#This is my first time trying to post go easy on me if I post like a boomer

[babejinxy]

Jinx x f!reader special new year

✨ I wasn't going to write a New Year's special, but since I'm nice and you guys wanted it, here it is!!! This is the first part, I'll post the second part soon. I hope you like it!

🌟 English is not my first language, so I apologize if there are any mistakes.

It was the last day of the year and after your behavior on Christmas Eve, your girlfriend Jinx had been watching you the whole time, waiting for you to tease her again. But the truth is that you simply didn't do anything suspicious all day. You stayed in the hideout with Jinx and while she was working on something - which by the way she didn't tell you what it was - you were lying on the bed reading a book or changing your nail polish every half hour.

That night, Jinx also had something in store for you, just as you had for her. Since what you had planned for Christmas had gone a little off the rails, you saved it for tonight. And you started putting your plan into action early on.

While your girlfriend was focused on some project of hers, you got out of bed after changing your nail polish for the fourth time and went to her. You were wearing pajamas, the short shorts showing the edge of your ass. You sat on the edge of her workbench, she noticed you, but she was too focused on her work. “Hey babe, do you like it?” you asked innocently, holding out your hands so she could see your nails, painted blue like hers. You crossed your legs in the process, your shorts riding up, revealing a lot of your legs.

She lifted her head from her work and looked straight at your nails, “You like blue huh?”. “You know I do,” you said, lowering your hands and placing them on either side of your legs, holding onto the edge of the table. “They look amazing, toots,” she said, lifting her head to reach your lips, you lowered your head a little until your lips met hers and you gave a little kiss. Jinx’s eyes wandered over your legs before she went back to work.

“What are you doing?” you asked, jumping off the workbench and wrapping an arm around her. “A little something for later today,” she said grabbing a tool. “What are you planning?” you asked, curious and worried that she was planning to blow up Piltover on the first day of the year. She looked at you, “you’ll see, love,” and then she laughed and went back to doing what she was doing.

You had no idea what your crazy girlfriend was planning this time, but it must have been something big since she had been working on it for exactly a week. What you didn't know was why she had left you out of it this time, you were always up for anything with her and she knew it. But luckily for her, you were too easy-going to insist or get upset that she wasn't involving you in whatever she was up to. So you simply shrugged it off and went to throw darts to pass the time and practice your aim.

You threw the dart a few times and only hit the target once. You were usually a good aimer, but not today. Maybe the anxiety of starting to put your plan into practice was getting in your way. You snorted when you missed for the seventh time. You picked up another dart to try again and prepared to throw it at the target. But before you could throw it, you felt Jinx's left hand on your waist while the other was on your hand that was holding the dart. She adjusted the position of your hand while kissing and lightly biting your neck. "This makes it hard for me to concentrate, babe," you said, smiling and shivering at the sensation. She let go of your neck and looked at the target hanging on the wall. With her hand still in yours, she helped you with the throw and you hit the middle of the target.

“You were putting too much force in, peach,” she said, holding your waist with both hands now and pulling you against her. You felt her lips on your jaw and then on your neck again as she squeezed you with her hands. “Are you done yet?… mhmm,” you asked, closing your eyes and resting your head on her shoulder, giving her more space to kiss and suck on your neck. “I’m almost there… but for now, how about a break, huh?”, she bit your earlobe.

You thought this would be a good time to start putting your plan into action, so you turned to face her and wrapped your arms around her neck and kissed her. Jinx deepened the kiss and squeezed your waist, her hands moving down to your hips. You tangled your fingers in her short hair and she swirled her tongue in yours, dominating the kiss. She bit and pulled your lower lip with her teeth while her hands went to your ass and she squeezed it hard over the fabric of your pajama shorts.

When Jinx walked with you towards the bed, that's when you realized things were going to heat up even more, so before she could throw you on the bed, you broke the kiss and pulled away from her. "Hey wait, what's wrong toots?", she asked with furrowed eyebrows. You just shrugged, "there's nothing wrong, we can do this another time... I don't want to be late for Vi's dinner and you haven't even finished whatever it is you're doing". You walked past her and she pulled you again by the waist, locking you in her arms.

“And why not now? I can be pretty quick baby, you know,” she said, brushing her lips against the skin of your neck. You squeezed your eyes shut and bit your bottom lip, it was hard to resist her, but you were willing to do it. You wanted to tease her, you knew it would cost you a lot later, she would be rough with you, but you wanted it, you liked it. You took her hands off your waist, “not now baby.”

You were playing with luck, you knew that if your girlfriend wanted, she would grab you at any moment and with her strength thanks to the shimmer you couldn't fight her. Fortunately Jinx was different now and she respected your decisions. Although you knew that when she finally had your consent you would be fucked as fuck, very very fucked and you could wet your panties if you kept thinking too much about what she would do to you.

You threw yourself on the bed and picked up your book while Jinx went back to her workbench to finish her invention. She turned on the music and turned up the volume, she said it helped her focus and kept her thoughts away from her troubled mind. It was hard for you to focus on the book with the music blasting in your ears, but you weren't going to ask her to turn it off or lower the volume, you knew she wouldn't do that and she would also get annoyed with you, so you tried to read anyway.

You knew your girlfriend was done with her work when she finally turned down the music. You still had your eyes on your book, but you could see her coming towards you. You felt the mattress dip as she climbed onto the bed and crawled on top of you. She took the book from your hand and threw it in a corner, “I finished my project toots, but I’m not done with you yet,” she said kissing your jaw and bringing her lips up to yours.

The kiss was slow but hot. You brought your hands to her hair while she placed her right hand on your neck and held it firmly, but not tightly, and with the other she squeezed your waist and hips. Her tongue explored every corner of your mouth and she sucked your lower lip and then pulled it with her teeth. You moaned softly between the kiss because you knew it drove her crazy.

Jinx moved her kisses down to your neck where she alternated between kissing and biting. She placed the hand that was previously on your neck on your right breast and squeezed it, making you gasp. She moved her kisses down, making a path from your neck to your belly. She lifted the top of your pajamas a little to expose the skin on your abdomen, then she placed kisses and light bites on it.

She moved back up to your lips and took them against hers once more. But this time the kiss was fiercer, wilder and you knew she was getting really fucking horny. Not that you weren’t too, but you had to stop things before it was too late. So when Jinx dragged her left hand inside your shorts, you broke the kiss and asked breathlessly with your lips brushing hers, “babe, what are you doing?” “What? I can’t fuck my girlfriend?” she said, crashing her lips against yours again.

You placed your hands on her chest trying to push her off of you, she released your lips looking at you with a confused and irritated look, “of course you can love, but not now… I need to get ready for dinner and unfortunately I'm not as fast as you”, you took her hands out of your shorts and pushing her to the side you got up from the bed.

You were making her angry and you knew it, it was what you wanted. You bit your lower lip trying not to laugh as you turned your back to her. “You’re going to regret this behavior later, you know that, right? I won’t be so patient with you toots,” she said, throwing a gear somewhere in the corner of the room. You gave her an innocent look, “Why? Is it a sin if I refuse to have sex with you?” She walked towards you and said close to your ear as she passed you, “ha! baby, sin is what I’m going to do to you…”

Part 2??? 👇🏻🤍

[hgeeky]

My year in books 2024 - book series

Over the year I managed to read 140 books (including audiobooks), not including the 4 I started and still have on the go, and 3 that I started and abandoned.

I read quite a few series, here are some thoughts on those (spoiler free). I'll probably follow up with another post or two for other fiction and non-fiction.

Rivers of London by Ben Aaranovitch

I've now read all 9 of the main novels (although I read the first two in 2023), plus Tales from the Folly and What Abigail Did That Summer, all as audiobooks.

Kobna Hollbrook-Smith is an incredible narrator

I absolutely adore the blend of magic, folklore and police bureaucracy. The acronyms and procedure are set out in a way that feels so true to life - with all the quirks that come with how these things translate into practice. And it makes the magic somehow more believable. Plus the characters are so often charming.

I'm looking forward to working my way through the novellas and graphic novels while I wait for the next instalment.

The Aubreyad/Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian

I managed all 20 of the completed novels, my first complete circumnavigation (at some point I'll try to get my hands on the unfinished 21st book)

This is very much thanks to @elodieunderglass posting about it here, which encouraged me to seek out the audiobooks (my library has the Ric Jerrom ones)

I had attempted Master & Commander once, many years ago, because a lot of my family like the books. My grandfather especially liked them, and I wish I had known him better (he died in 2000). But I couldn't cope with the naval jargon at the time and gave up.

I did enjoy the film, and I've enjoyed Hornblower on TV and the Sharpe books, so I do generally enjoy that sort of thing and the audiobooks turned out to be perfect for me.

Ric Jerrom does a wonderful job with the characters and I could let a lot of the naval jargon wash over me (occasionally I did look things up to try to get a better handle on things).

Jack and Stephen are now my blorbos for sure.

And I absoutely love how much O'Brian managed to fit into these books - the natural history, the mores of the time, even the politics, as well as the action, adventure and romance.

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

I find these books rather moving, as well as fun

The combination works wonderfully for perking me up, helping me embrace life and find the joy in it, and that's always worth something

In fact it's remarkably impressive

The blend of characters is wonderful, the range of perspectives and personalities really helps me look at the world afresh, and not take things for granted so much.

Jackson Brodie by Kate Atkinson

I read the first one in 2023, and 2-5 in 2024

I've long adored Kate Atkinson's books, and I've read at least two of the Jackson Brodie books before (1 and 4) but thought I'd give the whole series a go

Perhaps not entirely as successful as some of her other books, I did still enjoy them all. I think Big Sky (number 5) was my favourite.

Phryne Fisher by Kerry Greenwood

I really enjoyed the TV adaptation a few years ago so I thought I'd give the audiobooks a go when I saw that my library has them

They are light and easy-going, with grate narration by Stephanie Daniel

I read the first one last year, and got through 2-8 this year. I particularly enjoyed 3 (Muder on the Ballarat Train), 4 (Death at Victoria Dock), 5 (The Green Mil Murder) and 8 (Urn Burial). I didn't mind a bit that I could remember some of the plots from the TV show.

The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir

I gave Gideon the Ninth a go after seeing a lot of posts about it on here, and finding I could get it through Audible plus (which I get occasionally when I can get a discount)

It was an absolute headfuck of a fever dream for most of it and I loved it

Eventually I used some credits to get Harrow and Nona and loved them too. Harrow was also a headfuck but I think I'd got slightly more into the swing of things for Nona.

I went back to relisten to Gideon to see what I made of it, after having more context and it was good in a different way. I enjoyed having more things make sense and I appreciated many of the characters a lot more.

The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkein

When I found out my library had the audiobooks read by Andy Serkis, I thought it would be rude not to borrow them

I enjoyed The Hobbit the most.

I found Return of the King a bit of a slog. It all felt too ponderous when it was focused on humans, elves or dwarves, but fortunately the hobbits, ents and orcs gave it a lot more life and helped get me through.

Edit: Oops I forgot The World of the White Rat!

World of the White Rat - T Kingfisher

I didn't start at the beginning and I've not read everything

I gave the books a go thanks to Audible Plus and now I'm in love with them

Swordheart is my favourite, I've now listened to it twice

I've also covered the first 3 Saint of Steel books and have number 4 ready and waiting

I've also listened to quite a few other T Kingfisher books which aren't in the same world (or at least, not obviously) and loved those too - more on those in a separate post (if I manage it)

[judesmoonbeauty]

2025 Mystery Bag: Team Two "Lowlife Bastards & Troublesome Fox" - Jude, Nica, Alfons & Harrison Story Set

CW: While not depicted, the story does mention groping.

This is a fan translation only. Please expect grammatical errors and translation inaccuracies. This is a full translation. Creative liberties are taken for characterization and smoother translation process. Cybird owns everything. Re-blogs are appreciated, but please do not post my translation elsewhere. Thank you for your support! ☾.

Committee Member: We now shall begin the qualifying round for Group Two.

Literally translates as “Steering Committee Member” - I opted to shorten it.

Committee Member: Whomever reaches the finish line first will be named as the 2025 Happy Boy!

Committee Member: Get ready and your positions……Ready, Set, GO!

Harrison: Uh, why’re you all stopping so suddenly when we just got started?

Alfons: The gallery is no longer in sight, so I thought it was a suitable time to stop, and the abandon this fair and square pretense.

Harrison: Huh?

Harrison: I take it that Al’s not the only one. You guys are probably hatching some kind of clever scheme too, right?

Jude: Can ya not go ‘round accusin’ me when ya ain’t got all the facts? It’s down right cruel treatin’ people like villains.

Nica: Yeah, same. There’s no way I’d ever commit a crime in broad daylight.

Harrison: It’s so obvious you guys are all lyin’ through your teeth. I don’t even need my ability to see that.

Harrison: I could just snitch and have the committee members withdraw you guys?

Alfons: Oh my, how frightening. I’ll come clean, so please do keep quiet.

Alfons: Were you aware that there’s a water station site just a short distance from here?

Alfons: I’ve simply tampered with the drinks a bit there.

Alfons: A rapid acting sleeping draught.

Harrison: You’re the worst.

Jude: That’s somethin’ a walkin’ offense to public order ‘n morals would do.

Alfons: And what have you been up to?

Jude: Nothin’ much, just bought off one of the board members on the committee. He’ll just fudge the information later on ‘n get me through the preliminaries.

Jude: There’ll be people comin’ ‘n goin,’ so it’s an easy cover up.

Harrison: You’re the worst.

Nica: As expected of the president, you’ve gotta dirty way of doing things. I could never copy you since I’ve had a good upbringing.

Harrison: Yeah, so what plan did you cook up?

Nica: Don’t lump me in with the mirror man and president over there.

Nica: I only used my brilliant mind and investigative skills…..Hey, did ya know?

Nica: There’s a sewage system running underneath the course, and it leads right to the finish line.

Nica: I’ll wait underground, bide my time…..and then nab first place.

Jude & Alfons: Whadda outrageous bastard. What an outrageous bastard.

Nica: I don’t want you bastards calling me that.

Harrison: Gotta be kidding me, are they all just scumbags.

Harrison: Well, what wishes do you guys want granted to go so far for it?

Alfons: Why naturally, to use Her Majesty’s authority to do this and that.

Harrison: I’m an idiot for even asking you.

Harrison: And you, Jude?

Jude: Anythin’ goes. There’s lots o’ thin’s I wanna take down with that queenie’s power.

Jude: Bet yer bad nature’s gotta terrible request too.

Nica: Nope. I’m just trying to make money, which I love.

Nica: I could have all the money I want, right?

Harrison: If you mean what you say, then I’ll leave it at that.

Nica: ….You can tell when someone’s lying, right? Your ability’s pretty pesky, Harrison Gray.

Harrison: They said using our abilities are prohibited now. I was just reading your mind.

Nica: You’re the only one who can tell if you’re using your ability or not, so hiding it’s easy. As expected of the one with the lying fox curse.

Harrison: Thanks for saying so.

Nica: — Anyway, what should we do now?

Alfons: What do you mean?

Nica: I mean, now that we’ve exposed each others intentions, I don’t think this’ll end smoothly.

Nica: Well, it’s fine. I don’t mind crushing you all here. I won’t go easy on you scumbags.

Jude: Heh, yeah. Last man to survive’s the winner. Plain ‘n simple.

Alfons: I’m not particularly fond of dangerous things, but you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs.

Harrison: Oi, you guys -

Screaming Woman: AHHH!

Harrison: That voice just now….

Screaming Woman: Someone! Molester, it’s a molester!

Nica: A molester?

Nica: Guess there’s some idiots in the world who can’t satisfy their desires without taking advantage of an event like this.

Nica: I just don’t get it. Well, it’s a large enough crowd, they’ll be arrested quickly.

Alfons: I should think that an imbecilic molester would be caught immediately —

Alfons: Wasn’t the direction the molester fled to, the same location Kate was going to cheer?

Harrison: ….I’m heading there. I’m worried about that girl.

Harrison: You guys do whatever you want.

Jude: Tch, it’ll be more revoltin’ ignorin it ‘n gettin’ yelled at.

Alfons: Ahaha! Those men who weren’t even in a hurry are now dashing as fast as they can.

Alfons: And what of you, Nica?

Nica: Should I tag along? I’ve got free time just standing here anyway.

Male Assaulter: Shit….Why are you chasing me? Gah!

The side chara is literally translated as "Molester/Groper Male." However, I opted to change this to assaulter because I don’t really like either of the other words, and I felt it was over utilized in context in general.

Harrison: Okay, got him.

Jude: Hold onto that piece ‘o shit perverted predator.

Harrison: That goes without saying.

Harrison: Oh, Al and Nica came too.

Nica: Oh, so this guy’s the groper? Ahaha, it looks like he would have trouble with women.

Alfons: It’s nonsense to criticize someone’s appearance. Even so, he does appear to be frustrated though.

Male Assaulter: I didn’t do it! My hand simply touched her bum by accident!

Males Assaulter: Besides! It would be frustrating to make a fuss out of it.

Alfons: An accident, you say?

Alfons: While en route here, I queried others for information.

Alfons: As I’ve heard so far, six women have complained that you touched them.

Alfons: How coincidental.

Alfons: Do you have magnets embedded within your hands that are drawn to women’s bottoms?

Nica: And we happen to have a lie detector here.

Nica: So, what do ya think?

Harrison: Without a doubt, everything you just spewed is a lie.

Harrison: Well, that’s just my “hunch” though.

Male Assaulter: ……

Male Assaulter: D-damn it! Yeah, that’s right. I did it!

Nica: Yeah yeah, I really can’t stand hearing that bastard’s rotten voice.

Alfons: So then, since he’s openly confessed, what punishment should be dispensed?

Alfons: Ah, but our abilities are currently prohibited. Well then, Jude.

Jude: I’ll kick yer dirty arse, as many times ya been feelin’ 'em up, idiot.

Male Assaulter: GAHH!

Nica: Yikes. I just heard a loud sound, wasn’t it his hip breaking?

Alfons: My condolences. Now, what shall we do with this person who’s passed out?

Harrison: Hand him over to management and the police.

Harrison: Today we aren’t Crown or Vogel, just participants.

Jude: Dunno, but if that’s what’cha wanna do then go ahead ‘n do it.

Unidentified Scream: ARGH!

Harrison: Another scream…?

Alfons: Now what?

Kate: Oh, everyone!

Kate: We have a huge problem! All of the participants who drank water at the water station have fallen asleep!

Alfons: Really?

Kate: And then the committee board members started revealing that they’d been threatened and bribed —

Jude: Hmm.

Kate: On top of that, it was discovered that someone was trying to use the sewage system as a path unfairly!

Nica: Oh, wow.

Kate: Who the hell could the culprit be? He’s such a lowlife that I’ll never forgive him.

Harrison: Tell us more, Kate.

Kate: What?

[Story Set Master List]

Tags List: @sh0jun @theimaginativelyreticent @sapphire-323 @velisle @nateko @greatwitchsongsinger @injudescoat @aeyumicore @complexivelovely @cosmowgyral @lunaaka @rosalyne08 @8the-perfect-lie8 @voydsoul @drachonia

If you're 18+ and wish to be added to my tags list, please comment below. If you wish to be removed, please do the same!

[tyrantisterror]

At Sea Without a Map Post-Script

After two months of so, my little writing experiment At Sea Without a Map has come to an end. And because I'm vain, I not only felt compelled to share it, but to talk about it in depth after the fact, so here we are. This is going to be long, though, so I'm not only going to break it into sections, but put it all under the cut for the sake of your dashboard. So go ahead and dive into the depths of the Sea of Monsters with me one more time!

Part 1: Never Stop Blowing Up

The writing process of Wizard School Mysteries Book 3 was really strained - not because of the book itself, mind you. When I was actually able to work on it, Book 3 came together really well - I think it required the least substantial rewrites of any my novels thus far. It's just that real life was kind of beating the shit out of me while I was trying to get it done - or maybe the better metaphor was that it was just slowly but steadily draining me of energy all the time. I'm honestly surprised I got the book out in roughly the same amount of time as the first two - by the way life had been treating me, it should have taken longer.

But when I got done with it I was accutely aware of how tired I was. I still had the creative drive, but fuck I needed something simple as a palette cleanser - something easy, and more importantly, something that was allowed to be bad. I needed something creative to do that was surplus to requirements and fully within its rights to suck ass so long as I had fun making it.

Around this time, I decided to rewatch Dimension 20's Never Stop Blowing Up. Brief explanation of what that is: Dimension 20 is an actual play show, i.e. a recording of people playing D&D and other TTRPGs. I'd say its reputation is built on the contrast of its main DM, Brennan Lee Mulligan, who makes these meticulously crafted campaign plans, and his chaotic band of improv comedian players who promptly derail those plans spectacularly. Like, a good deal of the show's humor comes from Emily Ashford or Ally Beardsly doing something so off-the-wall that it shatters whatever the scene was going to be and creates a far more absurd and zany spectacle in its place. Which is why Never Stop Blowing Up is pretty notable, because it's the one campaign where Brennan himself is the agent of chaos, fully unleashing his own brand of madness that the players struggle to keep up with. And fuck does he seem to have fun with it.

Of course, all of the analysis above is purely from the outside looking in - it's likely that a lot of the "chaos" is played up for the audience. But still... there is something to the idea of a person who's been working on meticulously structured stories letting loose and just doing something extremely stupid.

So I decided to give myself a Never Stop Blowing Up moment - a short story that would be simple by design, with no standards to live up to or goal beyond "have fun telling a silly little story." I then came up with a few key criteria:

It can't be set in the Midgaheim/ATOM universe. I don't want the burden of figuring out where this story would fit among others.

It's gotta be a romance. People who've read my books might have picked up on the fact that I like to write about people falling in love, for the same reason I like to write about fire-breathing reptiles and friendly monsters (i.e. I use writing to indulge in things I'll never experience in real life). I've only used romance as subplots in my fiction before, and tend to feel a bit guilty if I focus on it too long - like I'm being self indulgent. Well, this is all about self indulgence, so the romance should be front and center.

It's gotta be SIMPLE, episodic even. Not complex plotting required.

I almost chose my xenomorph romance for this, but I had developed its outline to the point where it would be too complex to fit. I then considered a sort of superhero story that could be pitched as "what if Bringing Up Baby but Katherine Hepburn's character is a Harley Quinn-esque supervillain and Cary Grant's character gets turned into some sort of horrifying genetic mutant in the first ten minutes." That one hit a weird roadblock when I got to the character brainstorming phase (the first phase of any writing project I do) - I was trying to figure out what the mad scientist who turns out Cary Grant-figure into a mutant would be named, came up with the name "Dr. Skullfuck," immediately realized that having a character named "Dr. Skullfuck" is a Mark Millar-ass writing move that I could not allow myself to do, but then couldn't stop thinking of the name "Dr. Skullfuck" and giggling, which just brought all thinking to a grinding halt on that project.

(I'll still probably do it someday, though - just, you know, without Dr. Skullfuck)

Inspiration struck again, though. I'd been getting into Epic: The Musical, a musical retelling of The Odyssey, and it put me in the mood for a sea monster story. But, more than that, it got me thinking about one particular archetype from sea monster stories - but that brings us to the next part of this Post Script...

Part 2: It Was Always About Calibani

Ok, so, one of the big changes Epic: The Musical made involved Odysseus's encounter with the sirens, and before you read more of my rambling, I'd like you to watch two animatics for the two songs in question here:

A summary: one of the sirens takes the form of Odysseus's wife to try and tempt him into getting in the water, Odysseus tricks her into giving him directions, captures her and the rest of her kind, and proceeds to have his men slaughter them horribly. In the OG story the sirens don't die - nor does their song involve imitating a man's wife, for that matter, it's just a really pretty song.

This is done for an important narrative purpose - Epic: The Musical is focused on analyzing the moral ambiguity of Odysseus, and how it is constantly challenged by the impossible choices he is forced to make in his attempt to get home. At this point in the musical, Odysseus has decided to stop trying to be a compassionate man, shirking all mercy in favor of utter ruthless pursuit of his goals. These two songs are meant to be unsettling as hell - this is the beginning of a series of heartless choices by both Odysseus and his men that will culminate in the mutiny and complete annihilation of Odysseus's crew, as well as Odysseus himself being so hopelessly stranded that nothing short of divine intervention will save him.

I bring this up because when I first heard these two songs - specifically while watching these two animatics - it, like... it devastated me. I was so horrified and sad, so shaken by it. And part of it was for the reasons outlined above, but admittedly that wasn't the gut reaction I had. No, my immediate reaction was, and I quoute my own broken brain verbatim here: "You can't kill the sirens! They're not for killing, they're for loving!"

...now, those of you who know me are probably not surprised by this very stupid sentiment coming from me. One of my more popular posts is just me talking about how down bad I would be for various folkloric monsters whose whole shtick is "looks like a pretty lady but Watch Out." But as a person filled with immense self loathing and doubt, my brain immediately looked at that very stupid sentiment I expressed and said, "Wait, no, that's fucking dumb, I'm fucking dumb. The sirens are remorseless murderers. These sirens in particular preyed upon a man's love for his wife, who he has not seen in twelve years, to convince him to let them kill him. They are, by all standards of morality, Very Fucking Evil, and if they were not women you would not feel bad about them getting killed."

And as my brain argued with itself over this topic, I got to thinking about the various monstrous/othered sea women of The Odyssey - not just the sirens, but the witch Circe, the nymph Calypso, the monsters Scylla and Charybdis. And I thought about the others of their kind in other myths and folktales - selkies, mermaids, etc.

There's an archetype of sea monster that focuses entirely on one specific anxiety sailors are prone to, namely the fact that (for a good deal of human history) being on a boat meant spending a lot of time away from women. The horror of this monster is how it uses that desire for female company to tempt people into danger - like a mirage, it leads you to expose yourself to danger in pursuit of an illusory comfort.

But, unlike real world mirages, these monstrous sea women DO exist in their stories. More than that, they're often, like, sad and lonely. Their narrative purpose is just to be a temptation, but that doesn't change the fact that they do have lives of their own in these worlds. And, softie that I am, I can't help feeling sad for them, especially the ones who actually seem to want the same companionship the sailors they tempt want. Sailors don't stay with their Circes, they don't marry their Calypsos. The sirens live on a barren rock, alone, Scylla is left to wallow in misery at her monstrous form, and the selkie always has to leave for fear of being trapped by a person who won't love her on her terms.

I realized I had my hook for this simple, easy, silly little sea monster romance story: I was going to give a sea woman the happy ending she'd never get from anyone else.

Sailor may be the protagonist, but make no mistake: At Sea Without a Map was always, always, ALWAYS about Calibani.

The goal with Calibani was simple: I was going to set up a fairly standard Monstrous Sea Woman, but where other stories would let her be in one episode of the travel narrative and move on, this one would stick around. She'd be an unambiguous predator of human beings - an open and admitted maneater - but she would have no true malice to her. She, like all predators, eats what she can get to survive, and it just so happens that she's adapted to eat humans. And the story would pose the same question to the reader that my brain posed to me during Different Beast: is there any way you could make a siren-style sea monster sympathetic? Can you make a normal person who doesn't have my particular brain rot look at a maneating siren and think, "You're not supposed to kill her, you're supposed to love her!"

One of the few unavoidable plot points of At Sea Without a Map was that Calibani and Sailor's relationship would become romantic. What kind of romance it was could have varied substantially - it could have been one-sided, it could have been toxic, it could have been far more tragic OR far more comedic. But it was always, always going to be a romance of some sort - the goal of this experiment was to make you, the reader, love Calibani. All else was icing on the cake.

I decided to base Calibani's personality on Miranda from The Tempest - i.e. a sweet girl who is both wordly and naive, who understands the strange setting of our "lost at sea" story far better than the audience viewpoint character does, but views the mundane world of the audience viewpoint character with wonder and naiveté. In fact I almost named her Miranda outright... except I already had a character in the setting I chose for this story who had that name, and as an allusion to the same Shakespearean character no less. So I settled on naming her after Miranda's adoptive sibling (of sorts), Caliban - more fitting in some ways, as Caliban is a fish-human hybrid who is arguable more native to the magic island in The Tempest than Miranda herself.

(Calibani isn't the only Tempest name homage, either - her mother, Sycorax, takes her name directly from Caliban's unseen but oft-spoken of witch mother. Dr. Antonia Warefore takes her first name from Antonio, one of the human villains in The Tempest who hopes to use being lost at sea as a way to perform a coup. And the mothman Iriel takes her name from Ariel, the wind spirit in The Tempest who aids the wizard Prospero in controlling the magic island. If Sailor has a "real" name, it's probably either Ferdinand or Miranda, the two lovers who manage to blend civilization and the wilderness together with their romance.)

Visually, I wanted Calibani to not be any common archetype of sea monster woman, but rather something that evokes the popular images while still being her own thing. She's not a mermaid or a siren or a selkie - she's basically "what if a sea serpent was also a girl." In-universe, she's chubby because she, like all marine megafauna, needs blubber to survive. Out-of-universe, she's chubby because I've found that routinely drawing cute chubby girls is good for my mental health.

Part 3: CYOA

Now, while we live in a post-Muncher society where shame and cringe are emotions only the cowardly should experience, I am nonetheless Very Catholic about expressing my own feelings of, like, liking girls and shit. I cannot help feeling guilty when publicly expressing adoration of women without, like, an excuse - it's gotta be a joke or something, you know? I can't be genuine about it, or else Jesus will beat me with a cane for disrespecting women with my lecherous gaze.

But luckily I've cultivated a loyal audience of fellow monsterfuckers, which meant I had an excuse lined up: if I made this a choose your own adventure type deal, a story with audience participation, then you all would be my accomplices. And Jesus can't cane all of us! He doesn't have enough hands! I found a loophole bigger than his stigmata!

Plus I love collaborative story-telling - there's a thrill in not having total control of where the narrative is going. As Brennan Lee Mulligan must know, there's a joy in having to deal with the chaos thrown your way by letting others grab the figurative ball, even if just for a moment.

Part 4: Offbeat Melody

Since I did not want to set this story in Midgaheim, I decided to steer myself away from a vaguely medieval setting altogether. But I also didn't want to limit myself with the need for "realism" that putting it in a normal sea would require, and making a new setting whole cloth would start pushing this project into "not easy" territory.

Luckily, I had a setting lying around that I hadn't played with in a while, which just so happened to have a location that was PERFECT for the sort of Never Stop Blowing Up style madness I was aiming for. For a few years I ran a Monster of the Week TTRPG campaign called Offbeat Melody, and one of its core setting elements was taking the goblin universe hypothesis in paranormal science (yeah it's a real hypothesis) to an illogical extreme. We had specifically seen glimpses of the Sea of Monsters in Offbeat Melody, i.e. the parallel universe where monsters like Nessie, Ogopogo, Champ, and the like all hail from. Well, why not have a whole story set there? It's literally a universe devoted solely to creating sea monsters - what better place to strand our modern Odysseus?

Offbeat Melody was always sort of a Never Stop Blowing Up project, or at least NSBU adjacent. Some of my most unhinged story-telling moments are in that campaign - you could make a supercut of just the "commercial breaks" in the various sessions and it'd basically be an I Think You Should Leave episode. Taking one obscure corner of its multiversal world and exploring it in detail was perfect for this project.

Part 5: Monster by Monster

With our main romance as sorted out as could be for a CYOA story, it was time to figure out the "episodes" of this sea voyage. I settled on there being ten to roughly align with The Odyssey - just in terms of number, mind you, not in a one-to-one comparison. The first was, obviously, Calibani herself, which left nine more slots for me to fill with monsters. Let's go through them together in brief:

Tree Storks - any lost at sea story eventually has to get its protagonist into an island at some point, but this immediately begs the question, "Why don't they just stay on the island where it's safe?" The answer to that question has to be, "it's not safe there, actually." The Odyssey does this quickly and cleverly with a one two punch: the first island seems safe until you realize the food on it brainwashes you into forgetting everything except your desire to eat it, and the second island is full of delicious sheep but also giants who will eat you just as easily as they eat the sheep. When other islands show up in the story later, you immediately regard them with suspicion, because you don't know HOW they're going to be fucked up, but they definitely will be. My goal with the second episode was to establish the same sort of danger - that land is NOT safe, that islands WILL be fucked up and dangerous in ways you might not expect.

I also wanted to establish that this is not just a sea of monsters, but a very WEIRD sea of WEIRD monsters. It couldn't be any old monster on this island - it had to be one that was unique, unexpected, and maybe just a bit silly while still being menacing.

I've always felt that there's a lot of un-mined horror potential in storks, cranes, and herons - any bird with a long neck and spear-like beak it uses to stab smaller creatures from above. Just imagine yourself in a frog's place in the world - tiny, going about your business, when suddenly something shoots down at you from above and impales you before you even feel the shadow fall over your face. Or perhaps you did see the shadow - some of these birds spread their wings to create shade specifically to attract fish, and then spear the poor little bastards.

Well, what do people often look to islands for when out at sea? Shade - the shade of a palm tree. And palm fronds kinda resemble feathers, don't they? Wouldn't it be both ludicrous and terrifying is there was a stork big enough to mimic a palm tree - and wouldn't that be a DEVIOUS trap for a sun-drenched sailor to fall for? So the Tree Storks were born.

The Globster - I made a list of sea monster archetypes in the early planning for this project, and one I wanted to include was a kraken, i.e. some sort of tentacled sea beast. But I didn't want to do JUST a big squid or octopus, or even a riff on them. I wanted to take the idea of "big sea monster with lots of tentacles" into a stranger direction.

Since the Sea of Monsters is explicitly the home universe of lake and sea monster cryptids, I thought it might be fun if ASWaM's kraken equivalent was a globster - just a big ball of rotten meat. I love drawing monstrous faces, so I decided it'd just be, like, MADE of hideous rotten faces, all melting and congealing together, with its tentacles doubling as the tongues of its many mouths. A perfectly wretched image that, like the Tree Storks, would do well to establish how Fucked things could get in this setting. Plus similar monsters had appeared in Offbeat Melody, which would make for a fun sense of familiarity for the, like, five or so readers of mine who had listened to that campaign before.

Captain Peter & the Dolphin - Another thing I did in the early planning stages of this project was make a list of the different sea voyage stories I know and love, the most contentious of which is The Life of Pi. That's a story that I love on a literal level but kind of hate on a figurative level - its whole theme/message is that doubt is the worst thing you can have, that if you don't commit to believing something with zealous conviction you are a coward. As a person who thinks doubt is valid, that "I don't know" is sometimes the ONLY truly valid answer to a question, I have issues with that message.

But I can't help loving the beautifully ludicrous idea of a non-anthropomorphic tiger sailing the ocean on a big Odyssey of its own. Like, if that story didn't actively hate me for being agnostic, it would be one of my favorites.

So I decided to, you know, just steal the idea of a tiger Odysseus. The tiger in The Life of Pi is named Richard Parker. Richard Parker also happens to be the name of Peter Parker's dad. Hence we get Captain Peter - the figurative son of Richard Parker, if you will. And to ratchet up the absurdity of a tiger Odysseus, I made him a pirate and the sole sailor of his voyage. Somehow, this tiger has manned a boat on his own.

Captain Peter was intended to be the hero of another story - a sign for the readers that it IS possible for a stranded person (or, in this case, tiger) to survive out here. To that end, he had to rescue our heroes from another threat, but not one that would be interesting enough to take the focus off of the tiger pirate. Originally I planned for that threat to just be a big shark, but I ended up liking my shark design too much to put it in a role that small, so I quickly designed a nasty dolphin for the role instead. I think that worked out well, honestly.

Dr. Neptune - Episodes 5 and 6 were the mid-point of this journey, so I wanted the two monsters of those to escalate things significantly. I figured episode 5 was probably a good place to FINALLY give some meaningful exposition on what was going on, and there are a lot of stories about mad scientists doing weird shit on islands in my big list of sea voyage stories I love. So we get Dr. Neptune, a classical brain-in-a-jar mad scientist who's affable enough to give more-or-less accurate exposition but loony enough to be a problem. This also felt like a good spot to remind the reader that Calibani is not just a girl with a tail but rather a Sea Monster herself, and one that we'd been making stronger by allying with.

With his human-but-not-quite nature and cyclops eye, Dr. Neptune could sort of be seen as the Polyphemus of this story, couldn't he?

The Crocodisle - One of the sea monster archetypes on my list was "the island that's actually a sleeping monster," of which there are many in mythology and folklore. My favorite is the Jasconius from the voyage of St. Brendan, mainly because it's more or less benign and actually comes back to help St. Brendan and his crew at the end of the story. I always love when I can find an old story with a friendly monster in it.

When thinking of my own spin on the island monster concept, I remembered the only Magic the Gathering card I had as a kid, which I still have and love to this day: The Sandbar Crocodile. This card already inspired Crocogon's color scheme in The Atomic time of Monsters, but I felt I could go to that well again one more time, and so made a crocodile that wasn't just a sandbar, but a whole damn island to itself. And, like Jasconius, it turns out he's pretty chill.

I did not think of the pun name "Crocodisle" until I was actually writing the chapter in question.

The Femdom Mermaids - These three were a late addition to the roster. When I had Calibani bring up mermaids early in the story, I realized as soon as I wrote her rant about them that we'd HAVE to meet some later on in the story.

The readers had significantly shaped Calibani and Sailor's romance by this point, and I decided that it could be useful to have a chapter that was devoted to showing definitively how these two were good for each other. I thought the mermaids could provide a good contrast: have them act out a seemingly more benign take on the monstrous sea women trope (they abduct our hero to protect and care for them!) only for it to quickly feel MORE deranged than Calibani's comparatively simple desire just to eat him.

The spirit of Calibani's rant about mermaids was taken from weird* girls I knew in high school complaining about cheerleaders, so I wanted the mermaids to look like the sea monster equivalent of popular kids to Calibani's chubby weird girl. Two of them got the names of famous beauties - Helyne = Helen of Troy, Clio = Cleopatra.

(*when I say "weird" I mean it in a complimentary and affectionate sense)

Bob, meanwhile, kinda... rebelled, I guess? Before I had names for them, I listed "bob" by her as just, like, a descriptor for her hair cut, but then I liked it as her name, and once she was named Bob she became more than just a mean popular girl. She was a weirdo too, the little punching bag of the two mean popular girls who did their dirty work and smiled through their abuse because hey, at least they included her. It gave the trio an easily defined dynamic, helped make two of the three more visibly nasty, and gave us comic relief in an arc that could very well have gotten too uncomfortable otherwise.

And I guess it worked - readers REALLY loved Bob, and were very vocal about it, and I realized mid-arc that I had accidentally made her too likable to just leave in this arc. So Bob got to be rescued from her awful friend group thanks to readers like YOU.

Lord Ironteeth - yeah, this was the shark that was too cool to be a minor threat. When I drew his noggin, I realized he would need a chapter of his own, one with gravitas. I decided he'd specifically be the threshold guardian -once we beat him, we'd know for sure how to get home, even if there were a few more threats in store.

Spindle Inc and Sycorax - when I was a kid I used to have this recurring nightmare about being on some sort of underwater sea station that had this huge sea serpent trapped inside it. I'd look at the sea serpent from a window within the station and see it coiling in its tank, only for it to look at me with fury. In that glance I would suddenly realize two things with absolute clarity: first, it was going to break free and kill everyone, and second, we deserved that destruction for what we had done to it. The terror of the dream was less that the sea serpent was going to break free, and more the guilt of knowing that all the mayhem that was about to unfold was our fault to begin with.

I thought that would be fun to homage with the penultimate chapter of this story. OBVIOUSLY the sea serpent was Calibani's mom, obviously the trauma of its capture was why Calibani grew into a predator that specializes in hunting humans, obviously we would have to free the sea serpent despite that running counter to Sailor's goal of getting home. Easy, easy, easy plot point to include.

Spindle, Inc. is the primary antagonistic force in Offbeat Melody, so they easily slotted into the role of the arrogant humans who captured this monster for nefarious and selfish motives. They could tie a lot of other plot threads together too - Dr. Neptune was a scientist who worked for them as a contractor only to get screwed over (i.e. they stranded him in the Sea of Monsters, expecting him to die, and then used his research to make their own base of operations in it), we'd learn of him through a spindle briefcase left behind by some unfortunate rogue agent who got eaten by the Globster while he was trying to escape, hell they could even be one of the possible origins of Sailor themself (more on that later). Very useful villains, Spindle.

The Abyssal Mother - I knew the last sea monster would need a lot of punch to it. I briefly considered just a big whale - the Moby Dick to Spindle's corporate Ahab - but it felt underwhelming after all that came before. So I went for arguably the most dramatic possible sea monster, a full on Cthulhu-style elder god. If you're a frequent follower of this blog, you might know I have particularly high standards for Eldritch Abominations, so I realized this was going to be a pretty big challenge for me to live up to, and decided to keep the cthulhu in question reserved to the last few entries as a result - the less it appears, the less it has to live up to.

I realized I had a good angle when my experiments with the Cthulhu "squid for a head" concept ended up having a face framed in shadow - you know, the same visual that our protagonist has in most appearances. That provided some very juicy parallels between the two that made this final monster feel particularly noteworthy to me, ones that I'll leave you to ponder, since they tie into...

Part 6: Themes

I did not set out to have a theme in this story. I just wanted to make a sailor and a sea monster kiss. That was my only goal.

But I really don't begin with theme in ANY of my writing. I figure out topics I want to address, but for all my novels I feel like the themes didn't start coming together until about halfway through the first draft, when enough of the elements of the story had been set down and interacted with each other enough for me to realize what I was saying with them. A huge part of my second and third drafts for my novels have focused on making the themes of my stories more concrete and unified.

Well, ASWaM is very much a first draft of a story, but it's a simple enough story that I think the theme found itself pretty well despite lacking subsequent drafts to refine it.

ASWaM is about doubt and direction. It's about being adrift in a world that is in many ways hostile by nature, about not feeling like you're where you're supposed to be or even WHO you're supposed to be, and about setting off aimlessly in the hope that maybe you'll find your way to that mythical land of "what my life is supposed to be."

When I began the story, Sailor had amnesia and wore clothes that obscured their identity as a way to make it easier for anyone to step into Sailor's role. Sailor had to feel like You, the Reader, and so we don't know their name, their gender, their eye color, their hair color, even their skin color (note that their hands are always wearing gloves, and their face is always in shadow).

But it also meant Sailor is, well, undefined, at least at the start of the story. Sailor doesn't know who they are, what they are, how they came to be. Sailor feels distinctly that they should be Something Else, should be Somewhere Else, should be Someone Else, should not be who/what/where they are. Sailor is plagued by doubt, by a need to go in a different direction, by a need to be other than they are.

This initially contrasts with Calibani, who begins the story very confident that she is doing exactly what she was designed to be doing and acting exactly like she should be. As they interact, they begin to shift each other in opposite directions - Calibani questions her existence and nature, sometimes to a self destructive degree, and Sailor begins to find something about who and where they are that they like. They find a healthy middle ground together - doubtful enough to want to be better people, but with love for themselves that allows them to not feel the need to up-heave their lives entirely.

I knew at the start that I would build an expectation for there to be some answer to the question of who Sailor is and where they came from, because those are the questions that begin the whole narrative. I brainstormed a number of answers to those questions, but once I got a few chapters into writing the story and saw this theme of doubt developing, I realized I couldn't answer them. From a thematic standpoint, the doubt HAD to remain. So I gave hints to possible answers, bits of evidence to support the possibility of them being true, but never planted a smoking gun that answered it for sure.

Sailor can't know the answer because NONE of us know the answer. Outside of blind Life of Pi style faith, you cannot know for sure that you are living the life you're supposed to live. All you can do is figure out whether you're happy with the life you've got, or if you need a change. Sailor will never know who they are supposed to be, but they did learn who they are, and they love that person now.

For those curious, the possible Sailor origins are:

Occam's Razor: they're exactly what Dr. Neptune theorized, i.e. a human who got stranded in the Bermuda Triangle (or the Devil's Triangle or any other number of paranormal triangles) and fell into the Sea of Monsters. The trauma of that experience gave them amnesia. It's just brain damage and bad luck.

A Spindle Experiment: Dr. Warefore mentions that Spindle has been trying to find a way to make a human who can evolve like the denizens of the Sea of Monsters. Sailor may well be an attempt to do just that, perhaps one they wrote off as a failure and abandoned (they do that a lot)

A Deep One: Sailor is the offspring of one of the denizens of the Sea of Monsters (most likely the Abyssal Mother herself) who has somehow been tricked into believing they are human, to the point where they seem to be human to everyone else, even other monsters. Maybe a human summoned a sea monster to breed with on earth, and Sailor ended up being subconsciously drawn back to the Sea by their blood. Maybe Sailor never actually lived on earth at all, but was only made to THINK they had as part of the transformation into a human.

The Platonic Ideal of a Sailor: the Sea of Monsters is full of archetypal concepts, and arguably a sailor trying to find their way home is just as archetypal as any sea serpent, mermaid, or kraken. Our only proof that humans aren't native to the Sea of Monsters is Dr. Neptune, and he's not as reliable an expert as he claims to be.

This theme of doubt and direction also made the compass more important to the narrative than a simply mechanic for audience participation - a compass, after all, gives direction, and the feeling that Sailor is not where they're supposed to be, that they need to head in a different direction, is ultimately the catalyst of the plot. The compass is, in many ways, the antagonist of the story - the force that keeps Sailor from accepting themself. I realized this a little after I started making the different directions have personalities - initially they just represented broad concepts (North = follow conventional wisdom ala the North Star, South = preserve your short-term self interest at all costs, East = act with curiosity and be willing to take calculated risks, and West = throw caution to the wind and do anything that seems novel and exciting), but over time they became little characters themselves.

Since it was our thematic antagonist, I decided to pepper in some ideas about what the compass might be in-universe - and, in a move that would no doubt frustrate the compass, we also don't know for sure which of those is "correct." Is the compass a poltergeist, some amalgamation of dead sailors who try to steer other lost souls home? Is it a malign entity that leeches off of those desperate enough to seek its aid, living through them while pretending to aid them? Is it a device Spindle made to lure sailors to their clutches, OR to guide their experiments in human/monster hybrids? Was it a cursed item that forced a sea monster to assume a human shape? Who can say - the compass sure can't, it can only tell you a direction to go in.

Part 7: Q&A

Since this was an interactive story, I felt it was only fitting to add one last interactive element to this post-script write up, and some of your happily obliged me by sending in questions.

When I noticed how fast readers were falling for Calibani, I figured there was a good chance we'd end up staying in the Sea of Monsters. By chapter 7, I figured it was more or less a given, and by the end of the Lord Ironteeth encounter I was almost 100% sure Sailor would remain at sea. There was always a chance, though - while a look at the polls shows that the audience got more and more on the same page towards the end, there were always dissenting voices, and the desire to get an answer to the question of Who Sailor Was remained strong, as a number of people kept trying to find angles where they could get that AND stay with Calibani.

I was surprised early on by how easily the audience fell in love with Calibani, to the point where I made a few posts commenting on it. I mean, I shouldn't have been - as I said earlier, I have cultivated an audience of fellow monsterfuckers on here, and I know at least a few of them saw my bait and knew they could get me to be freaky in a way we found mutually agreeable (thank you all again for helping me escape being caned by Jesus for being horny).

Like, we REPEATEDLY ignored developing the plot in the Tree Storks chapter for several days just to spend more time with Calibani - something that I enjoyed immensely (this whole thing was an excuse for me to write and draw a cute chubby sea monster girl as much as possible aftter all) but also knew as a storyteller was not what most would consider a good story call. I like how it turned out, but it defied conventional narrative wisdom, you know? I was surprised.

On the other side of the coin, I was also surprised by how the audience NEVER chose an option that was humorously disastrous. I gave plenty of them, and, like, generally in collaborative storytelling there will be at least one moment where your collaborators decide to do the really, REALLY stupid thing that makes everything spiral out of control really quickly. I figured at least once the audience would choose the troll response, but no, you guys worked hard to keep Sailor and Calibani alive. You refused to let them hurt each other, refused to let them throw themselves into danger, refused to imperil them for your own chuckles. It was very sweet and unexpected.

I say "you refused" but to be fair it's not like NO ONE voted for the troll options - they generally got a handful of votes, just one that was beaten by a landslide of more reasonable options. Hopefully those of you who voted for the troll options enjoyed Bob throwing you a bone by disintegrating Dr. Warefore - that was my consolation prize to you.

Yes. I knew at the beginning that there would be two endings for this story: either Sailor leaves the Sea and goes home, or Sailor stays there forever. Or, you know, Sailor dies as a result of you guys choosing several stupid options in a row, but as stated above you guys avoided those scenarios pretty decisively.

Had Sailor gone home, the following would have occurred: first, they would forget everything that happened in the Sea of Monsters. Second, they would wake up in a hospital, having been found in the Atlantic Ocean by a human-recovery charity run by... oh, isn't that funny, some tech company named Spindle Inc! Spindle would foot the medical bills and even offer Sailor a job, but Sailor would decline because even now they're still not sure what Spindle even does. Sailor would go back to their life and find it familiar and utterly mundane, but not particularly happy. Their father died when they were 18, their mother was never in the picture, they have no siblings. They worked an office job and were sort of a nonentity - that position has long since been filled, but Sailor gets a new job and lives out much the same life: simple, mundane, dreary. Every now and then they get a pang of desire to leave, to go to sea, but they push it out of mind. They never even see the ocean again as long as they live.

Sailor would have gotten the normal life they thought they were supposed to have, the normal memories and name and identity, the mundane life of a normal person. And they just had to trade everything they found in the Sea of Monsters to get it. A question is answered, a direction is followed, but is it the right answer, the right direction?

Well, I think doubt would have remained.

I had a very vague idea for there to be some sort of man-eating giant in, like, a crystal castle. He got cut to make way for the mermaids.

I wanted to fit in a big whale and a giant crustacean, but there wasn't room or an interesting angle for me to want to make room for them. Saved for a possible sequel, I suppose.

I also wanted to have a scene with, like, DOZENS of sea monsters, including some of the ones from Offbeat Melody, but the goal of "this should be EASY you dumbass" made me kill that idea pretty quick.

Thank you!

The primary inspirations were:

The Odyssey and Epic: the Musical

The voyage of St. Brendan

The many "weird shit happens on an island" movies in Toho's filmography, i.e. Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, Son of Godzilla, Yog Monster of the Deep, Matango, etc.

The Island of Dr. Moreau

The Boy and the Heron

Ponyo (specifically Ponyo's parents - I wanted Sailor to have the same desperate energy as that wizard who fucks the giant sea goddess)

The Life of Pi

Slay the Princess (perhaps most obvious in the use of second person narration, multiple voices in the protagonist's head, and falling in love with a creature that has tried to kill you at least once)

I'm going to use this to springboard to a related point in a second, but first a genuine yet humorous answer: Yes, absolutely yes, I am enough of a big romantic sap that I would give everything about my life away to be with a person who loves me and explore a world of monsters in a heartbeat. Hell, I would have jumped in the water the minute Calibani asked and died with her fangs in my neck and a smile on my face. I am dumb this way. Do not follow my example.

On that related point, though... Most stories like this, I daresay ALL stories like this that I know of, end with the hero abandoning the fantasy world in favor of reality, never to return. And that seems like the proper choice and lesson on the surface - we don't want to tell audiences to give up their real life in favor of a fantasy, after all. That's encouraging escapism, and that's not healthy!

But, like... textually speaking, the fantastical world IS real to the characters in these stories. And it's often not really an escape - was Sailor's life devoid of conflict and suffering in the Sea of Monsters? Fuck no! It's just that they figured out how to deal with that conflict and suffering - they built skills and a support system, they adapted, they learned how to overcome what was there.

I think it can be argued that sometimes the return to a "normal" world is, in itself, an escape - the idea that your life can spiral into chaos but that's ok, you can just reset everything and go back to The Way It Was and Should Be is just as unrealistic and unhealthy an idea as You Should Escape to A Better World. Sometimes your plans for your life fall apart, sometimes you're thrown into a place you never intended to go, sometimes you have to learn skills you never anticipated needing and ally with people you never thought you'd befriend to deal with problems you never dreamed you'd have to overcome. And sometimes it's ok to look at your derailed life, your Not Where You Should Be life, and say, "Well, I've learned how to live here... maybe I can stay."

Especially if there's a cute chubby sea monster girl who loves you.

Bob was never supposed to appear past chapter 7, but about halfway through that chapter I realized the audience and I myself would be heartbroken if we didn't rescue her. Definitely for the best - she provided some well-needed comic relief in the final chapters.

This is gonna sound snarky, but, yeah - there were 58 choices with four options a piece, and we only chose one of the four. While some of the options would have similar results, almost none would have had identical outcomes. And some would have been VERY different.

Like, to go back to the beginning: when Calibani attacked, we could either throw a net on her, harpoon her, try to drive around her, or hide below deck. We picked the net, but for the other three options:

Harpooning would result in us hitting her in the thigh, causing her enough pain that she collapses on our deck and we, horrified at the violence we committed, just sort of push on. Calibani would be wounded for at least the next chapter, perhaps longer, and significantly weaker (and probably harboring a great deal of hidden resentment while also being genuinely scared of Sailor). She would be vulnerable during the stork attack, forcing Sailor to take a more active role in that chapter.

Trying to steer around her would result in us essentially fighting her with our boat, resulting in the boat capsizing and Calibani getting tangled up in it. We'd wake up alone on Stork Island and have to travel in search of our boat, alone and vulnerable among man-eating trees. We'd run into Calibani again, also beached and in trouble, end up recruiting her to help us get our boat out of the sand.

Hiding below deck would end in a sea storm that leaves us inside our boat as it's beached on Stork Island. We'd fend off the storks alone, and run into Calibani once we get our boat out to sea, as she got away more or less unscathed.

All of these would have majorly changed the trajectory of our relationship with Calibani and our identity as Sailor, despite seeming to have the same component parts on the surface. Now account for how similarly slight changes in the other options could have gone, and we could have had a very different story indeed.

Part 8: Our Girl

I just think she's neat!

[pinkskiessss]

LACY - chapter 2

Warnings: language, harsh self talk

Paige Bueckers x oc

A/N: I plan on posting a few chapters tonight! Stay tune <3

Paiges perspective

The gym is quiet, almost too quiet. The only sound is the rhythmic thud of a volleyball hitting the floor, echoing through the otherwise empty space. Layla is here, practicing alone, her movements sharp and controlled as if she’s trying to burn off the frustration from the game last night. I stand at the doorway for a moment, watching her, feeling a strange pull in my chest. She’s a sophomore, but she’s already so damn good. It’s almost intimidating how effortlessly she plays, like she’s been doing this her whole life.

But what catches my attention more than anything is the way her face is flushed, the redness lingering. I saw her after the match, how she tried to hide the tears, how vulnerable she looked. She’s so strong on the court, but right now, I can see that she’s not invincible. And that makes her even more… real. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so rude to the girl, she clearly has alot going on behind the scenes.

I step forward, trying to make a noise so I don’t startle her, but it’s clear she’s too wrapped up in her own world to notice me at first. Layla looks up when I’m closer, startled, and I can see her cheeks flush even deeper. She’s still breathing heavily from practice, but I can tell she’s embarrassed. I don’t want to make her feel worse, so I try to keep my voice casual.

“Layla?” I call out softly.

She blinks, her eyes wide for a second, before she glances away, quickly wiping at her face like she’s trying to hide something. “Paige? What are you doing here?”

I raise an eyebrow, stepping further into the gym. “Same thing you are, I guess. Practicing.”

Her shoulders tense up, and she glances at the clock on the wall, her voice almost defensive. “It’s late.”

“Yeah, I know. But I work better when no one’s around,” I say, offering a small shrug. I know it’s kind of a weird thing to admit, but it’s true. I’ve always been that way. The quiet helps me think.

Layla doesn’t answer right away. She just stares at me for a moment, her face still flushed. I can tell she’s trying to figure out why I’m here. She probably thinks I’m judging her, or maybe she feels embarrassed because I saw her so emotional after the game. I don’t want to make her feel worse, so I try to soften my voice.

“You okay?” I ask, stepping a little closer, but not too close. I don’t want to invade her space.

She shrugs, but it’s a half-hearted gesture, like she’s trying to brush me off. “Yeah. Just… trying to work through it. The game, I mean.”

I nod, understanding more than I let on. I saw the way she reacted after the match, how she tried to hold it together, but you could see the cracks in her armor. It’s not easy, being so young and having so much pressure on you. I get it. I’ve been there.

“You were really good out there last night,” I say, trying to offer some reassurance. “Don’t be too hard on yourself.”

She looks at me, but I can tell she’s not convinced. Her gaze flicks to the floor, and she shakes her head. “I just… I don’t want anyone to see me like that. I don’t want to seem weak.”

I can’t help but feel a pang of sympathy. I know what it’s like to feel like you have to be perfect all the time. But I also know it’s okay to show some vulnerability. So, I step a little closer, not wanting to crowd her but hoping my presence might be comforting.

“You’re not weak,” I say softly. “It’s okay to have moments where you don’t have it all together. We all have them.”

She looks up at me, her eyes searching mine. For a moment, I think she might say something else, but she just looks away again, her face turning an even deeper shade of red.

“Thanks,” she says, her voice quieter now.

There’s a silence between us, and I can feel the tension building. I can’t stop noticing how close we are now. How her breath is shallow, how her body moves when she serves the ball again. I try to focus on her words, but my mind keeps drifting. I can’t help but notice how she looks right now—her hair slightly messy, her cheeks flushed from exertion, her lips parted just slightly as she catches her breath.

It’s hard not to think about her like this. I’m trying to push the thoughts away, but they keep coming back, one after another. And it’s not just the way she looks, it’s the way she makes me feel. There’s something magnetic about her. I don’t know if she feels it too, but I can’t stop thinking about how much I want to get closer to her, how much I want to know what she’s really thinking.

“You’re… you’re really good at this,” I say, my voice a little shaky, and I hate that it is. I try to cover it up by sounding casual, but I’m not sure I’m fooling anyone. I’m not fooling myself, at least.

She looks at me, her brow furrowing slightly, and I can see the uncertainty in her eyes. “Thanks,” she says again, but this time, it’s not as sincere. It’s like she’s trying to push me away, like she’s trying to keep me at arm’s length.

I don’t know what’s going on with her, but I can feel the tension between us growing thicker. I want to reach out, to tell her it’s okay, but I don’t. I don’t want to make things worse. Instead, I just watch her, trying to figure out what’s going on inside her head.

“You don’t have to be perfect all the time, you know,” I say softly, almost as if I’m talking to myself.

She looks at me, her expression unreadable. “What do you mean?”

I hesitate, unsure of how to explain. “I just mean… it’s okay to be vulnerable. It’s okay to have moments where you’re not in control.”

She looks away again, and I can tell she’s uncomfortable with the conversation. “I guess… I guess I just didn’t want you to see me like that. I didn’t want anyone to see me like that.”

I feel a strange protective urge rise in me, but I push it down. I don’t want to make things worse for her. I just want her to know that it’s okay to be human, that it’s okay to have moments of weakness.

“You’re allowed to be human,” I say quietly, my voice barely above a whisper.

She doesn’t answer, but I can see the conflict in her eyes. She’s still struggling with the idea of showing vulnerability, and I get it. I really do. But I can’t help but feel a strange connection to her, something that goes beyond just sports talk.

And then, just as I’m about to say something else, she mutters under her breath, almost too quietly for me to hear. “I don’t know why I was fooling myself.”

I freeze, my heart skipping a beat. “What do you mean?”

She doesn’t answer right away. Instead, she looks at me, her eyes searching mine, and I feel a jolt of electricity between us. For a moment, I think she might say something—something real, something raw—but then she just looks away, her shoulders slumping slightly.

“I don’t know why I was fooling myself,” she repeats, her voice softer now. “I don’t know why I thought I could handle it.”

I want to say something to make her feel better, but I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what’s going on with me, with us. But I do know one thing: I can’t stop thinking about her. And I don’t know if she feels the same way, but I can’t ignore it anymore.

I take a deep breath, trying to calm the storm inside me. “Hey,” I say, my voice quieter than usual. “I’m sorry. The way I acted yesterday and before that… I didn’t mean to be a bitch.”

She looks up at me, surprised, and I can see the tension leave her shoulders, even if just for a moment.

“I was… jealous,” I admit, my eyes flicking away for a second before meeting hers again. “I didn’t handle the media event the right way. I was just mad about my own shit and taking it out on you for things you can’t control.”

Layla doesn’t say anything for a long moment, and I start to feel like I’ve made a huge mistake. But then she nods slowly, her expression softening.

“It’s okay,” she says quietly looking up to meet my eyes, and I can hear the sincerity in her voice. “I get it. I also could have been nicer too I’ve been really on edge lately, I’m sorry Paige.”

God she has the prettiest brown eyes I’ve ever seen. “Trust me, don’t worry about it” I say, stepping closer again, giving her face a once over. “We’re all just… figuring it out.”

She looks at me, and for the first time tonight, there’s a small smile on her face. It’s tentative, but it’s there. And I feel a little lighter, like maybe things between us aren’t so bad after all.

[sigweiner]

⌁₊˚ Shiver ˚₊⌁ {P2}

Pairing: Jinx x Fem!/Gnc!/Reader

Word Count: 4.7k

Summary: You seek advice with an acquaintance before 'reconciling' with Jinx on Silco's office desk. Bonus fluff with Isha in the end.

Warnings!: fluff, smut, swearing, angst, t06!c relationship, substance use, mentions of dark ses and physical stuff.

a/n: I'm working on part 3 and 4 bc I had so much fun writing this. Also, I appreciate everyone that interacts with my posts ♡. English is not my first language, sorry for the weird punctuation and sentences. Minors and creeps dni.

{P1}, {P3} on the works

You haven't shown up at the hideout in a week. You've been staying at different places every day since that night as to prevent Jinx from tracking you down, even though you didn't believe she would try to since you were a major jerk to her after what was probably her first time with someone ever. You’ve been punishing yourself for that too even though you weren’t entirely sure you were her first. You’ve been drinking yourself to sleep every night since then. The irony in this whole situation is that that party was supposed to cheer you up and bring you out of gloomsville but it only managed to sink you further into a dark hole.

Maybe you should apologize and try to understand what really happened, but you’re pretty sure she’ll try to blow your head off after psychologically torturing you but at the same time you can’t keep up like this, it’s exhausting. So you think of the only person you know with a semblance of knowledge and that you can go fish for advice. Getting up from the dirty floor you slept on, you throw on your hooded cloak to go meet her and start to move through the shadows of the dirty zaunite streets without being noticed by anybody until you reach an alley where three people are sitting around a wooden crate, drinking, smoking and playing cards.

Sevika has a cigarette in her mouth and grins wickedly at the hand she’s been dealt. You try to figure out a way to alert her of your presence but in no time she’s throwing cards on the table and collecting her winnings for the night. She doesn't linger so you follow her around the maze of streets and alleyways. She keeps looking back, checking if anybody is following her, her instincts probably warning her that someone actually is. She stops to light another cigar and rests her back on a nearby wall so you take the opportunity to come out of the shadows, appearing in front of her.

“Damn, you look like death itself.” She says with a raised eyebrow. “Came to finish the job after all?” But there’s no real concern to her voice.

“Can we um… talk?” You ask, uncertain about how you’re going to bring this about with Sevika, of all people.

“Talk? You sure you’re not confusing me with someone else?” She lets out a dark chuckle and you roll your eyes at her reaction, she wasn’t about to make this easy for you.

“Yeah… have you uh… seen Jinx lately?” You hate how insecure you sound, being this vulnerable is making you want to give up and bolt.

“Jinx huh? Aren’t you two practically glued to each other?” She asks with an amused smirk on her face.

“We had a fight. No, actually I fucked up…” You say looking down at the floor. Sevika lets out a laugh.

“Well that’s not unheard of coming from you.” She teases. You sigh heavily and shake your head but you kind of deserve it. “She’s been looking for you, y’know?” Sevika says seriously now. You look up at her surprised to hear this piece of information.

“Really? Is she still mad? Do you think I should go back to the hideout?” You blurt out, hope growing in your chest.

“Slow down kid. Listen, I'm not gonna tell you what to do. Especially because I don't give a damn about your little lovers quarrel.” She starts explaining her line of thought before taking a break to puff out her cigar. “What I'm going to tell you is this: that crazy girl is obsessed with you and that kid. She's been nagging me about helping her find you this entire week. Which I don't appreciate one bit. So for the sake of my sanity and both of your safety, you should go and take care of this.” She finishes with an annoyed look but you appreciate her words greatly.

“We're not lov-” You star to retort but she gives you a death glare which makes you halt. “Okay fine, I’ll take care of it.” You tell her earnestly.

“Good.” She pushes herself off of the wall and throws the remains of her cigar on the floor. “Now fuck off, Shiv.” That's the first time you ever hear her call you by your alias which brings you a sense of respect. You chuckle, starting to disappear in the shadows.

“Thanks, Sevika.” Your disembodied voice reverberates through the empty alley.

“Tsk, creepy kid.” Is the last thing you hear her say from a distance before you turn around the next corner.

The familiar feeling of fear burns inside your chest when you reach Jinx’s hideout but you find it eerily quiet and still. There's no sign of the blue haired girl but you spot Isha snoozing peacefully on the orange couch. You approach her silently to move some hair off her face and kiss her forehead gently. She stirs a bit but doesn't wake up and you take a moment to just admire her easy slumber.

You're glad at least little Isha is safe and unbothered by this whole ordeal between you and Jinx, although you did cause more instability by leaving unexpectedly. She is the better part between the three of you and not being around her just made everything worse. You wonder if she even missed you because you’ve definitely missed hanging out with her. Before you leave, you cover her little figure with a blanket so she doesn't get cold.

You rack your brain for places where Jinx might be. You check the nearby bathroom and the next door building's roof where you very probably took her virtue, but there was no sign of her. You try not to think of that night, her soft lips, the way she felt around your fingers or your stupid harsh words, but it was all still very vivid in your head.

You wish you could go back in time and do everything differently but there's no point in dwelling on that, you need to find her. So the next place you can think of is Silco’s old office, Jinx had dragged you there before to retrieve something from her secret stash when you were still her prisoner, so you try to remember how to get there.

You move as fast as you can through the shadows but nights at Zaun were very much busy and filled with people, which makes you take longer than necessary just to avoid anyone. You finally manage to reach the abandoned office but you stop outside the door when you hear her speaking softly, then angrily, seemingly trying to process a lot of different emotions.

You take a deep breath before quietly stepping in, careful not to make any noise and alert her to your presence, so you wait for the right opportunity. From where you're standing you can see pow-pow holstered on her hip and that she's wearing different clothes. Striped purple pants and a black crop top, which are certainly new. You wonder what happened to her old clothes.

When you step into the light after she finally gets quiet, she sees your reflection on the big round window in front of her. A bullet misses you by inches, leaving a cut on your cheek that draws some blood. You don't react, shit if she wants to shoot you right through your chest you would let her, that's how much you believe you need punishment for what you did. Jinx lets out an angry grunt and uses her superspeed to come halfway close to you when she suddenly stops to scream at the voices to shut up.

“Where the fuck have you been?!” She screams at you now. “You're MINE Shiv! Don't you fucking get it?! Why did you leave me?!” Her voice cracks in the end and she starts crying, body shaking as she starts to sob uncontrollably. You chance a step towards her but she shoots by your feet making you freeze again.

“I-I know, I fucked up big time, Jinx.” You tell her desperately, tears also running down your face. “Please forgive me. I'll do anything you want. I'll never run again, fuck you can lock me up in a cage again if you want, but please… I'm so sorry.” You beg, reaching a hand forward from where you're standing several feet away from her. She grabs the sides of her head and shakes it, trying to shut down the voices.

“You're sorry? How fucking dare you toy with my feelings like that?! I gave myself to you completely and you treat me like I'm some... animal you can chase away when you're done playing with it… you made me feel so good… called me princess and then treated me like I'm some just street trash…” She rants between sobs and your heart shatters in a million pieces.

“I know, I-I was a total asshole loser. I didn't know you had these feelings… I didn't know you were a… that that might have been your first… everything really. I mean, was it?” You need to know, damn if it’s true you would’ve done everything differently. She huffs angrily and turns away from you, hugging her middle as if trying to close herself from you.

“Does it matter now? You can’t change what happened.” She says with a shaky voice and zaps back to sit on the wooden desk, propping a foot on the swivel chair that once belonged to her father. Her shoulders are still shaking from crying but at least she’s not screaming anymore.

“I guess it doesn’t. But I wish I could’ve done things differently. If I had known about your feelings… I guess I shouldn’t have been so stubborn and ignored my own.” You slowly start to move closer to her when she puts her gun aside.

“Try asking next time.” She says, seeming exhausted. You manage to round the desk and stand in front of her. She glances at you, makeup all smeared underneath her eyes, and looks away. You want to reach out so badly and hold her in your arms, but you don’t want to trigger her any further.

“Okay, then. Do you… like me, Jinx? As more than friends or whatever we have going on, I mean.” You question her honestly. Your face burns furiously though, being this forward feels foreign to you.

“Yes dummy, I’ve been in love with you for a while now.” She finally looks at you and chuckles at your reaction. You’re completely dumbfounded, the look of shock on your face practically comical. What does she mean she’s in love with you? Your brain is trying hard to add two plus two but it takes you a minute.

“You - you’re in love with me?” You ask incredulously. Jinx nods timidly, her cheeks starting to blush a deep pink. “I uh… wow. I really wasn’t expecting that but... if I’m being honest with myself… I think I’ve been in love with you for a while too.” You manage to say before bursting into tears. Jinx reaches out an arm to you and you take her hand. She pulls you towards her, snuggling you between her legs and you practically melt into her, burying your face on her neck as she embraces you.

“Oh my silly Trinket.” She purrs against your hair. She moves a hand to cradle the back of your head while the other rubs circles on your back. You’re both still crying, the weight of all that was said and done falling upon you.

“I should- should be the one comforting you.” You say between sobs. “I’m so sorry, Jinx. I’ll never hurt you ever again.” You promise her, lifting up your head to look her in the eyes. She gives you a teary smile and caresses your cheek, making you lean into her touch.

“You better not.” She says, chuckling. “I don’t think I can survive another one of these.” She gestures between you two. You laugh timidly, wiping under your nose when she leans in to kiss your cheek, the one cut by her bullet. Your eyes flutter from feeling the softness of her lips on your skin and you instinctively rest your hands on her waist.

Jinx wipes your tears and blood gently and pulls you in for a tight hug, snaking her legs around your waist and laying her head on your chest, close to your fluttering heart. You cup the back of her neck to caress it lightly, goosebumps rising to the brush of your fingers. She lets out a heavy sigh and tightens her grip on you. You swear you could stay like this forever, having the heat of her body warm up your soul. And to think you almost gave this up because you couldn't let yourself be vulnerable.

“My chaos princess, I'm so lucky to be yours.” You say against the top of her head. She looks up at you with doey eyes before leaning in to kiss your lips. You sigh into the kiss and cup her face with shaky hands. Gods, how you missed the taste of her so you graze your tongue on her bottom lip seeking entrance and she lets you deepen the kiss.

Your tongues dance languidly against one another very unlike the first time you two kissed, no desperation or urgent desire motivating your actions, just simply wanting to memorize every stroke and every breath and every shiver elicited. You can't help but let out a moan when her hands run up your back, breaking the kiss. She takes the opportunity to kiss a path down your neck, dragging her teeth on the tender skin of your pulse point. You let out a quiet ‘fuck’ when she starts suckling a hickey on the curve between your neck and shoulder. Although you definitely don't mind being marked by her, you pull gently on one of her braids making her move away from your neck so you can kiss her senseless.

Jinx is utterly pliant to your desires and lets you guide her wherever you want, you don't quite remember her ever being this willing to let go of any control except for that fateful night you had her writhing underneath you. In no time your hands start to wander, desperate for a reminder of what her thighs feel like. They're still firm like you remember but only now there was too much clothing covering them. She tries to pull you closer, tightening the grip of her legs around your hips. You smile against her lips before grinding against her crotch, making her let out a delicious moan.

“Getting a little excited aren't we?” You say close to her ear. She whines, seemingly frustrated that you're talking and not kissing her.

“You haven't earned teasing privileges yet, Trinket.” She says with a cute pout on her face. “Now, why don't you make it up to me by making me feel real good, huh?” She says planting that damn attractive smirk on her face.

“Anything for you princess.” You mirror her expression before connecting your lips in a soaring kiss. She hums in approval then lets you explore her mouth with your soft tongue. You take this opportunity to run your hands up her stomach and towards her chest.

“I like these new clothes by the way.” You digress, running your index fingers through her side boobs. “Though I prefer you in way less clothing.” You lick her lips playfully and she chases after your mouth.

“Yeah, I've noticed.” She loops a finger through the hoop on your choker to pull you close to her mouth. “I’ve caught up staring before. Several times.” She whispers and you can't help but feel a little embarrassed by that.

“Fuck, was I that obvious?” You feel your cheeks burn in embarrassment. The blue haired girl kisses your face sweetly.

“Yeah, but lucky for you I was really into it.” She giggles before closing the gap between you. You grind against her again before pulling up her top, exposing her chest to your hungry fingers. She whimpers when you pinch at her pierced nipple and tries to seek more friction on her core with her lower body, making your own arousal pool inside your pants.

You part from her mouth to whisper a suggestion in her ear. “I want to try something, will you let me?” She nods her head positively so you kiss the skin behind her year before looking her in the eyes. “I want to taste you, princess.” You say watching her reaction. Her eyes grow wide and her face turns red but she gives you a quiet okay.

“We don't have to if you don't want to.” You reassure her but she shakes her head furiously before grabbing onto your chest harness with shaky hands.

“No, please I- I want to.” She says timidly but plants a soft kiss on your lips. You hold her face with one hand.

“Okay, but just so you know, we can stop anytime you want, yeah?” You want to make sure she feels comfortable every step of the way. She nods again and it's your turn to kiss her tenderly.

You start to venerate her body by kissing down her neck, leaving a couple of bruises on her throat before showering her chest with attention. You loved on her small perky breasts, licking and biting her hardened nipples until she was a panting mess. Then you move to her stomach and her waist covered with the cloud tattoo you loved so much, not missing the opportunity to leave a few markings next to the line of her pants. You chance a glance up at her and you're met with a sight you wish you never forget. She has a frown between her eyebrows, her cheeks are flushed red and her lips are swollen from your kisses.

You untangle her legs from around you then lower yourself on your knees before hooking your fingers on the hem of her pants. “You okay over there?” You ask with an innocent smile. She lets out a frustrated whine.

“Fuck Y/N, please just take them off already.” She says impatiently. You chuckle but obey anyway, pulling down the offending clothes down her legs, boots going with it in the process.

You kiss her left feet and up her leg before reaching the inside of her thighs. Jinx is already trembling when you spread her legs further, entirely exposing her to you. Your mouth waters at what you find, her wetness already running down her inner thigh, engorged clit pulsating with want and outer lips are puffy from all the blood concentrated on her core. You snake your arms around her thighs and you pull her closer to the edge of the desk. She has a death grip on it, knuckles turning pale already.

“Can you hold my hair up for me, princess?” You ask politely, laying a kiss on her pubic mound. She complies and you feel her grip tighten when you lick a firm path through her pussy.

“Hoooly fuck.” She says, rolling her eyes inside her skull and dropping her head back. You smile at her reaction and continue slowly lapping at her with a firm tongue.

“You're so hot.” You tell her when you take a break to part her folds with two fingers.

“You should see yourself.” She replies, running her thumb through your jaw till it reaches your lips.

You open your mouth to expose your tongue to her, making her slide her finger on it. You smirk before wrapping your lips around it and start sucking and moving your head back and forth to cover the whole length of it with your saliva. She just looks at you, hypnotised. You take her hand, releasing her thumb with a pop, then guide it towards her own chest, smearing your saliva on her pierced nipple. “Shit, I'm gonna lose the rest of my sanity if you keep up like this.” She tells you in awe, pupils completely blown with desire.

“I definitely don't mind.” You chuckle before returning your attention to her dripping center. You massage her clit between your digits before pulling up its hood and wrapping your lips around it to give it gentle sucks. Above you, Jinx lets out an obscene moan that reverberates through your own body, making you moan against her as well.

“Oh fuck, I'm gonna - fuck, fuck, fuck, I can't hold-” She mumbles incoherently, unintentionally pulling on your hair so tight you let out a whimper against her. You let go of her protruding bud before she reaches her peak, making her protest with an impatient whine and she tries to force you back where she needs you by pushing your head forward but you diverge your face towards her inner thigh, biting down at it. She lets out a cry that sounds more like a moan so you soothe the bruise with your tongue.

“Be patient, princess.” You tell her before flicking your tongue lightly on her clit. She squirms and tries to close her legs involuntarily.

“Hah that tickles.” The feather-like sensation making her finicky.

“Humm. Do you prefer it more like this?” You apply more pressure when you lick her this time and you see her eyes flutter at the sensation.

“Yeeah, that's better. Just like that.” She drops her head back once more, mouth agape but still managing to hold your hair away from your face with one hand.

She's a true vision from where you are kneeling between her legs and you realise how close you already feel to your own orgasm just by pleasuring her. So when you tease two fingers on her entrance you decide to slide your free hand inside your pants to take care of yourself. Jinx looks back at you starved when your digits reach the back of her wall and you notice she's fighting hard not to close her eyes so she can watch you satisfy yourself while you fuck her. You finally give her throbbing bud the attention it deserves by sucking hard on it.

It only takes a few pumps of your fingers inside her until she's reaching her orgasm, shaking so hard around your head you need to reach over to steady her. You help her ride her high but you've got no intention to slow down and stop. On the contrary, you fuck her harder and graze your teeth on her clit a few times, teasing it. She gasps and looks at you surprised but doesn't try to stop you. You catch her clit between your lips again when you return your hand to your center.

You want to make you both come together and it so happens when Jinx lets out a long moan and squirts all over your mouth and down your throat. Your eyes roll backwards at your own pleasure coating your hand with your ecstasy. You two moan in unison as you ride your fervor for a little longer before you release her clit and slowly remove your fingers from inside her. She collapses back on the desk, chest heaving, and you also try to steady your breathing.

“You okay over there, Jinxie?” You ask after a minute, worried you might have broken her.

“Better than okay.” She slurs her words, sounding drunk. You chuckle and try to get up but it seems your legs have turned to mush.

“Wanna give me a hand then?” You ask playfully. She sits up and looks down at you with amusement but as she takes in the state you're in, her eyes darken.

“Didn't expect you to be worse off than me.” She says half jokingly and offers you her hand. You reach to take it but before you can she grabs your wrist and starts cleaning your cum off of it. “Hmmm, as sweet as I dreamed you would be.” She says after finishing her handiwork. You feel like a deer caught in headlights.

She manages to lift you up to your feet and pulls you in for a passionate kiss, licking up all of her fluids from your face passionately. Her wandering hands find the swell of your ass and squeezes making you moan her name. You knew where this was going but you didn't know if you were ready yet for it to happen. Jinx starts kissing your jaw and down your throat when you hear someone entering the room suddenly.

“What the hell is going on here?” Sevika says in horror.

After having survived Sevika’s wrath in what you now know is her new office, you and Jinx return to the hideout separately so as not to attract attention to yourselves. When morning comes and Isha wakes up to the sight of you sleeping on a thin mattress next to the couch and Jinx hunched over her workstation, tinkering away at some random project, she lets out a confused sound. The kid sits up and removes the blanket from herself, wiping the sleep off of her eyes before crossing her arms on her chest with an angry look on her face.

As if sensing she is awake, you stir into consciousness and open one eye to chance a peek in her direction but your vision is still blurry from sleep so you lazily throw an arm in Isha’s direction only to feel your hand being swatted away. Oh boy, here we go again. You sigh deeply before sitting up as well and resting your forearm on the couch. Isha gestures to you that she's angry you left and that Jinx was really sad, completely out of control and even burned up her clothes while laughing maniacally at the flames.

“Burned her clothes?” You whisper back. The little kid nods positively and like a tough loving parent, she gestures and demands to know what happened. “I-I know, I screwed up big time. And um… I didn't think I deserved forgiveness, so I left.” You try to explain without getting into what actually happened.

She huffs and looks about as disappointed as you feel for having left her. “I'm sorry Isha. I shouldn't have left you and I couldn't stand being away from both of you so I came back. I'm not sure if Jinx has forgiven me entirely but if you can, that would mean the world to me.” A tear rolls down her cheek so you reach over to wipe it away and this time she doesn't reject you.

On the contrary, Isha lunges forward and throws her little arms around your neck, burying her face in your hair. You cradle her head and make soothing patterns on her back as she cries quietly, wishing you could take all her sadness away. “It's okay baby. I’m never leaving you again. I promise.” You reassure her.

There's suddenly a light weight hugging you both as Jinx decides to join in your little moment of reconciliation, probably having overheard what you said. “Yeah, I won't let it happen.” she says resolutely. You smile because even though the implications behind her words are very dark, your heart can't help but flutter at her pledge.

“I've forgiven you, y’know?” She whispers now into your ear. You turn to look at her with tears in your eyes as she backs away slightly. You want to kiss her so badly but at the same time you don't want Isha to feel weird about whatever you've got going on with Jinx.

However she is the one to take the first step and lean in to kiss your cheek. You don't understand how a simple act of affection can make your heart beat so fast and your face burn so hot when not long ago you were doing much more lewd things to her that elicited this same reaction. She smirks at your flustered expression but looks away when she realises Isha watched the whole scene unfold. The little girl looks between you two and mimics Jinx by planting a quick kiss on your other cheek.

“Hey! I'm not willing to share, kid.” Jinx protests but Isha only giggles and sneakily gives the blue haired girl's face a smooch before snaking her arms around both your necks to pull you into a group hug with a huge smile on her face.

Dividers by @bernardsbendystraws and @cafekitsune.

[imaginespazzi]

Ok Nivi, first of all - Happy new year!! Wishing you an amazing 2025 ahead filled with love, laughter, joy and good health (plus a UConn natty and a Pazzi hard launch!)

Second of all - when can we mayhaps expect the next chapter of GH? Only after you've rewritten it so that it involves Paige waking up to her two favorite people in the world ofc!

Third of all - we're two months into the wcbb season now and while i know conference play has just started, who are your early Final 4 picks??

Lastly - favorite Pazzi moment of 2024?

Ok that's all, love you 🥰

Happy new year my love and here's me wishing all of those things right back at you!

I'm reeeeeeally hoping this weekend but like y'all know me...but I'll try fs!

Alright here are my final 4 pics:

UConn (call me a fan, call me a homer, call me delusional idc idc, we're gonna be there)

SC (sometimes you just gotta go with what's most obvious and I'd be shocked if SC didn't make it)

UCLA (there's definitely time for them to prove me horrendously wrong and they've played a relatively easy schedule but something about them just really clicks)

USC (sometimes all it takes is a player who's generational and we've seen that and Juju has a better cast around her than other players did)

And I know it's highkey hater of me to not have ND there and yeah part of it is definitely just pure old-fashioned sport rivalry hate but I do wanna say that there's a part of me that thinks ND is either gonna win it all or be a 2nd round exit and since I don't like the first option, I'mma choose to believe it'll be the 2nd.

And favorite Pazzi moment? I genuinely can't choose so I'll give you top 3:

The Draft Soft Launch (because it was in fact a soft launch and it was just so unexpected that it deserved #1)

Cruisegate (I mean when you think of unexpected...just insane all around from the first tweet to the Azzi repost, just insane)

US Open (again who the hell woulda thunk it? And again, lowkey gave soft launch)

Honorable mentions: Azzi posting Paige sleeping on her story, Paige's comments/birthday post, NYC fashion week and just everything domestic/family-oriented they've done, be it literally anything with the Fudds or Bueckers cabin week.

[laswells-ashtray]

Okay, here me out on this. Gonna do this anonymously cause social anxiety is scary and I've never left an ask before, first time for everything I suppose. :')

I was randomly just watching the missions for MW3 cause I loved the concepts of some of them, just hated how most of it played out (Like how did Graves survive being blown up? Or how it felt like the story was rushed at points). Then I remembered the mission where Price got trapped in that silo thingy with the poisonous gas stuff that I cannot remember for the life of me what it is called (Think the mission was called Reactor,if you wanted to look it up if I don't explain it that well). Loved that mission cause to me it showed that Price wasn't this almighty powerful captain that doesn't get injured that badly compared to everyone else in 141.

Had a random thought of just the in-between part of when Price passed out to when he woke up on the helo. Was scrolling through the random posts and when I got to the one where Mac had met Price's team and stuff all I could think about was what if Gaz or Soap or anyone who's met Mac just tell Nik or Laswell to call for grandpa. I find it hilarious just the thought of Price's subordinates panicking over the fact that their captain, (and practically father figure sometimes due to how often he mother hens them), had inhaled poisonous gas then passed out and wanted help from someone who's known Price for years. Then cue Mac just showing up on base in Price's office or calling Price really late at night being like "You have 5 seconds to explain what happened and how in the world you got into that situation Mister. I do not care that you're a captain now I still hold seniority over you Price, I will pull that card you little shit." Cause despite the fact that Price was a pain in the ass when he was Mac's sergeant he still cares for the stubborn Brit's wellbeing.

Sorry if I started ranting, I love cod and finding the posts have made me do my happy stims. :) Especially reading the silly ones, always makes me feel better when having a bad day.

Made me get my glasses for this one, in a good way I'm just blind as shit. A little bit. Also never apologise for ranting, this is a safe place for ranting, rambling and threats of bodily harm but only if they're polite about it.

Firstly, I know exactly what mission you're talking about because I can't get past the second juggernaut and had to rage quit because I was giving myself a stress headache.

Secondly. I've missed writing more Mac if only because I have to write so English-ly for everyone else.

When the door opens, John doesn't look up. He assumes it's Nikolai coming to check on him, Ghost popping his head in to call him a twat again or one of the sergeants asking how he's doing. He doesn't expect to see the same, worn soles of some battered old boots that he's been trying to convince Mac to get rid of for over ten years park themselves on his desk.

Nor does he expect to see Mac watching him, arms crossed over his chest, and a look of blatant fury on his face that makes the hair on the back of John's neck stand up.

His chest is still tight and there's a familiar ache in his throat, he's too old to be getting fucking gassed anymore. Whatever cancer he'll be riddled with in ten years is not worth it.

"Well?"

He isn't stupid enough to answer that, leaning forward with his elbows on the desk. If Mac didn't look ready to deck him, he'd likely be lecturing John about "uncooked joints on the table".

"Jus no gonnae say a fucking hing tae me? Dae a luk like a store dug?"

He groans and ignores the rattling behind his ribs, running a hand over his face as he prays that maybe, just maybe Mac will go easy on him.

"What have you been told?"

He doesn't bother asking "and by who?" because he doesn't want to be annoyed at any of them, and it was likely Kate.

"Ye inhaled a fuck ton ae somehin ye shouldnae 've and a hud to hear about it fae someday else."

He nods, looking at the older man wearily. "That's about it, didn't think you'd need a play-by-play."

Mac lowers his feet off of the edge of the desk and drags his chair closer to the desk with a grating scraping noise that makes john wince.

"Right, lad. Genuine question, are ye a fuckin tit?"

It appears to be just that, a genuine question if the way Mac is arching a brow at him means anything. The Scot doesn't allow him the opportunity to answer before talking again.

"Ye must be, cuz we both ken launchin heed first intae somethin filt wae somehin that mangles ye is some biblical arsehole-ity, John."

John briefly considers slamming his head on the desk. It'd do no good to explain that it was for the mission, Mac would probably just skelp him over the back of the head for implying that wasn't something the retiree already knew.

"You did worse back in the day."

MacMillan only narrows his eyes at him, clenching his hands into fists on his lap.

"Dae ye take me as a gid fuckin example wae these things, son?"

John shakes his head, staring down at the desk in front of him.

"Swear tae fuck, ye pull a stupid stunt like that again and a'll huv yer fucking knees wae a crowbar. Christ, is yer self-preservation that far oot the fuckin windae?"

That has John looking back up at him through narrowed eyes, everyone kept jumping down his throat about it as if they wouldn't have all done the same for the sake of a mission. It was part of the job.

Mac slams his hand down on the edge of the desk, irritation washing over his face in waves.

"Dinnae fuckin luk at me like that, crabbit wee git. A get tae rip intae ye fir stupid shite like this or did ye forget that? The fuckin heart attacks ye put me through fir years and ye huvnae changed a bit? Ye canne be dain that tae every, ye might act like an ignorant arse but ye've got folk aroon here that actually don't like the thought ae attending yer fuckin funeral, ye daft cunt."

Maybe the older man can see the exhaustion that's settled in John's bones, wearing him away from the inside out. Or maybe this is just how MacMillan felt years ago, it might just be an inherited trait that presents itself alongside the captain title.

"Get tae bed, son. We're talkin aboot this the morra. And tea wae lemon fir yer throat, ye sound like ye've been gargling shrapnel."

[draconic-distress]

Ok i know i don’t really fragmem post over here but there’s something that’s been bothering me lately that i kinda wanna talk about in the same vein as my past analysis posts. I’m not trying to start anything and everyone is entitled to their headcanons and opinions, and I will continue to believe that because it’s rude to overstep on things like that. That being said…

This post is about Myunna’s age. And the fact that, seeing as they’re often viewed and depicted as a child by the fandom…

Then why isn’t Rimicha?

Like I said, I’m not looking to start a fight, and I’m not trying to change anyone’s headcanons or beliefs. This is just something that’s been bothering me personally, and I thought I’d bring it up while we wait for the final part of Blue episode 3 to come out in a few days.

To start off, I wanna compare Rimicha and Myunna as characters and examine what makes them so childlike in the fandom’s eyes—the latter more than the former. A lot of surface level things are easy to pick up on:

Both of them have very ‘’’childlike’’’ personalities, in terms of coming across as irresponsible, skittish, excitable, insecure due to their inexperience in comparison to their fellow knights, etcetera.

2. Similarly to the previous point, this behavior can also lead to other people treating them differently, be it teasingly/affectionately or just outright talked down to like they're kids. This carries over to the fandom in a way

3. Both of them are barely over five foot. In fact, Rimicha is only three inches taller than Myunna (Rimicha is 5’5” or 165 cm, Myunna is 5’2” or 157 cm). That’s not a very big discrepancy

4. Both of them are twinks. I’m correct and you know that I mean look at them. They’re both skinny, shorter boys who appear younger and more androgynous in comparison to their peers and seniors

5. Both of them are not only the youngest of their Bouquets, but are also the youngest of all the Fragaria Knights overall

This chartthat was recently released by the official twitter shows the age:time serving ratio of each knight, and seems to imply that each space is only a one year gap between characters—for the most part—which already tells us a lot. Based on that math, Myunna and Rimicha are barely a year apart in age, and less than that in the amount of time between when they each became knights.

So all things considered, Myunna and Rimicha are roughly the same age and should be treated as such, right?

But the thing is… they’re not.

Rimicha is treated as an adult by the fandom, he’s his fellow knight’s peer and trusted ally, and the fandom doesn’t deny that for even a second. Myunna, however, is treated as a child, as in like 10-14 age range, and is not viewed with the same respect and fairness their Red Bouquet contemporary is.

Something about that has always bothered me. With how they both act, look, and the fact they're the youngest of their groups—and overall—it's strange that the fandom views them so differently when there's so much similarity between them. I genuinely don't know where that would've come from.

One reason I can believe for people viewing Myunna as younger by comparison is the fact that they’ve skipped a grade in Knight School, as confirmed by the interviews conducted for the first anniversary

I can see why this would make people think that, but I really don't think it quite adds up to conclude that Myunna is a minor, especially if it was only one year they skipped.

We don't know much about Knight School, so for now let's say it lasts about as long as a normal high school/college, and you go for four years. And let's say Myunna was 14 when they started going, since that seems like a reasonable age for them to have started going while still being young.

By that math, the youngest they could've graduated would be 17. I doubt they'd let anyone under like 16 be a knight, but I can believe Myunna—who would have been over 16 based on our math—became a knight right out of the gate if they really were that prodigal.

To add on to this, let's take note of our good friend the age:time served ratio chart again:

notice the portion I've circled, which is roughly 1 1/2–2 1/2 knights long. If we're going off of the logic that one space equates to one year, then that means by the time the actual main story of Blue Bouquet occurs and we're introduced to Myunna, then according to our math they would have to be 18–19 years old minimum at that point.

This logic can also work backwards towards the argument that Rimicha is also a minor, by virtue of the fact that he must have been in Knight School around the same time, and is only a year older than Myunna—I personally believe they're both adults, though, albeit very young adults.

So what's the deal? Like genuinely I wanna hear everyone's perspective on this because I don't know where that split came from. What about Rimicha makes him seem more like an adult than Myunna?

Like I said, I'm not trying to start anything by pointing this out, it's just something I noticed within the fandom and wanted to put down my thoughts about. I won't disrespect anyone's views or headcanons because of my own thoughts, so if you don't want to believe what I have to say, then you're under absolutely no obligation to, and that's ok. If you have your own input, then feel free to share, just please be civil. Everyone's entitled to their opinions, even if we disagree, and I'll continue to respect that!

[docholligay]

I have a whole video coming about this, about confidence and being a unique dresser, but as I've been trying to do it (editing for myself for the first time!! Applaud me!) I realize it's going to take me awhile, so I promise I will have it for you by the end of the month, but for now, let's talk about boiling the frog of your own personal anxieties in post form.

I am a unique dresser. I dress in a way that draws attention. I have been doing this for a long, long time.

There are a million things I will tell you about dressing this way in public, and they're 96% good, honestly, mostly you have to deal with people telling you how nice you look. But that's for the video, and I'm working really hard on it, so I'm not going to give the milk away for free here. You gotta watch my painstakingly hand-edited artisanal woman-centered garbage!

But what I will say, is how you get used to the idea.

When I get ready to wear something that is out of my comfort zone*, I wear it a few times just for myself. I look in the mirror, not looking for flaws, really, but just observing how I look in it. What about it do I like? What do I like less? Is it bad, or am i just not used to it?

Then I wear it around the house for a whole day. I make sure to catch a look at myself whenever I pass a mirror or a window or something. I need to be able to see myself in the item because it needs to become a part of the way that I think about myself. Because that's what a lot of this kind of anxiety is. It's that, it's not a way that you think about yourself. When you see an outfit or a style and you want to imitate it, and you think, "I wish i could wear that" a lot of what is stopping you, generally, is this idea that you're not the kind of person who wears that. That it would be odd for you to. We have to fight that, and the best way to fight that, is to utterly disprove it. You ARE the sort of person who wears that, and the more you see yourself in it, the more it becomes true.

Vacations are a great time to wear something that feels new to you, especially if it feels scary. You don't know these bitches! No one will ever see you again. (I actually forget that I dress so distinctly sometimes, or rather, that it's not usual, because in my community people don't say much unless I get a new dress or hat or something. But I get so many comments when i travel ahaha) So, if you feel like the look isn't working, that's okay because in some ways, this is not your real life. This won't haunt you or follow you.

So let's say you wore it on vacation, and it was great. Just wear it to one thing. The grocery store. An easy errand. Something like that. You don't have to wear it to work where everyone knows you.

But then you do. Because the more you do it, the more you'll see that there's really nothing to be afraid of. Most of what people will notice and say is complimentary, but even if it isn't. You only get one life. This is it. You can live as the most boring version of yourself, or you can add color and interest and beauty to this world. I will take a thousand sweet lolita and leather daddies over people who don't try at all. I thank God for people who are wear too much makeup and giant painted silk caftans. They are doing the fucking thing!

When I was a little girl, I used to watch old movies, and read old books. All I wanted was to be glamorous and poised, and I used to drape my sheets around myself and imagine going to grand balls. I practiced my fine dining manners in my games, and I studied maps of the world, and I loved to wear blouses and embroidered skirts. In the eyes of my extended family, this was silly. I was putting on airs.

But I am the girl I dreamed of being. I stroll through the airport in high heels and I wear silk blouses and I drink champagne out of crystal glasses and sometimes I wonder, if I had let the fear of being ridiculed override my desire to be exceptional, who would I be? You cannot be an interesting person without doing interesting things, without doing things that other people don't. I can only imagine that ten year old Doc would see me strolling along, and gasp. And that is a good feeling.

Here is your sign. Try. It's always better to try and fail than it is to be stuck in mediocrity for the rest of your life. Tuck in your shirt. Buy the belt. Try going a week without wearing black. Without wearing a t-shirt. Expand your world, and expand the pleasure you bring to others simply by existing. It's worth a try! You are worth making an effort for.

*There ain't much left, to be quite honest, but still, it can happen.

[donquixotehomura]

Me rn anticipating the purgatory pile ���.

I don't have that much in drafts.... Does the ones in my brain count? Anyways the written ones.

One of them is actually complete and just needs the tags and such to be posted but... Well procrastination... Doffy x Yandere reader.... I thought like.. He's always the Yandere so why not have her be the Yandere? Also it's more in HC form (I think that's what it's called) with some detailed story telling... But it's all about how Yandere, Yandere reader is..... And how Doffy doesn't see anything wrong with it cause he's Doffy 😂.

I've got another one same situation as the 1st one but it's reader fully accepted Doffy being a Yandere for her.... Cause honestly I see all those red flags but still I'd rather he kidnapped me away from my life and kept me by his side, I don't have to deal with people, work, deal with bosses and coworkers... Like fr? I just need to look pretty and not show interest in anybody else and be all over you? Damn that's a nice deal seeing as I'm already obsessed with you and I'm so happy you noticed me.. Yay (don't do this irl ppl 😂)

Now onto one that's incomplete in writing but is fully in my head.... Actually I have a multi chapter fic in my head for it.... Doflamingo's Daughter... How would Doffy be if he had a bio daughter (knowing this horny flamingo it's very easy to assume he was irresponsible once as a teen and BAAM... A hellspawn) I have the idea of him being like 16-18 when he has her, he spoils her all the time, she's his blood, so she deserves the best of the best.... But him struggling to be a single dad... Too arrogant to ask for help and most definitely won't throw his daughter to someone else to raise her.... He won't fail her in anyway like his father failed him..... She grows up very attached to him and what he did at first as a superiority, arrogance situation quickly becomes "this little girl is my life and I won't let anyone or anything hurt her.... I'll burn down islands and go to war with the World Government for her sake"....current fic (1st chapter) is him getting her.... Her mother abandoned her with him not wanting anything to do with her (can't pretend nothing bad happened to her due to that)... Him trying to figure out how to parent and also grappling with the fact that this tiny creature is so damn loud... And also she quieted down immediately the moment he held her to his chest which made him like "???" Doffy.exe has run into an error 😂

The whole thing is about Dad Doffy and how on paper he's a good dad.... Well he is but he's raising a narcissistic maniac who's used to getting what she wants no matter what and has murder, destruction, conquering tendencies...... Yeah he's raising a female version of himself minus the trauma 😂

Quick note that won't fully work in (reader) setting I always write my fics in OC form then edit it to be reader form (my brain works weird) but his daughter is called Luna (Goddess of the Moon also in Spanish the moon is La Luna) so he always calls her his little moon, the light in his darkness, she lights up his dark life like the moon lights up the night sky.

As a child Luna was totally adorable and cute and loving towards Doflamingo, like always running to him "dada dada wove" and hugs and kisses on his cheek and nose ♥️..... Which also causes Doffy.exe has run into an error please..... Stop being so unconditionally loving why? How? Just... It's been so long since I felt this.... It's so genuine and pure not out of fear or need of being in his good graces or even trying to use him like everyone else.

That's a lot of ranting damn 😂 anyways done... Not gonna start talking about the wife OC (adjustable to reader) that I made I whole ass new race/clan for with their own abilities and lore that can both match his energy and also put him in his place cause many reasons but one of them is she's taller and bigger than him (not by much) and that just does things to him without her even trying 😂..... Both fluffy and sexual... Like being the small spoon has never been so tempting and amazing..... She just knows how to baby him....

Also brat taming and matching strapons/dick to her height but sssshhhh

WIP Tag Game

Thank you so much for the tag @fanaticsnail 💕🫶🏻❤️ I can’t wait for Rockier Port Incident and some pollen fics and so much Kid Pirates you’re writing, love it.

Rules: make a new post with the names of all the files in your wip folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Tag as many people as you have wips. People send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, then post a little snippet or tell them something about it!

(Me, opening my folder)

Haahaha, fuuuuuck

Okay, so let’s focus on the active WIPs that I am working on daily. All of them are Doflamingo x Reader in some form. I have only one fully Corazon x Reader but you can also ask regarding that one. P.S. NSFW usually it isn't thaaat smutty but just Doffy's inner thoughts are horny as hell in a lot of these and there are dark/adult themes throughout so... Yeah! If there is a bit of smut I'll put it as 🌶️, if the fic is smut-only 🌶️🌶️🌶️)

I’ll build castles for you, my love (look at me, not my brother) - Doflamingo x Rosinante's Wife! Reader (and some Past Rosinante) (multi-chap, NSFW, 🌶️)

Merlot & Primroses - North Blue Doflamingo x Rosinante's Wife!Reader, post Rosinante's death (multi-chap, NSFW, 🌶️)

close your eyes (it’ll all be over soon) - Doflamingo x Rosinante’s Wife!Reader (NSFW one-shot 🌶️🌶️🌶️ set in Merlot & Primroses where North Blue Doflamingo treats you differently when he meets you aka when you thought it can’t be more fucked up and dark, Doflamingo laughs in your face)

resemblance - Doflamingo x Rosinante’s Wife!Reader (NSFW one-shot, 🌶️🌶️🌶️)

marigolds - Marineford! Doflamingo (my love aka I squeal when I see him, I love him and his orange pants and his half buttoned shirt, and the fact he is fully wearing his coat and looks like a pink pom pom, "Doflamingo, I choose you!🦩" sir are you free on Saturday 😳😳😳) x Rosinante's Wife! Reader (SFW, oneshot)

As you can see, the Rosinante's Wife!Reader trope has a real hold on me. I got the idea in August and am still writing about it. Idk what it is about it. Prob cus the trope of Doffy longing after Cora's wife is so very Doffy of him? Now... For...

Celestial Dragon Doflamingo Fics 🤍

There are a few main ones. To know, Reader is not a Celestial Dragon in any of these stories.

Celestial Dragon Doffy x Rosinante’s Wife!Reader (NSFW multi-chap, 🌶️)

everything the world can offer - Returned to Mariejois Celestial Doflamingo x Civilian!Reader (NSFW, one-shot or multi-chap, tbd, 🌶️)

your saint - Returned to Mariejois Celestial Doflamingo x Doflamingo’s Wife! Reader (NSFW, one-shot, 🌶️🌶️🌶️)

butterflies and daffodils - Mariejois Raised Celestial Doflamingo x Civilian!Reader (NSFW, one-shot)

For these other ones, I’m mostly struggling with deciding how Reader reacts to Celestial Dragon! Doffy, depending on their history or lack of it, and it also depends whether this is Never Left Mariejois Doffy or Came Back and was Accepted Back Celestial Doffy. Those two are vastly different 🤣 I want to write a naive Reader but also Reader who is aware enough of how CRAZY Celestial Dragons are but then you get to that fear/dread factor once more and deciding how much of that to describe bcs what if they’re childhood friends, would that fear factor burst its head out regardless of their history? Would Reader just be appeasing Doffy while also still letting her guard down and just interacting with him like nothing’s changed?

(Sighs) I am overthinking myb a bit too much? Who knows...

Also, making this tag game for artists, too, same rules apply if the artists are comfortable with sharing their art wips as in the title of the art wip they’re working on!

Tagging @moonbaby26 @daydreamer-in-training @ohnomyhooves @skullfacedlady @tuquidflamingo @veroinfaciem @magnoliandew @wrennyx @darklordofcutlets @sugarpsalms @allmightskitten @froggiewrites @queenmimi2817 @ladycrocy @saracrossing02

[welcometogrouchland]

[ID in ALT] I've made posts before about Talia/Dick co-parenting Damian moments (will never happen but let me dream) and this came to me in a vision. Took me ages to finish for some reason 😭 and then even longer to post

[seagull-scribbles]

But tonight, I’ll need you to stay

[milolunde]

We all know Timmy is Wanda’s mama’s boy but we need to keep in mind he’s still Cosmo’s kid too and that Cosmo would love him just as vehemently as Wanda

[winterbean177]

NEW SOLARS FIC COMING UP ON AO3 !!

Hi all!

This is WinterBean (AO3 Writer) here. Just wanted to share with you guys that a new fic of mine will be showing up very soon hehehe... It's in the editing stage atm, but yes it has been sorta finished as a draft right now, sitting in between my first two fics in length (~12k+, although I'll have to change that depending on how long it gets after editing).

This focuses on Yumyulack and Korvo's relationship Post S5 Finale!

Here's a little summary of the story (S5 spoilers ahead!)

NAME: Papa Korvo

Potential Tags: Hurt, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, One chapter is a bit of a whump, yes this is focused on Yumyulack and Korvo, Post S5 Finale, ~ Daddy Issues ~, Yet another excuse to hurt my favourite character, Taco Bell Parking Lot Fight Scene, Bad Communication, injuries and overprotective father moments, could be OOC but I can't tell by myself, etc etc...

Summary: Yumyulack and Korvo struggle with working through their issues as a family, and things end up going a little bit awry. After all, Yumyulack calling Korvo 'Papa' seems to have some lasting effects. In the end, Korvo just wants to be a father, and Yumyulack secretly wants to have a father, yet they simply cannot get over themselves and admit they do really see each other as family.

But when things begin to go wrong, Yumyulack's desire for a father figure becomes more of a need as some fights are just a bit too hard to handle all by oneself...

Anyway, hope you guys have a good day, and I really hope this little taster summary (I'll adjust it to fit the vibe more once it's up on AO3, in which I'll post the link here)!

See you guys there, hopefully! Comments / reblogs with any additions/ideas/opinions are welcome!!

-WinterBean ❤️❤️

[recallback-art]

Since this is a first attempt, everything is still something of a rough draft and potentially will be changed further down the line BUT!! The Kofi is now up and running!

You can give me one-time tips, sign up for a membership for exclusive bonuses, or commission me directly through Kofi! Every little penny helps and so does just sharing this around!

DISCLAIMER: The NSFW tag is because I post horror content, which includes things like violence, light gore, and body horror. I also swear a lot just in general, which is... something you need to filter for? American ass website.