#I SHOULD PROBABLY LIKE ACTUALLY FULLY PUT IT ON AND TAKE PICTURES AND SHOW IT OFF PROBABLY...........................

[artsy-1diot]

I JUST REMEMBERED THAT I HAVE A PEPPERMAN COSPLAY I NEVER POSTED.........

[uglypastels]

Your Logan fics have been great. I enjoy your style and how you write him. It’s so so good.

I had an idea while reading the brainwashed reader one:

Logan is on a mission to a bunker or lab or something for the X-men. Charles requested told him he had to go and help Scott. They go to this bunker and it ends up being a rescue for some mutants that were being experimented on and one of them once back at the mansion is having issues with controlling their power, and Charles asks Logan to help them. I picture the power being very volatile so Logan is there to help because he can take a hit and heal from it. Cause the reader is too scared to use the power on anyone and Charles told them he had the perfect teacher.

thank you so much!!

shoutout to @deceptive-daydreams for helping me come up with the details of this thing. had a lot of fun, as always, writing this request, so please keep em coming yall.

warnings: implied PTSD. platonic teacher/student dynamic. fire. explosions. swearing. anxiety. lots of banter and fluff.

Masterlist ~ X-Men Requests are Open

It had been two weeks since you had moved into the Mansion. Moved in. That’s all that you could bring yourself to call it, doing your best to not think about anything up to the moment that you had been ushered inside the large building and given a room to stay in for as long as you pleased. It had taken at least three days for you to actually get out of there, to let yourself roam the halls freely, reminding yourself that it was safe. 

For you, at least. No one would harm you here.

But not the same could be said about the rest.  

You had never been fully capable of controlling your powers, feeling more like they controlled you instead. When you were held captive, it was them who held power over both. But now that you were free, it was time for things to change. That much had been clear from the second you set foot in the mansion.

Professor Xavier had given you permission to make use of the Danger Room to train as long as you were under the supervision of one of the faculty members—something that should have given you comfort but instead only formed more anxieties.

‘I don’t want to hurt anyone,’ you confessed.

‘You can’t do this on your own,’ the Professor smiled softly. ‘As with any skill, a fine mentor is the first step to succeeding.’

You weren’t sure about that, but also knew that alone, you wouldn’t be able to get anywhere anyway. 

‘Don’t worry,’ the Professor read your mind. ‘I have just the teacher for you.’

⮿

You had recognised Logan as the man who had helped you escape. Who held your hand and hadn’t let go until you stopped shaking. Who gave you soft reassuring smiles whenever you saw eachother across the corridors, reminding you that were alright here.

You knew he was a skilled fighter, but, truthfully, you had not expected him to be the one Professor Xavier assigned as your supervisor in this training endeavour.

‘Show me what you got, kid.’ He said as he took off his leather jacket, and you immediately wish he hadn’t.

‘It’s probably better to keep it on.’ You stated, wincing at his exposed skin. He looked up at you, taking a moment to comprehend what you meant until the nickel fell with recognition.

‘Right.’ He put the jacket back on and leaned against the wall as you watched him expectantly for further instructions. ‘So, what do you do?’

‘You know what I do.’ You couldn’t help but laugh at the question.

‘Explain it to me again.’ He shrugged.

‘Well… I set things on fire.’ The words came out apprehensively.

‘No. I said, explain it to me. Dumb it down like I was a five year old.’ This felt ironically hard to do as you felt like he knew more about your power at this moment than you ever had.

‘I don’t understand—’

‘To be able to control your abilities, you got to understand it.’ Logan clarified. ‘Know what it is that you’re actually doing and you’ll know what to do to keep it contained.’

Yeah, if put like that, it made sense. It also sounded far easier than it was. Understand it, and you’ll be able to control it. Sure. You thought for a moment, back to school and the damn chemistry classes you hated, but now suddenly started to feel rather useful. ‘I uhh… manipulate atoms, rearranging them with the air and heat around them to cause objects to catch a flame.’

‘That’s more like it.’ He praised, and even though it barely meant anything, you felt yourself smile at the kind words. ‘How much have you got it under control?’ But then the question and his inquisitive glare down at you made you feel very aware of your body and your mind.

‘With uhm— with enough concentration I mostly I target the right object, but once the fire is up, I can’t contain it.’ Which was the most important part. If uncontained, the fire would just spread, destroying everything in its way. That much you already knew. You still woke up screaming from the memories of the radiant flames and screaming all around you.

‘And, nothing personal, but I gotta ask, controlling the fire also falls under your division?’ He had crossed his arms.

‘Uhm…’ you didn’t know how to respond to that. 

‘Only asking because we had this kid Jonny who could control fire, but he needed a spark to start it. Maybe you two are two sides of the same coin?’

‘No, I have managed it before. But never long. It would go up and down and up again, the way I wanted it to, but it was exhausting and then I couldn’t handle it and it would all go  to shit.’ You started rambling, and just like the fires, you couldn’t get yourself to stop.

‘Alright, alright.’ Logan spoke calmly. ‘First thing we gotta do is work on you.’

You blinked slowly.

‘It’s all the same with you elemental kind. It’s all in your head. If you can’t get your emotions under control, then the fire will never go out.’

‘That… makes sense.’ You took a deep breath and thought of all things sweet and soft and calm.

‘Alright, I haven’t got all day.’ He clapped his hands, and you tried to not let the loud sound get to you. 

Let the games begin. 

⮿

A few weeks went by, and you wish you could have said you were making progress. 

No, you had to be kinder to yourself. There was progress. It just wasn’t at the pace you had hoped to reach at this point. Logan had helped you with your targeting, and you could proudly say that you had reached an estimated 98% accuracy score. The larger objects you had no problem with, but the smaller and the further away things were, the more you seemed to struggle. Which was perfectly fine, Logan reminded you.

‘You expect to be able to hit a bullseye in the dark from a hundred yards away?’ 

‘I’m sure some people could,’ you mumbled, frustrated as you watched the wrong matchbox in the near line of 4 burn to a pile of ashes.

‘Beating yourself up about it is not gonna help you, kid.��� Logan said, already replacing the box with a new one. ‘Again.’

Knowing that complaining about his training methods would not help either, you simply squinted and focused on the third matchbox, doing your best to ignore the other ones lying around. They simply did not exist. All there was, was this one stupid matchbox— whoosh, and suddenly, the box was no more, just a pilar of blue flames. In your excitement at having finally hit your target, you had completely forgotten to keep the fire down. 

‘Shit, shit, sorry.’ You did your best to suppress it, but it seemed like the fire was in a funny mood today and decided to do the exact opposite of your demands as it grew by the second until Logan had no choice but to drench it with a bucket of water. 

⮿

‘Have you gone mad?’ You stared blankly up at Logan, who–much too confidently, in your opinion– positioned himself a few paces ahead of you. A cigar in hand. 

‘It’s clear that you need some incentive.’

‘I don’t think your death wish can be called that.’ You protested. ‘I’m not doing it.’ ‘Yeah you are.’ He simply said. ‘I’m the teacher. I’m telling you to light the damn thing, so get on with it,’ he growled as he put the cigar between his teeth.

‘Actually insane.’ You said to yourself. ‘There is no way this is going to end well.’

‘Focus sweetheart.’ He did his best to look calm and composed, but you saw how his shoulders tensed as you prepared to do the task. There was so much more you wanted to say to him, but you just had to block it out. All of him had to cease to exist. All you saw was the tip of the cigar. The tiniest layer of tobacco, the–

You shrieked as Logan’s face disappeared behind a cloud of black smoke as the cylinder in his mouth exploded. 

‘Oh my god, Logan!’ You ran to him, relieved as you heard him cough. With the smoke gone, you were happy to realise that it had only been the cigar that had exploded, leaving behind the tiniest but right where Logan had held it in his mouth. The rest of it combusted all around him. ‘Are you alright?’ 

His entire face was black with soot. You watched him wipe it off his eyes, blinking sporadically, clearly dazed from the explosion. You edged to repeat your question of concern, but before you had the chance to, Logan held a thumb up, spit the bud of the cigar out, and coughed out another thick cloud of smoke. 

‘All’s good, bub.’ And you would have believed him if not for the fact he sounded like a cat that had just been suffocated, his burnt throat squeaking out the vibrations of his voice. ‘Let’s try—’ he was about to suggest another exorcise before he erupted in another coughing fit. 

Easy to say you had called it a day after that.

⮿

‘Alright, easy now.’ Logan directed you. 

‘I know what I’m doing, Lo.’ You retorted. All day long, he had been just non-stop talking, making it very hard for you to focus on the job at hand.

‘Do you?’ He quipped, making you glare back at him just long enough for the fire to double in size. You cursed as you held it back down—at least, that’s something you were able to do now. 

‘You got to focus.’ He came over to you as you put the fire out completely.

‘Well, stop distracting me.’ 

‘That’s easy enough here, but what do you think out there’s gonna be like?’ He cocked his head at the walls, indicating the outside world, where indeed, there were distractions aplenty. ‘No one’s gonna give you time to do your breathing exercises in the real world, kid.’

‘Then why give them to me in the first place?’

‘I’m not the one you want to fight,’ was all he said in response. It had been months, and by now, he knew all there was to know about you in the learning environment. He knew how to push your buttons, fire you up and hose you back down. He could tell what you were thinking and it was infuriating that you could not figure out the same about him.

But, suppose that’s what made him the teacher and you the student.

‘Sorry,’ you sighed, letting yourself fall onto the ground, pulling your knees up to your chin. ‘It’s just so frustrating. We’ve been here for months and—’

‘And we’ll stay here for months more if that’s what you need to improve yourself.’ He squatted beside you. ‘You got this. No need to give up now. Or else my time here’s really been a waste, and I don’t take to that too kindly.’ He gave you that smile that once had only been reserved for quick passes in the hallway but now had become the favourite part of your nearly daily training sessions.

‘Sorry,’ you laughed. 

‘Don’t be.’ He got up, extending his hand as leverage as you got back onto your feet as well. ‘Think you got one more in you for today?’

the end.

thank you for reading 💗

if you enjoyed the fic, please consider reblogging and leaving a comment. or send a message via my inbox. requests are also more than welcome. 💗

[cookiebelle]

Damian Priest NSFW Alphabet

Pretty self explanatory.

NSFW under the cut, so please, MINORS DNI, 18+ ONLY. I am not responsible for the content you choose to consume on the internet.

Read the accompanying one shot here!

Warnings: smut, obviously. Afab reader. Oral m&f receiving. Kink. Pet names. Mention of knife play. Not sure what else. Let me know if I should put up any other warnings.

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

Damian strikes me as a protector. He is always quick to wrap a possessive arm around his teammate in the ring, or care for them after a particularly brutal match. For that reason, I think he’s pretty decent at aftercare, once he’s gotten over that beautiful afterglow. He gets up and cleans you off, then runs and brings some snacks and water while you get up to pee (because you should ALWAYS pee after sex!!!), both of you crawling back into bed and him wrapping his arms around you until you fall asleep.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

He’s really into his arms, I think. They’re so strong and yet capable of being soft when he holds you close to him. He loves to show them off and flex them, and he loves the tattoos that cover them.

As far as you goes, he’s always had a thing for eyes, so he’d probably say that if you asked him. He’s an ass man, though. So in actual reality, it’s that. He loves to squeeze it, pinch it, smack it. You’re lucky he keeps his hands off it, period.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

The man looooooves it when you swallow. But he loves coming on your face even more. When he pulls out, coming on your ass is a must. But more than anything, he loves that primal urge to cum inside you and claim you for himself, and who would you be to deny him? Bonus points: he lives for pictures of you with his cum on your face. Has a whole folder of them on his phone.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

Prior to you guys getting together, in the years you two were “just friends” with palpable sexual tension, he would jerk off to your Instagram photos. Nothing particularly racy, either. Just pictures of you that did enough to put your image in his head. He will absolutely take this secret to his grave.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

Pretty experienced. Remember his NXT days? Exactly. He really has slowed down since then, though. That being said, during your friendship, you’ve seen him with plenty of girls. It’s safe to say he knows exactly what he’s doing, and he knows enough to still take the time to get to know exactly what your body needs.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

This is pretty tough. He likes missionary, he loves taking you from behind, and he loves when you ride him. His favorite, though… would have to be a mating press or something of the like. Something that leaves you fully open and accessible to him so he can get *deep* inside you, and that also leaves you pinned and folded up in a way that he has complete control over you.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

Get you a man who can do both. Sex is fun for him, and even more fun with the right partner that he can just be himself with. He loves to laugh, no matter the activity. His more serious side is definitely present, though, and it doesn’t take much to bring it out. He can go from laughing and playing with you to “that’s right. Take it, slut” in .2 seconds flat. He loves the look in your eyes you get when he brings out The Serious Voice, especially in public.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

Very well groomed. He’s a man who takes good care of himself, his hair is no different. It’s not waxed/shaved, but it’s definitely trimmed well.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

He’s surprisingly gentle and sweet when the moment calls for it. He absolutely worships your body in a way you’ve never experienced before, like every inch of you is gold to him. Even when he’s rough and Dominant and needs you like air, there’s a level of intimacy in the urgency. Oh, and he’s a fucking great kisser. So even in the filthiest moments, there’s unmatched passion between the two of you.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

Oh, absolutely. Before a match. When he’s away on tour without you, or you without him. At this point he has some good nudes of you so he doesn’t have to resort to your Instagram pictures. One of his favorite things is mutual masturbation. He’s an exhibitionist at heart, and he loves putting on a show for you. He loves seeing you get so turned on by him stroking himself, if he’s not careful he’ll cum way too fast.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

So many but here’s a few:

Bondage: he likes tying you up. He learned a few basic shibari techniques and absolutely has had you walking around with a rope harness under your clothes a few times.

Breeding: does he want kids eventually? Probably. Right now, at the height of his career? Not exactly. However, there’s something so distinctly primal about growling in your ear that he’s going to fill you up until it takes and make you carry his baby so you can be all his. The idea is just as terrifying to you, but that doesn’t stop you from desperately begging for it.

Dumbification: in the sense that he likes to get you so cock drunk to the point where you’re unable to string a coherent sentence along and he can coo condescendingly at you “oh gatita, what’s wrong? Is it too much? Good.”

Impact play: he has big, strong hands and a penchant for making you whine and beg with every slap across your ass. For more? For him to stop? The world may never know.

Knife play: he collects close range weapons. Safe to say he has a collection of knives along with that. He has one specifically for playing with you (one of his favorites, something as pretty as you). He drags it lightly along your skin while you’re tied up, or even gently scratches his initials into you when you two are really deep in the moment. He rarely draws blood, honestly, but the danger of having a blade to close to you is just intoxicating.

There’s so many more, I could write a whole fic just about his kinks.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

I think he’s a semi-public sex type of man. Like out in the alleyway behind the bar, or in a far corner of the bowels of the arena you’re performing at that night. He’s strong enough to pick you up and pin you against any wall, and boy does he take advantage of that.

As far as in your respective living spaces, he’s definitely a traditional bedroom guy but he’s also a “bend you over the counter while you’re cooking dinner” guy and a “eat you out on the couch while you’re watching a boring movie” guy.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

YOU. You smiling and talking with your friends as he observes you from across the room. You doing your skincare at the end of the night. You wrestling. You doing the most mundane things like grocery shopping or cooking. He waited years to be with you and now that he finally is, everything about you turns him on. When you catch him staring, you love to tease him. Giving him that innocent look he loves so much, or little touches along his arm as you walk by. Expect a text from him, promising you’ll pay when you two get home.

When you’re alone, the teasing is so so so much worse. Bending over in front of him to show off your ass, or getting down on your knees at his feet, only to tie his shoe. Eventually the teasing becomes a game between you two and you wait to see which one of you breaks first. It’s almost always you, much to his delight.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

It goes without saying but human waste is just not his bag. He doesn’t have a lot of turn offs, it’s more of a situational thing than anything. There are times that he can’t stand to make you hurt (impact play, cnc, etc.), there are times he loves it. He won’t scar you, though, or draw a lot of blood (some beads of blood from scratching you are fine). No lasting marks that aren’t done by a professional.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

Damian Priest is a pussy eating champion. He’s all about quality, not quantity. Giving you head for an hour doesn’t mean anything if you’re still coherent by the end of it. He can make you cum an embarrassing amount of times, very quickly, with his mouth on your clit and his fingers buried inside your cunt. By the time he’s ready to fuck you, you’re not sure if you can even handle any more (you can, and you do).

He l o v e s you giving him head. It’s one of his all time favorite activities. You look up at him with those big eyes while you take him down your throat and he is GONE. It’s pretty rare that he’s at a loss for words, but your mouth wrapped around his cock officially turns his brain into standby mode. He loves holding you by the hair and fucking your mouth. He loves letting you do all the work. He loves it all.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

He’s a slow but powerful fuck, most of the time. He makes sure you feel every inch of him, and every thrust knocks the wind out of you. He can be rough and fast, too, especially when he finds that spot inside you that makes your eyes roll back into your head.

He’s capable of being slow and sensual, too. It’s not often, but there are definitely moments that are charged with passion and feel as though you two are of the same body and spirit.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

Loves a quickie, ESPECIALLY before a big match, just to quell his nerves. At least that’s what he says. You think he’ll just take any chance to put his hands on you (you’re right). He loves one in the morning before you guys get up for the day, too. Just something to get him going. “It’s better than coffee,” he’s said many times.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

He’ll try anything once, and he’s learned he likes a lot of things he would have never guessed.

He takes risks in the form of fucking you where anyone could happen upon you, or coming inside you and stealing your panties when you’re wearing a skirt/dress. At the HOF ceremony, you absolutely wore his cum dripping down your thighs in your pretty gown, and he smirked every time you adjusted the way you were sitting in order not to stain it.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

The man’s an athlete, and a good one to boot. He can go at least three rounds on an average night, more on a great night. He lasts pretty long, too, when he has the time. A night in with him is an hours long adventure that leaves you completely exhausted by the end, for sure.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

I don’t know that he had toys by way of vibrators or anything like that before you and him started seeing each other. Not that he’s against them, he just didn’t have them. With you, he’s down to try anything. His favorite is the hitachi wand. He loooooooves torturing you with it. You got him a fleshlight/pocket pussy because 1) you wanted him to have a toy to play with when you two were apart, since you have a vibrator, 2) you wanted to watch him use it during your little mutual masturbation sessions, and 3) you wanted to use it on him just to torture him as much as he tortures you. It was a rousing success.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

So much??? Like so much. In public it’s constant. Little touches, glances in your direction, pulling you to sit on his lap. Sometimes he steals you away to a random hallway just to make out with you and grab at your ass, for just a moment, then breaks the kiss and walks away as if nothing happened. He leaves you completely disheveled and turned on, and just smirks at you from across the room when you re-emerge after fixing your clothes and hair.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

He’s known for his deep, booming voice and aggressive roars in the ring. In the bedroom, it’s no different. He’s talking dirty, in English and Spanish, to the point where he truly doesn’t shut up, just babbling nonsense by the end of it. He’s groaning about what a good slut you are for him while you take him deep inside you. When he cums, he’s extremely vocal, but able to keep the volume controlled when people are around. If he didn’t, the entire Raw roster would hear him (and they definitely have at least once). He’s growling praises while you take every drop of him, groaning when your cunt clenches around him.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

He’s a secret switch, but only in the sense that he’ll give you the illusion of control over him, just to snatch it back from you when you least expect it. He does, however, love seeing you feel powerful. It’s incredibly sexy to him. But he loves being in control more, and you make the cutest face when he’s suddenly on top of you.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

👀 I mean, he’s a giant. I can’t imagine he’s disappointing in that department by any means. The first time you fucked, you were certain he was ruining you. And, truth be told, he was. You’re not sure you’d be satisfied with anything else at this point.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

HIGH. Like twice a day and three times on weekends kind of high. You wake up to him begging for you (yes, begging. In Spanish.), and he’s on you the moment you get into bed for the night.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

I think Damian is a man who can survive on little sleep, so he usually is awake even after you fall asleep. He sits up and alternates between watching tv and watching you sleep.

[our-happygirl500-fan]

Something I’ve noticed that is kind of tragic is that even though Leo has always been prone to self sacrifice even before the movie anyway, throughout the series Leo has inadvertently been encouraged to view himself as expendable

Leo: Wait! I’m the one who cheated, I created the portal to save my brothers punish me... their Champion

Mikey, Raph & Donnie: Yes punish him!

One of the first times Leo tries to sacrifice himself for his family in the episode Minotaur Maze, his brothers immediate response is ‘yes punish him!’, & most likely Leo’s brothers probably thought that Leo wasn’t taking the situation seriously since he wanted to call himself their Champion so they most likely didn’t think Leo's attempt at self sacrifice was actually genuine.

Not knowing that Leo was probably fully prepared to sacrifice himself for his family & probably came away from that moment with the thought that trying to sacrifice himself for his family was an acceptable course of action.

Donnie: Well Leo since you sell the fewest action figures, why don’t you go ahead and jump first?

In the episode Man Vs Sewer, Donnie has a moment where he breaks the fourth wall & mentions the Turtles action figure sales but in that moment he also encourages Leo to jump first/ put himself in danger first a statement that Leo does end up taking to heart

April: And then I saw that picture and I brought him here.

In the movie when April brings Casey Junior to the Lair without knowing anything about him other than he has a picture of the Hamato Clan & possibly knows about Splinter & the Turtle’s existence meaning he could possibly be a threat. 

Leo responds by putting himself as close to Casey Junior as possible while waiting for Casey Junior to wake up meaning that Leo decided to put himself closest to the possible threat showing that Leo took the ‘jump first’/ put yourself in danger first comment to heart as the correct course of action for him to take.

Donnie: Too fast! Leo sacrifice yourself to buy us time!

In the episode Snow Day Donnie even inadvertently encourages Leo’s tendency for self sacrifice but telling him to sacrifice himself to buy time.

Leo has always had a tendency towards self sacrifice even before the movie but the idea that Leo should sacrifice himself/ put himself in danger over the other members of his family had inadvertently been pushed on him as the right course of action throughout the series

[dylanwritesgood]

How To Save Your Old Shit After Floods

Hi, Tumblr. My reach is small and I am but a poor archivist who can't afford Blaze, so please boost this.

Author's note: I hate to have to add this, but cultural heritage is inherently political and this made it to TERFblr somehow so... The author is nonbinary. Go get your own archivist to teach you if you're gonna be like that.

The west coast of the US is flooding, and while it might seem unimportant in the face of people dying, getting stranded, and being without power, a lot of people are also going to lose personal history to flooding. This gets talked about a lot in the context of hurricanes, but we should all know what to do to save our pictures and documents, too.

FEMA has a good cultural heritage rescue guide here: https://www.fema.gov/disaster/recover/save-family-treasures

You can contact emergency conservators for advice here: NHRpublichelpline@culturalheritage.org

The Northeast Document Conservation Center is also invaluable: https://www.nedcc.org/free-resources/preservation-leaflets/overview (check out the Emergency Management section)

Knowing what to do before it happens is crucial to actually saving things. Read this stuff now! Like to save! Bookmark it! Screen cap it! Idc but keep it handy (and remember you might not have online access when you need it)!

The FEMA guide does a really good job at explaining how to dry things, but the basics are:

Separate, separate, separate. While it's still wet if you can do so without causing further damage. Salvage color photos before black and white, paper backing before plastic film. Pre-gelatin silver (black and white on paper) photographs (collodion, ambrotype, cyanotype, etc.) get priority, but most people don't have those. Remove items from frames of they show signs of water damage. Take off dust jackets, unfolder documents, etc.

Rinse with clean, bottled water if there is mud or other debris. Use a dish pan, fill it with a little water, and slip photos in carefully for a short little bath. Dip, dip, dip if you need a little agitation to remove mud, but don't wipe or swish (unless it's REALLY stuck and you're okay with the possibility of damage). Change your water often, and try to avoid agitating things or touching the image side. It is recommended to hold books closed to protect the textblock from more water when you rinse. Obviously, don't soak things. Photos are probably your most fragile material and can be submerged for up to 48 hours before it gets really hard to save them, so you don't want to add to that time.

Spread it all out. Get creative with how you keep things apart. Hang things if they can take the strain, but remember that the corners are the weakest points of paper and photos. Books can be tented on clotheslines if the binding is still sturdy (pages aren't coming loose. If they are, see the next point)

Interleave books with paper towels every 1/4 inch of pages or so. If you can, fan them out and stand them upright. Change the paper towels as they get damp (and idk, use them for cleaning tasks. Shit's expensive)

Get air moving. Indirect airflow from a fan is best. Avoid fluttering. I face my fan into a wall or upwards to diffuse the air flow.

Some staining is likely. Dried mud can be brushed from paper like book textblocks but shouldn't be brushed from photographs, so rinse photos first.

Photograph materials while they're wet and still intact. If you should lose something while salvaging, at least you have a photograph of it so it's not lost forever.

If you cannot dry things immediately, wrap individual items or small clumps that are stuck together in wax paper (ideally. Parchment can work, plastic wrap or ziplocs if you have to) and PUT IT IN A FREEZER. Not an ice chest. The goal is to freeze the water, and ice chests will soak it. Freezing buys you time. It halts water damage until you can deal with things. When it's time to dry, unwrap your items and allow them to fully thaw before even thinking about separating them.

If you find mold, quarantine those materials in sealed plastic bags and freeze. You need professional help. It is not worth getting sick because you tried to clean mold without appropriate protection!

ETA: These techniques also work on that book you dropped in the bathtub or spilled a soda on, just sayin'.

Again please feel free to share this! Fellow conservators, GLAM professionals, or those who have been there, done that, feel free to add to this! Thank you!

Edits:

This was hiding in the tags and is also a good practice! Preparation is key to reducing damage. Which reminds me--store the good stuff on your highest shelves. It won't help in cases like Hurricane Katrina, but a minor-to-medium flood probably won't reach!

[whatwouldsylwrite]

hockey!Abby x dancer!reader pt7

pt 6

to: Abby

Do you want to come over tonight?

Minors don't interact!!!! This is an adult work meant for adults, I'm really uncomfortable with anyone younger than 18 reading this, so please move on.

Tags: modern au, fluff, fem!reader, shy reader, reader is into sexy/girly dances, Abby is a sweetheart, switching pov. Smut. Oral (r! receiving, Abby!receiving), fingering (r!receiving), pet names, vanilla sex

Notes: this is their first time, so there's no kinks yet, they're just exploring and getting to know each other, so it's pretty vanilla. I actually wanted to include a lot more, but this chapter is so long I had to cut some parts out. :(

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

It was a Friday night, your tv was buzzing with some reality show as you were doing your homework, not paying any attention to the tv - you really wanted to finish the whole load before tomorrow, because your weekend was fully booked by Abby. 

So you worked through every assignment without any breaks for a few hours, until your head started to hurt - not the smartest decision, you admit, but you really just wanted to finish your homework and then just chill for the rest of the evening, letting your brain shut down on some ridiculous show. 

"Fuck." You sighed as you looked through the last assignment. Thank god it wasn't as time consuming as some of them were. 

It took you another half an hour to finish it, and when you looked at the time, it was over seven. Your head hurt, your stomach was screaming for anything sweet, and you really wanted a shower, as if the water would wash away your irritation and tiredness.

But it was worth it - you'd have your weekend free, a whole weekend with Abby, without practice and homework, without any worries and stupid responsibilities. Sometimes you missed being a teen, when you didn't have to take care of everything. "The real horror of adulthood - decide what you want for dinner every fucking day", you thought as you remembered the tweet you saw some time ago. 

Abby took her skates off, feeling tired and irritated - Eric was so fucking annoying with his training and useless comments, picking on everyone like as if he wanted the whole team to kick his ass. Boys were grumpy as well, bitching all the time while they changed, but Abby didn't pay attention to them until Manny sat next to her.

"You wanna go out tonight? I need to get wasted to forget about this asshole." Manny nodded in the general direction of the coach room. 

"No, I'm going home." Abby said shortly as she checked her dms. 

You sent a photo of yourself looking absolutely done with your homework, your hair a mess, your brows stubbornly furrowed. Manny immediately put his nose in Abby's phone as she sat there, just smiling at your picture. 

"Ooh, so that's (y/n) in her natural habitat." Manny smirked, knowing he'd get a reaction out of Abby. 

"Fuck off." Abby said and put her phone away from him. 

"What, don't want to show your sweetheart to your best bro?" 

"I swear to god, Manny." Abby rolled her eyes. "Go to your weather girl and leave my girlfriend alone."

"And not tease you? Sorry Abs, not happening." Manny laughed as he ducked Abby's pads she threw in his face. "Have a nice evening!"

"Fuck you too!" Abby shouted in response as she packed her things and went home. 

You left your shower feeling a lot better than before. Chocolate probably helped too, but it wasn't real food, and you needed to cook something before you'd give up and just not eat anything. 

You went to your room to change, and while you were changing you listened to how quiet your apartment was. It was the eerie silence of living by yourself, the constant reminder of lonely independence. It took you a long time to get used to the quiet, but sometimes you'd feel so fucking lonely, curled up in front of your tv, the darkness of the apartment surrounding you, trying to choke you out of the existence. 

You knew Abby had practice today - you looked at the clock - she should have finished already. She was probably tired, though. You worried your lip as you sat on your bed, naked, the water dripping from your hair to your back, giving you an unpleasant shudder, and opened your dms. 

Abby already saw the picture you've sent her during the most frustrating part of your homework.

from: Abby

looks like your hw kicked your ass

Fuck you, you laughed in your head as you typed your reply.

to: Abby

*I* kicked its ass, because I finished it

You tapped your fingers on your phone case, nervous. You really wanted to see Abby, but you also didn’t want to impose. She was tired after practice, and she’d have to drive to your place… But you could just relax together, watch something, you’d make some food for her. It wouldn’t hurt to ask, right? She could just say no and it’d be totally fine. 

to: Abby

Do you want to come over tonight?

Why, why did your heart pick up its pace? Why did you suddenly feel so nervous? You just asked Abby if she’d like to come to your place, it was normal, it was fine, you were dating, for god’s sake. Abby’s been to your place before, and you just cleaned your apartment, you shouldn’t be worried about it at all. Maybe it was because Abby could say no today? Maybe it was because you meant it as a sleepover? 

You checked your phone - Abby wasn’t online, which disappointed you a little, so you put your phone in your pocket and went to the kitchen to start cooking. You figured you'd cook enough for a few days - especially if Abby'd come tonight, since her hockey training required a lot of energy, and therefore a lot of food. And if Abby wouldn't come then you wouldn't have to worry about your meals for the entire weekend. 

The thought of Abby not coming made you sad, but you scolded yourself for being so selfish and needy - Abby was your girlfriend, not your mom to fix all your problems. You still reached for your phone anyway - still no answer. 

"Okay." You sighed, nervous, knowing you needed a distraction as your patience was running thin. You took all ingredients you needed and started to cook, getting your mind off "did she answer" loop in your head.  

Abby went out of the shower and fell on her bed, feeling pleasantly tired. She wasn't exhausted physically, but dealing with Eric's shit left her low-key irritated. Some days he was just insufferable and Abby wished the poor asshole just got laid and maybe that'd calm him down. 

Abby sighed and closed her eyes, trying to calm down herself. She needed to think about something pleasant - her weekend plans with you for example. Abby missed you, not seeing you properly the whole week - you caught each other every chance you got, and spent too much time in her car after practice, you not wanting to go home and Abby not wanting to let you go. 

And now the whole weekend would be for the two of you. You asked Abby if she really wanted to do rock climbing, but she had to admit she was afraid of heights - it was embarrassing, she knew, but you just nodded and said you'd keep it in mind, to Abby's relief. You asked her for another skating lesson and Abby agreed, happy she'd get to hold you in her arms again - that was your plan for Sunday evening. And tomorrow Abby wanted to take you on a day trip to the next town and just walk around, find some interesting places. 

Abby smiled and rubbed her face, slightly embarrassed by how bad she had it. She knew she was a lovesick idiot, but sometimes it was hard to embrace it. 

Abby sat up on the bed and reached for her phone that she left in her backpack. 

from: dancing queen

Do you want to come over? (sent 40 minutes ago)

Abby's heart stopped but started beating twice as fast right away, her cheeks flushed. Was it what she thought it was?

No, knowing how shy you were - no way you asked this question with any subtle meaning. But Abby couldn't help but feel a little optimistic. It was evening, you definitely asked her to stay the night, and she just couldn't ignore her annoying thoughts. 

You sent it 40 minutes ago - was it when Abby parked her car? She should have seen it if it was sent before, god, was she in a shower for 40 minutes? No she wasn't, she unpacked her gym bag first and put her uniform in the washing machine. 

Was your offer still up? Or maybe you changed your mind? Got tired of waiting for her response? 

That was asking for some serious measures, and Abby pressed call, not taking a chance with texting in case you wouldn't see her messages. You picked up after four antagonising dial tones and Abby started feeling nervous. 

"Hi." You said, sounding like you were busy. "Wait, gimme a sec." 

"Okay." Abby said as she listened to you turning water on and off. "You okay?"

"Yeah." You said, panting a little. Abby got worried she blew her chance - you were definitely not free right now. Why the fuck she didn't check her phone before going to the shower? "Okay, I'm here."

"Is your offer still up? For me to come over?" Abby asked, ridiculously nervous.

"Yeah." You said shyly. "You don't have to, I know you just finished your practice and you're tired, I don't want to-"

"I'll at yours in 20." Abby interrupted you, too eager to calm you down. 

"You sure?"

"Yeah. See you." She said to you quietly. 

"See you." 

Abby ended the call and ran her hand through her hair, calming herself. Okay, you were still up for it. Abby tried to push her stupid horny thoughts down, but you asking her to come over on Friday night was like a pavlovian for her. You didn't mean it, but Abby would kill for you to mean it. 

Abby eyed her other backpack, feeling optimistic again. She emptied her bed drawer into her backpack, you know, just in case. Never in her life Abby got ready faster than now - in 10 minutes she was locking her door, her hair half-dry and brushed, her clothes clean and her backpack filled with a change of clothes and other stuff. The ride to your apartment took her a little bit longer than ten minutes and she was five minutes later than she promised, but it didn't matter.

What mattered was her ringing the bell to your apartment. 

You opened the door and immediately smiled at Abby, your eyes twinkling with happiness. 

"Hi." You stared at her for a second and then moved out of the way. "Come in."

Abby put her backpack down and finally looked at you, regretting it immediately: you were wearing skintight top and Abby could see fucking everything, because you weren't wearing a bra. Oh fuck, she thought as she tried to look away from your chest. And these stupid short shorts you wore at home, Abby was going to die here.

 

"Are you hungry?" You asked, unconsciously moving closer to Abby, taking her hand in yours. She looked flushed, but you didn't mind. You also didn't mind her eyes flicking to your chest - her stare sent shivers down your spine, making you want to arch into Abby. "I've made some food."

"Starving." Abby chuckled and pulled you to her, kissing you. It was a gentle kiss, her hands a soft pressure on your waist, and you melted against her, letting her hold your weight. "Missed you."

"Me too. Felt lonely without you." You admitted, a little embarrassed of your weakness. You caressed Abby's shoulders, marvelled by her strength as she held you close. "Are you going to stay for the night?"

"If you let me." Abby shrugged playfully. 

"If I let you." You teased her. "You're the one who should be letting me beg you to stay, you know." You pinched her cheek gently and led Abby to the kitchen. 

Abby let go of your hand and just towered behind you, her chest to your back, her hands on your hips, as you put food on two plates. You swallowed as your desire to just arch back into Abby became too powerful and you tentatively pushed back, trying to not turn this moment into something more heated. Abby sighed into your neck and her grip on your hips became stronger. 

"What do you want to watch?" You asked, cosily quiet. 

Abby buried her nose in your neck, making you giggle from tickling. 

"The one we spoke about a week ago." Abby said not lifting her head from your shoulder. 

"Okay." You smile to yourself. "Come on, let's move." 

Abby slowly moved away and took a plate you gave her, pouting a little: she really didn't want to let you go. 

You went to the living room and while you two tried to find a more comfortable way to sit, you searched up the movie - it was a french comedy someone recommended to Abby, and you've seen the trailer and liked it. It took some time to find it, but you put it on and you both started eating while the introduction rolled. You secretly hoped Abby'd like your cooking - like if you were showing her what a wife material you could be. And, judging by her little moan and her head thrown back - she liked it. You hid your smile, but Abby noticed anyway.

"I'm marrying you tomorrow, (y/n)." Abby said as she put a fork in her mouth. "What did you put in it? Magic?"

"Garlic and ginger." You giggled. 

You finished your food pretty quickly, both of you were too hungry to go slow, and you went to the kitchen to put your plates in the sink. You poured two cups of tea and came back, to find Abby in a different position than before.

She was sitting in the middle of the couch, manspreading, and when she saw you, she patted the place between her legs, inviting you to sit there. You smiled and put your cups next to Abby so you could reach them, and sat between her legs. 

Abby immediately snaked her hands around your waist, pulling you closer without any effort and your breath hitched in your throat: Abby held you close to herself, pressing your back to her chest, her chin on your shoulder, her strong thighs on both sides of you. You felt safe like this, surrounded by Abby, and you leaned on her, relaxing and putting your head on her shoulder, breathing her in. Abby always smelled like something cold and soothing - maybe because she spent a lot of time on ice, but her scent always reminded you of the first days of spring when snow started to melt. 

The movie was good, Abby had to admit, but having you in your arms was better. Abby liked how you relaxed right away, letting her touch you everywhere she wanted, caressing your waist and your ribs and your thighs absentmindedly as she watched the movie. And the way you shook against her when you laughed - adorable. Abby pressed a few affectionate kisses to your shoulder, just appreciating your existence, and you relaxed even more, your weight pleasantly heavy on her. 

Abby liked this reaction, so she pressed more kisses into your bare shoulder - you went soft in her arms and Abby just couldn’t get enough of it, making you feel safe was her fucking drug. She moved her lips up, planting slow tender kisses on your neck, not really trying to work you up, just enjoying being gentle with you, but you sighed sharply as Abby kissed you pulse point, her lips lingering on your skin for a second. This little sound made Abby’s eyes open wide and her core throb - maybe she wasn’t trying to work you up, but you were definitely getting there. 

Abby lifted her head from your shoulder and looked you in the eyes, checking if you were enjoying yourself as you turned to her. Her serious, studying eyes met your glossy ones, and something snapped. 

You reached for Abby’s face desperately and kissed her, your whole body trembling as you weaved your fingers into her hair. Abby deepened the kiss, her tongue slowly playing with your tongue as she lifted you up and turned you so you’d sit in her lap. You whimpered quietly - the ease with which Abby moved you made your underwear hot with sudden wetness. Abby kissed you wet and dirty, her hands moving up your naked thighs, leaving goosebumps in their wake, until she reached your butt and grabbed it  hard, her nails slightly digging into your body. You sighed into her mouth and caressed her neck and broad shoulders, so solid against you. 

You pulled away, trying to catch your breath, and Abby watched you with a small smile. Horny looked good on you.

“That’s not why I asked to come over.” You whispered. You didn’t want Abby to feel pressured into anything, to think you only invited her to stay the night because you wanted to have sex. 

“I know.” Abby whispered with a small smile as her hands held your waist. She knew what you were trying to say, and her heart overflowed with affection. “Do you want to stop?” 

You smiled and shook your head, stroking Abby’s nape gently.

“Words, baby.” Abby grinned as she watched your eyes go big with surprise when she used the pet name. “I need you to say it.”

Consent was important for Abby, especially since she could easily overpower you. She needed to hear that you wanted this, to have this confirmation. She couldn’t imagine doing something that would upset you because she read your non-verbals wrong. 

“Want you, Abby, I want you.” You whispered, not looking at Abby - too embarrassed to admit your desire so blatantly.  But if Abby needed to hear it, it didn’t matter if you were embarrassed - her comfort was your top priority. Abby tilted your face, trying to make you look at her.

“You’re nervous.” Abby stated when she noticed how you fidgeted with her hoodie. She didn’t like it - she wanted you to feel happy and relaxed with her.

“A little.” You admitted and smiled, giggling when Abby tried to catch your eyes, turning her head at all angles possible.

“Am I scaring you?” Abby asked playfully and stroked your back.

“Big bad Abby.” You laughed. “No. Just want to do it right.”

“I don’t think there is a wrong way, (y/n).” Abby kissed your jaw. “Really, if you want to stop, it’s totally cool.”

Now Abby looked at you, serious, as she searched your face for any sign of discomfort, so tuned to your body she could tell if you were even slightly tense, but you smiled and kissed her gently.

“You’re so sweet.” You said and moved away, creating a distance between the two of you. Abby tried not to read it as a sign you wanted to stop, but as the distance grew bigger, she became more sure that this was it. “Let’s move it to the bedroom.” 

Abby blinked and smiled brightly when the meaning of your words finally caught up with her. Abby kissed you again, her hands roaming your body, squeezing you painfully. Abby grabbed your thighs and suddenly you were in the air, clinging to Abby for dear life. 

"Fuck." You said, a little bit shocked as Abby hoisted you up, her lower stomach pressing just right between your legs. "Warn me next time." You laughed and snaked your hands around Abby's neck. 

Abby smirked and kissed your collarbones, making your hole clench on nothing - you were getting so wet, too wet, and nothing really happened yet. 

"Abby." You inhaled sharply, your fingers squeezing her shoulders.

"Yeah?"

"Bedroom."

Abby chuckled against your neck and carried you to the bedroom while her hands continued kneading your butt. You were so fucking soft in her arms, it was so easy to carry you Abby felt drunk on how much stronger she was, how effortlessly she could just move you and hold you and not let you do anything, leaving everything to her. 

Abby lowered you down on the bed and you pulled her with you, making her press you into the bed as you kissed her. You spread your legs further, making Abby press into you as her hand caressed your thigh lightly, admiring how soft and warm you were. 

Abby broke the kiss and sat between your legs and this view alone made you ache, made it hard to breathe. She looked serious, her strong hands crawling up your thighs, her wide shoulders moving up and down as she breathed heavily. You sat up and tugged her hoodie up, literally not able to take it anymore, you needed to see her. The hoodie came off, leaving Abby in her sports bra, her muscles, her strength on display.

"Oh my fucking god." You whispered, mesmerised. "Fuck, Abby." You ran your fingers over Abby's abs and  she flexed her muscles instinctively, causing the wetness pool in your panties, the pressure building behind your clit. You looked at her with wide eyes as you got closer to feel her skin under your lips. 

You left open mouthed kisses on Abby's side, holding her hips. She was warm and solid and she tasted just as she smelled - cold and mouthwatering. You couldn't get enough, your hands travelled lower and you groaned - Abby had a V line, fucking hell. 

Abby watched you worship her body and her breathing became heavy, her hunger growing with each second and her boxers getting wetter after every kiss - your soft mouth drove her crazy, your genuine admiration getting to her heart dangerously close. Abby knew girls enjoyed her physique,  but there was something different about your reaction - you were gentle with her, smoothing her edges in a way that scared her, but left wanting more. Abby needed you to cum, to feel good, to come apart in her hands again and again until you couldn't anymore. 

"Doll, look at me." Abby panted and gently lifted your head. You looked up at her, your eyes shining and your cheeks flushed. "Fuck, you're so pretty." Abby kissed you, hungry and getting a little rough from her desperation, but you didn't mind, clinging to her with your whole body. "Can I take it off?" 

"Yeah." You whispered, exhilarated when Abby's fingers hooked the bottom of your top. She was slow, as if she was opening a present she wanted her whole life and now couldn't believe she had it, and you suddenly felt impatient from your own excitement, buzzing with arousal.

The top came off and Abby stared at you, unblinking. You were so goddamn beautiful: your cute shoulders, the soft line of your neck, your round pretty tits with hardened nipples, the delicate line of your waist - Abby wanted to devour you. You looked divine, you looked holy to her and she wasn't sure she should be allowed to touch you. 

"Lie down." Abby told you and you leaned back, spreading your legs so Abby'd fit between them. "Fuck." Abby said as she watched you, lying on your pillows all pretty and inviting. 

Abby's hands were fucking shaking as she leaned to you, your naked stomachs touching. You sighed and bucked your hips up without thinking, just craving Abby's touch - skin on skin contact wasn't enough, you needed her strong gentle hands on you. Abby used one of her hands to push your hips down, stopping you from moving completely and you whimpered, bucking your hips again, now because her strength turned you on even more, but Abby didn't let you, pressing you back even harder, and you shuddered. 

"Do you need something, doll?" Abby asked as she kissed your neck, grinding a little against you. You suddenly relaxed under her and spread your legs wider, your brows furrowed as Abby's lower stomach pressed into your pussy. "Tell me." 

"Are you teasing me?" You asked as you swallowed a quiet moan.

"I'm asking." Abby breathed in your skin, addicted to your scent: you smelled like warmness and home to her. She licked a long strip on your neck, from your collarbones to your ear and smirked when you made a little mewling sound in her ear. She was genuinely asking, but she couldn't help but tease you a little.

"Can you touch me?" You asked shyly, not even meaning touching your pussy - you'd get there eventually - you just wanted her hands on you. "Like-" You swallowed and stroked her sides. "Like that?" 

Abby melted.

She nodded and squeezed your sides, spreading her fingers over your waist and hips, and you closed your eyes, enjoying the solid firm pressure from Abby’s hands.

"Like that?" 

"Yeah." 

Abby kissed you and moved down, putting her mouth over your nipple, swirling her tongue around your bud. You arched into her, choking on air, your body like a naked wire, but she held you down again. Abby looked at you, stupidly turned on from your reactions.

"You're sensitive." Abby stated in amazement and smiled, so fucking pleased with this fact about you. 

You didn't have time to even think what to say to Abby as she sucked on your nipple and grinded on you, watching your reaction with hunger: she saw it once and nothing would tear her away from you now. You whimpered, your nails digging in Abby's shoulders as she continued playing with your nipples: her tongue on one nipple and her fingers on the other as she pressed her body flush against your pussy.  You felt how wet you got, soaking through your underwear - you probably had a wet spot on your shorts now - but you didn't care as long as you had Abby's hands and mouth on you. 

Abby moved back to your face, admiring you, all flushed and panting. You smiled at Abby and pulled her into the kiss, barely maintaining it as you couldn't stop smiling. 

Abby touched the waistband of your shorts and looked at you, serious again. 

"I'm going to take them off." Abby said, waiting for your confirmation. 

"Good idea." You giggled and watched Abby undress you completely. She took your underwear with your shorts, not wasting any time. 

"Fuck, you're so beautiful." Abby said tenderly, her gaze making you blush as she looked you over. "What do you like?"

"I-uh." You tried to get your thoughts together. "Anything?"

Abby nodded and spread your legs with her hand, caressing your thighs in the process. You shivered when you felt cool air on your wet hole and you covered your face, a little embarrassed when you noticed how intensely Abby was staring between your legs.

Abby felt her mouth water when she saw how wet you were, the desire to make you feel good overpowering her. You were so responsive it made her want to touch you even more, but your shyness melted her heart. 

"Hey, don't be shy." Abby chuckled as she caressed your pelvis lightly. "You're so pretty." 

"Fuck you." You laughed affectionately and moved your hand from your face to look at Abby, who was grinning at you. 

And then Abby moved down, leaving lingering kisses on your stomach until she was right in front of your pussy, her shoulders keeping your legs apart. Abby snaked her hands around your thighs, locking you in one position, and you caught your breath, just staring at her. You couldn't move, her grip on you was unyielding. 

Abby kissed your thighs gently, making you relax again: this feeling was so fucking addicting, just watching you visibly unbend and just accept what was happening - it pressed Abby's buttons in ways that her mind got even filthier, imagining if you could let go completely and let her do whatever she wanted with you. 

Abby pressed on your thighs, spreading them even wider to open you up for her, all pretty, wet and hot. Abby smirked and licked you from your hole all the way up to your clit, the tip of Abby's tongue making you twitch in her hands from sudden painful pleasure. Too much, Abby thought and relaxed her tongue on your clit, circling it softly. She watched your breath hitch and eyes flutter, the soft, quiet sounds leaving your lips as she played with your clit. You were so wet and tasted so fucking good Abby didn't want to leave your thighs ever again. 

Abby's mouth felt so good on you, you couldn't even think as she sucked on your clit, making you fucking jump in her arms, but she held you down without breaking her movements and doubled her efforts, sucking and licking and swirling her tongue until your heavy breathing turned into loud moans. 

"Abby, fuck-" You managed to say between your high whines. "Jesus-" 

But Abby ignored you, keeping her pace steady on your clit, her chin covered in your slick. She felt how twitchy you got, and she smirked knowing you were close, so she sped up just a little, cautious not to overwhelm you and break the spell before you'd cum for her.

Abby's tongue was pulling you down and down and down, drowning you in syrupy pleasure, building you up to the inevitable as your thighs started to shake and your voice became high pitched, your moans broken and choked. You grabbed Abby's forearm as you felt your orgasm approaching.

"Fuck- ohmygod- abby- Abby!" You screamed, oh god Abby made you fucking scream and she wasn’t stopping, she wasn’t stopping, her tongue lightly moving up and down your pussy, collecting your wetness as she licked you clean. It made you blush and you covered your face again as you tried to get your body under control.

The hold on your thighs eased up and Abby kissed your stomach, her tongue hot on your skin. She took her time, worshipping you as she placed soft kisses on your body: you were so soft and delicate she couldn’t believe she actually got to touch you. Abby moved up and gently moved your arm away from your face.

“Hey.” Abby said as she smiled at you, so tender it was almost unbearable. You looked so good, still twitching after your first orgasm, and Abby looked into your eyes, trying to remember every little line and every blush and how your breathing wasn’t evened out yet, but you were smiling back at her.

“Hi.” You giggled and put your trembling fingers on Abby’s neck. You looked at each other and broke into happy giggles. “Gimme a sec, I need my body to stop shaking and then it’s your turn.”

“That good, huh?” Abby smirked and you blushed. “Actually. Do you think you can go again?” Abby asked, her hand moving down to your hip, tracing circles on your hip bones. 

"Yeah." You nodded, a little confused, and then Abby's hand moved further down. "Oh, you mean now." You giggled at your own obliviousness.

"Yeah." Abby whispered as she watched you, her hunger back. "Wanna see you cum again, you're so fucking beautiful."

You looked at Abby with wide eyes and kissed her desperately, her words messing with your heart, turning you into butter. 

Abby pulled away, wanting to see your face when she'd push inside you. She moved her fingers through your folds, so gentle and careful, and you felt one finger circling your hole. You shuddered in anticipation, looking back at Abby, her pupils so dilated she almost lost all blue in her eyes. And then she pushed her finger inside and you couldn't even make a sound. You were still tight and wet after your last orgasm, and Abby's finger felt amazing as she slowly stroked your walls.

"Fuck, (y/n)." Abby whispered and kissed your neck, sucking a hickey into your skin. 

She wanted to be careful with you, to keep you relaxed until your pleasure would build up enough for you to start making these pretty high noises. Abby curled up her finger, looking for your sweet spot, and suddenly your thighs closed on her arm and you whimpered. 

"There you go." Abby smiled, enjoying you. She eased up a little, giving you a chance to exhale. "Breathe, baby.” She chuckled when she noticed you held your breath. 

You inhaled sharply and your thighs relaxed, not locking Abby’s arm anymore.

"Good girl." Abby said affectionately, so pleased with you and you whined, your head suddenly fuzzy.

You looked at Abby: she was so gorgeous, her face calm and her cheeks faintly pink with a bunch of freckles you wanted to kiss, her hair tucked behind her ears - god you loved when her hair was down. You ran your hand from her neck to her waist, adoring all soft warm skin under your fingertips as she thrusted into you, your breathing turning from sighs to moans.

“Do you want another one?” She whispered in your ear, making you shudder, her mouth working another hickey on your pulse point. 

“Yeah.” You gripped Abby’s hair gently and she pressed her mouth harder to your neck. 

Abby pulled her finger out and you felt empty and a little cold, but then you felt two fingers pressing inside. Abby pushed them in slowly, marvelling by how soft and tight you were around her, how you looked at her, your eyes a little foggy while you smiled a little. Abby curled her fingers and you clenched around her, whimpering, and Abby felt her own hole clench in response. Fuck it was hot.

You felt so full, Abby’s fingers pressing everywhere, ripping sounds out of you on each thrust. Your skin was on fire, each nerve trembling as Abby sped up, her fingers pressing against your sweet spot, as absolutely obscene wet sounds joined your whimpers. It took a little longer to bring you over the edge, but Abby didn’t break her relentless pace until you cried out for her, your walls clenching and pulsating around her fingers as you came, shaking so violently Abby had to use her other hand to hold you down as you twitched uncontrollably while coming down from your high. 

Abby watched you, spellbound, as you came on her fingers, your throat bared for her, purple marks blooming everywhere: you were hers, only hers, and you were so beautiful, like a fucking angel.

"There you go, doing so good for me." Abby praised you as she pulled her fingers out slowly, watching your blissed out face.

Suddenly there was pressure on her shoulders as you made her lie back while your trembling fingers went under her sports bra.

“I wanna see you.” You said in a shaky voice, barely standing up, your thighs still shaking from your orgasm, sticky with your slick. “Can I go down on you?”

Just hearing these words coming out of your mouth made Abby groan - she wanted to fuck you again, but you looked so desperate and wanting she couldn’t refuse. She really couldn’t say no to you, could she? 

Abby sat up and helped you undress her completely, blushing a little under your hungry eyes. You nestled between Abby’s thighs and tried to just absorb her, your eyes roaming over her body, so fucking powerful and beautiful and perfect. You leaned down to Abby and kissed her neck while your hands ran up from her thighs to her waist. Fuck she was magnificent, firm lines mixed with soft flesh. 

“I wanna fucking inhale you.” You said into the crook of her neck, dizzy with desire. Abby’s breath caught in her throat, her ears ringing and her pussy aching because of your words, that were filled with raw obsession. 

“Holy shit, doll.” Abby sighed and tried to get you to lift your head, but you were already moving down, leaving sweet kisses on Abby’s collarbones and stomach.

You cupped Abby’s tits carefully and she closed her eyes, enjoying your touch. You smiled and took her nipple into your mouth, sucking on it gently, and Abby made this low appreciative noise that went straight to your clit. Abby was much quieter than you, but it only turned you on more, listening to her soft fast breathing as you went down, kissing her abs, her sides, mouthing at her muscles as she flexed, her breath hitching every time you placed a new kiss on her skin. You couldn’t get enough of her: you traced Abby’s v-line with your tongue and then planted open-mouthed kisses on conjunctions of her hips, nuzzling in the dips as Abby spread her thighs wider. 

“Can I ask you for something?” You asked as you moved all the way down, getting comfortable between Abby’s thighs. 

“Yeah.”

“Will you be able to keep still?” You mouthed at her thighs, looking Abby in the eyes. You knew you wouldn't be able to hold her down, but you wanted her to let you do what you needed to do.

Abby was surprised by your request, but it only turned her on - it was nearly impossible not to move in this situation, but you asked her - and your wish was her command.

“Yes.”

“Thank you.” You said and buried your face between Abby’s thighs.

Abby twitched but stopped herself from moving, letting you do whatever you want. You opened your mouth and put it over Abby’s pussy, slowly flicking her clit with your tongue. Abby squeezed the pillow behind her and hissed, her orgasm already close: she’s been close since she pushed her fingers inside you. And now Abby had you between her legs and she had to stop herself from moving while your tongue played her like musical instrument and she knew she wouldn’t fucking last. 

“Fuck.” Abby gasped when you gently sucked on her clit, her thighs trembling by the sides of your head. Your mouth felt fucking amazing, and Abby felt her lower stomach tighten, so fucking close. 

Abby tentatively moved her hips up to meet your tongue, bucking up so slightly and so gently - she didn't want to take your control away, but she was almost there. You put your hands on her hip bones and helped her grind against your mouth so tenderly you'd think she was being shy, but Abby moved so precisely you figured that was something she liked, and your heart ached: this powerful woman was so delicate in your arms right now. You met her movements with your soft tongue, flicking her clit until she started to lose her pace. Abby was close, so you gently pressed her hips back to the bed - more accurately, Abby let you press her back to the bed - and sped up, desperate to give Abby her orgasm. 

"Holy fuck." Abby moaned quietly, her voice shaking a little. "Just like that, baby- oh fuck-" She managed to say and in the next second Abby was pulled under as her body exploded, the long groan ripping from her lungs, her hands clutching the pillow so hard she might have torn the fabric. 

You watched Abby obsessively, your mouth slack against her: she was gorgeous, her chest heaving with her fast breathing as the reality came back to her. You moved up to kiss Abby, lying on top of her.

"Hey, (y/n)." Abby called, panting, her eyes are still closed, but her hands were already on you, caressing your back and your waist.

"Yeah?" You kissed her cheek, her nose, her eyes, buzzing with happiness.

Abby opened her eyes and you pressed your thighs together under her dark determined gaze: she looked at you like you were her prey and she finally caught you.

"Can you go again?"

[noodyl-blasstal]

You know when you have a stupid idea and nothing can stop you?

--

“Are you done yet?” Lup asks through gritted teeth.

“The more you ask the longer Taako’s going to take.” Taako prods her shin with his foot

“How about now?”

“Yeah, no, absolutely, glad you asked actually,  cha’boy’s completely done.”

“Really?” Lup relaxes her face. ”Lemme see!”

“No, Goofus, put your face back!”

Lup sighs, but settles back into her cross legged pose and resumes the terrifying smile. “You owe me.”

“It’s worrying how well you can enunciate like that.”

“Years of practice.” She winks at him as he peers over the canvas.

“A multi-talented muse.” Taako squints at Lup, then ducks back behind his stupid tiny easel. He should probably prop it up somewhere else, but the legs hadn’t been right when they were fully extended for years, so the sofa with some structural cushions was his studio of choice. He’s applying the last few brush strokes to the teeth when Lup starts to fidget again.

“Are you done now though?”

“Just let me…” Taako looks at Lup, back at the page, and back again. “Yeah, you’re good.”

“Can I see?”

“Taako isn’t moving it. That’s what smudged it last time.”

Lup vaults unnecessarily over the back of the sofa, then runs round to stand behind him. She takes a deep, reverent breath. “Koko… It’s glorious. Your best yet. You captured the emotions so well.”

“It’s true.” Taako nods solemnly. “Cha’boy has a gift.”

“Everything your brush touches turns to gold.” Lup rests her head on his shoulder to get a closer view. He absently rubs his cheek against hers.

“Uh huh. How many gold specifically? Like 400?”

Lup snorts. “Dream big, why not six?”

“Good point, Taako needs to remember his worth.”

“Hell yeah!” Lup stands and pats him reassuringly on the back.

“Ooooh, that’s good.” Taako grabs his brush and makes a final addition.

Lup waits for him to finish. “Perfect. You’re a genius.”

Image description: a screenshot of a Facebook marketplace post which shows a picture of a blue owl perched on a triangular black shape. The background is a dark blue sky with a large moon directly behind the owl. It is grimacing with human teeth. "hell yeah" is written in the top left of the painting. The marketplace title is "one of a kind contemporary art piece hand painted acrylic on canvas." The price is $600. Description ends.

(I saw this and immediately thought of Taako haunting the buy and sell boards with these.)

[crinosg]

Okay so here are some more Disney Mirrorverse characters

Anger they didn't really change at all. They just made him slightly volcanic. He also has a sword (not pictured here).

Baloo basically looks like he walked out of a weird Furry version of Mad Max.

Baymax looks weird, it looks like they tried to integrate his power armor into his design. Not really a fan.

OH HI BEAST SOMEONE HAS BEEN TAKING LEVELS IN PALADIN HUH?

I like how they didn't really change Buzz's design. They just gave him a bigger gun.

Man if looks could kill Donald would already be in prison. I do like they made the effort to distinguish him from the KH version. The energy anchor is a nice touch too.

OKAY WHY IS DORY EVEN FUCKING HERE? Spare her the horrors of war I implore you!

I like this, its similar to her normal outfit, but clearly designed for combat with more maneuverability.

THIS IS THE MONADO'S POWER! I mean, EVE already has combat abilities, does she really need the flipper swords?

Again reminds me of Elsa's design. Its the same dress as the canon version, just designed for more maneuverability. And with big stupid WOW shoulderpads too. Also I guess she's just lobbing the poison apples at people now.

Yeah, remember Frank Wolff? Dwayne the Rock Johnson's character from the hit Disney Movie Jungle Cruise? Yeah no I don't either. Look, the movie had came out, they needed to promote it. Have Dwayne The Rock Johnson with a Swamp Thing arm.

This one is alright, feels like if they were making the edgy Pre MCU Frozone movie this is what he would look like.

Alright real big fan of this one. This looks like the Genie like a thousand years post Aladdin where he's become a powerful Genie lord and rules over his own kingdom and stuff. Just love the design here.

I like this. Pretty simplistic design.

Not gonna lie I could imagine canon Hades wearing this.

I think this is largely just a recolor of his canon costume. *checks* Not even a recolor, its basically just the same outfit.

Honestly never even seen Onward so I could not comment. It looks fine though, he looks like a DnD character.

So they took Judy Hopps and gave her a Zero Suit. I can dig it.

Again, this is something I could see Maleficent wearing.

So the question is how do they change up Maui for Mirrorverse? Answer, just make his tattoos glow. Its a cool effect to be sure.

this one is pretty good. No complaints.

I HAVE SEVERAL QUESTIONS. Why is Mike in power armor? Why is here here at all?

Pretty cute design, but I get the feeling Minnie isn't fully aware she's about to be going to war.

This is a nice design, its simple, and it builds subtly off Moana's normal look.

Why are his hands glowing? What does that add?

OH GOD THEY PUT OLAF IN A LITTLE CAPE I CAN'T. Why is he even here? Olaf cannot face the horrors of war. He looks so determined too like that face says "I'm about to kick some ass today!"

Okay the jacket is a bit much, but I am kind of digging the roulette wheel shield and the dice flail.

Again have note seen Raya, but this seems alright. Probably should make time for some of these newer Disney films, especially since I want to show support during the whole DeSantis....thing.

Really like this one, especially the sewing needle weapons.

Goddamn Scar, cut back on the vaping man! What the actual fuck with this one?

Okay I'm out of space for pictures in this one so gonna continue this in a part 2.

[decks-writing-blog]

Whatever the Fuck Benrey is: Chapter Seven: Perform Like a Circus Animal

Chapter One

Previous Chapter

~

“Wake the fuck up already, Gordon!”

It was a far less horrendous wake up call than the wretched blaring of Gordon’s alarm clock, but that didn’t make Benrey happy about it.

“You’re the one who volunteered us to ferry supplies like a bunch of goody two-shoes pack mules,” Bubby continued, just as loud. “So you gotta get up and get a move on already.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m awake.” Gordon’s voice rumbled in his chest where Benrey still lay against it. They’d shifted a bit, Gordon now lying partially on is back with Benrey on top. He was still fully under the blanket though so he was still hidden from Bubby’s view. “How’d you get in here? I locked the front door.”

“I picked it. You know where Benrey is? I’d thought he’d be in here, playing your Xbox or something.”

Gordon’s arms shifted around Benrey, holding him a bit tighter, as he rolled a bit more onto his side, bringing Benrey with him and thus hiding him better under the blanket. “He was last night. I got no clue where he is now. I’m sure he’ll show up again eventually, he always does. Now could you please leave so I can get out of bed?”

“You naked under there?”

“Yeah, so fuck off.”

“Don’t fall back asleep.” A moment later, the bedroom door closed.

Gordon held Benrey to his chest for a couple more seconds before sighing and shifting to lift the blanket so he could look down at Benrey. “Good morning. Sleep well?”

“Five more minutes?” Benrey didn’t need another five minutes of sleep but he also didn’t want to get up yet.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’. Unfortunately we can’t lie here for five more minutes because it’ll turn into an hour and we… or at least, I really do have stuff to do today. So move.”

Benrey groaned but obeyed because Gordon would probably push him if he didn’t. Upon sliding off the bed and stretching himself out, he already missed Gordon’s warmth. It was a like a hot shower than never ran cold and without all the wet that cooled too quickly when stepping out. … He could survive without it though. Being needy, clingy, and desperate for cuddles was kind of lame and so he wasn’t. A one time really nice cuddle was all he needed or wanted. He was set for life on that now.

“You weren’t there but last night we talked and agreed to ferry supplies for the rescue attempt that the other guys are putting together to look for people deeper in the facility. We’re also bringing back wounded to Tuefort. Technically since the stuff in the health packs apparently comes from you, you could probably heal them. But we’re trying to keep you secret and no one’s in life threatening danger so it’s fine. I volunteered to drive back all our personal stuff while Dr. Coomer, Bubby, and Tommy deal with the wounded. Meaning you’re riding back with me.” As he talked, Gordon cleaned his glasses before sliding them back on his face.

“Neat. You got a DS or PSP or some other handheld gaming thing I could play during the drive?”

“Uh… yeah, actually. I found my Game Boy Advance in the closet yesterday. There was even half a pack of batteries still with it. I haven’t touched it in a few years though so I can’t say for sure it’ll work but it probably should.”

Well on the off chance it was busted, Benrey could always ask Tommy to lend him a book. OSHA manuals were probably even more boring than normal books but they’d probably still beat staring out the car window at the unchanging desert. Though even that was better than staring at it as he walked it. But if push came to shove, he could just bother Gordon to keep himself entertained. So really, it’d be fine no matter what.

~

Naturally having no personal possessions left intact to pack up, Benrey was ready to leave first. It helped that he also didn’t have to bother with breakfast. He played the Xbox right up until Gordon forced him off so he could pack it up. Blessedly upon doing so he handed over a large tote bag with a picture of a cat on it that contained his promised Game Boy Advance and batteries for it along with a whole bunch of games and some cables. Apparently he had indeed been hiding the good stuff in his room.

Benrey then moved to sit and wait the car and sort through his new borrowed treasure trove of games while Gordon – with some help from Coomer – packed all of the Science Team’s stuff into trunk and the back seats. Said car was a company car, the Black Mesa logo painted on both sides. Meant for transporting things, it was bigger than Bubby’s but the seats were less comfortable. It had a Christmas tree air freshener hanging from the rear view mirror. An old one based off how little scent still clung to it.

Gordon, in typical Gordon fashion, ended up dawdling more than was necessary before getting into the driver’s seat and finally getting the show on the road. Tempting as it was to tease him for that, Benrey was already too absorbed in, new to him, Superstar Saga – Gordon’s selection of Game Boy games was much better than his paltry Xbox game collection – to think of something good. So he let it go… for now. Next time he dawdled for a long time when Bubby wasn’t around to urge him onward, Benrey would be sure to say something though. Had to keep him on his toes after all.

Other than the radio, playing soft only slightly staticky music, and the sound of the Game Boy, they rolled in silence for maybe a whole five minutes before Gordon broke it.

“So you can purr, huh?”

Before he could stop himself, Benrey flinched. His first instinct was to look at Gordon. A mistake he quickly remedied, setting his gaze back on the Game Boy even though he’d lost his train of thought with it. “What? No. Who told you that?”

“Last night, or I guess more like super early this morning, after the alarm woke us, you fell back asleep first and started purring.”

Damn it! He’d stamped down that urge and thought it defeated. Even after instead of having a funny reaction to Benrey being so close, Gordon had said he could stay which had been nice in an entirely different way, he hadn’t done it. Purring was cute and he may not know what he was beyond being not human but he did know he also wasn’t cute. Apparently whilst asleep his body had betrayed him.

“It was pretty cute,” Gordon continued at Benrey’s failure to respond, proving Benrey’s point.

“I’m not cute.” People in real life or in video games and movies labeled as ‘cute’ were almost never taken seriously. They were the side kick, rarely respected, often cooed at like a baby or dumb animal. Cute things were looked down upon, treated as less than.

“Nah, it was pretty damn cute, dude, adorable even.

“Shut up.”

Gordon chuckled. It wasn’t as nice as his laugh normally was because he was laughing at Benrey’s expense this time. “Does Tommy know?”

“No.” The only other people who knew were the scientists in charge of him. The way they’d treated it as a cute fun thing to show off to everyone like some kind of spectacle had convinced Benrey to never purr again. It had lead to the one and only he’d broken into their lab to destroy recordings of himself once they’d finally given up on trying to force him to do it again in person for everyone who wanted to see and instead had just showed the tapes. Since then, rare were the times he’d even felt tempted to purr, making it rather easy to not do while in front of anyone. Until last night apparently anyway. “Don’t tell him.”

Of course Gordon would tell though. Gordon barely tolerated him so why would he not share Benrey’s secret? It was cute and thus must be shared and shown off. And now not only Gordon but Tommy and the rest of the Science Team would know too and he would never live it down. Heck, maybe he’d already told them and they’d had a good laugh at his expense over breakfast.

“Okay, okay, I won’t tell.”

Pausing his game – he’d been doing nothing but running around in circles anyway – Benrey looked up at Gordon again. His eyes were on the road and his gun hand was pushed through one of the lower parts of the steering wheel, helping steer. His expression wasn’t much of anything other than generally relaxed, making it hard to tell if he was genuine. “Really?”

“Yeah, sure, unlike some people, I try to not be an asshole, so if it really bothers you, I won’t tell Tommy or anyone else.”

“Okay. Better keep that promise though or else.”

“Or else what?”

“Uh… I don’t know yet. Just don’t tell.”

“I won’t.” He was silent for a long moment after that, long enough that Benrey was about to return his attention to his Game Boy before he continued. “Can I ask, um… why you purr though? Like, uh, cats purr most of the time because of positive feelings. But you’re not a cat, obviously, so do you purr because you’re happy or is it something else? Like maybe it’s just something you do when you’re asleep. Or is it because you were having some kind of dream that… made you purr for whatever reason.”

“I don’t know. I just do it sometimes when I’m warm and cozy or whatever. It’s lame so I try avoid stuff that might make me feel like doing it.” Except last night but he wasn’t going to make that mistake again.

Gordon broke eye contact with the road to look at Benrey, his expression soft now. What exact emotion was behind it was hard to tell though. “Well… I don’t think it’s lame. It’s pretty soothing actually, like it sounds nice. Um, it helped me fall back asleep. So I don’t think you should be ashamed of it so much you avoid it or whatever.”

Benrey scoffed as he turned his attention back onto the Game Boy. What did Gordon even know about it? Nothing, that’s what. He wasn’t the one with the ability to purr and thus didn’t have to live with some people thinking him a cute, adorable thing to show off to everyone when finding out. So Benrey was done talking about it. He had a game to focus on.

***

Driving was quickly proving to not be as much of a distraction as Gordon had hoped it would be. In hindsight not surprising given he was driving through an empty dessert with nothing to look at but dirt. The only other cars were the two Bubby and Dr. Coomer had been lent – no sign of Bubby’s original car which would’ve made three, freeing up room for Tommy to drive as well instead of going with Dr. Coomer, but whatever – and they were both far enough ahead that he’d have to go out of his way to hit them.

So naturally, after only a few minutes, he resumed talking to Benrey. Finding out more about him would be worthwhile, for curiosity's sake but also they had some sort of tenuous friendship going so it’d be good to know more about him on that front too. Also, apparently somewhere along his hellish journey through Black Mesa Gordon had become the kind of person who always needed to be talking or listening to someone else talk. Making him annoying but Benrey was annoying too so he deserved it.

Over the next long while he subtly tried to get as much info out of Benrey about his past as he could. What kind of life had he lead in the lab? How had they treated him? What kind of experiments had they subjected him to and their results?

Trying not to ask any outright invasive questions made it easy for Benrey to slip around them with a lot of non-answers. He was distracted by his game of course but also some of it had to be purposeful avoidance. Gordon pressed for more here and there but never too hard lest it be sensitive. Resulting in him not learning as much as he’d have liked. He did confirm and reconfirm a few things though, such as, Benrey had indeed spent his whole entire life in the lab in the lab, he wasn’t sure if he’d been born, hatched, or made there in a tube or something else, and that when he’d talked about the scientists harvesting his ‘juice’ to turn into medical goo he had indeed meant his blood – they drew it out of him with needles.

“Did you have anyone who uh… you considered to be like a parent?”

“Nope.”

Gordon waited for a bit but of course no further answer came. Benrey was too focused on his game and/or just straight up didn’t want to elaborate. And Gordon couldn’t exactly ask him if he’d been mistreated, especially since that was probably a given, right?

“What about friends? Any of the scientists your friends?”

“You guys.”

“I mean like the scientists uh… assigned to you or whatever. Any of them your friend?”

“Nope.”

And so on and so forth, Gordon never quite daring to ask what he actually wanted to know. Giving up on that line of questioning and bringing up video games finally got a bit more though.

“First console I got was the original Game Boy, the one with like the green screen and no real colour. I stole it from one of my handlers pockets. Only had one game for it but it was fun. I kept in my gamer pad and made it a power thingy but then it got bombed so… it’s busted now.”

“Oh, uh, sorry about that.”

“It really blows. A real bummer.”

Gordon would’ve liked to offer some comfort but how did one comfort someone who hadn’t had much to begin with and then lost it all? Instead… “What do you mean you ‘made it a power thingy’ though?”

“I put some energy in it so it would draw more power for me. Only a little though ‘cause I was doing it mostly to make it easy to find my gamer pad without having to like… walk through the halls and stuff, I could always just go straight to it. Also it was special but… whatever, doesn’t matter now.” The last sentence was a mumble, just barely audible over the radio and sounds coming from his game.

“So… like what you did with the passports on Xen?”

“Yeah but not as much. Oh, uh…” he looked at Gordon, not something he’d done often during this conversation, “I figured out earlier that uh, I’m made from Xen energy… I think. On Xen I was like… the most powerful I’d ever been and before that, after the resonance cascade, I was pretty powerful and always more powerful in Black Mesa. Especially around where they were getting all the Xen stuff to study. But now, with all the portals shut, I’m like the same power level anywhere I go, basically. So I must be made form Xen energy or from something they found on Xen.”

“Or maybe your from Xen?” Making him an alien and thus finally a possible answer to what he was.

“Hmm… don’t know, maybe.”

“Though, uh… maybe not. We saw all sorts of Xen stuff and none of it seemed to exhibit anything like what you can do. Which doesn’t mean much because we didn’t see much of Xen.” Meaning all they’d really done was narrow it down to alien or lab grown monster made when experimenting with stuff taken from Xen.

“I now know something about where I came from though so… you should be happy with that, right? You can stop being weird about me not knowing that kinda stuff.”

Gordon hadn’t thought he’d been being weird about it, just appropriately flabbergasted and a bit saddened that Benrey knew so little about his origins. “Uh… yeah. Knowing you have a connection to Xen is certainly far better than knowing nothing.”

“Good.” Benrey returned his full attention back onto his game.

Gordon turned his gaze back onto the road. Not that there was much to look at, just more desert road stretching in front of him, the sky overhead clear and blue. Tuefort was still awhile away. “It’s not everything though. It’s still sad you don’t know. But uh… I guess since we’re on the topic of what you are, what all can you do?” He’d been wondering that for awhile, since realizing Benrey had powers. Bubby and Dr. Coomer too but it was only Benrey in the car with him right now.

“Lots of stuff.” More of that non-committal dodging the question. Surely this couldn’t be a sensitive topic though, right? He was just being difficult for the sake of it. Gordon wasn’t going to let him get away with it if he could help it.

“Some of it’s basically magic, right?” Once upon a time magic would’ve seemed the opposite of science but Gordon had been working at Black Mesa long enough to see plenty of things that could only be described as magic even before his adventure with Benrey.

“I guess.”

“Right, so, you can imbue objects with power to draw more energy for you, shape shift, heal, including growing back lost limbs and… phase through solid matter. I know I’m missing stuff so… what?”

“Yep, you’re missing stuff.”

“Like what? Tell me.”

“Why you wanna know so bad?”

“I’m curious. From a scientific standpoint you’re fascinating. So I wanna know what you can do. Like starting with your shape shifting, what are the limits of it? How big and small can you get? You said you’re less powerful now than you were on Xen so can you not get as big as you could there? Can you take other forms? Like could you turn into a… grizzly bear or some other drastically different animal if you wanted to? Can you shape shift yourself gills to breath underwater?”

Benrey groaned as he turned his head to look at Gordon again. “So many questions. You’re starting to get kinda annoying.” Seemingly it had taken a while but Gordon had finally gotten under his skin. A win for sure.

“Yeah well, after all the times you annoyed me I don’t feel too bad about that. So like… tell me more or heck, show me if you want. Probably not right now but when we’re back at the hotel show me… I don’t know, all your magic stuff. I wanna see it.” It’d be interesting and something to do.

“You wanna put me in an observation cube so you can poke and prod at me until you figure out everything I can do and how far I can push it? Gonna see how much I can endure before I die or whatever? It’s not like it matters ‘cause I come back. Want me to jump through flaming hoops and do a little dance like a circus animal too?” His tone started his usual monotone neutral but by the end, his annoyance was audible.

That should’ve been even more a win than just getting him to admit to being annoyed but… his exact words made it not exactly feel like one. His upset wasn’t with the endless annoying prodding questions but with being asked to perform ‘like a circus animal’. So Gordon had found a sore point for sure but it wasn’t much of a funny ha-ha one but instead one that made him feel kind of like a bully.

“No, no, of course not. I would never…” Gordon took his eyes off the road to look properly at him. “I wouldn’t make you do anything you didn’t want to. I was just asking you to uh… show me.” So he had been asking Benrey to perform for him. “Um… yeah, not great, sorry.”

Even just a couple days ago he never would’ve believed he’d apologize to Benrey of all people, even less would have believed he meant it. But well… being a little nosy was understandable, even being a little annoying with it was somewhat justifiable with how much of an ass Benrey could be but there was still a limit. Asking him to let Gordon openly study him was probably hitting that limit if not passing it outright.

“Sorry,” he said again. “I’ll stop prying. I guess, um, I owe you some answers to personal questions too, if you wanna ask them.”

Benrey stared at him in silence, the shadow over his eyes seemingly darker than usual. Gordon had to break eye contact before the urge to ask about it grew too strong. He probably shouldn’t have taken his eyes off the road to begin with. The last thing they needed or wanted was for him to drive them into a ditch and get stuck, stranding them in the dessert.

“All right then,” Benrey finally said just when it was starting to seem like he was done talking period. “What’s your deepest darkest secret?”

The people he’d killed while they’d been making their way through Black Mesa. Benrey already knew about that though and it wasn’t something Gordon wanted to think about. He did have other secrets though that he’d never told anyone and well, Benrey would probably get a kick out of some of them. “In elementary school, when I was like… seven or eight, the teachers would hand out scented markers for the students to use for arts and crafts. We were supposed to put them all back in the box and return them to the front at the end of class. I, uh, put a couple in my backpack instead and took them home. The red, blue, and brown ones because they smelled the best.”

A beat of silence before… “Ha! I knew you were a thief.”

“Yep, I’m, a dirty thief. That was a twenty years ago though so the statute of limitations is up, meaning I can’t be punished for it.”

“Damn. You ever steal anything else?”

Gordon took a breath to say, ‘no’ but… that would be a lie. If he couldn’t in good conscious try to get Benrey to talk any more about himself, he might as well share some of his own past instead. It was only fair after how much he’d prodded at Benrey for his, right? And none of his past crimes were anything he could get in trouble for anymore so there was no harm in sharing. Maybe it would make Benrey more comfortable sharing more about himself in the future too, since it was an exchange of information instead of Gordon just asking him stuff.

~

By the time they were rolling back into Tuefort, Benrey knew about all of Gordon’s petty crimes. A short list, even counting the stuff that had just been minor family drama like the time he’d removed the head of one of his sister’s dolls in vengeance for some slight he no longer remembered. Gordon might regret telling him one day but it lifted the mood in the car quite a bit so for now it was worth it.

While Bubby and Dr. Coomer brought their wounded cargo to the hospital, Gordon stopped by the Tuefort’s tiny mall to get Benrey a cellphone and add him to his mobile plan. The rest of the Science Team had already exchanged numbers but apparently Benrey had never even had a phone and thus, having somehow wormed his way back into the group, he needed one.

“I want that one,” he said before Gordon could even finish asking the question, pointing to one of the fancy new touch screen phones.

“That whole touch screen thing is an overpriced gimmick, so, no.” There was no way that was going to catch on, right? The phones with the keyboards that slid out of the side were the way of the future.

“But I heard they got games on them and can take pics.”

“I already basically gave you my Game Boy though so you don’t need another handheld thing for games. But uh… you like to take pictures?” Now that Gordon thought about it, he had seen Benrey with a camera a few times. It had never come up in conversation so he hadn’t thought about it much until now.

Benrey shrugged. “It’s cool. Lost my camera on Xen though when… you know, and uh… spare’s broke.”

The smart thing to do would be to just get a him a standard phone – one of the ones without a camera to make it even cheaper – and that’s it. There were a number ways he could cause problems with a camera. But if it was important enough for him to bring it up, maybe it would also help keep him entertained and thus out of trouble. “How ‘bout, I get you a cheap phone for just texting and calling, then separately a decent cheap digital camera? That work?”

“Uh… yeah, that works.”

Gordon took a breath, intending to tell him not be weird with the camera but… bit back on it. Mostly not to give him any evil ideas but also because if this friendship they were forming was going to work, he had to at least try to trust Benrey a little bit sometimes. Also he still felt bad in general for Benrey and specifically for being too nosy in the car and making up for that with a show of good will couldn’t hurt.

From there it blessedly wasn’t long before they were meeting back up as a whole group for lunch. A pizza place that Gordon had never visited before but proved to be quite good. Even Benrey ate some which continued the trend of Gordon not being sure if he actually needed to eat or not. Probably he did, right? Just not as often as humans. Maybe he was like a reptile and only needed to eat like once a week or month, or whatever. After how nosy he’d been in the car, Gordon refrained from asking for now.

Once done, they loaded up on the supplies they promised to bring back and stopped by the hotel for a quick shower, to drop their stuff off, to make sure their rooms were still secured for now, and to drop Benrey off. The best way to continue to keep him secret from the rest of the Black Mesa folk would be to not bring him back there. Leaving him alone and unsupervised for so long seemed liked an awfully bad idea but what other choice was there?

“Here’s the deal,” Gordon said once he had Benrey seated on one of the chairs and paying attention to him. “You’re gonna sit here in this room and play video games for however long I end up staying down there.” Before leaving that morning he’d also been implored to stick around after ferrying supplies back down to help with the start of salvaging whatever they could out of the facility. He’d agreed to it in part to keep himself busy a bit longer but also to ease up on all the back and forth trips. “You can go out occasionally but don’t bother anyone or cause problems. Problems by my definition, not yours. Which means anything that’s gonna harm anyone or be especially disruptive. Just stick to yourself mostly and play your games, you got plenty. If you’re bad, I’m not getting a Play Station to share with you. Understood?”

Benrey rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, understood.”

“Good. And just to reiterate and make super clear, no violence of any sort.”

“I just said I understood and you took the gun away. Can’t do violence without a gun.” A lie and he had to know it. “Why so worried?”

“I’m just… a naturally anxious person.” And even if he was maybe starting to like Benrey as a friend, that didn’t mean he trusted him to behave. He liked cats too after all but no matter how well mannered a cat was, he’d never trust it to not make a mess if left alone with a potted plant for too long. There were countless metaphorical potted plants Benrey could decide to play with and/or eat while Gordon wasn’t around to keep a close eye on him. Benrey was of course more intelligent than most cats and was thus perfectly capable of restraining himself. Being able to didn’t mean he would though, hence the worry.

“What ‘bout you? You gonna be good without me keeping an eye on you for so long? Not gonna steal anymore scented markers?”

“I highly doubt I’ll get an opportunity to but even if I do, I promise I won’t. I haven’t stolen even a cookie from a cookie jar in more than ten years so it’s really not even much of a question.”

“’Kay, but you also gonna be okay? You talked an awful lot on the drive down here, almost like someone afraid of silence. So… you gonna be okay in the silence by yourself?” Seems he was far more perceptive than Gordon had thought.

“Uh… yeah. I’m gonna ask Tommy to ride with me and even drive if he wants to. So I think I’ll be okay. I’ll text you later to see how you’re doing or whatever, I guess.” Make sure he hadn’t burned the hotel down.

“’Kay, talk to ya later.”

~

Next Chapter

[ms-cartoon]

Episode 1 really feels like episode 2 and some things/plot seem like season 2. [Hey they probably didn't know there getting two seasons.] But if you didn't seem the pilot and you didn't know these character. Then you just get throw in and All these characters are just there.

Exactly. . . . Viv should've realized by now that not EVERY BEING ON EARTH watched the pilot before putting the show in production. Regardless, you still need to take time to develop your story and characters. It's all about taking things slow. Focus on the main thing first (all the while throwing in some hints about a reveal here and there) THEN you can focus on something else. Even if there's a second arc you want to explore (in each episode mainly) have it be your B plot. B plots are technically stories focused on your secondary characters. Plus, the letter B is second to A, meaning #2. So have the focus on your secondary characters be your #2 plot instead of your #1 plot (your main plot).

For instance, your #1 main plot; focus on Charlie trying to figure out a way to redeem her sinners and send them to heaven. Meanwhile, we can also focus on Angel in a few episodes, and explore his troubles working for Valentino, being your #2 plot. Maybe while Charlie can focus on achieving her goal, she and the rest of the characters can help Angel get out of his situation. And since Viv really wants to make this show about relationships between characters, she can try and develop some sort of bond between Angel and Charlie. I bring up Charlie cuz he was the first to accept her offer to live in the hotel, even though he doesn't believe in the idea of redeeming sinners. A friendship could blossom between the two and Angel could have more trust in Charlie. Charlie is fully aware of the troubles Angel is having now and should be more determined than anything to help him get out of his situation. And if Viv wants to give him a boyfriend, she can WAIT on that.

Another thing to work on is focusing on the main characters' conflict, what they're up against, and the story involving them first, THEN you can introduce new ones and focus on their arc (without fast-pacing it).

We already have a conflict going on with the villainous Angels and them exterminating sinners and we've introduced Adam and Lute as our first new antagonists. They can stay as our main antagonist until the season ends. We DO NOT need another conflict involving Vox figuring out a way to bring down Alastor in that same season (with only eight episodes mind you). That can wait for another season. Viv will probably forget about that shit anyway.

Don't just make things clear for newcomers, do the same for people who already watched the pilot, cuz there are at least some hints they aren't gonna grasp that they are meant to already know. Me for example: It came as a shock to me that Husk was an overlord.

... Actually, shocked isn't the right word. But it was unexpected.

Some people say that pilot watchers should've already taken the hint that Husk was in Overlord in the pilot just cuz of a picture scene that was shown:

In the pilot, Vaggie tells Angel about Alastor, and the picture of him and all the other overlords is shown. If you look closely, Husk is standing right behind Alastor (so is Niffty), Okay . . . I can understand them hinting at the "overlord Husk" thing by showing him as a silhouette, making it hard to recognize him. Then again, this is completely brushed over in like 3 seconds with the camera moving upward with Husk is off-screen. So of course I'm not gonna immediately see him and theorize that he was an overlord. That's why it came off-guard when he revealed it. Not only that, but NIFFTY is there too!? She's right beside Alastor, shown as a silhouette along with Husk and the rest of the Overlords. So what . . . you're gonna tell me that Niffty was an overlord too, but then made a deal with Alastor at some point and ended up losing her title?? (Seriously, PLEASE don't tell me that) No way in hell u can convince me she was an overlord too just cuz she was shown here. IDK why she's shown here. There's not much character in her anyway apart from "Hehe! Me is psycho! Me like bad boys! Hehe!"

[bangbangay]

Decided to finally post my bg3/d&d ocs: Ruago Duskryn and Nyloth Zolorel! A few details under the cut.

Edit 7/5/24: fleshed out some (actually a lot) more details. They are, of course, below with the others.

Also, I appreciate likes/reblogs/whatever you wanna give. Thank you for even looking at it tbh.

Ruago is a Lolth-sworn drow fighter, specifically of the "soldier" background. He was sworn to service by his family and became known as the "Quaggoth General" for his notoriously beastly demeanor whilst in the throes of battle (as well as his abnormally large appearance compared to other male drow), reminding many of the Underdark's well-known bear-like creature. He eventually has a cape/cloak created from a Quaggoth pelt, to show pride in the name he has earned for himself. The title of General does not dictate his actual standing in any form of militia, instead referring to the instinctual obedience he brings out in fellow soldiers from their fear of bringing forth his ire.

Nyloth is a half-drow ranger, born in a small forest home. He was raised to believe all as equal, and that health of the body and mind are of topmost priority. He helps his family by tracking various beasts and harvesting what he can for food. He gets his drow blood from his mother, who ran from the Underdark when a neighboring family's militia "disbanded" her House. She met his human ranger father after breaking into his basement to seek refuge from the bright daylight, and the rest was history (aka: I haven't fully thought out the parental story besides the Drama lol).

I haven't fully fleshed everything, so here's some notes:

someone finds out that a member of House Zolorel still lives and hires someone to go up and finish her off (said "someone" being the Quaggoth General, ofc)

Ruago gets up there and depending on how angsty I wanna make it, may or may not kill Nyloth's parents while he's out foraging/hunting

non-angsty ending would be more like: Nyloth gets attacked by him, they tussle around for a bit, one of em gets knocked out - either by the other or by one of the 'rents coming into the scene and saving the day

if one knocks the other out, I think it would be funny if it was Ruago with like a rock or smth

if it was the 'rents, then it was probably mom with like, gardening gear and a big sun hat hitting Ru-Ru over the head real hard with a shovel

it would then that the nautiloid shows up, and Nyloth having a newly knocked out soldier on top of him/beside him/idk has a few moments that he can't move either bc of the 200-ish pounds of probably concussed man on his legs/chest, bc his good-naturedness makes him hesitate to leave a guy on the ground, or one of the prevs + he prioritized his mom being safe before himself

and that is how they get Wormed

After the tadpole, I ran a bit with where I would want them to be once the nautiloid crashes, and sorta decided that they should probably end up somewhere that another recruited companion is not (I myself picture them as like. NPCs so. They would eventually have to meet the Tav/Durge somewhere). Which leaves a few areas in chapter 1+2. Since these two would most likely get into another tussle immediately, it's important to me that they have another focus to distract them from immediately killing each other. So, I wanted them to be put in a markedly dangerous area in either chapter. This leaves:

hag swamp - lots of death traps, a monster hunter, a literal hag, and a fucked up frog who will cause death if you don't take care of aforementioned hag. I like this one bc I personally think a really bad experience with probably his first frog ever would make Ruago distrust frogs everywhere. And that is hilarious.

the Underdark - I think them ending up here via landing near like a secret entrance or something (the well in the village, the goblin camp, the zhent hideout I guess??) would be neat and Ru-Ru would probably appreciate some familiar grounds and maybe have like, a teaching moment for Nyloth on where his mom came from? There isn't much else to me wanting them here lol

the mountains near the Creche - there's like, a whole gang of dead things that are here and have kicked my in-game ass super hard so. There's that. The entrance to the Shadow-Cursed lands is there, too. Mr. Ranger would like the mountains, Mr. Quaggoth not so much.

As for the interaction they would have w/ Durge/Tav, there are a few things I thought of:

they're in the middle of beating the shit out of each other and Tav/Durge can choose whether or not to intervene (much like the Rolan/Zevlor interaction in the Grove, except this time there is already Violence happening)

the party meets one, then the other, which triggers an argument/fighting that requires breaking up (one accuses the other of being part of the problem like Astarion, they fight)

the party finds Nyloth with Ruago's knocked out self (either bc Nyloth Won, he got injured in the swamp/wherever, etc.) and Nyloth wants them to help cause even though he had bad experiences w/ him, surely he doesn't deserve to die? (Good-Good boy lol)

[hairstevington]

flowers and ink (final part)

Eddie Munson x Steve Harrington

Summary: Eddie and Steve are happy. Chrissy and Robin are happy. Jonathan meets Argyle. Everyone is happy!

Part one, part two, part three, part four part five part six part seven part eight link to Ao3

Word Count: 1100

Warnings: So sweet you'll get a cavity tbh, Jargyle (because why not), they are idiots one last time, also more Gareth!

Author's Note: Awww, it was emotional to close this one out! Thank you to all who have read and followed along. I can't believe this was only going to be 2 parts at first. I am a FOOL with Steddie brainrot. Until next time!!

Steve wasn’t sure what he was expecting when Eddie said he’d gotten him a gift, but it sure as shit wasn’t this. 

“Oh, my god,” Steve said, holding it up to see it in all its glory. A t-shirt with words printed over a rainbow across the chest: Steve & Robin - Not dating, just gay and codependent. 

“Obviously, I have one for Robin too,” Eddie said, tossing Steve a second shirt. 

“Oh, my God!” Steve repeated, laughing this time. It was perfect and so incredibly weird. He couldn’t wait to model them with his best friend and take the most ridiculous not-couple pictures of all time. “This is - I mean, Jesus! I love it, but would you let me be the impressive one for once?”

Eddie looked Steve up and down, then smirked. 

“With those abs? Don’t worry, you’re still the impressive one here.” Steve blushed, then sat up in bed so he could put the shirt on, but Eddie stopped him. “Woaaaah there, what are you doing? You can’t cover up, I’m enjoying the view.” Steve rolled his eyes.

“You’re not going to let me use the gift you got me?”

“Not yet,” Eddie replied. “I’m actually kind of regretting the whole thing now. You should probably never wear a shirt ever again. Can I have it back actually?” Steve chuckled, then smacked Eddie playfully on the arm.

“No way.”

“Steve, you wound me," Eddie joked. "But fine, as you wish."

Eddie and Steve had been official for 2 months at this point, and everything was kind of perfect. They each continued to work their respective jobs, and with their added happiness came enhanced customer service. 

Bob was happy - both for Eddie’s shift in demeanor as well as for the business. They were doing great! Plus, he got bonus points as a step-dad for introducing Will to Eddie and the shop. Will came to visit a few more times, and this time he got to talk to Steve, too. It was clear that seeing a happy gay couple was important for Will. He hadn’t seen much of that in his small town, so seeing Eddie and Steve be so grossly into each other was refreshing. 

And gross.

But mostly refreshing!

One day, Will’s older brother dropped Will off at the shop, introducing yet another cool person into the friend group - Jonathan. By then, Eddie had succeeded in making Argyle his friend, and the two of them spent many nights smoking and watching those stupid stoner comedies together in Argyle’s weird, confusingly giant house that he somehow lived in. 

Seriously, how did the guy have a house like that already? How did he have the money to travel so much with Chrissy? Her show was good and all, but it couldn’t possibly be getting her that much income. 

In any case, Argyle and Eddie were buds, so Argyle also happened to be around when Jonathan walked into Ink About It. 

The bromance between Jonathan and Argyle was pretty much immediate. Eddie would have felt mildly jealous about it if he hadn’t noticed some very familiar (aka queer) vibes between the two. Perhaps Will wasn’t the only Byers grappling with their identity, that's all Eddie was saying - but it was just speculation. Eddie kept his mouth shut (except to Steve, obviously, who fully agreed). In due time, as with anything else. 

So then they all hung out - Chrissy, Jonathan, Argyle, Steve, Eddie, and Robin. They’d formed quite the friend group - all of them getting along with each other beautifully. Argyle even hosted a road trip with the squad in his giant pizza van (???) so that they could all surprise Gareth at a Corroded Coffin show.

That night was epic, and it finally cemented Robin and Chrissy as girlfriends.

After their date, they’d both been super into each other - undeniably so. Yet, because Chrissy was so often moving around, they’d decided it was best to just stay friends. 

Yeah. Eddie and Steve knew that wouldn’t last very long. 

It still lasted longer than it should have, and the pining was rampant. Every time they all hung out, the two women wouldn’t stop staring at each other, cracking jokes, and giving everyone else in the room ample opportunities to share knowing glances…

And then they went on the road trip, and they got super drunk, and Robin tended to speak a lot more freely when she was intoxicated. 

She professed her love to Chrissy on the dance floor. 

It was a bold move, but it paid off. Chrissy and Argyle extended their stay in Hawkins, and Robin and Chrissy became an official couple. 

Coincidentally, that night was also pretty huge for Eddie and Steve. Firstly, because Chrissy and Robin had dropped the “I love you’s” before they had, which felt kind of ridiculous, considering Eddie and Steve obviously loved each other. 

“The fucking lesbians stole my thunder!” Eddie yelled from the bar, watching Robin and Chrissy hug each other on the dance floor.

“What are you talking about?” Steve asked, amused at his boyfriend’s antics.

“Ladies and Gentleman!”

Gareth’s voice boomed from the stage. The band had taken a quick break, but were back on. Eddie grinned, then grabbed Steve’s hand.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s get closer.” They wandered through the crowd (past Chrissy and Robin) as Gareth continued. 

“We’ve got a surprise for you all. You see, my boy Eddie Munson requested we play a special song tonight. So, this one’s for you, Flower Boy. Lord knows we wouldn’t play this for anyone else.”

Before Steve could even process what was happening, the band began to play. It wasn’t metal, it was -

“I Melt With You,” Steve said once he recognized it. “I love this song.”

“Iiiiii know!” Eddie responded, laughing. He pulled Steve into him so they could swing along to the music. “This was my whole master plan. Was gonna have them play this and tell you I loved you and it was going to be this whole beautiful moment but then Robin-”

“Eddie,” Steve interrupted, laughing. Eddie’s jaw dropped, and then he facepalmed. 

“Oh my god I totally just said it without meaning to,” he said. “I’ve been holding out for WEEKS and -”

“You’ve loved me for weeks?” Steve asked, touched. 

“Well, yeah,” Eddie replied. “Duh.” His eyes bugged out on that last word, his voice taking on a goofy, boyish cadence. Steve smiled.

“You’re so ridiculous,” he said, shaking his head. “And I love you too.”

“Yeah?” Eddie asked, grinning.

“Duh,” Steve replied, attempting to mimic Eddie’s response from before. “Robin didn’t ruin your big plan, by the way. That was all you.” Eddie chuckled.

“You still love me though,” he said. Steve nodded, and then they were kissing. 

I’ll stop the world and melt with you.

Yeah. That song pretty much said it all.

Everything felt just right🌹

-------------------

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[great-raven-parade]

What’s your opinion of Strange Frequencies? I’ve seen a lot of hate for it because of how it portrayed certain characters and the nisse.

I mean, I'm heavily biased but I actually think Strange Frequencies is the best episode in Season 3.

Firstly, like many creatures in Hilda, the nisse don't think exactly like humans. Sharing is an alien concept to them, and borrowing things is very different from stealing. A borrowed item is one ultimately meant to be returned, and if it's returned, everything is fine! Remember that nisse have an affinity for unused spaces and items- taking something that isn't being used at the moment generally doesn't cause an issue. In fact, it's what leads nisse to habitually clean, store, and recover unused and misplaced items! The actual issue at the start of Strange Frequencies is that nisse are accusing each other of 'stealing' over the fact that terms to return items haven't been communicated. Communication, especially with each other, isn't something nisse excel at on their own. So, after Hilda and friends do the work in communicating and setting it up, the lending library concept works so well that they don't even need to moderate it. The nisse value system is such that 'No one owns these items. You can borrow them, just put them back in this specific location when you're done' just clicks. I've also seen complains that Tontu in particular is being uncharacteristically bratty in this episode. I'd argue he's extremely in-character (and that nisse are allowed to be bratty sometimes. As a treat). Remember that the radio he's bickering with Hilda over is one that Hilda likely hasn't used much since she stopped listening to Victoria's original radio show after the events of The Storm. They both know it's Hilda's old radio, but Tontu has probably always been able to borrow it whenever he wants to without issue, and it's only in Strange Frequencies that she starts to become bothered about 'sharing' it. One thing I really love about Tontu's character is that he complains about other nisse, and then acts... Exactly like the other nisse. And other nisse do the same. And that's quirky and fun, and never portrayed by the show as a bad thing- Not even in this episode. Once again, nisse (or elves or what have you) don't think like humans, and that's something to be accepted rather than changed! And of course, on top of it all, Tontu is just not great at showing emotion or reading it from others- He's struggled with that since meeting Hilda all the way back in season 1. He cares about Hilda more than a radio show, of course he does, but doesn't fully understand that Hilda is upset about losing Anders again, rather than who gets to use the radio right now. Hilda and Frida's flaws are also in conflict again in this episode, similarly to their fight in The Ghost (Notice how the montage shows Frida looking sadly at a picture of her, Hilda, and David when nothing they did or said in the scene before should have remotely made her doubt she'd see her friends tomorrow). Hilda is determined and resilient, but that same trait can make her obsessive in the wrong situations. She has difficulty letting things go when she doesn't feel they've been truly resolved. Meanwhile, Frida is organized and ambitious, but has difficulty putting her own point of view aside to see someone else's. So, Frida struggles dealing with the nisse (who can only be met where they're at), and Hilda is too focused on Anders to help Frida realize they need a different approach. Of course, Hilda and Frida communicate with each other and make up before coming close to the point of their s1 fight, but I do think the echoes of it are there. Frida and David don't leave Hilda because they don't care she's upset about her dad- But I think Frida may be feeling some awfully familiar frustrations to the Ghost situation and that's why she needs to take some time away. I also think it says a lot about how the two of them have grown as friends that this situation goes so much differently than the fight in Season 1! And while it's clear it was a difficult time to have to walk away, it does lead to everyone having time to think and come back together with clearer heads the next morning.

So yeah. Overall I think Strange Frequencies actually does a great job with the nisse and their blue and orange morality! It also does a good job with the main cast's characterizations- It's just focused on a situation where some of their best qualities play as flaws, which is different from what we see in most other episodes, but not totally unprecedented.

[chirpingfromthebox]

My favorite parts from Boston's post-game press interviews after PWHL Finals Game 2

[You can find the entire interview here! Be sure to give them some views/likes/nice comments. Her channel is great and needs more love.]

At the table were Courtney Kessel, Hilary Knight, and Kaleigh Fratkin.

Transcriptions of my favorite bits [and a picture of a reporter who was dressed like a watermelon and/or strawberry] under the break.

------------------------------

------------------------------

REPORTER: Coach, can you talk to us about what they told you about the disallowed goal?

COURTNEY KESSEL: Uh, yeah. They just said the whistle blew before the puck went in the net.

R: Did you hear the whistle?

CK: Yeah...so I think the whistle blew too early.

------------------------------

------------------------------

REPORTER: The power play’s been something that’s been talked about all season and pretty sure it’s been January since you last scored a power play goal at home. Is there anything you guys can do- in the mind to change for these last two or three games?

COURTNEY KESSEL: Yeah, I mean obviously something has to change. We did a few things throughout the year, but I mean, at the end of the day it’s gonna be the death of us if we can’t put a puck in the net on our power play.

------------------------------

------------------------------

REPORTER: For Hilary and for Kaleigh, what’s been different about this [audio/video suffered a malfunction here and it picks up a couple seconds later] something also that’s been different for you guys in terms of adjustments and preparation?

HILARY KNIGHT: Definitely. I think the recovery’s a little bit different. You know, it’s everyone’s first having this type of contact, having this deep of a playoff run, having 5-on-5 played fully out like a true game should be at this point in the season. So I think you’re just maintaining and doing what you can to help the team in different scenarios and really taking care of yourself. Obviously I think when we look forward into next year you’d probably prepare a little bit differently with the rigors of the schedule. But right now it’s just go time. Continuing to show up and be hungry every single day like this team has been.

------------------------------

------------------------------

REPORTER: For Hilary, after the start you guys seemed like you had flow going offensively especially. Did you feel that? And then what do you think happened tonight?

HILARY KNIGHT: Yeah, I don’t think we played a bad game at all. I think they were just able to capitalize on a couple of our errors there. So it’s unfortunate that we couldn’t find the back of the net, because Aerin Frankel stands on her head every single night for us. People are stepping up into different positions, it’s just great to have everyone activate in this game and we just didn’t find the back. And we’re going to work on that moving forward.

------------------------------

------------------------------

REPORTER: I asked the last time about slow starts, tonight you guys got off to a really hot start, 6 shots before the turnover led to a goal, but then the rest of the game kinda got slow. How are you gonna try to keep those shot totals up going forward?

[I highly recommend that if you watch nothing else, then you watch this part, because Coach Kessel looks like she wants to slap this dude so hard.]

COURTNEY KESSEL: I don’t think the game got slow at all. I actually thought it got faster and back-and-forth, full ice. I thought it was a great game. They capitalized and we didn’t. You can’t come into a championship thinking you’re just gonna sweep, so we’re ready for a battle and that’s what we saw tonight.

------------------------------

------------------------------

REPORTER: Coach, did you think that once you guys got down by two, did you like the chances that you were getting, especially on the power play? And in that push the energy that your team had towards the end of the game?

COURTNEY KESSEL: Yeah, I thought we battled to the end. And I think we saw that at the end of our season we’re fighting to get into playoffs and we’re fighting for every second. So we’re going to continue to see that out of our group. I think that our hope is that at some point our power play can put a puck in the back of the night, right? Like, when you get a chance that late in the game and you’re down two, you really need that to go in. But we never gave up. So I think that’s the most important thing.

------------------------------

------------------------------

REPORTER: [audio/video drops at the start of the question and it picks up mid-question] ...This playoff is a bit of a mental reset and a kind of a change to the mentality of the rest of the series.

COURTNEY KESSEL: Like I said, I don’t think that we ever think that we’re gonna sweep through the playoffs. I think that’s very unrealistic. And if that’s our mentality then we’re most likely not going to be successful. So yeah, it could be a reset, just a reminder of like, we faced adversity all season, so here we are again. It’s 1-1. And this is what everyone looks forward to: good hockey in the playoffs.

------------------------------

------------------------------

I don't know if this reporter was trying to dress like a strawberry/watermelon...but that's certainly where he ended up. And if the reporters are wearing stuff like this then they need to start doing reporter walk-ins, because this seems like information I want to have.

[le-panda-chocovore]

"Say" Karma asks with his eternal strawberry milk in hand "are you a cat person or a dog person ?"

Gakushuu doesn't even bother to look at him. It's been month now that Akabane daily hangs around him, starts absurd conversation just for the love of it, and jumps on every single occasion to compete with him. Gakushuu is kinda used to it now, but he has yet developed a skill to fully ignore the boy.

"I'm a cat person myself, you know. I think cats suit you too."

Gakushuu doesn't answer, even if he knows that he eventually will have to. Akabane never gives up with his weird questions. He's only putting things off.

"Well I guess dogs are more convenient to you, since you love giving orders and everything. I mean, you're a leader, you want loyalty, dogs are great with that."

Gakushuu sighs. He's only trying to eat his bento in peace, but peace is a complicated things to reach when Akabane Karma is in your life.

"Are you going to write an essay about wether dogs or cats are more suits to me ?"

"Well I would if you don't answer, I have to make my own conclusion. So, dogs or cats ?"

".... Neither."

Karma rolls his eyes and puts his drink down on Asano's desk. Because of course he was sitting in front of him, he specifically came to disturb Gakushuu during the lunch break. It began a month after the start of the school year. At first it was one day every two weeks, then one per week, then three, then every day. The whole class was also used to it now, the weird rivalry-friendship-flirtous relation they have. Gakushuu still finds that annoying.

"You can't say that ! If you have to choose between a dog or a cat, what would you take ?"

"I don't know. Does it matter? I don't have a preference."

"Of course it matters !! How can you say something so stupid ?! It means everything ! It kinda define your personality but go off I guess !"

As usual, Akabane is dramatic. Gakushuu sighs again. Why such a fuss about a simple question ?

"I have never had a pet." He doesn't even know why he tries to explain himself. Isn't he allowed to just not have a preference? "I don't know what they're like."

"What ? How could you nev- Oh. Yeah. I guess your dad isn't the type to offer you a cat for Christmas."

"No, he really isn't." But the mental image makes him smile. Internally, of course. Can't be seen showing emotions when Akabane's looking.

"Well you don't need to actually have a pet to know which one you prefer. Imagine, a few years in the future, you live in your own apartment and you have a good job and enough money. You can do whatever you want, even adopt a pet. What would you choose then ?"

Asano thinks about it, he even stops eating to visualize the picture. What would he choose, if he can have anything ?

"I don't know."

"Asano."

"What ? I really don't ! Why should I like one better than the other ?"

Abakane seemed genuinely exasperated, he couldn't believe what he heard. How can a person not have a preference! It's a crime ! He should put the strawberry blonde under arrest, but he isn't a cop, and Gakushuu would probably be out in a matter of hours. He's way too perfect to stay in jail.

"Look at that" Karma shows him his phone, "and tell me that does nothing to you !"

It's a picture of a black and white cat stretching. Gakushuu looks unimpressed, which only increases Akabane's outrage. The red-haired boy keeps scrolling his phone to shows pictures and video of cats and kittens, trying to get a reaction from Asano. But the only thing Gakushuu does, beside frowning, is commenting a simple "okay I guess."

"YOU HEARTLESS BASTARD, THE FUCK YOU MEAN 'OKAY I GUESS' ????"

"Don't yell and don't swear."

He realized then that the whole class -more precisely the remaining students who don't eat at the cafeteria- were listening, and now looking at them. Hell he hates when Akabane makes a scene like this.

"Those are the most beautiful and cute and perfect creatures that have ever existed, and you DARE to say that they're only okay ???? What kind of psychopath are you !?"

"It's a pet Akabane. Besides, between us, you're the psycho one."

"A pet- A PET HE SAID. CATS ARE FUCKING GODS AN-"

"Oh my god, shut up, will you ? I didn't said I don't like cats, I just... I don't know."

It's Karma's turn to sigh. The boy is looking at him as if he was an alien inable to communicate with a human language. Gakushuu stares back. He isn't the weird one, he convinces himself, there's no problem in not liking pets.

"So dogs it is then ?"

"Well, uh... Not really. I don't particularly like dogs either."

That's when Ren joined the conversation. He hands his own phone which shows the Instagram page of one of his friend. A girl and her dog running in the snow. It was a pretty cute picture.

"Here, what do you think about it ?" Ren asks with a fake innocentsmile. He is clearly up to something and Asano doesn't like that. He feels like they're making an alliance against him. Akabane lean toward them to see the picture and Asano's reaction.

"Hm" said Gakushuu after looking at the screen for 5 long seconds. Ren laughed, Gakushuu frowns, and Karma protests.

"The FUCK you mean-"

"Stop swearing I said. You're insufferable."

"And you're fucking weird. How can you not react ? Do you have a heart ?"

Asano shrugs. He takes his bento and starts eating again, ignoring the look everyone is giving to him. Honestly, he's kinda satisfied to see the annoying human nuisance sighs. Karma seems desperate and the fact that the roles are reversed is extremely funny to him.

"You cannot not love pets." Karma groans.

"Well, obviously I can."

Ren gets closer with his chair and puts his own food on Asano's desk.

"You're neither a cat or a dog person but there must be a pet you like." He assumes with a thoughtful face.

"What are you doing ?" Gakushuu stares with murderous eyes. His childhood friend laughed it off nervously.

"I'm just curious ! I never got to know your favourite animal, that's all."

"Maybe I don't have one."

"That's sad" points out Akabane. "Or maybe you love hamster but you're ashamed of it."

This time Gakushuu sighs again. He sighs often when Akabane is around, and that means everyday since the beginning of the year.

"Well a little mouse maybe ?"

"No" Asano deadpans.

"Ew" Sakakibara comments.

"They're cute tho," Karma protests. "Wait I'm showing you a picture."

"My sister has an hamster." claims Koyama while handing his own phone.

Asano looks at it but doesn't say anything, fully aware that everyone was waiting for him to react. It's not that he dislikes being when people stares at him, they always do, but he isn't the kind of person who talk about themself. His father always reminds him to give private information carefully because we never know what people might do with that. And, well, he's father is not the best role model, but it's the only one he has.

However, the main problem right know is that Asano really doesn't know what pet he likes. Cats and hamsters and dogs may indeed be cute if you take the definition of the word, he can see that, but he doesn't feel any particular affection toward them by looking at those pictures.

"Well ?" asks Karma, staring at him curiously as if he's trying to read his soul -and he probably is.

"What ?" Asano really has nothing to say, and it shows. "Well, it's alive."

"Gods can you hear yourself ? You're the worst human alive." Karma takes back his strawberry milk and starts drinking obnoxiously.

"We should try mice then" Akira proposes. "You said you'd show a picture Akabane."

The cat lover looks up to him but before he could answer, another students appeared next to Asano's desk. Apparently, their classmates, who listened to the entire conversation since the beginning, took the Virtuosos' intervention as an autorization to join the debate as well. The most brave of them, a blonde girl with round glasses, gives her phone to Asano to show him a picture of three little mice.

"Th-their names are Iku, Aki and Uka" she mumbles.

"Oh. Well... Okay ?"

Akabane slams his drink against the desk.

"That fucking 'okay' again, is that the only word you know ?"

"I don't know what you're expecting from me !!" Gakushuu finally snaps.

"A fucking human reaction ! Is that too much to ask ?? When I look at cats, I'm like 'awwwwwww so cute I want to adopt them and cuddle them and feed them' but YOU don't give a shit about those little fluffy angels and I don't know how you can be so heartless !! Do you ever feel anything ? Are you a robot ?"

"I do feel things, thanks" Asano grunts. "I'm just not a pet person."

"All pets are differents, there's plenty races of cats and dogs. Maybe you could like one." Sakakibara fully ignores the deathly glare Asano has and keeps going. "Like a golden retriever and a bulldog are nothing alike."

After those words, in a matter of three minutes, the whole class gather around the poor student representative to show every pictures of their pets. There are plenty of cats and dogs from all races and age and Asano quickly lose control of the situation (not like he ever had it in the first place). He doesn't know where to look at, he's fully surrounded and is forced to stop eating again.

Despite that, he still doesn't really react to what he sees, and Akabane is know completly convinced that his rival is a future serial killer. Asano tries to reach his bestfriend for help, but Sakakibara is too busy trying to not laugh to hard to do anything. Betrayed by his right hand man, Asano turns toward the other Virtuosis, but they're no help either.

And that is the moment when the teacher comes back to class, only to see his students all gathered around Gakushuu's desk with their phones out.

Gakushuu is of course the first one to notice, and immediately stands up to greet him and to tell everyone to go back to their place. They groan but obey. Except, of course, Akabane.

"What happened here ?" Asks the teacher out of curiosity.

"Asano said he never had a pet before so we're trying to guess what he could like."

Gakushuu glares at Karma, who shrugs with a smile.

"He said he's neither a cat or dog person" Karma continues, "but he must be something."

Asano expected the teacher to dismiss the boy for starting irrelevant conversation, and to remind the class to stay serious about the work and everything. He certainly didn't expected him to hum with an amused smile and to answer "I knew someone once who had a bird pet. Do you like feathers Asano-kun ?"

He really doesn't expect that. What was he even supposed to answer ? And why was the teacher joining the circus ?

"I... Don't think so ? Birds are louds." Gakushuu explains finally, but he doesn't seem really sure about that. Karma notices and grins when he gets up to go back to his own desk.

"I guess they are." The teacher opens his binder to the lesson he prepared. "Well, you guys should talk about this outside of class hours. Let's continue where we stopped..."

Gakushuu is clearly relieved to go back to a serious subject appropriate for school. Little does he know that Akabane has no intention to stop this debate.

[rat-rosemary]

Hi! This may seem strange but I would like to see your side of things, as someone who has not kept up with mcyt in like. A year at this point. I thought dream had groomed people? Was that a rumor or am I confusing him with someone else? And what do you mean about quackity? I'm coming into all of this very very very late lol

I dont blame you at all for not knowing what going on. I'll try to explain quickly but those are multiple complicated situations, so the post will probably get a bit long,sorry

Ok, so starting with the first one. There was a girl, called Amanda, who claimed that she was groomed by Dream. That was a lie, most of her claims being debunked either by herself, by people who knew her irl or by her ex-online friends. What we found out from those online friends is that Amanda was actually the one doing shady stuff, and you can find all about it on the doc her victim (mascara) put together

BUT PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LOOK AT THE TW AND TAKE THOSE SERIOUSLY, THERE ARE GRAPHIC PICTURES IN THE DOC

https://twitter.com/Mascarahhhh/status/1679238021814550528?s=20

(And i think someone just recently came with even more things forward about Amanda, but that was recent and I hadn't had the chance to read it)

(Just went and read trought the stuff the other person posted and holy shit! Amanda fucking SA'd someone! Fully r4p3d them! The exclamation marks are of pure shock and disgust!)

So, thats the grooming situation. Dream did not groom anyone and the person who accused him of doing so should 100% be in jail

The Quackity situation, on the most basic level is that Dream and Quackity made similar smps and Quackity started ghosting Dream

At first it was just that. But it started evolving when Q fans started attacking and harassing Dream and his fans more and more, doxxing and stalking Dream and his family. Thats what prompted Dream to write a big text and post it publicly on twt, after spending almost a month trying to contact Quackity privately so they could talk and Quackity could say something to try to slow the hate down.

Quackity said and did nothing, and multiple Dream fans came forward talking about how people showed up to their houses and got arrested because of the Qsmp/Usmp situation.

I can find yoy specific threads talking about it later, but the Smile community actually made a doc with all the kind of hate and threats we got

Found it! But the document cannot be displayed anymore because of what it had in it. The people behind it are working on a solution, their account is https://twitter.com/Burner16610314?s=20

Individual threads \/ \/

https://twitter.com/slaylvs/status/1687573052500881408?s=20

Im finding individual threads so im going to put them here

If you go on twt right now you might have a hard time finding many Dream fans because we're all going on private again because the video Tommy posted made us start getting doxxed again

Thanks for genuinely wanting to understand our side of the entire thing, hope you ahve a lovely day/night

Dont forget to take breaks from social media and to take care of yourself!