when Ingrid is sure that she can’t take anymore, the Spaniard slips her fingers into the midfielder. 

Ingrid’s mouth opens as her chest arches, but Mapi is relentless. 

The defender is completely insatiable, never wants to see anything but Ingrid come like this again and again. 

“María, María, I–” Ingrid tries, but hearing the Norwegian moan her name is doing nothing but making the Spaniard work harder, her two fingers curling into the midfielder as her thumb teases her clit over and over and over again. 

Ingrid comes without warning, a warm gush of liquid spilling over Mapi’s hand and out onto their bedsheets, as her body convulses, her lover's name slipping from her lips like a prayer as her third orgasm shudders through her. 

Mapi works her through it gently, far more smug with herself than she had been when she had come inside the house initially. The ache between her own thighs has grown entirely unbearable, but all she cares about is Ingrid as she settles next to the Norwegian, whose eyes are still screwed tightly shut, her chest working overtime to get air to her lungs. 

Aftershakes work their way through her body as Mapi places a hand delicately on her stomach, a soothing presence rather than an overly sexual one. It takes her a few minutes to come back to herself, but eventually the midfielders breath evened out, and she places her own hand over Mapi’s as she looks over at the Spaniard, who is propped up on one elbow looking at her. 

“Better?” Mapi asks softly, in reference to the thing Ingrid had last said before she had started fucking herself on the strap. Ingrid swallows thickly as she takes Mapi in, how thready and tight her body appears, the way her legs are crossed even as she lays in bed, all of the hallmark signs that her girlfriend needs to get off. 

Ingrid knew this when she got into a relationship with the Spaniard. Mapi’s sex drive was on another planet, and the Norwegian loved it about her. She could go for hours and hours, and was completely bottomless not only in her desire, but also in her ability to give. 

The Norwegian knew if she asked to stop that Mapi would easily agree, likely slipping off to the bathroom to get herself off once or twice before she returned to Ingrid, wrapping her arms around the Norwegian and letting her fall asleep on her chest. 

But Ingrid, despite being blissed out currently, is more than happy to continue this. So she shakes her head, one eyebrow raising as she raked her eyes over the defender's bare figure. 

“No,” Ingrid answered simply before she sat up, leaning over into the Spaniard’s space and pressing her down onto the bed with a hand on her sternum. 

“Can’t have you going to bed with the feeling of your hands on her now, can I?” Ingrid teases, but it lacks most of the bite of earlier. Mapi only smirks back at her as the Norwegian returns to her chest once more. She’s more thorough in her attention this time around, less desperate for herself and more attuned to Mapi’s body. She flattens her tongue against the defender's nipple as she brings a hand up to pinch at the opposing nipple, smiling into the brunette’s chest as she whines at the feeling. 

Ingrid kisses her way down Mapi’s abdomen, licking a line down her abs before she nips at the skin there playfully, enjoying the way that Mapi’s hips jump at the contact. 

The Norwegian has to take a few minutes when she finally meets her destination to pull at the cinches of the strap, undoing it before she carefully slides it down Mapi’s legs, the brunette lifting her hips to help the Norwegian get it off. 

Ingrid rids it of the green dildo before she sets it carefully to the side, well aware that she’ll be coming back for it shortly. But for now she turns back to her girlfriend, well aware of her current destination. 

Mapi can’t help but spread her legs wider as Ingrid settles between her legs, looking up at the Spaniard once more before she lowers herself right toward where the defender wanted her. 

“You sure you don’t want me to call Ale, ask her if she can send her little girlfriend back here to get you off instead of me?” Ingrid offers, so close to Mapi that she can feel the hot breath from her speaking, right where she needs the midfielder. 

“God, no Ingrid, I just want you,” Mapi promises, trying her hardest not to squirm as she nods her head. Ingrid seems to be satisfied with that answer, and she leans down, bracing her hands on either of Mapi’s thighs as she licks through the defender. 

The Spaniard lets out an ungodly noise as her hips jump into Ingrid’s mouth, and the Norwegian can’t help but moan at the taste of the defender, salty and wonderful and just as she remembers it, even after all this time. 

Ingrid moves up to flick Mapi’s clit, first side to side and then up and down with her tongue as the brunette’s hands bunch in the sheets, grunting at the feeling of Ingrid’s soft tongue against her. 

The Spaniard clenches her thighs around Ingrid’s head, pulling her in as she brings Mapi’s clit into her mouth earnestly, sucking hard as the defender bites back a scream. 

Mapi struggles to keep her hips pinned to the bed, and when she arches for the third time the Norwegian slides her hand up to press it over the base of the defender’s navel, keeping her hips trapped down to the bed sheets. 

Once she is assured that the defender won’t move, the midfielder dives back in, slipping her tongue into the wet heat between the defender's thigh, letting the slick coat her lips and chin as she pressed further and further into the brunette. 

Ingrid wasn’t trying to tease, she was far past that at this point, and she smiled when she felt the familiar tightening of Mapi’s abdomen, still working herself against the defender as she slipped two fingers into the Spaniard, curling them quickly and effectively. 

Mapi cried out, gasping Ingrid’s name as she came with the Norwegian’s finger buried deep within her, her tongue working her clit over in circles as she came down from her high. She sucked in air in a greedy fashion, only realizing once she opened her eyes that Ingrid wasn’t on the bed with her anymore, but rather standing next to her, currently getting herself adjusted to the strap. 

Mapi’s eyes widened in surprise before her pupils dilated, the thought of Ingrid fucking into her a more than welcome thought. The dark haired woman had attached Mapi’s favorite toy to the strap, the red one with ridges, and just the sight of it practically has the Spaniard drooling in want. 

“All fours,” Ingrid instructs, and the defender is quick to pop up and settle just as Ingrid had told her. One look at the wetness between the brunette’s thighs is enough for the midfielder to know that she probably doesn’t need any sort of lube, but she does it regardless, not wanting Mapi to be uncomfortable. 

Mapi has settled herself on the edge of the bed, and Ingrid walks right over to her and places her dominant hand on the small of the Spaniard’s back. She runs her hand over the tattoos she finds there, the cross, the lion, the two sphynx’s, the lotus flower at the base of her neck. 

She runs her hand down the defenders spine, trailing it with just one finger and smiling at the way that Mapi shivered under her before she palmed at the Spaniard’s ass appreciatively before she finally returned to exactly where Mapi wanted her. 

Ingrid eases the strap into Mapi slowly, allowing her time to adjust to it as she moves in and out of her shallowly. It didn’t take long for the Spaniard to adjust, arching her chest into the ground and throwing her head back as she pressed back into Ingrid. 

The Norwegian grips at Mapi’s hip for security, beginning to set a slow rhythm of pumping into the defender. But Mapi wants more, and faster, and she reaches around with one hand to grasp at the midfielders thigh, encouraging Ingrid to go faster. 

“Please, more,” Mapi practically begs, and Ingrid smirks at the desperation in her tone but she obliges all the same, beginning to move faster and faster. 

The brunette lets out a ragged sigh at the feeling, her head still thrown back as her hips press up. The Spaniard drops down onto her elbows, changing the angle and releasing a groan at the feeling as Ingrid continued, her pace quickening. She’s reaching the perfect spot, and it only continues with her next movement. 

The Norwegian reaches forward with one hand to toy with the defender's clit, knowing that Mapi was close, and knowing that this was going to be a good orgasm. The muscles of the brunette’s back were rippling as her chest contracted and spasmed, and her breathing wasn’t so much breathing as it was raspy moans. 

Mapi was tightening around the strap, making it hard for Ingrid to move even as she continued to pump in and out of the Spaniard, her hand working tirelessly over the defender's clit. 

Mapi can’t even stop the whines to warn Ingrid that she is going to come, not that she needed to. Ingrid could tell, and she chased it, pressing faster and harder into the Spaniard as the coil inside Mapi snapped, sending her crashing over the edge violently as her body spasms and contracts. 

There is stillness in the bed for a moment, the brunette suspended in pleasure before her entire body begins to shake with the force of her orgasm, Ingrid’s name falling from her mouth in a breathy moan, reverent as her entire body relaxes into the mattress, her hips still up in the air, Ingrid still completely inside of her. 

The dark haired woman leans forward to press a line of open mouthed kisses to the defenders spine softly, allowing her to come down from her orgasm slowly before she slipped out of her, stepping out of the strap and discarding it to the side before she made for the bathroom briskly. 

Mapi is still laying on the bed when Ingrid returns, brandishing a wet washcloth that she uses to clean first the defender, and then herself before she discards it back in the bathroom. By the time she manages to get back to bed the defender is settled against the pillows, her chest and face flushed but alert, and she gestures for Ingrid to join her, something the Norwegian happily does. 

Ingrid curls into Mapi’s side as she always does, tilting her head up to ghost her nose over the skin of the brunette’s throat before she presses a featherlight kiss to her jaw, the softness a juxtaposition to the frantic yet deliberate sex they had just finished having. 

But this was one of the things Mapi loved about Ingrid, her ability to be just as sweet as she was sexy, to do those kinds of things in the bed before they curled into one another, their adoration just as prominent as their lust was. It was the first time that Mapi has felt that kind of balance with someone, and now she craves it almost as much as the actual sex itself sometimes. 

“You know,” Ingrid murmurs softly, her voice barely above a whisper but still audible nonetheless. “You don’t need to hump on one of our teammates to get me to fuck you, you know that right?” 

Her tone is gentle, forgiving and understanding in the quiet stillness of the bedroom. When Mapi doesn’t say anything, she continues. 

“I missed you just as much as you did me, I promise. We don’t need to let it get this bad, I just need you to talk to me. I had no idea how you were feeling,” Ingrid admits, because the fact was that she was relatively unaware of exactly how Mapi had been feeling, and she hates that. Maria is her favorite person, and she always wants to know what she is feeling or what she is concerned about or needed. 

Mapi sighed softly, pressing a kiss to the crown of Ingrid’s hair before she wrapped her arm tighter around the Norwegian, more protective and secure. 

“I know, you are right. In the future I will be more honest and try to communicate with you more about what I need and when,” Mapi vows, and there is silence for a few moments before she smirks, letting out a huff of a laugh before she speaks once more. 

“It was pretty nice to rile you up and get you all jealous like that, though, that was hot,” Mapi admits, and realizes as soon as she’s said it that it’s a mistake. 

“Really María? Well…I guess two can play at that game!”  “Wait, no I didn’t – what?!”

[simpforsolas]

thoughts on how veilguard could've improved rook's and solas's character arcs

So I've been thinking about Veilguard nonstop since I finished it last night. I want to preface this with the fact that I liked many things about it a lot. While I do have my criticisms, it was probably the most fun I had actually playing a Dragon Age game. They made a lot of improvements in a lot of ways. But while I enjoyed (for the most part) what was there in the game, the entire time I just had the feeling that it was missing something (or maybe more accurately, a lot of things). This post won't go into all of those things, but I want to really delve into the biggest missed opportunity in the game: Rook's character arc and how it could have impacted Solas.

I found that Rook’s character arc was somewhat overtaken by the companions. But there was great potential for a phenomenal arc for them: what kind of hero will you be? From the beginning, Rook was set up to be a mirror to Solas. They remind Solas of who he was when he first started his rebellion: passionate, idealistic, wanting to make the world a better place. Basically, the quintessential hero. But Solas didn't stay that way. In pursuit of his noble goals, he made so many sacrifices and caused so much destruction that he accidentally became the villain. So if Rook is Solas's mirror, the logical conclusion is that Rook should've had the opportunity to reflect BOTH sides of Solas with two different paths: the "pure" hero path, or the "dark" villain path. Allowing two different paths for a protagonist in a game like this is tough, so I understand why it doesn't usually happen, but in this case, I think it would work because "pure" or "dark" path, Rook's ultimate goal would remain the same: stop the gods. The only thing that would change would be the way they go about pursuing that goal.

How would this work in practice?

For the pure path, Rook would err on the side of protecting people. Examples of this could include: giving characters like the mayor and Illario a second chance instead of killing them, making the choice in an either/or scenario to save lives instead of going after the gods, refusing to make deals with demons for more power to help them in their fight. Pure Rook is basically what we got in the game so I don't need to go further on this, but Solas watching a pure Rook would be moved by what he sees. In Rook, he would see a reflection of what he could've been if he hadn't been corrupted and trapped by his own overwhelming guilt.

For the dark path, Rook would be willing to get their hands dirty and make questionable choices if it helped their ultimate cause of defeating the gods. Examples of this could include the opposite of above: killing Illario and the mayor, choosing to sacrifice people (such as the Dalish hostages) in order to not lose an opportunity to go after the gods, and making deals with the demons in Hossberg in exchange for power to help the fight. The motivation behind each of these decisions wouldn't be selfishness, it would be pragmatism. Making the choice that would give us the best chance against the gods, no matter the cost. Solas watching this Rook would feel validated in the choices he made. Rook reflects Solas's own downward spiral of a journey, in seeing yourself become the villain as you try to be the hero. He would see that when tasked with the near impossible task of stopping tyranny, Rook was willing to get their hands dirty, just like he was.

Giving Rook the agency to choose what kind of hero they want to be would tie in with themes the game already started, but didn't exactly deliver on. Solas asks the question "what will they call you, when this over?" and by the end of the game it's like, "well they'll probably call me that one nice dude who saved the world through friendship." But if they had the chance to become sort of Dread Wolfy themself, then that line would carry a lot more weight.

Now that we've established what a two-path Rook could've looked like, I want to explore a little more how that could've impacted Solas. I, personally, wasn't the biggest fan of Solas changing his mind only being made possible by Mythal releasing him from her service. For a few reasons, but what I'm going to focus on here is that it made his redemption into this one-event thing, instead of an overarching journey that could've taken place over the course of the game. What I think should've happened is that depending on Rook's path, Solas is either a) shown a new path that he could've taken or b) validated in the path that he took. Additionally, through conversations with Solas, you could challenge his worldview, or you could reinforce it. If you did a pure path Rook, Solas would basically be prepped to ultimately be receptive to the inquisitor/Mythal's attempts to appeal to him and get him to change his mind, while dark path Rook would reinforce Solas’s worldview so strongly that no one would be able to get through to him, and his mind couldn’t be changed. This way, his outcome would feel more like a culmination of choices instead of a one moment thing, you'd have more of a chance to see the gradual shift of his attitude, and Rook would have a more interesting character arc.

[hxrnyforsturns]

guess C.S

based off of guess by billie ellish and charli xcx

SMUTT. p in v, oral sex,nudity. swearing. tattoos. making out. pet names.

y/n X chris sturniolo

you: pink

chris: orange

friend: purple

a/n i haven't seen enough fics about this song so im adding to it ;) it like 2 am i wrote all of this in one night. i'm not proof reading it so there is probably a lot of errors but idgaf.

i was out with my best friends shopping after we got tattoos together. we got matching lower back tattoos. the design was a heart with a pretty design on the sides of the hearts, kind of looking like wings. all i could think about was chris's reaction to it. an up beat song is blasting through the speakers as we walk into a victoria's secret in search of nice lingerie.

"i know i got chris a lot of gifts for his birthday but i see him today for the first time since he left for his birthday. so i was thinking ill get a special set in his favorite color and surprise him. what do you guys think?"

"girl your gonna get an orange set? that's gonna be hideous "

"not in his eyes"

"whatever do what you want, i'll be getting an actual nice color!"

i roll my eyes at her comment. he was very special to me so the least i could do is get a set in his favorite color, even if it will not look good. i rummage around the colors, i found a vibrant orange mesh thong with a matching mesh bra. it was bedazzled on the straps of both pieces, it also had a slight leopard print on them. they were both exactly my size, it was a sign, i had to get it. i ran to the checkout

"wow that's a color!"

"he's gonna love it! i'm so excited!!"

i arrived home with my shopping bag. chris wasn't home from the airport yet so it gave me time to try on and wear my new purchase. i slipped on both pieces and they were gorgeous, i was afraid that it wouldn't look to good on me but it was phenomenal. my new favorite set. i put shorts and a big t shirt over it so i could surprise him once he got home.

an hour or two passed. i was watching tv and i heard the keys jangling. i shot up and ran to the door and there he was. my beautiful boy was there. his eyes looked bluer since he left.

"CHRIS!!"

"hey my love! ugh i missed you so much!" he pulled me in fora hug as he dropped all of his bags on the floor of the kitchen

"come on! i have been waiting all week to give you your gift!"

chris opened all of his wrapped gifts. he finished opening all of his gifts except for the one I had bought that was on my body.

"for this next gift, we have to play a little game"

"ooh fun!" he smirked

"guess."

"guess what?"

"just guess a color."

"hmm blue?"

"wrong"

"red?"

"wrong."

"what exactly is the item that i'm guessing the color of?"

"you'll see once you get the color right. i'll give you a hint it's your favorite." i smirked at him while laying him down on the bed

"orange?!"

"correct! now you get to see!"

his eyes widen as i take my shirt off and as my panties make an appearance.

"for me? tonight."

"all for you baby, always and forever."

"that's all i want. wow i like your new tattoo! it's so beautiful. like you!"

we smash our lips together as i fall on top of him. grasping on his hair as muffled moans leave our mouths still pressed together. we grow sloppier and sloppier. i pull away just to kiss down his neck to his collar bone. i make it down to his stomach and i tug at his boxers letting him know i want them off.

"please?"

he immediately rips them off. his cock sprung out to his stomach. i grasp it and start to kiss the tip of his dick.

"god i've missed you so much."

i take his length in my mouth the farthest it could go in my mouth. my eyes start to water. he's nonstop groaning as he stares at me.

"fuck- i wish you could wear that everyday it's really turning me on." he expresses in between pants.

"fuck baby. m'gonna- cu-" he shot his load in my mouth and around my face

"shit baby i'm so sorry. i didn't mean to!"

"no need to apologize baby." i took my finger and dragged it around my face gathering his cum on my finger.

"want a taste?" i shoved my finger in his mouth.

"god baby never take that outfit off. "

he fidgets with the black bow on the waistband. i'm laying on the bed and chris plays with my panties. he pulls them to the side and my head shot up. he buried his face in my pussy. he licks everything like it's his last meal. he stuck his tongue as well as his fingers. i grasp the sheets so tight i feel they will rip any second. i moan loud as ever he detaches his lips and finger for a moment. he grabs my panties off my body exposing my throbbing pussy. he kept the panties in his mouth for a moment as he tore his shirt off. he had them in his hand for the duration of the night. he grabbed his dick and shoved it in, a loud gasp coming from my mouth.

"oh my fuck, your the best ever. don't stop there." i'm staring up at him as he holds my panties in his mouth while his hands on my hips as he aggressively thrusts into me.

"i'm about to cum now baby"

"same- oh my FUCK-"

he pulled out seeing our juices mixed at my pussy.

"that set got me so turned on. best birthday gift ever "

"glad you enjoyed it"

"let me see that tattoo again." he placed kisses for about 3 minutes on the tattoo as he drifted to sleep on my bare ass.

chris never goes anywhere without my panties in his pocket.

[cbedfordart]

First of all!! Holy guacamole the music for SWC is phenomenal!!! I have some of the songs on my gym playlist they’re perfect for when I workout!!

Secondiy, how long did it take you to make SWC? After playing it I started thinking about making my own game but was curious how the process went for a two person team like yours

Gosh I miss going to the gym ;;! But thank you! In terms of time, we start the project at the end of 2020, but most of the development was between 2022 and the 2024 release. We had full time work still while tinkering away in 2020 - but when we signed with the publisher which allowed us to work on it full time, we were able to expand what the game could be and really focus on it - it would have been a completely different experience had we stayed working with other jobs, that much I'm certain. The process was difficult, and I think especially trying to make something this size our first time around for a commercial project. We did do some game jams in 2021, but that's a different thing all together. They are fun and absolutely worth while to experience a bitesize version of how it feels to finish something, and it may also be a good indicator to see where you might struggle if things become stressful during production (do you try to work till 4 am? Do you avoid the project all together and abandon it? how would you handle people who suddenly can't commit to the project anymore? etc) It's hard work, like, this is the hardest I ever worked on anything in my life - and that's because I really cared about it! But there's so many interconnecting parts, there's so many opportunity for things to break, and when it's all said and done, you have to go through the meat grinder of seeing people struggle with what you've made, dislike parts of it, even if they love it overall that's still hard to see. When your game goes out there, people don't see the developer who's worked 60 work weeks and ate one meal a day in the last three weeks because they didn't have time to eat just to get it done. We are very grateful that people enjoy the game, and I really worry what my mental state would be if the game wasn't received how it has been. Make your own game, but do not make something the size of SWC lol. Not for your first time. And be very realistic about how long it will take, and be extremely realistic about how much work needs to be done. I could write an entire dissertation about what I've learned, what I'd do differently and the whole experience itself - but I can't do that here lol. There are more tools and resources to be able to just get up and make a game - I want you to read this and feel encouraged and feel a fire in your heart burn to make the thing you want to make, but I want you to know it is easy to burn yourself and you must take care of yourself, and you must look out for your health. After the release I was very much thinking "Could I do this again? I don't think I could ever do this again" But there's the drive to want to create and it is hard to extinguish. I hear a few seconds of the Space Channel 5 soundtrack and I'm ready to throw myself to the wolves of gamedev all over again. There are too many worlds in the mind that I must create so that others can occupy them! I must share these worlds, it would be selfish of me not to! So we must be sure to take care of ourselves. If you ever make that game, I wanna see it!!!!

[seeker-ophelia]

Ophelia Rants: Veilguard is Weird

I had another post (Review, Pt 4) composed about how much I love dragons, but the AMA kinda knocked me on my ass.

* * *  

[INTRO]

* * *  

I’m going to share the image I made collected from the results of my survey:

And while everyone only contributed one word for this, it IS possible for Veilguard to be ALL OF THESE THINGS AT ONCE.

Now. We need to take this with a grain of salt and remember that most of these responses came from tumblr, and often ones Social Media Frens are an echo chamber of ones own thoughts.

The words that repeat over and over are all similar; sanitized, shallow, underwhelming, trimmed, incomplete… Fun But Not Dragon Age.

And I could not agree with this more.

Caitie (YT: Ghil Dirthalen BS: Ghil Dirthalen), (Mythal’enaste her and her data-mining efforts) has released so much information from Datamining Veilguard. So much dialogue not used, paths ignored or forgotten, Keep choices abandoned, Lore identified.

Flipping through the Art Book shows how much time and effort and ideas have been put into DA4; all of its iterations. All the creativity, the different worlds, the different possible paths. YEARS of work, abandoned.

Which feels soooo… opposite. I’m not a writer. What’s the word for a complete opposite dichotomy in all things? Contradictory? Inconsistent? Irreconsilable? Antithesis?

How can Dragon Age be Sanitized and Shallow… but so much work be put into it?

* * *

[OPINION]

* * *

After I removed my emotional connection from Dragon Age, IMO, it really does feel like something is missing from this game. Even if one tries to lay down their preconceptions of what the game might have been in their dream world, this game, to me, could not decide what it wanted to be. Narratively, it’s a sequel to Inquisition. Solas’s story matters from Inquisition, the Inquisitor matters from Inquisition… and yet it spends so much time onboarding new players. The story feels simple, the world is straightforward, like its dumbed down for players new to the series.

Inquisition, even though in a gameplay sense it is different from Origins and 2, still feels like its building off of a complex world that the player might not understand. And when I played Inquisition, I hardly understood any of it. That’s part of the joy of Dragon Age. People who read LotR or Malazan or WoT or ASOIAF, don’t expect the author to hold their hand. They’re dumped, unceremoniously, into a world, and they have to figure it out themselves (figure it out through strategically placed tidbits from the author). Dragon Age (O through I), was a masterclass in this, I think. Somehow, no matter how deep you want to dive into the game, whether just playing superficially one-and-done, or playing it over and over to capture as much lore and depth as you can, Origins through Inquisition does that. It gives you just enough crumbs to keep you going, keep you questioning, and to point you enough in the right direction, that when you DID get a lore reveal right, you felt GOOD. Yes, plot-twists and subverting expectations are important, but so is letting your audience figure things out, giving them concrete answers. Veilguard drops you, sure, literally in Minratheous into a Gods Magic Ritual. But then it takes your hand, and skips with you through beautiful landscapes, phenomenal level design, and whirlwind combat, to place you right in front of the information you need. And then gives you a cutscene explaining, just in case you didn’t get it 😉).

We, as fans, need to realize that while the Personality of Veilguard is Toothless, the Lore, The Skeleton, is not.

Yeah, Epler said some things that hurt my feels during the AMA. (I’m ignoring the Solas stuff, because I really do believe Epler is speaking from a personal bias and not from a cannon-perspective. [edit: he just talked bout this on BlueSky]) But do you know why? Because they broke my personal headcannons. They proved MY theory crafting wrong. The real problem with Veilguard is that it came out too late. 10 years is too long to have people care so much about a game and theorize and craft worlds for themselves.

* * *

[LORE]

* * *

Superficially, VG dropped a lot of lore. But Deeply? To the DA Lore-Core? I don’t think they dropped ENOUGH.

[Image Credit: Helena Hansen on ArtStation]

HOW did Soals cleanse the dagger? HOW can Elgy & Ghill control the blight? HOW do they control their archdemons? HOW does the veil work? (How can it be weak with Elgy & Ghilly holding it up but 100%-strong-no-holes-perfectly-good with only Solas providing power for it?) HOW do spirits work? HOW do souls work? WHATS the difference? HOW does a Dragon-thrall-bond work? WHY isn’t Lusacan a Great Dragon? HOW does the rite of tranquility work? WHAT happens to Solavellan in the Fade? Is it different from what happens to a tricked Solas in the fade? WHAT happens now to Hawke/Stroud in the fade? WHAT is an orb? WHAT is a cube? WHATS the difference? WHERE is The Black City? WHAT is the ‘real blight’? (Because according to VG Solas, it’s still in the prison and its still super dangerous and way more dangerous than the blight that’s out in Thedas.) HOW did Solas burn his Vallaslin off? WHAT is the Calling? WHAT is the NEW song in the calling? WHY did ‘Mythal speak the calling’? WHY does lyrium sing? How is lyrium mined? WHY can tranquil work lyrium safely? HOW did Dirth & Falon split? WHY did Dirth & Falon split? WHERE are the rest of the Evanuris? WHERE is the Abyss? WHAT is the Abyss? WHAT do you MEAN there was more than 8 Evanuris?? HOW did you make your lyrium bodies? HOW can Elgar’nan destroy a FEELING?

WHERES MY ELVHEN DICTIONARY.

Obviously not ALL. But SOME of these NEEDED to be answered, or at least strongly alluded to, IN GAME. NOT in an AMA.

“We're leaving that ambiguous on purpose…”

“We haven't been SUPER specific about this…”

“I'm so glad these stories have their hooks in you! We have to leave some threads to tug on for future stories.”

What DID get answered in game?

Some of the Evanuris hats. Archdemons/Old Gods = Evanuris. Solas (w/ Mythal?) tranquil’d the Titans. Solas (accidentally) created the Blight. Solas used a Blood Magic Ritual to create the veil. Solas regrets a lot of things & has mommy issues. Worm-Solas (which, do not get me wrong, a million thank you’s and blessings for werm-Solas… But…) That’s it. That’s IT?

Oh, and there’s a shadow organization that’s been pulling all the strings from behind the scenes but I am NOT getting into how much I hate that idea in this post we don’t have time. Do we? No, we don’t. You know what, fuck it. This is my blog. Once you introduce that idea there is no way anyone NOT the author can know how much sway the puppeteer has over the marionette. ‘Oh it’s just a nUdGe, just a *whisper,* ‘they still have their free will’. Bitch get fucked what does that MEAN. That doesn’t MEAN anything its just a lazy retcon-y way to tie in a new villain to old material. Completely erasing the autonomy of they characters your fanbase has come to love (and love to hate). Do not corporate-speak at me with synergy and circle-back and deliverables. WHAT is a WHISPER? WHAT is a NUDGE? Because unless you lay it all out in an ELI5, NO ONE CAN KNOW- EXCEPT FOR YOU.

Ok obviously I have feelings about that we need to move on.

You can argue Veilguard was about the Evanuris, you can argue that Veilguard was about Solas. You can argue that Veilguard was about Regret and Pride and letting it all go. You can argue that Veilguard was about the ~*Power of Friendship*~ But for me, who has been obsessed with whatever the ever-loving-fuck has been going on in Thedas since 9.30 Dragon, Veilguard is about the Blight.

Corrine from the AMA: What really captures my imagination now that we've resolved some of the mysteries pertaining to the blight and the Elven gods, is exploring the aftermath of this crisis in a deeply destabilized Thedas.

Sorry… What did you answer? We actually know nothing about the Blight except that Solas created it, and with Antonie and Evka claiming the song has changed… what does that mean? Is a Titan consciously controlling the blight now? Is it soothed because Harding Soothed it? Is all the blight from the Kal-Sharok Titan? Are all their orbs/cubes in the Black City? Do the Executors control the blight? What is a calling, then? Will the Wardens never be called to the deep roads again? The Blight is different in a Warden than it is in a darkspawn, or an Archdemon? How? WHY? The wardens are just going to fade from existence because… all the darkspawn are just going to disappear now? Where in game is this stated as truth? Actually, in fact, ZERO questions were answered.

But Wait…

I feel like the news of the AMA COMPLETELY overshadowed the two IGN articles that came out; 1 & 2. Because… holy shit you guys. There was A LOT of lore dropped here.

Unfortunately for Epler & Corrine, and this is a hill I will die on, ALL OF THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN ANSWERED IN GAME. The fact that it was NOT? Is inexcusable. You cannot drop giant lore reveals like this outside of the game and hope it smooths everything over. The lore dropped in these interviews could have been a DLC, a side quest in game, or at the very least a novel or WoT Vol 3.

* * *

[What IS Dragon Age?]  

* * *

I've used this photo before and I'll use it again I fucking love it so much

I wish Veilguard came out a year later, I would have waited longer, paid more for it, if it was a more a whole, inclusive game.

The problem with dumbing down a pre-existing franchise is that you’re alienating the fans that are carrying you on their shoulders. They carried you through a game-less 10 years, and through Andromeda. And you can bet your ass when they drop you, the new fans you roped in with VG are not going to be picking you up.

Dragon Age feels like it cannot find its identity. That Veilguard, inexplicably, does not feel like Dragon Age.

“But how can you explain what Dragon Age feels like when every Dragon Age that came before it was so different?”

New Protagonists, new companions, new locations, everything is different. On top of more meta things; new gameplay, new combat, new art styles, its all different.

So what makes Dragon Age, Dragon Age?

Well, when I was nervous about the game back in September, I asked Kala, when she got pre-access to the game, if she FELT anything.

“I’d love for you to touch on how the game made you FEEL… Did anything you played in Veilguard make you Feel™?”

She sent me a private message with 1 word: Yes.

We can go into the design decision to have the companions react with each other instead of Rook and how that can be alienating to the PC. We can talk about how shafted the romances were. We can go into how gentrified Minrathous and the Crows were. We can go into how child-locked the lore was. We can discuss the toothless-ness of Veilguard.

But Veilguard still made me Feel.

And, even if that emotion is anger, if Veilguard made you Feel, it did it’s job.

[tinypnut]

Okay, so I will be making an official review of Veilguard after I have a moment to digest everything, but I do have one thing I wanna say right now.

I’ve seen people say it’s not dark, or tragic which has been a staple for DA games in the past and as a veteran DA enjoyer, I can say I do not feel the same. I feel like Veilguard is pretty dark and tragic if you look at it as a whole.

Keep in mind, these are purely my own opinions on this and everyone is entitled to their own views and opinions on how they view the game

::spoilers below::

As someone who has played all three Dragon Age games and now finished veilguard, I found it to be dark. The world is ending (again) there’s technically a double blight, southern thedas is almost in ruin, Denerim was lost, Orlais has fractured and Rook is doing what they can to try and piece things together. No matter how you play your rook comedic, positive, stern, the overall outlook of what was happening was an utter shit show for those who had to live through it. I will agree that veilguard missed the mark in multiple ways but saying it’s not dark is not entirely accurate.

I’m a sucker for good cinematography and voice acting and such things (for me) really hit their mark in this one, and I went into veilguard with a pretty mediocre bar in terms of how good it was gonna be and I found the delivery of lines to be phenomenal in terms of conveying emotion of hopelessness, anger, compassion, comedy. To me it felt more natural, more real. I found myself hurting for those who were put into a loose loose situation because more often than not there tough decisions that needed to be made and lead to not great outcomes.

Example A: you have to sacrifice a whole city

Minrathus: strategicly, it would be a bad idea to sacrifice due to the venatori as well as if your rook is a shadow dragon, that’s their home

Traviso: doesn’t have a standing military and thus innocent lives will be pretty much sacrificed

If those two choices aren’t dark and or tragic I don’t know what would be, either way innocent people are caught in the crossfire and loss of life with be astronomical.

Oh and let’s not forget you essentially have to decide which of your companions will die, which one gets kidnapped and blighted and if not all your companions have unlocked hero of the veilguard they stand a pretty high chance of dying in the final 3 chapters as well as making sure designating who works with what faction in the last two chapters because if you choose wrong or they haven’t unlocked hero of the veilguard you in total stand a risk of loosing 3 companions.

Again these are just very basic examples off the top of my head and I know I am taking too much time to critique this but we are each entitled to our own opinions

[bananathebookworm]

TLOVM S3 Eps 4-6 Ramblings

Ep. 4

Ashley is just... so good at what she does...

Hell is disgusting. I love it.

I know splitting the party is almost always a bad idea in D&D, but I really like how they've done it in this series. It helps to get through so many important plot points. (And also makes it easier on the animators to have less characters involved in each scene.)

The concentration check fail to drop their disguises is a nice touch

I like that we get more about the NPCs stories simply because they introduced things like EXU later. They expanded on lore that didn't exist when this campaign was originally played and it's really cool to see. I'm only disappointed we didn't get to see Senokir.

Loving this card game between Pike and Zerxus.

I really want Bell's Hells to go to the Hells and talk to Zerxus. I mostly just want Luis back at the table. Let him take over like Abu did.

Also the Aabria, Brennan, and Matt in the stained glass pictures while Zerxus is retelling of his friends during the Calamity is phenomenal.

"Do you want your family here?" Damn Pike. Get him.

"We all have blindspots." I refuse to believe that wasn't a deliberate reference to Ashley's show. Especially after Scanlan's reference to Phoenix Wright a few episodes ago.

I need a mini-series of Zerxus life in Hell please.

Ep. 5

Kima and Allura being badass is always a plus. I want a mini-series of their adventuring days.

I wish they had included Scanlan slaying the pit fiend with Mythcarver. It was one of the only times Scanlan used his sword and we got one hell of a cutting words song from it. And also no one but Keyleth saw his victory which would've added to the "Scanlan is not appreciated enough" story.

"Let's get weird." I love that they throw in the various player phrases too. Not just the one-liners from characters, but the actual quirks of the players at the table that span all characters.

Kaiju battle! The only thing missing is Pike's Divine Intervention punching Vorugal out of the sky.

The Magnificent Mansion baby!

Ep. 6

Chateau Shorthalt! Love it.

Okay, but the cannonball contest is one of my favourite downtime moments. I know it was probably passed over for time, but I'd love to see it animated.

Oh god, the bath scene. I knew they wouldn't pass it over just because of how everyone reacted to that moment, but I wasn't sure how they were going to do it. Welp. Here we are. Fucking hilarious as always.

I love these moments of character bonding so much. I know we can't have as many of them in the series as in the game, but it's good that they include at least a few.

Oh this scry is rough... Scanlan is not well.

Well shit. I didn't think he'd leave at that moment. Though I do like that Pike both knows and encourages it because Ashley wasn't there for this whole thing. Sam said that if she'd been there Pike would've been the only one that could've convinced him to stay. I'm really curious if we're still going to get the "What is my mother's name?" breakdown.

Are Kash and Zahra going to return? I know they were there for at least part of this lead up to Thordak.

I really love how these different battles are choreographed. I love that they can combo and support each other's abilities now that initiative order doesn't need to be tracked.

General

I'm really enjoying this season so far. So many important character things are happening both independently and as a group.

I don't necessarily love the pacing, but I also understand that condensing a 500 hour campaign into seasons that are about 4.5 hours long total is a fucking behemoth of a task. Like even if we go two more seasons, that's only 20-25 hours total. So much has to be cut and reworked to make a coherent story.

[femmmie]

Review of Smosh's Funeral Roast

I am harsh at times, but know it all comes from a place of love!

Spoilers under the cut

I live in Europe. This is relevant because of timezones: the funeral roast of Anthony Padilla was live at 6pm for them, meaning 3am for me. I am not the youthful insomniac I once was so I had to train my sleep schedule the entire week - otherwise I would miss it because I fell asleep. But I wanted to witness this live. I love smosh.

The trailer for this roast deserves an award: Ian and the cast have a movie night as suddenly the light turns blue and everyone but Ian freezes. He seems to know what's going on and discovers a zombie or ghost like Anthony levitating. The cast of the roast are all introduced and all play a gothic, churchy kind of character. See the full trailer here (it's currently at 666k views, how fun):

Around 1am I got impatient and decided not to wait for my alarm clock but to install myself on the couch, with a blanket and a scarf, and a hot cup of tea, god knows I would need it. I watched episodes of the Scott Pilgrim Netflix series to kill the time. The character Todd Ingram reminded me a lot of Anthony and I wonder whether Anthony has 'vegan superpowers' as well. Probably so.

Finally, the pre-show begins. This is pretty uneventful as they play a game and succesfully convince thousands of viewers to buy their tickets to the main show. I look at them. Everyone is gorgeous. But I can't look away from Ian and Anthony. And here is where I stray from actually reviewing the show to let my inner fangirl out: holy fuck they are hot. Me and my friends on tumblr have been making 'forgive me Father, for I have SINNED' jokes because his character, 'the pastor', just brings that out in people. We're not used to Ian in black, or in a robe, and he looks phenomenal. And then there is Anthony, clothed in a ridiculous Harry Styles-esque lace top with lace gloves, resting his head on Ian's shoulder. It's such a cute moment, Ian pushes him upright. He can be alive for a second before his funeral. My heart melts. Honerable mention: Courtney's bikini girl cleavage right behind Ian. The girls were ready to rock. Okay, okay, back to the review.

The room feels kind of small and a bit claustrophobic. The Smosh art dept. always steps up, so the stained glass "friendship never dies" high-five looks incredible, and the megachad-Anthony portrait hilarious. The casket is huge. But the props make the set look even smaller. I think the problem is the cameras. I realize how difficult camerawork is when you have multiple focus points to switch between, but next time they should do a lot of practice with this to streamline, to get everyone in the shot and better capture people's reactions to the roasts.

Ian walks in. He starts off with a bit about who Anthony is: a hot, hardworking guy with a big dick. Those are the main takeaways of his roasts.

Amanda is next. She looks beautiful but very wacky. Her deliverance and accent are stellar, though. She truly is top talent at Smosh. Her roasts are also some of the most scorching of the night. She doesn't shy away from calling out Anthony's past problematic behavior and less than stellar performance in the bedroom ("look it up!") She gets a round of applause and deservedly so.

Tommy follows with a kind of angry roast, and proceeds to read the will, from which nobody comes away unscathed. I feels like his words about Anthony supposedly hating the cast are a necessary evil. Just the same day Anthony posted his interview with Shayne on his personal channel. There we learned that Shayne didn't know before if Ian and Anthony actually had wanted to hire them. Anthony said they were very much involved, something I don't know whether to believe. As apparently, Ian never talked about it with Shayne either, for all those years. Shayne had also been very apprehensive when Anthony came back, not knowing what would happen and the first change was to boot the entire cast off the main channel. I feel like Tommy's roast puts the topic on the table and hopefully they will talk about it more until nobody has any doubt left.

Now I have to insert that one of my main critiques of the night is that lots of people both did a lot of obvious jokes (tattoos, leaving smosh, general appearance) and did not go hard enough. Anthony kind of has an awkward CEO vibe (he's not the ceo but still) about him that seems to make even the cast a bit wary of him. I had hoped for jokes about that.

Brandon Rogers is next and rightfully points out the lack of celebrities in the line-up. Doesn't Anthony have more friends who want to roast him? Either he doesn't or the rest of Smosh don't have access to them. Which is both fine, because it is a Smosh party after all.

Arasha comes in swinging with all kinds of Zoomer slang that I frankly don't understand but her deadpan delivery is like a breath of fresh air. She ends with a very nice message. That kind of undercuts her roasts though, I wish she would have been meaner.

Now it is time for the musical half-time show, which actually deserves its own review. Performed by Angela and Chanse, this is incredible. By far, the most professional part of the evening. These are no theater kids, as they still call themselves. These are Broadway acTORS! I was really taken away by their talent. Not only do they act, but they also sing amazingly? Did you hear Angela do screamo?! And Chanse's riffs? They pointedly mention the sexual tension between Ian and Anthony, both on- and off screen. This has been occupying my mind ever since. Wow, sorry I went fangirl-mode again. But the halftime show simply is that good. Keith makes an appearance at the end and brings the show back down to earth with his humor.

The biggest surprise guests are next in what I can only describe as Dan telling the horny tale of his years long obsession with Anthony, and the many, many times he unloaded on the 'sexy Anthony' calender (which is a real calender, I was there when it came out but was broke at the time, darnit). Dan and Phil have been shedding their PG personas on their own channels for a while now, but for those who don't watch them daily this December - they're doing gamingmas and it's chaos - it is shocking what X-rated stuff comes out of their mouths. Anthony is visibly taken aback. Good!

As the show progresses, Ian keeps moderating as the pastor. It is great to see him so in control and enjoying the roast of his best friend. The joke of Ian not being able to show his emotions comes up a lot, but today I see him mainly just having fun.

Of course, then there is Bikini Girl, whom I had high hopes for, maybe too high. She is hilarious, but nothing really stings. Courtney does also direct the whole show, so super kudos to her. I just don't think she has the best roasts. She is followed by Rhett and Link, who just do their regular thing. It is funny but not very original. You can only hear so many tattoo jokes before it gets old. We do see Link's bare torso, so a win for fangirls (gender neutral).

Then Shayne, or should I say the Chosen has his turn. He is absolutely in character and does great. I just don't know if the Chosen is the best person to deliver roasts. It feels more like a Shayne party than a roast of Anthony. Which enough people love all the same, I'm sure.

Angela is 'the vessel', a possessed girl, reading the roasts from the audience. These roasts are very mid (they should have included mine! /j), but her delivery is again stellar. Smosh is really lucky to have her.

And last but not least, Ian goes on a second roasting spree. Only, it isn't a roast? He just makes fun of Anthony’s baby picture and then proceeds to tell Anthony how grateful he is for him, how he's so glad they are friends again and that he loves him? Anthony is crying by this time, which makes the moment even more tender.

Of course, Anthony has to do a counter-roast. It is apparent that he is still affected by all the roasting or 'love-bombing' as Amanda calls it. And he's not as good at live comedy yet. Still, his jokes are funny and really in Anthony's own style. He concludes with Ian's quote of being happy to burn Smosh to the ground with him. I knew that quote would be ingrained in Anthony's mind. It was one of the sweetest things Ian had ever said to him, after all. Until Ian has now told him he loves him, of course.

And then it was 5 am. I got a healthy two hours of sleep in! I came away from this roast with a content smile and a full heart. This was well worth the ticket, the staying up late. I am happy to be a member and support them monthly, I've loved their humor even before they started their youtube channel. I love Smosh. I'm so happy that Anthony is back. Smosh is whole again. And it brings out that light in Ian's eyes. He is funny in an unhinged way again. I truly love Anthony and Ian and their dumb videos. I want them to continue to make them forever. These kinds of live shows are fun. But Ian and Anthony truly shine in their off the walls absurdist sketches.

Special shout-out to my bestie @only-frann who I could scream at this whole day.

[tooneys-russo]

I Write Songs About You All The Time

Summary: Wren is the lead singer of a band who happens to serenade Alessia leading to a fun night between the two.

Warning: Smut 18+

Chapter 1

Wren was her family’s biggest disappointment, she was meant to go to Oxford University but refused to go. Instead she and her band, Highland Nightfall, worked hard on their music, they were selling out smaller venues after a year of hard work and their album rocketed to number 1 on the alternative charts. Wren was the lead singer and she also played guitar, it was a given that she was the most popular member of the band. Wren had long brown hair with blonde highlights, she had bright green eyes that had speckles of blue scattered and a large sleeve tattoo on her right arm that had intricate designs of geometric animals, plants and some text  scattered through. Girls at shows would throw bras on stage especially when Wren would wear their favourite outfit combination, backwards cap, tank top with an open short sleeve button up shirt, skinny jeans and converse. 

She had come back to the UK after a tour in the US, her first show was in Manchester to a sold out crowd of 10,000. “Good evening everyone. We are Highland Nightfall, it’s so lovely to be back in England we have missed home so much. We thought we’d play a few songs for you if that would be alright?” The crowd screamed loud as the first song started. In the crowd were some of the Manchester United women’s players who  had taken the night to go enjoy one of the best British acts going around. Alessia was particularly interested more in the lead singer rather than the music itself. She had studied Wren’s setlist making sure she knew the words, during the show the players videoed each other singing along. 

Wren could hear the crowd singing back to her, she glanced up and saw a gorgeous group of girls all singing along to her song. She smirked as she continued singing, in a small break Wren spoke to her stage manager about getting the blonde from the upper seating to come down so she could sing to her. Her stage manager Claire immediately headed towards the United group who were clearly having an amazing time. Alessia followed Claire down to the stage nervously, when Claire requested her to come down to the stage she was shocked but couldn’t resist. A chair was placed in the middle of the stage and Wren walked over to the side where Alessia was standing. “Hi, nice to meet you my name is Wren.” She held out the game and the blonde shook it. “Hi I am Alessia.” Wren smirked. “I know. You play for United I’m not the smartest person in the world but I know football.” Alessia blushed at the girl’s words. “So I brought you down because it seemed you knew the words to my songs, which is exactly what I need for my next little bit. I am going to have you sit in the chair and I will sing to you. Two taps on the side of my thigh if it is too much or you want to stop, you are in control okay?” Alessia just nodded. “Alrighty beautiful lets get this going.” Wren grabbed Alessia’s hand and led her out to the stage. 

“A lot of you know this next part of my show. Those edits on TikTok are phenomenal. I have with me the gorgeous Alessia Russo, if you have been living under a rock she is a striker for Manchester United.” The crowd roared at the mention of the player and the football team. “Yeah, yeah bloody Manchester United, got nothing on the mighty Arsenal.” The crowd booed and she gave them the finger with a smirk. Wren sat Alessia down and winked at her. “Now Alessia, you and I are going to have a little fun, clothes on princess don’t worry.” 

The music started and Wren stood behind Alessia, sliding her hand down the blonde’s arm as she sang in her ear. “Well, come and get it now. Come and get it now” She walked to the front of Alessia and bent over, her hand on her leg holding her up keeping eye contact with the girl. Alessia could feel her heart racing, knowing exactly where this song was leading. 

“Baby, show me what you're doing. Come and turn around.” Wren spread Alessia’s jean clad legs and dropped to her knees right in front of her. 

'Cause it's not just a figure of speech. You got me down on my knees. It's getting harder to breathe out.” Alessia’s breath caught in her throat looking at the green eyes now between her legs. She couldn’t glance up at the United girls but she knew that there would be many videos of this moment and them laughing about the situation she had found herself in. 

'Cause it's not just a figure of speech. You got me down on my knees. It's getting harder to breathe out.” Wren slid her hand up Alessia’s thigh, feeding off the girl’s reaction to her touch. Alessia held back a moan as Wren stood up and straddled the striker’s lap, her hands immediately placing themselves on the singer’s thighs. 

“We only met each other just the other day. But you already got me feeling some type of way. Now, if I could figure it out. I'd take you back to my house. So we could meddle about.” Wren smirked at Alessia who bit her lip holding Wren onto her lap. 

“We could meddle about. Whoa-oh-oh-oh. We could meddle about. No, whoa-oh-oh-oh-ooh. We could meddle about. Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh. We could meddle about.” Wren knew that there were other people around but at that moment it felt as though it was just them alone on the stage. Slowly Wren tested the waters with a slow and gentle grind on Alessia’s lap, the striker’s mouth fell open as she moved her hands to Wren’s ass. 

“Girl, just scream it out. Tell me what you're thinking. No, I wanna see you undress now. I wanna hear you confess now, oh-oh, oh, whoa.” Wren leant in so only the microphone was keeping their lips from connecting. Wren swallowed as she stared at Alessia in front of her, staring at her lips wanting so badly to know how they taste. Wren missed her next line, hearing the crowd singing the words. “You are distracting me gorgeous.” Wren said into Alessia’s ear as she turned around so her back was on Alessia’s chest. 

“We only met each other just the other day. But you already got me feeling some type of way. Now, if I could figure it out. I'd take you back to my house. So we could meddle about.” Wren grabbed Alessia’s hand and moved it from her chest, down her breast, further down her stomach to her inner thigh. Alessia gripped onto Wren’s thigh and moaned into her ear as the singer leant back further against Alessia so her chin could rest on the brunette’s shoulder. 

It was easily Wren’s favourite performance for more than one reason. Wren made sure to stay pressed against Alessia for the whole song, once she finished and the band was playing the outro she turned to the girl and smirked. “That was hot. Guess that is why they call you guys the red devils.” Wren grabbed Alessia’s hand and led her to the front of the stage. “A massive thank you to Alessia Russo for putting up with me for that song. Tag me in those TikTok edits too, wouldn’t mind reliving that one.” Wren kissed Alessia’s hand as the crowd screamed, she led the blonde off the stage.

“Thank you for that.” Alessia said with a blush painting her cheeks. “No, thank you. That was better than sex.” Wren kept a hold of Alessia’s hand and ran her thumb over her knuckle. “Come to The Ivy after, I will be there with the band and I want to have a little dance with you.” Alessia could only nod watching Wren’s green eyes. Wren took her chance to kiss Alessia’s cheek as Claire came over. “Wren can you please get back on stage, Alessia I will take you back up to the girls.” Wren groaned and nodded. “Fine. See you later gorgeous, this isn’t over yet.” 

Wren rushed off the stage at the end of the show to shower and get ready for The Ivy, and maybe to see a particular blonde who she had unfinished business with. She put on blue skinny jeans, white high top converse, and a black short sleeve button up. Once she entered the club she asked the hostess where the Manchester players were and was shown to a booth where she immediately saw a blonde in black skinny jeans and a white crop top. Wren went up behind the blond and slid her arm around her waist. “Long time no see.” Alessia turned when she heard the voice and smirked. “About time you showed up.” Alessia had already downed two drinks to give herself some liquid courage for when she saw Wren. 

Wren wasted no time in catching up to the level of buzz that Alessia had and pulled her onto the dancefloor. There were people all around them pressing them closer to each other, Wren gripped Alessia’s hips making them move in sync. Alessia wrapped her arms around Wren’s neck. “My god you are so hot.” Alessia said in her ear, making the singer smirk. “Have you ever looked at yourself?” Wren slid her hands lower onto Alessia’s ass making the girl moan. 

They were both beginning to sweat as they danced, grinding against each other unable to stop themselves needing more contact from the other. Wren gave in and pressed her lips against the blonde’s. There was nothing gentle about the kiss, it was desperate and wanting. Their tongues ran along the other, Alessia’s hands gripping onto Wren’s shirt. “Come back to my place?” Wren moaned into Alessia’s mouth and the girl just nodded. Wren grabbed her hand and led her out the back of the club not bothering to tell each of their groups that they were leaving. 

Their make out session continued in the side alley of the club where Alessia was pushed up against the wall, one leg wrapped around Wren and the singer pressing her body against the blonde. Their Uber was a few minutes away which was perfect for Wren to get more of Alessia. The blonde kissed down Wren’s neck and sucked a dark hickey onto her neck. “Fuck Alessia.” Wren gripped onto Alessia tighter, now hungrier for the girl in front of her, she felt her phone buzz as their Uber pulled up. The whole drive to the hotel Wren kissed Alesia a little calmer than what it had been, trying not to piss off the Uber driver with their fun. 

They were clumsy all the way up to Wren’s room, using every hard surface as an opportunity to press one another up against. Wren took off her shirt and shoes easily not letting her lips part from Alessia’s once they got into her room. Alessia’s shirt was removed with ease even if Wren hated having to pull from the blonde. She pushed Alessia onto the bed with a smirk and took her spot on top of her, undoing the striker’s jeans and pulling them down to reveal a pink g-string. “You expecting me or something princess?” Wren smirked and Alessia shoved her gently. “They are just comfy.” Wren took off her jeans to expose her Scooby Doo briefs and Alessia put her hand on the girl above her’s chest. “Um were you expecting me?” Wren looked down and groaned. “Fuck.” Alessia laughed and pulled her back on top of her. “Cute as.” Wren rolled her eyes and kissed the girl again. 

Their bras were the next casualties of their encounter, they were thrown somewhere in the hotel room as Wren began exploring the Italian English girl under her. Her lips kissed down her collarbones, down the valley of her breasts then across to her right nipple where she wrapped her lips around the bud. Alessia let out a loud moan and tangled her fingers into Wren’s hair, the singer slid her hand up Alessia’s inner thighs to gently rub her covered clit. Wren bit down gently and Alessia gasped and clenched her legs together. “Naughty girl.” Wren looked up at Alessia. She pulled Alessia’s g-string off and threw it across the rom, teasing the girl with her tongue along her wet pussy. “Wren please.” Alesssia begged. “Only because you asked so nicely.” Wren finally gave Alessia what she wanted, she ran her tongue along Alessia’s clit. The blonde girl threw back her head and pushed Wren further into her. Wren gently slid a finger inside Alessia, “Oh oh my god Wren!” Alessia stuttered. Wren moved her finger slowly, curling it to rub along the spot Alessia wanted it the most. Wren kept a steady pace, licking her clit and fingering her in time. Alessia could feel herself getting closer, she pushed against Wren’s mouth and fingers trying to reach her orgasm quicker, desperate for the release. Wren could feel Alessia getting wetter and grinding against her face and finger. She picked up the pace of her fingers and her tongue, Alessia couldn’t hold it in anymore, she screamed out as she came against the singer’s tongue and fingers. Wren slowed down her movements as Alessia came down from her high. 

Before she could work out what was happening Wren was on her back and Alessia was straddling her hips. “Now I get to have my turn.” Alessia kissed Wren, tasting herself on the singer’s lips. Alessia pulled at Wren’s briefs and threw them off the bed to land somewhere near her discarded g-string. Alessia began grinding against Wren as she reached back to rub the brunette’s clit slowly. Wren gripped onto Alessia’s ass watching her movements on top of her, she had never seen such an incredibly gorgeous girl before. Alessia’s finger slipped inside Wren making the girl moan loud, she spread her legs wider giving Alessia more access. Her fingers sped up as Wren gripped onto Alessia’s breasts, she moved against Alessia’s fingers quickly. Wren moaned out Alessia’s name, it was the greatest thing Alessia had ever heard in her life. Wren didn’t last long once Alessia curled her fingers and arched her back giving her the perfect view of the striker. “Alessia fuck!” Wren moaned out loud as her orgasm came in waves over her body. She wrapped her arms around Alessia and pulled her down into a bruising kiss, the blonde giggled against her mouth as they kissed. The two laid in each other’s arms, Wren rubbed along Alessia’s back tracing shapes with her fingers. 

“You are something else. I would not have expected that from someone as sweet as you.” Wren said and kissed Alessia’s head. “Guess that is what happens when a really gorgeous girl serenades me.” Alessia kissed Wren gently and cuddled more into her. “Goodnight Wren, thank you for tonight.” She said softly. “Goodnight Alessia, sweet dreams.” The two fell asleep cuddled up in each other’s arms. 

Chapter 2

[lynxfrost13]

Haiii Lynx What’s your favorite dragon type? The big western muscular ones are gorgeous but the Chinese serpenty ones are pretty too. You’re my resident dragon expert here hehe

Hello Jay!!! Thank u so much for the ask ^^

This is kind of a tough one I’m not gonna lie… I’m sorry it’s taken so long to answer this ask but I’ve literally been thinking about dragons in relation to this for a couple days bc there’s so many awesome dragon types out there and picking a favorite is kinda hard!! I also went down a rabbit hole because I was looking at types of dragons and remembered one of my favorite drawing books and one of my earliest inspirations for drawing dragons specifically, Dracopedia, by William O’Connor. I hadn’t realized but he passed away in 2018 suddenly, I wasn’t able to find out from what, but he will be missed, that man’s dragon art was phenomenal and he had a really awesome style, so I did just want to mention that since it’s related to dragons and honor him as well.

To your actual question now! I don’t have one definitive all time favorite, but I definitely can yap about the types I like more! I don’t have the same amount of love in my heart for every dragon unfortunately, and for the most part I’m not crazy about fully furred dragons, especially mammal-like ones (tundras and Gaolers from flight rising are an exceptional exception!!). Not saying I hate them by any means bc I really do love the diversity of dragons, but I really am a sucker for scales. I love both the Asian noodle dragons and the solid western guys a lot!!

A particular type that I really really love are the cloud serpents from warcraft, pictured below! I play a LOT of warcraft and the cloud serpents have been one of my favorite dragons for ages, I love how they’re very serpenty but the stylization of their nostrils, scales etc does give them an almost sculpted appearance like they were brought to life from statues, which in this green gal’s case is true, but it doesn’t apply to all of them! That’s my love of living statues coming in too haha

While I’m talking about warcraft dragons specifically, I also have to shoutout the netherdrakes for being one of the more unique designs I’ve encountered, I haven’t really seen anything else like these weird shark aliens (they do have a newer model but this one from the 2007 expansion really is so delightful to me). The netherdrakes also have a really interesting story behind them, since they originated from a batch of normal dragon eggs that got fucked up via being sent through the nether if I remember correctly, and as such they’re very different from their family and have shorter lifespans :(

Okay also just talking about specific dragons and video game dragons, I NEED to talk about guild wars 2’s dragons because they’re built different they’re so fucking cool. I’m not gonna just yap about all of guild wars 2 but essentially the dragons in this game are what the entire story revolved around until a couple years ago, these guys were a BIG deal and a big threat (most of them) due to how destructive they were. But the super cool thing is that each one is very tied to a specific element and even though the dragons themselves are all related, they look drastically different according to their magic/element.

You’ve got Zhaitan as an appropriately body horror-y elder dragon of undeath, I don’t have a lot more to say abt him design wise other than he’s so damn cool

Then you have his brother mordremoth, also an elder dragon, except his body is an entire fucking jungle. He creates a more draconic avatar for himself but mordremoth is literally just hundred of miles of vines and the land itself it’s wild!!!

Kralkatorrik is also massive!! You see that airship in the first pic? Kralkatorrik is the LANDMASS IN FRONT OF IT!!! When he was dormant his spine was considered a mountain range if I remember correctly!

I think this loading screen art of Primordus and Jormag does them much more justice than their in game models do (unfortunately their time in the spotlight wasn’t the best due to COVID production and some writing stuff) but Primordus especially is just such a powerful force of nature more than he is a dragon honestly

And Soo-won is just a gorgeous take on a more noodley dragon

I must also include best girl Aurene here too, I love both of her designs (the first is her when she was younger, the second is when she becomes an elder dragon), I just think her face shapes especially her teen face shape is so beautiful and interesting

Okay now not gw2 but I will say while I’m not usually a fan of more wyvern type dragons (NOT because they’re not dragons I don’t like when people bring that up in relation to wyverns because I think they can be dragons, it’s up to you!!!)

I LOVE the monstrous nightmare from HTTYD it’s my favorite of the httyd ones apart from the whispering death/screaming death (they’re a package deal sorry)

Also in flight rising I really love the new everlux dragons (they are fat little grub guys with so many legs and their lore is so so cool! They write out their entire lives as chapters of a story!!!) and am very partial to the dusthides as well, they’re not conventional dragons but that’s what makes em fun (honestly if you don’t play flight rising I recommend checking it out at least to look at all the neat dragon types in the encyclopedia because there’s such an awesome range!)

I’ve yapped a lot and I don’t think I gave you a very solid answer but I had fun showing you some of my favorite dragons!!! Thanks again for the ask I think you opened my brain JDBEEJJ

[itsmaddienotmaddy]

All my love to the US girlies. Everyone hates PKs, it’s such a cruel way to go out.

I’m so sad for the vets who didn’t have the tournament they wanted or perform to their potential

I’m so sad for the babies who are shouldering the first US World Cup loss since 2011 - even though they should be proud and excited for their future

I’m sad for the players that didn’t get minutes due to lack of rotation. They’re all phenomenal and all talented enough to be on that field.

Special shout out to Alyssa Naeher for being a rock, so solid, so talented. A save and a banger PK is crazy. She rules, man.

Naomi Girma. What an intro to international tournament. She sparkled, she was incredible and she’s got the world behind her now.

Julie coming back and performing like that, amazing. She should be proud and now go snuggle her little bb.

Crystal got so much god damn flack for the previous games and god dammit. She’s human, she will have off games. I think she looked more like herself today and she ALSO should be proud and go snuggle her little boy.

Post game Alex broke my heart. She’s given so much to this team. The tactics weren’t suited to her style and that made things tough. Another mama, another - please go snuggle sweet Charlie.

Andi and Sonnett played their asses off this game. Andi had been catching critique and she just needed support. Sonnett provided that and they complimented each other and SHINED. So proud Andi buried her PK. And Sonnett, who probably catches the most internet bullshit, was amazing. The absolute right move for tactics. She was a spark, a physical presence, a pass connector, a field director, a back up defender in so many moments. As someone who had so little minutes in 2019, to start and have that performance is a huge moment for her. Love that. Snaps and claps for the double 6 pivot duo.

Horan had her captain moment today. She settled the game. She made smart changes and passes and played hard but carefully with her yellow card. And her with Soph after the game speaks volumes so kudos to her. (Also v proud of her PK after the CL tragedy)

I thought Trin and Lynn had FABULOUS games.

Special shout out to Kristie and her beautiful PK. Wish she could have played more.

I thought Foxy looked so strong and I am cursing the camera people for zooming in on her when she was exhausted and crying near the end of the game. So much fight, so much heart. Future looks good for her.

And Pinoe. Sweet P. I’ll miss her so much. She changed the women’s game for the better.

That’s it. It sucks. But the love the players have for each other showed. I hope they lean on each other, love on each other, and push through.

Whom y’all rooting for now?? I’m feeling Nigeria or Japan.

[officialclangen]

Hi there! I'm very keen to start playing clangen, I just had a quick question I can't seem to find answered anywhere, no matter how I word it on google, so I figured I'd just message you guys directly~

I know that a moon is equivalent to one month in-game, but how is time actually passed mechanically? Will days keep passing when I'm not playing like in games like Animal Crossing, or will it pause whenever I save and close the game? I'm just worried about the possibility of not being able to play for a while and then coming back to find all my cats missing/sick/dead.

Thank you for making such an amazing game! Everything I've seen about it so far looks phenomenal!! 😻

Hi! So happy you've found us! We hope you enjoy the game ❤️

No, our in-game time does not pass with real-life time. To make time progress, you need to manually click the "Skip to next moon" button!

Thanks for your ask!

~Chase

[sapphosdirtyhoe]

If there’s one thing about me, it’s that I’m gonna have an opinion!! I wrote about DA for my doctoral exams, and having a forum to write further about the series is super awesome.

I wish BioWare had not debuted the character trailer. The gameplay footage was beautiful, smooth, and I greatly enjoyed the return of DA2’s dialogue wheel (although I miss the robust roleplaying options afforded by Origins’ expanded choices). I am infinitely more excited for Veilguard now than I was on Sunday. However, was anyone else struck by how this prologue almost exactly mimicked the opening “Wrath of Heaven” quest in Inquisition? Pushing through demons to pick up allies, fighting a Pride Demon miniboss, and then addressing the Veil. The backdrop of Minrathous, the enhanced graphics, and the stunning music were phenomenal, but it felt ordinary and far too familiar for such an extraordinary event. I adored Neve’s character design, but she felt like a reskin of Vivienne who was softened for an audience who couldn’t handle her point-blank personality and bold opinions. I hope we fight more than demons and venatori because platinum-ing DAI gave me more of that than I’ve ever needed. That being said, the designs are stunning and I cannot wait to explore every crevice of Thedas.

I’m also a bit confused at the rehashing of Trespasser with Varric and Solas. I understand the need to make the game and its world accessible to new audiences, but it lessened the impact of your Inquisitor trying to convince Solas, thus diminishing player agency by delegating their choices with Solas to Varric who cannot be directed by the player.

Like everyone else, I’ve seen the discourse between Veilguard and earlier Dragon Age games. I’m begging folks to understand that nuance exists; just because DA2 has the line about Hawke stepping in poopy doesn’t mean that the game doesn’t also have the “All That Remains” quest (which, personally, was one of the most horrifying things I’ve ever seen). Dark stories need moments of light to be effective because that’s simply how people work. Wanting a return to the overwhelming sense of darkness and danger of Origins and the griminess of 2 doesn’t mean getting rid of all of the humor. It means not making the Darkspawn out to be a joke like the trailer did. It’s a bit weird to juxtapose the horror of Ostagar with Varric joking about killing the beasts. I think the gameplay footage did a fantastic job at capturing that vibe better, but calling folks negative and not true Dragon Age fans for expressing disappointment in the series’ direction is wild. I also need to point out how much of the discourse has fallen to “men are the worst for wanting dark gritty things again when I want my silly little dating sim.” All of these things can exist! Dragon Age is inclusive and incredibly queer (always has been), but the stories are not solely about your personal romance and shouldn’t be analyzed that way.

TLDR: the gameplay trailer for Veilguard was super cool! I’m stoked as hell to play it! However, folks expressing disappointment with certain elements of the game doesn’t diminish your personal enjoyment.

[theredtrails]

The old year is dead. Long live the new year. Tell us about some stuff you liked in 2024 (music, TV, movies, cool things you did, whatever!) and some stuff you're looking forward to in 2025

Ok so it's going to be long hehe

I watched a bit less than 100 movies last year but the standout was definitely Bound, that I somehow completely missed, 10/10 no notes let's go lesbians

I only played all the way through two triple AAA games (FF7 Rebirth and Veilguard), both of them I really enjoyed despite some big flaws, but my three favorite games of the year were 100XResist, Mouthwashing and Sorry We're Closed (or what if Silent Hill was hot and gay?). Big year for retro horror indie games, luckily that's right up my alley lmao

Honorable mentions for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and Indika!

More 2024 faves under the cut~

Brat was definitely my most listened to album of the year, but only because The Cure's latest album came out in November, an instant classic

I didn't see a lot of shows this year (but I saw Mitski! Finally!) but my favorite one was Kalandra, a Norwegian band I've loved for a while now, nothing beats an intimate concert in a small venue, I danced and cried a lot lol

I read a bunch of comics and mangas and not enough novels, but I really enjoyed the Nigerian novel Vagabonds by Eloghosa Osunde, it's gay and hopeful as hell, something I really needed this year

As for TV shows, Interview with the Vampire is still the best thing on TV right now, and season 2 was phenomenal

Really looking forward to more of everything this year 💗

[grantmentis]

2024 IIHF Women’s World Championships Season Wrap Up

All of our women’s worlds tournaments have finished, so here is a short summary of each tournament, who got promoted/relegated, and top performers.

As a quick disclaimer: how they do best players of each tournament tends to be a little different for each one, some have MVPs and some don’t, idk why

Championship / Top Division

Final standings

Canada (Gold)

USA (silver)

Finland (Bronze)

Czechia

Switzerland

Germany

Sweden

Japan

China (relegated)

Denmark (relegated)

Tournament MVP: Laila Edwards (USA)

Top goaltender: Sandra Abstreiter (Germany)

Top defender: Renata Fast (Canada)

All star team: Sanni Ahola (Finland), Renata fast (Canada), Caroline Harvey (USA), Laila Edwards (USA), Natalie Mlynkova (Czechia), Alex carpenter (USA)

Tournament summary: this is gonna be my longest short summary as this is the tournament I have the most coverage of.

We finally have USA and Canada at the best versions of themselves again, solid coaching for both, a mix of youth and vets, for the most part all healthy, making for a great gold medal game.

Germany is the biggest positive surprise this tournament. They went from ninth in 2022 to eighth in 2021 to sixth this year, that’s pretty big gains, abstreiter had a phenomenal tournament with the best save percentage despite one of the heaviest workloads, but I was also really impressed by the team defense. Both Welcke twins, Jobst-Smith, Franziska Feldmeier were huge this tournament.

China may have gotten relegated but I think this tournament was still a success for them, considering the significant roster changes they experienced, they were still able to hang with most of the group B teams. Jiahui Zhan was phenomenal in goal and kept them in games, which is such a big part of these tournaments. They don’t have the star power on offense yet, but what they do have is a program that is committed to funding the national team and providing a lot of centralization time to create a cohesive team, and that environment will start creating elite scorers in time.

Finland bounced back after being hammered with injuries last year, Ahola firmly has won the crease, and Nelli Laitinen solidified her capabilities as a top pair defender. Czechia saw a breakout tournament from Natalie Mlynkova that carried them to a fourth place finish even when the rest of their offense was struggling. Switzerland has been able to fill a Phoebe Stänz shaped hole in their lineup with Ivana Wey. Denmark struggled hard without Jakobsen, and shows clear signs of a federation neglecting their program and losing their players - they barely responded to Jakobsen’s retirement, and were the only national team not to secure some kind of way to watch for those in Denmark. Japan disappointed this tournament, and will need to find an elite goaltender if they hope to be in the top division again. Sweden didn’t have a lot of things go their way this tournament, but youth talent in goal scoring was a bright spot for them. They are an undeniably deep team if they can get it all clicking at the same time.

Division IA

Norway - promoted

Hungary - promoted

France

Austria

Netherlands

South Korea - relegated

Best goaltender: Ena Nystrøm (Norway)

Best defender: Annika Fazokas (Austria)

Best forward: Estelle Duvin (France)

Summary; For the first time since 1997, Norway has been promoted to the top division! Despite not having the offense other teams had, they only conceded six goals all tournament and only one was at even strength. They relied heavily on their young core like Emma Bergesen and Millie Rose Sirium to lead the way. Hungary was able to earn promotion despite missing Fanni Garát-Gasparics, and only scoring nine goals all tournament. They played near flawless defense, only allowing 91 shots against in 5 games (averaging around 18 against per game) and being perfect on the PK. France had arguably the best first line in this tournament, Estelle duvin - Chloe aurard - Clara rozier can hang with anyone, but was shut down by Hungary in the final game to lose the chance at promotion.

Austria had a WILD tournament, no one scored more than them, but they also had uncharacteristically struggling goaltending performance from the Luggin sisters who have been pretty consistently solid in international tournaments. Not much to worry about long term there, it happens in short samples, but tough break when offense was so good. More of the same for the Netherlands, who are looking for their next wave of young players to help propel this team, but Kayleigh Hammers continues to prove herself as a special talent. Lastly, South Korea was in the IA tournament for the first time, has a lot of work to do before they can be a mainstay here but this is the first step and is valuable experience

Division IB

Final rankings

Slovakia

Latvia

Italy

Great Britain

Slovenia

Poland

MVP: Karina Silajane (Latvia)

Top forward: Janka Hlinka (Slovakia)

Top defender: Laura Lobis (Italy)

Top goaltender: Pia Dukaric (Slovenia)

Short summary: Slovakia returns to division IA after slipping for a few years and being relegated last year. They were a clear step above most of the other competition in this tournament, especially defensively, but we are seeing the gap shrink. Pia Dukaric for Slovenia may be the most underrated goaltender in the world; she faced 308 shots this tournament in 5 games (about 61 per game) and only conceded 15 goals in that span. Slovenia would 100% be relegated without her. Latvia is playing in division IB for the first time since 2019 and had a funny tournament - they weren’t at the top of anything in team stats, but they were good enough at everything to be a very complete team and Karina Silajane was phenomenal in big moments.

Italy also impressed, though some frustration is probably there that they’ve finished in the same spot for the third year straight, they’re undoubtedly a better team than they were three years ago. Italy is the only team to beat Slovakia in this tournament, and were one of the best teams in terms of limiting shots against. Laura Lobis and Natalie Mattivi are a very legit first pair, and Martina Fedel is an elite goaltender. They don’t have a top goal scorer right now, but that may be coming in Matilde Fantin, who was not able to play this tournament due to injury. Poland fell hard this tournament going from second place last year to being relegated. Part of this is an shaky performance in net from Martyna Sass, who was great at the club level and usually solid in goal, but she played way more games than she normally does this year and may have been overtaxed at the end. She was not bad but Poland heavily relies on goaltenders to steal games. The other, bigger part is the offense completely disappearing - they only scored six goals, which will not get it done in any tournament. Finally, Great Britain was a confusing team this tournament, but despite offensive woes avoided relegation by keeping games close and pulling out wins versus Italy and Slovenia. They only scored six goals in the tournament and two were against the best goaltender in the tournament, which is how hockey is sometimes.

Division IIA

Final rankings

Kazakhstan - promoted

Spain

Mexico

Taiwan

Iceland

Belgium - relegated

Top goalkeeper: Arina Chshyokolova (Kazakhstan)

Top defender: Bridget O’Hare (Spain)

Top forward: Alexandra Shegay (Kazakhstan)

Summary: Kazakhstan was relegated last year and not looking to stay in this division for long. A solid u25 core has continued to show promise for them. Spain has really created a nice core for themselves with Vega Munoz, Bridget O’Hare, Alba Gonzalo, Claudia Castellanos, and Sofia Scilipoti - they dominated most teams but came up just short against Kazakhstan in the final game. That said, I’d wager a promotion is in their near future. Mexico continues to finish in third in this tournament as they have for a few years, with a lot of players born 2000 or later making up the roster, but we have to give 39 year old Claudia Tellez her flowers - it’s been a decade since she started playing at Worlds and still is putting up over a points game while also coaching the u18 team. Just a total legend. Mexican Goaltender Monica Renteria also had the best save percentage of the tournament at age 36, having also been on the initial women’s worlds team Mexico with Claudia a decade ago.

Taiwan could not score, but they did have an elite goalie tandem of Ai Chung and Tzu-Ting Hsu (Beauts fans, you may remember her from the 2019-2020 season, also goes by Tiffany Hsu) that kept them in games. Yun-Chu Huang was responsible for 5 of the teams 8 goals. Iceland continues to stagnate, but 19 year old defender Katrín Björnsdóttir was extremely impressive this tournament. Belgium was outmatched in their first chance at this division and was relegated, but has a few promising young players that may incident they’ll be back soon

Division IIB

Final standings

North Korea - Promoted

Australia

Hong Kong

New Zealand

Turkey

South Africa - relegated

Top goalkeeper: Erva Kanat (Turkey)

Top defender; Matilda Pethrick (Australia)

Top forward: Jong Su-hyon (North Korea)

Summary: we haven’t seen North Korea at the international stage since before the pandemic and didn’t really know what to expect in their return and then they came back and just dominated this tournament. North Korea and Australia were a clear step above the rest of the competitors, and North Korea ultimately got the promotion in a shootout goal by Hyang Jang. Keira Mok of Hong Kong was another goaltender with a stellar performance, and Nikki Sharp was great for Australia in terms of forwards. South Africa’s relegation comes as no surprise, as they’d been trending down for a few years.

Division IIIA

Final rankings

Ukraine - promotion

Romania

Lithuania

Serbia

Croatia

Bulgaria - relegation

Top Goaltender: Vilte Belicenkaite (Lithuania)

Top Defender: Diana Stolar (Croatia)

Top forward: Valeria Manchak (Ukraine)

Summary: a lot of these programs are very new to the women’s worlds circuit, with teams like Lithuania only competing in this capacity since 2019, Ukraine in 2019, or Serbia since 2021 (though they may have competed in other tournaments / formats). There’s a significant number of U18 players playing in this tournament because of that. Romania and Serbia were the most improved team from last year, Romania going from fourth to second and Serbia going from division B to finishing fourth.

Division IIIB

As Israel should not have been allowed to participate in this tournament due to the genocide they are carrying out, and I will not be acknowledging their participation or any of their players as a result.

Final rankings:

1. Thailand

2. Estonia

4. Singapore

5. Bosnia and Herzegovina

Top goaltender: Sofia Salamatina (Estonia)

Top forward: Apichaya Kosanunt

Summary; Thailand wins gold in its debut! What a fantastic start to women’s worlds for them, as they won every game and scored 20 goals while only ever giving up one. Strong defense meant they only saw 59 shots all tournament. Singapore also made their Women’s Worlds debut and got their first tournament win and saw Tiffany Ong score three goals.