#The sort of things that we publish and the direction we're going

[aquitainequeen]

Applicants for the Editorial Assistant position: I love reading and literature! I spend a lot of time on BookTok! I'm passionate about exciting narratives!

Me, alternating between assessing candidates and scrutinizing a manuscript to make sure there are no nasty permission surprises: Oh, you are applying to the wrong department, my friend.

[coupsiedaisee]

pulse | c.sc

pairing: choi seungcheol x f. reader

genre: smut, just smut alksjfdkgjhh

warnings: fingering, exhibitionism, kissing, drinking, like two mentions of weed lol sex?, i've never done warnings before ahh, fingering, voyeurism (sort of? not really?), kissing (is this a warning?), there's no p in v omg, so how do i tag this 😭, this is really short omg, i think fingering covers it, ohi! some drinking? neither of them are inibriated though. imo, would that make this dubcon? feel implicit to me. god sorry, im posting this when im drunk, v will wake up tmrw and tell me if this is dumb or not omg.

wordcount: 1.6k

a/n: happy friend anniversary to the second love of my life 🥺v!!!! @hannieween, i love u so much so here's the first smut thing i've fully finished writing and also the first time i've published smut omg. i love you and i love cheol and i really hope this makes u both horny and happy and would love nothing more than if u feel anger (horny anger) after reading this, yay!! target demographic met! to everyone else reading this, pease let me know what u think! even if u hated it omg 🥺i want to know both what u liked and didn't like so my writing can become better. uwu ily all <3 also, again, im drunk, so if there's any grammar mistakes, ima fix it tmrw alksjdhkflhgbksdfgkjd. okay byeeee, enjoy!!!!

"Baby, are you done yet? She just texted that they parked," Seungcheol shouts from the living room.

"Coming!" You yell back, swiping the last bit of lipstick on and giving yourself a once over in the mirror.

Seungcheol's standing by the front door, looking up from his phone when you walk in. He rakes his eyes over you, the clear skin of your neck, down your collar bones, to the cleavage disappearing into your shirt. The sliver of skin between your tight shirt and mini skirt. The bare skin of your plush thighs.

You fidget under his gaze, "Is there something wrong? Do I need to go change?"

"God, no baby. You look—" he swallows hard, running a hand through his blond hair, "—you look hot."

A fierce blush blooms across your cheeks and you tuck you hair behind your ear. "Oh. I—thanks?" You clear your throat, "Y-you do too babe."

And he did. A tight black polo stretched across his pecs, its short sleeves snug around his biceps. Light wash jeans barely holding his thick thighs in.

You want to drop down to your knees, right then and there.

Seungcheol reaches his hand out and you take it. He pulls you in for a kiss, letting his free hand roam down your body, pushing your skirt up to cup your ass, giving it a squeeze.

You pull away first, smacking him lightly on the chest, "Seungcheol!"

He's got no shame though, as he pulls you out the door, laughing.

The two of your were not going far tonight. Just two floors down, to the apartment of a Joshua Hong. Long time friend of Seungcheol's, Joshua was having some friends over to look at the new vaccum he bought.

"It's got even better suction than the last one and the battery life lasts forever," says Joshua, showing off the lime green vaccum in the middle of his living room. Seungcheol's standing next to him with their other friend, Jeonghan. His arms are crossed in front of his chest, and his eyebrows furrowed as Joshua talks. Momo, Josh's next door neighbor, is crouched by the vaccum, eyeing its different attachments.

"How is it with pet hair?" She asks, and you feel that this is your cue to go grab another drink.

In the kitchen, Jeonghan's girlfriend is mixing some sort of concoction in a big punch bowl. She whips around at the sound of your footsteps, "There you are! Where have you been? I texted Seungcheol when we parked."

You send her a sheepish smile, "Got caught up on the new technology."

She rolls her eyes, "You lot are so boring."

"Trust me, you'll be the same once you're in the work force like us boring adults." You go to grab a cider from the fridge.

She scoffs waving her ladle in your direction, "Oi, pipe down Grandma. We're nearly the same age! You'll be sorry when I'm a professor. Don't make me give you detention."

You laugh, "Alright, alright. Don't fail me professor, clearly I was wrong. " You duck just as she swings the ladle at your head.

It doesn't take long until nearly everyone at the apartment is either drunk or baked. You don't know what she put in that bowl, but after seeing Momo passed out on the pool table, you were glad you stuck to your ciders.

You head back into the living room after cleaning up a spill in the hallway (whoever gave Jeonghan jaegerbombs, why?). Dino and Mingyu, Seungcheol's friends from school, are sprawled on the ground in front of the TV, Mario Kart forgotten, passing a lit joint between each other.

Seungcheol's sat back on the sofa, manspreading, and showing off his deliciously thick thighs, taking periodic sips of a Corona. He spots you across the room and you send him a shy smile.

Seungcheol motions at something with his eyes and you tilt your head at him, confused. He snaps his chin in a quick motion but you still don't understand and he lets out an exasperated breath. Settling further into the sofa, he pats his thigh. Your eyebrows shoot up, looking around the room, but no one's paying you all any attention.

Slowly you make you way to him and, once at his feet, he swiftly gets rid of the cider in your hand, pulling you into his lap with a low, "Come here, baby girl."

Your body heats up as his hands sit on your hips, fingertips grazing the sliver of skin between your shirt and skirt. Your skirt.

When you chose your outfit for today, you had felt good, confident even. You made a choice, to wear a new lingerie set you'd bought the other day. The thought was that, maybe, you and and your boyfriend would get up to some fun when you got back home.

But now, you'd never regretted something more. As Seungcheol adjusts you over his thighs, slotting one in between your legs, the fabric of his jeans rub against your delicate lace panties.

Your pussy pulsates and you've never been more embarassed. You will it to stop, but Seungcheol chooses that moment to dig his fingers into your hips, tensing his thigh, and your pussy throbs.

Little campfires breakout across your cheeks and you find yourself sinking back into Seungcheol's chest in shame. His breath fans across your ear, "Baby, why didn't you tell me you missed me." You can hear the smirk he's probably wearing, but even worse, you're sure he can feel the dampness pooling between your legs.

You should get up. But you know you can't. You know your wetness has seeped onto his jeans, leaving a dark spot, evidence of your need. Everyone would know.

His hands feel like they're burning into your hips, and he leans to press a sweet kiss to your exposed shoulder, sending a shiver down your spine.

You feel Seungcheol move, and then a blanket is draped over your lap, covering your entire bottom half from any onlookers. Though one look across the room told you not a single person was paying you two any mind.

Seungcheol rubs his hand back and forth over your tummy, the touch feeling like hot coals dragging across your skin. Back. Forth. Back. Forth

Then, his fingers slip past the waistband of your skirt.

You don't say anything as you feel his fingers skate across your clothed mound. When he finds your lips, he pushes down with two fingers. You suck in a breath and hold, mind going completely blank.

You should push his hand away. Scold him with a serious, Seungcheol!

But you don't.

Arousal flows out of you, staining his jeans. Evidence of your want, no, your need for your boyfriend.

Seungcheol, the devil he is, starts rubbing the slowest, most languid, circles, smirking into your neck when you start squirming in his lap.

"If you don't like it, you can just get up and leave baby," he whispers, nipping at your ear lobe.

You subtly shake your head no, worried that if you open your mouth, the most obscene sound would come out.

Seungcheol uses his other hand to pull at your thigh, spreading your legs further apart. He pushes your barely there panty aside and plunges a finger in. Your breath hitches at the sensation and your eyes flit around the room, but no one is paying you two any attention.

Seungcheol starts to pump his finger at a torturous pace and you try to keep your breathing even. He ghosts his lips up your neck, whispering, "Can you handle one more baby?" You shake your head with a quick no, biting down on your bottom lip.

Seungcheol's finger freezes and a low whine escapes your lips.

You move your hips just a little bit, chasing what little friction you could find, but Seungcheol tightens the hold on your thigh. "Seungcheol," You mean it to come out stern, but your voice is breathy and light.

"One more baby," Seungcheol nudges your neck with his nose and lets his teeth graze your skin. A shudder rolls through you as your pussy clenches around his single, slender finger.

You already know you've lost. You need Seungcheol to make you feel as full as possible. You nod shyly.

"Hmm?" Seungcheol says quietly, "I need to hear you baby." You can hear the smirk in his voice.

"Yes," You breathe out, looking around again to see not a single person paying attention. Seungcheol pushes his second finger in and you bite your lip again to stop the moan that nearly comes out.

Your breathing gets heavier as he curls his fingers just how you like it and your thighs start to tremble as you near your peak. "Are you close baby?" You nod as your fingers grab at the blanket in your lap. He continues to curl his fingers, a little faster now.

Your breathing turns into little whimpers that you try to keep down, but to no avail.

Seungcheol whispers one last, sweet, "Let go for me love," and you're cumming, releasing all over his fingers as he lets you ride them through your high before pulling out.

You hear the pop! of him sucking the taste of you off his fingers and you feel your juices leaking out, soaking into his jeans. You lean your head back onto him, eyes squeezed shut, out of embarrassment or pleasure you don't know.

"Good girl," Seungcheol whispers, rubbing a warm hand over your tummy, and leaving a soft kiss on your cheek. "You did so well for me, baby."

a/n: omg okay. this whole this was started because my lovely lovely v asked me do you think he'd be the type to sit you down on his lap to feel your pulse through your pussy? so this is really ur fault love sldjfsldfgldkzfgjdzfgkjdzfklhgb. let me know ur thoughts lovies!!!!!!!!!

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED TO CTRLALTDAISEE I DO NOT ALLOW TRANSLATIONS, CONTINUATIONS, REIMAGINATIONS, OR REPOSTING OF MY WORKS ON THIS OR ON OTHER WEBSITES

[redbatchedcumbermayned]

"I didn’t even know that there was the possibility of a romance option when voicing Heinrix" - Interviewing Chris Tester part 2

We're continuing our interview with Chris Tester, the voice of Heinrix van Calox in Owlcat's CRPG Rogue Trader. In this part we speak about insights into Heinrix's character, how the process of recording voice lines for a video game works, if Chris would romance Heinrix in game, and interacting with his fans.

Part 1 of the interview

Part 3 of the interview

I will publish this interview in three parts over the next week in text form and with the accompanying audio file (the audio quality is not spectacular but tumblr limits uploads to 10MB). If you quote or reshare, please quote me as the original source.

F: So, you already talked a bit about Heinrix as a character. What drew you to the character or what hidden depth did you find in the character?

CT: Well, I hope I found some depth to the character. That contrast between principles or values that you seem to be holding onto and lots of unprocessed trauma going on underneath. Sure, that seems interesting, that seems like a really interesting thing to find. Because you can understand, therefore, the appeal of an ideology, which gives you the answers and it tells you what to do. Essentially, it gives you a role, authority, it gives you status, you completely understand the appeal of that. Just like I find voice-over incredibly appealing and exciting: it gives me structure and authority and the illusion that I know what I'm talking about and what I'm doing. 

And then there's the flip side: you could make him heretical in some way, shape or form. And you know, I love, obviously, the fact that he belongs to part of that world which I'm sort of familiar with. Where a lot of the more interesting characters are the ones that have disavowed this God Emperor kind of like status in one way or the other, they tend to have a little bit more going on. They're not two-dimensional villains, not all of them, not all of the time anyway. Whereas on the one hand he's not going full chaos, there was just an interesting tension there to explore. Also, it kind of reminded me a little bit of the Eisenhorn series, which again, it's an Inquisitor that through his pursuit of different things starts to question and use the powers of the warp for his own purposes. A very different character, but still, there are those parallels that I really liked, that fallibility, that vulnerability to a degree, but I wouldn't say too much because I didn't really know how vulnerable or how much of a journey he was going to have in the early stages. I didn't know that until we were recording, I'll be honest. 

And I didn’t even know that there was the possibility of a romance option, until we were like: Oh, these are romancing lines. And I was like, you what now? So, sorry, I appear to be saying some quite forward things, from his point of view anyway, that's slightly taken me aback. They were like: oh yeah, you're romanceable, you can have a romance. I was like, oh, okay, right. I'll just think back to the five hours or so of recording that we've done up to this point and pray that I've made the right choices. So that was a bit of a crazy ride, but thanks to Olga, the writer of my character, she gave really astute directions. She wasn't in all of the sessions, but the majority, especially when there were big plot beats to explain to me what the hell was going on, however, roughly. She was great. And also the technicians at 3B. I was working with a lot of different members of the group technicians slash directors as well. And they were great in terms of giving me not exactly the bare minimum details, but the bare minimum details that I needed in order to be able to make choices quickly, but strongly and relevant to the game. So yeah, it was quite a trip.

F: Thank you. Since you have been trained as a stage actor do you bring a certain physicality to voice acting? If you embody Heinrix, do you puff your chest? Are you rigid?

CT: Definitely. I think there's the reason why rather than having a small booth, I record in a room is, that I can explore those dynamics as much as possible. And the fact that I was able to record standing and very upright and taking that space was vitally important. Obviously, there's the action stuff that really helps when you're actually making fighting noises. That's one thing. But I think in terms of real subtle differences to be able to, as well as mic proximity when he's speaking under his breath and that kind of thing, that's obviously incredibly vital, but even the subtle things of being able to have that big open physicality because he is so often so imperious because he thinks he's absolutely right. That was a vital aspect to explore and just being able to be upright and expressive in that made such a huge difference. 

And also when, without wanting to give too much away, he's in more constricted circumstances, shall we say, trying to do that just purely through the voice means that it all becomes about the sound that you're making as opposed to the truth of the character's journey without wanting to be, again, too much of a cliche, but focusing on that rather than am I making the right gurgling noise?

F: Were you offered any other character to audition for Owlcat? Or if you could, which other character would you like to voice?

CT: I couldn't say any of the other characters. I do play a couple of NPCs randomly. I think before even I had Heinrix. There's some cockney London geezer in there that is immediately disposable. That was me. That was my kind of guaranteed role. I was like, great, fantastic, because I did the audition for Heinrix and then there was quite a few months before it was actually kind of confirmed. I thought the role had gone to somebody else. As with many of these things, you just don't hear back. If you don't hear back, you just assume it's dead and then suddenly it'll come back up or it won't or you'll see another voice actor posting on Instagram going “amazing session” and you slightly die inside and then you move on. 

But in terms of the other characters, I mean, I've met, at least digitally online, the vast majority of the principal companion cast and they're all lovely and amazing and I associate them with their performances. For better or worse, Heinrix is very much my kind of casting and I loved it. Not because he's pretty in a particularly posh kind of way, but that helps. Sure, I'll go with that kind of slightly emotionally constipated. I'm very well cast, very well done, but I think so is everybody else. Throughout the entire game, it's a bit of a who's who, they might not be all household names, but in terms of for myself, the actors that I know in some big parts and some really small parts, the actors that I know in the UK and in the U.S. voice-over scene, so much talent, so that it was just an honour to be included in that really.

F: So now I have to ask you a question from our discord server. Would you romance Heinrix if you were playing a female Rogue Trader? 

CT: I think that would be a bit weird. No, I'll just watch videos of other people romancing him slash me. Is that more or less weird? I mean, I'm 42 years old. I've spent far too much time playing with myself already. So, let's just draw a line under that, but other people are welcome to. That's absolutely fine. My only thing, without wanting to overstate it too much, is that I was very surprised that there was anything around any character that I've been related to but as with so many of the other companions as well, that's a testament to the writing. Credit to the whole Owlcat team in that respect.

F: Would you like to continue working with Owlcat in the future in another capacity?

CT: Oh, God. Yeah. They've not made me sign an NDA, so I can say, not name a thing, but there's DLC for one of their other titles, which I'm going to be in, and that's in a completely different world. There's that thing of once you've had one really positive experience with the developer and the type of games that they create. The ones that are very story focused, that's the type of games that I'm passionate about. I was brought up on these things like the Mass Effect Trilogy. You know, that absolutely iconic kind of stuff, and so to be a part of someone else's experience to facilitate that kind of longer storytelling stuff is exactly what I would be after. They've got a great process, amazing writers and I also think that the games themselves look fantastic. So yeah, I'm a fan of that.

F: So your fan base has certainly expanded since the release of the game. Do you mind having a female fan base now? Have you noticed that there is a bit of a shift because Warhammer 40k for the totally uninitiated looks like a male hobby and unfortunately some part of the male fans are very aggressive against female fans.

CT: Are absolutely ridiculous. Idiots, essentially. Because my relationship to the whole Warhammer 40k thing is like, I played it when I was really young, and then you put away your childish things. I'm saying that in inverted commas, that's kind of ironic or whatever, and then didn't really get back into it until someone gave me a book and I realised that the lore was actually quite good, quite interesting, and then actually really good and really interesting, and I therefore have done some novels for them and a couple of video games as well. 

But to your question, do I mind? No, of course I don't mind. I'm very happily married and well adjusted, so I definitely don't mind as long as it's all respectful, if that makes sense. Surprise, surprise, female fans seem to conduct themselves with that level of respect or if there is a server which is going into crazy, crazy character scenarios and that kind of stuff, no one's sending me a link to that. And even if it is, it's the character, it's not me, and so that's all quite healthy and good. And I think I'm definitely not in a position where I should be censoring any of that kind of thing at all. I think it's all positive and very, very healthy and everybody that I've interacted with has been incredibly respectful. So, I think that's great. 

And I think being able to portray these characters that offer that level of connection is great. We're in a post Baldur's Gate world, I suppose. Not that there weren't other games that did this, but on that scale and everything. I think the value that the games can offer in that. Rogue Trader is hugely valuable and I definitely wouldn't want to censure any of that at all.

F: Yeah, it was nice. I reconnected a lot with people who have this fandom experience again that I had in the Eddie Redmayne fandom more than 10 years ago when it was small, when you have a rather small group of fans and then a very nice person that you're a fan of, and you can interact with.

CT: So people have contacted me via Cameo, for example. And, you know, they've had a certain particular playthrough and then they say, well, I would like you to voice this letter from Heinrix or whatever.

F: That was me.

CT: There have been more than just you is what I'm saying, but sorry, not to say that I'm a whore and I'll just do anything, but you're not the only person who has come to me with that kind of thing. And that's great. That's a pleasure, because it's continuing to tell the story on a wider scale. But also the fact that you can personalise and make it your own. And that's the brilliant thing. 

That's part of the whole appeal of a video game, as opposed to it being a theatre piece or a film or something else is that it was very much your experience, your playthrough. You can have multiple versions of the thing that you kind of like one but you can really structure your own narrative. And that's a fascinating thing. You get to iterate on it yourself. You know, if one stage of that is also being able to call upon the voice actor to facilitate that, I think that's a cool thing, you know, as long as it doesn't get too weird or too whatever, but you know, whatever two consenting adults want to exchange money for or time, great, fine. I think that's less weird than getting an AI to do it personally. I think that level of storytelling is a great thing.

[pomefioredove]

Hi! not sure if u write for content that isn't a character x reader, if not, feel free to ignore this req!

but I'd like to req some timeskip hcs for the twst charas.. like what would they be after graduation? I could totally see Riddle being a lawyer but I'm not entirely sure for the rest of the twst cast 🤔

Thank you in advance! Take all the time u need !

ohhh actually speculation/analysis is something I write a lot of! I hail from a very literary fandom and these sorts of prompts are some of my favorites to do!

I could def give my thoughts, just based on what we already know + my own headcanons

➼Deuce: Deuce, to me, is a hands-on learner type. I could see him getting really into mechanics, but... my heart says house husband. tells his kids bedtime stories about Cauldron Deuce (with... um, better morals, we'll say)

➼Ace: professional moocher hmmm Ace is kind of a wild card (pun) to me. I can see his life going in a lot of different directions depending on how the story goes

➼Riddle: definitely something prestigious. we know his parents are doctors, it's likely he'd feel pressured to follow in their footsteps, with other high-paying professions close behind (such as lawyer)

➼Cater: trophy husband(/influencer)

➼Trey: takes on the family bakery. I can see him getting settled down relatively fast compared to everyone else. he just needs a spouse whose as weird as he is

➼Leona: professional moocher (for real this time). In an ideal world he would get fed up with his family and move out, either to another palace they own (you know how it is with royalty and their real estate) or to his own place. but that freedom might get him to really apply himself to something he cares about, independent of his family. would get married if the opportunity presented itself, would NOT have kids

➼Ruggie: Leona's little buddy. Leona assured him a job after school, sooo probably not much different from what he's doing already, but paid. sends fat checks home to his grandma every month

➼Jack: whatever it is, he's committed to it. I can't see him working a dead-end job with no hopes of improving himself, so nothing too academic. the obvious answer is athletics... but he could just as likely become a sculptor. just something that he can apply himself to and continue improving in

➼Azul: businessman. he just has a thing for it. he's running multiple restaurant chains and dabbling in retail before age thirty, and always looking for more opportunities

➼Jade: Azul definitely guarantees him a job, but I think he'd be more interested in staying on land and doing field work. mycologist... or anything that really captures his interest

➼Floyd: cliché answer, he can't decide. likely bounces between working with his brother and working with Azul. may just stay within the "family business" which is implied to be. mafia?

➼Kalim: do we even know what the al-Asims do. besides be rich. well whatever it is, he's doing that. definitely gets married fast, probably has a bunch of kids already. they're just as loud and excitable as he is

➼Jamil: oh Jamil :( please please have a happy ending. I can see him really enjoying academics, especially in positions where he can publish papers and get feedback. good for his ego. may start some insane academic drama, though (nothing he can't handle)

➼Vil: actor/model. confirmed! probably waits a while to get married, he's put off his career long enough

➼Rook: the fact that he wants to go into archaeology is so cute... being an ex archeology (now religious studies) major myself I think it's just so... Rook of him to be interested in history. I would love to talk to him about the Minoans. Or the Xia dynasty. can I marry him while we're at it? he eventually settles down somewhere in the woods

➼Epel: eughhrrggg can I say farming. sorry. I'm from a family of farmers and kinda sentimental about it. the connection to the land is very real and very emotional. but he does other stuff, too

➼Idia: [cue book 6 angst]

diasomnia fam is up in the air for now considering... *gestures to all of book 7*

➼bonus rollo: judge. because it would be funny.

[i-heart-hxh]

Do you think togashi Will sink killugon in the future by denying the romantic reading of their relationship?

Hi anon! I strongly don't think that'll ever happen. I truly believe including the romantic subtext between them is intentional on Togashi's part, and I want to be clear I'm not saying that just as a shipper, but as someone who has spent years deeply analyzing the series as a whole, as well as Togashi's influences and interests. The deeper I look into it, the more I'm certain he includes all the things he includes with full intention.

Again, I post this because everyone deserves to see it:

Togashi wanted to create works with queer characters before HxH even existed, and he was deeply invested in this concept! It's possible pieces of HxH even came out of this original idea he had--he did say he might publish it someday in "a different form," so it's not an impossibility.

I think likely one of two things will happen with Gon and Killua's relationship in the future of the manga:

Togashi will bring them back and reunite them, and we'll (at least eventually) get some sort of ending for them that may not be 100% undeniably canonically romantic, but likely continues with the same kind of romantic subtext and ambiguity that's been present all along. (Think something like: They decide to travel together again and promise to stay together without it actually saying if they mean it in a romantic way or not, but there might be hints or wording that imply it is intended in that way, with Togashi trusting those of us who see it that way will understand.) Or maybe we hit the jackpot and he does make it explicitly canon. I don't think that's super likely, but if anyone could get away with it, it would be Togashi, for a whole list of reasons I won't get into on this post.

Sadly he won't reach that point in the manga due to his health and how much of the series remains, but he won't say either way what he intends their relationship to mean, and we're free to continue to interpret it how we want.

There are other possibilities of course, but I think those are the most likely outcomes. I do think he fully intends to reunite Gon and Killua and I've written about this in-depth (whether the series actually reaches that point or not). I don't think he intends to "sink the ship" ever because he's the one giving us an uncountable number of reasons to believe in the ship in the first place... And I do think he's doing it out of his own personal interest, not just for marketing reasons or whatever like we see in some other shounen series. It's deeply embedded in the series and the number of things pointing in this direction is just so, so many.

I don't think there's any reason to be pessimistic about Gon and Killua's future, aside from the factor of Togashi's health. However, I try to take the attitude that, in the case that it doesn't ever get finished (and assuming Togashi doesn't have some sort of back up plan, and I suspect he might), we get to choose ourselves how it ends. I deeply hope we get a canon reunion between them someday, the thought of this happening is something that keeps me going in life, but if we do have to continue to imagine it ourselves, it certainly could be worse.

[vinecradle]

16 OMG - what was once mine, will be yours (✿)

scaramouche x fem!reader

blue is for scaramouche, green for heizou

masterlist | previous | next

"scara, what's the thing you wanted to find? is it like.. maybe another keychain? an id holder? an acrylic standee? or a phone case of some sort?"

"its a secret. you'll see later when we find it." he smiled smugly, playing around with his necklace as you walked beside him.

feigning a scoff, you then pointed towards a tall building with the words "AKADEMIYA" lighted up brightly. "we're almost there, you've gotta lead the way though. i don't know the directions to the inazuma classes.."

scaramouche nodded and continued walking, "yeah, just keep on following me." putting his hands in his pockets, his thoughts racing miles per hour.

fuck. am i really giving it to her? i cant believe this.

┊ ➶ ｡˚ 　　°

"we're here." scaramouche spoke as you admired the entrance to where inazuma class is located.

..this place is so pretty..! "wow... am i allowed to take a picture of the entrance? am i?" you questioned excitedly, taking out a phone from your bag.

he shrugged, "i think it should be fine, it's not like they don't have a video published of a tour of the whole akademiya. feel free to." you smiled and nodded, taking some pictures of the place for yourself and showing him the results once done.

"do you like them? look! i even caught a picture of you here." grinning happily, you handed your phone to him as you watched the corners of his lips lift up. "yeah, they look nice. mind sending me these pictures?"

nodding happily, you sent the pictures to him.

"we should start looking now. you could start from the front of the class, i'll start from the back." scaramouche said, and began to search for the item.

you then picked up an artificial flower that's in half, showing it to him. "i guess someone in this class got heartbroken or something like that.." sweatdropping, you grabbed a cardboard box nearby and put the flower inside.

i think this'll take awhile to find..

┊ ➶ ｡˚ 　　°

"scara, it's been around 20 minutes.. did you find anything? all i found were stuff like school books, hair ties, keychains, and hairclips. what's up with people and keychains?" you questioned as he sighed softly.

"well, keychains are nice and you can bring it everywhere with you without it adding too much weight to your bag. there's one spot left we haven't checked, we should look there."

nodding, you followed him behind and began looking again. your eyes went towards a small cat plushie, grabbing it gently and showing it to the male.

"scara, is this what you were finding?"

his eyes widen slightly and went back to normal in a blink of an eye, walking in front of you. "yeah, it is.. if you look on it's back it has my nickname in cursive."

your eyes sparkled, handing over the plushie to him. "it's really cute.. and it kind of looks like you in some way. maybe it's the color?"

scaramouche gently pushed the plushie towards you again, "take it, i wanted to give it to you. it's something my aunt made for me, but i wanted you to have it now."

your eyes softened as you looked at the plushie and at him, holding the plushie near him again. "wait, i can't take this! it's yours, isn't it? i can't take this.."

the male shook his head and placed his hand on your head, "keep it, really. what was once mine, will be yours. i want you to keep it for yourself." ruffling your hair softly.

"then.. thank you. lots of thank you's. i'll update you every day with a picture of this cat plushie whenever i wake up! i'll take care of it with my whole being."

scaramouche chuckled and walked out of the class, "it's nothing, i think we should go back to our dorms now. it's kind of late, don't want our dorm advisers to scold us now do we?" you smiled and nodded, holding the plushie close to your chest as you closed the door.

and as you both walked away, you saw a flash of burgundy hair from the corner of your eyes. stopping in your tracks, you shrugged the thought away.

in a corner, a certain male put a hand over his mouth. "wasn't that yn.. and she was with scara? oh my god. a new discovery. i'm so glad i followed my intuition to find my hair tie at this hour!"

• heizou sneak.. i had to

• btw i know the plushie looks big BUT PRETEND ITS SMALLER THAN IT LOOKS

summary :: wanting to go back to your dorm from the library, and accidentally leaving a friend's book there not knowing she has the intention of making you give it to someone she's trying to set you up with, a note inside with your number. without anyone realising, the book is in the hands of someone else, and you then wake up to a message from an unknown number.

author's note :: i think starting from next week i'll go back to my old schedule of updating twice or thrice a week since i go back from school earlier now!! 🫶🏻

taglist, opened (1/3) :: @aeongiies @hrtswinter @zyilas @cofijelli @stuckinadreamland06 @elyionaa @thenightsflower @ohmyfinggod @mikctp @cherrybeomgyu @raideneiari @sakiimeo @xiaosonlybeloved @simp4bakuh03 @kunikuzushiit bolded cannot be tagged!

[anatee]

INSUFFERABLE | General Hux x Reader | pt. 6

INSUFFERABLE | General Hux x Reader Smut. 18+. MINORS DNI. This is a direct continuation. I’m back, girlies and I wrote this somewhere in between the preparations for my real book to be published very soon. There will be more parts, of course, I'm still deciding if I want to destroy the Starkiller or not break his heart this time.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

Word count: 6.48K

Content warning: fem!reader x Hux; Force Awakens plot but everything happens much slower; soft Hux with feelings appears but he is also a bastard; a few curse words; smut: fingering, oral (f receiving), face sitting, this part is sponsored by Hux being the giver basically

"Come with me. I have something you'd like in my bedroom."

Bloody Hux. He knew exactly what to say to keep her going and all riled up, even after absolutely ravishing her just minutes earlier.

"A surprise? Another one? You sure know how to keep me on my toes."

Hux smiled smugly, then beckoned her to follow him to his bedroom. There, she immediately noticed a new piece of black and red furniture standing opposite the bed.

"A holotable?" she asked in surprise. It was one of the largest types she knew the First Order used, new and polished.

"Precisely." Hux entered, and the door closed behind him. "I had it installed today. Now we can... Watch things, should you wish."

A warm smile spread on Y/N's face at the mere thought. "It would be lovely to watch something with you and just relax..."

"Then we'll do just that."

She held his gaze for a moment, allowing warmth to fill her up completely. She walked up to him and cupped his face, then left a soft, affectionate kiss on his lips.

"You've been really spoiling me lately... But I can't say that I complain."

He let out a sigh, then offered her a soft smile, again experiencing some feelings he had never felt before. "Maybe I like doing it."

"I'll go take a shower before this then... Unless you want to join me?"

As much as he enjoyed the offer, he already had a plan.

"Go, I'll order dinner for us in the meantime."

"Always efficient planning." She nodded in admiration, then smirked. "I can see why they made you a general."

He shook his head, but allowed himself a smile. "You like walking on thin ice, don't you?"

She grinned at him. "Because we're on an ice planet, General."

Before he could reply, she grabbed something from the wardrobe and disappeared behind the bathroom's door. He couldn't stop smiling; she was a little bastard at times, and he had punished people for much less before. Yet, when she teased him like this, it was so enjoyable, it made his heart light, it made the stress from his body evaporate... He couldn't get enough of it.

Twenty minutes later Y/N came back to the bedroom in an outfit that made Hux raise an eyebrow.

"Is that my shirt?" he asked, adjusting his position on the bed, where he was sitting with the remote in hand.

She just smiled, adjusting the large, black shirt that covered her butt just barely, acting as a very comfortable nightgown.

"Maybe."

"You have your own wardrobe here and you're still stealing my clothes?" he asked as if he did not enjoy the view. Her legs were exposed completely, and it would be a lie to say she didn't look attractive in the unusual attire.

"But this is large, comfy, it smells like you and... Oh, tell me you don't like how I look," she argued, then settled herself on the bed, right next to him, her warm legs enjoying the cool feeling of his luxurious sheets.

"If you need new clothes, I can order them for you," he said to tease her, but at the same time, his offer was serious.

"Very funny."

"I was serious, though." He looked at her. "Is there anything you need?"

She cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know. Clothes, cosmetics, anything else of that sort? I told you I can order these for you."

"You... Would do that?"

"Y/N. You had probably noticed by now how much I'd do for you."

Her mouth fell agape. Of course, he had given her gifts before, but hearing such words was a completely different experience. She swallowed hard, trying to calm her heart.

"I don't want you to think I'm with you for all these perks."

"I never thought that," he replied immediately. "And I am offering. Who else am I going to give gifts to? Ren, maybe?"

Y/N couldn't help but let out a short chuckle. "Oh, I think he'd appreciate a gift just from you."

"Don't even make me imagine that." Hux visibly shuddered at the thought. "Y/N... Love," he began, making her feel even more excited, "I do not know much about all of this, but I know I want to care for you. And you know I have the resources to do so. And don't worry, I told you I have a trusted vendor."

Her heart melted as she gazed into his eyes, taking in the words that made her fall for him even more.

"You're wonderful, you know that?"

He chuckled quietly. "Say that to your dear friend Kylo."

Having said that, he passed her his datapad, smiling softly all the time. Hux took great pride in knowing that he made her this happy; it made him almost as satisfied as using the Starkiller weapon, and he was fascinated to discover these new feelings he had never had for anyone before.

"Choose something for yourself," he said, having opened the app through which she could make orders. While she started browsing, he turned on his new holo table, searching for something for them to watch.

"Oh, I know!" she said after a moment of scrolling through everything. "I'll order sheet masks."

Hux raised an eyebrow, taking a glance at the datapad's screen. "Sheet... What?"

"It's a skincare product. We'll use them together. They'll help you relax, promise. How about one with a porg on?"

He gave her a look of disbelief. "The General of the First Order with a porg mask on?"

She grinned mischievously, his response only making her want it more. "I can't wait to see that."

He shook his head, yet did nothing to stop her when she started choosing the masks. As long as he could have them delivered as something classified, there was nothing to be worried about.

Classified porg sheet masks.

"Oh, there came some message for you," she said, seeing a notification pop up on the screen. Hux didn't even glance at it, his eyes focused on the holo. He trusted her completely, hence allowed her to read the message, not very concerned about whether it was something classified or not.

"What is it?"

"It's Mitaka," she replied, having opened the message. "It's a severe snowstorm again... Should I send them an order?"

Hux rolled his eyes. "They can handle that themselves, idiots."

"So I will just tell him to fuck off..." She smiled, ready to type the message. "Officially, of course," she added quickly, having received a stern look from Armitage.

"Feisty, aren't you?"

"Learning from you."

"I do not swear on duty."

"And am I on duty now, General?"

He let out a sigh, but a smile was dancing at the corners of his mouth as he looked at her with genuine affection. "What would I do without you and these snarky comments of yours?"

She shrugged. "Bore yourself to death."

After that, she moved even closer to him, then placed a long, passionate kiss on his lips, one that left them both feeling a bit intoxicated. It was an unspoken confirmation that all this banter was there because of how much they cared for one another.

"It felt like you needed that," she whispered, barely parting from his lips, and he nodded.

"I did," he replied before repaying her with a kiss full of even more emotions than before.

She turned back to the datapad, sent the message to Mitaka and then finished choosing the products she wanted.

"That would be all." She passed him the datapad again. "If it's too many, I can remove them..."

"Too many?" He raised an eyebrow, looking at the screen. "You chose less than ten products."

"Because I don't want to take it all for granted..."

He sighed, shaking his head. "Seems like I need to add some myself."

He clicked a few buttons swiftly, then left the datapad on the night stand. "Ordered. Everything should be here tomorrow."

"Thank you, Armitage," she whispered, kissing him on the cheek. Then she leaned her head against his shoulder to watch whatever he had chosen.

For a while, they watched the holo in silence, until Armitage's hand began to wander. At first, he just rested it on her thigh, then began massaging it, glancing at her just barely as if to ask for permission. She only smiled in response, doing nothing to stop him, so he allowed himself to keep going.

She had a feeling just touching her thigh may not be enough for him. He had been teasing her all day, and it seemed like he was nowhere near the end.

Hux's hand soon wandered underneath the shirt she was wearing, and he very quickly noticed it was... Just the shirt.

He shot her a stern look. "No underwear again."

She smiled at him, trying to look innocent, but he could see it all in her eyes. "It's healthy to sleep that way..."

"Surely," he replied before quickly placing his hand in between her legs, making her let out a small gasp.

And there he was, using his hands just like she wanted him to. His fingers were putting pressure in all the right places, circling her clit and folds carefully, pulling out the quietest whimpers from her. With every precise move of his finger, she became more and more excited, and he could feel the wetness growing rapidly.

"Quick today, hm?" He chuckled, finding his fingers already glistening with her arousal.

"You had me sensitive all day..."

"Oh, I'm not saying it's a bad thing. Means I get to do this..."

He easily slipped his finger inside her, earning a moan that satisfied him greatly. It somehow turned him on, him pumping his finger in and out of her while they were both pretending to still watch whatever he put on. But did he even care for the show? The sighs, the moans and the slightly wet sounds of his finger moving against her soaked folds was all he needed to keep himself entertained.

"The food is taking long today, isn't it?" he asked, knowing very well she wouldn't be able to give 

him a coherent answered as her moans grew louder, her chest raising and falling faster and faster as she quivered with arousal.

"Right there," she breathed out, throwing her head back against the headboard. "Please, keep rubbing right there..."

"There?" he asked with a mischievous smile on his face as he glanced over at her. Two of his fingers were going in and out of her at a rapid pace as his other hand kept on rubbing against her clit, just in the right places, as if he had a scanner to check which spots would bring her most pleasure. When he noticed even more wetness, he ignored her pleading him not to stop and took his hands away. She let out a shaky breath.

"No, no, Armitage, I beg you, let me..."

"I will, Y/N," he smirked, seeing the desparation in her eyes. "But I want to clean you up this time."

Before she could ask what he meant exactly, he adjusted his position on the bed to lay flat and indicated the spot above his face.

"Get over here."

Her mouth dropped as she realised what he wanted to do, but she had absolutely nothing against it.

"Gladly..." She slowly crawled towards him. "But you might just drive me crazy from everything that happened today."

"Maybe that's what I want," he replied without an ounce of hesitation, making her smirk as she put her knees on both sides of his head, then held onto the headboard to keep her pussy right above his mouth.

She could feel his hot breath against her sensitive skin as he chuckled, seemingly content with her position.

"Now that is quite the view."

Even just these words were enough to give her goosebumps. She could feel each of his breaths against her, and it made it harder to keep herself steady in that position. Before she could recover, his breaths were replaced by his tongue, making her whimper.

He was licking her all over, tasting, savouring both her and the moment, making sure not to miss a spot. The helpless moves of her hips, a clear indication of begging for more between the moans and the whispers, made him want to give her even greater pleasure. He knew how sensitive she was after everything that happened earlier in the day, and oh well, he wanted to exhaust her with pleasure.

He slid his tongue inside her, grabbing her hips at the same time and allowing her to ride it. She had never tried something like that before, but stars, this was one of the most pleasurable experiences her body was blessed to have. She kept on rocking her hips against his mouth, her nails digging into the headboard as she felt the inevitable building up, faster than ever before.

A loud, electronical buzz seared through the air, muting their heavy breathing just for a moment.

"It must be the food..." she uttered between the gasps as Hux's licks send a shiver after shiver through her body.

"I don't fucking care," he rasped against her, his hot breath making the sensations almost unbearably pleasurable.

"Hux!" she cried out without thinking, overwhelmed by the feeling of his tongue coming into contact with her overstimulated clit again.

And then it all stopped. She felt him back down as his grip on her hips tightened to the white of his knuckles.

"What did you just call me?"

His tone was almost sinister, sending a shiver down her spine. There was no Armitage that she knew anymore, it was General Hux of the First Order, speaking as if her life depended on his mercy. And at first, she got scared, her mind still clouded by pleasure... But then she remembered she had nothing to be afraid of, and smirked.

"Hux," she repeated proudly, holding onto the headboard and feeling his breathing against her wetness. "Is it high treason?"

"Yes."

"What is the punishment?"

He didn't reply—instead, he gripped her as tightly as he could and forgot about licking. He was devouring her at this point, sucking and grazing her folds and clit with his teeth, pulling a moan after moan of both pleasure and pain out of her throat. Her hair was sticking to her forehead, sweat dripping down as it took more and more of her power to keep herself above him and not just smash his face with her thighs. At this point, it only took a few more licks, a few more rubs of his fingers and she let go, crying out his name again. It shook her body to the core, emptying her mind of any thoughts; there was nothing but that incredible pleasure running through her veins.

She could not see it, but she could almost sense the smirk Hux had on his face after all of this. She fell onto the mattress next to him, helpless, exhausted and wet all over, her thighs burning along with her overstimulated pussy, her mind not allowing her any coherent thought.

Hux wiped his mouth, then watched her chest raise and fall quickly with satisfaction. Then, as if nothing happened, he left the room to finally receive their food.

When he came back, he stopped in the door to adore the sight he had created. Y/N was still on the bed trying to catch her breath, both her hair and the sheets a complete mess. Her skin was glistening with sweat, just like her folds which were still soaked.

"Look at you." He smirked triumphantly. "A little mess, aren't you?"

She raised her head slightly and looked at him in disbelief. "It's your fault."

"I'm not particularly sorry for what I did." He looked clearly amused as he set the tray with food on his night stand. "You enjoyed every second."

She just rolled her eyes, knowing he was right. Although exhausted, she sat up slowly and watched him walk to the bathroom. He came out of it quickly with a black towel. He then began wiping her skin, gently and tenderly, as if he didn't almost bruise her hips mere minutes earlier.

"Thank you," she said quietly when he finished, giving him a peck on the cheek. He smiled softly and walked back to the bathroom to get rid of the towel and wash his own face.

Soon they were eating on the bed, again, finally actually watching what Hux had put on. Both of them were happy, intoxicated with each other, exchanging pointed looks every few seconds. That day was a hell of a rollercoaster, full of pleasure, but also some pure feelings... Of something strong swirling between them.

They were just about to finish their food when Armitage's datapad buzzed. He looked at it, and Y/N watched a smirk form on his face.

"Oh, look at them. Seems like they managed to tackle the snowstorm without me." He rolled his eyes and put the datapad away as she giggled.

She loved that man.

For the next week, Y/N was not allowed the luxury of seeing or talking to Hux at all. He was busier than ever, with Starkiller preparing for a next attack and Kylo walking around, huffing and puffing because the scavenger girl he apparently needed so much was nowhere to be found, just like the droid.

Never before had she missed him this much. She could do with anything, just a look, a smile, she didn't even dare wish for a touch. He yearned for her just as much if not more, but was overwhelmed with duties, briefings, reports, and everything else. She got to speak to Kylo more than to her lover, and Ren was not in a particularly good mood, as his search was still failing.

It was a standard, cold evening on Starkiller when Y/N threw herself onto her bed still in her uniform, exhausted after her shift. Changing clothes seemed like too much of a task then, so she just stayed there and picked up her datapad. Oh, laying in Armitage's bed, especially in his arms, would be the perfect cure for this day...

She didn't normally approach him, usually he initiated their meetings because of safety reasons. However... She could send him a message, right? Even if he were busy, he could respond whenever he had the time...

Y/N didn't think about it much. She opened the private channel and sent him one simple message that conveyed everything she was feeling.

I miss you.

She sighed as she saw the message got marked as delivered. What now? He could not respond for hours, if at all. She was already trying to gather some will to go to the bathroom, when suddenly, her datapad buzzed. 

He replied.

Then why don't you come and show me how much you miss me?

Her heart began racing immediately as she sat up on the bed. Energy began flowing through her at once, the tiredness long gone. She typed a reply as quickly as possible.

Where are you?

His reply came just as quickly.

In the briefing room.

She bit her lip. They have never met there before.

Alone?

Again, an immediate reply to her hopeful message.

Alone.

That was all Y/N needed to spring up and start fixing her uniform quickly.

I'll be there.

Since she wasn't on duty anymore, she untied her hair, put on some perfume and generally freshened herself up before leaving her quarters. She kept her uniform on so as not to be too suspicious, very aware of the security cameras that were in the briefing room.

Hux was standing by the long, shiny table of the room with three datapads before him. It seemed like he was watching all of them at the same time, focused, but the moment he heard the door open, he looked up immediately. A smirk formed on his barely lit face as he watched her approach him with a smile of her own.

"What is this non-statutory hairstyle, Lieutenant?" he asked, earning just a chuckle for her. He enjoyed it and she knew that.

"Long day?" she asked, keeping her hands to herself, even though she would love to just throw herself onto him as soon as possible.

He sighed, the dark circles under his eyes clear even in the dimly lit room.

"Too long." He closed his eyes for a moment. "Too long of a week."

"And you're still busy tonight?"

He sighed again, pointing to the datapads. "As you can see. I wasn't avoiding you, just so you know. All the things you ordered came to my quarters as well. It is just I barely had time to..."

"You know you don't have to explain that to me," she cut him off, smiling at him sweetly which he did not expect. "I don't blame you. I know how much you work... Can I help you in any way?"

His heart began beating faster. Even though it's been a while since their relationship started, it was still difficult for him to understand 

He lifted just a corner of his mouth, leaning in slowly. "A kiss would be a good start."

"But the cameras?" she leaned back before he could touch her, and he raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, Y/N." He gave her a smouldering look, wrapping his arm around her waist to pull her towards himself. "Are you forgetting who I am? Maybe I need to give you a little reminder."

"What?"

Hux smiled triumphantly, seemingly satisfied with her reaction, then pressed a button underneath the table that locked the door.

"The cameras are long off. I do know how to prepare for you, love."

Shivers went down her spine as he said that. Oh, how she missed that feeling of his hands on her, and when he caressed her lower back with his gloved hands, it quickly gave her that pleasurable sensation she had been missing.

He placed a kiss on her lips, a sweet one, one that made them both crave for more the moment they parted. Who knew one kiss could work such wonders?

"I missed you," he whispered, leaning his forehead against hers. "You and your insufferableness. If it weren't for Ren's tantrums, I would have more time."

Y/N chuckled, putting her hands on his shoulders. "Aw, my poor little thing... You're like a parent with a rebellious teenager, hm?"

"What did you just call me?" he replied huskily, and she could see something switch in his eyes. "Oh, you're really asking for a reminder, Lieutenant."

Something about the way he said it made her knees weaker. She felt him slowly push onto her until her back hit the table, and then he kissed her passionately. His large hand began roaming 

over her chest almost as if he wanted to rip her uniform apart.

"Is my uniform non-statutory, General?" she asked while she watched him look her up and down hungrily. She was happy to know his desire for her never died down, and he could read all of his intentions just from these moves.

He looked into her eyes, allowing all the yearning he had during the week to turn into lust. 

"I will check. Thoroughly," he replied in such a tone that her skin got covered in goosebumps. "And punish you accordingly."

He unbuckled the belt on her waist, put it aside, then unbuttoned her shirt as quickly as possible and proceeded to put the material parts aside as if opening a curtain in a theatre. He revealed a black bra, one that lifted itself a little, uncovering a bit of her underboob, and it drove him crazy.

He lowered his head to place a kiss on the delicate skin between her breasts.

"For an insufferable lieutenant... You're exceptionally beautiful," he whispered, causing warmth to spread through her entire body. He knew just the right words to say.

"Thank you..."

"Thank you, General," he corrected her. "You need a good reminder of who I am."

He sent her one last short look before taking a step back to grab her hips and pull her pants down. Then, he kneeled down on the floor as his hand landed between her legs, pulling a loud sigh out of her. He began rubbing her through the thin material of her panties, kissing her inner thigh in the meantime.

She almost wasn't able to think at that moment; she missed that so much she almost forgot how strong were the emotions he could make her experience with the slightest touch. With every move and kiss, she felt like the yearning, the exhaustion, the stress of her duties disappear.

"Now, we can't be making any mess here... So you'd better hold still."

She swallowed, then let out a gasp as his movements became more rapid along with her breathing. Her body was reacting more and more intensely to his actions, and the fact that they were in the briefing room only added to the thrill. She knew the door was locked and no one would dare interrupt the General, yet had the unexplainable fear that someone may barge in and see her spread out on the table at any moment.

Hux noticed the wetness on his glove, and a smirk found its way to his face.

"Let's see... How long you can last without making a mess?" he whispered, then used one of his fingers to pull the material of her panties aside.

She saw his face for a split second before his mouth met with her hot skin. Her moan echoed against the walls so loudly that for a moment she worried someone might have heard her. However, the table and chairs of the briefing room were the only witnesses of Hux's mouth and tongue made her unable to think about anything else.

She saw him throw one of his gloves to the floor, then grabbed the rim of the table as he slid one finger inside her. He didn't give her much time before adding a second one, his mouth not leaving her clit for a second.

Her breathing got shallow. Her hand found his hair and tugged on it, pulling his face even closer as she buckled her hips to help herself. Seeing how much she enjoyed it, Hux added a third finger, sending her over the edge immediately. At that moment, she was not sure whether she was about to experience an orgasm or a heart attack.

But it was the former that washed over her, so intense she needed a moment to catch her breath again. Hux picked up his glove, then stood up quickly, rubbing his lip as he watched the picture before him with satisfaction.

"Now," he put his hand under her chin and made her look at him, "who made you feel this good?"

"You," she panted in response, but he was not happy with it.

"My rank."

"General."

He raised his eyebrows, as if prompting her to continue.

"General Armitage Hux of the First Order."

"Good girl." He smiled, then glanced at the table. "And look at you, you didn't even stain the tabletop."

"And here I thought," she said between pants, jumping off the table to put her pants back on, "you were tired."

"I'm never too tired for this," he replied quickly, putting his glove back on swiftly.

"I'm guessing you're expecting me to pay you back?" She began buttoning up her shirt again, as he looked back at his datapads like nothing out of the ordinary just happened.

"I will gladly be paid back, but not now. Not today, even. I still have much to do," he explained, indicating the datapads. That was not the answer she expected, and she felt a knot form in her stomach. When he was back in the light of the screens, his dark circles became evident again.

"Did you even eat anything today?" she asked worriedly, although a small smile sneaked onto her face for a second. "Except for me, that is."

"Today? No."

She gave him a stern stare, putting her hands on her hips like a disappointed mother. "Armitage."

He looked up to see her stance and let out a sigh. "Y/N, I don't have time for this."

"You had a good amount of time to eat me out just now, you have time for food, too."

"That's different."

"Stars, you're unbelievable." She put her hand on her forehead. "I'm starting to understand Kylo, you know?"

Hux gave her a glare, but didn't say anything. He knew she was partially right, and her care for him was still something that surprised him greatly. 

Never before had anyone cared for his well-being.

"Listen," she said sternly, "you can be the damn emperor, Armitage, I don't care. I will stuff that food into you if I have to."

He sighed. Arguing with her was pointless, because he knew she would not give up, but he didn't want to let her win, either—even if his stomach had been rumbling for a few hours now.

"Listen, I am going to your quarters and ordering food. You'd better get your ass there in an hour."

He found it hard to hide the smile that her words caused and tried his best to remain cold. "Bold words to your superior."

She crossed her arms, unbothered. "Oh, and what are you going to do? Discharge me?" 

"For disrespecting my rank, breaking into my quarters... Yes, I could do that."

"Breaking?" she laughed loudly. "I know the password, General." She put his hand on his forehead, fixing his ever-so-perfect hair affectionately.

Even Hux couldn't help a chuckle this time. He brought her closer and held her just for a moment, taking deep breaths. Having her this close, with her nuzzling his neck, was better of a cure to his stress and troubles than any food or sleep might have provided. That warmth, her witty comebacks and just the fact she really cared... He had never felt like this, and stars, he didn't want that feeling to disappear.

"Thank you," he whispered eventually, placing an affectionate kiss on her head. "I've told you that a lot, but remember, you really are my cure."

She just kept her head on his shoulder, moving to him as close as possible with a sincere smile on her face. She knew she would never grow tired of hearing this.

He kissed her forehead. "I'll try to join you soon... But do be careful when you enter my quarters. Your packages are in your wardrobe."

"Understood, sir," she said quickly and gave him a little salute.

He shook his head, but the corner of his mouth twitched a little as he tried to hide yet another smile. "Hand salutes are not performed if a soldier is not wearing a headdress."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, I believe eating a soldier out on a table doesn't fit the rules, either, yet here we are, General."

He did smile this time.

"Go before I change my mind," he said quietly, clicking a button to unlock the door.

She decided to give him one last quick—and risky—kiss, then walked towards the door as if treading on clouds.

"Love you," she said with a soft smile, turning to him one last time before the door slid open and she quickly disappeared behind a turn of the corridor.

Hux stared at the spot where she disappeared for a long moment, unable to ignore that warm, pleasant feeling in his heart she had caused with just these two words.

"So do I," he whispered, for the first time admitting it out loud even to himself.

As much as Hux wanted to find himself back in his quarters, his duties were still haunting him. He went there much later than he expected, still not having finished everything he wanted.

Y/N must have been waiting for him for too long. He did feel bad about it, but at the same time hoped she understood some things just couldn't be changed, no matter how much he cared for her.

The door to his bedroom slid open, and his heart broke just a little at the view.

The room was dark, just barely lit by the blueish glow coming from the holotable. Something was playing on it, but the remote was all forgotten next to the bed. The packages he ordered for Y/N had been taken out of the wardrobe, but remained unopened. On his bedside table, there was a tray with food—and Tarine tea.

Finally, Y/N herself was fast asleep in his bed. The sheets next to her were moved aside, as if waiting for him to slide in. She prepared all of this. She waited.

And he didn't come.

Hux let out a sigh. It was new to him, the fear of disappointing someone. Most of his life, he was his own most strict judge. But now he had Y/N—someone he didn't want to disappoint, someone whose opinion really mattered to him, and he was still learning how to tackle all of this.

He grabbed the remote and turned the holotable off, then went straight to the bathroom. He didn't plan on waking her up; he was exhausted, and she deserved sleep, too.

Hux was too tired to even try eating. He took a sip of the already cold tea, then slowly settled himself in the bed so as not to wake her. Once he covered himself with the sheets, he let out a long sigh, as if trying to breathe out all of his stress and exhaustion. He placed a small, innocent kiss on Y/N's head to tell her the 'good night' she didn't get, and before he knew it, fell asleep with one of his arms around her.

Hux was not expecting to be woken up by a kiss on his forehead, but that was exactly what made him open his eyes. For a moment, he wasn't sure whether Y/N's smiling face before him was real or still a dream.

"Good morning, very scary general..." she whispered, running her hand through his hair affectionately and giggling. At that moment, he was harmless, with his sleepy eyes, messy hair and a soft smile he didn't even try to hide this time. Still half asleep, for a moment he forgot the load of work awaiting him that day...

"A good morning indeed," he replied huskily, then brought her closer in a tight embrace and placed a kiss on her head. "Judging by your smile, you're not mad at me."

She backed away from the hug a little to see his face, then watched him in confusion. "Why would I be?"

"Because you prepared everything last night and I came la..."

"Armitage, it's not my first day here," she cut him off and cupped his face to make him look at her. "I know how busy you are. It's all fine, I promise. I'm glad you got any sleep at all, but I was 

worried you may oversleep."

He sighed as he turned his head towards his bedside table. He was grateful she woke him up; even if his body was desperately calling for more rest, it was just the time for him to get up. Then he turned back towards her and his expression softened, still feeling an ounce of guilt because of the last evening.

"Do you want to be off duty today?"

"Only if you are."

He shook his head. "I can't. I have so much to take care of I don't even know where to start."

"Then I don't want to. At least time will pass quickly while I'll be working. But speaking of working, you," "are overworking yourself, Armitage."

"I'm the General, it's my duty and..."

"Oh, come on," she rolled her eyes, "you can sell the military bullshit to Kylo or Snoke, not me. You know what I mean. I worry about you. I wish you took more breaks, or at least remembered to eat... You being exhausted won't make you any more efficient and you know that."

Hux watched her all this time with sincere shock on his face. The fact that she was so understanding and so caring, doing something no one in his life had ever been able to show him, was making him feel like he didn't deserve even an ounce of her kindness.

"I still find it hard to believe you care for me this much," he said quietly, and she just sighed in response before hugging him tightly once more. That embrace expressed more than words could ever tell him. They stayed like this for a moment, bathing in pure bliss, before Hux moved to look at her face again.

"Why didn't you open your packages?"

"I wanted to open them with you."

"I am sorry," he replied with yet another sigh. "See, that's why I didn't invite you this week. I wouldn't have found the time to..."

"Hey, I told you it's fine. Just sleeping with you is enough for me," she cut him off again.

These words made him smirk immediately.

"Sleeping with me, hm?"

She groaned in response.

"Sleeping. As in closing one's eyes and snoring, you rascal." She smacked his arm lightly, making him chuckle.

"And here I thought you liked more than that."

Hux earned himself another smack on the arm for that response. He chuckled again, and soon, Y/N was not even pretending to be mad anymore. 

She snuggled into his chest, knowing the last calm moments of that morning were about to pass by.

"I'll come tonight too, okay?"

He looked at her apologetically. "I don't know when I'll finish."

"It's okay. We'll open the packages together and..."

A loud buzz from Hux's datapad pierced the air, making both of them sigh in frustration.

"There we go," he said with evident irritation, but still reached for his datapad quickly and answered the call. "What is it?"

"General, an informator of ours had just spotted the droid we had been looking for on Takodana."

"Send our squads there immediately and inform Ren. We can't allow a failure this time. And keep on updating me."

"Understood, sir."

He finished the call, and Y/N let out a giggle she had been stifling.

"Inform Ren? It's almost like you're developing a soft spot for him." She poked him in the chest playfully, getting a glare in response.

Finally, Hux got up from the bed and stretched his arms, as if physically preparing himself for the task ahead.

"Well, then. Do any insufferable lieutenants happen to want to assist me during this very important operation?"

Y/N grinned.

[ba-mi-soro-orisha]

Here's the non-spoiler review I just wrote for retail sites:

This is the series that got me back into reading, so it will always hold a special place in my heart. But the five year gap between book 2 and book 3…I felt it.

Bottom line: I did enjoy reading the book. However, it doesn't get full stars because the trilogy finale just doesn't hold up to the first two, and I think there's a lot of things that could have been done for a better read. The book reads a bit like Tomi lost enthusiasm during COVID and like she was just kinda finishing from an outline without the heart of the other books.

The deep emotions of the first two books just aren't there. There's a whole lot of telling rather than showing. You can tell by the smaller size of book 3 that we just don't get as much detail or exploration or action as we did in the previous books. I sobbed through entire portions of book 1 and book 2. In book 3, I had some perfunctory tears at the end of the story. But it absolutely wasn't the same emotional ride as before.

Characters from the last books are just shoved aside in favor of introducing the new characters and new worlds. The worldbuilding and new magic systems are amazing…but I would gladly lose them to be able to complete the story that it felt like the Orisha trilogy was originally telling. I would gladly lose them to be able to get answers to questions I had after book 2 that did not get addressed at all in book 3. Some characters were also just straight up lost and ignored and their fate's left open as plot bunnies.

I think we all knew that the cliffhanger in book 2 was going to drastically change the direction of the story, but I didn't expect that it would mean the story we spent getting built up in two books would just be completely abandoned and wrapped up in what was, quite frankly, an extremely unrealistic and unbelievable answer. The ending of book 3 and the entire series was just so abrupt. For as much work as Tomi does teaching writing, I really would have expected a fully played out climax with a suspenseful build and some sort of closure/ending. But it felt rushed. The ending was quick and then all of a sudden we're at the epilogue. It was not a well paced climax. After all the build up, the ending just fell flat. The final action was basically 0 compared to the buildup, and there absolutely was no taking us down from the climax. AND, I was left with a pretty big question at the end, plot-wise, which just doesn't get addressed whatsoever.

I've spent a lot of time on the things that I wish had been done differently, but since I did overall enjoy the read, I want to also point out what I enjoyed.

The writing was good, even if the storytelling wasn't the best. I finished the book in two days, and I did so because I did want to know what happened.

The worldbuilding and new magic systems we see are very interesting, though they might have been better explored in their own books and their own stories.

I don't know if it was always Tomi's plan or if she was responding to the fanbase, but I heavily appreciate how she handled Amari's character in particular.

I honestly thought the pacing in book 3 was much better than book 2. Book 2 was so heavy and hard to get through emotionally. I felt book 3 found its footing a lot better in giving me a lot of action but also not overwhelming me.

That said, I think the book definitely just suffered a mismatch of my expectations developed from the first two books and the final product, especially after so much time in between releases. It's been five years. A pandemic happened. A lot was going on in general, and I know Tomi must have grown so much in this time. Perhaps Tomi just outgrew the story she was telling for the age group she was writing for in the time it took for this series to get fully published and will blossom even further in her future projects.

I would like to go back and re-read all three books together and see how I feel about the finale after that. I did not re-read the series before book 3 (so the tons of flashback and reminder scenes were helpful for me, but might feel like too much on a re-read), and I would like to do that for a better overall picture of book 3.

[vivilove-jonsa]

I know you and Amymel are both publishing your OG stuff now. How is that going for you both? And do you have any tips for someone who might want to do that sort of thing?

Thanks so much for the ask, Anon. I mentioned it to @amymel86 and, while we're keeping our pen names relatively private, we truly appreciate you checking in with us :)

How's it going? It's going great! We're both thrilled to making money off writing smutty romance 🤣. To quote Amy, 'Sex sells, girlies.' But I'll add that the swoony, romantic, buttery goodness is what keeps readers coming back for more.

Tips? You got it! I'm going to put them under the cut for those who are interested but I'll preface this with the following - we are writing romance novels (primarily as eBooks) that we're self-publishing on Amazon. If you want to be the next Hemingway or Virginia Woolf, that's awesome but our route might not be your route...

Tips for self-publishing romance on the Zon and making BANK:

First off, research. Read, read, read a genre that interests you. What's killing it in the rankings? What's not? What are readers looking for?

Drill it down to a specific niche and find the tropes that work best with it. Unlike with fanfic, you will not make a killing as a newbie writer switching widely between genres and niches. Your Sweet and Clean Christian Western Romance might be fantastic but your fans won't be delighted if you follow it up with an Erotic Dark Mafia Romance. There is so much out there! Sports Romance, Regency, Paranormal, Small-Town, Billionaire, Bikers, Mountain Man... go find yourself a new book boyfriend. Choose the heat level you're comfortable with. There are readers for all levels.

But, find something that appeals to you and stick with it for the time being, learn the ins and outs but make sure it's something you can see yourself writing. Don't choose Reverse Harem or Shifter Romance simply because they're popular if you can't stand reading them. You're setting yourself up for failure that way.

Second, do a little light craft book reading. For romance, I highly recommend Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes and 7 Figure Fiction by T. Taylor as a starting point.

Join an indie author's discord group for important tips and stuff that you might wind up paying to learn from others. It's free and you can choose what's worth retaining and what's not. The one Amy lured me to last year is AMAZING and I've picked up so much information/resources that I never would've known about stumbling around on my own.

Pick a pen name. Do not write under your actual name. You do not want your grandma reading your book. Or maybe you do but you might not want your boss or ex or neighbor reading it. Make sure it's not a claimed pen name. Google it, check Amazon, etc.

Next one is the hard part... write a book. Dream up your story, write down those 'moments' that come to mind (you won't remember them all otherwise) and outline that sucker. Then, WRITE IT. Which sounds impossible but it's not. Most full-length romance novels fall between 60 to 85k words. There are soooooo many fanfics that are longer than that. Take a deep breath. It's doable.

The must-dos for your first book:

Think it up, write down what tropes you're looking at using, outline (at least a little) and write it. I made that sound so easy, didn't I?

2. Edit, edit, edit. You don't have to pay an editor or copywriter - I have not so far - but, for the love of God, don't release something riddled with typos or full of purple prose. Streamline it, make it page-turning goodness readers have a hard time putting down. Throw it in grammarly and spellcheck the bejesus out of it.

3. Format it using a free site like Reedsy or Kindle Create from Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). All that lovely spacing we enjoy doing on Ao3? That will not fly here. It's going to look like an actual book... because it is!

4. Make a cover or get one made. Look at what sells in your niche and copy it. You want to be an outlier? Wait until you're bringing in 50k a month to set the trends. Otherwise, you'll just be passed up. How much work it is can be niche dependent. Fantasy or Sci-Fi Romance might require a lot of talent to get the right look. Contemporary? Easy by comparison. GIMP or Photo Shop work great but there's a learning curve. Also, I recommend Deposit Photos or similar sites for photos/model shots. Don't steal photos off the internet for something you're selling. That will get you in hot water. Remember your cover is the first thing readers see and it needs to sell what you're offering.

5. Write the blurb. Some writers do this first but I am not one of them. It's HARD. However, I cannot stress how important this is to get someone to give your book a look, second only to the cover. It's 100 to 200 words to tell people why they absolutely have to read it! Don't do a summary of the book either. Feed them tropes, give it a hooky intro, draw them in like flies with honey.

6. Get ARCs (Advanced Reader Copy reviews) through a site like Booksprout or SM like Author Facebook groups. It'll get your book in front of eyes and it's lovely having a bit of feedback and some shiny 4 and 5 star reviews queued and ready when you publish.

7. PUBLISH IT. Flip that pancake as we say in the discord group I'm in. Serve it up, see who's biting and keep that griddle hot to make the next one. It will be even better.

And remember, this book will probably not be THE BOOK. And your first pen name will probably not be the one you retire on. It's okay. Every book will teach you something new about who you are as a writer. You'll grow, you'll get better. I'd rather publish a dozen books that are okay if I'm improving than talk about the ONE I'm going to write someday. It's totally worth giving it a whirl.

For more direct tips, feel free to send specific asks. I'm happy to help anytime :)

[januarygale]

I am SO curious to see if The Mars House is in any way inspired by Aye, And Gomorrah... by Samuel R. Delaney.

Delaney's story is a short story from 1967 and was first published in Dangerous Visions, an anthology of 'risque' new wave sci-fi. (And it's an allegory for being queer during the 60s).

It's about a so-called "Spacer", an astronaut who works physical jobs on different planets -- who has been neutered prior to becoming a spacer to eliminate the risk of harmful mutations of the reproductive cells (don't question the science, it was the 60s). Anyway, on earth Spacers are fetishised because they are androgynous and somewhat of an 'exotic' thing and some of them are sex workers, and pretty much all of them are living at the edges of society and keep to their own community. The plot is about the disconnect between "frelks" (the ones with the spacer kink) and Spacers -- the protagonist wants to be seen as human, as a person, and the frelk fails to view them as anything other than a sexually stunted object of her fascination.

And I get that that's way too sexual and direct for a Pulley novel but somehow with Aubrey being non-binary and January being "Earthstrong", something that sets him apart from the people from Mars, it kind of seems to touch on the same themes. Obviously Spacers and Earthstrongs are different kinds of people entirely -- one too 'childlike' and the other one too strong thus 'dangerous' -- but they are both far removed from the 'normal' population of their (new) homeworlds and therefore misfits of sorts. And given how much Pulley's novels so far have been about a desire for connection... Especially connection that shouldn't exist in the eyes of society, and connection that the MCs (Valery and Raphael come to mind) simply don't think they can or should have. I feel like the parallels are there, but maybe that's just me.

And I don't know how Pulley is gonna treat Aubrey's being non-binary, but I suspect that we're gonna get a whole ass analysis. And if we do, I hope the whole 'living on a different planet on which your body behaves and developes differently until it's in stark contrast to what other human body of your sex/gender look or feel like' is going to be part of it. Which would also be a parallel to what's implied with the Spacers.

Idk if I'm making sense but all in all I'm chewing drywall about it currently.

You can read Aye, And Gomorrah here, btw. Do it. Delaney is one of sci-fi's most prolific writers for a reason and the story has aged pretty well.

[rebeccalouisaferguson]

One unanswered question from the first season relates to the very bottom of the silo. Juliette has a crippling fear of water, and very nearly ends up in what looks like a reservoir at the base. But surely that will come into play again? Chekhov's water, if you like. To that question, Ferguson was quick to tease:

"Oh, buddy, you're gonna have to see. That is such a good question. If I tell you, I'm gonna have to kill you. So, you know, we're stuck in that. There's a big door down there. I know we haven't activated the door without wanting to explore what the door might be. I’m just gonna leave it right there."

How Long Could Silo Run? 

The series is adapted from the writings of Hugh Howey. The series started in 2011 with the short story "Wool," which was later published together with four sequel novellas as a novel with the same name. Along with "Wool," the series consists of Shift, Dust, three short stories, and Wool: The Graphic Novel. This means that the series could quite easily be a straight three-season run, or could be expanded, depending on how the creative team—and of course, Apple TV+—feel about the show.

For Ferguson, she's signed her contract, and she's locked in for "two, three years" going forward. As for speculating about how many seasons it could run for, Ferguson would prefer to focus on number two and see where it takes them, with her plan being to shoot Silo for the foreseeable future—SAG-AFTRA strike pending, that is. She went to say:

"I'm a businesswoman. I go in with my head screwed on. I sign a contract and make a deal. I'm not gonna tell you what that deal is. [Laughs] I very much know what I want. It's down to my wonderful team at Apple, as well, to see what they wanna do. You know, we all save our backs. We see what works for the future. At my age and with what I've done, you don't get to a point where you go, “Let's see what happens,” you know? I'm already blocking off November for another shoot."

Ferguson continued, "I think two, three years ahead. Right now, sir, it’s one fantastic fucking show, and we’ve green-lit number two. Apple is extremely happy, and I'm happier. That's where I'm gonna leave it. We started filming Season 2 quite recently, so we are chockablock, smack back in the beginning of the shoot. I am doing this for some time in the future."

Ferguson is a Fan of Silo's Production and Apple TV+

Where Ferguson was happy to elaborate, however, was her praise of both Apple and the production of the series. Lauding their ability to combine techniques and styles, bringing in directors and seeing what works and what doesn't was an aspect of Season 1 that was widely praised. Ferguson expects that process to be further streamlined as the show evolves into its sophomore year.

"We work with different units and different directors, and it's something I really love because everyone has their style and their technique," she said. "So what we've seen in Season 1 is not a smash of what worked and what didn't work, it's an ongoing change because we have new directors dedicated to new episodes. And they will themselves see what they like or didn't like, or where they want to take it, and what feeling they want. Do they want, you know, Wes Anderson? Do they want David Lynch? Where do they want to take it?" She went on to say:

"And that's what I love. It's the creative individual, right for their episodes. And then, obviously, there is a thread going through, you can't sort of wing it in every direction, but there is a lot to be learned. But we all learn different things, and we all love different things. But what's really amazing is—and once again, I can throw it back to Apple, but I am one of their biggest fans—their trust in this process, their trust in Graham and in the directors and in us, gives us such freedom to actually feel free to create. It's not a common thing for studios to be like that as a buff. So it's a playground. It's a fantastic playground."

She continued on to say, "I feel like a sponsor for them, but I really love them. And take away the fact that we're doing Silo, the shows are so meticulously thought through of what they make, why they make it. You can see a thread of the quality that they make, so I feel so bloody honored that we are making it for Apple."

A key component of that creative process is the writing on the show, with Graham Yost playing a major part in it. During a writers' strike, the work of those behind the screenplays becomes more magnified—it always should be—but Ferguson adores the way the show sets up ideas and then pays them off. She's a fan of how it doesn't need to answer every question, but answers them enough to have you come back for more. Ferguson went on to say:

"What I feel with the writers—and I'm referring to Season 2, seeing it further on—things that I have questioned before and things that I was wondering about really ties up. If Graham is very good at something, it is tying knots together. It might not give you a complete answer to things, but enough to satisfy your urge of the huge questions. Then you have emotional feelings, or why or how did that happen? And you know, we might not want to answer all of those questions, down to character, as well, and our own little secrets we sit on as actors. But the way things are linked together, it's brilliantly written. Absolutely brilliant."

Ferguson Shares Her Biggest Challenge

One might think playing Juliette could end up being a career-defining role for Ferguson. The lead in an acclaimed series—particularly when she's already become such a star through the likes of Mission: Impossible—certainly puts you on a certain trajectory, but the chance to tell a story over a prolonged period of time gets you out there more, and it allows you to reflect on what aspects of the character require more nuance and get more of yourself into that performance.

In the case of Juliette, however, she's so closed off from everybody else that Ferguson almost had to fight to keep from putting too much of her own personality into it, which was her biggest challenge.

"I think I was having so much fun… For me, Rebecca, I am a person, I'm curious, I lean in, I'm so sure in work or interviews or promotions. I speak a lot. I'm not loud, but I'm not scared of making a fool out of myself. Privately home, I'm quite quiet and I'm very calm. I have two very separate identities. Juliette is awkward, and I am not socially awkward. I mean, I am maybe because I'm very blunt [laughs], and people might find it uncomfortable, but I'm not Juliette in the sense that she's very socially awkward and she doesn't like people. She doesn't like being close to them, she doesn't like their energy. She walks around people. And sometimes, when I was comfortable in the scene, I forgot about it, and I moved into my own character. So I had little tricks that I had to do for myself to kick myself into Juliette. The way that she holds herself and the shrug or she leans back when people lean forward, and I found that quite hard."

[newkiqx]

Nearly every single modern computer utilizes cobalt, a mineral whose supply chain is so heavily dominated by slave labor that it's practically impossible to ethically source. Ignoring AI, it is even ethical to do digital art at all? The production of a drawing tablet is not a victimless crime.

I feel you when you want to reduce this to something as simple as a comparison. But bear with me (or alternatively, I put a tl;dr/conclusion at the end).

Much of capitalism is unethical - yes. I agree with this point completely. It's impossible to completely avoid unethical consumption in the world we live in. But it's good to be thoughtful of it and I think businesses and governments responsible for bad practice should be held accountable. Sadly I can't change the world on my own in any meaningful way, but i'll do my part where I can & vote people into power that care about this too.

Taking your comparison for a second, I feel like the art project of that OP was asking a much more direct "I bought cobalt I didn't need and then turned into a children's toy, could this be art?". And my reply was basically yeah sure it could be art, but was it worth it? My point is that I'm not sure on that last part, and leaning towards a 'no'. They specifically sourced it unethically and made that the center piece, which is distinct from the utilitarian nature of consumer electronics we need to get through our lives. Unethical sourcing of art can be a goal or statement (like here cw dead pets) but will then of course still be a part of it. I don't think ethics were considered for the post we're discussing though and it instead only discussed the very unproductive 'is it art' discourse. This, of course, matters about as much as my "dick" being objectively "long" or not.

Maybe getting a little sidetracked, but I also want to mention that cobalt is an extremely useful metal, whereas AI.. well.. i've mentioned the very human cost of mturk and the wholesale theft of the entire internet. There's also:

the power required

the jobs in art it threatens and therefore the skilled labor we stand to lose if we're not careful

the inevitable price hike and betrayal of the public as soon as alternatives are out competed (this will happen)

the risks of biases (racism, ableism, sexism) in an opaque weighted system like AI & the fact we cannot deal with this except for slapping some extra prompts in front

AI poisoning our actual collective knowledge with untrue shit. Recent cases in point being the hilarious fake mouse dick science being published and the ai generated inaccurate servals on google, but there's a lot more going on

the risks of companies and people in power using AI to more efficiently screw everybody over and hide behind 'machine told me so' accountability loopholes

the risks of AI being used in all sorts of malinformed use cases

But what are the gains? What do we stand to win? Call me cynical, but we already had an infinite amount of pictures at our fingertips, as well as all the mediocre writing you could ever want (but actually much better because someone loved writing it). I feel like all these general AI's are good for is filling the pockets of some very rich robber barons and grifters, as well as diluting everything that's beautiful and true in the world.

Quick sidenote - Some specialist AI have genuinely already improved the world, like with medical screenings, but even then it's hard to really call it a win because reverse engineering the reasoning of an AI is so fucking hard. And again, they're a slippery slope with insurance companies wanting a piece of that pie badly, just so they can apply their 'justified' penalties to people not even sick yet.

tl/dr; So in conclusion, no, I don't think your comparison holds up. I agree that it sucks that so much of necessary consumption is unethical in ways we can't easily fix as consumers. But one thing bad does not equate other thing good. If anything, it should inspire you to do better where you can make a difference and hold the ones responsible for the exploitation in this world accountable.

Don't let it eat you up though. I'm not even saying you can't use it for inspiration ever. But any art based on these generated pictures cannot be divorced from the ugly side we'd rather not see: the underpaid army of technically not slaves and the wholesale theft of everything.

also sorry but i couldn't not include this (source: matt bors)

[helenarasmussen87]

Another post of JJK and I think I may have gotten it all out of my system by now regarding the ending. Under the cut cause this might be a long one. And go off into random directions.

I have read a lot of takes on the ending and the characters and I again had some thoughts on some of the takes I read.

Some of them sounded like justification for the bungled ending (just writing wise, I'll talk about Gojo later) It was a punishing series. It was dark. It was grim. It was a tragedy.

I couldn't help but to contrast it with other series and other media. I know Demon Slayer gets a lot of flack due to the hurried ending...But it ended in a way that made sense and tied up its ends. Secondary characters got a nod and thematically it made sense. It wasn't abrupt nor did it leave so many plot threads loose and dangling.

The main thing that it had was that it *respected* its secondary and driving characters. Even the ones that weren't necessarily favourites. They all got a thematic and respectful send off. Something that JJK lacked and I noticed was sort of brushed off or "explained" by the nature of the series.

Demon Slayer had literally *two* Hashiras survive and left with life altering injuries as was the MC and his love interest. All three mark bearers (Tomioka, Sanemi, and Tanjiro) have the implied fate that they will die before they hit 25 due to the marks they awakened. That's kind of the opposite of a happy ending.

I'll also briefly mention Chainsaw Man that finished off Part 1 with a conclusive and satisfactory ending that can also stand alone. It didn't ignore or erase any of the main cast and most of the plot threads were tied up pretty well that if someone stopped reading at part 1, they left with a pretty decent conclusion. And that story was pretty grim also.

Another take I saw was one about being forgotten even by your closest loved ones no matter what impact you had on their lives or the world.

Which honestly sounds like an excuse to gloss over Gojo saying he's going to be forgotten and how Yuuji should be tired of Gojo himself. Or why he didn't even get a funeral or a farewell. Realistically, no. Every culture has some kind of ritual to remember those that have passed on. Even the ones that supposedly think that. Kafka wanted his writings burned. His friend published them, so we have his words and he is remembered.

It also made me think of Gojo himself, who never forgot Geto, thus putting him at odds with what he's telling Yuuji to do. Or how Yuuji himself mourned Junpei and Nanami. And Megumi still mourned Tsumiki. It is at odds with what we're presented in the text. All of them are remembered as *people* rather than tools or devices.

If others think of a tool when they think of Gojo, then he will be forgotten. But Yuuji more than anyone, saw him as Gojo and that is why it doesn't work if that was supposed to be a message.

(I won't count Yuuta in this since he just...moved on after he got his body back. He did argue against using Gojo's body, but nothing else. And that grotesque sacrifice amounted to nothing if society is still the same)

Despite what Gojo said, Yuuji can't/won't forget him and is in his own way, honouring that legacy. Not a perfect way, but that would be the writing more than anything.

I understand that Akutami may have written himself into a corner, or not listened to editors. Or was utterly fed up with it. Or was sick. I get that, but writing like this just tarnishes what could have been a decent series.

My point is that even if there other factors, ending it in a way that had most of the plot points resolved would have been a better send off that what we got here. And how no matter how it is examined, the ending was bad due to not only a pointless conclusion, but the lack of respect to a major player that smacks of pettiness and overall meanness.

I think that most people would have forgiven the missteps in the story if the ending had been handled differently

Ed-

One last post regarding whether Gojo coming back would be a happy ending for the reader than for him.

I'm going with no it's not just for the readers. Even if he came back with half his power, he'd want to be there to continue helping shape Jujutsu society. He loved being powerful and a fighter, but he was always alone and he found his connection with the trio and the second years. After Geto died, he rebuilt those connections.

It's not fanon to say he wouldn't be happy. He'd see a goal achieved and that's satisfaction and a cause of joy. He would even live as an actualised being. Which people forget that he also wanted.

Yes, he killed the higher ups. As IF he didn't have the means to hush it up. He also did everyone a favour that was tacitly acknowledged. No one would dare to bring it up.

So he would and could possibly find a joy in living in a world he helped bring about and shape. Wishing him dead with Geto (Who is in hell, since even in reincarnation cycles, he'd be there for what he did before he moves on) is as reductive as the fans just wanting him back cause he was shafted.

Just my two pence.

[nazmazh]

I don't think it's a thing, or at least not as pervasive of a thing as previous iterations of it, but it seems like True Crime Podcasts never really got the full Moral Panic(TM) treatment that other dark/lurid media got in their times.

Like comics were put under the yoke of The CCA, which effectively killed the crime (true or otherwise) genre, because it was believed to be a corrupting force.

Rock music, TTRPGs, and video games got an extra dose of Satanic Influence flavour in their panics, without even necessarily being all that lurid anyway, but especially with HUGE variability in tone and style between works in the same medium - Like KISS and others leaned into the "Ah! We're so strange and scary!" vibe. And several rockers intentionally pushed the boundaries of "acceptable" sexuality and expression for the times, sure. And much of the demonization of rock is rooted in racism because it was developed from African-American music styles (with certain genres, where the influence, and popularity with Black people was more obvious, got hit especially hard because of this). But like, the freaking Beatles were seen as potentially "dangerous" and "unwholesome" (the scandal of it all!) even before they leaned fully into New Age and other general weirdness that I could see as being especially off-putting to the kinds of people that go on these moral crusades.

Violence and any sort of sexual expression/depiction in movies and TV was blamed for corrupting the nation, especially the youth - and to some extent still is. Doubly so for video games.

Computers, the internet, and social media are still seen as direct pipelines of filth into vulnerable minds.

Heck, even Novels were seen as a craze that would drive the women and youths towards inappropriate behaviours, back when they first started being published - Too easy to print and distribute (way more possible for people with ill morals to publish material!), too conviently accessible by anyone - Not needing as careful of handling or storage, and much less likely to get damaged being carried around than previous printing methods; they'd distract from duties and anything could be published in those books, and they'd be easy enough to conceal from disapproving guardians due to how compact they could be

But I can't say that I've really seen much, if any real targeting of True Crime Podcasts with these sorts of accusations in any sort of very visible way. Not even from the usual moral crusader suspects (though I'm sure some of them no doubt are out there railing against the podcasts, because that outrage against everything is what sustains certain kinds of fundamentalists), and certainly not in the mainstream media - The most I think I've seen is a few mild, often self-deprecating, jokes, said with genuine fondness, in a few more trope-savvy works here and there.

And that's despite the presence of many of the crusaders' favourite punching bag traits:

- Lurid subject matter

- Often sensationalized presentation

- New form of media

- Easily consumable by the masses

- Incredibly popular, especially paired with a rapid rise in popularity

- Especially popular among women (who, as we know from previous panics, clearly have such delicate sensibilities and fragile, malleable minds that they absolutely, positively cannot be trusted to make their own decisions about media consumption. CLEARLY.).

I would make a note about it definitely being popular with young women, which it is, sure. But honestly, I'm reasonably certain it's not especially more popular with them than with older audiences. The podcast format specifically may not necessarily be the favourite medium for a older potential audience member, especially compared to a younger potential audience member, but there's plenty of people middle aged and older that happily listen to podcasts. However there is an absolute glut of true crime shows on TV, often marketed towards women. The Investigation Discovery spin-off channel is pretty much all true-crime shows and documentaries (with maybe some Based on a True Story- style dramatizations thrown in for good measure). And even though it's not specifically, explicitly a women-focused channel in the same way, say the Hallmark Channel or Lifetime are, much of their shows formatting and much of the marketing material definitely leans toward targeting and retaining women specifically as an audience. I can remember my grandma contentedly watching the channel all day long. And let's not forget the archetypical "Lifetime Movie" is generally taken to mean a True Crime "It Could Happen to You"-cautionary tale-dramatization.

Heck, even the collection of books inherited by grandma when her mother passed away included a large amount of non-fiction books about "Tracking The Murders of [such-and-such] County" and suchlike. So, no, I don't believe the True Crime fascination is exclusively a young person phenomenon. It's been around in some form for quite a while and maintains its appeal across age demographics.

So, what gives, moral crusaders? Where's your campaigns declaring True Crime Podcasts a danger to society? Where's your press tours? Why don't you have politicians taking the floor in meetings/council/congress/etc., to declare this media to be the scourge of the nation and the latest existential threat to Western Society? Won't SOMEBODY think of the children?!?!

I know we as a society aren't all stuck watching the same news/media sources anymore, and in many ways we're not as beholden to the control/influence of the, often (but not exclusively) Evangelical, Christian institutions that used to really push this stuff as an issue to the forefront of public discourse, but I can't believe that they'd've just completely gone away and stopped trying to force everyone else to adhere to their sense of indignation and live under their moral code.

It's almost as though they're not stirring up as much outrage about this because they found something else they think is a bigger problem and/or stands a better chance of catching on with mainstream audiences.

And... oh.

Oh.

Oh no.

Well.

Shit.

I started writing this ramble upstairs, watching TV with my parents. They've been watching that "Based on a True Story" show. And that's what got me thinking about the pop-cultural niche True Crime Podcasts have found themselves in, and reactions to them compared to reactions to other forms of media that have discussed/depicted violent crimes and other controversial subject matter in the past and present (See also: Only Murders in The Building).

This was supposed to be an all-"Haha, isn't it kinda silly how things are?" little quip about how "Outrage ain't want it used to be". From my very privileged white dude point of view. But I think I stumbled into something here. Something that I might not even be the best person to talk about. So I won't go too in-depth on subjects I'm very much out of my depth on, but, I do kinda wanna get to my conclusion.

So uh...

Yeah, okay.

The Moral Crusaders are busy with other topics.

They've found bigger fish to fry, so to speak.

They're out there railing against favourable and even neutral depictions of queerness in media, especially children's media.

They're out there railing against social justice, racial equity, historical rectification, truth and reconciliation.

They're out there railing against science and education and instilling earnest curiosity in people.

Against secularization, diversity, and inclusivity.

Against correction of their own misinformation and indoctrination.

They put it all under one banner these days, and rail against it all as though it were a conspiracy to deliberately supplant them.

They're too busy crusading against "Wokeness" - Their idea of what that means, anyway.

I don't think it's the only reason there's not a big crusade against True Crime Podcasts, as I've said above, Christian morality has reduced official and unofficial influence in so-called Western society than it did in times past. And there's much better access to resources for getting different information and opinions on a subject than the people immediately around you and whatever the handful of news channels and papers you have access to tell you. That is to say, sources that require very little effort on one's own part. It's a heck of a lot easier to google something or check wikipedia than it would have been to have to trek down to the library and ask if they have any books or journals or magazine or... any sort of information about a subject.

And it's not like their boogeyman of "wokeness" isn't anything new for them to crusade against. They've always complained about it in some form or another - Who could forget the outrage against children's media back in the day?:

"Is Bugs Bunny gay?" "Is Spongebob gay?" "Is Tinky-Winky gay?"; "This book discusses subjects that should only be talked about between a mother and her daughter! It's disgusting!"; "I couldn't let my kids watch anything with magic in it - That's the devil's work! That's why I don't trust these mainstream educational programs!"

In terms of more outrageous complaints about children's media.

That's not to mention complaints about other media - Those expressly intended for adults. Or complaints about progressive actions taken in society in-general. Some of these have typically appealed only to the most vocal of cranks - The kind of things complaining about depicting characters who do un-Christian things in works, or that students are being taught proper sexual education or that vaccination is mandatory for entry into institutions like public schools.

But there's plenty of complaints that don't garner immediate pushback from less-extreme conservatives or even so-called moderates: "Why is there so much diversity in casting these days? Why can't they just make their own shows?", "Why are they coming after that comedian for telling edgy jokes?", "Why are they pushing this global warming crap down our throats so much anyway?"

In "wokeness", they've found something that seems to not only unite everything under one banner, but resonate more strongly with some people than the old canards of "liberal" or "politically correct". Sure, there's always been people who have said those with the same contempt and venom that they use for the truly heinous things of the world. But in co-opting "woke" from the original meaning among Black people expressing solidarity with each other and encouraging others to to remain aware of the social and political issues that definitely, almost-always negatively, affected their lives, the moral crusaders have found something that strikes a nerve with a large swath of people who might otherwise have not agreed that several of their bugbears actually needed opposing. Now, there's a single enemy ideology that pervades all culture-war issues. It's all connected, you see. Something you thought was harmless? No! You see, that's just how they're going to infiltrate your mind! Your childrens' minds! Don't give them any ground at all!

Awareness of an issue was and still is basically the mildest thing to ask of someone else. As a call to action, "Stay Woke" is a pretty small request.

The crusaders make it out as though it's a battle-cry, a command - A decree that all aspects of all things must adhere to the most progressive, indeed, transgressive views, opinions and approaches on all subjects. That this is upending the previously established status quo just for the sake of upending it. And that this interpretation is the one adopted by all powerful entities in society - Government (especially including the education system), mainstream media, big businesses, etc. And that these entities have oppressive reasons in mind to force those beliefs on society. And that dissent against this woke "nonsense" is the objective truth in a world gone mad! It's an imperative to preserve your way of life!

And, uh. No.

Whatever world they're living in where that's actually happening is quite different from our reality, of course.

Honestly, though? It doesn't need to start out seeming like a big conspiracy - Even asking for honest awareness, in good faith, might be enough to infuriate non-crusaders. People don't often voluntarily to entertain the notion that things they do, things they've done, and things done in their name by others, that they continue to benefit from, are indeed "bad" actions.

Because that now feels like a personal attack against them. They're bad people for not pushing back against this. They must be considered complicit. How dare you think that of me!?!

And then, then the crusader-types just need to introduce the notion that this consideration being "demanded" of this otherwise passive group is the result of a slippery slope of this entire progressive, questioning mindset. Acknowledging any part of it means accepting all of the crusaders' hyperbolic claims about what that ideology actually means.

Through the magic of "Wokeness", it's all connected - It's all out to get you.

Where does it end? Didn't you see how they treated that one guy? Surely, he's no monster. If they can go after him for something so harmless, what's stopping them from coming after you next, for something that's probably even more innocuous?

Moral crusaders know the value of a good persecution complex.

It's not just asking you to be aware of how your presence in the world affects it. It's targeting you. Right?! That's surely the point of this is to find a guilty party and punish them! They're going to make you take the fall for this and directly suffer the punishment for it! You can't let that happen!

It's not even as explicit of a line of reasoning as this.

But either way, the moral panic is spreading and the crusaders are getting a bunch more people loudly on-board with their crusade.

They're banning books and calling for show cancellations under the whole banner of "woke ideology".

They're getting their press tours. Speaking with friendly talking-heads to puff themselves up, then going on with people unwilling to challenge their claims in the interest of fairness - And even if the commentators do push back, the crusaders will spin it as "the woke mainstream media trying to suppress our beliefs" and use that as a recruiting tool.

They're getting their politicians going on rants in city council meetings. During campaign rallies. In congressional/legislative sessions. In published opinion pieces.

In judicial rulings.

In enacted legislation.

The crusade continues. In many ways, it's as pervasive and successful as it's ever been.

It's not True Crime Podcasts that have been the subject of a moral panic this time around.

They must not be "woke" enough to bother with.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Expert explains evidence for planetary formation through gravitational instability

Exoplanets form in protoplanetary disks, a collection of space dust and gas orbiting a star. The leading theory of planetary formation, called core accretion, occurs when grains of dust in the disk collect and grow to form a planetary core, like a snowball rolling downhill. Once it has a strong enough gravitational pull, other material collapses around it to form the atmosphere.

A secondary theory of planetary formation is gravitational collapse. In this scenario, the disk itself becomes gravitationally unstable and collapses to form the planet, like snow being plowed into a pile. This process requires the disk to be massive, and until recently there were no known viable candidates to observe; previous research had detected the snow pile, but not what made it.

But in a new paper published today in Nature, MIT Kerr-McGee Career Development Professor Richard Teague and his colleagues report evidence that the movement of the gas surrounding the star AB Aurigae behaves as one would expect in a gravitationally unstable disk, matching numerical predictions.

Their finding is akin to detecting the snowplow that made the pile. This indicates that gravitational collapse is a viable method of planetary formation. Here, Teague, who studies the formation of planetary systems in MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS), answers a few questions about the new work.

What made the AB Aurigae system a good candidate for observation?

There have been plenty of observations that have suggested some interesting dynamics going on in the system. Groups have seen spiral arms within the disk; people have found hot spots, which some groups have interpreted as a planet; others have explained it as some other instability. But it was really a disk and we knew there were lots of interesting motions going on. The data that we had previously was enough to see that it was interesting, but not really good enough to detail what was going on.

What is gravitational instability when it comes to protoplanetary disks?

Gravitational instabilities are where the gravity from the disk itself is strong enough to perturb motions within the disk. Usually, we assume that the gravitational potential is dominated by the central star, which is the case when the mass of the disk is less than 10% of the stellar mass (which is most of the time).

When the disk mass gets too large, gravitational potential will affect it in different ways and drive these very large spiral arms in the disk. These can have lots of different effects: They can trap the gas, they can heat it up, they can allow for angular momentum to be transported very rapidly within the disk.

If it's unstable, the disk can fragment and collapse directly to form a planet in an incredibly short period of time. Rather than the tens of thousands of years that it would take for a core accretion to happen, this would happen at a fraction of that time.

How does this discovery challenge conventional wisdom around planetary formation?

It shows that this alternative path of forming planets via direct collapse is a way that we can form planets. This is particularly important because we're finding more and more evidence of very large planets—say, Jupiter mass or larger—that are sitting very far away from their star.

Those sorts of planets are incredibly hard to form with core accretion, because you typically need them close to the star where things happen quickly. So to form something so massive, so far away from the star is a real challenge.

If we're able to show that there are sources that are massive enough that they're gravitationally unstable, this solves that problem. It's a way that perhaps newer systems can be formed, because they've always been a bit of a challenge to understand how they came about with core accretion.

IMAGE: Global spirals in the AB Aur disk. Credit: Nature (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07877-0

[aerodaltonimperial]

27, 28

THE TWO SIDES OF THE COIN LOL

27. your favorite part of the writing process

When the inspiration first hits and I just go OH. I want to write that. Or AHA I know how I would tackle that idea! For me, that space before I actually start writing as I'm working things out is one of my favorite parts. But my other favorite part is when I'm writing, and it writes itself. I'm such a discovery writer that I can never tell you how a fic is going to come out before it does. I write, and then I go oh, we're doing that? And sure enough, we are, but I never could have planned for it before I actually started writing. Embracing this part of my process has been super important for me, as it helps me to work around perceived blocks. Plus, I like being surprised by a twist I myself didn't even see coming! lol

28. your least favorite part of the writing process

Needing encouragement/interaction/feedback. :/ I know this is a direct result of how long I spent toiling uselessly on original work for publishing, but it was far too long and far too negative of a hit on my mental health, and I can't write in a bubble any longer. I write because I want people to read it, and that's always been what I wanted most, I just never got that with my original stuff. Now I'm stuck desperately needing it on fics to make up for a decade of not getting any sort of success. I hate that I need this part so much.